Use target keyword on several page titles or homepage only?
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If I want my homepage to rank for a keyword (ie "red widgets"), does it support or dilute the homepage's rank if I use the keyword on other pages?
I can see it working either way:
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The search engine looks at your site, sees that the target keyword is used throughout the site, and ranks the site higher as a result.
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Using the keyword on several pages makes it so none of them stand out, and ultimately it's harder to rank highly.
Thoughts?
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You can use your keyword on multiple pages within your site. Lets take a look at Mountain Biking.
If your site is named Maryland Mountain Biking, you would only optimize your home page for Maryland Mountain Biking. You would optimize each individual page for a different phrase using Mountain Biking.
Mountain Biking is your keyword... but your optimizing for the specific phrases within your site on each page.
So.....
Maryland Mountain Biking Trails
Maryland Mountain Biking Races
etc...
So using the primary keyword on each page isn't an issue unless your only optimizing for the primary keyword (mountain biking). If your optimizing each page individually for the specific phrases, you don't have an issue.
Search this site for "Keyword Cannibalization"
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Using what you think is a keyword on multiple pages isn't going to hurt you, unless you overdo it.
You should be thinking about how readers will accept and use the information you write. Don't overengineer it.
If you want your front page to rank for a specific keyword, and not a deeper page, then that is where the content that emphasizes that keyword should go.
The other pages that mention the keyword will not be "about" that topic, but related topics, so it isn't going to hurt. It will help because your site is about the main topic (that you say you want the home page to rank for) and those pages will reinforce that.
So I think your answer is #1, not #2, unless you purposely try to make every page rank for the one keyword.
Remember, you are writing your pages for the readers. Keep them informed and not confused and you will be doing OK.
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