Optimising multiple pages for the same search term

[seanmccauley]

We were having a discussion on title tags and optimising multiple pages for the same term. We rank well for the phrase 'chanel glasses' which points to our Chanel brand page. The Chanel brand page is optimised for this term, and has the phrase 'Chanel glasses' at the front of its title tag.

Previously, the title tag on our home page had the words 'Chanel glasses' at the start in an attempt to rank twice for the term (as one of our competitors has managed). This never worked (though at the time, our DA/PA was lower than it is now). For this reason I switched the title tag on the homepage to try and rank for 'designer glasses'.

My belief is, given we already rank highly for the term on a more relevant landing page, trying to rank for it again on the home page is not the best use of a title tag on our highest PA page. We may as well use it for something more generic like 'designer glasses' (though this term does not convert nearly as well, nor does it currently rank as well for us as we've not been attempting to get 'designer glasses' as anchor text. Plus it's more competitive. Another generic term maybe be preferable).

My colleague's view is we should attempt to do what our competitor has done and try and rank twice on page one for this term. I like the idea of dominating the top  results, but I feel that since attempting to get double-listed hasn't worked for us so far, we should use the homepage for optimising for a different term ( ideally something that we don't already rank for elsewhere on the site).

I see his point of view - if we were ranking nowhere for the search term then, yes we should concentrate on getting one page to rank, not two. But since we already rank well for the term, perhaps his strategy is preferable?

Just for clarity, the title tags are not duplicate, but the idea was to share many of the same keywords between the two title tags.

What are your thoughts SEOmoz?

[gfiorelli1]

Alex is right... cannibalization is one the worst thing a site can commit.

Personally, the KWs I focus on in the homepage are (or is) the query that most define the subject of the site itself. In your case, designer glasses is surely a good choice, as you are not focusing on any brand in particular. Eventually, but I am sure you know it, I would use a semantically related second query in the title to reinforce the main KW.

[Alex-Harford]

Did the other page rank anywhere?

My view is to not do it - you're just confusing the search engines over which is the most important of your pages for that term. And instead of competing against your competitors, you're competing against yourself.

Take a look at this post from a while ago: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-solve-keyword-cannibalization

Rather than something generic, you could think about the longer-tail for your homepage - something like 'cheap designer glasses' might not be as competitive but could still send a lot of relevant traffic.