Because Random Words Just Aren't Good Enough
SEO. The dread of most website and forum owners. That horrible thing that is always in the back of your mind, picking away at your brain with no clear way of solving the how and why. Google, while it can be your best friend is at the same time your greatest enemy. How can you truly use words to benefit your site?
The common thing I see happen all the time on blogs is an article being written to best interest the readers. This is obviously a necessity, if no-one reads the post what is the point of making it? However, once this post is written, tags are then added to it that somewhat relate to it, maybe are mentioned in the article once, but in general they are just what the writer believes should be connected to the post. Unfortunately, this is not the way it works. These tags are your most important source of SEO, but only if used correctly.
So, how do you write an article that both interests your reader, doesn't become too repetitive and despite this uses your keywords several times over and in the correct context? It is starting to sound rather complicated isn't it? At first it is, and it will take you a lot longer to write your articles. However, after some practice things will go a lot easier and quicker. I am by no means an expert at this, it still takes me a long time to get my articles to a level at which I am happy with them, but it is possible.
Start by selecting your keywords, but stay away from the obvious. Using words or phrases such as "successful forum" or "big traffic" are not going to get you anywhere. Why? There are just far too many occurrences of these particular words and phrases on the internet for them to warrant any attention. Google uses complex algorithms for its search ranking system and it isn't going to list you above all the hundred of other sites with content similar to yours.
Instead you need to stand out. Look to use phrases that are a bit more unusual, or that have a greater meaning. Select a phrase to build your article around such as "value of forum currency". Once you have chosen this phrase you can start building your article. Do not use this direct phrase more than twice in the article though, for this is where similes come in. Similes are one of the most underrated and underused items in SEO and Google does recognize them to a certain extent, as long as they aren't too farfetched.
Once you have built your article around this particular phrase, you will want to locate keywords that are similar. For example with "value of forum currency", keywords would be inflation, deflation and exchange rate. These are all related to currency, but you would also have to include words such as message board, threads, posts and topics. Tying all these in together within your article isn't noticeable to the reader, but it is to Google. Have a go, experiment and explore the English language, it could be a good experience!
