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
-
Help - my site is losing rank fast and I don't know what I've done!
My site Easigrass.com had been ranking well but recently it's started to fall in the ranks. I don't know why but I've fallen 4 places on the last 2 months for the keyword 'artificial grass'. anyone willing to take a look and throw me there thoughts?
Keyword Research | | Easigrass1 -
What is the best tool for finding what people are using as search phrases for my product
what is the best tool for finding what people are using as search phrases for my product? i used to use the google adwords keyword suggestion tool but that tool is gone now. Is the google keyword planner now the best tool to use? Thanks, Ron
Keyword Research | | Ron101 -
Improving the keyword ranking of a subject that we deal with only one or two months of the year
So I run a tip site based on the popular video game series Madden NFL. We also do NCAA and since I started getting invested in SEO, I noticed we aren't even in the top 50 for a lot of these results. What would be a good way to get started? Just throwing in some keywords that I want to be targeted?
Keyword Research | | taychatha0 -
Any recommendations on how to find non-branded keyword phrases revealing searcher’s intent with high volume and CPC?
-Most of the organic keywords driving traffic to our website are branded. -I’ve used UberSuggest, but those keyword phrases tend to have low CPC and low volume -Thus, the UberSuggest keywords usually produce a low benefit & K.O.B score. -Andrew
Keyword Research | | Todd_Kendrick0 -
Branded vs Generic keywords - is Google treating their rank equaly!?
Several times I have noticed that website receiving sort of a rankings drop penalty for certain wrongly built on-page strategies that involves keyword stuffing, wrong keyword density(too much) etc. The question is - how you guys think - is branded keywords receiving the same treatment from Google then generic ones? And here is why - for one popular brand I see that they ranking for their brand keyword very high(1th) but keyword density is awful - more then 10%. So, my guess is - if this keyword density you would apply for generic keyword you will end up nowhere to be found for it! Is that could be truth? Any experiments info about that? thanks and regards, Jungles
Keyword Research | | Jungles0 -
Is there a point in ranking non-competitive terms?
Hello, I wanted to know if you could still make $$$ of a term that is not competitive for people. For example if a keyword is a quote, an idea, topic, or something that isn't real but still brings more than 1K exact search a month (Several terms come out to more), how can this be monetized? If it can't, could you just own one to show off?
Keyword Research | | 6786486312640 -
Why do I get a vastly different keyword ranking on google using different browsers?
With Fire Fox I get a ranking of 3 for roof coating and get a page 6 with Chrome and IE. Not sure what is going on with that.
Keyword Research | | jimmyboy0 -
How do I conduct organic SEO for a company with 2 locations?
Hi, I'm currently working on improving rankings for a web design company. I think i'm possibly getting a bit hung up on this but I'm a bit stuck! The company has offices in 2 locations in the UK - in both Leicester and London. Do I need to include the 2 different locations in my keywords to improve ranking for both locations, say someone searching in Leicester searching for say 'web design Leicester'? ie one of my page titles (with keywords) is currently: Web design agency, Graphic design, Branding, Leicester & London Am I going about this in the right way? Hope this makes sense!
Keyword Research | | CWseo0