Why does Google hate me?

[karll]

I must be doing something seriously wrong: When I search on "vegetarian forum" we don't turn up until page 4!

Is it the meta description tag? Is it simply the domain name? Or the number of inbound links? How come veggieforum.com is on page 1 with only 43 posts??? (I notice they have a lot of meta stuff in their HTML header that we don't have by default with XF ...)

Are there any easy (and free) ways to better SEO / Google-optimise my site?

Don't ask me to create great and original content, that's too hard!

 

[Sylar]

That's just how much you're really pounding out SEO stuff. Our seo guy does constant backlinks, meta stuff, social networking, etc. It's definitely a process

 

[Digital Doctor]

What is with the directory ?
http://forum.veggieviews.com/directory/
Are you reserving vegetarian jewelry for a good reason ?
You definitely need to trim the categories.

You need some original content ... like some good recipes, etc.

 

[kkm323]

• Have you submit your website to google? You can do that using the webmaster tools... http://www.google.com/webmasters/
• I have just finished installing Sitemap http://xenforo.com/community/resources/sitemap-for-xenforo.67/ (useful tool)
• use Facebook and twitter and maybe g+ to submit new content to the world by integrating (http://twitterfeed.com/) linked to twitter than to facebook through (https://twitter.com/settings/profile)
• Focus in creating new material in your site

Wish you the best

 

[CTXMedia]

I must be doing something seriously wrong: When I search on "vegetarian forum" we don't turn up until page 4!

I've searched your forums homepage and checked the source and cannot find the phrase "vegetarian forum" - perhaps putting that somewhere in your site description or maybe your site title might help.

 

[karll]

I've searched your forums homepage and checked the source and cannot find the phrase "vegetarian forum" - perhaps putting that somewhere in your site description or maybe your site title might help.

You make it sound so obvious Will definitely do that!

 

[karll]

What is with the directory ?
http://forum.veggieviews.com/directory/
Are you reserving vegetarian jewelry for a good reason ?
You definitely need to trim the categories.

You need some original content ... like some good recipes, etc.

Yes, I installed the directory just a few days ago. I had started deleting categories, but encountered a bug, so was waiting to see if the developer would fix it.

 

[CTXMedia]

Maybe also change a couple of the forum names; they are taxonomically correct, but equally they are words people won't actually search for very often:

Swap ... Veganism ... for ... Vegans
Swap ... Vegetarianism ... for ... Vegetarians
Swap ... Environmentalism ... for ... Environment

Now add a word to one of your forum names to make it more "on target":

Vegetarian Recipes

Inject your key word into one of your category names too (not many people actually notice category names but search engines do so let's tweak it for them! ):

Vegetarian Health & Body

You could go a step further and change that category name to: Vegetarian Health, Nutrition and Supplements

Give these a go - even if they don't help, I doubt they'll do any harm.

Cheers,
Shaun

 

[MagnusB]

Change the notice on your frontpage. You can make it look pretty, but the important thing is the text. Use keywords important to you, don't call it just Forum or Directory, those are generic keywords, use specific keywords like Vegetarian Directory and Vegetarian Forum, and use links on the keywords as well (for example Vegetarian Directory links to your directory, and be sure to edit the h1 tag on that page to show the same name). Describe your site, use your keywords in the description. That is a great way to get google to categorize your site, and also a great way to greet potential new members. I find this is a common fault of many forums, they do not explain what they are about.

Do not display the same notice on all pages, that can make Google think all your pages are on about the same thing. Try to switch them up, though don't use them excessively. I have two or three, though I would have had more if there was an option to only show the notice in the forum view, not thread view, and there probably is, I am just to stupid and to lazy to figure it out.

 

[karll]

• Have you submit your website to google? You can do that using the webmaster tools... http://www.google.com/webmasters/
• I have just finished installing Sitemap http://xenforo.com/community/resources/sitemap-for-xenforo.67/ (useful tool)
• use Facebook and twitter and maybe g+ to submit new content to the world by integrating (http://twitterfeed.com/) linked to twitter than to facebook through (https://twitter.com/settings/profile)
• Focus in creating new material in your site

Wish you the best

Thank you! I do have Google webmaster tools for the site, and I do have a sitemap add-on which seems to be working. I will check out twitterfeed, that sounds like a good idea.

 

[karll]

I've implemented some of the advice I've received in this thread (but not all ... yet) and in just a day we've moved from page 4 to page 3!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[karll]

We're on page 2! This is after I tinkered a little bit more with the title and meta description! (For a short while we were bumped back to page 4 though!)

Well, I really want to be on page 1, but I realize there are other boards that are probably more deserving at the moment.

Anyway, this is all very encouraging, and I'll do everything I can to improve the site so we can make it to page 1 at some point