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Help me figure out Google

by Jackbgd
4 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hey people,

I have a website with really really good content in a not so medium-competitive niche, I'm confident that the content is great because I get emails all the time from visitors thanking me and literally telling me I'm a genius - another indicator are the stats that Google Analytics gives me about my bounce rate and average time on site - plus I get a bunch of direct traffic as if people were telling each other "go check out that website".

... so after some time, Google starts ranking me better, and get's me to #2 place for a keyword that is not my main keyword but almost the same, example: how to lose weight is my main keyword - well I'm ranked #2 for how to lose weight fast - similar situation. Anyway - this brings me in a bunch of traffic, I even get ranked #4 for my main keyword on Yahoo - but that brings in close to zero traffic. Anyway... a few weeks pass, and then... Google put's me to the 5-6 position for every major keyword I was well ranked for and literally cuts my traffic to half - from 1300 visitors per day to 500! Which is kind of a shock. I thought "okay, they'll get me back up in a day or two, that's probably normal" - nope, they didn't. So I'm kind of angry, but I'll figure it out, I guess, with your help.

What I know is - a) I didn't change my content b) traffic was steadily going up from week to week with Google ranking me better c) and then suddenly bam!

So I sometimes ask myself "IS GOOGLE STUPID???" - by the way there are so many website's out there that are well ranked - but anyone can see that they are NOT SUPPOSED to be on top. The website's competing for my main keyword - top 10 - each and every one of them is at least 10 times worse then my website - I know, I know - they're older, yes, some of them have more links - but some of them don't. So how the hell does Google decide to rank them better? Or rank me worse, 'cause they sure as hell don't have an average time on site as long as I do and it would be complete nonsense if Google doesn't take that into a huge consideration.

Sorry for a bit of a rant, but I guess you'd be pissed too...
Thanks
#figure #google
  • Profile picture of the author Sxperm
    Google do give a weight on fresh content. However, the rest on how longevity your site ranking position is about links. You have to find links regularly, from related site whereas possible to retain your position. As competitors do want your place as same as you then you cannot stay put and think Google will favor your site more than competitors.

    If you are decent writer, I do really recommend to write articles and submit to ezinearticles. This could bring your both quality traffics and quality link. The another options is to find out content hub that allow you to submit guest post and put quality content on it with link back to related specific article on your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author EricJefferson
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    • Profile picture of the author Sam Kern
      So I sometimes ask myself "IS GOOGLE STUPID???" -
      Google ain't stupid but it is not human. Google only sees your site through it's algorythm. It tries to judge the quality of your article through :
      onsite factors - LSI ,a reasonable keyword density, link structure, tags h1, bold.
      Off site factors - backlinks from other pages using your anchor keywords.

      So Google looks at how relevant your article is to your keywords but it cannot in reality judge the real quality of your article in terms of content.

      You have made up to the top 10 and ppl love your page. You just need to keep playing the game.

      1. keep optimizing your page for SEO - play with your title tags, H1 tags ,bold, improve your link structure

      2. Look for more links...more relevant links..the more the better

      3. Add fressh new content on regular basis

      But you will need to keep doing 2. and 3. to preserve your rankings as other ppl would keep compiting with you if it is a fierce niche !
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  • Profile picture of the author Mickm
    The fresh vs stale depends on what type of site you're running.. take wiki for example, most of those pages are not updated for long periods of time but still get very high rankings.

    If you focus on building a quality resource for your visitors you will get top rankings.. there are of course shortcuts but focus on your visitors and Google will pick up on that, make your site of real value to them first and Google second (doesn't mean you can't play around with the SEO side of things though, just don't over do if your site is newish).
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    • Profile picture of the author TheHutz
      Yeah, it's so frustrating when you see lesser quality sites rank above yours, but at least it stops you from getting complacent

      Great work with the site - from what you tell us, it sounds like a great resource and you may be getting people naturally refer you.

      Why not sort out a way to leverage that fan base?

      Have badges etc created - something along the lines of a graphic saying "I'm a fan of..." with an HTML link beneath with some anchor text.

      Make a collection of different graphics, with different anchor text and supply the full HTML code for people to copy and paste onto their site.

      Encourage them to bookmark your pages of your site by making it easy and supplying the tools.

      Combine that with other link building methods and you'll be good to go
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