How to choose keywords

The best keywords are 2- to 4-word phrases that accurately describe what you offer using everyday language that searchers are likely to type in, and which aren't so competitive that you have no chance of getting on the front page. If your keywords are too general then they'll likely be too competitive, and even if you rank well on them your traffic might not convert well, since searchers are usually looking for something specific. But if your keywords are too specific then few people will search for your terms and you'll get few potential visitors.

 Note that since the engines rank pages, not sites, you will target different keywords on different pages. You might go for a more general term on your home page, and more specific terms on your inside pages.

1. Be relevant. Make sure that the description of your web site reflects what you have to offer.
2. Be a mind reader. Try to anticipate your prospective visitors' needs and meet them.
3. Be specific. Choose keywords with a narrower focus to face less competition.
4. Localize your keywords: make use of your geographical location, but avoid getting too specific. Also, be aware of the differences between words in different locations (e.g. elevator (US) - lift (UK), sweater (US) - jumper (UK)). Perform your optimization process accordingly to get the best results.
5. Choose a primary keyword for which to optimize your web page, and some secondary keywords that can be helpful in increasing the number of your potential visitors who use them in their search.
6. Use the available keyword research tools. They can be of great help, but don't neglect your own abilities.
7. Test your final list on Google (home page). It's time consuming, but it's a must. Otherwise you will end up using keywords that have very little chance of ranking at least reasonably well in search engines.
8. Make sure you use 3-4 different (but related) keywords on each of the pages of your web site. This approach has been proven to be quite successful.
9. Pay attention to your keyword placement. The best places in the HTML layer are title tags, header tags, ALT tags, anchor texts, bold/italic tag content, URLs, meta-tags and comments. You can use Page Primer, a tool that "gives you detailed, customized tips to boost your search engine ranking by analyzing your page and providing personalized recommendations for your individual pages".
10. Review and rewrite your site to include the keywords you have selected.
11. Use an internal site search function if you have a large site. Your visitors will navigate and find the info they're looking for much easier. You can also see exactly the terms they're searching on.
12. Check keyword density (how many times a keyword is used on a page divided by the number of words on that page). Theoretically, the higher it is, the better, but this could turn against you. You could risk getting penalties form search engines.
13. Target highly searched terms that have as little competition as possible. Nevertheless, if you happen to find a keyword with little competition, don't include it on your web site just for this reason alone.
14. Focus on the conversion rate: the percentage of Internet users that perform searches using the keywords that you have selected and convert into buyers (of goods or services).