SEO for a site in development
-
We've recently taken on a new client for an initial 6 months for SEO (until their new site is going live) to help build traffic to the site. They are currently getting a new website built so don't want work done on their current site... but due to the current structure it is making it difficult for us to improve rankings for a number of keywords. They are essentially a booking engine for services across the UK so it is just a home page with a search filtering through their services, locations and dates which leads to a results page. It is a combination of services and locations we need to target keywords for but there are no appropriate landing pages due to the site layout.
The one thing they are happy for us to work on is the blog, so my question is would it be best to create landing pages on the blog targeting keywords such as 'sports massages in London' and build links to these pages? Then when it is time for the new site, with new appropriate landing pages, simply 301 redirect these pages?
If anyone has any input on this idea or suggestions for other ways about it we'd be delighted to hear from you
Thanks
-
** While this type of content would undoubtedly drive traffic, many users would not convert into customers as there is no service nearby. **
I agree. My sites have lots of this type of content and I work very hard to get this traffic. If you use Google's DFP you can target your house ads to display a geographically relevant creative for certain locations (for example... sports massage in Bentham, or Birkenhead, or Accrington) and show adsense for any other location. This enables you to promote your own services where you have them and adsense to all other visitors. You can also sell this geographically targeted ad serving to specific clients.
I like the idea of a side menu but do you think this would be enough to allow the pages to rank?
If you have a kickass article that gets a lot of links it will start to pull traffic for these geographic terms. If competition is not strong or your pages develops significant link strength, then you could rank for these terms. I get lots of geographic term traffic from these types of pages. Lots. If you have one of these pages with 30 great links it is going to compete.
-
Unfortunately so, the sign on process was all fairly rushed due to the customer and development team are difficult to get in touch with!
-
Thank you very much for the in depth response. I agree, this type of content strategy would be extremely beneficial for them to be seen as a credible booking engine and help with the SEO too! My only concern is that there are only particular towns and cities that this booking engine has for each service so we really wanted to rank for specific locations. While this type of content would undoubtedly drive traffic, many users would not convert into customers as there is no service nearby.
I like the idea of a side menu but do you think this would be enough to allow the pages to rank?
-
agh - that's a pain. Too late for them to be specified? I like to build this stuff in from the start for these very reasons.
-
Hi Mat,
Thanks for the response, I like your thinking but it's another development team who have already began work and we're not going to know the final urls until they put the site live... Another stumbling block with this project!
Cheers
-
I think that blog posts that explain the generic (without location) topics that you do bookings for they could be a fine informative library for the site.
If an author knows what he is writing about and produces a highly informative about the different types of sports massage and the reasons that an athlete might benefit them it would be a great way to attract attention to the site.
Imagine an article like that hitting the subjects... what is a sports massage, are their different types, how can they be beneficial to the athlete, how are they done, how much might they cost. Don't you think that an article like that might be very valuable for a site like yours. Imagine your blog article ranking at the top of SERPs for topics like "benefits of sports massage" .... "types of sports massage"... People who are searching for those topics are ONE STEP AWAY from booking the service. And you have house ads or a search box on that page that helps them find where they can get this service.
If you hire a person to write these who knows nothing about the subject then you will not have a very good article. But if you hire experience and get photos, athlete and service provider interviews/quotes, then you have an article that might perform well.
Wouldn't that make their site a more credible booking engine?... and don't you think those pages would have a chance to rank well for generic high-traffic terms?
This type of content is not cheap. Experienced authors, going to get photos, spending time on interviews is expensive - but from my experience it can pay off nicely.
These pages are way to valuable to redirect. If you have some of your best locations in the side menu a powerful page like this might rank for some of the cities that you serve.
-
I'm not convinced that 301s are as useful as they used to be. With that in mind, how about doing the opposite:
1. Create the landing page
2. put a the 301 in place NOW pointing from the eventual final URL to the blog
3. link build to the final URL
4. When it goes live remove the redirect
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
-
Image scale Error On page seo
I Have an Image Scale Error in Gtmetrix how to solve it which is the best way to solve it I tried many ways but it's not working.
On-Page Optimization | | AlexSmithh0 -
301 Redirect to external site
Hi guys, We have a client who is getting their website redesigned through us. They are discontinuing couple of their services which will not get featured in the new site. They are fairly well ranked for these services and my client wishes to 301 redirect these pages to an external site owned by his friend so that they benefit out of the ranking. The question is: Will my client's website's general ranking get affected due to 301 redirecting to an external site? The external site is not spammy or red-flagged by Google (at the moment, at least). Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | RameshNair
Ramesh Nair0 -
Expert to Improve Site Speed Needed
Hey, I am looking for an expert who can improve the speed performance for my website NaturalSociety.com. Please please email me at [email protected] if you or your company works to improve website speed performance, or if you can recommend someone. Thanks in advance, -Mike
On-Page Optimization | | naturalsociety0 -
Does css float affect SEO?
It is generally believed that the closer the content is to the top of the page, the better it is for SEO. If that's incorrect, please let me know. I have a 2 column site where the left menu is navigation and right side is content. Obviously, the left menu appears in the code before the content does, but I can flip them around via css float. If I do that, the content will appear on the left visually, even though in the code it still comes after the left side navigation. Do either positions affect seo?
On-Page Optimization | | cmp1010 -
Mentioning own site and keywords on here?
I have noticed that sometimes posters will talk about a site without mentioning what it is. I assume this is because it one of their clients so there is confidentiality, is there any other reason I should be aware of? its just that as I am new I am usually cautious and am considering posting my own site and mentioning all my keywords to ask for people’s verdict for my on-page SEO. Still working on it, will be ready soon, thought I would ask in advance. Regards,
On-Page Optimization | | Zoolander0 -
Trouble with Old Site Name
Trying to figure out what is causing a site to show up under a former name in Google. The name of the client is Fortenberry Legal. They changed from Fortenberry Law Group over a year ago. I can't find any code on the site that uses the old name. For some reason, it still shows up as "Fortenberry Law Group" in Google. When I search for "Fortenberry Law Group," that shows up in Google with a full set of site links. When I search under the new name (Fortenberry Legal), that also shows up in Google but without the site links. Any thought on what could be causing this?
On-Page Optimization | | Falconberg0 -
How to make google not index quotes from other sites?
Hey guys, I have a site where we post quite a lot of info from other sites. We don't want google to de-index our pages because parts of it are quotes from other sites. What would you use to make it so Google sees it's a quote from another site? Or to just make Google not index the quote? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | StefanJDorresteijn0 -
Wordpress permlinks SEO question
What are SEO advantages or disadvantages of the following - /%postname%/ - adds a trailing / /%postname% - no trailing / /%postname%.html - creates .html URL Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | SamBuck0