SEO check - what I've done, what I can still do ...

[bobafind]

So here we go (my first post here btw!):

I have recently gone over my site with a fine toothed comb and tried my best to SEO the heck out of it. Here's what I have so far:

Relevant title and heading tags
Keyword laden meta tags (I know these don't count for much anymore)
Went over content to make sure it has plenty of keywords, but not too much (I actually need advice on how much is too much)
Focused internal linking strategy - all pages point to the main index and 2 content pages, all pages accesible within 3 clicks
site map - linked to from index only
In all links, keywords in anchor text
keywords in paths (mysite.com/my-keywords/keyword.php)


That's all that I can think of for now. I have gotten a few backlinks, but my site is really a 'niche' site (there are no pages within the top ten serps with a PR6 or higher!!) so the links are mainly PR3 - 4 and sparse.

I have an outbound link section for distributors of supplies and equipment for the niche, and they are good informational links, but I am suspecting that they are just hurting me more than helping me. The page is buried a few clicks deep, and only on page links to it besides the site map. (http://www.bobafind.com/bubble-tea-distributors)

If you want to see the site, here it is:
Find bubble tea locations and shops by zip code (http://www.bobafind.com)

What should I do next, oh SEO masters? Any feedback (positive or negative as long as it's constructive) is greatly appreciated.

Joel

[bobafind]

The post above doesn't mean much if you don't know the keywords I'm trying to hit:

Bubble Tea
Boba Tea
Bubble Tea Recipes
Boba Recipes
Bubble Tea locations
boba locations
bubble tea shops
boba shops

How many targets is too many? Am I spreading myself too thin?

Wordtracker.com says that 'bubble tea" is the most popular keyword, with a measly score of 395 over a 2 month period :-( the rest are just blips around 10 - 50 at best.

I will probably inadvertently tap into people looking for boba fett eventually, but of course most of those visitors wouldn't stay long and I don't want to mislead anybody.

Thanks again for any input you have folks :-)
Joel

[seo guy]

Holy CRAP! I think this is THE BEST site review request I have ever seen, thank you for going into such detail about your efforts thus far this is a GREAT first post! The only thing Im searching for to make it perfect are your main keywords, Im going to guess that they are "Bubble Tea" "find Bubble Tea" "Find Bubble Tea Locations" "find Bubble Tea Shops" tha sort of thing. IF I missed any please let me know.

It actually really saddens me that my response is going to be so lame, I have examined your main pages code and honestly my friend you have done a more then adequte job. I dont find your page spammy, you have used the appropriate elements really a nice effort all around.

What I would do is try to come out of your niche a little bit on the backlink issue, dont just limit yourself to exact markets that match with your own, there are many other threads of relevance, such as other websites that do searches using Zip codes, there are probably tons of partners in that arena. What about directories? Have you taken advantage of all the free directoris out there? Honestly I think its going to take very little time circa 2 months in order to get this site on the first page.

I think the anchor text your using in your sig is innappropriate, I would make it more generic like "Bubble Tea" so that you can increase your allinanchor for the keyword and make sure you get a few backlinks with different keywords. Switch it up a bit, send the first guy a "please link to me using the anchor bubble tea" then the next one "please make my link "find bubble tea" etc
Man honestly ask as many more questions in this thread as you like and provide any more info you want because I really do appreciate the quality of your request, in fact I will be using it as an example of a good site review request.
Here's To you!

[seo guy]

AHAHAHAH the one thing that was missing and you were posting it while I was typing, You ROCK Joel!

Btw what is the end objective of the site? The SEO will be really easy to advise on because of the non competition, but how does this site generate revenue? Perhaps we can suggest some more keywords or paths to finding them that might help,or even some conversion tips.

[bobafind]

That was probably the speediest, most detailed reply I've seen, so thank you for being an Uber-Uber Mod :-) Also thanks for the compliment - I was just trying to list as much detail as possible regarding the site.

It looks like you hit my keywords pretty well; I think I posted them a few seconds after you submitted your reply. So you're saying to cut down on the number of words in the anchor text; to focus it more, but also to try other keywords as far as seeking backlinks. Cool. Didn't think of that.

I've tried submitting to a few Directories (ODP, LookSmart, Yahoo) but of course ODP is like a turtle with broken legs, and the same LookSmart editor keeps denying my site because he thinks it's "Commercial" - I've sent a message to an editor a few levels above him to hopefully get them to look at it and maybe publish it... here's hoping :-)

I was wondering if my content was too keyword saturated - your spider sim tool puts me at %21.74 for just the phrase 'bubble tea' on my main page - too high? Think I would be penalized for that?

Again, thanks for the swift response - you certainly surprised me!

Joel

[bobafind]

I just started SEO on my site in the last couple days (of course AFTER it was indexed and live - what a dummy!!) so my traffic has been pretty low to begin with, around 10 unique visitors a day.

I have some adwords on the side of my page, and so far, after being 'live' for 2 months (with hardly any SEO) I have racked up an amazing ... $15.00 :-( I did get rid of a hideous eBay tool that displayed bubble tea related auctions, which I thought would have done better than the adwords, but suprisingly, I made a whopping 5 cents from that 'campaign'. I was supposed to get a nickel anytime somedne bid who came from my site and $5.00 if a new member signed up ... looks like that was not for me (at least not now).

I am *definately* open to any suggestions you have as far as better use of my 'inventory' - right now I feel like some small town hardware store ...

Show me the way ...

Joel

[seo guy]

no you dont get penalized for density, there is just diminished return algo on it. I dont think your density is to high at all.

ALong the same line as varying specific anchors for backlinks to your site, try to get links to different pages, in the SE's eyes this makes your site seem more authoritative and relevant. They dont see it as just another link exchanger who's getting tons of links to his mainpage.

Dont just go for the main directories (MSN,DMOZ and YAhoo) there are thousands of free directories out there, Sunny posted a list here but I dont know when or where the thread was posted. Anyone out there have that list of directories?

[seo guy]

btw you have been upgraded to premium member status so you can now view the private link exchange forum, its new so there arent many members yet, but it will grow, I hope you can find some relevant partners there http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=53 is the link to it
Cheers

[bobafind]

Right on! I'm lovin it!

http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/showthread.php?postid=2036#post2036

Was this the list of directories?


Quote:
Originally Posted by seokid
http://www.spheri.ca/directories1.html

http://www.spheri.ca/directories2.html

Thanks to Sunny for these two links. Dmoz.org is for sure one of the top but this is a good place to start as well. Does anyone else have any more directories?

you missed one

http://www.spheri.ca/directories.html

[bobafind]

PS - This is off topic but: Is this forum software out of the box or is it heavily modified? It roxxors me boxxors till I can't put on my soxxors.

I love the functionality and ease of use for experienced forum users.

[seo guy]

I ahve made quite a few small mods to this VB 3 forum but really its nothing that 2 days of fiddling couldnt accomplish. VB 3 kicks ass in my opinion, its worthe $160 ro whatever it is for full licence and you could "almost" have this forum technology right out of the box, the mods I would do for you for a fourm link or some thing tis no big deal

check it out here http://www.vbulletin.com/

[bobafind]

[QUOTE=seo guy]
Dont just go for the main directories (MSN,DMOZ and YAhoo) there are thousands of free directories out there, Sunny posted a list here but I dont know when or where the thread was posted. Anyone out there have that list of directories?[/QUOTE]

http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/showthread.php?t=250

AWESOME list of like 900 directories / SE's

wow.

[bobafind]

[QUOTE=seo guy]Btw what is the end objective of the site? The SEO will be really easy to advise on because of the non competition, but how does this site generate revenue? Perhaps we can suggest some more keywords or paths to finding them that might help,or even some conversion tips.[/QUOTE]

End objective was to hopefully be a first 'live' web project (If it makes any $ that would be nice too!) - this is my first shot at actually publishing anything, and I'm a card-carrying bubble tea addict so I thought that a bubble tea location (http://www.bobafind.com) finder for us boba (http://www.bobafind.com/what-is-bubble-tea.php) freaks would be kinda cool. I also wanted to start small and see what happened.

I am not sure how I can 'get out' of this niche - the domain name is pretty specific, though domains are cheap. I may be able to expand into more Asian-themed pages (bubble tea history (http://www.bobafind.com/boba_phenomenon.php) tells us it started in Taiwan, spread to the rest of Asia, then began to conquer the states), just would not know how to fit them into the current context of the site.

Is this site too focused to be more than a < 10 page content site with a 'neat' tool? maybe once my SEO has an effect on the SERPs I'll start seeing more traffic. I hope so :)

What ideas do ya'll have as far as conversion tips and campaigns? Right now, as I said before, I just have one slot of AdWords on all my pages - probably not the best use of my 'inventory' (if you can call it that).

PS: If the text links above are too much, let me know and I'll edit them out.

Joel

[Gas Scooter Guy]

[QUOTE=bobafind] site map - linked to from index only
Joel[/QUOTE]

Does this mean you should not have your site map able to be referenced from other pages than your index,

AND does it mean on your Site Map page Nav Bar, the only choice is Home?

Thanks,

[bobafind]

[QUOTE=Gas Scooter Guy]Does this mean you should not have your site map able to be referenced from other pages than your index[/quote]

Well, by linking to my sitemap only from my index, I'm hoping that Google will be able to reach it and in turn reach and index all my pages. I want the majority of the links on my site to point to my 3 main pages, my index (http://www.bobafind.com), What is Bubble tea? (http://www.bobafind.com/what-is-bubble-tea.php), and Bubble tea recipes (http://www.bobafind.com/recipes.php). If I have the site map on all of my pages, I will be draining PR to the site map, and to the other pages it links to (correct me if I'm wrong anybody). I do however, make sure that all my pages are accessible from all my other pages - it might just take up to 3 clicks to get there (in the case of my outbound links page). All semi important pages are within 2 clicks of each other.

[QUOTE=Gas Scooter Guy]AND does it mean on your Site Map page Nav Bar, the only choice is Home?[/quote]

The site map on my site has links to every page on my site. My nav bar links only to my index, recipes, and the "what is bubble tea" pages (these are the pages that I'm hoping will get the most inbound links and in turn , the highest PR). By not linking to every other page from every page, I am focusing my PR to the pages that I want to get a boost, though I haven't yet realized the boost (all pages are still at PR2, so I don't know what's up there...).

If anyone knows anything I can fix as far as PR (internally) I would love to hear it. I know that my real hope is inbound links from higher PR sites and authority sites. (hurry up DMOZ!!!!!!)

some resources:

http://webworkshop.net/pagerank_calculator.php3

This is the famous PageRank calculator - I used it to develop my linking strategy, but before playing with it, I recommend reading:


http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html

Which explains why internal linking strategies will affect PR of pages within your site. If you don't like math, skip to the section titled internal linking (http://www.webworkshop.net/pagerank.html#internal_linking)



Joel

[leeds1]

[QUOTE=seo guy]btw you have been upgraded to premium member status so you can now view the private link exchange forum, its new so there arent many members yet, but it will grow, I hope you can find some relevant partners there http://www.seo-guy.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=53 is the link to it
Cheers[/QUOTE]


Hey Morgan

How do I get upgraded to this forum ?

ta

[jocelyn]

You just did the 1st step... talk to an admin...

[leeds1]

[QUOTE=jocelyn]You just did the 1st step... talk to an admin...[/QUOTE]

Hi Joce

Is that a cryptic comment ? Who is admin ? Do I have to do this via PM or can you just upgrade/ provide permissions,?

Many THANKS :useforce:

[jocelyn]

[QUOTE=leeds1]Is that a cryptic comment ?[/QUOTE]
I have no clue what a cryptic comment is supposed to be. Maybe encoded.

[QUOTE=leeds1]Who is admin[/QUOTE]
SEO GUY , SEO BOB

[Arizona Web]

[QUOTE=bobafind]PS - This is off topic but: Is this forum software out of the box or is it heavily modified? It roxxors me boxxors till I can't put on my soxxors.

I love the functionality and ease of use for experienced forum users.[/QUOTE]
vBulletin (the software used here) is awesome right out of the box. It's a few hundred dollars, but well worth it if your forum gets a lot of activity. Some people have customized them like crazy (not just graphics) but SEO Guy is using the latest and greatest out of the box forum software ATM.

If you need an el cheapo (free) forum, phpbb is pretty good too. Not as good as this, but good value (if my math is correct... 0 dollars + whole forum = good value) :D