One Keyword Obsession
Often we talk to our dental practices and they quite rightly and admirably know exactly
what they want to rank for and how they see the site fulfilling their business objectives.
What is difficult is explaining why it’s not a great idea to be completely focussed on one keyword, solely ignoring all other keywords and worse still ignoring any other keyword opportunities to be had through the natural progression of the industry and the practice. Usually the focus is driven by the following thought processes..
1) “The SEO will be cheaper. Focussing on a single keyword is easier than a hold load of them, surely?
2) “Getting one keyword to rank 1st on Google will be a lot easier if there is only one and that’s where I want to be, right at the top. Not too hard to do?
3) “Things should get moving a lot sooner, since the focus is all on one word”
Here are just a few reasons why it’s not a great idea to get completely fixated on just the one sole keyword.
Looking Spammy
With Google updates like Penguin and Panda lurking around now, the success derived from this single-minded mentality is at best short lived and at worst opening up the site to possible penalisation.
Risky operation.
Efforts, no matter how big or small will hang on the success of the rank. But what if after all the effort you never do rank page 1? What then? The adage ‘all eggs in one basket’ springs to mind and it’s not a great prospect.
And the above can be a very likely result of this laser-focused attention. Here are the reasons why?
- Time and Money
Not many practices can commit to a limitless amount of time and money to rank for one keyword. There are often constraints in both. By completely focusing on a single keyword and getting excited that you’ve reached the middle of page two, you are missing out on valuable, very worthwhile page one rankings (not necessarily the top) for other just as effective keywords. The pursuit of the lone keyword is an all-or-nothing game, with a lot to lose apart from page one exposure.
- Competition
If you think about the reasons that someone would want to rank for a sole keyword, it’s probably because it’s of real value to them and probably of massive value to all other businesses in the sector. The frenzy of competition that occurs from this is completely constrained by the average number of search results available on page one of the search engines. Also, the type of competition and how they size up to each other will greatly affect the outcome of the ‘page-one‘ campaign. Older domains of big brands or super-authoritative sites that haven’t moved in the SERPS for years are not likely to be outrun by a newcomer any time soon.
- Future updates
Google raison d’etre is to rid the internet of spammy useless sites, using regular algorithm updates to do so. Trouble is the algos are imperfect and even good sites get caught in the crossfire. Even if someone has hired the best SEO, they do not control Google, the SERPS, the algorithms or any further updates.
- User engagement
Do your patients and future patients trust your website? Do they find your content valuable, engaging, share worthy? Is your Bounce Rate higher than the sky ? How about the page views? These are all important metrics which if focussed on a single keyword ranking can be overlooked. It really is pointless to focus on attaining first position, if your site lacks the engagement to make anything of it.
There are factors beyond SEO that may be working against a site ever reaching Page 1. If all hopes are pinned on a single keyword, these factors are magnified. So too is the risk of failure.
And finally… Looking really manipulated is a sure fire way of telling the search engines the site is not taking the whole online marketing thing seriously. By focusing on one keyword; chances are your links are all pointing to one URL. Over time this will begin to look highly manipulative. Ensuring a natural link campaign, with links to a range of pages and with branded anchors is far more legitimate.
We recommend taking a diversified, comprehensive approach to keyword targeting and expansion, one that spans a basket of terms.
Take advantage of our specific dental marketing SEO team and their experience in competitor and keyword analyses to give you a realistic and suitable keyword strategy. Call Dental Design on 01202 677277
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