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Hi,
I don't actually use the MOZ tools myself, but I know there are many good tools out there that will help you understand more about your competitors, including their more prominent keywords. But it isn't all about Keywords - you need to think about the articles that are going to power them. A good article isn't good enough - it needs to be amazing.
Andy
Yep the latter makes perfect sense, but so many sites are scared of offering post opportunities because of what is going on with Google, that there are not many that will do it. Those that do are unlikely to be offering do-follow links.
I would try things like Help a Reporter Out and getting in with Journalists to get good inclusion. This is more like PR than it is link building.
Andy
Hi,
It is more a pixel-width limit than the number of characters, and this width can change depending on the width of the characters used. I believe this is still at around 580 pixels wide.
That equates to around 65 characters as an average but can be a little more or less.
I would try and stick within that threshold to avoid the page titles being truncated (cut off).
Moz gives some good tips here...
Andy
Hi,
I would advise you stay away from using guest posts to build backlinks - it is a bit of an old strategy and anyone can post an article on a site and then place a link in it. I have seen less and less value from these as time has gone on - to the point I stopped offering this as a service altogether some time ago.
If you are placing a sponsored post on a site now, Google advises that you add a no index or rel=sponsored tag to the link(s) coming out from it.
There is no substitute for good old honest editorially aquired backlinks - they just take more work.
Andy
Hi Nathan,
If you have no-indexed your pages, it is perfectly normal to then see no-index flags. They aren't necessarily an issue if you are expecting them to be there.
Cheers,
Andy
Try not to focus too much on this, but are you planning on the keyword for a page title or something similar?
If it is just part of the content, as long as it explains what you are talking about, then you are all good.
If it is for a page title, then it needs to be something you want to rank for and that also explains the page well.
-Andy
Hi,
I wouldn't worry about where they keywords are positioned - I would be looking at how relevant the keyword is to the page.
Google naturally looks for a range of keywords when evaluating a page, but of course, we don't know exactly what that formula is.
Keep everything natural and just use whatever words make sense to the article - and remember, write for your audience, not Google.
-Andy
Hi,
The best think you can do is head over here:
https://support.google.com/business/?hl=en-GB#topic=4539639
Those are the Google My Business support pages and from there you can diagnose issues, but also have access to the community with a lot of very knowledgeable people. I am sure you will find someone to help you, but in the meantime, you might get other ides from members here as well.
-Andy
Hi Ryan,
One thing to be careful of - even though a page is no-indexed, Google still reads it and if there were a penalty (or fear of a penalty) there, this can still go towards it.
Happy to take a peek if you want to drop me a PM?
-Andy
Hi Daniel,
I don't know how best these should be generated (will be a coding thing that needs writing perhaps) but I can tell you that doing this isn't an issue, as long as you get it right.
If you think about some of the huge sites out there on the web, they don't hand-write each page description.
Have a look at sites like Amazon and Ebay or any other online retailer - they will all be automated.
-Andy
Well, if the pages are being indexed, you have an eye on speeding things up and you aren't losing any customers because of it, then I can't see any real harm in it. I can't deny that it seems a bit of an odd way of getting there - perhaps other sites do something similar but I just haven't seen them - the Internet is a big place 
I am very much of the opinion, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
-Andy
It does seem like a long way of getting to the page.
I checked the page but when you do a cache:https://makitech.no/ventilasjon/ventilasjons-pakketilbud it doesn't show the page as not cached, but I can't see the page. THis might be something at my end - or might not. The same with this page: cache:https://makitech.no/pakketilbud
As Donald said, the more redirects you have in place, the slower the load times get - are you limited by the system to what you can / can't do?
-Andy
Hi Patrick,
The best thing I can suggest is try starting here with Google (if you haven't already):
https://support.google.com/business/?hl=en-GB#topic=4539639
From here you can use the Community Forums (very knowledgeable people) or click on Fix Issue. Both options in the top right corner of the page.
Sorry I can't offer advice on this directly.
-Andy
Hi,
You never want to create multiple pages that are too similar as this will probably result in a penalty.
The best way to do this is to create your main page and then talk about the different aspects of the content and you can use these variants in there - but don't keyword stuff. Use a word or phrase if it fits, but never just try to shoehorn it in.
However, if they are very similar, you might not even need to do this because Google is good at knowing which words are similar and if your pages are good enough, it will see this.
-Andy
Hi,
Have you done (or thought about doing) any testing and looking at stats to see which would work best for you?
Personally, I would be quite wary of just changing to a new form structure without doing a level of A-B testing first of all. You want to know for sure, which is going to work best for you.
I understand the points about drop-off but those that don't, you get a higher level of enquiry, but can you do better than this? Is 1 question per page too little? Could you get away with 2 and halve the process? How about 3? How about just 2 pages, one for personal and one for requirements?
There is a lot to think about here but please don't try to make the decision yourself as this isn't necessarily what other people want.
Head over to Hotjar (or something similar) that will allow you to watch how people actually interact with your forms. Setup goals in Analytics so that you can see where people are dropping out. Tie all of this in together and use real visitor numbers to help you with your decisions.
I hope this helps a little.
-Andy
Hi,
As long as everything works and the slides are used to enhance the page and get important points across, then there are no reasons (technically) why it should be considered bad. Test in different browsers and mobile devices to ensure there are no problems.
However... On a mobile, I don't actually like sliders and much prefer just a static image to speed up the load times. Most will give you the option to do this. Speed is probably one of the main reasons I am cautious with them because they can add a lot of size to the page, which results in increased load times.
Just try and keep in mind to use it as a way to enhance the page rather than for anything to do with SEO.
-Andy
Hi Chris,
If you are seeing an impact, then start to disavow and do this monthly just to keep on top of it. However, chances are that Google would recognise these for what they are and just ignore them.
Due diligence would sway me towards disavow though.
-Andy
I honestly would love to help with this, but there are just so many variables at play, it is almost impossible to do without an audit of some kind.
There is so much going on that anything thrown at you would be an out-and-out guess, which could land you in a wild goose chase.
However, it does sound similar to a recent client who were actually battling against a penalty due to over optimisation, lack of unique content, similar pages and a less than satisfactory user experience.
However, this only became apparent after looking at the site in depth to find this.
-Andy
Absolutely agree with Egol. This might not help with the SEO per se, but such a big SEO factor is how happy people are on the page itself. You might find by adding important bullets that you retain someone for longer, make them want to read further and then go on to make a purchase.
Make the pages as good as is possible.
-Andy
Hi Bob,
There are some things that Google understands that can't be changed. If there is a technical spec for a product, I wouldn't be trying to change that because it will probably change the product as well.
With any ecom site, try to focus on the value-add - what can you bring to a page that offers something more than the stock information that you are given.
-Andy
It would make more sense to transfer your site to the new domain first. Get that working correctly and ranking as it should and then you can focus on changing the design.
Here is some good information from Google on how to achieve this.
-Andy
Structure shouldn't matter, but there has to be a reason why this is happening to you.
Have you had a look in Search Console to see how often Google is crawling the site and see if there are any anomalies in there?
Feel free to ping me an e-mail with an example page if you would like me to take a quick look for you. info [at] iqseo dot uk
-Andy
To further expand on what Egol said, some businesses don't bother putting keywords on the homepage title as that is the brand page. That said, it is very often a huge missed opportunity and why anyone would pass up building a strong phrase into the main site page is beyond me.
I also think that the type of business makes them feel as though they need to be perceived as above that sort of thing - their brand is strong enough for them.
For the vast majority of businesses, follow best practice and help both Google and visitors see what you are about in the SERPs.
-Andy
Hi,
No, there is no good reason to do this. For linking purposes, this will do absolutely nothing for you. Sitewide and Footer links are mostly just ignored or devalued by Google, but could end up with you looking spammy.
Rand actually did a Whiteboard Friday about this very subject last year.
https://moz.com/blog/links-headers-footers-navigation-impact-seo
-Andy
Hi,
Had a very similar issue on a site and it turned out to be not content, but duplicate pages brought on by too many that were similar.
Perhaps this was a bit extreme, but I regularly found 4-5 pages trying to target very similar phrases which left Google wondering just what the hell it should index. Similar sort of thing - one minute at pos. 70, the next position 7. However, not all of them were being indexed.
What is your content like - could it fall into this?
-Andy
Hi,
One way to do this is to decide which site is going to be the main site (site A) sat on C and copy this data over. If you are bringing in site B, then this can sit at another structure level - you will end up with this...
Site A --> Site C, main pages
Site B --> Site C, product pages
That then brings in everything from both sites to the new domain.
You then want to redirect both of the old sites to the new one, but don't redirect everything to the root. That isn't a good use of 301 mapping. You need to be mapping on a page level so that you will see...
www.sitea.com/about us -301- www.sitec.com/aboutus
www.siteb.com/newproducts/hammers -301- www.sitec.com/newproducts/hammers
There can be differences in the URL's - you don't need to stick with the same structure as the other sites if it doesn't make sense, but always map pages to something very similar.
Page level is the only way to go if you want to maintain a seamless transition for users as well.
Also, don't expect to hit a switch and do this all at once. You can do this over a period of time because to the user, they will just be redirected to the new pages. You will retain more link juice like this.
This is quite a lengthy process and I am sure I have missed the in-between bits, but this is the basis of what you want to be doing.
Others might chip in with other suggestions for you.
-Andy
Hi,
No, there is no issue in what you are doing. It has long been understood that what you are doing is a good solution for just these sorts of circumstances.
As long as it is clear you aren't trying to pass link equity across just for SEO benefits, it sounds like a good solution.
-Andy
Both are going to be important because your product level might capture a larger audience, but your specific product might gather up long-tail terms for people ready to buy that actual item.
However, do ensure the buying experience of the specific product is as good as it can be. At this point you have someone ready to buy. Help them commit as quickly as possible.
-Andy
OK so another thing to check, although I suspect these are OK, but the pages aren't orphaned somehow? You can get to them through a logical set of clicks through the site and don't have a noindex anywhere?
With the image you gave above, it is a bit awkward to diagnose without actually seeing them myself.
If you want to email me an example, I will gladly take a look for you. info at iqseo.org
-Andy
There really isn't a right and wrong answer to this, but I will say that the content has to be long enough to answer the question that the page is answering.
In some circumstances, this might mean a short page with just 200 words - other times it might be more. 5000+ sounds a bit insane and like they are trying to over optimise, in which case would make me wonder about the phrase itself - is it low search volume?
There are so many variables that come into play with ranking pages that it would be impossible to say with any degree of certainty what is going on without actually seeing it.
From a usability view, this also sounds very excessive.
Make your pages clear and straight to the point without any waffle - and with 5000+ words, I would be surprised if all of that was really needed.
-Andy
Have you actually tested this in robots.txt tester in Search Console? This is usually one of the main causes.
Without being able to actually see the pages themselves, it is a bit awkward, but I would start there.
Also, are the blocked resources actually on your site or somewhere else?
-Andy
The general rule of thumb here, is don't do it. If you have written something for another blog, leave it there and move on to the next.
However, I would see no major problem if you wanted to re-purpose it. Change about 30% of the content and you could seed it out again.
Probably best not to make a habit of doing this anyway - My personal preference is to try and keep everything unique for a much cleaner read.
-Andy
Hi,
There are literally dozens of reasons why this might be happening and without a complete audit, it will be impossible to say what is going on.
However, you mentioned that your site is a bit under a year old - could it be that your brand isn't established as much yet? And try not to focus on WP vs custom built sites - both have the ability to rank as well as each other.
Is there a reason you went with a .net rather than a .fr domain? Have you installed anything to monitor page-level traffic? Something like HotJar?
-Andy
Try not to focus too much on getting an exact phrase in if it doesn't fit well. I would much rather read 'Barcelona, a beautiful city' than something that takes it out of context or reduces the quality of the read.
By all means, build some of the content to get a couple of exact phrases in, but don't just shoehorn them in - make it sound as natural as possible.
-Andy
This is what you're looking for:
Google tries to show accurate, up-to-date short descriptions for businesses. We don't remove descriptions for being unclear or negative. We only remove the following:
If you’d like to report a description that you believe fits one or both of these cases, contact us so that we can review it.
I hope that helps
-Andy
Remember that this is all about being as natural as you can with how it reads. Don't worry if a keyword tool shows the phrase in a slightly different order - it is basically the same thing.
Write about Barcelona City, the City of Barcelona and any other variants you need to in order to make it read as smoothly as possible.
It helps to have someone read things out loud so you can hear how it actually sounds.
-Andy
Hi Niall,
I don't do much detoxing anymore and wouldn't like to comment on which are good/bad tools. However, I have Tweeted this question out to Marie Haynes and I am sure she will chip in if she can offer any help on this one.
-Andy
Hi,
Occasionally you might see Google does this where they will return a URL and as part of the description, show a hashed anchor - but they won't show just an anchor as a result in its own right. It will always form part of the page that Google returns.
Worth doing if you think it might help usability but it wouldn't fit for every page and circumstance. Have seen it used to good effect, but am seeing less and less of these.
-Andy
Hi,
For ease of use, I always try to advise that any link is updated if it is clear that it has been redirected, but unless the subject has changed, it really shouldn't make any difference.
If you have a link from your site to an article about breeding caterpillars and the target site then change this to something about feeding habits of polar bears, this is a link I would change.
Top and bottom line, if the link makes sense, you will be fine.
-Andy
Hi John,
Neither site URL length or architecture are ranking signals, although it could be argued that a very poor architecture could hamper efforts by causing technical issues.
The best thing to do is create a site that has a good, clean structure but as for URL length, just make sure it makes sense. Of course, you don't want a URL that is overly long for no reason - just keep it simple.
Would either of these affect DA? Have a read here where MOZ explain how it is calculated.
-Andy
Google have said that they will announce big updates, but for the most part, they update about twice a day so there is always something happening.
It does look like something has been going on recently through - but nothing confirmed.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Eric,
There isn't a framework as such for internal linking but a silo structure would make the most sense as Justen has already said.
It is important to know what you want to do first of all though - don't just have a site with lots of blogs and randomly add links through to other internal pages. Understand what you want to do - use something like MindMup to help you visualise what you are trying to achieve.
You can check out your Search Console account to have a look at how your site is currently linked - Under Search Traffic, choose Internal Links.
-Andy
Hi Justen,
It wouldn't make a huge difference in terms of what it will do for you. Irrespective of language, Google will look at where a link comes from and it might do something for you (but it might not as well), but I really wouldn't worry.
If these links are being earned as opposed to you going out after them, then sit back and watch them roll in. If you are going after links yourself, then as long as some (most?) of the sites make sense to your audience, then again, you are good.
-Andy
Hi Zack,
If this was something that was a winner, I think a lot more would be doing it - I can't see that this could be a link building strategy but you might get something back in terms of traffic to your site.
Header and footer links are largely ignored by Google and you really could do with any links being something targeted within the body text of a page.
There are much better ways to gain links but link building is one of the trickier areas of SEO. This just doesn't appear in any of the good texts about building links.
-Andy
Hi Nick,
I'm not aware of any studies specifically around this (other Mozzers might chip in with something) but this is a daily struggle for many site owners.
Without seeing the pages or knowing the keywords, my thought would be to improve the existing pages if they are already performing well in Google, but if they are causing concern from a visitors point of view, then that might be a different conversation.
Combining pages isn't as difficult as it sounds as long as you get them right and have checked to see if the keywords are synonymous and to what level - I have found that in doing this in the past, there is a cut-off point where it is prudent not to try and get a page to rank for too much.
Another way of achieving this is to use page anchors to capture some of these additional keywords. I have had better than moderate successes with these in the past as well. Google has no problem in indexing these if they benefit the page and visitors.
I hope this helps a little.
-Andy
That is great to hear Nikolaj
Please feel free to reach out if you have any further questions or concerns.
-Andy