The Importance of Key Word Proximity
Keyword Proximity refers to the distance between two related key terms. Generally speaking, the shorter the distance between two targeted words, the better that page will rank for that “key phrase” in the major search engines, all other variables being equal. As an example, consider the heading or title “We sell engines that are remanufactured for all makes and models of trucks made by Ford Motor Company.
” 18 Words
4 Key Words – 22% keyword Density
2 Key Terms – Fragmented
The keyword combinations to consider here are “remanufactured engines” and “ford trucks.” Notice the distance, or proximity, between the keywords “Ford” and “trucks”, the distance between “engines” and “remanufactured”, and the distance between the two key phrases in relation to each other. These factors are very important to consider, especially the distance between Ford and engines.
To optimize a phrase for keyword proximity: “We sell remanufactured engines for Ford Motor Company Trucks, including all makes and models.” At this point, two concepts need to be addressed: key word prominence and keyword dilution.
Key word prominence refers to the position, sequentially, of a key word or phrase in relation to the rest of the text in any given area. Generally speaking, words at the beginning of a tag/section/paragraph/heading or area are assigned a greater value than those occurring at the middle or end. Key word dilution refers to the effect of text in the given area that is not directly related to the key terms being targeted, or the effect that targeting multiple key terms or phrases has on each other.
Consider “Remanufactured engines for Ford Trucks.” Remanufactured engines has a greater keyword prominence than Ford Trucks. Considering that there are 4 non-stop words (“of” is a stop word that will be ignored accept in cases of exact searches), and two key phrases, the density of each phrase is 50%; the keywords are diluted by 1/2. “Remanufactured Ford Truck Engines”: Engines is reduced in importance, Ford gains in importance, and remanufactured still has the greatest prominence. Our end optimized title, by applying both prominence and proximity:
Remanufactured Ford Truck Engines – all makes and all models. To increase key term density, thus reducing the dilution, the “all makes and models” can be removed; this is logic filtering (removing irrelevant text to reduce dilution and increase key term density). Variations for key term breadth:
Ford Truck Engines – Remanufactured
Engines, Ford Trucks: Remanufactured
Remanufactured Engines – Ford Trucks
The keyword density in this title would be 25% for each word, which is excellent, as each word is part of a targeted term. The density of the key phrases is 50%, i.e. “remanufactured engines” and “Ford Trucks.” The three variations above could be used to improve the key term density in the body of the page without repeating the key terms in the exact same manner. If the site theme were remanufactured engines, then the page title: “Remanufactured Engines – Ford Trucks” or any logical variation would be ideal. If the site theme were Ford Trucks, then an ideal page title would be: “Ford Trucks -Remanufactured Engines” If the site theme were engines, then an ideal page title would be: “Engines, Remanufactured – Ford Trucks”
Proper web copy writing and technical writing addresses all of these issues as a logical step in the writing process. Your title’s appearance Don’t use all CAPS in your title. Search engines hate it and it’s difficult for users to read. Good old marketing Aside from containing keywords, your HTML title needs to interest your reader in the material on your site. If you’re a webmaster with no previous marketing experience, you might want to get some help in this area from a copywriter or someone in marketing.
Keeping length in mind, review your keywords and try to come up with a title that entices the reader to learn more about your site. Don’t overuse marketing language such as “We’re the best.” It will only clutter your HTML title with stop words without adding much relevance.
Golden rule
As always follow the golden rule of organic search engine optimization: Create pages for your users, not search engines. This means writing a descriptive and convincing HTML title appealing to your audience. You can then make your page title search-engine-friendly by ensuring that your keywords appear in it.
Titles and directories
Since directories are composed by human editors rather than robots, directories such as Yahoo! and DMOZ don’t care about your HTML title. They do, however, care about the title you specify in their submission forms. Each directory should let you know how long your title should be on its form. Prepare a shorter, alternative title for directories that allow a maximum of 40 characters.
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