7 replies to this topic

[fromtherooftops]

I've been having a very difficult time ranking for certain things on my commerce site. Our site has about 10,000 pages. 95% of the site is in the supplemental index. I understand that proper internal linking can pass equity to some of these specific product pages and help dig them out (especially after reading http://www.jimboykin...ternal-linking/).

I have just OK external backlinks mostly pointing to my homepage. Nothing spectacular, although I'm still working on it. I don't have many sites pointing to any specific product pages (I just don't know how to get someone to link to product pages - our products are not that unique or interesting to most webmasters).

My problem is that we do have a specific niche product that we sell. We sell Nascar diecast. It is one of the best collections in the market, but we show up on the 5th page for NASCAR Diecast (we're beat by occasional Craigslist posts of people selling a diecast collection, or some truly lesser collections that unfortunately have a lot of age). Not only do we show up on the 5th page, but THAT page that shows isn't even our diecast page. It's our homepage.

In light of Jim Boykin's article (which I had trouble understanding in all honesty), what exactly do I need to do to get this diecast page ranked higher? I have internal links all over my site pointing to it, but none that seem to pass any PR. I need some intermediate advice on this please!

Edited by Jill, 06 September 2010 - 11:38 AM.
fixed link

[torka]

If your collection is truly outstanding, are there any NASCAR enthusiasts/collectors who have websites and would be interested in linking to your diecast product page in some fashion? If they aren't willing to simply link to you out of the goodness of their hearts or due to being impressed with the quality/quantity of your collection, maybe you could offer them something (a discount on their next purchase or something?) in return for a link? Or maybe offer them content -- an article or two about NASCAR diecast collectibles (how to judge good quality, for instance) -- that includes a link back to your diecast page as part of the author bio paragraph at the bottom.

If you don't have many decent links to your home page, then the home page itself only has limited PR to pass along to the internal pages. If the internal pages don't have any outside links pointing to them, the only PR they have to pass along is what they've got from the home page and from other similarly "weak" internal pages.

Internal linking helps to spread the love around, but it can't create PR out of thin air. There's got to be PR there to start with before internal linking is going to do much to help the supplemental situation.

--Torka

[fromtherooftops]

If your collection is truly outstanding, are there any NASCAR enthusiasts/collectors who have websites and would be interested in linking to your diecast product page in some fashion? If they aren't willing to simply link to you out of the goodness of their hearts or due to being impressed with the quality/quantity of your collection, maybe you could offer them something (a discount on their next purchase or something?) in return for a link? Or maybe offer them content -- an article or two about NASCAR diecast collectibles (how to judge good quality, for instance) -- that includes a link back to your diecast page as part of the author bio paragraph at the bottom.

The problem I seem to have there is that fans of these collectibles aren't exactly 'web' type folk. We have web sales, but there isn't much of a community for them. It's an older, more rural demographic. We even threw around the idea of trying to create our own nascar diecast community, or piggybacking off other car diecast communites (also small), but it just isn't really in the cards for our company - we've been working on all this for more than 8 months, and as things are, it just doesn't look like it's going to happen.

So yeah, I was kind of hoping I could make more out of my homepage PR.

I don't really understand why we're being beaten by Craigslist posts though. Or other sites that don't even update their collection on a weekly - or sometimes monthy - basis. Ours is daily. Our customers love us. We get love on forums, but people just link to our homepage with our site name. No keywords. That is, IF they even bother to make the reference a link. I know that the age of our competition is a big factor, but I hope Google considers that more - it's not relevant for my case.

[torka]

How about the "offering content" idea, but spread your focus a little wider to include general collectibles sites? Maybe their readers would be interested in knowing how to judge the quality of diecast collectibles (NASCAR or otherwise) or would like to know the best way to care for their collection (again, regardless of whether it's NASCAR or some other diecast items), etc.

--Torka

[SEOreports]

Sounds like you need someone to give you suggestions, not only in link building but also basic SEO strategies. You might start by posting a link so that we can review and give you some pointers..

[fromtherooftops]

That's a no-no in this particular forum.

I know a lot about link building in general, I just don't have the means (or permission) to do some of the things that's necessary for the company I work. I think internal linking and PR passing can be complex, and not necessarily basic.

I might be coming off like a novice; I'm not, but I am limited as to what I'm granted permission to do in this company. Although my commissions are based on sales, SEO tactics are not usually granted the time or attention. Just when I can 'squeak' it in. And believe me, I've tried to convert my company on the value of seo. It's the same old story of old dogs, new tricks.

[Michael Martinez]

Keep in mind that blogs can only provide generic advice that doesn't necessarily resolve everyone's situation (forums are similarly limited). You have enough post credit here for a site review. Why not submit your site for a review? Maybe a few extra sets of eyes can help you figure out something.

Getting pages out of the Supplemental Results Index is not JUST a matter of getting more links. The PageRank has to flow throughout your site. If your pages are not being crawled frequently, your internal linkage may be an issue.

[fromtherooftops]

The PageRank has to flow throughout your site. If your pages are not being crawled frequently, your internal linkage may be an issue.

Yah, these issues are where I'm looking for some suggestions. If I am now eligible for a site review, I think I just might request one in the appropriate forum. I knew even starting this thread that it would be tough to ask the questions without showing the site.