Help me with my store

[higgalls]

Hi,

 

I have a website and I have been getting fairly low ranks with google.

 

I have added myself 2 nights ago to lots of directories (someone on oscommerce forums had a link to some free good directories).

 

Anyway, I have been looking at google to see who links to me, and the number changes between 264 and 293 (i think those are the numbers). Most of the time it will stay at 264, but every now and then I search it will come up with 293 (or 290 something).

 

Firstly, does anyone know the reason for this? It always seems to be the same numbers it bounces between.

 

Also, is there any way that I can try and increase my ranking in Google? I am using the dynamic Meta tags contribution, and I am about to implement Ultimate SEO URL's.

 

I am also working on a whole new look to the website, so no need to comment on the looks at the moment.

 

Also, my images are all named using numbers (eg. 1012.gif). Now this is because they all come from my suppliers and I use a script to get all the image numbers and associate them with my products. Is there any modrewrite procedure to give the images a name rather than a number (whilst not having to go and change the actual image name myself and then modifying the database)? Like, can I use any mod-rewrites to change it to the model number or product description?

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Chris Hall

[♥toyicebear]

Some pointers.......

 

Google has only done 2 major page rank updates this year, outside of these updates you will not see any change in your page rank.

 

If i should hazzard a guess the next major page rank update will come around September sometime....But who really knows...it might come sooner or it might come later....

 

Links count is subject to change due to many factors and it is normal that it will fluctuate at times.

 

Added 2 nights ago, means in practical terms that these links will be accepted in 1 to 2 months if they get accepted at all.....

[kitchenniche]

Google has only done 2 major page rank updates this year, outside of these updates you will not see any change in your page rank.

 

If i should hazzard a guess the next major page rank update will come around September sometime....But who really knows...it might come sooner or it might come later....

 

Google Pagerank is not important. Google does never display your real pagerank. I've read an article written by a guy who works for google. He said google PR is nothing to do with the "real PR" since google would never give out such informations. He said google made this visible PR only for a "Free Advertisement" and as we know, people really care about the PR in their toolbar, so this "free advertisement" was worth it for google. So, don't care too much about the PR you can find out on different sites and in your toolbar.

[higgalls]

Google Pagerank is not important. Google does never display your real pagerank. I've read an article written by a guy who works for google. He said google PR is nothing to do with the "real PR" since google would never give out such informations. He said google made this visible PR only for a "Free Advertisement" and as we know, people really care about the PR in their toolbar, so this "free advertisement" was worth it for google. So, don't care too much about the PR you can find out on different sites and in your toolbar.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yeah im not too concerned with PR too much, but I would gather that it does provide a good idea as to how well your site is going (even if it isnt that acurate).

 

I have had several of the directories already accepting me (but will still be waiting on heaps more over the next 2 months or so).

 

What other things can I try? I have read several articles (both on this site and others).

 

Is there things I can do to help me with other search engines also?

 

At the moment Google brings in most of my traffic when compared to other search engines. The other ones really suck as far as results go.

 

I have also noticed that search engines will often look at my site, and one of the first things it sees is the listing of the categories, and then uses that as the description for the website, rather than the description of the product itself. Is there any way to fix this? Is this set with some sort of a META tag, or is it just by what Google sees first when it gets to my site?

 

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Chris :)

[tisoy]

pagerank has nothing to do with your rankings. if your site is new, maybe you have been sandboxed by google. also, you can use an alt tags with your images..

[Guest]

Google ranking is difficult - the site I optimised now gets fairly good rankings and the key lessons I've learned are:

 

1. be specific which keyword(s) you are targeting and then optimise for these. Use the keyword in the text with variations if required (singular, plural etc.) and make sure that your site uses the chosen keywords frequently and consistently. Ranking isn't a fixed thing - it entirely depends on the keywords people choose to search for and a simple plural instead of singular can influence which sites come up top.

 

2. check your ranking by searching for the keyword you chose on Google - analyse who comes higher than you and why.

 

3. If you use Google Adverts you can easily check which variations of your keywords get better traffic and then focus on these.

 

As for what text is chosen in the search engine results: search engines will use the first text that they come across on the page (e.g. header or category list). If in a table structure it will be the first cell from the left - if this is empty, then the next one and so forth.

 

With Google it uses the text around the keyword where it is mentioned for the first time on the page. There is no way to "fix" this, other than change the way the keyword is placed within the table structure (prioirity given to first cell from the left where keyword is mentioned). Metatags won't help, only way to influence is by arranging table structure around keyword so the first cell the spider comes across with the keyword is the one you want it to see / display.

 

I found that keyword targeting and table structure can go a long way to boost your search engine ranking, especially if you go for niche keywords where it is easier to get to the top.

 

happy googling!

[Andersgerry]

Anyway, I have been looking at google to see who links to me, and the number changes between 264 and 293 (i think those are the numbers). Most of the time it will stay at 264, but every now and then I search it will come up with 293 (or 290 something).

 

Firstly, does anyone know the reason for this? It always seems to be the same numbers it bounces between.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The most likely reason is that you're hitting different Google servers. They maintain three data centers, two of which usually serve search results and the third of which tests algorithm changes. There's almost always a slight discrepancy between the data in each center, which would explain the consistent--yet varied--results for your link counts.

 

There are those in SEO who'll tell you that if you see a lot of this, big changes in the Google index are on the way...

[Guest]

to find out links in google (and i think most search engines)

 

type link:sitename

 

and to see how many pages are included

 

site:sitename

 

you probably already know this but just incase someone is reading who didn't :D:D

 

regards andy :-)

 

 

p.s. Real world advertising is good (especially if its free) a friend got her site in a national magazine related to her items for sale and traffic increased 60%