Why on Earth will this page not rank?!

Hi Guys, I am the first to admit that I am a complete newbie when it comes to websites and seo. However I have been learning a lot since joining the forum and thank everyone for there input on my little projects. I to will come to help others once my skills are more refined!

The first website I designed was a success, I registered a keyword that was searched around 1200 times a month and created a website with 13 pages of original content, within a week I had PR1 and was getting about 20 - 30 hits a day.

I then did the same for another keyword that was searched a similar amount of times, said keyword is: isbenzoylperoxidesafe. I wrote some original content for the website yet I am not even ranking on the first page! I have no idea what I am doing wrong here. I would be grateful if someone could point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Cx

Cx,

I would have more questions than a solid response at this stage, so...

How does the competition for this said keyword compare with the other keyword?
How much supporting work did you do with this website compared to the other?

The only feedback I have is that not all keywords are the same and there could be 100 different factors that would influence the ease that it would take for it to rank, even with an EMD. It sounds like you also got lucky on this first go around and you should temper your expectations a bit... This would be why many people teach, if you are going after niche keyword website building, you actually go after 10 - 20 websites at once, so that you will probably have 20% do really well, 50% do alright and 30% bomb... Then after 3 - 6 months, sell off the alright and bombs on Flippa and keep repeating the process.

It may not be that easy these days, but certainly the principles can apply to almost any business model.

Shawn

Hi Shawn,

First off, thanks very much for such an eloquent reply. The keyword has around 1200 global searches per month and according to the google keyword tool it's a low competition keyword. If I am completely honest there is no where near as much content on isbenzoylperoxidesafe compared to typesofitalianbread. I am guessing this could be the problem?

Maybe I was just lucky with my first website, beginners luck and all!

Thanks,

Cx

first of all PR doesn't really mean a lot.
second of all adwords competition is not SEO competition, it shows how many advertisers are bidding for this particular keyword. so actually high adwords competition is what real IMers are after.
Now why your site do not rank on the first page?
first of all make sure your site is indexed. Now if it is, check where you are in the SERP (I usually check the top 500 results)
Now it's not just about content. content could rank for very very very non-competitive keyword. But for harder keywords you need backlinks.

I've written few guides here you can check. http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackhat-seo/white-hat-seo/431449-guide-part-iii-how-optimize-your-page-search-engine-optimization-write-content-convert.html

AllGoodRecords said:

Hi Shawn,

First off, thanks very much for such an eloquent reply. The keyword has around 1200 global searches per month and according to the google keyword tool it's a low competition keyword. If I am completely honest there is no where near as much content on isbenzoylperoxidesafe compared to typesofitalianbread. I am guessing this could be the problem?

Maybe I was just lucky with my first website, beginners luck and all!

Click to expand...

That might be your problem right there. The only measure of what the competition truly is, is by the results that come up in Google. Not even Google can be trusted to tell you what Google is doing; you have to find out for yourself.

I ran your kw, and the #1 listing is a PR1 site, but it's a secondary page to a PR3 website. Not insurmountable, but you have to assume that the PR3 site is lending their PR1 page some juice. Maybe not much, but enough to beat-out a brand-new site with thin content and no backlinks. So I think that's your "takeaway" lesson from this, which is that you assess your competition by the results Google shows you. Always assume there is a mathematical reason for why someone else beat you. It's not an accident, Google is a dumb computer.

Also consider the nature of the kw and what other kw's might be associated with it. Put yourself in the shoes of someone searching for that kw. What other kw's will they be using? Acne, oily skin, "is it safe" etc... You might do better on the one kw if you add a few more and optimize for those at the same time. Look at what your competitors are doing, then do that, only better.

AllGoodRecords said:

Hi Shawn,

First off, thanks very much for such an eloquent reply. The keyword has around 1200 global searches per month and according to the google keyword tool it's a low competition keyword. If I am completely honest there is no where near as much content on isbenzoylperoxidesafe compared to typesofitalianbread. I am guessing this could be the problem?

Maybe I was just lucky with my first website, beginners luck and all!

Thanks,

Cx

Click to expand...

While having a lot of content is important for the long term growth of your website, making sure, as B. Friendly suggests that when creating each page you consider the readers, the related terms they are searching for and I would also suggest the problem that you are solving for them.

I also really like what Friendly said, "Look at what your competitors are doing, then do that, only better.". This is a good idea to the extent that what they have done has obviously been something close to what google is looking for.

Keep moving forward and good luck!

It is good that as a newbie you are really trying hard to get it right so that. But you should learn some basic rules first.

Really useful to hear feedback from all of you. I shall be implementing all of this in the next couple of days. I dream that one day I will have a website portfolio that allows me to work from home!

I suggest u use Traffic travis to check the competion on the first page and look thru them closely PR, Backlink, Age and on page SEO

I will bet you a dollar to a donut your seo is slightly off and you are missing your keyword, PM me your site, if you wish, and I will take a look.

A lot of good tips in this thread. Man this is why I love BHW.