Should I change my targeted page?

[Gavo]

Currently I have a site where the targeted keywords were on the home page, with links built to the homepage. It has been widely recognised though that Google is looking more and more for specific content on webpages that holds greater relevance to search queries. As such, I switched this targeted page to other created webpages - changing metatags and creating more relevant content for respective keywords.

I thought this would improve rankings, however, upon doing this there was a sharp fall in rankings for keywords.

Is there anything that I could have done wrong, or can do better so that keywords move back up the rankings?

[KempRugeLawGroup]

If I understand you correctly, your homepage was optimized for various keywords. Then, you built out other pages for those keywords, correct? If so, I would guess the reason for your drop in rankings is because your homepage had various links to it AND was optimized. Your new pages with those keywords will (most likely) have far fewer links and may not have even been indexed yet.

I'm sure there are several possibilities, but that's the best one I can come up with.

Best,

Ruben

[Gavo]

Thanks Ruben for your response,

The new pages it appears have been indexed, I've just done this check. I've also linked the homepage to the new webpages, this should at least spread link juice from the homepage to these other pages... is that correct to assume?

[jesse-landry]

Correct to assume but incorrect to think that's enough to get ranked. "Link juice" decays rather rapidly as it spreads out across your site. So yes, your rankings will fall.

What you need to do is get a marketing campaign going. Build content, gain organic links, and continue to grow engagement. You've got the technical aspect sorted (it seems) so now it's time to get people coming to your site. Social/blog/etc to build your community.

Good luck!