Home page replaced by subpage in google SERP (good or bad)

[mcintyr]

SInce Panda, We have seen our home page drop from #2 in google.ie serp to page 3 but it  has been replaced in the same position @#2 by our relevent sub page for the keyword that we ranked#2 for.

Is this a good or bad thing from and seo point of view and is it better to have deep pages show in serp rather than the homepage of a site and what is the best line of action from here in relation to seo.

Is it best to work on subpage or home page for that keyword and should link building for that phrase be directed towards the subpage or the homepage as the subpage is obviously more relevent in googles eyes for the search term.

It is clear that all areas of the site should be looked at in relation to link building and deep links etc but now that google is obviously looking at relevancy very closely should all campaigns be sectioned into relevent content managed sections and the site likewise and treated on an individual basis.

Any help that you may have would be very welcome.

Paul

[RikkiD22]

I think the most important thing is that the most relevant page for the keyword is shown. In most cases this is a deeper page than the home page and will usually have a better chance of converting.

[Marcus_Miller]

Hey Paul, that  is one confusingly worded question

it's really pretty simple though, you want the user to land on the page that best serves the intent of their search. So, to go back to tried and trusted SEO coloured widget example.

• if client searches for widgets we want them to land on the homepage
• if client searches for green widgets we want them to land  on the green widgets page
• if client searches for green widgets, we don't want them to land on the homepage as they then have to click through to the widgets page and they may not bother.

Forget about link building, forget about SEO, think about your user and what is best for them and let that colour your actions. If you are looking at this from a link building perspective, then some links to the homepage with green widgets would be a terrible thing but ideally you want these to point to the green widgets page.

Hope that helps, it is an overview as without examples, it is hard but if you have any questions, just fire and ill try to help.

Cheers!
Marcus

[Marcus_Miller]

this got posted whilst I was writing my long winded version below else I could have just commented on this post with 'what he said'

[mcintyr]

Thank you guys just thought it unusual to see a fall of 3 pages over night for home page. Looking at it in conversion terms it is a positive,  thanks

[johnshearer]

Many quality websites have deep pages that outrank their homepage. This is actually a natural organic pattern.

In general most homepages can be classified as director pages with clear navigation to content...it is these content pages that are usually linked to.