what am I doing wrong?

gigigib · #1 (**permalink**) 03-05-2005, 06:51 PM

I know there are no easy answers when it comes to Google, but can someone tell me what I'm doing wrong?
When I checked them morning, my site is #1 on MSN, #10 in Yahoo and #139 Google, all with the same keyword search (fragrant oil).
I have, from the beginning, tried to do everything I have read to get Google's attention , from keyword rich text on my home page, with the words close to the top of the page, and sprinkled throughout the page, links, etc. And while I'm tickled pink that my site's doing ok with MSN and Yahoo, I'm very dissapointed and frustrated with Google. I was #68 about a week ago and #139 Today. It's going the wrong way!!
Any suggestions?? And please, if you do give me advice, keep it simple, as I'm still in the learning stages :).

cbp · #2 (**permalink**) 03-05-2005, 07:41 PM

Google is all about having youy keywords in the anchor text of incoming links/backlinks.

Thats why ou rank number one in Google for Forget Me Not Scented Gifts

CBP

gigigib · #3 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 10:13 AM

Thanks for your input cbp. I've heard before that your keywords need to be in incoming links, but what I don't understand is..why would I link to competitive sites that have my main keyword phrase in their text? I would just be taking a chance that visitors would click on that link taking them away from my site.
Is this the main thing google is looking for? IF it is, I'd better get busy looking for competitors that have higher prices than me!:)

**ctabuk** · #4 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 10:43 AM

Hi, keywords from incoming links? No I don't reckon that one. I use my page titles as my keywords, with some it works and with others, well you can guess. I use www.statcounter.com and I pay $10 per month for my info, I can see what keywords people use to find my site, some of them are totally obscure yet show up on the Major SE's. There is no magic wand to get you in the top 5 pages of Google, not for a keyword that others use in abundance. It is a time game, just stick to good content, constantly check your competitors websites, follow their "linksto" and do the same linkages. Something also that is so simple but loads miss it. Click on every single competitors website that is highly ranked and ask for a linkback, you never know, someone who works for the firm might just agree to try it.

greeneagle · #5 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 10:44 AM

gigigib,

What's wrong with "Scented Gifts"; #1 out of 882,000.

What's wrong is that you must promote all your keyphrases, not 1.

Ken

**ctabuk** · #6 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 10:57 AM

Kens right, but there is more to it than just that, your site is not as SE friendly as it could be, your desription is gifts for all, and then you cram the expression 'fragrant oil' to the point of overkill. You need to re think your tags. Take the site into 'submit your site for review' here at WPW and run it by all the checks before submission.Then request a review, after you have made the changes

greeneagle · #7 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 11:18 AM

Just wanted to make you aware of that "hit" if you weren't already!

Here is your problem.

You have a "singular" vs "plural" disconnect in your Sites SE "logic channeling structure".

That's a "Big Bite" isn't it? Let's try to swallow it together here.

Should you emphasize the singular or the plural? ie "fragrant oil" or "fragrant oils"?

Currently your Title is in the singular and reviewing your Site the singular version has a density of < 1.64%. It doesn't even show up analytically! That is why you are in position #567 there. Your all important "Title" commands a logic that is not supported by your keywords and body, it's disjointed at that juncture!

On the other hand you have a keyphrase density "fragarant oils" (plural) of 7.38%... ALL OVER THE MAP! That's why you are in a much better position for "Fragrant Oils" at #149, but your Title doesn't match!

If you want to play an SEO game just add the letter "s" to "fragrant oil" in your Title and give it a week or so.

You need to get things in line. Channel it! The SE algs are software. All software is based on logic. Supply it!

If you really want to get serious, decide which is more popular and "nail it" all the way thru!

Doing a little research, you would find that most surfers do not use "modifers" such as quotations when doing a general search. The plural version returns 216,000 and the singular version returns 413,000 in GOOGLE. I'd stick with it and change everything in your body and keywords first. The Title is ok.

Your keywords are overstuffed and not necessarily SE friendly... That's another issue though!

Multiple "Tuned" "Channels" are great for relative traffic!

Texas is big, but we share, no prejudice there!

Hope this helps!
Ken

gigigib · #8 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 11:57 AM

You're both right, I used the phrase "fragrant oil(s)" a little too much in the body of text on my home page, but in my defense, everything that I learned when writing copy was to make the text "keyword rich!", without over-doing it. I used the search engine optimiation tool in SEO doctor and re-did my text until I finally got a good score.

Ken, I will change fragrant oil to singular in everything to be consistent. I honestly didn't realize that it made a difference. Some of the stuff that comes up when I do a search for fragrant oil is so not related to the subject that I didn't think an (s) would make a difference.

I'll make these changes and then submit here on this forum for a review. I just did that I think in Nov and wasn't sure how often you could do it.

Thanks.
Gay

greeneagle · #9 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 12:21 PM

Gay,

Google seems to have more of an issue with plural vs singular IMO. I hope that starts to diminish as SE technologies advance...

Quote:

Quote:

"I'll make these changes and then submit here on this forum for a review. I just did that I think in Nov and wasn't sure how often you could do it."

My practice is to make known changes for the better ASAP! - All night long if I have too. There are no limits imposed, not even implied, the SEs really like "fresh" content. It usually gets indexed within 1 or 2 days for me!

Good luck there.
Even if you don't choose to update this thread with results, please PM me and let me know how it went.

Ken

gigigib · #10 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 12:34 PM

Ken, I'll let you know what happens after I make the changes. I hope something happens to increase my traffic..it's slowed to a crawl the last few days.

Gay

greeneagle · #11 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 01:08 PM

Gay,
You can check approximate rankings as they change at www.googlerankings.com . THey are just close enough to find it on adjacent pages most of the time.

Ken

Jason Tor · #12 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 02:29 PM

Looking at this from a buyers point of view, I believe I would search for "fragrant oils" vs. "fragrant oil".

What's going to happen is this
Keywords:

fragrant oil
fragrant
oil

oil is the problem, how many kinds of oil is there? I wouldn't search for oils if I was looking for car oil but I would if I was searching for fragrant oils.

Just my opinion but I would use the plural version of this keyword.

Jason Tor

gigigib · #13 (**permalink**) 03-07-2005, 02:44 PM

Thanks Jason, I feel the same way about the plural being the better of the two, however, I've already changed everything that I could (that made sense) to fragrant oil. I'll watch for a few days and see what happens and post back here.

Gay