Get submerged in the world of internet marketing long enough and you forget that other people don’t always know what you’re talking about when it comes to techniques and strategies.
Or worse, you forget that not everybody is aware of basic SEO fundamentals.
While doing some competitor research for a client in the realty industry, I came across some classic, old school SEO copywriting keyword techniques.
You know, the ones where you run different spacings on the word as if the search engines still can’t tell the difference between…
“key word” & “keyword”
Or even better…
“…key. Word…”
– that technique is still my favorite. Yep, I still use it.
The one I can’t believe I still see is the one where people still redundantly reuse the same keyword in such redundant fashion with the hopes the by continuing to repeat the keyword with such patterned redundancy that they’ll be destined to rank well for the keyword – or key word. Or even the key.
Word!
I don’t care what key you put it in, if you write like this:
“I want your love and
I want your revenge
You and me could write a bad romance
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh!
I want your love and
All your lovers’ revenge
You and me could write a bad romance“Oh-oh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oooh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Want your bad romance
(Caught in a bad romance)
Want your bad romance”
Then you better have a multi-million dollar promotion machine with recording studios, HD videos, models, distribution networks, and a top tier ad agency promoting an entertainer whose beauty comes from Mount Olympus before you dare think this redundant drivel is going to get you anywhere.
As Matt Cutts often points out, the way to get the rankings you desire is to write engaging content that people want to read, revisit, and link to is better than any offsite techniques one would want to implement.
And though there is some truth to the rumor that repetition of a keyword will better enhance your optimization for the term, but there’s no point to do it if it reads like a third grader’s hiccup.
Search engines have gotten much better at derivative searches.
Google has a wonder wheel that will let you see how their searches are related. Think of it like an SEO Thesaurus. SEM Rush, Google AdWords keyword research, and even Keyword Discovery can give you a bevy of phrases that will let you say what you’re targeting without having to be so redundantly redundant about it.
Try the keyword tools.
Use a little originality. Otherwise your copy will look like a bad romance.
A bad romance…
Here’s to hoping this ranks for the phrase “bad romance.”
(photo credit by Freedoms Fences via flickr. “Bad Romance” lyrics by Lada Gaga)
