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Hi

Have seen it impact many sites. Most down, a few up.  It is the continuation of the roll out or tweaking of the medic update.  So the first major update August 18, then March 19 and then the June one referenced.

It was poorly named as the medic update - it really should be called the "entity update" or the "trump update".  Most are saying it is about content - it is far more complicated than that.  We have recovered a few sites from the August update.  If your business sits within "YMYL" verticals - then there is plenty to be done.  Usually, the largest job however in time, is a content audit, and then a re-write as the content usually coming up short on audit.  The technical elements are just as critical from schema markup to uniform citations etc.

Not sure it helps, but your not alone.

Charles

This is where moz is great - as anyone in the US who needs that data - now knows they have till midnight tonight to capture it.

Without checking your site quality relevant backlinks sound like the main concern.  Do you have a backlink strategy in place?  It does take time...

As per Yoseprgr the first option. Re-direct chains negatively impact on page speed and crawlability.  Hence the one chain re-direct is optimum. Google published a video - think Matt Cutts stating - they do not crawl after 4-5 redirects.  SO taking into account loss of link equity, google recommendations and speed impact - the direct link is optimum.

Hope that helps.

I had to re-fresh a few pages, a few times, but all the data has come though now.  Every website up, though a few by only 4, but I am still hopeful that is not noise but the result of hard work.

It is too broad a question to answer in detail.  Rank Brain is about optimising the customer experience etc. So the best starting point is the quality of content.

This is still a great WBF on content - that will cover any rank brain concerns..

https://moz.com/blog/how-to-create-10x-content-whiteboard-friday

So, in short, yes, we still use plenty of tools, from GA to Moz, and many more.

Hope that helps.

One other aspect to consider it "fetch for google".  Google sometimes takes time to naturally index content. Then often for a period - google index the first in time content that was indexed first (makes sense!). Hence if affiliates are copying your content and using fetch for google, (and you are not) they may get an advantage of a few days / weeks - until google sorts it out.

It is a great tool.  So if you know this practice is going on I would make "fetch for google" mandatory.

Hi

Not able to give a definite answer on information provided.

Is the site www.PhysicalTherapyFortMyers.com currently ranking for terms you want to rank for?  When you say rename your site are we talking changing a title tag or a new url?  Clarify and will revert..

Speak soon.

It is working on most sites, but a few I have just checked have changed, ie one started at 27 - 5 hours ago was 32 now 30!  So might give it another 24 hours to settle down.

Darcy

Regardless of how much is in the scroll it is all visible to google. Keeping the text visible on the page above the fold, with a few organically placed keywords is all first rate seo.

Hence what you suggest would only positively enhance your clients SEO - add in the usual caveats about keyword stuffing & relevance to be wary of.  So unless I am missing something all good.

Favicons have become increasingly complex.  Browsers store them, they come to be differentiated by the implementation of the schema etc.. ie we have one client who is using 6 favicons off the same website.

So to answer properly someone has to do a technical dive.

To assist each operating system has different favicon requirements - so in your instance would look at how many variations of the favicon you have.  ie

• favicon.ico with 16×16, 32×32 icon sizes
• favicon-16x16.png: Modern equivalent of original ICO format
• favicon-32x32.png: Safari
• apple-touch-icon-180.png: Apple touch icon
• icon-192.png: Chrome/Android
• safari-pinned-tab.svg: Safari pinned tab SVG
• mstile-150x150.png: MS tile

Hope that helps. It does sound like a technical implementation issue rather than a crawl issue.

Good luck.

Matt's answer below is spot on.

I add that if the site is ranking well for the key pages then I would try and mimic the Title tags and H1's in transition. Why change a good thing.

However if the site is not ranking well or can be improved then the transition is the perfect opportunity to review the Title tag and H1. Undertake some keyword analysis and optimize the Title tags and H1's for search today. Always good to review and maybe eliminate some duplication etc. that always creeps in with mine.

The meta descriptions in my experience is irrelevant to SEO - only the title tag and H1, out of the 3.  However the meta description does have an impact on CTR which in my view is just as important. So ensure carefully crafted and sending the customer a reason to click through to your website.

MattAntonino

The meta description allows you an opportunity to construct your search result or Ad - for clickability.

Alick and Chris are spot on. You should consider creating a 156-160 characters meta description and ensure comprised with a call of action, so when customers read the meta description, they will be enticed to click on your link and visit your website. Meta descriptions are very important given their impact to directly drive traffic to your site.

Google has stated the meta description is not a direct ranking factor. Indirectly however it is. If more people click through to your website and those people ALSO engage with your website - our experience is your ranking can increase. If you increase your CTR on one page by changing the meta description it can translate into 1,000's of additional clicks per year.

Hope this assists.

It is correct and make sure the Home page is framed as the Directory for Betting etc.

Jamie

I had a look at the source - ie the description. "Car Warranty designed to be the UK's best by Quentin Willson. 95% satisfaction rating for Warrantywise award winning used car warranty. Get a quote today"  I just did a character/ pixel check and it is perfect.  153 ch / 1329 px

I am only thinking out loud, but google might not like the first sentence -  it probably does not really respond to any searchers query match any intent. Hence google substitute the answer snippet taken from the page.  Maybe google is more advanced than we think they are with the ever changing SERP.

On a positive CTR is positively enhance by the size of the Organic search result - so you are on a winner their. I would just monitor it at present on GA and webmaster and see whether action needed.

Correct - I can give you a trick though.

If the SERP is a high value page. Thousands if not millions of dollars has been spent on Adwords A/B testing the Ads that work on that page. When you frame your meta description and Title if you can - take into account the top Ads that companies keep on replaying.  They would not keep running them, if not highly successful on that page.

Go get them...

Hi

Yes, in many instances it is better to use other words besides Brand name. We recommend the brand name in title tag on home page,

Yes, that is already happening.

Most assume that even though "google reverse image" is "public" behind the scenes it forms part of the google algorithm. Google wants originality...  and it seems only natural to use google reverse image as an indicator.

If it is one photo on a few sites i would not get too excited, but if it is on alot of sites and is not difficult to change - I would suggest you do.

test your image on google reverse image... always a good start.

iStorm & David have nailed the answer, you should use a combination of semrush & similarweb.  I also use moz to review backlinks - as many will be referrals.

So you have three to cross check. Similarweb gives you the "easy answer" however it should then be cross referenced with moz and semrush - to get a stronger understanding.

Leaving aside referrals similarweb - also has a display advertising function, which offers guidance.

Each case is different.  That said can give you some general rules we use.  If the Brand name is short ie 6 characters or less.

We use Brand in all Title tags.  - ie | Brand

If long - some Brands 2-3 words we always use Brand on Home Page, Contact Page, privacy pages etc.

Product pages - often go with the product only.  Then after that we just look at individual pages and determine what is best for the consumer and search engines.

Hope that assists.

Lina

I would look at it glass half full. I cant take a photo - so it costs me or clients 1,000's if not 10,000 for photography.  You clearly can - so cost effective and you can control what goes onto your site.  You are in a great position. Upsell original photography...

I also think though it is a factor it is not high ranking factor (yet!).

I also found a great WBF for you.    https://moz.com/blog/panda-optimization-whiteboard-friday  - states the position better than me!

good luck, photography is a great talent to have.

Firstly when you say your site was hit by a google update, what was the date/time of the decrease? and how much of a decrease?  The below link may assist.

It is important to know which update has effected your site.  But as importantly you need to verify it has actually been hit. As it will depend on what "rules" you have breached to what actions you take.

If I was you I would first work out where you sit on the penalty scale and what needs to be done before approaching anyone. Be appropriately armed with the right information.

https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change

Not 100% clear on the question.

But I think what you are asking is "Does Google recognizes footnotes, etc?. which is where superscript is often used.  The short answer is yes, as I do not believe the size of words would have any factor for google in search. Referencing could only be a positive if only from a semantic perspective.

Hope this helps.

There are two schools of thought on this.

One school is as you have adopted above, simply frame your title to the customer.  I do not 100% agree as I think there are competitive tensions between "customer v SEO" on various aspects of a site build. One is title - So personally I would delete words "in" as the 512 pixels in your title is valuable space and integral in informing search engines what your site does, so the search engines can match it to searchers intent.  The "in" does not add anything, it is superfluous. I personally prefer "web design london" as it is succinct and straight to the point. I already know you are based in London - so no need to tell me, web design london does that.

Your call, hope that assists.

Patricks suggestions I think answer your query.

I googled airsoft and it seems strongly related to paintball & airguns. I would not recommend subdomains but keeping it on your main domain. Our experience in fashion is that the more products you have that volume exponentially increases sales. ie go with www.brandname.com/paintball

That said you appear to be leaning towards a sub-domain. As it has completely separate customer bases.

I would try and re-think that strategy and see if there is any way you can live with one URL. You will be dedicated to one purpose not focusing on 2 or 3.  Become the expert in airgun sports...

Let me know if have any queries.

The boys above have detailed the more technical aspects - the common issue is the length of the title.  1 pixel over 512 pixels and the title truncates as you have described above.  I have seen it truncate as you have described from 487 pixels.

I tested your example and that is 580 pixels. XYZ Company: Primary Keyword in Ontario Canada - XYZ Company

Hence on your example to reduce the pixel width and also for a better CTR I also recommend you use the pipe | and not the hyphen -. Plus you may need to extract Canada etc.

So confirming have you checked the Title is 512 pixels or less?  If still truncating test 487 pixels to be safe. I built my own title tester given it is such a common issue so I could measure the pixels https://www.predikkta.com/products/free-serp-optimizer-tool.html

Hope it is as simple as outlined above.   I add it is worth getting right as it has a strong influence on CTR.

Dmitri has it covered. Have you read this article about silo links?

http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo.htm

There maybe some juice benefit to be passed through to your commercial pages.

The 2012 article from Moz is still current. There are other more current dated articles but in short same outcome.

From what you are describing you are on the right track. Make sure you address the backlinks correctly. http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2207168/how-to-conduct-a-link-audit

You sound like you are in safe territory by taking a considered approach. Well done.

Let me know if any more queries.

Ali

So I assume the keyword is Blouse - name of Product Jessica

Women's Blouses | Jessica Blouse | Brandname

H1

Fashion Blouses

It is a little unusual to have the name of the product in womans fashion in the title - unless it is a big brand like G-Star etc. But that is up to you. An alternate might be

Blouses | Peasant, black casual | Brand name

H1

Womans fashion Blouses

Then leave jessica for the description of the product?  There are 1000 ways to skin a cat, you have to decide which way to go. I prefer the latter.

Hope that assists.

.

Chris

The title tag has significant impact on SEO. Concurrently we believe you should work on your H1's and meta descriptions as well. For us though go hand in hand.  We spread excel sheet them out for large companies.  Very important.

A basic rule of thumb is Keyword | Second Keyword | Brandname.

The title tends to truncate over 512 pixels hence the 50 Character rule you refer to however it is best to try and get close to 512 pixels.  That could be 60 characters. If you go over 512 pixels google often flips the brand name to the front.

The most aesthetically pleasing separator generally is the pipe. Bob is correct on taking the brand name out if possible, but often google includes it, so you will have to monitor how google interprets your title and meta description when implemented. Then change accordingly.

Feel free to ask any questions and hope that helps. .

I echo Andy above.

On the domains I would run them all through "open site explorer" &/or "majestic" to ensure you are not giving up anything of any value.

I would also be careful if they have no value, and are 301'ed to your main site, that could look spammy to google. So if you do choose to hold them, even though they have no value, so held for brand protection sake, do not 301 them unless it could be a traffic referral domain.

Hope that assists.

Is the geo setting in WMT's set to UK? You need to tell google what is your target audience in your case the UK.

If the .co.uk is available I would buy it to stop competitors buying it, and re-directing it to there site.

Lisa

It is a personal decision.  There is no right or wrong answer.

Big companies - sometimes buy them and do not use them in any shape nor form, but keep from competitors. Smaller companies usually don't as it is a costs issue.

My experience is most competitors do not understand their own digital channel let alone, snapping up similar names of competitors...

If you only set WMT's to the UK today you will have to wait a while for it to update. That would be the primary cause of the issue you have raised above - so you have solved it!

I would keep your .com do a 301 re-direct on the .co.uk.

Well done.

We work for health insurance entities and for one target the keyword health insurance. It is not dissimilar to targeting any keyword, except more expensive and competitive. The quality of work must be first rate. The key to success on terms like health  - is fight the battles you can win. ie if new to the market, new url etc. there is no chance of ranking in the top 4-5 for the primary keyword, for an extended period.  However you maybe able to rank in the top 5 for the keywords "best health insurance". Generate cash flow & re-invest.

My suggestion is not to give up equity in the business to a stranger - simply fraught with danger. Also you are giving up your IP.  You may get lucky odds are it will be a disaster. Firstly roll up your sleeves. Then do a site audit. Moz does a partial for you.    https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015

Then once your site is audited and clear, start working on the customer experience - website and go door to door if you have to.  If it a good product and customers love it you are on the right track. You need to access feedback honestly.

My view is the way to succeed is to ensure your customer thinks you are the best in market at whatever you do.  That special service you gave the customer means they will start to promote it. Links will flow from good content, so concurrently work on informative content.

The reality is it is just plain old fashioned hard work. Remember if you do it yourself whenever a website issue arises you can ask the community a specific question - you will get plenty of help.

Hope that assists.

yes correct - the major change you have already done on WMT's.  If you think people are typing in co.uk instead of .com then re-direct co.uk to .com.

From an SEO perspective it will make no difference.

Clear as mud!

Good questions.  I think user Experience is becoming more important within  google algorithm updates.  A few years ago it was in my view a non factor - it was all about links.

Today I believe it is a very important factor. I would say in the top 3-4 now. When I say user experience, I am talking user experience I am considering combination of CTR, dwell time, complete's on page etc. But probably the most important user experience factor is page loading speed - which is close to my no 1 factor. Though I include page speed in technical seo given it is so important.

Hope that assists.

Have seen it on alot of sites. The drop in rankings we are seeing is on less substantive sites generally.

Traffic signals are what we think has been impacted most plus some sort of sub domains/exact url impact. Not sure on the latter yet. We think the google update has upgraded how it is looking at traffic and how it interacts with the site. Where did it come from (did it enter via a search term), how long did it stay and what did it do next (did it share your content on social sites)?. Google seem to be giving maximum value to what we call High Domain Authority Referral Traffic. They seem to have upgraded their view of the quality of traffic being referred via backlinks.

The perfect backlink may now be one from a high Domain Authority site which refers traffic that stays on and interacts with your website.

We are getting ranking results via maximising the use of traffic signals. From maximising interaction and time on site to using traffic to turn previously dormant backlinks into ranking assets, there seems to be a range of ways to use these signals to generate ranking increases.

Anyway early days, but the fluctuations are absolutely there...  we are seeing double dips and even double upswings, before it settles.

Hope that helps.

H1's in my experience are influential in the seo armoury.  Ideally it should be above the fold, a good sized font and identify what the page is about.

Here is a previous post setting out some discussion on H1's. .

https://moz.com/community/q/are-h1-tags-important-or-influential

You will have an easy seo win by fixing up the H1 on each page. Hope this assists.

"Your seo specialist" may have got you into the pickle... have you also obtained independent advice and run a deep site link audit?

Https - google has been warning us - https is preferred over http.  At the moment if two sites are equal https will prevail.  Alick is spot on.

However google is conditioning us at present - so that when it amps up the power for https we will be prepared. I have no doubt google will amp up the power of https in 2-3 years if not earlier - significantly more juice will be given to https sites over http. https hurts PBN's and impacts many black hat practices. The sooner you do it and bed https down the better. There maybe a slight loss in page loading speed, which should be monitored.

Hope that assists.

Answer - 100% = originalsitename.com/landscaping. I am an evangelist on this topic with clients!

The nexus is there and I am not sure it is that far removed. People who are looking for training are looking to be educated on related areas.  I would not put much thought into the choices as the above is superior to a subdomain for ranking purposes generally.

I also suggest you have a read of this article  http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/silo.htm which may also facilitate higher rankings for the new pages when implemented.

Hi

There are  three key parts to it generally.  This is very general so ask for detail on any part.  The first is technical seo, making sure your site can be found by search engines like google. Ria has mentioned that.  To that end the below technical site audit guide from moz is a gem. Lets you tick off where you are at.  A website checklist!  Two items I would immediately look at are "mobile optimization" & "home page loading speed".

https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015

The second and third parts flow together in some ways - backlinks and content creation.  There is a lot of information out there about content so you will find plenty of info. On backlinks - another great link. https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/growing-popularity-and-links

If you feel comfortable with your site after reading both links, you have all covered - you are well on your way to optimizing your ranking.

Hope that assists.  Ask away for any clarification.

Pre 2013 it was bad practice to have in excess of 100 links per page, google technical guideline.  Many SEO tools still use it as a warning bell. However Matt Cutts from google - I recall a few years ago - came out and categorically said it is NOT bad practice.  Have as many links as you like as long as it is natural and helps the customer.

What Matt did say is if it appears like spam, them google will penalize you accordingly. Here we go just found the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHG6BkmzDEM

So to be clear - if the links are needed and help the customer - I would not concern myself.  Watch the video, nothing better than going straight to the source.

Hope that assists

I have similar sites I have reviewed.  It comes down to the - exact marching url.  Plus the space has to be not overly competitive. No doubt there is 600 other factors but the dominant standout is the url. Ironically once there tough to dislodge, unless the site dislodging is 10 x 's better - cannot be just twice as good... .

Brodie has identified the issue - it is splitting available resources. The work that goes into one domain is huge. If you have two domains - then you are doubling the work.

Ie I use the house analogy. Two domains is like owning two houses, two sets of bills, travel between the two, everything different. You likely need different resources, to make it look and feel differently to some extent. If you keep everything on the same domain - it is like adding a new room to an existing house, so overall the bills are kept down. You can tidy up everything as you move around the one house.

So I always try and err on the side of caution, and try wherever possible to fit within a existing well maintained domain assuming there is a content and relevant nexus. However if the nexus is not there - then well you have no option.  As stated by Brodie it is a judgment call. The positive is you can always buy a new house later....  even if you start on your current domain. Also if you want to sidestep the decision all together - you can leave the decision to the money men - CFO and let them know they need to double the digital budget - and see what they say... with a brand new domain...

Good luck hope you have enough info to make the right decision.