Hi Becky

I have to agree with you there. The H1 should be a header for what is visible in the on-page content. These clearly are not. It won't confuse Google as it takes little notice of H2 but for me it's just a bad use of page elements.

Regards

Nigel

Hi Arun

It's certainly best practice to move to a root directory. As you say visitors are then coming to one domain, not a subdomain. All you need to do is page by page redirect through a 301. When you say they are being 'redirected to 301 code' this is perfectly OK. The 301 code just tells Google that the page has moved permanently.

It takes Google a short while to recognise the new pages as replacing the old ones and for that period you can see old and new in Google, causing a short period of duplication which could affect the rankings.

You just need to sit it out - by all means, do a Fetch in Search Console to help speed up the process.

Search Console>Crawl>Fetch as Google.

Regards

Nigel

How long has this been going on?

I would check the verification. Verifying over the phone will not have properly verified the physical address which clearly needs adding to Google maps. If it's the case that Google just doesn't have a road on the map then call them.

https://searchengineland.com/problems-google-business-use-phone-support-221305

Or email - see attachment

Best of luck!

Regards

Nigel

m3nDY

Hi Patrick

If Google can't find the address then add it naturally and when asked you can move the pin to exactly where the business is. When you verify GMB location they will send a card to the address - type in the pin number on the card and Bob's your uncle.

Hope that helps

Regards

Nigel

Hi vtmoz

There is not a problem if all the content is different and unique to the sub-domain.The problem only comes when you try and rank for content that you are already ranking for on the main website.

The best way is to pull all content on to the main website as it is far better for SEO.

I can understand your comment about other sites doing it but honestly, in my opinion, that is not a reason to follow them. You will get better ranking, more quickly if you combine the whole site together rather than try and promote subdomains. Which frankly just make for a lot more work.

Regards - happy to look at the site

Hi Vtmoz

In my experience subdomains are a bad way to go and it is invariably better to reincorporate the content on to your main website in a logical directory structure. There is evidence of some link juice being passed back to the main site if all the sub-domains are linked back to the site in a proper structure.

However, if you are merely trying to increase positions in Google by ranking for subdomains which compete for similar terms to your main site then you are doomed to fail.

You basically end up with a link network which can easily be spotted and penalised.

Regards

Nigel

Hi Swiftech buy

As far as I can see resellerratings.com is a dofollow backlink so it would add to the overall weight of backlinks you would be looking for, Trustpilot is nofollow. (Just go to the page right click>view page source and look for the link)

If I was starting a new campaign on a brand new site with 1 DA I would look for a wide range of varied backlinks as possible which would include getting in local directories, local/national (if you can) news sites, suppliers, partners and maps. Rand did a Whiteboard Friday on this a while back.

Watch this for advice on getting those first 50 backlinks:

https://moz.com/blog/link-building-tactics-to-acquire-50-links

And this on the value of nofollow

https://moz.com/blog/seo-value-nofollow-links

My advice is, don't sign up with a review site just because of one dofollow backlink. (Finally, yes the backlink is created when you sign up with them)

Regards

Nigel

Hi Swiftech buy

You know, if you listen to the much-lauded SEO guru Eric Ward, who sadly passed away recently he will tell you that Google has never specifically stated that nofollow links are useless. That said I personally would rather garner backlinks from dofollow sites as long as they are acquired for free and organically.

https://moz.com/blog/tribute-to-eric-ward

If you are looking for a review site solely on the basis of them having dofollow backlinks then I would stop what you are doing right now as this is very far from the right attitude for link building.

Use a review site that will garner quality reviews from actual users, purchases or adopters of a product or service. Do not think of it as a big source of backlinks where all your backlink problems will be sorted in on fell swoop. They won't.

If the use of the review site leads to quality leads because people have read how great you are then great - it will increase engagement on your site which can only be good for SEO.

The actual SEO benefit of receiving a big number of backlinks from say, Trustpilot is relatively low and falling, as Google concentrates on quality content and user experience. Imagine 1000 backlinks from one domain, looks spammy right?

Do it, but do it organically and not because of the chance of getting a low-quality dofollow.

Regards

Nigel

Anyone have any more thoughts on this please?

Hi eyeman - I think what Chrisy means that if that was the best answer please hit the 'Best Answer' button - all contributors like to see that, it's a confirmation of our valuable (and free) help  

I'm so glad you are going this way - you won't regret it!

Best Regards

Nigel

Hi Kenneth,

I think it depends on whether you truly operate as a local business within that city location.

If you intend to advertise to a specific city then the intent changes from finding you on a national level to finding you at a city specific level. If you truly operate (and you haven't said) from that city location then you could really optimise the page as city specific so would rank highly in that local area.

You could make the page different from the national page by including photos of the city with appropriate Alts and a little about the city itself. You'd find it relatively easy to rank at a local level for the page.

If you do not operate at City level (with a local office) and are a national company simply targeting a specific city to sell to then I would canonicalize the page back to the generic. It begs the question though why you would want a city focused page in the first place and why the national one wouldn't suffice.

I hope that clears (and not muddies!) your thinking!

Regards

Nigel

Good advice. This is also better from an SEO point of view as the main Keyphrase is now at the beginning of the title. i.e. Towing Services Alberta is more likely to be searched for than 'Jack's towing'.

I would also experiment with putting two key phrases at the beginning with your name at the end. Which is what Google will often do if your name is missing.

so: Towing Services Alberta | Tow Service | Jack's Towing

This allows two contextually strong key phrases to be hoofed into the title. Frankly, I would put the phone number in the description, not in the title as it will not be searched for. Use the title only for keyword rich information that will be searched for, then flesh it out with a strong call to action in the description along with phone number.

Regards

Nigel

OK, thanks for that - I'm still a bit cynical about that amd am pretty sure that doesn't go for a redirect chain but: The reason I asked for the person answering to read the question properly was so that I wouldn't get half an answer

please could someone read it all the way through and give me their thoughts?

Thanks.

This is quite advanced so maybe Rand can give me an answer?

I often have seen questions surrounding a 301 chain where only 85% of the link juice is passed on to the first target and 85% of that to the next one, up to three targets. But how about a canonical chain?

What do I mean by this:?

I have a client who sells lighting so I will use a real example (sans domain)

I don't want 'new-product' pages appearing in SERPS. They dilute link equity for the categories they replicate and often contain identical products to the main categories and subcategories. I don't want to no index them all together I'd rather tell Google they are the same as the higher category/sub category. (discussion whether a noindex/follow tag would be better?)

If I canonicalize

new-products/ceiling-lights-c1/kitchen-lighting-c17/kitchen-ceiling-lights-c217 to

/ceiling-lights-c1/kitchen-lighting-c17/kitchen-ceiling-lights-c217

I then subsequently discover that everything in kitchen-ceiling-lights-c217 is already in /kitchen-lighting-c17 and I decide to canonicalize those two - so I place a /kitchen-lighting-c17 canonical on /kitchen-ceiling-lights-c217. Then what happens to the new-products canonical?

Is it the same rule - does it pass 85% of link equity back to the non new-product URL and 85% of that back to the category? does it just not work? or should I do noindexi/follow

Now before you jump in:

Let's assume these are done over a period of time because the obvious answer is:

Canonicalize both back to /ceiling-lights-c1/kitchen-lighting-c17

I know that and that is not what I am asking.

What if they are done in a sequence what is the real result?

I don't want to patronise anyone but please read this carefully before giving an answer.

Regards

Nigel

Carousel Projects.

Hi Tej

Maybe spend some time looking at how many times people search the term brand/product/colour - From my experience, it is extremely low and the benefit of the higher ranking on the broader term massively outranks the slight drop you will experience not having colour in the title.

I have tested this with so many clients now - it really is the only way to go.If in doubt go look at Zappos!

Best of luck!

I'd love to hear how you get on.

Nigel