Thanks SEO Chat!

[YoFluffy]

We've finally done it - we've bagged positions 1, 2 and 7 on Google for our main term. What's more, out of our 35 main search terms, we're number 1 in 22 of these and in the top 5 for 30 of them.

THANK YOU SEO CHAT !!!

While our on page SEO has been strong for a while and achieved good rankings for us, we just couldn't seem to get to the elusive top spots..... A couple of months, a lot of reading and posting daft questions on this forum and we've finally managed to sneak past our competitors, and not only take the top spot, but the top 2.

We've much wider terms to chase next so this is really just the start, but it's good to know that the advice works! A particular thanks to Darren on this front, to whom I've addressed even dafter questions than on the forum.

No doubt our competitors will be sharpening their spears so we'll have to work hard to keep up, but it's reassuring to know we can do it.

[Dr.Marie]

Well done!

Care to share with us what kind of things you did that helped?

[Faith]

Congratulations! I would also be interested in hearing about what you did, I hope to have the same success as you one day.

Faith

[YoFluffy]

Well done!

Care to share with us what kind of things you did that helped?

In all honesty we've just exercised plain old common sense as touted time and time again on here - quality not quantity in backlinks.

We do have the benefit of being unique in our product offering and that really has helped in securing backlinks, many people we've approached have linked to us without question. This also includes charities, our link on Wikipedia has lasted a number of years. Twitter has also helped in link building, networking having given us guest blog opportunities. We've made sure we've approached sites that are very relevant to our terms but which enjoy good domain authority. This has been supplemented with:
* a few targeted, high quality, travel directories
* guest blogging
* wider social bookmarking (stumbleupon, reddit, google plus)
* the start of a YouTube channel
* unique articles on high PR article sites like Hubpages, Ezine articles etc.
* a small amount of blog commenting - but insightful comments aimed at building a relationship with the blog owner for future linking opportunities

We've also recently taken a tabloid journalist on one of our trips - fortunately she's had a ball and her article will be appearing in the next couple of weeks, a good bit of PR in the amount of traffic it's likely to bring, but also in SEO terms.

A number of the links we've targeted bring us traffic in their own right, paying testimony to their relevance. If they help in SEO terms too then that's an added bonus.


Although we're in travel, our sector is niche and doesn't compare in any way, shape or form to more competitive, broader sectors but we're delighted to have reached our current targets on most terms. The next step will be bigger, broader and much more difficult, as well as taking more time to achieve.

An added complication for us is that we're also in the middle of a total site redesign - our hearts are in our mouths on this one as it'll be ready in one of our busiest months.....gulp. It won't be launched before the site has been thoroughly SEO'd and any redirects put in place, all the same we realise that we may say a (hopefully temporary) blip....

[SEO_AM]

Congratulations!!!

There is no "winning" or "winner" in SEO... you relax... you lose. Double your efforts to extend your lead.

[YoFluffy]

Congratulations!!!

There is no "winning" or "winner" in SEO... you relax... you lose. Double your efforts to extend your lead.

That's exactly our fear - we have a hate:hate relationship with one of our competitors and there's no doubt they'll be choking on their coffee when they see our rankings, before picking up the phone to their SEO agency....

Even if we've dropped a rank or two by the end of the week, we've had the reassurance that good, common sense white hat techniques coupled with good content and on site SEO can work - the trick is making sure we keep all our balls in the air while adding in some new terms.

[SEO_AM]

There is only one type of entrepreneur that can continually stay in the lead... it is the paranoid entrepreneur, i.e. always hear those footsteps racing behind you.

[DarrenHaye]

A particular thanks to Darren on this front, to whom I've addressed even dafter questions than on the forum.

Not true ;)

Well done though, knew you could do it

[insomnia24]

That's exactly our fear - we have a hate:hate relationship with one of our competitors and there's no doubt they'll be choking on their coffee when they see our rankings, before picking up the phone to their SEO agency....

Even if we've dropped a rank or two by the end of the week, we've had the reassurance that good, common sense white hat techniques coupled with good content and on site SEO can work - the trick is making sure we keep all our balls in the air while adding in some new terms.

Did you use anyone to write article for you? If so how much did you pay for each article? Also what type website do you have ie. forums, e-commerce, chat?

[joshz]

Awesome! Glad to hear you're doing well.

[emma_eas]

Congratulations, its all your effort that worked a lot. Keep it up