How do you optimize for compound keywords
-
What is the best way to handle keywords like "switchplate covers"? The key word may be seen as either a 2 or 3 word phrase, depending how you handle the compound term: "switch plate" or "switchplate"
In google KW it shows different results for switch plate vs switchplate as well as using cover vs covers.
I've tried using all the variations in my descriptions, titles and H2s but I think this is diluting them all. Can anyone show me best practice guidelenes or examples of good solutions to these kinds of compound key words?
Thanks
Handcrafter
-
I use google analytics- Is there something special I should set up to track this? Or is it something to do with filtering?
Or any ideas on where to learn to set it up to track conversions and traffic for this 1 group of terms would be a great help.
Thank you for your comments EGOL
Handcrafter
-
Thanks Charles- This is really really helpful. The products I show on www.stowecraft.com do not have have brand names and they are all artisan-made & unique. So naming the products and their categories is crucial - and this compund name issue comes up over and over again.
Your suggestion about using the plural on the category page and the singular on the product page may work. But after reading Rands "singular vs plural" I am thinking that keeping my focus on the singular will increase conversions. I'll try to test it with ppc ads.
Best wishes
Handcrafter
-
Some term variants like this convert a lot better than others. My money is on "covers" - but I could be wrong.
So I would use the term where (traffic * conversion rate) will be highest.
If you don't have tracking to get a conversion rate you can get some data with Adwords testing.
-
Some term variants like this convert a lot better than others. My money is on "covers" - but I could be wrong.
So I would use the term where (traffic * conversion rate) will be highest.
If you don't have tracking to get a conversion rate you can get some data with Adwords testing.
-
This is a really good answer. Accurate, complete, very generous. Nice.
-
Usually Google and Bing do a good job of figuring out when terms are similar unless they have completely separate meanings (see Rand's response on singular vs plural). In your case if you go to google and type in "switchplate" it actually shows the "Did you mean switch plate?".
Also if you do a search on "Switch Plate" you notice Amazon comes up first with the word separated.
So those two notes are some big clues as to what direction to go for that example.
Either way I would use PPC as a playground here and run exact match ad campaigns for both versions of the term, find out which gets more traffic for you, which gets better conversions, and then optimize for that one first. Go with the data.
Anecdotaly I have heard singular is better for e-commerce as plural is usually used in language when talking about an item informationally. So I would probably go for singular and throw in a couple of plural versions on the page like an h2 or h3 link for "Other switch plates".
This could also be handled by doing your high level category pages as plural, and specific product pages as singular. I would probably keep a term like "switch plate" consistently separated in my copy though if I saw this was the big winner in my PPC test, but that is the copywriter/editor in me begging for consistency and not the SEO tweaker going for every version. In the end I still want my site to be user friendly and clean.
-
Take a look at the traffic on each version of the keyword phrase. Your primary focus should be the version of the phrase which generates the most traffic. I would also try to use each variation of the phrase throughout the article when possible.
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
-
How come when I create a keyword list, the volume of that keyword per month is not displayed? It is only displayed once the keyword is selected.
Why do we no longer have the ability to view keywords in a list with all of its data? VdhmGmQ
Keyword Research | | solitude15577990 -
Keywords. Who to trust.
Hello, I'm baby and family photographer. I have done my keyword research. Used Keyword tool. According to the research tool it says that highest local search traffic for baby market would be keywords like cute babies, baby pictures. I asked many of my clients what they would enter in search box if they were to look for baby photographer. Pretty much everyone has said that there would be some form of photographer word in search term with baby word. So like baby photographer, photographers, baby photo studio etc. Unfortunately these type of terms are under 10 searches per month. I have only two relevant pages to target these baby keywords. I'm really wondering who actually uses terms like cute babies, baby pictures. I have a feeling that those searches are made by like photo agencies, newspapers, stock libraries etc. I don't think mum who looks for photographer is suing these search terms. When you do your research, do you take in account metrics or go by more human element and try to look at it from clients perspective. What they would be searching for? Thank you guys, Just don't want to mess up with this and make sure I do the right thing.
Keyword Research | | A_Fotografy1 -
Google Keyword Tool alternatives?
Does anyone have any suggestions for Google Keyword Tool alternatives, since is has been closed by Google? Thanks
Keyword Research | | BoomDialogue690 -
How to Choose the Best Keywords for a Website
I am working with an insurance agency that wants to target the below types of insurance in Dalton GA, Ringold GA, Chattanooga TN and and/or Georgia. Home Insurance
Keyword Research | | lagunaitech
Auto Insurance
Health Insurance
Life Insurance
Restaurant Insurance
Contractor Insurance They are a new agency that doesn't have a website yet and only a small online marketing budget. Right now, I'm starting to work with them on their new site and want to make sure the on-site SEO works with the insurance/locations they want to target. What I'm having trouble with is the volume of monthly searches and trying to find keywords that they could realistically get some traffic and leads from. Most of the keywords I check with the Adwords tool are less than 50 exact match searches or just show a dash. The only keywords with a decent amount of exact searches are the main insurance types like "restaurant insurance" or "home insurance Georgia". How can I get an idea of the number of leads and amount of traffic this site might get when most of the keywords searched for only a handful of times per month? I can build the site to easily target all the above types of insurance in Dalton, GA, which has a population of about 33,000, but I don't know what kind of results this agency might expect if they were to rank in the top 3 spots. Thanks in advance for any ideas or advice!0 -
What makes a highly competitive keyword anyway?
Hello guys, so I'm still wet behind the ears and am currently reading SEO an Hour a Day, as well as going through the Moz tutorial. But I do have a question that's been confusing me a bit. I've been doing keyword research here and there and I will get a "Highly Competitive" keyword (61%) at times. So then I try to go through each of the top 10 pages to see the anchors that they've used and how many backlinks there are to that page. A lot of the times the page with have 0 backlinks and a very low page authority (like 1) but it will still rank in 2, or 3. So what exactly makes it competitive? I know I must be missing something super simple here! Maybe I'm not accurately assessing the anchor/backlinks to that specific keyword. I use backlinkwatch, opensite explorer and the keyword difficulty report. Thanks guys!
Keyword Research | | seochump0 -
Help finding some decent keywords
Anyone care to help a SEO Newbie find a couple of key words that would be easier to rank for for my website that provides kayak fishing information? mysite: yakangler.com The key words that I've identified are as follows: best kayak
Keyword Research | | mr_w
fishing from a kayak
fishing kayak review
fishing kayaks
kayak and fishing
kayak fishing
kayak for fishing
kayak reviews
kayak rigging
kayak weight limit
kayaks fishing
kayaks for fishing But I'm worried I'm missing the point, I don't see hardly any traffic from most of these. I've really tried to rank for "kayak fishing" but seem to be totally lost in the Google Panda abyss. Any advice on a different word or strategy would be greatly appreciated!0 -
How to Document Keyword Research?
How do you guys document keyword research? My best idea for this is an excel document that is separated into different areas for the topics of the website. Does anyone have any examples of documenting keyword research?
Keyword Research | | qlkasdjfw0 -
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