Increasing Number of Keyword Mentions on Homepage?

[gouri]

For a site that I am working on, the homepage is ranking for a couple of keywords. The keywords, however, are not mentioned in the first and last paragraphs. On the page, overall, the keywords are mentioned maybe a couple of times.

On the internet, there is a lot of information that says having the keywords in the first and last paragraphs can help you to rank. There is also information that says that if the keywords are not in the first and last paragraphs, it is okay because the search engines can tell what a page is about.

I was wondering if anyone has increased the number of times that they mention keywords they want to rank for on the homepage (in the first and last paragraphs and/or other paragraphs) and seen it impact their rankings.

I appreciate your responses.

Thanks.

[tedster]

If the page is not also ranking for a keyword that is already in the first paragraph, then getting a first mention early in the document might help.

But if creating that kind of keyword "prominence" would conflict with another keyword or the naturalness of the page for your human visitors, then I wouldn't force it. Look for possible backlinks from internal pages instead - and use natural anchor text within the content area. Don't mess with the main menu, for example.

Sometimes you can also bang into a limit with what you can do on-site and on-page. If you see that happening then don't push too hard. You might trip an algorithmic penalty or filter.