"keyword" - rank the home page or sub page domain.com/keyword?
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One of my clients has a pretty decent website that ranks 1st place for most major keywords in their line of business.
EXCEPT one keyword that i've been struggling to get 1st position on Google (currently 2nd).
My problem is:
let's say "tennis shoes" as a keyword
the home page of course has several other shoes listed but I've seen that Google took my home page and made it 2nd position (on 1st page). Where the section domain.com/tennis-shoes is on 2nd page of Google.
My question is should i rel cannonical from the /tennis-shoes section to the home page so it focuses more on the specific keyword that i need to get the home 1st? Or should i leave the home page generic and focus more on /tennis-shoes to get that 1st position?
What do you Moz'ers Think?
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Wouldn't the other pages get less value because the home page has a clear focus on a specific keyword?
Don't want the rest of the pages that are solid on 1st position to get affected because the home page doesn't relate as much to them.
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I would do BOTH!
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Hi ennovation
You say "other than building links" but it may be that is where you need to focus your efforts next. It sounds like the on-page stuff may already be done well and that your efforts so far have helped the product pages rank number 1 for their keywords. Perhaps the home page has multiple inbound links to it containing anchor text "tennis shoes" and that is why it is outperforming the product page?
As link related factors are belived to be such a large element of the algorithm it sounds like it would br prudent to spend time on this area next.
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I'm thinking the same. The only problem is the rankings on page /tennis-shoes. The page is completely optimized so other than building links i don't know what to do. Wouldn't it be better to slightly optimize the home page so the home page is tennis shoes then the rest are related sections.
P.S. other pages ex: /golf-shoes rank 1st place so no need for targeting home page on those specific sub pages
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I'd leave the homepage generic and focus on /tennis-shoes. You can't optimise your homepage for every keyword you want so splitting them up on their own dedicated page is your best option.
DD
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