Keyword based link problem on site
-
So I think I might have identified an issue with a site that I'm trying to get ranked for a specific keyword but, wanted to get some opinions before I started making some big changes on the site.
On my homepage I have the keyword that I would like to be ranked for in the title lets say "Blue Widgets - Company Name', also on the home page I have some descriptions of our services including the keywords. I also have a couple of the keyword based links within in the content, navigation and footer. But these keyword based links all point to another page on the site: blue-widgets.htm. If I really want my home page to rank for the keyword "Blue Widgets' should all of these links point to the home page instead of the sub page?
I know there are a great number of other factors that contribute to rankings but looking at my competition, this is something that they seem to be doing. The keyword based links within the content, navigation or footer all point to the homepage. I also have a higher Domain Authority than some of the sites that rank higher than me so I'm not sure if building more links is the answer. Of course I always want to build natural links but these sites don't seem to be doing that either.
Any comments, suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated.
-
Thanks for the help!
-
You are on the right track
You want to use your home page wisely. It is almost always the best ranking page in your site, it is also the best page to get a internal link from.
-
Ugh, that's what I thought.
So basically I need to make a major decision regarding which pages I want to rank and for and for what keyword. I could focus our home page just on the company brand and try to get the sub page ranked for the targeted keyword. Of course it's always easier to build links to the home page rather than to the sub pages.
-
Yes you want links with the link text blue widgets pointing to the page you want to rank for blue widgets.
It is even worse if you have link text in links on the page you want to rank pointing away from it, this is called self cannibalization.
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
-
Can you see if you have a penalty / downgrading for a keyword stuffed title tag ?
We’ve recently seen a gradual drop in organic listings for a site, the site has according to OSE the highest stats when compared to all its competitors. Im beginning to think the site may be being penalised for an unnatural title tag. The title tag for the site is as follows : [Service] [City] - [Company Name] - [Neighborhood] - West [City] An example of the above <title>pattern would be :</p> <p><strong>Garden Design London - Acme Design - Chelsea - West London </strong></p> <p>The other sites that are outranking this site have title tags like :</p> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr"><span data-mce-mark="1">#1 (INDUSTRY SITE)</span></p> </li> </ul> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">#2 James Davidson Design, London</p> </li> </ul> <ul> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">#3 Jane Smith : Luxury Garden Design | London | Garden Landscaping</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">#4 Garden Designers London: BWI London Luxury Garden Design …</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">#5 (NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ARTICLE)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">#6 Keers | High End Luxury Garden Designers in London</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">#7 Garden Design London - Acme Design - Chelsea - West London (The site in question)</p> </li> <li dir="ltr"> <p dir="ltr">#8 Sarah Franklin | Luxury Garden Design | London</p> </li> </ul> <p> </p> <p>Looking down the list they all seem to be using less keyword stuffed <title> tags than our the site sitting in #7. Bearing in mind that the site in #7 out ranks in terms of stats all other sites apart from #1 and #4 (which aren't competitors) in OSE</p> <p>Is it possible to if the site in #7 was given a penalty for the <title> tag ?</p> <p><br />(please note that the <title> tags ive listed above are representative of what the other sites are using, but ive changed the service and city to obfuscate the sites)</p></title>
Competitive Research | | mike8780 -
Tool for discovering outbound links?
I want to find a tool where I can put in a url: www.site.com and it will tell me all the people that site links to. If this is in the Moz tool set, then I apologize. I couldn't find it. I can only find tools that tell me who links to a site, but not the other way around. Thanks, Ruben
Competitive Research | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Ranking for Competitive Keywords vs. Less Competitive Keyword Variations
I'm curious about situations where a website ranks very well for query variations, but doesn't rank for the query itself (or the reverse of that). For Redfin (where I work), here is the situation with regard to keyword rankings on Google (searched today from USA, incognito)... real estate search - #4 real estate online - #4 real estate site - #5 find real estate - #9 get real estate - #16 real estate - #163 It stands to reason that a site ranking well for a competitive query should also rank well for less competitive query variations - especially query variations that are non-limiting and do not demand a custom landing page (for example, I would consider 'board games' to dramatically limit the query 'games' and be best targeted with a targeted page...not so with 'real estate site' and 'real estate'). So, my question is, what are some theories regarding situations like this? Why do some sites rank so well for competitive queries but not for non-limiting query variations? Why aren't the sites that are crushing us for 'real estate' also crushing us for 'real estate' variations (to be clear...the top sites are crushing us for both)? Is it anchor text? Is it social signals? Is it offline signals, co-occurrence, or citations? What about internal linking and site structure? I realize it's likely a mix of all this, but I'm hoping we can drum up some new ideas here. FYI, on Bing we also rank very well for 'real estate' variations, but leap up to 31st for 'real estate'. Thoughts?
Competitive Research | | RyanOD0 -
Feed sites replacing my pages in SERP
I have a problem! Sites like:
Competitive Research | | pycckuu
http://lynk.ly/
http://www.yousaytoo.com/
http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://friendfeed.com/ Are replacing my posts even if i am searching for an exact title of the post. For example this search query:
Christmas Party Style Sets With Black Cocktail Dresses Original post here:
http://richclubgirl.com/christmas-party/christmas-party-style-sets-with-black-cocktail-dresses/ How do i fight this issue? I want to stay on these sites somehow! Thanks in advance!0 -
Why my site is not crawled by open site explorer?
Hello friends, Im new here... I just create a campaign for my site www.electrosecurity.com.ec , but when I try to use open site explorer to see anything there... I receive a message saying that my site is not crawled... What can I do? I have a few links coming to my site.. but these links does not appears on my campaigns details.. for these links my site is PR3, but i can not see any of this links on the general view of my campaign. Sorry for my english....
Competitive Research | | lans27870 -
Is it possible to see bounce rate on external sites?
Are there any tools that will let you see your competitor's bounce rates?
Competitive Research | | nicole.healthline0 -
List of all outbound links to a specified site
For example, I want to search for every link to my site from stumbleupon. Is there a way to do this? Much thanks in advance!
Competitive Research | | TrevorMcKendrick0
