Subpage ranking for homepage keyword

[SO_UK]

Hi all,

May seem like a simple scenario and I might be missing something, but my subpage seems to be ranking for my main homepage keyword.

The subpage PR is 28 and my domain authority is 17, how can I get my main home page to rank instead of the sub page (product page)?

I want to stay away from exact match anchor text links, any suggestions?

[Philip-DiPatrizio]

For some reason, Google has decided that the interior page is more relevant for the query.  There's many reason this might happen...

Go to google.com and do a "site:" search for your domain.  site:example.com -- Is your homepage ranking #1 on the SERP?  If not, your homepage may not be indexed or might have a manual penalty imposed.  Are you 100% sure the homepage is indexed?  Do you have Webmaster Tools?  Make sure everything is all square in there.

What do you mean by the subpage's PR is 28?  Do you mean PA?  Is this interior page very relevant for your main keyword or is it just sort of (loosely) relevant?

[JaredDetroit]

Do you have competing title tags, headings, and content between this sub-page and the home page? If they are the same or similar, something on the home page makes it more appealing to rank than your home page. It could be better quality content that is more relevant to the keyword than the home page or it could signify issues with your home page as Philip alluded to.

Limited content or mixed content on the home page could be an issue or it may be technical. Is the home page not loading correctly or loading very slowly? Also, is your home page not ranking for they keyword or is the sub-page just higher in ranking? Does your home page rank for other keywords?

[SO_UK]

Hi Phillip

Thanks for your response.

My homepage is ranking no.1 when I do the site: search.

The home page is indexed, and yes sorry I mean PA, the sub page is loosely relevant.

[JaneCopland]

Hi Phillip,

Try using the On Page Optimization tool under "Search" in your Moz Analytics account to grade each page for the term. It could be that the internal page is better-targeted for the term, even though it's only loosely related.

It's also possible that the subpage has received a high number of links from third parties, although this is fairly rare. There is no chance that the home page is under any sort of filter or penalty from backlink activity (e.g. too many anchors with the target term used as anchor text, pointing at the home page?). Although also not terribly common, Google has been known to penalise pages but not entire websites, based upon the page's backlinks.

You can also try linking to the home page from the subpage and including the target term in the link, but not linking to the subpage from the home page.