Does ranking for small volume keywords help with the big ones?

[metalfingersdoom]

Simple as it gets, if my small volume keywords get ranked, will it help my big ones get ranked too?

@warriorsam53 has commented on https://www blackhatworld com/seo/how-could-you-skip-the-google-sandbox.1389345/
on how ranking on small keywords can help you rank in general with the bigger ones, I just want to get this confirmed. I have many quality backlinks from authoritative websites but my large keywords aren't ranking, and I want to change that by following this technique. Anyone able to confirm?

I know this works for sandbox but I would also like to know whether or not this is a general principle that applies to ranking overall

As always:
@Zombie Pop
@tiiberius
@Starblazer

I'm sure you guys have the answer

 

[Deleted member 731332]

I have not experienced a time where my zero or low volume search keywords are ranking at number 1 causing my bigger competition keywords to also rank. No.

I have one new website that is ranking 1 for at least 40 totally different keywords on different pages. My main and slightly difficult competition keywords have not surfaced yet. Not even in top 200. Bounce rate is good, and dwell time isn’t bad. I have visitors clicking through to other pages as well.

So no, I don’t believe that having low comp keywords ranking increases ranking for other keywords or pages, because I’ve never seen that happen on any of my websites.

 

[metalfingersdoom]

I have not experienced a time where my zero or low volume search keywords are ranking at number 1 causing my bigger competition keywords to also rank. No.

I have one new website that is ranking 1 for at least 40 totally different keywords on different pages. My main and slightly difficult completion keywords have not surfaced yet. Not even in top 200. Bounce rate is good, and dwell time isn’t bad. I have visitors clicking through to other pages as well.

So no, I don’t believe that having low comp keywords ranking increases ranking for other keywords or pages, because I’ve never seen that happen on any of my websites.

Thanks pop. Now thinking about it, it may not be a modifier of sorts but maybe some kind of 'switch' that helps people rank. I wouldn't know since everyone here is creating content like monsters and thus no one will have the experience to tell so, but maybe it takes longer to rank for higher volume keywords if I don't have any initial traffic to begin with. Thanks anyway.

 

[Deleted member 731332]

Thanks pop. Now thinking about it, it may not be a modifier of sorts but maybe some kind of 'switch' that helps people rank. I wouldn't know since everyone here is creating content like monsters and thus no one will have the experience to tell so, but maybe it takes longer to rank for higher volume keywords if I don't have any initial traffic to begin with. Thanks anyway.

I can agree with this. I’m not saying the theory is true but I don’t build links until I have traffic for a couple of weeks from somewhere. It could be from social media, or ads. not necessarily only organic google search.

 

[mw0]

I think it does help. If you can rank for some easier keywords then it helps Google trust your site enough to rank for the bigger ones. This sounds similar to Kyle Roof's "compound SEO" strategy.

 

[warriorsam53]

Thanks pop. Now thinking about it, it may not be a modifier of sorts but maybe some kind of 'switch' that helps people rank. I wouldn't know since everyone here is creating content like monsters and thus no one will have the experience to tell so, but maybe it takes longer to rank for higher volume keywords if I don't have any initial traffic to begin with. Thanks anyway.

I have not experienced a time where my zero or low volume search keywords are ranking at number 1 causing my bigger competition keywords to also rank. No.

I have one new website that is ranking 1 for at least 40 totally different keywords on different pages. My main and slightly difficult competition keywords have not surfaced yet. Not even in top 200. Bounce rate is good, and dwell time isn’t bad. I have visitors clicking through to other pages as well.

So no, I don’t believe that having low comp keywords ranking increases ranking for other keywords or pages, because I’ve never seen that happen on any of my websites.

I think you're mistaking low competition for low volume. Volume and competition have nothing to do with each other. You can have a no competition keyword with a search volume of one million. You could also have a super competitive keyword with 10 searches a month.

If you can't rank for your keywords, your keywords are too hard for your site. The volume doesn't matter. You can either target lower competition keywords or build links to your more competitive keywords.

Imo, having traffic to a site helps with ranking additional keywords. Just having keywords at #1 with no traffic may not.

But just because you're ranking for some low comp mortgage keywords doesn't mean that you'll rank for "best mortgage". It all depends on the keyword you're trying to target. There are a lot of no competition keywords with lots of searches in every niche. If you spend enough time, you can find them.

 

[Deleted member 731332]

I think you're mistaking low competition for low volume. Volume and competition have nothing to do with each other. You can have a no competition keyword with a search volume of one million. You could also have a super competitive keyword with 10 searches a month.

If you can't rank for your keywords, your keywords are too hard for your site. The volume doesn't matter. You can either target lower competition keywords or build links to your more competitive keywords.

Imo, having traffic to a site helps with ranking additional keywords. Just having keywords at #1 with no traffic may not.

But just because you're ranking for some low comp mortgage keywords doesn't mean that you'll rank for "best mortgage". It all depends on the keyword you're trying to target. There are a lot of no competition keywords with lots of searches in every niche. If you spend enough time, you can find them.

No. The keywords I’m talking about are low volume and low comp. Very low comp in most cases. Keyword research is something i take seriously.

I do agree with what you’ve said here though, I don’t mean for it to seem like I don’t. 100% I agree with you.

 

[warriorsam53]

No. The keywords I’m talking about are low volume and low comp. Very low comp in most cases. Keyword research is something i take seriously.

I do agree with what you’ve said here though, I don’t mean for it to seem like I don’t. 100% I agree with you.

If you have pages that get traffic, try creating internal links to the pages that are harder to rank. Let me know if it helps.

 

[Deleted member 731332]

If you have pages that get traffic, try creating internal links to the pages that are harder to rank. Let me know if it helps.

I do internal linking. A lot. I have a very good strategy for internal linking using a topical map I create in the keyword research process. I define all related entities related to my keyword and write about those related entities if they are closely related then link to them and back from them (kind of like Wikipedia).

What I will do is see if I can stuff a couple of well placed links in there that may be more noticeable rather than exact match contextual anchors on the new-ish website I mentioned earlier. I haven’t started building links to it but I have gotten a couple natural ones. So it should be something that can be measured.

 

[Starblazer]

It has no direct effect on ranking of difficult keywords. But it may indirectly help your site rank better.

If your site ranks for a lot of keywords (within the niche), then you'll have more authority. Google pushes these sites, so that the users can find additional information if they want to learn more about the subject. But this authority may not be sufficient to rank high volume keywords.

You should also consider EAT factors for the ranking of individual articles. For example,
- content written by professionals ranks better
- sites with about us, contact us, and tos pages rank better
- articles with more backlinks & social shares rank better
- regularly updated content ranks better
- content with quality external links, citations, and sources ranks better

So, you can't directly compare one site with the other simply because they both rank for a lot of low-volume or low-KD keywords. Your easy articles might be ranking due to low competition but if you want to rank the difficult ones, you need a lot more authority.

 

[tiiberius]

Yes it can if intent in matched.

If your page performs well for low competition keyword, you might see occasional bounce to 1st page for the hard one too.

That is search engine re-ranking you, seeing if you hold on to your "promise" of properly answered query.

If you do, you might be allowed to stick around there.

 

[HustleTong]

You need those tiny search queries to get the first trickle of traffic anyways

 

[Black Hat Wolfie]

Simple as it gets, if my small volume keywords get ranked, will it help my big ones get ranked too?

Yes - you can put it like that. I like to think in terms of LSI "neighborhood", when selecting keywords to target. Even tough Google's public statements are that they don't use it as a ranking factor - why would you ever believe what Google employees said? Their whole "semantic indexing" algorithm changes from back in the day, such as Hummingbird are exactly that - using LSI analysis to determine how relevant the page and domain are to the search intent.

From my experience it's not so much about concrete keywords per se, but about the context "cloud" of those keywords. If done right a large portion of your traffic will come from one time unique searches, where your page will rank even if the keyword is not even mentioned on it. We can observe this on the SERP's much more frequently in the last few years.

 

[7th Sense]

In our experience the answer is YES. If you rank small volume keywords along with bigger volume keywords will give better results than only concentrating on bigger volume keywords!

 

[eugenem santiago]

yes, they increase the niche authority

 

[Titans]

Ranking the small volume keywords will definitely help in rankings high volume keywords. It also helps drive more traffic and diversify the anchor texts.

 

[BlackShield]

Focussing on different low comp keywords will boost up the page and it leads to knowing the relevancy of the main medium/high comp keywords of the page by Google.

 

[iAuthority]

Yes, it's helpful. Target relevant low volume or LSIs to push up your main keyword rankings.!