Why won't my sub-domain blog rank for my brand name in Google?

[Instabill]

For six months or so, my team and I have been trying to get our blog to rank on page one in Google for the term "Instabill." The URL, http://blog.instabill.com, is a sub-domain of our company website and they both use the same IP address. Three pages on our www.Instabill.com site rank in the top three spots when searching our brand name in Google. However, our blog ranks 100+.

For our blog, we are currently using b2evolution and nginx.

We have tried adding static content on the home page, static content in the sidebar, static content on an About Instabill page, and optimizing blog posts for the keyword Instabill, but nothing seems to work.

We appreciate any advice you can provide to us.

Thank you!
Meghan

[irvingw]

Google decided that your main site represents your company.

Type "instabill blog" and you rank for people searching for your blog.

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=instabill+blog&oq=instabill+blog&gs_l=hp.3..0i22i30.69165.71862.3.73160.14.13.0.1.1.1.318.3829.2-10j3.13.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.5.psy-ab.5xA8W41i-a8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43287494,d.bmk&fp=9104cc5f73ecf971&biw=1920&bih=897

Same with my site.

[Instabill]

That was one of our theories, but we wanted to research additional possibilities before deciding the real reason for the poor ranking. Thanks!

[EvolveCreative]

Hey Meghan,

Any particular reason you 301 http://blog.instabill.com to **http://blog.instabill.com/index.php

?

http://blog.instabill.com** has more authority and backlinks. You should 301 http://blog.instabill.com/index.php to http://blog.instabill.com instead and see if that helps.

[Chris.Menke]

I see "instabill" used 58 times on the default page and a whole bunch of blog posts about Instabill.  Google's seen this before and as I recall, they came up with a couple algorithm tweaks in order to push website owners to make real websites with information that real people might possibly want to read.  Try doing what everybody else has to do--tone down the heavy handed SEO and invest in copy that's focused on a specific audience, not on you.

[Instabill]

Thanks for your comment. I dont feel your feedback has any scientific value. We are still waiting for an answer.

[Chris.Menke]

Funny.

While you're twittling your thumbs waiting for some actual traffic, keep what I said in  mind.

[Instabill]

Again, I appreciate your feedback, but it is a technique we have tried in the past.

Originally, we were not optimizing the Instabill Blog for the keyword Instabill and it was ranking poorly. We found resources that encouraged us to use our company name more, so we added static content, an about page, and blog posts with Instabill in the title and heading tags.

For a short amount of time, our blog fluctuated between pages one and two for our brand name. Now, although our technique has not changed (and we even update our static content regularly), our blog does not rank at all for our brand name.

We will keep what you have said in mind, but it has failed us in the past. Oh, and thank you for your helpfulness within your snide remark.

Cheers!
Meghan

[Chris.Menke]

Don't mention it : )

You may also want to look at anchor text for your links pointing from instabill.com to blog.instabill.com.  It would probably be better to use "Instabill Blog" vs. just "blog" and even better might be simply "Instabill", if you could get away with it.

[EvolveCreative]

Don't control your own anchor text - you'll get yourself into trouble.

[Instabill]

We still cannot get our blog to rank on page 1 for the term Instabill. Thank you all for your previous input, but I am marking this question as answered.

[Instabill]

We are now considering changing the url from blog.instabill.com to something like instabillblog.com. I have following concerns about the change;

1. Will changing the domain really be that helpful (i.e. will the change get our blog on page one for the term instabill)
2. We have over 350 pages of content on our blog. Will changing the domain have possible negative effects ( I was thinking of using url updater in webmaster tools and creating a permanent 301 redirect from the older url to the new)
3. Having never changed a url for a site with this much content and seo value for my company I would like to know the following from someone who has made mistakes here before;

• what not to do
• what steps you would take to make the transition easier

Any help here will be greatly appreciated.

cheers,

Instabill

[Chris.Menke]

Not knowing how much traffic the blog gets or how much of that converts to new business, you might  try experimenting with some things.

If you're thinking of moving the site, you might first see if your problem is domain related by just copying and rel=canonicalizing the  whole blog to the new domain and seeing if it eventually shows up for "instabill", while keeping the original in place. If it does, you can then put in your 301s and eventually delete it. If it doesn't then it's likely architecture or content related. Personally I think it's content related.

If the new domain doesn't rank for instabill, delete the blog software on the new domain and remove the rel=canonicals to it from the old domain, throw up a wordpress blog, and put a couple of posts on it with a link from your website's homepage and see if that works.

[Chris.Menke]

By the way, has the blog ever ranked for instabill?