Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Cheers Egol I will let you know...

Best Alan

Hi Dirk

I think regarding the content it was my instructions I didn't want people to having to scroll down long pages, I can not think of a way of displaying all the text videos and pictures without the window box page with links to different descriptive content.

I do actually take seriously comments about an individual page for each property they are on the old site indexed separately and this needs to be same for search results and traffic on the new site.

The drop-down menus are working yet but I'm sure they can be utilised.

Very interesting about the content not been totlay visible,  that's the aspect I was chasing on the responsive design so I'll certainly bring that up with the designer

Also I take on board definitely all the content needs to go back on so it can be seen quickly and easily in whatever layout is most efficient for the user.

Thank you for your feedback

Hi Mat

Yes thank you for the excellent comments and test,  much appreciated

You set me thinking because possibly the small pop-up window boxes might not be a good idea from the respect of search engines also the old website as all the properties indexed individually which get more searches obviously I'll have to discuss this with the designer.

I agree about the book now before seeing the property and also about the size of the thumbnails special for older eyes.

Thank you Alan

After a couple of years of talking about having a redesign of my website I finally taken the plunge and I'm paying for responsive design version. Before they go fully into the redesign I thought I would try to get some feedback on whether the initial look and functionality looks good or not. My old website is a very basic Dreamweaver website constructed by myself and because there's only 12 holiday properties on this holiday letting website it has done the job, but you have to scroll down to see the pictures and read the information. At the end of the day I'm certainly not a professional web designer I'm fully aware.

With the new very first draft of the responsive design I've asked for functionality where clicking on the property allows you to check out the photographs and information without scrolling. This is the very first stage of a redesign any opinions regarding functionality and initial look would be very gratefully received.

New draft website  http://www.endeavourcottage.co.uk/newsite/

Old website http://www.endeavourcottage.co.uk/

It's probably worth while running a Google ad words campaign just of the keyword Result research

Hi Cola

I appreciate what you are trying to do for me above but I didn't fully understand what the filter or how to use it and not technical enough

The only thing I am slightly puzzled by is when Igo down into my Google analytics and filter down into keywords and then organic, beneath the Not Provided Category which is the vast majority,  are not all the other ones in descending popularity the actually the keywords people used? That is where I saw my particular favourite short tail keywords "whitby Holiday Cottages" seem to be declining from the past.

I've posted a image of my analytics below for organic keywords

2014.JPG

I ran the Google ad words campaign for a few days recently when I looked at the search terms it was very revealing and I agree with you it gives you a good idea and end up on your website. Could be useful for future content.

Very interesting David thank you very much for the info

I only use Google ad words occasionally because of the cost, but I checked out one of my all the campaigns and it was ery interesting, is quite amazing what terms people use an end up on your website I tried copying pasting some the term straight into the search engine and sure enough my website did appear to terms and never thought of but within the webpages descriptions. Like Cola says low it gives you ideas for producing content in the future.

Yes as always that great advice on board I think I just need to pay for good advice regarding Penguin and Panda and and a website redesign which I have talked about for a long time,  it's time to get on with it !

Strangely enough I was comparing my Google analytics this morning and I put the post on because in the first six months of 2012 in comparison to the first six months of 2014 my overall traffic Increased three times, but my favourite short tail money keywords has gone down.

I'm working on that one at the moment,  but that's the keyword working

Something very strange has happened regarding my website traffic when making a comparison to the first six months of 2012 and then 2014. Anybody got any ideas?

From my Google analytics from 1 January 2014 to 1 July in other words six months my total traffic on my website was 30,209. Not provided source ( what does this mean ? ) was very high at 23,141 but two of the my main short tail keywords I've targeted in the past "Whitby holiday cottages “only equal 254 and "Whitby cottages" was only 176. When I made a comparison with the same time period below in 2012 the website traffic this year as gone up greatly by almost 20000, but the two of my money short tail keywords as gone down greatly!

If I compare the same time frame for 2012 the overall traffic was only 13,380. Not provided source was nowhere near as high at only 1836 which is also much less than above in 2014 but the short tail keywords I targeted "Whitby holiday cottages was almost 10 times higher at 2005 and "Whitby cottages “much higher at 613.

I ran the questionnaire on http://www.mytrafficdropped.com/quiz/  regarding Panda and particularly Penguin and its association with back links. The article says that Penguin didn't hit the overall keywords, but only specific ones if they been targeted on the following dates the time points of April 24, 2012 and May 25, 2012 which are known Penguin rollout dates. So when I checked the two short tail keywords above for those two dates the figures did seem to drop from 10 hits a day to 5 but then went back up immediately to approximately 10 hits a day during the two-month period which suggested to me that I'd not been hit by Penguin on those dates.

So when you look at the comparison the first six months of 2012 and then 2014 there is no doubt that money  short tail keywords of dropped off dramatically for me but the overall website traffic has gone up dramatically. Some of the increase in traffic will be  down to time and more articles/pages etc.
The two short tail keywords I mention above I know I've dropped in Google rankings I used to be position three page one and the site is now position 10 so I would assume that's why I've dropped in traffic for those phrases.
Has anybody got any idea what's happened? I can honestly say that I've not noticed it in bookings on the website business seems about the same overall.

After a couple of years of talking about having a redesign of my website I finally taken the plunge and I'm paying for responsive design version. Before they go fully into the redesign I thought I would try to get some feedback on whether the initial look and functionality looks good or not. My old website is a very basic Dreamweaver website constructed by myself and because there's only 12 holiday properties on this holiday letting website it has done the job, but you have to scroll down to see the pictures and read the information. At the end of the day I'm certainly not a professional web designer I'm fully aware.

With the new very first draft of the responsive design I've asked for functionality where clicking on the property allows you to check out the photographs and information without scrolling. This is the very first stage of a redesign any opinions regarding functionality and initial look would be very gratefully received.

New draft website  http://www.endeavourcottage.co.uk/newsite/

Old website http://www.endeavourcottage.co.uk/

When people are discussing what affects their search engine rankings on this particular forum,  which has got to be one of the most read on the Internet just how much guesswork is really going on?

It seems like God almighty Google works from its own criteria and the rest of us all scrap to guess! I myself in the last week of posted various topics on here and are conflicting reports by so-called experts not that I am being critical for the sake of it.

If you to one website and said to all the people on this forum just exactly why is it ranking to a degree for this particular key phrase or not as the case may be would there be any truly accurate knowledgeable answers that will come through and explained the difference?

If you have a top 10 of most important things that would influence your rankings that are not guesswork would that be possible to say based on knowledge and expertise? And if so spill the beans what are ? What are the movers and shakers in their particular keyword phrases doing ongoing that's getting them the great results we all want ?

Or is the entire subject of how well you rank ultimately not totally understood and only the realms of guesswork based on observation.

When I was young I trained as electrician which dealt in facts, it seems like this is not possible with the world of business and search engine rankings?

Hi Cole
This website http://www.endeavourcottage.co.uk/ represents just a small holiday letting company which started off with my own singular cottage and as grown into 10 properties from people I know. The thing is that because I only take a percentage of the bookings for the other properties my budget i isn't particularly high.I agree it's probably a good idea to use different companies for web design and SEO and as I dabble in both as an amateur I could work with them. The web design company would have to do the on page to the instructions.

My website's been around seven years and I have written lots of articles and got back links coming into the website with a domain authority of 32. For short-term keywords like "Whitby holiday cottages" and "Whitby cottages" it ranking approximately position 10 but I have been a position three in the past. There is another small company called Shoreline cottages ( domain authority 34 ) which manages to maintain position two for these money short till keywords and I'd like to try and compete. I know there's many factors which Google takes into account and they have been around a few years longer than me but if I could find the right company or person may be they could work ongoing for a reasonable fee to expand the results and hopefully the company

So it's time for a website redesign and to try and find the right person/company to work with for SEO

You're perfectly correct, I was asking too much from people who are giving their time free. When I think about it more clearly in my case I am  the only person who really knows my website, I haven't paid for any help. Not the best situation overall if you want the best from the website because I'm certainly as I think you know dabbler regarding SEO.  I tend to have too many plates spinning and don’t  spend enough time on the subject.

In actual fact, when I've considered the organic traffic I've had over the years in competition with some larger companies and surprised I've achieved the results I have. I've put the work in but not the most knowledgeably based.

The reality is that my two websites produce the majority of my income, so it goes without saying that it's worth investing in expertise. The problem I seem to see initially when looking for expertise is that the majority of trusted, well-known companies all demand a large fee for their work, which is fine if you're a large company with a large turnover. Example I looked at the recommended list on MOZ. If you are a one-man band small company website you just can't afford the amounts. But then on the side when you look at the small or even possibly one-man band SEO companies they don't have the results or clientele to give you trust. I looked at one company and as an example they were representing a roofing firm and on local search on Google roofing firm's website was ranked extremely poorly for the obvious keywords..

I am serious about improving my website and its rankings and I will try to hit the balance of getting the right person for the job, but we satisfied with the amount paid for the work. It's always a difficult step I think handing over the keys to your website to somebody when you've been in total control with no delegating of the work.

Overall when I've looked at the comments from the majority people on here they're giving good sensible information to the best of the knowledge and I realise some people give excellent advice considering they're doing for free.

Is there any way to determine if your site has being penalised by Panda or  Penguin ? As you point out if that's the case maybe that will be the first thing to try to fix this as much as possible before hiring a website redesign and SEO  a professional.

Looking for a company or person  willing to work on a small company website in other words not expensive I looked on the recommended list on the MOZ website but they mostly in America and mostly only too willing to work on large company websites. There wasn't anything catering for a one-man band business like mine which is letting holiday cottages www.endeavourcottage.co.uk.

I have just started talks with a responsive web designer, but if I got the right SEO company maybe they could do both but not necessary.