Hi Sarah

I would always be concerned at hearing a company dissing another company in a public event. I have never used Wordtracker personally, but with a long track record as it has I wouldn't dismiss it. Also, in the latest search environment I think information giving you insight and context would probably be quite useful.

What examples did the company who hosted the event give that their tool was better?

The problem with any keyword research tool for search now, the data is not going to be as rich as it was. Also, with personalised search how do you measure what is 'normal'? Bing will give you search data yes, and most tools I think use that data. So if you keep in mind that the numbers are not the same as you will get with Google they will at least give you an idea of the higher volume keywords in proportion to those that are likely to be less. By using that data alongside other metrics and competitive analysis, you have a better chance than having none.

If there is a silver bullet tool out there I would be delighted to know about it.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Then I think you will see a recovery and possible improvement, but check through Paul's suggestions.

Peter

That's a great detailed answer Paul!

Peter

Hi Gordian

I assume the traffic drops you are seeing are from organic search?

Often with a redesign there will be a change in the page URLs for the site. Did that happen with your site? If so, then you need to make sure that you set up redirection from the old URLs to your new URLs. This will be an important thing to address if this has been the case.

Other than that, there are sometimes bumps due to re-indexing of pages but if the content has remained unchanged then you shouldn't see much change and any change you do see should recover.

If the code is cleaner and the user experience better, then you should begin to see some improvements. The latter is that is likely to take longer because it will be based on things like reduced bounced rates feeding back to Google and thereby creating better results due to the perceived better user experience.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi, I am not sure I understand what you are asking.

Are you saying that you believe you should have individual pages for each of the three words: kiln, dried and logs?

If that is the case then no, you should optimise for those three words together as a phrase "kiln dried logs" as that is what you can expect people to search for, not those words individually.

Is that is what you are asking? If not, please post back with more information.

Peter

Hi Lori

A 410 code it technically correct in the context you are using it, but for SEO purposes you are better to do something with links that are going to the pages you are currently returning 410 codes for.

If you have a page that relates in some way to the page you have removed, then create a 301 redirect and send the requests to the similar page.

If no similar page exists, you could just redirect to the home page. In some cases though in those circumstances it could be worthwhile sending the link to a custom 404 page similar to the one Moz use as you can see for my invalid page query: http://moz.com/404. Rather than use a 301 redirect in those circumstances, this type of response can be a good opportunity to engage with the visitor to try to guide them to the information they are looking for. The Moz 404 page is a good example of that.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi Gavo, yes they will to an extent because some of the link value passed to your home page will be shared through the internal links you have on your home page (e.g. via menu navigation) to other pages on your site.

A word of caution though, which you may already be aware of, to be careful when gathering links to your site that they are from good quality sites with relevance to your site. Directory sites and blogs can be prone to being 'thin' in quality and can, if they themselves are seen as spammy sites, not help your site if you are receiving links from them.

I hope that helps,

Peter

Hi Kade

I think it depends on the two words really. There was an example the other day of a company called ConvertMedia that didn't rank in the search results for Convert Media for the reason that the intent of a search like that is to find answers to how to convert media. So in that case the one word brand name worked against them, but the very fact of having a one word name identified them as that brand.

The brand name of my business however is two words: Cracking Media. If however you search for CrackingMedia we still turn up top in the search results, but it does ask do you mean "Cracking Media".

In terms of what your SEO friend has said I am not sure that gives you a conclusion, but I hope the thoughts above may help.

Peter

Hi, it very much depends on the individual site and how often it is updated normally.

For pages like on this forum. Google spiders and updates within 30 minutes or so it seems. If your site is updated less often then it will take longer for Google to revisit.

A week would be a reasonable average I guess. I assume you submitted a sitemap? Was it just the Title tag and Meta description that changed?

It's possible you could still be queued for a revisit but I would have thought it wouldn't take much longer.

Peter

That's a really helpful and comprehensive answer Marcus. Thank you for that!<thumbsup></thumbsup>

Peter

Hi Kade

I think it depends on the two words really. There was an example the other day of a company called ConvertMedia that didn't rank in the search results for Convert Media for the reason that the intent of a search like that is to find answers to how to convert media. So in that case the one word brand name worked against them, but the very fact of having a one word name identified them as that brand.

The brand name of my business however is two words: Cracking Media. If however you search for CrackingMedia we still turn up top in the search results, but it does ask do you mean "Cracking Media".

In terms of what your SEO friend has said I am not sure that gives you a conclusion, but I hope the thoughts above may help.

Peter

Hi Sarah

I would always be concerned at hearing a company dissing another company in a public event. I have never used Wordtracker personally, but with a long track record as it has I wouldn't dismiss it. Also, in the latest search environment I think information giving you insight and context would probably be quite useful.

What examples did the company who hosted the event give that their tool was better?

The problem with any keyword research tool for search now, the data is not going to be as rich as it was. Also, with personalised search how do you measure what is 'normal'? Bing will give you search data yes, and most tools I think use that data. So if you keep in mind that the numbers are not the same as you will get with Google they will at least give you an idea of the higher volume keywords in proportion to those that are likely to be less. By using that data alongside other metrics and competitive analysis, you have a better chance than having none.

If there is a silver bullet tool out there I would be delighted to know about it.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi Gordian

I assume the traffic drops you are seeing are from organic search?

Often with a redesign there will be a change in the page URLs for the site. Did that happen with your site? If so, then you need to make sure that you set up redirection from the old URLs to your new URLs. This will be an important thing to address if this has been the case.

Other than that, there are sometimes bumps due to re-indexing of pages but if the content has remained unchanged then you shouldn't see much change and any change you do see should recover.

If the code is cleaner and the user experience better, then you should begin to see some improvements. The latter is that is likely to take longer because it will be based on things like reduced bounced rates feeding back to Google and thereby creating better results due to the perceived better user experience.

I hope that helps,
Peter

There appears to be some sort of redirection loop happening, but I don't know what could be the cause. Possibly a faulty cookie?

If you paste moz.com/logout into your address bar and hit return, I find you can then login correctly.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hello Iris

Thanks for the extra info. I understand now.

The report you refer to is in Moz Analytics. "The Top External Inbound Links from Current Index" report shows backlinks to your site sorted in page authority order. Page Authority is a Moz calculated authority metric that scores the web page as to how likely it is to rank in Google's search results. Its calculation is based on lots of varied data.

In the case of the backlink you have had from dianibeach.com, Moz has assessed that of all the backlinks pointing to your site it has the second highest page authority. If its authority score is 27 that is fairly low, but it must mean that the authority of

To answer your concerns from your earlier post:

My worry is why it is reported as second top page?? Can that be?? Moz has assessed that of all the backlinks pointing to your site it has the second highest page authority. If its authority score is 27 that is fairly low, so that suggests that the authority of other pages back linking to your site must also be fairly low.

How this can harm my site? Don't worry, It isn't going to harm your site

Can it outrank my site or whatever? The page authority is not really a mark of page ranking, just of a score of its authority to rank. If the keywords your site rank for are the same or similar to the other site, then yes it could outrank you in a specific search, but that is not what this is about. In fact, if the page is linking back to your site, then it is likely passing some of its authority back to your site.

How is it even possible that it is found in indexed search? If there is a link on another site pointing to your site then that is how it has been found by the Moz crawler.

Is there something I should be concern about? No, don't be concerned. Focus on the searches you are optimising your site and pages for and do not worry about this one site. You have a good looking site that is easy to navigate and it seems to have lots of good information and images in what looks like a beautiful part of the world. Be encouraged.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Thanks for including that screenshot Iris.

Regarding villasdiani.com/?db being shown as one of your top visited pages, I think (and perhaps someone from Moz will confirm this) that because you have been receiving links to your site to villasdiani.com/?db and that is probably also being recording in your Google Analytics, it considers that to be a page when it actually isn't.

As I mentioned earlier in our conversation on this, villasdiani.com and villasdiani.com/?db are actually go to the same page. They are just seen as different because you have had inbound links to villasdiani.com/?db and as said before when the query string ?db is not processed by the web server because there is not recognised, it is then ignored.

I have run a search to see what external sites/pages are linking to villasdiani.com/?db and the following were some of the results:

http://dianibeach.com/airservices/index.html
http://dianibeach.com/apartments/index.htm
http://dianibeach.com/bedbreakfast/index.htm
http://dianibeach.com/books
http://dianibeach.com/carhire
http://dianibeach.com/golf

and they are showing as all having had the anchor text of "Raul".

Is Raul the name of this guy you know who said he was giving links to your site from the footer of your site?

I have checked the source code of some of the pages above villasdiani.com/?db.

The data being reported by Moz for these type of reports is not totally up to date but taken from the last crawl they made. You said at the start of this thread that you had asked this guy to remove the links to your site. Could it be that in the last few days or so he has done that and so from now on you won't be getting any links to villasdiani.com/?db ?

That's possible, but I cannot say that is definitive, but it would explain what you have been seeing.

Maybe someone from the Moz team can throw some light on this or one of the other more knowledgeable forum members.

Peter

Hi Lori

A 410 code it technically correct in the context you are using it, but for SEO purposes you are better to do something with links that are going to the pages you are currently returning 410 codes for.

If you have a page that relates in some way to the page you have removed, then create a 301 redirect and send the requests to the similar page.

If no similar page exists, you could just redirect to the home page. In some cases though in those circumstances it could be worthwhile sending the link to a custom 404 page similar to the one Moz use as you can see for my invalid page query: http://moz.com/404. Rather than use a 301 redirect in those circumstances, this type of response can be a good opportunity to engage with the visitor to try to guide them to the information they are looking for. The Moz 404 page is a good example of that.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi Iris

I can't help you with what you are seeing within Moz without seeing it specifically, but maybe some from support will be able to help you with that.

The ?db at the end of the web address for your site is called a query string. Typically, these are used to pass a string of text (in this case 'db') to run against a script on the site to do something as a result of receiving that string of characters. But it may be that it doesn't do anything and if, on the web server, there us nothing to process the query string, then it will be ignored. For example, if you try this http://www.bbc.co.uk/?db and this http://www.bbc.co.uk will do the same thing because there is nothing to process the ?db on the receiving web server.

You can only ask the person who created the link with the ?db to give the reason why.

I hope that helps in some way,

Peter

Hi Steve

If it can only be viewed legally by health practitioners who are members of your site, then it seems to me you don't have an option as by putting any of this content into the public domain on Google by whatever method you use will be deemed illegal by whichever body oversees it.

Presumably you cannot also publish short 25o word summaries of the content?

If not, then I think you need to create pages that are directly targeted at marketing the site to health practitioners. Whilst the pages won't be able to contain the content you want to have Google index, they could still contain general information and the benefits of becoming a subscriber.

Isn't that the goal of the site anyway, i.e. to be a resource to health practitioners? So, without being able to make the content public, you have to market to them through your SEO or use some other form or indirect or direct marketing to encourage them to the site to sign up.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi, 50-70 characters does seem quite spammy to me, but then if you watch the Image SEO Basics Whiteboard Friday by Aaron Wheeler, he says that image filename length has much the same character length as Alt Text, so on that basis the answer would be no.

It would be interesting to hear others feedback on this.

Peter