my key word dropped 60 spots in google!

[freepp]

WHY? I was ranked top 20 (18 or something) for a key word, lets just say its the name of someone in the poker world. All of a sudden it dropped top 80 something. Any ideas why?

[ozim]

Hi,

1. Google algo is undergoing some changes right now and it causes lots of ups and downs for many sites. So your drop may be temporary... or it may be not... nobody knows these things about Google.

2. There has been a link update few days ago so it might have resulted in some sites 'overtaking' you, however it's unlikely that 60 sites did. If you got lots of new links pointing to your site then it may be a result of Google applying a Sandbox filter, but on the other hand, Sandbox applies to keywords like 'poker' not e.g. 'Doyle Brunson'. So it's difficult to tell.

Probably the best thing you can do is just wait and see if things go back to normal in few days time. One thing is certain - there have been plenty of sites that were hit badly in recent days... Nobody knows why, we can only guess... Therefore I would appreciate some comments from others SEO experts...

best regards.

[ozim]

And one more thing - maybe you have put up some 'bad quality links' on your site? I mean links to sites that are banned by Google. This may hurt.

Could be something as simple as an algorithm modification on Google's part. Could also be the result of accidentally linking into a bad neighborhood. Could be the application of some type of filter. It's all but impossible to say without more information.

[CasinoMack]

Nobody ever knows. Bourbon though won't be complete until end of June. So lets see what happens.

Whoever is using ezboards has basically spammed Google.

[Dave]

The "Bourbon" update has been very kind to me so far......GO BOURBON!!

This is for freepp,

The best......well the only way to ride out the Google algo changes and keep or improve your keyword rankings is to constently be adding new, original content to your site, daily if possible.

You have to learn to think like a search engine.

Why should Google rank you higher than your competitors?

Are you supplying Google's customers with lot's of fresh, new reading material about that keyword that can not be found on any other website?

If you do, then Google will point that customer in your direction, that's their job and they're pretty darn good at it.

I know it's frustrating.

I've been struggling with the search engine optimization game for over five years now chasing some very competitve niches like poker, lingerie, exercise equipment, prescription drugs...........

The best advice I can give is to just stick to the basics.

Strive to become THE place on the internet for people looking for information about whatever keywords you want to be found for, become an authority on that subject.

Other poker sites, and the SE's will automatically link to you because you have so much fresh, interesting, informative and hopefully fun material for their visitors to read about.

That's what the internet is all about.......looking for.....finding..... and sharing pertinent information.

The more content you have on your site, the more keywords and keyword phrases there are for your site to be found for and the the less you will fret about just one keyword dropping down the ranks.

Here's a list of keyword phrases that my site was found for today from Google and Yahoo because I have a lot of original content on my site.

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http://www.play-the-game-of-poker.com/
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The more useful content you supply to the internet ......the more visitors the search engines will send you ........and the more chances you'll have to win over that person and get them to sign up to a poker room, buy your e-book, join your forum, subscribe to your newsletter............ you'll have gained a fan who appreciates the time and effort you have taken to help them find the information they were searching for in the first place.

I get emails everyday from people asking me for more info about the poker related articles they enjoyed reading on my website and now I know what people are looking for I have a huge list of new content to write. Listen to your visitors and give them what they're looking for.

I get a ton of people asking for a clear explaination of how to calculate pot odds. That's the next article you'll see on my website.


And I spend a lot of my time answering those emails the best I can because I love talking about the game of poker and they are my valued customers........ and future friends and business partners.

You have to interact with, and build trust with your visitors to get some quality sign ups.

Noone is going to click on a blinking, PartyPoker banner at a website they found basically by accident and become a descent money maker for you. Three years ago maybe, but not today, times have changed.


Sure it's a lot of work to build an informative, interesting poker website, but if you add just one new page, and get just one new backlink to your site each day........ before you know it you'll have built a cash generating machine that is working for you 24/7 while you're hanging at the beach or doing what ever the rest of the other successful poker affiliates here do with their time.

For me it's beach bumming , working on my sites, girls, playing poker, family(I'm single), scuba diving, friends, fishing, treasure hunting, reading, mountain biking and my seasonal day job working in the bush, which I love........ in that order.

[Nick]

That's one hell of a great post Dave.

As they say, CONTENT IS KING. Stick by that rule and you're sorted!

I was re-reading Aaron Wall's SEO Book last night, and he mentions in his book that you should ask yourself a question: "If I didn't own this website, would I visit it more than once a week?"

If you can find a way to make the answer to that question "yes", then you're already ahead of 95% of the other webmasters out there.

Great post, Dave.

[Nick]

Well that's not hard for me, my forum.

Yes forums are great sources of content. I think the challenge with that is just getting the search engines to pick up on all that content. Well actually it is getting the forums active. One of the points Dave brings up is very important.

When you look at a site, is it somewhere you would come back to every week? He is also right in the sense that you are not goingt to gain any long term high profit players by flashing a crappy banner at them.

Make it interesting, fresh, and unique content.