Forum Moderators: phranque
Check your HTML code - running it through an HTML validator is always a good start, then cleaning up what is necessary.
Check the cached pages of your site in the major search engines. Are all your pages being cached?
Make sure all meta data (title, description, etc) is unique for each page and actually contains the text which can be found on that particular page.
Proper use of header tags (h1, h2, etc) within each page. Matching up with topic/title of the page.
Internal linking - make sure you are using internal linking to your advantage (but not spammy).
External Links - well that's a whole other topic.
Keep in mind the age of your domain, links etc. when wondering why the 10 year-old domain is above your 1 year-old domain in the serps.
I'm sure others can add to the list, but the basics are above.
[edited by: The_Contractor at 10:16 pm (utc) on Jan. 14, 2008]
Well no one can recommend a specific company on these forums. Is there a reason you do not want to do it yourself?
Yes, because I have been doing it for years and now it is apparently beyond my scope since my traffic is constantly dwindling. I have made tweaks galore and some have helped but I am not a programmer and need someone to recommend changes i can bring to a php programmer to implement.
There are some things a user can do that will give them the answer without hiring someone...
Check your HTML code - running it through an HTML validator is always a good start, then cleaning up what is necessary.
Well I use an app called gallery and i don't know PHP, so I am at their mercy to a certain extent. My code validates fairly well although it's not 100%
Check the cached pages of your site in the major search engines. Are all your pages being cached?
Never tried this...how do I do this and why does it matter?
Make sure all meta data (title, description, etc) is unique for each page and actually contains the text which can be found on that particular page.
This is the biggest problem I have. Since my site is basically just an image gallery and many of the images are similar it's nearly impossible to make the pages totally unique. I have tried though by describing each photo in a different way. Apparently it hasn't worked though since over 80% of my site is in supplementals...or was before the supps supposedly stopped mattering.
Proper use of header tags (h1, h2, etc) within each page. Matching up with topic/title of the page.
Yes I do use h3 tags on each category title which match the topic of the page
Internal linking - make sure you are using internal linking to your advantage (but not spammy).
Everything is interlinked in an inverted pyramid with the home page getting the most links. Not sure what qualifies as spammy internal links...I don't think mine are spammy or redundant. If I check in Webmaster tools very few of my internal links are counted though.
External Links - well that's a whole other topic.
It sure is! I have a PR5 home page and PR 2-4 internal (category) pages. I have lost tons of links over the last few months as more webmasters are nofollowing links. I am wondering if the rapid contraction in IBLs to my site has gotten some of my pages penalized. One of my pages which was PR6 is now PR4 and is no where to be found in the Serps. At PR4 it should outrank the great majority of the competition I see, some of which have PR 1 or so and rank higher now. It almost feels as if Google has put the brakes on my pages.
Keep in mind the age of your domain, links etc. when wondering why the 10 year-old domain is above your 1 year-old domain in the serps.
Domain is 6 years old, with one major site redesign in 2006.
I'm sure others can add to the list, but the basics are above.
