Tips to get my site up higher on Google

[Adammo]

Hi all,

I'm sure this has been covered before, so if anyone wants to point me in the right direction that would be fine as well.

Are there any other things that I can do to get my website up in Google? Here is what I am doing right now:

1 - I have a link in my signature of various forums that I visit related to my niche
2 - I am using the SEO plugin from WordPress
3 - I have META tags for title and keywords on my main "money making" pages.
4 - I plan to write some comments mentioning my website at other locations/articles
5 - I plan to write my own article on ezinearticles and squidoo

Are there any other tips to get your ranking up? Right now when I search for my site, it only displays the URL as the name and not the actual title of my worldpress blog. I assume it is still getting indexed, but i'm hoping to speed this process up.

Thanks!

 

[djbaxter]

How old is the site?

Right now when I search for my site, it only displays the URL as the name and not the actual title of my worldpress blog.

It shouldn't be doing that. How are you searching for your site? What SEO plugin are you using and have you checked the settings for it?

 

[Adammo]

I think I registered the site on Halloween (Oct.31). I signed up with Google webmaster tools about a week ago, and submitted a sitemap two days ago.

I'm hoping it only displays in google as the url becuase it is new, but am not sure?

Thanks!

 

[djbaxter]

There's your answer. It takes time to crawl a new site and more time for Google to recognize your backlinks.

 

[Adammo]

Ya kind of figured. Any idea how long it takes? I'm hoping my site can be recognized by December.

Also, any I doing the backlinks properly (other blogs/websites/forum signatures, etc). Any other ideas?

 

[djbaxter]

Recognized, yes. Ranking well in a crowded niche may well take more time than that.

Continue what you're doing. Write those articles. Don't neglect decent directories as a source.

 

[Adammo]

Don't neglect decent directories as a source.

Sorry, probably another stupid question. You just mean article directories like Squidoo, and ezine article type website with this statement?

 

[djbaxter]

No. I don't know what your site is about exactly but you can try to find relevant directories of websites for your topic area and submit to those directories.

Things to look for:

• quality of sites listed in the directory
• evidence of some sort of editorial policy indicating that the directory doesn't accept just any old site
• if there is a fee at all, it should be reasonable and non-recurring (i.e., an editorial and review fee, not a paid link)
• the general look and feel of the site
• Alexa and Public PageRank as indicators of reputation

 

[Adammo]

It shouldn't be doing that. How are you searching for your site? What SEO plugin are you using and have you checked the settings for it?

I missed this earlier. It is still doing the same thing now and i'm not sure why. I check the "cache" button and it says it was last indexed on November 3rd. When I look at the links it only shows my test links (i've been doing quite a bit of work since the 3rd). Do you think Google just need to read my site again?

 

[djbaxter]

No. See my PM. You have a nameserver/DNS problem. The URL you sent me is bringing up a domain expired "This domain may be for sale" placeholder page. You need to contact your registrar or host.

Google won't index that page. If you bought the domain name recently, you need to point the nameservers to those for your hosting.

 

[djbaxter]

OK. It was an incorrect URL.

Are you using the All-in-One SEO plug-in? If not get that one and use it. You want the title of your home blog page ideally to be {title of latest post} | {Blog Title}. At present, it's just {blog title}.

 

[Adammo]

No. See my PM. You have a nameserver/DNS problem. The URL you sent me is bringing up a domain expired "This domain may be for sale" placeholder page. You need to contact your registrar or host.

Google won't index that page. If you bought the domain name recently, you need to point the nameservers to those for your hosting.

I sent you the wrong site...my brain is fried today. I forgot one word at the end. Let me know if you didn't get my response .

 

[djbaxter]

See my last post right above yours.

Also, the cache indicates that your actual content posts were not created until after November 3, so November 4 minimum. It's only been a week. Now you need to be patient.

You might try to find out how much they want for that incorrect domain name... it's a potential draw away from your site and you could make use of it.

 

[Adammo]

OK. It was an incorrect URL.

Are you using the All-in-One SEO plug-in? If not get that one and use it. You want the title of your home blog page ideally to be {title of latest post} | {Blog Title}. At present, it's just {blog title}.

I am using the All-in-One plugin and noticed each page would have the following fields through the plugin:

Title
Description
Keywords
Title Attribute
Menu Label

Right now I have only filled out the Title, Description, and Keywords.

Do you mean my Title should be recent post | blog Title (is this a setting in SEO plugin?)

Also, what is the Title Attribute used for, should I place something in that field?

thank you again for your patience.

 

[djbaxter]

Go to the All-in-One settings page in your Wordpress Admin CP/Dashboard.

I recommend the following settings:

Post Title Format: %post_title% | %blog_title%

Page Title Format: %page_title% | %blog_title%

Category Title Format: %category_title% | %blog_title%

Archive Title Format: %date% | %blog_title%

Tag Title Format: %tag% | %blog_title%

Search Title Format: %search% | %blog_title%

Description Format: %description%

Paged Format: - Part %page%

Make sure Canonical URLs and Rewrite Titles are both checked, as well as Autogenerate Descriptions.

 

[Adammo]

Go to the All-in-One settings page in your Wordpress Admin CP/Dashboard.

I recommend the following settings:

Post Title Format: %post_title% | %blog_title%

Page Title Format: %page_title% | %blog_title%

Category Title Format: %category_title% | %blog_title%

Archive Title Format: %date% | %blog_title%

Tag Title Format: %tag% | %blog_title%

Search Title Format: %search% | %blog_title%

Description Format: %description%

Paged Format: - Part %page%

Make sure Canonical URLs and Rewrite Titles are both checked, as well as Autogenerate Descriptions.

Ya I think I have those set up properly. I should have mentioned that I only installed the plug-in a few days ago and have not posted a new post since installing it. That is probably why. I kind of figured it would update them all but I guess not.

As for link exchanging, I submitted my URL to Link Market under my niche main topic. Is that a ssimple as it gets? I must have missed something here lol.

 

[djbaxter]

I don't know what Link Market is.

 

[djbaxter]

http://www.web-directories.ws/

AndiLinks

WebWorldIndex

 

[Adammo]

So just a bit of an odd update. I don't really know what is going on, but it almost looks like Google is still looking at my old site. I noticed that my "Top Keywords" section in my Google WebMaster Tools page has been updated today with terms like "test", "test1", "page1", etc. Back on November 3rd (when Google first viewed my site), these posts existed as I was testing the look of various themes.

So is Google still looking at my old site for some reason? None of these posts exist anymore. Should I remove my site from Google, and put it back in?

 

[djbaxter]

No. Be patient. All of this takes time. Leave it alone and wait.