Optimizing pages for keywords
-
I have a couple of websites for retailing the western chaps manufactured by my company. I have recently tried to increase my learning for SEO since one of my main sites (started in 2006) just lost about 45% of it's organic search volume since the end of May. It seems my search to learn just creates more and more questions.
I have been using google adwords for several years now and have used that information to find the most searched keywords. There are some general keywords like western chaps and cowboy chaps that receive decent search volume. If I get more specific to a certain type of chap, chinks for example, the popular high volume keywords are chinks, chinks chaps, western chinks, and cowboy chinks. These all relate to one type of chap...the chink. I want to be visible for these keywords, but how does one optimize for more than one without diluting? Should I also try to optimize on the homepage of my sites for the general terms like western chaps and cowboy chaps? Can I optimize for both?
I could really use some help. Any experts out there up to the job of consulting for me, some with extensive knowledge and experience? I'm not looking for the SEO giants with hundreds of clients. I don't feel that I will get the proper value from those types. My company is small and spending is an issue, that's why I would like someone to consult with. I should be able to do most of the labor, I just need the knowledge.
-
Hello Mike,
Thank you for taking your time to respond. I can easily write good content using all those keywords and can do so without stuffing.
-
Choose what works best for the product and fits naturally into the content. You need to remember that the search engines will decide what they think you're most relevant for and rank you accordingly.... which means that just because you optimize for "Cowboy Chinks" doesn't mean you won't also rank in the SERPs for "chinks" and "western chinks". Google recognizes synonyms in content. Write for people, not for the bots... unique, informative content that will best serve your customers is better than attempting to force in every keyword imaginable in the hopes of ranking for everything with a single page. And once you start writing it you just might realize you could fit all or most of those naturally into your content.
-
Hello Brooke,
Thanks very much for your input. I do intend on optimizing indiviual pages but I'm a little confused on how to go about it.
I was a little bit general in my first post. Let's say I want to optimize a page on my site for the specific type of chap called "chinks". My google adwords campaigns have shown that consistently over a several year period, the most searched keywords are 1) chinks, 2) chinks chaps, 3) western chinks, 4) cowboy chinks. They all have significant traffic.
I have only one product category for chinks on my website and all the pairs of chinks that we sell are shown that category. Do I need to specifically choose only one of the four keywords to optimize that product page for? Do I just forget about having decent placement for the other three? I could create four product categories for chinks and optimize each one for each of the keywords but that would look like a ridiculous site to anyone searching for chinks on my website because there would be four different categories, each with a different name but all four would show exactly the same chaps. Logic tells me that I can't optimize my existing chink category for all four keywords.
Also, should I optimize the paragraphs describing each of the individual pairs of chinks with the same keywords or would this create keyword cannibalization?
Thank you,
Kelly
-
Hi Kelly,
I agree with Bethany below that you should start to look at how to optimize pages of your website instead of trying to optimize the whole thing at once.
I would really start by looking at the pages on your site that receive the most traffic from organic search. Make sure your title tags, meta description and content contain the keywords you would like to appear for in SERPs while also insuring that the optimizations add value to the user experience (I am not telling you to keyword stuff by any means!)
I would then start to build content around these keywords and topics that add value to your brand. This will help to regain some of the lost position in SERPs and also help to ensure that you are not penalized by another Google Update. I will let you know that this isn't a solution that is going to work over night, but will help your website to build strength for those topics.
After you have built your content I would start to focus on off-site optimization to help get links regardless of what anyone else says.
Sorry this is a really broad recommendation. Let me know if you need anymore detail.
-
Think of about optimizing PAGES not your entire site. So optimize pages that are related to chinks for those specifically related chink keywords. Optimize your homepage for the broad keywords like 'chaps.'
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
-
How to optimize WordPress Pages with Duplicate Page Content?
I found the non WWW ans WWW duplicate pages URL only, more than thousand pages.
On-Page Optimization | | eigital0 -
Can you use multiple keywords for on page for ranking?
I understand using a keyword (or phrase) and correctly building that into the site structure (URL, Title Tag, body, etc). So, this question is going to be elementary, but I am starting to question myself as I write content. I have a client, for example, that has a new site and a page for Chocolate cakes. Now the other pages they built out are for Cheesecakes, Cupcakes, etc. So we optimized the Chocolate cakes page with our keyword throughout (Getting an A+ on page content grade). But now they are asking me why they can't be found for chocolate eclairs, chocolate fudge cake, devils chocolate cake, double chocolate cake, etc. My first quick answer is that they should build more pages. But am I doing this wrong?
On-Page Optimization | | cschwartzel0 -
Too many page links warning... but each link has canonical back to main page? Is my page OK?
The Moz crawl warns me many of my pages have too many links, like this page http://www.webjobz.com/jobs/industry/Accounting ...... has 269 links but many of the links are like this /jobs/jobtitles/Accounting?k=&w=3&hiddenLocationID=463170&depth=2 and are used to refine search criteria.... when you click on those links they all have a canonical link back to http://www.webjobz.com/jobs/industry/Accounting Is my page being punished for this? Do I have to put "no follow" tags on every link I do not want the bots to follow and if I do so is Roger (moz bot) not going to count this as a link?
On-Page Optimization | | Webjobz0 -
Google Indexed = 35, 445 pages, Bing Indexed = 243 pages... Why?
Dear MozSquad, Can anyone check our site and let me know if there's anything super apparent that would cause Bing to treat us like a bum on the street? I recently made some structural changes which really helped with Google, but Bing didn't even budge. It's a lot harder to keep up with all the SEO initiatives I have in mind with it being a small start-up where I'm responsible for planning the entire Internet Marketing campaign, giving constant input on UX and site design, etc on top of 900 other things, so I figured it'd be a good time to use The Moz to help a brother out. Ideas? Domain: homeandgardendesignideas.com (yeah, I know it's a little long =P)
On-Page Optimization | | zDucketz0 -
301 to Intermediate Page then Rel=Canonical from Intermediate to target page
Hi I'm working on an eCommerce site and don't have direct access to the CMS. I had requested developers to provide me a facilty to 301 via htaccess however this is working slight differently. I need guidance from experts whether it's okay or not: Old Page: example.com/old Target New Page: example.com/new After Implementing the redirect, It redirects to an intermediate page or in other words, The same target URL with a question mark added: example.com/new? (notice the question mark in the new URL) This intermediate page has a canonical tag for the exact target URL. So, if I 301 redirect example.com/old to example.com/new? (Intermediate page) and If the intermediate page example.com/new? has a canonical tag for the exact target URL (example.com/new), Will I be able to pass the link juice and authority of old page to the new page?
On-Page Optimization | | Ankkesh0 -
I have two pages ranking for the same keyword.
The index page and the targeted landing page for that keyword. They have different content, title, meta but I am competing with myself for the main keyword in the industry. What is the best way to fix this? 301 the keyword page to the index page?
On-Page Optimization | | Aftermath_SEO0 -
Image optimization
howdy guys, I am tryign to help my dad out with his SEO for his existing LP. its been created for "conversions" however not really made for SEO. Anyways, he has all these images that have abs no title,alt, or desc tags on ANY images. some of the images are part of the header and some are images of people etc. there are about 30 images. and the site is all in html. Would it be a good idea to change EVERY image or just a few and target some branding keywords? thanks again guys, hope to hear back soon
On-Page Optimization | | david3050 -
Home page ranking dropped below internal pages
The index page for a site I manage has dropped significantly - internal pages rank above it. It's a new site, 2 months old but was ranking at 1st. Any suggestions as to how I can debug this?
On-Page Optimization | | OptioPublishing0