How to Avoid the Wrong Pages from Ranking Using These Strategies
Imagine this scenario, you have published a well-crafted landing page that provides quality content and authoritativeness that Google is looking for and containing the keyword that you want to rank it for. After a while, you check the SERPs to see if your website is ranking for it, and then you see it: You have a webpage that is ranking and showing up in SERPs, but unfortunately, the wrong page is showing up in the results. This is one pressing issue that SEOs tend to face from time to time, where pages rank for the wrong keywords, which leads to loss of traffic for the intended pages, and users going to pages with content not related to what they searched for in the first place.
The goal of using the correct keyword is for you to establish your search traffic around that keyword, allowing you to rank on Google, and establish your website as an authoritative source. This is why having the wrong page ranking in SERPs would just hinder you from reaching that goal.
This scenario can negatively affect your rankings and traffic if not optimized right, making any good SEO strategy less effective without the proper fixes. It is also worth taking note that not all scenarios are similar, as there might be other factors that might be in play that requires a varied solution. With that in mind, here’s how to avoid your pages ranking for the wrong keywords using some helpful tips.
Analyze the problem
Before formulating a solution to this problem, there are a few more questions to ask to ensure that your process will be accomplished accordingly. This allows you to analyze what type of problem you have, allowing you to act with the appropriate action. Here are the questions that you need to answer:
If yes:
This is the first question that you should ask, as this tends to be the most common issue that is encountered by a lot of SEOs. This tends to be the issue that is less challenging to fix, as you have content that is ready to be optimized. The best approach to this issue is making sure that the related content is properly optimized. This means observing proper keyword placement and even enhancing the content by adding more information that helps improve its quality, allowing it to generate more traffic.
Optimizing the landing page is also important, as you would need to lessen the related keywords (you also have the option of replacing all of them completely) in order for it to not rank on the wrong SERPs. Adding keywords is another option, but this might affect your keyword density, which can be another problem altogether. Taking a look at your links is also important, as you would need to adjust certain links, especially from pages that are connected to the non-related keyword.
If no:
If the keyword does not contain related content, then it is best to formulate content around it. Starting out by crafting a new landing page is a good approach, as it provides the users with another opportunity to search for your website while providing quality content that users would need. After publishing a landing page that helps establish it as a part of your page, creating blog posts around it allows you to establish it as an integral part of your website, while also allowing you to help your traffic grow even further.
Are your webpages properly optimized for searchability?
Another issue that can affect this problem is there might be problems that might cause your webpages to not be indexed and crawled properly, leading to inconsistent results that can lead to bad rankings. It is best to solve this issue by using crawling tools like Screaming Frog, which allows you to see which pages are being crawled and indexed by Google.
This approach comes in handy when doing some on-site SEO, as you would be able to remedy this problem more efficiently, and even prevent the issue from happening in the first place. However, in cases that it has already happened, it is best to make use of the tool and allow the page to be crawled and indexed.
Did you check the links?
Links play a role in generating traffic that helps your rankings grow. If your webpages are not ranking to the right keywords, links might also be a factor at play as well. This can be due to poor link building strategies and internal linking, which can greatly affect traffic and link juice. It is best to re-evaluate your link building strategy and utilize quality links from reputable sources, as that is the first step in establishing content quality and authority.
Proper internal linking is also crucial, having proper related content being linked to your webpage would help indicate which keyword you want to rank for. Link building mistakes can be the major factor that causes the wrong keywords to rank, which is why it’s important to analyze links in your content in order to provide the best solution. Redirection is another solution, but this is best reserved only for the worst-case scenarios, as redirection can affect loading speed and traffic if not done right.
Key Takeaway
Having your webpages ranking for the wrong keywords is a big issue that can negatively affect your traffic, but with the right strategy, you can help re-establish your search rankings, while also being able to craft new content and utilize new keywords to expand your search presence.
If you have questions about content optimization and SEO in general, leave a comment below and let’s talk.
