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Maybe I Just Don't Get It

by Ofthemix
10 replies
Apparently, SEO is something I just don't get. I have this website that was originally at the bottom of Google. I redesigned it and did some backlinking, now it's on page 10 for the main keyword, which is a low competition keyword. I realized today, when I did some backlink checking on competing websites, that I really don't understand how Google works. . . and I've probably read at least 20 other threads about it.

I know that fresh unique content is important to Google, but I also thought that the number of backlinks was important. My website has more backlinks than the majority of competing websites on page one of Google, so I'm really confused as to why my site isn't up there. I'm about ready to give up on SEO for organic traffic on this niche and focus all of my efforts on article marketing instead.

Can anyone shed some light on the subject of what Google really wants? I understand that they have an algorithm for choosing which sites make it to the top, but I just don't get it. How does it rank between content, number of backlinks, and number of pages?
#google #organic traffic #seo
  • Profile picture of the author InternetMarketingIQ
    All SEO is speculation. Guessing at what a search engine "wants".

    If you want to know what Google wants you reverse engineer the top rankings.

    If you want to know what factors are considered look at what information Google collects and reports in Google Analytics.

    Hint: It's not just links.

    Many things are recorded and tracked... time on site, age of domain, entrance and exit pages, anchor text keywords.

    Google's Matt Cutts has even been talking lately about including the speed in which a site loads. People who tell you all you need is backlinks are selling backlinks and have no real grasp of the entire SEO Picture.
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    • Profile picture of the author SeanSupplee
      SEO has more to do with On page factors and not off page factors. I go over all of this in my ebook in my sig. Backlinking is what is called an off page factor and counts far less then having your main keyword and LSI keywords to back it up. Work on your on page factors first before spending more time with off page. Also when you backlink use your main keyword and LSI keywords as well.
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      • Profile picture of the author Black Hat Cat
        Banned
        Originally Posted by SeanSupplee View Post

        SEO has more to do with On page factors and not off page factors.
        Wow, lol, you're actually selling an ebook telling people that?
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  • Profile picture of the author Avdo
    Many factors effecting your rankings..You got to have fresh unique content, a really good on-page SEO done, domain is very important(exact keyword match in domain can do much for your ranking)..
    Backlinks, not just number of backlinks, but PR of sites where backlinks coming from..
    What's your competition? If your keyword has a lot of authority sites for competition, then it will be very hard to rank high for that keyword..etc.

    SEO can be simple when it's done properly from the start..
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    • Profile picture of the author RMC
      On page:

      Keyword density
      H1 tags (prominence)
      related keywords
      keywords in title
      keywords in alt

      Off page:
      links
      quality
      quantity
      relevance (anchor text and the rest of that sites on page factors relevance)

      All those into a neat little system works wonders. Do I know googles algorithm? No, but I have taken a site stuck on page three and moved it to page one just with some on page changes so I know there's a lot of weight to the on page stuff.

      I have one more little secret weapon but I'm keeping that for paid eyes only. All the other stuff really is all you need though.
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      • Profile picture of the author Heuristic
        To quote Winston Churchill: They are a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.

        Sometimes it doesn't make sense. I have many Ezine articles that are SEO'd to the max (good keyword density, h tags, titles, etc) and have 3 times the incoming links (with higher PR values and very relevant) as the Ezine article sitting in top spot - and would you think that I could knock them out? Nope - I am nowhere to be seen in the serps.

        Sometimes, you can do this, that, and that and see a predictable result - other times, it's like Google is just toying with you.
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  • Profile picture of the author brancato
    There are many SEO ebooks out there claiming to tell you the *secret* to get good rankings. Try Dan Thies' SEO fast start from SeoFastStart.com. It's arguably the most authoritative, trusted SEO trainig material on the net today, period. Oh, did I mention that it's also free to download?
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    • Profile picture of the author richdirtygirl
      hey girl,

      so you want to have your site on first page for the pleasure of it?

      mmmmmmmm that is risky business... I would not do it...

      crash course on seo my way (but of course, I'm just a blond girl )

      you need deep linking for each main keyword. Remember: google ranks pages.

      backlinks are one of the main factors, but not all are made equal.

      what is a quality backlink?
      -it comes from a url relevant to your keyword.
      -the bigger the authority the better (but relevancy is more important).
      -the anchor text is relevant.
      -the context of the link is relevant (10 words to the left, 10 words to the right).
      -the whole article that contains the link is relevant.

      on page:
      -meta information: title and description are relevant.
      -h1, h2, etc... have the keyword somewhere.
      -body of article is more than relevant (contains not only the keywords, but related keywords that show authority on the subject, you can get some of them pipping at the books on Amazon).

      you mention about doing an article marketing campaign... that could help a lot with positioning.

      For me though... it is more important to get the info about my product to first page than my website.

      that is a whole new level in the game. Nothing new really... it has been around since Conversation Domination was released about 2 years ago.

      Hope it helps,

      Laura
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  • Profile picture of the author Darth Executor
    Originally Posted by Ofthemix View Post

    I know that fresh unique content is important to Google, but I also thought that the number of backlinks was important. My website has more backlinks than the majority of competing websites on page one of Google, so I'm really confused as to why my site isn't up there.
    Google (and probably every search engine) lies about the backlinks that top web sites get. Quality is also important. A backlink from a PR7 site is much better than 100 backlinks from pr 1 sites (just an example, don't know if this is literally true)


    Can anyone shed some light on the subject of what Google really wants?
    On page optimization, good content, backlinks, and, believe it or not, content volume (IE: the more, the better).
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  • Profile picture of the author Ofthemix
    That's the head scratching thing, I know the vast majority of SEO tactics. It just baffles me sometimes how things just don't seem to work out. I think I might subscribe to the process of generating traffic first, worrying about SEO second. Google changes/adds/removes policies frequently, and though it's great to get organic search engine traffic, it's a pain figuring it out/keeping up.
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