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I have this site (online library): www.gramma.ro

Am I making any huge mistakes in regards to SEO?

Basically, for each product I put its title to be my title page (for instance):

http://gramma.ro/Site/DetaliiProdus.aspx?c=m1&p=1073&s1=61&s2=157

I do not understand why, for any of my products, I do not appear on 1st page of Google SERPS for that specific title product (I only see my competitors who also have the same title page for that product), but if I append "gramma" I do appear (so I am indexed).

Did I make a mistake somewhere?

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3 Answers 3

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Your URLs are VERY problematic. You must have pretty URLs. Pretty URLs do not contain parameters. (i.e. not something like c=m1&p=1073&s1=61&s2=157) Pretty URLs contain most important keywords. (You do not have any. Well, as long as no one searches for "DetailiiProdus".) Pretty URLs contain nothing else than this. (i.e. not something like /Site/)

SE may assume your pages content vary too much to be useful for indexing since it contains 4 parameters! This is your main problem: Reduce it to 2 params maximum or no SE will index this page. Better is no param at all but you can make them part of your URL.

For an example of good URLs have a look at stackoverflow URLs:

  • containing the question id, but not as param
  • containing the answer id, but not as param
  • containing the question title for keywords

Summary: Get rid of your params in your URLs!

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  • Thanks a lot for your feedback. Very helpful. Sincerely, I thought that for SE, the titles/description are more important than the links... Oct 5, 2011 at 10:19
  • The title is important, too. The description is not that important for ranking. But both are used from SEs when displaying search results. So both are very important when you want to improve the click rate on the result pages - in other words: Even when good ranked the users have to click your link in the results and not the others. So while URLs have to be optimised in a technical manner the title and description must be optimised for humans. But be aware that these must also follow some rules. (i.e. not writing completely in CAPS etc.) Oct 5, 2011 at 10:50
  • Thanks Fatal! Url rewriting for my products page already improved A LOT our place in google search results! Oct 13, 2011 at 7:20
  • My pleasure. Looks much better now as far as I can see. If you can shorten the URL by getting rid of some of the "rewritten params" I am sure you still can perform a little bit better. But the main issue is now fixed I think ... I wish you success! Oct 17, 2011 at 15:48
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I suggest you to read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_HTML, it should give you an initial indication of how to improve the quality and meaning of your markup which will also have a SEO benefit.

I would start by adding <h1/>, <h2/> tags around the products titles, subtitles etc.

You would also need to implement URL rewriting to make your URLs user and SEO friendly, since you are using .NET, here is a good starting point http://www.iis.net/download/urlrewrite

Also think of analysing and restructuring the order in which you output the HTML (not the layout, but the markup, with CSS you will always be able to shuffle things so that they appear in the correct position), for instance in the page DetaliiProdus.aspx?c=m1&p=1073&s1=61&s2=157 you have your product copy right at the bottom of the (rather big) page. Think of moving up the markup hierarchy what is more relevant for each page.

Last tip, when thinking of SEO, think it in user terms, what would make it more readable and user friendly for users (they may be using various devices, small screens etc) will 99% work for SEO too!

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Everyone has made great points so far, there are some additional things you can do to help yourself out.

  1. Take a look at SEOMoz's 2011 Search Ranking Factors. It will give you an idea of what factors affect your search results the most.
  2. Sign up for a Google Webmaster Account and Google Analytics Account. The accounts are free and the Webmaster account will show you the top 1000 or so words you rank for and what your average position is and your position has changed week to week. By using these two accounts you will be able to much more easily track your progress. Keep in mind you may make Page 1 of Google for a specific keyword but if you do nothing, in 6 months it is very likely you will no longer be on page 1 for that keyword. SEO is a continuous process.

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