Boss is killing me on website not being ranked for major keywords - newer site
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It's always tough trying to explain to someone that it just takes time with a new site. The best way to show this is by using http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/ and showing the the metrics (inbound links) of the competition for the main keywords.
For example, with a quick look using http://ahrefs.com you can see that you only have 5 inbound links to your website, where movingdayboxes.com has 1,513 (as seen in Open Site Explorer). Once OSE indexes your site, you can start monitoring your metrics (there is a new update today, so you may be in there later).
It isn't your ecommerce platform, and Authority Labs is just another tool and there isn't anything out there that crawls as much as Google does. They all just crawl portions of the web.
Now your bosses response will be "Then we need to start building links". Be very careful with this and start smart and tell him that it is a long term strategy starting with your local market.
If he is looking for instant results, then PPC is the way to go.
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Hey,
Brent's advice is spot on. I'd add that you want to verify that all of your key pages are indexed (to answer your first question). Review Webmaster Tools to verify that you have no errors, check SEOmoz's crawl stats, query site:smoothmovesupplies.com to ensure Google is indexing your pages. I would also look at Google Analytics to see if you are getting any traffic right now, perhaps from long tail terms.
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with Authority Labs so I can't help you there. I agree that seems unrealistic though.
Thanks,
Matthew -
Dood, you're competing against movingdayboxes.com, uhaul.com, homedepot.com, uline.com and lowes.com + all of the local results that are going to show and the map results.
You're boss is crazy if he thinks you are going to hit the top 50 in 2 months. It's a commodity + high competition from some MAJOR players with long standing PR and high reputation + panda. I dunno about that one.
Question, do you folks "manufacturer" these boxes? Are you a box manufacturer? or just a box seller? My point is, what OTHER angle can you approach this from to create brand awareness.
Dare your boss to run a google adwords campaign for "moving boxes" and watch what happens. Even WORSE is the fact that even if you get someone TO your site, if they don't see what they want to see in 10 seconds flat, they're gone.
If you were going to attempt this, and h1 tag simple "moving boxes" and a title of simply "moving boxes" would both be a start. I mean you would have to optimize SOO well. And then from there having others talk about your company with a link is a good start. A blog might help. On your home page, I would stick to just moving boxes in the title tag. I would use a "supplies" page to target moving supplies and a "tape" page to target "packing tape" and everything would match. /packingtape.html title, packing tape, h1 packing tape.
To question number 2, i have no idea.
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I agree with Brent. You should provide your boss with a basic explanation of SEO theory and how search engines crawl your site, so your boss has a better idea of what is going on behind the scenes.
I think they may be much more calm if they knew the amount of work needed to be done to have a new site ranking well. Without knowing how search engines work, your boss may believe that its just about getting a couple of links here and there and your #1 for competitive keywords.
Show the links of your competition, so your boss can have a reference point of where you currently stand against your competitors. Also, show him the quality link you obtain as you get them to show the up-to-date progress you are making to get the site ranking well.
I would also try a "local" approach. Use your corporate headquarters as a google place listing. And try to rank for less competitive cities like "moving boxes itasca" or other "low hanging fruit" areas.
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I really like this reply, Jay.
I am lucky that I don't have a boss.
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Thank you for the input. This guy just sent me another email using this Authority Labs software. He is insisting that the software checks all 59 million search results and we are not in there. This is impossible for a software to do this right? I thought most software only search the first 100 or so.
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Hey John,
Even if Authority Labs can do that (and I agree, it seems unlikely), my question becomes: who really cares? Seriously, what makes knowing that information useful? Does it actually tell you something new to know you don't show up in 59 million results (beyond the top 50, who cares)? I don't see the point and I think it is silly the other guy keeps bringing it up.
You already know you aren't ranking high enough for that term to matter but you know you need to. That means the real question is, "okay, what do we do about it?" If you can answer that question, you add something new to the conversation.
As others have mentioned, earning those rankings requires link building, authority building, social connections, and writing content that differentiates you from your competition (and you have big competitors).
Hope that perspective helps.
Matthew
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I wouldn't question that.
But the truth is that your site is too new so third party tools like these won't have your site indexed yet. So it is very easy to say, you aren't in 59 million.... Yes, because our site is new, and that data is a month old.
SEMrush.com is a perfect example. (And I would really use their data for keywords in serps) http://www.semrush.com/search.php?q=www.smoothmovesupplies.com&db=us
Their data was last updated 5/20/2012
So just watch these companies on a daily basis and see when their next index update is. (Seomoz's should be today, and SEMrush any day now)
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HI Matthew,
I agree totally. Who cares if you don't show up. They are harping on the fact they think its the ecommerce platform we use. Which I doubt as well.
Crazy!!!!!!!
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lol, me too!
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Hi John,
First and foremost, you want to know for your own peace of mind that pages from your site are crawlable and indexed.
The first thing I would do is identify your most important "money" pages and go add them to the index via Webmaster Tools in both Google and Bing using their "Fetch as Googlebot" and "Fetch as Bingbot" tools. In both cases, a clean fetch of those pages will tell you that the pages are accessible and crawlable. In addition to that, once a URL has been successfully fetched, both allow you to request that the URL be submitted to the index (and also linked URLs). There are limits on the number of URLs per month that you can submit, so make sure you pick the most important ones.
Perhaps another way to approach this is to go back to your analytics and see if you are actually getting any traffic from those terms that your Boss is obsessing on. While everyone wants to rank, the fact is that with personalized and localized results, it is quite common for a site to appear in SERPs from time to time and actually bring traffic for terms that it "doesn't rank for". If you are actually getting some traffic for those terms from a search engine, you have actual proof that your site has been served up in a result for that term...from that point you know that your job is improving how frequently that happens.
While you probably wouldn't want to say this to your Boss, responsibility for your rankings rests largely with him/her also. If they want to play with the "Big Boys", then they have to step up their game in the offline world as well. They should be asking you what the company can do to make the website more visible, not the other way round.
You need to address the question mark over the ecommerce platform. Again, for your own peace of mind (and given that there are some minor issues with nearly every CMS/Shopping Cart "out of the box") I would dive into any forum, available documentation etc that you can find on the platform you are using.
Use the Pro-tool to crawl the site and check that it is not creating duplicates etc. Find out about every known issue, find & present solutions, get your techs to write a fix if necessary. Make sure that you know when software updates are available, and that you are kept in the loop whenever changes are made that you have not initiated...KNOW that your ecommerce platform is NOT the problem and make sure that your Boss knows you can say that because you did the work.
Personally, I would also take a good shot at getting on the "front foot" by developing a solid marketing strategy that includes both online and offline activities. Basically, you need to show your Boss that you are in control here...you see the problems, understand why they exist and have a strategy for dealing with them.
Lastly, remember that as a SEOmoz Pro Member you can ask one Private Question in Q&A every 30 days. With all the negative attention you are getting, it might be a good thing to ask if a Staff Member or Associate can review the site and see if they can pinpoint any particular issues with the ecommerce platform, site content or optimization strategy. This will either get you some great help in fixing any issues you may not have seen, or just give you a confidence boost to help deal with the heat you are taking.
As for the endlessly forthcoming "expert" who found a tool to play with, you are probably going to have to find a way to put that unhelpful input into a proper perspective. Just remember, if you put up with the constant whining of the mosquito for long enough, sometimes you can actually manage to swat it right out of the air - and it feels GOOD!
Hope that helps,
Sha
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Hi
I noticed you are preventing your images from being indexed in your robots.txt file. Any reason?
If your image names contained keywords this would also help towards the whole SEO picture. I see it as small pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle but each piece counts.
moving_boxes.jpg
moving_box_kits.jpgI am surprised at how many people find the images from our website via Google Image search. You never know, if you just get one customer who finds your website via Google Image search and then that visit converts, it might just be worth it.
Kris
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To add to the many informative answers here...I would like to say...start looking at utilizing your website for the relevant long-tail keywords.You can get 100's of long-tail keyword terms that are less competitive and 100 long-tail keywords X 2 visits per keyword term = 200 visits rather than 4 highly competitive keywords x 2 visits per keyword = 8 visits.
I mean start attacking from a wider angle rather than a narrowed approach. Utilize your website for the long-tail keyword combinations as well as for the highly competitive keywords. One will take time while the other will help you in your journey to get there.
Also ranking for a keyword does not always mean that you are getting a targeted audience. You might get a good traffic but does not mean that it will end in conversions. So instead of only concentrating on Organic traffic, also look at other ways to drive RELEVANT traffic to your website. And, get creative with online and off-line marketing convergence [eg:- Bumber stickers with your URL, T'shirts with your company name & URL etc. or if you want to be more creative...think about the prospects of AR (Augmented Reality) when it comes to convergence].
Also, remember that your company employees with their social network presence (Be it Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc. are your immediate Online marketing and off-line partners. They can spread the word around their families and friends and the social media network will keep on multiplying. So, leverage them in that area and also put Bumber-stickers on their cars (or whatever other creative stuffs) and on their friends and family members cars lol.
And, when it comes to creating awareness among your target audience, Organic traffic is not the only way...it's just one of the ways. Use other online tools, websites, promotions etc...basically mix it up with a good SEO technique and Online marketing/branding/promotion activities.
And, ultimately it all depends on what USP and value you are providing through your website and through your off-line point of purchase. So, think about how you can provide value and engagement.
Anyway, coming back to your point...I guess it's high time that you start educating your boss. I understand from what you've written, that his SEO or Online marketing knowledge is not much, and that is where you need to be strong (and soft at the same time) and educate him. Go armed with all the knowledge you've gathered from here lol. And, never give up!
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I replied to your question with a video: http://marketingchris.com/video-answers/boss-is-killing-me-on-website-not-being-ranked-for-major-keywords-newer-site/
I hope it helps, but feel free to ask me any follow up questions
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