9 replies to this topic

[SERPico]

I was thinking in order to create the strongest call to action headline possible, to display tailored headlines to the user.


For example my home page would rank for different synonyms or closely related keyword searches,

1: Running Sneakers
2: Jogging Sneakers

If an incoming search referral would look like this:

Search: low cost running sneakers
Display this headline: Browse Our Collection of Exclusive Running Sneakers

Search: low cost jogging sneakers
Display this headline: Browse Our Collection of Exclusive Jogging Sneakers

If no predetermined/anticipated keyword/keyword combo is detected, display generic slogan headline for all users including search engines

Display this headline: Exclusive Sneakers At Affordable Prices, Voted #1 For Online Sneaker Shopping in Running Sports Magazine!

(Please disregard the quality of the headlines, this is just to illustrate the dynamic nature and circumstances)


The searcher could be presented with a different headline based on the search query and if a keyword is recognized in the query.
The search engines would always see the same headline as search engines don't crawl content in combination with delivering search query referrals like a regular user.

My intent as you can see is not to deceive the search engines, but merely to create more appealing headlines, call to action verbiage based on the type of search query used and thus user mind set.
Basically implementing dynamic keyword insertion for SEO to create more effective call to action headlines, call to action copy.

I couldn't find any clear documentation that indicates if this is an allowed practice, or if it's frowned upon by the search engines.

What are your thoughts?

[chrishirst]

Do some split testing and find out which works best.

[SERPico]

Do some split testing and find out which works best.

Split testing is definitely a must, but will the above outlined scenario be frowned upon by the search engines?
This will be done on a regular website, not a PPC landing page.

[Michael Martinez]

In my opinion, as you propose it is probably not a high-risk practice but you'll only know for sure when you try it.

[chrishirst]

Split testing is definitely a must, but will the above outlined scenario be frowned upon by the search engines?
This will be done on a regular website, not a PPC landing page.

Not really because you are not changing the page content between visitor useragents and SE useragents.

You are changing the page slightly after the visitor has decided to click through to your page, as you are checking the referrer which is only completed by a "click".
If anyone from the Search providers goes directly to the page they will see exactly the same content as the crawlers "see"

[SERPico]

Right, that's the way I see it as well. Thanks guys!

[brianscoop]

Right, that's the way I see it as well. Thanks guys!

But which version of the page would you expect to be indexed by Google?

Brian

[Jill]

The one that he's feeding to google.

[brianscoop]

The one that he's feeding to google.

Ah, I see. Makes sense. So these different versions could help enhance conversion rates, but the only one that might impact SERP rankings would be the default.

Thanks,
Brian

[chrishirst]

So these different versions could help enhance conversion rates,

Well that is what SEO is really about.