SEO tips = better search engine ranking: Why does Google hate this site?

June 11, 2004

Why does Google hate this site?

So I have this travel blog, www.travel-plan-idea.com targeting some not too competitive keywords like "travel plan" and "travel idea". The problem is I'm not in the top 100 for either in Google.

This doesn't make any sense because a search for allinanchor:travel plan shows me at #5. allinanchor:travel idea and I'm #1. Also crazy is a search for "travel plan idea" shows sites linking to me, but not my actual site. I've got a few quality links (used to be PR 6 but after the recent update PR 5). I don't think I've been totally blacklisted because I'm think I'm still passing page rank. For example a search link:www.esl-blog.com shows my travel site as one of the back links.

Posted by James Trotta at June 11, 2004 12:28 PM

Comments

To me, "travel plan" sounds quite competitive. Do you have many links from one website or forums? I think allinanchor counts this, but give much less power.

Posted by: KL at June 13, 2004 5:47 AM

Well I have many links from my own site but the links from external sites are from many different sources. Plus there's no reason why I wouldn't rank #1 for "travel plan idea" unless I was being penalized. I mean sights that link to me are listed ahead of my actual site; they have the words once and no anchor text for these words!

Posted by: James Trotta at June 13, 2004 3:20 PM

Your allianchor:travel plan is #3, Serps is #2 page, looks reasonable. Or google sandbox?
http://www.seochat.com/c/a/Google/The-Sandbox-Effect-Not-a-Nice-Place-to-Play/

Posted by: KL at June 13, 2004 10:58 PM

Sorry, I meant to say "travel plan idea".

Posted by: KL at June 13, 2004 11:01 PM

Thanks for the sandbox link. Buy the way, why don't you change you "KL" to "Vocabulary guy" or something. That way, when you sign a blog comment you're helping your site for an important keyword. I wouldn't do "vocabulary builder" because some bloggers might think you're a spammer...

Posted by: James Trotta at June 15, 2004 3:52 PM

Thanks for your nice suggestions. Because I don't want to spam your site or any other blogs, just want learn something or discuss something with you. By the way, after you taught me that tip, I have built many qualified links, my main keyword reached 6#, will enter top 3 very soon.

Posted by: KL at June 16, 2004 12:45 AM

#6! Nice work! Glad I was able to help!

Posted by: James Trotta at June 22, 2004 6:57 PM