Why are my page ranks so bad?

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minimegeology

posts: 143

Jun 07, 2008 10:27 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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I`ve read everything about SEO that I can find and someone on this site gave my site a critique several months ago and I fixed a bunch of stuff on the website. (www.MiniMeGeology.com) My page ranks are still terrible. In fact, for most of the keywords that I think people would use, we are pages and pages back. I`m guessing that the text is bad. Can anyone please look at my site and see what I`m doing wrong? I want to come up on the first page when people are looking for rock and mineral kits and geology toys for kids. I recently started a blog so I`m hoping that helps too.

Thanks!

Tracy

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

Tracy Barnhart, Owner
Giverny, Inc. / Mini Me Geology
http://www.GivernyOnline.com
http://www.MiniMeGeology.com

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Jun 07, 2008 12:31 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Google search for those terms yields:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=rock+and+mineral+kits+and+geology+toys+for+kids&btnG=Google+Search

Top spot.

Search on rocks and mineral kits = second page result.

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

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

minimegeology

posts: 143

Jun 07, 2008 7:32 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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We do come up with some pretty specific terms like those. If I search "rocks for kids" we aren`t even in the top15 pages. I do have that in our keywords though. On the "rock and mineral kits" search term how do I go from page 2 to page 1?

Thanks,

Tracy

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

Tracy Barnhart, Owner
Giverny, Inc. / Mini Me Geology
http://www.GivernyOnline.com
http://www.MiniMeGeology.com

vwebworld

posts: 1237

Jun 07, 2008 9:30 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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To get a better search result depends on a few factors.
Do some research - (there are some web sites and programs to help you with this)

You need first to determine the appropriate search terms to target. The term "rock and mineral kits" might be a good one to target if there are a fair amount of people searching using those terms and those people are your target market/buyers.
See how much competition there is (other web sites) that also target those search terms. If those terms are highly competitive, breaking into the top is more of a challenge.
Refine your target search terms - decide what terms you will target. This can be a trade-off between the most popular terms and some more esoteric or narrowly defined terms.

Create or modify your site to effectively use your targeted search terms. Commonly referred to as search engine optimization (SEO) and quality/relevant content.

There are a lot of posts on SUN about SEO and where to use your targeted search terms. Some place carry more weight that other places.

Remember, it is not effective to use all your targeted search terms on one page like your home page. It is certainly appropriate to focus several pages each on different targeted search terms.

Along with this, you also need to work on getting quality in-bound links to your site. The best are from sites related to yours and that have good popularity.

~Roland

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

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

houseofjerkyjanie

posts: 1150

Jun 07, 2008 10:44 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Google, I`m confused about how it works all the time anyway. For quite sometime we teetered back and forth from page one and page two for the search words "beef jerky"

A few days ago we were #2 for the search, but slipped back to postions four and five for days. Today everytime I take a peek we`ve been #2 again under #1 being wikipedia. I`m sure something will change it again. But, I am glad we are on page one for a very competitive key word phrase.

I think it takes time,... and doing all the things Roland has suggested. I congratulate you for learning how to do this. I just hired Roland of vwebworld instead, for his expertise! :) It seems like so many are making their own websites now, which is amazing to me, that so many can. But to get effective search engine results, sometimes an expert in the field can make the difference. There are quite a few of those right here on SUN too.

Janie

sddreamweavers

posts: 260

Jun 08, 2008 12:43 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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First rule of SEO. Never use 3rd party shopping cart software for your home page if you can avoid it.

What search terms are you targeting and when did the site go live?

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

Aaron Wood
CEO
San Diego Dream Weavers
http://www.sddreamweavers.com
awood@sddreamweavers.com

New and improved! Now with blogging goodness!
http://www.sddreamweavers.com/san-diego-seo-marketing-blog/

Nuevolution

posts: 1223

Jun 08, 2008 3:42 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Tracy,
I took a few minutes to analyze your web site`s keywords, structure and semantics, and it seems like there`s some coding errors in your web site. Let me explain to you why you`re having such a hard time making your web site rank.

Your Header tags are our of order! first mistake... Always put your Keywords below the <head> tag. What I see there is a Java-script.
Swap the Keywords and description meta tags. Use keywords first.
You have 77 basic HTML coding errors in your web site. It seems like you are forgetting to close your tags with a / at the end of the > "it should be like this < my code />.
You are forgetting the images "ALT tag" so you can add image descriptions
you are closing your line breaks... like this <br/> it should be like this <br> if it`s inside a form or dynamic content.
The background attribute should be like this: background-image: url ( your image )
avoid using inline style formatting. If possible use a CSS document to separate your web site`s appearance from content.
Lastly, shorten your web site`s description, if not avoid using single words followed by a , in your description... those are considered stop words.

These are a few pointers. that you might want to fix before you continue. I hope that is helpful to you.
I don`t know how much is true about using third-party shopping cart systems on the front page, because if not a shopping cart, then what? isn`t the whole purpose to sell?

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

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

sddreamweavers

posts: 260

Jun 08, 2008 5:19 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Your Header tags are our of order! first mistake... Always put your Keywords below the <head> tag. What I see there is a Java-script.
Swap the Keywords and description meta tags. Use keywords first.
You have 77 basic HTML coding errors in your web site. It seems like you are forgetting to close your tags with a / at the end of the > "it should be like this < my code />.
You are forgetting the images "ALT tag" so you can add image descriptions
you are closing your line breaks... like this <br/> it should be like this <br> if it`s inside a form or dynamic content.
The background attribute should be like this: background-image: url ( your image )
avoid using inline style formatting. If possible use a CSS document to separate your web site`s appearance from content.
Lastly, shorten your web site`s description, if not avoid using single words followed by a , in your description... those are considered stop words.

Psst. Scroll up to my previous reply in this thread. It explains why you are seeing all the problems you noted in your reply.

People are stuck with what they get code wise and SEO wise when using 3rd party cart software for their front page. I just wrote a blog post about this and why you are seeing what you are seeing. It`s quite common with 3rd Party cart software.

In the very least they should take a code scrape of the front page, clean it up on the back end while still making it look the same cosmetically. When that is done, save the cleaned up code as an HTML page and then begin with SEO. The goal of this exercise is so they can have a page where they have the flexability to do whatever they want SEO wise, not have to worry about the limitations of the Cart Software, and they won`t have to worry about search engine rankings in the back of their heads.

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

Aaron Wood
CEO
San Diego Dream Weavers
http://www.sddreamweavers.com
awood@sddreamweavers.com

New and improved! Now with blogging goodness!
http://www.sddreamweavers.com/san-diego-seo-marketing-blog/

CraigL

posts: 9051

Jun 08, 2008 5:34 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 0 Vote

Here`s what you have as your opening sentence on the home page:

The home for learning about geology, science projects and experiments, minerals, rocks and My Rockin’ Collections! mineral and rock kits for kids!

You might change that to something more fun, developing a sort of "look and feel" geared toward kids. However, since adults (parents) likely would be paying the money, you want to focus on why a parent would be interested in learning about geology. Remember that a lot of people might not know the word "geology:"

Rememer when you were a kid and had all kinds of collections? (here`s where SEO begins--) Maybe you had a rock collection, stamp collection, or you built model airplanes. Did you have a train set, baseball cards, comic book collection or chemistry set?

We offer all sorts of ways to get in to rock collections, fossils, crystals, and geology. Would you like to learn about quartz, anthracite (coal), diamonds, and other gem stones? All of that`s part of the amazing science of geology.

Learn about the Earth, the environment, and everything that makes up the ground. Every one of our kits is a great way to start a collection, learn about rocks, and get involved in a wonderful hobby.

It`s not fantastic, but it`s a suggestion for how to focus in more tightly on what it is you`re offering---to what purpose. In my opinion, you intent is to "join" (in a parent`s mind) the two concepts of "my children...kids" and "learn science," along with "have a hobby."

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