Changing on-site SEO without interrupting repeat customers

[BobGW]

Hi,

We have a site with lots of repeat customers. Now that Google Analytics has been gathering keywords for years, I want to do an overhaul on the site incorporating keywords we're not incorporating presently.

But I'm afraid that repeat customers are going to search for their term that they find us with and we wouldn't be in the same spot so they'd go somewhere else.

How do we refine the on-site SEO without jolting return customers?

Thanks!

[BobGW]

Sounds great. Thank you so much! You are truly a master.

[EGOL]

Bob, if I was doing this I would take off my SEO hat and put on my mountain biking helmet.

Your customers don't want to read keyword articles.  They want information.  Decide what they need to know and produce it.  Throw the SEO hat out the window.

If I sold mountain bike tires I would have articles with videos and lots of photos on topics like this...

** types of mountain bike tires - which work well for road, mud, sand, gravel, etc.

** how to select a mountain bike tire - importance of tread, width, kevlar

** how to change a mountain bike tire (all of the details)

** changing a mountain bike tire in 40 seconds (video of me doing it)

** all about tubes for mountain bike tires

** all about pumps for mountain bike tires, floor pumps, frame pumps, CO2 cartridges

** why am I getting all of these flats?   lesson on rim strips and kevlar belts

** tools for changing mountain bike tires: levers, patch kits, strong hands

Forget about keywords and impress the Hell out of the visitor with your knowledge of the subject and  your enthusiasm for helping the potential customer get the most out of your products.

If you publish a library of the above, I think that you will get links and rankings.  It will also get the trust of your visitors.

Defeat the competition with your content and you will soon have the rankings.

[BobGW]

Let me see if I understand.

So I should stick to all articles and not use a blog, then use one keyword per page? And should I write articles for all major products, even if they already rank well for their product name?. Should I also write articles for each new keyword that I find through G Analytics that the site is not optimized for, and should I stick to one keyword per page for that or should I pair them up?

Am I on the right track? I hope you don't mind the questions, I have a good feeling about your advice.

[EGOL]

Produce a plain webpage on the site for each major product.  Then make it really pretty with images and text that markets your fantastic content collection.

Start thinking more like a "webmaster" than like a "blogger".

Nothing wrong with bloggers but the format of their sites is more chronological than logical.

[BobGW]

EGOL,

I decided to go with your plan and only add keywords to a page if it was only optimized for like one keyword. Using mainly content to optimize for new terms

I can see how to organize a bunch of good articles, but how should our blog posts be organized? We were going to do a bunch of random posts based on keywords and experience with customer's questions, but you're right - they need to be organzed: how?

[EGOL]

In my opinion, the best ecommerce sites have more and better information than most of the information sites.   All about the product, history of the product, how to use it, information on repair, everything that anybody anywhere would want to know about it.  This is not chest thumping content about your company, it is genuine information content that is a pleasure to read and learn from.  Also, it is not a bunch of random blog posts.  It is a carefully planned and executed library of information written by enthusiasts.

[BobGW]

Some very good answers here.

It's an ecommerce site, but (in the above example) maybe I could leave "blue shoes" and write a blog post about "red shoes with a couple of  internal links to the blue shoes category or specific blue shoes. I think that's a great idea.

Is that what you're talking about EGOL:?

So restructuring the on-site SEO to incorporate Google Analytics keywords, erasing what's not performing and adding what is performing might not be a good idea?

But it sounds like I don't have to worry about people not finding us through typing a keyword into Google (repeat customers that is)

Any further advice is appreciated. I learned a lot so far.

[joseph.chambers]

Great answer!

[Nick_Ker]

If you are still selling blue shoes, why would you remove "blue shoes"? If you are not selling blue shoes, then you shouldn't really expect to rank for it.

Honestly, I don't think your worries about a two or three position drop are realistic. People don't usually do a search, remember which position they clicked on before, count that many results down and then click on it without reading the link. If they are looking for blue shoes and your site comes up again in approximately the same area, and the title they see is mostly the same as what they clicked on before, chances are they will remember you and click on it again. This is a good reason to have your company or site name prominent in your title - branding.  Now if the change from blue shoes to red shoes resulted in you moving off of page one, that might be a different situation.

Now, let's say you do have customers who know they have usually found you at position 2 and you drop to 5. When they blindly click on result number two and it isn't your site, if they were looking for your site and not just any old blue shoes, they will likely go back and look for you.

Also keep in mind that your keyword positions will fluctuate naturally anyway. In some cases it may even be more than a few positions. You simply cannot rely on search results to act like a bookmark for users - it changes constantly. Instead, make sure your site is memorable enough that users will simply bookmark it, type in the URL, or remember it when they see it in the results.  Now if you have one of those spammy URLs that is all keyword and no branding, like "your-best-blue-shoe-stores.com", that may not be so easy.

[EGOL]

The best way to expand the reach of a website is to create new content that targets new keywords.

In my opinion, that is the most effective way to earn new money and take new turf.

[BobGW]

Here's what I'm worried about:

Say we rank 2nd for blue shoes. It is a very small term, but a customer is finding us each time by typing that in and going to the 2nd result and clicking on it to come to our site. I"m pretty sure some people do that

Now say I erase "blue shoes" because "red shoes" is a very popular term. I optimize for red shoes and now 'blue shoes' drops to 5th. The return customer comes in, types "blue shoes', doesn't see us in the top 3 so he goes somewhere else. We lose a lot of money.

[Nick_Ker]

Unless you are planning on "un-optimizing" your site for the keywords you are currently targeting and changing the entire focus of the site, targeting new keywords by making sure they are present on the site, or in your off site link building efforts should not have any negative effect on your current rankings.

Also, unless the user has disabled it in their browser, Google does attempt to remember the sites you visit and what you like. So in theory, returning users may even see your site in a higher position than they previously did.

In the old days of the WWW (like 10+ years ago) sites often begged users to bookmark the site. I don't think you want to go on that path, but relying on search traffic for customer retention is probably not the best way to handle it. Offer newsletter subscriptions,  and definitely use Facebook like, Google +1 and Twitter follow buttons. That way when users search the same phrases, they will definitely find you again if they have hit Like, +1 etc.  
Search is social - especially now that Google has crippled user query tracking.