Keywords: Social Media & Article Sites for Traffic & Backlinks Question

[Bill Guthrie]

Hi all,

I wanted to get some opinions on the use of particular keywords in social media and articles sites.

Let's say I have a 15-page site/blog, and want to increase traffic/clicks/rankings by subbing articles and putting up a social media link network...

Nothing new here, I know... But here's the point I wanted clarity one.

Do I reuse the same keywords that I'm currently using on my site/blog within these articles and social sites? So if one of my pages is optimized for "scrapbooking mortal enemies," would it be best to write an article targeting that keyword phrase AND create a lens/hubpage targeting that exact phrase...?

Or would it be more appropriate to target a DIFFERENT phrase in my articles and social sites and use anchor text (using the site/blog keyword) to backlink?

I look forward to your opinions, and hope this was clear enough.

Thanks!

[Ron Killian]

I think you pretty much have it down. I would add, it doesn't hurt to also use related keywords in the titles. Also, you can rank for more then one keyword/phrase per page if you vary the back link anchor text. I would go for the highest traffic or most targeted keywords/phrases first, then try to work on the smaller ones.

I wouldn't match the article titles exactly to the blog titles, could look spammy or un-natural.

Does that help?

[eshannon]

Originally Posted by Bill Guthrie

So if one of my pages is optimized for "scrapbooking mortal enemies," would it be best to write an article targeting that keyword phrase AND create a lens/hubpage targeting that exact phrase...?

This is the exact question that most people trying to understand "article distribution for seo" get hung up on.

The answer is... it DOESN'T MATTER what the external article is about. As long as it doesn't look goofy to have a link to a scrapbooking site in your article.

[Ron Killian]

Originally Posted by eshannon

The answer is... it DOESN'T MATTER what the external article is about. As long as it doesn't look goofy to have a link to a scrapbooking site in your article.

I am lost on that one. The external articles should be related, content wise, keyword wise, to the keyword/phrase being targeted. Or I didn't understand your reply

The more a page is related in content the better back link it should be.

[Bill Guthrie]

I may be making more out of this than is required, but it's how my brain works:

1. "Scrapbooking mortal enemies" is my primary keyword. In fact, it's the name of my site, scrapbooking-mortal-enemies.com. That page is 'perfectly' optimized for my KW.

2. I write an article and sub to EZA. This serves 2 purposes, right? Firstly, traffic for this great KW (because chances are EZA will rank higher than my new site, at least for a while), and Secondly, to create an optimized anchor backlink to my site.

So the question at this point is: Should the primary KW of my article also be "scrapbooking mortal enemies"? Does doing it this way provide a greater boost to my site, rather than having the article be focused on "scrapbooking your nemesis"?

As my OP asked, this question also goes for web 2.0 blogs.

If the answer has already been given, I apologize. I may be a little dense here.

Thanks for the feedback so far!
Bill

[xga]

If you don't want EZA to outrank you for the keyword, then don't submit the same article that is on your site to EZA. Use a different article based your secondary keyword and submit it EZA.

But the anchor text for the link in the article resource box should be the keyword you are trying to rank for.

[eshannon]

Originally Posted by Ron Killian

I am lost on that one. The external articles should be related, content wise, keyword wise, to the keyword/phrase being targeted. Or I didn't understand your reply

The more a page is related in content the better back link it should be.

Nope, they don't have to be keyword related at all. Of course you want the articles to be on sites with a similar theme, but if you try to play the "keywords must be similar" game, then you're shooting yourself in the foot.

Example...

Lets say you sell patio furniture. Are all your articles going to be about patio furniture? I sure as hell hope not! Who wants to publish dozens of articles on patio furniture? No, your article topics could be:

"5 easy to maintain plants that can grow on your deck"
"Top tips for keeping weeds out of your patio bricks"
"Summertime Grilling Hits"
etc

[Bill Guthrie]

Thanks Eric! I thought the off-site articles had to be closing related in content/keywords.

[eshannon]

Originally Posted by Bill Guthrie

Thanks Eric! I thought the off-site articles had to be closing related in content/keywords.

Nope - lemme clarify though.... I'm talking about using articles where the main purpose is to get your own site ranking for a given keyword.

If you're trying to use articles to drive SALES, then you do want a close topic match.

Example.... lets say I sell cat litterboxes...

If I mainly care about getting my own site to rank for "cat litterboxes", then my article can be about ANYTHING cat related. Doesn't need to mention litterboxes at all.

If I'm trying to SELL litterboxes through the article, then obviously it needs to be more of a pre-sell piece about litterboxes.

99% of all the "article marketing" I do falls under that first scenario. The second can be good, but it requires a whole 'nother linkbuilding campaign... cause if the article isn't ranking for the keyword you want, then it's a pointless exercise.

[Bill Guthrie]

This makes good sense. Thanks Eric!