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First Webs, Inc. |
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Rockford; Chicago; the World |
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Case Study for a Chicagoland Marine Dealer
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Purpose of Case Study:
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To demonstrate that it is possible to obtain high
rankings in competitive keywords such as "boats Chicago", "boats Chicagoland", and other.
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To illustrate that getting top ranked keywords in
Google without the benefit of significant back links is very, very difficult.
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To illustrate that the broad spectrum of search
positions will yield results that are a mix of top 10 rankings (on first page of results), top
20 rankings (on second page), and top 30 rankings (on third page).
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To demonstrate that search results can be achieved
in about 90 days, and that those results can stay pretty stable over the course of 12-18 months.
Clearly, stability is a matter of the competitiveness of the industry you are in.
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This case is not a treatment on keyword research
or finding the right keywords.
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Date Organic Search Project Began:
March, 2006; Updated March 2007; Comments and some content added May 2007
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| A Word About "Competitiveness":
In performing natural search engine optimization, judgments need to be made about whether
one can obtain a desired top ranking. These judgments are made based on insight
derived from Keyword Research, the number of back links a site has, and a measure of on-page
search engine optimization (SEO) elements. Not every site that has obtained high
rankings realized those results by necessarily doing "things correctly". Some results
are influenced greatly by the number and types of back links, some results have been
achieved by the type and relevancy of back links, some are due to on page elements, and so
on. Only Google, Yahoo, MSN and other engines know the elements that led to that
site's rankings. However, we do know that some SEO
on-page elements must be present in order to make it possible to get a high ranking.
The three main ones are titles, meta descriptions, and relevant content. We can use
that knowledge to eliminate some web sites as our real competition. Here is an
example:
When you go to Google and type in "boats Chicago", you will
see there are 3,590,000 web sites using that term. See the first image directly
below. Checking one of our on-page SEO elements that we know is needed to get top
rankings, we see that actually only 2690 of those 3,590,000 sites are actual competition for
the keywords "boats Chicago". See the second image below. This process helps us
tell which keywords to optimize for.
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Keywords Research Analysis:
| Wordtracker Research view
here |
Overture Research view
here
It was decided NOT to begin a Pay-Per-Click campaign. Nonetheless, the
research from Overture proved valuable in the natural search campaign. |
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| First Ranking Results June 2006:
First results from rankings were checked in June. Eleven (11) top ten positions,
eighteen (18) top 20 positions, and twenty five (25) top 30 positions were achieved
per table below.
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Second Ranking Results March 2007:
Rank results were again checked in March 2007. The site had undergone a number of
changes with new boat dealers added and existing boat dealer lines eliminated.
Fourteen (14) top ten position, thirty (30) top 20 positions; and forty three (43) top 30
positions were achieved.
A number of positions not related to
dealer page changes had held their positions. That indicates positions can hold
over time if the on page elements are fundamentally correct.
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Top Ten Analysis Example Results for
"boats Chicagoland": We see that this keyword phrase has resulted in the
#2 position from Yahoo!, and the #78 position from Google. Performing a Top 10
Analysis yields the following table. Click on the image to enlarge the table.
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| Yahoo Search
Results "boats Chicagoland" |
Google Search
Results "boats Chicagoland" |
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From this analysis we see that Google top
ranked pages have many more back links than does
Ostrowmarine. We also see
that some back links are of the *.edu domain, which are generally believed to be given more
"weight" in back link relevancy.
Unless we add significantly more back links to
Ostrowmarine, we conclude it will
be very, very difficult to get a top Google rank for the keyword "boats Chicagoland".
At the same time, we see that although the number of back links for Yahoo's rankings is much
lower than other top ten sites, the #2 position was achieved. We attribute this to
"good" other on-page SEO elements and relevant content.
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Web Site Quality Indicator Analysis for the keyword
"boats Chicagoland": Another
powerful tool at our disposal is the Web Site Quality Indicator. This proprietary
analysis allows us to compare 2 sites side by side. In the analysis below, we compare
Ostrowmarine
to www.partypop.com. Partypop has the #1 ranked
Google listing for "boats Chicagoland". We also compare Ostrowmarine to
www.wendellaboats.com in the 2nd analysis.
WendellaBoats is the #2 ranked site in Google for "boats Chicagoland".
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Ostrowmarine vs. PartyPop |
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Ostrowmarine vs. WendellaBoats |
From this analysis we see Partypop has over 1100 Alexa
incoming links and close to 30, 000 total links. That clearly is "massive".
WendellaBoats has a much lower number, about 40 Alexa links and nearly 500 total incoming
links. Therefore, we have to conclude that there are on-page SEO elements that
contribute to WendallaBoat's #2 rankings. They may or may not be superior to
Partypops. Only Google knows. |
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| Conclusion:
Rankings are a complex process based on each search engine's
algorithm. Final results are unpredictable. The only thing predictable is that
if one selects a reasonably non-competitive keyword phrase, adhering to good SEO
fundamentals will yield good results. Back linking is a final determining factor,
especially in Google. |
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