Winning The New SERP Battle

[sunriseb]

I run a niche website (www.picnic-basket.com) that is approaching 10 years old.  I have consistently added new content, performed redesigns, etc and WAS rewarded with a #1 placement on Google for my main keyword phrase for quite a long time. All our links are natural, no link-farms and I don't  do exchanges either.

I blog, write articles about our niche, have free cookbooks, delicious recipes and are always finding cool new products. FB & Twitter are also maintained.

After Panda I'm now below the fold with amazon.com, bedbathandbeyond.com, worldmarket.com, overstock.com and brookstone.com all above me.

These sites don't have anything to do with my niche other than just selling some items.

ROI is horrible for me with PPC on this keyword phrase. I'm sure Googles' revenue has increased quite a bit in this category because users only see relevant websites up in the paid area.

Through years of hard work I was finally able to beat my old niche competitors but I'm left wondering,  How do I beat the "Big Boys"?

Any advice for someone like me?

[sunriseb]

Come-on Rand...other guru's...Help!  Looks like there are many of us that need to know what to do!

Knowing that you aren't alone is "kinda" comforting but it doesn't help the bank account.  I was speaking with my adword rep yesterday & raised a bit o' hell.  I know they can't do anything but it felt good.

I've always felt that Google was full of it.  They've always stated that the person searching is their customer and that search results are supposed to give that searcher the best results possible. HA!  I fought that for years seeing poor quality websites beating me when all they had was a 1 page website that was listed on DMOZ.

For the last few years we had real competition. Good websites, good competitors and a fair shake.

Now it seems they have figured out how to increase the odds of the ppc ad being clicked with mega sites like walmart or amazon showing up in the top 4-5 positions leading the searcher to click on the ppc. I mean seriously...google the phrase "picnic baskets" and look at the results.

To that end - Google reported Q3 2012 revenues of $14.10 billion, representing a 45% increase compared to Q3 2011.

[UnderRugSwept]

It sounded like you were describing us word for word. A couple weeks ago, I started a topic about this. http://www.seomoz.org/q/interesting-serp-trend-i-m-observing

I don't have advice either. Just know you're not alone and other people are feeling your frustration.

[Prime85]

You are not alone... I could literally write that entire post about my company/site as well... Only difference is I am being outranked by Target and Walmart after i held the #1 position for years.

I know you are looking for advice, and this isn't advice, just want you to know you are not alone in this mess