Ranking problems in top 3 need some advice from the PROs

[dean1986]

HI there,

im new to this forum but im doing SEO quite a while. I lost touch with the whole SEO community while building my business's so I said i better get back in touch before I lose my most valued skill.

I set up a gift website 3 months before xmas. We decided to focus on the following keywords starting out, gifts, gift ideas, gifts for him, gifts for her and christmas gifts.

We have managed to rank No.1 for gift ideas, No.2 for gifts.

For "christmas gifts" we could not get it onto the first page, it was hanging around the 12 and 13 spot  for weeks, so we decided to stop linking to the page with anchor text "christmas gifts" and use related keywords, the result, we shot to NO.1 within 2 weeks.

I now have the same problem with "gifts for him" and "gifts for her" except, i have tried everything but we are still hanging around 4-6 spot on page one, I cant get them into the top 3 and cant understand it. Ive done the following to try give it a boost.

1. Increase the variation of the anchor text
2. Decrease the amount of keywords in title tag
3. Link to it from high PR pages

Im really lost and its really bugging me the fact all the other keywords are ranking so well. The only thing I can think of from my research and perhaps someone might be able to give me some advice on this (Backed up by past results) is we have not once linked to this page with the actual URL, 100% of the links are varied anchor text. Would perhaps linking with the plain old URL help it, its really bugging me as we did so well with everything else using 90% white hat, 10% grey hat seo. Please help. Thanks

Also, we have not done any social media linking to it.

[3States]

Just to clarify the tool I'm talking about in my response, I'm thinking of something like this:

Having a hard time choosing a gift for that special someone? Enter some details to find great gift ideas now!

[input 1 + interests] = card games, mountain biking, skiing, scrapbooking

[input 2 + marital status] = married, has kids

[input 3 + sex] = female

[input 4 + age] = 35

[input 5 + location] = dallas, tx

[output 1] = winter scarf, coat, word teaser origins, etc. (top 10 list maybe?)

We're talking about a lot of work, of course. Although most of it could be outsourced on the cheap to data entry people. This is just something off the top of my head, so you might refine it a bit. Just thinking of an idea to increase time on site, upsell, and create something useful above and beyond simply promoting products. To cut down on development time, I'd make visitors choose interests rather than letting them enter them in a field. Simply start a tag system matching certain combinations to gifts algorithmically. It doesn't have to be all-inclusive at first, as long as it functions. You can always add new interests and gifts as time goes on, and can see if it even works for you before going all-in.

Mike

[3States]

Hey dean1986,

Just like EGOL said, well done on your success so far! You've really done some great things for your client.

I'm a bit confused about your question though. Just looking at the links you have, you're getting a ton of links with your domain (or variations) as your anchor text as it is -- far more than I see with specific anchor text you mentioned. I think it's important to remember that you can't point everything at your home page - with a site like this, I usually choose a few powerful pages to optimize for single keyword phrases, then make sure the inner-linking points to the home page using the anchor text as well.

I'm kind of shocked that you haven't implemented some form of a social media presence, although I see you have developed an app. I think the strategy that will put you over the top is viral content outreach and distribution (like infographics and buyer's guides). Social media signals are only becoming more of a significant metric in SEO, so that should be a priority this year.

The only competitor you have that concerns me is gifts.com, which may be impossible to beat, like EGOL suggests. Their authority and exact match domain is going to be a very tough beat for "gifts." I'd go as far as to say that the investment required to compete with gifts.com isn't even worth it at this point.

I'm 100% on-board with your idea to reduce keywords in the title tags to give your site a boost, by the way.

I've been in your position before, although in slightly different industries. The strategies we always used to get past the keyword plateau have been to focus on the other metrics that are going to build your authority. Think of ways to improve time visitors spend on your site, reduce bounce rate, and increase pages per visit.

Maybe some sort of tool that helps keep people on your site - like a tool that helps them choose gifts for friends and family based on specific character traits. Maybe add some surveys about the "weirdest gift you've ever bought for someone." This might be a way to fit some relevancy for gifts for him and gifts for her, within the tool. I would suspect that a well done tool like that would draw some lovely organic links.

On a final note, consider adding some more content to the site - not just on the blog. I like your Top 10 section, but it's too small. Adding some dense content can give people something more to link to. Right now you get a ton of links from other ecommerce sites and promotional content from blogs, but you don't get all that many referential links that help build your site's authority (I like to call these "citation links" -- ex. According to this site on [unique gift ideas], gifts are awesome.

You're doing well in social media already, but treat any further campaigns as a way to get people excited about your site. I have a feeling that spending some time catering to the real people rather than the robots that visit your site is what you need to meet your next goals.

Hope this is helpful.

Mike

[dean1986]

Point taken, but.... ive made no.1 & 2 with the others that are more competitive, thats the annoying part,  Thanks though

[EGOL]

I need some inspiration too...  I hold a #2 where I will probably never get #1... and a #3 that I have been working to move up for a couple years - but I am workin' every day.  I'll get them eventually.

[dean1986]

There are only 3 main competitors and there SEO campign is next to none, they are there because they started a website a few years back and google had to rank something.

Dont get me wrong, they have done  a great job developing their business but they simple do not do any SEO marketing what so ever. If i was able to push them down the page in the keywords that are harder to rank for why cant i do it to the less competitive ones.

I now there is a flaw in my campaign/thinking and i am just looking for some inspiration here.

[EGOL]

I set up a gift website 3 months before xmas.

I cant get them into the top 3 and cant understand it. Ive done the following to try give it a boost.

Consider two things.

1. You started a few months ago but your competitors have been fortifying their positions for several years - or more.

2. Moving up the rankings from position 6, to position 5, to position 4, to position 3, to position 2, to position 1.... is not an exercise like picking petals from a daisy.  The guy who currently holds each of those position has teh ability to fight back.

My two cents on your story is that you have done a great job so far... congratulations!  But you have not earned the remaining positions that you desire yet.... and maybe you never will depending upon who currently has them or who is going to appear out of the blue tomorrow.  The most dangerous competitor is the one who has yet to arrive.