You’ve optimized your site to ensure it receives top rankings in the search engines. Your site got indexed, but the best position it received was number 137 on Yahoo. So you wait; after all, good search engine positions takes time. However, another two months go by with no real movement. So what should you do now? Wait longer? Re-optimize your site?
Examine Your Site’s Back Links
The first thing you want to do is closely examine your site’s back links. Essentially, you need to make sure the search engines are recognizing a large quantity of one-way links from relevant, authoritative sites to your site. BBB.org, your Local Chamber of Commerce, and industry associations you belong to can be the best places to start. You can get a little more creative by purchasing links from BOTW.com, HackerSafe.com and W3C.org. Quality link building is key to any search engine optimization campaign so pay special attention to it.
Consider Strict Re-Optimization
You may also want to consider switching up your optimization tactics. For example, you can execute a full revision of the site’s internal link structure, and remove any pop-ups, AJAX, and flash features. You should also make sure your code is W3C compliant and that all title and META tags are unique. This may seem like overkill but the results are usually well worth it.
Add More Unique Content
We have all heard the saying "Content is King." Well, that it as true today as it was 2 years ago. Your site must contain a large amount of unique and relevant content in order to get well positioned by the major search engines. MachInteractive clients often ask us how they can quickly add more content to their site without having to sit down and write. There are a number of things that you can do to develop your sites content, just be a little creative. For starters you can develop a tips section and/or upload a glossary of industry terms. You may also want to consider offering a newsletter and including that on your site as well. The goal is to introduce a substantial amount of unique relevant content to the search engines through your site.
Beware of 'Possible’ Penalties
If you are having trouble getting good rankings, your site may need to be examined for possible penalties that may be preventing it from ranking well. It is highly recommended that you consult with an expert on this. Duplicate content penalties, backlinks from bad neighborhoods, links to low quality sites, hidden text, code errors, and search engine crawler traps are among the many possibilities. These are some of the first things we review when taking on new clients.
Go Above and Beyond Search Engine Optimization
If you are in a highly competitive product or service category, you may also want to employ some additional tactics. For example you could try introducing a blog for your vertical. Keep in mind that these days blogs are a dime a dozen so make sure you can bring value to your customers through the blog. You could also try creating and distribute an online video about your company or products. Participating in forums or online communities within your vertical can also help with building quality backlinks to your site and generating additional buzz. Your objective is to get people to speak about and link to your site from key communities that currently don't or normally wouldn't.
