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So far, there is only the ability to track three. There has been talk of increasing this up to five (which is a number many people seem keen on) but even doing that is an increase n these specific resources of 66%. I don't think it's as simple as just creating an extra few spaces on the form.

Maybe you could put a request in for an increase - the more we tell the team what we would like, the more they will prioritize the important requests.

When I started out, I spent hours on Google searching all kinds of stuff. Unfortunately at the time I didn't realise that most SEO advice really was SnakE Oil advice, and I can't begin to think of how many hours/days/weeks were wasted picking through forums, dodgy SEO companies and sales sharks, until I came here.

Things changed rapidly, and I did exactly as Egol advised - I just spent hours learning (and still do) through the forums, the various webinars and just gleaning the good solid advice from those who are in the know.

I remain amazed at how open the community of real professionals really are... and these Q&As are one of the reasons my subscriptions continue each month. I couldn't find this sort of advice elsewhere without paying a fortune for it!

I often ask my clients if they would be prepared to introduce the reciprocating site as their business partner in a meeting? once they look down the list and see they have gambling and porn as their business partners, they soon get the point.

Is the link relevant? Do they actually validate your service/product in the real world? Would they link to you regardless if the link wasn't reciprocal? If you had to make a real effort to gain that link, would you have bothered?

That's really sad. I understand the work that must go into these programs, but it will be sorely missed this side of the Atlantic. There was a get listed for the UK I believe for a short time, but was cancelled due to issues. I had always hoped that would get sorted... instead it's been scrapped.

Health Lottery Man has pointed out a few places to start - all good ideas.

Look at the time of the drop - what have you done around that time. Can you see a cause and effect going on here?

However, my other question is whether the work you are doing on the site is just recent. I've often seen results start out well, but then seem to sink over the following weeks and months. In reality they are just finding their natural place on the web, and it's from this point that you need to start the hard work.

Have you done keyword analysis on your keywords? Do you know their difficulty? Have you used the on page grader to give you an indication of how each keyword is working on any particular page. How does this stack up against the competition who are now ahead of you.

Also use the open site explorer to check not only your back links, but your competitors. it's a long, slow process, and whilst it's discouraging to see your results slide, there is a certain satisfaction watching them rise again!

Enjoy!

I'm just running a keyword difficulty analysis and it seems to be stuck. The analysis report is just marked as pending with the arrows going round and round.

I've tried ti in two browsers (firefox/chrome) just in case it was something local.

Are there current problems?

I can only echo EGOL.

Keep working at quality content, relevant links etc. if your efforts continue, there is every chance you will be back on top.

Plenty of sites link between each other - distilled and SEO moz for instance. The question is what are you hoping is the benefit? Are you likely to get any direct trade from link?

That's an idea Keri... I think the answers so far have helped pay for this months subscription already!!

Thanks

...but if anyone else has other ideas, keep them coming

You will find that those companies that "produce results" will provide some form of shady metrics or guarantees. Let's be honest - choose any set of long tail words - the more obscure the better, and anyone on this forum can get you to no1 on Google. It's not difficult, but equally, it's not ethical or useful.

As has been recommended, either go for a company that is highly recommend or be prepared to offer a budget that will make the difference.

I'm currently doing some keyword research, and on favourable keywords such as:

"weekend breaks in lake district" (320 searches per month with 39% keyword difficulty), I see that all of the first page SERPS are from larger companies (last minute, centerparcs etc)

How likely will it be that I can get on that first page, assuming I am focusing my page on that particular keyword. Sparse info I know, but I didn't want to spend hours going down a dead end street. Is it simply that these larger companies are in the top 10 because there are no specific pages targeting that keyword, or do I have little chance?

Hi there Dino,

I've just had the exact same problem. Multiple page one listings, but nothing showing in the ranking reports.

It turned out (with me at least) it was because I had set the www, instead of using the root domain.

There isn't much you can do except make a note of your keywords and competitors and start it again, but make sure you get the root domain set correctly this time.

Hope this helps,

Gordon

Hi,

You haven't said if the site is for you or a client, but I usually ask the client for a list of keywords for their industry. Interestingly, these aren't necessarily the best keywords to use, as either some really obvious ones get left off, or they are so into "industry speak" that they forget what the ordinary man on the street would use to find them.

from there I would put that list of words into the google keywords planner tool. https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

You could do with giving us more info though. Is this site local, or national, or international? That will determine how you use the tool.

Regardless, put in the keywords and "search for new key words and ad group ideas". From there you hopefully will end up with approx 800 keywords to start to work on. You can usually cut this down in half immediately as many of those words will be of little value.

As an alternative, go find your competitors web pages and see what keywords they are using (sometimes if they are dumb enough, they will have written them into the site - inspect the back end of the code by right clicking on the page and view page source).

Last thing I will say is if this don't scrimp on time allotted to keyword research. It's absolutely imperative that you get this right at this stage, as it will set the direction for how the website will look, and how you will run the site. My opinion is that the best keyword research brings the best results. I usually spend a couple of days (16 - 20 hours) at least before embarking on a new site.

I've had it happen with one of my clients. Whilst they were excited, I told them A) It wasn't a good thing, and B) It wasn't going to last.

It  probably took about 2 weeks before the google algorithm made some changes and it ended up with just one or two entries on the 1st page.

Hi Kevin,

Yes, you're right, it never stops, and thankfully in many ways, we are glad - it's keeps people like me in business.

Good idea re the adwords (and one I had already put to the client!).

Yes, I had hoped the long tail keywords would give me a head start, and think they probably will, but the dominance of the large companies did make me think twice. I guess the only thing to do is to dive in and give it a try!

As simon says, the top is mostly fine, but the bottom is messy. There is too much text - I'd remove all the text below " search louisville homes right here on our website" and probably move it to another page. Maybe keep one testimonial (or use a slider to show several). Shorten the page, less is more.

You may want to try https://www.optimizely.com to test alternatives to your home page.

Thanks Simon. That was generally my opinion, mostly based on the fact that the majority of websites do it the way you say, but I thought I'd ask the question before I embark on the project.

Hi Matthew,

Sorry to hear this, and it's not good news. As to how/why it's happened, I can only guess one of two resaons. Either someone who knows nothing about SEO has decided s/he would "help" the whole SEO process and buy some links in. Or, and possibly more likely it may be a competitor who is doing a negative SEO campaign with the desire to lower your organic rankings, ensuring you will be penalised by Google.

You can now use the Google Webmaster tools and use the disavow tool to tell Google to ignore those links.

Hope that helps and all the best.

Gordon

Is this a new problem or has it only just arisen? Was it tracking correctly over the past couple of weeks.

If this is a new campaign then in could be that you are tracking your subdomain and not the root domain in your campaign... worth a check. If it is wrong, you'll need to tear it down and start again.

Glad you brought it up - I was getting a little worried!

Couldn't agree more!

I once started working with my brother who had been a landscape gardener for donkeys years. The first client we went to, I was down on the ground pretending to know all about different types of grass. The client turned to my brother and said "he talks a lot of crap doesn't he... new at the job?"

Hire a professional, who knows his onions (or blades of grass) and don't try to do anything on the cheap.

Hi Kim,

As Peter has suggested, the page grading is simply one of your tools in your SEO arsenal. Assuming all things are equal (backlinks etc) and you page is better optimised than your competitor, then yes, you should be rating higher.

Having looked at your page, yes it's a grade A, yet there are still some things that you can improve upon - they are clearly marked in the right hand column. Try doing that, first.

Secondly, keep building on your backlinks and you social media pages.

Remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint!

Hope that little helps.

Thanks for the hints and tips. The meetings were brought forward to today, and I managed to nail them both.
I can't put it all down to my charm, so it must have been the coaching!

I agree with Matthew. However, I suppose it would depend on what your current site is like. If you can get your google + or facebook campaign rolling now without much effort then go for it, but if you are starting the whole process from the beginning, then on page is where you need to be first.

Not that it's an issue, but when will this be taken out, as it's still causing confusion and it's nearly a year since we saw this reply?

Thanks

Donford - Thought that was great about Space Jam - a useful tip in my arsenal of quotes...

Diane, Yes, by increasing the value of your overall site, this page will increase also, but I would suggest you split the page up, and focus on separate aspects of the work, so as to maximise the keyword potential you have here.

I spend far too much time on here - or at least my wife thinks so - she's becoming an SEOMoz widow....