O.K. I give up. Need help from experts.

[LiquidD]

Google has totally dropped me from their listings in all of my sites. For example, since most of my sites target audiences are local I use their respective business with the area. www.hairzoo.net is an example of a page I optimized for hair salons rochester ny or hair salons ny. In every engine Yahoo, MSN, Overture..etc I'm in the top ten. Google, I'm nowhere to be found. I'm using WPG2 which I've learned to my dismay is not necessarily good for Google, but I don't submit often and I was at one time (Back with the whole Florida thingy with Google) in the top ten. WPG2 says I'm doing everyhting right except for the amount of text. I don't see how adding more text is going to help in this situation. Any ideas?
Thanks Prior.
Liquid D

[cbp]

You are still in Google - you rank number one for hairzoo - the terms you want to rank well for are not in the anchor text of backlinks (anchor text rules) - that the prob with WPG et al - they have you so focused on the on-page stuff when anchor text is so powerful at the moment.

CBP

[LiquidD]

- the terms you want to rank well for are not in the anchor text of backlinks (anchor text rules).

So anchor text carries much more weight than alt tags?

Excuse my ignorance.. what is meant by a 'backlink'? A link that browses to another area of the site?

Thanks for the quick response :-)
Liquid D

[cbp]

So anchor text carries much more weight than alt tags?

Alt tags carry next to no weight. Anchor text of incoming links is currently, by far, the most powerful influence over search results.

what is meant by a 'backlink'?

A link from another site.

CBP

[greeneagle]

cbp:
"Alt tags carry next to no weight. Anchor text of incoming links is currently, by far, the most powerful influence over search results."
____

I know you are not meaning to discount "Title Tags", or is that a form of "Anchor Text" too?

Ken

[cbp]

Title tag is probably (?) the most powerful on-page factor (?)

CBP

[LiquidD]

Ahh.. I see. So it would be most beneficial to have a site linking hairzoo by
Hair Salons in Rochester NY

Kind of a tough request to ask for such specifics isn't it?

How many of these links are deemed to be 'effective' ?

Sorry bout all the questions. You've peaked my interest.

Liquid D

[cbp]

Kind of a tough request to ask for such specifics isn't it?

Yes.

Thats why Google weight it so heavy because its harder to spam. If I put a link on my site to your site, it ME that decides what your site is about (as it benefits MY visitors to know that) and its ME that decides what anchor text to use, not YOU.... this makes it harder for the spammers (not impossible, just harder).

How many of these links are deemed to be 'effective' ?

Depends on the competition - for low competition, a few may be all thats needed.

CBP

[LiquidD]

Very Very Interesting. Thank you for your assistance.
Now I see why everyone here has an optimized signature.

[northernladuk]

..except me who is too lazy to do it at the moment. :D

[scallihan]

You might be better served with a simpler title -- your double inclusion of "hair" and "salon" could be hurting more than helping you in Google. Just, "Hairzoo Hair Salons - Rochester, NY", might be better, both in your title and in backlinks. It is then just a matter of getting more and better backlinks than the other hair salon sites in Rochester.

The only other comment I would have is that your text could have more alternative keyphrases in it: "hair styles", "hair cuts", "hair stylists," "hair products", "latest hair styles," "hair style trends," etc. People aren't going to find you by searching just on "cuts."