Is it bad to optimize for tier one keywords only?
-
Hello,
My site is about personalized cards, and I have optimized (rank A) each sample page to the main topic of the card (eg: sapo pepe). So when people search for that keyword (sapo pepe), my page ranks high.
Now, if instead of checking the optimization for "sapo pepe" I check for "cards sapo pepe" I get an F, because the keyword is not there. Thing is that people search for different tier 2 keywords, like "cards, models, examples, etc" and I cannot put that many keywords in the page...
My question is: does Search Engines rank you high if you optimize your page for a subset of the keywords people search for? I understand that if someone optimizes for "cards sapo pepe" they would get higher than my site.
Hope I was clear, any comment is appreciated!
Thanks,
MAriano
-
There you see, that's my concern... I do not want that...
ok thanks, makes sense to tune my pages just a bit to include at least one mention to each keyword and make sure I grow my ranks...
Thanks a lot both you for the ideas and experience.
-
When the pairs of pages were first built we simply replaced WordA with WordB. Then ran into a duplicate content problem - lots of pages were being filtered from the search results. We then wrote unique for all pages.
-
Hate to ask this but: did you repeat content in the second page? how you manage to do that?
I am asking because I cannot create custom content for every page, it's a catalog with 400+ models... In my case I would have to duplicate the whole catalog... without adding too much valuable content...
Thanks for the response.
-
Thanks,
Now that you mentioned the keyword tool, I did research that and the number of searches for the tier1 keyword only is 10x, 20x, or more the number of searches for the Tier1+Tier2 keywords
I DO want a uniform criteria for my pages, so thinking it twice now... and making a consious decision, I should optimize for Tier1 only and make slight mentions to the other keywords, betting that they will become visible when needed.
-
I think I built it to show the content properly, but now I need to make it show up in search..
That right there is the key to this thread. You need to first find which keywords are being searched via Google Keyword Tool, then optimize your site for perhaps two of these top terms.
A good place to put those other keywords would be image names and images description copy (if you put copy below the image to describe it). So instead of just Mickey-Cards.jpg you would replace cards with alternate keyword. Image names are not real high on Google's list, but it will help to build out a broader keyword list without messing up the flow of your page. Also, now looking at your site, you have images with item numbers below that. Would it be too much to add some text below the image and above the item number. Smaller font, not bold, but italic?
Also, no-follow links (twitter, facebook, etc) are a good place to put alternate keywords. They don't pass juice, but are still counted as referrals. Use this same logic when building all your links. Very important links use your tier 1 keyword, lesser links, use alternative keywords.
-
I made two pages for each product.
One was highly optimized for the slang name (highest search volume) and lightly optimized for the formal name. The second was highly optimized for the historical name and lightly for the ignorant.
That was a few years ago. Once my site became dominant in the SERPs for all of these terms (for a wide variety of products) I merged the two pages of content and now have just one page highly optimized for the slang name with mentions of historic, ignorant and formal.
I think that google is getting better at associating the usage of these words and today google often changes my title tag to match the query.
-
**When my site was new and weak I had to create special pages in a historical context or slang context to get optimal rankings for those words. As my site grew more powerful the primary pages began to rank well for all of the word variants. **
Great, my problem is that I would need to create pages for each combination of tier 1 and tier 2 keywords (Mickey pics, Mickey pictures, Mickey photos, Donald pics, Donald pictures, etc)... is that what you did?
Thanks!!!
-
Thanks for the details. I understand your problem better now.
I have a site that sells a product that has a formal name, a slang name, an archaic name and an ignorant name. Something like photographs, photos, pictures, pics. Google understands that my site is about all of these - and even related words such as "images".
When my site was new and weak I had to create special pages in a historical context or slang context to get optimal rankings for those words. As my site grew more powerful the primary pages began to rank well for all of the word variants.
-
and I cannot put that many keywords in the page...
I don't know why this is the case but if I was in your situation I would either fix it or change my philosophy about what can be displayed on a page.
[MB] At least in spanish, people use different terms looking for the same thing: examples, cards, models, photocards, etc... (... plus Mickey) If I have to put ALL those keywords in a relevant way on my page, then it would become really ugly to read (I try to write for humans, not for SEs) Hence my question... I've chosen one, but for what I have seen, people sometimes don't even use those tier 2 keywords, they just browse for images of Mickey... so that is why I just optimized for the tier 1 keywords.
I understand that if someone optimizes for "cards sapo pepe" they would get higher than my site.
if you don't have the word "cards" on your page or in link anchor text that hits your page then you page will not be relevant.
[MB] I do have "cards", but I don't have many others (synonyms or similar words), that is why they rank low on them. I've chosen to do so, but I do not know if it was the right thing.
My question is: does Search Engines rank you high if you optimize your page for a subset of the keywords people search for?
Yes, but only if you deserve it. You will not rank high for "cards Mickey Mantle" unless you have a strong site or a number of good links
[MB] My site is small and new, I think I built it to show the content properly, but now I need to make it show up in search... Probably my biggest challenge is to find the proper tier 2 keywords to make it more relevant.
Thanks, your answers are helpful and inline with my ideas.
Best,
-
and I cannot put that many keywords in the page...
I don't know why this is the case but if I was in your situation I would either fix it or change my philosophy about what can be displayed on a page.
I understand that if someone optimizes for "cards sapo pepe" they would get higher than my site.
if you don't have the word "cards" on your page or in link anchor text that hits your page then you page will not be relevant.
My question is: does Search Engines rank you high if you optimize your page for a subset of the keywords people search for?
Yes, but only if you deserve it. You will not rank high for "cards Mickey Mantle" unless you have a strong site or a number of good links
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
-
Keywords. Who to trust.
Hello, I'm baby and family photographer. I have done my keyword research. Used Keyword tool. According to the research tool it says that highest local search traffic for baby market would be keywords like cute babies, baby pictures. I asked many of my clients what they would enter in search box if they were to look for baby photographer. Pretty much everyone has said that there would be some form of photographer word in search term with baby word. So like baby photographer, photographers, baby photo studio etc. Unfortunately these type of terms are under 10 searches per month. I have only two relevant pages to target these baby keywords. I'm really wondering who actually uses terms like cute babies, baby pictures. I have a feeling that those searches are made by like photo agencies, newspapers, stock libraries etc. I don't think mum who looks for photographer is suing these search terms. When you do your research, do you take in account metrics or go by more human element and try to look at it from clients perspective. What they would be searching for? Thank you guys, Just don't want to mess up with this and make sure I do the right thing.
Keyword Research | | A_Fotografy1 -
Which keywords are sending traffic to my site?
I want to know Which keywords are sending traffic to my site? What type of strategies behind this ?
Keyword Research | | surabhi60 -
Keyword Conundrum...
I have 3 keywords that I am targeting. Assume for the time being that they are all equally competitive. Includes local exact match monthly searches: Managed IT Services - 3600 IT Managed Services - 720 Managed IT Support - 170 They are all exactly synonymous, not to mention other keywords such as IT Managed Support, Managed IT Service, IT Managed Service, Managed IT Service Provider, etc.. My current strategy is to target the top 3 all on one page. The problem then is the title tag: Managed IT Services | IT Managed Services | Managed IT Support Pretty spammy. I could build pages for all 3, but how would I incorporate them into the website since they are all synonyms. Can I get some recommendations on how to handle this? What would you use for a title tag? How would handle separate pages with synonymous content?
Keyword Research | | CsmBill0 -
Specific Keyword Ranking Advice
Hi Folks, We're trying to optimize the page (http://alabu.com/goat-milk-soap/) for the keyword "goat milk soap". Our page used to rank #1 before Panda (actually our home page did, not the page I'm trying to optimize on now). Now we're around rank 25. I've followed all the guidelines for on-page optimization I know, and I've done everything I can think of. We're currently executing a link building campaign but that obviously takes time. Does anyone have any advice? Is there anything else I can do to improve our ranking? Thanks, Hal
Keyword Research | | AlabuSkinCare0 -
How should i see exact search volume of keywords
One of the seo company provide me the 2 keywords which have a 5400 exact searches per month but when i see this on google adword tool i didn't find 5400. it is only showing around 500-1000 exact searches, so how they are calculating these exact searches.. Here i am posting my screenshot please check - http://i46.tinypic.com/ezs7b.jpg
Keyword Research | | xplodeguru0 -
Do you avoid the use of stop words in your keyword optimization?
For example, for the keyword phrase 'the history of the united states,' how would you determine whether or not to include 'the' or 'of' in the title, description, and URL? Do you tend to use stop words or not in your keyword optimization? Why or why not?
Keyword Research | | nicole.healthline0 -
Keyword analysis/optimization for blog sites (avoiding self cannibalization)
Hi there, I work on a site that has regular blog and article posts (or at least, we're shooting for regular), and I'm trying to work on a fluid approach for keyword analysis and optimization. I am wondering...is it best to research new keywords for each new post? I am unsure of what the effect is of optimizing multiple pages for the same keyword. I've been using the SEOmoz report card tool to grade my on page optimization, and I noticed one of the criteria was to avoid self cannibalization. Will I be competing against myself if I optimize multiple pages for the same keyword? I'm worried about what will happen in a month or two when I run out of common keywords and have to start optimizing our latest posts around really obscure keywords. Am I thinking about this the right way? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | MikeQ-BACC0 -
Run a batch of keywords 1 by 1 through Adwords Keyword tool
Hi, I'm looking for a tool that will be able to run a list of keywords 1 by 1 through the Google Adwords keyword tool and place them together in a list, in order to get as much long tail keywords as possible. Thanks for any suggestion!
Keyword Research | | DeptAgency0