Home Page not Ranking on Local Community Sites
-
I am helping out with a couple of community sites and am seeing the same problem on both. They are small non-commercial local websites. One has 5 or 6 relevant links to the home page, and the title tag and content have been optimised for the name of the group and the location (and in any case the phrase is completely non-competitive). The other one has few links and isn't optimised. Both sites are fairly new.
Both sites have the same problem in that when you search for the name of the group, it is not the home page that comes up but another page.
My experience is mainly in the more competitive commercial arena, so I thought that these community sites would be simple! Can anyone point me in the right direction as to why this might be?
No spammy links on either. These are community sites that are not particularly well maintained, but the phrases I am searching for are non-competitive. I have checked that the home pages are not no-indexed.
Any tips much appreciated!
-
Generally speaking, what you're describing is the fact that the sites just don't have enough Domain Authority and links in order to rank well for the keywords you're targeting. If the sites are new, it might take some more time, as they may be "sandboxed". They need to become trusted more.
-
Any chance you can give us the URLs? Otherwise, it's difficult to troubleshoot. Does this only happen in Google, or do you see it in Bing as well?
Based on what you're saying, I would look first at at a few possible culprits.
- Index Issues - Have you checked to confirm that the home page is indexed by the search engine? Search site:domain.com to check. If not, you may have a technical problem that prevents the
- Internal Link Scheme - Is the other page getting more internal links than the home page, making it seem more important?
- Content - Does the other page have loads more relevant content than the home page?
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
-
Not Showing Up in Local Pack - Possible Possum Filter?
We have a medical practice client who isn't showing up at all on local category searches for their zip code. Wondering whether it's a Possum algorithm filter, and if so, how we can resolve this. The client is named Wall Street Dermatology, and is located in the same building as two other medical practices in the same dermatologist specialty. They share the same address (65 Broadway, New York, NY), but have different unit numbers. My client is Suite 904. To be clear, these are entirely separate businesses that are not affiliated with each other. They happen to be located in the same building. When running local searches (for example, in US zip code 10004) for the category term "dermatologist", my client is not appearing at all. The two other practices are appearing just fine. In fact, one of the competing practices has not only their practice listed, but one of their doctors individually and even one of the physician assistants. My client, Wall Street Dermatology, isn't showing up. IMO, the GMB profile is robust, with more reviews than competitors, and more content overall. While there's SEO work to be done, the citations and link profile exceeds some of the other practices who are showing up in "dermatologist" (use zip code 10004) searches. Google is showing profiles of dermatologists who haven't even claimed their profiles or have websites.One more thing: For a two-week span, the business was showing up in the 3-pack for "dermatologist" after making upgrades to the GMB profile. This was a first. So they've been there before. However, they made some changes to NAP. 1) added the providers name to the business name: "Business Name: Provider Name". 2) Updated "Suite" to "Ste" in order to match USPS. After that change, the business fell off entirely again.Note: We do appear on searches for the business name. And we do appear for some secondary keywords (for example, "Cosmetic Dermatology"), but not for the main keyword. Is this related to Possum (https://moz.com/learn/seo/google-possum)? Is Google confused that my client is related to the other practices in the same building? Any suggestions?
Local Listings | | sponnu01230 -
Radius Size around GMB location for google local search
We are a digital marketing agency Our clients are (virtually all) retail automotive dealerships. We compete in various market places coast to coast (USA). Since Google puts retail automotive dealerships under Local SEO umbrella, is it known ( published ) how large is the radius around my client's Google My Business rooftop's address? How wide is their search 'reach' according to Google? Asked another way, in a triangular, three SEO geo area, with one city being at the epicenter of the population dispersion, and my client, versus my client's competitors being different distances from where the majority of the population emanates from, all other SERP factors being equal (assumption) between the two competitors, how far is each clients REACH from a Local Search standpoint. Is this known? Published by Google. ONE example: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/BMW+of+South+Albany,+U.S.+9W,+Glenmont,+NY/42.7662693,-73.8138088/@42.6727121,-73.7993527,12z/data=!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x89dde0fe8829c405:0xd915fb9b3b60bf33!2m2!1d-73.7973301!2d42.589211!1m0!3e0
Local Listings | | GaryT_SEO1 -
Has Anyone Seen A Correlation Of An Increase/Decrease in Organic Rankings After Becoming BBB Accredited?
This question pertains to local SEO, and businesses that want to rank for a certain city, service area or metro. In looking at Ahrefs, it appears businesses that are BBB Accredited will get multiple "nofollow" links and possibly 1 "dofollow" link (on their actual profile), however businesses that only have a free (non-accredited) profile, only got a "nofollow link" and no "dofollow links". While it is definitely not a silver bullet and this is not always the case, in examing hundreds of local SERPS throughout 4-5 years in the SEO biz, there does seem to be some sort of correlation between businesses that are BBB accredited and also have their "BBB accreditation" badge with a link on their website. Has anyone seen similar results or correlations for local SEO where they live? Is this a coincidence/anomaly?
Local Listings | | NickW8161 -
Average Percentage of Clicks on Google (Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic)
Does anyone know the allocation, percentage-wise, of clicks that go to Adwords vs Local 3 Pack vs Organic on Google Search (average)?
Local Listings | | OhYeahSteve0 -
Local business with many locations
Hi guys So ive been helping a local business out with their Google my business pages, they have them set up over several different accounts, which I dont think is a problem, however am sure its more helpful having them under one login, does this matter so much ? They are one company, however the titles for their business listings are all different, they have stuck some keywords into the business titles and the area, I am guessing the title for the different businesses in different citys should all be the same just the company name ? is this correct as they need to be consistent dont they ? As i am sure WH smiths for example all their business listings in different citys are just WH smiths and not with some keywords after each different branch ? I just wanted to check this up, and make sure I wasnt messing up someones listings lol !! J
Local Listings | | MrWoc0 -
For companies with multiple locations, does Google mind "Duplicate Content" in local (maps) business descriptions?
I have about 20 locations for my counseling company "Thriveworks" on google. I am getting ready to submit a spreadsheet and take advantage of the new "bulk upload" to manage these locations. Each of my locations has a description that is basically the same in terms of sentiment, but 100% original content (because Google has historically hated duplicate content). 1) Should I copy and paste each location's current unique description into the spreadsheet, or just write one very good description and copy it for all 20 locations?2) Does Google like/dislike "duplicate content" as it applies to business descriptions?3) Is changing a location's description likely to temporarily harm the "ranking" of my business location in search results?Will really appreciate any help...
Local Listings | | Thriveworks-Counseling0 -
Can I use a fake email address for Moz Local submission? This is for a medical practice, that has been advised not to publish an email address due to HIPAA concerns.
I work with medical practices, who due to HIPAA do not want to publish an email address in listings. Would it cause a problem if I just submitted a non-working address (like noreply@client.com) that is not set up at all, so any email sent there would just bounce? Obviously, one option is to use a HIPAA compliant email account, but there are other considerations (timeliness of responses related to clinical issues, for example) that make it less than ideal for a many medical practices to publish a public email address of any sort. I'm interested in any options or solutions that could allow me to use Moz Local (which requires an email address) for businesses with HIPAA concerns. Ira
Local Listings | | irapasternack0 -
New website no ranking, due to 2 duplicate websites . Please help.
Hello Everyone, We have a client that has 2 of the same websites, that have the same content, different phone numbers and different content for the Homepages however, there are a few differences that has been done to both with different functionality. For the last 3 weeks, we have been trying to rank "1. www.websitetoronto.com" as this is the branding of the company, and is for 18+ content. We also have "2. www.websitetor.com" that is PG13 content which is for google places for business aka google+ for business (which is still in pending mode, and is the older site about 7 years old, and was ranked before. The reason for both the sites is that Google Places for Business Listing does not allow any adult content, and our main branding "**1. www.websitetoronto.com" is for 18+ content. Here are the specs for both the sites. ** 1. www.websitetoronto.com New Registered site to be ranked organically (however this is no where in the SERPS) as its serving the older site previously No Google Places for business listings.
Local Listings | | EVERWORLD.ENTERTAIMENT
- This is the actual branding of the company and is for 18+ content We have already started building links, organically and white-hat only. Unfortunately (its not showing for our main keywords in the SERPS) ** 2. www.websitetor.com** 7 Years old Google Places for Business (Still in pending mode) not to be ranked organically blocked from searches - robots sets to
User-agent: *
Disallow: / Removed all the links in WMT including We have change all all the links for point to "www.websitetoronto.com" What is the best way to make this work with google, so that we have both websites performing for the different functions and without losing the google places listings for 2. www.websitetor.com and to rank 1. www.websitetoronto.com a) Do I add any tags? Rel=?
b) Should we remove 2. www.mywebsitetor.com from WMT?
c) any other tips and suggestion to get www.mywebsitetoronto.com to rank would be great! Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Also, the owner want this set up this way so, we cannot reverse as he wants the **1. www.websitetoronto.com as the branding. **0