What determines the page order of site:domain?
-
Whenever I use site:domain.com to check what's index, it's pretty much always in the same order. I gather from this, the order is not random. I'm also reasonably certainly it isn't related to any page strength signals or ranking results. So, does anyone know why the pages are displayed in the order they are? What information does the order of the pages tell me?
Thanks,
Ruben
-
I appreciate the responses. I guess that makes sense for why about 1/2 the pages are displayed highly, but not the other half. Our "What is an arrearage? q/a" video doesn't get much traffic, and it certainly isn't all that strong of a page for being the second page listed. However, I guess I've got some work to do on changing how google sees our site.
Thanks again,
Ruben
-
Ruben,
In the past, it was generally accepted that the order was directly related to page strength and as far as I know, that's still the case. It may be a little fuzzier now though, as I guess that there is also a relevance quotient thrown into the mix--or something to that effect--which gives some priority to those pages that relate most directly to the overall theme Google has assigned the site/domain.
-
Nothing is ever random with Google (unless it's a bug). I think those pages are ordered by how important Google sees them, meaning if a particular services page is a more searched term Google will weigh that higher than say your main services page.
Also if people seem to flow through your site a certain way and end up on certain pages more often than not Google will use that to show relevant site links. For example Google will make out when someone is looking for lawyer that they might be interested in your contact details and office location.
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
-
High bounce rates consistent with a login that takes you to a 3rd party site?
My firm has a credit union client whose bounce rates skyrocketed after implementing an online banking portal. Logging in to the online banking portal takes you to a 3rd party site. Would arriving at the site and immediately logging in be considered a bounce? And if so, would a high bounce rate actually correlate with a warm reception to their online banking tool?
Reporting & Analytics | | TheKatzMeow0 -
How does Google measure page position in Webmasters?
Does anyone know exactly how Google measures page position in Webmaster Tools? For example: In Google Webmaster Tools, we had a product which on the 22/12/15 was at position 7, and then dropped to position 112 on the 30/12/15. It then rose back up to position 7 on the 6/01/16 and then down to position 25 on the 16/01/16. What does this mean and why?
Reporting & Analytics | | CostumeD0 -
No Google Analytics code on page BUT reporting is active
How could Google Analytics be reporting data if my pages don't have the GA code on them? Mike
Reporting & Analytics | | Mike_c0 -
Question about a Old Domain
My question is about a previously used Domain. recently one of my client buy a new domain and now start working with that. he ask me to manage google webmaster and analysis. Yesterday i found its showing 360 Not found error. and showing some link which is not generated by my client, maybe previously this domain was used and these link are generated at that time. in webmaster tools i use Remove URLs to remove these links from google. My question to experts: it will effect my clients site? can i overcome from this situation? or better to use a new domain? at opensiteexplorer its showing Domain authority is 6/100, Page authority 16/100
Reporting & Analytics | | Tahrim0 -
Wordpress site with increase number of Crawl(400 response Code) errors in Others section of GWT
I have a wordpress site http://muslim-academy.com/I check in Google Webmasters tool today and I see the increase number of errors in Others area of Google webmaster Tool.The error code is 400http://muslim-academy.com/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%84%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D8%B3-%D8%AC%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B9%D8%A8%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B5%D8%B1-2/%D8%B3%D9%....%3Cbr%20/%3E________________%3Cbr%20/%3E___________%3Ca%20href=?lang=zhOne of the example link of this error.Can you guide me why the number of errors are increasing and how to fix the existing errors.
Reporting & Analytics | | csfarnsworth0 -
ECommerc site redirect to external site when add to cart. Need HELP to track sales!!!
Hi, I buil this site on WordPress, http://www.pilatesboisfranc.com When you go on <<plan &="" pricing="">> on the menu you can purchase a package online.</plan> When you click ''Get Started Now'' or ''Add to Cart'' the buyer is redirect to this external site: mindbodyonline.com QUESTIONS: Can I track my sales on Googles Analytics? Can I creat a goal on G.A. ? I found this video: https://getsatisfaction.com/mindbody/topics/chalk_talk_how_to_setup_google_analytics Is this the right way to do this? About goals, a simple goal I would like to create is, one purchase. Can I acheive that? Not shure about Goals. When I test and purchase, URL is always the same https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=30371 I'm know only very basics stuff when it is time to play in Analytics, I hope you can provide help in details. Thank you, BigBlaze
Reporting & Analytics | | BigBlaze2050 -
Any thoughts on why Nextag and MonsterMarketPlace are linking to our site?
I'm looking in WMT at the crawl errors and I noticed that our website has gotten a lot of Not Found crawl errors that seem strange. A lot of these not found pages are Display URLs that I use in PPC advertising, but not actual redirects (i.e. explorica.com/EducationalTrips). When I looked at how these links were being found, the inbound links were coming from Nextag.com and monstermarketplace.com, two sites that our company has never had a relationship with. We're an educational travel company, so we'd have no reason to. When I followed the links, it looks like it's coming from their "Sponsored Links," but these aren't Google or Bing Ads. We don't even advertise on the content network. Example link: http://www.monstermarketplace.com/starters-and-alternators/alternator-motorola-style-12v-51a-10376 (the ads do rotate so my site might not appear when you check it out). Anyone ever had experience with this type of issue?
Reporting & Analytics | | Explorica0 -
GA custom reports involving pages and goals - what are the metrics saying?
Hi, All! I would like to create a custom report that will enable me to see which of my pages are contributing to goal completion on my site (so I can then optimize the pages that are contributing the most, with maximal ROI for the optimization investment). If I make the dimension "page/page title" and the metric "goal X completions" - which would make sense - what exactly are the numbers that I am seeing telling me? Is it how many times a person started the goal funnel from that pages (meaning every goal would appear only once and there be no overlap)? That doesn't appear to be the case with the numbers, because the headline in the main "Goals" section tells me I have 30 goal completions for that goal, for example, but the headline in the custom report (which is adding up all the numbers) is, say, 100. Or does it mean the number of times that this page was ever in the navigation path of someone who ended up completing a goal? Then the same goal would be counted multiple times, for each page in the path. Additionally, I see this strange thing on some of my reports where the actual funnel pages appear as contributing towards goals, which I guess makes sense, but again the numbers don't match up. If the goal was to get to page B, and the funnel was A->B, and there were supposedly 30 goal completions, my custom report says that A gave 28 goal completions and B gave 25. Anyone know for sure - or through testing - what the case is with all these things? Any explanations will be much appreciated!
Reporting & Analytics | | debi_zyx0