My High Search Ranking...What Happened...??? 1

[doxology]

hello again...

six months ago...if I opened any search engine & typed in 'recording studio, new jersey'...my business was very near the top of the list.

if I typed in 'recording studio, trenton'...I was at the very top of the list.

now...I'm not even on the list...anybody's list...!!!

wonder what could have happened, 'cause the phone has stopped ringing.

thanx,


mark4man

http://www.moonmixstudios.com

 

[MakeItSo]

That's just a guess but I'd say it is caused by the recent updates (codename: Penguin) which Google et al. inplemented to improve search results and block SEO cheaters.
I see you are still using the keyword Meta tag. Forget about that. Use a meaningful description Meta and then make sure your site itself contains the desired search words.
Check out Google Webmaster Tools and the tips & tricks and FAQ therein.

Good luck!
MakeItSo

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.” (Kofi Annan)
Oppose SOPA, PIPA, ACTA; measures to curb freedom of information under whatever name whatsoever.

 

[ChrisHirst]

I'd have to agree threre, the meta keywords content, which is NOT used by SEs, does yell out "I'm trying too hard"!




Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[feherke]

Hi

A minor thing : the link texts are used as keywords for the linked document. Your menu is built up from images without plain text alternatives. Add some [tt]alt[/tt] attributes to the [tt]img[/tt] tags.

Feherke.
[link feherke.github.com/]

http://feherke.github.com/

[/url]

 

[Mike Lewis]

the meta keywords content, which is NOT used by SEs, does yell out "I'm trying too hard"!

Chris, are you saying that the mere presence of a meta keword tag could actually have harmed his rankings?

Mike


__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy

 

[ChrisHirst]

I'm not say it unequivocally. However it may be one of the factors/signals that Google are employing in their current "over-cooked SEO" algorithm.

I did hypothesise a little over a year ago on Google having two sliding scale ratings (

http://tycoontalk.freelancer.com/1167424-post22.html)

one for "good" things and one for "bad", I was considering "keyword stuffing" at the time but it does seem remarkably similar to what they may have implemented for the "unnatural links" warning and "down grading" of URLs that are perceived to have a "unnatural link graph"

The meta keywords element has long since been ignored for "ranking" by Google, but that does not preclude it for being used for other reasons as it is in the source code for a document. It could be something like the Miranda rights!

"You are not obliged to publish anything, but anything you do publish may be held against you", You are entitled to an SEO but that may not assist in the charges laid before you"

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[doxology]

UPDATE:

wanted to come back & let everyone know:

1) Consolidated meta keywords list...only kept primarily important keywords (&...it's not even 25% of it's former size).

2) Rewrote meta description ala 'common sense'...to reflect what I basically do; & my location.

3) Re-verified site w/ Google Webmaster; & implemented Site Health suggestions.

4) Found out that Bing & Yahoo had merged search engines...so's I updated my listing & implemented a sitemap.

(hope this works in improving my ranking)

thanx,


dox

 

[audiopro]

I have found that just having relevant content on a site without the fancy tricks and old wive's tales works really well.

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[ChrisHirst]

Found out that Bing & Yahoo had merged search engines

Since July 2010.

I have found that just having relevant content on a site without the fancy tricks and old wive's tales works really well.

Can't argue with that, It's been that way since 1993 and long may it continue.



Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[doxology]

I created a separate layer (#77) for my <h1> tag heading...& hid it (using Z-indexing) in back of a layer (#3) that contained a graphic of the exact same site description. this way, it's not visible...but will be picked up by the crawlers (will it, I hope...is this legit?)

 

[audiopro]

Not sure why you would hide a <h1> element.

If it is relevant it should be shown, if it is not relevant, why is it there?

Keith

http://www.studiosoft.co.uk

 

[ChrisHirst]

Is this in the vain hope that SEs are magically impressed with text in heading elements??

Because they are not as "important" as "experts" suggest.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[Mike Lewis]

I created a separate layer (#77) for my <h1> tag heading...& hid it (using Z-indexing) in back of a layer (#3) that contained a graphic of the exact same site description.

Quite honestly, with all the time you mess around with this sort of thing - not to mention the uncertainty as to its effect - you could be developing worthwhile content that will actually enhance your site and make people want to visit it.

Just my humble two drachmas worth.

Mike



__________________________________
Mike Lewis (Edinburgh, Scotland)

Visual FoxPro articles, tips, training, consultancy

 

[doxology]

Not sure why you would hide a <h1> element

because having text in the body undefined by coordinates doesn't fit w/ my design scheme. if u read my post u would understand that my basic site description...that is, who I am & what I do...which IS the primary relative aspect of my business...is already shown on my home page...but in the form of a graphics file (.pg) which is the 'SubTitle' in my (raster-based) 'Header'...'cause that approach fits nicely w/ my design scheme. I wanted to have the same, capitalzed typewriter font that is used in both my title & in my navigation buttons...that's all. I'm a businessman...not a designer like u guyz. I just came here lookin' for help.

so...thinking that I really needed <h1>'s for SEO...I simply placed the same exact text in a <div> under the graphics file.

folks...I really believe my site DOES in fact contain worthwhile content...but y'all be the judge:

http://www.moonmixstudios.com

dox

 

[doxology]

make that a .jpg file (not .pg). sorry for the type-o; & i don't believe i've ever been able to edit my posts here

 

[darryncooke]

H1 tags do have importance, semantically as well as for spiders when reading your content. It's not an end all.

Try using an image replacement method for your H1 tag.

Create a BG image and then set dimensions with overflow: hidden and text-indent: 9999px;

you can do the same for links, just make sure display: block; is set.

Darryn Cooke

http://www.darryncooke.com

| Marketing and Creative Services

 

[ChrisHirst]

There is lots of speculation and assumption about heading tags being deemed as "important" and lots of "SEO by numbers" "experts" (using the term very loosely) who declare them to be the "SEO secret sauce"

But using headings for what they are meant for is far better than any "what search engines want" theory.

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

 

[ChrisHunt]

A few observations on your site dox, in the hope that you may find them helpful, starting with a couple of things about how search engines work:

Search robots like text. They don't really understand it in any meaningful sense, but at least they can read it, count how often certain words occur, and do other computery things that (with the help of some kick-ass programming) enable them to give us search results that conform to our searches. Images are much more difficult for them to deal with, even when they're images of text - it might not make much difference to us humans (those of us that aren't blind, that is), but it's a big deal to computers. So it makes sense to help the poor dears if we can...
[ol]
[li]Use plenty of (relevant) text when building your site[/li]
[li]Where text has a particular significance - such as a heading - use the right markup to point that out to the robots[/li]
[li]Where you use images to display text, make sure you include an [tt]alt[/tt] attribute to help the bots read it[/li]
[/ol]
Another thing that's important is links - bots like to follow them to determine the relationship between pages, as do people for that matter. A site map is no substitute for actual on-page links. This leads me to a major failing of your site: only the home page has any links on it.

The leaf pages - which contain most of the text that bots will read and engines will (we hope) rank - don't link to the rest of the site, or even to the home page. This affects human visitors even more than bots - suppose someone searhes for a studio with a particular combination of kit and lands up on your "gear" page. How do they find out where that gear is? I theorize that the existence of all these orphanned pages may be getting the engines to mark your site as low quality, with an impact of your ranking.

Engines are less bothered by the look of your site - as I said, they don't really see it - but as a human visitor I'm not very impressed. It looks very dated and unprofessional, especially the lack of navigation and the completely different look to every page. There's really no excuse for that in 2012. It would discourage me as a potential client in case your recording was equally slapdash.

So my advice would be to give the site a complete overhaul, or to pay somebody with the necessary skills to do so. Consider using a CMS like Joomla or Wordpress that'll give you a simple interface to manage your content without disturbing the look and feel.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[doxology]

chris...

thanx...

2.Where text has a particular significance - such as a heading - use the right markup to point that out to the robots

the most IMPORTANT text on my site appears in my marquee, which is in the body...this is what I want the search engines to recognize. that being sed...what kind of markup would I use to point that out...???

[also...I also use similar text in my meta description...should that be pointed out also...???] [is it detrimental...???]

The leaf pages - which contain most of the text that bots will read and engines will (we hope) rank - don't link to the rest of the site, or even to the home page. This affects human visitors even more than bots - suppose someone searhes for a studio with a particular combination of kit and lands up on your "gear" page. How do they find out where that gear is? I theorize that the existence of all these orphanned pages may be getting the engines to mark your site as low quality, with an impact of your ranking.

great point...never thought of that (in terms of that type of importance)...will implement changes immediately...thanx...that will help.

It looks very dated and unprofessional

agree w/ you on the dated thing...that's by design...I wanted the site to be on the artsy side, w/ pages looking like graphic illustrations or magazine pages from the 70's. unprofessional, tho...???...I've had people tell me it's actually refreshing to come across a site that's not contemporary cookie cutter in look. no defense here...although...I seriously doubt it turns people away...I'm looking for recording & mastering clients, not the web dev elite.

thanx again...& looking forward to your reply on marking up the important text,


dox

 

[ChrisHunt]

the most IMPORTANT text on my site appears in my marquee [...] what kind of markup would I use to point that out

You could try putting it in a [tt]<strong>[/tt] element. That'll put it into boldface by default, but you can override this with CSS if necessary.

I also use similar text in my meta description...should that be pointed out also...??? is it detrimental...???

You can't put markup into a meta description. In any case, descriptions aren't used for ranking sites in search results, they're only used to add a bit of explanatory text in search results where the SE can't find a suitable snippet of text from the page in question.

agree w/ you on the dated thing...that's by design...I wanted the site to be on the artsy side

There's a distinction between dated and retro. What I meant by dated is that it looks like the kind of sites we saw a lot of in the 90's, with every page a completely different set of fonts and visual elements, seemingly thrown together without much of a plan - which is why I describe it as unprofessional.

20 years of experience with the web has seen sites coalesce around certain usability standards. Things like having a consistent layout across all your pages - so users can quickly find a site title, navigation menu, contact info, etc. without having to hunt for it on each page. That doesn't mean you can't clothe a 21st century site in some retro styling - never mind the 1970s, I have a site whose look is modelled on the 1890s, but it's still laid out as a conventional website.

So I'd say immerse yourself in 70s magazines and whatever other materials inspire your design aesthetic, and come up with one page layout that you can use on each of your site's pages. You can use colour and images to give each a distinct look and feel if you really want to, but use the same basic skeleton on each page to keep it consistent.

I seriously doubt it turns people away

You have no way of knowing - because you'll never meet anybody that was turned away. It's possible to strike a happy medium between unusable art statement and corporate blandness - I think you're a little wide of the mark. Of course, you know your target audience better than I do.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd