The best way to think of a "search term" is to think of what you, or other people, would type into the search box on a popular engine to find your site or pages on your site.

Most search terms consist of one to five words. It can be a single word like "dogs" or a more specific phrase like "best red dog collars".

Search engines use the words you type in and match them to pages across the web that they predict are the best answer to the search query. Obviously having the right words on your site and your pages will help the search engines find and choose your pages.

Common Search Term Mistakes

One common mistake is to give your pages names that don't help the search engines or users understand what your page is about.

For example, if you created a page about how the iPhone combines the iPod with phone abilities, naming the page "The Best of Both Worlds" doesn't work as well as "iPhone benefits" or "iPhone features." Learn more about page names.