Why isn't our site being shown on the first page of Google for a query using the exact domain, when its pages are indeed indexed by Google
-
When I type our domain.com as a query into Google, I only see one of our pages on the homepage, and it's in 4th position.
It seems though, that all pages of the site are indexed by google when I type in the query "site:domain.com".
There was an issue at the site launch, where the robots.txt file was left active for around two weeks. Would this have been responsible for the fact that another domain ranks #1 when we type in our own domain? It has been around a couple of months now since the site was launched.
Thanks in advance.
-
Hi Matt,
Thanks for the response and the information. Here's some answers of mine and more info:
- The domain contains no keywords and is a specialist, relatively unknown brand.
- The robots.txt file is still active—forgive me. It's just that for around 2 weeks after launch it was still disallowing indexing of any files and folders on the domain.
- In the search results for the Google UK search engine, I can't see the site appear anywhere in the first 10 pages when typing the domain.com as a query
- I've just now checked in the search results for the Google Brasil (it's a Brazilian company with a brazilian domain), and I can now see the homepage appear in the #1 position, but I cannot see any other pages ranking for the site until the 5th page of the SERPs.
- This is a new site with unique content
- Why do you think that the UK search engine isn't picking anything up?
- Is it an issue that only the first position is showing a page for the domain being queried in the Brazilian search engine?I really appreciate your help in advance.
-
Is your domain a brand name or an exact match domain targeting a specific keyword?
If it is an EMD then it could be as simple as your site doesn't rank as well as the others and these types of domain don't have the same benefit they used in terms ranking for the terms they match quickly.
Without the "site:" query in Google it is common to only have one result when doing a domain search - this may have multiple sitelinks under one listing. An example of your typical domain listing would be amazon.co.uk typed into Google - a strong well ranked brand but it only appears once for its domain search on page 1, yet it does have multiple sitelinks for the one listing.
When you say you had a robots.txt live at first - many well ranked sites have them live all the time, but it is more a question of what was in the file? For instance where you restricting access to any or all parts of your site?
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
-
Does name of town in title tag help if queries don't include the town name?
Hi. Wanted to know if targeting local traffic online and the search volume of KWs in the area do not include the local names (according to KW planner) does it still help to keep the town names in the title tag? does google deliver local results based on location names in title tag if query didn't mention it?
On-Page Optimization | | Morris770 -
Why do I have 2 different URL's for the same page - is this good practice?
Hi GuysMy father is currently using a programmer to build his new site. Knowing a little about SEO etc, I was a little suspicious of the work carried out. **Anyone with good programming and SEO knowledge, please offer your advice!**This page http://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/gallery-range-wood-flooring/ which is soon to be http://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/ you'll see has a number of different products. The products on this particular page have been built into colour categories like thishttp://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/lights-greys http://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/beiges http://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/browns http://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/darks-blacks This is fine. Eventually when we add to our selection of woods, we'll easily segment each product into "colour categories" for users to easily navigate to. My question is - Why do I have 2 different URL's for the same page - is this good practice? Please see below... Visible URL - http://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/browns/cipressa/Below is the permalink seen in Word Press for this page also.Permalink: http://www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/browns-engineered-wood/cipressa/and in the Word Press snippet shows the same permalink urlCipressa | Engineered Brown Wood | The Wood Gallerieswww.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-wood/browns-engineered-wood/cipressa/ Buy Cipressa Engineered Brown Wood, available at The Wood Galleries, London. Provides an Exceptional Foundation for Elegant Décor, Extravagant .. If this is completely ok and has no negative search impact - then I'm happy. If not what should I advise to my programmer to do? Your help would be very much appreciated. Regards Faye
On-Page Optimization | | Faye2340 -
How can you activate the 'Results From' internal search bar on Google SERP?
Hi There, I am hoping someone can advise me on getting the 'Results From' sitelink to display for my site on the Google SERP? I have searched far and wide for the answer with no luck. I'd really appreciate your advice. Thanks! Internal_Search_Google_SERP_zps75a5383e.jpg
On-Page Optimization | | tmg.seo0 -
On Page Grade Reports - Which to optimize first?
I'm wanting to prioritize my on-page optimization efforts by doing the work that will have the most impact first. Let's say, hypothetically, that this was my on-page report card: Grade A - 60 reports
On-Page Optimization | | justin-brock
Grade B - 20 reports
Grade C - 70 reports
Grade D - 70 reports
Grade F - 300 reports Where is the biggest opportunity for increasing good traffic? Doing more work on Grade A pages to ensure I continue to rank Moving mid-grade pages up to high-grade pages (e.g., raising a B to A, or a C to B) Moving low-grade pages up to mid-grade pages (e.g., raising a D to C, or a F to D)0 -
How to design a site map page for users (not for Google)
I would like to design a site map for my visitors so they can have a quick view on the whole content of the website. 2 questions : 1 - is this kind of site map can help in terms of SEO ? 2 - if so, what are the best practices to design it ? Thanks in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | betadvisor0 -
What's the best practice for implementing a "content disclaimer" that doesn't block search robots?
Our client needs a content disclaimer on their site. This is a simple "If you agree to these rules then click YES if not click NO" and you're pushed back to the home page. I have this gut feeling that this may cause an upset with the search robots. Any advice? R/ John
On-Page Optimization | | TheNorthernOffice790 -
Why isn't Google indexing me?
Recently got handed off a .org site for a quasi state agency here in Michigan. Turns out the developer had the site live for the past six months but left the noindex, nofollow tag on everything so the site was invisible to search engines. Obviously we wiped all of those things a couple weeks ago when we got started, added all of our sitemaps to bing/yahoo/google webmaster tools and we've already started getting indexed by yahoo and bing and showing up for branded terms...but NOTHING from Google. WMT says our pages are all indexed, but we aren't showing up for anything in search and we don't seem to be indexed at all. Granted, if this site was brand new and didn't have any links I could see us taking a little time to get found, but this site has very good .gov and .edu links, plus we've built some other solid links to it since we've launched and Google continues to ignore it. I haven't seen this before, but could Google still be ignoring us from the months of noindex, nofollowing? If so, any tips on how to get back in teh Google's good graces here?
On-Page Optimization | | NetvantageMarketing0 -
Page Cache And Index
If you are browsing a site, what is the best way or programs to use to see if the page has been indexed and cached? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | gregster10000