Unknown factors affecting our SEO effort
-
Good morning / afternoon / evening all,
We are continually working our website - www.movingeverywhere.co.uk , it has suffered some drastic drop in rankings with the last 2 google algorithm updates which we have been working to resolve. This has involved:
-
Redesigning the website (responsive now) , increase of speed, reduction of code, better UX and generally better all round experience for the user.
-
Signed up to Moz and resolved any issues which have been highlighted. (Hopefully fixed the last ones today)
-
Investigated our inbound link profile to try and weed out any bad incoming links or any links that were damaging the site.
-
Increased our social network profile and reach.
We have done competitor analysis and we are beating all of our competitioers with on site factors as per Moz results but it appears we are missing something which means we are not reaping the fruits of our efforts at the moment. The site is wordpress and we read there could be a canonical issue with Wordpres ssites
We are asking the Moz community for any guidance and assistance to try and diagnose any negative factors affecting the SEO effort on the site. Thank you for your time and help.
-
-
The sources are too numerous to list. You can find tons of posts on Moz though. Of note is we are handling the link cleanup on a rather large client and I decided to try out removeem. Based on weighing all we have seen so far with the software, I like it. Like with any there have been a glitch or two but their support has been very excellent.
But, as I am talking with a team member she says, "Our link to our client shows up as Toxic." So, I am like "Get outta here!?" Sure enough we were. Note about software: You have to look at what they are utilizing to call something toxic or not. In this case it had more to do with the anchor text that had been used in linking to this client. So, not all that are toxic are and not all that are clean are clean. That is where you have to be somewhat nuanced in your approach. I suggest that if it looks like a paid directory (Other than dmoz or Yahoo) or if it is one that is just a perpetual listing of firms with no real content or context, I would remove it. If it is comment spam on posts, etc. Those are the types of things that stand out readily.
Best,
-
Well, I have added the relevant information for the scheme microdata as a start and I have fixed some issues re. authorship so that is now included. Thanks for the tips. Checking for Toxic links.
What constitutes a "toxic" link though - Reading up on various things there are opinions. Any guidance or Moz article would be good.
-
Thanks - we will implement the authorship tool via WP and I have been looking into Richsnippers and Schema data too. Thanks for the info. I was just about to look into the Link detox items to see if there is anything negative there.
Hopefully more suggestions will come from others
-
When you consider a canonical as similar to a 301, you could have any number of canonical links on a site.
-
Brett
I snapped a minute after I sent this that you are underutilizing data markup / Schema. You are using postal address without utilizing local business and you don't have a phone number in it. Also, I would definitely use aggregate review markup, etc. for you. If not on the home page, you should be using authorship as well. If I were to change one thing it would be that first. With authorship and review schema you have a chance to standout on whatever serp you are on.
Best, -
First of all, thanks for a great response and thank you for the compliments about the site - It is always nice to hear good things about a site you have designed so it means a lot.
I will look at the Link Detox and the link profiles in more depth. We are targeting the local listings more now and trying to hit that hard - the keyphrase we are going for is "Manchester Removals" / "Removals Manchester" but also drilling into some more local areas.
I am hoping one of the WP geeks might be able to help. One question (I might have phrased wrong re. canonical) - Moz is showing up X number of canonical links in the crawl. Is that anything to worry about or any negative factor on the site?
Since this redesign our bounce rates have started to drop as well as we are trying to convert more of the visitors to the site to leads instead of just trying to get more and more visitors to the site (which isnt the answer). We have been focused on the information, the flow of the user and answering their needs.
-
Brett,
I took a quick look at the site and have to say I don't see anything on the top that is major. Personally, I like to utilize title tags with the business name in them and to follow the convention of Manchester Movers | 24 hour service | Moving Everywhere - so the business name is the last thing in the Title Tag. What I am trying to target most is at the first part of the title tag.
As to you v. your competitor, this is always a tough one. I suggest you look for what they are doing correctly and ask yourself if you are also doing that. With moving companies in the states, Local is everything. If you have not nailed Local as a moving company it will be hard to rank in a city here. I did not look at that for your site.
Now as to a universal WP canonical issue, I do not know what it is. We handle over 100 WP sites and I am fully unaware of any canonical problem we have ever had. While I do not touch every site even semi regularly, if there is an issue I am the first one made aware of it. I know there are several Mozzers who are Uber WP nerds (I say that as a form of admiration) and hopefully one or two will answer your query better.
I did not run a link profile, etc. but you could always try something like Link Detox to see where you stand. You could run Screaming Frog to check that all pages are giving correct response codes, etc. Ultimately, your home page would have a hard time ranking in a major city in the US from a DA/PA point of view with all the directories and then several older companies with good SEO there. You could get Local really right and have a good shot at showing there. I am not studied enough to speak to the Manchester market.
Here is the good news and I do not often say this: I really like the look and feel of the site. While I did not test it for UI/UX, I liked the colors, the airy feel, the way it is inviting around a subject that is stressful. Excellent job IMO. Here is a hint that we keep front of mind: Does your meta description answer the query?
Hope this gives comfort of a sort.
Robert
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
-
SEO Friendly Facets
Hi I'm still stuck on the subject if SEO friendly facets. Firstly, is it worth investing time in over things like SEO campaigns/content marketing as I'm the only one working on SEO and trying to prioritise all tasks 🙂 Can I set up facets so they are SEO friendly - should they simply be blocked? my concern is wasting crawl budget and duplicate pages. Here's an example of a page on the site - https://www.key.co.uk/en/key/lift-tables Here's an example of a facet URL - https://www.key.co.uk/en/key/lift-tables#facet:-1002779711011711697110,-700000000000001001651484832107103,-700000000000001057452564832109109&productBeginIndex:0&orderBy:5&pageView:list& What would be the best course of action to take to make them SEO friendly? Tips would be appreciated 🙂
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
How does Quick View windows affect SEO?
I have the following website that I am building (http://www.jetabout.ca/cruises/). All the items listed link to quick view pop ups. I was wondering how does this affect SEO and will Google be able to pick up on this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | cholidays0 -
SEO Benefit to SSL Certificate
Our site does not have an SSL certificate. I have read that in the process of adding one of URLs need to be redirected and that some link equity can be lost. Implementing an SSL certificate sounds somewhat complicated and far from risk free. Is there a tangible SEO benefit to upgrading to SSL? Will doing so help SEO in a tangible manner that justifies the cost, time and aggravation? Thanks, Alan
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan12 -
Where to begin (SEO-wise) with my Website?
Hello, We hired a company to design an e-commerce website for us. Along the way they did some initial SEO design, but we are clearly a long way from where we need to be. I'm not a web-designer or a knowledgeable SEO person. I have the website linked to webtools, google analytics and obviously this site as well. I've been toying with the idea of just trying to accomplish some SEO myself, but the more I read about SEO, the more daunting it seems. I'm a full-time military pilot, so this seems like it involves more time than I have to give. Where do I begin? My Website www.phoenixprintingsolutions.com Thanks in advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JRodBeMe0 -
What would your Seo tactic's be for this
Hiya guys... Just a quicken, So my forum, talknightlife.co.uk is currently 10th on google for "nightlife forum" I have about 15 back links, 26 page autority. Now what i'm trying to do, which everyone else is doing, is trying to move it up a couple of spots maybe to 5th or something. What would your tactics be, I'm disregarding all the crap I read in the forums etc, you guys on here tend to have the best explanation. Let it rip 🙂 Cheers guys Luke.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Lukescotty0 -
Can Javascript be SEO friendly?
Is some Javascript SEO friendly? I know that Google Webmaster Guidelines states you should avoid the use of Javascript, (http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769), but does any one know if Google can read some Javascript or generally not?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nicole.healthline0 -
Seo for Q&A site
Hi, I am working on a newly launched Q&A site. We have very few questions and users right now and very very low seo traffic. In order to increase the number of users and seo traffic we intend to create a number of pages containing potential questions. Each page would have the following structure: Question. Ex: "What are the top wholesale suppliers of coffee in China?" Some content. Ex: Are you looking for wholesale suppliers of coffee in China? Post your question here? Question form Some additional content So there would be a page for wholesale suppliers of coffee for every country. We would publish the pages gradually and the content would be unique but yet similar (ex: only the Country changes). What do you think about this approach? Is it a good idea or can it be dangerous? We don't want to incur in any kind of penalization, we just want to give the possibility to people who are looking for specific information to find us and be able to post the request on our website.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ypsilon0 -
Your Biggest SEO Jobs Explained
What have been your most proudest moments in SEO ? What would you consider as being you best achieved job and in what industry was it achieved it. What are the reasons you have this down as your biggest achievement ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | onlinemediadirect0