seo / google adds thing

[bythamboy]

I was having a look on the www earlier and found that my website that use to be on first page has seriously slipped . Now there are scores of "paid for adds" for listings web sites ( cyclex / trusted trader / rated people etc ) and for arb businesses from miles away at top of all pages leaving little room for those who don't pay to be promoted . I have been pestered by several SEO's wanting to increase my presence to whom I have politely declined during recent months only to find that being independent ain't really working , whats going on , how are things being manipulated ?

[dan494]

I was having a look on the www earlier and found that my website that use to be on first page has seriously slipped . Now there are scores of "paid for adds" for listings web sites ( cyclex / trusted trader / rated people etc ) and for arb businesses from miles away at top of all pages leaving little room for those who don't pay to be promoted . I have been pestered by several SEO's wanting to increase my presence to whom I have politely declined during recent months only to find that being independent ain't really working , whats going on , how are things being manipulated ?

Nothings being manipulated. It's not that hard to come top. In a nutshell you want to put the keywords you want to rank highly for a few times throughout your website, especially in any headers. You want links to your site from as many sources as possible so get a Facebook page and twitter. Sign up to free directories. Lastly update your website every few months with new text. Most tree firms leave their sites static for years. Google likes sites that update so they stay relevant. I do all my own website stuff and come top for me nearest towns. Gonna have a crack at getting high on the county level search this year

 

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[inthewoods]

As Dan says, update it regularly, keep content fresh & don't get penalised by Google for just adding keywords the trick is to make your content authentic, just keep writing content with keywords but make sure it flows & not just bullet points.

 

For Tree work I'm page 4 for county & page 2 for town

 

Stump grinding - County page 1, town page 2

 

Hedge cutting - County page 1, town page 2 (?)

 

Firewood processing - County page 2 & town page 1

 

A YouTube channel helps

 

Try Nibbler - Test any website for feedback

[Marc]

I think he means the paid for ads featured and such like. Our website still come top of the list but we are now half way down as our local competition and distant competition feature above us as a google featured ad.

 

We will not bother to chase top spot as the internet side only makes about 10-15% of leads of which we will win about 60%. When our leads are more from the internet we may think to go featured.

 

To be honest I personally use the internet to find local trades people so do some of my family and friends we all avoid featured ads as often they are not a company local or end being some kind of franchise or sub it out set-up getting commission who will find a local tradesmen.

 

Also having chatted to various friends and family they are also beginning to shun trusted trader type sites and featured ads as all have noticed they are mostly scams with falsified feedback and not an indication that they are trusted at all.

Edited December 28, 2016 by Marc

[inthewoods]

When doing a search I get...

 

4 paid ads at the top

Then 8 websites but 6 are directories (Thompson, Yell etc)

& 3 ads at the bottom

 

Pages are definitely getting smaller.

 

Looked into doing the add words but at a £1 per click it's not for me!

 

To Bytham, do you pay for yours?

[bythamboy]

no I don't pay for add words or anything else , I did some years ago for just 3 months but decided it was not cost efficient . " marc " is right in stating that my post is more about that the paid for adds are pushing us other folk down the list regardless of optimising with key words , because the page is flooded with these adds , some aren't even local .

[Alycidon]

When I tried some Google adds the cost was fixed. When compared to the click throughs it came to about £10 PER CLICK THROUGH !!, Google suggested that was good value, I did not continue with them.

 

A

[dan494]

When I tried some Google adds the cost was fixed. When compared to the click throughs it came to about £10 PER CLICK THROUGH !!, Google suggested that was good value, I did not continue with them.

 

A

Did you have a company do it for you? You can set a limit to anything you like

 

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[inthewoods]

They said they'd cap mine at £30 a week, or maybe it was a month but either way I'm not paying a pound just for someone to click on my site.

 

Do you do it Dan?

[dan494]

They said they'd cap mine at £30 a week, or maybe it was a month but either way I'm not paying a pound just for someone to click on my site.

 

Do you do it Dan?

Now and then. Usually when I'm quiet. Just looked and spent about £25 on it over last couple of weeks but no calls. Other times I'll get a call a day from adwords. Really hit and miss. Better off having a few thousand leaflets put out I reckon

 

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