Forum Moderators: open
I am stuck at around position 150 for my main keyword phrase. Last week I messed round with the layout and got rid of some duplicate links on each page that google might not have liked. Added some more page content, etc. etc. All things I thoguht google would like. End result, didn't move a spot within a week.
Is trying anything on-page while stuck in the sandbox a waste of time? I spent a good deal of time testing this with no luck.
</end bump>
What kinds of backlinks are you acquiring?
Share your domain and target search term and I'll analyze why your are not moving up in the SERPs.
Hugo
P.S. On-page optimization won't get you to the top of Google. It's a nice foundation, but you'll need focus on backlink and issues and increase the amount of relevant content on your site in order to become competitive.
#1 allinanchor does not equate to #1 in SERPs.
But it does help quite a bit, trust me. I believe he is just working too fast and too hard. Make some changes, wait a month to see what happens, and change more. I got myself to #19 for allinanchor: and since have moved up to page 3 on a very competitive keyword. My next change will get me a #1 allinanchor, as give me perfect keyword balance among URL, title, <h1> and <b> tags, so we'll see how much that helps me.
DS
h1 tag
<i>
<b>
<u>
reapat it a few times in the content. Now you have 11 new pages. On each page at the bottom put 10 links to the other pages. (ie widgets, great widgets, awsome widgets, etc...) This acomplishes several things.
Also don't worry so much about your main term. People put way to much emphasis on that. You get a much better and quicker return on going after lots of terms. I would say that 70% or more of searches are 3 words or more and/or are realy obscure short ones. I have a site that 48% of it's searches are long kw's that were only typed in once in a 30 day period. It is real easy to rank for stuff like that.
The allin commands use a simple ranking algorithm across the board, and they just filter the results according the the "allin" attributes.
If anything, it depends *less* on how well you rank in anchor text than when google serves up actual search results.
Ranking well on an allin search is a *good thing*, but only because it shows that you have many other factors in order compared to all the other pages that pass the allin filter.
The search results are the exact same set whether you do allinanchor, allinurl or allintitle, and then they just show you the results from that set passed through the allin filter.
Also don't worry so much about your main term. People put way to much emphasis on that. You get a much better and quicker return on going after lots of terms. I would say that 70% or more of searches are 3 words or more and/or are realy obscure short ones. I have a site that 48% of it's searches are long kw's that were only typed in once in a 30 day period. It is real easy to rank for stuff like that.
I don't understand why so few people follow this advice, especially with a new site.
Hitting those easy keyphrases gets you the traffic *now*, and sets you up to keep moving up for that main keyword.
It may not be as good for your ego as landing that #1 spot on your chosen term, but it certainly pays the bills better than being #70 on your chosen term and nowhere on any of the other terms either.
Create 10 new pages that go after the root of your term but have more words.
In otherwords he's suggesting you create doorway pages, or become an SEO-spammer. Do it the right way the first time and you don't have to shift your stragegy everytime that Google performs an algo shift. Create good content, stay on your focused terms, name your pages by including keywords, but don't become a spammer.
Also don't worry so much about your main term. People put way to much emphasis on that. You get a much better and quicker return on going after lots of terms. I would say that 70% or more of searches are 3 words or more and/or are realy obscure short ones. I have a site that 48% of it's searches are long kw's that were only typed in once in a 30 day period. It is real easy to rank for stuff like that.
Now this I do agree with, however, I do not feel becoming a spammer is the proper way to target multiple keyword sets. I have reworked my entire site content to work in as many keywords as possible, while still getting my meaning across in a human readable form. My result has been a jump up in multiple result sets landing me very close to the top in all respects, even for keyword sets that I didn't target.
A little SEO and good content goes a long way with Google...
DS
The only thing G does not like is if you buy PR or buy a site for PR. If your backlinks are legit you can do whatever you want. I know several big sites that have doorway pages and have ranked well for years doing it.
At 150 you're in the game at the very least, perhaps more than you realize, and there's no reason that you can't get to number 5. Ogletree's advice should help get you there.
Also, I'd wager dollars to doughnuts that if you're high in the allin queries, and 150 in the SERP's, you're doing at least one thing that G really does *not* like. You just need to figure out what that is and correct it...feels like dup filter of some sort to me.
I think I am in the sand at 150, I can't even move. I do not have duplicate content, all articles are 100% by me. I used to have 3 links to each widgets sections on my page but jsut reduced it to 1 link for each widget section, thinking google might be discounting or penalizing me on this.
This is what I have changed recently and thought it would be a big impact, apparantly google didn't care to budge.
Any suggestions?
What do you mean by "killing your domain."?
Prairie
Is trying anything on-page while stuck in the sandbox a waste of time?
Yes, it is a waste of time. Until Google decides to update their index, we are all stuck.
