Winning The New SERP Battle
-
I run a niche website (www.picnic-basket.com) that is approaching 10 years old. I have consistently added new content, performed redesigns, etc and WAS rewarded with a #1 placement on Google for my main keyword phrase for quite a long time. All our links are natural, no link-farms and I don't do exchanges either.
I blog, write articles about our niche, have free cookbooks, delicious recipes and are always finding cool new products. FB & Twitter are also maintained.
After Panda I'm now below the fold with amazon.com, bedbathandbeyond.com, worldmarket.com, overstock.com and brookstone.com all above me.
These sites don't have anything to do with my niche other than just selling some items.
ROI is horrible for me with PPC on this keyword phrase. I'm sure Googles' revenue has increased quite a bit in this category because users only see relevant websites up in the paid area.
Through years of hard work I was finally able to beat my old niche competitors but I'm left wondering, How do I beat the "Big Boys"?
Any advice for someone like me?
-
Come-on Rand...other guru's...Help! Looks like there are many of us that need to know what to do!
Knowing that you aren't alone is "kinda" comforting but it doesn't help the bank account. I was speaking with my adword rep yesterday & raised a bit o' hell. I know they can't do anything but it felt good.
I've always felt that Google was full of it. They've always stated that the person searching is their customer and that search results are supposed to give that searcher the best results possible. HA! I fought that for years seeing poor quality websites beating me when all they had was a 1 page website that was listed on DMOZ.
For the last few years we had real competition. Good websites, good competitors and a fair shake.
Now it seems they have figured out how to increase the odds of the ppc ad being clicked with mega sites like walmart or amazon showing up in the top 4-5 positions leading the searcher to click on the ppc. I mean seriously...google the phrase "picnic baskets" and look at the results.
To that end - Google reported Q3 2012 revenues of $14.10 billion, representing a 45% increase compared to Q3 2011.
-
It sounded like you were describing us word for word. A couple weeks ago, I started a topic about this. http://www.seomoz.org/q/interesting-serp-trend-i-m-observing
I don't have advice either. Just know you're not alone and other people are feeling your frustration.
-
You are not alone... I could literally write that entire post about my company/site as well... Only difference is I am being outranked by Target and Walmart after i held the #1 position for years.
I know you are looking for advice, and this isn't advice, just want you to know you are not alone in this mess
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does using parent pages in WordPress help with SEO and/or indexing for SERPs?
I have a law office and we handle four different practice areas. I used to have multiple websites (one for each practice area) with keywords in the actual domain name, but based on the recommendation of SEO "experts" a few years ago, I consolidated all the webpages into one single webpage (based on the rumors at the time that Google was going to be focusing on authorship and branding in the future, rather than keywords in URLs or titles). Needless to say, Google authorship was dropped a year or two later and "branding" never took off. Overall, having one webpage is convenient and generally makes SEO easier, but there's been a huge drawback: When my page comes up in SERPs after searching for "attorney" or "lawyer" combined with a specific practice area, the practice area landing pages don't typically come up in the SERPs, only the front page comes up. It's as if Google recognizes that I have some decent content, and Google knows that I specialize in multiple practice areas, but it directs everyone to the front page only. Prospective clients don't like this and it causes my bounce rate to be high. They like to land on a page focusing on the practice area they searched for. Two questions: (1) Would using parent pages (e.g. http://lawfirm.com/divorce/anytown-usa-attorney-lawyer/ vs. http://lawfirm.com/anytown-usa-divorce-attorney-lawyer/) be better for SEO? The research I've done up to this point appears to indicate "no." It doesn't make much difference as long as the keywords are in the domain name and/or URL. But I'd be interested to hear contrary opinions. (2) Would using parent pages (e.g. http://lawfirm.com/divorce/anytown-usa-attorney-lawyer/ vs. http://lawfirm.com/anytown-usa-divorce-attorney-lawyer/) be better for indexing in Google SERPs? For example, would it make it more likely that someone searching for "anytown usa divorce attorney" would actually end up in the divorce section of the website rather than the front page?
Algorithm Updates | | micromano0 -
Question regarding very unique SERP -
Hi guys, I have been brainstorming regarding a very unique SERP that i figured out while navigating search, the serp looks some thing like this http://postimg.org/image/phkol0d97/. i checked the site in structured testing tool but the only thing that i found is some PMR meta tags nothing except that. Can any one help me understand this and i would be more helpful if some one can guide me for the same. #peace
Algorithm Updates | | prashanth1230 -
Will Russia's New Data Protection Law Impact SEOs and SMBs Outside of Russia?
We've all seen the news recently that Google will be closing its engineering offices in Russia due to new data protection laws coming into place in January 2015. The same law has also led to Adobe pulling out of Russia earlier in the year. I was wondering how you think this will impact SEOers and small/medium businesses that market _to _Russia, but are based outside of the country? Personal data has been defined in the new legislation as: Personal data means any information directly or indirectly related to any identified or potentially identifiable person. It includes, among other things, first name and family name, date and place of birth, address, information about family status, education, profession, income Source For those businesses which don't process personal data (affiliates etc), will there be any foreseeable impact? On the flipside, are there any benefits here for affiliate businesses inside of Russia? I'm using affiliates as an example to get the ball rolling, but I'm sure there's numerous more. Personally, I'd be interested to hear if you think this may impact corporate websites which don't process personal data, but operate outside of Russia.
Algorithm Updates | | ecommercebc0 -
New Google SERPs page title lengths, 60 characters?
It seems that the new Google SERPs have a shorter page title character length? From what I can gather they are 60 characters in length. Does this mean we all need to now optimise our page titles to 60 characters? Has anyone else noticed this and made any changes to page title lengths?
Algorithm Updates | | Adam_SEO_Learning0 -
Will Google discount new gTLDs?
I have the opportunity now to acquire a very desirable generic domain name with either the .org or .pro TLD. Obviously, the .pro version I can get for a far better price. The .org will probably end up being about 10x the price of the .pro. I feel like the .org would give me instant clout while the .pro might raise eyebrows. Also, I'm concerned that Google might also discount these new gTLDs. What do you guys think? Is the perceived authority of the old-time TLDs something worth investing in? Or will this fizzle away over time as the new gTLDs flood the market? THanks! Ira
Algorithm Updates | | iraweissman0 -
Has anyone else noticed a major increase in Yelp, BBB, etc. results in local SERPs, pushing business websites further down?
Across multiple cities and markets, this seems to be a trend. "Chicago coffee shop" or "Minneapolis hair salon" or "Sacramento car repair" - outside the local 7-pack, virtually every result is Yelp, BBB, Yellowpages, etc. Is this related to algo changes, or simply a result of those national sites pumping major resources into SEO? It just seems to be suddenly far more prevalent than it was even 6 months ago.
Algorithm Updates | | kpclaypool1 -
New registered domains
Always looking for easier ways to identify new clients needed SEO help. I wondered is it possible to find newly registered domains ? Could an api be made to pull out domains listed via date registered.
Algorithm Updates | | onlinemediadirect0 -
Title of home page is changed to domain name in SERPs
Hi, We have a unique problem, we are getting a totally different title in Google serps for a large site. When we search with domain name with space in google.com. We are getting title as domain name with space. We don't have any Open Directory listing. We don't have any cannonical issues and other pages with title as domain name. Can you please tell us what we have to do get our original title back in SERP ? Thanks, With Regards,
Algorithm Updates | | semshah1430