Keywords: The 21st Century Personal Ad

In today's world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it's all about keywords. Also known as metadata, metatags, or simply tags, keywords are the little slices of code that we use to define our site kind of like the old personal ads in the Nickel Nick. "SWF BBW 42YO NS ISO FS P SAM  40-55YO for FTA. LTR ONLY NO CD, MBL or LDR. 420 OK." Search engines use these descriptors to classify and rank our sites just like randy singles perused the personals on a Friday night.

Back in the day, SEO companies used various nefarious tactics to artificially bump up search rankings but Google and others have become wise to these practices and now ban sites using them. Just like using the descriptor SBF on your personal when you are actually SBTG, don't misrepresent your site. It will only cause long pauses in conversation at the Starbuck's when you meet up. Check out this article on banned SEO tactics. It explains that going crazy with keywords is a sure-fire way of getting your site ignored. Make sure your keywords actually pertain to your site no matter how much you'd like to throw in "sexy coeds" or "jello wrestling". It simply won't help.

So the question is how many keywords do you need to be effective and not put you on a blacklist. In the old personal ads, you only had a column inch of print space to sell your desperate self. On the web you can have millions of keywords. You aren't limited to simple classifiers like HWP. You can be of average build, tall enough for your body, not overweight, adequately framed and of moderate stature all at the same time. A good starting point as to the number of keywords you'll need is to compare your site with your competitors. One of the best tools for gauging your keyword strategy is SEMrush.com. This site is a gold mine of information about your own site and your competition. As an online marketer you should definitely spend a few hours on this site. It will open your eyes as to how search engines perceive your site and suggest ways to increase your visibility.

The best place to start regarding keywords on SEMrush is the Organic Search tab. Here, clicking on the Competitors button, you can see how you're stacking up. Generally speaking, the greater number of keywords you have the higher your ranking. The number of keywords must reflect the quantitly of your product or service line. If you are an online retailer and you sell ten products then having 5k keywords is ridiculous. But if you have 10k products in your line then having 5k keywords is totally inadequate. Other factors are also involved in ranking but pretty much it's that easy - add more meaningful words, get more hits.

Although the way we are ranked is partly out of our control, how WE define ourselves is totally within our control. Don't be afraid to add "VGL Domme D SWF SOH WLTM Sub J M P TS 65YO+ for B&D" to your tag list if that truly reflects your site. And frankly who want's to be home alone on a Friday night.

Adding Meta Tags to a Blogger Blog

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the buzzword in online marketing these days. Many businesses have been founded promising higher Google search rankings to greater or lesser success. A common SEO strategy is to add search terms to a website. Part of the code that comprises a website is hidden. Called meta elements, they contains information about copyright, owner, publisher, a description of the website and search terms known as tags.

The meta tag strategy is fairly simple - add meaningful tags to your website and the big search engines will find your site and rank you accordingly. Then customers will crash your server with an avalanche of sales because you are listed at the top of a search page. Because, frankly, we know our customers are are just too lazy to hit the next button on the bottom of the page.

As I was trying to implement this killer new technique for exploding my monthly web traffic I noticed a huge omission on Gooble's Blogger, IT HAS NO TOOLS FOR META TAGS!!! Descriptions, yes. Tags, no. Check out this image from my blogger settings:



After doing a search for meta tags I found Google's own stab at explaining the complexity of writing this type of code. Their video makes watching a bowling tournament on television a viable alternative. What Google needs is a dynamic, exciting host, not another passionless computer nerd droning about coding.

Anyway, further down the search page I found this site that can generate the HTML code you need. Now I'm not much of a web developer, frankly I know barely enough to add links and make text bold. But I do know how to cut and paste. And that's all it takes to add meta elements. Blogger Tricks' Free Online Meta Tags Generator Tool is pure web gold. It easily does what I wouldn't take the time to learn in HTML code.

Simply enter your title, description, keywords, author, owner and copyright into the text fields and hit "continue" and it kicks outs beautiful HTML code. Now here comes the copy and paste part. Copy the code then open Blogger's Dashboard and navigate to the Template controls. Then click on the "edit HTML" button. Now you're ready to start coding.

Let's find within the Blogger code the line where we need to paste our new code into. Hit command+f on your Mac keyboard or control+f on a PC. A text box should appear. Enter the first few characters of the line below and hit enter. This should take you to where you need to paste the new code.



Set your cursor at the end of this line within the Blogger code and hit return. Now paste your meta elements code on the new line. It'll look similar to this:



Make sure you hit the "save template" button and you're done. The search engine gods will rain hit upon hit on your site. You will now be wealthy and famous. Now go in peace; the avalanche begins momentarily.