Tell me what you think

[5thReview]

Well here is my site: http://www.5threview.com/
I'm trying to make it more friendly to search engines. It hasn't been indexed in google yet which is annoying. I'm also not sure about those buttons yet. And i get the feeling the image file sizes are too large. Constructive criticism only please. Thanks alot!

[Dabrowski]

Your "Top 5 wireless phones" looks like the text took a little more space than you expected. The background is repeating, I think. Looks odd. Make the background larger or shrink the text size.

I'm not sure how a site that just links to a bunch of other sites (although in a formatted, limited way, unlike a link farm) will fare with search engines. You might have to think a little more about what keywords will bring a person to your site? I see that you have "top 5" in a lot of the keywords. Not sure if that's good. I hear that even if you had many different keywords that might use the same internal phrase (or keyword) that you should only use it once or twice.

I might suggest:
top 5,top five,best rated,electronics,cd/dvd burner,etc

Focus more on what people might be looking for before they type in the product.
By no means am I a keyword wiz, but that's my opinion.

If you're okay with spending a little more time on the site, you could add some description to go next to the link, why you rate it in the top 5 (or why they are rated in the top 5--I don't know where you get your data from), and other content that talks about the top five. Maybe write a blurb about how when you search online, Do you ever look past the top five? If you want a good lawyer, do you ask Which ones didn't make the top five? I don't know. Something catching and contextually relevant.

I hear that Google's main bag are the links to your site. Maybe to improve the ranking with them, you have to get more people to link to you. Include a page with some banners or text links, or keep posting in forums. Or offer a little spot on your site if people link to you.

Good luck.

[5thReview]

thanks for the comments. After reading what you said I have since changed the layout of the homepage to something which i like to think is a lot better than before. I have also created an affiliates section so i can link exchange, but i still need to figure out what i'm going to do about the meta tags...probably do what you suggested. thanks again...

[jayelarex]

One thing I would suggest is having the links in each section open in a new window or a pop up. I checked out the internet section and clicked on a link, that brought me to a external site (obviously in the same window,) So After 2 clicks I completly forgot about your site.

Just my take.

[5thReview]

i was thinking the same thing since i use avant browser and new windows just open in a new tab. but i checked out this site 10 worst design mistakes (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html) and if u check out number 9 it says not to do this...so i'm not really sure, im thinking of having 2 different versions of the pages, one which opens in a new window and one that doesnt so users can decide for themselves...im not really sure tho...

[jayelarex]

well like I said the choice is yours, I think of it like this..

Someone searches or goes to your website for a reason, I dont think that reason is to get bumbed to another site witin 2 clicks.

And not to start a whole differnt "arguement" but your statement is coming from Jakob Nielsen, the same Jakob Nielsen that thinks the following:

-websites should be 100% pure text
-Flash is unuseable
-Using Non-Standard Link Colors (your links are not blue red ETC)
-"using Picky, overly specific forms" (using 3 input fields for a phone number)

I could list a ton more but even mentioning this guys name almost makes me sick :o

Like I said.. thats just my take on it. :)

[Dabrowski]

i was thinking the same thing since i use avant browser and new windows just open in a new tab. but i checked out this site 10 worst design mistakes (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html) and if u check out number 9 it says not to do this...so i'm not really sure, im thinking of having 2 different versions of the pages, one which opens in a new window and one that doesnt so users can decide for themselves...im not really sure tho...

You have the unfortunate task of fitting in to some restrictions while providing a mostly link-based site. I'd have the link open in the same window, but with an additional link that says "new window." I agree that you don't want users to leave your site too quickly, but then, your site kind of lends itself to that.

[Dabrowski]

Are you an amazon affiliate? For the amount of links you provide to amazon, you might consider getting paid by them if a user clicks onto their site through yours and buys something. Maybe the number one item can have an image linked to the amazon item.

I'm trying to come up with some type of content you could add that would help with search engines that pay more attention to that stuff. At the moment, I can't really think of anything. You know, how many articles could you write about the top five things? Simply because it's so general of a site, it's likewise hard to pinpoint your main kewords or keyphrases. Maybe mini forums or user reviews of certain items.