Can you help with some concerns over mobile site in SERPS
-
Hi Guys
I wonder if you can put me right on this query please?
We have a mobile version of our site, on an m. domain. it is actually http://m.uniquemagazines.co.uk.
I have created a mobile sitemap, and added the sitemap reference to the robots.txt file. I have setup the site in web master tools, and submitted the sitemap to web master tools. The sitemap can be found at http://m.uniquemagazines.co.uk/sitemap.xml. This is an index file, which in turn links to 3 sitemaps, one for pages, one for product pages and one for category pages.
I have not blocked any crawlers in the robots.txt file.
My query is we have some products showing up in the SERPS with both the mobile and normal website.
Secondly, in web master tools I am told that our mobile sitemap contains 3675 submitted URLs. However, it states under the WEB banner that 3675 submitted, and 3675 indexed. But under MOBILE it states 3675 submitted, none indexed...
I will attempt to attach a screenshot from WMT of this.
Do you have any ideas what has gone wrong here? is it wrong, or is this what you would expect to see?
Many thanks
Paul
-
Just checked google analytics, and the mobile site is getting traffic from google, yahoo and ask engines. So inbound traffic is coming through. And it is converting to sales, which is the important bit.
I will update the DTD, and monitor it over the next few days/weeks and see what happens.
Thanks for all your help Mike.
-
That certainly can't hurt either.
Seems to me these pages aren't actually having any trouble showing up in the mobile index, but GWT for whatever reason isn't associating them with your mobile sitemap.
I'd also take a look at inbound organic search traffic from mobile users landing on these pages. If they're pulling traffic, I'd assume the GWT thing is a bug/delay.
-
That's great Mike, thanks for your help.
I have also found this webmaster guideline
" Pages we determine aren't viewable on a mobile phone won't be included in our mobile site index (although they may be included in the regular web index). This determination is based on a variety of factors, one of which is the "DTD (Doc Type Definition)" declaration. Check that your mobile-friendly URLs' DTD declaration is in an appropriate mobile format such as XHTML Mobile or Compact HTML (3). If it's in a compatible format, the page is eligible for the mobile search index"
This links through to http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=72462
I think I should change the DTD to a mobile friendly one and see if that helps.
-
Not a silly question at all, they've moved the mobile search a few times and now it seems the only way to get at it is:
- Via tools like this http://www.mobilemoxie.com/site-analysis/mobile-seo/
- By setting your user agent to iPhone/similar with the User Agent Switcher for Firefox (or similar) - then simply navigating to Google.com and running your searches
- With an actual smartphone (slowest method IMO)
For spot-checking single URLs, I'm using the info: operator (the site: operator will return an index count for the full subdomain/directory, info: is for single URLs).
Best,
Mike -
Thanks Mike
Silly question, but how to you check specifically the google mobile index? Is this just by doing a site:m.uniquemagazines.co.uk search in a mobile device?
Thanks
Paul
-
Hi Paul,
Sorry, yeah - indexation in the mobile specific index looks better for the pages in the sitemap.
An alternative approach to guiding Google's indexation of your mobile content is found here: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details (scroll down to "Annotations in Sitemaps")
The initial lack of rel=canonical tags is likely part of the problem. This creation of rel=alternate annotations in your desktop sitemap may be a way to help sort it.
That's the best I've got right now, after some internal discussion with our Q&A team. Not sure why GWT showing no pages indexed of your Mobile sitemap, when clearly these pages are in the mobile index.
I'd probably look to analytics at this point - to determine whether/how many of your mobile pages are getting traffic from G mobile searches. This could just be a lag in GWT data, whereas the actual index is cleaning up nicely.
Best,
Mike -
Thanks Mike
I must admit I have done so much reading, to the point of confusing myself totally. When you say no pages are indexed to you mean in the mobile index?
When I do a search on normal google, site:m.uniquemagazines.co.uk it tells me that 5480 pages are indexed. Now, I am hoping this is because initially we didn't have a rel=canonical on the mobile content and so it has ended up being listed in normal serps as duplicate.
This may be why the m.uniquemagazines.co.uk domain is not indexed in the mobile serp index.
I am assuming that in web master tools our mobile site should show a number for indexed pages next to the Mobile submitted section.
Many thanks for your help
Paul
-
Hi Paul,
I'm a bit stumped here. I spot checked a bunch of mobile URLs from your sitemaps, and none of them are currently indexed by Google.
I've put this question out to all other Moz and associates who handle Q&A forums to see if there's someone who can share some insight here.
I don't see anything wrong with your mobile sitemaps, and the pages I checked that were not indexed are indeed loading properly with mobile content. So I'm frankly not sure what's preventing Google from indexing these pages.
Just wanted to post this response to let you know I've raised your question to the attention of our Q&A people, hopefully someone has some insight to share.
-Mike
-
Wow, so many responses
Just as an update I have implemented canonical and alternate tags on the desktop and mobile site to clarify to google et al that the mobile site is the same content as desktop, just an alternate delivery.
Will see what that does for me.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Can you use a seperate url for a interior product page on a site?
I have a friend that has a health insurance agency site. He wants to add a new page, for child health care insurance to his existing site. But the issue is, he brought a new URL; insurancemykidnow.com and he want's to use it for the new page. Now, I'm not sure I'm right on this, but I don't think that can be done? I'm I wrong? = Thanks in advance.
Technical SEO | | Coppell0 -
Can you keep you old HTTP xml sitemape when moving to HTTPS site wide?
Hi Mozers, I want to keep the HTTP xml sitemape live on my http site to keep track of indexation during the HTTPS migration. I'm not sure if this is doable since once our tech. team forces the redirects every http page will become https. Any ideas? Thanks
Technical SEO | | znotes0 -
Hi Mozers, is the AMP project is supposed to be an SEO factor on mobile platforms? Also, can it be used on ecommerce sites such as Magento or Shopify as well? Thanks!
It stands to reason that Google will favor early adopters of Accelerated Mobile Pages, but it seems heavily geared toward news publishers so far. What about regular Wordpress sites, or ecommerce sites like Shopify, should AMP be pursued on that type of CMS?
Technical SEO | | CalamityJane771 -
Why Can't Googlebot Fetch Its Own Map on Our Site?
I created a custom map using google maps creator and I embedded it on our site. However, when I ran the fetch and render through Search Console, it said it was blocked by our robots.txt file. I read in the Search Console Help section that: 'For resources blocked by robots.txt files that you don't own, reach out to the resource site owners and ask them to unblock those resources to Googlebot." I did not setup our robtos.txt file. However, I can't imagine it would be setup to block google from crawling a map. i will look into that, but before I go messing with it (since I'm not familiar with it) does google automatically block their maps from their own googlebot? Has anyone encountered this before? Here is what the robot.txt file says in Search Console: User-agent: * Allow: /maps/api/js? Allow: /maps/api/js/DirectionsService.Route Allow: /maps/api/js/DistanceMatrixService.GetDistanceMatrix Allow: /maps/api/js/ElevationService.GetElevationForLine Allow: /maps/api/js/GeocodeService.Search Allow: /maps/api/js/KmlOverlayService.GetFeature Allow: /maps/api/js/KmlOverlayService.GetOverlays Allow: /maps/api/js/LayersService.GetFeature Disallow: / Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Ruben
Technical SEO | | KempRugeLawGroup1 -
Mobile Usability update mobile and desktop versions
Hello, A number of our clients have both m.website.com and website.com versions of their site. Per the latest update coming in April from Google, do I need to make sure all clients with just a desktop version are mobile-friendly (according to WT). Also, do I need to make both versions for those clients that have both m.website.com and website.com mobile-friendly or just the m.website.com? Thank you!!!!
Technical SEO | | lfrazer0 -
Can You Use More Then One Google Local Rich Snippet on a single site/ on a single page.
I am currently working on a website for a business that has multiple office locations. As I am trying to target all four locations I was wondering if it is okay to have more then one Local Rich Snippet on a single page. (For example they list all four locations and addresses within their footer and I was wondering if I could make these local rich snippets). What about having more then one on a single website. For example if a company has multiple offices located in several different cities and have set up individual contact pages for these cities, can each page have it's own Local Rich Snippet? Will Google look at these multiple "local rich snippets" as spaming or will they recognize the multiple locations and count it towards their local seo?
Technical SEO | | webdesignbarrie1 -
My beta site (beta.website.com) has been inadvertently indexed. Its cached pages are taking traffic away from our real website (website.com). Should I just "NO INDEX" the entire beta site and if so, what's the best way to do this? Please advise.
My beta site (beta.website.com) has been inadvertently indexed. Its cached pages are taking traffic away from our real website (website.com). Should I just "NO INDEX" the entire beta site and if so, what's the best way to do this? Are there any other precautions I should be taking? Please advise.
Technical SEO | | BVREID0 -
Will training videos available on the "members only" section of a site contribute to the sites ranking?
Hello, I got asked a question recently as to whether training videos on the deeper pages of a website (that you can only access if you are a member and log in) will help with the sites ranking. On the SEOMoz software these deeper pages have been crawled as far as I can tell with errors reported on pages from the "members only" section of the site, leading me to believe the members only pages and their content will contribute to the sites overall ranking profile. I have suggested uploading the informational videos on the main pages of the site for now, making them accessible to all visitors and putting them in a more obvious place to encourage more sharing and views, however I've also said I would check it out with some experts so any information will be greatly appreciated! Many thanks 🙂 Charlotte
Technical SEO | | CharlotteWaller0