[RichieBoy67]

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

One thing you can do to improve SEO is backlinks - link your site either in your signature or your profile, everywhere you can on the web.

Your SEO guy tell you that?

Start with your profile here.

Nope, too many link backs these days get you penalized. This was a giant part of the first Penguin update.

A few good back links on reputable sites are good but you definite do not want your link plastered every where especially in directories and not related sites.

As for the largest sites still using older versions it is most likely because it is an extreme hassle to do an upgrade on a major forum like that. it does not necessarily mean anything but preference.

--------------- Added 18 Mar 2014 at 15:11 ---------------

Originally Posted by Max Taxable

One other BIG SEO thing to think about - does your frikkin page load fast?

Slow pages kill SEO and rank. It's documented, it's proven. If you are overmodded and have a glut of images - to the point where your pageload is measured in megabytes instead of kilobytes - you're looking at one big culprit right there.

Test it then optimize it, using this free tool developed by Google's tech president:

WebPageTest

I agree with Page load. You can see the amount of time Google takes to crawl and download content in Google webmaster tools. They will also send you a warning if your site takes too long to load.

Remember Google does not see or load pages as we do. I definitely agree though slow loading pages is a Major culprit of having seo issues. Errors, etc are also not good.

In regards to the OP.

Your seo has a decent alexa rating but I would be more apt to see how his sites are doing in Google under the search terms needed to find his site. I say again, Alexa is not a standard to use for knowing how good someone is at seo. In addition, an seo is not going to do anything for your site that will last without content. Content is key.

Many people still try to get away with buying link schemes and they may see an improvement for awhile but google will catch up and you will get a manual action sooner or later and you will lose every thing gained. I have seen people do this over and over. There is no quick and easy fix for seo.