Jul 02 2008
Reprint - How I Went From 600 to 14 in 100 Days on Google
This is a reprint that I copied off a cache version of my blog before I lost it and my video on how I did this which was on another posting. Originally Posted In August 2007
On May 2, 2007 I started working on SEO for the website www.truckerhub.com. I call myself a NoviceSEO’er because it has only been in the past several months that I have devoted myself to the study of the techniques and tools involved in bringing a website near the top of the Google, Yahoo and MSN search engines.
I was just about to engage an SEO company for 6 months to work on my website; the cost $12,000.00. I had had some success with other websites getting to the top of the heap on Google but that was mostly due to the contstant tweeking and working the same site since 1999. TruckerHub.com was a new site. Less than 24 months old and in a highly competitive market.
I had been reading about 25 blogs for about a month prior to starting this project and realized there was an abundance of information out there from a lot people. As I started to sort through all the info certain themes started to run constant from several of the blogs. At this point I opted to delay engaging an SEO firm to do this and to try it myself.
Here are the steps I took to go from 600 to 14 on Google for my primary search term “trucker jobs” as well as movement from 600 plus to the top 50 for other search terms including “truck driver jobs” and “trucking jobs”
I rounded down my blog readings to the following as they appeared to be the ones that were not only “talking the talk” but “walking the walk” I read these five blogs every day. Often times more than once a day. I delved into the archives and gleaned as much info as I could (and still do)
These blogs were:
John Chow at JohnChow.com
Andy Hagans at TropicalSeo.com
DoshDosh.com
Aaron Wall as SEOBook.com
Chris Garrett at ChrisG.com
Darin at Darin.cc
Purchased and download Aaron Wall’s book called SEO Book. At $79.00 this seemed much more reasonable than $12,000.00.
Download Johh Chows “Make Money Online with John Chow”
Download Chris Garrett’s “Killer Flagship Content”
What did I learn and what steps did I take to start the movement upward on the search engines?
1. Submitted site to Yahoo, V7n, UncoverTheNet, SiteSift, BestofTheWeb and iServe directories
2. Started a blog to support the website with fresh content at least 3 times a week.
3. Added fresh textual content to the website in the form of product reviews at least once a week.
4. Made each page title unique to the the information on that particular page.
5. Deleted extra words from the title, description and keyword fields that were not relevant to the page.
6. Added alt tags to all images and graphics.
7. Added links to the main pages of the site at the bottom of each page using phrases rather than words
8 . Limited link exchange requests to very specific industry related websites
9. Sumbitted a press release highlighting one of the free features of TruckerHub.com
10.Became a student of patience.
I put patience last as I have learned much of the movement that has happened has not been overnight but is a result of a change then wait, a change then more waiting. There have been ups and downs. one week a keyword rises the next week it dives. It is much like the stock market…….. you need to be in SEO for the long term.
I am by no means and expert. I am by no means finsished with this SEO project work. I just wanted to share what I have learned for what it is worth. Now that the momentum upward has started, I need to continue to study and work atthe SEO process.
