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On-page Metrics - What Really Counts!

by breezynetworks
6 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi guys,

I have a few questions about on-page SEO that is troubling me.

At the moment I am building an authority site. Each major portion of my website has its own category and will contain about 15 articles each (all of them are about 2000w +, 100% unique and visually engaging).

Example: If it was a exercise blog, then I would have 15 articles on cycling, 15 articles on running, etc.

1) At the moment I am linking (internally) per article I write to about 4-5 other articles (in the same category, e.g. cycling) where it makes complete sense and is natural. Is this fine? I dont want to overdo it, even if it flows nicely as my focus is ranking my keywords after all and dont want to overly water my page authority too much.

2) If I have two pages that are similar (I also have a QNA section so sometimes its the case where someone asks a question about a topic that I have already written an article about) and I link post A (which is a crappy one, like a public question) to post B, will post B rank higher? Sometimes I see the crappy one ranking higher then my highly polished articles and this is very upsetting. Could they rank higher because they are linking to my main article on the subject? Should I just 301 the entire URL to my main article?

3) Whats the benefit (for on-page SEO) for linking out to another external website with the same anchor text that I am targeting for the post? Surely this will help my competition who may be targeting that keyword? (slightly related to my 2nd question)

I dont expect anyone to reply with answers to all my questions but it would be great to hear any input as these things are really bothering me and its halting my article creation process as I am worried about rankings.

Thanks!
#counts #metrics #onpage
  • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
    First off, glad to hear you're building an authority site. Brand + authority = $$$

    I think you'll do well.

    Anyway, onto your questions:

    Originally Posted by breezynetworks View Post


    1) At the moment I am linking (internally) per article I write to about 4-5 other articles (in the same category, e.g. cycling) where it makes complete sense and is natural. Is this fine? I dont want to overdo it, even if it flows nicely as my focus is ranking my keywords after all and dont want to overly water my page authority too much.
    Just look at Wikipedia. They internal link like a mofo.

    That being said, they're Wikipedia, and you are a new kid on the block.

    I wouldn't internal link too much. Just link to other pieces of content that would help the user. This also boosts time on site (which increases the chances they covert...and it may be a ranking factor itself).

    Originally Posted by breezynetworks View Post

    2) If I have two pages that are similar (I also have a QNA section so sometimes its the case where someone asks a question about a topic that I have already written an article about) and I link post A (which is a crappy one, like a public question) to post B, will post B rank higher? Sometimes I see the crappy one ranking higher then my highly polished articles and this is very upsetting. Could they rank higher because they are linking to my main article on the subject? Should I just 301 the entire URL to my main article?
    I'd HIGHLY recommend to avoid having too many similar pages on your site:
    Google Panda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    This is a very real update that blindsides people all the time. Everyone's worrying about links and forgets about Panda.

    I would condense your Q&As into a FAQ page. When in doubt, delete and condense. Too many similar pages CAN hurt you.

    The crappy pages may be ranking higher because they have more internal PR flowing to them. Hard to say without seeing your site architecture.

    Originally Posted by breezynetworks View Post

    3) Whats the benefit (for on-page SEO) for linking out to another external website with the same anchor text that I am targeting for the post? Surely this will help my competition who may be targeting that keyword? (slightly related to my 2nd question)
    There's no benefit at all.

    This is an old-school over-optimization technique that smells like spam from a mile away.

    Besides, if you want Google to think your page is the best for "cycling tips" why would you link to another site with that anchor text?

    I rarely link to my direct competitors.

    Instead, look for .edu, .gov and news sites that have articles similar to your content and link to those.

    Linking out to these sites helps make you look like a trusted authority in the eyes of Google. Or put another way, NOT linking out very often is a sign of a spammy site.

    Originally Posted by breezynetworks View Post


    I dont expect anyone to reply with answers to all my questions but it would be great to hear any input as these things are really bothering me and its halting my article creation process as I am worried about rankings.
    I just did. You owe me a beer
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  • Profile picture of the author Hansons
    If you link pages from other sites then they would share link juice, but you should link a few, so that it would look natural.
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  • Profile picture of the author breezynetworks
    Thanks Backlinko, you are a legend! If you find yourself in South Africa, I will buy you an entire case of beers

    Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

    I would condense your Q&As into a FAQ page. When in doubt, delete and condense. Too many similar pages CAN hurt you.
    Thats a good idea! However, are you suggesting a single FAQ page? I have a theme thats simular to Yahoo Answers. People ask questions about their various problems (in my niche). If I 301 them, I am sure they will be pretty upset. I changed the canonical urls for the QNA posts to point to my main article but didnt see any change after a week or so. Perhaps I should "noindex" all my QNA articles and then on a monthly basis, add them to a "category" FAQ like "cycling FAQ" page, "running FAQ" page, etc. The thing is though, if I cover a subject in its entirety, any question that people ask is likely going to be slightly duplicate content. How should I manage that?

    Thanks

    P.S: Dropped you a PM
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    • Profile picture of the author Backlinko
      Originally Posted by breezynetworks View Post

      Thanks Backlinko, you are a legend! If you find yourself in South Africa, I will buy you an entire case of beers



      Thats a good idea! However, are you suggesting a single FAQ page? I have a theme thats simular to Yahoo Answers. People ask questions about their various problems (in my niche). If I 301 them, I am sure they will be pretty upset. I changed the canonical urls for the QNA posts to point to my main article but didnt see any change after a week or so. Perhaps I should "noindex" all my QNA articles and then on a monthly basis, add them to a "category" FAQ like "cycling FAQ" page, "running FAQ" page, etc. The thing is though, if I cover a subject in its entirety, any question that people ask is likely going to be slightly duplicate content. How should I manage that?

      Thanks

      P.S: Dropped you a PM
      Thanks. I try. : )

      It depends on how many non-Q&A pages you have.

      Obviously Yahoo! isn't going to get hit by Panda because of Yahoo Answers (although with the way Google's been acting lately, it wouldn't surprise me).

      And I don't think blocking them is a good idea either because they can bring you some long tail traffic.

      What I'm concerned about is your site blowing up and all of a sudden having 40k pages with duplicate content, meta tags etc. That's straight up Grade-A panda food right there.

      I think your idea of blocking them and then adding them to one big category is a good idea.
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      • Profile picture of the author breezynetworks
        Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

        It depends on how many non-Q&A pages you have.
        I have 30 posts of about 2200w + each.

        Originally Posted by Backlinko View Post

        They can bring you some long tail traffic.
        They definitely do, hence my conflict

        I am still undecided. Doesn't a post on the same website need to be very similar in order to be viewed as dup content? Matt Cutts specifically says that we should not use the canonical urls unless the content is virtually exactly the same. Your thoughts on this? (and please no "we dont trust him" comments lol)

        Originally Posted by jacksarloks View Post

        You can use nofollow tags on any link on your website if you want to "preserve pagerank" such as terms of service, privacy policy or any other link you simple don't want to pass pagerank to.
        This is a great idea. Never really thought of "nofollow"ing my internal posts but perhaps i should only "dofollow" a max of 3-4 internal links per page and if there is more, nofollow those to prevent excessive dilution of PR.
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