Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi there,

Have you guys tried the Panguin Tool (no affiliation) to see if your websites have been affected by changes in Google?

https://barracuda.digital/panguin-tool/

Hope this helps.

-Zack

Hi Anu,

I am not seeing the popup on the homepage. Was it removed?

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

Are you referring to the page authority of your homepage, or a different page on your website?

Best,
Zack

I am so sorry to hear that you are experiencing this! Just awful.

While I don't have a direct answer, I can share that about 10 years ago I worked for a company in Silicon Valley that got severely penalized like this, to the point where they were taken off of incredibly good page ranks, and were losing thousands of dollars per day. This was such a big deal, that they started sending me to business conferences / gatherings where Google had presence, to inquire over and over in person until we got it squared away.

God forbid you need to do anything this severe, and so sorry this happened, but I thought I'd mention this to let you know  you're not alone, and we had to take matters into our own hands in a brutal way to get anywhere with this ten years back.

-Zack

Hi Anu,

To help us better understand the question, would it be possible to share a video message (have you tried Loom?) to share with us what you're wanting assistance with?

Best,
Zack

Hi Verz,

Did you ask this in another comment, by chance? If not, I answered someone with a similar question this week, encouraging them to try heading to Google Search Console > Removals > Clear Cached URL to see if that helps.

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

Great question! And one that doesn't necessarily have a quick and easy answer, since all websites (and redesigns are different), and there are many ranking factors. Have you had an SEO professional conduct a formal SEO Site Audit to help in guiding you to the specifics on this? Depending on how much traffic you're getting,  this could honestly be well worth it.

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

To chime in, have you also considered trying heading into Google Search Console > Removals to submit a request for Google to clear a cached URL? This may be all that's needed, without further looking into it.

Hope this helps.

-Zack

Hi there,

To chime in, it's great that you've gotten many backlinks (hopefully, relevant, high quality backlinks), but many SEO professionals believe that there many more ranking factors -- some clearly stated by Google and others note.

Here's a link to the article people cite when discussing these 200 known ranking factors. Can I assume that you're aware of this?

https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors (no relation!)

Hope this helps.

Best,
Zack

Hi there!

I'd be happy to help, but am having trouble understanding the issue. Would you mind using Loom (or something similar) to record a quick video of yourself talking through the issue?

Best,
Zack

Hi there!

While this may be a little off-topic (hard to tell just yet), I believe it would be very helpful if you left us a link with you reviewing the issue in a video message. Have you tried  using Loom in instances like this, so you can record yourself talking us through the issue(s) you've mentioned?

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

It's also worth mentioning that in addition to a possible need to disavow poor quality backlinks, you may have "lost" quality backlinks and / or your competitors may have gained backlinks. (Keep in mind that PA and DA also take competitive landscape into consideration.)

Hope this helps!

Zack

Yenu, I also find that occasionally, websites with poorer PA and DA rank higher than sites with weaker PA and DA. This certainly backs the point that these are Moz metrics and not Google metrics. That said, Moz professionals (good SEOs in general) would not encourage you to set goals to increase PA and DA, but rather set goals that bring the highest value to the website. In the SEO world, that could equate to more pages in the top 3 (or 5, or 10) position, which is not a Moz metric, but is straight from Google.

I hope this helps!

Zack

Hi Yenu,

Have you had an SEO professional conduct a formal SEO Site Audit to make recommendations on this? If not, I would strongly recommend it.

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

To chime in, just today we needed to look this up for a client. Here is what I believe to be a very helpful resource on this. (In short, yes, page load speed is a proven Google ranking factor.)

https://moz.com/learn/seo/page-speed

Hope this helps!

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

These can certainly take some time to be discovered. When did you obtain the backlinks? And can you ensure that they haven't been "lost"?

Much appreciated,

Zack

That is a solid answer, but to also chime in, Domain Authority is a Moz metric that largely increases and decreases depending on the number of backlinks a website has, and also takes into consideration the competitive landscape. So if your goal is to raise your Domain Authority score, you would want to start obtaining backlinks to your website.

Keep in mind that there are several ways to approach gaining backlinks, but doing so by getting your site listed in "bad link neighborhoods" can easily earn penalties in Google.

Hope this helps!

Zack

To chime in on this, DA and PA are Moz metrics, and are not only impacted by gain and loss of backlinks, but also take into consideration that of competitors. That said, there's a good chance that if you did not lose backlinks and saw a decrease, that your competitors gained backlinks during this period.

Is this helpful?

-Zack

Hi there,

In Google Search Console, are you aware that there is a "Clear Cached URL" option in Removals, that allows one to "Keep URL(s) in Google Search results, just clear current snippet and cached version until the next crawl."? Here is more information, just in case it's helpful:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9689846#clear_cache_request (You may already be aware of this)

While I don't know for sure, I would merit a guess that a previous title and meta description are displaying on these pages, and Google needs to know to refresh them. (Even if that guess is not correct, this may resolve the issue, actually.)

Does this help at all?

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

You may already be aware of this, but did you know that the search results change depending on where you are located, geographically? For example, we have a client in San Jose, California, US. If he searches for "electronic engineering" while in San Jose, he'll see their business near the top. If his cousin searches for it in Seattle however, different local businesses will display.

Does this help?

Best,
Zack

My pleasure. I agree, and honestly think it may be a newer feature in GSC, as I just noticed it for one of our client's needs today, and thought of your open question.  Hope to hear how this goes -- no pressure of course.

-Zack

Hi there,

In GSC, are you aware that there is a "Clear Cached URL" option in Removals, that allows one to "Keep URL(s) in Google Search results, just clear current snippet and cached version until the next crawl."? Here is more information, just in case it's helpful:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9689846#clear_cache_request (You may already be aware of this)

While I don't know for sure, I would merit a guess that changing the snippet's title and description would certainly change the clickthrough on it, and possibly alter the positioning as well if it has changed enough between other ranking factors.

Does this help at all?

Best,
Zack

Hi there!

One recommendation I'd have right off the bat is using the (free) MozBar to take a look at the inbound links pointing to the website. If this website is in "bad link neighborhoods" it would be helpful to get rid of  any backlinks from spammy sources. Have you taken this step?

Best,
Zack

Thank you everyone. Taking a look further, I found that:

- Google Analytics shows that this old domain used to get traffic, for years, but back in January of this year, the traffic more or less came to a halt. I suspect this is approximately when a former SEO put in 301 redirects for this domain, and Google recognized it.

- And in a site:{domain.com} search in Google, along the same lines, I found that only one page is currently being crawled -- the homepage.

- BUT in an advanced search in Google, there are 171 mentions of "{domain}.com" in Google still. While many of these are mentions of the owner's email address, this leads to recommending hanging onto the old domain, especially if it is inexpensive.

- AND in Moz Pro, I can see that while there is certainly not much happening with the old domain, it does have some link equity, which is being passed to the main new domain name.

Conclusion

With all this said, I told the client that the bottom line is that I've looked into the potential value of this domain, and do feel it's worth hanging onto -- especially if it is relatively inexpensive.

Thanks again, so much, for chiming in on this one. Should anyone else have any vastly different suggestions, I'm all ears.

Zack Barton
Barton Interactive
(833) 442.6853 // office
(408) 910.7750 // mobile
https://bartoninteractive.com

Hi fellow Moz SEOs,

We have a bigger client who we just did an SEO Site Audit for, and it was discovered that they have several domain names that are simply 301 redirecting to their main domain name. One of their domains in particular is decades old, and the client is asking if there is any value in keeping it (and the others), or simply leaving them as-is. Considering the domain age, does anyone have any recommendations?

Much appreciated,

Zack Barton
Barton Interactive
(833) 442.6853 // office
(408) 910.7750 // mobile
https://bartoninteractive.com

You're very welcome! And yes, I just took at look through ESPN's Fantasy Football section of their website in hopes of finding some great examples. This link should be very helpful:

http://games.espn.com/ffl/leaders?

After heading over to that link (or any other page in the ESPN Fantasy Football section of the site that has players listed), go ahead and click on the individual players to see their little write-ups in both the initial "Overview" tab, as well as the "News" tab. While each has been hand-crafted, they _definitely _are "cookie cutter" and stick to only a handful of templates. (It's no wonder, since there are SO many players, and the information is changing constantly!) As a user, while I've picked up on the idea of their writing team using these templates, it hardly feels like a shortcut was taken, as the information is still useful, relevant, and custom enough.

Be sure to let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Best,
Zack

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Hi there,

To chime in, I also think it's worth mentioning that there are many important factors involved here, so us taking random guesses might or might not be as helpful as having a total list of the possibilities:

Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List by Brian Dean for Backlinko
http://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors

Best of luck!
Zack

Sounds like just new territory then. I personally would go ahead and proceed, just making sure to avoid any bad neighborhoods.

Hope to hear back from you on this, and wish you much success!

Best,
Zack

While setting up variables would be possible, it may not be the best experience for the end user which is also important to Google. Are you able to hire writers for this type of content that can stick to a boiler plate cookie cutter paragraph or two for each page? While users will still pick up on it being cookie cutter, they would see that much less often and likely be very understanding. (Note: As a fantasy football player, I see ESPN doing this with player and team stats pages. They all follow one of only a few formats, but are written by humans, which still feels "very much worth reading" as a site visitor.)

Hope this outside perspective helps!

Best of luck,
Zack

Hi Julie,

Just out of curiosity, what is it that you fear? If it is "links from bad neighborhoods", then you might consider just checking back to see where backlinks are coming from in order to deal with that if even necessary. (Otherwise, this should only be a good thing, keeping in mind that you're only going to be getting SEO "link juice" from sites that aren't using "nofollow" in their links.)

Best of luck!
Zack

Happy to help! And if you end up really digesting all of this information and becoming fluent in it, I'm quite sure others will start asking you where to go and what to do next as well!

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

I happen to own a web design agency that does logo design, and if if it's not too late to chime in on this, I've recently compiled a checklist of what makes a logo great in a blog post you might enjoy.

Essentially, the more items you can check off this list, the better, and while I can tell you "it looks pretty cool", without knowing more about your business and / or customers, I'm unable to determine whether these other criteria can be checked off or not. (Hope that made sense.)

When convenient, please take a look and let me know what you think. Helpful? Or too much?

http://giantjet.net/15-characteristics-great-logo-design/

Best,

Zack

Tough question here. Have you checked to see if comparable companies or competitors are on Instagram? And if so, are you able to gauge their success or lack thereof?

Note: Just got into my car but had another thought. If you're just looking to answer all of your questions in one sitting, I did just write a blog post as a beginner's checklist to SEO that could also be well worth a quick read. Hope this helps:

http://giantjet.net/local-seo-checklist/

Best,

Zack

Hi there,

I'm wanting to chime in, as I also have a love for both SEO and logo design. In all honesty, I couldn't recommend more to you starting with (A) the Moz Beginners Guide to SEO section of the Moz site (which is free), and (B) taking the Moz workshops and trianing (not free but well worth it). Doing this, and in this order, with the workshops (interactive webinars) in the order they're listed will very much get you a wealth of knowledge on SEO. By that I mean, telling you which steps need to be taken, the order they should be taken, and the prioritization and weight each carries (and why). Even just beginning with the Moz Beginners Guide to SEO article (it's more an entire section of a site than a little blog post), and then the first Moz webinar or two may answer the majority of the questions you have here, which will be a HECK of a lot cheaper than hiring an SEO specialist to do this for you.

Best of luck to you!
Zack Barton

I'm in agreement with Kelly, and have seen a ton of success with this type of triggered email in ecommerce. We have set up clients so they'll receive not only cart abandonment and checkout abandonment emails, but also product and category abandonment emails. These have the highest conversion rate -- far beyond all typical marketing emails we send.

In B2B, perhaps one could do something similar with an abandonment email -- but for a particular service. Something along the lines of "Still interested in service xyz?" with an email showing top examples and best alternatives or pairings below. Something you could consider, and as advised above, test out.

Best of luck!

Zack

If you click a users profile, you can click a link that allows them to message them directly.

Very welcome. I came across that article yesterday so it was fresh in my mind when I saw your question.

Best of luck!

Zack

Google has also stated that it is no longer an issue. And while it's easy to simply put all your trust in that statement, it's obviously best to take all precautions possible.

It may also be worth mentioning also that there are many other important factors beyond keywords. You find the following article very helpful:

Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List by Brian Dean for Backlinko
http://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors

Best,
Zack

I think it's well worth mentioning also that there are many other important factors beyond backlinks. You find the following article very helpful:

Google’s 200 Ranking Factors: The Complete List by Brian Dean for Backlinko
http://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

In Google's basic SEO Starter Guide, they do specifically recommend that you "use heading tags appropriately", and to use them to emphasize important text. They state that multiple heading sizes creates a hierarchical structure for your content, making it easier for users to navigate through your document.

That said, it may not be a huge deal, but I might suggest taking care of the issue just to be on the safe side.

Best,
Zack

Hi there,

If you have a list of keyword ideas (aka "a seed list"), whether it's 10, or 1000, you're going to have a hard time knowing exactly which one(s) to pick to target on your website if you don't know the the data behind those search terms. You might find that one of these search terms is much easier to rank highly for, where another is going to be nearly impossible.

Hopefully this helps shed some light. Using tools such as Moz Keyword Explorer can help gather metrics such as "Volume", "Difficulty", and "Opportunity" for your keyword search ideas. (It can also help grow your list of ideas!) Why is this important? These metrics can help determine what search terms you do and do not want to go after as a company.

Example: If I own a hair salon in Chico, California, and I want to start showing up in search results, I might come up with a list of keyword ideas that we'd like to rank for. Doing keyword research using a tool such as the one mentioned above, I might realize that while it's going to be very difficult to rank high for "hair salon in northern california", I actually have a good chance to rank high for "hair salon in chico".

Side-note: There's a Moz bootcamp class on keyword research, which may really help clarify further. (Highly recommended!)

Best,
Zack

Glad to hear you were able to spot it! Hopefully you're able to also use Google Analytics (and the reporting in Google AdWords also) to determine whether or not continuing with paid traffic in that same way has good ROI.

Cheers,

Zack

Note: I marked your response as "Good Answer" (as I thought it was a good answer), but did not intend for this post to show as "Answered" now. Is there any way to undo that? Fearing I may now lose out on anyone cruising through but ignoring "Answered" posts.

Best,

Zack

Hi Nicholas,

Thanks so much for the thorough explanation and sharing of your experience here. While it doesn't quite leave me feeling satisfied regarding one or two of the questions brought up, it is incredibly helpful and very insightful.

Like you, I'll also keep an eye out for a response from Takeshi Young or a Mozzer to see if any more can be clarified here. If not, I may just end up going for a simple WordPress site here instead.

Thanks again!

Zack

To expand on this issue, I'll include a few screen grabs taken just now.

One shows the very high domain authority from the example Tumblr site I referenced. (http://gothamlogos.tumblr.com/)

The other shows the snippet of code that links (outside of posts and image posts) to the sponsor site (http://underconsideration.com/), which -doesn't- have a "Tumblr redirect", and -doesn't- have a nofollow.

With these two screen shots, I became pretty excited at the thought of doing something very similar. However, heading into our Moz Prop account, I'm not seeing this Tumblr site passing any link juice to the sponsor site. (In fact, it's nowhere to be found at all in the Moz Pro reporting. See attached "Inbound Link Report" for underconsideration.com.)

Still holding out for anyone with this experience with this specific scenario before I mark this as "answered".

Greatly appreciated,
Zack

4-27-17-high-da.PNG 4-27-17-ordinary-link.PNG 4-27-17-report-with-no-tumblr-found.PNG

Very thorough response, Nicholas. Thanks so much for the effort. Going to take a couple screen shots and elaborate in a new non-"post response" comment.

Hi there,

Have you checked to see where the traffic was coming from in Google Analytics? (There's a good possibility that it could simply be spam traffic, but it's difficult to say not knowing more specifics here.)

Best,

Zack