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    4. Is my domain holding me back in the SERPS?

    Is my domain holding me back in the SERPS?

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    • Buffalo-Mobile
      Buffalo-Mobile last edited by

      Even after a good year or so, my site intensivedrivingschoolmiltonkeynes.co.uk does not rank in the top 10 (google.co.uk) for "Intensive Driving School Milton Keynes", and is nowhere for "Driving School Milton Keynes". Do you think the domain name is being penalised, or do you think there are other factors that contribute to the poor performance.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • sarahwalsh
        sarahwalsh last edited by

        When you're buying a domain name, contact a good seo agency to see if they can see that the domain has had any penalties applied to it or not?

        such as algorithmic or manual Google penalties applied in the past.

        We did this when we purchased our garden room company, we wanted to see if the domain name, possibly had any Google penalties applied to it in the past

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Buffalo-Mobile
          Buffalo-Mobile last edited by

          Thanks guys. Yes open site explorer does not register any backlinks.  According to google webmasters tools we have 49 links in from 7 domains. I'll work through the points you raised.

          I'm disappointed about the backlinks as we have, in the past, paid for blogger outreach with programmes like fatjoe and the hoth.  I take it, you would not recommend these?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • NickW816
            NickW816 last edited by

            Agree with Donald above, I do not believe your website is being penalized in anyway for your URL. Some things to consider to help:

            1. Setting up, and/or optimizing as much as possible, your social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
            2. Create & Verify Your Google My Business Profile if you haven't already.
            3. Use Moz Local to see what profiles your business has or doesn't have, then use Moz Local to help or do them manually.
            4. Add Schema to Your Website to help Google properly index it.
            5. Look at some of the backlinks the people ranking in the top 3 for the 2 searches you mentioned above using Moz's Open Site Explorer, Ahrefs, or SEMRush, and then see what links you can gain to your website as well from what they have.

            Nick White
            SEO Services KC
            https://seo-kansas-city.com/

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • donsilvernail
              donsilvernail last edited by

              Hi Gemma,

              Will need more information. Time is not the only factor the ranks a website. I used open site explorer and see that there are no backlinks.

              Backlinks should be a focus area if you want to rank your site.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
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