Google priority on sections or products?

[EdHarrison]

I know this is a question that may not have a definitive answer - My site is new and I am happy that google has indexed around six hundred pages that are appearing reasonably well but......

I notice that products are ranking far better than sections (I am using SPP so yes all are sections) As an example I have a section called Meade Telescopes which has around say 10 products within that all rank higher than the more important parent section. I have taken care to use unique descriptions and use relevant keywords and so on. This seems to be the case throughout the site, is there someting I'm missing or is this normal?


Thanks for looking Ed

[jont]

The whole point of SPP is to boost them up the Google chart ... part of the equation is for users of Google to find what they want quickly. Googles aim is to provide the most focussed results from a search.

Your parent section may be important to you but to Google and people wanting specific products it is not, the single product page with all its unique keyword text is priority. People searching for a Ford Focus 1.6 in Blue don't wan't to land on the "Ford" section.

SPP's are your friend and should be embraced as such.

[EdHarrison]

Good point - I suppose my issue is within my industry the magic keyword is simply telescopes and this is where I have aimed to grab rankings...I'm currently somewhere around page 40 of google with it!


Ed

[jont]

You could add brochure pages (or a section page removed from the navigation) for each of the main keywords and link through to the products. For telescopes provide info on:

who invented them
earliest examples
how they work
different types
main brands (feature your own obviously)
buyers guide - what the number mean, what type do you need
how to set up
groups & clubs

This would create a great landing page for a generic keyword and then provide links through to the SPP pages. A lot of work but then SEO is not an over night switch you can turn on.

You can take it further and set up profile pages for the manufacturers (if people search by brand) and by type (land, birdwatching, astro etc)... more generic text to capture single word searches (which is always a pain to get to page 1 on Google)

[Mike Hughes]

You should be optimising your home page for telescopes.

I don't think you have any text on your home page that says 'telescopes' anywhere other than in links to other pages. (and here's a clue, the word 'telescopes' in a lnk tells Google that the page being linked to is about telescopes, not the page that has the link on it.)

Some other things to consider:

1. What's more important. 'telescopes' or 'Astronomy telescopes'? The word 'astronomy' in your title is weakening your ranking for 'telescopes'.

2. Your header text 'Astronomical Telescope and Binocular Specialists' is in the image so the search engines can't see it.

3. Here's your main text:

Welcome to the fascinating hobby of Astronomy
Please browse our website and if you have any questions call us on 0844 8801377 between 9AM and 9PM or email

Our company prides itself on quality, value and choice with carefully selected products accurately described from all the leading brands with Free UK mainland delivery and lifetime support

New to astronomy? Enjoy our universe in 2009 - the year of astronomy, see our Starter Guide to find out where to start for under £100

Is your website about astronomy or do you sell telescopes? You don't mention 'telescopes' anywhere.

4. If you're not using customer accounts then get rid of the cgi-bin links.

5. Your breadcrumb trail points to the acatalog/index.html page with the anchor text 'Online Products'. Change it to something relevant such as 'telescope shop'.

Mike

PS. The number 2 ranking shop on google for 'telescopes' is an Actinic site. Take a look at what they're doing for ideas. Remember though that there are two parts to SEO; On-page optimisation (keywords and site structure) and Off-page (links).

[EdHarrison]

funny thing is the actinic site that ranks number 2 is also mine! It is my day job but has a huge history and huge visitor numbers which keeps it well placed, interesting points re the telescopes titles ect and I will certainly make some changes.

How do I dump the cgi links...?

Thanks Ed

[leehack]

That info is littered prefously over the forum Ed, search on "cgi-bin linking", "smart theme" etc. TopLevelSectionList is what you need to convert to.

[EdHarrison]

Thanks, looks quite deep code work, I will look and proceed with caution - great tips though thanks.

Ed