1 Minute Marketing: Keywords Still a Part of e-Marketing Strategies (Just Not How You Think)
Search engine optimization tactics must change when the algorithms of the internet’s most popular search engine changes. With Google’s Penguin 2.0 algorithm update, one thing has become very clear: what you put in your keyword metatags doesn’t really matter. A metatag is part of the HTML code of a web page that users can’t see but is used to describe the page to a search engine, and keyword metatags listed a page’s primary keywords.
Keyword metatags were designed to help users find the most relevant articles, but due to widespread abuse or “black hat” SEO tactics, these tags are finished. Keyword metatags are so low on the list of Google’s consideration now that many businesses are choosing to not even fill them out.
But that doesn’t mean the keyword is dead. People are still searching the web with short phrases like they always have, but Google has narrowed its focus on a factor that is just as important as relevance: quality. Any good “how to” e-marketing strategy won’t have you focus on stuffing keywords into your content.
Having your target keywords present in your web copy and blogs is still important, but the frequency they appear isn’t as important as before, and using the keyword metatag isn’t either. To be SEO friendly, the content needs to be unique (doesn’t appear anywhere else on the internet) and high quality (good readability, etc.). Establishing yourself or your business as an expert on a particular topic, whether it’s e-marketing strategies or carpet cleaning, is also highly important.