Going after multiple similar keywords, which is the better approach?

[jcgoodrich]

Let's say I have a page targeting a keyword, "New York Restaurants". There are also several "very close" variations of this keyword which I could also target. Here are the volume estimates:

New York Restaurants - 100
Restaurants New York - 40
Best Restaurants New York - 30
Best Restaurants in New York - 20
etc.

Given this, which of the following is the better overall approach?

A) Have one page and work all of these keywords so the page targets all of them. For example here try to weave in "Best" in different ways.

B) Have multiple pages and use 301 redirects. Create one page only targeted at "New York Restaurants" and then create additional pages with the other terms in the URL and Headline, which 301 redirect to my "New York Restaurants" page. This is similar to how wikipedia does redirects, for example "Bourne 2" 301 redirects to "Bourne Supremacy".

Thanks!

| New York Restaurants | 12,100 | Medium | $0.93 | 0% | ACCOUNT |
| Restaurants New York | 2,900 | Medium | $1.00 | 0% | ACCOUNT |
| Best Restaurants in New York | 3,600 | Low | $0.69 | 0% | ACCOUNT |
| Best New York Restaurants | 2,400 | Low | $0.80 | 0% | ACCOUNT |
| New York's Best Restaurants | 260 | Low | $0.76 | 0% |

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Be very careful about trying to get any sneaky redirects in to a page. If this is found out, Google will come down on you. It is only similar to what Wiki do in the sense that Bourne Supremacy is also known as Bourne 2. What you are trying to do is trick Google into ranking you for more keywords.

The best way to do this is make a site / page about these restaurants, and make it as good as you possibly can. Make it a real user experience so that people want to come come back. Add those extra keywords in there, but do it sparingly, so it doesn't look like it has been written for the search engines.

-Andy

[jcgoodrich]

Thanks Andy. Quick followup, where do you think Google draws the line on what is a "non-spammy" redirect? From what I can tell it seems like Wikipedia's reasons for a redirect (e.g. plurals, misspellings, etc.) are basically the same as my keyword variations. Is it really that spammy or an "at risk" practice?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Redirect#Purposes_of_redirects

[Andy.Drinkwater]

But your keyword variations are for personal gain and to try and get as many people to your site as possible. Wiki's is just to correct what people search for. Trust me, Google will view this practice the same way.

I would never suggest using a redirect for trying to enhance a site in this manner. Use a 301 only to push someone from a page that no longer exists, or that has a genuine reason to be there.

Refer to Googles reasoning on redirects rather than Wikipedia's in this situation.

-Andy

[jcgoodrich]

Fair enough, thanks!

[Andy.Drinkwater]

You're very welcome.

-Andy

[dsinger]

I agree with Andy.

When thinking of the right strategy for page/content development that all target the same general terms, Google is moving toward thematic indexing, versus keyword by keyword.  As long as the collection of target terms on the page is pretty close (just like your example list), the page should rank well for all target terms (and probably some other ones you have not intentionally targeted).

For your meta data, you could introduce a Title that incorporates all keywords such as "The Best New York Restaurants" and a description such as "The best restaurants in New York as voted by local residents.  See if your favorite New York restaurant is on the list.  Read reviews, submit your vote and more!"

Then use each of your various terms 1-2 times at the most throughout the content.  Use your most valuable term in the first 50 words on the page.  Make sure the content is written for humans and not spiders.  the bots are getting very good at detecting this, so just as Andy said, the user experience should be your focus, not rank.

Also, don't forget to add images and alt text that incorporates some of your keyword targets as well.

Best of luck!