Ranking keyword ecommerce product

[footd]

Hi guys,

I run an ecommerce store footdistrict.com. We sell sneakers. My question relates to the name of some of my products and how to rank for them.

This concerns to the shoes from New Balance

The name of this products follows this format: New Balance XXNumberXXX .

But actually I have realized I am ranking for New Balance XXNumber XXX . Note the space between the number and the last 3 characters. All my titles, h1, keywords follow this format.

Example: New Balance WL574 RUP vs New Balance WL574RUP

My questions are:

1. How would you determine which keyword to rank for: New Balance XXNumberXXX  or New Balance XXNumber XXX? I have thought of using analytics data to see the pattern of the users search or maybe the difficulty of the keyword? I am receiving a decent amount of traffic for New Balance XXNumber XXX but I wonder if it'd be higher ranking for New Balance XXNumberXXX

2. Does the algorithmn take into account this space? According to the On page Grader, I have an A for New Balance XXNumber XXX and a F for New Balance XXNumber XXX but I assume the engine doesn't work this way

3. What would you do?

Thanks very much

Kind regards

[Millermore]

I recommend you do some keyword research using the Google Keyword Tool or Planner and see what people are searching for. See how many people are searching for it with the space vs without the space. That should give you a good idea. You also need to see if you'll be able to rank without the space by checking the competition level, but also the keyword difficulty using Moz tools.

There may also be other alternative formats that people are searching for that you can take advantage of. For example, maybe there's a bunch of people that aren't using the last 3 numbers? Or maybe there are a lot of people who just type in the model number without "New Balance" in front of it. Doing good keyword research will help you decide what keywords to target.

You can also use Moz's SEO Beginner's Guide where they will show you all about keyword research and what to do afterwards. There is also a great post on the 3-tier keyword system, along with a video at Moz.com/academy. I highly suggest you check those out.