A really stupid SEO question

[Nat]

Trying to build out an authority website, not used to the nuances of actual seo.

I'm writing an article for:
Keyword: Niche Widget ~3,000 searches

There are also a number of more specific queries:
Keyword: Free Niche Widget ~500 searches
Keyword: Digital Niche Widget ~500 searches
Keyword: Niche Widget App ~500 searches
Keyword: Downloadable Niche Widget App ~500 searches

I'm about to write a lengthy article called "The Best Niche Widgets" where I was going to write about why niche widgets are important, examples of implementing niche widgets, and then have <h2> sections about each of the more specific queries. Essentially be an authority and cover it all in one.

Then I started thinking, if I google "Free Niche Widget" and the #1 result in Google is "The Best Niche Widgets" and the 2nd result is "Free Niche Widget," I'm going to click the #2 result because I don't want to waste my time risking that "The Best Niche Widgets" may or may not actually have many "Free Niche Widgets."

Should I try to stuff in more keywords into the article title so it reads something like, "The Best Niche Widgets - Reviews of Physical, Free, Digital, Apps, & Downloadable"? Or write another article titled "The Best Free Niche Widgets" and hope that it outranks the massive "The Best Niche Widgets" article?

 

[Steve Brownlie]

Quite a few SEOs subscribe to the 'see what's there as an idea for what Google thinks page 1 should look like' and I definitely think it's worth considering sometimes, because in cases where there is NOTHING on page 1 that looks like what you want to rank there's a good chance you're going to struggle. Eg if a search for 'your term' only has news, video and reviews, but you want to rank a shopping page... it's possible that Google's algorithm has determined that isn't what users want so you'll find it tougher for that exact term.

So my approach, rather than to give general advice, would be to look at whether the current content on page 1 covers all the keywords or if people have had to split it up. Obviously other people's failures shouldn't constrain your strategy but it's a starting point to consider what's working currently in the niche.

 

[Concept]

What is the purpose of the article? Ultimately to attract paying customers?

Is the kind of customer looking for "Free 'X' " the kind of customer you want to attract?

With my niche's you will not find the words "free", "cheap", "budget" etc on any pages on my sites. I don't want that kind of customer - I want high quality paying customers. However, that is what I do, and it fits the customers I want to attract and the business model I have.

But if, for example, you are looking to attract people to hand over their email address for a freebie, so you can sell them things down the line, then maybe including this in your website would be a good idea.

If I was wanting that type of traffic and I was in the same position as you I would do my topical research similar to what is mentioned in this awesome video:

If "Free Niche Widgets" popped up as something that Google sees as topical to "Best Niche Widgets" then go nuts and include it all in the same page. However if none of the "Best Niche Widgets" SERPs results don't rant for "Free Niche Widgets" at all, then I would avoid including it and create a separate page.

 

[Ryuzaki]

Should I try to stuff in more keywords into the article title so it reads something like, "The Best Niche Widgets - Reviews of Physical, Free, Digital, Apps, & Downloadable"?

You can do this. Remember too, that your title tag can be different than the H1 header (the title of the article). I do this to great effect, exactly how you're talking about structuring it, plus the title vs h1 differences.

Steve brings up a great point. I've wasted money trying to force an information page to rank for a SERP that Google determined should host download pages like itunes, cnet, sourceforge, etc. It won't work. So make sure those SERPs are filled up with info-content pages!

Also, think about the structure of your article. The Best Widgets will not be the free widgets, nor is that traffic worth much. People looking for the best don't want free, they want the best and expect and are willing to pay for it. But if you drop "free" out altogether, your article is sensible again, and you're more likely to take down those other long-tails.

In this case I'd probably move the Free term to its own article and hope for some ad clicks from it. But I wouldn't bloat or risk losing sales by offering free stuff to people wanting to spend money.

 

[Nat]

@Steve Brownlie @Concept @Ryuzaki Thanks for the answers guys, I really appreciate them.

 

[Joe Wee]

I am finding out that when I look at the first page, even if I see flaws, the over all structures of the sites on page 1 are similar. Ive had a huge failure because of this and wasted precious time. But now Ive fixed some things and its coming a long. It works if you work it.

 

[Dustin Thomas]

My strategy when it comes to that kind of keyword dilemma is to break the keywords into different "intents." The intent of a person looking for a free widget is probably different than one looking for the best widget, so those might be two different articles. Unless, of course, the 'best' widgets are all/mostly all free.

Also, it's worth asking, if you created different articles for different but related keywords, is there enough unique content to warrant multiple pages? Would the page for "Digital Niche Widget" be that much different than the "niche widget" page?

If there's a big difference in content or focus, then it could be worth making separate pages. If not, then it might be more useful to you and your readers to create one big resource instead of 3 that have a lot of overlapping info. If you have say 10 keywords, maybe you can group those into 1-3 main resources.

Using that process I can usually take 10+ mid to longtail keywords and bucket them into 1-3 pages that each have unique content with a specific focus.