Is content relevant any more? 4

[1DMF]

Hi,

We have been approached by a company who claim they can get us on page one for ALL our keywords. They took me to google, got me to type 'house insurance' and position 6 'trdirect' is their handy work.

Well when I look at the page I see the keyword 'house insurance' twice on the page and once in the title tag. That is not enough to give anyone a genric listing of 6 concidering the high competition this market commands.

So when I asked how they did it they talked about 'the article we wrote for them'.

So is this right.

You write an article 'keyword stuffed' with a link to your website, and google instead of indexing the article, boosts the page linked to in the article?, why would it do that and not index the article?

is that what this blog thing is all about, and if so, does that mean content counts for nothing anymore, I could have a couple of words on my page where it mentions 'batteries' out of contenxt to my site , services and products, then write tonnes of articles regarding batteries and i'd be no.1 in google for the keyword 'batteries' when we don't do batteries?

how on earth does writing some keyword stuffed rubbish linking to my site make my site be no.1 in google, and if it can , then google's algo's need an overhaul.

crickey, if this is how it works, you could have a million BAD reviews, slaging off your company, website , service, products etc.. and that actually makes you no.1 in google because of all the keyword rich articles linking to your site, how stupid would that be.

That really is 'celebrity world' gotta be in the news, even if it's bad press, as long as people still hear of me, 'any news is good news' syndrome.

Man that sucks, please tell me it's not true and they are using black cat methods to boost SERP position.

Oh and if it is how it works, what questions do I need to ask to ensure they are reputable and we don't get banned by a dodgy SEO company, what info do I need to know before concidering using them and do I even need to use a company for this, if it's genuine, surely your better getting an expert to write aticles than someone like me who wouldn't know where to start, PR Press Release is not my forte!

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!

 

[theEclipse]

My 2 cents:

First off....in a google search for 'house insurance' and 'home insurance' trdirect doesn't come up at all on the first page.


As far as 'does content matter' I would say yes. I am no SEO professional but when writing a website I try and write it for a selection of keywords and I usually am given a pretty good ranking. Search google for 'Robert Carpenter' and my website will be in the top three. Other than the link in my signature here on TT, I can't think of anywhere that there might be a link to my website anywhere near my name.

I think that content is #1.

But is just my two cents.

Robert Carpenter
Remember....eternity is much longer than this ~80 years we will spend roaming this earth.
ô¿ô

http://www.robertcarpenter.net

 

[feherke]

Hi

Yes, it appears, currently on position 7.

Robert, you was not attentive over the last month. ;-) 1DMF is from UK, so he uses google.co.uk .

Feherke.

http://rootshell.be/~feherke/

 

[SBTBILL]

I notice that TR Direct is British. That may have something to do with it. The engines are supposed to be taking location into account, now. However, my search on Home insurance and House insurance didn't bring it up in the first 3 pages either.

Bill Couture
sbtbill.com

 

[1DMF]

Well I'm not sure about this country google thing, it's damn annoying that I cannot go to google.com.

google.co.uk is suppose to show me everything UNLESS i put a dot in UK only websites option, but hey maybe it doesn't work, but ttrdirect are no.7 when i search!

I understand what your saying Robert, but getting a high page ranking for not so competetive keywords isn't difficult, that is simply understanding that the TITLE tag is king!

i'm no.3 for most of my sites for certain keywords.

It's the highly competetive, mostly used keywords that's the hard bit, and it is impossible to optimise for all of them anyhow unless you just created spammy keyword stuffed pages, which is not an option, i know that is BAD!

I just wondered how much weight all this blogging and article inbound link, keyword relevant stuff I keep hearing about really carries and can it help improve ranking for keywords your title tag and landing page content isn't necessarily giving you the high enough ranking you desire.

Or is this baloney BS from a dubious SEO company, i'm beginning to think so, especialy as they never called me back in the end, funny that.

I think they realised I knew a bit more about SEO and writing websites than they hoped and was looking for a shmuck to take to the cleaners.

But having said that I have been told articles/blogging and inbound links can make a big difference, as long as you add value and content to your site and not just doing it for SEO and keywords sake.

But I also beleive the two are not mutually exclusive, wanting higher SERPs can make you do things like create a news page, blog or articles, but it doesn't mean the content is fake or rubbish just created for SEO.

doing something for SEO , is not inherently bad, but what you do might be.

Be it for SEO or not, you can write a bad article not even realising the kudos it might be giving your SERPs for certain keywords.

of course i want to increase SERPs and i'll do what needs to be done to acheive this, but what ever I do, I will try to make a good job of it, that's a fair approach isn't it?

Regards, 1DMF



"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!

 

[Grenage]

google.co.uk is suppose to show me everything UNLESS i put a dot in UK only websites option

Is it? Or was that an assumption?

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[1DMF]

Well if it isn't what's the "UK only pages" radio button selection for?

"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!

 

[Grenage]

I'm just saying that you can't be sure it searches, or what it prioritizes. You can't really criticize something without knowing what it was supposed to do in the first place.

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[1DMF]

But I can critisise it for not explaining what the page is all about or how to use it or telling me what gives what results.

not vey imformative the google home page wouldn't you say!

And on top of which where was I critisising it? i'm rather confused by your comment?



"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!

 

[BabyJeffy]

I have found that .co.uk and .com return different results for the same search. Maybe the Google guys are being a little bit more clever and attempting to deliver what they consider better results based on the domain you are searching from.

I would agree that the SEO company in question was looking for a schmuck to make a killing off.

Cheers,
Jeff


[tt]Jeff's Page [!]@[/!] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/blog/

http://www.coedit.co.uk/

[/tt]

Make sure your web page and css validates properly against the doctype you have chosen - before you attempt to debug a problem!

FAQ216-6094

 

[ChrisHunt]

I think it prioritises UK sites for some keywords, making the (not unreasonable) assumption that if you're searching for home insurance in google.co.uk you're looking for someone who sells home insurance in the UK.

All search terms are tweaked one way or another by the various local Googles, though its less pronounced in non-commercial areas. For example, a search in co.uk for "Wellington" brings back the school in #1 and the Duke in #5, the same search in .co.nz brings back the city (one way or another) in all 10 places.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[1DMF]

I'm not disputing any of that guys, but I also wasn't critisising it.

I said it was annoying that I can't go to google.com , for some reason that seemed to upset Grenage, must have got out the wrong side of the bed today ;-)

why google makes assuptions on what i'm looking for, who can tell, the last time I checked google didn't have mind reading technology.

but not allowing me to visit a website by choice is damn frustrating and infrindges freedom of choice.

just the way it is I guess.

I think it prioritises UK sites for some keywords, making the (not unreasonable) assumption that if you're searching for home insurance in google.co.uk you're looking for someone who sells home insurance in the UK.

I think you guys are missing the point I'm making , If I type google.com in my browser, it gets changed to google.co.uk, I CANNOT GO TO GOOGLE.COM BY CHOICE!

that's all I was saying, I might be looking for insurance for my holiday home in Florida, Google cannot second guess what i'm looking for, no matter how hard it may try!

It's an SE not AI !



"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!

 

[Foamcow]

I might be looking for insurance for my holiday home in Florida

Agreed it is a little awkward that you can't visit google.com but if you were looking for home insurance in Florida, but adding the keyword Florida it would show you the correct result. And since it weights the results by your geographical region it will prioritise those vendors that are in the UK but sell home insurance for Florida.

That's the thing with Google, they don't tell people how it works because they don't need to. The home page is simple and effective precisely for that reason. As soon as they start splattering techy stuff on there they will lose 95% of their users*.

*Note: that's a completely made up statistic to demonstrate a point.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[Grenage]

No it just seemed a little anti-google. I suppose I could have misinterpreted. /grin

You can always go to america.google.com when searching for insurance in Florida/

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[BabyJeffy]

Nice tip there, Grenage. Thanks for the suggestion! I can now query the .com without resorting to other trickery.

Cheers,
Jeff


[tt]Jeff's Page [!]@[/!] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/jeff/blog/

http://www.coedit.co.uk/

[/tt]

Make sure your web page and css validates properly against the doctype you have chosen - before you attempt to debug a problem!

FAQ216-6094

 

[Foamcow]

I didn't know about that either.
Nice tip.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Tyres: Mine's a pint of the black stuff.
Mike: You can't drink a pint of Bovril.

 

[ChrisHunt]

I CANNOT GO TO GOOGLE.COM BY CHOICE!

Yes you can.

Go to google.co.uk, there's a link on the bottom line of links that says "Go to Google.com", click it.

Once you've followed that link, it seems to permanently break the irritating "automatically bounce me into google.co.uk" behaviour, even when you type google.com in the address line (at least, that doesn't happen to me now and I'm sure it used to).

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[1DMF]

No chris, you miss the point , I type a URL in my browser, it does not go to the address I type.

why would I or should I then have to click a link to go to a URL i'd already typed in my browser address bar in the first place.

surely i'm not the only one who finds this irritating?

Thanks Jeff , obviously i'm not.

Nice one Grenage, see I finanly provoked a proper answer and star worthy response out of you, wasn't sure our american cousin's understood 'tounge in cheek' posts, nice to see you did, and my rant was taken in the spirit it was meant to.

Come on foamy, they don't need to tell people how it works, if they just let me go to the site of my choice when I type it in my browser.

If I want to go to .co.uk because I EXPECT it to return more UK based websites, I would go to .co.uk myself.

Alot of the time i'm not interested in what country a website is in, the whole point of the web is it is a global community, all this makes me think is jeezus , I cannot trust google to give me a global SERP for anything I type, i've now got to go to japan.google.com , then france.google.com , then blah blah blah , that's bull ****

How is that helping me? and how is that a global engine?

Aha maybe that's opened up a hole in the market for a new engine that is truely global, i'm sure you guys could write the algo in your lunch break ;-)




"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!

 

[Grenage]

I suppose google work on the basis that most internet users aren't that tech-savy, and that when they type in ".com" it's just because they associate it with google. They probably don't really want to access global results. When you remove the top 100 most commonly searched phrases (bound to be pornography related), I'll bet most of the remaining searches are more geographically dependent, such as the previously mentioned insurance.

So while I agree that it's not how you and I might have designed it, they're just taking the path of least resistance.

Carlsberg don't run I.T. departments, but if they did they'd probably be more fun.

 

[1DMF]

When you remove the top 100 most commonly searched phrases (bound to be pornography related), I'll bet most of the remaining searches are more geographically dependent

lol - what are you implying i am going to google.com for?



"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you."

"If a shortcut was meant to be easy, it wouldn't be a shortcut, it would be the way!