Will using my Homepage as a KW target improve my Inner page Ranking?
-
Hello your help please!
I have 2 KWs that i have targeted Inner pages for and they have got them to page 2 in SERPs, but now its getting difficult to move them up to page 1.
Will targeting the home page with a higher authority, for the same terms, help or hinder the inner pages current position?
Many Thanks
Ash
-
Thanks for your help Jane!
I will get on to it and make the changes.
Ash
-
Hi Ash,
It's generally advised that you either target a keyword with the home page or with an internal page and not both, so depending on which resource you choose as the one you want ranking, I would target that page and that page alone. This is an old post but it illustrates the point well.
-
Thanks Jane
I have only just change the home page Title as i thought it might help give the internal pages a boost, but from what you say, its only likely to compete with them so i should change these back to more generic KWs on the home page?
On that note, if all my internal pages are targeting all my KWs, what should i target on the home page, previously i used more generic terms like, Personal Finance & Over 50s Insurance?
Ash
-
Hi Ash,
I haven't, but the code for the menu is definitely appearing twice in the source, once under
id="Mmenu" class="show-on-phones SpeedyDropDown"> class="MenuCenter"><a <span="" class="webkit-html-attribute-name">class</a><a <span="" class="webkit-html-attribute-name">="toggleMenu" href="</a>#">Menu <nav <span="" class="webkit-html-attribute-name">class="main-navigation"> nav
id
dnn_MENU2
and once under
<navclass="mega-navigation"><divid="dnn_menu1">I would say that the home page could be a good target for those two keywords, especially given you are prioritising it in key areas like the home page title tag. You have a bit of a keyword cannibalisation issue here right now because you have the internal funeral planning page and the home page essentially targeting the same set of keywords.</divid="dnn_menu1"></navclass="mega-navigation"> </nav>
-
This is always a tough decision. Typically I make my SEO mind take a backseat, and check the usability aspects. Are people utilizing all of the links in the Mega Menu, or is there a point in each section where people stop looking. If the mega menu isn't being used to it's full potential, then you can start looking at ways to improve the usability of those pages.
My favorite example of menu limiting is the Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ I believe Distilled worked with them on this. Ted Ulle would often present that people would click far more times into a site than the typical "3" that everyone quotes. He disproved it with several case studies. The way he achieved more clicks is by gamificiation of sorts. If you gave the user enough reinforcement that they were headed in the right direction they would keep clicking up to 6-7 pages in, according to him.
So, if I was analyzing the usability I would determine at what point would a specific visitor enter the site, based on marketing and SEO, and how effective is the website at getting them to the info they need?
I would then examine the home page to determine if I could effectively get someone someplace without the need of a mega menu. You have tons of options to choose from, so it would take analyzing the motivational force with each visitor, and using those sources to encourage a click in deeper.
As for the two menu problems, I do see it in the source when looking at it. You would be better off using a script to change the menu for mobile instead of having two separate menus.
I haven't checked any of this code, but this was a resource I found quickly: http://responsivenavigation.net/
-
HI Jane thanks for your advice the 2 keywords are prepaid funeral plans (19th) & compare funeral plans (8th)
The site is www.over50choices.co.uk
With regards to internal linking structures please see the response i gave Cody - have you come across this before?
Thanks
Ash
-
HI Cody thanks for this, I will check out the IIS Server issue later as i am away from the office for a few days, but with regards to my Internal Links, GWTs actually says that some pages have 1000 internal links and i cant find out why!
The site is built on a DNN CMS platform and somebody said that the internal links were due to the Mega Menu & Mobile menu doubling up the links, but i have never trusted this advice?
If you look at the site in google cache it shows 2 navigation menus?
Its always concerned me that every page appears to be linked to every page...?
How can i resolve this?
Ash
-
Hi Ash,
This can make sense on occasion, but we'd want to look at the specific example to know if this was the right move. Google would prefer to direct users to the most relevant page, which in a high number of circumstances is the internal page rather than the home page.
You can often see internal pages rank well for keywords where they have very few inbound links from third parties, due to the strength of the site as a whole and the site's good internal linking. For instance, there are only 12 unique domains linking to Very's swimsuit page (http://www.very.co.uk/women/swimwear-beachwear/swimsuits/e/b/1769.end), but the page ranks page 1 in the UK for [swimsuits]. Only Debenhams itself links to http://www.debenhams.com/women/swimwear-beachwear/swimsuits, which ranks one place better than Very for the same query.
-
Forget to link the IIS SEO content: http://moz.com/blog/what-every-seo-should-know-about-iis
-
Well, the first thing to consider is the keyword cannibalization: http://moz.com/blog/how-to-solve-keyword-cannibalization
Optimizing several pages for the same exact keywords can lead to lower rankings across the board. I just tested this with my own site a couple weeks ago, and it produced the same results as before. So, trying to rank your home page and internal pages can cause a problem. This isn't an exact thing, but it is possible.
One thing I did notice about your website is that you are using an IIS based server, which is case sensitive. That means that the server considers a /Health/ page to be separate to a /health/ page. Your website utilizes uppercase URLs in the menu, but still displays the lower case if types in. Are your external links going to the correct style URL? If not, I would suggest fixing this problem. You could be leaking authority.
You also have a tremendous amount of links on every single page. That means that the authority that you pass internally between pages is miniscule, and doesn't provide much value. Checking one of your pages I found over 400. 400 isn't a big deal with a super authoritative website, but with a DA of 27 you will struggle to get internal pages to rank.
Other things to consider on those pages is the page speed and server requests.
-
If your home page has content that is related to the inner page then there is a possibility. With all the Google updates, super relevant in depth content pages related to keywords have the best chance for ranking.
You should also look at the sites ranking on the first page and analyze all the on page and off page factors that are getting them to rank. Compare these factors with your own site and work on them to make it better.
-
We link naturally to the Inner pages with variants of the keywords and continue to link via blog posts varying the key phrases.
Ash
-
What's your internal linking like? Are you linking as often as reasonable to these inner pages with your keyword, or as naturally close to your keyword as you can be?
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
-
Page Rank Worse After Optimization
For a long time, we had terrible on page SEO. No keyword targeting, no meta titles or descriptions. Just a brief 2-4 sentence product description and shipping information. Strangely, we weren't ranking too bad. For one product, we were ranking on page 1 of Google for a certain keyword. My goal to reach the top of page 1 would be easy (or so I thought). I have now optimized this page to rank better for the same keyword. I have a 276 word description with detailed specifications and shipping information. I have a strong title and meta description with keywords and modifers. I have also included a video demonstration, additional photos and an PDF of the owners manual. In my eyes, the page is 100% better than it ever was. In the eyes of MOZ, it's better also. I've got an A with the On-Page Grader. Why is this page now ranking on page 8 of Google? What have I done wrong? What can I do to correct it?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | dkeipper0 -
Parallax site with snippets of internal pages on the homepage
Hello, I am working on a parallax site that also has an internal landing page structure. The homepage includes snippets of the existing copy from some of the other internal pages. My question is what can I do to the homepage to prevent duplicate content in this situation? We aren't utilizing the entire landing page on the homepage just a few lines. Would it be possible to place a 'no-index, follow' tag on these sections? Thanks in Advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Robertnweil10 -
Google displaying the homepage instead of the landing page
I have a landing page that was ranking before for web design philippines its http://www.myoptimind.com/web-design-philippines Early this year, we dropped our rank and google displayed our homepage http://www.myoptimind.com When i search for "web design company philippines", i rank. however, for "web design philippines" I am on page 2. When I try "web design philippines" site:myoptimind.com it shows the landing page as the 2nd result. Last week, we tried to change the content of the page to reflect content that is more related to the keyword and moved the old content to http://www.myoptimind.com/web-design-services-philippines. We also changed the title of the homepage from Web Design Philippines | SEO Company Philippines to Web Design & SEO Company Philippines Still nothing has changed. I just wanted it to show the landing page instead of the root domain. Any idea how this can be solved?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | optimind0 -
Using author on every page of website?
I'm currently get to grips with schema and one thing im using is author on my blog posts and seeing my photo etc on organic searches which are related. I see one of my competitors is using author on every page on their website, not just blog posts etc. Are there any recommendation when it should be used? Should it be site wide or is it really intended for blog posts etc? Would it be wrong for me to use on every page of my website as one of my businesses is myself as a lone person? This is what you get when searching for driving lessons in just about any town! https://www.google.co.uk/#gs_rn=15&gs_ri=psy-ab&tok=LS_DOrAHswmHC9_8AJZEJA&suggest=p&pq=driving instructor brighton&cp=20&gs_id=1k2&xhr=t&q=driving+lessons+crawley&es_nrs=true&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=driving+lessons+craw&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.d2k&fp=45c2f917e11bca99&biw=1680&bih=843 Any comments welcome! Antony
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ant710 -
Using IP to deliver different sidebar content on homepage
We have a site with a generic top level domain and we'd like to use a small portion of the homepage to cater content based on the IP of a visiting user. The content is for product dealerships around different regions/states of the US, not internationally. The idea being that someone from Seattle would see dealerships for this product near their location in Seattle. The section on the homepage is relatively small and would churn out 5 links and images according to location. The rest of the homepage would be the same for everyone, which includes links to news and reviews and fuller content. We have landing pages for regional/state content deeper in the site that don't use an IP to deliver content and also have unique URLs for the different regions/states. An example being a "Washington State Dealerships" landing page with links to all the dealerships there. We're wondering what kind of SEO impact there would be to having a section of the homepage delivering different content based on IP, and if there's anything we should do about it (or if we should be doing it all!). Thank you.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoninjaz0 -
Redirect or Rewrite? 2 pages ranking
We have two pages ranking for "Custom Web Design" http://www.imageworksstudio.com/custom-web-design ranks higher (consistently 9-13) and http://www.imageworksstudio.com/content/custom-web-design ranks around 35-40 the latter is actually an older version of the article that never was replaced or taken down - but it has the majority of the links to it Wondering if we should update the old content so it is not similar to the one that is ranking better or if we should redirect everything to /custom-web-design to see if it can secure better rankings?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | imageworks-2612900 -
Wrong page being ranked
Hi there, This seems a bit of a strange one, I have a particular keyword which I am trying to rank for, all internal links with the appropriate anchor text are pointing to the page I want to rank for, for this particular keyword, all external links are pointing to the page I want to rank for, for this particular keyword, however Google is ranking another page on my website for this keyword and the bizarre things is the page which is being ranked is a .PDF I am really not sure what else to do to give Google the hint that they are ranking the wrong page, any ideas? Kind Regards
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Paul780 -
Should I use the main keyword in the title tag for the site on all category pages?
I am pretty excited about changing all my title tags (for the most important 7 pages) since I have seen my rankings jump up in the SERP just by adding the main keyword for my website in the title tag. To make it easier I will explain my business. Simply, I run an online jewelry shop, so basically the keywords I want to use is "Jewelry online" and for the main categories "Necklace", "Rings" and "Bracelets". What I am unsure about is whether to use all the keywords in the main pages title tag or should I just use the main keyword "Jewelry online". I don’t want to create competition between my own pages of course. Jewelry Online - Trendy Fashion Jewelry | Homepage Or Jewelry Online - Necklace, Rings, Bracelets | Homepage And the same goes for the main categories, should I include "jewelry online" or not, like: Bracelets - Fashion Jewelry Online | Homepage Or Bracelets - Trendy_ Bangles_ and Arm Cuffs | Homepage Any suggestions what is the best practice for the title tag on main page and the main categories? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ikomorin0