No, I am referring to their ranking on Google adwords. They are always between 1 and 3. ALWAYS! Lekkeslaap again get a lot of display ads shown.Originally Posted by TheElectrician
Why?
What are we talking about in Rands? You can PM me if you do not want to show it here.
~Expenses will eat you alive! - My first Boss~
Do you like the design and the functionality? This can be changed but I need your opinion, as ultimately it is yours that counts... I can also add features like an online booking form etc. Also, you will be showing up in about 6 - 8 weeks I would guess, as I checked the actual strength of keywords you are targeting, and it is very low. So that is an encouraging sign. How about you give me a price you are happy with, and we negotiate from there. I am not getting you on the front page for 'bank' or 'medical aid' and don't expect R300k or anything. (However, if you are offering...)
RE the keywords, they have set their bids a lot higher than the Google asking price. Obviously Google wants more cash, so makes it the most expensive ppc show first. This is an extraordinary waste of money, as if they are in such a low competed word, they could technically hire me once off, and then never have to pay Google again. Also, I don't know if you have come across the stats in your independent research, but in 2009 they did a test using high speed cameras and focused on peoples eyes when they were Googling something. The camera then created a heat map on the screen to show where most people look and click. The ads only get about 9% of traffic, with the pages ranked 1,2 and 3 getting over 55%. If you have used adwords in the past, I'm sure you can relate to spending more than actually bringing in on some days, and sometimes it isn't worth the gamble.
Are we talking mascarene. If so, no, I am happy as it is. Online booking is something I steer away from on purpose. Our booking system is too flexible for that.
Mascarene is already hitting page one, on occasion, so why the delay? Or are you talking about the domain change? I would have rather taken the domain out with my host, Afrihost, as it is now going to be all sorts of drama.Also, you will be showing up in about 6 - 8 weeks I would guess,
Just something about Mascarene. I use it mainly as an overflow, when Housemartin is fully booked. That enables me to keep expenses down. I do not need staff, I switch of geysers and all non essentials and things like that. When I get an overflow or big booking, I open Mascarene up.
I do not understand what you mean. I am not running a campaign on it and I am not targeting any keywords on puppose. I guess I did use them though, for when I do start a campaign. You say the strength is very low. Suppose I am not understanding again. You do not get a stronger phrase than 'klerksdorp accommodation' and 'accommodation klerksdorp'. I am sure I used those all over.as I checked the actual strength of keywords you are targeting, and it is very low. So that is an encouraging sign.
Nope. You set your price. I want you to break down all the items you want to implement into a quantity. I will then divide the price by that qty and get an item price. I am not giving you access to the site back-end. You tell me, one item at a time, what to do and I implement it. I then pay you for that item once it is actioned, or it goes on your bill, as you wish.How about you give me a price you are happy with, and we negotiate from there. I am not getting you on the front page for 'bank' or 'medical aid' and don't expect R300k or anything. (However, if you are offering
So here you talk ukarimo and adwords. I do not think that is what is happening. They are a small, hidden away guesthouse and not great looking from the outside. I doubt they will be spending big money on adwords. Lekkeslaap maybe yes. In any case, my bids is dbl or triple page one est bid and it does not have the effect.RE the keywords, they have set their bids a lot higher than the Google asking price. Obviously Google wants more cash, so makes it the most expensive ppc show first. This is an extraordinary waste of money, as if they are in such a low competed word, they could technically hire me once off, and then never have to pay Google again.
It comes and goes. I know I can not do without adwords. The clicks is there, the conversions not so much. So, people click on different sites and then I lose them. I am working on that on my new site. It will be responsive and geared towards mobile devices. I see yours is as well.Also, I don't know if you have come across the stats in your independent research, but in 2009 they did a test using high speed cameras and focused on peoples eyes when they were Googling something. The camera then created a heat map on the screen to show where most people look and click. The ads only get about 9% of traffic, with the pages ranked 1,2 and 3 getting over 55%. If you have used adwords in the past, I'm sure you can relate to spending more than actually bringing in on some days, and sometimes it isn't worth the gamble.
http://quirktools dot com/screenfly/#u=http%3A//www.plumber-bros.co.za/&w=360&h=640&a=38&s=1
~Expenses will eat you alive! - My first Boss~
Oh boy, I love threads like this. Here we go!
There's too much here for me to dissect in one go, so I'm going to have a go at cherry-picking some of the things that stand out most to me.
Why thank you, I don't mind if I do.
You were very quick to claim great gradings through Moz's tools, but you don't point out which keywords you're supposedly optimising well for.
Before I nitpick, I would just like to point out that an A grading from Moz on your pages' on-site optimisation does not make you an SEO expert, nor does it guarantee you a top ranking in Google, in 3 months or ever. I've seen F-graded pages rank better for terms than A-graded pages. In fact, judging performance based on the Moz page grading tool is so distorted that I don't even use that tool anymore. This is more because under-optimisation is still better than over-optimisation, which can totally destroy your performance. Unfortunately Moz does not measure over-optimisation.
So for all your claims of having the most well optimised sites in the industry, I found the following in about 2 minutes: (On the Plumbing Bros website, Electrician Bros seems similar)
- You have multiple H1 tags! How on earth is Google supposed to distinguish what your page is about when your heading structure suggests that everything on a page is of equal importance? Matt Cutts has been cited on multiple occasions condemning the use of more than one H1 tag.
- Your home page has two meta descriptions.
- Despite having said yourself in a post that the Meta Keywords tag provides zero benefit to your website (and can cause more harm than good, actually), you have implemented the tag on both your websites.
- The content on your website, for the most part, addresses problems and not solutions. Considering people looking for a plumber are generally going to be looking for solutions, your content is sub-optimal. As an example: You have a page addressing "Burst Geysers" as opposed to "Burst Geyser repairs" which is more likely to be searched for. The lack of specificity is going to kill a new website - being vague/trying to rank for broader terms is not the solution when you're trying to get your initial rankings up.
- You used Artisteer to create the theme. Artisteer produces some of the most bloated code I've ever seen and is buggy as all hell. I'd rather use Wordpress' default theme than use Artisteer, and I hate the default Wordpress theme.
- I haven't even begun to address conversion optimisation here, but I would like to just point out that it's almost non-existent on the sites you pointed us to. Getting traffic to a site is all fine and dandy, but if it's the wrong traffic or if you don't guide them through a funnel to the point that they contact you, then your efforts are wasted. As the saying goes, I'd rather have 1000 customers than 1 million views.
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Now, let's talk a bit about duplicate content. Surely, as a professional SEO, you know that duplicate content is a bad thing? Assuming you do, then I have the following questions:
1. Why is your own website, webvitality.co.za almost a word-for-word copy of your site in the UK, webvitality.co.uk? I hope you don't lean on the "they're in different regions, it doesn't matter" argument, because you wouldn't be more wrong. Google doesn't ignore duplicate content from different hemispheres, countries or regions. Duplicate content is duplicate content is duplicate content and you're damaging the chances for both websites, but more so the newer one, by having a direct copy of the UK version.
2. Why would you create a site that competes directly with IMHO's current site without no-indexing it? I looked in the robots file as well as for a meta tag that conveys a no-index rule, so if I missed it, I'm sorry. But by doing this (I'm assuming to try and solicit business from IMHO) you have now created yet another thing for him to compete with. Having two sites about the same thing dilutes the results for both. He doesn't win, his competitors do.
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I'd like to spend some time clearing up some misguided information now.
It almost feels as though you learned SEO 5-6 years ago and then didn't bother doing any reading on the subject thereafter.
1. A keyword-heavy URL is fast becoming more of a liability than an asset. Google is ranking brands over keyword-rich domains. Sure, there are such domains that still perform well, but it's by no means a very important factor anymore.
2.It's all very well having a keyword in your slogan and a logo that is text, but what on earth is that doing for your brand? People don't remember text logos and the benefit you gain from it (if any) is not worth the sacrifice you're making. I offer web design, e-commerce, social media management, Facebook app development, SEO, PPC Campaign management, email marketing, graphic design, branding & consulting. Should I throw all of that into my slogan to rank better?
No! Oh heavens, no! You simply cannot be an advocate of specific keyword density in 2013/14! This will do you way more harm than good. I've never counted counted keywords in my copy since the day I started my own business and I rank perfectly well for several of my target keywords. Please, write about your topic in a natural manner that is useful to your audience. Keyword density means nothing.
Here's an infographic I did: http://redgiantdesign.co.za/rg-desig...fographic.html
It has over 20,000 visits this year and is on the first page for a number of search terms. There's very little text on the page and the words "Joomla" and Wordpress" only form 1-2% of the post. I'm willing to bet that I could remove the words Joomla and Wordpress completely from the body of text completely and still rank the same. Seriously, there are way more important things to be concentrating on than keyword density.
What? Hide them off the menu? Why would Google ever want somebody to sacrifice user-friendly navigation for the sake of performing better in their search engine? Internal linking is important yes, but seeing as your menu is a form of internal linking there is absolutely no reason why you should hide pages off your menu. (Other than to improve the user-friendliness of your site by only displaying relevant items to them)
The key is to make sure that any important page on your site is accessible within 2 levels of your landing page. (So 2 clicks away) This is achieved via sitemaps, menus and strong internal linking.
I think the Youtube video on rel=canonical may have misguided you on this a little bit.
A canonical tag is not the optimal solution for a www./non-www. duplicate content issue. A 301 redirect is. What IMHO should be doing is redirecting one of the versions to the other, so as to consolidate the two completely and remove any duplications. By adding a rel=canonical tag to try and solve this, you're saying "it's okay that I have two versions of my website with the same content, but I prefer this one."
Don't get me wrong, rel=canonical tags are great and you could probably incorporate them site-wide if you really want to, but they definitely aren't exactly the same thing as a proper permanent redirect.
Since you seem to like Moz a lot (who doesn't), here's an article to back all this up and enlighten you further on the use of rel=canonical.
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It may seem like I'm being a little ruthless here, but let's dwell on why I'm so decidedly pedantic about this by being constructive. You say no other plumbing site in SA can match your optimisation. Here's one that I found that is absolutely killing their SEO: http://www.plumbersjohannesburg.com/
They have multiple no. 1 and 2 rankings for absolutely brilliant money-words (keywords that are more likely to convert) such as "Plumber Johannesburg", "Geyser repairs Johannesburg" and "Kitchen Renovations Johannesburg."
Let's quickly explore why they're doing so well:
- Their pages are all very well optimised. Very good title tag usage, proper heading structure/hierarchy, good meta data, etc.
- They have fantastic call-to-actions and an easily accessible contact form on every landing page, so I can imagine they're getting a pretty darn good conversion rate.
- They have loads of great content that addresses solutions to people's problems but, more importantly, they have a page filled with good content dedicated to each of these key problems/solutions. This, coupled with their solid internal linking, allows them to rank for a range of great keywords. You'll notice that it's not their home page ranking for all the keywords (except "Plumber Johannesburg" and variations), it's all those dedicated landing pages that they've set up.
- They've secured themselves a Google+ local business listing, which goes a long way to helping them rank for all those local terms. They also do a good job of optimising for even more specific locations by having unique content for different areas in JHB, all on separate landing pages.
Man, these guys are doing such a good job with their SEO it actually makes my day to see it. It's not difficult to do, it's raw "do the big things that matter" SEO. Nothing cute about it, it's just effective. And that's all you need in a field that's not very competitive folks. Plumbers, electricians, guest houses in Klerksdorp, etc. - These are all areas where the business owners can excel in online by doing some of their own SEO. You don't need to be paying thousands of Rands a month to somebody to do it for you. A little guidance here and there, sure, but that's all you need in addition to some of your time. The return will be worth it.
@TheElectrician - I appreciate your enthusiasm for the topic, but it pains me to see information being spread that has the potential to harm a website more than help it. Many of your points are right on the money, but teaching outdated SEO to folks who don't know better is recipe for disaster. At the very least, appreciate the fact that if you're going to invite criticism, you can bet your bottom dollar that somebody like me is going to call you out on false claims, particularly in an industry as volatile and tricky as SEO/inbound marketing.
Well, this was fun. Looking forward to the replies.
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Things Google Looks ForAs 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
Sorry, I'm not a classy guy.
Mark My Words - Arbitrary thoughts on ordinary things"The way to gain a good reputation, is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear." - Socrates
Trench Life - A blog for young professionals, BY young professionals
Bafokke Shirts - South Africa's No. 1 Fan Shirt!
I always wonder, hypothetical scenario, 100 companies (same line of business) fighting to be number 1 on Google, 100 SEO masters, who wins?
On another note, I often notice that Google is in a sense customizing my Google search I use on my computer, as at times when I search for same product from different computer I get different results. Another point if I Google a product today, a few days later if I visit an un-related site I often see the advertising was for a product I have Goggled. And that brings to mind a question, How does one optimize their site for a search engine which is continually trying to optimize itself?
Now if a given company sells 50 products, can the SEO expert get it to be number one for each product search, or do they find one product, or one keyword which is then used as the selling point for good SEO skills?
I understand they are many tools, tricks and tips for Optimization, and some do work, but in my humble opinion, the GOD Google eventually gets to decide, and if that GOD is after advertising revenue, then there are no guarantees.
case in point 2 sites exactly the same, keywords, products, exactly same optimizing skills put to each who ranks number one. Only difference being name of site.
Well, then money gets to be the deciding factor. Also, if I throw enough money at the problem, I will be number 1. If I want to beat Wiki, i do not know...
The whole idea of SEO, is to minimise the money spend.
~Expenses will eat you alive! - My first Boss~
I agree, the point I was trying to make, it cost to Hire a SEO expert, so not much saving. If you going to spend better to spend on the GOD himself, than on expert SEO company that claim they can defeat the GOD. To get to the point more clearly, one only has to google SEO company, say for instance if you were looking for a company to do SEO for your site , google brings up about 56000 results, let's argue, that is the top SEO companies coming up(the cream of the crop), which you would expect cause it is a service they offer. I am sure many of the members here will have a good laugh at who number one is on google.
Just an addition , say for your site, your optimization would before guest house in klerksdorp
But it is easy to notice that the Google algorithm in a search for those keywords ranks sites better if they instead use Klerksdorp Guest Houses as the optimizer keyword on they site they are ranked better by Google in searches for guest house in Klerksdorp. What I know about SEO one can write on the back of a stamp.
When you
INPUT in search guest house in klerksdorp
You would expect Google to search exactly like that but instead the algorithm is looking for
Klerksdorp Guest Houses.
So add that to your site and see if it improves your page rank.
Edit : Corrected some spelling errors by simple right clicking on words underlined in red
We do about 60 variants of all the combinations of Klerksdorp, Guesthouse, B&B, Lodge, Hotel, Accommodation
Then you also have a thing called broad match. So Google also include other weird searches, in stead of matching a specific phrase. You can change that so it would match only specific phrases.
~Expenses will eat you alive! - My first Boss~
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