Why Aren't I Ranking?? Explaination

I heard today from a long-time customer who is suddendly very concerned that she is not ranking well for a particular keyphase. And it made me think of all the other people who wonder why they aren't #1 for "Widget".

So here is a brief explaination - although each site is of course different. This should give you some idea as to why your site is on page 5 instead of #1 on Google (or Yahoo, MSN, AOL, etc.)

1) Your site does not say a particular phrase enough. If your site is about Blue frogs and you refer to the "Blue Frogs" once... and your competition says "blue frogs" on the site 6 times -- that is likely the reason they out-rank you.

2) Your Domain does not include the Keyphrase. (Such as "Home Inspection Rochester") Now this is a tricky one -- but if your domain is "homeinspectionrochester.com" then you will come up higher (on average - all else being equal) than someone who does not have home - inspection - rochester in their phrases.

3) Your Page Rank is low. If your PR is less than that of your competitors -- this may cause your site to be lower than that of your competition. Get more links to your site - and your PR will go up - and then so will your site.

--Now there are other reason - but these are the biggies. Let me know if you have a specific question and I would be happy to do a quick site analysis for you.

Take Care - Meg