Title Tag & Ranking Improvement....
-
Hi
I have a dilema that I could do with some help with please.
I am working on a site and its home page is ranking on the second page of google position 2 (12) for a term such as [Portrait Photographer London]
The title tag I am using for this homepage is "Portrait Photographer | Clients Brand Name" ( which does NOT include the word "photography / photographer")
The reason why I used this term for the home page is eventually I would like to rank in the top 3 (I'm ambitious) for [Portrait Photographer] so I left out the location on the home page as I have an about us page where I have the title tag "Portrait Photographer London | Clients Brand Name" this is currently ranking on page 3 position 3 (33) for a term such as [London Portrait Photographer]
I'm wondering if including the location would help move my client up any? So it would be: "Portrait Photographer London | Clients Brand Name" and the keyword I want move up for is [Portrait Photographer London]
Hope this makes sense
-
What happens if I do duplicate the title tags, Matt?
-
I would definitely alter the about us page to an exact match so that your title tags for the homepage and about us page are not identical/duplicate.
-
Ok Matt.....that sounds perfect.
One more question (i'm sure I typed this but it somehow disappeared)
The about us page is ranking for London Portrait Photographer yet the home page is ranking for Portrait Photographer London would it be sensible to change the title tag of the about us page to London Portrait Photographer so it is an EXACT match?
-
Hi Nicola
I would consider building links to these other pages, such as about us page, to increase their ranking power for a term. your about us page is indexed in order to appear in the serps so if it is ranking for another term then this will still be the case. Changing the title on the homepage will just increase it's relevance for that term and you can have multiple pages satisfying a search, so I would worry. I have several keywords that have multiple pages ranked for the same search - one hasn't replaced the other.
It is difficult to rank one page for too many keywords as it tends to dilute things. When I have been targeting local search results I have always created separate pages purely devoted to that location and then I have created decent content on the page targeting that location/keyword combination. Then I have gone after links for those pages in order to help them ranking more successfully. I know the customers that your client is targeting are different to the ones that will benefit from a how-to guide for instance correct lighting or how to use flash properly. However you are likely to gain links from photography related sites which will improve you link profile and relevance to its niche - photography so this will definitely help you increase your rankings.
When you go after links just make sure you don't over do the anchor text as link profiles are under more scrutiny than ever in a post penguin world. Building decent content and gaining exposure will lead to you beating these other sites for more competitive keywords - I would work hard go down this route especially if they haven't as you will build a site that is an information resource for photography and in turn promote your clients work - you will be on to a winner!
Hope this helps!
-
I like to test new title tags all the time. Matt had a great answer being specific helps. I usually try title tag tests on some lower pages as a safe bet. When you can narrow down the search you generally rank better. For example I sell products that are cooking related so in the title tag I include a popular use term in the tag. Avocados are used in guacamole so I put it in the tag soon I was ranking 2-3 for months. When I took it out the rank slipped to six. Hope I helped and good luck
-
Hi Matt
Thank you for your response.
Ok so firstly I will change my homepage title tag to Portrait Photographer London.
The homepage is much more powerful in terms of PA than the about us page....infact I would say 97% of the clients links point to the homepage and the other 3% to their blog.
The about us page is highly optimised for the keyword [London Portrait Photographer] too do you think if I make the change to the title of the homepage it would be possible for the homepage to replace the about us page in serps? The reason I ask is I think it is more natural for the landing page to be the home page for a search query like [London Portrait Photographer] rather than the about us page and I fear I could lose click thru.
As for [Portrait Photographer] keyword I am not worried at this stage as by default most photography sites have very little if any content whatsoever....most appear to have the rankings they have for two reasons A) there domain age and B) number/strength of links.
I am working with the owner to produce good quality content and hopefully that works.....also her work gets featured on blogs which are dedicated to showcasing photographers work, on the how to we haven't really done any of that...I guess you mean "how to use flash?" or "how to shoot in the sun"? Those kind of how tos? The only concern I would have about doing that is the audience those would be catering to would be different to who she is trying to sell her services too.
But I do know one particular photography although in a different niche who has done that and it has brought them quite a lot of followers and links from other people in the industry trying to build their photography business.
.
-
I have always found the more specific your title tag is the higher the ranking is for that particular term, so it would make sense to include the term London on your homepage title tag with the correct keyword order.
Your homepage will, most likely, carry more authority in terms of links than your about us page as with most websites the most links usually point to the homepage, so making your on-page optimization for the term Portrait Photographer London more concentrated/location specific should lead to a higher ranking for that term than your about us page for starters.
As far as ranking top 3 for Portrait Photographer I have found that making my titles and other on page factors more specific that with time and hard work I have eventually ranked for the less specific. For this I would concentrate on building great content and making sure it gains exposure using methods such as social media, then there is no reason why with time, hard work and dedication you can't make it so. Do you already produce how-to guides for photography - this could be through written and video guides? I would use this to build you clients reputation as an authority online. Sharing some of your clients expertise is a good thing and will lead to gained exposure without it being at the detriment to their business if done correctly!How is your social media going - are you building up a good following and does you client interact with authority figures in your niche so you can gain exposure for your site and content created?
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
-
Title Tags for Medical Names
Hi Everyone! I just transitioned into SEO in the medical spectrum and have never come across such long names. In terms of recommendations for character counts in title tags, what would be the recommendation? Write until it gets truncated (which is current state)? Use the abbreviation? Try to ensure the "plain language" words appear towards the front? Any viewpoints would be appreciated!
Keyword Research | | yaelslater1 -
Rankings-- Red & Green
Question - you can see the green positive and the red negative. If I optimize a certain keyword, and it turns red - how long should I wait before I optimize it again? The same with green - I had a keyword ranking up 20 points...which of course is good...should just wait for a a few months or use the keyword again next month? Not use how I should address the ups and downs (green & red) of rankings. thank you..
Keyword Research | | WalkieTalkie0 -
How Can I Rank My One Keyword ?
I read many places about never use the same keywords/anchor text this will consider as spam by google, so i want to know if suppose my main keyword is Indian bridal sarees than how can i give rank to that keyword, should i use the same exact keyword but in different format like bridal indian sarees or indian bridal sarees shopping something like that. Should i use LSI keywords in that keywords. Please help Second, I also read some people saying they use 70% primary keywords and 30% LSI or generic words, so that mean if i have 10 articles so in 7 articles i have to give primary keyword and the rest of the 3 will be generic. Kindly please advice this also.
Keyword Research | | chandubaba0 -
Question about ranking for long tail keywords
So I am looking at some long tail keywords for my web design company, for example: "website development and design company" The top results are websites that are not optimized for that specific keyword but about "web design & development" in general. The top ranking sites also have quite high PA with lots of links. If I were to create a page specifically about that term would it be fairly easy to rank for since the top ranking pages are not optimized for that keyword?
Keyword Research | | WebAdvancedUK0 -
Keyword In Page Title
Broad Keyword Usage in Page Title Easyfix <dl> <dt>Page title</dt> <dd>"The Sea Trout Inn in South Devon, Near Totnes - Luxury Bed and Breakfast and Restaurant - Contact Us"</dd> <dt>Explanation</dt> <dd>Search engines consider the title element to be the most important place to identify keywords and associate the page with a topic and/or set of terms. SEOmoz's correlation research has also shown that rankings are heavily influenced by keyword usage in the title tag.</dd> <dt>Recommendation</dt> <dd>Employ the keyword in the page title, preferrably as the first words in the element.</dd> <dd>The keyword is Hotels Totnes, how can I put this in a page title without it looking stupid ?</dd> </dl>
Keyword Research | | Stoz0 -
How reliable is GWT's keyword data & what is the most accurate way of determining keywords you currently rank for?
I have been monitoring the query data (keywords, average position, CTR, etc.) in GWT, but sometimes the ranking data seems off. I filter the dates for the past week, so it is the most recent. I manually check some of the rankings and they are way off. Does anyone have feedback on this? If you have access to multiple domain data, that would be great. What is the most accurate way of determining keywords you currently rank for? I have also used keywordspy, and that is off too!
Keyword Research | | inhouseseo0 -
Why was there a big drop in a lot of my rankings today
I just checked my campaign and ALL of my Google ranks have drop by 2-40 spots for the 10 keywords I track. I know this is always a tough question to field, but what could cause should a drop across the board? ...a penalty? ...a late Google April Fools joke? 😉
Keyword Research | | TerryS9990 -
Page Title Optimisation
We have a fairly large client for which I look after the analytics, and just recently the SEO also. This celebrity client already recieves near a million visitors per month, 96% of the time for her name. I'm using Googles keyword tool and search trends for insights as to what people are searching for As I get further and further into optimising different pages, I'm running out of ideas for Unique page titles to drive additinal traffic as they have all been covered. {high volume exact searches that is} I'm not sure if I'm over using her name also: for example most of the clients pages start with: "First name last name Keyphrase" should I be using her first name last name on every title? Thanks in advance for what seems like a simple task, however when your up against it for the first time, it's a "Do I Don't I situation!" Kind Regards Sean
Keyword Research | | Yozzer1