Ranking a homepage for keywords
-
We recently found a handful of keywords we would like our homepage to rank for (for example - customer experience). On our homepage we have articles (4-5 posted daily) that feature the keywords we are targeting (one being customer experience). How do the keywords we are using in our daily articles that are posted to the homepage affect the overall keyword ranking for the homepage?
In other words do the keywords used in the articles (title, first 2-3 paragraphs, meta description, etc.) all roll up/build up to the homepage's keywords or how does that work?
-
Hi Carly,
if you want to know more or need further help: Bryan Dean's On-Page SEO Anatomy infographic serves as a good start.
You may also provide a more concrete example by a private message via my profile page. I can help you.
-
Wow, this is great, thank you! Do you have any advice for those looking to create or determine a "hub" page?
-
Hi, Joost De Valk wrote a great article on this subject in 2011:
“You see, sites don’t rank: pages rank. If you want to rank for a keyword, you’ll need to determine which page is going to be the page ranking for that keyword....Adding that keyword to the title of every page is not going to help. Nor is writing 200 articles about it without one central article to link all those articles to. You need one single page that is the center of the content about that topic. One “hub” page, if you will.”
Now that you understand that you should probably create a page in an url http://www.domain.com/keyword rather than trying to rank http://www.domain.com — here’s the answer as best as I can give easily since Google is secretive.
3 Basic Factors:
- relevancy signals
- internal and outbound linking
- content freshness
1. Relevancy Signals
Bryan Dean's article gives, among other ranking signals, a good overview of relevancy for a page (not a site), many of which you mentioned:
- Keyword density and latent semantic indexing
- Heading and meta tags. See: http://cbutterworth.com/do-h1-tags-still-help-seo/ and much more..
- Content length. See: http://blog.serpiq.com/how-important-is-content-length-why-data-driven-seo-trumps-guru-opinions/
It is reasonable to presume that when Google goes through your site (perhaps via an sitemap) it does make some minor conclusions about the general themes of your site and that may affect your homepage’s rank.
2. Internal and Outbound Linking
Now, this is the easiest way to affect the rank of your homepage with the help of the posts you are doing. Make sure to link to the latest news, categories and tag cloud on your homepage.
You may show posts from a specific category, where the category is the keyword for which you want to rank. Thus Google sees that your homepage displays keywords and links about that topic prominently.
Don’t go overboard obviously. 3 latest news items in the category defined by the keyword, a link to the keyword as category and as tag or two is plenty enough for the homepage.
3. Content Freshness
Cyrus Shepard’s 2011 post on the Moz Blog serves as a good introduction to how content freshness might impact your site:
“Websites that add new pages at a higher rate may earn a higher freshness score than sites that add content less frequently.Some SEOs insist you should add 20-30% new pages to your site every year. This provides the opportunity to create fresh, relevant content, although you shouldn’t neglect your old content if it needs attention.”
Google also measures how your users react to your content:
“As content becomes outdated, folks spend less time on your site. They press the back button to Google's results and choose another url. Google picks up on these user behavior metrics and scores your content accordingly.”
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
-
Is there a software to find surrounding words to a keyword
I believe the surrounding words to a "keyword" are called co-occurences and I was wondering if there a a software that can tell me which word(s) go around a specific word (before or after). Thank you,
Keyword Research | | seoanalytics0 -
This page could be penalized as keyword stuffing?
Dear Mates, This sample page is http://goo.gl/kGljFX Title tag: Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate Coupon Code 30% - Buy Page Meta Desc: Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate Coupon Code 30%: Convert both Standard-Definition and High-Definition formats, super fast speed. H1: Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate Coupon Code H2: Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate Key Functions: H2: Wondershare Video Converter Ultimate Detailed Features: Could you take a look and let us an idea? Thank you Claudio
Keyword Research | | SharewarePros0 -
What keywords does the competition have?
I know this might be a long shot. I've been working on my google rankings and am first for a few keywords but still seeing quite low traffic. Is there a tool that allows me to see what keywords my competition is receiving high levels of traffic from? Thanks Dan
Keyword Research | | DanFromUK0 -
Keyword Ranking Issue
For one of my campaigns I have running all the keywords are appearing as having a position > 50, when in fact I know these keywords are appearing on the top 5 pages of Google after a manual search. Can anyone have a solution for this? Thanks
Keyword Research | | dancody20 -
Keywords + Country?
Hey guys, Let's say that I'm doing on-site SEO for a website that sells football shirts. This website targets 5 different countries. We only have a .com domain and no other country specific domains will be added at this point. When I choose the keywords, do I opt for product name + country or only product name? football shirts france or football shirts? Some info: Countries have been added in the title of the pages. Countries appear in the footer. Thank You.
Keyword Research | | BruLee0 -
Am I obsessed with my rank?
Is there someone else out there that obsesses about their rank and check it multiple times a day? Please tell me I am not the only one LOL!
Keyword Research | | cbielich0 -
Trying to avoid Keyword Cannibalization
I have a navigation menu at the top of my page with drop down menus that lead to different pages of my web site. Very typical navigation. If I have a page that is optimized for a particular keyword, lets say "Awesome Blue Widgets", do I want to remove that link from the navigation menu on the page awesome-blue-widgets.htm since the link uses the keyword phrase "Awesome Blue Widgets'?
Keyword Research | | TRICORSystems0 -
Tags and Keywords
I am trying to improve the SEO for my client's website - http://www.petmedicalcenter.com. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for improving my h1, h2, etc., tags and keyword usage on the home page? The top 5 search terms are: vet las vegas (most searched) las vegas vets vets las vegas las vegas vet pet hospital las vegas vets in las vegas Any suggestions you have is appreciated. Thanks! -Brant
Keyword Research | | PMC-3120870