Keyword in Domain AND Title. Yes or No?
-
We're working on a new buildout, and this one is really important to us. We've put a lot of resources into it. Before we launch, we want the structure to be just right... and this one question is nagging at me. How to structure urls? Consider these two options.
The fictitious domain is "icesurfing.org". Including all 50 states in the keyword, there are nearly one million searches per month for "ice surfing [state]". We have a page for each state to focus on this traffic. But how would you structure the urls and titles?
One concern is that the duplicate keywords in option 2 seem redundant, and a little spammy. When presented with google search, the matching tags are not as clean.
- Texas - IceSurfing.org
- Ice Surfing Texas - IceSurfing.org
But Yoast automatically suggests option 2. Is this really the best practice? Is there are definitive article on this?
THANK YOU!
-
I was writing about URLs. I think it's fine to have your brand name in most or all title tags, though I'm not sure I'd apply that to an exact-match domain like yours without adding the .com too (as in " - IceSurfing.com" not "- Ice Surfing".
-
Agreed. ^
Like I said, you have the option to manually put your site name (icesurfing.com) at the end of every title in Yoast - so that Yoast actually counts it when giving you a red, yellow, green analysis for each page/post. There is a way to turn off the automatic feature (which, if automatic, Yoast will not count it, dinging you for not having your keyword in the title, despite the fact that once it's published, it actually will be). I hope that makes sense?
-
If you had one page about ice surfing I could understand putting it in the URL. But if you expand this strategy out to all pages on a domain about ice surfing then it is going to get pretty redundant. I'd go with #1.
-
I agree, the second is not as clean. But what is better for google? Keyword: Ice Surfing Nevada
Yoast says #2 is better because the exact match for the keyword is in the title.
#1 looks cleaner, but we're relying on the domain name to complete the keyword. Most of the keyword (Ice Surfing) has been left out of the page title and slug.
- icesurfing.org/nevada
- icesurfing.org/ice-surfing-nevada
Thanks!!
-
I've had a similar scenario with Yoast - re: adding the site name (in this case, site URL) to the title automatically, but not really registering that fact when you use the plug-in on each page/post.
If it were me, I'd advise against 2, because you're right, it does look kind of redundant & spammy. OR, if you want, you can turn the setting off that automatically adds the site name at the end of every single one of your titles, and then just add it manually so that Yoast does register it. In WP, these settings can be found in the Titles & Metas section of your Yoast SEO plugin (accessible from the menu on the left, right under SEO's dashboard).
I hope that helps!
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
-
Using keywords in my URL: Doing a redirect to /keyword
My website in "On Page Grade" received an A.Anyway, I only have 1 thing to optimize:_"Use Keywords in your URL__Using your targeted keywords in the URL string adds relevancy to your page for search engine rankings, assists potential visitors identify the topic of your page from the URL, and provides SEO value when used as the anchor text of referring links."_My website is ranking in top10 for a super high competitive keyword and all my others competitors have the keyword on their domain, but not for my URL.Since I can't change my domain for fixing this suggestion, I would like to know what do you think about doing a 301 redirect from / to mydomainname.com/keyword/So the index of my website would be the /keyword.I don't know if this can make a damage to my SERP for the big change ir it would be a great choice.
On-Page Optimization | | estebanseo0 -
Deciding on domain
Hi, I have a company website that I have access to and it's bcannon.remax-mississippi.com. It allows you to choose a domain and have it 301 redirected so I changed it to Oxfordmissrealestate.com. I noticed that the page and domain authority for bcannon.remax-mississippi.com was pretty high so I took off the Oxfordmissrealestate.com domain and just left it as this subdomain. My question is, would you leave it how it is as the subdomain or change it? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | Veebs0 -
Appropriate Keyword Usage in Document
Moz on page grader - Text content is very important for modern SEO. In order to optimize your chances of ranking higher for the targeted keyword(s), we recommend using the targeted keyword(s) at least 4 times. Recommendation: Add at least 4 instances of the targeted keyword(s) to the document text of this page. Is there any preferred word count for the web page/blog? for example it is not good to add keyword 4 time in 200 words content. and We need to add exact keyword 4 times in the content?
On-Page Optimization | | marknorman0 -
Title Attribute Length + Use
Hi, Is there an optimum character limit for attribute titles like there is for meta titles? On my ecommerce site I am adding about 280 characters product category page headers to succinctly describe what the page is such as in the example below; MENS BRIEFS + TANGAS We stock a range of mens briefs from leading designer brands that offer popular cuts and fabrics such as mens cotton briefs. You will also discover styles that are a little more risqué for those looking for something more daring in sexy mens briefs and tangas. I have added the following [title attribute] to this header text (MENS BRIEFS + TANGAS)so it displays the following title attribute text when you hover over it. My intention behind this is so that it enables me to provide visitors with access (via assistive reading software or hovering their cursor over the header text) to a bit more information, which they my find useful [title attribute text] - Mens briefs and tangas. These are possibly the most common and long established style of mens underwear, yet they still come in a variety of cuts and styles. The common feature amongst all men’s briefs is that they have a full rear panel that partly or entirely covers the bottom. They will have cut away legs, a pouch at the front and are supported with an elasticated waistband. Briefs and tangas can vary in the amount coverage in the side panels around the hips and top of the legs and the rear. The more revealing and skimpier tanga style usually consists of only a pouch at the front that is supported with an elasticated waistband and a minimalist rear, with no side panels that exposes the hips.[title attribute text] Is this too much? Can search engines penalise me for it? Am I using/misusing title attributes? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | UnderMe0 -
Keywords in Navigation
Hi, What is best practice for main navigation links with regards to use of keywords in them. For example is it best to using the phrase 'Pricing", "Website Pricing" or "Website Design Pricing" To me 'Pricing' is more appropriate because to the user they know they are on a website designer's site so what else would pricing be for right?! Furthermore you use less 'real estate' on the nav bar! There is on page text around the site which has links to "see our website design pricing" etc so I assume that is perhaps a more natural place to include that phrase? Look forward to your insights 🙂
On-Page Optimization | | NeilD0 -
Content Tabs and Keyword Stuffing
I am in the process of drawing up content templates to guide my company's marketing team in creating SEO optimized content as we move over our retail website to a new platform. On each product page, we will have multiple tabs that are crawl-able, each one containing different chunks of information on the products. Within each tab, I was thinking of breaking up the content and adding SEO value by using headers (h2 or h3) that have a keyword included. So, for example: "How The PRODUCT NAME Works" and "User Manuals for your PRODUCT NAME." Between the multiple tabs, in headers alone, the main keyword for the product (which will usually be the product name) will be on the page 7 times. Between this and the keywords that are part of the actual content (ex: product description), is this too many keyword instances? I know headers are often skimmed or skipped when used to simply break up the content, so I don't think they will impact user experience too much. However, I would love some feedback on if you agree with that and if you think I should cut down on the number of keywords or if I am headed in the right direction. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | Marketing.SCG0 -
One domain with keyword optimized pages or multiple domains
Hi There. I have a client in the real estate law services business. Which is better for long term search traffic? 1. A single domain ie. smith and smith law.com with pages focussing on each neighbourhood they operate in ie. .com/real estate law manhattan.php, .com/real estate law brooklyn.php etc or 2. multiple domains each focusing on one neighbourhood the business operates in ie: real estate law manhattan.com, real estate law brooklyn.com etc Thanks for the help, Josh
On-Page Optimization | | dreadmichael0 -
Why does SEOmoz use /blog/content-title vs /category/content-title? Any difference?
Assume a brand new blog being designed and all other things equal. What are the pros & cons between using the url structure /blog/content-title vs. /category/content-title? Note:
On-Page Optimization | | JasonJackson
Both scenarios would be using categorical archiving.0