Some keyword dropping rapidly

by Wright Hassall

Posted: 10 years ago 6 replies

Hello,

I am new to the forum but I am hoping someone with far more knowledge than me can help.

I am targeting some keywords that are doing really well "contesting a will" "professional negligence claims" both page on, they move up and down by a couple of places but stay on page one.

However, my main target is "medical negligence solicitors" we were in position 19 but have dropped to 60 and nothing I do seems to move things in the right direction.

The website is wrighthassall.co.uk (wrighthassall.co.uk/expertise/medical-negligence)

Is there anything I am doing wrong? I know I don't have the backlink profile of the page one results so I am not expecting miracle but I don't understand the drop.

Many thanks for any help you can offer.

Michelle

#dropping #keyword #rapidly #serps

Icematikx 10 years ago

You have a somewhat weak backlink profile, and you're chasing national search terms that other companies are targeting. From the looks of it, all you've done is purely white-hat SEO which is great, but I'm sure your competitors aren't doing the same.

That's why SME's are moving to use things such as private blog networks. I have a few clients who were in the same situation - unable to compete with the big dogs.

Chances are Michelle, you're not going to really get anywhere without investing in something. There's only so many backlinks you can build yourself, and publishing new blog posts is only going to get you so far. At the end of the day, it all boils down to backlinks and how many quality links you have.

Doing a quick search of "medical negligence solicitors" - I can see that the UK space is quite competitive with big brands and big firms dominating the SERP's.

It's a catch-22. You either carry on the way you are, and slowly see results, but most likely achieve nothing substantial. Or, you take the risk and start employing grey-hat techniques such as PBN's and bought links to give you the results you need. In my opinion, SME's and non-enterprise companies cannot compete without buying links anymore. I mean, Amazon even buy links - they just do it different by paying Forbes $100k for an article, knowing that a link will be included with it.
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- Wright Hassall 10 years ago
  
  That's great, many thanks for taking the time to help me out. Time and effort is no problem, it's money that is
  
  Many of the blog posts and guides we seed out to other sites, mainly business sites to get linkbacks, it's a slow process but we are getting some takers. However, as you say our search competitors have links from the likes of the BBC so we can't compete.
  
  I have also requested some onsite changes with our developers to make the blog posts more of a conversion tool. However, these things don't happen fast.
  
  Have you got any example of PBN's so I can see how they're being used?
  
  What I am really struggling to understand is why we have dropped from position 19 to 60 in a matter of 4 weeks or is it just one of those things because competitors are getting more links etc?
  
  Thanks again
  
  Michelle
  
  Thanks
  
  1 reply
  
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  Icematikx 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Wright Hassall
  
  Have you got any example of PBN's so I can see how they're being used?
  
  A private blog network is essentially a network of websites that link to your website. They are typically expired domains that were previously authoritative (i.e. an old charity that let their website expire).
  
  There's two options here.. You either buy your own and build your own network, which you would then control. Or you pay somebody to use theirs.
  
  I'd probably advise with building your own. I'd find a pretty strong set of expired domains and build them as informative resources on legal matters, dropping a site-wide link to your site on each. This will be expensive, but the results will be exponential if implemented right.
  
  The reason you've dropped from 20 - 60 could be anything. If you're at #20, then realistically, you're nowhere. It's natural to expect such dramatic changes when you're page 2 or lower. Slower, more gradual changes will come when you're on the first page.
  
  Tomorrow, you could go from 60 to 15, but it won't make a difference as probably only 5% of searchers even get to page two.
  
  Only start worrying about your rankings when you're sitting on page 1. Anything below page 1 is irrelevant and often subject to dramatic changes.
  
  I see you're reaching out to other sites to give you links, and that's great. Only, your competitors are doing it too, and probably a hell of a lot quicker than you are.
  
  So, if we sit back and reiterate.. You're doing exactly what your competitors are doing - only their doing more of it. And, chances are, their using private blog networks and a whole host of other methods which you have yet to implement. The reality is, your competitors are doing more than you, and acquiring better links than you.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Wright Hassall 10 years ago
  
  That's confirmed my suspicions! Thank you
  
  Thanks
  
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Icematikx 10 years ago

Also, I mean you're doing blogging - but what is the purpose of the blog? Chances are, those posts are never going to bring in targeted traffic because of the competition. If they do, the chances of converting that visitor into a client are minimal. I also see that you cover news stories, which is also great. It may trickle in referral traffic and a few organic visitors, but what are the visitors doing after they've read the page?

It's time to start looking at your overall digital marketing strategy and asking yourself how you can get some real value out of visitors. Brand recognition is all good and dandy, but it's getting harder. You need to start capturing the e-mails of visitors and using that to promote your brand, and use that list to acquire clients when the time is right (i.e. like now with all of the loss of hearing compensation for work places).

You also need to establish yourself as a key market expert player. Host webinars for professionals to listen in on. Capture their e-mails and portray yourself and your brand as an expert.

There are so many possibilites here to integrate better digital marketing and SEO, it's just about creativity and putting the time, effort and money in.
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LuckyIMer 10 years ago

You need to build some relevant back links from strong websites and target for the keyword that has dropped, use keyword variation though and try to make the back links as natural as possible.
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