You don’t have to be an expert in SEO to produce results with your website. You just have to know the basics, so that you can have a better idea of what you are doing and how to get the best results when you are using keywords. Here are some very basic things that you should know about SEO and keywords on your website and in your articles to get the results that you deserve.

1.  SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This basically means that you are trying to make your website or articles more popular among Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. Therefore, you should follow their best practices and use the keywords that they tell you are popular.

2.  Never use a keyword that isn’t relevant to your product or business. Not only does this look bad, but it can also confuse your customers. It doesn’t matter if there are 200,000 hits for a keyword that might be close to your niche if it isn’t exactly spot-on. Focus on the most popular keywords that ARE relevant.

3.  Always use keywords in your titles and headlines. The best way to be noticed is to put the keyword out there as the first item on the page. This will get the attention of search engines and get the attention of your readers as well.

4.  Make sure that keywords do not comprise more than 1-3% of the article content (4-10 times per 400 words), or you can be banned from search engines for keyword stuffing.

5.  Create a site map of your website–always. This lists and links to the other pages on your website. It also makes it much easier for search engines to check out your site and give it a proper ranking in search results. The easier you make it for search engines to see your SEO in action, the faster you will improve your rankings.

These are basic tips that anyone can handle for their website, even if they have little to no experience with SEO in the first place. You don’t have to understand everything about SEO as long as you know that keywords matter and you have to use them properly if you want the best results. As a final caution, always take the time to evaluate your progress and monitor your results so that you can ensure that you are getting the most from your SEO.