SERP is stuck despite optimizing

[marycontrary]

Hey guys, this forum is wonderful---I have booked marked some critical how-to pages and I have done everything I can think of to improve my site---from a intermediate-novice standpoint. I started this trek about 2 months ago.
Website-3 years old---had to redo everything from the other webmaster.

I just don't see very good SERP results despite extensive keyword research and other implimenting white hat SEO methods. I have the best researched keywords of my industry and I have been anchoring like crazy.

Although I am still waiting for DMOZ to list us and some other big boys, I have built backlinks through relevant blogging with anchor texts using 4 of the very major keywords, my own blog, press releases, and an ezine article.

I have done interlinking between pages. I have cleaned up and restructured a lot, but I still can't even figure this organic (in a ballpark way) google SEO out. I know the algorithm is a secret, but I have really improved this orginally icky site with SEO suggestions on this and other forum.

This is a very niche manufacturing industry, and my competitors for the most part do not appear to have done much SEO...I don't think I have huge hurdles to climb in getting to the front page.

I have increased sales 1000% from a year ago using well planned PPC, but I am totally lost.

Any suggestions?
Thanks, mary

[tedster]

Are you getting any backlinks that you don't "build" yourself?

[martinibuster]

I agree with Tedster. Time to move on from the low lying fruit (links you control) and move forward to links you don't control. Here is a link to the Link Development Forum Library [webmasterworld.com]. That library is like the cable the guy plugs into NEO in the movie called The Matrix. After you finish reading those discussions you too will open your eyes and say, "I know Kung Fu."

Good luck.

[marycontrary]

Thanks guys. No, these are backlinks I have built myself. Now, looking at my competitors backlinks, they have built those as well. I have yet to see a competitor backlink that wasn't built by themselves. Forget blogs, articles, PRs...only one competitor has even done that.

Like I said...there does not appear to be a lot of optimization going on...so I would not think the obstacles are that great.

Now, I did just start this overhaul two months ago...do I need to be patient?

[solidradicle]

Considering the fact that you have done most of the things correctly, be a bit more persevering with the efforts you have done already. Just hold on any more activities for a week or two. By then you will get more ideas.

[marycontrary]

Thanks to all of you...and thanks for being so courteous!

[kd454]

I am having the same issue with a couple of sites, they are stuck no matter what I do. The results are showing up in Caffeine data center though so I think it is just a matter of time.

[marycontrary]

KD454...yes, have not moved one place in weeks...neither have my competitors positions...it's like things are "stuck".

[freejung]

Wait. And try to get more links. In my experience this sort of thing generally resolves with time.

[marycontrary]

So patience, Grasshopper!

Thanks guys.

[walkman]

Google has stopped giving me credit too, maybe the caffeine thing?

[marycontrary]

Hey guys...
I went to google help forum and got a few more tips with structuring my site. I have added more backlinks. I am still STUCK. Guys, some real bow wow websites with few backlinks are still placing higher. My PR has not changed---however, I know that google only updates published versions once every few months.

I really have no idea what I am doing wrong. AND on top of it, I lost my 1st page ranking on yahoo correcting the technicalities on my site inherited from the other webmaster (an engineering genious, but not a webmaster!).

This is slightly depressing, because several months ago the site was junky, there were only 4 backlinks, no articles, no blogs...they site was a technical mess.

And I have seen nothing...like I said, looking at my competitors, it should not be huge rocket science to get to high page #2 or position 5-10 on page one. I just don't get it. I am disappointed and questioning my abilities, though i really gave it my best shot to improve things.

[martinibuster]

I have built backlinks through relevant blogging with anchor texts using 4 of the very major keywords, my own blog, press releases, and an ezine article.

1. Relevant blogging from how many blogs? Under five blogs? That's not going to make much of a difference. More than twenty blogs? What are the backlinks like to those blogs? Are their backlinks mostly from commenting? This and other reasons including outbound links from those sites are what ruins the value of those sites.

2. Your own blog. Ok that's one blog. How relevant is your blog to the site? If it's not an exact match in terms of the same niche/topic then it's not a useful link. In any case, one link generally isn't useful. This is an example of what tedster described as coming from your what is under your own control.

3. Press releases. How many news sites published the story? Most news sites links from articles pass very little rank boosting. This is an example of what tedster described as coming from your what is under your own control.

4. ezine articles. Let's be frank. There is no control for quality. Who is publishing those articles? Are they poor quality spammers looking for something to wraptheir AdSense ads around? Or are ezine articles being republished in high trust authority sites? Which do you think? Or are you counting on the links from ezine itself? In general, that is what tedster referred to as coming from what is under your direct control.

You need to expand the kinds of links you are obtaining.

[martinibuster]

I want to say more about ezine articles. First, I want to give eZine praise for the swift response they give for dealing with copyright infringement. Now back to my point. I had my award winning content that was authored by industry experts stolen and reproduced on eZine. So I got to see an example of the quality of links that was generating to the site that stole my content. The quality of the websites that re-published my content from eZine was garbage. I'm not saying that all eZine article republishers give garbage links. Just saying that in my experience of chasing down and C&D'ing all the publishers of my stolen content that was published on eZine and copied elsewhere, the sites and links were garbage.

In general, high quality links from high quality sites are going to feature high quality content that is original. Does eZine deliver that?

I am disappointed and questioning my abilities...

That is a good first step. Questioning your abilities is the sign of an open mind. There is hope for you yet. ;) Forgive my frankness, I am telling you this in the spirit of helping you. Your link building techniques are at a low level. eZine articles and press releases are low level. I'm not saying it's bad. I am only pointing out that there are more advanced link building techniques you can apply. You need to back up and click through the link I posted above and grow beyond the rudimentary link building you are currently applying.

[marycontrary]

Dear Martini---
Thanks so much...and PLEASE DO BE FRANK! I have combed through Tedster's VERY helpful link advice and made application...you know what? I will go through his suggestions again and apply any techniques i have missed!

The article I wrote was high quality---completely unstolen and answering questions that I get from customers over and over. The blog (just one) is related and is rich with keywords. But I will comb over links for improvement. I am in relevant directories...though I am still waiting for other requests to be applied, since these are unpaid. I know I can improve much, however. Honestly, I have become quite an enthusiast for SEO methods and website structuring, and am fascinated by how search engine detect a website's "finger print". So, I am motivated to improve...and hopefully be a bit of an expert someday!

Now, all of that aside, I realize that SEO efforts are only as good as a competitor's. Looking at higher ranking competitor's backlinks, website site structure/content, and other efforts...there are real Bow Wows that have done nothing to website structure or optimizing. The only advantage that they have is that their domain is a year or two older (ours is 3+ years). There are at least 15 competitors that fall into this category. There is ONE competitor that has a PR. There are two that have a blog. There is one with an EZine article. Depending on the keyword---there are only 5 competitors that even make a half-attempt to optimize. Only 3 really have hit the SEO thing hard.

In my opinion...these are not huge hurdles. I am just disappointed with myself for not figuring this out a little better.

Now with new keywords that our website was not optimized for at all before. I am stuck in the 70-80 position...not moving at all.

I will go through ted's suggestions and see if there is something I missed. I am wondering however, if the previous webmaster did something to piss off google.

[marycontrary]

Hey guys...quick update...I was stuck at #29 for a major key work for weeks...now I am at #21---let's see if it sticks. I realize giving stategy updates is very important, so I will track progress and let you know.