CMS Made Simple Forums

Hi,

I am an SEO specialist and have 10 years experience in this field. I have a good track record of achieving first page ranking results. I have worked on more than 400 SEO projects/website domains.

Only one of my clients is using CMS Made Simple for their website and we are having problem getting consistent first page ranks on Google.  It is possible that my client’s website has not configured CMSMS properly. However, first I would like to confirm that the ‘CMS Made Simple’ system is not the issue.

Are you aware of any website built with ‘CMS made simple’ that has achieved first page ranks on Google on competitive keywords. Anyone can achieve rankings on ‘jewelry store timbaktu’,  but I am talking about a keyword like ‘credit card fraud’, ‘prevent spam’ or ‘free anti-virus software’ etc.

Today, almost every software claims to be SEO friendly and has many SEO friendly features. I believe the proof is in the rankings and not in the number of SEO features available with the tool.

Would greatly appreciate your feedback.  It would be great if you could post the URL, the version of CMSMS it uses and the keyword that is ranking on the first page of Google. I can check the other competitors SEO credentials vis-à-vis the CMSMS website for myself.

Thanks for your help.
Regards,
Patrick

I'm confused.  Why would I want my site to show up when a user searches for something like "prevent spam"?  If my site showed up as a result from that search, I would not be impressed with Google.

Please provide more information about exactly what you're hoping to achieve.  And with 10 yrs experience in SEO, you should know that the website software has very little to do with rankings.  It's all about content.

jmcgin51 wrote: And with 10 yrs experience in SEO, you should know that the website software has very little to do with rankings.  It's all about content.

Well said.

All I know is my alexa rank, has dropped from 12million to 2million, and 2,000 uniques visits, which I never had before, ever since I used cmsms (3months ago; I think)..but yea it depends on the content. I'm moving on up baby..I'm coming..everyday and night 

patrick3732 wrote: Only one of my clients is using CMS Made Simple for their website and we are having problem getting consistent first page ranks on Google.

We can't all be number one...

Some tips: http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.ph ... 912.0.html

®olf

Rolf wrote: We can't all be number one...

Your the man, that's a good point...your absolutely right, and there can only be one    and yea it's not me 

Rolf / dmaireroa / Ziggywigged,

Thank you for replying. Greatly appreciate it.  We will take one more shot at this. Our client is  using CMS version 1.4.1.  We are surprised even one person hasn’t mentioned some first page rankings on competitive keywords.  I hope that this time,
I will get someone to “show-off” their first page rank positions for a website built with CMS made simple website.

This would have been the best way to prove that CMS made simple is search engine ranking friendly. As we believe the proof that a CMS made simple is search engine ranking friendly is by the number of keywords ranked on right page and not the SEO features available in the tool.

Rolf, 
We are looking for 1st page (anywhere from #1 to #10 rankings) and not for only 1st position ranking.

dmaireroa,
Our Alexa ranking is 113,471.  However, we value top 3 ranks on search engines more than the Alexa rank.

Ziggywigged,
In our experience, the 2 major things that prevent search engine rankings in our experience are server side settings and software like content management systems and shopping carts. Very little that you do on the page itself(including great content) gets first page rankings on Google.  However, not doing something right on the website definitely prevents rankings.

Looking forward to get someone to “show-off” their first page rank positions( for a website built with CMS made simple website.

Regards,
Patrick

patrick3732 wrote: In our experience, the 2 major things that prevent search engine rankings in our experience are server side settings and software like content management systems and shopping carts. Very little that you do on the page itself(including great content) gets first page rankings on Google.  However, not doing something right on the website definitely prevents rankings.

Looking forward to get someone to “show-off” their first page rank positions( for a website built with CMS made simple website.

@Patrick

1. Perhaps I'm reading you wrong in your quote above, but it sounds like you're saying that a "hard-coded" website (versus one developed in some kind of a CMS) with proper server-side settings (like what?) runs a better chance of getting a higher page rank than a CMS-based site (especially one with a shopping cart) where the server settings have not been tweaked.  Is this correct?

2. In your original post, you said:

patrick3732 wrote: Are you aware of any website built with ‘CMS made simple’ that has achieved first page ranks on Google on competitive keywords. Anyone can achieve rankings on ‘jewelry store timbaktu’,  but I am talking about a keyword like ‘credit card fraud’, ‘prevent spam’ or ‘free anti-virus software’ etc.

and in my response to your original post, I said:

jmcgin51 wrote: I'm confused.  Why would I want my site to show up when a user searches for something like "prevent spam"?  If my site showed up as a result from that search, I would not be impressed with Google.

I'm still confused.  I have accomplished first-page Google results (with CMSMS) when a user searches for keywords relevant to my site.  That's what I hope for when I develop a site.  Please provide more information about what you're trying to accomplish, and why you think CMSMS is causing your problems.  Personally, I don't see enough information here to judge one way or the other if CMSMS is causing your SEO issues, or if there are other problems.

BTW - can you provide the URL for said client site?

Also, please get your client updated to 1.6.5 or 1.6.6.  Older versions are unsupported and pose potential security issues.

I'm confused too.  I can tell you that I plugged in "houston civic club" and idylwood.org is on the first page; but under just "civic club," it's on page 3 (mainly because it's competing with sites related to the Honda Civic, I imagine. So it's all in the keywords you plug in.  Since something like a civic club or homeowner's association would by definition be locale-specific, "houston civic club" does the trick, at least for us.  

So I really don't know what you are aiming to prove (or disprove) by your query.

Hi Pixelita / jmcgin51,

Thank you for replying. 

Pixelita,
Appreciate you sharing the ranking for 'houston civic club'. I know this keyword is very relevant to your website.  However, it has only about 11 searches per day.  Generally, many SEO specialists would not target that keyword - as the size of the opportunity is small.  Not an issue with your website - it is probably the most relevant keyword for that site.  However, the keyword is not competitive to check how good 'CMS made Simple'  is for enabling search engine rankings.

Let us say 'CMS Made Simple' is used for a competitive area like 'web designer'.  There are thousands of firms that are competing to rank on first page for this keyword. The daily searches for this keyword are about 15,000. There is a very strong financial incentive to rank on first page for this keyword on Google.com. Since whoever ranks on the first page will not only get business leads, they will also be perceived very favorably by the buyers searching for that keyword. In such cases, typically the competition is very strong and many websites invest heaving for first page rankings. 

My question was in the situation above, if the hypothetical website is implemented using CMS made simple - would it give a competitive edge in helping rank better or would it require more efforts than competitors because 'CMS made simple' is not ranking friendly.  Hope this puts things in perspective.

My question really was to find if someone in an area of strong SEO competition has successfully ranked on the first page while using 'CMS Made Simple' to build the website.  This would help me to decide where to focus my energies to help my client. For example, if someone is really ranking on a competitive keyword, then I would find the version of the software that is being used by them and get my client to migrate to the same version.

However, if there is no rankings - then I will recommend my client to implement the CMS made Simple in a sub-folder but not the home page.  We will recommend them to use a hard-code html page for the home page.

Jmcgin51,

A harcoded website built in html will not have any server side settings.  The server side settings typically come to play in sites built with some dynamic features using any type of programs from PHP, ASP, shopping cart solutions and also content management solutions.  Many softwares became popular long before Google got established as the #1 search engine.  Unlike Yahoo and earlier search engines, it does not give much importance for on-page coding and optimization for rankings. Our experience is that not doing the on-page optimization properly prevents rankings.  However, perfectly doing on-page does not enable first page rankings.  We as SEO specialists have do a lot of work outside the website to get first page rankings. Many shopping carts and content management solutions - prevent rankings despite out best efforts with SEO optimization.

Hopefully the earlier passage a few paragraphs above clarifies your confusion.  Lastly many thanks for the suggestion to update the version to 1.6.5 or 1.6.6. Greatly appreciate it.

Regards,
Patrick

PS: I have made my conclusions and recommendations to my client.  Thank you for all your help!

Patrick

Thanks for your detailed explanation.  I now have a much more clear picture of what it is that you're trying to do.

patrick3732 wrote: A harcoded website built in html will not have any server side settings.

True, but a hard-coded site built in PHP, ASP, etc, might.  Hard-coded doesn't (necessarily) mean static.


Also, if you reach the point where you think CMSMS is causing your SEO problems, there is no need to install CMSMS in a subdirectory.  Just upload your new index page (for example "index.htm") and change your server settings so that the server looks for *.htm before *.php when looking for an index.

Hi jmcgin51,

Thank you for your quick response and your suggestions.  I liked the idea of uploading a new index page (for example "index.htm") and changing the  server settings so that the server looks for *.htm before *.php when looking for an index.

Appreciate your help.

Regards,
Patrick

I do not claim to be an SEO expert, don't have enough time to research millions of "Theories". But it is common knowledge that if your content, titles and metadata is structured properly and your urls look somewhat pretty and contain specific keywords you drastically improve your chances for better search engine ranking. I know of a few people that are very big into Search Engine Optimization and search marketing and they swear by CMSMS. I have seen numerous comments in the forum and elsewhere singing the praises of CMSMS for SEO. CMS Made Simple provides the tools and options needed to easily implement the items needed for a good SEO campaign.

If you have specific items of concern please feel free to inquire about them and we will do what we can to either confirm/deny their existence or provide solutions.

I know you requested to see sites with high ranking so it is in a sense a show off but has not really produced much for showing off, plus as we all know ranking can literally change overnight and any links posted today could be null/void/unrelated in the future. I am going to move this topic to the Lounge so it can remain open.

Afterthought...

A fellow member of the dev team pointed something very interesting out.

http://www.google.com/search?q=cms

Currently the CMS Made Simple website (naturally running CMSMS) is number one on Google for the search term CMS. I am not sure how much more broad you can make a term. Just further proof that CMSMS can help you with your SEO Campaign and not hinder it like you were concerned.