Many times, webmasters make the mistake of limiting their keywords to just a few select phrases. While having a comprehensive strategy revolving around a few successful keywords is a good idea, you absolutely should not limit your site to these keywords alone. Keywords are the way that search engines categorise your website and in turn, the way customers and visitors find you. In your quest to dominate a particular search result on Google or Yahoo, do not develop a sense of tunnel vision. We will outline some key points in regards to expanding both your keywords and traffic.

You Need Variety

Many webmasters come to SEO developers with the premise that they want to dominate in one particular keyword. This is a terrible idea for a number of reasons. First, any competitor could ultimately surpass you in dominance for this keyword; where then will that leave your site? Secondly, search engines are much more complex than we may suspect, and failure to saturate search engines by pinging URLs (with keywords in them) and inserting multiple variations of keywords can lead to search engines downplaying your site’s importance.

Anyone who is wanting to increase traffic should be able to understand the basic premise that the more keywords you have, the more potential chances there are for visitors to find you. While it is highly discouraged to use any and all keywords you come across, you can create a “keyword web” and brainstorm for ideas that branch off of one another. If your site pertains to treatments for bites, then you may also want to consider branching off and offering content on treatments for rashes as well. Ignoring the need to diversify and failing to monopolize a variety of keywords is the biggest downfall of many potentially successful websites.

Overuse Can Hurt

Not only will a lack of variety when it comes to keywords hurt your chances to attract new visitors, the overuse of specific keywords can have a profound negative impact on your site’s rankings. If your strategy has been to focus on just one keyword, and that keyword has been used on every single page of your website, then Google is probably freaking out as a result. When keywords or anchor text are used “excessively”, your site will be penalized and downgraded in search results. Suddenly, that strategy of dominating just one search result becomes a reality of dominating nothing at all.

Are you now wondering whether or not your site has been penalized due to over-usage of a particular keyword? Rather than pinging URL after URL, you may wish to consider using a tool such as Pingler’s Multiple Website Search Engine Position tool to determine your current rank. Simply input the address and desired keyword and you will be able to determine your current position in search results. This is great for comparing various websites that are competing within a particular keyword; by investigating the differences on sites that are doing better than yours, you may also learn a thing or two about their tactics and what is working for them.