Should you try to rank for misspelled keywords?
-
Hi there,
2 part question:
- Is it best practice to try to rank for misspelled keywords that bring in lots of traffic or should you instead just try to rank for the correct spelling of that keyword and hope that you rank better on the misspelling as an indirect result?
E.G. The misspelled keyword "Hamilton island accomodation" is a common misspelling that brings in traffic but we have an "F" rank for that term (obviously because we spell accommodation correctly on our site). We don't want to misspell anything but are there techniques to rank better for misspellings that won't hurt content quality?
- The On-Page Optimization tool says that our website doesn't rank in the top 50 on Google Aus for "Accomodation Hamilton Island" or "Hamilton Island Accomodation" but when i do a manual search, we actually are the first result. Is this an error with the On-Page optimization tool?
Thanks!
-
One of the things to consider is not only adding the misspellings to the meta tags but also using them in the URLs.
I've had to get creative on something similar...not so much about misspellings but for targeting terms that are getting searched and have low competition but that my clients don't like.
In the end, the URLs and tags can remain the same with the wrong spelling but the client and searchers see the correct terms.
I am still testing on this--and as you know, testing is about the only thing that will tell you if it works.
Wondering if creating the misspelled version of the page can be created and later changed to a 301 redirect to the right spelling? Anyone have feedback on this?
-
good answer josh.
i would like to add, for bing you should add miss spellings to the keyword tag. Yes Bing uses the keyword tag.
-
Hey there,
Google works hard to recognise misspellings and place the most relevant website at the top of the search results. So the first thing I would look at is where you are actually ranking for those misspellings and secondly, how many searches are there for those terms each month?
To most accurately achieve this, I would run an Adwords campaign using exact match on all the possible misspelling combination, setting an unlimited budget and then measuring the amount of impressions generated. Make sure it is exact match or you will be left thinking you've struck gold, when in fact you have erroneous data.
If you do really want to optimise for this term and you are not coming up first for that term, then I would look below the onpage factors. As I said, Google's pretty dang good at picking up typos, so instead I would focus on improving your link profile so you are an authority on the area. Also creating more deep content and internally linking through to that one central page will help to channel the link juice through to that key page.
There are some that will argue that misspellings on your website look terrible and devalue the brand. To avoid this I recommend focusing on the linking side of things and only onpage typo's if you need to. If you do go down this path, then create a new page and link it in through the sitemap so that the vast majority of your customers are not exposed to the typos and put off your service.
2.) Check the settings for the on-page optimiser and the most recent cache date, both of these could be throwing off your results. Also, make sure you have your computer set to private browsing. One thing Google and Google + are doing now is looking at your history and automatically increasing the rankings of sites you visit regularly.
OK, that's enough of an epic answer for me. Hope you like it
Josh
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
-
Keyword Saturation
Hi guys, A run a niche price comparison website and the keywords I'm targeting are the product names themselves. I recall Moz recommended that using the keyword too many times on site was not a good thing. Typically, I would have a unique description for the products and the list of merchants, prices, links to thier site and thier product names. This resulted in my keyword appearing many times on site, in slightly different forms (the product names were taken from the merchants feed) I no longer see this warning in the recomended and I believe it is more transparent for my visitors if they see the merchants website name on my site. Is it safe to put them back on my site? Mark
On-Page Optimization | | MrPenguin0 -
How to rank Product pages over its Resource counterpart?
So, I have a resource page coming up in the SERPs above the product page, obviously both pages are targeting a lot of the same terms... it's like one is how to use the product and the other IS the product. What's your take on getting the money page to rank instead of the resource page? The only things I can think of include making sure that (internal) anchor text hyperlinks are all powering up the product page, and possibly adding more content to the product page and it's sub-pages. Possibly even including the how to use the product info on the product page itself. Any other ideas?
On-Page Optimization | | wiredseo0 -
URL Keyword Variations?
I'm aware that keywords in the url aren't as effective as they used to be, but I'm still convinced that they do have a significant impact (based on results in one of the niches I'm in). My question is, will variations of keywords and "hidden" keywords have as much value as an exact keyword? For example, let's say that I'm trying to target the keyword "day." Will including variations like "daily" in the url work just as well? What about a brand name that includes the keyword hidden in its name, like "Dayest"? And, as a followup question, does including "stop" words have any effect? For example, if I'm trying to target the keyword "Day of the Month", would including "day" and "month" in the url be just as effective as including "day of the month"?
On-Page Optimization | | JABacchetta0 -
KeyWord Density?
What is an acceptable density for a keyword? It's wise to push it as close to spam without sacrificing user experience, correct? I read an article on SeoMoz (outdated I think) that mentioned 6%. If it's a keyword phrase, do you have to make sure you don't go over the density level of a particular word in the phrase. If it's a three word phrase, do you have to not use any one word more than X% or just monitor the exact keyword.
On-Page Optimization | | JML11791 -
Is it necessary to add keywords to all of your pages?
Hi Everyone he company I work for has just built a new website with approximately 87 pages/sub pages. Should i be looking to add keywords and descriptions to all of these pages, via the allocated areas in the back end of the site? I am using "google's key words" tool to generate relevant key words. If any one has any advice it would be much appreciated. Thanks for you help Regards Pete
On-Page Optimization | | dawsonski0 -
No Content on home page + rankings
If a home page has no content will it hurt the sites ability to rank? The interior pages will have content but not the home page. (See attached image) My client does not want content on the home page as he feels it will take away from the look and feel he wants to achieve. This website is actually 10 sites or locations in one as we intend to market each location (a total of 10) separately. In reality the home page is a doorway page to each separate location. I'd like feedback if possible as to the necessity or not, of content on the Home Page of this or any website. Will the lack of content hurt on the Homer Page hurt with SEO? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | fun52dig
Gary Downey bobby-vans.jpg0 -
Keyword stuffing ?
howdy people, I had a quick question about keyword stuffing. I am creating a page on my website and on the page i am going to have multiple links, around 15 or so. they all have the word "pickup line" which will be hyperlinked to the respected page. this page is going to serve as a sort of directory to all the various pick up lines, "cheesy", "funny", "dirty" etc. I have written some content on this page as well. I wanted to know that since the keyword "pickup" line will be showing up a lot ( in hyper link form) will this be considered keyword stuffing? for this page
On-Page Optimization | | david3050 -
Keyword Optimization
I optimized this site filmeonlinenoi.com witch is in romanian for this keyphrase "filme online gratis" , i stuck on page 2, i cant get to the first page! I was, but i fall again to the second page...
On-Page Optimization | | Alexsmenaru0