For example, let\u2019s say you\u2019re selling shoes:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Page 1 is a landing page for \u201cMen\u2019s Shoes\u201d. Keywords targeted would be:\n
- \n
- Men\u2019s Shoes<\/li>\n
- Shoes for Men<\/li>\n
- Men\u2019s Sneakers<\/li>\n
- Men\u2019s Shoes Free Shipping<\/li>\n
- , etc..<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n
- Page 2 is a landing page for \u201cMens Nike Shoes\u201d. Keywords targeted would be:\n
- \n
- Nike Shoes Men<\/li>\n
- Mens Nike Shoes<\/li>\n
- Mens Nike Athletic Shoes<\/li>\n
- Mens Nike Sneakers<\/li>\n
- , etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In our examples above each page targets multiple keywords, but they have a singular theme<\/em><\/strong>. Once you define your architecture, you should map groups of keywords to each page that have similar intent.<\/p>\n
So why is this so important? Let\u2019s dive in:<\/p>\n
It Defines Your Architecture<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Website-Architecture.png\")
<\/p>\nPer the picture above, your website needs to have a clear architecture. Starting with the homepage, you typically drill into your menu. From there you have categories, subcategories, products, etc. If there\u2019s one place to start when building out a website, it\u2019s with a visual architecture that helps us understand how users will flow through the website.<\/p>\n
Keyword mapping goes along with this. Once you define the architecture, you can begin mapping keywords to pages. Google will then understand your architecture as you execute on targeting each page properly.<\/p>\n
For example, Google will understand that Men\u2019s Nike Shoes is a subcategory of Men\u2019s Shoes.<\/p>\n
It Increases Likelihood to Rank<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Now it\u2019s not impossible for pages to rank if they\u2019re broadly targeted (homepages rank all the time for various keywords since they typically have the most authority of any page on a website). However, the more targeted we are on each page (without venturing into spam territory) the higher likelihood of ranking.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, we want to show Google that we\u2019re the experts on the subjects we\u2019re promoting. For example, if we want to rank for \u201cMen\u2019s Nike Shoes\u201d \u2013 are we simply showing the shoes for purchase? Instead, we need to show that we know everything about these shoes. Reviews on the shoes, links to blog posts on educational content around Nike\u2019s technology in their shoes, content directly on the page talking about the features, action or lifestyle imagery \/ video if we\u2019ve got it, and much more.<\/p>\n
See what I\u2019m getting at here? It\u2019s not enough in 2020 to just cobble a website together, slap up some products and think you\u2019re going to rank. You need to show why you deserve to rank and differentiate yourself from your competitors. You start with keyword mapping which gives you your theme of the page. Then you can be extremely targeted in the content you\u2019re using to promote your business.<\/p>\n
If you have no theme on your pages, you\u2019re just a lost puppy and Google won\u2019t know what to rank you for.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Lost-Puppy.png\")
<\/p>\nCleaner URL\u2019s & Breadcrumbs<\/h2>\n
By defining a clear architecture and mapping your keywords accordingly, you\u2019re bound to see some gains in traffic. The kicker here is that your URL structures & breadcrumb trails will now also be very clear for the user and search engines. This improves usability & crawlability.<\/p>\n
If you land on a page and see the URL \u201cwebsite.com\/shoes-24jwhrj35353453?q=123\u201d this doesn\u2019t do very much to help you understand where you are. But what if that URL is \u201cwebsite.com\/shoes\/mens\/nike\u201d? Now you know what page you\u2019re on without having to browse around!<\/p>\n
On top of this, a breadcrumb trail can easily be implemented if the architecture is clean. A breadcrumb trail is simply a series of links near the top of pages that shows where you are in the website. This gives us two benefits:<\/p>\n
- \n
- It helps users understand where they are<\/li>\n
- It has links that allow you to get back to parent categories if needed<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Breadcrumb-Trail-Example.png\")
<\/p>\nBonus: It Helps Conversion Rate<\/h2>\n
If you\u2019re browsing a website and looking for Men\u2019s Nike Shoes, isn\u2019t a pain in the bum if you get to a general Men\u2019s Shoes page and are forced to sift through to find Nike? Let\u2019s give the people what they want!<\/p>\n
When you\u2019ve got nicely targeted pages on your website, not only is there a chance that potential customers will land directly on those pages, but you can create a navigational structure on your website to help customers skip steps and get right to the products or services they\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n
The more we can reduce friction for users, the better the conversion rate. Period!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All in all, keyword mapping is the foundation of your website. If you\u2019ve undertaken this crucial step up-front, you\u2019ll reap the numerous benefits of it including improving SEO rank, improving usability, and even helping those PPC ads convert better. If you haven\u2019t laid out a keyword map for your website yet, it\u2019s time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Imagine building a house and forgetting to do the foundation. Keyword mapping is the foundation to any successful website strategy (and yes, I mean WEBSITE not just SEO or PPC). What is Keyword Mapping? Keyword mapping is the process of assigning keywords (or better yet in 2020 \u2013 keyword themes) to specific pages in your…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"thumbnail_src":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/DPBlogPost-KeywordMapping1-2-300x168.jpg","thumbnail_medium_src":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/DPBlogPost-KeywordMapping1-2.jpg","featured_image_src":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/DPBlogPost-KeywordMapping1-2.jpg","author_avatar_src":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/roger2.jpg","author_name":"Roger Parent","category_labels":["SEO"],"tag_labels":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digitalposition.com\/resources\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}