Problem with getting a site to rank at all
-
We pushed this Word Press site live about a month ago www.primedraftarchitecture.com.
Since then we've been adding regular content, blog posts 3 times a week with social posts on facebook, twitter, G+ and LinkedIn. We also submitted via Moz Local about 3 weeks ago. Yext about two weeks ago and have been adding about 5 listings to small local directories a week.
Webmaster tools shows that the site map is valid and the pages of the site are getting indexed and it shows links from 7 sites, mostly directories.
I'm just not seeing the site ranking for anything. We're getting zero organic traffic.
I though we did a good job not over optimizing the pages. I'm just stymied trying to figure out what's wrong. Usually we push a site live and see at least some low rankings after just a couple of weeks.
Can anyone see anything that looks bad or where we've gone wrong?
-
Great follow-up Donald. Validates the advice given.
-
Just FYI for anyone who sees this post later on. We're getting a marked improvement in organic search traffic after fixing some of the page load speed issues.
Thanks for the help!
-
I doubt that it's Sandbox - if you look at the common signals for Sandbox (http://moz.com/blog/googles-sandbox-still-exists-exemplified-by-gradercom) your site would not be found for any keyword, not even your brand name, and have normal rankings in Bing.
I did a few very specific searches with phrases from your site both on Bing & Google:
"Everything that you are looking to achieve with your home addition or renovation project" => both have the same result (=your site)Search for brand name - rank 1 in Bing - rank 3 google - so doesn't look like a typical Sandbox situation.
Rgds,
Dirk
PS Noticed that the speed of your site improved dramatically - so hopefully you will see you site start to rank soon
-
Is there a way to tell for sure if you're in the sandbox?
-
While there are definitely some issues, the main problem here is simply time and links. Moz Local was a great idea but I'd also suggest claiming more social media profiles. Google has a sandbox for new sites where it is reluctant to rank them. A few months from now, with more local listings and social media listings and your site will show a lot better. Be sure to focus on some of your industry specific links as well.
-
Thanks Donna!
-
Makes sense! Two other quick things I noticed are: (1) you're parking your blog posts in the root directory versus the blog folder. That will dilute your SEO equity on main site pages. (2) You should no-index your author, category and tag pages for the same reason.
-
Thumbs up that Dirk's analysis of the site speed should probably be your largest concern. I've seen several new sites really struggle to initially rank if they're in the red on those scores. 21 / 25 are really bad. Do everything you can to quickly get those in the green and you should start to appear in the rankings. This, along with Google's stance on only indexing mobile sites that have high mobility scores are two trends that aren't going away.
-
Thanks for the response Donna,
In Webmaster tools I'm not seeing any queries and very few impressions.
I would expect the the site to be at least ranking for "nj architect", even at a very low ranking 50+, just based on the site's content. I'm not expecting first page rankings yet. I am just now seeing any at all. That's what concerns me, that there may some other problem with the way the site is set up.
-
Thanks for the help Dirk!
-
Looks like you're competing for terms with very low traffic and high competition.
I see you have Google Analytics installed, so your tracking is probably working as it should.
When you look at Google Webmaster Tools under Search Traffic > Search Queries, are you seeing any impressions? That would give you a sense of whether anyone's searching for the terms you've chosen to optimize and whether you're showing up in search results. Not always, but it's a sign.
I think you just have a lot of work ahead of you and you're not yet ranking. I used SEO Book's rank checker tool to do a quick check to see how you're ranking for "architect in new jersey", "nj architect", and "residential architect in nj". (I got those terms from title tags on the site.) It indicated you weren't ranking at all.
-
Donald,
There are some issues with your site which could be causing the problems:
1. The load time of the homepage is quite slow -http://www.webpagetest.org/result/150316_8R_Y5A/1/details/ - apart from the heavy images, you also load a huge number of css & js files. If you analyse the page with Google Pagespeed https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fprimedraftarchitecture.com%2F&tab=desktop you get very low scores - both for mobile & desktop. I would remove some of the fancy stuff on the page & focus on the essentials. Follow the recommendation of both tools to make your site faster. This would be the top priority if it was my site.
2. There are some smaller on-page issues
- not all the pages have a H1 title
- http://primedraftarchitecture.com/architecture-consultation has a canonical url which doesn't exist
- http://primedraftarchitecture.com/author/mike-sweebe/ exist 2 times (duplicate: http://primedraftarchitecture.com/author/Mike-Sweebe/) - images are quite heavy (11 > 100kb)
3; Analytics
You seem to use both Universal & async tags on page (Universal on Contact / Async on the remainder) - on /blog you measure multiple 6 page views when only one should be measured. I would put everything on universal (and implement it in the head-tag
Hope this helps,
Dirk
- not all the pages have a H1 title
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
-
Need help on declining page rank
Hi Guys,
On-Page Optimization | | Slideuplift123
We had a consistent page ranking for a specific keyword between 5 and 8 positions on google. This week all of a sudden the page which was ranking for that keyword no longer ranks for it and another page has started ranking for that keyword that too at 20th position. I am so confused why has this happened? I didn't do any changes to that page or to the now ranking page. Can anyone help why could this be happening?0 -
Reducing number of site pages?
Hi, I am looking through my site structure and I have a lot of pages left over from the days of article keywords. Probably 7 or 8 years ago, someone sold my husband on article key word pages. I have slowly gotten rid of a lot of them as they have fallen out out of the ranks. I would like to get rid of the rest, probably 5 or 6 pages. Will it hurt my rankings to delete pages and redirect them? My customers really like the simplicity of our site and I want to keep it that way, plus clean up flags that Moz is telling me is a problem. I think its easier to keep less pages top notch than have to worry with a lot of them. Especially since my customers aren't viewing them. Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | CalicoKitty20000 -
Word Count - Content site vs ecommerce site
Hi there, what are your thoughts on word count for a content site vs. an ecommerce site. A lot of content sites have no problem pushing out 500+ words per page, which for me is a decent amount to help you get traction. However on ecommerce sites, a lot of the time the product description only needs to be sub-100 words and the total word count on the page comes in at under 300 words, a lot of that could be considered duplicate. So what are your views? Do ecommerce sites still need to have a high word count on the product description page to rank better?
On-Page Optimization | | Bee1590 -
Ranking problem.
Hello, Using Moz I can see that my ranks for my site ZenPlugs.com for keywords such as 'ear plugs' and 'molded ear plugs' and several other keywords aren't as high as other sites with similar DAs. I can't see why, am I missing something? Many thanks, Toby
On-Page Optimization | | T0BY0 -
SEO For Replacement Site
I have a client with a website that has gotten a bit outdated. We've already built his new website and optimized it, but I'm trying to figure out the best way to replace the site while doing the least amount of damage to his current Google rankings. He's ranking #1 for some very competitive keywords that are responsible for the bulk of his revenue, so we want to jeopardize that. We've already built a new site and written all new content, although the homepage page title, h1 header and meta descriptions will all remain what they currently are. I'm also trying to keep the keyword density as close to the current site as possible. I am aware of transferring all existing site URLS using 301 redirects. Can anyone provide any tips that I should use when replacing the site? Should I expect a slight rankings drop or am I worrying about nothing?
On-Page Optimization | | atstickel0 -
Ranking for competitor brand terms
We're looking to rank for competitor brand terms and have created competitor brand pages for some of our main competitors. My question is where would be most effective to place these pages on our site? Also, would this be classed as grey hat?
On-Page Optimization | | Sayers1 -
What is this site all about?
Can anyone here tell me what this site is all about?... I really need to know, i have a blog.
On-Page Optimization | | Wales33030 -
Article on site and distribution, is it duplicate content?
I was always taught to place all original articles on site, let them get indexed by Google, then put out for distribution through various press release outlets. With the latest penguin update, how does this practice work out concerning duplicate content? In theory, I wrote the article so I should get credit for it on my site first, then push through various distribution outlets to get it out to my targeted audience in my niche field. Typing out loud I would tend to think if the article is on my site first then I would get credit and any others following would be hit by duplicate content if in fact google considered it a dupe violation. Any input on this? Am I on track or am I heading for a train wreck.
On-Page Optimization | | anthonytjm0