Keywords in google's webmaster tools
-
how heavily do the list of keywords in google's webmaster tools reflect your ranking for those keywords? For example see this screenshot:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/39497/Screen shot 2011-06-04 at 7.22.31 PM.png
we are a self storage company, and our first two keywords in google's webmaster tools are storage and self. the problem is nobody searches for self storage (from my keyword research). most people search for "storage +cityname" like "storage toronto" for example.
so i guess my question would be this:
would it be effective to change all the instances of "Self" on our website to "Toronto" or other city names to try to push the city names higher in google's webmaster tools keywords rank?
-
I find that a lot of the data in webmaster tools is not that helpful. It takes some time to sort through and figure out what can help you and what can't. Some of my suggested keywords are things that no one would search for. If I optimized my site for these keywords it would just look silly.
Similarly, don't forget that the Adwords Keyword tool is not accurate at all when it comes to search volume. For my main keyword, it tells me that I should have 12,000 searches per month. I am number one for this keyword and yet I get 5000 impressions per month.
If you are focusing on targeting local searches, do you have a local listing? This is REALLY important. It's not hard to optimize your local listing so that you appear at or the near top for several terms.
-
I agree that you are doing many of the right things.
As it happens, I have many Toronto small business clients who compete with much larger players.
In your case, I would suggest:
-
A greater focus on Yelp and Google Places reviews. You need more recent reviews. And you can go beyond soliciting reviews on your blog.
-
Consider a 90 second video for your home page that summarizes the value proposition and what sets you apart. It should include testimonials. See www.dccentre.ca for an example. See
http://www.youtube.com/user/KiddieProofers
for a YouTube Channel of 90 second videos focussing on consumer tips.
Rationale: Your site is excellent, but very dense and text heavy. It may be scaring people away. Videos might help. (And be sure to include Google video Maps) I would also experiment with cutting back on content and carefuly monitoring changes in your bounce rate.
- Experiment with Google adwords if you have not already done so. Agencies like mine benefit from an in-house Google team that does the initial campaign set up and tweaks for 30 days. You might want to contact one. Just watch out for big mark ups!
Hope this helps.
-Daniel
-
-
I agree with Alan; you are definitely on the right path. Google Webmaster Tools is only one of many signals you can check. Check out the rankings report Page from SEOMOZ to maximize your use of their Web App as I see you are a PRO member and this is a MUST READ. Also Google Insights, Google Adwords Keyword Tool, and Wordtracker are very helpful in identifying opportunities and search metrics. Then Check your On page Grade in the web app for your specific page and term and try to optimize for one or two keyword phrases per page only.
Hope this helps.
-
Actually you appear do be doing things right (I did a cursory check of your sit). I wouldn't worry that you see the single words in the Google Webmaster system - it's just how their system evaluates content. Self Storage is what you do, so both words occur repeatedly throughout the site. And that's natural and proper. So for organic clicks, don't be concerned that you're showing up for words that don't by themselves directly relate to your offerings. There are probably millions of combinations of other words on your site that you show up for that aren't related to your site.
What matters is how well you show up for the phrases you care about. And then focus on building content, inbound links, and social engagement around those, as well as brand name...
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
-
YouTube Keyword Research
MOZ has some really powerful tools available to us, but I was wondering if there are any tools for conducting keyword research for YouTube? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Alaeddin1 -
Does Google do keyword matching when deciding whether to rank a page?
Hi, another newbie question on keyword research and selection (can't find any information on-line with this low level of detail)... If I've decided that my primary keyword for a given product page is the product name, something like 'AquaPower wet and dry cordless vacuum cleaner', can I assume that it isn't worth additionally optimising the page for 'cordless vacuum' as this has a phrase match in the primary keyword? Is it still worth additionally optimising for 'wet and dray vacuum' which has a broad match within the primary keyword or is Google bright enough to drop the intervening word 'cordless' when deciding whether to rank my page? Thanks for any guidance on this.
Keyword Research | | Alli70 -
I understand it's been asked before, however moz staff is telling me keyword's capitalization is treated as a separate keyword.
So there I was looking through my rankings like every other day, when I see a lowercase and uppercase version of a keyword. Most times I see this, I see them with the same rankings, and even researched this about 5 months ago, when I came to the conclusion that google treats them the same way. However, this day I saw them as different ranks, same keyword, only capitalized 1st letter of the 2 word keyword. I asked moz staff about this, as I felt it was an error. But was met with the answer that google does indeed treat these keywords differently. My line of thought was that the rank checker didn't check both the lowercase and uppercase keyword at the same time, and SERPs happened to change when the second word was checked for rank, returning a different rank. So now, I am in doubt again, as to uppercase and lowercase keywords being different or the same in google's eyes? I honestly don't know why a uppercase keyword would have different motive from searcher than a lowercase when many time not, searchers can't even spell the keyword correctly.
Keyword Research | | Deacyde0 -
What are SEO's using for Keyword Research?
Hey folks, I just wanted to find out what everyone is using for keyword research now that the Google Keyword Tool has been retired. I know there is a form of it in Adwords, but something a little more usable than this. Cheers,
Keyword Research | | Andy.Drinkwater
Andy0 -
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 -
Domain Suggestion Tool?
Does anyone know of a good domain suggestion tool? I've tried some of them, but wasn't happy with the results. I'd basically like to put in some key words, and get some suggetions. Thanks.
Keyword Research | | NoahsDad0 -
Google / Wordtracker Alternitives
Hi, I usually use Wordtracker for my keyword research but was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions other than Google, or a company that just serves up Google's results. Thanks Fraser
Keyword Research | | fraserhannah0 -
What is the maximum lenght in url for keyword ?
Howdy, I was looking at the maximum lenght of url for ntfs and they told me it was 255 character for url and/or folder ect. Does that mean that i could use the full lenght of 255 filled whit keyword for the url on my site ? Thx.
Keyword Research | | Promoteam0