Web Sites

[mdvaden]

I'm of the opinion lately that in any SEO work you're fighting a losing battle, with google changing their algarythyms so frequently. Best to concentrate on the most basic of fundamentals...content

 

I was just telling that to several SEO people trying to sell me on services lately. Told them I was doing something different, a backdoor approach that was over their pay grade. And that fighting for top slots on the first page of Google was like going back into the dinosaur days.

 

For a few folks, the fight is worth it. But when a market becomes saturated, suppose 200 of us all hire the "best" SEO person, and they optimize all our sites perfectly, which one of us gets to be in spots 1, 2 and 3?

 

May as well flip a coin.

 

Plus, they don't control Google, nor know how it's fluctuating.

 

So I concluded that at this present time, just having a web presence, with an accurate site that can be found via our name, and the most relevant words is what's important.

 

Like if Steve does Trees in Chinatown, and someone Googles "Steve Trees Chinatown, they will probably find that website.

 

In my case, people can type "Mario Landscape Beaverton" or "Vaden Redwoods Photography" and get me, because all those words are somewhere on the site and images.

 

Otherwise, being down on page 3 or results is no big deal these days. I only know a handful who can maintain the top page and it would be impractical for several hundred to all try and get on the the top.

[scraggs]

 

Otherwise, being down on page 3 or results is no big deal these days. I only know a handful who can maintain the top page and it would be impractical for several hundred to all try and get on the the top.

 

That would crucify us, if we are not in the top 3 then forget it, it's a constant challenge to stay on top locally let alone try and expand out of the area which is what we are trying to do atm.

I hate the way most SEO's try to fill you with crap, about getting you on top.

I have a friend who works for one of the big SEO companies and what some of their clients are paying a month to stay up top is seriously scary.

[mdvaden]

That would crucify us, if we are not in the top 3 then forget it, it's a constant challenge to stay on top locally let alone try and expand out of the area which is what we are trying to do atm.

I hate the way most SEO's try to fill you with crap, about getting you on top.

I have a friend who works for one of the big SEO companies and what some of their clients are paying a month to stay up top is seriously scary.

 

As the number of websites maybe even doubles or triples again the next 10 years, I wonder how much "old school" advertising some of the SEO fee money would purchase, for some companies that might consider returning to other alternatives.

 

In a small city like Medford, Oregon, here, with near 100,000 population around, it was a different story.

 

But near big cities of 500,000 to a couple of million in the metropolitan area, the competition and number of sites is flooded.

 

I finally got to the point where referrals and repeat work is coming in so well, that my site is becoming more useful as a reference these days.

 

There's actually one page I have that's a back door for work that I can't tell anybody about presently, too. Sort of a trade secret buried in my 200 pages that takes the place of being in the top 3 positions.

 

But I do okay with the referrals now.

[Blaisey]

Wordpress works for me. I only wanted one to show customers what else I do.

 

Blaise in Trees Not Blazing Trees

[ShooTa]

new sites tend to take a good week to get face time on google - due to how their crawler bots work.

[morten]

You should read Google's SEO guide https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35291?hl=en

 

Mostly to ensure that you design the content (headers, page title, URL, links) in such a way that Google search bots discovers your content and keywords the way you intend them to.

 

It's also worth listing your business with Google Places for Business, see https://www.google.com/business/placesforbusiness/

 

Finally, make sure you enable your site for Google Analytics, so you can see who is visiting your site, how they navigate, and how they arrive on your site (searches, links etc).

 

All of the above is free of charge

[stew_t27]

I am currently having a website designed by a friend from uni which i am very excited about. But it frustrates me that a local tree surgeons business has gone bust but his website and domain is still live but has set up with another company name and is still using the same numbers!! Can anything be done to get these websites and the presences removed??

 

Cheers

[ShooTa]

over take them....or offer to buy the domain.

 

As for SEo - the best thing that you can do for your site is to get back links - that is other websites linking to yours - a mutual backpat seems to work best - such as you linking arbtalk and somewhere on arbtalk they link to you (hell you can hide it invisibly if it needs to be due to being unrelated.

[morten]

over take them....or offer to buy the domain.

 

As for SEo - the best thing that you can do for your site is to get back links - that is other websites linking to yours - a mutual backpat seems to work best - such as you linking arbtalk and somewhere on arbtalk they link to you (hell you can hide it invisibly if it needs to be due to being unrelated.

 

I would disagree. The most important thing for Google indexing is that the content has the right keywords and is designed in such a way that it makes sense to the search bots, as per Google SEO guide.

[Steve Bullman]

over take them....or offer to buy the domain.

 

As for SEo - the best thing that you can do for your site is to get back links - that is other websites linking to yours - a mutual backpat seems to work best - such as you linking arbtalk and somewhere on arbtalk they link to you (hell you can hide it invisibly if it needs to be due to being unrelated.

 

This is no longer the case unfortunately, and in some cases it seems google even penalize for this