Two for the price of one: Can I rank for multiple keywords when only targeting one keyword?
-
If I'm optimizing for a specific keyword, is it accurate to assume that by ranking for that specific keyword that I will also be able to rank for similar or root keywords merely by ranking for the original keyword?
For example, if I'm targeting 'free online bucket list' is it safe to assume that I will also be able to inadvertently rank for 'online bucket list' or 'free bucket list'? Can I assure clients of this?
Or if I'm targeting 'Colorado grocery store' should I also naturally rank for 'grocery store Colorado' and not need to make both of these my targeted keywords?
-
When you are doing your link building target the following things:
-
Both terms in varied anchor texts
-
Target on page content to target both terms
-
Target internal link building for each term.
You can mix up techniques to achieve many positives
-
-
Something else.... You have the potential to pull search engine traffic for almost any word combination that appears on your page. In fact, many websites get more traffic from these "long tail" search queries than they get from their primary keywords.
The more different words that you have on a page the more of this type of traffic you will receive. We once upgraded a lot of our content from short descriptions of about 50 words to 300-500 word articles and the traffic went up 3x. Then upgraded to 1000+ word articles and traffic doubled.
-
Hey Derrick,
That is absolutely correct and for a couple of reasons.
1.) The onpage text supports all of those keywords
2.) Anchor text of inbound links can be exact match or partial match and benefit multiple terms therein (ask me if this doesn't make sense, there is a great whiteboard Friday session on this)
3.) As you improve your domain/page authority you will be mroe relevant in the eyes of Google and start ranking for more and more keywords you weren't even expecting to rank for.
One this I like to do is go through Google analytics and copy out all the keywords users have accessed our sites through, then throw them into the rank checker and keep an eye on the movements. This tactic gives you a holistic view of how the website is improving as you work on it.
Josh
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Should i target more low moz keyword difficulty informational keywords?
I have created a blog of finding the best outdoor basketball and have targeted low keyword difficulty keywords and they are getting some traffic also. But the problem is the homepage is not ranking position still I want to ask that should I target more keywords of low Moz keyword difficulty for gaining more traffic or not?
Keyword Research | | gabrelapaula220 -
Should I create additional pages for to try to rank for alternative keywords?
Hi I have my primary product page https://www.planacademy.com/primavera-p6-training/ - that ranks well for and is optimized for "primavera p6 training". However, I'd the same page to rank well "primavera p6 online course". Do I create another version of this page optimized for these different keywords? Or do I try to get the 1 page to rank for both? A bit confused here as to what to do. Thanks.
Keyword Research | | plannerguy0 -
Authority site targeting multiple similar keywords
Hi! I found a niche I'd really like to work on. I was initially targeting a longtail keyword but there are so many available for this niche I decided to just make an authority site instead. My plan is to have multiple pages with each page targeting a separate long tail keyword in the niche. There's probably going to be over a 100. Let's say for example it's an organic gardening niche. The website will be setup for the entire niche and the page titles will be structured as such: Best Organic Gardening Soils Best Organic Gardening Tools Best Organic Gardening Seeds I'd prefer it to be setup this way so I can target traffic for the term with and without "best". I'm wondering if this sounds a bit spammy or is acceptable? Any other ideas as far as targeting similar longtail keywords in the same niche on a single site? Thanks so much!
Keyword Research | | Kusanagi170 -
Keywords ranking however the URL shown is not related to the ranked keyword?
Hi, Some of our ranked keywords and URLs are not related. e.g. the served URL is not optimised for the specific keyword, any ideas? Thank you Daniela
Keyword Research | | EurekaSolutions0 -
How does Google Tell which are the keywords you're targetting?
Hi! I've quite a number of synonyms and common related keywords and i know that it needs to be only at one page instead of many different pages. The keywords are: delivery service singapore, delivery service, singapore delivery service and delivery service in singapore. Do i need to have an exact variations of each in the content of the page so that google will know i want to target for these keywords. Because i'm trying to make my page to receive an A grade for all these keywords in a page? Do i need to split the keywords into 2 different page to achieve that goal? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Caleb-Seah0 -
Google Keyword Tool
Hello, Is the Google Keyword Tool the only reliable source for stats on keyword search volume on Google? The tool returns "no data" results for keywords I would expect to have some, if not much, search volume. I would like to cross-check these results, if possible. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | nyc-seo0 -
Can I get your input on keyword usage in the title tag
Hello fellow mozzers! I've been struggling with my title tag and would like to get your opinion. We provide IT services in the Los Angeles area. I've been doing keyword research for the past week and found about 400 keywords from various sources. I then looked at my top 5 competitors on Google and analyzed their homepage title tags, the most common keywords that they use in their title tags are: IT Support Los Angeles
Keyword Research | | igor.pinchevskiy
Computer Support Los Angeles
Network Consulting Los Angeles
Network Support Los Angeles
IT Services Los Angeles Since it is recommended to have your title tag under 70 characters I've compiled the following title tag for my home page: IT Services, Network Consulting, IT and Network Support in Los Angeles which is exactly 70 characters, however my company name is an additional 9 characters, I think it would be wise to include in the title tag of the home page however I can't decide if I should exceed the limit by including the company name to the title tag or should I remove something from the title tag and then add the company name? 1. What do you guys think, is that a good title tag to use as is? 2. Should I add the company name without removing any keywords or remove a keyword? 3. I'm trying to target local traffic since I can't compete with the big dogs yet, so I want to be in the SERPs when someone searches IT Services Los Angeles, IT Support Los Angeles, etc... Do I need to add Los Angeles after each keyword, or I can use a single instance of Los Angeles like in the example title tag that I have? 4. For the other remaining 400+/- keywords I want to use some of them to create static pages and some for blog posts, is that the way to go? Any help or advice is greatly appreciated!!! Thank you!!!0 -
Keywords google takes into account
hello MOzzers, I know some words are not as important whenGoogle indexes or crawls ex the word "the" etc. I am curios what weightage google places on the word " google" when people search. Silly question?? maybe hee hee, but I would like to know. Its been bugging me. Thank you so much, V
Keyword Research | | vijayvasu0