Why is a sub page ranking over home page?

[Webrevolve]

Hey guys!

I was wondering whether any of you Mozzers out there could shed some light on this query for me.

Currently, one of our clients is ranking (on the second page, at least) for one of their target keywords.

However, it's not the home page that is ranking - it is a sub page. I guess you could say both are targeted to rank for the keyword in question but the home page has a considerable more PA (+10) and has a lot more incoming links so it's a little bit baffling as to why the sub page has been given an advantage.

Does anyone know why this may be?

Also, on a secondary note, should I continue to build links to the home page or target this particular sub page to have a better chance of ranking higher for the keyword?

Any advice on this welcome!

Cheers!

[irvingw]

never link to the homepage, you can't 404 a homepage if the page gets ranking supressed. This is what might have happened to you already.

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Mathew,

Just this week I saw something very similar, a newish site that had unfortunately gone the route of mass paid directory links with loads of exact match text variations (not saying this is your case!). From one day to the next I saw the second page ranking they had for their homepage and main keyword get switched out with another page on their site. I got the impression this was a specific page+specific keyword type of penalty or suppression. If the site in question has been a bit over enthusiastic on the exact match linking game then it is something I would keep an eye out for. I think that is what Irving is implying also....

[GTGshops]

Hi Matthews,

It could be a cause of better relevant and quality content on the keyword on the subpage than on homepage.

[Webrevolve]

Hey Ard. The site in question is an ecommerce one so it has very little text on both of the pages. In fact, it has more on the home page.

[Webrevolve]

Never link to the home page? Can't say I've heard that one before. Why would the ranking be suppressed?

[Webrevolve]

Hey Lynn, thanks for your detailed response.

The links we've built have all been carefully sourced and managed in a way that there should be some good variation in anchor phrases while steering well clear of underhand techniques like mass paid directories.

[Webrevolve]

Oh, and it may be worth mentioning that for another competitive keyword, we have a second page ranking and that one is the home page.

[GTGshops]

Hi Matthew,

With e-commerce sites the content (if not there) is greatly obtained by the text from the product so the product titles , the product descriptions, and the alt-text from the product images.

[Webrevolve]

Can anyone else provide insight into this?

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Mathew,

Care to share the site/keyword in question? Pretty tough to give an idea without seeing the pages, there could be a number of factors at play.

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Mathew,

Well a couple of things stand out at first glance (not necessarily in order of importance)

1. You have a handful of exact / partial match links to both the home and secondary page, so potentially confusing to the search engines which one is best suited to show.

2. Some of the relevant links to the homepage are going to a .com version of the site which is being redirected to the .co.uk

3. All your internal linking is indicating that the internal page is the most relevant for this phrase.

All things considered I think your content/internal linking is the main issue. The internal page is much more kitchen focused (texts, products etc) while the homepage to me seems more focused on flooring. That in combination with the external links into the internal page and perhaps some lost value in the 301 redirects to the homepage is likely why the internal page is ranking for the term.

Beyond the technical side of it, as a user searching for diy kitchens I would prefer to see the internal page anyway, it is more immediately relevant so maybe a rethink of which phrases you are trying to focus for on each page is worthwhile and focusing the diy kitchen phrases on the internal page makes sense in this case.

My two cents!

[Webrevolve]

Hey Lynn, great answer.

The .com links were built initially when the site was intended to be a .com. Would you recommend trying to change these links to .co.uk - would it be beneficial?

I definitely take your point that, from a consumer's point of view, it's probably more beneficial for the /kitchens/ page to be ranking. With that in mind, do you think it would be wise to concentrate link building efforts towards that sub-page?

[LynnPatchett]

I don't think changing the .com links will move the needle, there are only a couple of them and they are being 301 redirected so not going to make that much of a difference I wouldn't think.

If you are going to shift that phrase over to the internal page then in the first instance I would focus on trying to get some more  content on that page to reinforce that this is the main page about kitchens. You could add some content describing how/why each of the sub categories (worktops, doors etc) are relevant to the DIYer for example. You could use your internal blog for informational type posts that can further reinforce the main category page.

I guess what I am saying is that since the top sites for that term seem to be mainly root domains and partial/full EMDs to boot, then your content is going to need to stand out a bit for you to realistically get onto the first page. So, I would concentrate on that before I jumped into more external link building which has the potential to look slightly unnatural given the nature of the content as it is now.

Might be worth focusing on some social signals before external links also, which could sync with your internal blogging efforts, try encouraging clients to leave reviews on relevant sites, that kind of thing. Once the content is there and the social signals are supporting it then external links will seem more credible and probably be more effective.

Hope that helps!

[Webrevolve]

Another good answer, Lynn. Thanks a lot. I'll be sure to take on board the advice you've passed on!