undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • MozCon

      Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. SEO Tactics
  3. On-Page Optimization
  4. Pages Competing With One Another

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

Pages Competing With One Another

On-Page Optimization
3
9
1.7k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • Tom3_15
    Tom3_15 last edited by Jul 30, 2018, 9:47 AM

    Hello,

    We are ranking for an acronym, which I understand can lead to fickle rankings. However, we have two pages ranking page one - two for the same keyword, but they do so in spite of each other.

    By this I mean, one page will rank, while the other is nowhere to be found. It seems that the one page (a blog post) is more likely to rank on the weekends while the product page is more likely to rank on the weekdays.

    I would like the product page to rank all the time, and to target another keyword with the blog post. Would removing the keyword from the blog post allow the product page to rank all the time - or would it lead to no pages ranking during times when the blog post would otherwise be ranking?

    I should note the blog post has more external links and is not exactly optimized for the keyword, while the product page has more internal links and is optimized for the keyword.

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
    • Tom3_15
      Tom3_15 @NickW816 last edited by Aug 1, 2018, 9:26 AM Aug 1, 2018, 9:26 AM

      Thanks for the help, Nicholas!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Tom3_15
        Tom3_15 @LureCreative last edited by Aug 1, 2018, 9:25 AM Aug 1, 2018, 9:25 AM

        Sounds good, Ill give it a shot. Thank you guys!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • LureCreative
          LureCreative last edited by Aug 1, 2018, 9:25 AM Jul 31, 2018, 12:47 PM

          Agree with Nicholas, keep track of what you do and then go for it. You won't know unless you test and if the product page has ranked highly before there is a good chance it will rank highly again if you de-optimize it's competing blog post page.

          Tom3_15 1 Reply Last reply Aug 1, 2018, 9:25 AM Reply Quote 2
          • NickW816
            NickW816 @Tom3_15 last edited by Aug 1, 2018, 9:25 AM Jul 31, 2018, 12:42 PM

            Personally, I would still de-optimize the blog, just keep a notes document of before/after changes that you make during de-optimization, that way if the worst case scenario happens and neither page is ranking for your keyword, you can undo the de-optimization and look for another solution.

            Also, after you de-optimize the post it may be worth it to utilize Google Search Console's Fetch & Render tool to request Google to re-index and crawl all of the direct links on the product page and blog page. This can sometimes work like a "refresh" to get Google to properly index both pages quicker. I would still wait like a week or so after you de-optimize the post page to see what happens.

            Nick White
            SEO Services KC
            https://seo-kansas-city.com/

            Tom3_15 1 Reply Last reply Aug 1, 2018, 9:26 AM Reply Quote 1
            • Tom3_15
              Tom3_15 @NickW816 last edited by Jul 31, 2018, 11:44 AM Jul 31, 2018, 11:44 AM

              Thanks for the input, Nicholas. This is what I was thinking, however, it seems that the blog post is now ranking for the last four days, and my solutions page isn't ranking at all for the keyword. Usually, the blog post would rank 1-2 days a week while the product page would rank the rest.

              Would you still suggest de-optimizing the blog? Ranking for the keyword has been a months-long initiative, and I don't want to ruin my efforts.

              Or should I wait and see if the product page begins ranking instead of the post again before de-optimizing the post?

              NickW816 1 Reply Last reply Jul 31, 2018, 12:42 PM Reply Quote 1
              • NickW816
                NickW816 last edited by Jul 31, 2018, 11:27 AM Jul 31, 2018, 11:27 AM

                Impossible to say for sure Tom, I would give it a go personally, especially if there is another keyword you want to target with the blog post. If Google is currently only allowing one page of your website to rank at one time for your keyword, de-optimizing one of the competing pages for that keyword should lead to more consistent ranking for the other page with all else being equal.

                Nick White
                SEO Services KC
                https://seo-kansas-city.com/

                Tom3_15 1 Reply Last reply Jul 31, 2018, 11:44 AM Reply Quote 1
                • Tom3_15
                  Tom3_15 @NickW816 last edited by Jul 30, 2018, 5:40 PM Jul 30, 2018, 5:40 PM

                  Thanks for the response, I do have the keyword as the anchor text linking from my blog post to my product page. I don't know why it is when one ranks, the other does not, rather than alongside each other.

                  Would de-optimizing my blog post allow for my product page to rank all the time - or will it cause a lack of coverage when the blog post would otherwise rank?

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • NickW816
                    NickW816 last edited by Jul 30, 2018, 4:41 PM Jul 30, 2018, 4:41 PM

                    In theory, it should result in your product page ranking more consistently. One way to help solidify your product pages rankings for your target keyword would be to add an anchor text link with your target keyword pointing to the product page within the blog post (which has more external links). This would help "transfer some authority" that the blog post has to the product page.

                    To be safe when making these changes to de-optimize the blog post, keep track of every change you make just in case you need to revert back to the way it was, and also keep track of the rankings for both the product page and blog post separately.

                    Hope this helps and best of success!

                    Nick White
                    SEO Services KC
                    https://seo-kansas-city.com/

                    Tom3_15 1 Reply Last reply Jul 30, 2018, 5:40 PM Reply Quote 2
                    • 1 / 1
                    1 out of 9
                    • First post
                      1/9
                      Last post

                    Got a burning SEO question?

                    Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                    Start my free trial


                    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.

                    • See all categories

                    Related Questions

                    • KenW

                      Is it better to keep a glossary or terms on one page or break it up into multiple pages?

                      We have a very large glossary of over 1000 industry terms on our site with links to reference material, embedded video, etc. Is it better for SEO purposes to keep this on one page or should we break it up into multiple pages, a different page for each letter for example? Thanks.

                      On-Page Optimization | Dec 14, 2016, 2:14 PM | KenW
                      0
                    • Aquatell

                      Why are http and https pages showing different domain/page authorities?

                      My website www.aquatell.com was recently moved to the Shopify platform.  We chose to use the http domain, because we didn't want to change too much, too quickly by moving to https.  Only our shopping cart is using https protocol.  We noticed however, that https versions of our non-cart pages were being indexed, so we created canonical tags to point the https version of a page to the http version.  What's got me puzzled though, is when I use open site explorer to look at domain/page authority values, I get different scores for the http vs. https version.  And the https version is always better.  Example:  http://www.aquatell.com DA = 21 and https://www.aquatell.com DA = 27.  Can somebody please help me make sense of this?  Thanks,

                      On-Page Optimization | Apr 1, 2016, 7:19 AM | Aquatell
                      1
                    • Jacob_A

                      Should I optimize my home-page or a sub-page for my most important keyword

                      Quick question: When choosing the most important keyword set that I would like to rank for, would I be better off optimizing my homepage, or a sub page for this keyword. My thinking goes as follows: The homepage (IE www.mysite.com) naturally has more backlinks and thus a better Google Page Rank. However, there are certain things I could do to a subpage (IE www.mysite.com/green-widgets-los-angeles ) that I wouldn't want to do to the homepage, which might be more "optimal" overall. Option C, I suppose, would be to optimize both the homepage, and a single sub-page, which is seeming like a pretty good solution, but I have been told that having multiple pages optimized for the same keywords might "confuse" search engines. Would love any insight on this!

                      On-Page Optimization | Mar 2, 2016, 1:46 PM | Jacob_A
                      2
                    • mblsolutions

                      Why is my contact us page ranking higher than my home page?

                      Hello, It doesn't matter what keyword I put into Google (when I'm not signed in and have cleaned down my browsing history) the contact us page ranks higher than the home page. I'm not sure why this is, the home page has a higher page authority, more links and more social media shares, the website is an established one. When I have checked Google Analytics my home page gets more people landing on it than the contact us page. It looks like people are ignoring the contact us page and scrolling down until they find the home page. I'd appreciate any help or advice you might have. Thank you.

                      On-Page Optimization | Aug 14, 2014, 12:31 PM | mblsolutions
                      2
                    • SamCUK

                      What to do with removed pages and 404 error

                      I recently removed about 600 'thin' pages from my site which are now showing as 404 errors in WMT as expected. As I understand it I should just let these pages 404 and eventually they'll be dropped from the index. There are no inbound links pointing at them so I don't need to 301 them. They keep appearing in WMT as 404's though so should I just 'mark as fixed' until they stop appearing? Is there any other action I need to take?

                      On-Page Optimization | Jul 21, 2014, 1:30 PM | SamCUK
                      0
                    • PHDAustralia68

                      Missing meta descriptions on indexed pages, portfolio, tags, author and archive pages. I am using SEO all in one, any advice?

                      I am having a few problems that I can't seem to work out.....I am fairly new to this and can't seem to work out the following: Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂 1. I am missing alot of meta description tags. I have installed "All in One SEO" but there seems to be no options to add meta descriptions in portfolio posts. I have also written meta descriptions for 'tags' and whilst I can see them in WP they don't seem to be activated. 2. The blog has pages indexed by WP- called Part 2 (/page/2), Part 3 (/page/3) etc. How do I solve this issue of meta descriptions and indexed pages? 3. There is also a page for myself, the author, that has multiple indexes for all the blog posts I have written, and I can't edit these archives to add meta descriptions. This also applies to the month archives for the blog. 4. Also, SEOmoz tells me that I have too many links on my blog page (also indexed) and their consequent tags. This also applies to the author pages (myself ). How do I fix this? Thanks for your help 🙂 Regards Nadia

                      On-Page Optimization | Feb 28, 2012, 7:46 PM | PHDAustralia68
                      0
                    • Ferguson

                      URL for location pages

                      Hello all We would like to create clean, easy URLs for our large list of Location pages. If there are a few URLs for each of the pages, am I right when I'm saying we would like this to be the canonical? Right now we would like the URL to be: For example
                      Domain.com/locations/Columbus I have found some instances where there might be 2,3 or more locations in the same city,zip. My conclusion for these would be: adding their Branch id's on to the URL
                      Domain.com/locations/Columbus/0304 Is this an okay approach? We are unsure if the URL should have city,State,zip for SEO purposes?
                      The pages will have all of this info in it's content
                      BUT what would be best for SEO and ranking for a given location? Thank you for any info!

                      On-Page Optimization | Feb 7, 2012, 8:03 PM | Ferguson
                      0
                    • MikeDelaCruz77

                      E-Commerce product pages that have multiple skus with unique pages.

                      Hey Guys, With the recent farm/panda update from google i'm at a cross roads as to how I should optimize product pages for a project i'm working on for a client. My client sells tires and one particular tire brand can have up to 15 models and each model can have up to 30 sizes. IE: 'Michelin Pilot Sport Cup' comes in 15 different sizes. Each size will have it's unique product page and description bringing me to my question. Should I use the same description on every size? I do plan on writting unique content for each tire model however i'm not sure if I should do it for every size. After all the tire model description is the same for every size, each size doesn't carry any unique characteristics that I can describe. Thanks in advance!

                      On-Page Optimization | Aug 29, 2011, 3:05 PM | MikeDelaCruz77
                      0

                    Get started with Moz Pro!

                    Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                    Start my free trial
                    Products
                    • Moz Pro
                    • Moz Local
                    • Moz API
                    • Moz Data
                    • STAT
                    • Product Updates
                    Moz Solutions
                    • SMB Solutions
                    • Agency Solutions
                    • Enterprise Solutions
                    Free SEO Tools
                    • Domain Authority Checker
                    • Link Explorer
                    • Keyword Explorer
                    • Competitive Research
                    • Brand Authority Checker
                    • Local Citation Checker
                    • MozBar Extension
                    • MozCast
                    Resources
                    • Blog
                    • SEO Learning Center
                    • Help Hub
                    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                    • How-to Guides
                    • Moz Academy
                    • API Docs
                    About Moz
                    • About
                    • Team
                    • Careers
                    • Contact
                    Why Moz
                    • Case Studies
                    • Testimonials
                    Get Involved
                    • Become an Affiliate
                    • MozCon
                    • Webinars
                    • Practical Marketer Series
                    • MozPod
                    Connect with us

                    Contact the Help team

                    Join our newsletter
                    Moz logo
                    © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                    • Accessibility
                    • Terms of Use
                    • Privacy

                    Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.