Google "sandbox" or filters and over optimization

I'm afraid I'm being penalized...

[Sean_Sloan]

Just put up a new site for a doctor in a very competitive field, and its getting ranked right away on some terms but not on others.

So I got to a tool that helps me find my ranking in Google and it says I DO NOT appear for my most competitive terms.

THEN I found this Keyword Density checker that says I may be over-optimizing for my most term, ie. too many occurences. This has me worried that I've gone too far and I need to scale back.

What's the proper approach here? To do a numeric reduction of references to the term in all areas (page titles, descriptions, keywords, links, ALT/Title tags, etc.) and then resubmit to Google?

Just curious as I don't want to move to fast overcompensate if there is some other approach that works.

Have I given enough information here? Thanks, Sean

[dibbern2]

Wait, don't fiddle with it.

Google frequently gives a new site an initial bump, and then after a 1-2 weeks or so, you'll see the site settle somewhere... or nowhere (sandbox, if thats what you want to call it).

Since your site is in flux at this point, the changes you are considering will simply stir the mess. Give it more time before you jump in. Go work on something else and forget about it.

[tedster]

Keyword density is an old-style tool from the 90's when many search engines seemd to have a "sweet spot' for keyword density, prominence and so on to rank well. On Google today, top ranking URLs are all over the place when their keyword density is calculated -- from near zero to in the 20% area.

I agree with dibbern2, give it a rest and gather some information. Definitely don't start changing lots of things all at the same time. It usually takes time and naturally grown backlinks to rank well for very competitive terms.

[Sean_Sloan]

Thank you, gentlemen, for helping me resist my intial emotional response .

We are in the process of building the healthy back links now. Sean