Target keywords on homepage or sub page?
-
Is it better to target main keywords on a site's homepage, or in a sub page.
I would usually assume the homepage, but if the domain for the homepage doesn't include the keyword is it better to have a sub page with an exact match URL?
For example we target the keyword "abc123"
Is it better to optimise the homepage:
Or create a page to target it:
And leave the homepage to target brand keywords, but link to the "abc123" page.
Whats the best option?
-
Haha well done
-
I get enough search traffic from it to support 10 people. I guess the phrase "lot of traffic" is a matter of perspective.
-
Yep this is very helpful. I see you have lots of good rankings too. Do you get a lot of search traffic from them?
-
This is my landing page's rel canonical.
| rel="canonical" href="http://www.shipoverseas.com/us/ship-car/africa/shipping-car-to-nigeria.html"/> |
| |I don't point it to a category page.
-
Fransisco, are you using canononical tag to any effect on pointing the sub pages to the head category page?
-
Use my site as an example. www.shipoverseas.com
The homepage is about "international car shipping".
All the landing pages are about "shipping cars to xyz country".
When I 1st started this site, I didn't know that my home page was going to be about "international car shipping". I thought I was going to try to have it rank for "ship car to Europe", "ship car to au", "ship car to africa". Instead I made categories + landing pages.
I hope that helps you organize your site.
Tim, my marketing strategy is based off what people are looking for, not what I think is best. Look into your GA to find these clues.
-
I think theres a lot to be said good about exact match domains.........visitors see the words in the domain name and thats not a bad thing. Everybody got a little weighting from EMD`s, now they dont, so your not losing anything over the domain naming, just a levelling. Its not a penalty.
Whether to brand or not is another question and of course if you do then brand domain will be best. (Google now loves brands more than life itself, so worth considering.)
Consider this scenario. You are New York Lawnmowers, you have domain newyorklandmowers.com and when you place your brand links...they are in fact possibly coincide with anchor text, Over oprimisation penalty? Else you can only use URL or varying forms of anchor text.
If you are Lehman of New york and sell Lawnmowers you can be lehman.com and use Lehman as branding links, the URL, a small percentage of New York Lawnmowers anchor texts and other variations. (Dont forget blank images too)
Google will find the brand name without even fitting it in the title, its that smart, from the content and geolocation. Leave the title for the main target money keywords. Your subpages will not carry the same weight as the index page, but of course build links to them. You might find your subpage is against keywords on another site index page. Thats unavoidable.
PS. I changed my brand to the name Google but all i got was webmasters complaining about dropped rankings
-
Hey Francisco,
Yeah I agree with you on the exact match domain, and I think you're right about opting for the memorable brandable domain.
But what do you mean about using the homepage as a representation of all the landing pages?
How do you avoid the homepage competing with the sub pages?
Thanks man!
-
Hey Moosa,
Thanks for your response.
Wouldn't there be an issue of diluting my onpage optimisation if I tried to target multiple keywords on my homepage? (especially in this case where the keywords aren't very complimentary)
And with the sub pages wouldn't that then be competing with the homepage, somewhat cannibalising our SEO efforts across 2 pages?
-
One can have a different opinion from me so I am advising you something I would do if I would be at your place.
I would list down all the keywords I want to target on the website and divide them in to 2 parts Primary keywords and Secondary keywords keeping their importance ad competition in mind. I will then target the secondary keywords to sub pages and try to target primary keywords on the home page.
Also, I will create sub pages for exact match keyword (for primary keywords) to give support to the home page!
-
I use the home page as a representation of all the landing pages.
regarding your Exact Match vs Brand domain, Matt Cutts already announced that he was going to lower the weight of Exact Match domains. I guess it all depends on what you are looking for. I'm in it for the long term so I always opt to get a memorable domain (brandable).
This is the approach I use: brandname.com/abc123/
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
-
Is it better to try and boost an old page that ranks on page #5 or create a better new page
Hello Everyone, We have been looking into our placements recently and see that one of our blog posts shows on page #5 for a popular keyword phrase with a lot of search volume. Lets say the keyword is "couples fitness ideas" We show on page 5 for a post /couples-fitness-ideas-19-tips-and-expert-advice/ We want to try and get on the first page for that phrase and wanted to know if it is better if we did one of the following: 1. Create a new page with over 100 ideas with a few more thousands of words. with a new url (thinking /couples-fitness-ideas) 2. Create a new page with a new url (thinking /couples-fitness-ideas) with the same content as the currently ranking post. We would want to do this for more freedom with layout and design of the page rather than our current blog post template. Add more content, let's say 100 more ideas. Then forward the old URL to the new one with a 301 redirect. 3. Add more content to the existing post without changing the layout and change the URL. Look forward to your thoughts
On-Page Optimization | | MobileCause0 -
Form Only Pages Considered No Content/Duplicate Pages
We have a lot of WordPress sites with pages that contain only a form. The header, sidebar and footer content is the same as what's one other pages throughout the site. Each form page has a unique page title, meta description, form title and questions but the form title, description and questions add up to probably less than 100 words. Are these form pages negatively affecting the rankings of our landing pages or being viewed as duplicate or no content pages?
On-Page Optimization | | projectassistant0 -
Homepage On-page Optimization
How do you all handle homepage optimization, if you (or a client) offers a variety of services? Our homepage has the strongest link profile of any of our pages, but it lists all the areas of law we cover. Therefore, it has too many keywords and none really rank well. Should we just pick our most profitable areas and optimize for that? www.kempruge.com in case anyone would benefit from looking at the actual page. Thanks, Ruben
On-Page Optimization | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
The seomoz on page keyword analysis tool is not showing title or keyword in document
the SEOMOZ onpage analysis tool is not not showing title or keyword for any page in one of my sites. It says there are no title elements on my page and there are, i checked the source code myself and they are there and correct. my title and keywords are in there and show up fine in firefox and internet explorer even after i refresh them. why would this tool show them as missing in one of my sites but not others? I'm worried that google's spider might not see them if the on page analyzer doesn't see them and my rankings might drop. they showed up the other day in the seomoz on page analyzer just fine and i haven't changed anything. Thanks mozzers!
On-Page Optimization | | Ron100 -
How can I find these pages?
Hi there! the SEOMOZ software has shown some warnings related to two pages that I can't locate in my WP plattform http://www.tarifakitesurfcamp.com/contacto/estrella/ http://www.tarifakitesurfcamp.com/equipo/equis Any ideas? Many Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
Keywords in Navigation
Hi, What is best practice for main navigation links with regards to use of keywords in them. For example is it best to using the phrase 'Pricing", "Website Pricing" or "Website Design Pricing" To me 'Pricing' is more appropriate because to the user they know they are on a website designer's site so what else would pricing be for right?! Furthermore you use less 'real estate' on the nav bar! There is on page text around the site which has links to "see our website design pricing" etc so I assume that is perhaps a more natural place to include that phrase? Look forward to your insights 🙂
On-Page Optimization | | NeilD0 -
Advice on why page isn't being indexed in google top 1000 for keyword
Hi, http://www.cgcomposites.com.au/composite-material.html This page isn't listed for keywords 'composite material' It has been live for a few weeks and gets grade A report for onpage optimisation? regards Michael
On-Page Optimization | | bluelilyseo0 -
Is it wise to target different keywords for each page?
I am running a dating site, I am trying to focus on 5 keywords on the index page. My Search page is one of the 4 other pages on the site. My question, is it wise to target different keywords on these pages or am I better off focussing on the same 5 keywords as the index page? Thank you,
On-Page Optimization | | debeenus0