No, not the familiar Google product, but the 'ad words' found in brochures, posters, advertisements, and yes, websites: the catchy phrases, slogans and mission statements by which marketeers hope you will remember their brand over all the others. 

They have an important role to play in your overall marketing strategy, but often they are mis-used in your website,  taking up space in html tags that could be better optimised to drive search engine traffic.

Take these examples:

• "20 years of delivery" (in a hypertext link and header tag)
• "Brings people and information together to reduce decision times" (in the description text that appears on a search engine listing)
• "We are committed to the well being of all our customers, partners, employees and the general public." (the first sentence that appears on the home page)

They exude trustworthiness, permanance, and all manner of good things.  In fact, there is nothing wrong with these phrases, except - try to guess what kind of product or service is being offered. 

That's right.  This might be the kind of thing that you want people to think of when thinking about your business, but they are not words or phrases that people use to search for a product or service that they want.  All of the above examples are taking up prime optimisation opportunities, and throwing them away.

So, by all means, use 'ad words', but put them where they won't do any harm.  Right up front, make sure you state who you are and what you offer, and state it more than once.  Use those header tags, the hyperlink texts, and the description fields to their best advantage.

The websites? An oil and gas services company, a consumer electronics company, and a plumber.  All of them are pretty good websites too, but wasted opportunities can creep in anywhere.  Take a good look at your own site and see.

If you would like to improve traffic and Return on Investment (ROI) in your website, contact Openia's Usability Team for an initial consultation.