From #1 on Google to Nowhere - Store Re-Opening Help

[diecastfast]

Guys,

Some of you might remember me, I've been around for years and attended a couple of Miva conferences.

Long story short: Somehow I managed to time things exactly right in my niche and from 2001 to about 2009 did very, very well. Back then the Google algorithm was pretty much an open book and I played it like a fiddle for my keywords. My ecommerce store (diecastfast.com) was #1 forever and at one time I owned 3 of the top 5 websites for the term "diecast cars."

My arrogance was limitless. This would last forever and I'd just keep laughing at my competitors who could never quite figure it out. Right?

Wrong.

In 2009 I still had great rankings but competition was fierce and newcomers to the market were perfectly satisfied to sell at cost and make a nickle on shipping. Well, simultaneous to my ecommerce success I had built a nice portfolio of sites earning well on Google AdSense and the handwriting seemed to be on the wall; I began liquidating inventory and officially sold my last product on Dec. 31, 2011.

Then Penguin and Panda hit in early 2012 and it's been all downhill ever since. I've been either extremely slow to react or just haven't reacted at all, not out of laziness but just sheer confusion as to how to proceed.

I look at the SERPs for my keywords now and am utterly baffled as to how Google can present those results with a straight face. eBay with 5 of the top 10 results? Out-of-print magazines from 2007 ranking ahead of industry stalwarts?

I am now in the unenviable position of re-opening my website, something I never thought I'd have to do. For the last 2+ years I've had AdSense and affiliate links on it which have resulted in surprisingly decent earnings but neither has helped with organic search results.

I am finding that Google still sends traffic to the homepage and a few categories, but virtually no product pages.

I'm looking for someone who can present me a detailed plan to reverse my fortunes. I'm not a beginner and I don't have time/money for self-professed "SEO experts" who know less than I do. I've been around and think I have realistic expectations as to what I consider positive results and how long it might take to see them.

Does this make sense to anyone? I can only assume my story has the basic timeline and details of many, many others? Who can help me reverse my fortunes?

[nottheusual1]

Re: From #1 on Google to Nowhere - Store Re-Opening Help

Start with Google Webmaster Tools.

We are/were in an identical position, and after the newer algo's hit, we sank like a rock to top of second page on keywords we'd placed above the fold first page for 10 years.

Webmaster tools showed a service one of my "associates" had hired had us, in today's algorithm's view, massive blog spammers.

We're clearing up 20k+ blog posts.

And it s*cks.

Once we've got half done, we're going to beg Uncle Goog to forgive our trespasses and ignore the ones that we can't get taken down (read we don't want to pay the services that do these type of posts to get them removed, whioch is the business model they've changed to).

I didn't support tactics like these when they were done -- anyone who thought Google wouldn't figure all these Black Hat SEO tools out was given very bad advice.

Webmaster Tools told us this. Start there.

[Mark Hood]

Re: From #1 on Google to Nowhere - Store Re-Opening Help

I'm thinking the code of your site is in serious need of help, but at the same time how does someone order from it anyway? I click on the easy order link and all I get is another website opening up in a new browser that still doesn't have a way to actually order anything and is not the product I was just looking at.

The product pages on your site all have great big advertisements on them for something else? The "easy order link" goes to some not very attractive wholesale site that certainly doesn't give me warm fuzzy I'd put my payment info in here feeling. Of course it's also not a miva site anyway.

Sorry if I'm missing something or stepped on anyones toes. Maybe I wasn't on the correct site?

[Dan - Glendale Designs]

Re: From #1 on Google to Nowhere - Store Re-Opening Help

SEO (marketing) has changed extensively since your hay day. As Mark pointed out, there are a number of red flags here, all the way down to the overall site/business model. This site offers little to no value to it's target market/community, it has no authority and there is little true marketing taking place from what I can see. These and many other factors are clearly reflected in the resulting organic rankings.

It's time to reset/rethink.

[BrettBGS]

Re: From #1 on Google to Nowhere - Store Re-Opening Help

I remember you from these forums years ago... I don't know what you're doing moving people to another website/store on the Order Link?

GD, why should Goog dictate everything there is to know about marketing? I've started moving all marketing and advertising to Facebook instead, as I don't see any way that G will return to any normalcy any time soon.

Good luck!

[Protos]

Re: From #1 on Google to Nowhere - Store Re-Opening Help

I had a similar experience when I moved from MIVA 4 (MIVA that I had as backend and own-HTML as front) to MIVA5. At the same time Google has changed the rules and my clients site disappeared from top pages.
I disagree with you about SEO role in a modern web shop. It´s difficult to find a good SEO but when you find a “white hat” firm – they do a load of good to you. CMS-systems and shop-templates do need many tweaks. Even an experienced professional as yourself can fail to see many loops and holes. You can´t be html-expert, css-pro, databaseexpert, marketing guru and “Google Samurai” at the same time. Besides there are a lot of trends and tricks that one doesn´t know as Dan from Glendale Designs points out in his message.
I met a European firm that helped us back in the saddle for a very reasonable price. At the same time they learned a lot about MIVA Merchant Morph technology. It was avery interesting collaboration where I myself learned a lot about MIVA-templates and pages. MIVA is just like a Swiss-knife, you have all the tools and possibilities if you use them rightly.
I realy liked the thread headline! Good luck
André Loutchko (aka Protos) from Stockholm

[Dan - Glendale Designs]

Re: From #1 on Google to Nowhere - Store Re-Opening Help

My point was this. Google's algorithm changes/updates are attempting to look for indicators of a quality site, solid marketing (via multiple channels), valueable/engaging content, popularity, buzz, trust and no spammy attempts to manipulate rankings. (these factors are especially important for competitive terms/markets) This logic can be applied to many other marketing channels, not just Google.

The site in question per the original post offers little to no value to the target market. There are no indicators of legitimate, diverse marketing strategies, no valuable/engaging content and the overall business model is stated as being primarily Adsense/Affiliate driven, all the way down to order links taking shoppers to another site. There are numerous red flags here, no matter the marketing channel. If this site is going to move forward and succeed, things have got to change all around.