Fred Google Update & Ecommerce Sites
-
Hi
I've seen a couple areas of our site drop in average rankings for some areas since the 'Fred' update. We don't have ads on our site, but I'm wondering if it's 'thin' content - http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/
We are an ecommerce site and we have some content on our category pages - which is a bit more generic about the section/products within that section - but how can it not be if it's a category page with products on?
I am working on adding topic based content/user guides etc to be more helpful for customers, but I'd love some advice on generating traffic to category pages.
Is it better to rank these other topic/user guide pages instead of the category page & then hope the customer clicks through to products?
Advice welcome
-
Hi
Thanks for the reply. I haven't seen huge traffic drops, it's more than a lot of keywords have dropped out of rankings, but I think it was for pages which don't rank highly anyway.
It just seems to coincide with a domain authority drop as well.
I'm keeping up to date with it but can't find anything concrete on whats affected us
Thanks
-
Hi Becky, I've been watching a couple clients sites have very specific non-branded keyword ranking drops... A few colleagues are having much larger traffic ranking drop issues as well... I don't think we will know anything right away. Have to let the dust settle, as I am sure everyone is testing like crazy as are we to see the effects of FRED, and what changes those effects if anything.
My colleagues are freaking out, though I keep reassuring them to calm down and not do anything drastic that could possibly negatively affect their site in the long run. From what I am seeing across the web first place to check is to go over Google's Webmaster Guidelines and verify you are compliant in every way....until we know more. Good Luck!
https://www.seroundtable.com/google-confirm-fred-algorithm-update-23603.html
-
Hi
Thank you for your response - we're currently running an AB test which is why you get to this URL, the main homepage is http://www.key.co.uk/en/key without the B & before I started working here, the site structure was developed by our parent company in France
Would you say this is still an issue?
I know we need to add quality content, videos, quality backlinks etc - I'm just trying to prioritise and at the moment it is just me doing SEO with 20,000 products, so you never feel like you're getting anywhere.
Thank you for your help! x
-
Thin content could be the culprit, but there are other things it could be as well. Without access to historical data, past SEO activities, etc. it's nigh impossible to tell you why you're experiencing a drop in rankings, especially since you're citing the "fred" update, which we still don't know anything about.
When I visited that URL the site structure seemed odd to me, as I was redirected to http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/b, which is pretty deep in your site architecture. This means links to your website www.key.co.uk are passing page rank down through three subpages to get to /b. Page rank should pass 100% through 301 redirects now, but I'm not 100% certain how Googlebot views your structure since it seems like you've got a redirect chain going there. If you can simplify your site architecture and check Search Console to make sure that it's technically healthy, then you're off to a good start.
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
-
Which is the best way to rank a site?
Hi, I have been working on SEO for a long time, recently I started a new site where I was aiming to rank different niches but I am stuck. First I covered some keywords related to sports then I shifted the niche to hunting. My idea was to cover a niche fully then move on to the 2nd so the authority of the site can also help rank the 2nd niche but the problem is I am unable to rank my site. Should I be considering only a very specific niche site or should I continue doing all the stuff on the same site. Please checkout my site ReviewsCase.com and let me know. And if has also done the same please let me know.
Algorithm Updates | | seoasikhan20 -
Google Birthday Update - noticeable industries?
Anybody see anything specific around which sites are seeing upswing from birthday update? We saw a lot of rankings drop, most drastic in terms that are more loosely associated with our offerings but also seeing more sites with higher DA taking a spot or two above and some more images in top spots for ecommerce terms that you might not usually think to click images to view. For a lot of these terms we're sure our conversion is better, and we offer to more of the search query intent, than some of the competitor sites that have taken top spots - even Amazon and staples who I'm guessing will move back down after google sees people leaving their site to find what they are looking for (hopefully).
Algorithm Updates | | david-johns-sheetlabels1 -
Https & Google Updated Guidelines
Hi We have https on aspects of the site which users directly interact with, such as login, basket page. But we don't have https across the whole site. In light of Google adding it to their guidelines - is this something we need to put into action? Also same question on the Accessibility point Ensure that your pages are useful for readers with visual impairments, for example, by testing usability with a screen-reader. Are we going to be penalised if these are not added to our site? Thank you
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
Getting listed in the Google local result - help!
Good day, I'm really struggling to get a client to appear in the Google Local map snapshot (on the right of the SERPs), even when their company name is Googled. I've tried everything including getting the main Google Local account verified, had some reviews put up, all the required and relevant info has been completed, yet their location and the map never appear. Any help out there as to how I can remedy this? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | Martin_S1 -
Mobi sites and sitemaps
Hi all, How does should one treat mobi sites which have a separate set of files to the main site - with regards to the sitemap? Doe we tell Google about them?
Algorithm Updates | | gazza7770 -
What to do with eCommerce site with color variations of the same product?
On our eCommerce website we sell products that each have about 20 color variations. When the site was built each color variation was added individually instead as a single product with a configurable color option. Would it be best to combine the different variations into a single product with a configurable drop down menu for color or to leave as is? I am worried the search engines see the individual product pages for each color as duplicate content. What are your thoughts on how Zappos handles color variations? On the category page they display each color variation as an individual product but when the product is clicked it goes to a single product page with the different configurable color variations. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | jchosler1 -
Do we have a timeline of google, bing updates
I thought it would be handy if we had a timeline with dates of any updates to the algo's.
Algorithm Updates | | AlanMosley
Does one exists here at SEOMoz or elsewhere.
Thanks3 -
Google said that low-quality pages on your site may affect rankings on other parts
One of my sites got hit pretty hard during the latest Google update. It lost about 30-40% of its US traffic and the future does not look bright considering that Google plans a worldwide roll-out. Problem is, my site is a six year old heavy linked, popular Wordpress blog. I do not know why the article believes that it is low quality. The only reason I came up with is the statement that low-quality pages on a site may affect other pages (think it was in the Wired article). If that is so, would you recommend blocking and de-indexing of Wordpress tag, archive and category pages from the Google index? Or would you suggest to wait a bit more before doing something that drastically. Or do you have another idea what I could to do? I invite you to take a look at the site www.ghacks.net
Algorithm Updates | | badabing0