A search for intitle:Seattle returns about 7.3 million results. I'm going up against the city's official home page, wikipedia, SU, and then a bunch of Seattle.com, Seattle.net, lots of real estate, and others. The page I'm hoping to rank is: http://forrestcroce.com/Galleries/Seattle.html

The good news is the page has a lot of ranking power for other phrases, some of them with more results than Seattle gives. The bad news is I'm currently #618. So I know it's going to take some creativity and a lot more than the traditional seo stuff. I've done directory submittal until my eyes felt like they were bleeding. I'm considering the stuff below, but hope people can give me some new ideas, and let me know which ones I'll be wasting my time with?

• Snail mail all the local papers - from the Seattle Times down to the alternative weeklies - with a cover letter introducing myself, brief bio, and a few 8x10s, asking them to consider doing a "featured artist" column on me at some point in the future.
• Make lots of new pages; spend time at all of the major attractions, photograph them, describe them in text, and link to the new pages ( or blog posts? ) from my main Seattle page, to make more informative.
• Print up hundreds of 4x6 inch photos with mr URL watermarked into them, and leave these behind at all the places I shop regularly.
• Find more organizations to volunteer for, and ask for a link in exchange?

I haven't entered any photo contests, because generally the fine print gives the contest runner the right to use all entries royalty free, whether they win or not.

Last point that might help me get better answers: I have a photo from "Gay City" State Park in Connecticut, an old mine out in the woods with lakes and waterfalls. Google Webmaster Tools says I've gone from about #800 to #257 for just the word gay over the past few months, with no effort on my part. No prejudice, either, but this suggests I'm gaining authority, or ranking power, in general across my domain. This is my New England landscape gallery ... I need to do to spark a miracle jump to the first page for my Seattle cityscape gallery.

Oh, and I'll be changing the layout to something more attractive pretty soon.

Hi Forrest,

If I was to attempt to rank in that big pond I would begin with a few tweaks and some long tails...

-Your title, while nice, there maybe can be a better tool to rank for your plan. Night Photos of Seattle | Forrest Croce . The title tag packs a big punch for page relevancy and serp power. The spiders read left to right so try to fit in your most target keywords in the very beginning. So maybe try someting a little more powerful there.

Find some longtails related to your page's contents...relevant long tails will perform the best. Build back links containg these long tails, say 5 or 6 different variations, all of them containing Seattle.

Then I would suggest a Seattle location Meta tag, or a Seattle address on the page(if that is wher you live) and wrap it in an a geo tag style.

Consider adding at least 1 heading tag with Seattle and maybe part of one of the long tails in the phrase in it.

Point is that a little relevant link bait goes a long way, add supporting anchor text in your backlinks and then you're cooking with fire.
--Melanie

Forrest the truth is you're probably not going to rank for the single word Seattle. And when you think about it why should you. Someone searching for Seattle isn't looking for your site. It's more likely they're looking for the pages you currently see listed.

On the other hand if someone is searching for 'night photos seattle' they would be looking for you. Checking now you're #4 for the night photos seattle search.

With the title you have to decide what phrase you can reasonable target. That you're ranking well for night photos seattle is certainly indication you can compete for that phrase. Is it the best phrase for the page? I don't know, but it seems like a good phrase for at least one page on your site.

Seattle by itself is going to be difficult. You would need to build a link profile as strong or stronger as the currently ranking pages have and those sites have some strong link profiles.

I agree with Melanie that listing your contact info with the mention of a Seattle address will help pick up phrases related to Seattle, but again probably not the single word seattle. I disagree about adding a location meta tag. I highly doubt any search engine would consider it at all.

You will want to get links with anchor text that includes variations of your phrase. Assuming the phrase is 'night photos seattle' then you should try to get anchor text like

night photos seattle
night photos of seattle
night photography in seattle
seattle photos at night

Just some examples. I'm not sure those are necessarily the best. The point is to get keywords in your anchor text when you can, but do vary it some. Part of the reason for keywords in the page title is that people will sometimes grab the title to use as the anchor text.

Also remember that an internal site link is still a link. If you want to rank for night photos seattle then when you link to that page on your site it's good to mention that in the anchor text.

I do agree about adding headings and more text to the page, which I've mentioned before.

And keep in mind that most changes you make aren't going to have an instant effect. If you're trying to rank for a low competitive phrase then it's probably enough to mention the word on the page a few times and add it to the title. The next time the page is crawled and the index updated you probably rank for the phrase. But if the phrase is competitive like seattle then very little you do on the page is going to have a big impact. For competitive keywords you need to build a strong link profile for both the page and the site itself.

Honestly, the city's site probably deserves to land head of mine ... but that doesn't mean I can't be #2.

Whenever I've left the house and not the city with my camera it's been after sundown, but I'm hoping I can expand the value of the page beyond nocturnal photography. I'm not really sure the best way to go about that ... intertwining the blog with the main site is tempting. My latest post is about a vexing local park ... and over time I'll wind up with a lot more content this way.

Hitting the quest with a few link drops in your Blog would most likely be highly effective. blogs a generally smiled upon in the serps. Even better if they are on a different C Block.

Some deep link directory listings to the page with proper descriptions would most likely be somewhat helpful also.

--Melanie

I'd agree with Melanie's first post, and with Steven's. You're not likely to rank for the term "Seattle" in the short run...but you can pick up terms related to Seattle photography (like your "Night Photos Seattle" example.) Target those phrases, because you know you can reach those goals. You've got the content, you've got the lack of spammy stuff going on, you've got stuff that's relatively user-friendly. Pick up those users, and then let those users in turn spread your word for you (assuming your site's good enough...if you don't see users spreading your link, you know you've got some work to do.)

Once you get that initial momentum going, keep on doing what you're doing and the snowball will keep rolling down the hill. You may pick up "Seattle" as a term, you may not (I'd say the odds are against it, but stranger things have happened than what you're proposing)...but at least you'll pick up a bunch of other stuff in the process and keep all your eggs from being shoved into one basket.

You'll probably even pick up some long-tail stuff you would never think of. That's the bigger and better market now...long-tail. There are niches out there full of people that no one's tapping into.

Originally Posted by babychicken4u2

Hitting the quest with a few link drops in your Blog would most likely be highly effective. blogs a generally smiled upon in the serps. Even better if they are on a different C Block.

Some deep link directory listings to the page with proper descriptions would most likely be somewhat helpful also.

--Melanie

Sorry, Melanie, but you just happened to be the wrong poster at the wrong time.

I really wish people would stop saying "blogs are search-engine friendly" or "blogs are smiled upon in SERPs". The truth is that they aren't. There is no special relationship between blogs and search engines. In fact, there are a number of features within blog software such as WordPress that make it inherently search-engine-unfriendly (recordset paging, title structures, etc.), and it takes a fair bit of time to hack the code in such a way as to fix these issues.

The whole link dropping idea also leads to dangerous misinterpretation...just throw your link everywhere and your site will rank. That's not the case. It never has been, it never will be.

Same with "deep link directory listing". Directories shouldn't link to deeper pages within a site unless those pages contain something so unique and interesting that listing the home page of a site isn't enough. That sort of thing is generally reserved for larger sites, news sites, sites with a political message, things like that.

For example, would my CAT Technologies post in my blog be worthy of a directory listing? If I'm being honest, I'd say no. It's unique, but it's not interesting enough. Someone may disagree with me, but I'd say the majority wouldn't, and rightfully so.

I disagree, Blogs that are set up correctly and post titles keyword rich are indexed quickly and effectively...check mine. Additionally a little ping goes a long way. Add the vertical search ability that is very hot for Blogs, and it makes great sense to use your Blog to promote your page. This is not just my opinion, but the opinion of many top SEOs.

As far as deep linking, Forrest is talking about a unique niche for that page's subject...so by your own definition deep link directory submissions would be appropriate.

--Melanie

Originally Posted by babychicken4u2

I disagree, Blogs that are set up correctly and post titles keyword rich are indexed quickly and effectively...check mine. Additionally a little ping goes a long way. Add the vertical search ability that is very hot for Blogs, and it makes great sense to use your Blog to promote your page. This is not just my opinion, but the opinion of many top SEOs.

As far as deep linking, Forrest is talking about a unique niche for that page's subject...so by your own definition deep link directory submissions would be appropriate.

--Melanie

That's the great thing about "top SEOs"...most of them know about as much as I know about nuclear quantum physics. There are very few "top SEOs" and a bunch of spammers with vested interests who cater to the needs of the complainers who would rather whine about how they don't rank #1 than to fix the real issues. So telling me that you share an opinion with "top SEOs" means nothing.

A blog is a tool. It's a piece of software. That's it, that's all. There are HUGE, HUGE, HUGE issues involving SEO and blog software that most people don't want to acknowledge (duplicate content, recordset paging, poor link structure, etc.) Like most pieces of software and precompiled scripts, blog software is inherently flawed and needs a great deal of work to get it to function the way it's supposed to.

I may be the only person who will ever tell you this, Melanie, because I suspect you mean well...but you are listening to the wrong people, following (not leading) the wrong crowd, and taking the wrong advice. Really step back and objectively evaluate most of what SEOs say, without even thinking about what type of a reputation they have, and see what they're really saying. You'd be surprised at how many of them say nothing, or say things that are completely foolish (and a lot of it is the same advice that you're following).

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

I'd agree with Melanie's first post, and with Steven's. You're not likely to rank for the term "Seattle" in the short run...but you can pick up terms related to Seattle photography (like your "Night Photos Seattle" example.) Target those phrases, because you know you can reach those goals. You've got the content, you've got the lack of spammy stuff going on, you've got stuff that's relatively user-friendly. Pick up those users, and then let those users in turn spread your word for you (assuming your site's good enough...if you don't see users spreading your link, you know you've got some work to do.)

I know hoping to rank on the first page for "Seattle" is like jumping to the moon with a trampoline ... but I think by aiming higher, I reach a better target than if I had set out for "photos from/of Seattle." Also, like you say, long-tail is where it's at, so an unreachable goal will hopefully get me some traffic I had never thought of.

Right now the page can be improved, and I'm working on that part, but hoping for some ideas the SEs might smile upon. I know that doesn't happen over night, so hopefully by the time I start doing better for Seattle in general, I'll have put a new template in place, and and added more textual content.

Originally Posted by babychicken4u2

As far as deep linking, Forrest is talking about a unique niche for that page's subject...so by your own definition deep link directory submissions would be appropriate.

After having asked the question, I'm realizing it's more of a niche I'm going after than I'd realized at first glance. I'd really love to think that anybody looking for any kind of info about Seattle might not be seeking out my page, but wouldn't be upset to spend ten minutes there. I don't know how much truth there is to that ... everyone with a site thinks the same thing.

Some advice you had given earlier; I live in Seattle, but I'm not really comfortable publishing my address online. Do you think just my neighborhood and city would have the same effect?

Yes, publishing you name and city will still hit..wrap it in a geo tag anyhow.

As far as you Adam, before you judge me read my Blog, I draw my own conclusions. I am very careful about what I say and how I say it. I would be very happy to help Forrest set up a blog to avoid such issues. But, that was NOT the issue..the issue is that Blog content is hot and indexed well, and quickly...that sir, is a fact....I can in fact prove to you in cold hard Google alerts.

There I am Page 1, fairly competative terms.....and the Blog is only 90 days old! SEO News Blog http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=SEO+news+blog

I have no problem putting up or shutting up!

Adam I have to disagree with you about blogs. I think they do have some advantages that static sites don't have. But first let me agree with you a little.

I agree that a blog isn't going to save a garbage site. If your content sucks it will still suck on a blog. And I agree that most blog software isn't search friendly out of the box. You still need to work on it like you would a hand coded page of html and css. Blogs aren't magic bullets by any means.

But I do think they have advantages. Search engine spiders will visit a blog more often than a non blog. That probably has more to do with the fact that blogs are typically updated more frequently. It's not necessarily a result of the software running the blog. Pinging will certainly make them come a little quicker too.

Of course a spider visit isn't the same as ranking better.

Blogs do open your site up to being found in ways it otherwise wouldn't be found. Your static site isn't getting returned in a search at Technorati, your blog is. And most if not all blog searches have a freshness component in their algorithm. So even if you don't have links pointing to the page or it's not the most optimized post in the world it can still rank well in blog search engines while it's new. That might not bring a ton of traffic, but it can bring some.

Trackbacks will also bring some traffic for essentially doing nothing. A static page won't get those visits. I receive a significant amount of traffic every month through trackbacks for what amounts to absolutely no work on my end.

Blogs also open your content up to syndication. There are plenty of sites that will grab your first paragraph and a link back to you to read more. They don't send a lot of traffic, but they do provide links. Maybe not the best links in the world, but they still provide links for again doing nothing.

Another advantage is for people to read your content in a feedreader. Granted those people aren't on your site, but there are a lot of people who will now read what you have to say and develop a relationship wit you that wouldn't if you weren't blogging.

I think comments also help to build relationships with your visitors where static pages are a one way conversation.

Most of the advantages to blogging come from blogging and not specifically the software and you could always see up your content for rss and syndication without using blog software, but blogs so make it very easy.

Will you automatically gain in the SERPs because you have a blog? Of course not, but blogs do help in some ways to bring more traffic to your site and assuming your content is good those extra eyeballs will likely lead to more natural links.

Blogs do open your site up to opportunities you wouldn't have on a static site.

I've seen a lot of ways that blogs can be pretty unfriendly to the engines, and just changed mine to show summarizes only in part to avoid dupe content issues ... mainly to keep the page size down for visitors. But I've been sprinkling links back to my main site, and inner pages, associating them with keywords I want to come up with. Van Gogh had an interesting point that scraper sits will lift my RSS, and these links will, hopefully, mean something coming from more domains. Probably not much, but if I'm choosing the anchor text, at least that's better than nothing.

My main site is forrestcroce.com and I've got a blog set up at blog.forrestcroce.com; both of them share a G Webmaster account, so while there might be some benefit of hosting the blog on a sep