Google won't index my site?
-
Hi, I've just signed up and am new to SEO. I placed my site live around mid December 2013. Initially I got 2 pages indexed but now not even they show up for site:www.traditional-cleaning.co.uk. According the Moz analytics I have 3 pages with duplicate content which are:
http://traditional-cleaning.co.uk/http://traditional-cleaning.co.uk/index.htmhttp://traditional-cleaning.co.ukProblem is I have no idea how to fix this, don't know whether Google isn't indexing my site because of this and generally am a bit stuck! Can anyone have a quick look at my site and give me a push in the right direction?
-
Hi thanks for getting back. Yes got it sorted though you're right about even the smallest error causing major issues - left a [ character in the file which brought everything to its knees...one other small issue is that the Moz analytics tool is saying that I have duplicate content on 3 pages, but they're all the same page? See attached. any ideas how to solver this?
-
Are you still having issues with this? The .htaccess file is quite powerful and can easily bring down a site with even the smallest mistake. Let me know if you are still having problems and I will try my best to help you out today.
-
Err, right this is turning into a bit of a disaster. I told Google that non-www was preferred since that was what seemed to be indexed. I then went to the htaccess file and copied in the code exactly as specified, but now it won't load? I went back and deleted it but there's still a problem, made worse by the fact I've told google to specifically look for a page that doesn;t work. Any help much appreciated!
-
Hi, would simply attaching this to my htaccess file inside Godaddydo sort things out (I have specified non-www in webmaster tools also):
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^traditional-cleaning.co.uk$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://traditional-cleaning.co.uk/$1 [R=301,L]Thanks
-
Hi Nick, yes its Godaddy
-
You can definitely youtube some advice. Is your hosting provided by a big name provider or do you manage your own server?
-Nick
-
Hi thanks, that's really helpful. I'll give those suggestions a bash and let you know if I run into any issues. due to the fact that I only submitted this about a month ago and have zero links, I guess it's optimistic to assume I'll get any traction any time soon?
-
Thanks Nick, yes I have submitted an XML map through webmaster tools. I assume I'll be able to youtube some examples on how you do the htaccess thing?
-
Hi Edward,
The first thing I would do is sign up for google webmaster tools if you haven't already. The next step is to submit a site-map to google tools to help get your content indexed.
Also it appears that your content is indexed, try searching for "www.traditional-cleaning.co.uk" or "traditional-cleaning.co.uk", you'll see your content is being displayed by google. The site looks fantastic by the way!
The next step on your SEO adventure is going to be picking www.traditional-cleaning.co.uk OR traditional-cleaning.co.uk. Depending on your hosting setup you can have www redirected via .htaccess or change www to a cname record in your dns to point to the non-www version. The opposite is also an option if you'd like to keep the www but you don't want to use both interchangeably because it will created duplicate content.
That should give you some good things to get started on. Let me know if you have any trouble.
Thanks,
-Nick
-
Hi there!
I just searched Google for site:http://traditional-cleaning.co.uk and I see 26 pages indexed, so it is good news that your site is being indexed! Google considers the www version and the non-www version of the URLs to be different sites, so it's best to pick one and stick with it. You can do this by 301 redirecting all of your URLs that start with "www" to the root. I usually recommend using an .htaccess file for this as long as your server is compatible. Here is some more information - http://301redirects.net/non-www-to-www-301-redirect-urls.php
You will also want to redirect the index.htm file to the root URL. Here is how you can do this (with .htaccess) -
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /redirect html pages to the root domain
RewriteRule ^index.html$ / [NC,R,L]
These two steps should resolve your issues with both Google and Moz. I also highly recommend using Google Webmaster Tools and designating your preferred URL just to be safe. Let me know if you need any other help!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Best address to use on Google business listing for youth sports program
Hello, Moz Community! I'm helping a friend with some local marketing for his youth sports program. He trains his kids at a community center and a public park where court times are managed by the city. His address in his Google business listing is currently the community center, but that is shared with multiple businesses including the community center itself. I know he needs an address that is unique to his business, but he lives outside of the city in which his program is located. Our goal is to boost exposure in the city in which his program is located. Since 1) his business address is located outside of the city in which he conducts business and 2) the addresses at which he conducts his business is utilized by multiple businesses including the actual property owner, what options do I we have for an address that Google will recognize as valid and won't cause ranking issues? If there is nothing we can do in the current situation, what are steps we can take to address this issue for his business? Thanks a lot!
Local Listings | | Tony_GP0 -
Google Business Listing Verification for Unmarked Facilities
We have been trying for over a year to get Google My Business listing verification on our facilities, which are separate from our company HQ. We have 31 facilities around the world that do not have business signs on them. We have tried sending postcards and are told that no one is receiving them. The folks who receive the mail are guards and it's tricky to ensure they field them. This has been an ongoing challenge as Google says that the alternate method requires a business sign located next to the building number, which we don't have. What do you recommend we do to get listed in GMB?
Local Listings | | EvoqueDCS0 -
Why is a Google Listing Showing Up in a Different Town Than Its Address?
I have a client who runs a dental office on the outskirts of Racine, WI. His address specifically shows up as being in Racine, however, his GMB profile has always showed with the category of "Dentist in Mount Pleasant, WI" displaying below the photos. (Mount Pleasant is the next town over and his office straddles the line between the two towns in Google's overlay map of the town.) Obviously this is frustrating and I'm concerned that his location is hurting his ability to rank in the larger, more populous town of Racine. Have any other SEOs ever encountered this? And if so, how have you approached the issue? Location pages? Mentions of the location more often on the pages? tsLvH2B
Local Listings | | formandfunctionagency1 -
Getting your business name on a Google Map?
How do you get your business name to appear on Google Maps? See attachment. What's the process to get this to happen? I have a Google Local listing, but that doesn't seem to be enough. ZzFnwBj
Local Listings | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
Google Places - Remove Completely vs. Permanently Closed?
This is a bit confusing to explain so bear with me please. We have a client that used to have an old law practice with a partner. The site and backlinks were very large and it had a lot of domain authority. It also had a very large citation profile and history. The two lawyers have since split, but there remains multiple Google Places listings out there for the old partnership. We have fixed the one showing the old business practice name, but not the one that he setup for his personal name. One of the biggest hassles is that the old location he setup has his attorney name in the actual listing. The issue is that we cannot close the old listing (we tried this), as it comes up permanently closed when you Google his name. If you search for his new Law Firm, the correct business listing that we have set up will show. The new listing also includes his name and has over 50 five star reviews. We hoped that the large amount of legitimate reviews would get rid of or at least suppress the old listing, but it is not happening. So I am a bit confused as to what to do. If we close the old listing Google shows the red "permanently closed" listing when you Google his name. We cannot update the old listing information to show his new address as then it will compete with the new listing that we setup that shows all the positive reviews. The old listing was not created by us, and the new one was. The new one shows when you search for his Law Firm name in Google, but not for his personal name i.e "NAME HERE ATTORNEY" or "HIS NAME and LOCATION" Interested to hear your thoughts. The only way I can think to fix this is to contact Google directly and see if there is a way to permanently delete the listing from Google maps, but I am not aware that this is possible.
Local Listings | | David-Kley0 -
How to appear on Google Maps
We have a Google+ Local page, however, we are not appearing at all in Google Maps when searched for relevant keywords, such as Tax Accountant Dandenong (for google.com.au). What can we do to make sure that our business appears on Google Maps when relevant keyword phrases are searched?
Local Listings | | Gavo0 -
Google my business
Hi, I have implemented the code [https://plus.google.com/+Thezenagency](<a href=)" rel="publisher"> on my website. I have also linked my google+ page which shows a tick with the words "verified local business" next to my logo and name. The problem is however i still do not have the box appear on the right hand side of a branded web search with my location, picture, reviews etc. Is there another step which needs to be completed? This was a couple of weeks ago it was done. Thanks in advance
Local Listings | | TheZenAgency0 -
Competitor outranking me on google with their yelp, facebook and youtube pages
I'm working to rank for a local search term (my city wedding photographers). I'm frustrated that my competitor is outranking me not with their website (they are no. #9 and I'm #6) but with their Yelp account (#1) Facebook Account (#5) and Youtube account (#7 - not outranking me, but right below me). I'm going to continue working on my SEO to hopefully get higher up, but even then, they are basically dominating page 1 with their links. It gets worse on page 2. They are showing up 5 times for youtube/vimeo videos, and 1 time with a spammy landing page with no images, full of keyword anchored links to their main site. What gives? Since when are social media profiles outranking local sites on google organic searches? Could it be that our keyword is just so low competition that google has allowed all this stuff to rank so highly?
Local Listings | | studio35design0