Meta tag keywords should contain a few most important keywords related to particular page. Every keyword listed in this tag should appear in the page content. Don't try to repeat single keyword, it can be considered spam. Some search engines including Google no longer values this tag. Anyway you lose nothing if you use it. I will use again the example with web hosting website. The good keywords tag can be: web, hosting, company, php, mysql (if you offer PHP and MySQL support, of course).
Keywords in alt tags
What are alt tags? Try to move mouse pointer over any image on some website. If some text will appear near the mouse pointer, it is the alt tag content. The original purpose of alt tags was to describe the images for users which use browser which doesn't display images. In these days, alt tags can be useful for better images description and as an alternative text which is used in case that the images is not loaded.
If your site contains any images which display something what can be described by your keywords, always use these keywords in your alt tags. But never use keywords which have nothing to do with the image. That can be consider cheating and your site may be penalized.
Keywords in the website text
Use your keywords naturally in the text. Nobody can tell you the ideal keyword density but from my experience 3 - 10 % is fine. Most SEO consultants believe that there is no fixed ideal density. More likely the ideal density depends on the site topic. Anyway if you will write your website content naturally you will probably hit the mark.
If possible, use H1, H2 etc. tags. The most important keywords should appear in the H1 tag, H2 (H3, H4... if applicable) tags should contain more specific keywords related to the paragraph below these headings. Important keywords can be highlighted using STRONG or EM tags. STRONG tag makes bold the text and EM creates italic text. I suggest to use these tags instead B and I tags. The visual effect of these tags is the same but text in STRONG and EM tags are considered important by search engines.
Keywords in anchor text
Anchor text are the words in links. This is one of the most important on page factor. Every link in your menu usually consists of one, two or thee words. These words should exactly describe the content of the target page. In our example with web hosting company, there can be links in site navigation like "Web Hosting Plans", "Domain Names" etc.
Sometimes happen that you need more words to describe the target page content but the design of your website doesn't allow larger text. The solution can be the link title which is displayed when the visitor moves mouse pointer over the link. Here is an example: A HREF="domain.html" TITLE="Domain name registration or domain name transfer".
In the last part of this article, part 4, I will show you how to improve your website navigation structure and reveal some secrets about site age and its SEO effect.
For more webmaster articles visit http://www.marblehost.com/webmaster-articles.php . If you need quality hosting have a look at Marble Host - web hosting service offering Link Popularity Check, Search Engine Site Submission and more.
