The search engines are getting very smart these days. With the surge of free article sites that are appearing all over the net, they are paying more and more attention to the content of your articles. A free article could possibly turn up on thousands of sites so how on earth can the search engine index your free article and not the others. Ok, back links are great but I want more than that, I want to be seen on Google's directory as well.

Ok, writing your article. Think about your site topic. Basically I use a rule of thumb, I will exclude all the major search terms for the content of my site. No point in competing with literally millions of others. There are many programs that allow you to collect the search words for your subject. Ok this is where I start doing things a little different.

Try not thinking search word and start thinking search phrase. It absolutely amazing how many search phrases are used by people. Forget words like 'television' and start thinking in terms of '32 inch flat screen tv'. Forget 'free music' and think in terms of 'free music to download now'. Visitors will use the most obscure terms. Try to use the search box the way you would speak. Think of the age group that you are attracting and if it's teenagers for instance, you need to tone down the etiquette as the youth speak their own language! Incorrect spelling can also be good - letters such as 'z' and 's' as in teens or teenz.

Ok we now have a set of search phrases so how do we use them? There is a specific method which will give you an advantage. Remember the search engines don't always index your whole article. They tend to make a decision based on the first few words that make sense. It's no use saturating your article with keywords. Far better to be sparing and sensible.

1. Make sure that your main search phrase is inserted within the first sentence making sure that this sentence make sense.

2. Insert the same key phrase once more in the first paragraph.

3. Insert the same key phrase in the rest of article. A 3% density is just about right, that is three keywords or key phrases to every 100 words.

If you carry out the basics correctly you will enhance your chances of recognition. Don't be fooled into thinking that the engines need to see lot's of keywords. Be subtle, be clever and you will get your rewards. It's also worth considering hiring professional ArticlesandContent writers to author your articles.