If keywords are not ranking a website; should they be replaced; and how do I find a keyword that will rank well with my site?

[prostene1359]

just triing to get the best possable page ranking

[LoganRay]

That's where you'll have to roll up your sleeves and start the real SEO work. If you're lost as to where to start, check out Moz's Beginner's Guide to SEO.

[prostene1359]

how do i work my keywords i pick up to the #1ranking spot

[LoganRay]

Charles,

Don't pick your keywords based on what you can rank for, pick your keywords based on what will send qualified visitors to your site. Changing the keywords you target isn't going to fix an incomplete or broken SEO strategy, it's only going to lead to more problems - i.e. not getting qualified traffic.

As Ken mentioned, look at why you aren't ranking for keywords and make adjustments. The crawl report, on-page grader, and page optimization tools here in Moz will help your troubleshoot what's going on with your rankings and identify places you can adjust your tactics.

[CandymanKen]

Hi-

That's a pretty general question and the answer is certainly more complicated than a yes or no. Here are some things to consider.

You need to look at why  you aren't you ranking for those keywords? Have the pages been indexed and are they showing up in the serps at all? If not, that's possibly a different problem. If they are showing up and they are competitive keywords it may be that you need to do more work to rank them higher.

As for changing keywords, that may be of little help depending on the answers to the first part. Certainly there are keywords that are easier to rank for, but only if you're doing the right things to get them ranked. The Keyword Explorer tool at Moz (https://moz.com/explorer) is a great place to start if you want to assess different keywords.

Good Luck

Ken