Newby needing SEO help please

I’ve had time to take a very brief look at your site, and before you worry about backlinks and “Mozranks” (which isn’t a metric used by any search engine, as far as I know) I’d recommend tidying up your pages.

Fix the validation errors: https://validator.w3.org/nu/
(Any errors in coding may make it harder for search engine bots to spider and index your pages.)

Check that your pages are well-structured, with clear, hierarchical headings (starting with h1) on each page. Check that your meta description is unique for each page and provides a good summary. (See the Google guide for more details on these.)

The actual content on your page is more important in terms of search engine rankings than backlinks or anything else. Make that content the best you can, then start to worry about other issues.

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Thanks for looking at my site TechnoBear.
Yes I am an amateur at this stuff and didn’t realize there were so many errors.
Thanks again

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If you need help fixing them, feel free to ask over in the HTML & CSS category.

I think you should read some SEO related blogs like search engine land, Ahref’s, Moz, SEMRush etc. You will get a lot more than you have expected.

I agree that on-page optimisation should always be your first priority and should be addressed before you even think about getting obsessed with all the meaningless numbers that “experts” like to talk about.
Looking at your homepage there is a lot of scope for improvement in fixing errors and creating better structured, more semantic mark up.

First step will be doing keyword research, use Google keyword planner.
Read on long tail keywords, LSI and try soovle, keywordtool.io to find these. Also check keyword competetion, you may use some tools for that too.

Then you should focus on creating contents.

These I believe are the most basic and first thing that a newbie should do.

In order to do so, you will need to set up a Google AdWords account. (If you don’t wish to do this, there are other keyword tools available, should you decide to use one.)

Yes I already have an Adwords account set up.
I have got my Keywords sorted out just need to make them work for me :slight_smile:

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Sorry to bother you guys again.
I wonder if someone could please have another quick look at what I am doing wrong or if I have done anything right?
I have cleaned up the code errors as suggested above and made better use of H1 H2 Headings, Keywords are maybe satuarating the page I am not sure. I am just after someone to point me in the right direction again.
The main site in question is http://www.teamautoqld.com.au/safetycertificate.aspx and the keywords targetted are “Mobile Safety Certificate Brisbane” and “Mobile Roadworthy Certificate Brisbane”
The best I seem to get is page 3-4. I don’t have any backlinks yet and not sure if these would improve my position much.
Really appreciate any help anyone can give me. Thanks

If you’ve made recent changes or improvements to your site, it can take a while for these to be reflected in search results, so you may just need to be patient.

The content of your page is the most important aspect. Backlinks may help, but as mentioned before, the only ones which will have a beneficial impact on your results are those which you earn, rather than those you place yourself.

You also need to remember that your position in SERPs depends not only on the quality of your site, but on the quality of your competitors’ sites. It may be worth having a look at those sites which rank above yours, and see if you can get any hints for ways you could improve your site.

Do you have a listing with Google My Business? If not, I’d highly recommend setting one up.

(BTW, I notice you’ve set the Meta keywords tag on your page. While it won’t do you any harm, it’s a complete waste of time, as none of the major search engines uses it these days.)

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Hi again Technobear, thanks for looking at my site again. Re Meta keywords yes I know they won’t alter the ranking position but I read somewhere it can help with Google Adwords.

Googles robots have re indexed the site since I modified it. Wouldn’t that be enough for the changes to have effect or does it take weeks/months?

Yes I have spent hours studying oppostion sites and using what ever I can to be better.
I would pay a SEO guy to do something but basically I don’t trust any so far. Several want $6000 and minimum 6 months with no guarrentees. At the moment I am getting by with Google Adwords and that $6000 would keep it going for a long time so hard to justify. Do you think it would be worth getting someone just to innitially set it up best they can then I could carry on from there?
Yes I do have Google Business but haven’t put a link to it yet.

Thanks again.

AdWords can help bring business to your site, but they won’t have any effect on your organic rankings. (You probably knew that already, but I just wanted to be clear.)

Search results are a pretty complex thing, so there aren’t really any simple, quick answers to improving your rankings (despite what you’ll see posted by “SEO experts”).

Only you can really answer that, but if you go down that road, be very careful who you choose to do the work. Many of the self-proclaimed “SEO experts” you see posting here offer poor advice and advocate outdated or bad practices. Google has some helpful guidelines for deciding whether or not you need to employ somebody: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35291?hl=en&ctx=cb&src=cb&cbid=1h0dcl2owc3c2&cbrank=0

Lots off seo related resources: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-resources-for-learning-about-search-engine-optimization-SEO

Post edited by TechnoBear to remove fake signature

First of all you need to correct on page issue link meta description, meta title, img alt tag, geo tag, microformat, Url structure etc. After than you can follow - https://moz.com/blog/the-8step-seo-strategy-step-1-define-your-target-audience-and-their-needs

Appreciate your honest help and comments Technobear !
I read the link you posted which was quite helpful thanks.
Convergentinfoware-
I thought I already had most of your suggestions done.
If not what exactly needs changed on it that you can suggest.
I don’t know what geo tag and microformat is? The ULR structure - yes I will be doing something there shortly.The Moz link is quite interesting thanks.

A couple of questions please:
1/ Once you set up the website do you continuously modify it improving its rank or sit back and wait on time - if I get all the basics right can I honestly expect to go from page 3-4 to the first page over time without doing any more tweaks? I know it depends alot on my opposition but generally speaking do websites improve themselves in time?
I know time will allow backlinks to create.

2/When Google indexes a site if it is pretty good it will rank reasonably high straight away would it not? Then slowly improve with age correct? I feel like I may be expecting things to happen quicker than they are but I don’t want to keep medling if its really a matter of waiting on time to go by.

terryforsyth-
Sorry for late reply.
Geo tag is a meta tag through which search engine can identify the location of my business.

Microformat also a meta tag through which search engine can know our Proper business name, Address & Phone no etc.

You can create your Geo tag & Microformat through this site - http://www.geo-tag.de/generator/en.html

After that include those in header of the site.

Run the test for GTMetrix. It will help you to understand the glitches on your website. Also, create an account on Google webmaster to get into details for SEO.

[quote=“terryforsyth, post:22, topic:225619”]
A couple of questions please:1/ Once you set up the website do you continuously modify it improving its rank or sit back and wait on time - if I get all the basics right can I honestly expect to go from page 3-4 to the first page over time without doing any more tweaks? I know it depends alot on my opposition but generally speaking do websites improve themselves in time?[/quote]

To answer the second part first, Google does look at the age of a site when considering ranking. I doubt it plays a very great role in itself, but given two sites which are very even on ranking, I believe Google would generally give preference to the longer-established one. Of course, that’s not the same as saying that a site’s ranking will automatically improve over time.

As far as continually modifying to improve rank goes, I modify my sites when I have something I need to add or change, and I modify them with the requirements of the visitor and the requirements of the business in mind, not search engines. If the site is well-written, informative and attractive to visitors, it should also be good for search engines.

[quote=“terryforsyth, post:22, topic:225619”]2/When Google indexes a site if it is pretty good it will rank reasonably high straight away would it not? Then slowly improve with age correct? I feel like I may be expecting things to happen quicker than they are but I don’t want to keep medling if its really a matter of waiting on time to go by.
[/quote]Again, where it ranks will depend primarily on the quality of the content, and how closely it matches the search term. It will also be affected by the number and quality of sites competing with you. A good site may indeed rank well to start with, and improve a little with age, as Google comes to regard it as an established and dependable site. On the other hand, it could rank well at first simply because there is little competition in that niche, and drop in ranking over time as more and better sites appear.

If the site is relatively new, then yes - give it time to settle down before you get too worried about rankings.

SEO is a very inexact science. You seem to be looking for definite answers where there are none.

SEO can help you rank your website on the first page of search engine results page. If you have a website that is not optimized for search engines, you might not get its full benefits. You need to do link building. Answer questions people have in the particular niche you’re in. You need to do it better than anyone else trying to do the same. And it is important to produce good quality content that will attract visitors naturally.

Thanks guys much appreciated

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