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Have a look in the header of the category page and see if it says "noindex, follow".
A simple way to check if a page is indexed, is to type site:www.siteurl.com/category or whatever the URL to the category page is.
The 404 might just mean the page wasn't available when it was crawled, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. The main thing is the page with your content on is indexed.
-Andy
This previous question might give you some answers Sara.
Andy
Hi Matt,
In circumstances like this, it is generally down to the fact that your clients company doesn't carry the trust and authority to outrank the ticker. If someone searches for the acronym, I am assuming that most want to find the stock info, rather than your client. Of course, this is something you need to change.
This can only come from building that trust. Google made a change a while back that gave more bias to brands - this is where you want to be.
There is a wonderful article here on Search Engine Land that I suggest you spend some time going through as it will take you through many steps that you would need to take. The same with the article here on MOZ.
-Andy
All is fine then. Category pages are very often noindexed to reduce duplication issues, so really don't worry about this. It certainly doesn't sound like there are any penalties going on there.
That said, do a little social activity around your post as well and get it promoted.
-Andy
Hi Clair,
How is your Google local listing? Has this been confirmed? It is also worth looking for some localised listings and cocitations from sites dedicated to London - Google will still use these sites to confirm your site and contact details.
i would also suggest having a look at http://www.whitespark.ca/ as they are a great way to find local listings. This has helped me many times in the past.
-Andy
Hi Darren,
This is an easy fix via the .htaccess file. You just need to cluster all the URL types so they point to one main structure.
Add this and it should work a treat:
<code>RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^www\.
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.%{HTTP_HOST}/$1 [R=301,L]
-Andy</code>
Hi James,
I would never advise that you no-follow internal navigation links to primary pages (main or sub-cat). To things like the contact page, that is fine, but remember that Google wants to be able to navigate cleanly around your site. There are times when you would want to no-follow paginated pages, but this isn't in every circumstance.
Beyond this, it is a little awkward to advise too much more as I would need to be looking at site hierarchy and architecture in more detail.
-Andy
Hi Oxana,
It is very easy to go too far with SEO and over optimise, so I wouldn't suggest making everything the same. If you do this on multiple pages, then you will fall into keyword duplication / cannibalisation and you will have internal pages competing against each other.
If you have no variety on the site and don't create other pages that add supporting content, then you will struggle. Google doesn't just want to see the same phrase over and over. It is about intent, information, unique (and amazing) content and making sure you answer the questions that people are asking.
The best best thing you could do right now, if have a read of the MOZ beginners guide to SEO. This will give you a wealth of information and help you craft your pages to follow Google best practice.
-Andy
Hi Jawahar,
The best way to spot a penalty is to look at your analytics and see if any drops coincide with any algorithm updates.
I would echo a point that EGOL made earlier on another post, that daily content in this manner is probably not as beneficial as posting one very high quality article once a week. Of course, it depends what you are writing about, but shorter articles like this wouldn't generally do as much for you.
-Andy
My rule of thumb for guest posting...
If you start with the intention of adding in highly targeted anchor-rich links, you will fail at the first hurdle. You can get away with a URL link, click here, co-citation, but I would only guest post now if I were getting credited as the author. This link would follow through to my Author page on G+.
Co-citations are great you can add surrounding text to a link, but even though the link isn't live, there is still a benefit, and one that isn't going to see you get a penalty.
-Andy
More from a time factor than anything else, I would be spending my efforts on pushing videos on YouTube. Google tends to rank these well - I wonder why! 
There are a lot asked this question over the last couple of years and I tend to offer the same advise - YouTube.
Others might have some different views and insights though.
-Andy
That's the one - thanks Patrick 
-Andy
I honestly wouldn't look at PR services to build links Brandon. Google is well on to this one and it could do you more harm than good.
For links, there are hundreds of available tactics that can all help you, without penalty, and like you say, if you build something that people want, you will build links more naturally. Everyone likes a good tool, but the same is also said for great articles, studies and research that might have been done, but perhaps that you can improve on.
The only limitations here, are how creative you can get
-Andy
It sounds like there are a number of issues going on here and it's quite hard to envisage everything.
Having captions indexed as snippets requires the page to be setup in such a way that Google can use them. But remember that in terms of what Google shows, they will deliver what they thing bets suits the search query.
In terms of images being indexed, have you thought about having an image sitemap, or having them included in this? However, I wouldn't be setting a canonical from slideshows to base pages as this sounds like it could cause you a load of headaches.
Duplication is hard to assess as there could be a number of reasons from this, including incorrectly set canonical tags, indexed pages or other semi-technical issues.
Personally, I wouldn't be looking at slideshow images as something to be indexed, but I would be using some of these images in the page itself. This is just what I have found in the past.
-Andy
It will certainly get picked up by site crawlers for audit purposes, but would Google object to it? It depends what it is, where it is and how necessary it is. If it's a line of spam (for example) just to add in keywords, then this might cause you issues, but it depends on the quality of the rest of the page and content.
-Andy
The problem that I have found with this in the past is that Google sees the whole page and not the images. I found this to be more of a limit of Wordpress.
However, you could use an image sitemap and see if you can get them indexed that way?
-Andy
There can be no benefit to doing this Jawahar. Set up some tracking of phrases and then tell everyone to stop checking all the time. If Google sees a lot of the same searches and clicks coming from the same IP, it might look unnatural to them.
-Andy
Hi Mandy,
If I am understanding what you want to achieve, you could always try Screaming Frog Spider. When you do a crawl, it will show you all of the pages, and then you can click on a page to see links that lead from that page.
Also, you have an option of an advanced report that will show you all of the OutLinks from a site. Very useful tool.
-Andy
How many articles are you talking about that you are worried could be duplicated on the web? Have you done a search to see what the damage could be?
Is re-writing the old articles a possibility?
You could always use the Fetch As Google function in Search Console. This might speed things up for you, but the fact of the matter is, there is no really quick way to get Google to index your pages. It's never as fast as we would like.
Make sure that if the site has been overhauled, that any old pages are 301'd to their new counterpart. This also means that you might need to check that every http page redirects to the https one.
-Andy
Unless you know you have had a penalty, or suspect you have, then I would be tempted not to disavow.
You say a lot of the links are low quality - what are you using to determine what quality the links are? As Chris said, directories aren't all bad, and some can be a real plus, so evaluate what you have before just removing them via disavow.
Tread a little carefully as I have seen sites get disavow-happy and kill all links, with a resulting drop from the SERPs.
-Andy
To be honest Dana, outside of the basics mentioned, I tended not to go overboard and many of them started to rank naturally as Google spidered the site. Just remember to give the link to the PDF a strong anchor text and if possible, add a little content around it to explain what visitors can expect in the document. Also remember to add a link to Adobe so that they can download the free reader if they dont have it already.
Hope this helps,
Regards,
Andy
so,... with this situation, I think the only solution is to create a different content for the website and for the portals.
I was thinking that maybe, If we create the content first in the new website, send it to the index, and wait for google to index it, and then send the content to the portals, maybe we would have more opportunites to not be ommited by Google in search results.
I think the principal here is sound. However, you might also find part of the issue is down to site age / trust within Google. If these portals have been around for some time and are widely used, just doing this might not be enough. Sadly trust comes with time and work.
Of course, duplicate content is never good, no matter who has it indexed first. Would you be able to create something amazing for your own site and then something more generic for the portals? Not knowing the scope of the issue, it's a little difficult to try and envisage what is happening exactly.
-Andy
I think you will find for the BBC that they are more interested about getting the content up there first, rather than just categories. And I have to agree with why they do this.
There is no point in a visitor coming to your website and just seeing half a page of links before they get to the content itself. For the user experience, this would be a bad move. Not sure there are really any times I can say having a huge list of links above the content is a good move.
Regards,
Andy
Hi,
Here is a little info I have shared with others on international SEO.
In order to rule out issues with your own sites, start by reading this checklist from MOZ as it will give you a great grounding and allow you to quickly identify and remedy any problems.
I would also read this article from Google as this will walk you through what you need to do.
HREFLANG will be used to explain to Google about international pages with duplicate content.
Any idea why other countries would rank above our site?
I would also like to know how you are determining these facts. If you are just searching from your own machine, there could be all kinds of personalisation getting in the way. If this is the case, use something like MOZ or Positionly, etc., to track SERP positions accurately.
If you are seeing these results from within a tracking app, then refer back to my first points above and check that everything is in order with your sites. You might stumble across an easy fix.
-Andy
-Andy
An interesting question
Mine have taken a huge turn towards usability and content, but I still cover off all best practices such as the titles etc. I also focus more heavily on brand strength and user metrics (data from Crazy Egg for eggsample).
Backlinks also feature more prominently now than they used to.
SEO is about so much more than just where you appear in the SERPs now.
-Andy
Hi Craig,
Welcome to the baffling world of SEO
First of all, I would suggest you read the MOZ beginners SEO guide here. That will cover off a lot of the best practices that you need to be following.
In terms of your question about domain authority, this is going to be looking at links that have been built to your site - if you haven't done this yet, then I would suggest you read Chapter 7 on how this is handled. I also note that you mentioned a directory - as a rule of thumb, steer clear of these, unless they are niche or something like Yelp. For the most part, links from directories will at best do nothing, and at worst, cause you to get a penalty from Google.
-Andy
Firstly, avoid link networks at all cost as these will come back and bite you hard at some point.
Because everything is still being found by Google, I would say this is the algorithm at work.
When you say you have spun articles, unless this has been done to read as a completely unique article, and not just changing a few phrases around, then you will be OK - However, Spun content needs to be of the highest quality so that if you put the two articles net to each other, neither would look like a spun version of the other.
My worry might be that you are being too active in trying to get links back from the wrong places. For example, if you have a news article on a new development for cars, then this article should be discussed only in car forums and blogs. You will be also seen by others who have a genuine interest in what you are saying.
If you have been hit by Panda, it can take many weeks to be re-crawled again, so don't expect fast changes.
Regards,
Andy
Hi,
Text > HTML ratio isn't actually a ranking factor and there is no penalty based on this. What you can do with it, is use it as an indicator on how big your pages are and identify those that might be slowing do the loading.
There is no test or correlation that would suggest that reducing this text > HTML ratio will do anything for your rankings.
You need to also try and get away from the thought process that SEO is just about search positions - you need to think about customer acquisitions and page usability as well. For example, if I look at your home page and you were to just add a block of text at the top, then this would reduce the effectiveness of the big messages and search availability at the top. it would push down the main search box and offer nothing of use that anyone would really want to read.
So no, don't add text to the top of the page as this isn't needed. If this were just one big picture with nothing at all there, then it might be a different discussion.
Are your search positions dropping at the moment, or is there a reason that this came about?
I have clients whose Text > HTML ratio is 6-8% and in 1st position for very highly sought after terms. There is a lot more at play.
-Andy
Thanks Keri and sorry for not getting back sooner Akhilesh. Keri is right that I am in the UK.
As Keri has said, you really need to read the section on link building and content - If you get this wrong, you can cause yourself some big problems.
Have a read of this so that you are sure what you need to be doing... http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links
-Andy
There is absolutely no reason why you can't turn it all around again To a degree, one of my customers also took a hit and with the changes we have made, they are starting to see rankings working their way back up again.
Remember to stick closely to the Google Webmaster guidelines and you will be fine - just don't try anything that could be seen as dodgy in any way and keep hitting that content hard.
Regards,
Andy
Hi Sohail,
Unlike Moosa, I have not seen a client lose positions just by having their IP changed - perhaps if this were location related traffic and you were based in London but the IP showed China I might see it happening, but it all depends on what is being implemented.
That said, I also think you should find out a little more about how this works. If someone requests your site www.sitename.com and that then forwards you through an unknown route until it reaches the destination server, then this additional hop might seem unnatural.
Is your site particularly slow? If you are based on Wordpress, then you can use Cache plugins to help speed things up. Even if you are not on Wordpress, you can help matters by employing some browser caching in your .htaccess file. Have you run your site through the Google Page Speed Insights to see what your score is? What recommendations does Google come back with?
-Andy
As already indicated, there is no harm in having your business listed on a directory, just don't do it for SEO purposes.
It can help when you are looking to increase cocitations (Yelp, Yell, at al) and to promote your business through niche sites is no problem either. Just tread carefully.
-Andy
Without seeing the site, it is awkward to make a judgement call on what has happened but from experience, a penalty is usually a lot more harsh than just 5 or 6 pages.
My best guess would be that it is Google Panda at work - and as such look for duplicate content and remove it, or 301, but ultimately, remember to have as much completely unique content as is possible. Focus on this rather than your SEO as a starter.
Regards,
Andy
Hi Chris,
I am in agreement that taking the route of canonical would not be as beneficial as 301. Remember that a canonical is just a suggestion to Google and they can still opt to ignore this if they wish.
I would avoid any possible complications here and 301. It is understood that a rel=canonical passes page rank in the same way that a 301 does, with a minor loss, but as far as I am aware, there is no actual testing to show which passes more / less.
-Andy
Dull and unnecessary
While outreach is important, something that often gets overlooked is linkable assets - why is someone going to link to your site? I talk a little bit about linkable assets on my own site here, but it is essentially creating content or 'something' that is going to entice others to link to you.
People are more precious of their sites than ever before and don't give links away easily, so it's important to give them that reason.
Get those creative juices flowing and make some noise.
-Andy
Google will tell you not to have sites that are image heavy or that have content buried so that they cannot easily crawl / read it.
Steer well clear of both of these possibilities as neither will benefit your customer. Also remember that Google also uses page load speed as a metric as well.
Regards,
Andy
Hi Melissa,
Penalties do actually just expire, but it isn't like there is a set time period for this, so if you have no mention in Webmaster Tools of any penalty, then you really don't have one. You won't be given the option to try and do a reconsideration request either. I am pretty sure it was John Mueller that confirmed this.
I would still go through and disavow sites that have not got back to you though, just as best practice and to do a little damage mitigation. You may find that the penalty comes back at some point in the future if you don't.
-Andy
As others have said, this will achieve nothing. However, there is a good way to use Google+ with new posts, and that is to optimise the first 35-50 characters as you would a blog post or other page you are trying to optimise. The reason being, that first part then becomes the page title for that particular post.
-Andy
I have used this one with no problems for a long while now:
Hi,
First of all, have a read of how DA is scored here. There are going to be so many factors that play a part in this that would be impossible to tell exactly why this is - most like to start looking at their backlinks, so perhaps start by checking this out using Open Site Explorer?
-Andy
So Apartment Therapy are selling links? Tread carefully with this, because you have announced that you may pay $10k for writing an article that contains lots of links back to your site. If Google get wind of this, you could spell a whole heap of trouble for yourself.
Just as a side note, $10k will buy you a lot of very good organic SEO and link building that won't carry the risk.
-Andy
Essentially Google only really gives any real weight to the first link on the page anyway, so by the time you get down there, it will be of miniscule benefit.
I would suggest you concentrate on a few good anchor links in the body of the page and not worry about the footer for anything SEO related
Hi,
What you have to remember, is that when looking at 'link earning', you should concentrate on creating a 'wow' factor - although the reality is, you won't be able to do that every single time, so you need to concentrate heavily on quality over quantity. Remember that anyone can write an average blog post.
Infographics still play a very important role in creating visually appealing link assets. They provide short snippets of information that is created in a visual manner for easy digestion. So how can you apply this to your industry? How about something that shows how tastes in furniture have changed in the last 200 years? Or show a photo of a typical bedroom back in the 1800's along with an example of a modern family bedroom today, and overlay it with interesting information snippets?
Or perhaps create a blog post with 10 crazy bathroom designs? You want something that is going to catch the eye to get social shares as well as links back.
*** My question is if people are going to be linking to my blog, will this help my website rank for product terms? The blog is part of the website, websitename.com/blog.**
Well, in a roundabout way it will. The link itself will provide the link juice / authority to fuel your pages, which you will SEO accordingly. Just remember when link building, you don't want to look at keyword rich anchor text - you want a nice neutral link such as your domain, brand or something like 'click here to visit...'
You will also want to focus on internal linking as well, and in this case, you do want keyword rich anchor text.
-Andy
It depends how much info is there and where it is on the page.
Never try and hide anything though as this can be seen as a negative from Google. They will wonder why you are trying to hide it?
You could always change the content to a link and have it open a pop-up window with the same content if you want to get rid of this though?
Cheers,
Andy