Google, what to do about ranking issues???

[Raymond138]

Hello all,
I am running into the same problems that many of you are with Google. My site was launched about 3 months ago, and while I am currently listed in the top 5 for most search engines (i.e., yahoo, etc), I am no where to be found in Google when we search for our key word (weather insurance). I have tried countless time to contact them about the issue, however, no resolution. Other than my P-P-C ads on Google, we are nowhere to be found in the top 200. Can anyone lend a thought as to why we pop up everywhere else in the top 10, however, have no credible position within Google? I thank you in advance for your time and consideration. Best, Ray

[gilkesy]

Ray

I have the same problem as you - Brilliant rankings with Yahoo, MSN et etc but nothing with Google. I dropped out of Google with the "Florida dance"

[flood6]

Probably the single most effective thing you can do to improve your positioning in Google right now is get more inbound links.

You are currently only showing 3 inbound links for your weather insurance site.

Google only shows a sample of your backward links in that search, but is a decent indication nonetheless.

Get your target keywords in the anchor text whenever possible.

Good luck.

[bhartzer]

Raymond138, as you can see, you're not the only one having ranking problems at Google. Unfortunately, Google will not (and cannot) answer your ranking questions because of their stance on the issue--they really don't want you manipulating their search results so that you rank higher than your competitors. So, as a result, you see the current rankings--people like you and me who are penalized for "over optimizing" our websites.

There's good news, though. I suggest that you definitely work on getting appropriate on-topic links to your website (that advice suggested already is really great advice). Then, take a look at your website and see if there's anything that you have done on your pages that could be seen as "over-optimization", and fix it.

[crashingflwrgrl]

Then, take a look at your website and see if there's anything that you have done on your pages that could be seen as "over-optimization", and fix it.

It's tough to critique your own website....I would put it up for review instead.

Just my 2 cents.

[jestep]

I dont think that overoptimization is a problem. There's not much evidence that there is any filtering based on over optimizetion. I would keep working on inbound links and give it time. Google takes a long time to rank a new site for competitive search terms.

[bhartzer]

There may not be a filter for over-optimization, but there are definitely penalties for it. Trust me, I have had sites that were over-optimized and de-optimizing made the sites come back to top 10 rankings.

[jestep]

What type of over optimization were you doing. Was it just too many keywords/keyword ratio, or something else? Im definately interested.

[bhartzer]

The over-optimization I'm talking about can be a number of things.

In one case, the title tag started with the keyword phrase. I moved that keyword phrase in the title tag and the rankings came back.

In another case, a page about 'red widgets' had a link on it that had the text 'red widgets' in it. I changed that link and the rankings came back.

In another case, I removed some comments tags and the rankings came back.

In yet another case, I removed once instance of an alt tag on the page and the rankings came back.

Get the picture? The types of over-optimization can vary greatly depending on how the site was optimized.

[Mel]

That is intersting Bill, but I use all the above (with the exception of the comments tags) on my sites and they all rank very well.

[Martin Smith]

Can you provide any evidence of comment tags leading to improved rankings Mel? I find it hard to believe that any bot is going to give rankings on the basis on anything in comment tags.

[flood6]

Originally Posted by Martin Smith

Can you provide any evidence of comment tags leading to improved rankings Mel? I find it hard to believe that any bot is going to give rankings on the basis on anything in comment tags.

That's what Mel is saying. He used all of the techniques previously mentioned except keywords in comment tags.

I think most people will agree, keywords in comment tags are a waste of bandwidth.