Meta tags not dead? Is this keeping me hidden?
-
I am not sure if it makes a difference, but when I called Google Places on Monday to edit my business address, I asked if the support person could see any penalties against my site. They said no. I asked because of my berneseoftherockies.com website is non existent. Now I have been working with removing 10 foreign backlinks, so not sure if even one bad backlink can cause a site to not come up, thus causing a penalty. I mean for bernese mountain dogs in Colorado is a small niche, but I am no where to be found.
But they did say that they did not see any meta tags.
I responded with I was under the impression that Google does not use meta tags. This rep stated, they would use them.
So did they give me some secret?
When I Googled my main keyword, I noticed out of the top 10 listings, they all used meta keywords, except for one.
Could this be keeping me out of the rankings?
Thank you for your toughts
-
Thank you Philip
Thank you so much. I am quite lost. I watched videos and created my pages based on these videos from a seo company. They preach that you must do like site.com/city-keyword-keyword/target keyword.
So it is hard to know who is right and who is wrong.
I added my state at the beginning thinking that it will help local seo but is this not the right way to think?
Thank you. I have a lot to do
-
-
Clean up (remove) those spammy backlinks. This is VERY important.
-
Optimize your title tags across the entire site. Use this tool to see what your title tags will look like on Google. Your homepage title tag says "Colorado bernese mountain dogs | puppies | breeders Colorado" - I would put something more along the lines of "Bernese of the Rockies: Colorado Bernese Mountain Dog Breeders". My suggestion/example is slightly longer than what Google will display but since it is your homepage, you want to make sure your brand name is front and center. For the interior pages you wouldn't necessarily need to do that. For the puppies page, instead of "Colorado bernese mountain dog puppies | For Sale Colorado" - I would do something like "Adorable Bernese Mountain Dog Puppies For Sale in Colorado". My example barely fits within what Google will display, it says exactly what the page is about, it's clean, AND it has something a little enticing ('adorable').
-
Fix up your URLs. They are very "keyword stuffy" right now. Your "Education & Tips" page's URL is http://www.berneseoftherockies.com/colorado-bernese-mountain-dogs/ -- It should be something as simple as http://www.berneseoftherockies.com/education or http://www.berneseoftherockies.com/education-and-tips. Editing your URLs will mean 301 redirects are necessary. You're using Wordpress and there's a plugin called "Redirection" that works. I still prefer just editing the htaccess file manually. Some quick Google searches can tell you everything you need to know about 301 redirects.
Your overall site isn't that bad. You're using H1s and H2s. You have a lot of content. You're inserting images and some video. Do those 3 things above and you'll be much better off. Of course there's more you can do, but check out the Learn SEO link I shared in my previous comment. I can't go on forever
-
-
Thank you for the help.
I truly appreciate it. I am lost as I got those bad backlinks from hiring a company in 2011 to help me build and start a website presence.
But we really dropped off the map. So this time around I wanted to do it myself.
I know I have a couple of this pages, and maybe I use the word Bernese too much, but it is the name of my dogs and my company.
If I may poke, what area in specific would you say I should work on? I ask because you are a professional, and I am not.
Thank you
-
Hey Chris,
Unfortunately, Google didn't give you any secrets
"Meta tags" is broad. It doesn't specify what the attribute is. You can have meta keywords, meta descriptions, meta charsets, etc. You can read a bit more about exactly what a "meta tag" is defined as here.
As for the meta keywords tag, Google does not use it at all. Without looking up the exact date, I believe Google announced this in 2008 or 2009. It's been a longggg time since the meta keywords tag was used as a ranking factor. A couple years later, Google announced that the meta description tag was no longer used as a ranking factor. HOWEVER, unlike the meta keywords tag, Google does still look at the meta description tag. It just isn't taken into consideration while ranking pages. Meta descriptions are important for click through rates, but they won't give you a rankings boost.
Why aren't you ranking for anything? Well, at least 90% of the backlinks are spammy. I only took a very brief look, but I saw a bunch of directory links and not much else (maybe nothing else). If you don't have a manual penalty yet, you might be due for one. I would highly suggest getting those spammy backlinks removed.
Assuming all the content on your site is original, it isn't a terrible site. It could use work in some areas, but then again, that can be said for 99.99% of websites. If you really want to learn about what you should be doing to improve your rankings, take a look at the Learn SEO section of Moz.
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
-
Do you use HREF lang tags when each page that is localised only exists in that language?
Hi, I have 2 questions I am seeking an answer for. We have a home page in english GB, we then also have products which are specifically served in US. For these pages where the phone number is american, the spelling is american, the address is american, do we need to implement href lang tags? The page isn't a version of another page in english, the page is only in the native language.Secondly, is it recommended to create a second home page and then localise that page for US users?I'd be really greatful if anyone has any pointers as googles forum doesn't explain best practice for this case (as far as I can tell).Many thanks
Local Website Optimization | | Adam_PirateStudios0 -
How to use canonical tags/hreflang for a company in multiple English-speaking countries?
My company is a global company with locations in AU, UK, and USA. Each has their own website. For example, we have https://www.catskill.us (for the USA), a https://www.catskill.com.au (for the AU), and https://www.catskill.co.uk (for the UK). I have used both canonical tags and hreflang tags for our USA website to distinguish any duplicate content from our AU and UK websites. I am wondering if I used the canonical tags and hreflang tags appropriatley in the below example for our USA website. Is it the best way to avoid link value loss? | |
Local Website Optimization | | joseph.defranco
| | |
| | |
| | |0 -
Client wants to rebrand but insists on keeping their old website live as well...
I am working with a client in the dental space that has an existing (11 year old) website for his practice. His domain is tied to his last name, which he would like to get away from because he plans to sell the practice in the next couple years. Backstory: Prior to taking him on, he was working with an SEO agency out of India that were built him quite an ugly backlink profile. Once we discovered it, we immediately notified him about the risk of a penalty if left alone. He was riding high in Google SERP's so of course, it was of no concern to him. Needless to say about a year ago he was inducted into Google's "manual penalty club" for suspicious links. His site vanished in Google and all! Hooray! But no, not really... We met with him to discuss the options, suggesting we clean up his backlink profile, then submit for reconsideration. Based on the time we told him it could take to make progress and be back up and running, he wasn't very excited about that approach. He said he wanted us to rebuild a new site, with a new domain and start fresh. In addition, he wanted keep his original site live since it is tied to his already thriving practice. To sum it all up, his goal is to keep what he has live since his customers are accustom to using his existing (penalized) website. While building a new brand/website that he can use to build a cleaner backlink profile and rank in Google as well as to sell off down the line without having his name tied to the practice. Question: Being that he has an existing site with the company NAP info throughout and the new site will also have the same NAP (just a different domain/brand), is there a "best way" to approach this? The content on the new site would be completely unique. I understand this approach is iffy but in his situation it makes sense to some extent. Any feedback or ideas on how to best handle having two sites running for the same dental practice? If any part of my question is confusing or you need further details to help make a suggestion, please fire away and I will be happy to give as much detail as possible. Thanks Mozzers!
Local Website Optimization | | Bryan_Loconto1 -
Title Tag, URL Structure & H1 for Localization
I am working with a local service company. They have one location but offer a number of different services to both residential and commercial verticals. What I have been reading seems to suggest that I put the location in URLs, Title Tags & H1s. Isn't it kind of spammy and possibly annoying user experience to see location on every page?? Portland ME Residential House Painting Portland ME Commercial Painting Portland Maine commercial sealcoating Portland Maine residential sealcoating etc, etc This strikes me as an old school approach. Isn't google more adept at recognizing location so that I don't need to paste it In H1s all over the site? Thanks in advance. PAtrick
Local Website Optimization | | hopkinspat0 -
Best Practice for Inserting Keywords into Title Tag?
Hello Fellow Mozers I am looking to open a discussion for my question. I will give an example to clarify things. I have a keyword I want to rank "London Luxury Apartments" Which title would be best or what would you suggest in addition to the titles below: Option A) London Luxury Apartments | Luxury London Apartments | Brand Name Option B) London Luxury Apartments | Luxury Apartments in London | Brand Name Option C) London Luxury Apartments | Luxury Apartments for Sale in London | Brand Name Any other option not displayed above that you have extensively tested and know it works. Have in mind the following : I am aware of the 55 character limit so lets not make this discussion about the character Limit. I want to keep the discussion on the Keyword Format and Keyword Logic of using the same keyword just in a different order. The above is just an example in order to best illustrate what I wish to talk about. Round one... Begin!!
Local Website Optimization | | Nic890 -
Should I use pipe in title tags for local seo?
Hi, I've created a bunch of landing pages for local areas, reading, windsor, slough etc for the title tag I have for Windsor Emergency Electrician Windsor - BrandName should I be using a pipe in the tag to further help search engines learn/identify the location? Emergency Electrician | Windsor - BrandName Thank you Kev
Local Website Optimization | | otex1 -
Is translating my SEO meta data to new languages worthwhile?
When translating a website to additional languages, is it recommended, for Google SEO purposes, that the keywords, re-written URLs, meta titles and meta descriptions of each page be translated as well; or have those elements been completely depreciated?
Local Website Optimization | | sptechnologies0 -
Must Have Meta info?
Just wondering what meta info is must have these days. For example" | | http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> |
Local Website Optimization | | Superflys
| | name="Subject" content="Invision Technical - Spokane Web Design an Development services" /> |
| | name="keywords" content="Spokane Website Design, Spokane Web Design, Website designers spokane Washington, Spokane web site Design firm, Web design spokane, spokane web designers, spokane web hosting, spokane web development, spokane web marketing services."/> |
| | name="description" content="Spokane Website Design by Invision Technical. Quality website designers in Spokane Washington. Call (509) 590-0655 for your Spokane Web Design needs."/> |
| | property="og:title" content=" Invision Technical | Website Design and Development"/> |
| | property="og:description" content=" Web Design | Development | Web Hosting | Logo Design | Branding | Custom Software | Search Engine Optimization"/> |
| | property="og:image" content="http://www.spokanewebsitedesign.org/fb.jpg"/> |
| | name="abstract" content="Invision Technical - Spokane Web Design and Development Services."/> |
| | name="distribution" content="Global"/> |
| | name="copyright" content="Invision Technical, All Material Is Copyright"/> |
| | name="robots" content="FOLLOW,INDEX"/> |0