Changing on-site SEO without interrupting repeat customers
-
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!
-
Sounds great. Thank you so much! You are truly a master.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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?
-
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.
-
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.
-
Great answer!
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Need advice w/ keywords & content to get started with SEO on my own website
I am a real estate agent, marketing properties to Germans moving to / buying an overseas home in my country. I inquired with a few different SEO agencies and I cannot afford their services, $3000+ a month and my market is not huge as you will see in the search data below. So I will have to go ahead and do SEO on my own and will obviously need some help. The space is not competitive which is awesome. That's how the volume and competition look for the most popular (& broadest) search term is "immobilien countryname" (property countryname), according to Ubersuggest - attachment 1 (translation for reference): property countryname 1300 property in countryname 480 buy property countryname 260 property countryname seaview 170 buy property countryname 110 Here is an example of the top 10 searches for houses by volume. (Attachment 2 is a screenshot of the competition) 1. haus in countryname kaufen 720 $0.14
Keyword Research | | dnlpwrsellr
(house in countryname buy)
2. countryname haus kaufen 590 $0.36
(countryname house buy)
3. einfamilienhaus countryname haus kaufen 210 $0.45
(single family countryname house buy)
4. häuser in countryname kaufen 170 $0.29
(houses in countryname buy)
5. haus countryname kaufen 170 $0.46
(house countryname buy)
6. günstige häuser in countryname 110 $0.10
(cheap houses in countryname)
7. häuser kaufen in countryname location1 110 $0.22
(houses buy in countryname location1)
8. haus kaufen countryname meerblick 90 $0.20
(house buy countryname sea-view)
9. haus in countryname location2 kaufen 70 $0.03
(house in countryname location2 buy)
10. countryname haus am meer kaufen 70 $0.05
(countryname house near the sea buy) the first 5 results are taken by big portals, just the top one has done any optimization at all as you can see the competition is pretty lame, just some of them are doing any SEO, pretty badly (including spammy links), still rank. The way it seems, there are 4 main categories to optimize for: Properties Houses Apartments 'Move to countryname' information Should I optimize my homepage for a 'property' term, 3 other pages for 'house', 'apartment, and 'info' terms? How do I pick keywords to optimize for, esp. considering that they are basically the same e.g.: house in countryname buy countryname house buy house countryname buy or property countryname countryname property property in countryname ...and should I pick just one? What sort of content could I include in a "buy a house in countryname" type of page and how do I write around such keywords? I am having an issue finding examples to follow as there is no competition to emulate and the other markets/countries are dominated by large portals which also seemingly get ranked based on size / authority. Beyond that there is virtually no interest in the country = no traffic, besides general bs such as the language, the weather and such where there are a bunch of huge websites on the first page - so I am not sure what content could I use to drive traffic. I will come up with something, but there are no obvious ones.. My domain name is 1 year old, I have no links yet. Moz reports Page Authority 5, Domain Authority 2 for my domain. I reckon that's enough for starters... Any input and ideas are more than welcome! Thank you. Qy2gat6.png tG93AJt.png0 -
If I use a similar H1 on two landing pages for my website will it impact my SEO negatively?
I've been doing quite a bit of research on keyword cannibalization and duplicate content. I have two pages with nearly the same H1. The rest of the body is different, with a few similar overlapping keywords and points. Am I right in that nealry the same keyword in H1 on two separate landing pages will damage by SEO?
Keyword Research | | joseph.defranco1 -
Why doesn't Google show my site in the results when searching for my exact URL ?
I haven't done too much work with optimizing the site yet, but I was curious as to why the site doesn't even show up in any of the google results when searching on the exact URL. What could cause this behavior?
Keyword Research | | fryguy1 -
Why do small changes in keyword phrasing have such big SERP impacts?
I am trying to better understand why some of my pages rank well and some don't rank at all. I've discovered that slight changes to how the key phrase is typed into Google can have dramatic effects on the results. Why is this? And how should I interpret it or use it? I understand that some phrases will be more competitive than others, but that doesn't seem to explain the variances entirely. For example, http://traveltipsthailand.com/phuket/best-bachelor-hotels-in-phuket/ (which is SEO optimised for the long-tail phrase "bachelor hotels in Phuket" and "girl-friendly bachelor hotels in Phuket") ranks #1 or #2 for the key phrase "bachelor hotels phuket", but if I modify the phrase slightly to "bachelor hotels IN phuket" it drops to #12 (page 2) with less relevant competitors (like "Bachelor hotels in Chiang Mai") getting in ahead of it. Likewise, if I search on "best bachelor hotels phuket" (the URL phrase of the page) it is #1 or #2 again, but if I modify the search phrase to "best bachelor hotels IN phuket", my SERP drops to #13. If I use the longer-tail key phrase "girl-friendly bachelor hotels in phuket" the results are even more dramatic. I rank #5 for that phrase in the SERPs with or without "IN" in the search phrase. But if I remove "bachelor" from the key phrase and just search on "girl-friendly hotels in phuket" my page drops right off the SERP radar. Somewhere above #200 I think. Would love to get a better understanding of what influences these changes if anyone really knows. Is it just Goovoodoogle or is there a logical explanation? 51c0d097f1c8d9-81984651 51c0d11688af68-43859477
Keyword Research | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
Different or Same Keywords for Second Site
Hello, We're flushing out a second site for a client that's a second site in the same niche. How do I know when to use the same keywords for both sites and when to use entirely different keywords. One site is fairly strong, and the other will be less strong, though we're going to strengthen it quickly.
Keyword Research | | BobGW0 -
Niche vs One massive site
In the past I've done fairly well building niche sites for automotive accessories. The problem is, it's hard paying attention to 50+ sites after a while, and the quality ends up going down. Because of this, I've decided to focus on one large site for trucks and their accessories. I have a site called truckprofile.com where people can create profile pages for their various trucks. It gets fair traffic for not doing much with it. I recently threw a blog on the site: truckprofile.com/blog. This will be my area for posting articles on niche, commonly searched, easy to rank for phrases. So my questions are: Is building one massive site better? If so, how should I structure the blog area so that each article ranks well? Would it be better if they were well categorized pages in wordpress instead of blog posts? By posting all the articles on a single site, does that mean it will be harder to rank for any single thing since the topic is so broad? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Keyword Research | | daenterpri0 -
Capitals in Title tags and meta descriptions and their effect on SEO
It often the case that a page of serps will show up very similar title tags eg Cheap Widgets | Widgetsrus.com format, written partly for humans and partly for SEO.. Although against Googles best practice and indeed a violation of their adwords policy would using in CAPS in title tags reduce ranking (whilst increasing visibility and CTR)?
Keyword Research | | seanmccauley0 -
Ranking Changes: Google.co.uk vs Google.com vs Google.com.au?
Why would my website appear, for example, second for a keyword search on Google.co.uk but on a search through Google.com or Google.com.au (Australia) not appear in the Top 50? Excuse the simplicity of the question!
Keyword Research | | Benj250