Hello, I've recently had someone else doing my SEO for my website ... And we're 6 weeks in and ranking are getting better for keywords ... But when I look at my analytics ... Everything has got worse ... Traffics down/bounce rate is up/exit rate is up/all my traffic is coming from rubbish referrals not Google organic ... And the worst thing is sales are down dramatically ... I'm paying this person to do this and nothing's getting better ... Can anyone shed some light on this situation please?
Can you give us some examples of these "rubbish referrals"? I`m concerned about bot traffic or that the person is spamming forums / blogs in order to acquire some back links. This method will ensure a better ranking in the short term, but in the long run will make your rankings plummet. LE: Also, the reason for the drop in conversion might be because of an increase in not targeted traffic, and the general drop in traffic. (I suspect your traffic is not targeted because it`s not coming from Google)
Hi HCF, thanks for the speedy replies ... I have the weekly reports on my drop box ... Do you have a email address I can forward them too?
Here's a few screen shots of my latest weekly report (6th week SEO) the thing is it's costing me a small fortune and I'm not seeing any results ... If anything things have gone worse ... Can anyone shed any light on this ? Thanks
I'd like to think that I have a good looking website which before I switched platforms (ekm to bigcommerce) last year I was making £xxxx month in month out ... To now which is be lucky if I get 2 or 3 sales a month ... This has to be down too the SEO ... As my products are of very high quality and I'm getting good reviews ... I've told the SEO person to stop for the time being .. Until I can solve this issue ... Because I have a strong feeling it's down to whatever they are doing. Any help would be appreciated
Hey DTGraffix, sorry for not responding here or at your messages. I was afk. Ok, let`s analyze your screenshots a bit: The overview of your traffic sources: 1. Share-buttons and website-stealer are both referral spam (Ghost Spam). You probably notice that this referral leaves fake data. This is because the spammer doesn`t really visit your website, it just hits your analytics in order to get your attention, and maybe make you visit that website to see what it is. 2. Considering that the above two are referral spam, I`ll make an educated guess and say that the Russian mumble jumble is also ghost spam. So...if these 3 sources are spam, you are only left with the Google traffic, which is just 1.01% of the "traffic" the analytics app shows you. So...you are only receiving 3 visits, not 300! This is the cause of your low sales this year. 3. About the reports, my head hurts and I can`t distinguish all that is written, but let`s talk about what I can see: 3.1 Blog Commenting? They are basically going from blog to blog and leaving spam comments like some people are doing it here. (if you read the forum for 5 minutes you will find them) 3.2 Alexa and Ahrefs reports? WHY? These tools are not accurate, they are tools for making wild guesses.... 3.3 Search engine submission: While Search Engine Submission is often seen as a way to promote a web site, it generally is not necessary because the major searchengines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing use crawlers, bots, and spiders that eventually would find most web sites on the Internet all by themselves. (from wikipedia) I`m sure that we can find more problems on a closer inspection, but you got the point. People like these make me sick, I think my head is hurting worse now after reading your post. Where did you find therm? Really sorry for you, but I think you should search for another firm.
Hey HCF, no problem at all ... Thanks for taking the time too help me out, okay first things first ... I won't be using the same firm again ... I specifically said I only wanted white hat manual SEO ... They are obviously not doing that. I have a few questions:- 1. Will the SEO that's already done have a negative effect on my business? 2. My next option is to try Google Adwords ... Do gonna leave SEO for a while and focus on Adwords and see if that can boost my sales dramatically. 3. Can you recommend someone who is very knowledgeable in SEO? I'm absolutely gutted that I spent hundreds of pounds in the last 6 weeks which has also messed my business up. HOW CAN I RECTIFY ANY DAMAGE ... And get back on track ? Thanks
Hey, I know it`s easy for me to say this, but with every mistake in life we learn a new lesson. All the harm that has been done can be undone, you just need to find a knowledgeable person. Unfortunately I can`t recommend anyone at the moment, but ask the admins here, they look pretty cool and maybe they will have someone to recommend. PS: The links that are spammy can easily be disavowed using this method: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487?hl=en Also, you can get rid of the Ghost spam from your analytics using this link: http://www.ohow.co/stop-share-buttons-xyz-referral-google-analytics/
Mate honest advice, try learning and doing on-page and off-page SEO by yourself. I had SEO performed by other people and it negatively affected my websites. I started doing it by myself, documenting on all sources and writing everything with my own words. Most freelancers/SEO firms do not bother with such details, it is not their business and they view your needs from an inexperienced perspective. You know your niche better than they do.
Thanks Robert ... I'm trying to undo any negative damage that they have done ... Hopefully not too much. And I think I will try and do SEO by myself in future ... Once I've got all the bad links removed I'm going to try Adwords and see if that works for me ... I'm so annoyed ... Especially after spending £Xxx amount of pounds. WORTHLESS! Worst thing is there still demanding payment. Live and learn I suppose .... Back to square 1.