Writing to a Certain Keyword Density

[thejenn]

Authored by: Jill Whalen

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/wha.../0309_jw1.html

A Snippet:

Write great, professional marketing copy while keeping your keyword phrases in mind. If they stick out like a sore thumb, all you've done is written spammy, keyword-stuffed content, and who wants their company associated with that?

[Mr. Man]

Ms. Jenn,
What's a guy to do when you've got a competitor using spammy, keyword-stuffed, repetitive copy all over their site? And they're ranking higher naturally than us. I don't think that the big three consider it "official" spam, but it's certainly unethical and obviously just written for search engines. There is some useful content between the lines, but you've got to wade through every sentence that is stuffed with keywords.

The site is an automotive products based website. They will have writeups of the products and "research guides." A (Read: "1") reasearch guide is great, but they've got the same research guide for every type of car, and all of the copy is the same as all of the other research guide except that the name of the car in the copy is different. All the other copy is the same. Page after page.

Fictional (VERY similar) Example: Acura Widget Research Guide, Buick Widget Research Guide, Chevy Widget Research Guide, etc...

Ms. Jenn, it's very frustrating. Thanks for any input, and my team and I look forward to seeing you in Cleveland next week.

Thanks,

Will Mahoney
Web Copywriter

[thejenn]

Hey there...just to note, I didn't write the article, Jill Whalen did.

As for your site... focus on YOUR site, not on your competitors. You can't do anything at all about someone else's site, save reporting them for spam if there is legitimate spam on their site. Even that is more cathartic than helpful though.

I know that it's frustrating to hear, but it's similar to anything else in life. There will always be people or businesses that seem to get ahead while cheating or stretching the rules. The question becomes if that's the way that you want to get ahead, or if you want to focus on building something strong, solid and that will last.

If the answer is the latter, then keep focusing on quality content, incoming links and increasing your ROI. You can build a great business even if your site never ranks #1 for your favorite phrase. I promise.

As for Cleveland, I actually won't be there. Matt Bailey and I no longer speak at The Karcher Group seminars.

[torka]

If you think the content on the competitor's site is awful, it's likely at least some of the other visitors do, too.

Ranking highly is nice for bragging rights and maybe for getting more initial traffic, but it's sales and conversions that fill the bank account. Typically, sites with really yukky obviously search-engine-targeted content don't fare that well when human visitors arrive.

Remember, just because they may outrank you (for the moment) doesn't mean they're actually doing better from a sales/ROI standpoint.

--Torka

[copywriter]

I agree 100% with Torka. It could very well be that visitors are gonig to your competitor's site first (because they rank higher) then immediately clicking away to YOUR site because they found the first site so awful! Happens all the time.

Don't let rankings fool you into thinking a site/business is successful. All high rankings means is that they are getting a good deal of traffic. Doesn't mean their site is converting.

[thejenn]

OT...Hey Torka! Welcome aboard, hadn't seen you around before.

[torka]

Hey, Jenn! No worries -- I just showed up on y'all's doorstep a day or two ago! Nice to be here.

--Torka

[KevinW]

The best advice is still, always was, and always will be: Write your site for humans, not spiders.

One of the benefits is the occurance of natural links. Who would link to the spammy site when they find yours more useful and relevant?

It takes more time to get natural backlinks, but it builds a better product, and eventually, you will outrank your competition. It's almost for certain.

[MattB]

Just because a competitor is stuffing keywords AND ranking higher does not necessarily mean that's what is causing the rankings. There are many additional factors and he may be ranking despite the keyword stuffing.

As it's been said - do what's best for the user. Convince them that you are the person to do business with.

[Jim2Macs]

I'll put my 2cents worth in and agree with everyone else. Build your site for YOU and YOUR visitors. Market to your nich and don't worry to much about the other guy. Learn from them, but remember, there's tons of new sites on the Internet daily, there's almost always going to be someone ahead of you in the rankings. If you build your site properly, in the long run you'll be better off. Again, just my 2 cents worth.