Migrating to New site keywords question

[ssaltman]

We are converting an old static html ecommerce site to a new platform. The old site has excellent ranking for some of the products.

In order to maintain our ranking we will implement 301 redirects from old to new pages (as the urls will change to SEF).

I am using Googles Keyword tool (in adwords) and entering each page url of the old site (there are hundreds, I'm doing the top 50 in traffic) and generating a set of keywords, then sorting each list by global searches.

For each page, Google's Keyword Tool is giving me hundreds of keywords, but in meta tags there should be no more than 15, so I need a method to choose the keywords on the new page.

Question:  in the new meta tags should we emphasize the most common keywords (as defined by most global searches) or the least common keywords?

I would hate to lose the good ranking for the least common (long tail) keywords.

[EGOL]

You are rebuilding a site and that is a great time to kick your SEO up a notch and make a lot more money.  That is how it should be done.

You seem to be putting a lot of work into keywords and meta tags but I am not sure that you are focusing on the right things.

Have you considered spending a nice block of time improving your knowledge of SEO before making this move or hiring a pro to map out the changes that will kick the performance up nicely?

That's what I would do.  I often get advice from other SEOs before making big moves.  It pays.

[Chris.Menke]

SSaltman,

If you're speaking specifically populating the keyword meta tag, you don't have to worry about it.

http://www.seomoz.org/q/meta-keywords-should-we-use-them-or-not

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/keywords-meta-tag-in-web-search/

[ssaltman]

Uh....ok

[ssaltman]

Well, let's take the question more generally then and ask:

which keywords should be emphasized in the content and the meta information:  most common or least common?

[Chris.Menke]

To line your new site up with the existing baseline of the old site, I'd be looking more at your stats than at the keyword tool.  Go to your analytics and look to see which keywords were bringing you in the most traffic for each landing page and focus on those.

[ssaltman]

I'm not sure why folks seem to think I am completely new to this. We already captured all the incoming keywords and are implementing content and url nomenclature strategies around those.

Was just wondering if we should be using most common or least common google-generated keywords to boost SEO.

The rationale of using long-tail keywords with higher likely CTR vs. common keywords with lower CTR is compelling and I was trying to phrase to question to get feedback.

So far: question: 1, answers: 0

[EGOL]

We are telling you that we think you will make a lot more money with more knowledge.

We can't teach you the full scope of SEO in a forum.  And we don't want to give specific advice on a site when we are guessing.

So, you can improve your knowledge or get assistance and probably make a lot more money.  Or you can be satisfied with making less money.

I hope that this isn't a client site.

[ssaltman]

EGOL,

I have a very specific question regarding keywords generated by the Google Keyword tool - whether most common or least common would be better for SEO.

Your royal "we" makes you sound silly, but I'm figuring you hang around here because you know something about SEO.

If you google me, you'll see that I've actually built and sold companies before. I know something about SEO but I'm not arrogant enough to make assumptions.

My question was pretty specific. If you have an answer or comment on the question, I'd love to hear it.

[Chris.Menke]

I thumbed you down ssaltman--your replies aren't making me feel very helpful.

[EGOL]

whether most common or least common would be better for SEO

I use a lot more thought than picking the most common or the least.  I consider the ones that best represent my product, the ones that I think people are searching for and the ones that I think will elicit clicks.

I also consider the power of my site and how I think it will rank against competitors for those specific keywords.

The google keyword tool is good for prospecting  but when you combine it with a little knowledge of people, search engines, the power of your site, and your competitors you can get better performance.

[ssaltman]

Ok, got that and I agree that customer feedback and knowledgeable sales people are great reviewers of keywords and they are one of the primary sources we are using.

We have thousands of skus however and thus a we have a business need that the process be automated to whatever extent is possible.

We can ignore the Google Keyword tool results entirely - that's an option and perhaps a rationale one. But the Keyword tool is based on Google's own indices and therefore I think is a great source of keywords that have not appeared on our lists by other means. It also shows total searches and competition for those keywords so you can get a sense of what your competition is doing and how many pages already have those keywords pointed at them.

All that said, he question remains whether the most common or least common are more important to emphasize for SEO purposes.

[ssaltman]

I'm sorry I'm not making you feel helpful. You have been helpful.

[EGOL]

Take your pick.

When you put these pages on the web they might be there for years so the small amount of time needed to make a decision can payback many times over with increased traffic and increased conversions.

I am trying to advice on best practices to maximize your return, not give you quick and easy.

[jesse-landry]

Your original question asked what keywords to put in your META tags... That technique may have worked years ago, but META tags are worthless these days. So I think people were starting at square one to illustrate this fact.

Here's an idea - go to your competitors sites and look at their META tags (if they are silly enough to use them.) This will give you an idea what keywords (low or high competition/priority) they find important enough to target. Then you can go after those. (But don't put them in your METAs...)

And now a pointer for forum communications - try not to get so defensive. It's an ugly color and tonality never conveys well on internet forums.

Good luck!

[KeriMorgret]

How about focusing on the keywords and products that make you money?

My husband sells kits for model warships that shoot and sink each other. A high-volume keyword would be battleship, but that doesn't get us any sales. A low volume keyword would be uss iowa 1:144 scale turret cover, but that's a low-priced item that's not going to help us too much. For us, a different keyword makes much more sense.