SEO and CMS

[IMHO]

Maybe I am to quick to judge. Tell me more about moz.com. I never used it and do not know what it do. What is moz telling you to make the conclusion that your keywords, phrases, is the best optimized in SA?

[pmbguy]

I know I know. The thing is I don’t retail as such. I provide a service, however it is still stupid of me not to have a website, I agree. Like I said.. next year sometime I will have a site. I am rather doff to the technicalities – but lucky for me I have some IT friends who do. I have not yet had a need for a website, too busy with machines. BUT I get it, I need one.

[pmbguy]

Hi TheElectrician - If you have any chance of survival you gotta give us more info about who you are and substantiate your claims, or unfortunately you will get ripped to pieces. Not by me but by the general TFSA public.

[TheElectrician]

Hi IMHO,

I think it is more my fault, I made the claim and assumed people would have industry specific knowledge without thinking (Silly mistake). If you are prepared for the read, I will gladly explain to you and anyone else reading this how I came to that claim. Some of it is a bit basic, so excuse me if I sound patronizing at any point, it is not my intention.

Firstly, Google doesn't store your website. It is nothing more than a massive index with a link to your website displayed. What you are doing when you 'Google' something is checking their "library of links", and it shows what it believes is the most relevant results, with a link to the websites. Google have nearly 300 parameters in regards to what they use to give rankings, which they keep top secret. What it can basically boil down to though are 2 things, which I will explain here:

Authority: How strong your website is in regards to other websites. Things like domain age, back links and social prevalence come into place in this category. This helps distinguish things in the same category from one another, so if you were to Google "Computers" for instance, pages from Wikipedia, Microsoft, Apple etc would all show up miles before Jonnyspc.co.za. The things they publish are deemed to be relevant and trusted as they have a high authority. This is also why if Wikipedia publish an article on your business industry for instance, it will appear a lot higher than your website (unless you Google your business name directly). This helps Google ensure that the user gets the best possible results for their search, and aren't spammed with pages that make a quick use of the next factor,

Relevance: This is the most obvious one, but Google isn't going to show an article of a chimpanzee on Wikipedia if you are looking for a carpet cleaner in Pretoria. This is where you optimize your site for relevance. You do this by creating keyword rich text, the URL name, metadata, social engagement, image names and anchor text. There is a lot more too it, but through this process you will see why I have done the following things (I am going to use The Plumber Bro's as an example):

-My business name has the keyword people will Google, as does my URL. I also have pages like /Johannesburg /Pretoria etc, as if someone types in 'plumber Durban', the page http://www.plumber-bros.co.za/durban will have their search directly in the URL.
-My slogan has a keyword in it (Don't sleep with a drip, call a PLUMBER).
-My logo is text, not an image (Besides the spanner). It is also an H1 (First heading), so Google knows it is a plumbing website, and 'plumber' is the most important thing here.
-I have many links to social media.
-I offer other forms of relevant and informative advice that would drive traffic from other sources http://www.plumber-bros.co.za/bro-code.
-My content is keyword rich (The word plumber is on my home page alone more than 14 times).
-My physical page names are all keyword rich.
-Loads of other things I have personally discovered and done that I won't share as to not assist any competitors.

No other website in the industry in South Africa can make these bragging rights, my only problem is that I don't have the authority yet to rank for keywords. This is to stop people registering domains, getting to the top via spamming their relevance, and when they are taken down for being spam, they can do it all over again in a few days. That is why I need to wait for the mandatory 3 months before Google accepts I am not trying to make a quick buck and am a legitimate and honest business. If you Google my business name exactly though, I will be there, but not yet for keywords. This is to allow people with websites to attract traffic through more conventional means. Where Moz tools comes into place is it sends its own version of 'Google bots' onto your page, and brings back a report to tell you how well your site is optimized and what Google will think of it. These are the most accurate forms of information a webmaster can use to see how he fares against competition, and will send a report on any website you wish (If I recall you need to register before you can check it out though?). I have used these tools, and it has come back and said I am the most optimized (maybe not the prettiest, it is very difficult to combine functionality and aesthetics for something like plumbing) plumbing and electrical website in South Africa. When I do have my authority, which is the hardest part (The wait, as well as a good link build), I will receive front page status for search terms like 'plumber Johannesburg', and the other major areas in South Africa. If you Google the actual search terms too, you will see things that aren't too relevant, as no one in SA has fully optimized the web and the power it has on the trade industry just yet (Like it does abroad). Things like the PICB and directories / job sites come up, even though trades are Googled over 40k a month in South Africa.

Just a quick one again for your knowledge, but I explained what Google is, not how it works. What it does is starts with an x amount of websites (unknown to us civilians) that it has deemed 'the most authoritative', and sends Google bots down the pages. When it finds a link, it goes to that site, and starts the process again. Websites that return back plenty of links from high authority sites, in themselves become high authority. Ie if Microsoft wrote an awesome article on johnnyspc.co.za and linked to it, Google would know it is not a site that is full of sh1t and selling viagra etc. You must remember also Google is nothing more than coding, and very rarely does it have human interaction in regards to what the rankings are. You can also have anchor text like <a href="www.plumber-bros.co.za">Plumber</a> and <a href="www.electrician-bros.co.za">Electrician</a> (I hope admin let me keep those), which are extremely valuable, as they combine the keyword and a link, helping Google better index the site. There are so many more variable that come into play, but that is kind of the just of it. The problem with SA is that not many people know too much about it, and as such they disregard it and don't realize how big the industry is abroad (Worth billions in the states alone), and how big it will be in SA once we sort out our internet access, speeds and affordability (we are getting there). What I am trying to do is help people realize this, and that is why I opened the question to see what other things I could do to engage people on this level and get clients for the services I am able to offer. I hope you found it informative and please let me know if you changed your firstly stated opinion, and if there is anything further I could do in regards to assisting you understand the industry. If you could also be so kind as to give feedback in the vein of PMBGuy, I would love that.

Thanks so much,

Kyle

[TheElectrician]

Absolutely fair enough, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have sent quite a lengthy message, but it has links in it to validate my claims, so it is being moderated

[Dave A]

Absolutely fair enough, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have sent quite a lengthy message, but it has links in it to validate my claims, so it is being moderated

Approved, and they're good posts too

(I also play fair and you're definitely winning me over )

[IMHO]

haha, I am not as easily convinced as Dave A. Most of the things you have mentioned, we know, although I am an absolute newbie in the game and only do it for myself. I would love to hear what Mark Atkinson says on the subject. Like the term "keyword rich" bandied around so much. As I understand it, it actually count against you if you overdo it and that meta tags is ignored by Google lately. To me it sounds more like you have read a lot of Google pages and watched a lot of YouTube on the subject, as I did. However it does not make me a SEO expert. I also understand the impetuosity of youth. Been there, done that. Worked a few months/years for a company and then thought I can go do it for myself.

Call me old school. But to me, the proof of the pudding, is still in the eating. How old is your domains now? How long do we have to wait?

[pmbguy]

Hey TheElectrician you did good, my goodness. I hoped you were for real, I was concerned at first, but you certainly exceeded my expectations. Well done

[TheElectrician]

Hi Dave, thanks for that, means a lot! I am actually really glad I found this forum; and look forward to what I would imagine would be the long fought battles with IMHO. The next wave starting now ....

Hi IMHO,

I'm glad you actually have some grasp on what I was talking about, I made it specific to the point someone who didn't understand it at all could grasp it. I take it you would like something more from me for you to say you could qualify my as an SEO expert? I do however also believe that to some extent you would like to fish out some tips etc that you could implement, at the price of me trying to repair what might look like a bruised ego. I will be more than happy to oblige, as the internet is, in my opinion, a place for people to learn.

To start with things you have said, the phrase keyword rich isn't the same as keyword stuffing. I will revert again to my page, but if I used phrases like: "The Plumber Bro's are plumbers that are your local plumbers and are a plumber in your area", and had the words "Plumber, plumber, plumbing" written in white on a white background, that is stuffing. Google will actually remove your site from the index for 18 months or so if you try that. The trick is to have your keyword anywhere between 4-6% of your text in well written and well constructed sentences. I also didn't say metatags, I said metadata. It is actually recommended you have one metatag, and it is your site name. Putting in keywords are ignored, and can actually be detrimental, you are right. In regards to Youtube, you are again right, I have watched many things on there, it taught me how to build in wordpress and better explained rel= canonical to me (We will link to that later, you are going to really want to read on). I'm not going to hide that I use the internet to learn, but in regards to the actual process of optimization, there are certain things that only experience and a good bit of common sense will get you. Just to begin, I would like to point out something in regards to our very conversation on www.theforumsa.co.za. Did you know that this is one of the only forums in South Africa that doesn't put a no follow link on your signature? I found that out at 11am this morning through plugins I have on my browser, and by 8pm, I had the webmaster of the site thank me for information and content, got given over 200 page views on my site, and to top it off he allowed me to post anchor linked text onto his website. How much more white hat can you get, and in a day? Has anyone you watched on Youtube been able to say that, let alone prove it in front of you? I have already had this feed pinged through a website called www.pingler.com; and the link to mine and yours (Kinda but not really, more on that below) website will already have Google bots on it. I have also built a link to this page on another forum (http://www.topix.com/forum/za/bloemf...9HJF0#lastPost) and pinged it, (Which actually has a higher Alexa rating than this site, and will be a great link for both Dave and a back link of a back link for my own (ours now) purposes. You will also notice I back link referenced that site through this one too. Not many people realize how important that can be (I guess no one ever mentions it on Youtube). I have now are given the same Google Bot the opportunity to see my site 3 times through 3 different legitimate and well viewed crawling parameters. What do you rate the little bastard is going to report to head office? It also (beautifully so) creates a scenario where my competitors can't use opensite explorer (Another Moz tool that can only analyze direct back links to your site) to check where all mine and my clients back links are and see exactly how efficient I am at hiding them without losing effectiveness. I am fine relaying that little bit of information, as there are plenty more little things like that that no one thinks of (or doesn't say) that I have stored in my noggin. I also didn't have the aim of learning this to do it myself, I got asked by my previous employer to open an office in SA due to my ability in the industry. I have been a business owner in one form or another my whole life, and this isn't some fly by night thing I will be over in 6 months when someone offers me a job. I still have a business I created at 17 ticking over with no more than 2 hours a week involvement and pays for my flights to the UK every 6 months.

I also don't mind giving you assistance if you ask. If it was your intention to bait advice, you don't have to. As I said, I am happy to teach what I know, it is the whole purpose of the internet. I also see you don't have the top spot just yet, so below is a quick list of a few things that you can do to improve your site. How would you like to kick the 4 seasons off the top? You can if you take these things under advisement and implement them as soon as you can:

- Lose the sub pages. It is miles better to create LINKS within your actual site to other pages. Make every page on your website a main page, and hide them off the menu. Even your own website is giving you links, and you need to utilize this as best you can. Having your website link internally well and aesthetically / functionally can be challenging, but it is definitely worth the reward. You are more than welcome to check out my site map on how I have achieved this. I think I handled it alright. Tips would be appreciated though if you have found something that can be improved on?

- Images: Your image should be labeled simply 'Guest house Klerksdop'. Your slide show should also not be embedded, and rather images that slide across that you can give direct names to.

- Social Media: You need to show your social media on your home page. It is difficult to get to them from a visitor and a Google Bot (They appear in line 321+ of your code on the contact page). I am not familiar with Joomla, but I know wordpress has some fantastic plug ins to have your social media appear nicely down your page. I am sure you read a Google page from somewhere that would have stated the importance of content towards the top of the site? I learned wordpress from Youtube, so I am sure you are able too. If you register a domain and practice on there, then you should have no qualms...

- Utilizing Google within your site: Where are your Google maps on the actual site? You also don't appear on the maps in search for 'Guest house Klerksdop' too? You need to rectify this as soon as possible. I see you use Google + and Youtube though, which is great. I started the whole journey by putting myself in the shoes of the CEO of Google. What would I then want from people trying to rank their site? Google have numerous products, and I would imagine that they would want you to use all of them. In conjunction with Moz tools I also use Google Analytics, webmaster tools, I have an open Adwords and Adsense account and use their business apps to handle a few aspects. These are all linked to my site too, and they are all free (The Google ones anyway. Moz tools is 100 Dollars US per month after your 1st month free trial).

- Your rel=canonical: You will see if you go to your site, your bar will not have a www. before your domain name, but on Google it will if you look for your business directly. This means you don't have a rel=canonical on your website, which is the main reason you aren't ranking high. A rooky mistake if it is your first time building a website (I did it too), but really hard to fix once you have buggered it up. Believe it or not, you are actually competing against yourself for traffic. When you installed Joomla, (If it is any similar to wordpress?), you would have had a drop down that had the following options: (HTTP://) (HTTP://WWW.) (HTTPS://) etc. It is set default to (HTTP://), and you didn't change it to (HTTP://WWW). With no rel=canonical tag, Google is indexing the www. version (that you are so actively displaying and linking to) and the actual site as 2 completely different entities. What you have accidentally done in real world perspective is tied a rope to one arm, and are using the other arm to pull it and hit yourself in the face. This Youtube video explains it better (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm9onOGTgeM) which is actually uploaded by Google themselves. You have created duplicate content on the internet, and it has hit you hard (Basically for people who aren't going to be bothered watching that, in Layman terms, Google has indexed the (HTTP/:WWW) domain, but it is the exact duplicate of the (HTTP://), and Google thinks you are being naughty by stealing other peoples content and demotes you. As all the link building and traffic is going through the (HTTP://WWW), the original site (HTTP://) doesn't get a chance to rank. A rel=canonical tells Google they are the same site and not to worry). "Ctrl & U" your website to see the code, and "Ctrl & F" to find, you will see I am right. Moz actually gives the rel = canonical the most important rating in regards to your SEO. An example of this is if you do this to my site, you will see the code in line 35.

- Some side tips: You need to create fresh content that will bring visitors to your site besides them looking for a guest house, but are still specific. Off the top of my head, how about a page that shows what someone can actually do in Klerksdop? I live near OR Tambo, and I have no inkling to go to Klerksdop for anything. Show me why I must come, and then viola; looks like I am on a website that shows me where I can stay too (Which generates you income!). Provide those businesses (The ones who provide stuff to do) with links, and ask for them to be reciprocated. Show them this thread to prove the importance of it! This is why I have my "Bro Code", so people who are trying to understand why their toilet won't flush, can find out and then are one click away from my number). Also, change your URL to www(PLEASE DON'T FORGET IT THIS TIME).Mascarene-Guest-House.co.za. This has a keyword in the URL. Build the new site on wordpress (From my understanding it is the most Google friendly CMS. It will also automatically install a rel=canonical line). Point the current domain to the new one so you don't lose links (They will be diluted slightly though, but better than starting again! This can be done through a quick call to your domain host). This will sit you back in the dumbass chair along with myself, waiting for your domain to reach 3 months, but shit happens I am afraid. I can guarantee you will have grown your business by 50% in the next 6 months though if you follow my advice.

If you need more advice though, and there is plenty of it, I start charging South African Rands ... As previously mentioned, there are nearly 300 things Google looks for, and Youtube will tell you about 30 which are probably true, and a standard SEO expert in SA (judging by the quality of sites in SA) in the region of 40. I'm not going to give you my magic number though I'm just a classy guy like that... Let me know if you need any physical help with sorting this out though. I actually went through the rel=canonical error myself the first time round with plumberbros.co.za; and had to start all over again with plumber-bros.co.za... It is a ball ache, but it is the only way you will bring customers through Google without paying for adwords / Googling your business name directly. I only realized this 2 months into the project when I was getting angry that I wasn't even on page 5 yet... I just knew wordpress did it and didn't investigate (LIKE A MORON). I guess this is why SEO people should stay away from building Anyway I am fixed now, and the new domain got registered 2 weeks ago, so we still have a while to go. But I know I am miles ahead of my competition for these keywords, and that is why I can so confidently state what I have Look forward to admiring the view from the top with you.

Kyle

[TheElectrician]

Hi PMBGuy,

Thanks a lot :P

[IMHO]

Thanks for the tips Kyle. And no, I was not fishing. I am actually prepared to pay ZAR for service, so will look you up in three months again.

[IMHO]

Kyle, if you really want to impress me, tell me what ukarimo dot co.za and lekkeslaap dot co.za is doing. Use Klerksdorp accommodation as keyword. They are amazing with what they achieve in ads.

BTW, the site in my sig. is not my main site. My main site is so bad, I am ashamed to show it here. I am working on the new one though. mascarene was a trial run. There is another challenge for you. What is my main site. hehe, actually easy peasy.

[TheElectrician]

Good morning IMHO,

I realized last night that after I posted the thread, someone might take the opportune moment to register the open domain name http://www.mascarene-guest-house.co.za and attempt to charge you an extortionate amount of money for it. It has been known to happen, some people are just messed up. I have registered it on your behalf, and will do a domain name transfer as soon as you are ready? It only cost like R14.00, so don't worry about it. It also gets you one day closer to that 3 month target The monthly installments are R36.00 I think? Not much more if it is, so it should be affordable from that point of view... If you point your existing domain, the whole thing will work out to about R50 a month. This will also allow you to keep your existing email address / accounts etc. It is going to be a bit of a shlep rearranging your Google accounts, I would suggest starting from scratch if I was you, it makes it easier. If that is not an option, you have a bit of a ball ache in front of you.

I also installed Wordpress on the website, making sure there is no chance of a rel=canonical mess up like last time, and if you "Ctrl & U" the website, you will see the code in line 30. Once I have transferred the domain to your name (Preferably if you are with Afrihost, or open an account there), I will email you the WP log in details and you can take it from there in regards to changing it around / the themes etc. I will also email you the source file I built the theme on, so if you make a mistake, it can be quickly fixed by uploading the source file. I am also in no ways a designer, so I won't be offended if you change things around. The source code should stay the same, so go mad with themes etc. Just from an SEO point of view, I would like to point out a couple of things:

- Your site is now fully responsive. What this means is that it will fold in on itself if you shrink the browser (try it!). This is ideal as people will obviously be on different sized screens due to the various platforms, and will have the same user experience. There will be no more sliding left / right on a phone to get to contact details etc. It also significantly assists with load time.

- Your logo is now text. I don't know how important this is to you, but it is easy enough to change if you want to revert. Please however try and keep the H2, as it is key words in a slogan.

- Page names. Hold your mouse over the tab icon in your browser. These are now content rich, but not spam.

- 3 coloured blocks all have a H1 heading. They are also obviously keywords. Please try not to remove them. (The text anyway).

- The Youtube link you have been providing was for Joomla, and not for yourself. You might want to check that and put it in properly?

- Please keep my link at the bottom referencing Web Vitality.

- I only optimized the home page (well kinda) and the contact page. I have also ensured your permalinks all sit at the same level, with you no longer having links like : johnny.co.za/blah/blah/blah/what-i-want. It will always be johnny.co.za/what-I-want. This will stop your own internal links from diluting. You will also see I added in a Google Map that allows the user to get directions from wherever they are in the world through whatever means of transport. You no longer have to provide directions from other landmarks. You must play around on that map, it can be quite fun.

- Please keep the plugins I use to yourself.

- I have done on page graders for the following things:

- Guest House (www.mascarene-guest-house.co.za) (A)
- Conference Centre (www.mascarene-guest-house.co.za) (B)
- Wedding (www.mascarene-guest-house.co.za) (B)

- Guest House (www.mascarene.co.za) (F)
- Conference Centre (www.mascarene.co.za) (F)
- Wedding (www.mascarene.co.za) (F)

- Guest House Klerksdorp (www.mascarene-guest-house.co.za/klerksdorp) (B) (No content has been added yet though)

Your competitors in Klerksdorp for the keywords 'Guest house':

- #http://www.#everwood#.za.com/ (B)
- #http://www.#fourseasonsklerksdorp#.co.za/ (B)
- #http://www.#ukarimu#.co.za/ (C)
- #http://www.#twinsguesthouse#.co.za/ (B).

So for the keyword, you are, at least on page value alone, a better site than them. Obviously I have left you shit load of work to do in regards to getting the site 100% complete, but I don't think you could of asked for a better start? If you want help sorting it out, I will be able to have the thing sorted for you 100% by the end of the day, with a full breakdown of Moz reports emailed to you tonight. However if that is what you want, we are in the area that is talking rands... Let me know.

Kyle

[TheElectrician]

all martins

[TheElectrician]

Your Ukaremu buddies actually have a very poor backlink profile. In regards to SEO, they are only propagating due to lack of competition. However they do have absolutely beautiful rooms etc at their premises, so I can imagine that word of mouth is one of their strongest agents.