In the past few weeks, a new search engine hit the market. As one would expect, several members of the techno-press hailed this new search tool as a Google Killer, albeit with one large caveat – DeepDyve was not designed to kill all of Google. It wasn’t even designed to kill most of it. In fact, DeepDyve was lining up with surgical precision to take out just one area where Google showed advancements years ago, and then seems to have let languish – the “deep web.” Yes, the collection of academic, medical, and technical journals and databases that are used heavily for producing more academic, medical, and technical journals, and completely ignored outside of those fields.

Honestly, there’s a reason why Google was ignoring this part of the web. And there’s a reason why each and every SEO specialist will completely overlook DeepDyve – because you probably should. But, I tend to like to do a lot of research for my writing, so I signed up for the private beta for DeepDyve and waited.

The interior pages of DeepDyve are rather sparse. They aren’t sparse in the typical airy Web 2.0 style, but rather, in white board about to be jammed with data fashion. The site itself gives you the feeling that the data is indeed right around the corner. The problem is that actually getting to that data. And that’s where the big SEO lesson came into play.

As I started plugging in short, targeted, keyword-rich phrases into the DeepDyve search box, I realized that I was using the engine incorrectly. DeepDyve doesn’t rely on the matching of keywords aided by anchor link text like Google does. DeepDyve wants a searcher to, quite literally, paste entire swathes of an article, if not the entire article outright, into the search box. DeepDyve then finds similar, and hopefully relevant content. And let me tell you, it felt foreign.

The awkwardness was what tipped me off. DeepDyve works in the exact opposite way that Google does. Where Google eliminates search results based on the specificity of the search string, DeepDyve adds to it, the more words included in your search, the more results you’re likely to get. And while these are both paths that hope to lead to the same general location: the ideal result for the searcher, they do beg a rather important SEO question – how are the users searching?

After all, many of you are probably like me. You know Google. You’re fluent in Google. Armed with Google, a mobile phone, and one bar on a cell connection, you can find whatever you’re looking for before your coffee even gets cold. And that really helps when picking out keywords. But, what are your customers searching? And how are they searching it? How much of the internet is fluent in Google? And how many users compare Google to high school Spanish class, remembering only a few tricks? How many are clueless and simply plug in sentences as if they were spoken?

The answer can be very helpful and begs the question, have we adapted too much to Google? Are we too close to the source?

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Long Tail Keyword Development Strategy

To make things easier for you, I’ve broken down the procedure of finding and developing your long tail keywords into a simple five step process. By following this strategy, you should be able to effectively grow the amount of search traffic you receive daily.

1. Enter your core keywords in the Google’s Keyword Suggestion tool. Download the entire list in a text or excel format.
2. Perform competitor analysis manually or through SEO Digger.
3. Compile in one list, all the longtail keywords from both of the above steps.
4. Start to create webpages or blog posts and include at least one keyword + a phrase in the title. For WordPress users, install and use the SEO Title Tag plugin.

This is a snippet of an article by Maki at DoshDosh.com I can recommend this strategy whole-heartedly.

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1. Top Generic Keywords or Longtail? Which Should You Go After? (Part 2)
2. Top Generic Keywords or Longtail? Which Should You Go After? (Part 1)
3. Keyword Research Tools – SEO Tip Week 2

Keyword research tools may be in for another overhaul. Google’s algorithm now appears to be viewing the capitalized versions of keywords as separate from the lowercase versions. I came across this while searching for the lowercase and uppercase versions of the keyword “engagement rings.” Look at these screen shots from the 216.239.59.99 datacenter.

Screenshot of Google results with a lowercase “e” in engagement rings. Click for larger image.

Screenshot of Google results with an uppercase”E” in Engagement rings. Click for larger image.

Searching with a capital “E” gives different results than searching with all lowercase letters, and I also noticed discrepancies between lowercase and uppercase letters with that keyword at the 64.233.183.107 datacenter.

Now, look at the differences in the SERPS at the 64.233.171.107 datacenter for the lower and uppercase version of the keyword “dog tags.” The results change after the second search result.

Screenshot of Google results with a lowercase “d” in dog tags. Click for larger image.

Screenshot of Google results with an uppercase “D” in Dog tags. Click for larger image.

Assuming this isn’t a temporary glitch, the SEO landscape will undergo another transformation. If this reflects a real change in the algorithm, keyword research tools such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery will have to be adjusted to compensate. They currently don’t differentiate between searches with lowercase and capital letters. Since the Google search results were believed to be identical for each, they had no reason to.

We’ll have to wait for an official word from Google (if they give one), but right now this is looking at lot less like a glitch and a lot more like a real shift in the algorithm. And it would be a significant one. I would guess that people search with different forms of capitalization as often as they misspell words or use the plural form of words. But it’s just a guess, as there is no keyword research data to back that assumption up….yet.

We’ll have to keep our eyes on this one.

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1. Google’s Estimating Algorithm
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I just returned from giving my latest SEO Presentation to a Virginia Portal/Newspaper. I spent the last week or two creating the presentation and in doing so had to put myself in the place of someone brand new to the world of SEO. Of course I do this all the time when talking to people looking for an SEO Company, but this was slightly different. This time I was having to teach someone how to do SEO and that meant going back to the basics for everything including keyword usage.

So many times, as an SEO expert, I think of much of my knowledge as general, public knowledge. For example, everyone must know what a keyword is, right? Wrong. And even if they know what a keyword is they usually don’t know how to use it to effectively to optimize their web pages. Showing how keywords could be best used was of particular interest to the group I presented to, so I thought I’d share my thoughts on my blog as well.

Here is my personal suggestions on where and how to use your keywords on your web page you want ranked for that keyword:

• Use it at least once in your Page Title or <title> tag, twice if you can use it in another form, but don’t feel compelled to have it twice. Once is usually sufficient. Example: <title>How to Use Keywords</title>
• Use it once in your Meta Description Tag. It can help convince users to click your search results. (See more about this at my meta description post.) Example:
  <meta name="description" content="Want to know how to best use keywords to optimize your webpage? Click here to leanr and read other SEO Tips." />
• Use it at least once in your H1 <h1> Tag . This should be main heading or title of your web page. On this blog post the H1 title is “How to Use Keywords”. The H1 tag should different on each page, and not the web site name. Only use ONE H1 tag on any given page.
• Use it in one of your subheads. Your subhead should be an H2 <h2> tag. H2 tags can also, and should, hold secondary keywords, but including the main keyword is effective. Most web pages would benefit from subheads from a user perspective as well as for optimization help.
• Depending on the amount of body text on the page, you should try to include keywords within the text at least 4 times. This comes with a BIG CAVEAT though. Only do this if it makes sense and doesn’t appear spammy. Remember you are writing for human and search engines. Spammy content can ruin all the efforts you made to get the user to the page. Be sensible and read your content. If too many keywords are making it sound silly, take them out. Avoid keyword stuffing.
• If you have images on the page, and it makes sense, you should add it to the alt <alt> tag.
• If you have images on the page, and it makes sense, you should add your keyword to the image title. This isn’t something most people to but it is helpful, in my opinion and only takes a few seconds. So your image tags should look like this:
  <img src="image.jpg" alt="keyword phrase" title="keyword phrase" />.
• Add your keyword to link in other pages of your site, pointing to the page you want ranked. Linking out from the page you want ranked is fine, but do not use the keyword you want that page ranked for in the anchor text.

I think this will cover your optimization efforts. Of course tweaking my suggestions is encouraged and even necessary most times, but this is as good a guideline as any to start with. After you have used your keywords don’t forget to begin link building using the same keywords. Your efforts will be rewarded.

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Is their an optimal keyword density?Our SEO copywriters have wrestled with this question for years. I believe there used to be an optimal keyword density, but nowadays I don’t think there is. I do believe there is a density level that will get your site penalized, but an optimal density is just a myth. Don’t believe me, then take a look and do a few searches in Google. Let’s try “bonsai trees”.

Here are the top four results and the keyword density for the term “bonsai trees” on each page.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonsai – 0.17%
2. http://www.bonsaiboy.com/ – 5.74%
3. http://www.bonsaisite.com/ - 0% (Yes, that is zero percent)
4. http://www.helpfulgardener.com/bonsai/ – 1.38%

From these examples you can clearly see that keyword density shouldn’t be a major consideration in your writing efforts.

Instead, focus on the on-page factors that help the search engines determine the ranking of your web page: title tags, link text, navigation, heading tags and quality content.

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• What is your rank on Google? (seorichmondvirginia.com)

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3. How to Use Keywords – SEO Tip 37

In hind sight, I should have put this SEO Tip first but better late than never. You must do keyword research before you start optimizing your site, that much is obvious, but what tools should you use?

There are two excellent keyword research tools that I can recommend as professional tools. They are Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery. Both are great and both are different. At Big Oak we started with Wordtracker and move over to Keyword Discovery after a year or so. We felt KD had an easier interface and liked they way it worked us. This is not to say Wordtracker didn’t do a fine job for us, because it did. It was really just a matter of preference. You may find Wordtracker better for your method of research.

If you are just getting into the game you may want to try something else that is free to do your initial research. You can use Overture’s keyword search tool, but it is limited to one month of keyword searches and often isn’t working because too many people are trying to use it. You’ll want to move to the pay-for-use programs quickly if you are truly serious.

In any case, do not overlook this important step and don’t assume you know how people are searching for your product or service. If you optimize a site with the wrong keywords you may end up with a high ranking site but won’t convert your traffic! Correctly identifying the best keywords and search terms using a keyword search tool will help your odds of success and give you a fighting chance to target prospects who are more likely to turn into clients.

My colleague, Holly Rodriguez has written about choosing keyword research tools on her SEO copywriting blog, SEOScribe.com. Check it out if you would like more information.

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Choosing keywords and key phrases for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an art: if a webmaster doesn’t choose the right keywords and phrases and use them within the pages of the website, the amount of web traffic they will receive can be directly and adversely affected. Due to the fact that the Internet is a vast, collective space of information, webmasters are constantly striving to make their website more visible and choosing keywords and key phrases for SEO purposes can immediately increase a website’s page ranking, if done correctly. Thus, with an increased page ranking in search engines, webmasters will see a paralleled increase in the amount of web traffic they receive.

How Keywords Work

Choosing the right keywords and key phrases for SEO is crucial to a website’s success. With the right keywords, individuals can create online businesses that are highly visible and an increase in visibility means an increase in the profit that a business will receive. Just because your business has a website doesn’t mean that you will be able to reach a global audience overnight–in fact, you may not be able to reach a large audience at all if web users cannot easily find your website. Therefore, in order to make your website easily accessible, you will need to get your website to appear as a response to any search engine query that a web user may submit: one way to successfully do that is to find and use popular keywords and key phrases.

When a web browser submits a query to a search engine, the search engine will pull up the pages that will best answer the web user’s query. Further, search engines will base their responses on the quality of a website: the quality is determined by the website’s content along with other factors like how many outside links point to the website. If you want your website to appear in the top of the search engine results pages, you will need to make your website one that is prepared to answer any query that may relate to your website’s theme.

Common Mistakes When Choosing Keywords

• Choosing Keywords and Key Phrases that are Not Targeted: One of the biggest mistakes that webmasters make when selecting keywords is that they choose keywords and key phrases that do not really apply to their desired audience. Although the idea that choosing as many keywords as possible may, at first, seem like a good idea, it’s not. In fact, poorly chosen keywords can adversely affect the way a page is ranked and can consequently lead to a lower ranking in search engine results.

• Choosing Keywords and Key Phrases that are too Broad: Choosing keywords and key phrases that are over generalized will result in the ineffective use of keywords: the keywords will fail to increase your page ranking and it will also decrease the likelihood that you will draw traffic to your website. Remember, using keywords that are too broad will ultimately get your web pages buried beneath hundreds of thousands of other web pages using the same generalized keywords. Therefore, one needs to be very specific when selecting their keywords and key phrases.

• Choosing Ineffective Keywords: When choosing keywords and key phrases for SEO, you really need to refrain from using common misspellings of keywords to insert in articles. Not only does the use of misspelled keywords make your web content look unprofessional, you may ultimately affect your overall page ranking within a search engine.

• Overuse of Keywords: The overuse of keywords and key phrases will also act negatively when a page is ranked by a search engine. Using too many keywords and key phrases will alert the search engine that you are attempting to draw traffic with keywords and a search engine may in turn, lower the ranking of your web pages as a result.

• Increased Web Traffic versus Improved Web Traffic: When choosing keywords and key phrases for SEO, a webmaster must always keep in the back of their mind the difference between an increase in web traffic and an improvement in the amount of web traffic a website will receive. For example, simply increasing your web traffic does not mean that you are attracting a web audience that is actually interested in your products or services. Conversely, drawing an audience that is looking for what you have to offer, an act of improving your web traffic, can make all the difference in the world to your online business.

Tips for Choosing Keywords and Keyword Phrases

• Choose Keywords and Key Phrases that are Genre Oriented: When choosing keywords, be sure that you select words that match the theme of your website, your products and your services. In other words, don’t choose keywords like "ghost" when you are really offering "ghost writing services". Not only will your web pages get lost within a search engines response for the term "ghost," but you will not be drawing the type of traffic you desire.

• Choose Keywords and Key Phrases that are Unique: When using keyword generators and online keyword search tools, a highly recommended process, be sure that you do not select the most popular keywords from the top of the list. Instead, it is better to focus on keywords that are used less frequently. Why? You are ensuring a higher listing in search engines whenever the unique phrasing is used because there may be less competition and you will be getting the targeted traffic you want.

• Make Keywords and Key Phrases Read Naturally: It is imperative that no matter what subject your web content addresses that you use choose keywords and key phrases that can be used naturally throughout the webpage. When keywords read naturally and can go unnoticed, that means that a search engine is less likely to penalize the attempt at increasing a page ranking. Clearly, no more than 10 to 15 percent of a webpage should include keyword insertions. Just as important as driving traffic from the search engines, once the users come to your site they will read your content and repetitive word will make it harder for them to find the information about your products and services that they need. On the same note, in order for a webpage to read naturally, you will want to rely on correctly spelled keywords within your webpage content.

• Using Keywords in Your Meta and Alt Tags: If you insist on using keyword misspellings, do so where it won’t be obvious to your readers. For instance, Meta and Alt tags are hidden within the HTML coding of a webpage and they let the search engine spiders know how a page should be listed. Using misspelled keywords within such tags still makes it likely that your web pages will be an answer to any query using questionable keywords without affecting the quality and appearance of your web content overall.

• Domain Names and Keywords: It’s a good idea to insert popular keywords in your domain name and in page names. In doing so, you are increasing the likelihood that your pages will be listed as a response to queries related to your web content.

Keyword and Key Phrase Selection Tools:

Choosing key phrases for SEO may seem a little overwhelming at first. Nevertheless, the task of selecting keywords doesn’t have to be a daunting one. In fact, there are numerous free and premium keyword and key phrase selections tools available both on- and off-line that can help you in selecting the right keywords to increase your web traffic. Let’s take a look at some of the available tools below:

• Using Keyword Generators: Having trouble coming up with appropriate keywords? You can always use keyword generators to determine what popular keywords and key phrases you should choose. Some keyword generators are free, but the subscription keyword generators are more thorough when it comes time to selecting appropriate keywords and key phrases. Whether you decide to use the free keyword suggestion tools or you decide to subscribe to a premium site offering keyword suggestions, you will find such tools extremely useful in your seo endeavors.

• Keyword Tracking Websites: Along with keyword suggestion tools, you may find keyword tracking sites particularly useful. Keyword tracking sites will help you determine what kind of queries people are making in popular search engines. Further, several keyword tracking websites offer results in real time–you can find out what people are querying about at the immediate moment, choose keywords that apply to your website theme and then work such keywords into your website.

• Related Keyword Tools: Do you have a few good keywords in mind already and you are looking to find related keywords; keywords that are similar to the ones you are already using. Many websites offer related keyword suggestions and some websites like keyword databases and thesauruses focus on keyword related suggestions for your use.

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