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Sorry to keep responding to my own problem but I think I just fixed the issue... I believe the entire problem was stemming from the fact that my HTTPS was setup incorrectly.

1. I added the HTTPS version of my site to GWT.

2. I changed my urls in WordPress to reflect HTTPS not http.

3. This created a problem with my redirection. Typing in a naked URL was no longer redirecting to https:// or www.

4. I changed my .htaccess file to force HTTPS.

Now I believe the entire problem is fixed. I just have to wait and see how my tools reflect the changes and hopefully I did everything correctly.

UPDATE:

Ooohkay, got an update. So I mentioned that I purchased SSL for the site. I just added the https://www. version to GWT and now it's giving me more updated information. I didn't realize that the https version was different. Now my question though is how is this affecting the rest of my website? Does anyone have experience managing https vs http pages?

Also, does Moz automatically track all versions of the domain or do I need to create a new campaign with the HTTPS version?

Hi everyone,

I recently launched a new website for a small business loan company in the Dallas area. The site has been live for roughly a month and a half. I submitted everything to GWT as usual, including my sitemap. I am not sure what's going on with the site, as there is no activity from GWT in the impressions or queries. The submit vs. index is 24/3 (and hasn't moved). Also the queries graph on the overview stops at 3/18/2015... On another note, when I go to Crawl > Sitemaps, it shows that there were pages indexed during the month of march and then on April 3 it drops from 17 to 2 and never increases.

Google says there are no errors or issues found, but I feel like there's something wrong. When I do site:, my URLs do pop up which makes me believe there's just a problem with my GWT. With that being said, I'm not happy THINKING there's something wrong. I need to actually know what the problem is.

The only thing I can think of that I have done is purchase SSL for the site, but when I search what pages are indexed using www. it shows all the HTTPS URLS, so that would tell me that the site is getting indexed without a problem?

Does anyone have a clue as to what might be happening? I will attach some screen shots so that you can get a better idea...

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This is what I ended up doing. I changed the preferred version on the platform and also in Google. We will see what happens! Thank you...

Hi guys,

Thanks for the response. I will do that... I have already submitted the non-www as my preferred domain but will go back and switch to the www. Thanks!

Howdy folks,

I've got a website that is roughly 3 months old. I created it as a naked URL as I often prefer the look but I've noticed that a lot of my competition has www and also some of my clients seem to prefer it as well. I feel like switching it to www will be of long-term benefit for my site. The problem is that I currently have several pages with first page rankings and a backlinks. I am wondering what the negative effects of switching it to www would be, and how I can minimize any issues. I am guessing I should do a redirect, and I have access to some of the backlinks so I can change those as well, but is there anything else? Thoughts? I appreciate the feedback!

Hey buddy...

The best use of Moz tools in this time period, for you, will probably just be the information resources. Just being honest with you--without an understanding of how SEO works or what to look for--the research tools won't be of much help. It's kind of like getting a giant set of mechanics tools without knowing anything about cars. You'll be able to dink around with the wrenches, but more likely than not, you'll just be wasting your time.

My suggestion to you is to research SEO. Learn about on-page optimization. Get a better understanding of keywords, how to use them, search volumes, competition, etc. Focus on creating quality content and then optimize those pages. Once you have a grasp on that, plug in your website and run the on-page grader. Give it some time... Submit a sitemap... Let Google index your site and then review everything you've done. Once you've got a solid foundation double back and start working on links.

This isn't something you just pick up. If you really want to build successful websites you're going to have to do a lot of research/trial and error/dedicate time. Good luck!

Abu,

The whole point of buying expired domains with high authority is to piggy-back off the previous owner's SEO success. You are buying a domain that has already established links and a reputation online. Whether you redirect the domain or decide to build up the site, the idea is that you aren't starting from scratch. It can be beneficial both short term and long term, depending on the link profiles. Like Ryan said, your success is going to be dependent upon what you put into the site. If you build a quality website then the existing site authority will help you out. If you are unable to build a quality site--then the existing authority won't do much. Best of luck.

My agency's website is ranked #1 on Google for small business marketing in a major US city. We get a lot of search traffic, primarily on our home page and contact page. The home page features a couple paragraphs about our agency and a video. Of course there is some information in the footer. With that being said, our website and company has been very successful generating business without lengthy pages. Although I enjoy building long, informative home pages, I don't necessarily know that it guarantees better SEO results (as our company has been ranked #1 for a while with a very minimalistic setup).

This is just my own personal opinion, but I think it is generally better to give the user important (quality) information up front and try to reel them in from there. If they want to browse around your site and learn more then you've done your job. If you're really good then maybe they skip straight to the contact page and shoot you an email or call you.

I've ranked multiple websites #1 on Google for fairly competitive keywords in large cities. Very few of them were infinite scroll. With that being said I don't think there is anything wrong with that style of design (I make a lot of websites like that, too).

I think you should do what ever you think is more visually appealing and works with your content. I think depending on the situation either could work well. Best of luck!

I would generally track both, with the understanding that you are only looking to gain traffic from local clients. This doesn't specifically mean that your local clients are going to be typing in the city details in their search for your client's service. Some people might include the city while some might assume the search will target their location automatically. Generally on landing pages, if your client has a physical location, it's not that hard to create copy that includes the city. I would definitely include the main city in your titles--along with the service keywords. The search engines will pick up both.

Sorry to keep responding to my own problem but I think I just fixed the issue... I believe the entire problem was stemming from the fact that my HTTPS was setup incorrectly.

1. I added the HTTPS version of my site to GWT.

2. I changed my urls in WordPress to reflect HTTPS not http.

3. This created a problem with my redirection. Typing in a naked URL was no longer redirecting to https:// or www.

4. I changed my .htaccess file to force HTTPS.

Now I believe the entire problem is fixed. I just have to wait and see how my tools reflect the changes and hopefully I did everything correctly.

UPDATE:

Ooohkay, got an update. So I mentioned that I purchased SSL for the site. I just added the https://www. version to GWT and now it's giving me more updated information. I didn't realize that the https version was different. Now my question though is how is this affecting the rest of my website? Does anyone have experience managing https vs http pages?

Also, does Moz automatically track all versions of the domain or do I need to create a new campaign with the HTTPS version?

I would generally track both, with the understanding that you are only looking to gain traffic from local clients. This doesn't specifically mean that your local clients are going to be typing in the city details in their search for your client's service. Some people might include the city while some might assume the search will target their location automatically. Generally on landing pages, if your client has a physical location, it's not that hard to create copy that includes the city. I would definitely include the main city in your titles--along with the service keywords. The search engines will pick up both.

Abu,

The whole point of buying expired domains with high authority is to piggy-back off the previous owner's SEO success. You are buying a domain that has already established links and a reputation online. Whether you redirect the domain or decide to build up the site, the idea is that you aren't starting from scratch. It can be beneficial both short term and long term, depending on the link profiles. Like Ryan said, your success is going to be dependent upon what you put into the site. If you build a quality website then the existing site authority will help you out. If you are unable to build a quality site--then the existing authority won't do much. Best of luck.

Hey buddy...

The best use of Moz tools in this time period, for you, will probably just be the information resources. Just being honest with you--without an understanding of how SEO works or what to look for--the research tools won't be of much help. It's kind of like getting a giant set of mechanics tools without knowing anything about cars. You'll be able to dink around with the wrenches, but more likely than not, you'll just be wasting your time.

My suggestion to you is to research SEO. Learn about on-page optimization. Get a better understanding of keywords, how to use them, search volumes, competition, etc. Focus on creating quality content and then optimize those pages. Once you have a grasp on that, plug in your website and run the on-page grader. Give it some time... Submit a sitemap... Let Google index your site and then review everything you've done. Once you've got a solid foundation double back and start working on links.

This isn't something you just pick up. If you really want to build successful websites you're going to have to do a lot of research/trial and error/dedicate time. Good luck!

Howdy folks,

I've got a website that is roughly 3 months old. I created it as a naked URL as I often prefer the look but I've noticed that a lot of my competition has www and also some of my clients seem to prefer it as well. I feel like switching it to www will be of long-term benefit for my site. The problem is that I currently have several pages with first page rankings and a backlinks. I am wondering what the negative effects of switching it to www would be, and how I can minimize any issues. I am guessing I should do a redirect, and I have access to some of the backlinks so I can change those as well, but is there anything else? Thoughts? I appreciate the feedback!