Analyzing the Analyzers - Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization. It’s one of those trendy phrases that’s tossed around the Internet, yet most people have no idea what it really means. I thought I understood it and perhaps a couple of years ago I did, but the Internet changes with every breath you take and it would be more than a full time job to keep pace with it.
I originally studied SEO 6 years ago, but what I learned then, doesn’t necessarily apply now.
One thing that has remained the same though is the necessity to build a website around specific keywords. Keywords are the factors that make or break your website. They define how, where and even whether your site will be searched and presented on the Internet.
Basic Stuff about Keyword Density
When you search for information on Google, for instance, the words you type in the little box on the Search Engine page are keywords. Google, Yahoo, Bing or whatever ‘engine’ you decide to use scans billions of webpages looking for those words. The closer the match between what you typed and what the search engine discovers is the major factor that decides which sites will be presented to you and in what order. However, there are hundreds, if not thousands of other factors that are considered and the algorithm that carries out the search and decides what and what not to present remains a closely guarded secret. One thing that we do know about it though is that keyword density is of utmost importance. That means, the number of times the keyword or phrase that you are searching for appears, in context, on a relevant webpage.
If keyword density is so important, then it should be easy to check your website and find out how many times the keywords/keyword phrases, around which your website is constructed, actually appear to any search engine scanning it. The search engine is not of course, looking at the website as you do, it’s looking at the source code and specific elements within it, which include, META tags, title tags, alt tags and other hidden labels that can all be used to increase keyword density and make your website more attractive.
Testing your website however, is whole different ballgame! There are many different keyword density analyzers available and as I discovered recently, not all of keyword density analyzers are made equal.
Free Keyword Density Analyzers
I was given a keyword density tool to try out for free and was surprised by the strange figures it returned. I tried another programme and once again, the keyword density was lower than I could count looking at the actual webpage. So, I then filled up my entire browser tabs with different keyword analyzers and put them to the test. Indeed they are not all created equal and you might be interested in the results:
I decided to put the home page of this website Bright Green Future to the test. In some cases I only had to type http://brightgreenfuture.biz into the search box, in other case I also entered the 3 keyword phrases around which the page was built:
- virtual assistant
- virtual assistance
- virtual assistants
The results were most interesting and probably reflect the similar disparity amongst the criteria for each search engine. Not all search engines use the same criteria by which to search, which is why your site could be ranked highly on one search engine and not get a look-in on others.
Sorry this is not an interactive Excel table. I have run out of time to go through the really long process of inserting it as a table!
Free Tools used in This Analysis:
One of the free keyword density analyzer tools only found the phrase virtual assistant 4 times on the page, whereas another of the free keyword tools found it 12 times. On the actual webpage it can be seen 3 times in the text, twice in headings and once as a text link. The phrase virtual assistant also appears in the META tags, title tags and alt tags and appears a total of 14 times in the source code. Therefore, each program is using different page elements upon which to base its analysis, yet none of them found virtual assistant written 14 times.
The same scenario occurred with the keyword phrases virtual assistants and virtual assistance.
All of the 8 tools that I tested had their merits. Some provided useful page analytics, others offered information on how to optimize (from their own point of view) and some even gave a ranking for relevancy. My favourite of the free keyword density tools was provided byArticle Underground. It gives so much useful information about the webpage (see screen shots) I even considered it worth adding to my bookmarks.
If you’re really serious about building your own website and making it to the top of the search engine rankings, you really need to spend a few dollars (they really are worth the small investment), one of the more sophisticated keyword and SEO packages. You can’t go wrong with any these 3 tools. They all come with a complete money back satisfaction guarantee.
SEOPressor SEOPressor WordPress Plugin makes the process of of On-Page search engine optimization really easy and helps to launch any WordPress Blog into the upper echelons of the search engines. This should be a mandatory Plugin for every WordPress Blog.
Keyword Elite Dominate Adwords. Dominate Niche Marketing. Dominate The Search Engines. This tool finds the perfect combination of keywords for your niche and provides all the essential data needed to help you dominate that niche.
SEO Elite The Grand Daddy of all Seo Software! Put your site in the top 5 of Google Ranking In less than 30 Days!
Top Tip
How many times should I use a keyword on my webpage?
This is one of the most commonly asked and most often disputed questions in the webbuilders fraternity. The answer however, is incredibly simple. Search Goolge.com for that keyword and then analyze the keyword density for the top 3 to 5 sites from page one of the results. That’s how many times you have to use your keyword to compete! Of course, you also have to score points for links and relevancy, but that’s a story for another day!
