3 replies to this topic

[Marchy]

I am not sure if I used the word "Category" right! I have some pages that are example.com/category/objects.html and I have very similar pages that are example.com/object.html . I observed that the pages that are not in a category are ranking much better than the ones in a second level. I is not necessary for me to have them in a second level.

Should I redirect them and put them in a first level?

Am I just imagining this? Now these page has similar keywords and the difference is obvious.

[Michael Martinez]

I am not sure if I used the word "Category" right! I have some pages that are example.com/category/objects.html and I have very similar pages that are example.com/object.html . I observed that the pages that are not in a category are ranking much better than the ones in a second level. I is not necessary for me to have them in a second level.

Should I redirect them and put them in a first level?

Am I just imagining this? Now these page has similar keywords and the difference is obvious.

It's not because of where they are on your site that they are ranking poorly. You have to look at other factors such as:

• Age of the articles/URLs
• Internal links pointing to the URLs
• External links pointing to the URLs
• Amount of copy on the pages
• How you emphasize the keywords you're tracking on the pages
• Which pages you feel are better written, more interesting

Those are just a few of the things you need to look at. Location has nothing to do with it, except in that it may reflect how you subconciously thnk of and treat your own content.

[Marchy]

[*]Amount of copy on the pages

What do you mean MIchael? Duplicate content?

[Michael Martinez]

What do you mean MIchael? Duplicate content?

No. I mean the more copy you have on the page, the more...

• Queries to which the page is relevant.
• Likely you are to naturally repeat and emphasize important expressions well.
• Natural alternatives to your targeted keywords you'll use.
• Information you can share with visitors.
• Reason people have to look at the page.

Now, the copy MUST be well-written, engaging, and informative. Just slapping more words and sentences on the page doesn't make it better. But when you write in a natural mode without thinking about search engine optimization you stand a far better chance of optimizing your copy for search than when you try to "write for SEO".

People who "write for SEO" are being mechanical, following a template, trying to write by very strict, stringent rules.

It's one thing to go back and tweak an article to be more relevant to specific keywords. It's quite another thing to take a cookie-cutter approach to churning out copy.