Why has my site dropped to page 2?
-
I haven't been paying attention to my sites SERP for the past year, and only realized I've dropped to page 2 on a keyword search.
Specifically, on Google.ca, searching the keywords "wedding invitations"
My site, www.stephita.com, used to consistently rank in the top 3 links. While my competitors have leapfrogged me.
I realized that my site wasn't "mobile-friendly", and had a few other issues like keyword stuffing, long meta descriptions and titles. I've fixed these issues "now", but wanted to know does this mean my site was severely penalized by the Panda/Penguin updates for the last few years?
Does having a PR3 site mean anything? My competitors who our rank me on SERP, are all PR1 sites.
Greatly appreciate any feedback you can give me!
-
Yes, I've removed all the "shortcuts" of bad thin content now.
But I'm a little confused by your comment:
But anyone who looks closely at these cookie cutter pages will see that the wording is awkward, the photos don't match the names or the colors listed, and problems like Oren & Bar Mitzvah sneak in.
Do you see something in particular that is bringing this to your attention?
-
When a site is hit by Panda, most pages of the site suffer a rankings decline. There are different levels of Panda severity. Sometimes the losses might be just a couple of positions, other times the losses might drop many positions.
You seem to have a nice business and you've gotten away with using shortcuts to create your content for a while. But anyone who looks closely at these cookie cutter pages will see that the wording is awkward, the photos don't match the names or the colors listed, and problems like Oren & Bar Mitzvah sneak in.
It's time to invest the time needed to do a proper job. That's what most people who have Panda problems and want to get out of them are doing.
-
As always, I appreciate your knowledgeable feedback on these issues.
I'm cleaning up my site, and removing some of the 'black-hat' SEO techniques that I had thought worked 5 years ago... I had created a script to generate "doorway" pages on my site.
i.e., if you searched "wedding invitations" + random city, like "wedding invitations thornhill, wedding invitations richmond hill, wedding invitations brampton, etc...
http://www.stephita.com/wedding/invitations/thornhill
http://www.stephita.com/wedding/invitations/richmond+hill
http://www.stephita.com/wedding/invitations/brampton
My site is listed on the first page for most of these "wedding invitation city" type searches.
Assuming my site has already been "Panda Demoted", does it make sense that these links are still on the first page for those "long tail searches"? Is it because of these specific pages that my site's index page (www.stephita.com) has been demoted in SERP when searching for the broader "wedding invitations" locally? ** I hope I am making sense here **
I used to have links in the footer and sitemap that would lead crawlers to these "doorway pages", but I have removed all traces of it from the site now. How long will the pre-existing indexed pages live in their results? Should I take steps to pro-actively remove them?
-
Is it re-calculated daily, or only when there are Panda updates (how often?)?
Nobody knows how often google injects new Panda evaluations into the ranking results. It's really irrelevant because the sooner you improve the content of your website the sooner your visitors will have a quality experience. Thin pages can produce a negative impression of your business on the visitor, especially when your competitors have done an excellent job.
**I'm just thinking in the case where I create 1000 product display pages, does that mean I would really need to write 1000 content HEAVY pages? **
Generous content is the cost of becoming competitive. The fact that you realize that and make it happen gives you a huge advantage over your competitors.
**If my site is built 80% product pages, and I suddenly add the NOINDEX meta tag, will that negatively impact the result? **
Nobody really knows the answer to this. If I had a site that was 80% thin product pages, I would delete them instead of noindexing such a large part of the site. Each time you improve one into a good substantive page and publish it, that page will become and asset that pulls traffic and converts visitors.
Is there a "magic number" of number of words to make it a suitable content page?
Since you have a walk-in store, you probably have a lot of experience with customers. Take that experience and produce a page that explains the product, answers common questions, counters objections, explains the questions that they should have asked but didn't.
My main focus for any searchers is to reach my main index page.
I don't agree with that goal. Most of the people who purchase from my sites never see the homepage. They land on a product page from search and add an item to the cart. They might land on an article that I have written and use a house ad or a link to my store and then buy the product. I am quite confident that if many of these customers landed on naked pages I would have never gotten their business.
-
If you remove all your thin content you are sure to bypass panda and you wouldn't be penalized.
And there aren't really a magic number of number of words to make a suitable content page but make sure that the html and content ratio is 70% to 30%.
-
I'll make an effort to improve the THIN content pages. Assuming I've "fixed" all issues that the Panda Algo doesn't like - how "soon/long" would it take to be "out of demotion". Is it re-calculated daily, or only when there are Panda updates (how often?)?
Is there anyway to flag a "product page" so that Panda wouldn't look at it? I'm just thinking in the case where I create 1000 product display pages, does that mean I would really need to write 1000 content HEAVY pages? -- Sorry, I just realized there is the META NOINDEX method...
If my site is built 80% product pages, and I suddenly add the NOINDEX meta tag, will that negatively impact the result? Or would that benefit me in this situation? It was never my intention for any searchers to land on any direct product page. My main focus for any searchers is to reach my main index page.
Is there a "magic number" of number of words to make it a suitable content page? (i.e. NOT-THIN)
I really appreciate you helping me out with this!
-
Would Google penalize me for having THIN content then?
I would be very surprised if your site does not currently have a Panda demotion. Most of the links in your persistent navigation lead to thin content. If you decide to improve these pages it is really important that the content be unique, very different from page to page and substantive.
Another method of escaping Panda is to remove thin content from the site. Here is an article by Marie Haynes that explains how a couple sites improved after thin content removal.
Lastly, does PageRank matter anymore? My site was a PR3 - does that matter when the other local competitors that have leapfrogged me are all PR1s?
PageRank can be important. However, your search results are heavily influenced by the geographic location of the searcher and their distance from your location.
If I owned your site, my priorities would be to improve it by a combination of content writing and thin content removal, then put my main effort into optimizing and promoting my site for local search.
-
Thanks for giving me a better understanding of how Panda works.
I agree, I'm targeting my local market, but I noticed when using "google.ca" (vs. .com) Searching for the keywords "wedding invitations" (without Toronto), does yield a few of my local competitors (along with the big boys like vistaprint) that have leapfrogged me this past year....
So if my site had, hypothetically speaking, 1000s of product pages, but with a simple one line description, along with photo and price to be simple. Would Google penalize me for having THIN content then?
Lastly, does PageRank matter anymore? My site was a PR3 - does that matter when the other local competitors that have leapfrogged me are all PR1s?
-
Panada is a part of the Google algorithm that looks at the quality of a website. If a website has lots of duplicate pages or thin content pages then Google will demote the rankings of the entire website.
Google's recommended way of fixing the problem is to improve the content of those pages by adding substantive, relevant, unique content that is useful for the visitors. You could easily do this for your site. It will simply take a dedicated effort to improve those pages.
Will that enable you to compete effectively with vistaprint, etsy, partycity and others? I am not optimistic it will.
However, you might be able to optimize and promote your site so that it appears in local searches such as "toronto wedding invitations". I see you on the first page, but with some work and investment you might be able to get a better position on both the page and the map results.
-
Thanks for your feedback!
Yes, I agree, I feel that my page 1 placement was more due to my searches based on my geographic location. That is my biggest concern at the moment, that other customers in my area are not finding my site anymore.
I'll definitely remove those footer links that serve very little purpose other than to direct users to content that they can get from the main navigation.
To get a better idea of how Panda works, or Google Search Algo in general... does it look at my site as a "whole" when it scores the value of sending users to my index page?
For pages on my site that obviously are only meant as a "product" with simple photo, sku and price. Does that mean it would see it as very thin content, and penalize my site as a whole?
-
The query "wedding invitations" is quite competitive.
If I look at the .ca SERPs I see well-known, highly deserving, world class brands at the top such as vistaprint, etsy, zazzle, partycity.
Your site is on page three for me.
Perhaps when you searched in the past, Google delivered some personalized SERPs on the basis of your past browsing history or on the basis of your geographic location.
Is your site penalized? It would not surprise me if you have a Panda problem. There are a lot of thin content pages on your site. Clicking on the keyword links in the footer of the site yields pages with an image, a name, and really nothing more. Many of the links in the top navigation produce pages that are about the same. If you don't have a Panda problem yet, you will probably have one soon.
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
-
Page Title Local SEO - 2 places
Hello guys, I am from azores are 9 islands in portugal. I live in São Jorge is one island. My question is. If one person seach by Azores Canyoning or São Jorge Canyoning. Because Azores is one region and São Jorge is one island inside Azores. And i want have this two exact keywords in title page. Canyoning is a service. Azores Canyoning - São Jorge Canyoning | Brand Name what is best way to write this title? Or is not good?
Local Website Optimization | | Flaske0 -
Search result page
I need an answer how google sees this page. if somebody searches in carhub.com , normally goes to http://www.carhub.com/Results.aspx?CarState=Used&MakeName=BMW&MakeId=ENKWD0M8TR7W&Location=Los_Angeles but pushes the webpage http://www.carhub.com/Results.aspx , User sees the webpage like these.. but not seen any title, description and h1
Local Website Optimization | | carhub0 -
Improve my on-page SEO
Hello, I am a photographer based in the UK, I have recently increased my prices, so SEO has become more important then ever as I need to target additional cities and wedding venues. I am looking for suggestions on ways I can ethically improve my websites on-page SEO and regional landing pages. I am running out of ideas, so any suggestions would be welcome. Do you think search engines will see these regional pages as low quality spammy pages are they not advised! If so how can I target other cities with out paying for PPC. Home page Additional Issues Is the 404 server script any good? I also have an issue, with old deleted wordpress pages, redirecting them even though there are no redirects set up in SEO yoast. I am not sure the server script on the shared hosting for 404 errors is any good, does anyone have any experience with this. For example this page returns the 404 page, however the header status is 200. http://www.robertsail.co.uk/derby-wedding-photographers-2/ If I moved to a dedicated server would this help me out.
Local Website Optimization | | Roboto19701 -
404 error from linking page that does not exist
We migrated our site from php to wordpress about a month ago. All of the old website files have been removed. I ran Moz analytics and get 17 critical 404 errors from linking pages that do not exist. 404 : Received 404 (Not Found) error response for page. http://www.preventivesupport.com/freeestimates.php404010http://preventivesupport.com/freeestimates.phpN/AThe www thing is interesting but freeestimates.php does not exist?
Local Website Optimization | | KrisIrr0 -
Understand how site redesign impacts SEO
Hi everyone, I have, what I think, is kind of a specific question, but hoping you guys can help me figure out what to do. I have a client that recently changed their entire website (I started working with them after it happened, so I can't comment on what the site was like as far as content was before). I know they were using a service that I see a lot of in the service industry that aim to capitalize on local business (i.e. "leads nearby" or "nearby now") by creating pages for each targeted city and I believe collecting reviews for each city directly on the website. When they redesigned their website, they dropped that service and now all those pages that were ranking in SERPs are coming back as 404s because they are not included in the new site (I apologize if this is getting confusing!) The site that they moved to is a template site that they purchased the rights to from an already successful company in their same industry, so I do think the link structure probably changed, especially with all of the local pages that are no longer available on the site. Note: I want to use discretion in using company names, but happy to share more info in a private message if you'd like to see the sites I am talking about as I have a feeling that this is getting confusing 🙂 Has anyone had experience with something like this? I am concerned because even though I am targeting the keywords being used previously to direct content to the local pages to new existing pages, traffic to the website has dropped by nearly 60% and I know my clients are going to want answers-- and right now, I only have guesses. I am really looking forward to and so greatly appreciate any advice you might be able to share, I'm at a bit of a loss right now.
Local Website Optimization | | KaitlinNS0 -
Ecommerce Site with Unique Location Pages - Issue with unique content and thin content?
Hello All, I have an Ecommerce Site specializing in Hire and we have individual location pages on each of our categories for each of our depots. All these pages show the NAP of the specific branch Given the size of our website (10K approx pages) , it's physically impossible for us to write unique content for each location against each category so what we are doing is writing unique content for our top 10 locations in a category for example , and the remaining 20 odd locations against the same category has the same content but it will bring in the location name and the individual NAP of that branch so in effect I think this thin content. My question is , I am quite sure I we are getting some form of algorithmic penalty with regards the thin/duplicate content. Using the example above , should we 301 redirect the 20 odd locations with the thin content , or should be say only 301 redirect 10 of them , so we in effect end up with a more 50/50 split on a category with regards to unique content on pages verses thin content for the same category. Alternatively, should we can 301 all the thin content pages so we only have 10 locations against the category and therefore 100% unique content. I am trying to work out which would help most with regards to local rankings for my location pages. Also , does anyone know if a thin/duplicate content penalty is site wide or can it just affect specific parts of a website. Any advice greatly appreciated thanks Pete
Local Website Optimization | | PeteC120 -
Bing ranking a weak local branch office site of our 200-unit franchise higher than the brand page - throughout the USA!?
We have a brand with a major website at ourbrand.com. I'm using stand-ins for the actual brandname. The brand is a unique term, has 200 local offices with sites at ourbrand.com/locations/locationname, and is structured with best practices, and has a well built sitemap.xml. The link profile is diverse and solid. There are very few crawl errors and no warnings in Google Webmaster central. Each location has schema.org markup that has been checked with markup validation tools. No matter what tool you use, and how you look at it t's obvious this is the brand site. DA 51/100, PA 59/100. A rouge franchisee has broken their agreement and made their own site in a city on a different domain name, ourbrandseattle.com. The site is clearly optimized for that city, and has a weak inbound link profile. DA 18/100, PA 21/100. The link profile has low diversity and generally weak. They have no social media activity. They have not linked to ourbrand.com <- my leading theory. **The problem is that this rogue site is OUT RANKING the brand site all over the USA on Bing. **Even where it makes no sense at all. We are using whitespark.ca to check our ranking remotely in other cities and try to remove the effects of local personalization. What should we do? What have I missed?
Local Website Optimization | | scottclark0 -
Sites Verification Issues
We have a group of automotive dealerships by a website provider that causes issues when trying to verify our sites. Because they use Analytics for their data program, they install a code into our websites-stopping us from doing so properly in our back end. We also cannot verify ourselves in webmasters or adwords. We can't actually "own" any of our sites since they run a java query script from within the website. They also do not allow the use of iframes or scripts, so we can't even use the container to verify these sites. Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated as I am sure there is some way to break this to get our data and be verified.
Local Website Optimization | | spentland0