Keywording - how do you go about it?

[Jimbo]

Fred Leise wrote:

Finding the right words to communicate the message of your website can be one of the most difficult parts of developing it.

I spend (too!) much time keywording stock photographs and websites that I've built for our rental business. Pictures sell and guests arrive, so I suppose that I've been successful at some level. But I often wonder if I was cleverer at keywording, would I be more successful at selling my wares - and how can I judge my effectiveness?

I recently pitted my keywording skills against an industry expert with - I have to admit - somewhat mixed results.
http://www.keywordtrainer.com/index.php ... rding-test

I wondered how you guys go about this essential task. Make it up on the hoof, use software or controlled vocabulary, or receive training?

Gite holidays in a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Jim

[CSE]

I clicked on the photo of the sign which implicates no photos.
Here are the key words for it.

Berlin, Berlin Wall, Europe, Fall Of The Berlin Wall, Germany, adult, adults only, camera, color image, communication, day, disposable cup, famous place, focus on foreground, forbidden, graffiti, group, history, horizontal, information sign, no photographs sign, outdoors, people, people in the background, photography, photography themes, politics, prohibition, representation, shadow, sign, small group of people, symbol, urban scene, wall, warning sign

Now some of these are quite obscure.
I would assume the descriptions above would be for a website where one could sell a photo rather than a website which we would all use.

[Jimbo]

I would assume the descriptions above would be for a website where one could sell a photo rather than a website which we would all use.

Yes, that's part of where I'm trying to go with this question. When I keyword a stock photo (say of a tunnel under construction), I don't only use concrete descriptive words of what is visible in the image, but also conceptual words and phrases conjured up by dark confined spaces like 'gloomy', 'claustrophobic' and 'dangerous'. Trying to cover all the bases for which a photo might be used and increase its 'hit' rate.

I wondered if atmospheric conceptual words and phrases should (and do) form any part of a rental website's keywords - or do owners only employ factual words describing their properties, facilities and locations?

Jim

[CSE]

Mm, now those with cave houses in Southern Spain would certainly not use words like dark confined spaces!!! As alt text I use the phase to describe the scene, I have never thought about using adjectives. I do not think anyone else has either.

But now you have raised the subject, then …maybe I should try it out. But this raises the question would it give you more business or just more website hits? Hopefully the later would turn into the former.

[Holiday Ray]

I wonder how the google seo searchbots would view being bombarded with so many words/phrases - in terms of 'relevance', I mean ?