Is it bad to optimize for tier one keywords only?
-
Hello,
My site is about personalized cards, and I have optimized (rank A) each sample page to the main topic of the card (eg: sapo pepe). So when people search for that keyword (sapo pepe), my page ranks high.
Now, if instead of checking the optimization for "sapo pepe" I check for "cards sapo pepe" I get an F, because the keyword is not there. Thing is that people search for different tier 2 keywords, like "cards, models, examples, etc" and I cannot put that many keywords in the page...
My question is: does Search Engines rank you high if you optimize your page for a subset of the keywords people search for? I understand that if someone optimizes for "cards sapo pepe" they would get higher than my site.
Hope I was clear, any comment is appreciated!
Thanks,
MAriano
-
There you see, that's my concern... I do not want that...
ok thanks, makes sense to tune my pages just a bit to include at least one mention to each keyword and make sure I grow my ranks...
Thanks a lot both you for the ideas and experience.
-
When the pairs of pages were first built we simply replaced WordA with WordB. Then ran into a duplicate content problem - lots of pages were being filtered from the search results. We then wrote unique for all pages.
-
Hate to ask this but: did you repeat content in the second page? how you manage to do that?
I am asking because I cannot create custom content for every page, it's a catalog with 400+ models... In my case I would have to duplicate the whole catalog... without adding too much valuable content...
Thanks for the response.
-
Thanks,
Now that you mentioned the keyword tool, I did research that and the number of searches for the tier1 keyword only is 10x, 20x, or more the number of searches for the Tier1+Tier2 keywords
I DO want a uniform criteria for my pages, so thinking it twice now... and making a consious decision, I should optimize for Tier1 only and make slight mentions to the other keywords, betting that they will become visible when needed.
-
I think I built it to show the content properly, but now I need to make it show up in search..
That right there is the key to this thread. You need to first find which keywords are being searched via Google Keyword Tool, then optimize your site for perhaps two of these top terms.
A good place to put those other keywords would be image names and images description copy (if you put copy below the image to describe it). So instead of just Mickey-Cards.jpg you would replace cards with alternate keyword. Image names are not real high on Google's list, but it will help to build out a broader keyword list without messing up the flow of your page. Also, now looking at your site, you have images with item numbers below that. Would it be too much to add some text below the image and above the item number. Smaller font, not bold, but italic?
Also, no-follow links (twitter, facebook, etc) are a good place to put alternate keywords. They don't pass juice, but are still counted as referrals. Use this same logic when building all your links. Very important links use your tier 1 keyword, lesser links, use alternative keywords.
-
I made two pages for each product.
One was highly optimized for the slang name (highest search volume) and lightly optimized for the formal name. The second was highly optimized for the historical name and lightly for the ignorant.
That was a few years ago. Once my site became dominant in the SERPs for all of these terms (for a wide variety of products) I merged the two pages of content and now have just one page highly optimized for the slang name with mentions of historic, ignorant and formal.
I think that google is getting better at associating the usage of these words and today google often changes my title tag to match the query.
-
**When my site was new and weak I had to create special pages in a historical context or slang context to get optimal rankings for those words. As my site grew more powerful the primary pages began to rank well for all of the word variants. **
Great, my problem is that I would need to create pages for each combination of tier 1 and tier 2 keywords (Mickey pics, Mickey pictures, Mickey photos, Donald pics, Donald pictures, etc)... is that what you did?
Thanks!!!
-
Thanks for the details. I understand your problem better now.
I have a site that sells a product that has a formal name, a slang name, an archaic name and an ignorant name. Something like photographs, photos, pictures, pics. Google understands that my site is about all of these - and even related words such as "images".
When my site was new and weak I had to create special pages in a historical context or slang context to get optimal rankings for those words. As my site grew more powerful the primary pages began to rank well for all of the word variants.
-
and I cannot put that many keywords in the page...
I don't know why this is the case but if I was in your situation I would either fix it or change my philosophy about what can be displayed on a page.
[MB] At least in spanish, people use different terms looking for the same thing: examples, cards, models, photocards, etc... (... plus Mickey) If I have to put ALL those keywords in a relevant way on my page, then it would become really ugly to read (I try to write for humans, not for SEs) Hence my question... I've chosen one, but for what I have seen, people sometimes don't even use those tier 2 keywords, they just browse for images of Mickey... so that is why I just optimized for the tier 1 keywords.
I understand that if someone optimizes for "cards sapo pepe" they would get higher than my site.
if you don't have the word "cards" on your page or in link anchor text that hits your page then you page will not be relevant.
[MB] I do have "cards", but I don't have many others (synonyms or similar words), that is why they rank low on them. I've chosen to do so, but I do not know if it was the right thing.
My question is: does Search Engines rank you high if you optimize your page for a subset of the keywords people search for?
Yes, but only if you deserve it. You will not rank high for "cards Mickey Mantle" unless you have a strong site or a number of good links
[MB] My site is small and new, I think I built it to show the content properly, but now I need to make it show up in search... Probably my biggest challenge is to find the proper tier 2 keywords to make it more relevant.
Thanks, your answers are helpful and inline with my ideas.
Best,
-
and I cannot put that many keywords in the page...
I don't know why this is the case but if I was in your situation I would either fix it or change my philosophy about what can be displayed on a page.
I understand that if someone optimizes for "cards sapo pepe" they would get higher than my site.
if you don't have the word "cards" on your page or in link anchor text that hits your page then you page will not be relevant.
My question is: does Search Engines rank you high if you optimize your page for a subset of the keywords people search for?
Yes, but only if you deserve it. You will not rank high for "cards Mickey Mantle" unless you have a strong site or a number of good links
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
-
Local Keywords
Hello everyone. Still loving MOZ. Question: When I research a keyword phrase such as Entertainers it is returning a local search of 15,972. I want to target three specific cities in my area ( Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron). When I research the phrase Cleveland Entertainers I'm getting a local search result of 0. Should I just assume that the search is still large enough to use? Should I target Cleveland Entertainers still with feedback of 0? Also is it a good idea to target the word entertainers with three separate pages to three separate cities? I'm planning on making three separate blogs with new content on each. This will not be duplicate content.
Keyword Research | | Jasonalanmagic0 -
Keyword tracking- Local
Silly question about Local ranking monitors. If I have a local client in Pheonix, AZ and I want to track rankings for keywords. Is it best to monitor city+keyword or just keyword? I have ran tests with multiple clients and locations, and cannot ascertain the difference- as far as rankings go. I appreciate all input.
Keyword Research | | TammyWood1 -
Keyword stuffing
Just wondered whether you think the footer text here on tis page constitues 'keyword stuffing'. I think it does but wondering why they haven't been penalised for it. http://www . lippyliciouscakes . co.uk/ Thoughts? Many thanks.
Keyword Research | | littlesthobo1 -
Keyword analysis tool
Is it not working? I have not been able to use it for the past 2 or so days.
Keyword Research | | JohnWalker0 -
How do you optimize for compound keywords
What is the best way to handle keywords like "switchplate covers"? The key word may be seen as either a 2 or 3 word phrase, depending how you handle the compound term: "switch plate" or "switchplate" In google KW it shows different results for switch plate vs switchplate as well as using cover vs covers. I've tried using all the variations in my descriptions, titles and H2s but I think this is diluting them all. Can anyone show me best practice guidelenes or examples of good solutions to these kinds of compound key words? Thanks Handcrafter
Keyword Research | | stephenfishman0 -
Is "in" a keyword differentiator?
Does google view phrases with "in" in then as different keywords than the same phrase without an "in"? For example: is "great restaurants in chicago" the same keyword as "great restaurants chicago"? Whenever I do research on two phrases like this, they always come up with the same search volume.
Keyword Research | | TheSquareFoot0 -
Google Keyword Tool
I have been analysing some specific seasonal keywords in terms of search volume within the Google keyword tool. When I download the google keyword volume for each term, this is displayed as a monthly average. I am wanting to get search volume over previous months which I am sure the Google keyword tool used to offer Does anyone have a solution to this? Thanks Simon
Keyword Research | | simonsw0 -
Keyword Updates
I have a list of keywords in a campaign that I need to update. I use the keyword report card to review those keyword performance by page. I dont currently see a way to update those keywords, I only see the option to add or delete. I don't want to delete and re-enter because then I will lose that "mapping". Is there a way to simply update a keyword?
Keyword Research | | webdecorators0