Site not performing well on Google

good results on yahoo, msn, altavista but not google

[nickc001]

Hi all,

I have a site that is rated in the top 5 of the SERPS on both yahoo, msn and altavista for my main keyword.

I have followed Bretts '12 months to successful site with google alone' post advice for building my site, i.e. lots of quality content with simple SEO, no spamming techniques. I have built a number of backlinks.

On Yahoo a search for 'acme widget review' brings me in at no. 3 in the results. On google I am position 78.

My site is around 9 months old (so still have another 3 months to make it a success in Google :-)) - could I still be in the sandbox?

Can you appear in the SERPS and still be in the sandbox?

Initially my site was higher in Google, even though I had developed far fewer links to my site. Now I have more links my site has dropped.

Any ideas?

thanks,

Nick

[ljgsites]

Hey Nick,
Yahoo and MSN consider the theme much more then Google. Sounds like your site is themed well for your search phrases? And of course, since your site is relavent to those terms, you would espect google to rank u high. Correct? Unfortately for us and many users, Google does not serve up the most relavant sites...they serve up the sites (that make mention of your search phrase) with the highest number of back links.

Lets hope MSN takes a big chunk of the market and forget about Google.

[molerl]

You may already be aware of this but another key for Google's ranking (besides meta tag optimization, refined content & amount of links to your site) is keeping your website updated. If google sees that your content is being updated regularly (say, once a month), that activity will increase your ranking. Also, make sure that you are submitting your site regularly to both Google & the other top engines. Good luck!

[nickc001]

thanks guys, is it safe to say i am not in the sandbox then?

[wspwsp]

Hi,

I think you are not in the sandbox.
Probably you should work harder on getting quality ontopic inbound links.