Search engine optimisation is a marketing strategy that is very popular across the Internet to increase website's exposure and sales by improving placement on the search engine rankings. SEO, as it is popularly abbreviated, is essential in the cutthroat online world with billions of web sites. Innovative web designers at SEO companies can help modify web sites so that they rank higher and thus increase profitability for the owners. A pivotal aspect of the SEO process is selecting and distributing the keywords that define the web site and are used by searchers in their search query.

Why Keywords?

Keywords form the mainstay of the SEO process, since they define how people search for and eventually reach a website. Therefore, each keyword must be selected methodically and thorough keyword research has to be performed. Selecting the right keywords that accurately describe the goals, products and services of a particular website is fundamental to optimising a website. They perform the task of channelling the relevant customer base to your web site and as such, are a marketing requisite.

Using keywords

Once keywords are analysed and selected for a web site, the next task is to apply them across the web site. A handy way of doing so is by using CSS on a web site, which allows multiple pages to be updated at once. Keywords are best placed in the Meta and Alt tags on the page. In addition, web developers use the header tags. But be cautious that the coherence of your content is not compromised by doing so. Keywords require constant research on patterns and trends across the web. There are a number of search engine tools that analyse popular search queries. Use these effectively to update keywords and phrases in the tags of your web pages.

Keyword practices to avoid

The web is cluttered with quick fix solutions to the SEO game. One practice, called keyword stuffing, uses the Meta and Alt tags of a web page to target every conceivable keyword permutation available. Sometimes keywords are overused in the main paragraphs as well. This practices, while effective at first has two negative impacts. First, Google policy refers explicitly to stuffing and warns that it "…results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site's ranking". Additionally, the content on your site is compromised with large amounts of irrelevant text that is indecipherable to human readers. All said and done, a web site is maintained for human interaction and keywords should, in no way hinder a user's experience.