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Then, all of a sudden, (October?) their site went to Number 1 when they weren't even updating it at all (it was out of season) but we were still updating periodically. Puzzling, especially as they didn't have much text at all on their Home page and don't use keywords etc.
Okay, I can imagine that some of you would kill for 3rd place but I am worried it's going to slip and slip and we pretty-much rely on Google for traffic... and I want to sell proper advertising this year etc.
Something else weird, the Official site is now No.1 and 2 on Google for the particular search term - they're listed in 2 dmoz categories btw, have 1000+ links in (I imagine) and some might argue that they *should* be top of the list.
But, our Google result now *only* seems to show a DMOZ listing, there is none of the actual site text and we've added 3 new Stories over the past week alone. During the TV show last year, we added a few stories per day and Google always had the correct 'latest' home page text for that day etc. What's going on?
Just a few questions if you don't mind:
Page rank: not sure, how do you find it btw, think we're 5 or 6.
Do relevant links *OUT* from my site matter at all? We have a seperate 'fansites' links website on the same dedicated server IP, but using a different URL to the main site. We also have the very same content as that site, as *part* of our own site - a Links page if you will. What's the ideal - a seperate site if we can get away with it, or a Links page? Does google know it's the same IP or does it only look at domain name?
BTW, we removed our link TO the Official site, as we thought we were helping them with their ranking and we don't get on with them legally so have no interest in promoting them. Smart move, or not?
Finally, obviously we need links *in* from relevant fan sites. We have probably 100 or so at the moment... but what is this 'anchor text' that everyone talks about. If they just stick our link on their links page, what can I ask them to do in order to help us? Do they need to add a description etc?
Thanks for your advice.
J
My advice would be to take a harder look at your on-page ranking criteria. My best suggestion would be to take a close look at your Title tag. If you are targetting a particular search phrase, put that at the start of your title on your home page. Good luck.
hehe..I would do that too.. but don't know if it is a smart move. They're established enough with or without your link.
Any experts here can comment?
kwngian
Get the Google toolbar at toolbar.google.com if you are running Internet Explorer, otherwise look up your entry in the Google Directory, see [searchnerd.com...]
With regards our title, you mean the one that appears in the blue bit up top (I'm not a web programmer btw), that does contain the search term, but it's the second part, seperated by a full stop.
eg: say our preferred search term was survivor online, our title reads: Survivor Fansite. The best Survivor Online site.
Like I said, that's just an unrelated example and I can't really get the correct search term to the beginning of the Title. Does the full-stop make any difference, or the position in the Title of the 'phrase'? The Official site doesn't even use the core search phrase in their own title.
Anyone got any ideas on what to do with our links as mentioned above - a seperate site and NO related fansite *links out* from our site, or lots of Links out to otehr fansites? I have just read here: [iprcom.com...] , which seems to say "don't have ANY links out from your site" and we've got loads to other fansites. Also, there's the cross-linking question, still not sure what it is.
Also, all the other questions! (like why's Google not listing our actual content, just dmoz listing)
J
For example, if your desired search phrase was Survivor Online, you could change your title to something like -
Survivor Online - the best Survivor Fan Site.
