By Vicki Donnowitz

Do you know what relevancy is as it relates to the internet? Have you heard people talking about key words, key phrases, meta tags, keyword density, automated crawlers, algorithms or index? Do you know what it all means? Do you even care?

Well, you should care if you have a website and you want people to find you. Content relevancy is the way in which the search engines rank how well a particular website actually fulfills the search request. A properly optimized website will receive highly targeted traffic from serious buyers. This is exactly what every business needs today – highly qualified lead generation and increased sales!

How do they rank the relevancy? It can be both scientific and subjective; each search engine measures relevancy using algorithms, but still has some human input on the calculation, therefore not all searches are created equal. Major search engines include such names as Google (of course), Yahoo!, MSN, Ask.

Most search engines send out an automated crawler, also known as a spider or bot. They find new and updated pages on the web, make a copy and then index them. When someone queries a search, the engine looks in its index and creates a list of results with regard to relevancy. Most people do not search through more than the first 3 pages of results displayed. That’s why it is important to be at the top of the list, preferably the first page!

Can search engines find you? Of course they can, if you are optimized on the right keywords and key phrases. You should pick words that any ordinary person would normally use on Google to look for your specific website or article. Always use your keywords or phrase in the title of your article. Use keyword tools to help you in choosing the correct keywords for your content writing. WordTracker is a great one and it has a section called ‘Academy’ with lots of free information.

Do you know why (on the internet) it is important for you to keep focused on a theme and keep repeating it over and over again, but not too much? You do not want to cover too many topics on a website or in an article; keep it tightly themed and focused to get the best results. A micro site linked back to your core site is a great way to promote individual messages. You need the right amount of keyword density or keyword occurrence in your content. Write naturally and make your copy look more like a news article. If too much of the content is focused on just one word or phrase used excessively, you have the chance of getting blocked, causing more harm than good. The keyword phrase should be spaced throughout the entire text body in order to have relevancy. A good rule of thumb is once every 100 words.

What do you have to do to gain more relevancy and move higher up on the search engines? Content is king! Good relevant content! Put lots of content on your website and micro sites; including blogs, articles, resources, video, and power point. Then, take that same content along with some new content and update and post it all over the social networks. This leverages your content assets. Social media is building like a tidal wave and you must get ahead of the masses. Get connected and linked, not just through a couple of social networks, but as many as you can. If you don’t know how, just ask! But whatever you do, don’t wait! See you on the internet!

Vicki Donnowitz

Vicki is a Business Advisor with Forward Progress, Inc. and Vice President with MyeReputation. She has over 25 years of management experience as a senior executive in corporate, entrepreneurial and rapid growth companies. Visit her website www.vickidonnowitz.com. Email her at [email protected].