Should we go after this main keyword?
-
Hello,
We run an online store. The main content keyword for our niche is very competitive, but if I was going to go look up information and I was one of our customers, that is exactly what I would type in - this main general keyword. We have an expert in the field to write it and plenty of time.
Although the main keyword is competitive, there are many many subkeywords that are a lot less competitive that would be answered in the article. It's tough to find good topics in this niche.
We're thinking about doing a "Complete Guide to X". We would have far less backlinks and authority for about half of the 30 keywords it will cover than our main competitors.
Should we do this and spend the next couple of years working on it, or should we perhaps target a smaller topic?
Any advice is appreciated.
-
We don't take phone calls from customers, but we give very fast and detailed email support. This allows us to answer questions in writing and by kicking that writing up a notch by refining it on subsequent questions we then have an article to post on the site. Add a few photos or drawings and its ready to go.
No phone calls reduces the number of interruptions. Then as your content library grows you get fewer and fewer questions and many of your email questions can be answered with a link to one or two articles.
Our email messages to customers look like the answers to questions that Patrick Delehanty posts in Moz Q&A - and I think people appreciate that.
-
That's wonderful to hear Egol!
I wish it was so easy to come up with good SEO content. Might have to get my creative head on and see if I can delve back to my copywriter days.
-Andy
-
I want to go write stuff now!
Awesome!
We launched a new small retail site and did that for about one year. Two people, working at least 1/2 of our time. Then we took a break for a year and saw good results. Then we attacked again for about another year, producing more informative content than all of our retail competitors and the manufacturers combined. Now we are not #1 for the root terms, but at about 4 and 5 behind Amazon, another major retailer and an large info site. However, we own the turf, often with two or three pages at the top of the SERPs, for all of the secondary and tertiary money terms that I can think of. Plus we hold good to great SERPs on tons and tons of the replacement part, fix it, and how to do it queries. We continue to toss content at this site as we get new ideas from customer questions and our own enthusiastic use of the products.
-
Attack! Start posting detailed answers to all of the most frequestly asked questions that you get from customers, all of the things that they don't ask but should know, all of the things that will delight or surprise them, and even the things that will change their mind about purchasing ( returns suck). Flood the SERPs with this stuff for the next six months, then evaluate, see what of these contents are pulling traffic or making conversions and if you see progress attsck for another six months.
This
^^
No more need be said!
Egol - I want to go write stuff now!
-Andy
-
"We have an expert in the field to write it and plenty of time."
"Although the main keyword is competitive, there are many many subkeywords that are a lot less competitive that would be answered in the article. It's tough to find good topics in this niche."
** salivatin' **
Attack! Start posting detailed answers to all of the most frequestly asked questions that you get from customers, all of the things that they don't ask but should know, all of the things that will delight or surprise them, and even the things that will change their mind about purchasing ( returns suck). Flood the SERPs with this stuff for the next six months, then evaluate, see what of these contents are pulling traffic or making conversions and if you see progress attsck for another six months.
-
Hi there
Here are a couple of great posts:
Stop Thinking Keywords, Think Topics
Keywords to Concepts: The Lazy Web Marketer's Guide to Smart Keyword ResearchI wouldn't focus on specific keywords solely - I would look at variations and topics that are relevant to those keywords. I would build out as much content as you could that is relevant and useful to your audience, and at the same time, relevant to your business model. Never build content for the sake of building content - it's a slope that doesn't lead to anything except wasted time and efforts.
You should never run out of ideas either. Your entire team is full of content ideas. Brainstorm as a team, talk to each other, ask each other questions, etc. I would check out this piece from Search Engine Land called Making Customer Support Part Of Your SEO Program. You could also interview your customers or survey them as well on what they'd like to see from your website! This will maximize your potential for picking up long tail search as well.
I wouldn't worry about having a smaller backlink profile and a smaller domain authority. While you work on your content buildout I would also do some competitive analysis to see what competitors are doing and how you can implement (tweaked of course for your business - you're unique) some of the tactics you find there. There are always opportunities, especially if you have a local SEO element to what you do.
-
It sounds like you may be better off targeting the long tail keywords that pertain to your online store. If you're looking at putting together a "complete guide to main keyword" and it's going to take you a few years, imagine where your already strong competition will be by then. Seems to me that writing shorter articles on a regular basis about the subkeywords would be more effective, especially if those keywords are not near as competitive. If topics are hard to come by, that means there should be less competition and you've got a chance to create unique content that provides value to your customers. Does your store have a blog? Would hate to see you put all your eggs into one keyword basket so to speak, and nothing happens.
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
-
Difference keyword and co-occurence
Could someone explain me what the difference between a keyword and a co-occurence is ? Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Do I have to go off page to establish an entity?
So I have always thought of Google establishing an Entity (by entity I mean https://goo.gl/RP8e9B) by looking at the markup on a website. Recently watched a video that discussed creating an entity by using external websites. I have a feeling that you do not have to go off of the main website to have an entity created. Is there anything valid in this concept/video? (https://goo.gl/CNe7qD) The concept focuses on creating branded pages on properties owned by Google and various other well known websites. My main concern is whether this is something I should do for our website or if just doing the little bit of social marketing we are doing is fine.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | marghutch1 -
My website is not ranking for primary keywords in Google
I need help regarding some SEO strategy that need to be implemented to my website http://goo.gl/AiOgu1 . My website is a leading live chat product, daily it receives around 2000 unique visitors. Initially the website was impacted by manual link penalty, I cleaned up lot of backlinks, the website revoked from the penalty some where around June'14. Most of the secondary and longtail Keywords started ranking in Google, but unfortunately, it do not rank well for the primary keywords like (live chat, live chat software, helpdesk etc). Since I have done lot of onsite changes and even revamped the content but till now I dont find any improvement. I am unable to understand where I have got structed.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sandeep.clickdesk
can anyone help me out?0 -
Exact Match Keywords
Hello,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Cornel_Ilea
Now that the Keywords Tool is gone, how can I see [exact match] search volumes on Google?
Thank you,
Cornel0 -
Google is ranking the wrong page for the targeted keyword
I have two examples below where we want it to rank for the targeted page but google picked another page to rank instead. This is happening a lot on this site I just recently started to work on. Example 1 Googles Choice for key word Motorcycle Tires: http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/cl/50/Tires-and-Wheels What we want Google to choice for Motorcycle Tires: http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/c/49/-/181/Motorcycle-Tires Other pages about Motorcycle tires: http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/d/12/Motorcycle-Tires We even used the rel="canonical" for this url to point to our target page. http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/c/50/-/181/Motorcycle-Tires Example 2 ATV Tires We want this page to rank http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/c/43/81/165/ATV-Tires however google has decided to rank http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/t/43/81/165/723/ATV-Tires-All that is acutally one folder under where we want it.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DoRM0 -
My ranking on some keywords is getting better . Now what about geography!
Hi, I finally got a better result on my ranking on specific keyword. Now, here is what I need to do. Just to place you in context, we have acquired 2 companies in Europe since last year ( One in the UK and one in France ) and our head office is in North America. Since our servers are located in NA, I realize the ranking will be better here on specific keywords than it is in the UK and France. I actually managed to get on the first page on google North America, but I am till very var in ranking in France and the UK. Where should I start to get a worldwide ranking ? I could start on the 2 geography mentionned but is there a strategy to get ranked worldwide ? Any help would be appreciated. Best regards,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | processia0 -
No longer to be found for "certain" keywords.
I'd like to see if anyone could potentially shade a light on this rather strange scenario: Basically yesterday I noticed that we are no longer to be found for 'certain' keywords that we had page 2-3 ranking. Yet, for other keywords we still appear on page 2-3. These keywords are very competitive and our rankings has constantly improved in the course of 5-6 months. Now my question is that what could or may have contributed to the fact that for only some keywords we are no longer to be found? Another question is, can Google remove you from their SERPs for certain keywords 'only'? Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | micfo
Maximilian.0 -
Subdomains for niche related keywords
I wanted to know how efficient using a subdomain is, taking in consideration all the updates Google has made lately. I am looking to use a subdomain for a well branded website for a niche specific part of their website. The subdomain will end-up having more than 100 pages. I'd like to see in what cases do you guys recommend using a subdomain? How to get the same benefit out of a subdomain as i am getting from the actual main domain?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CMTM0