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.
Branded vs Generic keywords - is Google treating their rank equaly!?
-
Several times I have noticed that website receiving sort of a rankings drop penalty for certain wrongly built on-page strategies that involves keyword stuffing, wrong keyword density(too much) etc.
The question is - how you guys think - is branded keywords receiving the same treatment from Google then generic ones?
And here is why - for one popular brand I see that they ranking for their brand keyword very high(1th) but keyword density is awful - more then 10%. So, my guess is - if this keyword density you would apply for generic keyword you will end up nowhere to be found for it!
Is that could be truth? Any experiments info about that?
thanks and regards,
Jungles
-
Jarno,
Thank you very much for reply! I'm happy that I'm not alone here
Your experience proved even more my assumption that Brand keywords are treated differently then generic once! So, it's - 2:0 at the moment! Would love to hear opposite!
Regards,
Jungles
-
Jungles,
I don't have any info about experiments on that but I do have something else. A client of mine updates their own pages using Adobe Contribute. I told him not to repeat the keyword he wanted to rank for to many times due to a penalty by Google that could occur. He didn't listen and added 5 sequences of the keywords (keyword contains 4 words). This brought the percentile of the keyword on that page above 15%. Since then.. he ranks number one for that specific keyword and no penalty what so ever.
So just assuming that a 10% density wouldn't work for generic keywords is not helpful nor is it true but personally i would no go that far. When using brand names it is a bit different. It makes it more natural sometimes. Using a brand name in each sentence for one could be considered very natural while other people might think it's spamming behavior.
I feel like it's more a flip of an coin and I wouldn't take the change. It would focus on other aspects to rank for the keyword then density.
Hope my advice might help you along a bit
kind regards
Jarno
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
-
Domain keyword ranking
I used to use Searchmetrics (years ago) which enabled me to add in the domain name into their website, and it would provide all the keywords that rank for it. Does Moz do that do you know? Thanks
Keyword Research | | patn_studio0 -
Finding less competitive keywords
Hello, How Moz can help me in finding less competitive keywords for a site based on omega masticating juicer. I had tried other tools but i am not satisfied with it. Kindly tell me the process to find it. Thanks.
Keyword Research | | romanjames0 -
How to find low difficulty keywords
how to find informative low difficulty keywords. how can I get content ideas? I have lots of content ideas but it's not good search volume on google. I have a kitchen-related affiliate website called https://gloryspy.com
Keyword Research | | MalikJan0 -
Is it a bad idea to hyphenate keywords?
Hello, my understanding was that Google reads hyphens in keywords as spaces, but if that's accurate how come keywords with hyphens that I research with Keyword Explorer — for instance, hospital-acquired infections — rank lower when I include the hyphen? If the hyphen hurts SEO, do I have to remove them all from the blog or page in question? Removing hyphens means a blog or page will have punctuation errors, which is irritating to an editor, but I don't want to sacrifice the effectiveness of keywords, either. Thanks, in advance, for your response!
Keyword Research | | SallieJ0 -
Which page is currently ranking the best for a particular keyword?
Hi Guys! I have approx. 50 keywords that I'm tracking for a website that has about 80 pages. I am wondering is there any way that I can find out which page on the site is currently ranking best for each of the keywords on my list? Ideally I would like to export the entire list with the keyword in the first column and the page that ranks best on the website for each given keyword, in the second column. Apologies if the wording of this post is confusing - I am not quite sure how to make it clearer. The aim of my task is to determine which keywords should be allocated to each page on the site so I need to work out which keywords are working already for certain pages so that I don't take those efforts away from the well-optimised pages. Many thanks! Meaghan
Keyword Research | | StoryScout0 -
Best tool to check keyword ranks in bulk
What is the most accurate tool to check the current ranking of keywords in bulk and download the report via CSV/Excel? Any input would be appreciated.
Keyword Research | | inhouseseo0 -
How should I use keywords in a sentence?
The keywords that I target are phrases that wouldn't ever be used in a sentence... Ex: Stained Concrete Virginia My question is... Is it better to use the phrase, even though its odd? Ex: Stained Concrete Virginia is a great product Or is it better to make it a natural sentence? Ex: Stained Concrete in Virginia is a great product? Im trying to find a way to use my keyword phrases at least 4 times in the content of the pages...but it seems difficult if I have to use such an odd phrase. Thanks! Tim
Keyword Research | | Timvroom0 -
How does Google treat the symbols ® and ™ if they are part of keyword?
For example: As a keyword, is "Cisco®" the same as "Cisco"? I tried a couple of things to find out: 1. I put both keywords in Google adwords tool. Google displayed search volume data only for Cisco. That means it ignores the ® symbol. 2. I typed in Cisco® and Cisco in Google search. of SERPs are the same. And the first page results are almost same excpet for Google Places listings. Based on above two observations, I think that Google treats Cisco® and Cisco in the same manner. So if we optimize a page for Cisco®, we will get benefit for the keyword Cisco as well. Does anybody has any other experience? (Note: the keyword used here(Cisco) is just an example. Thanks, Supriya.
Keyword Research | | Amjath0