Google has a problem with this keyword
-
I've been trying to get one of my clients to rank in the first page for a word which I think has no serious competition at all. Every tool I tried so far including SEOMoz's on-page diagnostics tool seem to have no positive SEO results whatsoever. According to most tools out there our page is optimized for SEO more than every website who is ranked for this keyword. The competition also has less backlinks and social awareness. We even advertise on Google for this word. But Google says no...keeps dropping us in results. We have many FB and twitter followers to. But Google is committed to rank bad sites.
Funny thing is that recently our site has received a PR6. No matter what we do Google is convinced to list pretty ugly looking sites for this specific keyword and I have ran out of options. This is really driving me crazy.
The keyword we try to rank is "doktor" and we want to rank in google.com.tr. If you look the search results you will see a lot of youtube videos and some sites that don't even provide meaningful content.
Please help.
-
Perhaps you are not doing anything wrong, but maybe your competitors are doing something right
-
Hi Irving,
Well this started to happen couple days ago. I started to optimize my page more relevant to the keyword I was targeting by using SEOMoz's on page tool and some other tool and then suddenly site started move down. It might be possible that during this transition I started to loose some .edu links. I am not really sure the main reason.
I also added Google+ profiles for my authors and increased social activity via Twitter and Facebook which I hoped would actually improve my rankings but it did not seem to have any impact
-
How long ago were you told that happened? Hacking with viagra and other links on your site will definitely get your site penalized until the links are all removed. You should be able to see if this happened to your site if it's before your time by looking at traffic history in GA.
-
Your kind words are thoughtful and appreciated Irving. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.
-
Well, I know you put a lot of time into really looking into peoples issues to give a proper and thorough answer and i respect you greatly for your SEO knowledge. Some people charge a lot for SEO analysis and have much less experience than you.
-
I am happy that you dedicated time for me Ryan. No worries. Someone else told me that my site contained hacklinks previously and that's why I got dropped to 3 page. Maybe that was the issue...I don't know.
-
Irving, I appreciate the support. It is OK, really. Each site owner is entitled to their own opinion. In this case, Michael clearly feels I have not listened to his needs and my response does not address his concern. Accordingly, no thumbs up is warranted.
I sincerely hope others will chime in and try to help address Michael's question. Someone else may have a different perspective.
-
Sure
-
If you think a short tail keyword for a professional industry like "doctor" is not competitive or hard to rank for you're mistaken I don't even have to look it up.
-
how about giving Ryan some thumbs up and answered status for all that work and time he put into helping you out
-
Thanks Ryan. Take care.
-
Michael, I have read everything you shared with an open mind. I have considered everything you shared in your initial question along with the two follow up responses. After giving everything you shared consideration, your situation makes sense to me. It is logical and aligns with my understanding of how search engines work.
To be clear, there are many possibilities and various aspects which can be explored. Within the context of a Q&A forum, there is only so much that can be done. With access to your Google WMT and Analytics accounts along with further research, more information can be gathered and it is possible for other conclusions to be drawn.
We will have to agree to disagree on this topic. I am sorry I was unable to assist you. I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
-
I am an open person and I came here to get help. I guess you are missing my point because you are paying great attention to current trend in Google rather than what I am trying to say.
The word is not competitive from my point because I have reasons. Firstly, if it was a very competitive word, my site would not be on the first and second pages of Google for couple months. The sites you see in those rankings were always there. They got more domain age than I have. I've checked their on-page optimization and according to SEOMoz they have terrible on-page results. Secondly, my site has unique content and it has a higher PR than almost any site for that term. But it looks like PR does not affect much anymore after Google algorithm changes.
You are taking what I am telling you very personally and don't seem to want to deal with the facts that I am representing you. You are completely ignoring the past tense. Personally, I appreciate the time and effort you dedicate here but also feel upset because you've given me such an answer.
The reason I came to this forum to find actually a person who greatly understands SEO and work with him. From my point of view, this would only happen if someone looks at the past and present and then make a judgement.
You are telling me that my site is not optimized for Google and I am telling you that it was even worse 2 months ago but I was ranking in the first page.
After joining SEOMoz and running the on-page tool, the software told me the same. My site had issues with H1-H6 tag usage, not enough keyword repetition and some other stuff. After improving the front page based on these suggestions, my site has significantly dropped and every day it keeps dropping.
Do I make more sense to you in terms of explaining my issue here?
-
Michael, initially you assumed the problem is Google, which is a mistake. Now you are assuming the problem is me, which I humbly suggest is another mistake. Neither I nor anyone else is likely going to be able to offer you any assistance unless you open up to two possibilities:
1. The Google search engine is working just fine and your site is ranking where it should.
2. The advice shared with you is accurate.
I am human and fully capable of error. After reviewing the concern you expressed I stand by the response shared above.
I looked at Google.com.tr, Google Turkey. The evidence is everywhere:
a. The first words of my response is that you rank on the 3rd page of search results. Do you find yourself on the 3rd page of results for Google.com for the term "doktor"? I found your site on the 3rd page of Google.com.tr
b. I specifically mentioned "You are competing with every doktor related site in Turkey."
c. I even mentioned checking Bing.com.tr
The sole reference to Google.com made was specifically called out as such. I shared the #1 result for the term "doctor" in Google.com with you as an example of an optimized page.
Once again, the term "doktor" in Turkey is highly competitive. Your assessment was incorrect. Your page is also not well optimized for the term "doktor".
Good luck.
-
You are looking at the English version of Google. My site was ranking on the first page for this term two weeks ago. At that time the site was not even optimized for this term. I've seen the negative effects of optimization actually after I started to pay attention more to h1, meta tags and bold italic texts.
I see at SEOMoz that someone else opened a similar thread discussing the negative impacts of on-page optimization tools. You think this word is competitive because you are looking at the wrong search engine.
-
You are ranking on the 3rd page of Google results for the term "doktor" which means "doctor".
There are so many issues it's hard to pick a starting point.
1. The term "doktor" is very generic. Frankly, your current rank at the top of page 3 for such a generic term is higher then expected. You are competing with every doktor related site in Turkey. Some examples: Dr. Who ( a popular tv series), medical doctor, non-medical doktors, descriptions of the degree, etc. There are over 100 million results for the term. How did you conclude there is no competition for the term?
2. Your title is not optimized for such a term as doktor. Your page title is "En Hızlı Doktor Sitesi | CevapSepeti.com" which translates to "The Fastest Doctor Sites | CevapSepeti.com". You rank on the first page of Google for "En Hızlı Doktor Sitesi" which is the keyword your title is optimized for.
3. Your header is not optimized for the term "doktor". The current tag is "DOKTOR BULMAK ARTIK ÇOK KOLAY"
If you wish to see a web page optimized for the term "Doctor", here is one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor
Based on your question and the information you shared, the problem is not Google but your understanding of how search engines work. The goal of a search engine is to provide the search results desired by users. Based on Google's results, most of the people on the planet agree Google does a better job then anyone else. If people disagreed, they are free to use another search engine.
Have you checked Bing? Bing.com.tr does not even show your site on page 3.
-
Any suggestions Ryan?
-
I am changing a few things because on-page tools seem to have negative impact.
-
What is the URL of the page you are trying to rank for the term "doktor"?
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
-
Why Google Search Console Data is different from Moz Data for my website
Hi All I am running a website, I have been using Moz since Feb 2021. Kindly go through these pics My question is why Moz is showing 2K plus backlinks while Google search console is showing just 1253 backlinks. Why fewer links in the google search console is less? How can I increase Google search console backlinks? Also, Moz is showing 90+ DA backlinks but those websites are not showing by the Google search console. What should I do to let google consider them? m0JGjBQ.jpg Cmp8ei3.png
Link Building | | ssubodhsingh0 -
A number of times you should use your keyword in a guest blog
Is it true that if you want to rank for a chosen keyword, you have to mention that keyword 3%-5% of the whole content (in a guest blog)?
Link Building | | FilkaCer2 -
How is it possible that our page outperforms our competitors by all factors yet we are #5 on google search and they are #1, #2 and #3?
I've just carried out "Compare Link Metrics" analysis where I have compared our company page for a specific keyword with our competitors and it appears that our page outperforms our competitors by all factors provided by MOZ.com, yet our page is displayed as #5 in google search results and our competitor is taking #1, #2 and #3 for the specific keyword: "gāzes baloni". Attached are screenshots. Any ideas why this might be the case and what tactics should I adopt in order to change the situation? Here is the link to our website page for this keyword: http://www.intergaz.lv/lv/gazes-baloni And here are the links to our competitor website: http://www.lpg.lv/lv/gazes-baloni/ipasie-piedavajumi/ipasie-piedavajumi.html , http://www.lpg.lv/lv/gazes-baloni/gazes-balonu-specifikacija/ , http://www.lpg.lv/lv/gazes-baloni/gazes-balonu-iegades-vietas/ . Thank you very much in advance. ZoYSJ Zaq1C
Link Building | | Intergaz0 -
Will links from startup/tech blogs help a site rank for *money* keywords?
If a startup has a tech blog (say, domain.com/tech) and a startup journey blog (on domain.com/journey — think groovehq.com/blog), will garnering high PA/DA links to those pages help the root domain rank for keywords related to the startup's services? For example, continuing the Groove example, will quality links to their aforementioned startup blog help them rank the homepage for Online Help Desk Software? Even when those links are from non-helpdesk content on non-helpdesk sites? My theory is that links from high DA sites won't be a bad thing — as long as they're not from spammy pages and done naturally. In some niches, where it's hard to get organic product-related links, this might be a worthwhile strategy. Am I right? Or sadly misguided...? 🙂 EDIT: BTW. The niche I have in mind is fairly uncompetitive, and it'd be easier to garner links from the startup/tech community than the niche community itself.
Link Building | | brandrsn1 -
Still possible to target keywords?
If you're a professional SEO and a client wants to target certain keywords, other than on-page tweaks what else is there? Or am I right in presuming there's nothing you can do off-page any more?
Link Building | | Jeepster0 -
When optimizing for a keyword, what would be a good ratio for keyword diversity?
We all have primary keywords that we are optimizing for. For instance one of mine is "Video Conferencing Systems." I've read that you should have about 5-10 different keywords you should optimize for, however, would you want to create more links with your primary keyword than your other keywords or spread them out evenly and optimize for the primary keyword on in the actual content of the page?
Link Building | | ChrysalisSEO0 -
Title Tag Targeting 3 or 4 keywords: Downsides to link building?
Hello, I've got a client who's title tags for an internal page are like (just for example) Running Shoes | Runner's Shoe | Performance Shoe | Cross-trainer That are doing fabulous in the search engines, dominating for most of the terms and dominating for word combinations off of these 4 terms. Sometimes there's no other category to split these up into two keywords a piece, to optimize for less would reduce traffic and conversions. My question is, is this going to look bad when we go to do outreach and guest posting? What are the downsides of leaving a few of the pages like this in the link building arena?
Link Building | | BobGW0 -
One folder/keyword seems penalized.
Hi, One of the keywords i am optimizing for seems to be penalized. We are selling childrens clothes and we have 1 folder/url for each producer/designer. Main page is strong compared to competitors and we are ranging 1st for 2 most important keywords. Most of our other producer pages are ranking 2nd-4th. I took some time to rank and I had a some catalogues(hotvsnot, addsitelink, webzdirectory, 3 blogs) link into this specific folder some 3 months ago. It didnt seem to rise in ranks staying in range 12th-23rd spot. Which seemed sort of weird to me. 2 Days ago it dropped to around 120th spot. No other pages on site dropped. Looking at it now I do see that its almost 100% 'producername' in anchor text which i guess is the reason for the ranking problem and maybe the drop in rankings a couple of days ago. Blog links are completly natural, catalogues are not i guess. The total sum of links doesnt seem natural because the anchor text is same on all. Still its not that unnatural if you sell nike shoes to have a catalogue called nike and the anchor text to be pointing to it to be nike, but still. So my question is: do i try to change anchor text in catalogues or have them completely removed ? Do i get blogs etc to link to my site using an other word than the producer name that might seem less natural ?? Thanks for your help.
Link Building | | danlae0