high on yahoo, nowhere on google

[derwent]

I have a very high ranking on yahoo and maintain a top 3 position. However I am nowhere on Google.

Do you guys know what to do to get me high on google too, I am in a moderately fiercly fought area.

http://www.daeinteriors.co.uk

thanks

 

[ChrisHirst]

to be honest, because of the moderate competition for your market your site needs a complete reworking with SEO and the keyphrases for your market in mind, before you start getting any kind of ranking. For the most part everything that could have been done wrong for the SEs has been done. especially in the areas where Google places a great deal of emphasis. eg; Links (internal and external) and Anchor text. Yes you are 3rd in yahoo but for a phrase that doesn't appear on the radar with any keyword suggestion tools and only has a handfull of sites targetting the phrase, Not exactly beating a path to your door there.

The basic problem is there just isn't enough content for the engines to get the site context, and for google your anchor text isn't right, all the pages have the same title. plus a javscript menu. and of course, on the pages where you have a chance to get a lot of keyphrases in the copy the designers go and use frames just to compound the problems. While the centered minimalist look is very nice from a design point of view it seriously reduces the content you can get on the page which does reduce your chances in getting good SE rankings.

A quick look round and I couldn't find you in any directories, general or niche, and without any good backlinks you won't get any attention from Google.

While you can do this yourself it would be a time consuming business. Read some threads here you'll get some good advice and some other places to visit but be prepared for a lot of work and you'll need even more patience.

hehehe! just read this on your designers site,
"All our sites are designed with this in mind. Using special techniques, your website can be seen by over 4000 search engines worldwide and will maintain a high search ranking throughout. This is a free service and will incur no additional costs. All the techniques are programmed into each site we build as standard."

well as there isn't 4000, 400 or even 40 that count for anything it's lucky they don't charge for it.



Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?

http://www.candsdesign.co.uk

A website that proves the cobblers kids adage.

http://www.cram-system.com

Nightclub counting systems

 

[derwent]

what directories would you suggest? How do I find directories to put myself on?

Can I list myself with them to save paying someone?

 

[ChrisHirst]

you'll find a whole list of directories at

http://www.isedb.com/

some more specific UK business directories are

http://www.kellysearch.com

http://www.applegate.co.uk

http://www.matren.co.uk.

http://www.uk250.co.uk

there are a lot more around. some free, some PFI

You'll need to set aside a couple of days or so (at least) to be able to read the guidelines for each directory then write your submissions to suit each one. That way you have a better chance of getting accepted. Look for the best categories for your listing, DO NOT SUBMIT TO THE FIRST CAT THAT LOOKS LIKELY! you will only get it rejected or passed on to another cat and it may well take forever to get accepted (if at all). If you write the descriptions correctly this does have a huge benefit with Google rankings, get it wrong and you will be stuck with it forever, as not many directories allow editing just because it doesn't look right.

Do not be tempted by the "submit to 40,000 Search engine" garbage very likely the only thing you will get is a flood of spam from some of the crappy FFA sites.

One thing to get done as a priority is to fix your internal navigation and page titles.
All links back to the home page should be to the domain name NOT to default.asp this is because the SEs can (and do) see

http://www.domain.com

and

http://www.domain.com/default.asp

as separate pages and will rank as such, and Page titles should be different for each page.



Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?

http://www.candsdesign.co.uk

A website that proves the cobblers kids adage.

http://www.cram-system.com

Nightclub counting systems

 

[xtendscott]

I totally agree with Chris.

For Search Engines:
iFrames = totally seperate page of content
Javascripted dropdown menus = blah bla blu blah blah

http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html

The above link will give you an example of what Search Engines basically see. Enter your url to see what it is like.

My Suggestions are if you want the same minimal look, (1)change iFrames to a Scrolling <div>, same functionality with content "on the page". (2) Simplify the dropdown to a hidden layer that appears(links and text still visible to SE's, but not as fancy)



xtendscott
Web Site Design and CF Programming

 

[ChrisHunt]

You could code the drop-down menu entirely with CSS, so it would look the same to visitors but be accessible to SEs (and screen readers). See

http://www.htmldog.com/articles/suckerfish/

for how.

Personally, I'd drop that scrolling window look altogether. I think

http://www.daeinteriors.co.uk/Interior_Design/Hints_Tips/default.asp

is much easier to read than, say,

http://www.daeinteriors.co.uk/Interior_Design/default.asp

. Why make people scroll more than they have to?

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[myatia]

I'm having the same problem as derwent (sort of). My organization offers continuing professional education (CPE) courses, and each course has its own page (each uses the same template, though).

Each month, the course pages get about 300 hits from Google, and only about 50 or so from Yahoo!. Do you think this is an issue of the pages not being optimized for Yahoo!, or do people just use Google that much more?

Any advice would be appreciated. Here's links to my course listing (lists all courses and is also a doorway page) and a sample course listing.

Complete catalog listing

http://www.mncpa.org/professional/Catalog/cpeinfo.asp?showall=true

Example of individual course page

https://www.mncpa.org/professional/secure/coursedesc.asp?code=ECS3

Thanks,

Misty

 

[ChrisHunt]

Do you think this is an issue of the pages not being optimized for Yahoo!, or do people just use Google that much more?

When's the last time you used Yahoo to find a page? When's the last time you used Google?

-- Chris Hunt

http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk

http://www.napitalia.org.uk

http://www.leicesteryha.org.uk

 

[myatia]

I use Google, but that doesn't mean everyone out there does. In fact, for some of the pages on our site, we get almost as many hits from Yahoo as we do from Google. And we still get a statistically significant number of hits from MSN. That in mind, I'd like to optimize all around, if that's possible. If anyone has any ideas, I'd appreciate them.

 

[xtendscott]

Myatia,

Different sectors of people tend to use different approaches in finding information/products on the internet. (ie, non-technical users tend to use MSN, AOL or packaged services, Moderate users will use what is recommended by others they know as Google is popular, Advanced users will use multiple tools to find the same information/product, Google, DMOZ, Multiple Word Searches and negative words, Search Advertisements and even Yahoo)

That Said, if you search on Yahoo, are you on the 1st or 2nd page? If you are then you are pretty well optimized for Yahoo beyond that work needs to be done. Each page of your site needs to try to focus on 1,2 or 3 KeyWords depending on the competitiveness of the term.

If you are offering CPE for the More Technical sectors I would not be surprised that most would be using Google.

Most of the sites I work with we rank better in Yahoo, yet still get more traffic from Google.

xtendscott
Web Site Design and CF Programming