A good experiment to test keyword/vertical difficulty?

[zakkyg]

I'm trying to rank a brand new client site but getting nowhere for our main keyword/s - this after 6 months. We have built lots of good links and literally tried everything to fix this. What's a good way for me to test the keywords on a different page / domain to be certain the problem isn't with the vertical/keyword?

I'd love to have some advice on this vs. how to fix the problem, which I've asked about here before. I'm assuming buying and trying to rank a new domain is a bad idea since sandboxing etc. could make it very difficult. Perhaps sending some links to a Tumblr page that's optimized for the main keyword or something similar?

Would love to hear some suggestions - thanks a lot.

[zakkyg]

Thanks. As  mentioned, however, I'm really just looking for advice about a quick experiment i could perform (solid authority domain one may be possible, but would hope to try something else first).

[HiveDigitalInc]

A few things to consider:

• Are you sure you haven't built too many "good" links and penalized yourself for those terms?
• Is the site ranking for other terms, or other related terms?
• When you say you are getting nowhere, do you mean that you aren't front page, that your rankings have stayed exactly where they were, or that you continue not to appear in search results for that term?

If you have a solid authority domain laying around, you might try building some content on it related to your term and see if you get any coverage.  If you do, and the coverage is better than with the site you are trying, then odds are you have a tainted domain (either through your actions, or some previous actions), or you simply do not have enough authority to rank.

-Jake Bohall