How to best utilize keywords using All in One SEO

[keeot]

Please forgive my noob questions here.  I'm using Wordpress with All in One SEO.

I'm launching a new video production company (www.heartwavemedia.com) and have spent the last few months building a website for it in my spare time.  Visually and structurally, it's there but I'm just beginning to tackle SEO.  I've read a fair amount on the subject but I'm unclear on the following:

1.  Regarding the All in One SEO "keywords" field on each page, are more or less keywords better?

2.  Should I be using a long list of broad, industry relevant  keywords that are plugged into every page (where All in One SEO gives you the "keywords" field) or should each page be targeting a more specific set of keywords?  Alternatively, is it appropriate to do that sometimes but not others?  For example should I be casting a wide net with my home page and then get laser precise with subsequent pages?

3.  Is my goal to pick one (or two or three) keywords that my research leads me to believe I could get some traction with and write copy referencing them across my entire site or to spread them around?

4.  Is it absolutely necessary to include keyword rich copy for each page or doe's the "keyword" field address that need?  Are they read the same by SEs or do they complement each other?

5.  On a scale of 1-10, how infuriating are the previous 4 questions?

In the event that your head hasn't exploded, I appreciate your forthcoming advice!

[Matt-Williamson]

No problem - well I would definitely look at removing the keyword cloud for a start as this just looks so spammy in my opinion and is likely to stick out like a sore thumb to Google. The other issue you have is that some of your pages with videos on are very thin on content and so all this repeating text in the footer across the site isn't likely to help in terms of duplicate content.

I don't see an issue with the pictures and they do look good apart from why do you have them on Flickr and not hosted on your site maybe I am missing something? I would consider adding another link to your top menu for the whats new links and have them on sub-menu as your other items currently do rather than repeating them on every pages footer as they look like targeted keywords to me. Adding them to the main navigation won't complicate things and at worst gives these pages more weight. I would also have one page that talks about who you are but I also think that repeating it across your site devalues your homepage content as the majority of it is basically your footer. In short I think the current layout will be devaluing your SEO, but the choice is yours...

[keeot]

Thanks again, Matt.  I'm starting to wrap my head around this.  Let me explain my reasoning behind the site-wide footer...  And to be clear, I'm referring to the section at the bottom of each page that reads Who We Are, What We Do, What's New, and Watch Us Work.

I didn't actually have SEO in mind when I designed it that way.  It just seemed like a good way to communicate some essential info (about, recent projects) and fit in some more fun stuff (behind the scenes photos) without complicating overall navigation (actual services provided, portfolio, client list, contact, etc.).

I like it in terms of functionality, communication and aesthetics and would prefer not to mess with it but I will rethink it's going to hurt me.  I know that SEs reward unique content  but I guess my question is, if SOME content is the same on every page (the footer in question) will that significantly devalue my SEO?

[Matt-Williamson]

Yes you are talking about the words that the areas you have mentioned above focus on but remember don't just use your keyword try and make your optimization look as natural as possible whilst including it in these areas.

Yes you have the right idea in terms of your homepage and subsequent pages.

Copy is very important when it comes to websites in terms of SEO. Search engines will see every element on that page as part of it and it will take into account the text wherever it is. Just remember that the higher up the page the more weight is given to that content. Descriptions of your videos will count as they are text on your page so they will be read when crawled by Google.

Can you just repeat your question on site wide footers as I am not sure what it is and can't see it above?

In terms of your footer I don't think it is a good idea to have a keyword cloud like you have repeated across your site as this just shouts over-optimization in my opinion and you are risking trouble as it is clearly there for one reason and one reason only - boost rankings! I also think it isn't worth repeating a paragraph about you on every page. In the current climate there is little advantage to your footer as you have it in terms of helping you rank - as I say content above the fold/ higher up the page is where the most weight is placed.

You also need to remember that only the first link on a page is counted, so repeating your menu in the footer has zero value from an SEO point of view.

Footer tactics for ranking are old hat and the likes of Google have wised up to manipulation tactics using them...

[keeot]

Thanks, Matt!  That definitely clears up my confusion about that damn "keyword" field and what to do with it.  Nothing.  Check.

So then, when we're talking about keywords, we really are just talking about words used across headers, titles, urls, image and video file names, etc., correct?

And that means that my home page keywords should be more broad like "San Francisco Video Production" whereas subsequent pages should look more like "Wedding and Bridal Video", right?

Then it really does come down to copy...  If my Wordpress site's pages are comprised of different elements like the main post body also a side bar (like here: http://www.heartwavemedia.com/video/business/), does the SE see everything as being part of the same page?  For example, if the body of a post is a series of videos would keyword rich copy in the sidebar count?  And furthermore, would descriptions of the videos themselves count?

That still leaves my question about the impact of my site-wide footer.  Anyone?

[Matt-Williamson]

I believe the keyword field you are talking about is setting the meta keywords on your page which unfortunately has no positive impact on your rankings in the search engines. The most adding keywords in this field will do is tell your competitors what keywords you are targeting at a quick glance. This field use to be used by a type of search engine called a meta-crawler and it was common that when you searched for something totally unrelated you would get porn as they would have unrelated keywords in their meta tags (this is the common example people mention when talking of such) hence why this type of search was surpassed for more efficient methods years ago.

You need to make sure you include your keywords in the title, headers, body and so on in order to target keywords with your web pages. I would have a look at seomoz beginners guide to seo for a better understanding of on-page optimisation.

Btw you do want to do some keyword research in order to identify which keywords you want to target in relation to you niche but don't try and target the same keywords with every page and I would focus on one rather than multiple keywords per page personally But the trick is to write decent content that adds value and is natural not just aimed at targeting a keyworI in the search engines.

hope this clears things up...