We are being penalized for one specific key word (and phrases it appears in), how can we figure out why?
-
Overall our SEO efforts have worked well, slow and steady increases in rankings across the board for all products and categories, EXCEPT for one particular brand name. Key words and phrases for that brand consistently under perform all other key words and phrases. Strategies etc. are the same, and we have not received any notifications about 'manual action' but I'm convinced there is something affecting our ranking on that brand. This has been going on for approximately two years, prior to that we ranked very well for this brand.
What sorts of tests can I run to try and find the problem?
-
Problems like this can be really hard to figure out. But, in my experience it is quite uncommon for a site to get any sort of penalty or demotion for a particular keyword.
I think that sometimes it can look like a particular keyword is demoted when the page previously had rankings that were propped up by the power of links that are now being detected as unnatural.
Sometimes when there is just one keyword that is not doing well, I look at the possibility of keyword stuffing. The keyword stuffing algo runs continuously and can indeed cause a particular page to not rank well if it thinks it is keyword stuffed. And in my opinion, it's not always consistent how Google determines keyword stuffing. There are plenty of keyword stuffed pages that still rank. And often two pages that look similar can be affected in different ways. But still, this is something to consider.
-
The above answers are excellent. Cross checking algorithm updates would be first point of call. On a granular have you undertaken a backlink audit for the specific page that is not ranking ? Reviewed anchor text, quality of links to that page etc? Have you made a comparison analysis of backlinks to competitors for the comparable page?
Hope that assists.
-
Hi there
I would take a look at Google's algorithm changes and line up when you saw these rankings/traffic drops. That will inform you if you need to do a backlink audit or content audit. I would also take a look at the pages from a competitor standpoint to see what they may be doing that's helping them rank.
There are a lot of ways you can optimize for eCommerce. Here are some resources that will help you:
The Ultimate Guide to SEO for E-commerce Websites (Kissmetrics)
Thin & Duplicate Content: eCommerce SEO (Inflow)
The Definitive Guide To Ecommerce Search Engine Optimization (Neil Patel)I would also recommend Schema on every product, as well as breadcrumbs, reviews. This is an immense help when it comes to search! BuiltVisibile has a great resource here as well (thanks to Erica for the heads up!)
It may also be that the keyword/brand is a very competitive space and that's just the way it is. In that regard, I'd look into ways you can build your domain and page authority to give you a little more edge in competing for your desired keywords and queries.
Let me know if this helps! Good luck!
-
Only us, and the other websites which are ranking well for the same brand are competitors with us across many other brands, product types etc. where we are very competitive against those sites, and are ranked higher on most of the other key words/phrases.
-
First, I'd note that using the same strategy for similar keywords doesn't necessarily mean they'll have similar results. Sometimes, keywords need very different strategies, content-association, and have different competition / difficulty.
Is it only you who are having ranking issues for this brand, or are other websites having the same issue?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Site appearing and disappearing from google serps.
Hi, My website is normally on page 2-3 on google consistently. Over the past month it has been appearing and then completely disappearing from the serps. One day it will be on page 2, then the next day completely missing from the serps. When i check the index it seems to be indexed correctly when doing site:mysite.com. I don't understand why this keeps happening, any experience with this issue? It doesn't seem to be a google dance as far as I can tell. When my other sites dance they typically just go up or down a few ranks for a couple weeks until they stabilize. Not completely fall off the search engine.
Algorithm Updates | | Chris_www0 -
Can 'Jump link'/'Anchor tag' urls rank in Google for keywords?
E.g. www.website.com/page/#keyword-anchor-text Where the part after the # is a section of the page you can jump to, and the title of that section is a secondary keyword you want the page to rank for?
Algorithm Updates | | rwat0 -
Will Google penalize 2 sites for targeting "like" keyword phrases?
I own (2) different websites, one an HTML site that has been live for 20 years and a ecommerce site that has been live for 7 years. We sell custom printed (branded) tents for use at trade shows and other indoor and outdoor events. While our ecomm site targets "trade show" tents our HTML site targets "event" tents. I believe that the keyword phrases are dissimilar enough that targeting "trade show tents" on one site and "event tents" on the other should not cause Google to penalize one or the other or both sites for having similar content. The content is different on both sites. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with, or opinions on, my thoughts... either way. Thanks,
Algorithm Updates | | terry_tradeshowstuff
Terry Hepola0 -
Can we ignore "broken links" without redirecting to "new pages"?
Let's say we have reaplced www.website.com/page1 with www.website.com/page2. Do we need to redirect page1 to page2 even page1 doesn't have any back-links? If it's not a replacement, can we ignore a "lost page"? Many websites loose hundreds of pages periodically. What's Google's stand on this. If a website has replaced or lost hundreds of links without reclaiming old links by redirection, will that hurts?
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
In one site a 3rd party is asking visitors to give feedback via pop-up that covers 30-50% of the bottom of the screen, depending on screen size. Is the 3rd party or the site in danger of getting penalized after the intrusive interstitial guidelines?
I am wondering whether the intrusive interstitial penalty affects all kinds of pop-ups regardless of their nature, eg if a third party is asking feedback through a discreet pop-up that appears from the bottom of the screen and covers max 50% of it. Is the site or the third party who is asking the feedback subject to intrusive interstitial penalty? Also is the fact that in some screens the popup covers 30% and in some others 50% plays any role?
Algorithm Updates | | deels-SEO0 -
Is there any way to prevent Google from using structured data on specific pages?
I've noticed that Google is now serving what looks like host-specific video cards on mobile for our site. Is there any way to control which videos are included in these lists without removing the structured data on those clip pages or user pages? We don't want to noindex those pages but we don't want content from those pages to appear as video cards. 1kzPW
Algorithm Updates | | Garrett570 -
How on earth is a site with ONE LINK ranking so well for a competitive keyword?
Ok, so I'm sure you get the gist of what I'm asking about in my question. The query is 'diy kitchens' in Google UK and the website is kitchens4diy[dot]com - which is ranking in third from my viewing. The thing is, the site has just ONE BACKLINK and has done for a good while. Yet, it's ranking really well. What gives?
Algorithm Updates | | Webrevolve0 -
In the body of index page i want to be able to add text that can be picked up by crawlers but I do not want these text to be visible? How can I code this?
in the body of index page i want to be able to add text that can be picked up by crawlers but I do not want these text to be visible? How can I code this?
Algorithm Updates | | FinindDesign0