Title Tag & Ranking Improvement....
-
Hi
I have a dilema that I could do with some help with please.
I am working on a site and its home page is ranking on the second page of google position 2 (12) for a term such as [Portrait Photographer London]
The title tag I am using for this homepage is "Portrait Photographer | Clients Brand Name" ( which does NOT include the word "photography / photographer")
The reason why I used this term for the home page is eventually I would like to rank in the top 3 (I'm ambitious) for [Portrait Photographer] so I left out the location on the home page as I have an about us page where I have the title tag "Portrait Photographer London | Clients Brand Name" this is currently ranking on page 3 position 3 (33) for a term such as [London Portrait Photographer]
I'm wondering if including the location would help move my client up any? So it would be: "Portrait Photographer London | Clients Brand Name" and the keyword I want move up for is [Portrait Photographer London]
Hope this makes sense
-
What happens if I do duplicate the title tags, Matt?
-
I would definitely alter the about us page to an exact match so that your title tags for the homepage and about us page are not identical/duplicate.
-
Ok Matt.....that sounds perfect.
One more question (i'm sure I typed this but it somehow disappeared)
The about us page is ranking for London Portrait Photographer yet the home page is ranking for Portrait Photographer London would it be sensible to change the title tag of the about us page to London Portrait Photographer so it is an EXACT match?
-
Hi Nicola
I would consider building links to these other pages, such as about us page, to increase their ranking power for a term. your about us page is indexed in order to appear in the serps so if it is ranking for another term then this will still be the case. Changing the title on the homepage will just increase it's relevance for that term and you can have multiple pages satisfying a search, so I would worry. I have several keywords that have multiple pages ranked for the same search - one hasn't replaced the other.
It is difficult to rank one page for too many keywords as it tends to dilute things. When I have been targeting local search results I have always created separate pages purely devoted to that location and then I have created decent content on the page targeting that location/keyword combination. Then I have gone after links for those pages in order to help them ranking more successfully. I know the customers that your client is targeting are different to the ones that will benefit from a how-to guide for instance correct lighting or how to use flash properly. However you are likely to gain links from photography related sites which will improve you link profile and relevance to its niche - photography so this will definitely help you increase your rankings.
When you go after links just make sure you don't over do the anchor text as link profiles are under more scrutiny than ever in a post penguin world. Building decent content and gaining exposure will lead to you beating these other sites for more competitive keywords - I would work hard go down this route especially if they haven't as you will build a site that is an information resource for photography and in turn promote your clients work - you will be on to a winner!
Hope this helps!
-
I like to test new title tags all the time. Matt had a great answer being specific helps. I usually try title tag tests on some lower pages as a safe bet. When you can narrow down the search you generally rank better. For example I sell products that are cooking related so in the title tag I include a popular use term in the tag. Avocados are used in guacamole so I put it in the tag soon I was ranking 2-3 for months. When I took it out the rank slipped to six. Hope I helped and good luck
-
Hi Matt
Thank you for your response.
Ok so firstly I will change my homepage title tag to Portrait Photographer London.
The homepage is much more powerful in terms of PA than the about us page....infact I would say 97% of the clients links point to the homepage and the other 3% to their blog.
The about us page is highly optimised for the keyword [London Portrait Photographer] too do you think if I make the change to the title of the homepage it would be possible for the homepage to replace the about us page in serps? The reason I ask is I think it is more natural for the landing page to be the home page for a search query like [London Portrait Photographer] rather than the about us page and I fear I could lose click thru.
As for [Portrait Photographer] keyword I am not worried at this stage as by default most photography sites have very little if any content whatsoever....most appear to have the rankings they have for two reasons A) there domain age and B) number/strength of links.
I am working with the owner to produce good quality content and hopefully that works.....also her work gets featured on blogs which are dedicated to showcasing photographers work, on the how to we haven't really done any of that...I guess you mean "how to use flash?" or "how to shoot in the sun"? Those kind of how tos? The only concern I would have about doing that is the audience those would be catering to would be different to who she is trying to sell her services too.
But I do know one particular photography although in a different niche who has done that and it has brought them quite a lot of followers and links from other people in the industry trying to build their photography business.
.
-
I have always found the more specific your title tag is the higher the ranking is for that particular term, so it would make sense to include the term London on your homepage title tag with the correct keyword order.
Your homepage will, most likely, carry more authority in terms of links than your about us page as with most websites the most links usually point to the homepage, so making your on-page optimization for the term Portrait Photographer London more concentrated/location specific should lead to a higher ranking for that term than your about us page for starters.
As far as ranking top 3 for Portrait Photographer I have found that making my titles and other on page factors more specific that with time and hard work I have eventually ranked for the less specific. For this I would concentrate on building great content and making sure it gains exposure using methods such as social media, then there is no reason why with time, hard work and dedication you can't make it so. Do you already produce how-to guides for photography - this could be through written and video guides? I would use this to build you clients reputation as an authority online. Sharing some of your clients expertise is a good thing and will lead to gained exposure without it being at the detriment to their business if done correctly!How is your social media going - are you building up a good following and does you client interact with authority figures in your niche so you can gain exposure for your site and content created?
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
-
Changed from www to non-www lost all rank. Will it return?
My web site used https://www.domain.com for the past 18 months. We finally got to #3 position for our top keyword. We changed web servers and our wordpress admin section somehow got changed to https://domain.com. As you can imaging I'm not too happy. We do have 301 redirects installed. Yesterday I noticed that our site was not ranking anymore. In fact, all our pages and our site URLs at https://www.domain.com have been de-indexed. I assume because that no longer exists. Using site: all the web pages under https://domain.com (which were identical to the old www) are now listed. All of them. However, none are showing in searches unless we search for the business name. They are not appearing under keyword searches. I would assume that the 301s (which are installed property) would make the site keep it's rank, as the pages are all identical. Will we ever get our rank back? Should we switch back to www? Or do the 301s just take time to hit? How long if that's the case?
Keyword Research | | ThereNYC0 -
Which keyword for title
I'm trying to figure out what to use for my title text. It's for a structural steel fabrication company. Adwords has the average monthly searches for "structural steel" and "steel fabrication" identical at 5,400. It has "structural steel fabrication" at 390 which I get that since its longer and a little more specific will have less searches. My question is if I make the title "structural steel fabrication" does google just see it as 1 big keyword or will it rank for "structural steel" and/or "steel fabrication"? What would any of you go with here? All 3 keyword strings make sense for the person seeing the title. Thanks for any advice you can give, Clay
Keyword Research | | clayknight0 -
My home page doesn't rank for its brand keyword
I'm wondering why my website www.travelnasia.com home page URL does not rank in the top 50 for the brand keyword "travelnasia". Does this indicate a problem? A page linking to my site ranks at No 1. A domain listing for my site ranks No 2. A SiteJabber review of my site ranks No 3. My own privacy page ranks #4 and my Contact Us page ranks No 5. My home page is nowhere to be seen in the top 50. It does rank #1 for the qualified domain "travelnasia.com", just not for the unqualified domain. I just don't know what to make of that. My competitors all seem to rank #1 for their brands, so I'm not sure why I don't at least rank in the top 50 for mine.
Keyword Research | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
Spanish Ranking Tool
Is there a tool (other than Moz) that people can recommend where I could check rankings from Spanish speaking countries such as Mexico and Colombia? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | theLotter0 -
How do I find what keywords competitors are ranking for?
I am just starting out doing come SEO research. I seem to remember a tool that would tell me which words my competitors are ranking for and what kind of traffic they are getting. Thanks, Lisa
Keyword Research | | lisarein0 -
Competitive keyword ranking
Hi, I'm checking the SEOMoz keyword rankings report. I've set about 30 keywords and it's awesome to see how they rank and how many times they were clicked. However it would be interesting to see whether the keywords that I entered are competitive or not. It's not worth putting a lot of energy in making non competitive words rank higher I guess. So my question is: is it possible to see whether or not ranked keywords are competitive or not? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | webctp0 -
Is there a Meta tag or Keyword Generator tool that I can use on SEMOZ ?
I need to identify a tool within SEMOZ that can automatically generate Keywords and Meta tags.
Keyword Research | | sherohass0 -
Keyword analysis ways to improve it
I am aways being my worst critique and constantly looking to improve. Thats how you become a winner right ! something I feel I can improve on is Keyword analysis and targeting. I would really appreciate hearing stories of other SEO's on here , gaining an insight into the techniques you use and how your keyword analysis has evolved as time has gone by. Thanks in advance.
Keyword Research | | onlinemediadirect1