SEO - Good examples?

[Silky]

Learning my example always brings a topic to life and case studies are always useful. Has anyone come across shining examples of well optimised websites that are proof of all the much discussed principles?

 

[StevePoster]

Well optimized websites are sites that especially designed for giving hub of information to the targeted users and through this, a website that is well established with engagement to the users is much better than building backlinks and traffic to the site.

 

[branddesignexperts]

You can't find the websites following all the principles of SEO. Even Moz who closely follows the Google algorithm has been penalized.

Small businesses consider the business on top for keywords as benchmarks. This methodology doesn't go right generally.

 

[Ian J]

I wonder if anyone is going to actually answer the question rather than just waffle on

 

[Silky]

Small businesses consider the business on top for keywords as benchmarks. This methodology doesn't go right generally.

Why not? If a site has reached number 1 for very competitive key words they must be doing something right surely?

 

[Silky]

Perhaps this thread would be better named "Catch Them Doing Something Right". One area that inspired this question was jewellery and gifts and I was quite impressed how some of the top rankers had optimised their site for Christmas. There's relatively little text on site however they've used other tools - Christmas suddenly slotted in to be the first item in the menu (and home tab as an image rather than word). with good, clear, keyword orientated links in the footer. http://www.hsamuel.co.uk/webstore/l/diamonds/category|necklaces/

Not rocket science at all and I guess most of us have our main key words in our menus, but how many change the menu regularly depending on the season / promotion etc ?

 

[Ian J]

Learning my example always brings a topic to life and case studies are always useful. Has anyone come across shining examples of well optimised websites that are proof of all the much discussed principles?

Oddly enough the top two on the greasy pole in my own industry are not there for their on page optimisation but for other reasons. If you do a Google search for "factoring" the number one spot is held by Wikipedia which probably isn't optimised at all and the second spot has been held for some time by Market Invoice who are not even a factoring company but have managed to convince Google that they are a big brand, primarily by their heavy use of self promotion in the media

 

[directmarketingadvice]

Has anyone come across shining examples of well optimised websites

Every time I do a commercial search on Google. The sites at the top were optimised well.

Steve

 

[Silky]

Every time I do a commercial search on Google. The sites at the top were optimised well.

Steve

Not surprisingly, but the initial (and probably useless) idea behind this thread was to see good practice in ...er... practice. Perhaps naive of me but I learned a trick from the jewellery site that I hadn't though of previously, I'm sure there are probably quite a few others out there like it.

 

[avecSys]

Why not? If a site has reached number 1 for very competitive key words they must be doing something right surely?

Because it is like copying the kid in front of you in class on a test, your assumption is that they know it all and you will succeed. This is only an assumption and could blow up in your face. I know of a site that actually contacted a company asking whom they used for their SEO services, the company replied that they do it themselves, they were then asked how they rank to highly. Basically in a nut shell, the advice given was bad black hat SEO tactics, which at the time were not penalised by Google. Needless to say this advice also would not help the mentioned business as they were both competing in the same area (I don't know, don't ask lol). In Sepotember they were both penalised for many off key tactics and they both now rank nowhere for their respective keywords.

 

[Silky]

The idea of the thread was to highlight good - and hopefully creative SEO. I suspect few sites are top because of black hat tactics, but even if they were, I suspect few on here would recommend them.

Think of it as a case study - if you were teaching a crowd of students SEO which sites would you show them as examples of good practice?

Oh and by the way, 'Plagiarism Plus' is a good business strategy. See what people are doing well, and pick out the good bits but do them better..

 

[avecSys]

Oh yeah no doubt. I still don't understand why the other business would explain their tactics to another start up rival though. Seemed very odd!

 

[Silky]

Oh yeah no doubt. I still don't understand why the other business would explain their tactics to another start up rival though. Seemed very odd!

If I were to employ an SEO professional, a web developer or indeed someone from a host of disciplines, I would head towards those posters on here who have been active in the forum and shown how much they know. A few names spring straight to mind on this and I suspect they attract a lot of business this way. I would not be in any way tempted by the number of names that muscle in as soon as someone asks for a recommendation but who have contributed little or nothing, and not given me any reassurance over what they know.

What's a point of a forum if you're not going to share knowledge? Take take take isn't a good business strategy imho and won't endear you to potential clients.

 

[Silky]

I suspect if you ask yourself who you'd use for SEO from those on the forum, we'd probably have the same short list. Think why and you'll see exactly what I mean.

 

[avecSys]

Oh yeah for sure. But I was talking about the fact this company was telephoned for the answer by a competitor and responded with positive feedback. There was no outsider looking in for business purposes and there was no great opportunity for them providing this to a rival business. Just seemed strange.

 

[Ian J]

If I were to employ an SEO professional, a web developer or indeed someone from a host of disciplines, I would head towards those posters on here who have been active in the forum and shown how much they know. A few names spring straight to mind on this and I suspect they attract a lot of business this way.

The way that I pick anyone to look after anything to do with websites is to ask questions and only consider people that actually answer my questions discarding those that just seem to be willy waving.

May I suggest that you ask your question in the private forums where people tend to actually answer the questions rather than just posturing

 

[avecSys]

The way that I pick anyone to look after anything to do with websites is to ask questions and only consider people that actually answer my questions discarding those that just seem to be willy waving.

May I suggest that you ask your question in the private forums where people tend to actually answer the questions rather than just posturing

'Willy waving' would be considered as someone claiming to know more on the subject rather than answering a question. Some of the comments on here are regarding the question as maybe a mistake in SEO terms, which may be seen as copying a 'good example', when in fact it could end up being quite the opposite

 

[Ian J]

Some of the comments on here are regarding the question as maybe a mistake in SEO terms, which may be seen as copying a 'good example', when in fact it could end up being quite the opposite

The question asked was quite simple. "Show me a website at the top of the Google rankings which is well optimized" yet no-one has actually managed to do that preferring instead to pontificate

 

[zigojacko]

One of our clients is Vufold. Their website ticks a lot of boxes and ranks very well organically.

That better @Ian J?

 

[MASSEY]

The mention of Christmas reminded me of a project i totally forgot about. The sites a pile of rubbish but to my knowledge it ranks on page one of google for Christmas Loans. Or Christmas loan, and second for the domain name term itself.

I don't think it has any or virtually no backlinks either, so i must have done something right with the onsite to sit above tesco.

http://www.christmasloanbadcredit.co.uk/

Using HM Samuel as an example for SEO is a bit disingenuous because sites like that are magnets for natural backlinks which means when they slightly touch on topics in their onsite content they can often outranks sites themed solely on the topic.

Just looked at my stats for the sites visits and use, 1500 hits over last 7 days and a 50% bounce rate Kicking myself now because i'm losing money here.

 

[branddesignexperts]

Why not? If a site has reached number 1 for very competitive key words they must be doing something right surely?

There is nothing wrong in doing that. All I meant to say it doesn't go in the way we like to. (Generally). If following delivers the result, its fine. If not, take the other route. Just be prepared.

 

[Ian J]

Using HM Samuel as an example for SEO is a bit disingenuous because sites like that are magnets for natural backlinks which means when they slightly touch on topics in their onsite content they can often outranks sites themed solely on the topic.

I'm not sure that it's down to backlinks as in Google's major reshuffle earlier this year they focussed on big brands at the expense of small niche player no matter how good the content and optimization is.

I watch the runners and riders in the factoring industry carefully and until earlier this year there were a couple of independent factoring brokers on page 1 but they have all gone to be replaced by Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and ABN Amro none of whom were previously on page 1 and who's large websites probably only have a couple of pages at most on the subject of factoring

I believe that the trick is to try and fool Google into thinking that you are a big brand which Market Invoice who are in second place have done partly by their incessant self promotion in the national media as well as social media

 

[Silky]

Using HM Samuel as an example for SEO is a bit disingenuous because sites like that are magnets for natural backlinks which means when they slightly touch on topics in their onsite content they can often outranks sites themed solely on the topic..

I didn't choose it simply because of it's ranking, but instead used it as an example because of how they'd given the current search term priority place in the menu and throughout the site - a lot of sites are built and then rarely altered apart from a little new content here and there, here they went a little further. Not rocket science I know, but if I can learn something from a site, then I consider it a reasonable case study.

 

[Ian J]

I if I can learn something from a site, then I consider it a reasonable case study.

I assume that professional SEO people also do the same. If not how would they know that they are following sensible practice

 

[UKSBD]

5 years ago a good site structure, good navigation system, good anchor text distribution, good use of titles, good use of Alt attributes, good content, good keyword research and a few good links was all that was required to rank high.

The main reason being that not everyone knew this and knew how to get the balance right.

The difference between then and now is I expect virtually anyone who has been in web design, web development, marketing, etc. now knows all these things.

When you ask for example of well optimised sites, I would say at least the top few hundred of most niches are now well optimised.

What the deciding factor is for all these well optimised sites will ultimately be links, self promotion and authority, most probably from private networks and the digital agencies that control a lot of these sites.

 

[Ideaswise]

Spot on UKSBD. It's certainly got much harder in the last year or two as more people wise up. It's also noticeably harder to compete with the big boys who have a lot of time and money to spend on SEO.

 

[JonnyMP]

I wouldn't say they are a shining example of proper SEO, but Wikipedia must be doing something right as they rank highly (if not first spot) for every keyword imaginable. Just Google any company name or any subject and you are likely to come up with a Wiki entry right there at the top. Maybe content is their secret or possibly backlinks, considering how many people backlink to the Wiki pages for reference.

 

[neils3]

Yes, there's loads of websites that are shining examples, google search away...I find small run online shops tend to have well optimised sites, e.g search for baby bouquets or similar and you'll come across some really good sites.

Before I rank a website, I spend a lot of time reviewing the competitors as they are already ranking and would be wrong to ignore them.

Even SEO companies, even though a number of these sites may be using private blog networks which help them rank through powerful backlinks, these websites would still require a well optimised website, so you can learn a thing from them.

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

How about skyskanner.net and cheapflights.co.uk for the term "cheap flights"

 

[zigojacko]

The mention of Christmas reminded me of a project i totally forgot about. The sites a pile of rubbish but to my knowledge it ranks on page one of google for Christmas Loans. Or Christmas loan, and second for the domain name term itself.

I don't think it has any or virtually no backlinks either, so i must have done something right with the onsite to sit above tesco.

http://www.christmasloanbadcredit.co.uk/

I visited the site and got as far as "Find Your Prefect Loan" and then promptly left.

 

[zigojacko]

The difference between then and now is I expect virtually anyone who has been in web design, web development, marketing, etc. now knows all these things.

You might expect this but it simply isn't the case, many people that claim to work in SEO can't even get the basics right still...

 

[Tin]

I have to agree with Zigo on this one. Over the years I've come across quite a lot of web designers and dev guys and they've all said they do SEO but when I get to know them a bit better, they're pretty damn awful at SEO without exception - although it's possible I just know the wrong bunch.

SEO has got a really bad name as a marketing industry but that's because too many of the ones in it, can't do it, because they don't get it.

Only my opinion.

Ray

 

[UKSBD]

You might expect this but it simply isn't the case, many people that claim to work in SEO can't even get the basics right still...

Maybe, but there are enough who do know to fill at least the top few pages of most niches nowadays.

Plus any niche worth being in soon attracts digital agencies and lead generation outfits.

 

[MASSEY]

All niches worth being in have already attracted agencies and hardcore spammers.

With the google changes over the last 2-3 years i've had the rug pulled from under me on many an occasion and i'm still dusting myself off. Luckily my main income comes from service related business in which it's easier to load up google adwords and wait to be bombarded with phone calls than faff about with seo.

But i had my sights on setting up finance sites and making money from lead gen which was going incredibly well until all of the algorithm changes and manual penalties.

I feel like i have lost my touch and have become quite paranoid.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

Paranoia is what Goiogle relies on FUD is their main weapon. I remember the Florida update and the claim then was that Google was stripping out the little guys. 10 years later another update and the same claim is being made, so how can that be?

I spoke to some top Googlers many years ago when Nike got nailed, I asked them how they can justify helping them clean it up and put them back in when they throw the mom & pop stores to the dogs.

their reply was 'we would be a Piss poor search engine if people searched for Nike and didn't get their website!

 

[InternetMarketingPlatinum]

Paranoia is what Goiogle relies on FUD is their main weapon. I remember the Florida update and the claim then was that Google was stripping out the little guys. 10 years later another update and the same claim is being made, so how can that be?

I spoke to some top Googlers many years ago when Nike got nailed, I asked them how they can justify helping them clean it up and put them back in when they throw the mom & pop stores to the dogs.

their reply was 'we would be a Piss poor search engine if people searched for Nike and didn't get their website!

Same with BMW...this shows that branding does count for a lot.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

BMW, Nike, Even business.com was hit and put back within a week or so. Google put a lot of weight on brands.

To answer the original question about optimised sites, the anser of course is any site on page 1 for a competitive term is well optimised (on and off page) otherwise it wouldn't be there