You may have heard something similar to “Google places very little value on meta tag keywords now” and many successful websites don’t even have keyword meta tags. While this is true, for the most part, keywords are still the most valuable tool you have in bringing search engine recognition and good rankings to your website.
While Google and other major search engines have tossed aside the value they assign to meta tag keywords, the words on your web pages are still king (or queen), because their major goal is to deliver searchers to relevant websites. So, it still makes sense to develop a list of keywords and phrases, that best represent your business products and services, to use when writing copy for your website.
Your website copy and your social media posts should feature your keywords sprinkled throughout, always using good language practices and avoiding what has been termed “keyword stuffing” by over-applying them out of context. While quantity counts here, readability does, too.
Your website has basically two audiences – the human and the computer. The human is your target market segment and the computer are the search engines.
Where you place them counts, too. Keyword phrases in a headline will carry more weight than in the body of a paragraph, for instance.
So, get out your list of keywords and take a look at your homepage. See how many you are using and where. Better yet, print out your page and use a highlighter to mark them and see if there is room for more.
Hint: your webpage will probably expand to accommodate all the copy you want to add! Just make sure it’s good copy, with lots of keywords.