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by Wayne Smith
Keywords are the search terms people use to find a site. It is possible to rank content using backlinks but without optimizing for the keywords the content will rank for useless terms. The general idea for document retrieval is when a page is about a topic/keyword it organically has the keyword density and other factors.
Content that is not about a topic is a search engine pain point. The content will not rank for a diversity of topics regardless of how many backlinks point towards the page. It is not a penalty; a page trying to answer all queries ends up answering none. The page needs to be optimized for a keyword, even if the keyword is the brand name.
Keyword Research
Some research is required to determine the best keywords to use. Both the search intent and click-through interest need to be considered.
Keyword strategies should also consider and focus on new or fresh content and original content. There should be a strategy to keep the content up to date.
Zones for Keyword Optimization
There are both zones where keywords are a factor and zones where keywords are not a factor. Both are equally important to rank content for the correct keywords and exclude the words that should not be considered.
Main Content Zone
The primary zone for optimization would be the main content of the page.
Using a tool like Chrome's 'open in reading mode' attempts to show the main content zone on the page.
Within the main content zones, subzones exist with variable weights.
If no content exists in the main content zone, A technical Soft 404 error exists and the page will likely be dropped from the index.
The areas of the page that are not considered the main content for on-page optimization remain areas for off-page optimization. The links in the sidebar should contain a semantically relevant keyword to the topic of the page.
Keywords in the URL
URL site structure is the first opportunity to consider keywords. The URL plays a minor role for text documents and a much larger role for images and other types of content.
Problem free URL Structure for SEO
Meta Data Title and Description Keyword Optimization
The meta title is a critical zone for keyword optimization, at least one of the keywords or a semantically related term needs to be in the title. It is also important to determine the keyword search intent for the targeted keywords.
When considering the meta title, it is also beneficial to consider the click-through interest. If your business is open 24 hours and the competitor is not noting "open 24 hours" in the title, it will increase click-through rates, which will be noted by Navboost.
Navboost: User Engagement SERP Refinement
Above the Fold Keyword Optimization
The area visible without scrolling is an important SEO zone for optimization. It should indicate and match the search intent. Having a main headline, LEDE, or TLDR, above the fold that is semantically related to the query terms assures visitors they are on the correct page. It should be optimized for engagement and minimize visitors using the back button.
Optimization of the above-the-fold zone should include all information to assist the client with their search, such as trust signals for content that engage in e-commerce, Address information for local businesses, and key details.
In some cases, links to other pages with the key details are placed above the fold. For example a link to office locations or about us -- When a link is above the fold the Schema hasPart should be used to unambiguously tell search engines what content is found when following the link.
Like images schema impacts the page the schema is on, and the resource or page it defines. The schema description property is like the image alt text. The "hasPart," has a greater optimization effect on the page containing the schema, and the "relatedLink," receives a topical boost from the page containing the schema.
Both haspart and relatedlinks assist with optimization with the first being on-page, which can cannibalize and the second optimizing the receiving page without keyword cannibalization.
Schema created search features can also improve click-through rates.
Headlines and Keyword Predominance or visibility
The main headline or h1 tag should contain the largest words on the page for maximum effect. Predominance is not directly affected by using headline tags; Any tag can be used with an increased font size and high contrast between the text and the background.
Headline tags have a dual purpose, they are navigational elements for screen readers and when used properly assist page navigation for people scanning the page.
Headlines should follow a logical hierarchy structure throughout the page.
Keyword Optimization and Headline Tags
As an on-page navigational element headline tags have greater predominance than text blocks, and search engines can use headlines as jump to links from the search results.
Full Page Keyword Optimization
Sub-headlines should be used below the fold, keyword density is a full-page algorithm. Images should have alt tags. A table of contents (jump to links) may be beneficial for long pages.
Images
Images, like words, use space on the page and may, as such, be predominant features of the content. The alt attribute and URL or file name of images can aid in determining what they are about and should be optimized. The image search can use an image to decide what search considers the image to be similar to or the topic of the image.
Semantically related links
Links to other pages on the site should include semantically related keywords in the anchor. Links are more prominent than regular text as a keyword zone.
For example: Digital marketing includes a type of digital marketing known as SEO. SEO has types such as technical SEO, on-page SEO, off-page or link building.
Internal links with related keywords aid in keyword optimization when linking to semantically related content. A schema description can be used with these links like a alt tag can be used for image SEO; regardless of where the link is located on the page.
Keywords and Semantically related words in the main body of the page
Organically, if a page is about a specific topic or word; the page will use either that word, a pronoun for the word, or a semantically related word; In each block of text. Naturally, the keyword is used more frequently than other words.
A keyword density is produced when the search engine indexes a page and is a factor used to determine the queries the page should appear for based on the most frequently used words.
Keyword density for on-page SEO
Keyword/entity optimization in text blocks
Any word that can be proceeded by "this" is an entity. AI overviews, ChatGPT, and others look for the attributes and properties of entities in blocks of text.
Search Engines Can Not Read Content
When attributes and properties are found they can be used in AI overviews and ChatGPT sessions.
Full page semantically related keyword optimization
It can not be determined, as the results are the same, if related words are considered synonyms, related entities, or semantically related keywords. Regardless of the search engine's structure, the results produced would be the same.
The usage of (synonyms, related entities, or semantically related keywords) has been observed to affect optimization for the main keyword.
Non-Optimization Zones
Knowledge about the existence of non-optimization zones is critical to optimizing the page for the main keyword.
Using zones, that are skipped, is counterintuitive. It is often the case that some content dilutes from the main topic or keyword of the page, or cannibalizes keywords from another page in search. They may be advertisements or asides. Coupon codes you don't want to be searchable or an email address.
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Frames and off-page content
Content in a frame or object tag is not part of the page and their content does not contribute to the page unless schema is used. They can also be specifically blocked using robots.txt to prevent indexing.
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JavaScript content
Any content written by JavaScript placed on the page when it is loaded and before a user interaction may be exposed. The window for javascript to run when the page is loaded may be anywhere between 3 and 30 seconds.
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JavaScript language translation.
If a multi-lingual site is created using Javascript to translate the page. It is questionable at best for the translation to be completed fast enough to be indexed.
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True JavaScript interaction using javascript fetch
A Javascript that depends on the user to click a button before it fetches and updates the page ... whatever updates it makes will not be indexed.