Can anybody help me please!
-
Hi,
I'm not an SEO expert! I'm even not a professional Webmaster. I'm a professional "Private Investigator", owner of a PI Agency in Bangkok (Thailand).
Our website (thailand-investigation.com) was ranked, 18 months ago, on the 1st page in Google, Bing & Yahoo search engines for our major keywords!
We are still good in Bing and Yahoo but we dropped to the 5th page and more in Google! I do not know when it happened? I was busy working managing my business and was not taking care on our website (BIG mistake)!I realized it beginning of august 2012.
I redesigned our website, ad content, new pages...Started 2 months ago, but still no result with our home page! The new pages start to show-up!??? But still far away!
I need to understand why? What is going on!? Why Google "de-ranked" us? And what to do to recover!!!
I'm here to learn, try to understand and take your advises!
So, please give me advises and if someone is ready to audit my website and explain me what to do, I'm willing to pay the service [not to much
].
Thanks,
-
Many of us here offer consulting and other services, including myself. I don't feel like this is the place for self promotion, but I will say that there appears to be a number of knowledgeable folks here. And yes, I think the list of recommended companies/individuals is a good place to start.
-
2. I don't know exactly how the button is coded..but basically what you want to do is remove the index.htm from the extension just use the full url href="http://www.thailand-investigation.com"
NOT: href="../index.htm"
NOT: href="index.htm"
NOT: href="http://www.thailand-investigation.com/index.html"3. I completely understand your concern, however great sites with good content attract links by the users. Search engines want to rank sites people actually like and use, great the site for the users, and follow the basic seo guidelines and you'll be pleased with the results.
4. Do Yahoo and Bing still use it? This is a very good question, you'll get different answers from different people.
Google says they don't factor it in,
Yahoo says they don't use it but others say they do,
Bing says they don't use it for good seo, but rather use it as a signal the site is potentially a spam site. So, given that information would you use it?
My opinion is there is no sense in using it, any search engine that will use it to factor a webpage probably sucks so nobody uses their service anyway, and if people actually use that crappy search engine I don't want to be on the sites those people like.
-
Hi Donford,
1. Ok I got it! And did it already in my website!
2. Sorry but as I'm not a professional and never learned I do not know what it is! The home page url is http://www.thailand-investigation.com/index.htm => Right? So how should I write the links to avoid a 301 redirect... Is it => http://www.thailand-investigation.com/ -- only like that? Please advise!
3. yes, I start to understand it! And as I pay him every 12 of each month, I will not renew it!
You are right to say my audience is the customers not the search engines... But if I do not have any users coming to visit my website => I will not have any new customer! The nature of our business make it that more than 80 % of new customers are from search engine queries! Happily, we are in business 10 years already and we have some returning customers, new customers from mouth to mouth recommendation and we have also partner agency working with us for them needs in Thailand! But our business is like others, if we do not have new customers (fast or slow), we'll die!
4. about the meta keyword! Do Yahoo and Bing still use it? If I take it out, will it hurt our ranking in Yahoo and/or Bing? Please advise!
5. about 1 or 2 keyword per pages... I understand and I'm busy to review my pages content to be in accordance with what you say! I do it out of the web for now and after I quit my SEO guy (12/11/12) I'll put it live!
Thanks for the link to the recommended companies!
All further advises are welcomed!
-
Hi Michel,
1. How windows open is a preference thing, I will say the normal behavior is links inside your domain just open in the same window, while external links would open in a new window. Deviating from this behavior is not going to get you penalized by a search engine rather it is going to annoy the hell out of your users, who in turn may not come back to your site. New tab is the same as a new window.
2. The link, what cardigan is saying is your have a link (HOME BUTTON) pointing to a page that gets 301 redirected, instead of making the crawlers bounce around, why not point directly to your root instead of a redirected page?
3. I think your SEO guy is out of date, repeating keywords for the sake of search engines is not the way to design a site. Your audience is the customers not the search engine.
4. The general conscience is that there is no search engine penalty for using the meta keyword tag, however you must realize by putting your keywords up like that you are basically saying to all your competitors these are the keywords i want to rank for.
5. Competing pages are not just limited to those pages, you need to have specific keywords for each page, 1 to 2 that you wish to target, Because you agency name is so specific and long you may want to limit using it in the title tag to 1 or 2 pages.
SEOmoz maintains a list of recommended companies here.
I have never used an external SEO company. Just remember a good SEO company is worth their weight in gold.
-
Hi donford,
First of all, thanks a lot for your help! Really appreciate!
I do not know when our ranking dropped but it was long time before September 2012!
I started to see some "contact form request" drop at the end of last year and some more in April or May this year! But because we still have customers sent to us by mouth to mouth recommendation and contact we've build with some partner agencies, it took me long time to recognize what happened!
I welcome ALL constructive critiques!
Please read the answer I gave to cardiganmedia (here up), about some of the recommendations you gave me!
About the title tag => it has been written by my SEO "Specialist" I out-source! (please read my answer to cardiganmedia about what I think now about this "specialist")!
I'll follow "cardiganmedia" and your advises and today I will start with the "easy to fix points" (Tittle length, target="_self" in stet of target="_blank" links, link to /index.htm change to www.thailand-investigation.com/).
I'll ask you the same as I asked to cardiganmedia => Can you recommend me a SEO consultant (a good one, not like the one working for me now) that I could work with (not too expensive - we are not rich)...
Thanks again for your help and please give me more
PS. About changing target link from target="_self" to target="_blank", do I have to do it also for the links pointing to other websites? Thanks!
-
Hi cardiganmedia,
First of all, thank you for your help!
Answer to your questions:
-
All menu links open in a new window. Why? => When I do it on my computer, it opens a new tab, not a new window. Personally, It is the way I like it (that's why I did it) => easy to come back just close the new tab... But if it is against what Google likes... I'll change it!
-
Home link points to /index.htm, which is then 301-ed. Why? => should I point to "www.thailand-investigation.com/" only to avoid the 301...?
-
You're using a lot of repeating keywords/terms in your title tags. => 3 - 4 years ago, I used a SEO company to bring us to the first page (they did it in a few months) and they gave me a list of keywords to insert a certain amount of time... private investigator thailand 2X | private detective Bangkok 3X... They changed by them self the page <title>and <meta content description></strong>. I the beginning of September this year after understanding that our website dropped, <strong>I employed an other SEO "specialist" and he told me nearly the same!</strong> He changed the <title> and <meta content description> again (into the actual ones). But after 2 months of his services, <strong>I'm not happy!!! It seems like he do not count with Google changes...</strong></p> <p>4) <strong><em>Ditto for descriptions, meta keywords (ditch this) and on-page content</em></strong>. => I understand what you say about to many keywords in the description... But about the meta keywords, you say "ditch this"! I know that Google do not use it anymore but what about Bing and Yahoo? We are still well ranked in them search engine and I do not want to loose the little we still have??? Please advise!</p> <p>5) <em><strong>English landing page basically competes with home page. Each page should have a purpose/target</strong>.</em> => OK, <strong>I understand this and I feel, more and more, that<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> I have to fired my SEO "specialist"</span> (out-sourced).</strong></p> <p>Can you recommend me a SEO consultant (a good one, not like the one working for me now) that I could work with (not too expensive - we are not rich)...</p> <p>Thanks again for your help and please give me more ;-)</p></title>
-
-
Yep. And from the looks of it, typed it at about the same time.
-
Seems like we have basically the same advise
-
Hi Michel,
Based on the information you have provided, the timeline and you domain name. I have a strong suspicion that you were benefiting from PMD or EMD (partial match / exact match) domain names. Google reduced the value of some of these domain types in September.. does that coincide with your traffic / ranking decline?
Further suggestions, I"m not trying to be critical, rather constructive.
1. Site useability, all your links open in new window. That is very annoying.
2. Titles title tags should be no longer then 70 characters everything else after that is ignored. Maximize your titles.
3. Work on link building, not from free or easy directory sites, get high value links from industry related blogs, government sites, business sites, corporate sites.
4. English reword the text to be natural sounding, currently it reads like it has been keyword injected. That is off putting to users.
5. Create a hierarchical structure for the flow of your site. Tailor you keywords to match. You are currently competing with yourself on keywords on about every page and even with your own blog.A good place to start here is at the beginners guide.
Provided you did not received any warnings from Google, I think you're just a causality of an algorithm change, which is rather good, because that means you didn't do anything wrong, you just haven't done enough right.
I believe you to be very well versed in your industry, you just need to present youself that way on your website, avoid trying to make the search engines rank you, rather make your vistors want to come back to your site. In turn they will make the search engines rank you.
Short Answer, the information you provide is great, edit it to sound natural, create a flow for you website, and then work with industry related sites to get links. Follow the basics of SEO and you should find yourself on the first page again.
-
There are lots of issues with your site -- you may not think these all relate to SEO, but some relate to user-experience, which can ultimately make a difference, particularly if you've been slapped by Google as you say. I recommend engaging in a full review of every aspect:
-
All menu links open in a new window. Why?
-
Home link points to /index.htm, which is then 301-ed. Why?
-
You're using a lot of repeating keywords/terms in your title tags.
-
Ditto for descriptions, meta keywords (ditch this) and on-page content.
-
English landing page basically competes with home page. Each page should have a purpose/target.
Nowhere near a comprehensive list, I'm just trying to give you a place to start.
-
-
No the blog started in October 2008! With around 3 new articles per month!
I changed (mostly added) content text after discovering our ranking droped (around 2 months ago)!
Before that I did not change ANYTHING in the main website (except the blog)!
-
Hi Michel is the blog a new addition?
Also did you change your homepage main content (text) ?
-
The only attachment I put is a picture of a button with the inscription"HELP"!
But if you need anything else... just ask!
Thanks!
-
I did not remove any pages or changed any extensions!
After knowing that our rank dropped, I ad some content, ad pictures... but only in the part... And after we already dropped!
Keywords:
- Private investigator Thailand
- Private detective Thailand
- Detectives Thailand...
Also the same with Bangkok & Pattaya (replacing Thailand)...
Thanks!
-
Your attachments aren't showing up.
-
Hi Michael did you remove any pages, or change their names or extensions? Also can you provide us with a couple of major keywords you would expect to be on the first page for?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What is the feeliing of "Here's where our site can help" text links used for conversions?
If you have an ecommerce site that is using editorial content on topics related to the site's business model to build organic traffic and draw visitors who might be interested in using the site's services eventually, what is the SEO (page ranking) impact -- as well as the impact on the visitors' perceptions about the reliability of the information on the site -- of using phrases like "Here is where [our site] can help you." in nearly every article. Note: the "our site" text would be linked in each case as a conversion point to one of the site's services pages to get visitors to move from content pages on a site to the sales pages on the site. Will this have an impact on page rankings? Does it dilute the page's relevance to search engines? Will the content look less authoritative because of the prevalence of these types of links? What about the same conversion links without the "we can help" text - i.e., more natural-sounding links that stem from the flow of the article but can lead interested visitors deeper into the ecommerce section of the site?
Algorithm Updates | | Will-McDermott0 -
Can setting up a Domain Forward lead to sudden drop in Rankings?
Hi there, Our website www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk has been ranking on pages 1 and 2 of Google for the past 12 - 18 months for a number of our key search terms. There has been the odd fluctuation but nothing major. On Wednesday of this week (2 days ago), we purchased the domain www.porcelainsuperstore.com and without thinking I enabled Domain Forwarding on this domain to go to www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk
Algorithm Updates | | piazza
Today our rankings have shown quite dramatic drops, e.g Wood effect tiles position 1 to position 3 Metro tiles position 9 to position 12 Quartz tiles position 4 to position 9 Floor tiles position 14 to position 25 Can anyone advise on this? Do you think the domain forward could have created this sudden drop?
I have now disabled the domain forwarding but am worried that this might be irreversible in Googles eyes? I have now disabled the domain forward - I assume this is the right thing to do?
Any help much appreciated. Thanks Ben0 -
Site has disappeared since Panda 4 despite quality content, help!
Our site www.physicalwellbeing.co.uk has lost over 20 first page rankings since the end of May. I assume this is because of Panda 4.0. All content on the site is high quality and 100% unique, so we did not expect to get penalised. Although I read somewhere that if Google can't read particular js anymore they don't rank you as high. The site has not been blacklisted as all pages are showing in Google's index and there are no messages on webmaster tools. We have not taken part in any link schemes and have disavowed all low quality links that were pointing there just in case (after the penalty). Can anybody see anything on www.physicalwellbeing.co.uk that may have cause Panda update to affect it so negatively? Would really appreciate any help.
Algorithm Updates | | search_shop0 -
Please help explain this (Question about search results)
What's up SEO's, I'm new the SEO world and had a quick question. I just installed the MOZBAR and did a google search: "What is Google Voice" I attached an image of the results I received. Can someone explain how MacWorld's article outranked Google's when both Google's Page Authority and Domain Authority are so much stronger than MacWorlds. This is in addition to google having many more links. This is basic, but any insight will be very helpful. Thanks guys! [Screen%20Shot%202014-02-18%20at%206.08.15%20PM.png](file:///Users/jackfarrell/Desktop/Screen%20Shot%202014-02-18%20at%206.08.15%20PM.png)
Algorithm Updates | | Petbrosia1 -
Site refuses to improve rankings. Can someone else put a set of eyes on this for me and see what I am missing?
Hello! We've been successful with over 40 clients and getting them to great results in our industry, insurance. We recently acquired a new client who had an existing website with prior SEO results a very spammy blog and many spammy links. We've removed many of the blog articles and links using the Google Disavow Tool We've been monitoring this site in a campaign on Moz, but we're seeing zero improvement week to week. Can someone put another set of eyes on this and see if we're simply just missing something? Results for all 30 of our tracked keywords, zero are in the top 50! I would guess this was an algorithm penalty, but it has been 3 months now since we've made the changes and nothing is changing... not even a little bit! Any help/suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you and enjoy Labor Day weekend!
Algorithm Updates | | Tosten0 -
Staff Dumbfounded by Rankings Drop - Please Help Us Understand!
We are completely dumbfounded by the amount of organic traffic we lost virtually instantly back on Aug 22 2012. We are spending much more money advertising as of late but took another massive plunge since rolling out our newer site redesign this past sat 04/13/13. The newer and more updated version of our site seems to all of a sudden have us dropping like a rock again! Our developers and in house SEO guy that is in house here seems to think our content is ok and that our PR and page authority is ok as well. However they have told me it isn't good per-say, but not the reason in their opinion for our sites drop in rankings instantly. We've seen tons of keywords drop 22-40+ positions in google. We've been online since 2001 and I've never seen anything even remotely close to this. Didn't seem to see such an impact with bing or yahoo though. Due to our rankings being slaughtered we decided to hired WebIMAX to come in and figure out what happened. They informed us that we must have been hit with the panda filter they collectively guessed. Said our content was fair lol. They done allot of tests without anything really indicated the real root cause of the problem and most every major change they requested we made. However we've changed the site design and layout now and changed much of the content and overall structure to be better we believe and we for the life of us cannot understand the massive unexplained penalty. I attached an image which illustrates our dramatic drop in traffic. Bare in mind that as traffic drops we spend more $$$ advertising so mere traffic numbers don't even really say it all. Our organic results are really down maybe 60-70%. We really thought WebIMAX would be a big help and give great assistance and insight. I didn't see any of that and I think our IT staff agrees. We paid big bucks for nothing in return it seems. However we are desperate and are actually considering staying with them even though they've produced zero results or maybe negative results. In fact with all that was done over weeks and weeks with WebIMAX we continued to DROP in organic results. We don't know if we should go back to them, choose another SEO company or just go on trying to fix this issue ourselves. Website is http://www.cruizinconceptswholesale.com/ We just want someone that knows what they are looking at to say hey I see something Major Right Here. If we could get that then we would simply fix it. Thanks in advance for anyone willing to help us out with their expert knowledge and I think I would trust the community here more than WebIMAX easily! David. cruizin-traffic-image.jpg
Algorithm Updates | | David_C0 -
Lost over 65% of organic visits since Sept - Please help
Hi all, I'm fairly new to SEOmoz, i am here because i dont seem to be getting any actuall help from my SEO company, so am trying to figure this out myself. I have done a quick analysis using google analytics and have gone from 13441 google organic visitors in Sept to 4527 google organic visitors in March. (see attached image GA Sept - March) Visitor numbers seems be to fairly stable in sept, oct, nov, and perhaps a slight decline in Dec, but then on Jan17th seems a big drop, and i have never recovered... (See images GA - Oct, GA - Nov, GA - Dec and GA - Jan ) I am at a bit of a loss, i have heard about google penalties, but there are no warnings in my webmaster tools about this, the only warning i ever got was a message on Dec 24th which read : http://XXX.co.uk/: Big traffic change for top URL Search results clicks for (my site) have decreased significantly. The number of clicks that your site receives from Google can change from day to day for a variety of factors, including automatic algorithm updates. However, if you have recently made significant changes to the content or configuration of your site, this change may be an indication that there are problems. This is not a penalty notice is it? its simply google telling me i have lost a lot of traffic? Strange thing is December's traffic was pretty much fine, so do not understand why i got this message, when the drop in traffic happened a month later. I've been racking my brain for months trying to fix every little possible issue i can find with my site (its not nice, when you do not actually know what google has decided it doesn't like about your site!) but nothing seems to be helping, i've been hiring content writter's as i found loads of websites have copied a lot of content, i also decided maybe the product descriptions are being classed as duplicate so again have got in content writter's to re-write hundreds of product descriptions (all this is costing me an arm and a leg)... Nada! Then today, when doing this google analysis (see image GA Sept - March) i noticed two sites, i have renamed them on the image to: XXX-1.co.uk & XXX-2.ecomm-search.com XXX-1.co.uk was a test server where i could play around with code on my website before i actually implement changes, usually i delete all the files after i use it... but it looks like i forgot to do that.... the site is a complete copy of my website (but obviously a version where you can not actually process an order) but all the pages still have canonical links back to the proper website... Just in case this was causing issues, i have 301 redirected the site back to my main site... Is this wise? or should i just delete the site? XXX-2.ecomm-search.com is a search company i was trialing as i wanted to improve the search functionality on my own site, however the search features are hosted on their site... I was told it has no bearing on SEO as its not indexed... however if google is seeing refferalls coming from that site, which is basically a duplicate of my search pages but with better functionality, could they be considering this a duplicate content issue? If anybody can give me any advice at all about above questions, or in general about what happened on Jan 17th (as i see from web search's many people were affected but i can not seem to find people who actually know what google did) i would be very grateful. Thanks James iNiKRDq jd6FJ3l RzaqTEy 8KCtykz 2m2OGvG
Algorithm Updates | | isntworkdull0 -
Advice / Help with simliar post titles
Does anyone know if the new google ove optimisation penalties would be actioned for similar post titles? We have a back catalouge of our magazines online and each title is very simliar ie magazine name - issue number - month. These have been flagged up by the SEO Moz pro service as being duplicate content but although each post is laid out the same each has different content with int it. the titles however are all very simliar - is this a bad idea and also if so what would be a better way of grouping the posts so that the titles are different enough - would the main subject of each magazine included be enough? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | luwhosjack0