Target keywords on homepage or sub page?

[timscullin]

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:

brandname.com

Or create a page to target it:

brandname.com/abc123/

And leave the homepage to target brand keywords, but link to the "abc123" page.

Whats the best option?

[timscullin]

Haha well done

[Francisco_Meza]

I get enough search traffic from it to support 10 people. I guess the phrase "lot of traffic" is a  matter of perspective.

[timscullin]

Yep this is very helpful. I see you have lots of good rankings too. Do you get a lot of search traffic from them?

[Francisco_Meza]

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.

[xtopher66]

Fransisco, are you using canononical tag to any effect on pointing the sub pages to the head category page?

[Francisco_Meza]

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.

[xtopher66]

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

[timscullin]

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!

[timscullin]

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?

[MoosaHemani]

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!

[Francisco_Meza]

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/