Two for the price of one: Can I rank for multiple keywords when only targeting one keyword?
-
If I'm optimizing for a specific keyword, is it accurate to assume that by ranking for that specific keyword that I will also be able to rank for similar or root keywords merely by ranking for the original keyword?
For example, if I'm targeting 'free online bucket list' is it safe to assume that I will also be able to inadvertently rank for 'online bucket list' or 'free bucket list'? Can I assure clients of this?
Or if I'm targeting 'Colorado grocery store' should I also naturally rank for 'grocery store Colorado' and not need to make both of these my targeted keywords?
-
When you are doing your link building target the following things:
-
Both terms in varied anchor texts
-
Target on page content to target both terms
-
Target internal link building for each term.
You can mix up techniques to achieve many positives
-
-
Something else.... You have the potential to pull search engine traffic for almost any word combination that appears on your page. In fact, many websites get more traffic from these "long tail" search queries than they get from their primary keywords.
The more different words that you have on a page the more of this type of traffic you will receive. We once upgraded a lot of our content from short descriptions of about 50 words to 300-500 word articles and the traffic went up 3x. Then upgraded to 1000+ word articles and traffic doubled.
-
Hey Derrick,
That is absolutely correct and for a couple of reasons.
1.) The onpage text supports all of those keywords
2.) Anchor text of inbound links can be exact match or partial match and benefit multiple terms therein (ask me if this doesn't make sense, there is a great whiteboard Friday session on this)
3.) As you improve your domain/page authority you will be mroe relevant in the eyes of Google and start ranking for more and more keywords you weren't even expecting to rank for.
One this I like to do is go through Google analytics and copy out all the keywords users have accessed our sites through, then throw them into the rank checker and keep an eye on the movements. This tactic gives you a holistic view of how the website is improving as you work on 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
-
Multiple keywords one page.
I want to focus on these 4 keywords. E-waste management
Keyword Research | | themesh
E-waste recycling
E-waste solutions
Brand name Do I need to create a separate page for each or can focus them from home page itself, With title tag like this E-waste Management and recycling company in _Cityname _| Brandname:0 -
Focus Keyword
Hi, I have 2 doubts regarding keywords SEO optimization. 1. I would like to optimize the keyword "liquidation channel". The thing is, in my copy/page title/URL/etc it doesn't make a lot of sense to use this exact keyword, but rather "liquidation channels", in plural. Will I rank higher for liquidation channel anyway? And if so, to which extent? (e.g. about 70%...?) 2. I would like to optimize the homepage for the word "liquidation", but found out that some combinations using this keyword (like "liquidation sales" or "liquidation auctions") would have higher traffic and might work better for some pages. I understand I would still be ranking higher for the keyword liquidation, but to which extent? If it's 100% because the keyword is always included, does it makes sense to use 1-word keywords or should we always focus on multiple word keywords? Would the same apply for 2-words keywords vs 3-words keywords, like "wholesale liquidation" SEO rankings being applied when optimizing "wholesale liquidation sales"? Thank you,
Keyword Research | | viatrading11 -
Google Keyword Tool
Hello, Is the Google Keyword Tool the only reliable source for stats on keyword search volume on Google? The tool returns "no data" results for keywords I would expect to have some, if not much, search volume. I would like to cross-check these results, if possible. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | nyc-seo0 -
Question about keyword analysis
I am working on a keyword analysis for a range of keywords. I want to target these keywords in the Denver market. I know if you search google for something like "IT Support" and you are located in Denver it knows where you are and caters the results to be more Denver IT Support oriented. I did notice that those results are different than if you search for "Denver IT Support" My pages are optimized for the Denver market and the keyword like "IT Support" but I am a bit confused on how I should be doing my research into keywords. Should I be putting Denver into all my keyword analysis research even though I still want to rank for just the keyword when they are searching from the Denver area. I hope this all makes sense. I guess I just need some guidance on how to deal with the location specifics of my keywords. Thanks in advance for any help.
Keyword Research | | ZiaTG0 -
Are keywords rankings a zero sum game for our site?
We’ve made pages with resources for our customers. These pages have been well received and gotten us some good traffic. But these pages only target our main keywords tangentially. If we continue to build up pages like this -- that give us traffic from our customers, but don’t directly target our main keywords -- will our target keywords -- and the pages that focus on those keywords -- suffer? Is it a zero sum game for our web site? Does increasing rankings and pages for certain keywords mean that other keywords / pages decrease as a result?
Keyword Research | | boxcarpress0 -
So if you rank well for the long tail, does that help your ranking for the short tail?
So say for instance you rank well in "online medical billing software." Does that help or influence your rank for derivatives of it (eg: "medical billing," "billing software," or "online medical billing")?
Keyword Research | | Bill4Time0 -
Keyword management - where do i start?
Hi all, i am a starting out SEO. I have recently been browsing our keyword rankings report and noticed that we are very low down on some quite key search terms. I therefor want to focus over the next few weeks, on bringing us up the rankings for these specific terms. Apologies if this is a very basic one, but**,.... I dont know where to start!** I would be very interested if anyone can give me some advice on a plan of action. What actions should be in my action plan? For example, if i wanted to improve our rankings on the following: English school in malta Learning english in malta English classes in malta
Keyword Research | | Exp0 -
Keyword Targeting
If I am currently ranking well for "Lawn Mowers" and I also want to target "Cheap Lawn Mowers" will it affect my ranking for "Lawn Mowers" if I change my on page optimization by adding "Cheap" to the title, H1, etc. or will it effectively target both.
Keyword Research | | UK2Group0