2 almost identical key-phrases with opposite ranking trajectories
-
I recently checked rank-tracking of a client's search-phrases. In Google UK variations of 2 almost identical search phrases dropped 30 places for one of these and jumped 30 places for the other. The only difference between the 2 phrases being the site's location (city) was placed first in phrase A and last in Phrase B. There were no technical or content changes on-site- How can this be?
-
I'm following up on old threads in Q&A that are still marked unanswered.. Did this continue to happen, or did it ever settle out? Did you figure out why it happened at all?
-
hi,
this is something I check weekly (more or less), and it appears to be a sudden change. We are naturally working on attracting links with good anchor-texts esp. including location, but there has certainly been no aggressive push regarding this lately. I could try the "Location keyword - Get keyword in Location" approach without it looking out of place. Normally I'm cautious regarding repeating keywords in title-tags, but in this case it could make sense...
-
How long has it been like that? Do you track daily and the trend has been up/down or is this just a spot check?
I've not seen such dramatic swings before, but it does happen. Can you add the opposite phrase in the title somewhere?
"Location keyword - Get keyword in Location"
or something similar (recommended keyword in location, buy keyword in location) without it looking out of place?
That should bring it back more in line.
Has somebody linked to you with "location keyword" anchor text to push that version up?
Or have competitors been working on "keyword location" and not the other way round?
Hard to tell really and I'm not sure how to test it
-
hi, yes that is correct.
-
Hi Elias,
I'm aware that there are duplicate content issues on the site, and as I'm not a developer I'm not privy to the complexity of the problem. But, I haven't seen such a significant change for one url before, tracking two almost identical terms for the same url.
-
Do you mean that there is a single page for both these terms?
So Page A was in position 50 for "keyword + location" & "location + keyword".
"keyword + location" now returns Page A in position 80
"location + keyword" now returns Page A in position 20
-
It might well be a duplicate content issue. If you have two pages which are almost identical with the only difference being the city name. Google may have classed this as duplicate content and chosen to rank one page much higher than the other.
Like Marcus said - it would be useful to have a bit more information.
-
Hey, can you drop in the phrases and related pages? Hard to comment on the above without a little more info.
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
-
Ranking a homepage for keywords
We recently found a handful of keywords we would like our homepage to rank for (for example - customer experience). On our homepage we have articles (4-5 posted daily) that feature the keywords we are targeting (one being customer experience). How do the keywords we are using in our daily articles that are posted to the homepage affect the overall keyword ranking for the homepage? In other words do the keywords used in the articles (title, first 2-3 paragraphs, meta description, etc.) all roll up/build up to the homepage's keywords or how does that work?
Keyword Research | | carlystemmer0 -
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 -
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 -
Best tool to check keyword ranks in bulk
What is the most accurate tool to check the current ranking of keywords in bulk and download the report via CSV/Excel? Any input would be appreciated.
Keyword Research | | inhouseseo0 -
Is there a way to check what keywords a competitor is ranking for?
Hi Guys I have been working on a site and I'm doing better but I just want to ensure I am covering all the bases. I have a list of competitors and I want to see if I can find out what keywords they are ranking for so I can research and see if there is any merit in me trying to rank for those keywords also? Is there any software or processes that any of you can recommend? Thanks
Keyword Research | | RankStealer0 -
Combining keyword phrases
http://www.drillingtrader.com I am wanting to combine; oilfield classifieds
Keyword Research | | drillingtrader
drilling classifieds
oilfield services classifieds A keyword phrase generator reflected; oilfield classifieds drilling classifieds oilfield services classifieds [oilfield classifieds drilling classifieds oilfield services classifieds] or oilfield classifieds drilling classifieds oilfield services classifieds "oilfield classifieds drilling classifieds oilfield services classifieds" or oilfield classifieds drilling classifieds oilfield services classifieds +oilfield +classifieds +drilling +classifieds +oilfield +services +classifieds I don't know which keyword phrase would be most effective, nor do I understand if I am to combine the two lines, utilized in a keyword phrase or just one.0 -
Serps rank different from each login location
I prepared a report yesterday morning and I had a variety of keywords ranking at #5. Today when checked from another location they are all over the place. kitchen mats has been 11-15 for months, and then when checking from a school computer that starts a new session upon each login Yesterday it was #5 as was anti fatigue mats - it has been 27-32. Is google pulling in local hits and shifting the serp rankings? the site is www.wellnessmats.com any there suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know we have had duplicate content issues, and now reading some of the posts - perhaps "key word cannibalization"? thanks
Keyword Research | | bakergraphix_yahoo.com0 -
Indexing of short words, 2 letters.
hi, i would love to see on my website the world "or" indexed .. i got the same problem on two websites, http://www.or-a-vendre.com/ and http://www.achat-or-de-paris.com/ i didn't find a good answer on google for that, can you help me ?? thx a lot , J.
Keyword Research | | ieremyhenry0