Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi James,

A brand search is likely to throw up international pages as it is very different from a search term - this is much more specific and handled differently because you are using sub-domains rather than a folder structure. This is (almost) another separate entity in Google's eyes.

It is possible that over time Google will address this, but I am not sure there is anything more than you have already done that will make more differences.

Have you done a new fetch as Google? Are you sure HREFLANG is all working correctly? You can use this to test it.

-Andy

Hi Tariq,

There are so many possibilities for this. However, can you give me a little info please?

• How old is the site? If it is quite new, then it is common for rankings to fluctuate a lot while Google is figuring out where you should be.
• How have you managed your SEO so far? Have you read any guides? This is always a great place to start.
• Take a look at your content. Where did this come from? Is it written for the site?
• Check your pages and page speeds. I was on a page and it was still trying to load items 15-20 seconds later. However, Google is fairly happy here it seems as Page Speed Insights shows a decent-ish score
• Have you done any keyword research for the site?
• Is there any linkbuilding been undertaken at all?

I could probably go on and on, but see how you get on with those and check your Private Messages for a little more info.

-Andy

It's very hard to say for certain Bob, without looking at it. It could be that Google is still taking exception at pages in the site, despite doorway pages have been removed.

Presumably you have asked Googlebot to crawl the site again?

-Andy

That's great news Dusan - glad you figured it out

-Andy

Hi Rob,

Always worthwhile - from an SEO perspective, it might only be a small benefit, but lots of small benefits do add up.

It also helps if someone clicks on a link and is taken to the page that is indicated rather than being redirected somewhere else.

-Andy

It sounds to me like a config issue in the .htaccess file. There is no real reason for it not to work otherwise.

See if you find your solution in here:

https://www.sslshopper.com/apache-redirect-http-to-https.html or here: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13977851/htaccess-redirect-to-https-www

-Andy

Keyword strategies are quite in-depth when you get started so it's good to know from the outset, what you are trying to promote from that page.

From your examples, both phrases give a very different set of results, so I would be looking to create 2 different pages for these. However, you will need to do some research on how to make these pages more targeted for Google.

For example, for Made to measure furniture, I would be looking to add keywords and phrases that you know Google associates with them, such as:

• We make it to order
• Furniture we make to order
• Custom made furniture
• Bespoke furniture
• Contemporary furniture maker
• Bespoke solid wood furniture
• Bespoke fitted furniture

Depending on the pages you are looking to promote, you could add some of these as headings or talk more about them as part of the page content.

But as always with keywords, make sure it all makes sense and don't just drop keywords and phrases into a page without giving them a reason to be there.

Such a big subject, but I hope this helps a little.

-Andy

Hi Bob,

Is there a reason that you want to also target G+? I hear many differing reports on successes people have on here, but if you know there is a good community that you want to break into on there, then go for it.

In terms of best articles, where do you start - Facebook marketing is a huge subject with so many guides on how to get the best from it, but most agree that Videos get the best successes.

Are you looking to promote a particular brand or is this just something you need to gather more information on?

-Andy

Hi Brandon,

Anything that improves the user experience is a good thing, but be careful you don't end up just creating doorway pages, as this in itself can bring you a penalty.

Try to envisage how this will look from when a user lands but do keep in mind that this should not be done just to try and gain more favour with Google. However, if it does start to look like a doorway page, then as long as there is real value add, you should be fine.

-Andy

See how it goes in the next few days Clojo and if it doesn't settle down, perhaps start taking a look at the site in a little more detail. Perhaps the recent update pushed a button on your site for Google and they are reindexing?

Hard to tell at this stage sadly.

-Andy

Just keep in mind that people would much prefer to scroll to find something than not see it at all.

Perhaps exchange the tabs for in-page anchors that will scroll someone down to a particular part of the page from the top? I have seen Google index these anchors as well, so word them carefully, and you could gain extra from doing so.

-Andy

Like we are coming up for the wrong search terms or something?

That is very strange Clojo. It there were no change, I wouldn't be bothered, but what you mention about the wrong search terms, you have me wondering if you are being seen for more, but perhaps the wrong phrases?

Have you looked in analytics at where people are dropping off the site? If you do a comparison of dates, you might be able to narrow it down a bit more.

-Andy

It is frustrating as Google haven't told us what this is yet, which makes me think it's a change to the main ranking algorithm. All we do know, it is definitely isn't Penguin.

Some are saying search quality, others are saying it's local, but it is all just speculation right now, and we might never know for sure.

Have a read of this for a little more info: http://searchengineland.com/library/google/google-algorithm-updates

If you look at your analytics, do you notice the same fluctuations there?

-Andy

I am sure I have read that it isn't just links, but quite happy for MOZ to put this right.

What makes me thing it isn't just links, is this:

The best way to influence this metric is to improve your overall SEO. In particular, you should focus on your link profile—which influences MozRank and MozTrust

So it says to focus on your link profile, but improve your overall SEO - I would assume from this that it is more heavily biased towards links, but that isn't the end of it.

-Andy

Hi Becky,

I think I am with you...

So is what you are saying, that there are different versions of the same page depending on which option you choose to move forwards with?

So where is ?page=1, ?page=2, etc linked from?

There does actually seem to be some problem with the navigation as well. If I go to http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches?page=3 and the go forwards or back a page, I then am on page 2 or 4, but I see the following URL:

http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches?page=3#productBeginIndex:90&orderBy:5&pageView:list&

So I can be on page 1 or 5 and still see page 3 in the URL.

That aside, what I see is hashed (fragmented) content and Google doesn't index that. It understands that whatever is after the hash / fragment is used for something specific to a page and therefore for navigation purposes.

I would look to see what is going on with the navigation because it looks like the pagination is there, just not changing URL's correctly.

If I start at http://www.key.co.uk/en/key/workbenches and the click next, I get to the '2nd' page, but if I go back, it still shows me as being on the 2nd page in the navigation numbers.

I would say that there are some issues to iron out here first of all.

-Andy

Hi,

You are quite correct that Google can see, but pays very little attention, to tabbed content. Unless it carries something like tech specific information for a product that might not be of interest to everyone, or something that might get duplicated, I tend to avoid them.

If you have information the tabs that is unique and that you feel Google should be using, then I would take it out of them. I wouldn't try to find workarounds to this.

Google say that if content is important to the page, don't hide it.

-Andy

Have a look at Sistrix because they have a very nice visibility index with loads of keyword data.

-Andy

Hi Thomas,

DA isn't just calculated off links, so it could be a wide range of factors making this happen. Moz explain it here:

Domain Authority is Moz's calculated metric for how well a given domain is likely to rank in Google's search results. It is based off data from the Mozscape web index and includes link counts, MozRank and MozTrust scores, and dozens of other factors. It uses a machine learning model to predictively find an algorithm that best correlates with rankings across thousands of search results that we predict against.

I hope this helps

-Andy

Hi,

It isn't something I would recommend. The title would keep changing as the stock changed, but as Ikkie said, Google will just ignore this element.

Try and think about you you can make the title engaging at the same time as telling Google what the page is about - and remember, you have 70 characters (approx) to play with now.

-Andy

No problem at all - I hope it helps a little

-Andy

Ahh you said Homepage above. "...which keywords to target for your home page"

The about us page isn't really one that you want to be SEOing for any of your key phrases. It's just a page that gives you some opportunity to tell your story and background. It isn't something that people would necessarily visit to purchase a product or service.

Is there a reason you are trying to get more people to it?

-Andy

Hi,

Have a look through here: https://moz.com/help/guides/moz-api/mozscape

-Andy

Hi Rod,

Your Homepage is literally an overview page and is also more about your brand overview - it is a bit of everything that introduces you.

I tend to map out the pages on a site and then look at what I have, what keywords should be aligned with those pages and then expand the keyword research to see what else it would make sense to talk about.

For your Homepage, if all you do is web-design, then something like "Brand Name | A Florida web design agency" - you get the idea.

Try not to be too specific and leave room in your keyword / page map to optimise your internal pages that drill down to skills you want to talk more about.

-Andy

Hi  Lily,

I haven't used that myself, but this is the one I like to use - and it's free up to 3,500+ pages (it's dynamic and can be as high as 4,300 pages free).

I would be trying some of the other sitemap generators first to see if they report back the same issues.

-Andy

Hi Andrew,

First of all, I would not be no-following any internal site links. This is not a recommended practice for any website - even Google says don't do this. By setting links as nofollow, you are stopping Google from crawling links that could be adding benefit to other internal pages.

There are occasionally reasons why you might not want something no-followed, but links from help / wiki pages to other internal pages isn't one of them.

I would be looking to undo this on their site as soon as you are able.

-Andy

Hi Jim,

If analytics confirms that traffic is still landing on the homepage, then I think this is just Google reporting different pages when you perform a site: - It certainly doesn't sound like a penalty of any sort.

It is worth noting that Google did confirm some time back that site: doesn't bring back every page every time and is best used as a guide. Does the sitemap in Search Console show a healthy number of indexed links?

If you want a discussion on this, then it would be worthwhile also posting over at the Websearch Help Forums at Google and see what others have to say about it.

I hope this helps a little.

-Andy

Hi Bob,

Gaston is absolutely correct - Links will only be updated as MOZ finds the links as it trawls the web.

I did have a quick look on Ahrefs for you and it shows 35 referring domains and 70 backlinks, so it does indeed look like you are growing links steadily.

-Andy

Has anyone experienced penalty recently (last 12 months) on an ecommerce site because of a high number of thin product pages?

I have indeed, although it was more because all they carried on the page was literally a few lines per page and no value-add. Most of what was there was copied from the manufacturers site.

Google have also said they prefer you not to no-index pages, but instead, try and make the pages better. I would be cautious of advising that yes, no-indexing is a good idea, without knowing more about the site and taking a look.

Is there something going on with the site that is causing concern, or is this for a new site before they launch?

-Andy

You will also want to do a bit of testing and to start with - serve the ads throughout the day and then after 2-3 weeks you will have some meaningful data that you can work with. Every client, product and niche is different so you can't guarantee that what works for others, is going to be a sure-fire winner for your client.

-Andy

Hi,

It is always good to have nice clean URL's, but I wouldn't advise trying to change them all just for the sake of wanting to change them, especially if they are ranking so well.

What could be way better than 1st place?

Google has even said in the past, not to change URL's for SEO purposes.

If you had a problem because of this, then it might be a different discussion, but for the most part, a URL plays just a tiny part of what Google looks at.

I hope this helps.

-Andy

Hi,

What is their thinking for no-following internal links? This is never a good idea and Google will even tell you this because they need links to be able to crawl and navigate their way around the site.

Why would there be even more links on mobile if they hadn't no-followed them?

-Andy

Hi Marcel,

I like to use internal links to build important hub pages, but the best way to do this depends a lot on your site and what you have currently that might help you.

Have a read of this article to help give you a few ideas of how this can help and what a difference it can make.

-Andy

Hi,

First of all, what is making you think it is so bad? I would be cautious of trying to convince them so much that you end up alienating them and diving in there with someone else to try and get your point across, might just do this.

I like to turn to statistics and testing at this point. Are there pages not converting well? Is there is a penalty of any sort because of the copy? Have you thought about adding a live user testing application like Inspectlet to show them how people are navigating the pages?

-Andy

That is an odd one and I would be investigating a few areas to start with.

1. Contact your web hosts and ask them if they can see what is causing this
2. Disable every plugin to see if this helps
3. Have you noticed a bit jump in external links pointing to your site?
4. Is there anything that has been added to the site recently that could be causing it?

-Andy

Hi Bridget,

Is there a plugin that you have installed recently for structured data?

Google did say a little while ago that spammy markup could be handed as a penalty, but it's a little difficult to know what is doing it.

Just took a quick look at your homepage in Google's structured data testing tool and this is what it shows (this error is repeated 3 times).

| author | A value for the author field is required. |

This might be something as simple as disabling the author option, but it's a bit hard to say without testing.

-Andy

Hi Dan,

Is there a reason you want to go for a .co.uk? Why not just add the UK content into a /uk/ version of the site and set HREFLANG to handle the different international pages? That way you don't lose any rankings and all you are doing is moving content around on a current domain.

No need to take it to another site.

Here is some good reading that will help you setup the site and make sure you don't miss anything:

• https://moz.com/blog/the-international-seo-checklist
• https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/faq-internationalisation
• https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/189077?hl=en

The fact that is is on the same domain doesn't matter because HREFLANG will tell Google which content is for which country.

-Andy

This is the company who designed the site for them - perhaps get in touch? But I also think it might be a custom build - perhaps on the back of another well known theme.

http://www.innergys.com/

-Andy

Hi,

This is quite common for sites that are hacked and you then end up with these really strange spam links pointing to you.

The good news is, this won't do any harm to you. The bad news is, it's virtually impossible to stop someone else linking to you - especially so if it's a hacked site.

I would advise just keeping an eye on them and if you think it's a problem, just disavow the sites that are linking to you.

-Andy

Hi,

I would be very careful of openly asking for a link because if Google gets wind of this, you could be in trouble as the link was never earned. There are ways to ask without asking.

What you have posted just looks like a CSS class style so I wouldn't worry about that, but I would be looking to build a natural link profile which includes a range of link types.

-Andy

I'm with Logan here, Fabrizio. Rel next & prev pagination removes the need to canonical as well. So it would look like this:

Page 1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

It's Google way of understanding that there are similar pages that you wish to lead visitors to.

-Andy

Hi Fabrizio,

Yes, and no.

I have seen this work in the past and I have also seen it make no difference. My feeling these days is that no-indexing doesn't solve the issue, even while being worked on, as I have seen more occurrences of it not working.

How big a problem are you trying to deal with? I did help a company with 37k pages recover from Panda a while ago, but we have to do some pretty hefty trimming of the site in order to get it back into good shape again. There issue was that thousands of pages all had big pieces of the same content on many similar pages, so we cut out a lot of the problem areas and pulled the site into something that resembled a bit more sense.

-Andy

Hi Becky,

It is very unlikely it will affect your rankings as I see many sites that offer this sort of thing on page load. However, I would make sure that it isn't one of these annoying ones that pops up on every page and ruins the user experience. If you drive people away, that is then a problem.

-Andy

Hi Edward,

It all depends on the microdata added and how quickly Google picks it up but as long as there are no issues, you should find Google returning results with additional information in the SERPs or with a better understanding of your site and pages. Timescale is always an unknown though.

-Andy

Hi Richard,

Do you mean literally picking the whole thing up and dropping it onto your site or making changes to it before doing so? What is the reasoning behind thinking of doing this?

Generally this is going to be a problem of some sort, be it in the form of a penalty or being seen as plagiarism.

-Andy

$2 per link is very expensive when you are looking at so many, especially as there is a big part of this that can be automated (hint: This should cost you no more than about $5-$10k if outsourced).

Linda has given you some good tips there, but I do agree that you need to tread carefully because you can often go too far and end up jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

It really does help to first gather all of the links from as many sources as you can and as already mentioned, create your de-dupe list. Depending on who you speak to at this point, there are different ways to go through the data and start to segment the links into those you know that are dangerous, those that are perhaps a bit of a grey area, and those that are safe.

Cheers,

Andy

Hi,

It might be a little counter-intuitive to enable ping-backs and trackbacks to find the spammy sites only to have to disavow them, when disabling this function means that they are unable to do a ping-back or trackback in the first place.

I personally wouldn't go looking for spammy backlinks unless you feel they are causing you a problem.

Keep an eye on your Search Console for the links that are appearing and assess each one to see if you think it should be disavowed.

-Andy

Hi,

John Mueller from Google recently answered this question at a Webmasters Hangout and his view was that if you have a few of the same brands, like 4-5, that are all related, owned by you and you are just showing people your own network, that there isn't much of an issue doing this at all. Add the links into the footer was also not a problem, as was not needing to add no-follow to them.

However, problems might occur if there are more if it looks like they were being done to try and gain SEO benefits (i.e Link Building).

-Andy

Not something I have tried Miriam, but I have a new client who would be a good one to try with this as they have just opened a shop that repairs iPhones, iPads etc., and at the moment, have no listings anywhere.

Seems like a useful feature that should get some use

-Andy

Hi,

The very best article that I refer everyone to when looking at internal linking, is here.

The theory is that you create a strong, relevant link, but make it suitable and in context with the text where it comes from.

-Andy

Hi,

I really wouldn't do that as the page match doesn't fit, Canonical similar pages only.

However, internal linking can help create strong 'hub' pages on a site and this is a great way to top up your homepage without getting into any form of redirection.

The best thing I can suggest is have a read of this article to understand how it works, how to do it, and what you can expect, but essentially, it is all about creating string text anchor links to your homepage. That's the short version

On top of this, just make sure you are doing the very best possible job on your homepage. Do a page audit to see what is working for you and what you might need to be updating.

-Andy