How do you know if SEO factors are holding you back in rankings?

[candiceone]

Hi there!

I have been working on improving a site for almost a year now, and though we have made great strides in ranking for many relevant keywords our site is hovering at the bottom of page 2 and fluctuates from position 14 to 18 for almost a year. I am pretty prompt at addressing HTML improvements suggestions in WMT, but don't know where I should focus my limited time to get the most results. Competing websites have more backlinks than we do, but content is very thin and I don't think they update or add new content every week like we do. Please help! Am I missing something obvious?? Thanks in advance

[ClaytonJ]

Without checking your site quality relevant backlinks sound like the main concern.  Do you have a backlink strategy in place?  It does take time...

[MickEdwards]

Secondary to John's response I would be meticulous in squeezing the very best in:

• all aspects of page speed
• ensuring only the URLs you want are indexed (no tags, query strings etc)
• no redirect chains
• reduce/remove 404s
• reduce/remove 301s
• sitemap is accurate and weighted correctly
• check the cached URLs (text only) are showing the text and not swamped by other stuff on the page.

There is other stuff but these sometimes throw open other issues to look at.

[candiceone]

I have some opportunities on the backburner but agree I need to set out a clear strategy/plan and work towards goals on a regular basis. Currently WMT shows 137 RD but most of those are picked up from the old domain which has been 301'd. Moz shows 8 RD and Majestic shows 16. I'm always on the fence about using the disavow file as I'm not sure if the 301'd links carry the same weight (most of them are not very good). I've heard that jumping the gun on the disavow can sometimes do more harm than good. Should I just move on and work on getting better quality links or start disavowing first. We do rank well for our most specific relevant search term but I'm trying for the highest traffic/competition keyword for a year now with only an increase of 5 positions.

[candiceone]

Thanks Michael,

Looks like I have a lot of work to do...

I know our page speed is better that the site in number 1 position, should I move on to the next steps in order that you've listed? Sort of an aside, would you normally take care of all these things yourself or do you work with the developer? I sort of fell into my position and am responsible for Adwords, Content, Copywriting, and everything in between, I didn't build the site (wordpress) and am not comfortable with modifying CSS files needed to speed up page etc. Thank you.

[ClaytonJ]

Candice

It sounds like your site is ranking as it is. The first principle is always do no harm. If you clearly identify a spam link - then disavow. But you are through the big updates and it sounds like the links have an organic origin - so not high from the information on the priority list.

Obtaining backlinks - require some strategic considerations.  I will suggest a few easy options. Check out your link profile and see what links you can change from nofollow to follow.  Might be just a phone call or two.  But most importantly i would have a staff meeting - pay for the pizza...  then explain backlinks to all the staff & make the staff part of the solution as well.  Demand the boss get some editorial on the business and a backlink!

You cannot do everything - share the load.

Michael has identified page speed. That is correct - a big one, aim for under 2 seconds.

Hope that assists.

[MickEdwards]

It depends on how you work and your relationship with the client.  I guess the first step is identifying issues and then finding the right person to fix.

If you look around you'll find plenty of (free) plugins that can help you if the platform is Wordpress.

That list is not complete just some main points that usually do some good, and it is in no particular order.

This is a must - https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015