Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 26

Thread: Difficult keyword niche

  1. #1
    Registered
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Jerusalem
    Posts
    37

    Difficult keyword niche

    We are trying to build up our traffic to an adequate level so that we can at least cover our operating costs. Our stats in terms of the search engines are not promising.

    We currently have only around 1000 impressions a day, and some 94% of that is coming from referrer websites. Only a little over 6% from search engines.

    The problem, from what I can see, is that our primary keywords are part of a very small set of keywords that have very large competition. Our main keyword phrase is "israel news". There are very few alterations or other possibilities around this that have little competition.

    And because of the narrow focus of our services, we can't just move to a different set of keywords.

    Any suggestions?
    Co-Editor/Website Manager
    Jerusalem Newswire
    www.jnewswire.com

  2. #2
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    East Lansing, MI USA
    Posts
    7,055
    I can see it being a difficult road getting to the top -- but it isn't impossible.

    Your biggest hurdle is that others have the word "Israel" in their name, you do not.

    If you can't succeed on that keyword why not try more targetted ones. Such as news for specific cities?
    Chris Beasley - My Guide to Building a Successful Website[size=1]
    Content Sites: ABCDFGHIJKLMNOP|Forums: ABCD EF|Ecommerce: Swords Knives

  3. #3
    Registered
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Jerusalem
    Posts
    37
    Thanks for the quick reply. I know its a problem that "Israel" is not in our name, but to counter that somewhat, in most places that our name appears on the site (mainly in the title and alt/title tags) I have changed it to "Israel News from Jerusalem Newswire."

    Hopefully this will help.

    The other problem is that there are few viable targetted variations of this more broad keyword phrase.

    I guess we will probably need to focus on beating the PR of the top sites for this keyword.
    Co-Editor/Website Manager
    Jerusalem Newswire
    www.jnewswire.com

  4. #4
    Registered
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Jerusalem
    Posts
    37
    I don't know if this is hurting me too, but the vast majority of the text on the homepage of our site changes daily, as it is mostly news story headlines.

    Many of the headlines often contain good keywords, but I guess it just depends what is up on the day good ole googlebot stops by....
    Co-Editor/Website Manager
    Jerusalem Newswire
    www.jnewswire.com

  5. #5
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    East Lansing, MI USA
    Posts
    7,055
    actually frequently updated content can help because Google will visit more often.
    Chris Beasley - My Guide to Building a Successful Website[size=1]
    Content Sites: ABCDFGHIJKLMNOP|Forums: ABCD EF|Ecommerce: Swords Knives

  6. #6
    Registered
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Jerusalem
    Posts
    37
    Oh, that is good to know. Will Google figure out on its own that our content is frequently updated, or do I need to do something initially to get the robot to stop by more often?
    Co-Editor/Website Manager
    Jerusalem Newswire
    www.jnewswire.com

  7. #7
    Senior Member chromate's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,348
    Yeah. It seems, like Chris says, your biggest down-fall is not having "Israel news" in your site name.

    You have a decent PR and a reasonable number of back links. Unfortunately, you're being linked to with the text "JNewsWire". Again, this is the name problem. I reckon if you're to stand a chance you're going to have to seriously consider working on getting these links changed to "Israel news".

    Looking at the competition on google, it's really not likely you'll get to #1 without breaking your back. However, if you do the above the a top 10 position is most obtainable.

    There's also some stuff you could benefit from. I wont repeat it all here, but if you follow the guide on this site it will help a bit.

    But your main problem is the name thing. You need to definitely put some thought into rectifying this (at least as far as the incoming links are concerned) if you're to get anywhere. But obviously because of the actual name of your site, it wont be easy.

    ... I think this is all correct?

    Cheers,

    Richard.

  8. #8
    Registered
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Jerusalem
    Posts
    37
    Mmmm, the name thing is a problem. Most, in fact I would imagine all, would have a problem with linking to us using the text "Israel news from Jerusalem Newswire" or something like that. Most of those linking to us link to several Israel news sources besides us, and naturally use the actual names of the companies/websites as the link text.

    This seems to me something that is not going to be feasible in our case, unless we changed our whole company name all together... which would be a far larger headache.

    I have gone ahead and changed all the internal links that used to say "Home" to "Israel News", so hopefully that will help some.

    I am not concerned with reaching #1. There are a few full-fledged newspapers in those tops spots that we can never compete with. But in the top 10 would be great.
    Co-Editor/Website Manager
    Jerusalem Newswire
    www.jnewswire.com

  9. #9
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    East Lansing, MI USA
    Posts
    7,055
    I have gone ahead and changed all the internal links that used to say "Home" to "Israel News", so hopefully that will help some.
    Good job, that'll help some.
    Chris Beasley - My Guide to Building a Successful Website[size=1]
    Content Sites: ABCDFGHIJKLMNOP|Forums: ABCD EF|Ecommerce: Swords Knives

  10. #10
    Senior Member chromate's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,348
    Yeh. The home thing was one I was thinking about.

    The other thing that would put people off linking to "Israel news from Jerusalem Newswire" is its length. It's not likely to sit nicely on one line in a narrow menu column.

    Also, the number of words would "dilute" the power of your "Israel news" keyword. The ideal thing would be to have them link to you using only "Israel news".

    You could see how you go getting them to link to you like that, pointing out that you only deal with Israel News and therefore the link would, be "a more accurate description of my service and therefore be of greater benefit your users" etc etc

    Alternatively you could compromise with something like "Israel News by JNW" or something.

    Difficult.
    Last edited by chromate; 09-03-2003 at 09:12 AM.

  11. #11
    Registered
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    Jerusalem
    Posts
    37
    Ya, I imagine its gonna be difficult getting anyone except the smallest sites to agree to do anything like that. Especially since, as I said, we are usually listed along with 10-20 other Israel news sources, all of whom focus on providing news from Israel. So to name us "Israel News" and leave everyone else as is would be a little silly.

    I do want to go back to this issue of Google indexing us more often since our content is very frequently updated. Do I need to do something to make this happen, or will Googlebot eventually figure out on its own that we are updated frequently?
    Co-Editor/Website Manager
    Jerusalem Newswire
    www.jnewswire.com

  12. #12
    Administrator Chris's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    East Lansing, MI USA
    Posts
    7,055
    They'll do it by themselves.
    Chris Beasley - My Guide to Building a Successful Website[size=1]
    Content Sites: ABCDFGHIJKLMNOP|Forums: ABCD EF|Ecommerce: Swords Knives

  13. #13
    Senior Member chromate's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,348
    You're right. I hadn't realised. The only thing you can do is go for the compromise. Or, change your name to something with israel news in it. They'd be much more likely to change the links if you actually changed the name. But like you say, that'd be one major headache!

    I wasn't aware of google visiting more if you update the content more frequently. I would guess that this would be automatic though.

  14. #14
    Registered Mike's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    2,755
    I think having title tags on all your links should help as well.
    Don't you just love free internet games ?

  15. #15
    Trench Warfare
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    813
    Change the link in your footer from "HOME" to "Israel News HOME". That will help a little.
    ________
    Ian McAllister
    Last edited by ozgression; 02-06-2011 at 04:53 AM.

Similar Threads

  1. the right niche keywords
    By mails in forum Search Engine Optimization
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 06-30-2015, 12:28 PM
  2. Is my keyword density too high?
    By Westech in forum Search Engine Optimization
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 04-03-2004, 05:58 PM
  3. Fallen on every keyword
    By X Q mano in forum Search Engine Optimization
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 04-01-2004, 04:40 AM
  4. Advice for further promotion of niche sports site.
    By Dan Morgan in forum General Promotion
    Replies: 15
    Last Post: 03-30-2004, 05:18 AM
  5. Niche Directories for Animal Disease Site
    By shim in forum General Promotion
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 03-18-2004, 08:54 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •