One mistake I’ve seen people make is what I call Keyword Overload. Keyword Overload is usually caused by thinking that you have to put keywords for all of your major items (or categories, departments, widgets, etc.) on your home page. I know that you want people to visit your homepage, but your higher priority should be to get people to the exact spot on your site that will give you the best chance to get them to take desired action. Let’s break this concept down.

Your website does not reside on a single street corner like a physical store does. Likewise, your website does not have merely a single point of entry (aka doors) like most physical stores do. Your website sits on the information super highway and has as many doors as it has pages. Each of these pages has the opportunity to bring the customer directly into your site and right to the spot that has the item or info they were seeking. Isn’t it a hassle to go to Walmart just for milk? Have you ever bought milk at a convenience store (and paid more) just because it was easier to locate? If you build your website’s SEO properly, you’ll have people coming to your site and arriving directly in front of the milk aisle. They’ll find exactly what they want and get it from you.

This principle teaches us not to worry about optimizing our homepage for every keyword. Instead, make sure you have strong landing pages for each of your optimal keywords. If you want your keyword to be found in Google, then take the time to build a door to that aisle. Make sure the page has 3-5 good keywords in the Meta Keyword field. Look at the Page Title and make sure it is using those same keywords, AND it is a readable sentence or phrase. Then fill in a good Meta Description that contains a point of action (buy, sale, free, limited time, exclusive, etc.), reuses the keywords, and is also human readable.

Once you have those steps completed, take a few minutes and write up original content for that door that is rich in the keywords you’ve been using. Oftentimes a supplier or vendor will provide this content for you. While using this content is better than nothing, Google will recognize that the content is not unique to your site, and it will not give you a lot of credit for it. This is what is referred to as “shallow content.” If possible, avoid shallow content. If the item or category or widget is worth building a dedicated page, it’s worth writing unique content for it.

Now you can see that your site will still contain all of the keywords that you want to be recognized for, and you will be bringing visitors directly to the content they are seeking. You’ll give them a better web experience, and your company will reap the benefits. Remember: if your homepage is telling the world about ALL the wonderful things you offer, to Google it’s actually saying nothing at all.