Optimizing Your Web 2 Content
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A couple days ago we talked about how to structure your content for different web 2.0 sites and today we are going to talk a little about optimizing the content for better results.
Our number one rule for content is always to put the human reader first. Content that is first created for pleasing the search engines is content that is not focused on providing value and is usually very shallow and short lived.
Once you have finished created your content for the reader it is easy to go back in and optimize it for the search engines (to help boost its rankings) and it is very easy to do.
Here are the basics that we try to cover within our content before we submit to sites squidoo, gather, hubpages and ezinearticles.
1. Always have the keyword in the title and if possible make sure it is in the first half of the title.
2. Do not have a keyword density of more then 6% max. That means that in a 500 word article, if your keyword phrase is made of three words (Product Name Review), then you would not repeat it more then 10 times within the article. This however is the absolute max and is usually too many times in our opinion. We recommend that you focus on making sure the content reads well above everything else and then if possible try to mention the keyword…
- Once in the opening sentence of the opening paragraph
- Once in the last sentence of the opening paragraph
- Once or twice in the middle paragraphs
- Once in the last paragraph
Whenever we have the keyword more then that, we will use an alternative phrase in place of it. So for example if the keyword we are using is “Johncow eBook Review”, if we mentioned this phrase more then the above listed amount of times we would use a variation such as “Opinion of the eBook by Johncow”.
3. What about adding bold <b> and italicized <i> to the content? The issue is this is not content on your blog, this is for content on web 2.0 sites that can get a little picky about content that looks like it is overoptimized and spammy. This is just our personal opinion but content that we have submitted that we over optimized seems to get flagged and / or voted down, way more then content that we just do a little optimization with. If you use the bold or italicized, make sure that you do it in a way that is logical to the reader and highlights a point that you are trying to stress… do NOT just bold and highlight the keyword.
4. One last thing, always try to make sure no paragraph is more then 3 sentences in length. This is a psychological thing with readers and smaller paragraphs have proven to work better at keeping the reader interested in your content then long paragraphs.
Update–> this was mentioned in the comment below from and was a good point that we wanted to add for this, so thanks Steve (CraftsBlog.co.uk) for mentioning it…
“Also from a structural point of view if you move on to a new point always start a new paragraph. This allows the jist of the article to be understood by skim readers who just look at the start of each paragraph.”
That’s it… there is really nothing more then that 
Hope at least one of you got something form this… if so let us know
Great post, Cow. I follow all of these “rules” so I’m good to go. The keyword in the title is definitely important, as well as making sure Wordpress permalinks are set up efficiently…
Ralphs last blog post..Wordpress 2.6 – Good or Bad?
Actually I am glad you said that about the no more than 3 sentences in a paragraph. I was wondering about that myself. I sometimes tend to ramble on in paragraphs and end up with a whole book.
Thanks.
CreatingRevenueOnline.coms last blog post..Great Article from The University Kid
Excellent suggestions. Will take it to heart and focus up.
browies last blog post..Shoemoney Tools
Really good tip for writing content…..
What your opinion in put the keyword bold in the first paragraph, i heard that its seo tactic…
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Some nice tips there. I definately agree that 10 keywords is too much for a 500 word article, 4-6 is plenty.
I have also heard of advice about bolding or using italics on a keyword. I can see the logic behind this for SEO but to me it just looks a bit clumsy for the reader and you should always put the reader first. Using the keywords should be good enough for SEO.
Also from a structural point of view if you move on to a new point always start a new paragraph. This allows the jist of the article to be understood by skim readers who just look at the start of each paragraph.
Steves last blog post..Traffic = Money. Here’s how to get a lot of it.
Great points… yes bolding and italicizng are good and in fact Matt Cutts last year in a YouTube video series he did, talked about that. The problem is we found that with a few of these sites the articles that we over seo optimized seem to get flagged. If you are going to bold and italicize make sure that it makes good sense to do it. For example do not just bold and italicize the keyword a bunch of times, instead make sure that it is when you are stressing a point to the reader.
Just our opinion but it is what we have experianced from submitting to these web2sites.
Great point about the paragraphs.
Excellent points. I’d also like to add one of my favorite tips – after your keywords are in your title, seek out other blogs that have CommentLuv installed and comment intelligently there. Bam – instant deeplink with keyworded anchors.
Enjoy, Barbara
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coachs last blog post..2008 Animal Planet Hero of the Year
Darn Barbara, that is an excellent point.. need to remember that one!
I do write first for my reader and then play with the keywords, but I don’t have any idea what you mean by “instant deeplink with keyword anchors.”
also, where can I find out how to link my latest blog post on the bottom of my comment? That’s so helpful! I have so much great content for women and finance but 0 comments on my blog!
Thank you,
Barbara Zagata, http://www.StressFreePersonalFinance.com
Comment luv is a wordpress plugin that you can find at http://www.fiddyp.co.uk/commentluv-wordpress-plugin/ and what she meant is that the plugin will automatically give a link back to your blog that is a deep link. That means it is a link to a page that is not the top index page but a deeper page.
Hey John, thanks 4 the info…I try to practice all of these things subconsciously, but at times I get a little wordy…sigh
yep , all are valid points specially the last one , people tend to forget about the readers/visitors experience and focus more on search engine spiders.
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Absolutely valid points made!!! I believe I’ve tried to follow this till now!!
Kalpesh Ajugias last blog post..Jaane Tu!!
Thanks for the tip!
Well, if you want Web 2.0 you might wanna change that to and to .
It’s more Web 2.0-ish.
Chips last blog post..Response Times And Deadlines
It was “b” to “strong” and “i” to “em”. Sorry, it’s the XHTML formatter to blame
Chips last blog post..Response Times And Deadlines
Great points… yes bolding and italicizng are good and in fact Matt Cutts last year in a YouTube video series he did, talked about that. The problem is we found that with a few of these sites the articles that we over seo optimized seem to get flagged. If you are going to bold and italicize make sure that it makes good sense to do it. For example do not just bold and italicize the keyword a bunch of times, instead make sure that it is when you are stressing a point to the reader.
Just our opinion but it is what we have experianced from submitting to these web2sites.
Great point about the paragraphs.