Key Phrases my first go

What I have learned so far

[mcconboye]

I have spent quite a few days educating myself from your comments, and am in the process of putting together pages for a clients website.

It's taken that meta tags are not the be all and end all, but if they are there then use them.

Title Tags
Keep them short 3-4 word phrases, must be focused.
If longer no more than 7-8.
First words are the most important.
Put company name last if required.
use phrases that appear in the first paragraph of content.

Meta tags.
Use similar to title can put a few more phrases in but don't stuff it.
Can be argued that it is of diminishing importance. But do it right or not at all.

Meta Description.
again similar to title tags,
maximum 250 characters,
First 150 target key phrases.

The content of the page must be reflected in the tags. Important or the main key phrases to be in the first paragraph of the content. Maximum density 15% minimun 7%

Comments please

[mona]

You're off to a good start, mcconboye. Another important part to optimizing your pages is how your site is linked. Spend some time in the Link Development forum next. Or use the site search for terms like 'anchor text' or maybe 'internal linking'.

[Tupur]

Yes, link building is a very important SEP strategy. You need time, care and attention. Keywords in the link help so write your link description with as much attention as you are writing site content.

[mcconboye]

Thanks Guys,

I intend to thoroughly research each stage as I progress.
It takes time but its worth it. So thanks again to all those people who input to this site.

[Michael Weir]

just a little comment on your title, concerning putting the company name in the title. IMO, and depending on the size of your client, this is completely unnecessary. Now I'm assuming your client isn't some large corporation, but unless they are interested in name branding, I'd save the meta titles for the important keywords. Most internet users want to see a title that tells them they've found what they're looking for, regardless of the company.

For example if your client's name is "Northwest Widgets" and they specialize in the restoration and sale of antique widgets a good title would be:

Antique Widgets Sales and Restoration

This title is 100% relevant. It's quick and to the point and given you have top S.E placement, that should win you a click through!

If the client wants to brand, they want people to associate the company name with antique widgets, then a good title would be:

Northwest Widgets - Antique Widgets Sales and Restoration

or:

Antique Widget Sales and Restoration Specialists ¦ Northwest Widgets

Experiment with titles and KW densities using different variations for subpages and content pages.