Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Does combining keywords in the page title help or hurt you?
-
I am working on a site which sells elliptical equipment. I used Google Adwords to determine number of searches on the following keywords:
Elliptical trainer – 3.,600 searches
Elliptical machine – 14,800 searches
Elliptical trainer machine - 22 searches
I am currently optimizing “elliptical trainer” – but after seeing results above would also like to optimize “elliptical machine”. My question is: if I add “machine” to “elliptical trainer” will Google now only read “elliptical trainer machine” or will it read “elliptical machine” in addition to “elliptical trainer”. How do you know what word or “chunk” of words Google picks up?
-
I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I don't think you need or want separate pages. These are synonyms. The phrases are obviously semantically related. When I type "elliptical machine" and search on Google I see results with the world "elliptical trainer" in bold as well. If it were me and I had one category page to optimize I would title it something like:
Elliptical Machines - StoreName Has the Best Elliptical Trainer Brands in Stock for Less!
Or some variation that allows you to get both of those two-word phrases in there once.
If you do have the opportunity to optimize more than one page, and both are equally relevant to the searches (e.g. Home page and category page), then I agree that you should target one per page, though I would intersperse the other variation here and there on each page too.
Product pages are likely going to rank best for the brand/model of machine/trainer so you can just write naturally and use each keyword interchangeably (e.g. The BrandX elliptical machine is an excellent value, combining affordability with the features, style and durability of the more costly elliptical trainers on the market...)
-
I agree completely...and yes I think when it's not possible to have individual pages, combining but doing so strategically and sparingly is key here. You want to maintain good keyword density for your most lucrative keywords.
-
While I agree with the above comments, it's not always that easy i.e. an ecommerce product page when there is more than one way of naming the product. Also, 1000+ words of unique content on each page in that scenario may look a little bit odd (most people just want a product description and specifications, if necessary).
If she can make two pages, terrific! If not, is it better to combine your keywords?
-
Create a page with your keywords properly optimized for each keyword. Make sure you create 1000+ words of valuable content and build links to each individual page. Another thing you might consider is scrolling down to the bottom of Google for those keywords and creating more pages based on keywords Google suggest. Internally link all your pages together using variations of your keywords.
-
Hi Christle,
I too agree with SEO5 response. All the best.
Ben.
-
Hi Christie,
Based on the search volume, both the keywords warrant their own individual pages. I would suggest sticking with one keyword per page for optimization for best chances to rank for that keyword.
Cheers,
SEO5
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
-
Relevant but not-relevant keywords impact to SEO
Hello, I would like to know if the selection of individual keywords(that are not primary, secondary or tertiary) are important for SEO regardless of the relevancy to the page topic. I am wondering how much of a contribution a non-P1/P2/P3 can make in terms of SEO? For example it is a product page and I have built my content with P1,P2&P3 based only on the product and its properties itself. Do you think that a content gap for the page could be the production process of that product? So even if it is a product and its properties page, I can add 2 sentences about the production, so that I can drive more traffic by including these 2 informative sentences.? EXAMPLE:
Keyword Research | | Siir
So lets' say my topic is "hair types" (P1) and my subtopics are "Straight," "wavy," and "curly"(P2s) which I used as subtitles. But throughout the page, I am planning to add some relevant but not-directly-relevant keywords here and there since they have high metrics and volumes. For example a potential sentence I can add: "innovative hair products these days can offer amazing results for the desired hair types". It is not specifically about "hair types" but I am using the keyword "innovative hair products" (good metrics keyword) which may help for the traffic... Another potential not-so-direct sentence can be: "For all hair types, the hair damages are common: heat damage, chemical damage and mechanical damage". Would adding this extra sentence where I am not specifically talking about "hair types" (my topic) but "hair damages" and damage examples (off-topic high metric keywords) help me to drive traffic to my website? And how much of an impact would it be?0 -
How to find low difficulty keywords
how to find informative low difficulty keywords. how can I get content ideas? I have lots of content ideas but it's not good search volume on google. I have a kitchen-related affiliate website called https://gloryspy.com
Keyword Research | | MalikJan0 -
Does Using Brand/Company Name in Title on Multiple Pages Cause Cannibalization
I'm trying to rank for brand-name related keywords for a website. Most of the titles on the site include the page topic followed by the brand-name separated by bars or dashes (ex: title= widget | My Brand). Is this creating cannibalization for the brand-related terms? I was wondering if it was better to leave the brand out of the title all together except on a dedicated page. However, due to the nature of the business I work for there are multiple recognized iterations of the name including acronyms and long-form and short-form versions and creating content for each targeted iteration seems superfluous.
Keyword Research | | BiskEd1 -
How can improve my keywords ranking?
My keywords are not in top in 50.So, what kind of activity we do to get in top in 50 rank?
Keyword Research | | surabhi60 -
Help finding some decent keywords
Anyone care to help a SEO Newbie find a couple of key words that would be easier to rank for for my website that provides kayak fishing information? mysite: yakangler.com The key words that I've identified are as follows: best kayak
Keyword Research | | mr_w
fishing from a kayak
fishing kayak review
fishing kayaks
kayak and fishing
kayak fishing
kayak for fishing
kayak reviews
kayak rigging
kayak weight limit
kayaks fishing
kayaks for fishing But I'm worried I'm missing the point, I don't see hardly any traffic from most of these. I've really tried to rank for "kayak fishing" but seem to be totally lost in the Google Panda abyss. Any advice on a different word or strategy would be greatly appreciated!0 -
Bulk keyword competition tool?
The SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty tool is great, but the 5 keyword limit is too small. I need a tool that will allow checking the organic competition level of 100's of keywords (to help in selecting blog topics). Anyone know of such a tool?
Keyword Research | | AdamThompson1 -
Is "in" a keyword differentiator?
Does google view phrases with "in" in then as different keywords than the same phrase without an "in"? For example: is "great restaurants in chicago" the same keyword as "great restaurants chicago"? Whenever I do research on two phrases like this, they always come up with the same search volume.
Keyword Research | | TheSquareFoot0 -
Keyword Research (dash or no dash)
I have a client that has been optimizing for "print and apply" for the past 5 months. Yesterday they decided it was more grammatically correct to use "print-and-apply." There question to me was "is this going to effect our SEO?" So... I checked the difficulty using the keyword analysis tool, both keywords had the same broad/exact adwords traffic as well as difficulty percentage. When reviewing the top 25 listings for each keyword it looks like the same sites rank in the SERPs between 1-8 and then after that it is completely different. So, is there a better keyword to target? Are these two keywords different enough to truly have separate search results?
Keyword Research | | kchandler
The top 8 results didn't even target "print-and-apply" in there content or title tags... Thanks for the input/discussion - Kyle0