Hi All, I'm new here so in all honesty haven't really had time to read the posts but I am glad I found this discussion board. I'm not sure if this question has been asked or if there are posts relating to it but I would appreciate the help anyone can give. I have a website which I am currently upgrading but even though I have been up on the web for over a year I still haven't been able to list in the top 10 ratings. In fact when last I did a google check I wasn't even in the top 100 and I am really at a point of pure frustration. I have read articles to try and solve this problem but to no avail. Everything I've read and everyone I've spoken to keeps telling me it has to do with metatags however if I use the following metatag analyzer http://www.widexl.com/remote/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html it tells me my metatags are 100%, and this is where it gets confusing because if I do tests on those websites that are in the top they don't have the 100% rating I have. So from what I can see its not just a simple thing as metatags. I know I could pay someone to get me in the top ratings but I don't want to go that route as I want to learn myself. I also do two other websites so I really need to learn to do this. My website address is www.exploreafrica.co.za and I am trying to get in the top 10 search results with the keywords South Africa Accommodation. I really would appreciate any help you can give.
Here's a few things you should do immediately: 1. Forget the emphasise on meta tags, they aren't that important anymore 2. Remove 'Explore Africa' from your <title>, leaving it as 'South Africa Accomodation, Game Lodge & Travel Guide' 3. Change this heading 'EXPLORE AFRICA ACCOMMODATION, GAME LODGE & TRAVEL GUIDE' to 'South Africa Accomodation, Game Lodge & Travel Guide' (And ensure it is in <H1> tags) 4. The text below this should include the words South Africa Accomodation 5. Change 'ACCOMMODATION GUIDE' below the map to 'South Africa Accomodation including Western Africa' 6. Gain links to www.exploreafrica.co.za from other websites, preferably from websites about South Africa and accomodation in Africa. It would be best if the links contain the words south africa accomodation or the words around the links are this phrase. Link building is the most effective way once you have done all of the other steps but it is difficult. Pete
Thanks for the info Pete I will definately look into that. The only problem though is that the accommodation/game lodges featured as well as my newsletter will focus on a number of countries in Southern Africa & East Africa (10 countries) which is why my website is Explore Africa although admitedly South Africa probably takes up about 80% of the website. My only worry is that then people looking for info on the other countries will by-pass the website because they think its just South Africa. On the other hand I have only just changed it to include other countries but prior to that all titles, metatags, descriptions etc were all just Accommodation South Africa for over a year but it still didn't help. I will definately take your advice about working on the links. I know there are a lot of websites that work on reciprocal links.
Helli Aisne. I just checked on Google and the keyphrase 'South Africa Accommodation' has a lot of competition. above 92 million when i looked! http://www.google.com/search?q=South+Africa+Accommodation This is a highly competitive Keyword / Key phrase and the top websites like http://www.sa-venues.com/ is PR 7 http://www.wheretostay.co.za/ is PR 5 http://www.roomsforafrica.com/ is PR 5 http://www.sleeping-out.co.za/ is PR 5 You will need a lot of back links to your website with the anchor text 'South Africa Accommodation' , and you can add a few other keywords to make it a readable sentence. I'd also suggest that you add more content on the home page highlighting Accommodation in South Africa, and work on improving your Google PageRank.