Content
Quality And Link Popularity
By Andy Beal
Contributing Writer
Article Date: 2003-03-31
I ranked high in the search engines with Altavista and msn
there for a while but I lost my ranking due to my change of real
estate practice location. Right now, I am trying to target Dallas
Real Estate instead of Plano Real estate, Dallas Homes, instead of
Plano homes. Allthough I ranked high with Altavista, I am nowhere
to be seen on Google.com, and that's where I really want to be!
Can you tell me how DallasRelo.com, ranks #1 in Google.com for the
search term "Dallas Real Estate" when the quality of information
provided is horrible in comparison with mine? Also, if his website
is recommended more by other websites, is there a better way to
get ranked?
Yours truly,
Jordan Hashem,
REALTORR / Relocation Specialist
Jordan,
Thank you for your question.
I think I might have a simple answer for you. It appears you are
hurting your rankings in Google and other search engines because
you are not making effective use of your index page. Your index
page is your most powerful page and the one the search engines
place the most weight on. Currently you are using your index page
as a "splash" screen that asks visitors to select the version of
your website they wish to see. Not much content there for the
search engines to read, is there? Now, although your competitor's
site looks awful, it is the opposite of your index page as it has
lots of information for the search engines to read.
You have two options. Either keep your current index page, but add
more content to it. Provide text, add links....make it look like a
normal homepage. Alternatively, use your
DallasRealEstateTexas/index.html as your index page and add a
button/link where people can click to view your graphic heavy page
if they wish. Either method will help get your content on the page
that matters the most, your index page.
There are a number of other issues that relate to the old site you
used to have. Items such as keyword stuffed ALT tags, JavaScript
links, redirects etc. These appear to have been resolved with your
site redesign, so I will not go into depth with those issues.
I think if you make your index page more relevant and provide
useful content you will see an improvement with Google over the
next couple of months.
I hope that helps.
Regards,
Andy Beal
Visit Andy's "Ask
the Expert" page to ask him your SEO questions.
About the Author:
Andy Beal is Vice President of Search Marketing for
KeywordRanking.com and
ProRanking.com, global
leaders in professional search engine marketing. Highly respected
as a source of search engine marketing advice, Andy has had
articles published around the world and is a repeat speaker at
Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Strategies conferences. Clients
include Alaska Air, Peopleclick, Jos. A. Bank and Build.com. You
can reach Andy at
andy@proranking.com. |