Search engines like Google and Bing! work by scanning content on the Internet and ranking them according to their keywords. These are words or phrases that tell the search engine what the web page is about.

Using the best keywords in the right places on your web pages can help propel your sites to the top of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for Google and other popular search engines.

But using too many keywords in too many places on your web pages can actually be counterproductive to your purpose of attracting new customers, readers, or other website visitors.

An Example

For example, let’s say you own an auto repair business in Fort Myers and you want to attract new customers to your website.

Optimal keywords might include things like “Fort Myers auto repair”, “Fort Myers dent removal”, “Fort Myers towing”, “Fort Myers car repair”, and “auto repair in Fort Myers”.

When you put these words of phrases in places like the headline, sub-headlines, the first 100 words of your content, the last 100 words of your content, photo descriptions, and other places, search engines will see them and understand that your website is about an auto repair business in Fort Myers, Florida.

Keyword Stuffing

While you may have pleased the search engine algorithm scanning and ranking your website, it’s also important to remember who the web page is ultimately intended for: The viewer.

Search engines help people find your web pages. But it’s up to you to get them to stay and read your content once they arrive. If they find keyword stuffed sentences like this, they probably won’t stick around:

“Our Fort Myers auto repair business specializes in Fort Myers dent removal, Fort Myers towing, Fort Myers car repair, and other auto repair in Fort Myers.”

Keywords are important for getting your pages ranked high, but they shouldn’t interfere with the end user’s ability to interact with your web pages.