Migrating to New site keywords question
-
We are converting an old static html ecommerce site to a new platform. The old site has excellent ranking for some of the products.
In order to maintain our ranking we will implement 301 redirects from old to new pages (as the urls will change to SEF).
I am using Googles Keyword tool (in adwords) and entering each page url of the old site (there are hundreds, I'm doing the top 50 in traffic) and generating a set of keywords, then sorting each list by global searches.
For each page, Google's Keyword Tool is giving me hundreds of keywords, but in meta tags there should be no more than 15, so I need a method to choose the keywords on the new page.
Question: in the new meta tags should we emphasize the most common keywords (as defined by most global searches) or the least common keywords?
I would hate to lose the good ranking for the least common (long tail) keywords.
-
How about focusing on the keywords and products that make you money?
My husband sells kits for model warships that shoot and sink each other. A high-volume keyword would be battleship, but that doesn't get us any sales. A low volume keyword would be uss iowa 1:144 scale turret cover, but that's a low-priced item that's not going to help us too much. For us, a different keyword makes much more sense.
-
Your original question asked what keywords to put in your META tags... That technique may have worked years ago, but META tags are worthless these days. So I think people were starting at square one to illustrate this fact.
Here's an idea - go to your competitors sites and look at their META tags (if they are silly enough to use them.) This will give you an idea what keywords (low or high competition/priority) they find important enough to target. Then you can go after those. (But don't put them in your METAs...)
And now a pointer for forum communications - try not to get so defensive. It's an ugly color and tonality never conveys well on internet forums.
Good luck!
-
Take your pick.
When you put these pages on the web they might be there for years so the small amount of time needed to make a decision can payback many times over with increased traffic and increased conversions.
I am trying to advice on best practices to maximize your return, not give you quick and easy.
-
I'm sorry I'm not making you feel helpful. You have been helpful.
-
Ok, got that and I agree that customer feedback and knowledgeable sales people are great reviewers of keywords and they are one of the primary sources we are using.
We have thousands of skus however and thus a we have a business need that the process be automated to whatever extent is possible.
We can ignore the Google Keyword tool results entirely - that's an option and perhaps a rationale one. But the Keyword tool is based on Google's own indices and therefore I think is a great source of keywords that have not appeared on our lists by other means. It also shows total searches and competition for those keywords so you can get a sense of what your competition is doing and how many pages already have those keywords pointed at them.
All that said, he question remains whether the most common or least common are more important to emphasize for SEO purposes.
-
whether most common or least common would be better for SEO
I use a lot more thought than picking the most common or the least. I consider the ones that best represent my product, the ones that I think people are searching for and the ones that I think will elicit clicks.
I also consider the power of my site and how I think it will rank against competitors for those specific keywords.
The google keyword tool is good for prospecting but when you combine it with a little knowledge of people, search engines, the power of your site, and your competitors you can get better performance.
-
I thumbed you down ssaltman--your replies aren't making me feel very helpful.
-
EGOL,
I have a very specific question regarding keywords generated by the Google Keyword tool - whether most common or least common would be better for SEO.
Your royal "we" makes you sound silly, but I'm figuring you hang around here because you know something about SEO.
If you google me, you'll see that I've actually built and sold companies before. I know something about SEO but I'm not arrogant enough to make assumptions.
My question was pretty specific. If you have an answer or comment on the question, I'd love to hear it.
-
We are telling you that we think you will make a lot more money with more knowledge.
We can't teach you the full scope of SEO in a forum. And we don't want to give specific advice on a site when we are guessing.
So, you can improve your knowledge or get assistance and probably make a lot more money. Or you can be satisfied with making less money.
I hope that this isn't a client site.
-
I'm not sure why folks seem to think I am completely new to this. We already captured all the incoming keywords and are implementing content and url nomenclature strategies around those.
Was just wondering if we should be using most common or least common google-generated keywords to boost SEO.
The rationale of using long-tail keywords with higher likely CTR vs. common keywords with lower CTR is compelling and I was trying to phrase to question to get feedback.
So far: question: 1, answers: 0
-
To line your new site up with the existing baseline of the old site, I'd be looking more at your stats than at the keyword tool. Go to your analytics and look to see which keywords were bringing you in the most traffic for each landing page and focus on those.
-
Well, let's take the question more generally then and ask:
which keywords should be emphasized in the content and the meta information: most common or least common?
-
Uh....ok
-
SSaltman,
If you're speaking specifically populating the keyword meta tag, you don't have to worry about it.
http://www.seomoz.org/q/meta-keywords-should-we-use-them-or-not
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/keywords-meta-tag-in-web-search/
-
You are rebuilding a site and that is a great time to kick your SEO up a notch and make a lot more money. That is how it should be done.
You seem to be putting a lot of work into keywords and meta tags but I am not sure that you are focusing on the right things.
Have you considered spending a nice block of time improving your knowledge of SEO before making this move or hiring a pro to map out the changes that will kick the performance up nicely?
That's what I would do. I often get advice from other SEOs before making big moves. It pays.
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
-
White listing a site
A new clients site is blocked by a lot of Firewalls. And I can't work out why, the content is family friendly they sell nursery equipment. I've run it through the Google checker and there is no malicious software found on the site. Can anyone tell me what I need to do to get this site unblocked? The url is http://knuma.co.uk/
Technical SEO | | Marketing_Optimist0 -
Meta keywords shown in Google SERPS as site description
I'm seeing Google display meta-keywords in the SERP description for some sites (at least a half dozen that I've checked). I BELIEVE IT IS AN AJAX ISSUE BECAUSE: The sites all use AJAX to display content. So the meta-keywords are in the header, and the javascript that displays the content. Non-AJAX parts of the site display properly in Google SERPS The meta-keywords don't visibly appear anywhere on the page. When I turn off images and Javascript in Chrome I don't see any hidden keyword text. I BELIEVE IT IS A GOOGLE-SPECIFIC ISSUE BECAUSE: Each site displays properly in Bing and Yahoo SERPS - the meta-description is the description. However, (as expected) I see the same strange meta-keyword activity in Aol search In Screaming Frog's SERP preview I see the meta-description as the description. Google has been ignoring met-keywords for years. Any idea why it's appearing in the SERPS for these AJAX powered sites? I found one other person who saw that Google may be reading and displaying their content in AJAX even though that content is meant to appear on a different "page". No one on that Google Forum seemed to understand the person's problem. The only reason I get it is because now I'm seeing it with my own eyes. I know the Moz community can do better, so i'm posting about it here.
Technical SEO | | AlexCobb0 -
What is the best way of inserting keywords into a social networking site
We have a social networking site called Yookos (www.yookos.com). As per the norm, many of the pages of the site carry user generated content and can only be accessed by the users themselves. i created a keyword list that our technical person the uploaded onto the site but SEOmoz shows that these keywords cannot be picked up.
Technical SEO | | seoworx123
What is the best way to make sure that our site is also picked up via search engine searches.0 -
Linking out to authoritive sites from my ecommerce site
Good afternoon SEOmoz community. I was looking for a specific answer or advice or opinion about linking out to other sites. My Site www.tacticalbootstore.com has been undergoing a complete content rewrite. In the process we have been told and read where it can be good to link out to other authoritive sites. One of the pages we have rewritten is here. http://www.tacticalbootstore.com/belleville-boots-sizing-chart-a-97.html We have not added the graphics yet as they are being built now. This is just an informational page about sizing of a particular manufacturers boots. Once you get to the bottom of the text we have added a link to the actual manufacturers page. Is this helpful for us in the SERPS or not? Thank you for your time. Chris
Technical SEO | | scamper0 -
Tags - what keywords should i add ?
Hello 🙂 When I am adding tags to my post, what keywords should i use for tags and how many tags i should add per post ? Should i use keywords from title of post , focus keyword or something related to post ? my blog is http://www.dota2club.com/ Thank you !!!!
Technical SEO | | wolfinjo0 -
Site Architecture Question on Ties.com - Navigation
I'm looking at the navigation structure of Ties.com. They have various categories like color, pattern, length, brand, etc. Once you click one of the main categories you get the option to "Narrow Your Choices". The structure starts like this: (URL 1) ties.com/black-ties Then when you narrow your search you get this: (URL 2) ties.com/animal-print**+**black-ties (notice + sign) My question: how does Google see URL 2? Is it just like any other link?
Technical SEO | | ErikDster0 -
Best way to redirect 3 sites to 1 new one.
Hi All We currently have 3 old sites that have tones of content. Due to brand/business consolidation we have merge all 3 to produce 1 website. The new site contains all the old content from the old 3. So, I know I need to 301 redirect all the old content from the previous sites to the equivelent content on the new sites but am confused how you do this with 3 domains? One of the domains is being replaced with the new site. So I have: www.domain1.co.uk www.domain2.co.uk www.domain3.co.uk All the content for all the sites have been imported into a new site and any duplicate content issues havce been resolved. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks
Technical SEO | | EclipseLegal0 -
Will 301 redirecting a site multiple times still preserve the original site value?
Hi, All! If site www.abc.com was already 301 redirected to site www.def.com, and now the site owner wants to redirect www.def.com to www.ghi.com - is there any concern that it's not going to work, and some of the original linkjuice, rank, trust, etc. is going to vanish? Or as long as the 301s are set up right, should you be able to 301 indefinitely? Does anyone have any experience with actually doing this and seeing good/bad/neutral results? Thanks in advance! -Aviva B
Technical SEO | | debi_zyx0