Brain Teaser - Dead Link Ranking in SERP's
-
Hello Moz Brains.
Came across a site that is coming up for "caliber signs and imaging" which is a brand I'm working with, and a few things have me baffled:
1. The link in the SERP takes you to an error page (you can manually access it by dropping the www.)
2. The entire site is setup with iFrams (header frame, body frame, and footer frame) navigating throughout the site keeps the single url and only swaps the body content.
3. The site if for a sign company but the blog area served in the iFrame is in Indonesian and seems to about some soccer matches.
4. The business associated with this site is in AZ, but they are coming in local (Irvine, CA) results with a dead page and no locally relevant content.I'm I missing something or is Google missing something?
The site is "http://calibersigns.com/" and it belongs to a company in AZ. -- it comes up for "caliber signs and imaging" (in my case on the 3rd spot) or even worse "caliber signs and graphics" where it seems to be at the top, with all the surrounding content being the true brand -- which makes it look like my clients Google+ reviews and other endorsements belong to them.
I have my local setting set to "92618", Irvine CA
Would love some feedback on this and your opinion on how we should proceed?
thanks in advance
-
Hi There
Few things;
- They are no longer ranking for me on "caliber signs and imaging" set to Irvine, CA.
- I think they are ranking still for "caliber signs and graphics" because it's an exact title match, and the domain is carrying a large part of the ranking
- Their site is really messed up - like phenomenally messed up - looks like they still exist as of last year on facebook but they either don't use their site or it's just not updated. I don't think there was anything malicious, it's just bad.
- The blog - strange! The "author's" profile IS in fact "martin" - I wonder if it somehow got hijacked. I think it DID get hijacked actually. All the posts 2011 and prior are real (like this one) - then the spam starts.
Now, if the word "caliber" is not commercial (like a "caliber sign" is not a thing, right?) - then they are still going to rank very easily for things like "caliber" despite their bad site and geographic location. So essentially, they are ranking because they are super low-competition terms, they actually haven't done anything malicious on their end - and now we know Google can process iFrame sites
-
Hey Eric;
Thank you for responding, my questions is more of a "why" is this URL ranking so well in the search results for "caliber signs and graphics", when the resulting SERP's are going to none existent pages. The SERPS that are coming up in top positions are point to the following pages:
- http://www.calibersigns.com/
- http://calibersigns.com/top_frame.html
- http://www.calibersigns.com/contact.html
As you can see from these links there is no reason these pages should be in the index or rank for any search results. The domain authority is a whooping 13, with very few low value links pointing back the site.
I'm attaching some screen shots of the search results and the pages that are coming up.
So what gives? Why is this showing up?
Thanks
-
Vanadium Interactive, I'm not sure what you're asking here. Obviously the first order of priority would be to fix the site. Most likely there's an issue with the .htaccess file that is causing the issue, since the non-www version of the site is accessible and the www version is not. Should be an easy fix by any competent programmer familiar with .htaccess files.
The next priority would be to totally get rid of iframes on the site, there's just no need for them anymore, and they're not very search friendly. Each individual page can get indexed separately, and you might have someone visit the "top frame" page of the site, and they couldn't navigate the site very well.
Sites like this generally rank well because of the links pointing to them, not because of the actual content on the page. I can see that the page was cached and it was working recently, but just recently ended up with the current problem.
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
-
3 Main Local Ranking Factors
In the Moz article titled Should You Pay for Local Listings Management? by Miriam Ellis, she makes this statement: "Prominence, proximity, and distance are the three types of factors Google tells us it takes into account when ranking local businesses. " I always thought that classic on- and off-page SEO was one of those three factors. What puzzles me about Miriam's statement is this: What's the difference between distance and proximity? Aren't they the same thing?
Local Listings | | btreloar3 -
Why won't a business show up in the local pack when all signs point to that it should?
Hello! I've been trying to figure out why a business won't show up in the local pack even though their GMB has more reviews, seems to be doing everything right, and just doesn't show. The business is "A Senior Journey", and should be showing up for searches relating to "senior placement services tucson" or "senior placement tucson", but no dice. Been doing a competitor analysis and they are doing better or on par with all of their competitors. The same businesses in Tucson that are competitors show up both times, even Phoenix locations, but not A Senior Journey...any ideas? Thank you!
Local Listings | | WebMO-Tech-Rep0 -
GMB page for law not ranking but individual attorneys' names are
I'm kind of a newbie to everything marketing. I run the marketing for a small law firm. When I google certain keywords, the law firm's GMB page doesn't show up in the local pack or rankings. What shows up instead are the individual GMB pages under the lawyers' names even though we don't do anything to maintain those pages. Their individual pages don't have content or nearly as many reviews. I maintain the firm's GMB page by posting content and that's also where the bulk of our reviews go. Why would pages that aren't maintained show up in the local pack while the page that I keep a close eye on doesn't show up?
Local Listings | | elisa175910 -
Non-www or www from outside links to my site?
I'm new on SEO and recently redid this my website. This website is a local business that just sell around my city, so I started linking the website on listing sites. I found one directory that didn't allow me to add a non-www, so I change on every listing site or directory to www, It seems you can get your google ranking harmed if there is variations to access your website.I know that everything will arrive on the same page no matter I have a non-www or www, but the Website is Hosted on Godaddy and it seems that they don't use the www version even if you want. So my domain is non-www. On the other hand I just have been notified that google webmaster tools couldn't verify my account and I did it again and is verified now. Cheking again on WMT, it doesn't show the previous links that were under "Links to Your Site" it just show "no data available". Here in MOZ it show different results between non-www and www Why is this happening? What should I do? And in which way my google ranking can be affected by this?
Local Listings | | Brumas0 -
Does Google local account access affect local rankings?
Is it possible that being a third party manager to a Google plus account have a negative impact in local rankings since access is coming from a different city? Example: I work in Houston but manage a client's Google account that is in New York.
Local Listings | | mgordon0 -
Should my website link to my google business listing given that I already link from google business to my website ?
I have a website with individual Location Landing Pages for each of my Depots. I also have individual Google Local Business Listings for each of my depots. Should I have a link from my Website Location Landing Pages to the associated Google local Business listings or not ?... Given that I already have a link on my Google Business listing to the relevant Location Page on my website. I wasn't sure whether linking both ways would be more beneficial thus enforcing things better or whether it's not needed to link both ways . thanks Pete
Local Listings | | PeteC120 -
Any ranking success with Moz Local?
In the last three months, our Tampa office has gone from a listing score of 2% to 72% and is considerably higher than everyone else on the first page for Moz Local...but we are on the 13th page! We have not improved at all, even though our score has dramatically. I know that the listing is only a part of the local equation, but it just a little shocking to me we haven't moved up even one page. Anyone have any success with this tool that translated to increased rankings for local? If so, how long did it take you to see results? Thanks, Ruben
Local Listings | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Looking to out source some link building...
But I want to be VERY careful. I just want to out source some local listing etc... type of stuff. I am not looking to get thousands of links per client, I am looking for someone to check the local listings create, claim and edit as needed as well as reaching out to relevant local companies for links i.e. - we work with hotels and resorts, some have large meeting facilities so links from wedding photographers, event planners etc... just citing our clients as venues... etc... Again, I am not looking for, nor do I want, and link schemes etc... just some legitimate building. We are just getting too busy (not complaining) Any suggestions?
Local Listings | | Vizergy0