Suggestions on plans to optimize my site? (NOOB)

[emcacace]

I am currently trying to plan how to optimize my site based on keywords. I read and I understand site architecture and usability http://www.seomoz.org/blog/site-architecture-for-seo , but I am still somewhat confused about how to target each keyword per page or when

http://www.seomoz.org/img/upload/splitting-keyword-targeted-.gif

Let me give you an example. We build databases for SME's using 3 different technologies. One of them is MS Access.

Based on PPC campaigns and keyword research some of the possible keywords might be

ms access programmer

ms access consultants

access database experts

According to the link provided, should these be separate pages? I feel if they were, our site nativigation would be cluttered and clients would not be benefiting from them at all. It might even lead to some redundant data which I believe is bad right? My feeling is to make one page and target one keyword, but I'm not sure.

For example, see one of our top ranking competitors

http://www.justgetproductive.com/content/access-programmer/index.php

Please, look at the footer? Is that actually how I should structure my links? I hope the answer is NO! Then again, if I do just have one page targeting one keyword, what do I do about the others? Do I just try to use blog posts/articles addressing those keywords? Do I not target them at all?

Thanks for any advice, please keep in mind I am just getting started. My approach is to create a plan to outline everything before I put a lot of time into it.

[NaHoku]

I would say your idea to target the keywords in blogs that are subsequently developed is a reasonable approach.  The example of the footer links seems a bit spammy, yet at the same time it does seem to provide useful navigation and may represent the overall architecture of the site.  Are you going to target a local approach as well?  (i.e. ms access consultants in California, etc.).  Maybe someone on here can explain cannobilization of keywords better than I can, but we've had good results "silo-ing" each page and are ranking high on those keywords.  I think you could do the same.  Good luck!

[Boodreaux]

Eduardo,

I am in the same boat right now and am willing to pay to get the question answered but cant find any takers.   If I find out the answer I will email you and please let me know if you find out anything.  I think we have the exact same problem and I also will probably have cannobilization issues too.

JP>>> I will have to find out more about "silo-ing".  And I was also told that data at the bottom of a page can be considered a "page envelope" and was okay as long as there was valuable content above it in much greater amount.

[DanHill]

This explains site architecture and the 'what is a silo' all perfectly -> http://www.seomoz.org/blog/site-architecture-for-seo

edit : as for the data at the bottom of the page I believe they did that due to their top level menu being ajax - even though google can crawl and understand ajax it might have been from years ago when it was a bit hit and miss and they wanted to be sure.

[emcacace]

Hi JP,

Thanks for the response. I understand the concept of 'silo-ing' which does make the navigation better, but I feel that doesn't take away the spammy effect. Perhaps I don't fully understand it, but I believe in my case it would be like this

Database solutions->Access->ms access programmer->ms access programmer in San Francisco

Database solutions->Access->ms access programmer->ms access programmer in Los Angeles

Database solutions->Access->ms access consultant

then pages on the same level would then link to one another correct ie consultant and programmer or San Fran and Los Angeles?

I understand about the cannobilization of keywords ie target one or two keywords per page per site so they don't compete with one another. That makes sense.

The thing I don't understand about these methods is that:  wouldn't they all have the same sort of content (almost duplicate)? What use is it to the user to navigate all these pages? Or the point is for them to land in them (landing page) and hopefully get a conversion? Is the method solely as workaround to target different keywords while minimizing the spammy effect? Can you provide an example of how you use 'silo-ing'? Is your content extremely similar? or do you tailor each page for the keyword?