Indexed but not ranked

My on-page optimization is really good. I haven't started backlinking yet. What's the "Feed the Panda" structure?

I'm not following, why do you think your domain is sandboxed? Because when you search for your domain name, you showing up in the top 5 - well that is likely because you have an exact match on domain name and keyword searched, well and good.

So how are you drawing the conclusion that you are sandboxed? Just because you're not ranking high for other keyword phrases that you are targeting after like 5 or 7 days? Ah, that's called normal. SEO is not that easy if you're picking keyword phrases that are at all competitive.

Chances are, your on-page seo isn't good or the keywords you're targeting are too competitive... or both.

How are you checking to see if any of your pages are ranked and how deep into the search results are you going? If you're not using an automated tool to check your rankings for several keyword phrases, then you might just be missing some that you rank for, even if the rank is is in the hundreds.

There are some free rank checkers such as a Firefox plugin called Rank Checker, I think you can get it at seobook.com

I think it also depends on the keywords. Sites targeting keywords with high searches are more likely to get sandboxed than sites targeting keywords with low searches (I think).

Hi Rob,

Sorry to hear about that - know it's disappointing to see your rankings drop. Sometimes you can't put too much stock though in those initial rankings when your site is new as rankings will tend to bounce around a bit I've noticed for at least the following:
1)new site
2)after you've done extensive work on your site (especially if you reorganized URLS and such - really need to be careful to put in redirects if changing URLs so you don't lose any "credit" that URL held
3) After doing some backlink building - need at least 2 weeks for things to settle in and backlinks start to get indexed before you can make any real judgement of impacts
4) Google algorithm updates (ex., the recent "Panda" one)

I'm sure others here can add to this list from their experience.

Anyway - the real question is what can you do now, right?
Lots of stuff but I'll throw out a few:
1) Make sure you have applied for and are using google webmaster tools for your stie - can gain lots of good ideas about google's view of your site there including more indexed backinks than they'll ever show using link: command
2) Make sure you have a good SEO plugin you're using for WordPress, learn all it can do, and use it consistently as suggested. I'm sure there are lots, but I'll throw out 3 free ones that I know are good from personal experirence:
- All in One SEO Pack
- Platinum SEO
- Yoast SEO Plugin
All have good instructions, blog articles, etc. Not going to go into debating pros/cons of each - save it for another thread and honestly don't waste too much time analyzing which, get one and act.
3) Analyze your competition - how many backlinks they have vs. you, PR of their backlinks, on page SEO vs yours. Again, lots of tools, some free some paid. One free one for subset of that info is SEO for Firefox from seobook.com - tons of other options though.

That will give you a good picture on how you stack up against your competition and why you rank where you do. Lots else could be done/said, but hey this isn't a WSO, right?

Still tried to give you & others here some valuable free input - I do believe in Karma

Phil

How is this possible?