Make a new page or more links to existing page for 2nd keyword?

[scanlin]

We have a page optimized for 'blue widgets'. We rank in organic spot #3 or 4 for that (moves around from week to week). Fairly happy with that.

We have another derivative term 'blue widgets small' (example, but it's same format: <original phrase="">+ <single word="">) where we currently rank #6 organic in Google when people search on the 3 word phrase.</single></original>

We'd like to rank higher than #6 for the 3 word phrase. Should we:

(1) Build a bunch of links with anchor text equal to the 3 word phrase and point to the existing page (which is optimized on-page for the first 2 of the 3 words)

or

(2) Make a new page optimized for the 3 word phrase and then start building links to it with anchor text equal to the 3 words (and non-cannibalizing variants of the 3 words)?

The 2 word phrase is pretty competitive and it has taken us months to get that page to be #3 or 4 organic for that phrase. The 3 word phrase is much less competitive and we don't think it would take that long to make a dedicated page rank higher than #6 for the 3 words.

Suggestions? Thanks.

[Desiree-CP]

Mike - thanks for clarifying it a little more.  At this point I would turn to data for my decision rather than theory.

Check your web analytics package and see how many people are searching for the phrase "blue widgets small."  Double check again to see how many actually drive revenue.  Do they convert better than "blue widgets" searchers?  How's their engagement rate?  Etc.

I am confident once you find the answer to that it'll help you make your decision on whether or not you should create a new page and allocate link building resources to it.

[scanlin]

'blue widgets' ranks #3

'blue widgets small' ranks #6 (for the same page)

But 'blue widgets small' is a better description of what we're offering and I think we could rank #1 or #2 if we made a dedicated page for it. However, it's more of a long-tail phrase because it gets 1/10th the number of global monthly searches compared to the broader phrase 'blue widgets'

I was thinking of making a dedicated 'blue widgets small' page as a landing page to describe how we offer 'blue widgets small', and then have that page point to the 'blue widgets' page to show how our product offers a broader solution (we do 'small' but we also do other types of 'blue widgets').

Really appreciate your help and thoughts...

[Desiree-CP]

What is the ranking URL for "blue widgets small"?  Is it the same as "blue widgets"?  If so then I would go with option #1 and include some of your product modifiers on the ranking page.  A benefit to this link building approach is it varies up your link profile with partial-match anchor text and can help boost your rankings for the competitive 2-word phrase.

On the other hand, how different is "blue widgets small" from "blue widgets"?  Would it create enough value for the user to divert their attention to another page?  If you answered yes then I would go with option #2.  Just remember to internal link from the "blue widgets" page!

[AlanMosley]

I can only give an opinion of cause.

but I would go with (1)

But i would try to get the 3 word term in the page at least once.

As you say, its not that compeditive it should do the trick.