New Website

JOHNPT

Hello All

I have read alot of these posts trying to understand how I can climb the google rankings.
My website is http://www.myelectrician.ie/ and my ambition is to Rank No 1 when someone googles 'Electrician Dublin' or 'Electricians Dublin'.

I do regular blogs (Wordpress) which I think are informative and relevant and I assume the help my google rankings but I don't know much about Metatags or SEO, backlinks etc.

I am wondering is it worth getting someone to do a review of my site - make a few tweaks, advice on is my blogs to short or long, should I change the content in main page every few wks etc

If anybody interested in doing this can you PM please or any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Blindside87

Hi!

Your on site SEO looks OK (just with a quick glance). How old is the site?

Wordpress sites get a lot of juice from google.

You need backlinks but have to make it look natural as it's a new site so if you start building 100's of backlinks you could be in trouble.

Just give it time, I know it's hard to be patient but your on site SEO is better than a lot of competitors so with the right high quality backlinks you could do well!

Jessi_Evans

Ive had a look on the whois, and the source code and the domain is 4 years old, and you have all in one seo installed thats pretty good. If you are still not ranking you would need some solid backlinks plan (although caveat here after the penguin update you need to be careful with the link building)

wwrjd

i agree with the previous 2 posts - ur onsite seo looks ok and doesnt require a full review in anyway, just some minor tweaks.

a couple of pointers you could implement yourself immediately which in my experience have helped sites to rank highly:

- the keywords part of your all in one seo plugin serves no purpose in google anymore as google ignores that meta tag now;
- you have a facebook page setup but no links back to your website (i only had a quick look so my apologies if i have got this wrong);

after that it really is all about building some quality backlinks.

i have a couple of quality high page ranking sites that you can quickly and easily setup profiles on to get your backlinking started. pm me for details.

hope this helps and best of luck.

The One Who Knocks

For backlinks try fiverr.com, I've used it in the past, just be careful and start off small though!

Blindside87

Would be very weary of fiverr.com tbh!

tricky D

The best backlinks are those which come from a natural and organic web presence. Most other backlinks, like those someone on fiverr will generate, will likely do more harm than good. It's best to take the view that magic wands don't work for SEO anymore.

The One Who Knocks

tricky D wrote: »

The best backlinks are those which come from a natural and organic web presence. Most other backlinks, like those someone on fiverr will generate, will likely do more harm than good. It's best to take the view that magic wands don't work for SEO anymore.

Yeah on second thought, maybe with the google updates you should avoid fiverr.

SeNukeX with bypass captcha might do the trick, if it's fast results you're after, but honestly, you can't beat organic backlinks

link8r

JOHNPT wrote: »

Hello All

I have read alot of these posts trying to understand how I can climb the google rankings.

I do regular blogs (Wordpress) which I think are informative and relevant and I assume the help my google rankings but I don't know much about Metatags or SEO, backlinks etc.

Thanks

Google ranking is based on interlinking and authority. It always has. Exactly what each of the measurements have and what overall influence all of Google's "Signals" are is up for much lively debate but its about Relevance and Authority.

Relevance is your content and its relevance to a search phrase. So your content is relevant to "Electricians Dublin" and not so much to "hotels Dublin"

Being well connected online is important. Onsite SEO is not really much help to a small business on its own because it doesn't create authority. So have lots (or few) of content may or not even get indexed.

You can check what % of your content is even being indexed in Google Webmaster Tools. All sites get given an Index opening credit line and its quickly used up. This is basically an allotment time and recurrence rate. Google tries to refresh the entire index every 24 hours - with special concessions to blogs and news which can be indexed immediately.

Your site has 3 inbound links and while age is a consideration, I'd rate it as below 0.5%. I'd rate links as much higher and social links as a lot lower.

If you were to buy or obtain spammy links, (e.g. from Fiverr) - they stick out like a bright red siren at Sunday mass.

Think like this:
If your blog isn't being indexed, then whats the point of writing more (if you're writing for SEO). If nobody is commenting, then nobody is really reading. If aren't commenting on others' blogs, then how/why would people read yours?

Read and comment on ten other blogs (things that interest you are the best place to start) and see if you can build a readership.

Also, you might get more technical feedback by asking the same question on other technical/seo specialist blogs, which are also good to learn about web promotion.

Hope that Helps!

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

You're already #11 for [electricians dublin] and #8 for [electrician dublin] so a few good links should push to top 3 anyway, above the Place results. I presume you setup a Google Place listing yoursefl?

Tbh, it's not a very competive niche. The #1 result best links seem to be just some blog comments:
https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/backlinks/subdomains/electricians-dublin.ie/All_All

Just 'acquire' 1 or 2 good links on some legit blogs and you should be good. PM me if you want some sources to get links. Won't be more than €50.

cormee

Jamez735 wrote: »

For backlinks try fiverr.com, I've used it in the past, just be careful and start off small though!

Absolutely awful advice. Don't do anything of the sort OP, you'd end up getting dropped from Google's index.

link8r

cormee wrote: »

Absolutely awful advice. Don't do anything of the sort OP, you'd end up getting dropped from Google's index.

Echo / bump / +1

The One Who Knocks

link8r wrote: »

Echo / bump / +1

cormee wrote: »

Absolutely awful advice. Don't do anything of the sort OP, you'd end up getting dropped from Google's index.

Read this

Jamez735 wrote: »

Yeah on second thought, maybe with the google updates you should avoid fiverr.

SeNukeX with bypass captcha might do the trick, if it's fast results you're after, but honestly, you can't beat organic backlinks

Yeah, thought so...

Blindside87

Avoid Fiverr.com.

Automatic link building shouldn't be written off though. I am still seeing sites rank really well very quickly if the right methods are used. You need to link to links etc. and create a really strong profile.

Your already ranking decent enough so a good blast of links will shoot you up a bit.

The One Who Knocks

Blindside87 wrote: »

Avoid Fiverr.com.

Automatic link building shouldn't be written off though. I am still seeing sites rank really well very quickly if the right methods are used. You need to link to links etc. and create a really strong profile.

Your already ranking decent enough so a good blast of links will shoot you up a bit.

Oh I agree completely, but you can't deny that before panda & penguin, fiverr worked a charm, sure some of the gigs weren't the best, but some of them were great!

Blindside87

Jamez735 wrote: »

Oh I agree completely, but you can't deny that before panda & penguin, fiverr worked a charm, sure some of the gigs weren't the best, but some of them were great!

True but you were always taking a gamble .

JOHNPT

Hello All

Just an update regarding my website which I posted over a month ago. I was contacted by a company who specialises in SEO before Christmas and he said he could guarantee I get to the top of google organic search for 'Electrician Dublin' & 'Electricians Dublin'.

Since he made changes to my website http://www.myelectrician.ie/ it appears to have disappeared from google - ie its not on the first 3 pages whereas before I was always in the top 6.

Can anyone advice what the problem is - was my site blacklisted or something?
He also maintains google require 300 words per page now in all websites for it to rank high?
What site can i check what rank google are giving my website?


Any advice appreciated.

link8r

JOHNPT wrote: »

Just an update regarding my website which I posted over a month ago. I was contacted by a company who specialises in SEO before Christmas and he said he could guarantee I get to the top of google organic search for 'Electrician Dublin' & 'Electricians Dublin'.

#offtopic I always wonder about people who call up saying that they're a specialist/expert versus being recommended or found. You should, IMHO, always back up any claim with 3rd party validation. Someone may well be an expert but you should ask around.

JOHNPT wrote: »

Since he made changes to my website http://www.myelectrician.ie/ it appears to have disappeared from google - ie its not on the first 3 pages whereas before I was always in the top 6.

You have very, very narrow page titles - the on-site SEO - which you could be able of doing a better job yourself with a small bit of advice/background knowledge - is terrible!

JOHNPT wrote: »

Can anyone advice what the problem is - was my site blacklisted or something?

No, I don't think you've been penalised. if you Google "MyElectrician" - you show for me on Page 1 (Pos 2) - which is dissappointing but not a sign of a penatly.

Do you have Google Webmaster Tools set up with your domain configured. Any SEO person should do this first - as a matter of priority. This will tell you and notify you of any health issues, and penalties - which are not the same thing.

If you haven't been given GWT access after being with this company for about a month, then alarm bells should sound. This should be the first thing to be setup IMO.

There are a good few SEO firms that will audit / review your site for a penalty and/or bad SEO.

In anticipation of this, I setup a slideshare a year ago about identifying and dealing with potentially "bad SEO" - I hope its ok if I share a link:

http://www.slideshare.net/PrimaryPosition/the-easy-guide-to-dealing-with-bad-seo

JOHNPT wrote: »

He also maintains google require 300 words per page now in all websites for it to rank high? What site can i check what rank google are giving my website?

This is an early 2000's quote and its really nonsense. There's no basis or foundation.

Remember this: Anybody can claim to be an SEO. There's no limit or minimum understanding. I know lots and lots of people (acquaintences and in some cases friends) who seem to have a very limited knowledge of the web / SEO but are happy to offer free advice or even do SEO. Most SEO's have ranked a few websites in uncompetitive niches and are thrilled with the results and suddenly become very passionate about it.

After 12 years, I've no real way of helping people identify whether or not someone is good. SEO is a strategy, not a skillset. There's not point trying to legislate or trying to put a diploma course around it - there are plenty of people with diploma's that can be very dangerous. Its a confidence issue - on both sides.

However, the site has almost no visible backlinks, so its hard to see how it would rank well.

tricky D

link8r wrote: »

Remember this: Anybody can claim to be an SEO. There's no limit or minimum understanding. I know lots and lots of people (acquaintences and in some cases friends) who seem to have a very limited knowledge of the web / SEO but are happy to offer free advice or even do SEO. Most SEO's have ranked a few websites in uncompetitive niches and are thrilled with the results and suddenly become very passionate about it.

After 12 years, I've no real way of helping people identify whether or not someone is good. SEO is a strategy, not a skillset. There's not point trying to legislate or trying to put a diploma course around it - there are plenty of people with diploma's that can be very dangerous. Its a confidence issue - on both sides.

Here's one way to help weeding out the cowboys by getting a SEO person who does the following:

Avoids guarantees of ranking. Improvement in ranking yes, guarantees, no.
Avoids magic wands or tricks, packaged formulas.
Uses natural semantic markup (by default preferably) with content aimed primarily at users, but with a view to SEO. Rule of Thumb: Design content for users.
Uses GWT properly. (amazing what even just a few minutes can do here if you've a clue eg. integration with G+)
Promotes web presence in a natural and organic way on social networks and other third party 'utils'/sites.
Has track record.
Knows the value of various types of links: anchor text, follows/nofollows, etc...
Really knows how to use search and how target market(s) users use it.
Keeps up with the current trends from authoritative sources. No qualifications as they are usually out-of-date or just rubbish.
Knows the limits of SEO and when to seek alternative strategies.

Can confidently demonstrate the above.

That's just a quick 5 minute off the top of my head list, so there'll be a few more factors...

link8r

Somewhat of a deviance but still very relevant, in tangeant:

Differing Opinion

I differ with these only on the basis of how is the customer supposed to gauge the answer given. I can think of 10 answers that satisfy the question but are wrong:

tricky D wrote: »

Uses natural semantic markup (by default preferably) with content aimed primarily at users, but with a view to SEO. Rule of Thumb: Design content for users.
Uses GWT properly. (amazing what even just a few minutes can do here if you've a clue eg. integration with G+)
Really knows how to use search and how target market(s) users use it.
Keeps up with the current trends from authoritative sources. No qualifications as they are usually out-of-date or just rubbish.

I have seen lots of experienced SEO's use GWT very, very badly.

Designing content just for users and disregard Search : Not going to be popular but no

Authoratative sites: I would disregard 50% of what seoMoz dictate as infalible - and 99% of what you read in fora and blogs. Also, most GWT Youtube videos are accurate only for the time they were made in and quoting/relying on most of what they say isn't always the best [insert argument here]


Agree:
I agree with all of these as binary statements

tricky D wrote: »

Avoids guarantees of ranking. Improvement in ranking yes, guarantees, no.
Can confidently demonstrate the above.
Avoids magic wands or tricks, packaged formulas.
Promotes web presence in a natural and organic way on social networks and other third party 'utils'/sites.
Knows the value of various types of links: anchor text, follows/nofollows, etc...
Knows the limits of SEO and when to seek alternative strategies.

This is the most valuable

tricky D wrote: »

Has track record.

Broader issue
But also, this website posted by the OP shows some naivety on the case of the plaintiff. While the plaintiff has a very point, this is a marketing website, just like donedeal.ie or CarZone or Jobs.ie. And therefore the organisation should have done the same research on its marketing capability instead of outsourcing it or expecting it could be done for a few €100's.

(I've heard the "as soon as I make some more money I can invest" argument for 10 years and its stale)

Bill Lao (love/hate as you please) said on twitter yesterday: Impassioned Plea: If you don't have a qualified CTO then don't start a Technology Company!

Too many people start websites without thought of the Value Proposition and whether there is a need for it or if they have the capability to market it. Building a competitor to Groupon, for example, and then hiring an SEO company afterwards to promote it is the dumbest way of setting up a company I can think of yet it happens every week.

tricky D

link8r wrote: »

Differing Opinion

Actually not really that differing.

link8r wrote: »

I have seen lots of experienced SEO's use GWT very, very badly.

I carefully chose the words 'properly' and 'you've a clue' and like yourself, I've seen some awful stuff done with GWT by those who think they know what they're doing.

link8r wrote: »

Designing content just for users and disregard Search : Not going to be popular but no

Again, carefully chosen words 'primarily' and 'but with a view to', not 'just for' or 'disregarding' at all (which would freak a potential customer out).

link8r wrote: »

Authoratative sites: I would disregard 50% of what seoMoz dictate as infalible - and 99% of what you read in fora and blogs. Also, most GWT Youtube videos are accurate only for the time they were made in and quoting/relying on most of what they say isn't always the best [insert argument here]

Again, not really differing. I've never been much of a fan of SEOmoz as I don't regard it is as ever having had enough authority/quality. Also agree with your point on videos (and many other resources or qualifications being out-of-date). I can't stress 'current trends' enough. What was good practice last year might well not be quite so good practice this year.

link8r

tricky D wrote: »

Actually not really that differing.

I carefully chose the words 'properly' and 'you've a clue' and like yourself, I've seen some awful stuff done with GWT by those who think they know what they're doing.

Again, carefully chosen words 'primarily' and 'but with a view to', not 'just for' or 'disregarding' at all (which would freak a potential customer out).

Again, not really differing. I've never been much of a fan of SEOmoz as I don't regard it is as ever having had enough authority/quality. Also agree with your point on videos (and many other resources or qualifications being out-of-date). I can't stress 'current trends' enough. What was good practice last year might well not be quite so good practice this year.

SEO Zen

cmccarra

If you're using Wordpress the best seo plugin to use is Wordpress SEO by Yoast by far. It's the best maintained plugin. If you use it and follow through the advice given in this article - http://yoast.com/articles/wordpress-seo/ - It'll give your website a good head start in search rankings. I used it, along with some general seo optimisation techniques and got a local business to first place ranking in the search term 'fireplaces ireland'.

You should also create a Google+ business page, fill it with good information, photos and get the info verified. Verification is a long enough process but it definitely helps and gets your business a small icon on google maps as well. I have a notion Google particularly favours businesses that use their products and
have verified contact details (but theres no real solid proof of this).

Once you've set all that stuff up just keep adding small updates to your website. I added a few products a day for awhile, makes your content look fresh. It should also make your website look more relevant than competitors that haven't updated their site in awhile. Give it time too, it mightn't look like anything is helping your site rank but it takes time for these changes to occur and aggregate into searches.

Yoast is also in the process of developing a 'Local SEO' module for their SEO plugin. Should particularly help for local search optimisation.

JOHNPT

Hello All

Thanks everyone for all the advice re my site.

I have a question regarding my url name. My site is called www.MyElectrician.ie however I am wondering if I changed the name too www.MyElectricianDublin.ie would I have a better chance of coming top of google organic rankings for the search term ''Electrician Dublin''??
Electriciandublin.ie is already owned by someone who is No 1 in Google Rankings

What % do google give to having the search term in the url name?

Any advice/opinion on this would be great

link8r

JOHNPT wrote: »

Hello All

Thanks everyone for all the advice re my site.

I have a question regarding my url name. My site is called www.MyElectrician.ie however I am wondering if I changed the name too www.MyElectricianDublin.ie would I have a better chance of coming top of google organic rankings for the search term ''Electrician Dublin''??
Electriciandublin.ie is already owned by someone who is No 1 in Google Rankings

What % do google give to having the search term in the url name?

Any advice/opinion on this would be great

EMD (Exact Matching Domain) counts less and less. I think changing the name would just further compound your problem, which isn't in the domain name. Have you tried reading up on SEO at all?

IRE60

Forget the sins of the past first – its history and you are where you are. Don’t be sensitive about the following pointers – I’m going to offer you straight up advice and not the maguic beans you had at Christmas.

The inclusion of Dublin – and redoing the domain– I’d suggest that you look at this site first – there is no point in replicating this on a new domain.

Your content is thin to say the least. Stop thinking like a web spider and but a punters hat on.
http://www.myelectrician.ie/chandeliers-floodlights-dimmer-switches/

Really does that page tell me anything – does it enrich my knowledge base on any of the main items – no!

Lets look at some very fundamental SEO triggers for a search engine:

Your page titles bad to terrible – a page title of simply ‘Alarm Systems’ is useless. What about
“Dublin electrician | Alarm Systems | Installation, Repair and service” – now we’re beginning to get the picture.

H1’s – they are all empty – on every page
<h1 class="description"> </h1>.
They contain nothing and that’s no signal (or a very bad one and confusing) to a spider.

Grammar/phrases – you really have to watch out for these as all intuitive spiders see grammar and sentence composition as a good indicator of a sites ability to influences punters (as thus a gauge to where it should be relative to other sites offering the same info)

Get A Hand On Top Electricians Dublin - not a good title

Our Electricians In Dublin Are Appreciation Habituated - now i'm very confused.

Start with the bits above and see how you get on.

C

JOHNPT

Thanks for replies.
Link8r yes i have read loads about SEO but everyone seems to have a different opinion. I am an Electrician - if a light is broken or a storage heater is faulty there is usually only one way to fix it - the right way - then it works.
SEO seems to be different.

A few members on this forum recommended a few SEO firms but contrary to their advice I think I mistakenly employed a company from India who wrote the last 5 blogs on my website and I will admit myself the grammar is very bad and these blogs don't make much sense.

IRE60 thanks for your advice it is very specific which is exactly what I am looking for, now I know what to work on.

If anyone else has specific advice on what I should/shouldnt do that would be great.

So if I write regular good quality blogs (say once a week) about storage heaters, lighting, outdoor PIRS etc etc and get advice on page titles, description etc from members of this forum is it possible I can achieve my goal of coming top of Google without employing an SEO expert?
Or do I need to employ an SEO expert too.

Just to note to all those who are helping/advising me - if you have any electric problems or need help/advice on anything electric I will be more than happy to return than favour.

JOHNPT

Hello All

I decided to do more detailed blogs as suggested above.
I have a number of questions - hopefully someone familiar with Wordpress can advise.
My first blog is going to be about 'storage heaters', the different brands, how they work, what parts give trouble etc etc -

1 - What should I name this blog in the 'tags section' - Storage Heaters, Electrician Dublin Storage Heaters, Repair Storage Heaters???. Should there be one tag separated by commas or 3 different tags?
2 - At the bottom of the blog page there is a section called 'All in One SEO Pack' - with following sections
A - Title
B - Description
C - Keywords (comma separated)

Can anyone give an example of how I would fill in the above?
Is there anything else I should do - ie use pictures?

3 - IRE60 mentioned above that ''H1’s – they are all empty – on every page''' - where is this and how/what should I fill in?

Thanks in advance for all replies

IRE60

Tags:
I hate the standard tags in Wordpress as they make you add tags without knowing the previous tag list (it a guessing game). I’d rather have a group of tags and then for each article selecting from existing tag list that I can see. I’d suggest something like:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/simple-tags/screenshots/
Get together a predetermined list of say 20/25 tags that will cover all your blog postings and then select each time from them – ‘repairs’ ‘emergency’ ‘servicing’ boilers’ ‘alarms’ etc (they are very basic – but you get the drift)

All in one advice here (sorry leaving you with the babysitter on that one!)
http://semperfiwebdesign.com/blog/all-in-one-seo-pack/seo-tutorial-video-for-all-in-one-seo-pack/
http://www.jackleblond.com/all-in-one-seo-pack-configuration/

The H1’s as far as I can see it would mean changing your template php (and a corresponding css file) as it automatically determines that your blog headlines are to default to H2 (as far as I can see from your output).