Blog SEO Tip #6: Make "sticky" posts
A "sticky" post is one that always appears at the top regardless of the date/time posted. The "sticky" feature is available in some blog systems by default (e.g. Blogger.com) and in others through the use of a plugin (e.g. the Adhesive plugin for WordPress).
Why would you ever want to make a post sticky? Because it's an easy way to improve the keyword prominence on a category page or tag page. If you're not familiar with the concept of keyword prominence, it's simply this: the higher up on the page your targeted keyword is, the better you'll rank. So, having keyword-rich intro copy that consistently appears at the top of a category page or a tag page will give you good keyword prominence and help you maintain a stable keyword theme for the page even when old posts fall off the page and new posts appear.
You can achieve this with a blog post containing your desired keyword-rich intro copy, categorizing/tagging it so that it appears on the desired page and making the post "Sticky" so that it stays on the top of the tag page. Back-date the post so it doesn't appear on the top of your home page, just on the appropriate category or tag page. With the Adhesive plugin, you should select the "Show Sticky Posts Only on Category Pages" option in the configuration settings to ensure that they never appear on the home page. If you're also using UltimateTagWarrior to create tag pages, you'll need to edit the following line (which appears twice) in the Adhesive plugin from:
if(!adhesive_get_options('category_only') || is_category())
to:
if(!adhesive_get_options('category_only') || is_category() || is_tag())
If you aren't able to make posts sticky for whatever reason, then a kludge to still get the desired effect would be to put your intro copy directly into your template/theme and use a series of if/then statements to determine which copy to display based on which category/tag is active.
UPDATE: Here is an example category page where I've added some intro copy in the form of a Sticky post.
3 comments, 3 pingbacks
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[...] Stephan Spencer has written an innovative article on improving your keyword prominence on your blog categories. While its not brain science it’s and easy and effective method. [...]
Pingback by Search Engine Marketing Blog » SEO - Increase your target keywords prominence on blog pages [Visitor] — 02/27/06 @ 11:56
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[...] You could even take this idea a step further and make the post title display within an H1 tag if it’s a Sticky post, and within an H2 if a normal post. (See my last post for more on the benefits of Sticky posts for SEO.) Check out this example category page on BusinessBlogConsulting.com where I did just that. Technorati Tags: blog optimization, H1 tags, headings, search engine marketing, SEO, sticky posts Posted by Stephan Spencer on 02/27/2006 | del.icio.us this | Permalink | Trackback | | Comments RSS | Filed under: [...]
Pingback by Blog SEO Tip #7: Heading tags @ Stephan Spencer’s Scatterings [Visitor] — 02/27/06 @ 16:40
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[...] Make use of “sticky” posts A “sticky” post is one that always appears at the top regardless of the date/time posted. The “sticky” feature is available in some blog systems by default (e.g. Blogger.com) and in others through the use of a plugin (e.g. the Adhesive plugin for WordPress). Sticky posts make it easy to make your targeted keywords more prominent on a category page or tag page, because it will ensure the keyword-rich copy you write in a sticky post stays at the top of the page. More on how to do this here, and an example of it in use here. [...]
Pingback by More Blog Search Engine Optimization Tips and Tricks : Business Blog Consulting [Visitor] — 02/27/06 @ 22:54
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You mentioned that a sticky post is available for Blogger by default. How is that so? I can't find that feature. I have to do a workaround, and put the date of the post into the "futurest" possible. See
How to make a post remain at the top of the page
and an example of a sticky post:
Enviroman SaysComment by Peter [Visitor]
· http://http//blogger-tricks.blogspot.com —
09/11/06 @ 01:08
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Thank Stephen
Comment by aseed [Visitor]
· http://www.tawath.com —
09/11/06 @ 19:37
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Hi, Steven -- Your blog post came up in a search I did on sticky posts in WordPress. I am trying to figure out how to make individual posts remain at the top of dynamically created pages for specific tags, but not within category pages and not on the front page. Your post mentions tag pages, but its not clear how this is done. Can you provide any information? Thank you!
(Site not yet published)Comment by Dana Neal [Visitor] · http://www.wordpress.com — 05/26/08 @ 01:02
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