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Quackers · 07-01-2009, 10:43 AM

How do we make our School Web Page appear higher up in the search results?

I've changed the Meta Data on our Joomla site to have our school name in (2 days ago, as it said "Joomla! The home ......," before)

If you type our school name in we currently appear last on the first page of results. A bebo page the kids setup is first (which SMT do not like), then other county documents with our name in.

Can you pay to have one of those Sponsored Links before the search results at the very top? If so how?

I've tried reading googles site for information and non of it makes sense, its confusing me

matt40k · 07-01-2009, 10:52 AM

Big money in SEO.

Sponsors links = money. You pay per click. Which is stupid.

What is your school name?

localzuk · 07-01-2009, 10:58 AM

One way to make your site appear at the top is to ensure your site is the best place around for information about it. ie. ensure there are plenty of sites linking to it (there are various school site directories). Ensure you have a good selection of relevant meta tags in the header, and that the content on the pages is sufficiently wordy for a search engine to consider a useful page.

Paying for a link would be a bad choice IMO. Can you link your site here so we can have a look to see what could be improved?

Also, do you have search-engine friendly URLS enabled in Joomla?

Zimmer · 07-01-2009, 11:08 AM

Doesn't Joomla have a built in Search Engine Optimisation feature?

Quackers · 07-01-2009, 11:16 AM

Site is Chesterton Community Sports College - Home is the site.

So when Chesterton Community Sports College is entered in google we come last

matt40k · 07-01-2009, 11:22 AM

Chesterton Community Sports College Staffordshire: Read Parent Reviews & Rankings
-- Primary school hey?

Perhaps also setting the DNS record so ccsc.staffs.sch.uk works as well as Chesterton Community Sports College - Home

Zimmer · 07-01-2009, 11:23 AM

So how long has your site been live then?

Usually it does take a while for a website to gain rankings with Google and other search engines.

Infact, if you dive into the settings of Joomla you should find a few options for enabling and disabling how the website deals with web crawlers/spiders. It might be worth checking that your not blocking Google from indexing your websites content, this will most likely affect your rankings.

Quackers · 07-01-2009, 11:25 AM

I'm using the Google Web Master Tools and it seems to be reading the site OK. The site has been up and running for over a year.

Its jooma 1.0 not 1.5 does it still have these Web Crawler settings in?

localzuk · 07-01-2009, 11:26 AM

First thing I would say is that your site has very little text on the first page. It is all links and images. I'll have a deeper look soon.

_Bat_ · 07-01-2009, 11:39 AM

You need to get people to link to your site more. The more links that have the name of the school as the link title and links directly to the website, the higher up you'll end up being for that search term (i.e. the school name).

Zimmer · 07-01-2009, 11:59 AM

Not to sure about Joomla version 1.0, I've only just started to play with 1.5, before that I was strictly a php-Fusion guy.

I'll stick a URL to your site on a couple of my personal sites/blogs, that might help

Localzuk has a good point too, it may be worth looking at changing the content on the front page.

ittech · 07-01-2009, 12:06 PM

Get other respected sites to link to you such as wikipedia or your local authority.

Domino · 07-01-2009, 12:06 PM

Have you submitted the link to google

Add your URL to Google

ctaylor2 · 08-01-2009, 01:44 PM

Like others have said SEO can be a complex area.

Sorting your title tags is important and including meta tags won't hurt. The most important thing is that you have up to date and relevant content on your site. Other factors in higher search rankings include being linked to by other relevant websites (the text that they use in the hyperlink can be relevant as well).

I've got some links for you - hope they help.

Beginner's Guide to SEO: Quickie Dos and Don'ts - Search Engine Guide Blog
10 SEO Techniques All Top Web Sites Should Use | Freelance Folder
SEOmoz | The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet

Cache · 08-01-2009, 07:09 PM

I'm not a website expert by any means. A quick look on google I spotted the 4th link down was your moodle site with no obvious link back to your main site on it. You could link back to your school webpage on moodle which may/may not make any difference.

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07-01-2009, 10:43 AM	#1
Quackers Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Staffordshire Posts: 720 Thanks: 10 Thanked 33 Times in 29 Posts Rep Power: 14	Google Search How do we make our School Web Page appear higher up in the search results? I've changed the Meta Data on our Joomla site to have our school name in (2 days ago, as it said "Joomla! The home ......," before) If you type our school name in we currently appear last on the first page of results. A bebo page the kids setup is first (which SMT do not like), then other county documents with our name in. Can you pay to have one of those Sponsored Links before the search results at the very top? If so how? I've tried reading googles site for information and non of it makes sense, its confusing me

07-01-2009, 10:58 AM	#3
localzuk Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Minehead, Somerset Posts: 5,119 Thanks: 100 Thanked 228 Times in 199 Posts Blog Entries: 14 Rep Power: 64	One way to make your site appear at the top is to ensure your site is the best place around for information about it. ie. ensure there are plenty of sites linking to it (there are various school site directories). Ensure you have a good selection of relevant meta tags in the header, and that the content on the pages is sufficiently wordy for a search engine to consider a useful page. Paying for a link would be a bad choice IMO. Can you link your site here so we can have a look to see what could be improved? Also, do you have search-engine friendly URLS enabled in Joomla? Last edited by localzuk; 07-01-2009 at 11:02 AM..

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Google Search

07-01-2009, 10:52 AM	#2
matt40k Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,315 Thanks: 99 Thanked 112 Times in 99 Posts Rep Power: 23	Big money in SEO. Sponsors links = money. You pay per click. Which is stupid. What is your school name?

07-01-2009, 11:08 AM	#4
Zimmer Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Chadderton Posts: 101 Thanks: 10 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts Rep Power: 3	Doesn't Joomla have a built in Search Engine Optimisation feature?

07-01-2009, 11:16 AM	#5
Quackers Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Staffordshire Posts: 720 Thanks: 10 Thanked 33 Times in 29 Posts Rep Power: 14	Site is Chesterton Community Sports College - Home is the site. So when Chesterton Community Sports College is entered in google we come last

07-01-2009, 11:22 AM	#6
matt40k Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,315 Thanks: 99 Thanked 112 Times in 99 Posts Rep Power: 23	Chesterton Community Sports College Staffordshire: Read Parent Reviews & Rankings -- Primary school hey? Perhaps also setting the DNS record so ccsc.staffs.sch.uk works as well as Chesterton Community Sports College - Home

07-01-2009, 11:23 AM	#7
Zimmer Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Chadderton Posts: 101 Thanks: 10 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts Rep Power: 3	So how long has your site been live then? Usually it does take a while for a website to gain rankings with Google and other search engines. Infact, if you dive into the settings of Joomla you should find a few options for enabling and disabling how the website deals with web crawlers/spiders. It might be worth checking that your not blocking Google from indexing your websites content, this will most likely affect your rankings.

07-01-2009, 11:25 AM	#8
Quackers Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Staffordshire Posts: 720 Thanks: 10 Thanked 33 Times in 29 Posts Rep Power: 14	I'm using the Google Web Master Tools and it seems to be reading the site OK. The site has been up and running for over a year. Its jooma 1.0 not 1.5 does it still have these Web Crawler settings in?

07-01-2009, 11:26 AM	#9
localzuk Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Minehead, Somerset Posts: 5,119 Thanks: 100 Thanked 228 Times in 199 Posts Blog Entries: 14 Rep Power: 64	First thing I would say is that your site has very little text on the first page. It is all links and images. I'll have a deeper look soon.

07-01-2009, 11:39 AM	#10
_Bat_ Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 1,236 Thanks: 29 Thanked 18 Times in 13 Posts Rep Power: 14	You need to get people to link to your site more. The more links that have the name of the school as the link title and links directly to the website, the higher up you'll end up being for that search term (i.e. the school name).

07-01-2009, 11:59 AM	#11
Zimmer Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Chadderton Posts: 101 Thanks: 10 Thanked 8 Times in 8 Posts Rep Power: 3	Not to sure about Joomla version 1.0, I've only just started to play with 1.5, before that I was strictly a php-Fusion guy. I'll stick a URL to your site on a couple of my personal sites/blogs, that might help Localzuk has a good point too, it may be worth looking at changing the content on the front page.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

07-01-2009, 12:06 PM	#12
ittech Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Reading, UK Posts: 702 Thanks: 47 Thanked 23 Times in 22 Posts Rep Power: 9	Get other respected sites to link to you such as wikipedia or your local authority.

07-01-2009, 12:06 PM	#13
Domino Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Hastings Posts: 1,740 Thanks: 26 Thanked 134 Times in 112 Posts Blog Entries: 4 Rep Power: 34	Have you submitted the link to google Add your URL to Google

08-01-2009, 01:44 PM	#14
ctaylor2 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Bolsover Posts: 15 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Rep Power: 0	Like others have said SEO can be a complex area. Sorting your title tags is important and including meta tags won't hurt. The most important thing is that you have up to date and relevant content on your site. Other factors in higher search rankings include being linked to by other relevant websites (the text that they use in the hyperlink can be relevant as well). I've got some links for you - hope they help. Beginner's Guide to SEO: Quickie Dos and Don'ts - Search Engine Guide Blog 10 SEO Techniques All Top Web Sites Should Use \| Freelance Folder SEOmoz \| The Web Developer's SEO Cheat Sheet

08-01-2009, 07:09 PM	#15
Cache Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Cumbria Posts: 30 Thanks: 13 Thanked 4 Times in 4 Posts Rep Power: 3	I'm not a website expert by any means. A quick look on google I spotted the 4th link down was your moodle site with no obvious link back to your main site on it. You could link back to your school webpage on moodle which may/may not make any difference.

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