Search engines generally give more weight to the first 200 words within a page. Therefore, it is very important to make sure that keywords are used appropriately near the top of the page and proportionally throughout the page.
It is also important to consider the use of keywords in headings and anchor text (link text). Using keywords appropriately within headings gives emphasis to the importance of those particular keywords to the theme of the page. Headings should be used as short descriptions (1-5 words) of the subject matter that follows, similarly to the way roman numerals are used in an outline. Incorporating keywords into these heading tags gives priority to these keywords in terms of their relevance. The same can be said for the use of keywords within anchor text. Having keywords within anchor text implies that there is a link to another area on your site or externally that provides even more information related to these keywords, serving to enhance the idea this keyword is important to the theme of the site. In addition to making sure that keywords are distributed well throughout the visible page content, they may also be incorporated into image alt tags to reinforce the theme of the page. It is important that keywords used within alt text are truly relevant to the image and are kept to a length appropriate to the size of the image.
In the process of incorporating keywords into a page and a site, it is extremely important to remember that keywords can be overused and become detrimental to rankings. Keyword stuffing in Meta Tags, headings, anchor text, alt tags, or within the page content is an indicator of spam techniques. This practice is frowned upon by the search engines and can ultimately result in penalization. Use keywords only as they are truly relevant to the subject matter and in a manner that makes sense to the average user.
