Categories in anAdd Classifieds site
-
Hi Everybody,
We are adding a new feature to my site, and it is a add classifieds section. I spend the whole weekend making a research for keywords that could fit the category names. What I did, is to search for the exact phrases that people use related to the different categories that a classified site has. For example, if the category is to sell and buy cars, I search for the most popular query, in my language: cars second hand. So far so good, but the problem is that if I do so, I will have far too many categories, because those would be too specific.
Any of my future competitors use the most search keywords, they are more pragmatic and use general wording. They also do not have more that one level subcategories, for the sake of usability and probably SEO.
Today I entered all the almost 100 categories on the system, and it looks horrible. Also, too many links in the main page, the categories are difficult to find in the drop box list, users would need to scroll down to find what they are looking for: even in the main page!
Other unwanted consequence is that too many categories will lead to too many empty categories in the first months, giving a bad impression of inactivity to the site, and making it even more difficult to create momentum.
My question is: would be there any SEO benefit for using a long list of keyword categories, that compensate the problems generated for being too specific?
Since any of our future competitors use many categories, I would answer myself as: keep it simple and short. But probably somebody with experience can give me some ideas.
Many thanks in advance for your help,
Daniel
-
Many thanks for your answer!
We look for the search phrases for selecting the category names, and doing this, we found a lot of possible good categories for the site, but without dupplicate or confusing names. For example: instead of creating a category called: Consoles and Video Games, we use something more specific: video consoles second hand, video games used (actual keywords are in spanish). It is only a small example, that multiplies itself in different cases.
Looking at your site, I notice that you decide to use more general categories, and works fine!
Nice system in Gumtree! Easy to navigate and good looking.
Thanks again for your answer,
Daniel
-
Hi Daniel,
It's a tough choice, really. I have 80 categories in my classified ads site under 12 headings. I have taken a Gumtree-style move though, and have spread them across the page (http://www.gumtree.com) rather than just having on long list down a page.
From an SEO point of view, yes, it would be good to cover off all of the potential search phrases, but not at the cost of duplicating categories. You need to think of it from a user's point of view - if you have (for example) "Cars for sale" and "secondhand cars" as two separate categories, users may not know which section to look in (not to mention any keyword dilution). Moreso, and coming from someone who manages a classified ads site, it is really annoying (for admins and users) when users put items for sale in the wrong category. If you're adding multiple similar categories, this will quickly become an issue, in my opinion.
What we tried to do was to create dynamic search engine friendly titles and headers... Therefore we eliminated the need to create multiple categories for different regions, or even for similar products. Whatever language or software you're using, it should be fairly easy to set this up. We also added "similar" searches on search results pages and product pages in order to get links to the more niche search terms. We're in the top 3 for all of our high value key phrases with this approach.
Best,
Matt
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
-
Should ALL of my blogposts be focussed on my main target keywords for my site?
Hi everyone. I am an interior designer and I'm looking to boost my rankings locally for my target keywords (eg: Interior designer in Cheltenham) and I'm wondering about whether my blog posts should all be planned out with this (and other similar, location based) keywords in mind. For example, should I always make my target keyword for each blog post something related to 'interior design in xxx' or should I look for other keywords just related to my field? Eg: interior design tips, furniture guides, paint colour advice etc, just because it is related? As an example, I am planning a blog post to go on my website which will be about a trip I'm taking to Copenhagen. Could my keyword therefore just be something like 'interior design', and this would be okay? Thanks for reading! Lauren
Keyword Research | | laurenelizabeth19860 -
Have question about usage of similar keywords on single vs multiple pages within the same site...
I am working on a campaign with someone and have been talking back and forth about some keyword usage thoughts. More precisely multiple keywords that are similar and how to use them on the page for best results in ranking without diluting our own work to rank well. Example: Keywords:
Keyword Research | | allstatetransmission
Vehicle Wraps
Vehicle Wraps Phoenix
Phoenix Vehicle Wraps
Car Wraps
Car Wraps Phoenix
Phoenix Car Wraps One thought is that the keywords are so similar that it would best benefit us to target one page to the grouping of like keywords and long-tail keywords, and not making separate pages as to create competition for the same keyword within the site itself. Also that Google is "smart" enough to see that car wraps and vehicle wraps are like keywords, and that car wraps when linked to a site from Phoenix, will also pull as Car Wraps Phoenix. The other thought is we target one page for each separate keyword although the keywords are so similar. What are your thoughts? I wanted to ask all of your thoughts as I am sure your feedback will be enlightening. (Always helpful!!) Thank you!0 -
Is there an Optimal number of Keywords i should promote per site?
Good morning, When trying to select my best keywords to promote, i am trying to find the max number of keyword that i will promote and that can still be affective. From your experience, what is this number? Thank you SEOwise
Keyword Research | | iivgi0 -
Is it limiting to target low volume keywords for niche sites?
I run a Chicago Bears forum and my long-term goal to make it the most popular Bears forum on the internet (I know, huge goal). Because of that, I've been focusing on optimizing it for the keywords 'chicago bears forum'. However, being new to SEO, I only checked now and saw the search volume for those keywords is barely 2,000. My question is, and this is probably an an obvious one, should I be switching my focus to more popular keywords such as 'chicago bears news' if I want to increase traffic to my forum?
Keyword Research | | Xee0 -
Keyword categories.
Hello everyone, After watching keyword research for motivated marketers (pro webinar), I've put together a master framework. This works like a charm, however, I'm having trouble with a few categories. They are picking up keywords that are not in the marker that are assigned to the category. For example, I have one category with 10 simple markers like red, green, blue, but when I apply the filter, the results include words that are outside these markers like Career One. . Baffled! Anyone help? Thank you in advance. J
Keyword Research | | jasonlewisdiiigy0 -
Using meta keywords for Comparison Shopping Sites - Buy.com, TheFind.com, Shopzilla
We are thinking about using our meta keywords field to feed to shopping networks like The Find, Shopzilla, Buy.com, etc. These networks want you to provide them with as many keywords as possible to show up in their internal search results. If we feed them our meta keywords field we could have 20 to 25 keywords for each product (tennis equipment). Would this be a bad or good thing for SEO?
Keyword Research | | tennisexpress0 -
Keyword cannibalization in ecommerce sites
I'm assuming this is a common problem in ecommerce sites. Lets say we have a "sleeping bags" which has all types of sleeping bags on it. Then build a brand page "The North Face" with a subpage for The North Face sleeping bags. Is it possible to target the sleeping bags page for "sleeping bags" while targeting the branded sleeping bag page for "The North Face sleeping bag"? how would you suggest doing this while avoiding keyword cannibalization?
Keyword Research | | Hakkasan0