Repetition is Not Good Writing. Pic Courtesy of p0kp0k via Flickr
Word Counter is a free online tool that will count the words in your text and show you the most frequently used words in your document. You might think that part of SEO is repeating a keyword over and over again. And doing so will get you a higher ranking for that particular keyword. Not true. Too much repetition and you are in danger of Keyword Stuffing. Search Engines are wise to that trick. Also when you use too much repetition in your writing you will lose your visitors interest quickly.
People visit websites for 1 reason: To find what THEY need.
Whatever that need may be, you will not give it to them by serving your own interests before theirs. For instance, you clicked on this page for a reason. You most likely wanted to learn something about repetitive writing. Now I could either mention the keywords “repetitive writing” as many times as possible in a effort to SEO this page for that phrase or I could actually give you the information you are looking for. By giving you want you want, you will most likely finish reading, maybe look at other pages, etc. If you are looking to learn, you will have found what you needed. If you are a prospective customer maybe you will find the confidence in ELC’s skills by reading our information and contacting us for help on your website. Either way you will have found what you needed.
The single best thing you can do when writing for the Internet and for SEO purposes is to use multiple terms and phrases to get your point across. Not only do you reduce visitor bounces, you also give Search Engines more words to offer to potential visitors. If you have a high number of repeated words you might consider using the website Synonym.com to find alternate descriptive words. Using descriptive words in your writing keeps your audience interested and reading your message. Using unique descriptions also sets your information apart from all the other information on that particular topic.
If you need further help in writing the Purdue Online Writing Lab is an excellent resource.
Whatever You Do!
Do not purchase software that will take what you write and alter it to create new content. You will end up with a website that is full of similar content. It might help you rank for certain terms initially… but Search Engine Algorithms pick up on this type of trick fairly quickly and will penalize your site. You also run the risk of preventing visitors from converting into customers. People are not dumb. When a person visits a website filled with similar content they will decide it is Spam and leave.
I think that people get carried away with bargain hunting. This is just another instance of where the customer gets nothing in return. I get mad when I do see sites ranking for terms they have no right to except for packed keywords and worthless backlinks. Kinda makes all your hard honest work seem worthless.
Allen, you have to remember that the gain in ranking is temporary. When SEO is done carefully and responsibly the site will keep it’s ranking over time while the falsely inflated site will lose it’s ranking.
I cannot WAIT just before read more of this. I mean, you just discern so much about this. So much of it Ive never even thought of. You sure did put a new twist on something that Ive heard so much in relation to. I dont believe Ive actually figure out anything that does this subject as heroic justice as you just did.
Heroic???? Maybe I should get myself a cape… 🙂