Same content but written for different audiences
-
Hi Mozers,
The site that I work on has two pages with very similar content but written with a different sophistication of language. One page is written in a simple, easy-to-understand voice and the second is written at a high level for researchers.
My question is: does the Google algorithm really understand the difference in sophistication and then pivot results such that the more sophisticated page shows up for researchers and the simplistic page shows up for non-researchers (thereby eliminating or greatly reducing competition between these two pages)?
Thank you!
-
Great answer. Thanks so much!!!
-
Google might do some personalization, that might match content sophistication to the proper reader. However, I think that the page with the best links will rank first for almost everyone.
An alternative approach is to start the article with the easiest and most basic content and then build to higher levels of detail and complexity as you descend the page. Mark sections with prominent subheadings and float boxes with complex ideas to the side of the page beside the text that they elaborate.
With this method a person can read until they are either satisfied or challenged, and then, they can scan down the page looking at your subheadings.
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
-
Need advice w/ keywords & content to get started with SEO on my own website
I am a real estate agent, marketing properties to Germans moving to / buying an overseas home in my country. I inquired with a few different SEO agencies and I cannot afford their services, $3000+ a month and my market is not huge as you will see in the search data below. So I will have to go ahead and do SEO on my own and will obviously need some help. The space is not competitive which is awesome. That's how the volume and competition look for the most popular (& broadest) search term is "immobilien countryname" (property countryname), according to Ubersuggest - attachment 1 (translation for reference): property countryname 1300 property in countryname 480 buy property countryname 260 property countryname seaview 170 buy property countryname 110 Here is an example of the top 10 searches for houses by volume. (Attachment 2 is a screenshot of the competition) 1. haus in countryname kaufen 720 $0.14
Keyword Research | | dnlpwrsellr
(house in countryname buy)
2. countryname haus kaufen 590 $0.36
(countryname house buy)
3. einfamilienhaus countryname haus kaufen 210 $0.45
(single family countryname house buy)
4. häuser in countryname kaufen 170 $0.29
(houses in countryname buy)
5. haus countryname kaufen 170 $0.46
(house countryname buy)
6. günstige häuser in countryname 110 $0.10
(cheap houses in countryname)
7. häuser kaufen in countryname location1 110 $0.22
(houses buy in countryname location1)
8. haus kaufen countryname meerblick 90 $0.20
(house buy countryname sea-view)
9. haus in countryname location2 kaufen 70 $0.03
(house in countryname location2 buy)
10. countryname haus am meer kaufen 70 $0.05
(countryname house near the sea buy) the first 5 results are taken by big portals, just the top one has done any optimization at all as you can see the competition is pretty lame, just some of them are doing any SEO, pretty badly (including spammy links), still rank. The way it seems, there are 4 main categories to optimize for: Properties Houses Apartments 'Move to countryname' information Should I optimize my homepage for a 'property' term, 3 other pages for 'house', 'apartment, and 'info' terms? How do I pick keywords to optimize for, esp. considering that they are basically the same e.g.: house in countryname buy countryname house buy house countryname buy or property countryname countryname property property in countryname ...and should I pick just one? What sort of content could I include in a "buy a house in countryname" type of page and how do I write around such keywords? I am having an issue finding examples to follow as there is no competition to emulate and the other markets/countries are dominated by large portals which also seemingly get ranked based on size / authority. Beyond that there is virtually no interest in the country = no traffic, besides general bs such as the language, the weather and such where there are a bunch of huge websites on the first page - so I am not sure what content could I use to drive traffic. I will come up with something, but there are no obvious ones.. My domain name is 1 year old, I have no links yet. Moz reports Page Authority 5, Domain Authority 2 for my domain. I reckon that's enough for starters... Any input and ideas are more than welcome! Thank you. Qy2gat6.png tG93AJt.png0 -
Which is more important - exact match on two pages with slightly similar content or completely unique content but no exact match?
I want to rank for two terms - one is the abbreviation and one is the actual phrase (think UX and user experience). Is it better to create two separate pages to benefit from the exact match keyword (given that the content is 51% unique) or should I work both the acronym and the phrase into one page? If I made the two pages, I could get in a lot more longtail keywords, however it's my belief that I should make one really robust page to ensure all possible link equity and user signals aren't split. Is this a valid argument or does the power of exact match keywords override the need for user signals?
Keyword Research | | DigitalMarketingSEO0 -
Duplicate content across domains
I have a client with 2 websites - one is a trucking and rigging company that specializes in installation / moving / removal of safes (site #1), the other offers a product line of safes (site #2). I originally designed / implemented site #1 and was able to get "safe installation New York", "safe moving New York", and "safe removal New York" in the top 3 search results in. A little over a year ago, client was approached by another marketing company to create the site #2, who also provided commercial services that I don't. It was a business decision, and we remained in good relations. As a result Site #1 went to the new marketing company and they built Site #2. Fast forward to about 3 months ago - Site #1 was infected with malware, client wasn't happy with new service, and asked me to take back the Site #1 ( and remove malware), and take Site #2, and re-work the SEO. SEO had dramatically fallen off for Site #1, so I've been working the SEO once I was able to get the malware completely removed and reviewed by Google. Site #1 had been redesigned by the other marketing company, essentially retaining the content that I created. Site #2 has mostly new content, but under "Services", it references the same services that Site #1provides, but the content is exactly the same, except that references to the company for Site #1 also link to Site #1. So there is duplicate content for 5 pages on both sites. As it happens, Site #2 that SELLS safes, is ranking #2 for "safe installation new york" for exactly the same content as Site #1 that provides the services. Site #1 ranks >50 for the same keyphrase. Why would this be? Has Site #2 taken the lead on this keyphrase because of the malware situation and now Site #1 is being penalized for duplicate content? One other major change on Site #1 is that the web technician used Wordpress's built in page nesting (page is set as child to parent page - nested 3 deep in some cases). What are the consequences (if there are any) of having a page listed as (for example) oztruckingandrigging.com/services/safe/safe-installation vs. oztruckingandrigging.com/safe-installation? The reason I ask this is that when I Moz page optimize for the first one for "safe installation" I get a lower grade then when I Moz page optimize for the second one.
Keyword Research | | chill9861 -
Is content really king?
I have a good sized website with lots of pages. Many pages are designed around specific keywords and for the most part, they rank well. I have many pages packed with good content that don't rank well, but the keywords are related to those pages that score well. Are the under performing pages contributing to the good performing pages and/or to the overall benefit of the website because of the additional content? In short, if i remove under performing pages, will it affect good performing pages and the overall performance of the website?
Keyword Research | | KrisIrr0 -
Ecommerce: How to do best product content piece - include competitors?
Hello, A client runs an Ecommerce store. Doing a "best running shoes" type piece of content in our industry. I (the SEO) want to be 10X better than the first listing and be honest and fit intent by including all "running shoes" from all internet suppliers (including nofollow links). It's about 8-10 names. We could list us first when we carry a product. like 6 other site's products 4 of ours, listing who carries the product with our site listed first if we do. We have some of the best. The meta description and top of the article would be like. We analyzed 23+ sites and made some hard conclusions.... But wait, one of the owners doesn't want to list competitor site names even if they are nofollow or even just text. She only wants to include items from our store. I would have to rename the content "Our Top 5 products" and it would be a mismatch in intent and keywords for "best running shoes" and just be for our customers. What is the most proper SEO thing to do to attack "best running shoes" (if appropriate)keeping in mind long terms sales? The owner wants to hear your suggestions as well. And is a "best" keyword sometimes competition? Thanks.
Keyword Research | | BobGW1 -
What to do with mismatched blog content?
I've maintained a blog on my website https://www.reich-consulting.net/ for quite a few years for my side business, which recently became my full-time gig. Since 2003 I worked as at IT Specialist at a technical school and I blogged about everything from tech support and IT issues to web design and development. Now I'm a full-time web developer. I get a lots of traffic from some of these blog posts, but it doesn't seem to be useful traffic. For example someone whose searching for a solution to a super-specific windows error (one of my most popular posts) isn't going to be interested in hiring me for web development. Furthermore I have a concern that these pages might be doing a disservice to the primary message of the website, which is small business website design and web marketing. When I look at my top search terms in Google Search Console, these random terms from old blog entries are the top 30 terms... website design-related content doesn't even rate. Any thoughts? Should I keep that content? Remove and 301 redirect it? Figure out a creative way to use it to my advantage?
Keyword Research | | reichconsulting0 -
Difference in Keywords and Anchor Text ?
Sorry i am noob here: I thought both are same but when i see GSA tutorials i found that both are different. If suppose my keywords is black german shoes than what is my anchor text will be. Also anchor text isdifferent like generice keywords click here, find more etc. Please give explanation.
Keyword Research | | chandubaba0 -
Serps rank different from each login location
I prepared a report yesterday morning and I had a variety of keywords ranking at #5. Today when checked from another location they are all over the place. kitchen mats has been 11-15 for months, and then when checking from a school computer that starts a new session upon each login Yesterday it was #5 as was anti fatigue mats - it has been 27-32. Is google pulling in local hits and shifting the serp rankings? the site is www.wellnessmats.com any there suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know we have had duplicate content issues, and now reading some of the posts - perhaps "key word cannibalization"? thanks
Keyword Research | | bakergraphix_yahoo.com0