Meta tag question
-
Through research our competitors have created independent product codes like FT-5750 and are using it as an independent SKU#, when I search this product code they are the only search result.
can we use their abbreviated SKU# in our meta tag or keywords to show up in the SERP?
Thanks,
Michelle & Blake
-
Michelle & Blake,
Tim raised some good points, so rather than address those I'll try to answer your question directly.
Yes, you could theoretically rank for these unique SKUs if you were to build some half-way decent content around them - especially if the competition is low as you say.
It's not likely as easy as putting the keywords in your Meta tags ( I assume you mean the meta description tag, or even the meta keywords tag which most folks don't use anymore)
If you really want to rank for these keywords, they should probably be a natural part of your content and body copy. To Tim's point, could you target these terms in a way that made sense to visitors? Perhaps yes. If your visitor was looking for a product similar too or a substitution for a particular SKU, this might make sense - but you actually have to create content around the terms, and not simply stick them on the page or hide them in the meta data - does this make sense?
You would want to target these keywords and ideas just like any other. Tools like the on-page grader might give you good idea where to start.
Hope this helps! Best of luck with your SEO!
-
Hey Michelle and Blake,
There's nothing inherently black hat about targeting the same keywords as your competitors. It's sort of an underhanded business tactic, but it's not something that will directly get you in trouble with Google.
I still think it might be harder to rank for those SKUs than you think it will be. If you competitor is the industry leader and these SKUs are closely associated with their brand just mentioning the SKUs in the content of a page might not be enough to rank for them. You might also need some link building to be on the same level as your competitor. If you're trying to build links around keywords that aren't naturally part of your brand, it could easy to slip into some shady tactics.
There might be other out there with more experience in building organic SEO campaigns that target a competitors keywords (and hopefully, they'll chime in here), but I still think AdWords is your best bet for getting started with this. It's instant and you're guaranteed to rank above your competitor. You'll also start getting data about whether it would be worth investing in a larger organic campaign to rank for these keywords.
Tim
-
Tim,
Thank you for the response, However, our competitor is the industry leader and that SKU is specific to that company. They have made these SKU's because they are solely searchable in SERP. Interestingly, the second and third industry sites have now made up their own SKU all using the same base number but different letter configurations. Ideally, our meta and keywords could include our competitors individual SKU's so theoretically we would rank along with their site search. It would be worth our time and effort if including this information in our meta and keyword if this tactic worked.
We are trying to distinguish if this would be a black hat practice or a competitive white hat tactic? Thoughts?
Thanks,
M & B
-
Hi Michelle and Blake,
I think the first thing you need to ask yourselves is if people are actually searching for your competitor's SKUs. Is it really worth your time to try to optimize for these when you could instead spend time and money optimizing for keywords that might drive more traffic?
Also, since these are SKUs that only your competitor uses, it almost functions in the same way that a branded search for their company name would. Even if you created a page that focused on FT-5750, would it really deserve to rank above a page on your competitor's site? Probably not since they actually use that SKU as part of their business.
Optimizing for these SKUs might be more difficult than you think depending on how closely associated the SKUs are with you competitors brand.
Targeting your competitors keywords is a tactic that some companies use, but I've seen it done more often through AdWords than through organic SEO. If you search for Eloqua (a marketing automation tool), you'll see an ad for Marketo (one of their competitors). https://www.google.com/search?pws=0&q=eloqua
But again, you need to figure out if it's worth it to go after these SKUs. A small AdWords campaign could help you figure out if it's worth your time and money. Otherwise might just end up wasting a lot of resources on something that doesn't drive much traffic.
Hope this help.s
Tim
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
-
Keyword Ranking Research Question
Hi Mozzers,This is probably a nooby question, but I was wondering how you guys end up deciding if a Keyword is too hard to rank for? Also vice versa, when do you decide that a keyword is too low volume to rank for so you try to rank for a harder keyword? Eg.
Keyword Research | | steve45058
Deciding that ranking for "Dell Computers" is too hard and then deciding to rank for "Dell Small Business Computers" Post-question: Do indirectly rank for Dell Computers if you try to rank for Dell Small Business Computers? If so, how much? Also, how many words inbetween Dell & Computers would there have to be to stop indirectly ranking for Dell Computers?1 -
Are Meta Descriptions Really Necessary?
We use them for some of our key landing pages, but for the majority of our pages (product pages, really) we let Google decide what to use for the meta description. These pages get a lot of medium to long-tail traffic and I feel like Google is going to do a better job of inserting bolded, keyword rich text from the page content and generating a better CTR than if I were to plug something in there myself. Would I be better off optimizing the the description for more of a direct match keyword instead of doing what I'm doing now (using Google generated descriptions to optimize for medium to long-tail keywords)?
Keyword Research | | _JP_0 -
Phone numbers in the meta titles
Is it best practice to have phone numbers in the meta titles? Will google penalize for that? It is actually useful for the users...
Keyword Research | | CMTM0 -
Should i change title tags?
I want to change all of the title tags on my website by adding a couple of more keywords (not keyword stuffing) but our previous media company chose words that were not aas relevant as ones I found. However I was warned this is a bad idea, it will make traffic drop and if it works we will only see about 5% increase to pages. Please advise. Should I change them and hwo should I do it? One by one slowly while changing content to match or all at once?
Keyword Research | | slipnot0 -
Question about keyword
I had read a post in SEOmoz about keywords. According to it, The best keywords are 1. High Volume (many searches/month) 2. Low Competition 3. High Value (large % of visitors convert) My question is how can i find about 2nd and 3rd point. High search volume is shown in many Tools including Google adwords, but how can we be sure to find keywords that are low in competition and at the same time high value.
Keyword Research | | seoug_20050 -
Is the order placement of a city name in title tag very important?
Is "Austin Plumbers" much different than "Plumbers Austin" in the eyes of the search engine and best practices? I would think that Plumbers Austin would have more search volume. But Austin Plumbers is easier to work in to sentences in the body. Does Google sees them as the same? Is it ok to use Plumbers Austin in the title tag and use Austin Plumbers in the body or should I choose one target phrase and stick with just that? If so should the city name come first or last?
Keyword Research | | judd_trifectainteractive.com1 -
Keyword Dulication in Tags
As I mostly work with Belgian/Dutch customers, my keywords are often in Dutch. We have a lot of composite words such as "hooikoortsklachten" or "hooikoortverwachting". If i were to create a Page Title with content: Hooikoortsklachten | hooikoortsverwachting Is this parly duplicated (because of the word hooikoorts x2)? or does Google only consider the entire word? Insights would be much appreciated! Thanks
Keyword Research | | Jacobe0