An example of how much EMD's matter to Bing?

[JJMcClure]

For several years my site has ranked #1 for most variations of the phrase 'web design buxton'. I've never done any serious SEO on it, it's a local phrase and not very competitive but worth having as it generates a few queries each month.

Recently, a competitor registered 'buxtonwebdesign .co.uk' (March) and according to Bing (I can't get on Google at the moment to check this) his homepage now outranks mine despite mine kicking his ass in almost every signal I'm aware of:

Target Type	My competitor Sub Domain	My site Sub Domain
Referring domains	9	48
External BackLinks	248	2,342
Indexed URLs	72	95
Class C subnets	5	37
Referring IP addresses	7	44

My site mentions Buxton a lot and has links from visionbuxton and visitbuxton, two important local sites. My domain is aged, I have good quality links (most of which are from sites I've built but then so are his), my link profile is natural.

So, the only reason I can see for why he'd outrank me is that his domain actually has the word Buxton in it. If anyone can check Google.co.uk I'd be interested to know how he's doing on there and if anyone has any other explanations for why my ranking has dropped I'm interested to hear them. I haven't had any warnings in my GWT account.

[crabfoot]

Just for you - Gargyl result for "web design Buxton" -
There's an ad for "Derbyshire Web Design" from approvedwebdesigners.co.uk showing first - then your site - then the competitor in second place.

Yahoo! gives first place to a Moonfruit ad, then a map thingy - after that comes turnstone design, your site is next. The competitor is tenth - last on p1.

Duzzat help? No, bcause y can't do doodly about it in China! WTH ...

[JJMcClure]

Just for you - Gargyl result for "web design Buxton" -
There's an ad for "Derbyshire Web Design" from approvedwebdesigners.co.uk showing first - then your site - then the competitor in second place.

Yahoo! gives first place to a Moonfruit ad, then a map thingy - after that comes turnstone design, your site is next. The competitor is tenth - last on p1.

Duzzat help? No, bcause y can't do doodly about it in China! WTH ...

Yes indeed, thanks. That's why I said do EMd's help on Bing because I wasn't sure what was going on with Google and everything I've read and observed points to them being important to Bing. I actually have a backlink from Turnstone as it's a friend of mine who is moving into wedding photography and didn't mind helping me to rank.

What are you doing up so early?

[crabfoot]

Er ... late turning early, acksherly, nobbut worry keeps me at it, il y a

des choses au fond de nous qui nous font veiller tard.
Like trying to get that line to connect and display, for example - three goes so far.

[JJMcClure]

Er ... late turning early, acksherly, nobbut worry keeps me at it, il y a

des choses au fond de nous qui nous font veiller tard.
Like trying to get that line to connect and display, for example - three goes so far.

I know the feeling. I had to babel fish that phrase even though I'm learning French, I know that feeling too. I wonder if the french word 'tard' for late is why the Americans say 'tardy'. Their language really is a mish mash of languages from the last couple of hundred years isn't it.

[akirk]

my recent thread on bakingbits . com confirms this - with no mention of the site to G or B or anyone else - with the domain sitting on the server pointing at our main site, so not even having its own live domain up - it registered within the top 10
no doubt about it - makes a huge difference

Alasdair

[Clinton]

Using startpage.com to strip out personalisation of results, I get you in first with him in second. Same order in Bing, but you are 2 and 3, after Turnstone.

[crabfoot]

Sry, thought you might understand better - "veiller tard" is not just being up late, it's the phrase you would use if you were maintaining a "wake" - as opposed to just staying awake.

Tardy - yes, it has the same root - it depends where you're at, still in English use in Geordieland and points north of that. I remember learning the meaning from a nursery rhyme, but I can't remember which one - just old and regional usage, and you are a long way from your pension. Lots of words you would consider old or American occur frequently in Scots (eg trash, and pubs are commonly referred to as bars). There are also Scots words from French that the English have not used at all, such as tassie, meaning a cup.

Bear with me on this - for many French words beginning with é, the accent signifies the loss of an s - so for the old French word estage, the modern French word has become étage and the English word stage (although to complicate the issue the French have taken stage as a loan word, specifying a short learning course).

I used to work for a man called Stronach. If you asked him the meaning of the name, he would merely say that "it isnae verra pleasant".

Later in life, I came across the word étron.

[JJMcClure]

Using startpage.com to strip out personalisation of results, I get you in first with him in second. Same order in Bing, but you are 2 and 3, after Turnstone.

Hmm.. thanks. I've PM'd slowdive to ask him to deactivate those links in my OP but you can do it if he's not around? Thanks again.

Turnstone is a competitor who became a colleague/friend, which is how I prefer to work and he one-way links to me. Buxton web design guy is competitor who became a colleague and then became someone who doesn't honour agreements and pursued me quite ridiculously for a £17 hosting bill, even threatning legal action which I was tempted to make him follow up on.... so I'd quite like to continue to outrank him

Looks like the results I'm seeing aren't representitive. Phew, still, it was a related to prevous discussions and worth posting about I thought.

Later in life, I came across the word étron.

What does it mean?

[bwelford]

New one for me too although my French is pretty good:
étron excrement, turd