Well, my blog (xy7luke.com) is currently #5 on Google for "Affiliate Manager". What can I do to keep moving it up? I'm running out of ideas Any SEO suggestions?
Just keep building links to your site, and then build more links, and when you are done with that build some more, that is the best thing that you can do.
The best thing you can do is provide original quality content that visitors looking for affiliate managers will like. If you really deserve a good ranking for the keyword, then let it happen naturally (and ethically).
The links come naturally. This is the very root of black hat SEO, fyi. (Not saying you're a black hat at all, I'm just saying it's where its origin is)
What are talking about when you say "This is the very root of black hat SEO"? What statement is that in reference to.
What do you mean "in reference to"? I was saying that the "building of links" is a shady part of SEO. Anyone can build links and rank well on Google. The point is that sites that do this may or may not be the best fit SERP for that keyword searched for. It's fudging the system.
Ok, I see what you are saying now. But I disagree with you. Link building has and always will be the major part of seo when it comes to ranking, whether it be buying links, writing articles, bookmarking or any other form of link building. So to say that "building links" is black hat is totally incorrect. As far as fudging the system, if a low quality site (or one that rips people off) rankings for the keyword "car dealers" through aggressive link building, it is up to the visitor to descide whether or not if that site fits there needs.
I never said link building was black hat. I said it was a shady area of SEO, and now you see why. No that's my point. This is the entire purpose and reason for a search engine like Google. Google is suppose to be the one that filters and orders the most relevant and reliable search results for a certain term. The way you think of SEO is different than me. I'm not criticizing you or your methods at all... heck they work. However, Google's algorithm is advancing and getting smarter, and will eventually be able to rip apart these irrelevant/unreliable websites that don't deserve #1 ranking. I call it grey hat. Some call it black hat. Some call it white hat. It doesn't matter what you call it, Google will ultimately give the natural website its proper ranking. Hence why I believe natural link building via quality content is the way to go.
Fair enough, and I am not saying that natural link building is not a good thing, if you can manage to get that many people linking to you then that is great. Sure over time google will get things right, and imo they are doing a pretty good job right now, the sandbox (for those that believe in it) is a great way to filter out sites that are just trying to cheat the system. But overall, as long as a site continues to use the proper on page seo with aggressive link building then I do not see google or any other seach engine being able to stop it. Even if the site is not that good.
I agree with Pooh (though I don't agree with his name, Tigger stole the show). Link building for rankings is a very short term answer, G will eventually filter most of the crap out. Bring on the content, and keep it fresh. Give the customers what they are looking for, if not, a #5 ranking is not enough to make $1 worth of sales. Your site is PR3 with 2k+ links. DO NOT get just any old links, You have enough quantity, I say go for some more quality. I bet if you drop $300 in yahoo directory's back pocket you can push that rank up to #3 or #4. Here is how you go about getting some QUALITY links. Run this through google for the top 10 results <<< link:affiliatemanager.net >>> what you are doing is finding who links to your competition. Look for quality sites about affiliate stuff with a high PR and try to find an angle to get your site linked there right along with your competition. Do this enough and you will eventually have their position because most people think links & PR rule. They don't have 1/2 the content you have, this is why you rank so high with so few links (compared to them). BTW: you have a very short title tag, ever considered expanding it for a larger share of the market? You might rank this well because your title is short so tread carefully. Also, just because you change something and you drop in rankings this is acceptable and normal. Give the change about 30 days to see where it ends up. Awesome job, by the way, this guy has < 1/2 the links of #1 and a fraction of the links that 2-4 have and still ranks well.