11 replies to this topic

[outofbounds]

hello there.

i hope you can help me clarify an issue with a site that has been SEO'd but doesnt seem to show up in google search results, except for one case (see below).

Here is the information:

1. Almost all the pages have been indexed by google, yahoo, msn, teoma.
2. the site is small and is only optimized for five keyphrases (7 page site + shop cart and check out pages).
3.The site's index page is ranking well for most of the keyphrases:

keyword A: askjeeves - 4; google -?; MSN - 2; yahoo - 3
keyword B: askjeeves - 9, google -?;MSN - 3; yahoo -3;
keyword C: askjeeves - 1; google - 1,7, 11,12,13; MSN - 1; yahoo -1
keyword D: askjeeves - 5; google - ?; MSN - 4; yahoo - 4
keyword E: askjeeves - 12, google -?; MSN - 27, yahoo -?

4. The site has some old pages that were "retired" a while ago but still show up for one of the keywords - keyword C. For those pages, we created a custom 404 error page with a link to the new site.
5. we have an inbound link campaign going, albeit small, and the site has a total of 13 links with "linkdomain" command in yahoo.

the only keyword phrase to show up in google is keyword C, but what is wierd is that when that keyword is searched on google, several of our inbound links from other sites show up - ranking #1,7, 11, 12.... the index page for our site shows up in the results but not until ranking 13. That is great that we show up for that keyword but what about the other keyword phrases on google? why dont we show up for them?

I dont see that with the other engines. All the other engines show good ranking for the index page over the range of keywords above.

any ideas?

thanks,

outofbounds

[Randy]

Quality links that contain your keyword phrases, or variations of them, will help a great deal with Google. Remember that as you continue your link building campaign as it will serve you well.

[Jill]

Perhaps you've gone overboard with keywords on the page? (Just a guess.)

[davidbrett]

I agree with Randy,

You probably need more links to do well in Google

[glengara]

*For those pages, we created a custom 404 error page with a link to the new site.*

Just a guess from what you've said, but I suspect your problem may be somewhere in how (and maybe why ;-) you switched from old site to new site.

[outofbounds]

Perhaps you've gone overboard with keywords on the page?  (Just a guess.)

jill - i had a feeling about this as well but if that was true, wouldnt google "ban" the page from being in their index? the pages are in their index but not showing up. also, i see good results in the other SE's like yahoo and askjeeves. are those SE's not as particular about how strong a site is SEO'd?

the site, btw, is: www.concertpromoters.com.. maybe if you look at it you can see if we went overboard - the main keyword phrase for the site is: concert promotion. its a small site.

[Scottie]

I don't know of any search engine that bans a site for keyword stuffing. But it can hurt you. There is a lot of talk about an "overoptimization penality" and while no one knows exactly what trips it off, keyword stuffing is definitely part of it.

[outofbounds]

I don't know of any search engine that bans a site for keyword stuffing.  But it can hurt you.  There is a lot of talk about an "overoptimization penality" and while no one knows exactly what trips it off, keyword stuffing is definitely part of it.

does it look like we did some "keyword stuffing" on the site? (www.concertpromoters.com)? on the home page?

if we did some 'stuffing', why do we still show up well in yahoo and askjeeves? are they less finicky about this with their algorithms than google?

any help would be appreciated.

thanks,

outofbounds

[Jill]

They definitely don't ban pages for stuff like that, they simply put them at the bottom of the heap.

(I haven't looked at your page, just talking in general terms.)

You should be able to tell yourself if you've gone overboard with keywords. Does it sound dumb? Would your page read like that if it weren't for the search engines? Are you hearing the same phrases over and over again?

[outofbounds]

jill;

i dont think the page sounds dumb. the only thing we did was put a real focus on the keyword 'concert promotion' on the page. i believe its in the title, its also in most of the text links (concert promotion resources, concert promotion courses, concert promotion clients, etc...). we also used it for the alt text for the images such as" concert-promotion-image1.gif', concert-promotion-navigation-image.gif', etc... is that considered "stuffing".

i dont think the text sounds dumb at all.

and we didnt jam pack the meta content with keywords either.

oh well, any ideas would be appreciated. because the site shows well in the other engines.

[Leann_Pass]

I took a look at the site and I really believe it is an issue with not enough inbound links. Google shows 0 backlinks for your site. Yahoo shows only 4 or 5 that do not come from your own site. I doubt that is enough to help you too much in Google.

[Jill]

we also used it for the alt text for the images such as" concert-promotion-image1.gif', concert-promotion-navigation-image.gif', etc... is that considered "stuffing".

Just so you know, that's not alt text, those are the image file names.

Personally, I would imagine that naming files with keywords like that might possibly set off a red flag. But that's just my personal opinion, and I have never tested anything like this.