Chasing a particular keyword (and failing)

[archdecor]

Hello,

Its probably the most common and annoying questions, but I'm pulling my hair out a bit (not helped by not really knowing what I'm doing). I'm trying to optimise this http://www.architecturaldecor.co.uk/collections/antique-door-handles collection page for the main keyword 'antique door handles' secondary keyword 'antique door knobs'. Mid February I changed the URL, title and description and it started to move up the rankings, I then tidied up the descriptions, titles, ALT tags for all the products in that collection and it moved up to #13 quite quickly. However over the last 10 days it dropped down page 2 and today it's down to page 3. Whats more frustrating is 90% of those ranked in front of me don't actually sell antique door handles.

When I tidied up the products in that collection I was increasing using the term 'antique door handles'.

Any suggestions would be really, really welcome, have I overdone 'antique door handles' in the product descriptions.

Thanks in advance, Paul.

[RobertFisher]

Paul,

The content above the images is not very good at all and could be seen as spammy. I also noticed as I read it that these are actually antique or vintage door handles and knobs. I would want that to be clear on the site. So my paragraph would make that clear from the beginning: If you want REAL Antique or Vintage door handles and not replicas, you have come to the right place! Each of our door knobs or handles have been slightly reconditioned... Then for the types I would use bullets and not keep repeating the terms.

I looked at the site and this page has no external links to it which would be helpful. You would also be well served to implement product markup using schema.

I also noticed that when I did an image search on the 20's rose brass ball handles there was your image and then the same one for tons of ebay listings. One thing that can be helpful with products is to have your own images that you have taken. If these are your images I would put a copyright symbol on them, and I would make sure that weekly to monthly someone does an image search and files complaints on anyone using them without your permission. (You could also email the person using them and tell them if they use that image they MUST link back to you with a followed link to your page!)  You are fairly niche, so this should not be too difficult and it could be very helpful to you. 
I personally do not focus a ton on the competitor pages until I have things "near right" on the page.

This should at least give you something actionable to start with that should help with rankings over time.

Best

[archdecor]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for your reply, yes that's exactly what I was thinking I've ended up with regimental descriptions and keywords across all collection pages in the hope of just increasing search based on the keywords. The website was up and running for some time before I started to try and tidy it up and optimise the pages. My worry was affecting the keywords I was already ranking for (that particular page ranks quite high for some more specific keywords associated with 'antique door handles') which is sort of why I ended up with lists of keywords. I'm going to have to do some research, writing content is not my strong point, would you have any suggestions on where to start with some research?

I've been working on some quality links but not easy, the 2 relevant ones I had dropped off.

All those images of the handles are associated to other listings I have.

I had briefly looked at the product schema but looked a bit complicated for me but I'm going to have a relook.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond, its appreciated.

Paul. N