Help...what happened?
Oversea
The enclosed website once ranked on the first page on Yahoo and Google for
the search term "boat insurance". Now, even though I have changed nothing,
my rank has dropped significantly.
Maybe someone could take a peek at the site and offer some advice and
constructive criticism.
--
Bill Jones
Oversea Insurance
bi...@overseainsurance.com
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> Pardon me if I'm asking something that has already been discussed.
>
> The enclosed website once ranked on the first page on Yahoo and
> Google for the search term "boat insurance". Now, even though I have
> changed nothing, my rank has dropped significantly.
>
> Maybe someone could take a peek at the site and offer some advice and
> constructive criticism.
>
> www.overseainsurance.com
I couldn't even find you site in the first 300. :( I'd say first
strategy would be getting inbound links with "boat insurance" as the
anchor text. You don't seem to have those.
OBSERVER
"Oversea" <ser...@overseainsurance.com> wrote in message
news:RZ4Eb.28639$pY.7265@fed1read04...
Rene Pijlman
>Maybe someone could take a peek at the site and offer some advice and
>constructive criticism.
>
>www.overseainsurance.com
Perhaps you should add a paragraph that does not include the phrase "boat
insurance".
Why do you expect this site to rank any higher than the
google-knows-how-many other sites about boat insurance? It really doesn't
have any content to offer, except "give us a call if you need a boat
insurance". There is no information at all about different sort of boats,
risks, insurances and so on. Hire a writer!
--
René Pijlman
Wat wil jij leren? http://www.leren.nl
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> Some are only waking up to the Google nightmare right now.
Actually, I'm surprised this site ever ranked well on Google on this
competitive of a SERP. Also, the OP, you have a problem with the home
page. At the top the .gif says "Oversea Yacht Insurance", yet the HTML
Title, and at the bottom of the home page, says the company name is
"Oversea Boat Insurance." I'd suggest replacing that .gif with a H1 tag
of "Oversea Boat Insurance". Then change the text "The boat insurance
authority" below to "The yacht and boat insurance authority". The way
your site currently is may cause an ODP editor to change the anchor text
to "Oversea Yacht Insurance", which will make it even harder to rank for
"boat insurance".
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
Jones
this site than any other marine insurance website I've ever seen. Read the
FAQs, the Yacht Brokers page, the Service Providers page, or the
Underwriters page. I haven't seen any of this information on any other
site.
The reason so many paragraphs contain the phrase "boat insurance" is because
a SEO specialist convinced us that this was necessary for a high ranking.
We were ranked in the top ten on over 30 SEs at one time. Now it looks as
though we'll have to redesign the site.
Luckily almost no significant amount of yacht insurance is sold via the
internet. I believe for most item and especially services, the Internet is
mostly a place to price shop, not actually buy. I know this is the case in
marine insurance.
The site exists for two reasons: as a servce to our clients; and a way for
us to tell new clients who we are.
Thanks for you advice. I'll keep reading this newsgroup to gain more
insight into the somewhat strange world of SEs.
"Rene Pijlman" <reply.in.th...@my.address.is.invalid> wrote in
message news:g0p1uvsk67oe293q3...@4ax.com...
Jones
task, I might add.
Bill Jones
"rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" <rfg...@KILLSPAMMERSmochamail.com> wrote in
message news:3fe0e07b$0$18207$892e...@authen.puce.readfreenews.net...
Jones
"rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski" <rfg...@KILLSPAMMERSmochamail.com> wrote in
We ranked in the top ten on over 30 SEs within 90 days of our first
submittion. On Yahoo we ranked as high as third.
The SEO specialist we used suggested the over-use of the term "boat
insurance" on the index page to ensure a higher ranking. We liked the gif
and thought we had used "boat insurance" enough to overcome the lack of the
term at the top of the page. I guess not. We were told to emphasize
different search terms on different pages, hence the use of "yacht
insurance" on some, and "marine insurance" on others. As a former
professional writer, the suggested text necessary to achieve higher rankings
is repugnant to me.
Thank you for your suggestions. I think we will be forced to redesign the
site and will take them into consideration then.
Bill Jones
Rene Pijlman
>With all due respect, there is more information about marine insurance on
>this site than any other marine insurance website I've ever seen. Read the
>FAQs, the Yacht Brokers page, the Service Providers page, or the
>Underwriters page. I haven't seen any of this information on any other
>site.
You may be right. I didn't notice the links on the bottom of the page.
Sorry.
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> We ranked in the top ten on over 30 SEs within 90 days of our first
> submittion. On Yahoo we ranked as high as third.
>
> The SEO specialist we used suggested the over-use of the term "boat
> insurance" on the index page to ensure a higher ranking. We liked
> the gif and thought we had used "boat insurance" enough to overcome
> the lack of the term at the top of the page. I guess not. We were
> told to emphasize different search terms on different pages, hence
> the use of "yacht insurance" on some, and "marine insurance" on
> others. As a former professional writer, the suggested text
> necessary to achieve higher rankings is repugnant to me.
Writing for search engines and writing for humans is 2 different
things. SEO in many ways means doing exactly what is taught as wrong in
professional writing.
Emancipator
> The SEO specialist we used suggested the over-use of the term "boat
> insurance" on the index page to ensure a higher ranking.
never helped any of my customers. All it does is read funny to a
person reading it, and look an awful lot like spam. As you are a
professional writer I do not have to tell you this, since you know way
more then I ever will about that kind of writing :)
> We liked the gif
Just being brutally honest I have to agree, I do not like the logo, or
the site look period. I would rework it, as you already said you are
going to. I would go with a more "corporate" feel. You are selling
insurance and people expect a certain level for this type of website.
>
> and thought we had used "boat insurance" enough to overcome the lack
of the
> term at the top of the page. I guess not.
relevant then another. In fact it can be seen as spamming and take
away from your rankings. Something to keep in mind. You have Boat
Insurance mentioned a few to many times. Also I notice you have "Boat
Insurance" "boat insurance" "BOAT INSURANCE" etc. Any particular
reason? Go to Google and try doing a search and see if google cares if
you have capitals or not. :) The result will speak for itself.
> insurance" on some, and "marine insurance" on others. As a former
> professional writer, the suggested text necessary to achieve higher
rankings
> is repugnant to me.
for the sake of using them. I am going to have to agree that I also
have no idea why this site ever ranked on the top of the Search
Engines. I am not trying to be critical, just being honest. I suggest
a complete rework with more emphasis on the overall design and search
engine copy.
Best of luck with it.
Eman
www.searchguild.com
------------------------------
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SEO Dave
<rfg...@KILLSPAMMERSmochamail.com> wrote:
> Writing for search engines and writing for humans is 2 different
>things. SEO in many ways means doing exactly what is taught as wrong in
>professional writing.
It helps if you have no professional training in writing when you SEO
a page :-))
David
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Oversea
others have said. This was the first -- and hopefully the last -- website I
ever designed. It was only out of necessity and a time crunch that I bought
a copy of Dreamweaver and knocked out our site over a weekend. Then a SEO
person convinced me to make the changes that I described.
Bill Jones
"Emancipator" <anubia...@hotmail-dot-com.no-spam.invalid> wrote in
message news:5298aacb4dafc7b7...@news.teranews.com...
rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
> On Thu, 18 Dec 2003 12:47:02 -0500, "rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski"
> <rfg...@KILLSPAMMERSmochamail.com> wrote:
>
>> Writing for search engines and writing for humans is 2 different
>> things. SEO in many ways means doing exactly what is taught as wrong
>> in professional writing.
>
> It helps if you have no professional training in writing when you SEO
> a page :-))
Curiously enough this is the truth.
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