Keywords – More is Better, Right?

‘Keywords’. Even seeing that written down evokes the art of search engine optimisation in your mind, doesn’t it? Come on now, admit it. Despite the murmurings in the Force you’ve heard to the contrary; deep down you still think keywords are where the action’s at.

Oh sure you’re nothing if not a diligent small business owner, so you’ve done some research on the subject of search engine optimisation. And yes, okay, you’ve heard about that thing called ‘Panda’. You’ve read about that ‘Hummingbird’ algo-whatsit. And you’re vaguely aware that a ‘Penguin’ is apparently one of the scariest animals in the Google zoo. But really, when it boils down to it, that’s all just smoke and mirrors isn’t it? A recherché selection of technobabble that is needlessly esoteric and deliberately designed to obfuscate the subject matter from nerdling neophytes. Right?

Search Engine Optimisation – How to Make it a Fair Fight

If we were having this discussion in 1996 – or heck, even 2006 – I’d hold up my hands and agree with you that keywords are ubur important to ranking your website. In fact I’d likely buy you the first round at the pub, for bringing the subject up. But we’re not in the mid-90s or the mid-naughties, we’re in 2016.  And in 2016 focusing your SEO strategy purely on keywords, is like using strong language to win a fight against a guy who’s carrying a M16A4 assault rifle whilst standing on the deck of the USS Iowa.
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Not exactly a fair fight now is it?

The SEO Industry’s Biggest Grift

Naturally I don’t blame the small business owners who call SEO North Sydney & Web Design for bringing up the subject of keywords. Because the vast majority of them have been (unbeknownst to them) on the receiving end of the SEO industry’s most popular scam: charging per keyword.

“This SEO package comes with 10 keywords!”, says the shady SEO sales guy. “And this SEO package comes with 25 keywords! So which package do you think is a better fit with your website’s needs?”

“Err…um…well,” mumbles the small business owner by way of reply. “I guess more keywords sound better?”

“Of course they do! More keywords means more phone calls. And more phone calls means more money for you, Mr. Small Business Owner!”

“Well then, um. Okay. Yeah, sure. That makes sense. I guess. So I’ll go for the SEO package with the more keywords then. Is that okay?”

“Of course it’s okay! It’s better than okay, actually. It’s perfect, because it’ll cost you twice the price…”

*KER-CHING, KER-CHING*

And so the scam goes. With yet another small business owner getting suckered by the well-oiled sales-patter of an online mountebank.

Keywords Drive Strategy – Not Results

Google search has evolved well beyond the primitive keyword stuffing strategies of yore. SEO types know this all too well. But they don’t want you to know it. Much better for them to up-sell you based on the ‘more must be better’ logic of search engine shenanigans.  

Luckily for you though, that’s not the way SEO North Sydney operates. Because at SEO North Sydney & Web Design, all clients, be they large or small, get UNLIMITED KEYWORDS. Because keywords are a component of the content of a particular page, not the other way around.

Think of it this way:

Imagine you have a page on your website with one headline, one picture and 50 words of text. Now insert 25 keywords into that page.

If you did this, it would naturally be B.A.D on so many levels. Human beings reading it would cringe, and click away (as it would be so obviously ‘written for Google’ as to put them off). And Google’s all important Panda algorithm would penalise the page due to the quality (or lack thereof) of the content therein.

However if you have a page on your website with one headline, one picture and 5,000 words of text, how would 25 keywords look on that page? Would they look ‘forced’ or ‘out of place’? Or rather would they just effortlessly blend into the pastiche of the narrative?

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Four out of every five calls SEO North Sydney & Web Design receive are from small business owners who dwell on the subject of keywords because they’ve been ‘shaped’ by previous SEO companies to ask questions that the SEO companies know how to answer. But much like Pavlov’s dog continues to salivate, even though no food is on offer, so too SEO companies continue to sound the ‘Keywords’ bell, while offering little in the way of demonstrable returns on investment for the privilege.