First SEO project

[geckophinator]

Hi all...

My boss has asked me to come up with SEO recommendations for one of our existing sites that we manage.

Mikasa Sports (http://www.mikasasports.com)

The problem is... they don't just want the main site to show up on SERPs, but also the various catalog sections, each with their own set of keywords:

- Outdoor Volleyball
- Indoor Volleyball
- Water Polo
- Soccer
- Basketball
- Footballs
- Rugby and
- Playground.

Most of the recommendations, I'm clear on. But I have a few questions...

1. Does/should the brand name "Mikasa" count as one of my 3 keywords? Or can I have the keyword "Mikasa" in addition to 3 keywords?
2. Am I correct in my assessment that there's not much chance of ranking high on the keywords "sporting goods", since that is dominated by retail outlets? Therefore, I should recommend keywords that include "maker" or "manufacturer"?
3. One of my recommendations is to get them submitted to dir.yahoo.com and www.dmoz.org. Am I correct to assume that it's okay to submit a listing for each of these pages in the relevant categories? For instance, the main site can go under " dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Sports/Sporting_Goods/Makers/", but that the Outdoor Volleyball catalog page could be listed under "dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Sports/Volleyball/Equipment/"

In addition to the answers to these questions, any other recommendations you have to offer are appreciated.

Like I said, this is my first SEO project.

Gregory Mark
Counterpoint Systems, Inc. (http://www.counterp.com)


{Edited for legibility}

[seokid]

The site looks great, I can see that all of your pages are getting indexed which is great. The first thing I would recommend is to change all of your titles, sounds like a huge job but it would be worth it, each product should have it's name or what it is in the title.

It is possible to get also so catalog sections should have their own titles. You have 587 pages in Google right now, strange, you should be getting some traffic from it for sure.

It's possible to get sporting goods as a ranking but it will take a lot of work. Good luck with the project!

[Dreamshop]

Hey gecko,

It's really best to shoot for optimizing each product page...you WANT more traffic coming into all of your pages, not just the home page. I agree with SEOkid that you need to start with each page title.


From your questions I get the feeling you need to do some research on how choosing the right keywords can affect your SERPS. Here is a handy little tool which shows the popularity of terms via Overture and Wordtracker stats.

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/

Spend some time developing your keywords...you can extrapolate hundreds of potential terms.

1. The problem with using Mikasa as a keyword is that this is also the name of an extremely popular tableware manufacturer. Looking at the stats I can see that 'Mikasa volleyball' is searched, but not a lot...and very little in comparison to Mikasa china, stemware, glasses, crystal, etc. So those really aren't the customers you're looking for.

2. Most retail consumers don't use terms like 'maker' or 'manufacturer'...but again, go back and do some keyword stats research. This will tell you what people are looking for. I would also put 'sporting goods' on the back burner...it's a big maybe from a marketing standpoint because it's such a general term [it covers everything from hunting supplies, to camping, to bikes, to clothing]. You'll see better results targeting people who are specifically looking for the products on your site.

3. As far as DMOZ goes submit one listing and see if you get listed. Then try another, but I wouldn't recommend doing a bunch all at one time.

One thing you can do is look for content that you can leverage into new opportunities.

For instance, your Mikasa site is doing a lot of promotion for Misty May since I gather they sponsor her. They should be including optimized pages just for this, as well as for their other content in relation to the olympics. People are out there right now searching for Misty May info! They might not get or need to jump onto the sporting goods bandwagon, but these are topics you want to utilize because they'll can pull in targeted enthusiasts.

Hope that helps!