Tough SEO Question - Can't Change Any Content

JERRY JULIANO · 08-11-2007, 09:54 AM

Hi guys!

I have a client who works for a bank and has a website provided by them. It's a template, and can't be changed at ALL. Including page title and text.

So, what are my options here for SEO? The bank's site has a long, forgettable url with none of my keyword targets in it.

1) have a custom url which redirects to the original bank site
2) have a custom URL, use it as a "container" for the original site (it via iFrame or whatever works best)

Within option 2, I could atleast change the page title..

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

SEOptimizer · 08-11-2007, 12:41 PM

I have had an instance of this also - also a bank's site (kinda strange). Anyhow - what I did was copied and pasted the code in between the tags that made it uneditable into a new document and wrote footer.php, header.php, content.php, nav.php files. It will be a lot of work - but that would solve your problem.

toinkzzz · 08-11-2007, 01:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JERRY JULIANO

Hi guys!

I have a client who works for a bank and has a website provided by them. It's a template, and can't be changed at ALL. Including page title and text.

So, what are my options here for SEO? The bank's site has a long, forgettable url with none of my keyword targets in it.

1) have a custom url which redirects to the original bank site
2) have a custom URL, use it as a "container" for the original site (it via iFrame or whatever works best)

Within option 2, I could atleast change the page title..

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

is this site was created in PHP?

janhvizdak · 08-11-2007, 02:42 PM

Do not accept such project. If the client isn't able to follow your suggestions, then why take the responsobility for such thing?

JERRY JULIANO · 08-11-2007, 03:24 PM

Thanks, everyone for your quick responses.

Here's the site - http://ae.bankofamerica.com/ChristofernRoberts

SEO Optimizer, unfortunately I'm not that well versed in php, so that's out of the question.

Toinkzz - I'm not sure?

janhvizdak - The project is for my brother, so i have no choice!

Would it work if I got a custom URL, "raleighmortgagepro.com", changed the page title to "Raleigh Mortgage" and used an iframe to display my clients site inside the "raleighmortgagepro.com" site?

Here's a visual description of what i'm thinking:

www.raleighmortgagepro.com (page title - Keyword, Description, Etc)
<iframe>Bank's Unchangeable Site"</iframe>
<noframe>text from Bank's Unchangeable Site"

Will that work? Bottom line, how do I get this site - http://ae.bankofamerica.com/ChristofernRoberts to number one for the keywords Raleigh Mortgage?

Thank you very much again, in advance!

JERRY JULIANO · 08-11-2007, 03:25 PM

Or, if there was a way to download that whole site and upload it to my server, we could do that. I couldn't figure out how to download it though.

bratwebdesign · 08-12-2007, 01:10 AM

Would be better if you made a short site using the www.raleighmortgagepro.com and then use the bank site as a reference. That way you have control.

JERRY JULIANO · 08-12-2007, 10:27 AM

So basically, create a simple new site, and do optimization on that, with a link to the original site?

I would hate to have to do that, just because it would take way more time... but, if you guys think that's my only chance, I will give it a shot.

Before we settle on that solution though, if you search "raleigh mortgage" in google, only one site has done SEO, backlinks are like 36... So, I'm hoping I can still compete with an Iframe site.

Thoughts?

Cornbread · 08-12-2007, 11:30 AM

On page optimization is kind of dying anyway, page title and text should naturally be relevant to the subject, you should be fine. If it's in a fairly non-competitive field, you can still be HIGHLY successful in the rankings with enough quality backlinks. Get some good backlinks, vary the anchor text pointing back to your site to include some of your key words. Off page optimization is your only hope, but that in itself is powerful. Read this article on how to market your web site. You can start a financial blog and use the blog to increase web awareness to your site and above all get quality directory listings like from the v7n Banking Directory.

zokiii · 08-12-2007, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JERRY JULIANO

Hi guys!

I have a client who works for a bank and has a website provided by them. It's a template, and can't be changed at ALL. Including page title and text.

So, what are my options here for SEO?

Why do you taking clients for your SEO service if you can't deliver quality service and you do not know how to do SEO?

peter_d · 08-12-2007, 09:05 PM

If I was faced with this problem, there would be a few options I'd consider:

A satellite site, but you're presumably still going to run into legal issues around the claims made in the content.
Link building. Good rankings can be obtained using external links only.
Cloaking, although you've got to know what you're doing, and the search engines certainly don't like it.
Provide a PPC campaign and orient the metrics around traffic, not ranking.
Tell the client their demands are unreasonable. It's like asking someone to promote a business on television, without filming an advertisement.

JERRY JULIANO · 08-13-2007, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JERRY JULIANO

janhvizdak - The project is for my brother, so i have no choice!

Cornbread & Peter, you guys had the answers im looking for. I plan on going for a strong link building campaign, adding in some no frame content and optimizing my page title & URL as much as possible. My competition is VERY weak for my keywords.

Once again, I thank you guys for such in depth advice. I've been to other forums and they basically told me to give up.

Thanks guys!