Stuck in same spot in SERPS for nearly six weeks

[pemba76]

I have a 2 year old website and i have managed to rank 3 important pages to page 1 for their most important 2 keywords each respectively. The problem is that the ranks seem to be stuck on the 7th and 8th position and does not move at all from nearly last 6 weeks.

What do i do to make it move higher ?
Please guide.

[piatkow]

It could simply be that your side is the 7th or 8th most relevant for those keywords.

[pemba76]

piatkow - Wow, that was a real good guidance. Thanks.

[netmeg]

Who's ranking above you? Are you significantly better in every respect than they are? More authoritative? More trustworthy? More useful? Better user experience? More natural links? More traffic and social proof?

You have to ask yourself, objectively, do you deserve to rank above them, and then ask if your site actually reflects all that.

And even then, it's a crapshoot. Six weeks isn't all that long.

[superclown2]

Let's get real. If any of us knew of a guaranteed way of doing that we would be billionaires in no time. One thing I can guarantee though is that if you put too much effort into pushing the site higher you'll hit a penalty and watch it consigned to oblivion. That's unless you're a white-listed big brand of course.

[pemba76]

Thanks for the suggestions. I guess i should continue link building and wait to see results.
I have already worked on numerous combinations in title tag as well as onpage optimization changes but nothing seems to work.
Thanks once again.

[netmeg]

I have already worked on numerous combinations in title tag as well as onpage optimization changes but nothing seems to work.

That a tactic, and it's not a bad one, but you need more than that. You need a strategy.

[htmlbasictutor]

I had read once (sorry don't remember where) that being at the bottom of the page (i.e. spots 7-10) can be a good thing because you can catch the eye of the user before they move to page 2.

[Robert Charlton]

Ditto on all that netmeg said. Six weeks is not all that long at all... and you can be sure that once you're on page one for anything competitive, Google will be evaluating everything you do along with the visitor satisfaction with your site... if for no other reason than that there will be more data for them to work with.

I guess i should continue link building and wait to see results.

Depending on how you build your links, that may or may not be a good idea. From the way you've described it, it sounds like you might be taking a complacent and short-sighted view. Yes, as netmeg suggests, you do need a strategy.

How are you creating awareness for your site? What are you doing to build content and features to increase visitor engagement and attract natural inbound links? You haven't mentioned these. If you haven't done anything about these areas, you need to start focusing on them.

And in addition to looking at sites above you, watch also the sites below you that might be climbing higher. Congratulations on getting to page one. Be careful about assuming you have a right to keep moving up or to stay there.

[frankleeceo]

Not moving can be a good thing, the site had been improving for the past two years and just stopped the past 6 weeks?

Look to further improve your existing content and expand your influence. Look into your content and use keyword researches to fully complement your content.

Look for new things that haven been happening within your content niche. Two years can mean alot of things may have changed. If you are using the exact same content as two years ago, that may be an issue too.

Imitate the people above you as well is a good place to play catch up.

[Kendo]

Imitate the people above you as well is a good place to play catch up.

This what our competitors do already... great advice for new competitors, not.

[JD_Toims]

So do you have some advice you think is better for people to follow you'd like to share with the rest of us?

[pemba76]

Thanks to all for the support.

frankleeceo - I have been doing exactly what you have advised that is "Imitate the people above me" and that how i managed to reach the spot.


Netmeg - Even the strategy to make changes to title and onpage optimization has been done by following/imitating to some extent (not fully) the sites above me. Is that what you meant by strategy ? If i am wrong then please guide.


JD_Toims - As per what i have been following regards what my competitors has done (taking into account my niche), i have noticed the ones in the top 4 has done one thing in common and that is grown thier G+ circle followers for the G+ page to a huge number.

Any more guidance will be appreciated.

[JD_Toims]

As per what i have been following regards what my competitors has done (taking into account my niche), i have noticed the ones in the top 4 has done one thing in common and that is grown thier G+ circle followers for the G+ page to a huge number.

Okay, that and the other things you've mentioned by "following the people above you" seem to have been working, but now you're into the "finite differences" in the results and the scrutiny of your site will increase, not only from Google, but from real visitors, so how do you "take a step forward" your competitors haven't thought of yet?

Basically, "doing what they are" got you where you are, but now the "big challenge" is: how do you "out do them" and make your site more compelling, more likeable, more usable, more shared than they are? If you can answer and implement the answer to that question, then you'll likely end up above those you're competing against, imo -- Once you've done that, then you have to figure out how to "stay a step ahead" of them to stay at the top.

It's definitely a challenge and being in the top 10 for anything competitive is definitely an accomplishment, so you should feel good about being where you are, even if you're "stuck" there for a bit, but moving from somewhere in the top 10 to 1 can be as difficult, if not more difficult, than getting into the top 10, so challenge yourself to find a way to not follow any more, but start setting the standard.

[pemba76]

JD_Toims - Your suggestions are quite inspiring and i will definately look into other avenues. I really appreciate your guidance.
Will keep you'll updated.

[netmeg]

What JD_Toims has said is basically what I mean about your needing a strategy. Imitating the competition can only get you so far, but to leapfrog ahead of them, you now have to figure out how to *be* better than them - and not just your website, but your entire business model.

[Robert Charlton]

JD_Toims - Great post! (You include parts of what I meant as well, but you said it much better).

An approach that might help... Maile Ohye of Google talks a lot about the importance of establishing a "unique value proposition"... defining what sets your business and your site apart from the others.. and that should be a core aspect of your strategy.

The UVP tends to make promotion much easier, because it's built around the important aspects of how you define and run your business, how you've identified your customers, and what kinds of products, service, and information you're offering.