Enough naming but not too much

Have you heard about using keywords to help search engines find you online? And considered that your business and/or product name is a critical keyword to get noticed?

I have often read about including keywords and business names in articles, newsletter and blog posts, and sometimes it even tells you how many times to include such words*.

Instead of some ‘magic’ number of times to use a word, I suggest writing it so the article is interesting and worth reading. Overuse of a keyword becomes obvious as a ploy and the writing then looses some of its credibility as a source of information.

In particular, how often can you mention a company name before someone stops reading it? Here are a couple of tips for use of a name in an average article,  blog post or web page (so about 500 to 600 words):

• do not start every paragraph with the name, and preferably only start one paragraph this way
• generally, once per paragraph is enough. I would only break this rule if necessary for clarity (e.g. “Word Constructions produces content for Acme Coyote. It is a big company. It also prepares it’s annual report” is getting confusing with the word it used so often so a repeat use of a business name would help)
• if the business style guide allows it, use a less formal version of the name after the first use – for example, only use ‘Pty Ltd’ the first type or use initials for subsequent mentions
• the name doesn’t have to be in every paragraph – try for at least one without the name included

* I won’t repeat those numbers partly because I didn’t bother memorising them but mostly because they are meaningless – compare if I said ‘add 2 tablespoons curry powder’. In a huge pot, 2 tablespoons may give a very mild curry but in a tiny saucepan it may burn your tongue! I’ve never seen an article qualify how long the article is for the number of suggested keyword repetitions…