Optimizing dog walking site for search phrase "dog walkers nyc"

[BarkBud]

Background: We have a dog walking company that serves NYC. According to our AdWords campaign, most leads come from the search phrase: "dog walkers nyc."

Question: If the goal is to get as much organic traffic as possible for the search phrase "dog walkers nyc," should we just optimize our http://barkbud.com/ domain for the search phrase "dog walkers nyc," OR should we also have a page like http://barkbud.com/dog-walkers-nyc/ optimized for the same phrase?

Thanks!

[Toddfoster]

Personally I wouldn't optimize both pages for a single keyword. As Matt says, that is a good way to look spammy. That being said, you probably want to build out your site with other options for potential clients since a single page targeting dog walkers in NYC will not do much to help your overall traffic. It will work well as a lead-generation page, however, so as I said earlier, you probably want to work on converting those folks who come to your website rather than focusing on generating enormous amounts of traffic.

Also, to underline Matt's point, don't use exact match keyword targeting since that will look unnatural. I would personally look for relevant keywords that people are searching for - a great method for this can be found in this article:

| http://neilpatel.com/2015/11/21/5-steps-to-building-a-successful-organic-traffic-pipeline/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email |

Use this method to develop pages that follow user intent when they are looking for dog walking services and generate some pages with respect to those questions. You will improve your website's UX and increase your overall conversion potential.

Best of luck moving forward!

| http://neilpatel.com/2015/11/21/5-steps-to-building-a-successful-organic-traffic-pipeline/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=email |

[BarkBud]

Thanks Matt!

[MattRoney]

It's extremely unlikely that you'd rank two pages for one term, so I personally wouldn't recommend optimizing two pages for the same keyword. I also suggest you be very careful about optimizing for an exact match keyword like that, as it could make your copy sound stilted and unnatural ("We're the best dog walkers NYC around!"). If it's very clear that your service is dog walking and that your located in NYC—perhaps use schema markup to establish the location, and make sure to have a presence on the relevant directories—I'd think you'd be fine.

Plus, since BarkBud only offers dog walking, and only in NYC, a page like barkbud.com/dog-walkers-nyc/ is redundant at best, and spammy at worst.

[BarkBud]

Thanks for the response Rob! We are only selling one service, dog walking. I don't see this changing for some time. Also, we are only serving NYC. Given this, do you think we should optimize barkbud.com AND barkbud.com/dog-walkers-nyc/ for the search phrase "dog walkers nyc?"

[Toddfoster]

Hi,

For maximizing your traffic, there are a couple of questions you need to ask before optimizing your domain/page for your chosen keyword(s):

1. Do you offer additional services?

If you are simply walking dogs, then optimizing your website for these specific search terms is in your best interest. If you are trying to develop new services, or provide information/additional value to potential clients, you may have to use a different tactic.

If you are only providing the single service, you can optimize your home page for the keywords and be done with it. If you are trying to provide additional services/information, it is best if you create multiple pages with each page targeting specific keywords.

2. Is organic traffic really your biggest seller?

Organic traffic (presumably new sessions) is a way to go, although it may not provide you with the greatest value when compared to direct traffic. I would suggest setting up goals and conversions for each of your keywords in GA and determining which traffic source provides  you with the highest conversion rates. Determine whether repeat visitors or new visitors are the ones generating leads.

You may discover that you are focused on the wrong kind of traffic for your services. If you are set on gathering organic traffic, however, you should definitely have a separate optimized page in your sales funnel for relevant keywords.

3. Are you over-stuffing your keywords?

Remember not to keyword stuff your website or provide unnatural links for your profile. This will have an adverse effect on your ranking potential. Perhaps try generating multiple pages which cover topics relevant to your keywords. For example, instead of just targeting "dog walkers nyc", try branching out to "benefits of dog walkers" or "4 things to ask a dog walker" - create a blog that answers questions you expect your customers to have, and create value for them that way.

This way, you are not depending on the quantity of traffic, but on the quality of your lead generation process. You may not need more traffic, you may merely need to optimize your conversion process.

Hope this adds some helpful insight.

Let me know if you have further questions,

Rob