Keywords separated location names in footer
-
We have a US based website, most of the traffic come from search engines mainly Google. We have comma separated location names of all popular places / U.S states where our products are popular (about 80 comma separated location names on footer of the website). Means, these 80 (comma separated) keywords appear on all 900 pages of the website.
Does these footer (comma separated) location names will prove to be comma separated keywords OR keywords stuffing on each page of website ?
The reason we need these location names is because each product page is having traffic from keywords having location names in them.
For example:
- "product1" in chicago
- "product1" new york
- "product2" IL
- "product3" california
- "product3" georgia
- and a lot more
Location based keywords are bringing in about 20% of the traffic.
Please suggest any good solution to this problem. Thanks !!!
-
You are so welcome, Waqas!
-
Thank you so much Bryan and Miriam !!!
-
Hi Waqas,
I would second what Bryan says, and more so now than ever because of Google's recent update to their Webmaster Guidelines (http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66358) which state:
Keyword stuffing
"Keyword stuffing" refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site's ranking in Google search results. Often these keywords appear in a list or group, or out of context (not as natural prose). Filling pages with keywords or numbers results in a negative user experience, and can harm your site's ranking. Focus on creating useful, information-rich content that uses keywords appropriately and in context.
Examples of keyword stuffing include:
- Lists of phone numbers without substantial added value
- Blocks of text listing cities and states a webpage is trying to rank for
- Repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural, for example:
We sell custom cigar humidors. Our custom cigar humidors are handmade. If you’re thinking of buying a custom cigar humidor, please contact our custom cigar humidor specialists at custom.cigar.humidors@example.com.
(Bolded emphasis mine)
What you are doing is a pretty clear violation of the guidelines. A better option for what you are trying to do is to create unique content that gains backlinks about terms you're trying to rank for....not simply listing a bunch of keywords anywhere on the site, and most especially in the footer. Google is really getting tough on these practices in 2012. I recommend that you work on creating a content development strategy.
-
Thanks Bryan for useful links...
Actually I am not worried about the internal linking. We have plain location keywords (eg. Chicago, New York, California) on footer, they are not linked. We want to remove them but at the same time do not want to lose local organic traffic these keywords are bringing in. Our fear is removing these keywords from footer may result in loss of 20% traffic.
Any alternate solution would be much appreciated.
-
I would not recommend these footer links just because Google might look at it as over optimizing.
I would run an seomoz on-site report and get as high of a score as possible.
Here is a WBF on internal linking structures that should help.
Part 1
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/smarter-internal-linking-whiteboard-friday
Part 2
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/internal-linking-strategies-for-2012-and-beyond
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
-
How & What is the best advice on Keyword Cannibalization & get onpage optimized perfectly?
Hi all mozzers, I am having confusion to understand the fact and importance to target a single or related grouped keywords which is quite broader in terms of relevancy being found within our business. Let's explain more in detail:
Search Behavior | | KammySEO
Suppose we have a website: abc.com deal businesses in "Party Supplies, Party Decorations" Where the term "Party Supplies" being used exact or randomly many places, please see below finalized Titles respective to each landing page: abc.com/birthday/
title - Birthday Party Supplies - Kids Birthday Party Decorations Ideas abc.com/wedding/
title - Wedding Favors - Wedding Party Decorations & Centerpieces abc.com/baking/
title - Buy Baking Supplies - Cupcake & Cake Decorating Supplies abc.com/occasions/
title - Special Occasions Parties Supplies & Events - Party Time My main concern is, do our keyword party supplies gets stuck with "Keyword Cannibalization" ? If yes then what is the best advice you folks like to input here in order to safeguard and optimize best our landing pages for the such broader related search terms within the businesses. I am looking for best answer here0 -
Google keyword planner shows low search volumes
Hello, There are some terms that you'd expect to see a lot of results. In fact, in the old days of Keyword Tool, I recall seeing thousands of results for a keyword like "anderson cooper". Today, I see a small amount as a monthly average. Am I doing something wrong? All I really want to do is find search volumes on particular keywords either globally or local to a country. And it's proving soo hard! 😞 Screen_Shot_2013_11_26_at_11_13_20_PM.png
Search Behavior | | mhamilton0 -
How do I get my report to show ranking for a location such as pittsburgh or columbus?
I am not interested in US ranking only Pittsburgh and Columbus as that's where my client's offices are located. Are there settings to help me view our rank on our areas? Thank you!!
Search Behavior | | IEInteractiveServices0 -
Location specific keywords when your not in the location
Hi, I've been reading lots of great stuff on location optimisation and have picked up some new SEO knowledge on this area. Usually I target UK wide terms but this is a new beast for me. From what I have read if you was going after 'Ironing Services Essex' you would setup google places, include your address across your website and submit to local directories using the same uniformed address. BUT what happens if you live in a town 10 mins outside of Essex, your address doesn't contain Essex or Essex postcode on your website, the Google places pin is outside of the Essex area etc, well hopefully you get the idea. Basically Lets say your company is 10 mins from the area you want to rank for, it's easy for you to get into the location and do business but your address is different to the location you want to target because you live in a village 10 mins outside of the area (city) you want to target.
Search Behavior | | activitysuper0 -
Would you say it is more bennificial to seperate keywords in the title tag tag of a page using a common ( keyword , keyword | Domain.com) or using a hyphen as SEOmoz best practices reccommends (keyword - keyword | domain.com)?
Title tag best practices according to seomoz is the following keyowrd - keyword | brand.com but I have seen some interesting results from using a comma as to a hyphen to seperate keywords as reccomended and wanted to know which method is more crawler friendly.
Search Behavior | | JHSpecialty0 -
Why does my keyword report show for my keywords by keyword report zeros, while the summary shows 400+ for all keywords?
Why does my keyword report show for my keywords by keyword report zeros, while the summary shows 400+ for all keywords?
Search Behavior | | PureStorageMarketing0 -
Location subdomains?
We were contacted by a company that claims they want to build us a local. sub domain that targets only local traffic and operate on a rev share model. I'm very weary of this and can think of many things wrong with it, but I was asked to look into it. I'm about to give them a call to see what they are all about, but I always get great advice from the moz community so I thought I'd reach out to hear your opinions. Thanks!
Search Behavior | | ClaytonKendall0 -
Can we rank as a related search query on a competitor's brand keyword?
One of my clients wanted to know whether it's possible for him to rank as one of the related pages on Google for a brand name of a competitor. I honestly don't know whether it's possible so any ideas whether it's possible and if so, ideas on what can be done is greatly welcome. Thank you in advance. 🙂
Search Behavior | | als0070