Are there any strict guidelines that you all follow when writing or reviewing optimized copy. For example, I worked with one SEO professional who used the guideline that an optimized term should be used every 80 words throughout copy. Just curious.. -Andy
Every 80 words to me sound like a total stupidity ^_^. But if we talk about keyword density then a 3-4% keyword density is good and totally safe.
There is no rule of thumb on the number of time or keyword density percent. If you are the content writer, then write it as a well structured 300 to 500 word document. To do the "SEO" of the document requires the knowledge of what the keyword phrases' competitors have done. I'm have been doing this for years; Google wants quality content but does not reward those that create it. With the proper inbound links, we can rank garbage documents with 3 keyword phrases in it. But to find a content writer that can write and is concerned about SEO, I say "Learn On-Page SEO" and get your hands on a copy of IBP ( h ttp://www.ibusinesspromoter.com/ ). Run it against the page you have written and you will see where you should have added or removed keywords. Then sell youself to the Marketing Agencies as a SEO Copy Writer. They are very hard to find. And a little bit of HTML programming would help. And I tell ours, 1 keyword phrase per paragraph.
I guess a keyword for an 80 words is not enough. When you do some write ups, you should also consider that readers would gain something for it. You can't just post and post. Do you know about SEO Solutions?
Andy, I don't think there are any strict guidelines.....some methods work, other don't. But providing useful content that the search engines can find and index seems to be timeless.
The truth about keyword density (from actual SEO professionals): http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/seo-blog/index.php/keyword-density-seo-myth/
Stop writing for search engines and start writing for readers, use a particular term as many times in the article as it is necessary to get the point across and no more. The more you are able to appeal to the reader, the better your site will be in future due to all the free links you will receive from avid readers and referral traffic.
even i used to give such requirements to my writers.. But, many of my writers will not understand my requirement and the final copy that i receive will not be as per my SEO guidelines.. So, i have developed a tool for checking SEO, and have included a module especially for article writers. Now i will give just one requirement to my writers as "All articles must pass http://www.w3optimizer.com ", and there is no problem now !! However, as per your question, for every 80 words is not good, it may be treated as a spam.
I really like catanich's response, although all were good. And thanks for that link, Tyler You can learn a lot here just reading threads...
Its not strict guidelines. Just adopt the policy "Write for human not for search engines". And content is king. And interesting content always attracts visitors. If you use 7-8% keyword density then the content will be tasteless.
People say 3% is good but for a longer article, reduce it to 1.5% - really you don't want to get too much into this keyword density and start calculating words and to insert keyword after 80 words, stick to quality content only
how can 1 keyword for every 80 words be treated as a spam. the density in this case is only 1.25%? i follow a simple rule when writing contents. i don't calculate using the density. i write for my readers. i make sure that for every paragraph i insert 1 keyword. that's it.
some SEO are used in making 200-300 words for their article, and they must see to it that their keyword density must be 2%-4%...