Improve rankings for keywords...you can't display!
-
Hey, I've read the art of seo (great book!) as well as numerous publications and blogs, forums, etc., but i cannot quite figure that. We are trying to improve the ranking for a website. Now, our partners don't want to tarnish their image, so we cannot use certain keywords, that we need to rank for (i.e. the users are looking for). With meta keywords being dead, what are the ways we can optimize for these keywords not being conspicuous? All onpage efforts seem vain. To be more concrete, let's say your site is selling widgets from brands A, B and C, and users will look for "widgets" in search engines, but A, B, and C don't want that you advertise/display "widgets" on your site, as it might hurt their brand image. Hos do you do that?!
-
This one is an almost completely off-page SEO problem. There are small things you can do on-page that won't directly be seen like alt-tags, title attributes and file names but they are only small improvements - and having the keywords on the site will almost always beat those methods in the search results. Using related terms as well will help but it doesn't really solve the problem.
I think the best strategy is a good content marketing plan - spreading out links with the required anchor text for keywords you want to rank for and surrounding the link with text containing related and variations of the primary keywords. Depending on the competition of your keywords this one could turn into a very long-term goal.
The short answer to your question is: anchor text or more precisely a SEO focused content marketing strategy.
-
Actually, your idea can work well. An example:
Are you looking for a retirement home? You wont find that here. At Fair Oaks Center, we offer a thriving community for our residents. If you are 50+ years young and would like to maintain an active life style, then.......
Keri's suggestion about testimonials is great as well.
-
Not really! The only way I see would be to write said keyword and say it is NOT what the website is about. But it's maybe already a little too much.
-
Basically, what everyone has said, take a wide angled approach, which will take time.
-
In this instance your best bet is link building. As Ryan mentions in his response put a lot of focus on beating your competitors with targeted and high quality links with the keywords in the anchor text. Do keyword research on synonyms that are very close to your core keywords. Build a keyword list with those related keywords and do both the on page and off page optimization with those keywords. If your industry is competitive, you're better off focusing on related keywords.
-
Can you write the text such that it isn't conspicuous? Do you have any testimonials that may say something (using Ryan's example) like "I was concerned when my mother needed additional help. I saw relatives in an assisted living facility where the staff just didn't care, and I knew that wasn't what I wanted. I'm so glad I found Sunny Hills Senior Community Living" type of thing?
-
There are numerous methods you can use to improve your results for keywords you cannot display.
Let's take the example of a company which runs a "elderly retirement center". The business might be known under several keywords such as "old folks home", "medical assisted living", etc.
The problem is the owner of the facility wishes to convey a different image. They wish to present it as a "senior community living" and other less popular terms. A few ways you can help improve ranking for other terms are:
-
use ALT text of image
-
earn links with the preferred anchor text
-
use image file names
-
earn links from sites related to those industries
-
use other terms which have the same meaning
While these can all help, they will not compete as well against a properly optimized page which uses the target keyword.
-
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
-
Unusual Google+ Local listing ranking well
If you search for locksmith Phoenix, this Google+ page is ranked #3 in the local results: https://plus.google.com/117543374216451236579/about?hl=en The phone number is a VOIP number, they don't appear to have many/any citations, no reviews, etc. They've listed the Yelp search results page as their website. Strange. How are they ranking so well? Is Google ranking them well because it's associating them with Yelp.com? Any thoughts?
Image & Video Optimization | | AdamThompson2 -
How can we boost our rankings in a London-based Google search?
Hi all, I work for enterprise app development & mobile consultancy, Mubaloo. We tend to rank fairly well on Google for our targeted keywords in the Bristol area but not as well in London. Obviously there is more competition in London but that aside, we still don't rank brilliantly. We use our London address as our main address on our website, same for our London telephone number. Both of our offices are submitted to Google Maps and we include blog content with London and Bristol in the headers. Our main HQ is in Bristol but the London office is growing. What are the ways we can improve our rankings from a London-based Google search? Thank you in advance!
Image & Video Optimization | | donaldsze0 -
How do I improve positioning in Google Images?
Looking around in Webmaster tools today and I noticed we have hundreds of thousands of impressions in Google Images, but a very low CTR. I understand normal SEO, but what about increasing rank in Google Images? It is hard to get links straight to an image, and we already use proper alt tags. Any other ideas?
Image & Video Optimization | | EcommerceSite0 -
How to improve google shopping ranking of any products?
What are the techniques to improve google shopping results of any product?
Image & Video Optimization | | Alick3000 -
What's the best way to host video for SEO purposes?
Hello SEOmoz folks, I'm curious as to whether it will be more beneficial for a website to host a video on the site itself or to host it on YouTube and then embed the code on your site. The options so far, as it seems, are: 1.) Host the video on YouTube or Vimeo or wherever else, then embed the YouTube code into your own website's HTML. 2.) Host the video on your own website by itself. 3.) Host the video on your own website AND YouTube AND Vimeo. I'm wondering which option is best. And if hosting your video on your own website is a good way to go, whether to go that route solely or in addition to hosting on YouTube, what is the best way to go about that? Do I have to embed a player AND the video info into the HTML of my website? What player is best for this? Flash, or something else? And once I get the video on my site one way or the other, how do I write the code to make sure the video thumbnail shows up next to my search results in Google to maximize the SEO potential for the video clip? Sorry for the long question, but I've been searching everywhere for this and I'd love just a direct answer on it. Thanks for your help! Cheers, Dani
Image & Video Optimization | | MountainMedia0 -
Video Rankings and Optimization Issues
I have noticed for some pages of the site I am working on that I see the video that is posted on that page ranking a lot higher than the page itself or the page does not rank at all, just the video. I'm curious to know if these two can technically be competing for rankings and if Google sees that the page does not need to rank because it chooses to put the related video into the SERPs. Also, has anyone seen any differences in the way videos rank based on where it's hosted (youtube, wistia, etc)? I would think this is common sense not to but still unsure, is it bad practice to keep videos hosted on multiple sites (currently I am adding videos on a new host, but have not deleted the old ones on Youtube yet)?
Image & Video Optimization | | Hakkasan0 -
SEO for Explicit / Medical Pictures - Will It Hurt Rankings?
I have a client with page 1 rankings for several keywords. He wants to make some updates to his website. He is offering a new service and wants to show before and after photos of the procedure. He is an OB/GYN, so the before/after pictures are very explicit and have full nudity. How will this affect his rankings? Is there something that I can do to tell Google and other SE's that these photos are medical and not pornographic? Should I host them on another domain? Just looking for thoughts and insight. Thank you in advance!
Image & Video Optimization | | itrogers0