Why Is This Page Not Ranking?

[AWCthreads]

Hi Mozzers,

I can't rank (the page is nowhere on the Google grid that I can find) and I've not been able to move the needle at all on it.

The page is http://www.lumber2.com/Western-Saddle-Pads-s/98.htm for keyword "western saddle pads."

I'm inclined to think I'm cannabalizing the category with the products so I removed the word saddle from the majority of the product names on page.

However, saddle pad or saddle pads is in the meta title for most if not all of the products.

Do you think I'm cannabalizing with the product titles or is there something else going on?

Thanks for any help.

[smarties954]

Do you know your current position in google if you search "Western Saddle Pads"? If yes, did you track your progress?

Also, depending your competition, your pagerank might not be high enough? (2/10 on the home page is below average)

The page itself looks ok, it's probably tweakings and getting quality inbound links with Western Saddle Pads as anchor text that will make a difference.

[ColinWhite]

Greetings,

A couple of items at first glance

1. The URL structure looks awkward not sure what the "98" or "-s" is

If i were to do this it would be something like

lumber2.com/western-saddle-pads/leather-sadles.html

Ok so here is what i see

**Here is your site **

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:-Wv-W7WC-lgJ:www.lumber2.com/Western-Saddle-Pads-s/98.htm&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1

and this is your number 1 ranking competitor

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kj5rZUJZdgoJ:www.chicksaddlery.com/page/CDS/CTGY/1060&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1

get rid of the tables and you probably could rank.

Here is your site on Opensiteexplorer

http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?site=www.lumber2.com

Here is ChickSaddlery on opensiteexplorer

http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?site=www.chicksaddlery.com%2Fpage%2FCDS%2FCTGY%2F1060

and almost everyone of their links are internal links which speaks volumes.

so honestly you could move the needle in these 2 ways:

1. Improve internal linking strucutre
2. 10 - 20 solid organic links with relevent sites

[AWCthreads]

Thank you Mike.

I follow you on everything except the tables. I'm assuming our CMS eCommerce software generates these tables automatically (Volusion).

Is there any way to strip those tables or will that foul the page displays across the site?

[ColinWhite]

ill do some research on  it for you

[AWCthreads]

Thanks Mike. I'm looking into the issue on our forums at Convergent 7.

I don't want you to go out of your way. Just thought I'd ask in case you knew off-hand.

I don't have the developer/tech acumen.

[NakulGoyal]

In my opinion, your page is over-optimized for your primary keyword. I would look into some variant keywords you can optimize this page for. Here is what I see as "Over-Optimized" for that exact keyword:

Page Title = OK, could use some customization
Description = OK
Breadcrumbs = Exact Keyword along with the Exact Title Tag (Sort of okay, I'd say)
H1 Tag = Exact Keyword. As well as a Title Tag to your H1 Tag ? That's too much. That's clearly there for SEO and SEO Only.

In that 1 paragraph of copy, you have the same keyword in Bold, twice. The image with a good filename and alt tag is okay.

What I'd look into is, what are some other long tail keywords that you can optimize your page for. That would help you in 2 ways.

1. Remove the Over-Optimization
2. Help you rank for that low(er) hanging fruit.

Unrelated to this keyword/page, but overall:

You don't need the following tags on every single page:

I hope this helps.

[AWCthreads]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to dig in the page and give me some actionable feedback.

I appreciate it!

[ColinWhite]

No problem happy to help