How to target very broad, umbrella keywords on the homepage
-
Hey there SEO Mozzers,
I'm new to the SEO Moz community and would genuinely appreicate any advice/input on this topic.
I'm part of the online marketing team for a UK-based site called Tendea.co.uk. We operate an introductory platform for enabling the connection between parents and families seeking care services (childcare, pet care, senior care, home & garden care, etc.) and individuals providing care services (babysitters, nannies, pet sitters, housekeepers, etc.). To take a US site for comparison, the services are very similar to those offered by Care.com
I'm currently having a bit of difficulty as to what very broad, umbrella keywords we should be targeting for the homepage, primarily in the meta title/description. We've started with keywords such as "care, family services, care services, and family care", but I think these terms are almost too generic and aren't necessarily terms we really want to be ranking for. I suggested to our in-house SEO team that we just target some of our strongest keywords from each of the individual care categories for the homepage (babysitter, pet sitter, housekeeper, caregiver, etc.). They were against this idea, though, as we have separate subfolders that target the individual care categories and their specific keywords (tendea.co.uk/childcare, /pet-care, /elderly-care, etc.) Essentially the argeument is that we don't want to be targeting these terms on the homepage and on a separate subfolder page, as then the two pages would be competing for each other's keywords. Instead we're being encouraged to find some sort of umbrella terms to target for the home page that can encompass all of the care categories.
For comparison's sake, I took a look at Care.com's meta data and it targets all their specific keywords for the various care categories "Babysitters, nannies, Child Care & Senior Home care - Care.com". Is this the right kind of strategy to take, or do you guys have any suggestions for much broader, umbrella keywords to target on our homepage? Thanks in advance for your input!
-Mike
-
Fair point. I will try and do a quick bit of keyword research later as it may be useful to get an outsiders perspective.
-
Thanks for your response and that great blog article by Rand (hadn't found that one yet!).
I absolutely agree with you - we want our users to be landing on our subfolders where the content is geared at exactly what they're looking to find (childcare, pet care, senior care, etc.). Our subfolders are, I believe, in pretty good shape in terms of content and keyword targeting. Nevertheless, it's still important to get the homepage to rank for something, especially because that's where 99% of links will point to. I guess I'm still struggling with what broad terms we can use on the homepage that we can still realistically rank for. As I mentioned, we started with things like "family care" and "family services", but those keywords usually rank for content that has nothing to do with the kind of services we offer. Rand's example is simply constructed, starting with comics and breaking it down from there. Unfortunately our site's services don't lend themselves to some kind of no-brainer, broad umbrella term. I guess I just need to do a bit more broad keyword research and leave the specific keyword targeting to the subfolders.
-
This is a great question and something I have pondered over on several occasions.
In my opinion I would say focus on a couple of broad keywords on your homepage rather than trying to target loads of different keywords for each service you offer.
The main reason being that you want users to land on the sub folder were the content is focused around their search query as they will be more likely to convert than if they land on a generic page and have to navigate through the site to find the relevant content.
The below blog may be helpful:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/keyword-targeting-how-to-employ-multiple-keywords-for-seo-conversions
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
-
Domain keyword ranking
I used to use Searchmetrics (years ago) which enabled me to add in the domain name into their website, and it would provide all the keywords that rank for it. Does Moz do that do you know? Thanks
Keyword Research | | patn_studio0 -
Which keyword to use (plural / singular)
Hi guys. So I'm racking my brain with a question whether I should use plural or singular keyword as a focus keyphrase of my page. The page that I'm optimizing is basically a review page of different websites offering proofreading services. Considering the fact that this is a review and I mention a lot of websites on my page, I decided to rank for a plural keyword that ends with "services". However, this keyword is very unpopular (ahrefs doesn't show any volume for it), while singular "service" has about 100 searches per month. As far as I understand, Google sees both keywords as synonyms, because search results for both keywords are almost identical. Should I change my keyphrase to singular "service" (even though the page mentions a lot of services), or stick with "services" instead? Do I have a chance of ranking for "service" if I stick with "services" in this case? Thank you.
Keyword Research | | AslanBarselinov0 -
Keyword inside keyword
Hi, I'm a newb and I'm trying to wrap my head around how this keyword thing works. Let's say I find these KWs as part of my research: Acupuncture Acupuncture Clinics Acupuncture Clinics in Gainesville Acupuncture Clinics in Gainesville Florida Does optimizing for Acupuncture Clinics in Gainesville Florida optimize me for all the other terms as well? And furthermore, might I appear for searches like these too: Acupuncture Florida Acupuncture Gainesviile Acupuncture clinics Fl Thanks a bunch!
Keyword Research | | Graphbyte0 -
Keyword ranking by word order
If we have a keyword with 2 words like "SSL Audit". Will it rank in the same position the other way "Audit SSL" ?
Keyword Research | | Cistrust.com0 -
What does it mean when two keywords in Google's Keyword Research Tool have exactly the same amount of searches?
The two keywords are [publicity] and [product placement] (both in exact search - not broad) and have 22,200 searches each. Is it purely coincidental or are the two keywords kind of related in Google's eyes and that's why we're seeing the same amount of searches for each?
Keyword Research | | davhad0 -
Keywords in SEO Moz versus Keywords on pages
II'm a little confused by how the SEO Moz keywords relate to our page keywords. Should all the keywords we put in SEO Moz be in our page keywords? Can our SEO Moz keywords span the kepywords of severla pages or do we need ot tighten up and only use 5 for example keywords in SEO Moz and on our pages? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | THMCC0 -
Any thoughts as to the best keyword tool about today?
I have found similar questions on the forum but is there a best keyword tool to use or is it a case of using a few and cross referecing them?
Keyword Research | | bunac10 -
Is this keyword cannibalization?
Hi, Is using keywords in different orders considered keyword cannibalization? for example, if I my client has a catering business based in mississauga, Ontario, should I create separate 2nd tier pages on the following keywords? 1. mississauga catering 2. catering mississauga 3. catering in mississauga Is that keyword cannibalization? The reason I ask is because it's often hard to find a good # of diverse keywords for local businesses that are also used more than a few times each month in the search engines. thanks, Martin
Keyword Research | | RogersSEO0