Used 'wrong' keywords in blog posts, should I go back and edit?
-
I have a bout 70 blog articles spanning about 2 years. Because I hadn't done proper SEO research, I used the term I thought made the most sense when talking about my services. However now that I have done my homework, I realize that the term I like, is not actually the term most people use to search.
Very few of these articles are time sensitive and mostly generic best practice kind of stuff. I'm not talking about keyword stuffing, simply going back and replacing one poorly chosen keyword with one that people are actually searching for where it occurs naturally in the course of the article.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
-
Thanks, that answers the question and you raise some good points... slow and steady versus a find and replace.
-
Hello,
You can change your keywords at any time you want, taking these steps:
1. Modify the page title tag.
2. Modify the page description tag.
3. modify the content according the new keywords.
Take special care about perform this task in several weeks, because your traffic will drop, and will be increased in the time ranking for the new keywords.
Hope it helps
-
Thanks so much the answer and resources, the 'keyword themes', make perfect sense and actually sheds light on a few other concepts I was trying to understand.
As far as editing those previous blog posts, it certainly makes sense to update them so as to improve them and not simply focus on replacing a keyword. If I were to do the updating do you think there there are any risks in the engines seeing this update exercise as negative?
-
You could republish to blog posts wherein you use the new keyword in principle. What i think you should take a look at though are these two posts here on Moz by Cyrus Shephard.
They are about using keyword themes which is the way to go from now on. If you are thinking about editing blog posts this might be a good thing to start doing right away.
They are invaluable resources and define the modern and future best practices concerning keyword research and optimization.
PS: If you're going to update your blog posts you might also see if they could be made better in any way. Using rich media, is the content completely up to date, is there anything else that could be added to improve the article etcetera..
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
-
Hard to rank difficulty level 25 - 35 keywords for brand new blog?
For the brand new blog, Is it hard to rank keywords using difficulty level 25 - 35 keywords?
Keyword Research | | OECSL20190 -
Why is my Google search bringing me other keywords than what I typed in?
When searching Condor Voucher on Google US where our business operates the SERP results show results on the first page that do not contain the keyword Voucher at all but instead Condor Coupons and Condor Promo Codes. Is this due to relevance of the other sites(higher search volume keyword), their domain authority, page authority, better authoritative content? Or does Google recognize that voucher is not often used in US and uses more common keywords such as Coupon and Promo Code? Therefore we cant rank for a term with such a low search volume?
Keyword Research | | MyVoucherCodes0 -
Keyword tracking- Local
Silly question about Local ranking monitors. If I have a local client in Pheonix, AZ and I want to track rankings for keywords. Is it best to monitor city+keyword or just keyword? I have ran tests with multiple clients and locations, and cannot ascertain the difference- as far as rankings go. I appreciate all input.
Keyword Research | | TammyWood1 -
Keyword tool
Does anyone know of any good keyword tools that will help me find and then maintain a list of keywords? I currently use Google adwords and now the keyword tool from Moz but I am looking for something that will help me find and generate keywords not just get statistics about them. Thank you.
Keyword Research | | shiftins1 -
Can't think of any keywords I'd want to rank for
I run a box-of-the-month subscription club for Japanese candy called "Candy Japan". Users sign up for $24 / month and then I start sending them products to try from Japan. I'm curious about SEO, but lack in imagination for terms I would even want to rank for. I already rank OK for "japanese candy", but people who search for that who click over to the site don't seem to convert. People who search for "candy japan" do convert (obviously), since it's clear they already know they want to subscribe. I started making content pages about specific candies, but those are not working. Firstly no-one knows the name of specific Japanese candies, so there isn't any search traffic for them. And even when I get some clicks, they don't convert because I am not selling those specific products (and am not interested in doing so) but rather my product is the subscription club itself. Any ideas on what kind of terms I might be able to find new converting club members from?
Keyword Research | | Bemmu0 -
Keyword Search
Keyword search How low is too low for choosing to use a key phrase for one of your articles, website pages, etc. I see some with 100 local and global searches. Is this too low to really be spending the time working on this key phrase?
Keyword Research | | sansonj1 -
Keyword and Keyphrases
I'm looking to optimise my website for some keywords and keyphrases I'm getting a bit confused on how different pages might compete (or help) each other. As we are an automotive dealer I was thinking about building the hompage around 4 keywords (one for each franchise we represent e.g 'Ford'). These show high local monthly searches and medium competition for just the manufacturer name on its own. Then if someone drills down into a franchise homepage (linked from our homepage e.g. www.ourwebsite.com/ford) I was thinking to optimise the page around e.g. 'Ford Dealer' (which has medium local monthly searches and high competition). Then if someone drills down into a particular model I optimise around that and so on. Question is will I be playing the franchise homepage vs the group homepage (Ford vs Ford Dealer) as I have read here on Keyword Cannibalization? Or will it work together? Alternative I guess is not to focus around a franchise on the group homepage and then only focus on the franchise from the franchise homepage onwards but I feel I would be missing a trick? As a new kid on the block help will be most appreciated.
Keyword Research | | design_man0 -
How do I figure out which keyword to optimize for?
What's up guys! We run a site for tennis players and courts in the whole country - http://www.tennisround.com/. People use the site to find a tennis partner at their skill level and send each other invites to set up matches, it's also used to find local tennis courts. The question is - Which keyword(s) should we optimize the site for and how? Cheers, Alex 7h1HKYL_jJ0 sYaQH 7h1HKYL_jJ0 sYaQH 7h1HKYL_jJ0
Keyword Research | | tennisround0