Why home page ranks higher than keyword-optimized page
-
We have a page that is optimized for the keyword "job scheduling". A search on the keyword "job scheduling" results in this page not ranking at all, while our home page (uc4.com) ranks third. Could you provide some ideas/suggestions as to why this would be the case and how to make our job scheduling page rank higher?
Thanks,
claudia
-
Hi Claudia
Your home page has both domain and page authority and has thousands of links to it.
The job scheduling page doesn't have any page authority and has no links to it as far as I can tell.
The job scheduling page has a URL of www.uc4.com/what-we-do/business-automation/job-scheduling.html where www.uc4.com/job-scheduling.html or www.uc4.com/products/job-scheduling.html would be more search engine friendly.
Just to let you know it took the homepage 150 seconds and the job scheduling page 180 seconds to load up. Please note that is seconds not milliseconds and even then the site didn't load up properly.
-
If you have links incoming to your home page with "job scheduling" in the anchor text, Google will see that page as more authoritative and relevant than a page on your site without any links to it. If you can build links with "job scheduling" in the anchor text to the optimized page not ranking, you'll have a better shot at it ranking ahead of your home page in the future.
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
-
Are Multiple Page Titles hurting my rankings
The platform that built our website has, for some reason, put multiple page titles on all of our webpages: https://www.backyardadventures.com/ If you open this page and "View Page Source" you will see that there are 50 page title tags (). There is one with our actual page title, but there are 49 others that look like this: <title></span><span class="html-tag">lock</span><span class="html-tag"></title> or <title></span><span class="html-tag">bubbles2</span><span class="html-tag"></title> are just two of the examples. The company said that because they are in a svg tag () they are fine. The title tags show up on some of the Moz tools. Is this effecting our rankings?
On-Page Optimization | | PageLogic0 -
Updated page not ranking.
Hi Guys. Bit flummoxed by this. I've recently updated our Mid year diaries page to be this years mid year products. i.e) Diaries that go from 2015-16 not 2014-15. Last year we rank really well for the search term 'mid year diaries 14-15'. All i've done is update the page to be focused on 2015-16 diaries, but when i type in 'mid year diaries 15-16' it's no where to be seen in the SERP. Even our home page is ranking higher! I'm really puzzled about this, nothings changed apart from the year! The only reason I can think of is that Google is reading the file name of the images which are related to lasts years products? For example the file name might say mid year diary 2014-15. Do you think this is what's effecting us? Very puzzling 😕 I've submitted it through Webmaster tool btw 🙂 Isaac.
On-Page Optimization | | isaac6630 -
Ranking for "synonym" terms on separate pages?
(My title says "synonym" but it's not exactly the most accurate word, but works best for the title_) I have a site that ranks #1 for a term, and let’s pretend it’s “cheap phone”. It’s also ranks #1 for “cheap phone service” and #3 for “cheap phone plans”. These are all the home page with those rankings I have a sub page whose natural title would be “Cheap Phone Plans” or “Cheap Phone Service”. I have it named something these and it is not optimized for either of these terms because I think it would be best to not mess with the good rankings I have already for those two terms So here’s my question: what would likely be the outcome if I optimized that subpage for “Cheap Phone Plans” or “Cheap Phone Service”? If Google began to direct searchers of this term to my subpage rather than my home page, would my home page lose some of it’s ranking with it’s main and most popular keyword, “cheap phone? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | bizzer0 -
Positioning the keyword in two pages
Hi there! I've decided to use four criteria (keywords) for my website. The "problem" is that I have to use the same keyword (criteria) in two different pages. Is there a problem If I do this? On the other side, there are two sections of the web that (I assume) must have title and description tag as well as a keyword/criteria (Contact and Registration)....any advice?¿should they have a ttile and a description?¿Should they have a keyword associated? Thanks in advance for the answer.
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
Changing the Home Page Title
The following question is for an eCommerce site: We have a home page title that has been the same for a few years. I would like to keep the keywords that already exist, but move them into different positions based on seasonality. Format will be (company name) | (keywords). Current format (company name) - (keywords). Rest of the page titles onsite are formatted (keyword)/(product name) | (company name) I think having the same keywords, but in a different order wouldn't hurt us in the SERPs. What are your thoughts?
On-Page Optimization | | kennyrowe0 -
Boosting page authority/rank by linking from blog
We're developing several blogs and I was wondering if it would make sense to periodically create blog entries that 'naturally' link to certain pages on the main site. For example we have a large amount of 'partners' across the country, and we wanted to do an interview series on the blog, and insert a link into the interview, such as "partner bob services the Boston area", or something more elegant than that. Would have have any significant impact on the 'boston page aside from the pass through traffic from the blog?"
On-Page Optimization | | ilyaelbert0 -
Brand keyword is on every page
Suppose a website is devoted to a selling a modest number of products that are sold under one brand name. For example, the site might have product pages for Chevy Camaro, Chevy Suburban, and Chevy Volt, and many other pages related to Chevy. Chevy is in the domain name and on virtually every page. Competitors are also selling Chevy's and you want to rank well on the keyword "Chevy". One SEO rule is limit a keyword to one optimized page, and if it appears on other pages, minimize the use of the keyword on other pages, and pass links to the optimized page. However, it can be really challenging to write prose without using the brand name, particularly if the brand name is of the form "brand training method" or "brand learning center". The other pages can't say "training method" or "learning center". They need to say "brand training method", etc. What are the tactics to rank for a brand name when it appears on virtually every page? Best,
On-Page Optimization | | ChristopherGlaeser
Christopher0 -
3 Different Home Page URL's Being Indexed?
Hello Everyone! I own a dog supplies eCom site on the x-cart platform. I recently upgraded to 4.4 version about 3 weeks ago and am noticing 3 different home page URL's getting indexed and ranked: /
On-Page Optimization | | k9byron
/home.php
/home.php?cat= I dont know why this is happening and I dont claim to be an expert SEO but know this cant be good! I am seeing high rankings on certain terms for all 3 URL's. Has anyone seen this before and can anyone give me any feedback on this and how it may be effecting my sites ranking in the future? Thanks in advance!
Byron-0