Two different keywords - one URL

[apresley]

We're new to SEO, but have two keywords that are really not quite the same, but Google has targeted the same URL for us ... which means that SEO Moz is recommending we optimize the same URL, for opposite keywords (using the on page SEO).

For example, the keywords (these aren't our keywords) of say, "beer brewing" and "ways to make beer for small breweries" are both pointing at our home page.

The on page SEO is showing that "beer brewing" is a rank of say, a google ranking of 9.  However, "ways to ..." is a google ranking of 47.

So ... what am I supposed to do now?  Do I rewrite the page to have "ways to ..." more prominent?  I cannot really have the title and h1's include both ...

What do I do now?  We have about 3 or 4 of these "pairs".

--

Anthony

[RyanKent]

Hi Anthony,

My suggestion is to try to rank as #1 for your chosen keyword. Analyze the traffic for each keyword, how well they convert, the relevancy of the keyword to your content, etc. Focus on your chosen keyword and try not to balance between multiple keywords. The rewards for ranking in the #1 spot for a good keyword are huge.

If you feel the secondary keyword phrase has value, you can always build a second page and focus on the additional phrase.

I recognize the keywords you offered are just examples, but "beer brewing" has 2.7 million searches per month whereas "ways to make beer for small breweries" has zero. Optimizing for long tail is fine but you want to earn the #1 spot for long tail to make up for the reduced traffic flow.