Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Should I avoid duplicate url keywords?
-
I'm curious to know
Can having a keyword repeat in the URL cause any penalties ?
For example
xyzroofing.com/commercial-roofing
xyzroofing.com/roofing-repairs
My competitors with the highest rankings seem to be doing it without any trouble but I'm wondering if there is a better way.
Also
One of the problems I've noticed is that my /commercial-roofing page outranks my homepage for both residential and commercial search inquiries. How can this be straightened out?
-
Thank you Boyd
-
There is no penalty for using the same keyword twice in a URL, especially if it's part of your domain name.
There are many examples of sites that have a sub folder that contain the same keyword as their domain name that have no problem ranking including your competition:
- runningwarehouse.com/mens-running-shoes.html ranks #2 for 'running shoes'
- seo.com/seo ranks #5 for 'professional seo'
- overthetopseo.com/professional-seo-services-what-to-expect/ ranks #2 for 'professional seo' (in fact only 3 url's that rank for that phrase don't repeat the term 'seo' in their url.)
- contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing ranks #1 for 'content marketing'
- etc.
**Ranking the correct page: **
Whenever you have an issue with the wrong page ranking better than the one you want, you just need to work on tweaking your onsite optimization for those pages. (And you may have to continue building more links to the page you want to rank.)
Here is a list of things that I'd make some test changes to: (Keep in mind that you can always revert things back if a test makes rankings go down.)
- Test different title tags on the two pages making one less optimized for the keyword and the other more optimized.
- Add more copy to the page you want to rank.
- Do an internal link audit. You want to make sure that anytime you are linking from one page to another with a specific keyword as the anchor text, that it links to the page that you want to rank for that phrase.
After you make a change, you need to wait until Google re-caches that page and sees the update (which can take a few days or more sometimes) and then check your rankings after that to see if there was any movement or not.
Boyd
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
I want to rank a national home page for a local keyword phrase
Hello - We are a nationally available brand based in Denver, CO. Our home page currently ranks #8 (used to be 5) for "real estate photography in Denver" -- I want to improve this ranking, but our home page is generalized and not geared toward Denver, CO but to all of our markets. I'm trying to troubleshoot this and have a few ideas.... I would love advice on the best route, or a different route altogether: Create a Denver-specific page -- _will that page compete with my home page that is already ranked in the top ten? _ Add the keyword phrase in the image alt attribute Add keyword phrase into the content - need to make sure that viewers realize we are national I already updated the meta description to say "real estate photography in Denver and beyond"
Local Website Optimization | | virtuance_photography1 -
Welsh Language Keyword Research
Helping a friend with some keyword research, their business is based in Wales. I am not a Welsh speaker, whats the best way to do Keyword Research?
Local Website Optimization | | GrouchyKids0 -
Is Keyword Density Still Relevant?
Good afternoon everyone! I wanted to ask everyone here a question, one that has been being discussed around my office with a lot of different sides being taken. Does Keyword Density matter? If it does, what percentage do you try to have your keyword hit?
Local Website Optimization | | TaylorRHawkins1 -
How to Handle Franchise Duplicate Content
My agency handles digital marketing for about 80 Window World stores, each with separate sites. For the most part, the content across all of these sites is the exact same, though we have slowly but surely been working through getting new, unique content up on some of the top pages over the past year. These pages include resource pages and specific product pages. I'm trying to figure out the best temporary solution as we go through this process. Previously, we have tried to keep the pages we knew were duplicates from indexing, but some pages have still managed to slip through the cracks during redesigns. Would canonicals be the route to go? (do keep in mind that there isn't necessarily one "original version," so there isn't a clear answer as to which page/site all the duplicated pages should point to) Should we just continue to use robots.txt/noindex for all duplicate pages for now? Any other recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Local Website Optimization | | TriMarkDigital0 -
Local SEO - Multiple stores on same URL
Hello guys, I'm working on a plan of local SEO for a client that is managing over 50 local stores. At the moment all the stores are sharing the same URL address and wanted to ask if it s better to build unique pages for each of the stores or if it's fine to go with all of them on the same URL. What do you think? What's the best way and why? Thank you in advance.
Local Website Optimization | | Noriel0 -
How does duplicate content work when creating location specific pages?
In a bid to improve the visibility of my site on the Google SERP's, I am creating landing pages that were initially going to be used in some online advertising. I then thought it might be a good idea to improve the content on the pages so that they would perform better in localised searches. So I have a landing page designed specifically to promote what my business can do, and funnel the user in to requesting a quote from us. The main keyword phrase I am using is "website design london", and I will be creating a few more such as "website design birmingham", "website design leeds". The only thing that I've changed at the moment across all these pages is the location name, I haven't touched any of the USP's or the testimonial that I use. However, in both cases "website design XXX" doesn't show up in any of the USP's or testimonial. So my question is that when I have these pages built, and they're indexed, will I be penalised for this tactic?
Local Website Optimization | | mickburkesnr0 -
Duplicate Schema within webpage
I'm implementing schema across a few Wordpress sites. Most (probably all) WP sites use widgets for their footer, which offer their own editable HTML. Is it damaging (or helpful) to implement the exact same markup in the footer and a specific page, like for instance, a locations page that has the address and contact info (which are also in the footer)?
Local Website Optimization | | ReunionMarketing0 -
Are there any suggestions when you completly redesign your web page keeping the same domain but change the host? I want it to go smoothly and want to avoid the rankings we already have including sub pages.
I am currently having our website completely redone by a design company. Are there any suggestions on this process as to not lose the rankings we currently have for our site? The domain will remain the same however we are planning on changing our host. We also have a good amount of sub domains that the web company will not be changing for us.
Local Website Optimization | | molchman0