2

My website is indexed by google (29000 pages indexed), I am not ranked at all for main keyword in google although:

  • I am ranked in top 10 in Bing and Yahoo
  • I am ranked for other keywords!
  • I have good social signals

But:

  1. Main keyword is not mentioned a lot in the website, it is mentioned in:
    • Title tag, description tag
    • Once in H1 in the coverpage
    • Once in the About-Us page
    • In a static message shown in right column in all pages (but shows only for non logged in users)
  2. I have no Do Follow backlinks yet
  3. Traffic is still relatively low

Any ideas?

Note: I dont like to include my website url, but if it is a must to answer my question then I will show the link here and remove it after getting the answer.

Improve this question
6
  • Google uses a number of proprietary ranking techniques that Bing/Yahoo cannot use. It's very hard to tell what is holding your site back without knowing the site address and keyword it's targeting. There's a lot of variables in play here.
    – L Martin
    Apr 12, 2017 at 8:20
  • Is there a method to PM the url?
    – DeepBlue
    Apr 12, 2017 at 8:21
  • If you do a site: search on this keyword, do you get any results?
    – DocRoot
    Apr 12, 2017 at 10:09
  • @DocRoot yes...
    – DeepBlue
    Apr 12, 2017 at 14:37
  • Is this keyword reasonably competitive? Are there a lot of search results? Is it possible you are on page 37 (or 97?!) of Google SERPs or have you exhausted the search results?
    – DocRoot
    Apr 13, 2017 at 14:49

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
2

Main keyword is not mentioned a lot in the website (mentioned in title tag, description tag, and once in H1 in coverpage)

I think the fact that your "main" keyword doesn't actually appear in the content of any of your pages (and only once in the h1 on the homepage) is a probable reason as to why you are not ranking for that keyword. Presumably you have no variations of that keyword either?

It's difficult to see how this can be your "main" keyword when it isn't mentioned at all in the content?

The meta "description tag" doesn't count at all towards ranking.

And I think it's reasonable for Google to perhaps discount a word that appears in the title tag (which often isn't visible when viewing the webpage) and literally no where else.

UPDATE:

In a static message shown in right column in all pages

A block of identical repeating text on 29,000 pages probably won't help ranking so much. It will be considered very low quality. So unless you do an exact match long tail search on this text I would think that individual words from this text are unlikely to rank so well.

Improve this answer
5
  • Google is actually okay with not using a keyword in more than a headline - as long as the content appears relevant. In fact, because of the history of keyword stuffing, there's evidence that mentioning it often has a negative impact. See studies on TF-IDF
    – L Martin
    Apr 12, 2017 at 8:40
  • "mentioning it often has a negative impact" - but the OP has said that it doesn't appear at all in the content?! The only "headline" that it appears in is on the "coverpage" and maybe the coverpage is a bit light on relevant content?
    – DocRoot
    Apr 12, 2017 at 8:45
  • The main keyword is only mentioned once in coverpage. But it is also mentioned in About Us page, and in right column that is used in every page. (I will update my question)
    – DeepBlue
    Apr 12, 2017 at 9:02
  • so could the repeating message text result in penalty on that keyword? the message I use is just to fill an empty div and it is included similar to how you include a footer in all page.
    – DeepBlue
    Apr 12, 2017 at 22:40
  • Not a "penalty", just very low quality I suspect. (If you were trying to spam the bots with keywords in "hidden" text then a "penalty" could be a possibility - but that doesn't appear to be the case here.)
    – DocRoot
    Apr 13, 2017 at 14:45
2

I think you answered your own question. You got no good links that's why Google is holding you back. On another hand, Bing and Yahoo are more concerned about your on page SEO and meta tags.

Another reason can be due different competition on different search engines. Google might have much "tougher" guys in top 10 so for your site with no follow links it's really hard to breakthrough and be there. At the same time Bing and Yahoo might have weak competitors for exact same keywords.

Makes sense?

If I was you I'd do next:

  • take 10 best keywords you rank on Yahoo and Bing

  • take a screenshot of page 1 on 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing). Compare the first page for each keyword for 3 engines.

  • Use SEO Quake plugin for chrome and analyze their backlink portfolio, word count and on page optimization.

  • most likely similar sites will be on all search engines, but since you aren't on Google someone else took your spot. Find out why, what they have that you don't?

This is just one of many other possible reasons why you're on Bing and Yahoo and not on Google.

Improve this answer
1
  • It is well known that Bing will not index pages without a decent inbound link (back link) profile. Bing will quickly drop pages that lose inbound links. Inbound links are important to Bing which employs a similar ranking system as Google based upon a pages link profile. The PR algorithm is patented but not the concept. Why? Because it is based upon trust links in the network trust model. This means that anyone is free to use the concept but not the algorithm.
    – closetnoc
    Apr 12, 2017 at 16:34
1

There are lot of changes to google compared to Yahoo and Bing. The search results may be changes according to search engine. Google may find another site related to your keyword. Otherwise may have any other problems maybe like follow/no followlink permission or lack of trusted back links.

Improve this answer
1

The algorithm Google uses is much different than Bing's as you're finding out. There is a myriad of reasons why your site might not be ranking on G yet. Start earning links and give your rankings time to respond, otherwise you'll end up spinning your wheels.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.