Home page keyword effecting internal page ranking
-
Hello,
My client has a second keyword for the home page that is competitive.
The home page is not being ranked for this keyword. Instead, an internal category page is ranking.
This internal category page is more relevant than the home page - it shows the categories for the actual products that this term refers to.
But everyone around us in Google's page results has far more backlinks than the internal page, and we're all heavily optimized for this term.
My question is, is it safe to pull the second term off of the home page or is this internal page strong because it is somehow being strengthened by the home page optimization?
-
Sorry for the misunderstanding - I'm just talking about both title tags
-
Since Google already found the most relevant page on your site for the kw (combination), I would say that things would not change. I assume that the general site topic remains the same - even though you remove the text from your homepage (about how much text is it? just text? links as well? <- if yes .. this is where it gets tricky).
-
Welcome. As far as things like that go, I'm not the most well-versed unfortunately. If you are linking to that page with relevant anchor text, then it seems possible because your home page is at least somewhat relevant to the keyword, but it's tough to say.
-
Thanks Eric,
I'd like to take the second keyword off of the home page to focus on the (first) main home page keyword, which we're slipping for. Do you think the home page strength (with my second keyword) is somehow supporting my internal page with the same keyword (the second keyword)?
-
Internal pages are almost always more relevant to specific phrases than is the home page. If you run a website that sells doors, the home page is going to mention regular doors, french doors, etc, but when someone searches for French Doors, the SE is going to send them to your french doors page not the home page because they're not looking for doors of all types. They want french doors.
If your home page is still relevant to the keyword, keep it there. Just don't keyword stuff.
-
What is it you want to pull from the homepage? Some copy-text of a couple of hundred words?
I would recommend not to pull it off, as it works and seems to work good. What is it you want to gain by removing it from the homepage?
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
-
How to have H1 keywords on EVERY Page but not destroy user experience for holiday rental site
Hi all, as a Newbie getting my holiday home rental site up & running, I just cannot find a clear answer to this after many hours research. Moz & everyone else advises I need to optimise by ensuring my keywords are in my H1s, that H1s need to be on every page, more than 20 characters, but still unique, relevant, a statement of the content, appealing to users & not keyword stuffed. How can I include my keywords ("holiday home tasmania" & "tasmania holiday rentals") in the heading on EVERY page & still make every heading unique, relevant & not keyword stuffed? I only have 10 pages Home / The Space / Amenities / Location / About / Guide / House Rules / Reviews / Contact & they by nature need to be information based, not designed like a more creative Blog (which I will add later). Eg - my Amenities page which is a quick reference list so people can easily see inclusions & find if we have features they need/want. It seems really awkward & not in keeping with the chic, designer image I am trying to project to have "Amenities At Your Holiday Home Tasmania", "Three Beaches Tasmania Holiday Rental Location", "About This Beach Holiday Home Tasmania", "Your Guide To The Best Of Your Holiday Accommodation's Local Area", House Rules Of Your Chic Holiday Home Tasmania", "It's Easy To Contact Your Next Tasmania Holiday Rental" Much of the information out there including Moz's seems to be oriented towards blogs where there is a lot more creative freedom for an expressive H1, rather than a service business in a competitive space where people need to access facts & features quickly in order to make a buying decision & are very quickly going to notice & be irritated by the use of similar sounding phrases in every headline AND sprinkled throughout the page content. Many thanks, Cherie - Australia
On-Page Optimization | | Luminatrix1 -
New site pages are indexed but not ranking for anything
I just built this site for a client http://primedraftarchitecture.com. It went live 3 weeks ago and the pages are getting indexed as per Webmaster Tools. But I'm not seeing it rank for anything. We're adding blog articles regularly and used Moz Local for local links and have been building links in other local directories (probably about 15 so far). Usually I get some rankings, although very low, after just a week or two for new sites. Does anyone see anything glaring that may be causing a problem?
On-Page Optimization | | DonaldS1 -
Optimizing pages for keywords
I have a couple of websites for retailing the western chaps manufactured by my company. I have recently tried to increase my learning for SEO since one of my main sites (started in 2006) just lost about 45% of it's organic search volume since the end of May. It seems my search to learn just creates more and more questions. I have been using google adwords for several years now and have used that information to find the most searched keywords. There are some general keywords like western chaps and cowboy chaps that receive decent search volume. If I get more specific to a certain type of chap, chinks for example, the popular high volume keywords are chinks, chinks chaps, western chinks, and cowboy chinks. These all relate to one type of chap...the chink. I want to be visible for these keywords, but how does one optimize for more than one without diluting? Should I also try to optimize on the homepage of my sites for the general terms like western chaps and cowboy chaps? Can I optimize for both? I could really use some help. Any experts out there up to the job of consulting for me, some with extensive knowledge and experience? I'm not looking for the SEO giants with hundreds of clients. I don't feel that I will get the proper value from those types. My company is small and spending is an issue, that's why I would like someone to consult with. I should be able to do most of the labor, I just need the knowledge.
On-Page Optimization | | Kelly_S0 -
Too Many Links On Internal Search Pages
A client has a too many link warning being flagged in SEOmoz. The problem is that most of the pages on the site are lists of tickets for an event etc. Is there a good way to fix the site from having too many links on pages like this http://www.easyseat.com/venue/yankee-stadium-tickets-for-sale.aspx when the user experience requires a long list of links so people can find an event?
On-Page Optimization | | TimFlint0 -
Spammy keywords on a page
My client's website has a box of text on each page that is spammy and horrible to read and stuffed with keywords. The text boxes are there only for search engines as they mean nothing to humans. I say remove them as it must be doing more harm than good. However, my client is scared to remove them as the text has been there on each page for ten years and he is worried about a drop in visitor numbers if they are removed. Is he right to be worried?
On-Page Optimization | | mascotmike0 -
One domain with keyword optimized pages or multiple domains
Hi There. I have a client in the real estate law services business. Which is better for long term search traffic? 1. A single domain ie. smith and smith law.com with pages focussing on each neighbourhood they operate in ie. .com/real estate law manhattan.php, .com/real estate law brooklyn.php etc or 2. multiple domains each focusing on one neighbourhood the business operates in ie: real estate law manhattan.com, real estate law brooklyn.com etc Thanks for the help, Josh
On-Page Optimization | | dreadmichael0 -
Can I have a strong brand category page and a strong product page?
It seems Google base and other Comparison Shopping Engines like to see the brand in the product name. But, on my category page for that brand, website optimizer tells me including the brand name with each product is cannabilizes links. For example; I have a page for jewelerABC with 20 pieces of jewelry listed as well as original content about jewelerABC. I do not currently name these products as xyz by jewelerABC. This page comes up nicely in the serps. But in Google base The top listings for jewelry by jewelerABC seem to have every product named xyz by jewelerABC or JewelerABC xyzs. What is the best way to optimize.for both? Stephen
On-Page Optimization | | stephenfishman0
