Customer Experience vs Search Result Optimisation

[AshShep1]

Yes, I know customer experience is king, however, I have a dilema, my site has been live since June 2013 & we get good feedback on site design & easy to follow navigation, however, our rankings arent as good as they could be?

For example, the following 2 pages share v similar URLs, but the pages do 2 different jobs & when you get to the site that is easy to see, but my largest Keyword "Over 50 Life Insurance" becomes difficult to target as google sees both pages and splits the results, so I think i must be losing ranking positions?

http://www.over50choices.co.uk/Funeral-Planning/Over-50-Life-Insurance.aspx

http://www.over50choices.co.uk/Funeral-Planning/Over-50-Life-Insurance/Compare-Over-50s-Life-Insurance.aspx

The first page explains the product(s) and the 2nd is the Quote & Compare page, which generates the income.

I am currently playing with meta tags, but as yet havent found  the right combination!

Originally the 2nd page meta tags were focussing on "compare over 50s life insurance" but google still sees "over 50 life insurance" in this phrase, so the results get split. I also had internal anchor text supporting this.

What do you think is the best strategy for optimising both pages?

Thanks

Ash

[AshShep1]

Also if I do combine the 2 pages should i 301 the compare page to the other?

Thanks
Ash

[AshShep1]

Tommy thanks for your advice.

Will having specific internal & external anchor text help google know which pages I am targeting for each keyword eg "Over 50 life Insurance" & "Compare Over 50s Life Insurance" or will i always have the same issue because the first phrase is contained within the second?

Ash

[TommyTan]

Hi Ash,

I agree with Aaron in combining both pages since both pages' targeting is very similar and that's the reason why Google is seeing the same keywords for both pages.  You have the same keywords in the URL, Title tag and within the content.  If you can combine these 2 pages, i think it will have a better effect since visitors can learn about your service and see examples on one page.  Furthermore, it is easier to build back links for 50 Life Insurance to 1 page.

If you really want to have 2 separate pages, i would rename the 2nd page and target a different keyword.  Life Insurance Quote? Life Insurance Comparison?

[ajfried]

Again, my bigger concern is how thin the comparison page is.

This really has nothing to do with how similar the URLs are, although it might confuse users a bit. Its the lack of actionable and usable content on the comparison page that I think will make a difference here.

If you were really adamant about keeping the two pages intact and NOT merging them, which could be ok as well, then I would consider building up the comparison page so it was a bit richer in content, and provided some useful comparisons on the page rather than forcing the users to go somewhere else. Currently, there is just one big image in the center with a few lines above it.

Adding in a bit more content / context behind those comparisons could make all the difference.

[AshShep1]

Hi Aaron we could merge them, but when we designed the site we set out to be different from the other comparison type sites, in that rather than push the "Buy/Compare" option on the product landing page we wanted to take them on a journey depending on  their level of knowledge.

Laying out their Nav options in the left hand side they could choose where to go depending on which page they arrived at, which is great once you are onsite, but not for optimising for search, hence my question.

Merging the page is an option but are their any options we could explore first?

Thanks

Ash

[ajfried]

Hey Ash,

Is it an option to merge the pages? The reason I ask that is because when I go to the second page (the revenue generating one), the experience I get with it is actually pretty poor. It doesn't necessarily provide me a lot of information and then on top of that, it immediately redirects me to another page. So in many ways its like a gateway to the place you really want them to go.

Why not remove the second one all together, merge the content together so you can really provide a solid user experience, and then once the customers feel comfortable with the information they have gotten, they can click on receive a quote and get what they are looking for instead of jumping around, which runs the risk of them dropping off.

Is that possible?

Aaron