Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Yes, of course. You can book a second, twenty minute session (though I'm sure you can have longer if needed) using the book a session email link you received previously. I've used this twice, before and Steve was really keen to help.

Hi,

PM sent. If you contact Moz, you can schedule a free walkthrough of the Moz tools, having given them an outline of what your are looking for from the site. This would be a good opportunity to go over issues like this. They have a UK based representative, Steve Dunn, who is really helpful.

I'd recommend contacting Moz via the blue chat icon for details.

Could you PM me a link to your site so I can try a few things, please?

Thanks, EGOL, that's most kind.

(Does anyone know where the blushes emoticon is, on here?)

These articles may give you some insights:

CTR by Industry (a useful consideration) https://www.searchenginejournal.com/highest-lowest-average-ctrs-google-adwords-industry/159351/?

A quick overview: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/02/22/click-through-rate-by-ad-position

A more in-depth article: https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/study/2345638/ppc-click-through-rate-by-position-does-rank-matter-data

and:

http://www.smartinsights.com/search-engine-optimisation-seo/seo-analytics/comparison-of-google-clickthrough-rates-by-position/

I hope they help.

Here's Moz's explanation of 'No data': "No data means we have not yet collected volume for the keyword" and the expanded answer from their FAQs (https://moz.com/help/guides/keyword-explorer

What does it mean when a keyword has “No Data” for its volume?

“No data” indicates that we’ve not yet collected search volume information on this keyword. It may have very high or very low volume (more likely the latter than the former, but with many exceptions, especially recently trending keywords or very obscure ones). Over time, we attempt to gather volume data for keywords on which we’ve reported “No Data” so you may see us update these as we gather it (approximately monthly).

As a rule, I usually assume low volume - the fact that these keywords are often "longer-tail" ('large black leather handbags uk', for example) will often confirm that.

There are other keyword research tools you can use to cross-reference, such as SEMRush and http://keywordtool.io but, like most of the best tools, these are paid-for solutions.

And, of course, there's Google's own keyword planner: https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/ This is free, but requires you sign up for a free Google Adwords account (you don't need to create an Adwords campaign).

Don't forget that if you're not sure, you can always contact Moz for help: https://moz.com/help/contact

I hope that helps.

The site is indexing okay. A Google search using " site:http://customerconnect-services.com " will give you a rough approximation of what has been indexed for this site (Google Search console will provide more accurate data, however).

But Indexing isn't your issue. In short, this site isn't ready and, I'm afraid to say, it doesn't really deserve to rank well. (That doesn't mean it can't rank well, but it needs work - lots and lots of work.)

Looking through the currently indexed pages, you will see that a few Lorem Ipsum (pages with dummy content) have been indexed (these now 404 - http://customerconnect-services.com/?p=12982 for example), this is our first indication that the site is/was recently under development.

Further, there are other signals that this site isn't yet compete: http://customerconnect-services.com/our-offerings/ - the second slider on this vaguely titled page shows a slider "CONDO Makes selling and buying easier...." This is in no way relevant and is likely a remnant from using a template site with pre-populated demo content.

While we are on this page, let's look at the Navigation label and URL - 'Our Offerings' /our-offerings - offerings of what to whom? This could not be vaguer! These elements need to be used to tell visitors explicitly what it is you do. 'App Development' /app-development or similar would much better. As it stands, the visitor is expected to click it to find out what the page might be - assuming that they're sufficiently motivated to do so. Take a look at Steve Krug's 'Don't Make Me Think' then buy every client a copy. (http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/10-usability-lessons-from-steve-krugs-dont-make-me-think/)

Look at those who are ranking well for this phrase and compare your client's page against it Here's an example (These are number one in the UK for the term 'mobile app development':

https://www.mobilesmith.com/app-development/ - not an exact match for the service your client offers (though I'm still not sure what that is) but it's close enough to demonstrate the gap between where you/your client is and where they want to be. On-page grader gives your client's 'our offerings' page a generous C for 'mobile app development' from a user's perspective, it's a F.

Then, below the slider we get:

GET FEATURED ON GOOGLE AND APPLE STORE. ENHANCE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT USING ANDROID AND IOS APPS

Stop. What does that actually mean? This is just vague filler - it means nothing. and you're still not telling me what you do!

The list goes on (and on), I'm afraid. And while I'm being brutally honest, the domain name is AWFUL - it is as vague as the rest of the content, it also entirely unmemorable; not the end of the world if your content and user experience is up to scratch but it isn't. (Granted, as the SEO for this client, this is likely to be out of your remit.)

I don't think I would be helping you if I were to be delicate about this, so forgive me: The site looks like a template site with some content hastily thrown into it. In essence, your client has a LOT of work to do before they can expect to see results.

The technical SEO aspects/mechanics of the site (that you reference in your question) are a secondary concern. Content and UX are your primary concern - without getting those right, you're never going to succeed. Google is better than it's ever been at sniffing out weak content, so don't expect to circumvent this with a few keywords in your content and a handful of backlinks.

Good SEO is hard enough when you're working with a well-designed and well-established site; with a half-done website, that has been (or appears to have been) hastily assembled, it's impossible.

Start (and finish) with the user in mind, give the user what they want (Google is not your user), answer their questions, deliver your message clearly and make it easy for them to engage with you and then build upon that.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but no-one wins until these issues are tackled head-on.

As an aside, I'd run a Fetch as Google from Google Search Console to speed up re-indexing. (https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2326164/index-your-content-faster-with-the-fetch-as-google-tool)

Good luck!

You will continue to have both http and https variants active in Google Search Console (you should also add the non www variants and set www as your preferred version).

You do not set anything up within GSC to direct HTTP to HTTPS (to tell Google that you are changing protocols), this is all done via redirects as Logan suggests. Here's a great page which should help clarify this for you:

http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/68435/moving-from-http-to-https-google-search-console

From what I understand, you're already decided to split your traffic between HTTP and HTTPS. If this is correct, I would urge you to reconsider and redirect all traffic toward HTTPS versions as there are more issues to consider other than duplicate content, particularly as you are an e-commerce store. The latest (and future) versions of Chrome and Firefox will more clearly highlight unsecured connections. This is from Google's security blog: (https://security.googleblog.com/2016/09/moving-towards-more-secure-web.html?m=1)

"In following releases, we will continue to extend HTTP warnings, for example, by labelling HTTP pages as “not secure” in Incognito mode, where users may have higher expectations of privacy. Eventually, we plan to label all HTTP pages as non-secure, and change the HTTP security indicator to the red triangle that we use for broken HTTPS."

Chrome is the world's most popular browser, used by over 50% of all internet users. If your site is displaying a red triangle with the words 'Not Secure' next to it on ANY page on your site is going to turn visitors away. If over half you your visitors are receiving such a message the consequences will not be good.

Google are pushing users toward HTTPS (https://moz.com/blog/https-tops-30-how-google-is-winning-the-long-war) so I would suggest that it's a mis-step to swim against the tide.

There are also other minor benefits to serving all of your pages via HTTPS; it's a minor ranking signal and better support for browser compression, among others.

Here's another article that covers the recent changes.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-is-requiring-https-for-secure-data-in-chrome/183756/

However you proceed, I hope this goes smoothly for you.

Good luck.

You need to bear in mind that this the figures given are a guideline only. If your pages have been constructed with the user in mind (rather than just the search engines) and the keywords present are there because they add clarity then I'd be reluctant to start stripping them out solely in an attempt to tick a box.

That said, if you have gone a bit overboard with your references to a specific keyword/phrase then it would be sensible to rework the copy to include synonyms (different words that mean the same, or very similar, thing). Current best practice is to build content around a theme, rather than a single keyword, position your core keyword prominently (but not excessively) within the page and use related phrases around it to establish your theme. This practice will pay dividends with the rise or Google's RankBrain (https://moz.com/blog/rankbrain-unleashed).

Before you rush off and rework your copy, we should first look at improving the situation your facing now, and the above can be  something to consider when you are next producing content.

Can you share a breakdown of the keyword distribution with us?

Better still, share the page and we'll gladly give you some feedback.

Here's an example of mine (from a product page - the product ranks top 5 with almost no inbound links (it's a new site) in a moderately competitive niche. Moz grades this page as a A.

We found this keyword used 26 times.

Title 1, URL 1, Meta Description 1, H1 1, Body 10, IMG ALT 12

The alt tags are around one per product image - this could be trimmed back a little and we could stand to drop one of two from the body but, in truth, the page reads naturally, and isn't stuffed with keywords unnaturally. (some of the instances of the body in the copy are on labels, sub-section headings and brochures etc).I always recommend reading the page out loud as a may of gauging if it is over-filled with repetitive keywords - reading it to someone else helps (insist on honest feedback). If they start grimacing every time you use the keyword you may want to adjust the copy. In your case, if your page copy contains exactly the necessary amount of keywords (and your still keen to reduce your count) start stripping them from the Alt tags of less prominent images. If you're using WordPress (you might want to try Yoast's SEO plugin as it will assist you with monitoring this for you. However, keep in mind the Moz tool, Yoast's SEO plugin etc. are only guidelines. Don't let them get in the way of you producing great content. Create content for your potential customers, if, when you've done that, the copy also ticks these boxes then so much the better.If you haven't read this already, I'd suggest you take a look at this: https://moz.com/blog/visual-guide-to-keyword-targeting-onpage-optimizationGood luck.

The site is indexing okay. A Google search using " site:http://customerconnect-services.com " will give you a rough approximation of what has been indexed for this site (Google Search console will provide more accurate data, however).

But Indexing isn't your issue. In short, this site isn't ready and, I'm afraid to say, it doesn't really deserve to rank well. (That doesn't mean it can't rank well, but it needs work - lots and lots of work.)

Looking through the currently indexed pages, you will see that a few Lorem Ipsum (pages with dummy content) have been indexed (these now 404 - http://customerconnect-services.com/?p=12982 for example), this is our first indication that the site is/was recently under development.

Further, there are other signals that this site isn't yet compete: http://customerconnect-services.com/our-offerings/ - the second slider on this vaguely titled page shows a slider "CONDO Makes selling and buying easier...." This is in no way relevant and is likely a remnant from using a template site with pre-populated demo content.

While we are on this page, let's look at the Navigation label and URL - 'Our Offerings' /our-offerings - offerings of what to whom? This could not be vaguer! These elements need to be used to tell visitors explicitly what it is you do. 'App Development' /app-development or similar would much better. As it stands, the visitor is expected to click it to find out what the page might be - assuming that they're sufficiently motivated to do so. Take a look at Steve Krug's 'Don't Make Me Think' then buy every client a copy. (http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/10-usability-lessons-from-steve-krugs-dont-make-me-think/)

Look at those who are ranking well for this phrase and compare your client's page against it Here's an example (These are number one in the UK for the term 'mobile app development':

https://www.mobilesmith.com/app-development/ - not an exact match for the service your client offers (though I'm still not sure what that is) but it's close enough to demonstrate the gap between where you/your client is and where they want to be. On-page grader gives your client's 'our offerings' page a generous C for 'mobile app development' from a user's perspective, it's a F.

Then, below the slider we get:

GET FEATURED ON GOOGLE AND APPLE STORE. ENHANCE CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT USING ANDROID AND IOS APPS

Stop. What does that actually mean? This is just vague filler - it means nothing. and you're still not telling me what you do!

The list goes on (and on), I'm afraid. And while I'm being brutally honest, the domain name is AWFUL - it is as vague as the rest of the content, it also entirely unmemorable; not the end of the world if your content and user experience is up to scratch but it isn't. (Granted, as the SEO for this client, this is likely to be out of your remit.)

I don't think I would be helping you if I were to be delicate about this, so forgive me: The site looks like a template site with some content hastily thrown into it. In essence, your client has a LOT of work to do before they can expect to see results.

The technical SEO aspects/mechanics of the site (that you reference in your question) are a secondary concern. Content and UX are your primary concern - without getting those right, you're never going to succeed. Google is better than it's ever been at sniffing out weak content, so don't expect to circumvent this with a few keywords in your content and a handful of backlinks.

Good SEO is hard enough when you're working with a well-designed and well-established site; with a half-done website, that has been (or appears to have been) hastily assembled, it's impossible.

Start (and finish) with the user in mind, give the user what they want (Google is not your user), answer their questions, deliver your message clearly and make it easy for them to engage with you and then build upon that.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but no-one wins until these issues are tackled head-on.

As an aside, I'd run a Fetch as Google from Google Search Console to speed up re-indexing. (https://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2326164/index-your-content-faster-with-the-fetch-as-google-tool)

Good luck!

I say keep them separate. The ccTLD (.co.uk - clearly shows geographic relevance) - now the .com, which is a global TLD can be targeted/biased to the USA by using theGeographic target in Google Webmasters (the .co.uk is already set to UK and cannot be set to point to another country - only 'unlisted'.)

Furthermore, I wouldn't want to lose any benefits of the aged and established .co.uk by merging it with the .com. You will never get 100% of the link juice back with 301 redirects - maybe 90% at best and after some weeks have passed and then when you consider you are already well establised with your .co.uk site you would be mad to mess with it without VERY GOOD REASON!

Can't you just not restrict shipping to the US on the UK site? I have 2 ecommerce sites setup this way (one.co.uk and one .com - (which operates on a dropship basis only - as we are UK based)

With regards to the duplicate content issue - I would look at the fact that Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com have hundreds of thousands of product pages with the same/VERY similar content (descriptions etc) - and last time I check they were ranking pretty well ;o) - without the need to block users from certain locations - (they do of course pickup your IP address instead and SUGGEST(with a big flag and arrows that you visit the UK site instead when you select Amazon.com site from the UK) - They still restrict shipping of certain items should you persist and try and order anyway.

Your prices will also differ between £ and $ - as will the converted price - another clear indication that this isn't an attempt to get 2 bites of the cherry.

I would also move the .com site to a US based server too - as this helps with ranking anyway (server/website speed and location are factors)

Maybe bung a flag in your header graphics to further denote your geo-targeting?

Changing the spelling of UK/US variants is sensible anyway - though difficult to research initially - I spent some time battling between ize and ise!

Keep the .Co.Uk and .Com separate - state that you do not ship to the US from the UK site - restrict purchases accordingly (by shipping address). That should make it clear enough - hope that helps!

This list might give you some structure to your planning (https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015)

If you're ranking well already and are just freshening up, rather than changing the direction of your business, don't throw the baby out with the bath water - your old content may be a little dusty but it's why you have the rankings you do now. Ditching old content would see your rankings plummet. You can move it elsewhere within your site by all means but ensure it remains accessible and create 301 redirects for every page. If the passage of time has left some of your content a little outdated, you'd be better to add visible updates with links to updated articles.

Best practice is to use 301 where the content has moved but not changed substantially (if at all). You can create redirects to any page, of course but expect to lose some value if the content doesn't closely match the original. Check out https://moz.com/learn/seo/redirection and https://moz.com/blog/301-redirection-rules-for-seo.

Good Luck!

Think from the perspective of your visitor. They will be asking themselves 'What's in it for me?'

They aren't likely to surrender their contact details unless they genuinely want you to contact them. So they will either want information (quotes or technical information) People expect to provide contact details in forms - which is why free quotes work so well, so if you are thinking on those lines - i.e. you are trying to capture details during a request for information it might be better not to deviate too much from the tried and tested.

Of course if you are thinking in terms of innovative marketing and you have a budget there are endless possibilities.

So you can appeal to their desire to get something for nothing - YOUR OLD CAR STINKS! - Win a lifetime's supply of Magic Trees! Contact us for details of our SWEET SMELLING deals!

Ask for their help - by stroking their ego - acknowledge their automotive expertise.

Ask them to help you help others - Pick a local charity and place a bucket on the sales office and pledge a dollar or $5  for every free quote request you get that day - don't forget to show them the actual bucket - with some $$$$s in it!

YOUR WIFE 's car IS DIRTY! Bring bring her down to our dealership today for a free hand wash and part ex valuation (on the car - not the wife!)

Essentially you need to either offer them something that they already know they want, but cannot normally get freely elsewhere (without providing details) or something that is exculsive to your dealership - so they cannot get it elsewhere - or the chance to get something they didn't know they wanted, but now that it has been brought to their attention they don't want to miss out on  - like Naked Bear Wrestling or a similar family fun day?

Forgive me, I'm a little confused by your post title. To be clear, are you referring to  <meta name="keywords" ...>which would contain a list of all of the keyword referenced within the page?</meta name="keywords" ...>

- If you are, you should know that Google drove a stake through the heart of that abomination years ago. Yahoo and Bing weren't paying much attention (if any) to these as of a few years ago, so this practice can be safely abandoned.

Meta Title and Meta Description are of value to users and a correctly titled page will give you some SEO benefit, so use these in accordance with these guidelines:

https://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag

https://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description

If you are simply referring to the keywords within the body of your page, I recommend treating your copy as though it were conversation with a prospective customer; if you keep endlessly repeating the same thing in slightly different ways they're going to ignore you at first and then, if you persist, actively avoid you. So what you need to say without trying to say the same thing a thousand different ways; it's a huge turn off for visitors and Google will not reward you for it. That's not to say you can't repeat the phrase a couple of times throughout the copy, with a few slight variations on a theme, but don't labour the point. Read your copy out loud  - if you start to annoy yourself (or others) you know you've overdone it. Less is more.

And give Google credit; it's smart. There really is no need to endlessly feed it every variant going. Google have invested huge sums of money in getting smarter and semantic search (https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-101-semantic-search-care/119760/) is a big part of that.  I'd drop VA altogether (apart from the odd mention in a page or two - if it justified it because it added clarity and stick with 'Virginia Beach', building the main thrust/theme the site (or section of the site) around that, with separate pages for each specific activity or article focus 'dolphin tour' etc. Google will work it out without the need for you to shout at them.

Keep the end user at the forefront of your thinking when you're building your site, answer their questions, scratch their itches, and you'll be rewarded.

Use your keywords appropriately  not repetitively, regardless of the context.

Good luck!

Note to self: I must write quicker replies, two other people answered this while I was writing this!

To be clear -  I am NOT a fan of trying to game the system - I'd rather take the long haul than the short cut everytime -  but it's difficult see the results these fake fans bring and not be seduced by them (the results - not the fake fans!) and  it would be fairly difficult to categorically determine the validity of these fake accounts - they aren't overtly spammy - though they certainly lack some originality when they create names for the accounts - and quite frankly Facebook aren't likely to tackle this issue any time soon - They love to boast about their huge userbase: http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics and as such they aren't likely to purge the untold MILLIONS of fake accounts as this will suggest a dip in popularity or, perhaps as bad, Facebook is riddled with face accounts gasps - which is bad for business and terrible for Sharholders. - However, I wonder what they will do when their stats show that facebook has more users than Earth has inhabitants???

Hi Annette,

No. "Duplicate content is content that appears on the Internet in more than one place" (See: https://moz.com/learn/seo/duplicate-content.

It is quite common to add the company address to a footer file, which is visible below every page. This is not considered duplicate content and will not result in any penalties.

This may be relevant to you: https://moz.com/community/q/local-business-schema-markup-on-every-page

What CMS are you using? If Wordpress, there's a few good Schema plugins that may help you with this: All In One Schema is very popular and works well. I believe this one: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-seo-structured-data-schema/ allows you to add company Schema details in one place.

I hope that helps.

This thread may shed some light on this issue as you are not alone in seeing a drop in DA since recent Mozscape API (the last one was on the 26th Jan: <a>https://moz.com/products/api/updates).</a>

https://moz.com/community/q/is-everybody-seeing-da-pa-drops-after-last-moz-api-update

The last post by Staff Member 'Tawny Case' is very informative.

You'll see a few other posts throughout the Q & A mentioning this, over the last 3 days.

I hope that's of some help to you.

All the best.

@EGOL - You are absolutely correct. Quality is always preferable to Quantity. Now, we all know that the BEST WAY to make gains in the SERPS is to stick to the straight and narrow and work hard and eventually you will obtain the results you want. However, in the real world, we are competing  against huge numbers of SEO companies that all promise fast results - and deliver them - by using a variety of dark practices - and many of these companies are not getting penalised for it (and I have watched them prosper over the course of nearly 4 years using less than pure techniques.)

So as time passes I watch them continue to reap the rewards, thinking to myself 'Any minute now Google will see what they are doing and drop them off the face of the earth...' Well, I'm still waiting, and waiting, and waiting...

So what does the honest, wholesome, whitehat SEO do?

How realistic is it for an SME with say 400 inbound links and 50 facebook followers to HONESTLY outgun a competitor who has 320,000 inbound links and 3,000 fake facebook followers?

I have fought quite a number of battles for some time with clients and employers, all the time resisting the easy path in favour of the long haul, but I am getting rather worn down by it. The addage if you can't beat 'em - join 'em springs to mind.

There are certainly scenarios where a quick boost to your fan base numbers for credibility are essential - especially if part of your pitch to potential clients will be that you will be marketing product X using social networking sites (Let's say we are selling a targeted property listings site, which will also use facebook and twitter to further promote its listings) Now your potential client will want to see the audience you plan to promote their product to - BEFORE you win their business and therefore have a product to promote - so  you are faced with a dilemma - spend a lengthy and non-revenue generating period  while you earnestly build a following, or, spend $50 and build the numbers in a matter of days - show the customer your thousand/s of eager followers fans - win the business and THEN invest your time in gathering genuine interested followers and in turn build a number of followers who are genuinely interested in the products you promote.

There is safety in numbers at play here - for all parties - as @Dunamis said 'if I see a page that has cool stuff and is followed by thousands of people, I am more likely to follow it.  I'm  not as likely to become a fan of a page with 100 members even if the content looks decent. '

We can't fight human nature with the argument 'Hey, I might only have a few followers, but one of them is the Pope!' Numbers are a very quick indicator of Credibility  and we are manipulated by the power of numbers dozens of times a day and this will not change!

With regard to your DA dropping, take a look at this discussion that's taking place elsewhere on the Q & A Forum: <a>https://moz.com/community/q/is-everybody-seeing-da-pa-drops-after-last-moz-api-update</a>  - It's starting to get interesting near the bottom.

Reducing the spam score will require some backlink analysis to identify the source of the links considered to be "spammy" and if you are concerned, and you are able, get them removed at source or use the disavow tool. Do read the advice given on this page before proceeding, though: <a>https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487?hl=en</a>

Good luck!