Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
I don't offer specific SEO services per se, but I do follow a lot of what SEO expert Jill Whalen has to say on the subject. Below is an exchange of emails that I had with a client. The names, search terms, domain names, and industry have all been changed to make this page generic.
Questions raised:
My son has pointed out that the website does not appear when keywords such as "Suffolk Junk", "Woodbridge Junk" are used on the web.
I should be grateful if you would arrange for such keywords to be included, and if at all possible for our entry to stay near the top of the list. We would of course be happy to pay a fee for ongoing management of the website.
Via SuffolkJunk.com, we have had over 100 visits in each of the last two months --- would you say that was about average?
Answers I gave:
I'm not sure what you, or your son, mean by "does not appear" because out of the 195,000 results for Woodbridge Junk, Bloggs Junk Woodbridge appears as no.7 on page 3, when I tested it today.
And Suffolk-Junk-List.com appears as no.1 on page 3, out of 624,000 results. I think that is a fantastic result for a single-yard website.
There is a lot of discussion about what you can and cannot do to achieve high position in Google search engine results but the bare fact is that out of the tens or even hundreds of thousands of similar websites, only ten can be on page one.
There is no way to ensure that your website "stays near the top of the list" - except, perhaps, using "black hat" techniques that I do not, and will not use.
In my opinion, your website is already in an excellent position for an individual, single-yard website and I offer no fee-earning services to maintain that position.
The above comments are part of why it is important for individual, single-yard websites to be included in listings such as Suffolk-Junk-List.com. It's because the listing websites contain the search terms (such as Suffolk, Junk, Woodbridge) many, many more times than is reasonable to include in a single website. I would recommend you find as many appropriate listing directories and place your entries in them, as well as registering your business with Google.
The Search Engine results depend on the exact terms that people use for searching. For instance, if you put Woodbridge Junk into Google, the top two results are like this:
Bloggs Junk Woodbridge, Junk and Dismantling, near Woodbridge, Suffolk ...
Junkyard and Dismantling in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.
www.bloggsjunk.co.uk/ - 6k - Cached - Similar pages -
Junkyards and Dismantling sites Woodbridge...
Bloggs Junk Woodbridge, Suffolk IP00 0XX (map). Front, exterior of Bloggs Junk Woodbridge for Junk and Dismantling ...
Suffolk-Junk-List.com/Woodbridge/Bloggs-Junk.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages -
There will be a different results between the search term suffolk Junk and using the search term junk suffolk (in fact Suffolk-Junk-List.com is no.3 on page 1 in the latter results, compared with no1 on page 3 for the former).
If your son is referring to Meta tag keywords, these are not used by any search engine now, and have never been used by Google, mainly because unscrupulous website owners could fill the Meta tags with pointless and inaccurate keywords that do not reflect the content of the website, thereby damaging the reputation of the Search Engines, by providing misleading or inaccurate results.
However, I do always include meta tag keywords because it can't do any harm and it does satisfy those who believe they are important. I have amended your meta tag keywords as follows:
Previously they were...
<meta name="keywords" content="england, woodbridge, country, east anglia, england, rural, dismantling, junk, suffolk, uk"/>
They have now been modified today to read...
<meta name="keywords" content="junk, junkyard, dismantler, dismantled, england, woodbridge, country, east anglia, england, rural, dismantling, junk, suffolk, uk"/>
Page Titles (the text that appears highlighted in Google search results) are far more important to Search Engine position than meta tag keywords. That is why I included "near Woodbridge" in your Page Title, and which partly explains your excellent position of no.7 on page 3 in Google for the term woodbridge Junk. However, for keyword prominence improvement, and to cover both "Junk" and "dismantling" I have amended your Page Title as follows:
Page Title was: Bloggs Junk Woodbridge, Junk and Dismantling, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England
Page Title is now: Woodbrdge Suffolk Junk and Dismantling, Bloggs Junk Woodbridge, England.
I don't know the source of your comment "over 100 visits in each of the last two months" and I do not have any other clients who have mentioned that sort of data.
And if I did, I could not comment on comparisons between one client and another.
So I am sorry but I cannot comment on whether "100" is about average.
You must make your own decision whether you are satisfied, or not, with the "referrals" to your website and/or the number of enquiries you receive from Suffolk-Junk-List.com.
I always say that although website visitor numbers and the enquiries they generate are an important indication of whether your web presence is working for you, or not, the most important measure of its success, or otherwise, is whether you are receiving any purchases through the process.
Consider these two imaginary competitive websites:
One receives 10,000 visitors, which generate 100 enquiries, and one purchase.
The other receives only 1,000 visitors, which generate only 10, enquiries, which result in 5 purchases.
Which website is working best?
And the big question will then be, "why?"
I doubt that the changes referred to in 5. and 6. will make any significant improvement but they might, and they should not harm your position in the Google results.
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