I wrote a very elaborate article based on a keyword I thought would be most ideal over a year ago. I've ranked #1 for it for the past 6 months and it drives approximately 160 UV's a day from google.
I recently got myself a copy of MS and did the research and realized there's a *very* similar keyword (only 1 word difference and it's a longtail 5 word keyword) that would get me roughly 1,800 visitors a day from G if I ranked #1. I threw up a quick adwords campaign and confirmed that the numbers are correct.
Here are my options...
1.) Write a new article geared towards the higher traffic keyword, even though it's only a difference of 1 word. Link to it from the other article as well as build backlinks to the new article.
2.) Integrate the new keyword in the current article content & build new backlinks with the new keyword as anchor text.
3.) Replace the old keyword with the new keyword on the existing article.
#2 and #3 worry me (3 more so than 2) because I would run the risk of losing my ranking on the old keyword, however it would also give me the best chance at ranking with the new keyword. #1 is the safest approach, but would obviously take the longest to rank for the new keyword.
Does anyone have any experience introducing (or replacing) new keywords to existing content, and the effect it has on their SERPs ?
At this point I'm leaning towards #2 (just adding the keyword in the article content and building new backlinks), but I'm wondering if Google would somehow spot that as intentional attempt at gaming the system ? (I've always been whitehat and this article has ranked almost 100% naturally, so it's why my head is sort of in the clouds with this)
I recently got myself a copy of MS and did the research and realized there's a *very* similar keyword (only 1 word difference and it's a longtail 5 word keyword) that would get me roughly 1,800 visitors a day from G if I ranked #1. I threw up a quick adwords campaign and confirmed that the numbers are correct.
Here are my options...
1.) Write a new article geared towards the higher traffic keyword, even though it's only a difference of 1 word. Link to it from the other article as well as build backlinks to the new article.
2.) Integrate the new keyword in the current article content & build new backlinks with the new keyword as anchor text.
3.) Replace the old keyword with the new keyword on the existing article.
#2 and #3 worry me (3 more so than 2) because I would run the risk of losing my ranking on the old keyword, however it would also give me the best chance at ranking with the new keyword. #1 is the safest approach, but would obviously take the longest to rank for the new keyword.
Does anyone have any experience introducing (or replacing) new keywords to existing content, and the effect it has on their SERPs ?
At this point I'm leaning towards #2 (just adding the keyword in the article content and building new backlinks), but I'm wondering if Google would somehow spot that as intentional attempt at gaming the system ? (I've always been whitehat and this article has ranked almost 100% naturally, so it's why my head is sort of in the clouds with this)
