Tips on SEO please

betterbargains4u

Hi guys

I own and operate a chocolate fountain rental business and have had a really busy year thanks to Google and a very high page ranking.
If you typed in....chocolate fountain, we were on the second page. Not bad for a fairly new business, we thought. Especially considering how many companies are in the UK.
However, the website had to be moved at the end of the summer to a new server and we immediately lost our page ranking overnight. This has been quite disastrous for our business, as most people will just use that particular phrase when searching.
If you type in....chocolate fountain hire (not used by most people) we are on the first page.
I have asked my webmaster to alter a couple of things to try to improve our position, but no luck with the ranking as yet.
My question is...is it worth paying out to a company to help with SEO?
I have been quoted from £2000 upwards, but they apparantely can't gaurantee anything (when you read the small print)
Any help or thoughts, would be greatly appreciated.

letitcomedown

How much would the SEO be worth to you?

Shouldn't your webmaster be able to do the majority of this himself, a lot of it is plain common sense and documented at places like https://www.webmasterworld.com

Alternatively, you could pay for AdWords, or the Yahoo equivalent where your links come at the top and you pay per click.

soullink

From various articles I've read on the net, there are ways of getting your business on search engines and even improoving their rating for little or no cost

For example...
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Our professional team will review and adjust your website code to increase your Search Engine position. We will then submit your adjusted website to over 830 major Search Engines and Directories.
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With the current excahnge rate at about $2 to £1 it's worth trying £25 to improve your ranking (as well as spread it to more search engines)

But if you are trying to concentrate on Google, try this site: http://www.crackgoogle.com/ ... my car owner clubs old boss apparently used something like this a while ago (but he can't remember what exactly) and now if you type in "Hyundai Accent Club" or "Hyundai Accent owners club" in google we are at the top of the list

You may have to search around a few sites before you find what you are after - but I got quite a few relevant results by searching for "increase search engien ranking for free" on google - have a look around and with a bit of time I'm sure you'll help your ranking

amcluesent

> However, the website had to be moved at the end of the summer to a new server and we immediately lost our page ranking overnight<

I'm perplexed why changing server should do this, if you really mean you just changed the equipment.

If you changed the web-site URL and/or you changed the page content and meta-data, that would explain things.

OF course, the server move may have just been a co-incidence with Google making one of its periodic changes to the page-ranking process which dropped you back.

betterbargains4u

amcluesent wrote: »

> However, the website had to be moved at the end of the summer to a new server and we immediately lost our page ranking overnight<

I'm perplexed why changing server should do this, if you really mean you just changed the equipment.

If you changed the web-site URL and/or you changed the page content and meta-data, that would explain things.

OF course, the server move may have just been a co-incidence with Google making one of its periodic changes to the page-ranking process which dropped you back.

Nothing else changed apart from having to change servers!!
I was amazed too. After being on the second page for almost a year, the telephone calls and emails stopped overnight!!
We thought it might be due to the fact that it was coming to the end of the wedding season, until I checked the first 50 pages of Google and we were nowhere to be seen!!
The keywords have remained the same, as did the entire content of the website, so i know that it does not need changing. I have looked at the sites that have been suggested, but to be honest, I don't think they are going to help.
If you do a search on Yahoo, we are still on the first page, but the majority of people use Google above all other search engines.
Please does anyone else have any other suggestions, as to what I can do??

Terminator3d

MoneyWastingMe wrote: »

Are you with a UK host? makes a difference.

I can vouch for 1&1.

I'm skeptical about the location of server having an impact on search engine rank. I have mixed opinions.

Hyperthetically, suppose 'Bob' in 'Kenya' wants to target a website to users in Kenya, why should he have to foot the cost of a poor server/connection in Kenya, when there are cheap as hosting packages in the US. I can't personally see google/other engines giving this much consideration in their algorithms. Your TLD has impact without a doubt, not so sure about server location.

Back to the question, changing the server shouldn't really make a difference, you are just repointing your domain at a different IP address. Maybe down to a google algorithm change. Are you listed at all in google still? Do you know if googlebot is still visiting?

How about listing the website here and asking for some tips to improve SEO?

betterbargains4u

I agree, that changing the server shouldn't make any difference at all, but it has!!
I am with streamline.net, which are very good, but this isn't where the website was first located to, so I cannot say that they are at fault at all.
I am not allowed to list my website, but if you type in chocolate fountain hire into Google, mine is the one that is described as...The UK's most competitive chocolate fountain hire service. About half way down the first page, so I know that I am still listed with them. Although you would think that being listed on the first page was excellent, customers don't search using this phrase.
Like I mentioned before, I used to be on the second page, when customers typed in....chocolate fountain, which is the usual phrase that they search for.
If anyone can give me some SEO tips on how to improve my ranking again, using this specific phrase, I would be extremely grateful.

Terminator3d

I've PMed you betterbargain. Have a read through and good luck!