7CityJobs.com - Desperate for Google Ranking Assistance!

Business Forum

Doing Business on the Web

Search Engine Optimization & Advertising

7CityJobs.com - Desperate for Google Ranking Assistance!

New Topic

Post Reply

Follow Topic

Page of 3 Next »

Author
Message

7cityjobs

posts: 10

Apr 19, 2008 4:27 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Hoping someone in the community can help me with my Google ranking problem.

I started 7CityJobs.com in late 2007. It`s a local/regional employment or job listing website covering Hampton Roads here in Virginia. Initially, I could find myself sometimes on page 2 or 3, but have subsequently fallen off the face of the Google planet and can`t seem to find the right (legitimate) trick to getting ranked.

Doing well with the other search engines, but Google has me stumped. I`m certain that I have something wrong with the site, and that I`m not in the "sandbox" (having problems for too long now), and would appreciate any advice anyone out there may have.

Thank you VERY much in advance for your consideration and time!

Sincerely,

Mike

-------------------------

Mike Crockett
Owner
7CityJobs.com, LLC
mike@7cityjobs.com
Norfolk, VA

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Apr 19, 2008 6:44 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Well, the good news is your site is indexed by Google.

What are your targeted search terms? Hampton Roads and Hampton Roads Jobs are very competitive and competing in the on-line job arena is highly competitive (against careerbuilder, monster, et all). You have many, many keywords on your home page and are not really optimized for any selected few.

The bad news... you do not have any back links (showing on Google Yahoo, or MSN). You need to work on getting to your site especially from relevant/related and popular web sites. Improving your back links will help.

You can start by using a back link from SUN (in your signature). Critical is what search term to use as the text link.

So, one of the first things to do is to determine what search terms you want (and can effectively) target.

Since your site`s domain does NOT have "Hampton Roads" in it, it will be hard to overcome those sites that do. One "trick" is to use "hamptonroads" as a subdomain or even a directory.

You`ll see a few sites that do this now.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me.

~Roland

-------------------------

Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

7cityjobs

posts: 10

Apr 20, 2008 8:08 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Roland,

Thanks so much! Will definitely check out your site and contact you as well. This was very helpful. I know I`m not the first person to have trouble with Google rankings, however, I can`t tell you how much time I`ve spent trying to noodle this one out without any substantial progress being made. Believe you`re spot-on about the keywords being all wrong. Will tackle the things you recommended mosh-kosh. Thanks again Roland!

Sincerely,

Mike

-------------------------

Mike Crockett
Owner
7CityJobs.com, LLC
mike@7cityjobs.com
Norfolk, VA

7cityjobs

posts: 10

Apr 21, 2008 7:17 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Does anyone out there know how to tell whether or not a website is in the Google "Sandbox" or not? I`m guessing it`s an art form vice a science. Thanks!

-------------------------

Mike Crockett
Owner
7CityJobs.com, LLC
mike@7cityjobs.com
Norfolk, VA

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Apr 21, 2008 7:45 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

How old is you site (how long has the domain name been online)?

If your website is not new to Google (it has already been indexed several months ago), sandbox should not be your problem anymore.

If your website has been already online for a certain period (it appears in serps) the sandbox should not be a problem for you.

The "Sandbox" may or may not exist... there are people on both sides.

If it is or is not in the "sandbox" you still do the same thing... work on optimizing your site for your targeted search terms and work on getting quality text based lin-bound links.

~Roland

-------------------------

Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

7cityjobs

posts: 10

Apr 21, 2008 8:01 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Thanks Roland,

I got the domain name in July of last year, and had the website up and running since October. I was ranking fine on Google for a month or two (page 3 to 2), and in February, I found that one or two of my variations of "7CityJobs" (sevencityjobs, etc.) had the wrong/old server numbers they were pointing to and corrected them via GoDaddy (that was about the time I disappeared on Google).

I know you`re right about the optimizing though, and that I really need to do it. Thanks Roland!

Mike

-------------------------

Mike Crockett
Owner
7CityJobs.com, LLC
mike@7cityjobs.com
Norfolk, VA

brent281

posts: 17

Apr 23, 2008 1:36 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

vwebworld... the backlink in your signature here will not work, this site adds the "no follow" tag to URLs so google will not see those as backlinks. (more about the nofollow tag and google).

but as for optimizing, it took a lot of research on the subject to figure out what the search engines are looking for and what people are doing. my site, MargaritaTexas.com, was on page 3+ for my targeted keywords, but with back links (i asked a lot of related topic sites to add my url), keyword density in my pages and other tricks, we are now #1 search on all the major search engines for "margarita recipes" and other popular margarita related terms.

it also helps to not have as much competition on certain keywords. use http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com to find keywords that people search for that may not have as much competition.

and make sure you use the <h1> tag for the keyword... it is key!

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Apr 23, 2008 2:11 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

vwebworld... the backlink in your signature here will not work, this site adds the "no follow" tag to URLs so google will not see those as backlinks.

Ah... yes correct! I thought at one point the backlinks worked from SUN

~Roland

-------------------------

Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

7cityjobs

posts: 10

Apr 23, 2008 10:51 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Brent & Roland,

Great advice and thanks!!!

Mike

-------------------------

Mike Crockett
Owner
7CityJobs.com, LLC
mike@7cityjobs.com
Norfolk, VA

7cityjobs

posts: 10

Apr 25, 2008 11:39 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Weird. Yesterday, I popped on Google on page 1 to 3, based on my preferred search terms, and then disappeared within an hour, and I have no idea why. Still no where to found today. It`s all magic and mystery (and more than a little frustrating).

I modified my search terms (thanks again for the advice Roland and Brent) based on word search popularity, but believe I still have something technically wrong with my website. I even worked on my homepage content (minimized/cleaned it up, etc.).

If anyone else out there sees anything obviously wrong with my websites functionality, as it might pertain to Google, I`d really appreciate your advice!

Thank you!

-------------------------

Mike Crockett
Owner
7CityJobs.com, LLC
mike@7cityjobs.com
Norfolk, VA

Page of 3 Next »

Post Reply

Keep the Community Clean!

StartupNation forums should be used as a platform to learn, educate others, share stories, tips & tricks and to provide constructive feedback.
Please do not use the Forums for advertising & blatant self-promotion.
Please be respectful to other members and refrain from personal attacks and vulgar language.
StartupNation reserves the right to delete any message, reply, and/or member who violates our terms of use.

Read full terms of use

Contact Us Privacy Terms of Use Become a Marketplace Provider Advertise Local Guides Site Map Home Business Start a Business

Business Forum

Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

7CityJobs.com - Desperate for Google Ranking Assistance!

Keep the Community Clean!