New to Moz, need some probably basic answers about Keywords, Linking, Competitors and General SEO

[BiltHamber1]

Hi,

So I have quite a lot of data colelcted about my site now, regarding keyword research, page crawling and competitor research ect.

But I find myself second guessing myself about what I have done and what to do next.

I have done basic research for as many relevant keywords I could think of to my site, including branded and non branded terms.

If the main competitive keywords for my niche are very competitive, shall I start doing more research for long tail keywords and only try to rank for them?

Does is matter how many keywords I am doing research for?

Does is matter how many keywords I try to optimise for each webpage?

Are the amount of branded keywords I am researching skewing my results? As they are all ranked #1, but nearly all of the non branded keywords are much further down the list...

Once I have decided what keywords are worth trying to ranking for for each page, are the techniques to actually rank more highly for them - Title, H1 Tag, Description, Meta Data, Fresh Content and using the keywords on the page? Or are there more techniques I haven't heard of?

Under Keyword Rankings - I noticded that some of my keywords are directing to specific pages, like "Cavity Waxes" is directing to the URL ending in .com/cavity-waxes - How do you assign the keywords im researching to specific URLs? - Or does Moz do it automatically? As most of my keywords seem to be unassigned to any URL, is that because they are not ranking highly enough?

How do I best use the data collected through Moz? Good practices? Techniques? Tips and Tricks?

What is the best practice for finding potential link partners and asking them for mutual linking? Techniques for finding partners that are likely to link with us, but still provides link juice.

I must apologise for this long-winded set of questions, but these are troubling me!

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Kind regards, Max Johnson

[BiltHamber1]

Hi,

Thanks for the responses guys! There is some really interesting comments in there and plenty to be getting on with!

Thanks again,

Max

[RafalJ]

Max I think you are confusing a lot of things, let me clarify...

1. Moz is a tool that scans internet to give you weekly rankings for the keywords you are interested in. It also gives you valuable tips on how to better optimise your pages according to guidelines. Nothing more!
How these pages will rank is down to a large number of factors and quality of your competition.

2. You have to come up with plans and ideas on how to make the most out of the information provided by Moz to your benefit, or hire an SEO specialist to do it for you, because it is nearly always unique to company/niche/industry.

Now to answer some of your questions:

Does is matter how many keywords I am doing research for? No

Does is matter how many keywords I try to optimise for each webpage? Yes. 1 subject per page (but that can and should mean a variation of keywords related to that subject)

Are the amount of branded keywords I am researching skewing my results? As they are all ranked #1, but nearly all of the non branded keywords are much further down the list... Your researching has nothing to do with their rankings.

Once I have decided what keywords are worth trying to ranking for for each page, are the techniques to actually rank more highly for them - Title, H1 Tag, Description, Meta Data, Fresh Content and using the keywords on the page? Or are there more techniques I haven't heard of? There is on page optimisation and there are other seo techniques like link building, you need to read about it.

Under Keyword Rankings - I noticded that some of my keywords are directing to specific pages, like "Cavity Waxes" is directing to the URL ending in .com/cavity-waxes - How do you assign the keywords im researching to specific URLs? - Or does Moz do it automatically? As most of my keywords seem to be unassigned to any URL, is that because they are not ranking highly enough? Moz only shows you what pages are ranking in the first 5 pages of results in Google for each of your keywords

[RyanPurkey]

Hi Max. Welcome. It sounds like you've gone through some of the materials within the "Learn" section here so that's a good start, so on to your questions...

• The competitive niche keywords represent where you want your site to be when it's as powerful as your competitors. No site is going to have a lasting presence in the search engines that finds some loop hole to exploit and suddenly pops up near the top with thin content and zero engagement, so think of the competitive core keywords also as a guide to finding other sites where you're not just getting a link, but getting exposure for your brand or business. For example, a sub-reddit could drive tons of traffic / sales to your site if you're engaged in the community there. Sites with active readership that are writing regularly about your niche are likewise important.  You get the idea. For niche competitiveness look at the whole picture.
• For keywords, don't bog yourself down. You need to develop your site and content in a way that would make sense for someone searching for that keyword. Put it together from the searchers perspective for the given keyword(s). What do they find if they're researching or shopping for something they've put into search? Does your site solve their problem quickly and easily? Does it give them confidence in their purchase? Etc. Closely related keywords and derivatives can all target one page, while the amount of keywords you research should be limited to how much content your site contains.
• See search ranking factors for an extensive breakdown of rankings: http://moz.com/search-ranking-factors. Search and inbound marketing is a huge business. You'll be will on your way though if you're highly focused on making a site and product people use and love (and link to naturally) than trying to learn every aspect of search.
• Moz shows the page that ranks in your selected search engine as the page that is targeting that keyword. So if your keyword doesn't rank, there's no page associated.
• Use that data in Moz to help you find even more connections than you would on your own. Remember the Moz tools are like your sleepless robots that are collecting way more information than any one person ever could just working on their own.
• As much as possible, don't think of your future relationships with other websites as 'link partners' instead think about how the aspects of your business mesh well with what they're doing. If they write an entire well-read article saying they love your business but the link is just to the homepage and a nofollow at that, it still should be considered an outstanding link.

Connect with people in your niche that aren't competitors and put your passion into your business and relationships with them and the links and rankings will come with it.  Good luck with your venture!

[Andy-Halliday]

Wow - that is a lot of questions within a question.

Trying to rank for highly competitive keywords is as the name suggests hard, I would either go for the long tail keywords or finding little niches within the industry and rank for these. While you are doing this you are building your DA, et al and therefore should start ranking for the more competitive keywords.

It doesn't in theory matter how many keywords you are ranking for, but remember the more you do, the less you can concentrate on them and you will spread yourself to thin and not actually improve any. Especially if its just you I would concentrate on a few keywords which will drive you high converting traffic.

I would track keywords in two sections (brand vs non brand), as branded keywords I would hope you are always in the top positions.

Ranking the pages, yes look at "Title, H1 Tag, Description, Meta Data, Fresh Content and using the keywords on the page" but also look to build decent, relevant links into the page.

Use the Page grader to find some quick wins to help boost these pages. They usually tell me some of the basic things I have missed.

Best practices for link building - http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links I would read this article, I could try and explain here but I would just be repeating the experts. I would recommend reading http://moz.com/learn/seo to further your reading.

Hope this is useful for you.

Thanks

Andy

[EGOL]

When I am in your situation, I ask myself... "What strong content can I produce?"

My ability to produce great content drives all attacks.  If I don't have great content for a keyword, I pick another keyword where I can produce the content.

You will win more by attacking with your strengths.

[Linda-Vassily]

Welcome to the Moz community! Moz has some great material on how to get started, like their Beginner's Guide to SEO. After you'd read that, the learn SEO page has a whole lot more information. Once you have looked that over, you will be able to better refine the specific things you need help with.