SEO for an Arcade Site

[garish]

Hi Warriors, I have been an expert with niche sites from a long time and had been monetizing them from years.

Now I have started my new arcade site (because adsense ctr is huge on such sites and I wanted to test my hands in this).

I need a suggestion from you all. In these Arcade/games sites, content is too less (negligible; there is only description of 2 - 3 lines on each games page). But Google (especially Mr. Panda) is a lover of content. So how do you all think this type site can get good rankings ? And what would be the major Onsite Changes you would suggest for SEO ?

[safexsolutions]

For Arcade site..Link Wheel Links are worthy ...

[garish]

Thanks for suggesting, but I am talking about the on site seo thing here. Any thoughts on that ?

Moreover, do you prefer open link wheels or closed ?

[jtotani]

If I had the time and inclination to do it, I would be writing my own tutorials about building my own game boxes and writing your own game reviews and walkthrus. You can also open your site to public game reviews.

[pauley13]

A game site is, in this respect, like a shop or a gallery site in that it doesn't have much text on the page.

You should do two things:

1. Tag all the images meticulously, do all the standard on-page HTML stuff, make sure that whatever words you DO have on the page, then if they are your keywords to declare them in the keywords tag, etc.

2. Create a blog as a sub-domain, e.g. mygamesite.com/blog - and from there on you'll be on more familiar ground: tightly optimized pages, great-value keyword-rich content/articles/reviews, tagged images, well-chosen high-index value LSI keywords to help gradually build a solid and broad semantic environment and Trust Rank. Also ensure to have internal links from blog pages to selected main-site pages as well as links to high authority non-competitive resource sites, etc, etc. Make sure to apply a good keyword implementation strategy and don't focus too much on cheap links but rather on highest quality ones.

This has worked exceedingly well for me on some other sites (though I never personally tried a game site yet), so there's no reason why it won't work for you!

Hope this helps
cheers paul

[garish]

Originally Posted by pauley13

A game site is, in this respect, like a shop or a gallery site in that it doesn't have much text on the page.

You should do two things:

1. Tag all the images meticulously, do all the standard on-page HTML stuff, make sure that whatever words you DO have on the page, then if they are your keywords to declare them in the keywords tag, etc.

2. Create a blog as a sub-domain, e.g. mygamesite.com/blog - and from there on you'll be on more familiar ground: tightly optimized pages, great-value keyword-rich content/articles/reviews, tagged images, well-chosen high-index value LSI keywords to help gradually build a solid and broad semantic environment and Trust Rank. Also ensure to have internal links from blog pages to selected main-site pages as well as links to high authority non-competitive resource sites, etc, etc. Make sure to apply a good keyword implementation strategy and don't focus too much on cheap links but rather on highest quality ones.

This has worked exceedingly well for me on some other sites (though I never personally tried a game site yet), so there's no reason why it won't work for you!

Hope this helps
cheers paul

Thanks pauley13 for your in depth suggestion. That really helps and would be a great strategy to get my site going. But the sad thing is, I have 100s of sites in different streams and I can't devote such a lot of time to this site So is there any easy strategy to get my pages ranked without creating a blog post for each page to rank. That will help me most.

When It comes to off site SEO, I have access to all the tools out there and I know how to use them effectively. But I have never tried ranking a site with so low/negligible content. I doubt that it will rank.

Any suggestion ?

[pauley13]

Originally Posted by garish

Thanks pauley13 for your in depth suggestion. That really helps and would be a great strategy to get my site going. But the sad thing is, I have 100s of sites in different streams and I can't devote such a lot of time to this site So is there any easy strategy to get my pages ranked without creating a blog post for each page to rank. That will help me most.

When It comes to off site SEO, I have access to all the tools out there and I know how to use them effectively. But I have never tried ranking a site with so low/negligible content. I doubt that it will rank.

Any suggestion ?

Hmm... well, as you can see what "everybody" is doing is just OD'ing on backlinks. This is, of course, a very one-sided approach which CAN work if your competition is ALSO ONLY doing that. Then you might say that whoever has the most backlinks wins, LOL.

But you have different quality backlinks too, so if one site has 10 TOP quality links (for example contextual, from a high authority site, etc) then it will outrank another site with 1000's of, say, cheap profile backlinks.

A backlink war is definitely an "easy" option, but I personally don't go for that anymore. I only now focus on content development because it pretty much never lets me down. It's much more time-consuming of course, but it has one advantage: it makes you NOT waste time on sites which don't really trip your switch.

I know there are people out there who manage to make $50 per minisite, per month, and at some point even to make that happen on a sort-of-autopilot. But for me this has never worked very well. Each minisite - if it's going to be any good - takes me no less than 3 days, but usually a week. Then there's the run-in period etc and it's suddenly a month. Now that's the $50 - if I'm lucky. Times 12, lol. Still nothing to get ecstatic about.

As a contrast, a content site will always be an on-going project, but if I love the content, I will not be sorry if it takes longer to start earning, because it's still fun. But when the incomes start, you can bet it's not $50 per month, but - usually - A LOT more.

Not sure if this helps, but that's what I tend to do anyway.

best of luck! cheers paul

[MSC]

For arcade sites you can use link exchanges, as it is very popular with that kind of sites. Also works really good traffic exchanges, no need SEO, you buy/exchange traffic for example for $100, from that traffic you make $130. And you got $30 profit. The problem is to split test monetization methods, to find out which works best with traffic exchange.

[Bofu2U]

Here's the thing. Panda applies to content, that's completely true. But if your niche is known to not have X words of content per page you should be fine just contending as is.

Meet & exceed man. Just do what your competition does, meet it. Then go beyond and do more, exceed it.

[strategic seo services]

Originally Posted by garish

Hi Warriors, I have been an expert with niche sites from a long time and had been monetizing them from years.

Now I have started my new arcade site (because adsense ctr is huge on such sites and I wanted to test my hands in this).

I need a suggestion from you all. In these Arcade/games sites, content is too less (negligible; there is only description of 2 - 3 lines on each games page). But Google (especially Mr. Panda) is a lover of content. So how do you all think this type site can get good rankings ? And what would be the major Onsite Changes you would suggest for SEO ?

To achieve a top ranking on Google for your chosen keyword(s), you must first learn how to optimize your webpage. This is the first, most important step to take towards landing on the first page of Google. Here is a checklist of things that you should always do to make sure that your page is fully optimized:

• Domain Name: the keyword(s) that your are targeting should be in your url.
• Home Title Tag: your main keyword should show up twice here, with a variation of that keyword (eg: lose weight and weight loss).
• H1, H2, & H3 Tags: these tags are very important(especially <H1>), and should always contain your keyword.
• Keyword Location Within Text: try to place each your keyword near the beginning of the first sentence of each paragraph (maintaining at least 100 words between paragraphs).
• Keyword Density: you should aim for a density of 3% for each keyword that you're targeting.
• Use Your Keywords as Anchor Text on your page: link to an internal page on your site, and then link to an authority site (eg: wikipedia) that is related to your keyword. Always remember to use the "No Follow" tag (rel="nofollow") when linking to an external site.
• Images: use the "alt tag" and rename your images to your chosen keywords.
• Decorate Your Keywords: bold, italicise, or underline your keyword at least one time.
• Google Loves Unique Content: your post should be between 850-1000 words and be well structured around your main keywords.

[cfl]

Try to make Complex Link wheel , It will helps to get ranking

thanks

[garish]

Thanks for all you help warriors. But most of you still didn't get my point. I know I have to buid links and its easy for me. But I am asking about the ONPage thing. Yes, my site has Keyword in Title, Meta description and H1 and in domain too. But what I am worried about is the content. These type of sites have zero content and google might hate that.

However, if you have ideas suggestions to overcome this, I will be glad to look over that.

And thanks MSC, Your post was quite helpful. I have currently started traffic trading with other sites. And I have also started FaceBook ads campaign fo my site. Lets see how it goes.

For arcade sites you can use link exchanges, as it is very popular with that kind of sites. Also works really good traffic exchanges, no need SEO, you buy/exchange traffic for example for $100, from that traffic you make $130. And you got $30 profit. The problem is to split test monetization methods, to find out which works best with traffic exchange.

[Genesis1]

Content is still a king and links are Queens, so go with these and you sure be fine, just don't go blackhat, it will hurt you badly

[garish]

Originally Posted by Genesis1

Content is still a king and links are Queens, so go with these and you sure be fine, just don't go blackhat, it will hurt you badly

Did you read the thread ? Everyone here knows that content is king, but this thread deals with a site which can't have content. So please suggest something useful.

[WilliamBlah]

Originally Posted by garish

Did you read the thread ? Everyone here knows that content is king, but this thread deals with a site which can't have content. So please suggest something useful.

There are lots of ways you can add content to a games site:

-Simple comments system
-Reviews
-Descriptions
-Walk-throughs
-Hints & Tips
-A note about the creator

All of the above could be shown together on the same page. You could easily get 1000+ words per page (not that you'd want to!).

Regards
Will

[garish]

Originally Posted by WilliamBlah

There are lots of ways you can add content to a games site:

-Simple comments system
-Reviews
-Descriptions
-Walk-throughs
-Hints & Tips
-A note about the creator

All of the above could be shown together on the same page. You could easily get 1000+ words per page (not that you'd want to!).

Regards
Will

Thanks William, thats really a cool way to add content. Thanks a lot for suggesting me that, I didn't consider that earlier.

Is there any way to add content on the homepage as well ?

[silverf0x]

To add more content in homepage, use theme that provide a space for text. You may write anything in this section. Usually this text may set via Option page

[JammerJones]

I agree with Bofu2U's post.

Aside from that, everyone seems to be avoiding your question about on-page. Here's some of the things you want to do:

-silo site structure
-properly structured URLs (include categories + sub-categories in your URLs)
-internal linking structure
-optimized alt/title tags for your images
-title tags
-header tags
-nofollow tags on links to non-content pages (contact us, conditions, privacy policy etc.)

The first three points focus on your site structure and that's going to be your bread and butter. Get that right and your setting yourself up for success. Obviously title tags / header tags are a must but site structure is often overlooked as are optimizing images and adding nofollow tags to non-content pages. I might get flamed for that but IMO it's worth it. By adding nofollow to those non-relevant links you're tightening up your page themes and controlling your PR.

As for your internal linking structure you want to link to relevant pages only. So if you have a Tetris page link it to your 'Tetris Tips', 'Mario Tetris', 'Sonic Tetris', and any other tetris related pages you have on your site (just examples). What you want to avoid is having drop-down menus where every page on your site links to every other page. That's messy and confusing for search engines.

If done right your pages will all be properly themed thus making it easier to rank. Basically by taking care of your site structure you're laying a solid foundation for your site so when you start link building you'll see quicker / more effective results.

[garish]

Originally Posted by JammerJones

I agree with Bofu2U's post.

Aside from that, everyone seems to be avoiding your question about on-page. Here's some of the things you want to do:

-silo site structure
-properly structured URLs (include categories + sub-categories in your URLs)
-internal linking structure
-optimized alt/title tags for your images
-title tags
-header tags
-nofollow tags on links to non-content pages (contact us, conditions, privacy policy etc.)

The first three points focus on your site structure and that's going to be your bread and butter. Get that right and your setting yourself up for success. Obviously title tags / header tags are a must but site structure is often overlooked as are optimizing images and adding nofollow tags to non-content pages. I might get flamed for that but IMO it's worth it. By adding nofollow to those non-relevant links you're tightening up your page themes and controlling your PR.

As for your internal linking structure you want to link to relevant pages only. So if you have a Tetris page link it to your 'Tetris Tips', 'Mario Tetris', 'Sonic Tetris', and any other tetris related pages you have on your site (just examples). What you want to avoid is having drop-down menus where every page on your site links to every other page. That's messy and confusing for search engines.

If done right your pages will all be properly themed thus making it easier to rank. Basically by taking care of your site structure you're laying a solid foundation for your site so when you start link building you'll see quicker / more effective results.

Thanks JammerJones, that's the best suggestion I received throughout this thread (and only your post deals with the actual question in the opening thread ).

I have managed everything you suggested, and I am currently digging deeper into the "Silo Structure" Strategy. If you can put some light over it, that would be great.

So, I am not going to care about the content anymore [Because my competition also don't have it, lol]

[JammerJones]

Basically you want to organize your site into major themes with sub-topics, sub-sub topics etc. Major themes for your site might be Arcade Games, Arcade Machines, Arcade Tips, and Arcade Apps. All of your arcade game topics will be grouped together under Arcade Games, all of your arcade machine topics will be grouped together under Arcade Machines, and so on.

Keep your page themes as tight as possible by linking only to other pages within your silo. Link from your main theme to your supporting pages and vice versa but avoid linking to irrelevant pages. Have it so your main themes are linked to from the main nav and then have a sidebar with its sub-topics.

Here's what your Arcade Games silo might look like:

arcadesite.com/arcade-games/tetris.htm
arcadesite.com/arcade-games/pacman.htm
arcadesite.com/arcade-games/pinball.htm
arcadesite.com/arcade-games/street-fighter.htm

Each of these pages would have a sidebar linking to every page in the silo. So in other words, each page would have 5 links in the sidebar (4 posts + main theme)

If you want to go one step further, say you had Favorite Arcade Games as a sub-topic of Arcade Games, it would look like this:

arcadesite.com/arcade-games/favorite-arcade-games/tetris.htm
arcadesite.com/arcade-games/favorite-arcade-games/pacman.htm
arcadesite.com/arcade-games/favorite-arcade-games/pinball.htm
arcadesite.com/arcade-games/favorite-arcade-games/street-fighter.htm

Include topics, sub-topics etc. in your URLs as they help to reinforce your site structure. Also include the .htm on your post / product pages as they signify the end of the road to search engines (ie no more sub-topics). Think of organizing sub-folders on your site like sub-folders in My Documents.

PM me your URL and I'll have a look.

[garish]

Thanks Jammer for explaining the Silo thing in detail. I appreciate that.

PMed you my Arcade site's URL. Please check.

[Bambu]

Most arcade sites backlink their category pages, with a few exceptions, e.g., Angry Birds and other mega volume games. Review KW competition and build categories for those keywords. Then blast away. For arcade sites, you need massive amounts of traffic to make any sort of real money.

Good luck!