Google has me trapped me at #3

[geekie]

Been on this board for a long time but forgot my username, rarely post hence the new name. Anyway, having an issue with a new client's site and I really could use some help. Can't get it to move up in Google. Currently #3 in Google for my keywords. Occasionally, I bounce up to number two but maybe twice in the last three months for a day then back to three. #2 in Caffeine (Does this matter? Will it ever go live?) with the #2 site at #3. We are #1 on Bing however - go Bing!

Granted the site was a major mess when I came on and I've made massive structural changes and cleaned up code, removed malware, etc. But we are not moving! And the images are dropping from the Google index. This site should legitimately be #1, more relevant content than the current #1 site.

Here are the stats:

Site Ranked #1:
one keyword in domain name .com
domain age 8 yrs

Backlinks:
39 Google
1.321 Yahoo
221 Alexa

Indexed pages:
667 Google
122 Google Images
668 Yahoo
0 Live

Ranking:
4 Google
856.320 Alexa
? DMOZ
539,423 Compete

Site Ranked #2:
keywords are domain name .org
domain age 6 yrs

Backlinks:
0 Google
7 Yahoo
0 Alexa
0 Live
0 blogs

Indexed pages:
158 Google
48 Google Images
3 Yahoo
0 Live

Ranking:
Not available Google
No Alexa
?DMOZ
Not available Compete

Site Ranked #3: (my site)
keywords in domain name
pagerank 4
domain age 3 yrs

Ranking:
4 Google
926.575 Alexa
No DMOZ
628,154 Compete

Backlinks:
99 Google
28.726 Yahoo
107 Alexz

Indexed pages:
7.090 Google
348 Google Images
8.842 Yahoo
0 Live

Now they do have another domain that they were using (before being advised to get a new domain name with the keywords in it). This old domain is now a blog.
The older domain does not have the keywords in the URL it is 9 yrs old with page rank of 4, same type of content since registration. Should I go back to the old domain?

This one is driving me nuts - what am I missing?

[TheMadScientist]

I'm guessing you used one, but is there a redirect from the old domain to the new domain on a page-by-page basis?

[geekie]

They didn't even do a 301 for the domain name when they switched over. I added a 301 for the domain last month. Have no way of knowing the individual pages at this point.

[TheMadScientist]

That's probably part of what you're missing. You started a brand new site, rather than transferring any of the inbound link weight or any other association with the original domain name. It would be like me jumping into the market with a shiny new domain name and trying to compete.

I would try to track those URLs down. Maybe through a combination of 404 errors, site: commands in your favorite SEs, link: commands and then checking to were where sites link to (this one's important), 'The Way Back Machine' (it'll take some time, but as long as they allowed the pages to be archived, the URLs can usually be found... watch the status bar on your browser when you mouse over links), an old version of the site stuffed in the deep forgotten about folder on someone's hard drive, etc...

[geekie]

No, no, not me -I just got here, they switched three years ago! Do you think that will do it? It's a lot of tedious work.....

Is the domain age the only thing you think is hurting us?

[TheMadScientist]

Actually, I think links are the best answer to the question and didn't know the non-redirect was from 3 years ago.

I figured if there were some links left you could capture them without having to go on a big link building campaign. I personally doubt if there are too many links left, but it might be worth spending the time to check linkdomain: and see if there are some old directories with a few inbounds you could capture with limited effort by slapping a 301 on the entire directory to an 'essentially the same' directory index page on the new site and not worry about page-by-page redirects. I would Not redirect everything to the new home page. You're a bit 'on the edge' doing what I suggested, because you really want to redirect page-by-page, but if there aren't too many links IMO you should be alright...

As far as redirecting back to the old domain, it's really a situational thing. I can see occasions where I would and occasions where I would not, but if you're already at number 3 with a keyword in the domain, I would personally probably be inclined to just build links and eventually have two well-aged web properties, but it's really a situationally (can I say situationally?) specific decision, so I have no real advice there, except to use your own best judgment and either way, build links.

NOTE: I advise a 'steady growth' of links rather than a large one-time blast, because of the pattern portions of the algo specifically related to link growth and link churn. Two sites, each having 10 total links from the same 10 sites can have their positioning determined in part by which is the most recent recipient of the links, because the link growth to the most recent recipient exhibits a 'hotter now' pattern... In Other Words: Contrary to popular belief, aged links aren't always the best, sometimes a recent / current growth pattern is as or more important.