How important is it to use a keyterm word-for-word to rank for that term?
-
I need your help to settle an argument here in our office. It boils down to improving our ranking for “driver education course Michigan.”
One guy is convinced that if we want a site to rank for a multi-word keyterm like that, we need to use those exact words, in that order. He keeps creating pages with really awkward H1 titles and H2 subheadings using that exact phrase. H e claims appeal to search engines, but I think the cumbersome syntax is off-putting to any potential people who come to our site.
Another guy claims that search engines are more sophisticated than that. He says we don’t need those exact words; it’s enough that the text on the page include “Michigan,” “driver education,” and “driver education course” a few times each. Even related terms like “drivers ed,” “driving school,” and “driver education classes” will help us to rank higher for “driver education course Michigan,” according to this guy.
Neither of them can convince the other, and meanwhile I don’t know which to believe. Can you help?
-
Well if the title isn't good enough to read for the user then just don't use the exact keyword match. Because that will only make the page suck more when it's not good for the user it's probably also not good for the search engines in the end.
-
If you are dealing with people who are passionate and opinionated, quoting to them from something you read on an internet forum is not going to help much.
Here comes Rand to the rescue with 8 Old School SEO Practices That are no Longer Effective.
https://mza.seotoolninja.com/blog/8-old-school-seo-practices-not-effective-whiteboard-friday
Hopefully, after watching that, they will be better informed and more convinced.
Matt
-
I agree. It's more important for your text to be natural sounding than to squeeze in every keyword. Use topics rather than exact match keywords in your copy and make sure it reads naturally so your users aren't put off. Guy #2 is right, guy #1 is potentially hurting your performance and CTR.
I do believe I've read somewhere that Bing still places more emphasis on exact match keywords.
-
Hi there,
Easy answer here - Google has moved well beyond Exact Match Keyword Targeting. I believe it's been going downhill since 2012, and very few SEO's use it as a ranking mechanism any more.
Additionally, don't overuse any particular phrase. Just write as if you were speaking normally to someone describing your service or business. You don't need individual pages targeting each specific keyword either. Semantic keywords (phrases that are similar but not the same) are a much better way to go.
For example, for "driver education course michigan", semantic keywords are:
michigan drivers ed
drivers ed michigan
driver course michiganand so on. Use each of these semantic phrases sparingly in your content on a page you wish to rank for your chosen term, and you are well within best practices.
The guy suggesting you should use exact match keywords is probably hurting your ranking capability and is living in the past. Exact-match means practically nothing any more and anyone who claims it is the way to go is not aware of the changes search engine algorithms have been undergoing in recent years.
Long story short, if you read your H1's and H2's and the inner grammar nazi in you cringes, you are probably SEO-ing wrong.
Hope this helps and good luck convincing him!
Cheers,
Rob
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
-
Ranking for keywords in multiple zip codes
Hello, We are trying to rank for keywords locally. We are on the edge of four zip codes in our area and are competing with businesses in those zip codes. Should we track each keyword separately for each zip code, or just one zip code we're in?
Keyword Research | | ifixcars0 -
Proper use of location in keywords
¿If I want to track keywords in a specific location, do I need to write the keyword with the location or only the keyword? For example: If I want to track the results of the keyword "hair salon" in a specific city, should I write "Hair salon in (city chosen) or only hair salon.
Keyword Research | | reginadelafuente0 -
Can you rank for copyrighted/trademarked words that became generic terms?
Hi, As everyone knows, lots of generic terms we use everyday (depends from one country to another obviously) are trademark terms and technically protected.
Keyword Research | | GhillC
Some examples here and there. So my question is ... are we free to rank (or try to at least!) for some of these keywords?
Some of these keywords vastly outranked their original generic terms and there is little to no value trying to get traffic from the latter. More specifically what about the keywords such as spin, spinning etc.? Thanks!
G0 -
How to use long tail keyword?
Hi I read in most of the SEO blogs that using longtail keywords can help us in our search rankings. But how can we actually get a traffic from longtail keyword if that particular longtail keyword is not having any search volume. For example, if I wanted to rank for the keyword "SEO" which has a huge search volume of 5,500 per month and if I wanted to concentrate on one of its longtail keyword "SEO basics for beginners" which has average search volume of only 40 per month, how can it help me?
Keyword Research | | sandeep.clickdesk0 -
Does Using Brand/Company Name in Title on Multiple Pages Cause Cannibalization
I'm trying to rank for brand-name related keywords for a website. Most of the titles on the site include the page topic followed by the brand-name separated by bars or dashes (ex: title= widget | My Brand). Is this creating cannibalization for the brand-related terms? I was wondering if it was better to leave the brand out of the title all together except on a dedicated page. However, due to the nature of the business I work for there are multiple recognized iterations of the name including acronyms and long-form and short-form versions and creating content for each targeted iteration seems superfluous.
Keyword Research | | BiskEd1 -
How do I find what keywords competitors are ranking for?
I am just starting out doing come SEO research. I seem to remember a tool that would tell me which words my competitors are ranking for and what kind of traffic they are getting. Thanks, Lisa
Keyword Research | | lisarein0 -
How do I use two keywords?
Hello! I am ranking very well with a keyword. But that same keyword without an S at the end (making it singural) gets quite a few more searches per month according to Google's Keyword Tool. However, dropping the S just doesn't sound quite right or make as much sense. So how can I target both keywords? Thanks in advance!
Keyword Research | | 2bloggers0 -
International Keyword Ranking
I want measure my ranking for keywords in various countries and search engines. If I use a tool such as rank checker to determine my rank for google.uk, google.au.com, etc... is that accurate, or does my IP still affect the rankings I see? If I use a VPS such as Hide My Ass (or another product you would recommend), would that make my ranking results more accurate? I also want to measure my ranking in Russia, where Yandex is very strong so a tool to measure my Yandex ranking + Google would be ideal. What method you would recommend to accurately determine my rankings in different countries? Thank you!
Keyword Research | | theLotter0