A few months ago my web traffic started to plunge. From about 1,500 page reads a day, I was down to 1,000. On some days, it was less.
I finally figured it out. My Google page rank has gone from a 5 to a 4. That means Google is much less likely to suggest visiting my site in response to certain keywords.
It’s not like this is a business to me. Still, I’d like to see my traffic increase, not decrease.
What to do? I’m not totally sure. But, I will ask a favor as you read this. If you ever see a reason to link to my site, please do. That’s true if you have your own site or even if you’re posting to a public spot (though please, only link if my content is germane to what’s being discussed). Links are good. Links are helpful.
Unfortunately, getting back to a “5” might take months, if I get back at all.
Geoff – links arent as powerful or relevant to Google as they were in the past. With Google, more and more, it’s about the content. Yours is varied, but under what specific search terms do you wish to rank competitively?
Also, I took a look at your code, and there are some tags missing. You’ve probably heard about meta tags, which are also less important to Google, but still necessary. alt tags are also important, and you code is lacking in both of those areas. You may want to visit the Movable Type site to learn how to better optimize your site for Search Engines.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) depends on doing these and other things a certain way. A good resource for this is searchenginewatch.com – it’s almost TOO good a resource, there’s tons of info on this…though I suspect you’ll find the info you need at Movable Type.
Gary –
You’re right and you’re wrong. Incoming quality links are what counts the most. Google counts nothing that can be gamed – like meta tags. So they’re worthless.
I’m sure the site can be optimized, but I have so much ugly coding built in, I’m scared to move to a newer version of MT or even clean things up!
All the best,
Geoff
ok, let me re-phrase:
I’m pretty sure you’re not looking to beat any “competitors” in any particular search terms, but rather you’re more concerned about your site ranking in general.
Links to your site from RELEVANT souces count, but the sheer quantity doesnt necessarily improve rank. Especially from those link farms and exchange programs, which Google sees as spam. Links are important if they’re quality.
BUT…
Content is still the number one factor within any particular category. Honest. I do this for a living.