On-Page Analysis Question

[Three29]

Hi, I have a question about the On-Page Analysis report.

I am tracking two different keywords for our campaign: "Private Dining" and "Private Dining Sacramento". We are ranked 8th for Private Dining Sacramento but we have an On-Page analysis rating of F. While on the other hand we are not ranked in the top 50 for Private Dining but have an A on-page report.

When looking at the on-page report it makes sense that we have an F for Private Dining Sacramento as we don't use that keyword anywhere on the page. We only use Private Dining. However, we are still ranked for Private Dining Sacramento and not for Private Dining.

Should we update our keywords/text to use the Private Dining Sacramento keyword instead of the Private Dining? If we add Sacramento will we also get credit for Private Dining because it will still be part of all H,P and A tags we use?

Sampe Report

| Keyword | Grade | Google US |
| URL | Current | Change | Rank | Change |
|   |

Private Dining

/private-dining | A | | no data |
|   |

Private Dining Sacramento

/private-dining | F | | 8 | |

[TakeshiYoung]

Yes, mention "private dining sacramento" on your page to improve your relevance for that term. Doing so will also help you optimize for the "private dining" keyword.

[Ubique]

This is a really good question as I had a similar issue.

After joining SEOMoz I changed all my page Titles and Descriptions according to the On Page Reports and sure enough I ranked Number 1 for all the keywords and had lots of A's and B's which felt great - problem is that my search engine traffic totally dried up!

What I then realised was that the more words you add to your Page Title that are matched in your Page Text and Descriptions, it becomes more niche - like mid-sized 'long tail keywords' (!) and is very easy to do when offering local services as you will probably include a location and maybe words like 'hire, book or find' aswell.

'Private Dining' is broad and you will probably have a high bounce rate for this term. However 'Private Dining Sacramento' is more locally orientated and your bounce rate should be lower and I imagine this page will probably rank higher in SERPs - question is... is this the term that web users are typing into Google?

This is why keyword research for all your pages is so important as it can guide your overall strategy. My key learning is that it's not about being found for 'found' sake, it's about what the customer is looking for, in your case is there really a market for 'private dining sacramento' or do they search for something else i.e. 'home catering sacramento' etc?

I am now 6 weeks on and traffic is only just starting to come back to my website after re-adjusting my Page Reports back to their original state, so be very careful before you make any changes as getting it wrong and correcting it is a nightmare!

[ChiarynMiranda]

Hey Kevin,

This is actually a great question.

Google isn't very open about how they select sites for the rankings, so we have to base this type of report on best practices and past experience so some keywords can have funky results.

For the location specific keyword, you can almost use the Private Dining report as a mirror for the Private Dining Sacramento report. While Google knows your business is in Sacramento, our tool is only looking for specific words in the code and content of the page and does not take location into account. To the On-Page tool Sacramento is just a collection of letters, but Google would infer that you are targeting users in Sacramento when looking at how well the page is optimized for Private Dining.

As for the reason why the site would not be ranking for the more broad keyword but would be for the location specific keyword, that is most likely because you are optimized for the term Private Dining and the location specific version of the keyword is not as competitive as the more nationally applicable keyword would be.

I hope that makes sense! Let me know if you need any clarification.

-Chiaryn

[Ubique]

Hi Chiaryn,

That's a great point worth noting about the On Page tool... "To the On-Page tool Sacramento is just a collection of letters, but Google would infer that you are targeting users in Sacramento when looking at how well the page is optimized for Private Dining.

+1 mozPoint

[Three29]

Thank you for the responses. I just want to make sure I clarify any actions I take so I don't destroy the SEO we have. Since our location is located in Sacramento, being ranked by Google for the Private Dining Sacramento while still receiving an F rank for this keyword in SEOMOZ isn't really an issue.

One thing I still do not quite understand is that If we add Sacramento to our text/titles is it going to hurt the Private Dining keyword itself or is it simply going to help us get ranked for both?