Creating separate pages for similar search terms

[milenko1054]

I often see advice in the forum to create separate pages for similar search phrases - "buy widgets", "cheap widgets", "discount widgets", "red widgets", "blue widgets", etc. and can't seem to find any advice on how unique the content for each phrase should be or how it should be linked within a content site.

For example, "cheap widgets" and "discount widgets" seemingly imply the same content but to rank well for both, a separate content page for each is recommended. Is this content entirely unique or duplicated with the keywords changed?

Also, from a non-SEO standpoint, what's the best way to link to several pages with very similar content that are optimized around slightly different keywords without annoying users?

Apologies if this has been covered before - I couldn't find an adequate search phrase to find an answer...

[Content Writer]

The content should be totally unique for each article. Don't just search and replace the keywords, as it's likely to get picked up as duplicate content.

Often people choose to paraphrase one article into another article. That's okay, but it's important to make sure that the writing is still useful to the reader, that it's not just blended up words.

Come time for a handcheck, usefulness will be your ally.

[milenko1054]

Thanks for the reply and that's the crux of my question. If I'm creating pages for seo that are substantially the same content - however unique the actual words I use are, how do I link those pages with the rest of the site so as to not provide a visitor with a stack of links to very similar content optimized for different keywords?

[Dijkgraaf]

In one word, don't. Write your contents for the users; don't write contents only for the purpose of SEO.
If the search engines detects that you are creating contents that you are cloaking from users, then you will likely be penalised.

[milenko1054]

I'm not looking to deceive anyone - search engines or visitors - I'm just trying to reconcile the advice to create unique content pages for similar search terms with the need to link those similar pages within the site and not affect the sites usability.

[bobothecat]

I often see advice in the forum to create separate pages for similar search phrases - "buy widgets", "cheap widgets", "discount widgets", "red widgets", "blue widgets", etc. and can't seem to find any advice on how unique the content for each phrase should be or how it should be linked within a content site.

For example, "cheap widgets" and "discount widgets" seemingly imply the same content but to rank well for both, a separate content page for each is recommended. Is this content entirely unique or duplicated with the keywords changed?

There's nothing wrong with having an extensive guide to widgets... you'll need to ensure the copy is different/unique for each page - simply changing a keyword and not the rest of the copy... could spell disaster.

Also, from a non-SEO standpoint, what's the best way to link to several pages with very similar content that are optimized around slightly different keywords without annoying users?

Categorize.