Well it took a while. In my previous post I mentioned the issues with outbound links. Having removed the offending item it should have been a swift journey back to the top of the search results.
Unfortunately we watched the the site move from 700+ to 800+.
Then the email we had been waiting for… Google saying we have reconsidered your site. Great. Then the site fell out of the top 1000.
I was left scratching my head.
However, now a week after the email the site is back to the top.
Finally.
I have been completing some SEO work with an ecommerce company recently and during our work the site plummeted from position 1 to 600+ in Google SERP. ‘What the hell’ was my first comment. Especially as none of the other Search Engines were penalising the site at all.
Anyway, we went back through the basics just to make sure we hadn’t overstepped the mark. Removed some recently added products, just in case the balance of keywords had been thrown. And we waited … position 700+. Not good, we were moving backwards rapidly.
I had gone through and checked that each of the links from the home page connected to sensible content using Microsofts internet explorer. What I should have done, and as a tip to those focusing on Google, was to use Google Chrome browser to review the sites. It turns out that one of the links connected to a site containing malware links. Only when I opened the site through Google’s Chrome browser was a warning displayed regarding the problem.
Links are removed and a reconsideration submitted, just waiting for the Google bods now.
Michael Bates - Director - MSI Commerce for SEO
It has been a while since I have added to the page, but a few things have changed recently so I have a bit more time to focus on the important aspects of ebusiness.
A recent call revealed that an acquaintance had been off and had a website developed. The company in question didn’t do search engine optimisation, which is a shame as this is critical in developing a site. I have said it before and will say it again there are a few key elements to a site which are vital from an SEO stand point.
1. Ensure that each page has appropriate titles and that they are not the same across the whole site. Google prefers that they are not the same, as this indicates that the content is the same across all the pages. Titles should be unique.
2. Please ensure that you have the ability, if they are not their already, to add tags to existing/new content. Specifically marking certain parts of the page with h1 tages is key.
3. If you are buying a site with a content management system (please do it will save you money in the long run) then ensure it has access to elements such as the page titles, meta keywords and meta description. The meta description is still the call to action from the search results page. If you can’t add something, then Google will randomly select some other stuff from the page which may not be an appropriate message for a potential customer.
It has been a few weeks since I posted on the blog, but August has been a quiet month for me, especially as I am in a new business.
I have been involved in a couple of pieces of work where small businesses aren’t seeing anything from their websites.
It seems that small businesses are still missing key points during the development of their websites, which is a real shame. Could be poor or no advice from their web development companies.
Taking a look at the two examples.
1. Pictures and Graphics
It may be true that pictures say a thousand words, sadly not in the case of search engines. The site I reviewed was nearly all pictures, which looked great and someone had obviously spent a lot of time on developing these great images. Google however wasn’t able to find enough worthwhile content to rank the page in the search results. Key phrases and keywords were nowhere to be seen.
The other problem with pictures is, if all your content is graphical it will restrict your ability to update the site at a later stage. Unless of course you have in-house graphic capabilities, which for most small businesses is unlikely.
2. Keywords and Key phrases.
If you are running a small business and expect to attract most of your business from the local area then check out the number of searches for your business type and the area name. EG Accountants Norwich. The Google keyword tool is a great way of researching your keywords. https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
You will probably find that there are several hundred searches for
If you need some help in either of these areas why not get in contact.
http://www.msicommerce.co.uk/contact/contact.asp