Prepared for Soigné Maui
By maks.co for Chef Kevin Bell · 1 October 2026 · private page, not indexed

Diagnosis, fixes, and the campaign

Soigné is no longer in Google's top 10 for "private chef Maui". Here is why, and what it takes to get back.

We looked at soignemaui.com on 1 October 2026 with ranking history, link data and the pages themselves. This page shows what we found, the three things only you can fix, and the link campaign we would run. Every number names its source and date.

7
keywords in Google's top 3 in June 2023, the site's best month
DataForSEO, monthly ranking history, Google US
1
keyword in the top 10 in September 2026
DataForSEO, same series
36vs 87 to 104
sites linking to soignemaui.com, against 87 to 104 for the four strongest chef sites in Google's top 10
Moz Link Explorer, 1 October 2026

What happened, in order

  1. December 2022soignemaui.com starts. The older sites soignecatering.com and soignechef.com are left behind, with nothing redirecting to the new domain.
  2. May to June 2023The peak. 70 to 75 keywords ranking, 7 of them in the top 3, about 290 estimated visits a month.
  3. August 2024The last top-3 position is gone.
  4. Feb to Mar 2025A burst of homepage edits (Wayback Machine captures change on 27 January, 9, 11 and 16 February and 29 to 30 March) overlaps Google's March 2025 core update, which ran from 13 to 27 March. The site falls to 17 keywords.
  5. April 2026A partial recovery: 106 keywords ranking, 6 in the top 10, about 318 estimated visits a month.
  6. September 2026Down again: 99 keywords ranking, only 1 in the top 10, and about 158 estimated visits a month, half of April's. We have not yet found what caused this second drop; it is one of the first things we would look at. On 1 October 2026 the top 10 for "private chef maui" is privatemauichef.com, alohapartychef.com, a Reddit thread, Yelp, jasonraffin.com, lotuschefs.com, chefkristin.com, Instagram, takeachef.com and aprivatechefmaui.com. Soigné is not on the page.
Keywords in Google's top 10, by month
soignemaui.com, Google US. The months we have on record; hover or tab to a point for the full numbers.
Keywords in Google's top 10 by month, December 2022 to September 2026 Zero in December 2022, twelve in June 2023, eleven in November 2023, eight in June 2024, three in March 2025, six in April 2026, one in September 2026.
Source: DataForSEO ranking history for soignemaui.com, Google US, pulled 1 October 2026. "Estimated visits" is DataForSEO's monthly estimate from organic search, not your analytics.

Why: four causes, each with its evidence

Cause one

Almost no links

Google treats a link from another site as a vote. Soigné has 36 sites linking to it and a Moz domain authority of 9. The four strongest chef sites in the top 10 have 87 to 104; chefkristin.com, also in the top 10, has 40. The genuine links we found are a directory (viesearch.com), one wedding couple's site, one wedding planner (angelawhiteevents.com) and two tool sites, plus your own mauifarmtofridge.com redirect. Our prospect research found two more that the link tools had missed: a vacation-rental manager's private-chef page (Grace Vacation Rentals) and a Birdeye reviews profile.

About 200 "DA checker" spam domains appeared in the last days of September 2026. Google ignores those; a disavow file is optional. The links are not junk. There are simply almost none.

Sites linking to each domain
Linking root domains, Moz Link Explorer, 1 October 2026
privatemauichef.com104
lotuschefs.com101
alohapartychef.com94
aprivatechefmaui.com87
chefkristin.com40
soignemaui.com36
Moz domain authority: privatemauichef.com 13, alohapartychef.com 10, aprivatechefmaui.com 9, soignemaui.com 9, lotuschefs.com 8, chefkristin.com 6. Moz counts every linking domain it has on record, including ones it has since seen removed (13 of Soigné's 36), and counts the same way for every site.
Cause two

The homepage does not say Maui

Your title tag is "World-Class Private Chefs - Soigne". The description says "Hawaii". The H1 is the word Soigné. Every competitor's homepage says Maui in its title or its H1. Your two services pages do better (about 1,200 words each, with nine Maui mentions), which is why the site still ranks for anything at all.

HomepageTitle tag, as served on 1 October 2026Says Maui
privatemauichef.comPrivate Maui Chef – A Culinary CollectiveYes
alohapartychef.comMaui Private Chef | Matt Yakabouski Private DiningYes
lotuschefs.comMaui Private Chef Services with Art, Heart and SoulYes
aprivatechefmaui.comPrivate Chef Services - Private Chef Katarina on MauiYes
chefkristin.comChef Kristin Michaels • Private Chef Services for Maui (Hawaii), Palm Desert/Palm Springs (California) and Denver (Colorado)Yes
jasonraffin.comWelcome Menu - Chef Jason Raffin (the H1 is "Maui Private Chef")In the H1
soignemaui.comWorld-Class Private Chefs - Soigne (description: "private chefs in Hawaii"; H1: "Soigné")No
Cause three

A second copy of the whole site is in Google's index

soigne.flywheelsites.com is the staging copy your developer works on. It is open to Google: its pages say "index, follow", each one's canonical tag points at itself, and its robots.txt allows everything. A site: search on 1 October 2026 returned at least the home and private-chef pages from it. Two identical sites split the credit, and Google picks which one to show.

The soignemaui.com homepage on 1 October 2026: the Soigné wordmark, the headline Event Catering and Private Dining, a chef picking herbs, and the heading Creating Magical Maui Memories.
soignemaui.com
Title
World-Class Private Chefs - Soigne
Robots
index, follow
Canonical
https://soignemaui.com/
The soigne.flywheelsites.com homepage on 1 October 2026, identical to the live site apart from the hero photo.
soigne.flywheelsites.com
Title
Home - Soigné
Robots
index, follow
Canonical
https://soigne.flywheelsites.com/

Screenshots and tags captured on 1 October 2026. Google's index checked the same day with a site:soigne.flywheelsites.com search, which returned the home page ("Soigné: Home") and the private-chef page ("Private Chef - Soigné").

Cause four

The old domains were let go

soignecatering.com ran from at least 2021 until early 2026, and 38 sites still link to it (Moz; 23 of those links are nofollow). When it lapsed, a domain reseller registered it on 22 May 2026 and listed it for sale. Today it redirects to that sale page, so those 38 sites now point at a reseller's sale page. soignechef.com is unregistered. mauifarmtofridge.com still redirects to your site, which is right.

DomainState on 1 October 2026Linking sites
soignecatering.comRegistered by a reseller on 22 May 2026, listed at $195 on ExpiredDomains.com, redirects to the listing38
soignechef.comUnregistered (no record at the .com registry)not checked
mauifarmtofridge.comYours, registered to April 2027, redirects to soignemaui.comnot checked

Registration dates from the Verisign RDAP registry service; the domain's active years from Wayback Machine captures; link counts from Moz Link Explorer; the sale listing from the reseller's page. All checked on 1 October 2026.

Two smaller items: the site has no LocalBusiness schema, so Google is not told it is a business at 60 E. Wakea in Kahului; and the "See what people are saying" link on your About page (g.page/mauifarmtofridge) now lands on a plain Google search instead of your Business Profile, which has 97 reviews at 5.0 (as mirrored by Birdeye on 1 October 2026), so the link is broken and visitors who click it do not reach your reviews.

Three fixes on your side, and one we do

The first two take about half a day each for whoever looks after your website, and the third about an hour. We write the exact instructions and check the result.

  1. Take the staging copy out of Google

    On Flywheel, turn on password protection for soigne.flywheelsites.com (or add a noindex header), then ask Google to remove its URLs in Search Console. From then on, every ranking signal goes to one site.

    Cost: none. Time: half a day.

  2. Say Maui on the homepage, and tell Google where you are

    A title like "Private Chef and Wedding Catering on Maui | Soigné", a description that says Maui, and an H1 that says what you do and where. Add LocalBusiness schema with the Kahului address and phone.

    Cost: none. Time: half a day.

  3. Buy soignecatering.com back and redirect it

    The reseller lists it at $195. Once it is yours again, a one-line redirect sends its visitors and its 38 linking sites to soignemaui.com. We would also register soignechef.com (about $12 a year) and redirect it.

    Why the $195 is worth paying

    38 sites link to soignecatering.com (Moz), 15 of them with followed links. Earning one link by outreach takes 30 to 100 pitches at the quality we work at, so even part of that set is weeks of work. Google may treat a domain that lapsed and changed owners as new, so we cannot promise those links will count again. The other reason is protection: while a reseller holds the name, anyone can buy your old catering name and point it wherever they like, including at a competing chef.

    Cost: $195 once, plus the yearly renewal (about $12). Time: an hour.

  4. We set up the Business Profile and your citations

    Your Business Profile already has 97 reviews at 5.0. We check it is under the Soigné name at 60 E. Wakea, Kahului, with the right categories, services, hours and photos, fix the broken link to it, then make the name, address and phone identical on Apple Maps, Bing Places, Yelp and the main Hawaii and wedding directories. For a business with premises this is allowed, cheap and quick, and it is what Google shows in the map results for a local search.

    Part of the campaign. Nothing for you to do beyond approving the profile text.

What we would do: the campaign

Six strands, run every weekday by the same system that runs our current campaign for a puzzle publisher, aimed at the pages on Maui that already send couples and visitors to chefs.

StrandWho we pitchWhat we ask for
Partner pagesMaui wedding planners and venues with vendor or "preferred caterer" lists; villa and vacation-rental managers with guest guides; concierge servicesA listing on the page that already lists chefs and caterers
Travel and food pressMaui and Hawaii travel blogs, food writers, visitor guidesA mention with a link, or a quote from Chef Kevin
Contributed articlesThe same sites, when they take guest piecesOne useful article signed by Chef Kevin (farm-to-table on Maui, what a private chef dinner on Maui costs, planning a villa dinner), with a byline link
Directories and citationsWedding and event directories, Hawaii business directories, chef and caterer directories, plus the Business Profile and citation set aboveFree listings with the address and the site
Unlinked mentionsPages that already name Soigné or Chef Kevin (couples' wedding sites, planners' blogs, reviews) without a linkThe link
Broken-link replacementVenue and planner pages whose caterer links are deadReplace the dead link with Soigné

What a pitch looks like

Every email is short, true, specific to the page, and signed by you. This one is drafted for a wedding planner's vendor page. You approve the copy and the article topics before anything is sent.

The rules we work by: no paid links, no link exchanges, no fake reviews, no pitch that is not true, and every email goes out from an address on soignemaui.com under your name.

To: the planner, by name, at the address on their siteSubject: A Maui caterer for your vendor list

Hi [name],

Your preferred vendors page lists [two caterers from the page] for couples planning a Maui wedding, so I thought you would want to know about us. I run Soigné, a private chef and catering team based in Kahului. We cook for weddings, rehearsal dinners and family celebrations across the island, indoors and out, with menus built around what Maui farms have that week.

If it fits your list, a line you could use: Soigné (soignemaui.com): Maui wedding catering and private chef dinners from a team trained at the French Culinary Institute and in New York's Michelin-starred kitchens.

Happy to send a sample menu or cook a tasting for your team. If it is not a fit, no need to reply.

Chef Kevin Bell
Soigné, Kahului
soignemaui.com · 808.757.6184

Week one: pages we would pitch first

Real pages about Maui weddings, stays and dining, each loaded by us on 1 October 2026, that already list or name chefs and caterers. Two pages already do what we would ask of the rest: Grace Vacation Rentals links Soigné four times from its private chef page, and a couple's wedding site links your home page and Chef Kevin's About page. This is a sample of the first week's list, not the whole list.

Cadence, and what to expect

Up to 15
pitches a weekday while there are good Maui pages to pitch, one follow-up after a week, nothing on weekends. After the first six to eight weeks expect 20 to 30 a week, as the list of good pages is used up
1 to 3in 100
cold pitches that turn into a link at this quality. Directories, citations and unlinked mentions convert far better, so they go first
100
linking domains is the realistic six-month goal, from 36 today. That puts Soigné level with the sites above it
Monday
a written report every week, with every pitch, reply and new link by name

Month one is mostly your three fixes, the Business Profile and citation set, and building the prospect list; outreach reaches full pace in week three or four. Most of the gap to 100 closes through directories, citations and unlinked mentions, not cold pitches. We do not promise a ranking or a date, because nobody honest can. What we can promise is the work, in writing, every week.

The weekly report

Every Monday you get one page: each pitch sent that week by organisation, the replies, the links that went live, and the running totals since the start. Organisations are named; no email addresses, no jargon. Here is a real one from a campaign we run now, for a puzzle site, so you can see exactly what you would receive.

What we need from Soigné

  • The three fixes done, or access for us to do them with your web person.
  • A sending mailbox on soignemaui.com (we set up the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records with you) and the go-ahead to write under Chef Kevin's name.
  • Your approval of the pitch copy and the article topics before anything goes out.
  • About five minutes a week for the steps a human has to do, such as an account sign-up or a photo.

Next step: a 20-minute call

We walk through this page together, you ask anything, and we agree the first month. Reply to the message that brought you here, or write to the address below.

bj@maks.co