Paying careful attention to keyword placement during the search engine optimization work you do on your website is usually a good idea. It might improve your search engine ranking, giving you an edge over your rival websites.

Before delving deeper into the subject, it’s necessary to make the distinction between on-page and off-page optimization. Both are important, but, as it will be seen later on, in different ways.

On-page optimization
In order to get ranked highly in the top search engines out there you must optimize every page of your site, according to specially chosen keyword phrases. Google, Bing and Yahoo all rank pages and not websites. This is why specific optimization work on each individual web page pays off.

After having a primary keyword phrase that reflects what your website is about make sure you choose secondary keywords which are just as precise. Depending on the density you are aiming for, distribute the keywords through the text in a way that does not affect readability. For example, you can place your primary keyword phrase once at the beginning of the text, once in the middle, and finally once at the end.
The primary keywords must also appear in the file name, title tag, text header (h1 tag), sub-headers (h2 and h3 tags), and in reference links.

Off-page optimization
The search engine optimization you do off -page is extremely important because Google sees it more essential when ranking your website than the on-page optimization. To make it clear, the content you feature on your site is the foundation and it should be of great relevancy, but according to search engines your links say more about you than your web page itself.

Be careful to what websites you link out and also, what websites link to you. It’s true that you don’t have full control over who links to you, but you can partner with credible websites similar to your own and have them redirect visitors to you. Having just one relevant website link to you is better than having five general websites do the same thing. Also, it’s preferable that you get others to link to as many of your pages as possible, not just the homepage.

When linking to other pages, include in the text link your main keyword phrase. Try to make it look natural though; if that is not possible then refrain from using the keyword phrase altogether.

Don’t use “click here” outgoing links because nobody really clicks them; moreover, they make your website look cheap. Be as specific as you can about the website you’re sending visitors to, but don’t use too many words.

Good keyword placement implies that after you finish optimizing your web pages and your links you browse your website looking at it as a first-time visitor. Observe how keywords blend in the text and evaluate the overall accessibility of your site. If the keywords are well integrated then they should not stand out and the text should flow naturally.