Is Having Content 'Above The Fold' Still Relevant for Website Design and SEO
-
Hey there,
So I have a client who recently 're-skinned' their website and now there is little to no content above the fold. Likewise, I've noticed that since the transition to this new front-end design there has been a drop in rankings for a number of keywords related to one of the topics we are targeting.
Is there any correlation here? Is having content 'above the fold' still a relevant factor in determining a websites' searchability? I appreciate you reading and look forward to hearing from all of you. Have a great day!
-
Above the fold my site always has a title that perfectly matches the query, a seductive subtitle that I hope will elicit reading, a spectacular image that I am willing to spend big bucks for, and a carefully crafted opening paragraph that states the basics of the topic.
What else is above the fold? Not much, just my domain name, which is killer. The page looks like a newspaper with the full intent that nothing else will detract from the content or the domain (there are a couple of visible ads that do not interfere with the content - that pay for this stuff).
I know for a fact that having your relevant content above the fold is essential. Someone once designed me a fantastic template and the image at the top was killer killer killer... it was spectacular but irrelevant for most pages of the site. Visitors bounced and I had enough traffic at the time to know that it tanked within a couple hours. Ad revenue sucked too.
I removed that image and the only thing left above the fold was the domain, the titles, the image and the text (and a couple ads that interfere with nothing). In the next 60 minutes the people started exploring the site and the ad revenue was up multiples.
It's like some athletic events... run as close to naked as you can.
-
Unfortunately, there is actually a correlation there--Google wants the content above the fold, and so do users. You shouldn't have to scroll to see the site's main content. Google's Page Layout algorithm has been around for several years now, and we've seen time and time again over the past few years that it pays to have your content above the fold.
To look into this further, I would study Google's Page Layout algorithm, and the penalties associated with it.
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
-
Do the back-links go wasted when anchor text or context content doesn't match with page content?
Hi Community, I have seen number of back-links where the content in that link is not matching with page content. Like page A linking to page B, but content is not really relevant beside brand name. Like page with "vertigo tiles" linked to page about "vertigo paints" where "vertigo" is brand name. Will these kind of back-links completely get wasted? I have also found some broken links which I'm planning to redirect to existing pages just to reclaim the back-links even though the content relevancy is not much beside brand name. Are these back-links are beneficial or not? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Domain location is a ranking factor? Back links & website?
If a website trying to rank in US and it has received many back-links from domains hosting from other countries; how it will impact website ranking? Can a website hosted in country will rank well in other country? How much the hosted location matters? Like....domain hosted in Germany but trying to rank in US?
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
SEO for International Expansion - Best Strategies
Looking for some Best Strategies in SEO for International Expansion . We were based in a single country till one year back and then decided to expand to other English speaking countries as well. Traffic from SEO for us is around 1.3 million users only from the single country and we rank in top#3 for 90% of our targeted keyword bank of 45000+ keywords. We just launched in some new countries like singapore , philippines and few other English speaking countries with really unique content and I wanted to check whether I can use my mother domain or use any other strategies for growing SEO faster in other countries. Any inputs on scaling up SEO traffic internationally will be appreciated
Algorithm Updates | | ozil1 -
Who's doing canonical tags right, The Gap or Kohls?
Hi Moz, I'm working on an ecommerce site with categories, filter options, and sort options – teacherexpress.scholastic.com. Should I have canonical tags from all filter and sort options point to the category page like gap.com and llbean.com? or have all sort options point to the filtered page URL like kohls.com? I was under the impression that to use a canonical tag, the pages have to have the same content, meaning that Gap and L.L. Bean would be using canonical tags incorrectly. Using a filter changes the content, whereas using a sort option just changes the order. What would be the best way to deal with duplicate content for this site? Thanks for reading!
Algorithm Updates | | DA20130 -
What's the current situation for exact match ecommerce domains
I'm looking for some current opinions on exact-match domains when it comes to ecommerce sites. I currently own an "OK" brandable domain in a specific ecommerce niche. The opportunity has now come along to own the exact match domain for this category. For example catfood.com Is it more advisable to focus on brandables these days? I know Google doesn't give weight to exact match anymore but is there still a correlation not causation factor to consider? IE: the links back would be more targeted possibly?
Algorithm Updates | | NoClueSEO0 -
PO box address for mutli reagional website
Hi Mozers 🙂 I have a multi regional website which serves uk, india, china, usa and more. I want to increase my rankings for the specific country. I dont have a physical address at the UK and in am thinking of getting a PO box address and have it placed on the UK version of the site and also at google places/+. Will having a PO box address against physical address help me in getting better ranks and will i be penalized in any way. Looking forward for the views 🙂
Algorithm Updates | | HiteshBharucha0 -
Content Caching Memory & Removal of 301 Redirect for Relieving Links Penalty
Hi, A client site has had very poor link legacy, stretching for over 5 years. I started the campaign a year ago, providing valuable good quality links. Link removals and creating a disavow to Google have been done, however after months and months of waiting nothing has happened. If anything, after the recent penguin update, results have been further affected. A 301 redirect was undertaken last year, consequently associating those bad links with the new site structure. I have since removed the 301 redirect in an attempt to detach this legacy, however with little success. I have read up on this and not many people appear to agree whether this will work. Therefore, my new decision is to start a fresh using a new domain, switching from the .com to .co.uk version, helping remove all legacy and all association with the spam ridden .com. However, my main concern with this is whether Google will forever cach content from the spammy .com and remember it, because the content on the new .co.uk site will be exactly the same (content of great quality, receiving hundreds of visitors each month from the blog section along) The problem is definitely link related and NOT content as I imagine people may first query. This could then cause duplicate content, knowing that this content pre-existed on another domain - I will implement a robots.txt file removing all of the .com site , as well as a no index no follow - and I understand you can present a site removal to Google within webmaster tools to help fast track the deindexation of the spammy .com - then once it has been deindexed, the new .co.uk site will go live with the exact same content. So my question is whether Google will then completely forget that this content has ever existed, allowing me to use exactly the same content on the new .co.uk domain without the threat of a duplicate content issue? Also, any insights or experience in the removal of a 301 redirect, detaching legacy and its success would also be very helpful! Thank you, Denver
Algorithm Updates | | ProdoDigital0 -
Selling same procucts from more than one website
I would like to know whether it's ok to sell same products from 2-3 websites. Design and URL structure will be different but same e-commerce platform. Would google penalise or drop the rankings, etc. How google deall with this sort of thing? If problem arises how can we get around it? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | Jvalops0