A fairly common thing that I see when visiting sites that have been optimized by a novice is the use of the <H1>, <H2> and the other header tags as little more than another opportunity to put keywords on the page. Here’s the sort of thing I’m talking about. (Note that I’ve underlined keywords in the headers for emphasis.)
Red Widgets For Sale
We supply red widgets to businesses of all sizes, regardless of their CM292 status! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam iaculis ornare urna, eget congue ligula tincidunt sit amet. Vivamus sit amet elit sed turpis tincidunt suscipit. Sed vestibulum risus quis urna faucibus luctus.
Red Widgets Are Good And Worth Buying
Red widgets can be had for less than you’d think! Lorem ipsum proin vestibulum, lorem euismod ullamcorper ultrices, est urna fermentum ipsum, eu faucibus velit nunc et tellus. Donec nibh elit, vestibulum nec dignissim nec, suscipit quis mi.
Red Widgets Are So Great
They really are the best kind of widgets and if you are serious about widgets, you need to get some! Lorum ipsum auris pharetra eleifend ipsum accumsan rutrum. Duis dapibus lorem in massa laoreet eu viverra lectus tincidunt. Morbi in tempor purus.
While this increases your raw keyword count and accompanying density, Google and the other search engines look at more than that when determining the quality of information presented. Headers need to provide structure to your readers, to show them content that is sorted from most important to least important in regards to the page’s topic. You should also look at headers as a way to place keywords relevant to your topic in the appropriate order. A better example would go as follows:
Red Widgets For Sale
We supply red widgets to businesses of all sizes, regardless of their CM292 status! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam iaculis ornare urna, eget congue ligula tincidunt sit amet. Vivamus sit amet elit sed turpis tincidunt suscipit. Sed vestibulum risus quis urna faucibus luctus.
What To Know Before You Buy Red Widgets
Red widgets can be had for less than you’d think! Lorem ipsum proin vestibulum, lorem euismod ullamcorper ultrices, est urna fermentum ipsum, eu faucibus velit nunc et tellus. Donec nibh elit, vestibulum nec dignissim nec, suscipit quis mi.
Red Widget Financing is Available
We make it possible for any business to buy red widgets with our financing options! Lorum ipsum auris pharetra eleifend ipsum accumsan rutrum. Duis dapibus lorem in massa laoreet eu viverra lectus tincidunt. Morbi in tempor purus.
Search engine spiders will see that this page provides authoritative text on the topic of buying red widgets, even as I’ve conveniently arranged them by their (completely theoretical) search volume that matches the (completely theoretical) order of relevance. Of course, if a term like “red widget financing” had a massive amount of volume, it could well get its own page that would then be ordered by headers in the same fashion.
This goes back to a central point that’s frequently missed in discussions about SEO: the reader should come first. What’s the point of getting someone to a page if they see just keyword-packed text with no thought applied to its flow? The more relevant information that you provide to your customers, the more likely they are to view your site as a resource, even if they don’t purchase on their first visit.
