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If it wasn't for the fact that this has happened just 3 days after the move, then I would have put this down to a Google penalty, without a doubt.

However, this would be one heck of a coincidence! I'm not ruling that out, but can't help but feel something else might have gone unchecked.

• Is the sitemap intact and correct?
• Have there been any manual actions in GWT?
• Has any new content been added?
• Has there been any link-building going on, or have you had a look at your link profile through Open Site Explorer?

-Andy

What Dave said.

/index.php, .html, .htm, .asp, et al, are all pretty much outdated now. Not in the way that the pages wont get spidered and indexed, but URL's are certainly much cleaner when they are like this page, for example:

http://moz.com/community/q/which-is-better-section-or-section-index-php

Looks much better than http://moz.com/community/q/which-is-better-section-or-section-index-php/index.php

-Andy

Hi Jeff,

Have you run the site through Screaming Frog to see if there has been anything inadvertently changed during the transition? It is more common than you might realise across many different platforms.

It might also be worth looking to make sure there are no canonical issues, pages accidentally noindexed, etc.

Outside of that, the last confirmed update was early February (Page Layout), so it is unlikely to have been this. That said, they are always tweaking and releasing new updates and refreshes, so it is very possible that that has also happened.

With the decline in visitors, is that for traffic across the board to all pages, or just to the homepage and for a specific phrase?

-Andy

That's great new Amelia - so glad I was able to help

-Andy

Just to check, are the 301's all working? What happens if someone visits one of the .net pages?

External redirects shouldn't have any influence in what Google does when wishing to select a domain move.

It's a little awkward without actually seeing everything, and I have never had any problems myself, but perhaps someone else could chip in with additional info?

-Andy

Sorry for just copy and pasting this. Here are suggestions for what to do if there is no site change possible:

If your new site doesn't appear in the Select a site list, check the following:

• Make sure you've added your new site to your Webmaster Tools account, and verified ownership.
• Make sure that your new site is not a subdomain. For example, you can use www.example.com, but notwww.example.com/newsite or http://newsite.example.com.
• If you've specified a preferred domain for your new site, only that preferred domain will appear in the list. For example, if www.example.com is not appearing, make sure that you have not specified http://example.com has your preferred domain.
• If you submit a change of address notice redirecting traffic to your new site (www.example.com), you can't then submit another change of address notice specifying that the content on www.example.com has moved to a new site.

-Andy

Hi Ruben,

Some services will get that many reviews daily, so I wouldn't have said that 8-12 in a week was a problems.

That said, I always tend to err on the side of caution, so perhaps drip-feed them over a 2-3 week period if you want to make sure you are safe.

-Andy

Hi,

Is the .net still live? You should have advised Google in GWT of the change of address and then setup 301's to redirect pages. Do you know if any of this has been done?

There is a very useful Google article on the process here:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/83106?hl=en

-Andy

It might be relevant in terms of keywords, but there really isn't any content on that page at all. Like you said, lack of content.

Just a brief view of the page, but there are also lots of other reasons why this has dropped. If you do a search yourself, do you see this drop?

Edit-- Also, your contact form is being blocked as a pop-up, so would have a look at this also.

-Andy

A 'hub' isn't categorised based on if it offers a nofollow or dofollow link. As you have already said, you are considering dofollow for potentially thousands of outbound links as you think others might like it.

I can see no good argument that you should consider or implement this.

-Andy

"duplicate content is normally not a penalty."

This also depends on just how much there is. If you duplicate a page, that is identical information.

You can get around this problem Jon, by using the HREFLANG markup that will also work across domains, but remember that it works on a per URL basis, so you would need to use this for each of the URL's with the duplicate content.

Have a read of this article from Google on how to use the markup.
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

I hope that helps.

-Andy

Hi Mike,

Well, the site is in Italian, and about Football (which I don't really follow as a sport) so can't really read what is there, but there are two points that I would make.

The first, I had only been there 5 seconds, and then I lose the page to a huge mid-window popup. I hate these.

The second is that you need to create a Favicon. You can do that here: http://www.favicon.co.uk/

-Andy

Hi,

This is all pretty much down to personal preference, but it all depends on what you want to achieve.

Do you want something that people can share? Create a pin-able image. Want something that looks nice with HTML5 functionality? Go with the chart builder.

Of course, the best thing to do is create both and give people the option of pinning an image as well.

-Andy

Hi,

Based on what you say, there is no way I could suggest that you do this. I have no doubt that this would come back and bite you hard. Google would look at why you are providing dofollow links (to get more people to the site) and probably penalise you.

You can be just as useful a service without having to provide dofollow links in this manner.

-Andy

Hi Alexander,

There isn't a best length to write, but I personally would never make this too long. Remember that this is a small sales page (of a kind), and you are wanting to sell your services. You are much better off with something that quickly describes what you are offering. I think the maximum number of characters you can use is about 4,500, but this would make for an overly lengthy read.

There is a lot of personal opinion comes into this question, but for me, I would stick at about 600 characters. Others might choose more - others less.

-Andy

Hi Bethany,

There are a couple of schools of thought on sub-domain vs folder. One postulates that a sub-domain will be like starting afresh in the eyes of Google, and it will take you months to gain rankings. The other will tell you that going down the folder route, this just benefits from your current structure and you are just creating new pages and won't have to wait to be ranked.

Just so you know, sub-domains no longer take an age to start ranking - it can be a matter of days, but it all depends on what you are wanting to achieve.

That said, unless there was a reason to go down the subdomain route, then I would go with the folder route - it is much more straight forward.

If you are wishing to restructure your site, then just remember to not make the URL's too long; keep them on target and not spammy, but remain descriptive. Something like www.example.com/state/content is absolutely fine and there can be no questions in anyones mind where they are if they see this.

When restructuring, make use of 301 redirects in order to point old pages to the new ones, but never 301 a 301 - this will result in a much greater loss of link juice.

I hope this helps.

-Andy

When a site doesn't rank for their brand, but has done previously, this can often be attributed to a penalty of some kind. I searched for "Smartpress" and didn't find them in the first 2 pages. However, this can also happen if they are a new site.

Other times this can happen, are when they brand themselves based on an already well-used industry terms that others are already ranking for. Imagine me calling myself "SEO Company" and hoping that would appear first because it was my brand? It wouldn't work this way.

Looking at the penalty possibility first, do you know if there have been any manual or algorithmic actions taken against the site? Does Google Analytics show you anything like this? Has their traffic dropped?

-Andy

Both come with their own unique problems, and each target different areas. Neither is particularly easy to fix, but because Panda covers so much more than just backlinks, that it can take a long time to track down what has caused a hit.

I have worked with companies that have been in Panda and then back out within a few weeks - others, many months.

There are some great articles that can help you track down Panda and Penguin issues, so have listed them below.

Panda

• https://econsultancy.com/blog/8583-how-to-identify-and-fix-google-panda
• http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/more-guidance-on-building-high-quality.html
• http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2069358/Google-Ask-Yourself-These-23-Questions-if-Panda-Impacted-Your-Website

Penguin

• http://moz.com/blog/whiteboard-on-googles-penguin-update
• http://www.searchenginejournal.com/an-seos-ultimate-post-penguin-checklist-infographic/48228/
• http://moz.com/ugc/a-theory-for-preventing-recovering-from-a-google-penguin-penalty

All of these are excellent guides that will give you information on how you can best approach these subjects. It is too large an issue to generally tackle here. I have written audits that run into dozens of pages!

Hopefully these will give you a wide range of points to look at

-Andy

A common one here is to look at the images on your site and make sure no-one is referencing them on their own site. This can increase hits to a site.

Does going through Google Analytics throw up any suggestions?

-Andy

Hi Neil,

Through no fault of their own, some sites end up being blacklisted, so it is worth always checking this. A useful service is www.urlvoid.com. This will tell you if it is has any worrying markers attached to it.

Marty has also given you some good pointers there. On top of this, check to see if the page is actually indexed by Google. Doing a "site:...." can often show interesting results. If a page isn't indexed by Google, there is normally a good reason why.

-Andy

Hi Branden,

You are fine using images hosted elsewhere - this is a well-used way to speed up page load times. You will get no penalty for going this and it won't impact on-site SEO either.

-Andy

Hi Richard,

Currently all iPad's will be reported in that format. I am sure that Google will get around to changing this at some point, but for now, you can't tell orientation.

Also, unless there has been a very recent change, you aren't likely to see a different resolution either (1536x2048 for retina for example).

-Andy

"If only we knew when the next refresh was going to be."

Maybe you found it!

It could also be another algorithm update that has tipped you over the edge. You might have been borderline for something for some time, then an update comes along and pushes you over the edge.

Do a site crawl with Screaming Frog as well, to see if anything glaringly obvious jumps out at you.

-Andy

Hi John,

That is a big drop off!

The first question really, is if there have been any changes to the site recently? Any development, new pages, SEO work, content, link building, etc.?

Edit-- Sorry, just seen that you said no major changes to the site - but does this mean that there have been changes?

You mentioned that you have disavowed some links - if this was Penguin related, it could take a little while before you see any changes.

-Andy

If you want to write great content today, then you need to not worry too much about one key phrase, but look for additional synonyms to fit into your content. However, don't just add these in - build them into your content and write more if required.

Take the word "clothing". Additional words (synonyms) that could also be used that related to clothing are "dress, clothe, garb, tog, garment, apparel". Try and fit these in somewhere to give your content some depth and variety.

Synonyms of man (men) could be male, gent, gentleman, youth, boy - I am sure there are loads more.

Just remember that there are billions of other pages of content out there - you need to be trying to make yours stand out from others as much as you can.

-Andy

This looks like page coding, with the true or false referring to page elements rather than anything to do with your keywords.

A Mozzer will be along to confirm or correct me on this

-Andy

Hi,

When looking to create location-based URL's, it is important to create a structure that you can follow throughout the site. You don't want to create something now, that means you are limited if you wish to expand further down the line.

What you have come up with there is a good URL, but do remember to back this up with a logical page title (Awnings and Canopies in Brooklyn and NYC). You can further add to this by mentioning it int he Meta Description and in the page copy as well.

-Andy

Hi David,

If Google are mentioning links, then I would do something about them all. There is obviously a reason why they don't like them, and although you consider the Blogroll link to be natural, this is amongst the sorts of links that Matt Cutts has said they don't want to see. They don't know you didn't ask for it.

If you have no joy with requests to have them removed, just disavow and then advise Google again.

If you are worried about the other sites, change the links so they are not keywords (just something like visit me at <url>. You could even go for a mention and remove any direct links altogether? Perhaps see if the links can be no-followed as well, but as these are not your sites, you will need to make the request.</url>

-Andy

I will thanks Amelia, and you're welcome

-Andy

Hi Amelia,

No, no need to do this. As long as you have a new sitemap in place, then just have Google index this one. If they are still indexing the old one, highlight and delete it and then point them to the new one.

-Andy

Hi Amelia,

Rather than redirecting this, do you have the ability to create a new sitemap based on the site as it now stands? However, if there is a new sitemap already in place, then just use Webmaster tools to upload this one.

-Andy

Hi Amelia,

I just want to understand if your old XML sitemap points to any pages that have either moved, changed URL or removed?

If so, then ideally yes. You don't really want a sitemap pointing to lots of 301's, although it is unlikely to do any major harm just yet - it is just better to start with a clean sheet that is correct.

-Andy

Hi Juris,

You are fine with a rel=nofollow. Others use a hashtag, but I'm not sure this is as good a long term bet.

-Andy

Hi,

The way I always try to explain this scenario, is imagine you are one of the many Google humans that check sites every hour of every day, what would they think if they came across both sites? Would they look at and decide that there was no reason to have a separate site when everything could be said on just one?

If the answer to that is "yes", then perhaps look to either include the new content in the existing domain, or if you feel you need a re-brand, then create the new site with the current pages and new pages, but 301 all current pages over to their new version on the new site.

What you could also look at is a subdomain of the current site. This always gives it a little more of an individual feel to the browsing experience and a separate domain that you can direct a different audience to.

-Andy

Hi Robin,

For internal linking, you want to explain the page that the link is taking you to. This is still the current way to handle internal links.

Try not to think of the link as an opportunity to rank that page for the desired keywords / phrase. The link should be a short and snappy description of the linked page, but do move away from just using "money keywords".

-Andy

Hi Paul,

There are many things this could mean to Ahrefs, so I can only really suggest contacting their own support to get the real meaning of what this is. I could make educated guesses, but they could still be wrong and would hate to misinform you.

-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

Hi,

"My question is, does mens v.s men's make a different for on-page SEO?"

Google are always going to look for the grammatically correct wording, so it is important to always ensure this is what you give them. As Andrew said, MOZ & Google are going to have pretty major differences in what they look for and how they grade it.

You also have to think about visitors that land on your page and find the lack of punctuation, and yes, people will do this. I'm not saying that it would lose you business, but I would never give anyone the chance to question any aspect of credibility.

Would wording this incorrectly leave you with a penalty? Nope! Would getting this right form part of a score on one of the Google algorithms? More than likely - but to what degree is anyone's guess.

-Andy

Hi James,

Don't worry too much about visual aspects - Matt Cutts once said that Google doesn't pay a lot of attention to this themselves as there are some amazing white-papers out there with amazing work, but they are just pages of text and have none of the latest visual wizardry that we tend to see.

Have a look through the site. Does the content read well? Does SEMRush throw up any concerns? Does the content seem unique (check this through Copyscape or pull some sentences out and search for them through Google)?

Where you can, just try to get a feel for what the site has to offer and how you can envisage trying to get a link from them.

-Andy

Hey Bob,

Link building is far from dead, but it has changed direction hugely! You just have to be a little smarter about what you do.

Competition analysis is a fantastic way to find high quality links through a niche market. It helps you to track down opportunities that you might not otherwise find. For example, a high quality site links to a competitor who has written a useful blog post. Write a better version of that blog post and approach that site with it. Tell them that the link on there is out-dated now and hint that your article is much more relevant. Hopefully, the gears should start turning.

Also, don't worry too much about DA. Look more at the site itself and if it is a quality resource. It might not have a high DA, but that doesn't mean it isn't a trusted resource.

-Andy

Hi Eduardo,

I would go with option 1. It is the structure most tend to use, although it is really about which makes more sense. Make use of the HREFLANG tag to add some clarification to these.

As per the last part of the the question, are you planning on using a language drop down at the top of the page or add a link from every post in every language back to the English blog?

-Andy

Hi Michael,

Unless it is very clearly explained, a menu link to another external site, is considered pretty bad form. When someone clicks on your menu, they expect to then stay on your site, not be taken off somewhere else.

I am unsure if this would be a direct cause for any decline in ranking, but it is certainly something that needs to be taken care of.

There are so many reasons for a little decline in the SERPs though. Anything from others doing SEO (so knocking you down) to a change to an algorithm. If it is only subtle, I wouldn't think it is a penalty though.

-Andy

This is a very subjective question Mark.

For example, if you work in a highly technical market, it could be assumed that you are going to need more content than normal to explain processes, technical features and research. However, if you are writing a sales page, you would need less content as you want to get your messages across with big call-to-action type messages and supporting content.

I would certainly also look at competition in the market and see what those who rank well, do. This can only really be used as a guide, but it can give you an idea.

Some say that the average page should be no less than 250 characters - others say no more than 750. There is no right or wrong answer, but you do need to focus on making it as comprehensive as possible.

I hope this helps a little.

-Andy

Yes, this will help Google when crawling them as it will give them additional info.

-Andy

Thank you Jane

This is what I was thinking...

..."or they're trying to scare the competition into spending time and money on something that doesn't matter."

-Andy

It's worth remembering that the disavow tag is completely invisible to anyone other than Google, so Majestic, Ahrefs, MOZ or any other backlink crawler, will still see the same. Even Webmaster Tools still shows the links.

The only way you will tell what is happening is if a manual penalty is corrected and removed, or SERP positions start to climb after an algorithmic penalty.

-Andy

Hi,

It isn't necessary, but if you really want to ensure that every image is indexed by Google, then it will be beneficial to do this otherwise you might not have them all discovered simply by crawling.

-Andy

It's a pretty straight forward 'no' Tyson. If all that is used that is the same is the theme, there is no penalty to be handed out here.

If they are concerned about it, tell them to change their theme, but you don't need to worry about this at all

-Andy

Hi,

Just to add to Keri's reply, you can start to see the effects of the disavow from as little as a few days, to as much as 6 weeks.

My suggestion is just to keep an eye on your positions in the SERPs for a good gauge to when changes are starting to take effect.

-Andy