Why am i losing?

by 5 replies
6
Ok so google loves to change the rules. Worked like crazy to get local listing for the magic 7 box. Was number 2 in the local 7 box and site was 1 or 2. Those were the good old days.

Now site is ranking #4 below the new google local 3 box (so technically ranked 7th). Cannot figure out what changed. Hey maybe we need some more unique content...lets add 6 new pages focused on specific topics. Did that, ranking great for those keywords. Only problem is 95% of traffic to my site comes from one local search keyword...the one that is not doing to hot.

I thought, that adding the additional pages would increase site authority as it is unique relevant content and for the targeted keywords on those pages, ranking #1 or #2 with no additional effort.

Ok, lets try to add some relevant links, started a new free blog at wordpress.com...did that google indexed, no change. Is google now ignoring/not placing weight on content and links from wordpress.com, weebly, blog.com, and other free resources. I barely never see site using subdomains ranking on the 1st page

Used ahrefs and ose to see if I could figure it out against competitors. Still at a loss.

Ok fine then big G, lets do some home page updates then...Added some new slids with plain text content, added some additional content with link to other pages etc. Ranking dropped two spots same day after the update and today they are back to where I was before.

site is heatherannzsalon.com and primary keyword is "hair salons fargo nd"
#search engine optimization #losing
  • So the keyword was displaying a 7 box previously and now it's a 3, is that correct?

    Are there also any nearby cities you can build out landers for and target?
  • Yes, used to display 7 box but now 3 for some reason.

    As far as landers go, yes there is and yes I could, but I would have to get creative with content to target another city since there is no physical location there.

    Edit: site is ranking mid 2nd page for hair salons city name. for our two bordering cities so that would probably not take that much targeting. Would that specifically influence the rank of my homepage?

    I did create landers for keywords like hair highlights, ombre hair. and getting top 3 rankings mostly for those hoping that that would push homepage up but no luck.
  • It's not that google is ignoring the free resources, it's that those pages start out with no PR. You need to let those sit and marinade, gather traffic and add pages to those, targeting long tail keywords. To bypass the waiting game, look into private blog networks.

    John McClane: You know how to hot-wire this thing?
    Zeus: Of course I can, I'm an electrician. Only problem is...
    [Zeus starts the ignition with his pliers]
    Zeus: it takes too f#ckin' long.

    • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • Getting a few relevant backlinks to your home page will help your get up into the 3 pack.

    Also getting more quality citations for you biz will help.

    Just make sure you stay super consistent with the name, address, and phone # on any citations you build.
    • [1] reply
    • Ran out of sites last time I worked on citations but I did decide to give moz local a try last week. Waiting on that. There were a few of the big ones like facual that can't submit to manually. Hope that helps. Relevant backlinks...hate that term. I either have to build whole sites to get them, or look for other semi relevant local business that would benefit from a link share /cross promotion.
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    Why am i losing?

    Ok so google loves to change the rules. Worked like crazy to get local listing for the magic 7 box. Was number 2 in the local 7 box and site was 1 or 2. Those were the good old days. Now site is ranking #4 below the new google local 3 box (so technically ranked 7th). Cannot figure out what changed. Hey maybe we need some more unique content...lets add 6 new pages focused on specific topics. Did that, ranking great for those keywords. Only problem is 95% of traffic to my site comes from one local search keyword...the one that is not doing to hot.