Check Out How Google Uses Keywords to Determine Your Web Page Ranking
There are a LOT of factors that go into determining where your Google ranking is, at last count over 200 and climbing. And mind you, this is only a guess, using the available empirical evidence SEO's and webmasters have been able to divine from looking intently behind the scenes.
There are at this count in excess of 200 items that play a part in the Google search algorithm, and keyword relevance is one that we'd like to focus on here. We feel that keywords, while only a factor, influence the remainder of the ranking in many ways. In a way, it's where everything starts.
One is through the use of keywords. We've always known that keywords play a huge part in web page ranking. Back in the day people could rank highly simply by stuffing their pages with the keywords they wanted to rank for, and presto, they were perched high atop the rankings.
This is not to suggest you can't do well by strategically inserting keywords in all of the right places. Indeed, you need to do this. You just have to do it naturally.
How to use keywords to boost your search ranking
There are specific ways to use your keywords to help your search ranking. These include things like making sure they are in the title tag, page titles, page URL, H1-5 tags, and within the content itself.
Today having the keyword in your URL, title tag, H1-5 headings and sprinkled judiciously throughout the content is the best way you can help your cause.
What keyword tactics can hurt you
Try to stuff keywords in this day and age, or use cloaked content, and you'll end up on the wrong end of a Google penalty.
One more way is through the improper use of anchor text in your site's backlinks. Having all the backlinks that appear for a particular page using the same anchor text, and all be followed links, is a sure red flag in this current algorithm. Aim for as natural a link profile as you can create, and vary your anchor text with natural phrases that would occur, such as a few “click here” and such.
