Why Aren't My Articles Ranking Higher?

[tomstark]

Every article I try to rank on the first page of google for one or a few keywords. I'm pretty sure I'm doing all possible on-page seo, and I build backlinks from a variety of sources. But, most of them end up on page 2-5, even though they have more links pointing to them, as well as a higher pagerank than almost all of the competitors. I know quality is better than quantity, but shouldn't a post with a pr of 3 that's seo optimized rank better than pages with 0-1 and most 2 pr's that have much less backlinks?? I just want to make sure I'm looking at this the right way, thanks.

[ralchevd]

Just to make sure - when you build backlinks are they actually with an anchor text with your keyword?

[tomstark]

Yes, I use an alteration of the keyword for all of them.

[TheFBGuy]

Originally Posted by tomstark

Every article I try to rank on the first page of google for one or a few keywords. I'm pretty sure I'm doing all possible on-page seo, and I build backlinks from a variety of sources. But, most of them end up on page 2-5, even though they have more links pointing to them, as well as a higher pagerank than almost all of the competitors. I know quality is better than quantity, but shouldn't a post with a pr of 3 that's seo optimized rank better than pages with 0-1 and most 2 pr's that have much less backlinks?? I just want to make sure I'm looking at this the right way, thanks.

What kind of links? Just like your on page, it's not about how many articles you have but the quality of those articles. Same thing for your off page. It's not about how many links are pointing to you but the quality of those links.

[yukon]

Build a few support pages on the exact same topic with similar keywords, then point keyword anchor-text from the support pages on your site at the article/page your trying to rank in the SERPs.

Google loves keyword themes.

If it still doesn't get you to the top of page #1 in the SERPs, then start adding keyword anchor-text from the main article/page & point those new backlinks at the internal supporting pages that also will have the keyword anchor-text for the main article/page. This will help pass 100% keyword relevancy three pages deep, the 3rd page being the external backlink page with first article anchor-text links.

[blitz20]

build backlinks and provide quality unique content and you will get ranked

[tomstark]

Ok, one article in particular is pagerank 3 and has over 100 backlinks to it. yukon, I think I get what you're saying. I do have many of my other articles linking to it (two of them with very similar titles). A couple months ago I started backlinking to this post with web 2.0 sites (squidoo, blogger, hubpages, article directories), and I even backlinked those backlinks with social media sites. I just don't get it. And yes, it is unique and quality content.

[RevSEO]

Which article directories are you using?

Google really hurt a lot of the value of article directories about a year ago.
Too many directories had prominent rankings for keywords with poor quality
content, which is why the Panda update was created.

Chances are you are using article directories that were affected, making it very
hard to get your articles ranked.

[dadamson]

Originally Posted by tomstark

shouldn't a post with a pr of 3 that's seo optimized rank better than pages with 0-1 and most 2 pr's that have much less backlinks??

If all things are equal, yes.

The truth of the matter is that all other things are never equal.

The most likely reason is something to do with the quality of the backlinks.

Link building is not a numbers game anymore, it is purely about quality.

As Yukon suggests, build another webpage focused around your keywords and link it to your main webpage. (preferably from a different domain on a different server).

This single link would be able to outrank 1,000 spammy blog comments.

So as you see, you cannot rely on quantity alone.

On another note, PR is not exactly a great element to base ranking predictions on either...

~Dave

[transcribing]

hey,
Change your content and try to make it more user friendly then your article will definitely rank higher.

[MSC]

What is the title of the article you are trying to rank for?

Articles that has title smth like: Top 10 ..., 5 Reason Why...? Advantages of ... and so on.

[amherstsowell]

Submit Good article and latest story article with attractive title, its will definitely helps you to rank.

[WakondaMarketing]

Submit unique and fresh content. I tried to experiment with some by posting the same content to several article directories and I end up with not a SINGLE article on the first 3 pages of the SERPS. I created one unique article and submitted it to GoArticles. Build good links around it and within a week I end up #2 over-all. Not that bad I guess.

[tomstark]

Originally Posted by RevSEO

Which article directories are you using?

Google really hurt a lot of the value of article directories about a year ago.
Too many directories had prominent rankings for keywords with poor quality
content, which is why the Panda update was created.

Chances are you are using article directories that were affected, making it very
hard to get your articles ranked.

I've been using Ezines, Articles Base, GoArticles, Article Dashboard, Buzzle, Article Alley, Amazines, and a couple others.

Originally Posted by dadamson

If all things are equal, yes.

The truth of the matter is that all other things are never equal.

The most likely reason is something to do with the quality of the backlinks.

Link building is not a numbers game anymore, it is purely about quality.

As Yukon suggests, build another webpage focused around your keywords and link it to your main webpage. (preferably from a different domain on a different server).

This single link would be able to outrank 1,000 spammy blog comments.

So as you see, you cannot rely on quantity alone.

On another note, PR is not exactly a great element to base ranking predictions on either...

~Dave

Yes, I know quality is better than quantity. I've been backlinking from high quality sites.

Originally Posted by jalicia18

Submit your articles to social bookmarking sites.

I do.

Originally Posted by WakondaMarketing

Submit unique and fresh content. I tried to experiment with some by posting the same content to several article directories and I end up with not a SINGLE article on the first 3 pages of the SERPS. I created one unique article and submitted it to GoArticles. Build good links around it and within a week I end up #2 over-all. Not that bad I guess.

I do create unique content and post links with them to web 2.0 sites and article directories (such as GoArticles).