Keyword distribution in the whole site
-
I've been taught during a SEO course that the whole site has to contain the chosen keywords with a fixed proportion of optimized pages, that should be like this:
50% of pages optimized on the most relevant keyword (just one keyword)
25% of pages optimized on secondary kewords (depending on the size of the site, could be a few pages for each secondary keywords)
25% of pages on long tail keywords.
the teachers was a very respected SEO professional, but I've never seen this strategy anywhere in other articles or SEO guides.
what do you think about it?
It's true that it brings visibility for the top keyword?
does it lead to cannibalization?
what others strategy do you use? -
My definition of relevant in this case is: the keyword is often used in sentences with the term.
If my keyword was cold cereal, the words milk, bowl, and spoon would be relevant. I could then build pages for the long tail search terms:
Cold cereal bowl
how much milk should I put in a cold cereal
What is the best spoon to use with cold cereal
On each of those pages, I would link to my main page which is optimized for the keyword cold cereal using the anchor text "cold cereal", but only if it made sense to me as a user to see that phrase linked. Sometimes you have to be creative in your content copy, but most of the time it can be done and make sense to the end user.
Google is very good at recognizing these relevant keyword patterns.
-
It does make sense. But what is your exact definition of "relevant"? How is the keyword used in the content?
-
It is important you keep in mind the terms relevancy verses optimized. A page can be relevant to a topic (main keyword) without being optimized for that keyword. When this is the case, you can focus on a long-tail keyword for a sub-page and have relevancy for the main keyword. You would then want to link to the main page with the main keyword from the sub-page.
In this case I would say that what you learned in your class is true, keep AT LEAST 50% of the pages RELEVANT to the main keyword, but not optimized to the main keyword.
The end grading factor though is, what works for your site? A lot of SEO is trial and error based upon bsaic principles. Sometimes you just have to try what your gut tells you to do and watch and see if that works, if not try the next idea.
-
it was a one day beginners course, and we was talking about a 100 pages site targeted to national audience (italy) as an example.
but was presented as a general startegy.
Now I'm not a total newbie anymore, I have worked on some sites with goods results using this technique.
Nowadays I'm working on a 100 pages site, targeting to USA whole market. I've find relevant keywords for the market and I'm making decision about pairing pages and keywords.
My question is: is the strategy illustrated good for a site like that? how many pages I have to optimize for each relevant keyword? I have about 30 keywords, and 8 among them are the most importants
-
Hi David,
Build your site for your audience, create good content they will want to read, learn from or simply be entertained by. For on page SEO use the seomoz on page optimization tool and target one keyword per page. You can also use scheema.org to add some meta descriptions, this will helo the search engine determine what you page is about.
For external link building:
50% Anchor branded name / URL
25% Diverse anchor text
25% Exact Match
Hope this helps.
-
The first thing I would take in to consideration is, how much did you pay for the class? Was it a quick one day thing, a couple hours long or a week? How in depth was the instructor able to go? For a complete newbie just getting in to SEO with a small website (4-5 pages) these would be some good tips because it would give them experience optimizing pages and watching a keyword start to climb. With a site that small, it's most likely something that is trying to climb in a local search. In a small populated area doing local SEO, this would work very well to rank in most areas.
There is a possibility this could lead to cannibalization, but it all depends on how you structure the 50% of pages that are "optimized" for the keyword. Ask yourself, "Is there one page that is clearly about my keyword that others reference?"
Other strategy to ask yourself is, "Does it make sense to the user or just the search engine?" Search engines themselves don't buy anything.
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
-
URL Keywords
I am doing SEO on our eCommerce website and read that I should include keywords in the URL The original URL is: http://thegiftlinks.com/personalized-wedding-glass.html
On-Page Optimization | | abdulw
Title page: Wedding gift Dubai - Anniversary gift Dubai - Personalized Wedding Glass
Meta Data:
Wedding gift Dubai - Anniversary gift Dubai - Personalized Wedding Glass
It is great for a wedding gift and anniversary gift for friends and family members. If I will include the keyword to the url it will be like this
http://thegiftlinks.com/personalized-wedding-glass.html/Wedding-gift-Dubai is this the correct way to include keywords in the URL? Thanks0 -
Word Count - Content site vs ecommerce site
Hi there, what are your thoughts on word count for a content site vs. an ecommerce site. A lot of content sites have no problem pushing out 500+ words per page, which for me is a decent amount to help you get traction. However on ecommerce sites, a lot of the time the product description only needs to be sub-100 words and the total word count on the page comes in at under 300 words, a lot of that could be considered duplicate. So what are your views? Do ecommerce sites still need to have a high word count on the product description page to rank better?
On-Page Optimization | | Bee1590 -
On site SEO review please
I'd appreciate it its anyone could take the time to review my on site SEO and suggest improvements. it's an adult dating site at http://www.local-sex-search. All pages can be found at http://www.local-sex-search.com/sitemap
On-Page Optimization | | SamCUK0 -
Meta keywords and meta news keywords
I've got a question regarding this. So normally Meta keywords it is not relevant and we shouldn't use them, however there are opinions that we can use them as these are signals for other Search Engines. Meta news keywords - are ok to be used in the news sites. what is your opinion on using both of them on a news site? Can this help, or harm? thanks, Irina
On-Page Optimization | | InformMedia0 -
Site is not ranking for a particular keyword !!
One of my site is ranking for all the main keywords except one. This keyword is just a variant of those keywords which are all ranking in top 10 (page 1) in Google. Why is it happening? Does Google punishes site for one keyword. I know competition of keyword matters but other keywords with similar competition are ranking. And even the site is very well optimized for this keyword (titles and site copy without any stuffing) Any Solutions ?
On-Page Optimization | | Personnel_Concept0 -
ECommerce Site Breadcrumbs Best Practice
I'm working on an Ecom website and I was wondering - For breadcrumbs - is there an SEO and/or UEx preference when it comes to taking them back to the homepage? I have the option of going CATEGORY > SUB CATEGORY > SUB CATEGORY or HOME > CATEGORY > SUBCATEGORY > SUBCATEGORY Each example is hyperlinked except for the lowest level. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Blenny0 -
Seasonal site structure
Bit of a complicated one for anyone who likes a challenge.. We sell a range of products which are very seasonal, so therefore have a seasonal section within the store with the products categorized into their relevant categories. In additon to this i wanted to also create a feature of each season so in effect pull forward on to a new tab the relevant season ie: Valentine so that customers didn't have to hunt for the products by going via seasonal shop etc The problem is that my site urls display last-category/product-title so in effect as the seasons change these urls will be deleted. They do remain elsewhere in our catalogue.. Does this make sense?
On-Page Optimization | | LadyApollo0 -
Keyword use in meta description
Anyone know if its important that the target keyword is used AT THE START of the meta description, or is it enough that it is anywhere in the description...? I have a few big ones that are at the end of the description and I was wondering if I should move them up to the front... Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | inhouseninja0