Author: Karen Scharf
Google likes a keyword density of 2-3%, and will often ban a site for "keyword stuffing" if it goes over that level. In the meantime, Yahoo likes a keyword density of 7-8%, and it can be difficult to get a decent ranking if your site falls below that level.
Most site owners will optimize their web site for one search engine, either Google or Yahoo, and assume they have to forgo the possibility of being listed in the other search engine. But you can get listed in both search engines if you know the secret.
Yahoo is better with natural language than Google is. Yahoo understands plurals and conjugations and will score them as the same keyword, whereas Google will not. So, by adding multiple variations of your keyword in your web page, you can score placement in Yahoo while not being penalized by Google.
And here's another tidbit of information - while many webmasters have abandoned use of Meta tags, Yahoo still gives consideration to keyword and description tags. So be sure to add your keywords to these tags, but be careful not to go overboard.
Because Yahoo's algorithms are a few years behind Google's, it is often easier to get a decent page ranking in Yahoo. Follow these simple tips and your pages will soon be well optimized for a great Yahoo ranking:
1. Your title tag should contain your keyword phrase and should be 5 to7 words long.
2. Your description tag should contain your keyword phrase at the very beginning and contain a 13 to 20 word complete sentence clearly describing your site.
3. Your keywords tag should have your main keyword phrase at the very beginning. The meta tag should be no more than 250 characters long and it should have no more than 3 repetitions of a single keyword.
4. Your url (filename) should contain your keyword phrase as closely as possible.
5. Your heading 1 tag should contain your keyword phrase as close to the beginning as possible. Only one heading 1 should be used per page. Heading 2 tags should contain your keyword phrase as close to the beginning as possible.
6. All images should include alt tags and, if at all possible, the alt text should contain your keyword or keyword phrase. (But be careful not to sacrifice accessibility in favor of keyword stuffing.)
7. Your inline links should include your keyword phrases as part of your linked text and should refer to pages that are also optimized for the same keyword.
8. You should build up multiple (as many as possible) one way links from relevant pages optimized for the same keyword.
9. Be sure to publish an XML sitemap and a Robots.txt file
Google likes a keyword density of 2-3%, and will often ban a site for "keyword stuffing" if it goes over that level. In the meantime, Yahoo likes a keyword density of 7-8%, and it can be difficult to get a decent ranking if your site falls below that level.
Most site owners will optimize their web site for one search engine, either Google or Yahoo, and assume they have to forgo the possibility of being listed in the other search engine. But you can get listed in both search engines if you know the secret.
Yahoo is better with natural language than Google is. Yahoo understands plurals and conjugations and will score them as the same keyword, whereas Google will not. So, by adding multiple variations of your keyword in your web page, you can score placement in Yahoo while not being penalized by Google.
And here's another tidbit of information - while many webmasters have abandoned use of Meta tags, Yahoo still gives consideration to keyword and description tags. So be sure to add your keywords to these tags, but be careful not to go overboard.
Because Yahoo's algorithms are a few years behind Google's, it is often easier to get a decent page ranking in Yahoo. Follow these simple tips and your pages will soon be well optimized for a great Yahoo ranking:
1. Your title tag should contain your keyword phrase and should be 5 to7 words long.
2. Your description tag should contain your keyword phrase at the very beginning and contain a 13 to 20 word complete sentence clearly describing your site.
3. Your keywords tag should have your main keyword phrase at the very beginning. The meta tag should be no more than 250 characters long and it should have no more than 3 repetitions of a single keyword.
4. Your url (filename) should contain your keyword phrase as closely as possible.
5. Your heading 1 tag should contain your keyword phrase as close to the beginning as possible. Only one heading 1 should be used per page. Heading 2 tags should contain your keyword phrase as close to the beginning as possible.
6. All images should include alt tags and, if at all possible, the alt text should contain your keyword or keyword phrase. (But be careful not to sacrifice accessibility in favor of keyword stuffing.)
7. Your inline links should include your keyword phrases as part of your linked text and should refer to pages that are also optimized for the same keyword.
8. You should build up multiple (as many as possible) one way links from relevant pages optimized for the same keyword.
9. Be sure to publish an XML sitemap and a Robots.txt file
