Optimize My Web Site Dictionary

Keyword (Key Phrase) - A word or phrase typed into a search engine in order to find web pages that contain that word or phrase. A web page can (and should be) optimized for specific keywords/phrases that are relevant to the content on that page.

Keyword Density - An old measure of search engine relevancy based on how prominent keywords appeared within the content of a page. Keyword density is no longer a valid measure of relevancy over a broad open search index though.

When people use keyword stuffed copy it tends to read mechanically (and thus does not convert well and is not link worthy), plus some pages that are crafted with just the core keyword in mind often lack semantically related words and modifiers from the related vocabulary (and that causes the pages to rank poorly as well).

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Keyword Funnel - The relationship between various related keywords that searchers search for. Some searches are particularly well aligned with others due to spelling errors, poor search relevancy, and automated or manual query refinement.

See also: MSN Search Funnels - shows keywords people search for before or after they search for another keyword.

Keywords Meta Tag - An HTML meta tag that lists all of the main keywords and key phrases that are contained on that web page. Some search engines use the keyword meta tag to help rank web pages in their databases. Google does not.

Example:
<META NAME=KEYWORDS CONTENT=small business,
business,advertising,sales>

Keyword Research - The process of discovering relevant keywords and keyword phrases to focus your SEO and PPC marketing campaigns on.

Example keyword discovery methods:

Keyword Research Tools - Tools which help you discover potential keywords based on past search volumes, search trends, bid prices, and page content from related websites.

Short list of the most popular keyword research tools:

Please note that most keyword research tools used alone are going to be highly inaccurate at giving exact quantitative search volumes. The tools are better for qualitative measurements. To test the exact volume for a keyword it may make sense to set up a test Google AdWords campaign.

Keyword Stuffing - Writing copy that uses excessive amounts of the core keyword.

When people use keyword stuffed copy it tends to read mechanically (and thus does not convert well and is not link worthy), plus some pages that are crafted with just the core keyword in mind often lack semantically related words and modifiers from the related vocabulary (and that causes the pages to rank poorly as well).

See also: Search Engine Friendly Copywriting - What Does 'Write Naturally' Mean for SEO?.

Keyword Suggestion Tools - See Keyword Research Tools.

Kleinberg, Jon - Scientist largely responsible for much of the research that went into hubs and authorities based search relevancy algorithms.

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