Keywording. Like a Boss.

Posted on June 8, 2011

13


Keyword Salad

Keyword Salad

Here is yet another question from the WordPress.com technical forums. Occasionally the internet will dig out somebody’s three year old post on using Keywords, and BAM! we get a million questions on it. This is only my second-fave question, after meta tags, of which we will speak some other time. Anyhoodle, here are my tips on using the magical Power Keywords of Magical Powerosity:

  1. The single best way to add keywords to your blog (other than tags and categories as previously mentioned) is in the content. Use them in your titles. Use them in your filenames for uploaded images. Use them in your Alt text.

    For example:

    I did a post on the Toronto Explosions. I titled it “Toronto Explosions”, I started it with an image the filename of which was “Toronto Explosion 2” and captioned “Toronto Explosion” and linked to a post on another site called “Toronto Explosions” and the alt text on the link was “Toronto Explosion photos” and in my first sentence I used the term “Toronto explosions.”

    That post has been #1 on Google since twenty minutes after I put it up. It outranks every news organization on the planet in searches for “Toronto Explosions.”

  2. Rain, you are the master.

  3. Thank you. And you know what? That was mostly just by reflex. I don’t hardly mean to be as spammy as I actually am.

    Wait, did that make sense?

  4. Yes, that made perfect sense coming from you.

    :-)

  5. OMG! NIce idea raincoaster but too complicated! :-D

    Sorry guys but what is the difference between tags and cathegories? Why do I need to use them both?

  6. For organizational reasons, you can think of categories as broad in scope, and tags sort of like sub-categories. As far as search engines and such, they treat them the same.

    A search of the FAQ’s for “tags” or” categories” brings up this:http://faq.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/the-difference-between-tags-and-categories/ .

  7. An example:

    Category: Food

    Tags: French fries, hamburgers, broccoli, carrots….

  8. Think of using keywords this way:

    Figure out what your post is really About. Put that thing in the title, even if you have to edit it. Edit your permalink too. Make sure the images you post relate to that thing with their names. And use the subject of your post in the first sentence; that’s just good essay structure.

    Everything you learned about essay structure in school applies to the use of keywords EXCEPT “save your best point for last”. Use your best point first, keep your second-best for last.

  9. Mmm… ok… I think I understood… :-P Thanks!!!

    Hey what does it mean {/nod to teck} ?

  10. It’s sort of a sign of agreement or saying, good catch.

  11. I’m so dead tempted to post this to my teaching blog, but I’m a SOCIALIST DAMMIT and don’t post on Labour Day long weekend. Hopefully Google will still help me find it come Tuesday.

Questions?

Posted in: blogging, Google, SEO, Social Media, Wordpress.com