10 replies to this topic

[EfektyvusD]

I have a SEO situation and can't figure by myself what would be the best solution to it. Maybe you can help.
 

My main keyword is [removed]. My home page is [domain]/[keyword]

I have made a redirect so that when people visit [domain] (page A) they would arrive at [domain]/[keyword] (page 'B')
 

The problem is that Google, when entered [keyword] keyword, shows not the page B url with the keyword in it (I need that) but the short page A url with the title of the page B. I had 302 redirect before for a year, now for half of a year I have 301 redirect and nothing changes.
 

So how do you think, is there a way to make Google show the whole url (with the keyword) of page B in the results page?
 

Otherwise maybe it would be smart to drop the page B url and make page B as the main page A. This way there will be no keyword in the url, but these two pages would merge and maybe would get a better rating in Google.
 

Page A - Page authority 39/100, Total Links 1034

Page B - Page authority 41/100, Total Links 1306

Edited by qwerty, 15 March 2013 - 05:14 AM.
Removed URLs and keyword per forum rules

[qwerty]

I think your problem was caused by the 302. I've found that when they're left in place for too long (and too long can sometimes be more than just a few days), search engines start treating them funny, attributing the content of one page to the URL of the other, but identifying the page in unpredictable ways.

 

I would tell you that switching the 302 to a 301 would probably fix this eventually, but I think having a redirect in place is probably a mistake in the first place. I get what you're trying to accomplish: you want the link equity from the home page to be transferred to the page that's optimized for this important keyword. But if the keyword is really that important, you could optimize the home page for it without redirecting (if the keyword is what the whole site is about -- sorry, my Lithuanian is pretty limited). Having the keyword in the URL isn't such a strong signal that the home page, without the keyword in the URL, couldn't rank for it. Or is that's not the case, just optimize that internal page for the keyword and let the search engines find it via links from other pages on the site. You don't need to redirect anyone who requests the home page there for it to rank for the keyword.

[EfektyvusD]

Hi, thanks for an answer.

I can change in my Wordpress settings to make [domain]/[keyword] page (this page is optimized for the keyword) as the Home page [domain]. So the [domain]/[keyword] url will dissapear.

Then I will create an empty [domain]/[keyword] page and do a 301 redirect from it to my new Home page [domain]. That way I will get all the pagerank and the links from my old [domain]/[keyword] to [domain].

But there is no keywords in my [domain].

I am not sure if I understood you correctly here: 

 

Having the keyword in the URL isn't such a strong signal that the home page, without the keyword in the URL, couldn't rank for it.

 

Do you mean that the same page on root [domain] without keyword in url can rank better than the same page on the [domain]/keyword url?

[qwerty]

I mean that relevance for the keyword is about the content on the page, the title of the page, the links pointing to the page, and to a much lesser extent, the URL of the page. If this is your most important keyword phrase, if the whole site is more or less about this keyword phrase, then you should optimize the home page for it and not worry about the fact that the phrase isn't part of the home page's URL. What you shouldn't be doing is trying to boost an internal page that has the keyword phrase in the URL by redirecting traffic that's trying to reach the home page to that internal page. If this keyword phrase isn't actually the subject-matter of the whole site, then it belongs on an internal page. Depending on how competitive the phrase is, it may not be necessary to optimize your home page for it. Just make sure you link to the page in a way that backs up the fact that the page is about that keyword.

[EfektyvusD]

Yes, this is the most important keyword phrase. And the competition is quite high for this keyword. I can get a few backlinks with the keyword phrase in them, but more of them are with the title of my company (without keywords).

So I guess I should be thinking about redirecting my boosted (unsuccessfully) page to my root page. I am still a little bit doubting, my whole business depends on this one keyword.

[Jill]

my whole business depends on this one keyword.

 

That's a huge mistake.

[EfektyvusD]

How it is a huge mistake? I specialize in logo design so the keyword is 'logo design' in my native language. It is not a mistake. It is my selling pitch. Otherwise I would be one of many generalist designers. I specialize and because of that I get good clients and can pursue my career as a professional.

[qwerty]

This may be your most important keyword, but you need to make sure your site can get traffic from a number of different keywords. Some of them will be variations on this one, like designing logos, logo designer, etc. Others will probably involve other graphic design terms.

 

But I'm not telling you to take the content from the logo design page and move it to your home page. Your home page should be about your business in general, and if logo design is a big part of that business, the home page should talk about it, and should link to your logo design page.

[DiviFernando]

Do you have the same content on both Page A and Page B? If yes, why don't you use rel="canonical" on Page B and assign the canonical URL to page A. 

[EfektyvusD]

DiviFernando, thanks for an idea. I will explore that.

I would like to ask the same question only in a more simple form:

I have one important page which is optimized for the main keyword.

 

Which option would get a better ranking in google?

 

1. www.domain.com

2. www.domain.com/keyword

 

First option is to make my important page as the main home page.

Second option is to make my important page as a subpage and include the main keyword in url.

 

So which option would rank better? How do you think?

[qwerty]

Your home page is likely to be the most powerful page on the site, just because it's going to get the lion's share of backlinks, and every page on the site links there. But that doesn't mean you should automatically optimize it for this particular keyword phrase. Hopefully, you already know that the site can't be about one single keyword, no matter how important it is. That simply doesn't work. So that leaves us with the question of whether this keyword will actually make sense as the home page's main keyword. Does it apply to everything on the site, as an umbrella term that many, if not most (or even all) of the other pages and relevant keywords are variations on?

 

If not, then it doesn't really matter how valuable the keyword is or how much it would be helped by being on the home page. For example, let's say you run a pet shop, and the keyword phrase that's most valuable to you is [yorkshire terriers]. But if you optimize your home page for that phrase, what does that say about all the other breeds of dogs, all the other pets, all the toys and supplies you sell? The site isn't about Yorkshire terriers, no matter how badly you want to sell them.

 

Regarding the other option in your question (and continuing with this example), you could optimize a page like site.com/dogs/yorkshire-terrers/. Leaving aside the fact that this makes sense in the context of a business that sells many different things, including this one thing, there is some benefit in having the keyword in the URL, both algorithmically and from the point of view of usability. It's probably not a huge benefit, and unless your Yorkshire terrier page gets a whole lot of attention and links, it's not going to have the PR of the home page, but again, that's not really the way you should be thinking about this. Think about the business and its products, and you'll have a better idea of whether or not this ought to be the home page. And even if it isn't the home page, if it's a truly important page (both to you and your potential customers), then your navigation should reflect that: it should be in your main nav, and you'll probably want a link to it from some easily noticed area on the home page.