Ranking for Competitive Keywords vs. Less Competitive Keyword Variations
-
I'm curious about situations where a website ranks very well for query variations, but doesn't rank for the query itself (or the reverse of that). For Redfin (where I work), here is the situation with regard to keyword rankings on Google (searched today from USA, incognito)...
- real estate search - #4
- real estate online - #4
- real estate site - #5
- find real estate - #9
- get real estate - #16
- real estate - #163
It stands to reason that a site ranking well for a competitive query should also rank well for less competitive query variations - especially query variations that are non-limiting and do not demand a custom landing page (for example, I would consider 'board games' to dramatically limit the query 'games' and be best targeted with a targeted page...not so with 'real estate site' and 'real estate').
So, my question is, what are some theories regarding situations like this? Why do some sites rank so well for competitive queries but not for non-limiting query variations? Why aren't the sites that are crushing us for 'real estate' also crushing us for 'real estate' variations (to be clear...the top sites are crushing us for both)?
Is it anchor text? Is it social signals? Is it offline signals, co-occurrence, or citations? What about internal linking and site structure? I realize it's likely a mix of all this, but I'm hoping we can drum up some new ideas here.
FYI, on Bing we also rank very well for 'real estate' variations, but leap up to 31st for 'real estate'.
Thoughts?
-
I think the reason is back link anchor text and I don't think it has to do with social signals. Exact match anchor text can still be a very strong ranking factor. Take note of the pages in the results--you may see that home pages are showing up for the "real estate"searches but interior pages are showing up for the "real estate variations" searches.
Your logic is off a bit. Just because a page shows up for the higher-tier keyword, doesn't mean it will more easily show up for the lower tier keyword.
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
-
Relevancy vs Quality of the website in blog commenting
For example, I would like to comment on a do follow blog with my link inserted in the comment. The blog post is relevant with the link i inserted however there are too many spammy links on the comment. Will this affect my website in terms of "link neighborhood" even my site is relevant to the blog? how do you judge whether the blog is worth commenting and putting your link on it? Does link building on blog comments actually hurt the page rank of websites if it go wrong such as spammy sites?
Competitive Research | | andzon0 -
Continuous drop in Rankings on Google.uk
I have a Website who was ranked top 6 for most competitive keywords on Google.co.uk but suddenly dropped to page 2 after 21st January 2013 and later back to top 10 position and now dropped to pages 2 to 5, for most terms. I initially thought it was the transition rank causing this fluctuations. The strange thing is, i haven't done anything wrong in terms of back linking efforts. My site is content rich and offers real value to users also, the website PR increased from 3 to 4 recently, my site seomoz rank, PA, DA and Moz trust is higher than top ranked websites above mine. Please any suggestions?? Kindly help.....
Competitive Research | | ayo10 -
Question About Keyword Difficulty Report
If I am trying to assess the difficulty of ranking for a longtail keyword phrase that is 3 or more words long, should I put that phrase in quotes when I enter into the Keyword Analysis Tool or not? For example, let's say I want to see how hard it would be to rank for the phrase "best educational resources for teachers". Should I enter into the keywords analysis tool as "best educational resources for teachers" or just as best educational resources for teachers? Which one would give me the most accurate difficulty assessment for that phrase?
Competitive Research | | AndyHawkins0 -
Tool for finding what keywords a competitor ranks for?
Does anyone know of any good tools that display what keywords a competitor ranks for? I have many competitors that I know get a lot of traffic, but I'm not entirely sure where the traffic comes from so it would be nice to plug in their url and get a general overview of what keywords they rank for and what positions.
Competitive Research | | shawn810 -
Keywords and Getting Started with them to the top of the Search Engines
We are an online Saas Based startup. Strongly 70% of our daily users come directly to us since they know us by the url . Now there these 30% who scout for software's like ours online. Get to us by some hook or crook and then maybe end up giving the trial a shot. Our Main site is only of say 5-6 pages. These pages have basic info about our product , pricing and contact etc. What I wish to understand is that when one says" getting those keywords to the top of the engines rankings" who do you mean by these - I presume one means that get the keywords you want to compete for and then push in "Adwords" or better content pages? So If I want to rank well - then my websites should have good content pages you mean? Is that correct-? That means now I have to write good content on those keywords or around those keywords- without that there is no hope to come on good on engines right? Correct me here if I sway away from the actual meaning. Next I wish to have campaigns setup in google adwords keeping in mind those competitive keywords - here again does content on my website play a role? If I have no content and then have google adwords setup does that help? Please advice How long before I add good content pages and expect them to show up in my analytics etc? Thanks
Competitive Research | | shanky10 -
Any chance to out rank Google flight data for company name?
If you search any number with "co" after it you get Continental Airlines flight information of the corresponding number. So you if you search "4co" you get the current flight details for Continental flight 4. Is there any chance if you have a company called 4CO and you own 4co.com that you could get the number one spot for that term or will google flight results always trump the "organic" results? Thanks!
Competitive Research | | 2comarketing0 -
I'v been trying to rank for this word for a long time
Hi, I have this one page designed to rank for a spesific word i google (sweden). The page has a flawless moz grade A on-page. While my competator ranks for their subdomain, also grade A. I rank 6 he ranks 2 in google. Would I be doing a misstake if i 301 directed it to mu subdomain. In visitor perspective it would be a better landig page aswell. I dont want to lose my rank though. Best practice, anyone?
Competitive Research | | SuperlativB1 -
PA and PD better than my competitors is a way to rank better?
I got a site that stuck in last position of google's first page. My on-page is grade A for this particulary page, i got links for that page too. But My competitors PA and PD is better than mine, not too much, but it is. If i build more quality backlinks and start increasing my PA and PD probaly i will rank better than my competitors? Thats the factor that i have do cara abour now?
Competitive Research | | Ex20