Keyword confusion

[FPK]

Thanks for taking the time to read through this.

I'm currently optimizing a website and have a few structural questions:

1. How should one view targeting keywords with respect to the home page of any given site? EG -> If the home page has the preferred keywords at the beginning of title and the page follows most if not all the recommendations from SEOMOZ tools, why are sub pages outranking my root domain for the set of keywords I'm after?

2. When sub pages use my homepage keyword as the 2nd keyword in its respective title, does that give the overall homepage more power for the keyword it's after?

EG.  Homepage Title "ABC DEF - DEF ABC - XYZ | Company name

I'm targeting "ABC DEF" for the home page

Subpage title -> "DEF ABC - ABC DEF - XYZ | Company Name.

The sub page keyword  is "DEF ABC"

[inhouseninja]

You're discovering one of the Google algo changes the hard way, Thomas. The explanation is more than I'm willing to bang out on a keyboard.  In short, Google has shifted the value to sub pages for some keywords.  It also has to do with the keywords and if Google thinks they're broad match or specific.  Broad match USUALLY works best for the home page.  But what you consider to be broad match keywords might not be what Google considers to be broad match keywords. Google is telling you that it likes your internal page better.  Focus on your internal page to rank. You'll be surprised at the results.

[FPK]

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

The challenge I'm facing is that my key terms are for these two pages are simply reverses of one another. "Kingston SEO" vs "SEO Kingston". My sub page is optimized for SEO Kingston whereas my front page is optimized for Kingston SEO.

In addition to this, I'm still confused about the concept of inner pages feeding keyword juice back to the front page.

Thoughts?

[inhouseninja]

I can lead you to water, Thomas, but I can't make you drink.  You should not be targeting the exact same keywords on your internal page as your home page.  With each sub page your keyword set should be more and more precise.  3 links deep should be pages that are very precise and they should be sniping long-tailed keywords from Google SERPs.   You don't have to worry about how link juice travels all around the internet to make your site rank well.  Don't get yourself confused with all the jargon and details of SEO.  Make your site for people first - then Google.  If you build a home page about Kingston SEO and then I go to a subpage and its about SEO in Kingston... ?? i'm confused.  Plus, Kingston SEO and SEO Kingston are really the same aren't they?  I think you should reevaluate your site structure and exactly what you're trying to accomplish.

Obviously, your goal is to rank for Kingston SEO and SEO Kingston.  That should be the focus of your home page.  A good idea for a sub page is "Why we're the best SEO Company in Kingston".  Then build a landing page around that topic and try to get that page to rank for "best seo company kingston", etc.

[FPK]

Very insightful feedback. Thank you for the recommendations.

My thoughts were simply this (square brackets denote keyword target):

Kingston SEO and SEO Kingston don't appear to be the same simply because the Google SERP display very different results. That was the impetus for creating multiple pages with specific keyword targets.

-home [kingston seo]

-services

--kingston seo services [kingston seo services]

--service2 [etc]

-seo kingston packages [seo kingston]

The overlapping characteristics of the keywords however has made this more challenging in the end. I believe you're correct with the restructure. But with so many key terms overlapping each other with keywords, wouldn't I end up in the same place again - having multiple pages effectively jockeying and competing against each other?

[inhouseninja]

I don't understand why you insist on cramming SEO and Kingston in the title of every single page you make.  It isn't necessary.  I would suggest stepping back from SEO mode and going into functional mode.  Ask yourself what would really make your site the best site for information on SEO and SEO services in Kingston.   Build that site. Forget about Google and keywords.  Build a variety of pages related to SEO, but not necessarily about SEO.  You can break it up with information useful to readers like how to optimize a landing page, what UX converts buyers, etc.  And for Pete's sake, don't put SEO and Kingston in EVERY title or on every page.  Get as much information as you can and make each page informative and useful.  Don't focus on SEO at all - just build the site for people.   When you're done with this and you have a functional and informational site that people like to use, you can then go back and edit it for SEO.  It looks like you're obsessed with rankings and keywords.  This is going to get in the way of your overall goal - ranking for your keywords.

That's the best advice I have for you.  Good luck!