Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Should you try to rank for misspelled keywords?
-
Hi there,
2 part question:
- Is it best practice to try to rank for misspelled keywords that bring in lots of traffic or should you instead just try to rank for the correct spelling of that keyword and hope that you rank better on the misspelling as an indirect result?
E.G. The misspelled keyword "Hamilton island accomodation" is a common misspelling that brings in traffic but we have an "F" rank for that term (obviously because we spell accommodation correctly on our site). We don't want to misspell anything but are there techniques to rank better for misspellings that won't hurt content quality?
- The On-Page Optimization tool says that our website doesn't rank in the top 50 on Google Aus for "Accomodation Hamilton Island" or "Hamilton Island Accomodation" but when i do a manual search, we actually are the first result. Is this an error with the On-Page optimization tool?
Thanks!
-
One of the things to consider is not only adding the misspellings to the meta tags but also using them in the URLs.
I've had to get creative on something similar...not so much about misspellings but for targeting terms that are getting searched and have low competition but that my clients don't like.
In the end, the URLs and tags can remain the same with the wrong spelling but the client and searchers see the correct terms.
I am still testing on this--and as you know, testing is about the only thing that will tell you if it works.
Wondering if creating the misspelled version of the page can be created and later changed to a 301 redirect to the right spelling? Anyone have feedback on this?
-
good answer josh.
i would like to add, for bing you should add miss spellings to the keyword tag. Yes Bing uses the keyword tag.
-
Hey there,
Google works hard to recognise misspellings and place the most relevant website at the top of the search results. So the first thing I would look at is where you are actually ranking for those misspellings and secondly, how many searches are there for those terms each month?
To most accurately achieve this, I would run an Adwords campaign using exact match on all the possible misspelling combination, setting an unlimited budget and then measuring the amount of impressions generated. Make sure it is exact match or you will be left thinking you've struck gold, when in fact you have erroneous data.
If you do really want to optimise for this term and you are not coming up first for that term, then I would look below the onpage factors. As I said, Google's pretty dang good at picking up typos, so instead I would focus on improving your link profile so you are an authority on the area. Also creating more deep content and internally linking through to that one central page will help to channel the link juice through to that key page.
There are some that will argue that misspellings on your website look terrible and devalue the brand. To avoid this I recommend focusing on the linking side of things and only onpage typo's if you need to. If you do go down this path, then create a new page and link it in through the sitemap so that the vast majority of your customers are not exposed to the typos and put off your service.
2.) Check the settings for the on-page optimiser and the most recent cache date, both of these could be throwing off your results. Also, make sure you have your computer set to private browsing. One thing Google and Google + are doing now is looking at your history and automatically increasing the rankings of sites you visit regularly.
OK, that's enough of an epic answer for me. Hope you like it
Josh
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 Expectations and Search Intent Alignment
I've recently implemented the page optimization recommendations provided by Moz Pro to help our site rank for specific keywords on certain pages. It’s been about two weeks since we've added these URLs/keyword parings. The optimization scores for the targeted keywords and URLs are looking strong. Also, we've crafted these pages with keyword optimisation in mind. However, we have a couple of questions as we move forward: Ranking Expectations: Since our optimization scores are good, when might we start seeing improvements in our keyword rankings? We know that SEO results can take time, but we would appreciate any insights on a typical timeline based on your experiences. Optimization and Search Intent: While the tool’s optimization suggestions have been helpful in regards to giving us a score for a specific keyword, we’re curious about how this factors into search intent. How does this tool take into account variations in search intent, especially if users search using slight variations of the keywords we’re targeting? Thank you so much for your insight!
On-Page Optimization | | Cricket930 -
Can I put the company name in the image alt text instead of just the service type im trying to rank for?
Hello, if I am trying to rank for a service type and the exact phrase is in the companies name, can I put the company name in the image alt text instead of just the service type? Seizing the opportunity to get another mention of the businesses name...two birds with the one stone if you will... For example, "lawn cutting" being the service type but the company's name is Paul's lawn cutting. Could i put Pauls Lawn Cutting in the image alt text, or just stick to lawn cutting? Thanks in advance
On-Page Optimization | | Gavinn0 -
Am I accidentally Keyword Stuffing?
Hey Guys, So I updated some copy on my site recently and noticed that whatever slender rankings I had (often on page 😎 have completely disappeared. The copy was the only change I have made. Now I haven't intentionally keyword stuffed however I have noticed that there happens to be a lot keywords in there. For example on my PPC page I use the phrase PPC 16 times however it has just naturally fallen into the content as that is what I'm writing about. I'm wondering if there are maybe too many mentions here? 16 repeats of the word PPC and on the page there are 490 words. Does that feel like too much repetition or am I barking up the wrong tree? Thanks, Matt
On-Page Optimization | | MattStott40 -
Keyword Stuffing Question
Say your on a e-commerce category page "Shirts" every lower level category has "shirts" in it such as: T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, sweat shirt, v-neck shirt, and so on. Is this page going to be penalized in google for the keyword "shirts" just because it is in the title and on the page a thousand times because i'm targetting words like "long sleeve shirt? and if it is, will the "long sleeve shirt" keyword be negatively affected as well? Answer much appreciated,
On-Page Optimization | | Mike.Bean
Thanks in advance.0 -
Using keywords in my URL: Doing a redirect to /keyword
My website in "On Page Grade" received an A.Anyway, I only have 1 thing to optimize:_"Use Keywords in your URL__Using your targeted keywords in the URL string adds relevancy to your page for search engine rankings, assists potential visitors identify the topic of your page from the URL, and provides SEO value when used as the anchor text of referring links."_My website is ranking in top10 for a super high competitive keyword and all my others competitors have the keyword on their domain, but not for my URL.Since I can't change my domain for fixing this suggestion, I would like to know what do you think about doing a 301 redirect from / to mydomainname.com/keyword/So the index of my website would be the /keyword.I don't know if this can make a damage to my SERP for the big change ir it would be a great choice.
On-Page Optimization | | estebanseo0 -
Keywords in Navigation
Hi, What is best practice for main navigation links with regards to use of keywords in them. For example is it best to using the phrase 'Pricing", "Website Pricing" or "Website Design Pricing" To me 'Pricing' is more appropriate because to the user they know they are on a website designer's site so what else would pricing be for right?! Furthermore you use less 'real estate' on the nav bar! There is on page text around the site which has links to "see our website design pricing" etc so I assume that is perhaps a more natural place to include that phrase? Look forward to your insights 🙂
On-Page Optimization | | NeilD0 -
Title Tags: Does having the singular and plural version of the keyword hurt the ranking?
I'm wondering if there is a duplication issue with having a singular AND plural version of a keyword in the Title Tag. For example: Wood Desk - Wood Desks| Furniture Store Would this help or hurt my ranking for this URL? I can’t find a concrete answer for this under Moz’s “Title Tag SEO Best Practices Page.” Thanks for your help!
On-Page Optimization | | jampaper0 -
Keyword Density Tools
Does anyone have recommendations on the best tool(s) to use to check the keyword density of each page of a website? I'm not sure if SEOmoz has such a tool.
On-Page Optimization | | webestate0