Stuck on page 2 for last 4 weeks!

[TheGamer]

Hi

I am struggling with a friend's website I have been working on. I have only been working on it for last 3 months. Its in a low-mid competition niche. The website is not really new, it was created in January earlier this year. All the keywords I have been working on had been steadily rising until around 3 weeks ago. For the last 4 weeks, I have acquired 5-6 solid really high authority links along with doing my own few Web 2.0s but the ranking is not budging at all!

One thing I can think of is over optimization on keyword on the main website. I think for one of the keywords this could be the issue but I can't really do much about it since repetitions are all natural. But even the other keywords have stopped moving. They are all sitting on page 2.

I am sure this must have happened with lots of you. Any Checklist to go through or strategy to get out of this plateau?

 

[davids355]

What is the keyword density on the page then? I guess you should check that first....

 

[TheGamer]

I actually just checked and found out that it was around 0.7% for the main keyword and pretty reasonable for all others too! So this issue is off the list.

 

[dhiiiraj]

check other things.

 

[LuckyCharm007]

How long have you had those authority links coming in? Sometimes it can take a couple weeks before you see any serp increase. Also, did you send a couple blogpost/web 2.0 to those new authority links you just got?

Other than that.. I would say check your Onsite but I guess you already did.

 

[TheGamer]

check other things.

No shit Einstein!

 

[TheGamer]

How long have you had those authority links coming in? Sometimes it can take a couple weeks before you see any serp increase. Also, did you send a couple blogpost/web 2.0 to those new authority links you just got?

Other than that.. I would say check your Onsite but I guess you already did.

Thanks. I have been quite consistent with the links. Say 1 per week. and I also consistent results up until last month. No I didn't do any web 2.0s for those authority links. Web 2.0s were for the main website. I did however did a very modest 1K GSA link package for each authority link. I bought that package from market place on BHW. I was confused though what keywords to use for that specific blast. Because last time I blasted it with the main keyword, the authority site ended up ranking higher for that keyword than my friend's website

I was also wondering that may be 0.67% keyword density on the website is probably too low....

 

[LuckyCharm007]

Thanks. I have been quite consistent with the links. Say 1 per week. and I also consistent results up until last month. No I didn't do any web 2.0s for those authority links. Web 2.0s were for the main website. I did however did a very modest 1K GSA link package for each authority link. I bought that package from market place on BHW. I was confused though what keywords to use for that specific blast. Because last time I blasted it with the main keyword, the authority site ended up ranking higher for that keyword than my friend's website

I was also wondering that may be 0.67% keyword density on the website is probably too low....

It may be low but it also depends on your backlink profile. What's your % of Naked/branded vs main keyword vs LSI?

I would also consider pointing some web 2.0's to the authority sites and blast them with GSA.

 

[TheGamer]

It may be low but it also depends on your backlink profile. What's your % of Naked/branded vs main keyword vs LSI?

I haven't calculated that! I will get back to you on that tomorrow as its very late here now.

I would also consider pointing some web 2.0's to the authority sites and blast them with GSA.

I initially went for the main keyword but ended up ranking up the authority websites as explained in the previous section. For the last blast I used main keyword along with lots of LSI's and just generic terms. What would you recommend using (RE keywords for these authority websites)?

 

[BreaknBrix]

Thanks. I have been quite consistent with the links. Say 1 per week. and I also consistent results up until last month. No I didn't do any web 2.0s for those authority links. Web 2.0s were for the main website. I did however did a very modest 1K GSA link package for each authority link. I bought that package from market place on BHW. I was confused though what keywords to use for that specific blast. Because last time I blasted it with the main keyword, the authority site ended up ranking higher for that keyword than my friend's website

I was also wondering that may be 0.67% keyword density on the website is probably too low....

Too many questions to ask.

1) Why would you GSA blast authority links? An authority link is either authority or not. Once you start blasting those pages with spam you're gonna destroy whatever authority they had (if any).

2) What types of authority links are you talking about? Did you check the TF/CF/TFCF Ratio/DA/PA/OBL ? Did you analyze the links coming to those authority pages before you blasted them? If I'm sending true authority links to a site the last thing I'm gonna do is screw up their profiles with a GSA blast that I'm assuming you outsourced?

3) It's normal for sites to slow down half way up page 2. It's happened on many of my sites. Some stay for 3 weeks others don't budge for 6 weeks. Then they get to the top of page 2. Then they start dancing on/off page 1. Then they stabilize on page 1. Then rankings slow down even further.

4) However, I can't emphasize the power that 1 real authority link holds. I'm talking a "confirmed" TF35+ link. That has a series of power sites linking to it. And all those power sites have great metrics. Dropping just 1 link like that to a website on page 2.... although it still takes time will save you months of bullshit dealing with weaker authority links that are being sold in the market place right now for $50-$300.

Rather than blast GSA to PBN sites / authority sites you should just get a good PBN domain. Then get some shared hosting with dedicated IPs. Rent domain scraping software like DHG Pro. Register a series of pumper sites and direct them all to that 1 site. Then drop that link to your site and watch what happens.

I'm doing tons of testing right now on this. Basically "tiered authority links".

You get 1 high quality PBN site with TF 25-30+ & high topical flow (if you're in fashion use a dropped fashion domain). Make sure it's a good site / no inflated metrics. Then line up a series of 10 weaker PBN sites. Like TF 15+ and moderate topical flow. Throw them on cheaper hosting. Then blow up that 1 site with those 10 "weak" sites.

I'll probably release a case study when I do this.

But for now you can read this: https://www.seoplus.ca/blog/live-seo-case-study-ranking-a-lead-generation-website/

-BB

 

[TheGamer]

It may be low but it also depends on your backlink profile. What's your % of Naked/branded vs main keyword vs LSI?

I would also consider pointing some web 2.0's to the authority sites and blast them with GSA.

Just went through my excel sheets, so here is the summary:

My small PBN (around 14) websites are all linking to money site with two main keywords. These links are contextual links, so I have written articles around the keywords. However the links are 50-50 split between the two main keywords so 8 links for each keyword.

As for the other authority links I have been getting, around 50-50 split between keyword & brand names.

 

[TheGamer]

Too many questions to ask.

1) Why would you GSA blast authority links? An authority link is either authority or not. Once you start blasting those pages with spam you're gonna destroy whatever authority they had (if any).

2) What types of authority links are you talking about? Did you check the TF/CF/TFCF Ratio/DA/PA/OBL ? Did you analyze the links coming to those authority pages before you blasted them? If I'm sending true authority links to a site the last thing I'm gonna do is screw up their profiles with a GSA blast that I'm assuming you outsourced?

3) It's normal for sites to slow down half way up page 2. It's happened on many of my sites. Some stay for 3 weeks others don't budge for 6 weeks. Then they get to the top of page 2. Then they start dancing on/off page 1. Then they stabilize on page 1. Then rankings slow down even further.

4) However, I can't emphasize the power that 1 real authority link holds. I'm talking a "confirmed" TF35+ link. That has a series of power sites linking to it. And all those power sites have great metrics. Dropping just 1 link like that to a website on page 2.... although it still takes time will save you months of bullshit dealing with weaker authority links that are being sold in the market place right now for $50-$300.

Rather than blast GSA to PBN sites / authority sites you should just get a good PBN domain. Then get some shared hosting with dedicated IPs. Rent domain scraping software like DHG Pro. Register a series of pumper sites and direct them all to that 1 site. Then drop that link to your site and watch what happens.

I'm doing tons of testing right now on this. Basically "tiered authority links".

You get 1 high quality PBN site with TF 25-30+ & high topical flow (if you're in fashion use a dropped fashion domain). Make sure it's a good site / no inflated metrics. Then line up a series of 10 weaker PBN sites. Like TF 15+ and moderate topical flow. Throw them on cheaper hosting. Then blow up that 1 site with those 10 "weak" sites.

I'll probably release a case study when I do this.

But for now you can read this: https://www.seoplus.ca/blog/live-seo-case-study-ranking-a-lead-generation-website/

-BB

1) My reasoning for this is that since links are contextual & embedded in an article on these websites and although these websites are extremely powerful the article page is necessarily not so. So by sending a few links to it directly, I am saying to G that look this page is popular and hence my link embedded in it.

2) yes I did. these are mostly very decent TF/DA, aged websites and most importantly these are very relevant to the money websites. So both share same type of keywords so relevancy factor is also very high.

3) This is what I am worried about I had set a few targets for myself for this month and am no where near achieving them

 

[T2tkid]

I know you are a pro from your contributions here, but this is the first time am ready a case study with PROOFS. You only mentioned getting a few links, less than 4 but with high TF. How do you get this links? I would love to read more case studies!

Too many questions to ask.

1) Why would you GSA blast authority links? An authority link is either authority or not. Once you start blasting those pages with spam you're gonna destroy whatever authority they had (if any).

2) What types of authority links are you talking about? Did you check the TF/CF/TFCF Ratio/DA/PA/OBL ? Did you analyze the links coming to those authority pages before you blasted them? If I'm sending true authority links to a site the last thing I'm gonna do is screw up their profiles with a GSA blast that I'm assuming you outsourced?

3) It's normal for sites to slow down half way up page 2. It's happened on many of my sites. Some stay for 3 weeks others don't budge for 6 weeks. Then they get to the top of page 2. Then they start dancing on/off page 1. Then they stabilize on page 1. Then rankings slow down even further.

4) However, I can't emphasize the power that 1 real authority link holds. I'm talking a "confirmed" TF35+ link. That has a series of power sites linking to it. And all those power sites have great metrics. Dropping just 1 link like that to a website on page 2.... although it still takes time will save you months of bullshit dealing with weaker authority links that are being sold in the market place right now for $50-$300.

Rather than blast GSA to PBN sites / authority sites you should just get a good PBN domain. Then get some shared hosting with dedicated IPs. Rent domain scraping software like DHG Pro. Register a series of pumper sites and direct them all to that 1 site. Then drop that link to your site and watch what happens.

I'm doing tons of testing right now on this. Basically "tiered authority links".

You get 1 high quality PBN site with TF 25-30+ & high topical flow (if you're in fashion use a dropped fashion domain). Make sure it's a good site / no inflated metrics. Then line up a series of 10 weaker PBN sites. Like TF 15+ and moderate topical flow. Throw them on cheaper hosting. Then blow up that 1 site with those 10 "weak" sites.

I'll probably release a case study when I do this.

But for now you can read this: https://www.seoplus.ca/blog/live-seo-case-study-ranking-a-lead-generation-website/

-BB

 

[Penumbra]

I know you are a pro from your contributions here, but this is the first time am ready a case study with PROOFS. You only mentioned getting a few links, less than 4 but with high TF. How do you get this links? I would love to read more case studies!

One word "SAPE"

 

[conrulez]

I would tinker with your kwd density, if you indeed are using exact anchor text on all those contextual links for the two main keywords. You will know REAL FAST whether it helps. Try lowering it substantially at first and see if you move. If it has negative effect, change the page back to what it was. I'm betting you'll move "something" upwards though. If you haven't already, go see PHPbuilt's posts/site about KWD density. It has worked well for me and MANY others.

Since those are contextual links, you can also throw some higher TF authority links with url anchors. SAPE works well for pure authority. I NEVER use a kwd anchor though with those, just the URL usually (or site brand name). Definitely worth a try, especially tinkering with density because it so easy and you get quick feedback.

 

[alternatesword]

I think you need more diversity in anchors. Try to use different lsi, generic keywords with brand keywords and naked url's. Did you sent any social signals? if not send some social signals.

 

[TheGamer]

I would tinker with your kwd density, if you indeed are using exact anchor text on all those contextual links for the two main keywords. You will know REAL FAST whether it helps. Try lowering it substantially at first and see if you move. If it has negative effect, change the page back to what it was. I'm betting you'll move "something" upwards though. If you haven't already, go see PHPbuilt's posts/site about KWD density. It has worked well for me and MANY others.

Since those are contextual links, you can also throw some higher TF authority links with url anchors. SAPE works well for pure authority. I NEVER use a kwd anchor though with those, just the URL usually (or site brand name). Definitely worth a try, especially tinkering with density because it so easy and you get quick feedback.

I would definitely try that. Its an easy thing to change but I could obviously only do it for my own pbn sites.

I have always heard negative stuff about SAPE. Its a friend's site so I am would like to take as little risk as possible. Last time I checked Matt Cutts was boasting that his team took down most of SAPE manually..a few years ago...is it still the case?

 

[TheGamer]

I think you need more diversity in anchors. Try to use different lsi, generic keywords with brand keywords and naked url's. Did you sent any social signals? if not send some social signals.

I did try social signals in the beginning but to no avail.

I used to do SEO regularly a few years ago but even then I never noticed any positive effect of social signals on SERPs other than to drive traffic. Have you had a different experience?

 

[conrulez]

I would definitely try that. Its an easy thing to change but I could obviously only do it for my own pbn sites.

I have always heard negative stuff about SAPE. Its a friend's site so I am would like to take as little risk as possible. Last time I checked Matt Cutts was boasting that his team took down most of SAPE manually..a few years ago...is it still the case?

I know MANY people who use SAPE links with no problems. Like I said, I only use generic/URL anchor texts but that's just me. Lots of people use their KWD anchors with NO PROBLEMS at all. SAPE is a great source for just pure authority. Basically you need authority and contextual to rank today. Take what you want from that.

BTW...I've never seen ANY increase in rank because of social signals. None. But the diversity might help to bring down the anchor percentages. Basically I would try the onsite SEO changes first in line with PHPBuilt's recommendations. From there I'd try some socials or whatever to mix up the anchors, then I'd get more authority links, and then more contextual. In that order. But that's just me. Try one at a time and see the results though.

Good luck.

 

[alternatesword]

I did try social signals in the beginning but to no avail.

I used to do SEO regularly a few years ago but even then I never noticed any positive effect of social signals on SERPs other than to drive traffic. Have you had a different experience?

We simply can't ignore the social signals, indeed i have seen the effects of social signals. Sites with backlinks + social signals perform well when compare to the sites with just backlinks.