Importance of text above the fold
-
I am being advised by an SEO that each page of my ecommerce site must have a significant block of unique text "above the fold" to do well in Google post-Panda. This recommendation is at odds with what my design/usability/conversion people want to see. The current site design features eye-catching graphics just below the header and goes right into product listings, with SEO text near the bottom of the page.
How important is it to have SEO text near the top of a page?
-
I agree with your SEO that text contained at the top of the article is given more weight then text at the bottom of an article. It is really difficult to provide any estimates on how much more weight.
If Google would allow us to look at their algorithms, we would be able to provide a specific answer. Since that is not the case, we are left to making our best guesses using experience and related knowledge as a guide.
We know that keywords in a title have more weight when they are earlier in the title. We know it makes sense from a user experience perspective to offer your best, most relevant content upfront rather then buried at the bottom of an article. I would build upon that logic and my experience to suggest that relevant text be provided at the top of the page (all things being equal).
-
I understand your point about testing the effect of the change on the conversion rate, but my question is more basic than that. Is it a given that there needs to be text above the fold to satisfy google, or is text lower down on the page just as good for SEO purposes? I am not sure how seriously to take the SEO suggestion.
-
As a general rule, when a SEO makes a suggestion you feel is in conflict with the user experience I would recommend A/B testing.
Make copies of a few pages with the recommended changes. Have half your users see the original page "A" and the other half will see the modified page "B". Track the results for a period of time and closely monitor all relevant statistics. If the SEO changes do not have a negative impact, then make the change. Otherwise, you would need to weigh the possible SEO benefit (higher ranking/traffic) with the lower user experience. In most cases, what's good for the user is also good for SEO.
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
-
Important category pages that can and should be found in SERP but can not be reached by navigating on the webshop itself
Hi, On a webshop we are optimizing, the main navigation consists of the 5 main categories to which all of the products can be assigned. However, the main tabs in the navigation just activate a drop down with all of the subcategories. For example: the tab in the navigation is 'Garden equipment' and when you click on this tab, the drop down is shown with subcategories like 'Lawn mowers', 'Leaf blowers' and so on. Now, the page 'Garden equipment' is one of the main category pages and we want this page to rank of course. This shouldn't be a problem, since there is a separate URL for this page that can be indexed and that can be reached through internal links on the website. However, this page can not be reached when a visitor initially comes on the homepage of the webshop, since the tab in the navigation isn't clickable. This page will only be reached when a subcategory is selected, and then when the visitor goes back to the category page through the breadcrumb or through an internal link. Is it a problem that these important overview category pages can not be reached immediately? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Mat_C0 -
Is white text on a white background an issue when...?
Hi guys, This question was loosely answered here (http://www.seomoz.org/q/will-google-index-a-site-with-white-text-will-it-give-it-bad-ratings), but I wanted to elaborate on the concern. The issue I have is this, http://www.searchenginexperts.com.au/preview/white-text-white-background-issue Of the four div elements on the page, which; is best practice for SEO? and which of them would not be penalized by google on the grounds of hidden text? The reason I ask is that I have a site that is currently implementing the first div styling, but if you either remove the image OR uncheck the repeat-x (in inspect element) the text is left as white on white. I have added the transparent image on green to prove that having a background colour to back up the tiled image is not always going to work. What can be done in this scenario? Thanks in advance, Dan (From my managers account)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RuchirP0 -
Anchor text
my website hit by penguin update on april; i check my anchor text and found that i had 1790 anchor links for " air conditioning nyc" i erase them almost a month ago but it still shows on the website report. how long it take seomoz see the changes and what about google. if someone have any idea how can i bring my site back to the top pages. thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | eoberlender0 -
Anchor Text Diversification – Branded VS Non Branded – What is the best approach… if any?
Our organization competes in the Drug & Alcohol Treatment Category… very competitively I must say. While we create content for long-tail keywords, we focus on linking (blogging + Press Release + Acquisition, etc…) as the main strategy to increase relevancy for 4 major keywords. (Alcohol Rehab, Drug Rehab, Alcohol Treatment, and Drug Treatment)… all these terms have their respective landing pages, and we try to provide a good flow of new links coming to these pages on a weekly basis… Lately we have been acquiring more links than we anticipated… not a bad thing since they are from reputable websites… however I am a bit concern regarding the Anchor Text distribution of these links. Example Let’s say I get 100 links to my ‘Alcohol Rehab’ page – what is an appropriate percentage for the anchor text distribution? For example: Branded Links 20 - Keyword: St Jude Retreats
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | dhidalgo1
Exact Match Links 70 - Keyword: Alcohol Rehab
Broad Links 10 - Keyword: Rehab Is this an ok distribution, or should I change things around? Hope you guys can help! Thanks!!!!0 -
Am I Stuffing Internal Anchor Text?
We've got about 1,700 products and 6,600 pages on our site. I recently finished up adding similar product links and popular category links to our product and category pages in an effort to juice up the pages that sell and make us money. I also added a category html sitemap in the footer. A couple of the targeted category rankings are moving down. Am I possible accruing a penalty for overusing anchor text? Is this internal linking strategy poor form? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AWCthreads0 -
Internal Anchor Text - Partial or Exact Match Does It Matter?
When linking internally on an ecommerce site between pages and from a sitemap, is partial or exact match on the anchor text a significant factor? If it matters to Google, which is a better practice to use? I found plenty of info on external links, but precious little on internal links (which suggests it doesn't matter enough to worry about).
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AWCthreads0 -
How important is it to clarify URL parameters?
We have a long list of URL parameters in our Google Webmasters account. Currently, the majority are set to 'let googlebot decide.' How important is it to specify exactly what googlebot should do? Would you leave these to 'let googlebot decide' or would you specify how googlebot should treat each parameter?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nicole.healthline0 -
Impact of slight character variations in anchor text
Does anyone have experience of how Google deals with slight character variations, e.g. Facade v Façade? From an SEO perspective, are these treated as two completely separate words or is Google clever enough to determine the intent of the searcher & the site?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjalc20110