Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Keyword Conundrum...
-
I have 3 keywords that I am targeting. Assume for the time being that they are all equally competitive. Includes local exact match monthly searches:
Managed IT Services - 3600
IT Managed Services - 720
Managed IT Support - 170
They are all exactly synonymous, not to mention other keywords such as IT Managed Support, Managed IT Service, IT Managed Service, Managed IT Service Provider, etc.. My current strategy is to target the top 3 all on one page. The problem then is the title tag:
Managed IT Services | IT Managed Services | Managed IT Support
Pretty spammy. I could build pages for all 3, but how would I incorporate them into the website since they are all synonyms.
Can I get some recommendations on how to handle this? What would you use for a title tag? How would handle separate pages with synonymous content?
-
Thanks to all. Built one page for all, and we are on the first page for all - and then some. We also got some lesser variations ranked as well. Spot on advice.
-
I totally agree with the suggestions from Marissa and Tim. You obviously understood the problem and were concerned, therefore you posted the question.
Definitely only build 1 page for these 3 keywords. I love Tim's title suggestion.
Managed IT Services and Support | Company Name or
Managed IT Services and Support by Company Name
You are good to go.
-
Definitely stay away from listing all 3 across there like that. Based on the search numbers you have provided, and assuming that they are equally competitive as you have stated, here is a suggested title:
Managed IT Services and Support | Company Name
You could replace the pipe '|' with 'by' if you wanted to make it flow better in the visitor's mind.
This focuses on your most searched term for this page (since they are equally competitive, go after the volume). You will not be neglecting the other 2 by doing this, as the search engines are smart enough to understand the association as long as you have good copy on the page. We have lots of pages that rank #1 without the keyword in the Title tag.
-
"My current strategy is to target the top 3 all on one page."
Definitely have one page for all those keywords. "Managed IT Services" and "IT Managed Services" are the same thing. Even "Managed IT Support" could be considered the same thing. Google's algorithm is smart enough to decipher synonyms.
Resource: http://helpmyseo.com/seo-tips/296-language-synonyms-and-the-google-algorithm-and-how-it-affects-your-seo.html"The problem then is the title tag: Managed IT Services | IT Managed Services | Managed IT Support"
Definitely do NOT do this. Google will see it as keyword spam/stuffing and it will hurt you, not help you. I'd recommend making the title tag "Your Company Name | One of those keyword phrases" (assuming your company name doesn't already have those phrases in the name)
Resource: http://www.pagetraffic.com/guide/keyword-repetition.php"I could build pages for all 3, but how would I incorporate them into the website since they are all synonyms. . . How would handle separate pages with synonymous content?"
The way to handle pages with to avoid them like the plague.
Resource: http://moz.com/blog/duplicate-content-in-a-post-panda-world
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
-
Keywords problems
Hello,
Keyword Research | | Gabijaurbs
I am having a problem while I am searching for keywords - it just says "Getting serp analysis failed. Please retry your search or refresh this page" on all browsers I try it on. Hard reloaded too and still not working. Could you help me with this?
Best regards, Gabija0 -
Is it a bad idea to hyphenate keywords?
Hello, my understanding was that Google reads hyphens in keywords as spaces, but if that's accurate how come keywords with hyphens that I research with Keyword Explorer — for instance, hospital-acquired infections — rank lower when I include the hyphen? If the hyphen hurts SEO, do I have to remove them all from the blog or page in question? Removing hyphens means a blog or page will have punctuation errors, which is irritating to an editor, but I don't want to sacrifice the effectiveness of keywords, either. Thanks, in advance, for your response!
Keyword Research | | SallieJ0 -
What kind of SEO keywords should a recruitment company use?
I am relatively new to the world of SEO and have been given responsibility to improve SEO rankings for our company website (which is full of jobs). We are London based digital media recruiters and work in a number of niche industries. Should job titles be the keywords I try and optimise, as opposed to keywords such as 'digital media recruitment london', 'London digital marketing jobs', 'digital media recruiters in london' etc? Today I have signed up for a month's trial on Moz Pro so am hoping this will provide me with a lot of help as I start creating an SEO strategy, Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Keyword Research | | SumoAlice0 -
Which page is currently ranking the best for a particular keyword?
Hi Guys! I have approx. 50 keywords that I'm tracking for a website that has about 80 pages. I am wondering is there any way that I can find out which page on the site is currently ranking best for each of the keywords on my list? Ideally I would like to export the entire list with the keyword in the first column and the page that ranks best on the website for each given keyword, in the second column. Apologies if the wording of this post is confusing - I am not quite sure how to make it clearer. The aim of my task is to determine which keywords should be allocated to each page on the site so I need to work out which keywords are working already for certain pages so that I don't take those efforts away from the well-optimised pages. Many thanks! Meaghan
Keyword Research | | StoryScout0 -
Keywords with and without diacritics
Hi, I am trying to make my site to appear in the search results even the searched term have or have not been wrote with diacritics for example: "șarpe" or "sarpe". The language is Romanian. If I seach for "Românul cu maşină, marea victimă" or "Romanul cu masina, marea victima" the first result for both searches is the same. I don't see anything special on their html code and I am wondering how do they did it. Regards, Bogdan
Keyword Research | | RIAdig0 -
Keyword ranking by word order
If we have a keyword with 2 words like "SSL Audit". Will it rank in the same position the other way "Audit SSL" ?
Keyword Research | | Cistrust.com0 -
How do I find out what low-volume keywords are best to target?
Since many of our products and services are purpose-built for a niche community, I find that many of the keywords I am researching are all low-volume. Data on the Keyword Difficulty Tool show '0' under Bing Search Volume (exact match). I know what my competitors are targeting based on their title tags and web content, but I'm not sure if they did their keyword research homework, so I don't want to assume. Is there any other way to determine which keywords I should be targeting?
Keyword Research | | ULCRobotics0 -
How do you limit the number of keywords that will be researched
I'm working with a client who has a website, but doesn't really have a clearly defined idea of who their key audience is nor do they know what keyword phrases they would like to rank for. I know that I can generate a starting list by reviewing their site, but I want to set some parameters on it so I can provide an accurate estimate. I'm looking for suggestions on how to do this.
Keyword Research | | EricVallee340