Should you try to rank for misspelled keywords?
-
Hi there,
2 part question:
- Is it best practice to try to rank for misspelled keywords that bring in lots of traffic or should you instead just try to rank for the correct spelling of that keyword and hope that you rank better on the misspelling as an indirect result?
E.G. The misspelled keyword "Hamilton island accomodation" is a common misspelling that brings in traffic but we have an "F" rank for that term (obviously because we spell accommodation correctly on our site). We don't want to misspell anything but are there techniques to rank better for misspellings that won't hurt content quality?
- The On-Page Optimization tool says that our website doesn't rank in the top 50 on Google Aus for "Accomodation Hamilton Island" or "Hamilton Island Accomodation" but when i do a manual search, we actually are the first result. Is this an error with the On-Page optimization tool?
Thanks!
-
One of the things to consider is not only adding the misspellings to the meta tags but also using them in the URLs.
I've had to get creative on something similar...not so much about misspellings but for targeting terms that are getting searched and have low competition but that my clients don't like.
In the end, the URLs and tags can remain the same with the wrong spelling but the client and searchers see the correct terms.
I am still testing on this--and as you know, testing is about the only thing that will tell you if it works.
Wondering if creating the misspelled version of the page can be created and later changed to a 301 redirect to the right spelling? Anyone have feedback on this?
-
good answer josh.
i would like to add, for bing you should add miss spellings to the keyword tag. Yes Bing uses the keyword tag.
-
Hey there,
Google works hard to recognise misspellings and place the most relevant website at the top of the search results. So the first thing I would look at is where you are actually ranking for those misspellings and secondly, how many searches are there for those terms each month?
To most accurately achieve this, I would run an Adwords campaign using exact match on all the possible misspelling combination, setting an unlimited budget and then measuring the amount of impressions generated. Make sure it is exact match or you will be left thinking you've struck gold, when in fact you have erroneous data.
If you do really want to optimise for this term and you are not coming up first for that term, then I would look below the onpage factors. As I said, Google's pretty dang good at picking up typos, so instead I would focus on improving your link profile so you are an authority on the area. Also creating more deep content and internally linking through to that one central page will help to channel the link juice through to that key page.
There are some that will argue that misspellings on your website look terrible and devalue the brand. To avoid this I recommend focusing on the linking side of things and only onpage typo's if you need to. If you do go down this path, then create a new page and link it in through the sitemap so that the vast majority of your customers are not exposed to the typos and put off your service.
2.) Check the settings for the on-page optimiser and the most recent cache date, both of these could be throwing off your results. Also, make sure you have your computer set to private browsing. One thing Google and Google + are doing now is looking at your history and automatically increasing the rankings of sites you visit regularly.
OK, that's enough of an epic answer for me. Hope you like it
Josh
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
-
How many images should be optimised for 1 keyword?
Hello Moz, I have a product category page and I have optimised 4 images around 1 keyword - is this bad practice? I worry Google will penalise me. Should I instead optimise them for other keywords? Cheers
On-Page Optimization | | crocman0 -
Does no-follow for pages affect site ranking?
Hey, I have a question. On my site, it's divided into the main site and the blog is in a subfolder of same domain. Within the main site (same domain), there are MANY checkout pages and other internal pages we use though all with "NO FOLLOW" on each. Despite it having "NO FOLLOW", will it affect our blog rankings in any way or domain ranking?"
On-Page Optimization | | Mirian0 -
My website ranking recently dropping - why?
Hi all, I am a photographer and do my own website and links etc. Website is: http://www.mckayphotography.com.au I have enjoyed good google rankings for my main keyword 'wedding photography sydney' for many years, and even recovered after taking a hit from the penguin (may 2012) update. But the last month has seen a steady drop from around 2nd - 4th down to now 10th. I have analyzed my site using all the moz tools and on most counts eg moz rank and moz trust I am ahead of my competitor sites....but still rank under them on google. So I would greatly appreciate on advice people could give on getting my ranking back up again! Thanks in advance Darryn
On-Page Optimization | | dmck0 -
Optimizing pages for keywords
I have a couple of websites for retailing the western chaps manufactured by my company. I have recently tried to increase my learning for SEO since one of my main sites (started in 2006) just lost about 45% of it's organic search volume since the end of May. It seems my search to learn just creates more and more questions. I have been using google adwords for several years now and have used that information to find the most searched keywords. There are some general keywords like western chaps and cowboy chaps that receive decent search volume. If I get more specific to a certain type of chap, chinks for example, the popular high volume keywords are chinks, chinks chaps, western chinks, and cowboy chinks. These all relate to one type of chap...the chink. I want to be visible for these keywords, but how does one optimize for more than one without diluting? Should I also try to optimize on the homepage of my sites for the general terms like western chaps and cowboy chaps? Can I optimize for both? I could really use some help. Any experts out there up to the job of consulting for me, some with extensive knowledge and experience? I'm not looking for the SEO giants with hundreds of clients. I don't feel that I will get the proper value from those types. My company is small and spending is an issue, that's why I would like someone to consult with. I should be able to do most of the labor, I just need the knowledge.
On-Page Optimization | | Kelly_S0 -
Why would my homepage be ranked lower (Page Rank 2) than my other pages on the site (PR3) ?
Why would my homepage be ranked lower (Page Rank 2) than my other pages on the site (PR3) ?
On-Page Optimization | | dmurtagh0 -
Apostrophes in keywords
It appears that SEOmoz tools like the On-Page Report Card treat keywords differently if they have apostrophes in. So for example childrens and children's are treated as different keywords. Is this a quirk of the On-Page Report Card or does Google treat them as separate keywords?
On-Page Optimization | | MulberrySqCraig0 -
My homepage no longer ranks for a keyword, instead a page from the blog now appears in the results
Hello, Our site used to rank for a specific keyword - "eco products", with a link going to the homepage. However, in the last few weeks, we've noticed that the home page no longer ranks for this keyword, and instead the second result on the page is a link to a catagory page on our blog. I'd be very grateful if anyone had any information about why this might have happened, and what possible steps I could take to remedy the situation. Many thanks, Sophy
On-Page Optimization | | sophycolbert0 -
Site-wide keyword density
A colleague of mine was saying that he has been able to get top ranking for a high traffic term by using variations of that head term on multiple pages that are associated with the main page. For example,he would optimize a landing page for the high traffic word "Construction." He would then build pages under this landing page that are optimized for variations of this word: "Construction facts," "Industrial Construction Companies," "Construction Resource Allocator" etc. His theory is that the subpages add credibility with spiders that the root page is the best for that root page. This doesn't seem like it would work, but I'm curious as to what other people think.
On-Page Optimization | | EricVallee340