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"widget thingy"
"widget thingamabob"
"widget doohickey"
These are the well-known names for these types of widgets...nobody would call them anything else. However, we have "branded" our widgets with the name:
"super-cool widget"
Now, when anyone links to our widget (or if we link to ourselves) it is, 90% of the time using "super-cool widget" as the link text. Thus, we have very high Google search results for "super-cool widget", but not so high for "widget thingy". Prospective buyers would be more likely to do the latter search.
I could change my internal links to use "widget thingy" as the link text but our brand name has so pervaded the market it would be confusing as heck...and the marketing folk would not allow it. Also, the many many links from external sources would also be highly unlikely to want to change to "widget thingy".
So, has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, how have you been able to circumvent it?
I would do this:
1. Optimize your site for "widget thingy."
2. Your site has inbound links from other widget related sites, right? Contact those people and request the anchor text in the inbound text link be changed to include the keyword phrase. For instance: "Click for info on the super-cool widget thingy." That way, you're covered for your branded name as well as the generic "widget thingy."
If those other sites have quality PageRank, that lends importance and relevance to the keywords in the anchor text. This will have a profound impact on your Google ranking. Good luck.
The only answer I know if is to get some links with the right link text from higher PageRank pages than the highest current links. This is not generally easy.
"widget thingy"------------> Used by 40% of searchers.
"widget thingamabob" ------> Used by 30% of searchers.
"widget doohickey" --------> Used by 20% of searchers.
other assorted terminology-> Used by the other 10%
Do I...
1) Use "widget thingy" and just be happy getting 40%.
2) Mix them up, use a different one on each page.(this would be chaos).
3) Some other clever solution which I didn't think of but someone will be nice enough to point out to me :).
Keep in mind these three terms are different names for exactly the same thing, so creating a specialized page for each is not an option.
That's my approach. When it gets shown to someone in-house, the client, or anyone who knows me, then the 'chaos' is apparent.
When I grab a non-SEO bystander who isn't involved with the client and get them to look, there doesn't seem to be much of a problem.
Well almost, the home page navigation is a problem, because I tend to want several similar phrases in link text. It's often achievable, though.
In order to convince people who are too close to understand the bigger picture, you need to have some authority in advance to say "this is how it's done".
Why not just target widget?
Sorry, I guess I should have pointed this out. In my company's market, using widget on its own would be somewhat analagous to using the word "computer" on its own...way too generic.
