Website traffic, rankings, visitors, and SEO
My sports niche website has been the #1 or #2 result on a Google search out of 1.8 million returns for the past three years. And the other day, on the biggest day of the year for that sport,I had a total of 220 visitors. The site has a ton of free information, is not overloaded with ads, has updated news of interest to the target audience thanks to RSS feeds 24/7, and much much more.
I have link trades, keywords all over the place in content on many pages, relevant meta tags.
Obviously, though, I'm doing something wrong.
Let's start by getting some general feedback from experts and then take it from there.
What's your first reaction?
I have link trades, keywords all over the place in content on many pages, relevant meta tags.
Obviously, though, I'm doing something wrong.
Let's start by getting some general feedback from experts and then take it from there.
What's your first reaction?
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SOLUTION
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SOLUTION
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ASKER
Andy:
Those search numbers are for one page on the whole site.
Those search numbers are for one page on the whole site.
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ASKER
Thanks to all. This is much more of a time-demanding deal than I thought it would be, although your replies make me wonder if investing in any type of SEO service would be actually worth the money.
I had thought that with a #1 or #2 ranking on Google for over two years, my site would receive a great deal of traffic.
I had thought that with a #1 or #2 ranking on Google for over two years, my site would receive a great deal of traffic.
ASKER
A few other bits of food for thought to muddy the waters....
First, with regards to adwords and such: I do not use them at all.
Because i can't!
Google decided a few years ago not to accept websites into their AdWords (and AdSense) programs which were connected somehow or other to gambling. My website provides information for horse racing fans and contains advertising only for two of the four U.S. legally approved U.S. online wagering sites. Guess that meets their disqualification definition. I corresponded with them several times, pointing out that there were (and still are) many AdSense/AdWords ads offering racing systems and even daily picks by touts, and such for sale, but the standard response is "We don't discuss our advertisers or decision on who is allowed to advertise....yada, yada, yada."
Next, I was in fact able to check on comparable traffic dates for past years:
2010: 279
2009: 877
2008: 346
2007: 519
2006: 302
2005: 493
I have looked at my competitors and the keywords on their main pages are the same as mine, and in some cases, there are more as part of the page working on my site.
The mystery of lousy traffic with excellent Google rankings continues.....
Comments, followup, new comments?