Homepage refusing to show up in Google (rest of pages fine)
-
edit
-
Ah, I was wondering since they may have entirely different pricing based upon who you talk to.
-
SiteLock
-
So, on an invoice, do you or the client pay Incapsula or SiteLock?
-
Exactly, I've been told that these problems surfaced around the time the firewall was put up. I've just removed the timthumb file and I'm working on disavowing the spammy links pointing to us. I'm considering ditching sitelock in the next few days and seeing if that helps at all. We were also looking at Sucuri as a firewall option as well.
-
All of the header checks I've done come back with Incapsula. I don't really want to get much further into that for a number of reasons. But if you're actually paying SiteLock that's pretty interesting.
But you're saying the site ranked for it's brand term, at least, before implementing either SiteLock or Incapsula?
-
This is a huge help. I spent some time yesterday going through the site and updating my links to https where possible. Those don't all appear to have indexed yet. The bit about the timthumb exploit is particularly helpful. My theme lets me disable that, and I can get rid of the timthumb php file. I'm still concerned that sitelock could be exaggerating the problem though, we started having these issues with google around when it was implemented.
-
The site is using Incapsula as a CDN and web application firewall. The site still has a timthumb file. So I wouldn't recommend stepping out from behind that right now.
A wildcard search on the domain yields a lot of spam backlinks. Check ahrefs.
-
The entire site appears to index fine. As Patrick pointed out, it appears some of the pages in the index aren't https. But I don't know when you made the move, so things may be chugging right along.
The issue is ranking. But I know what you mean.
So what we have is (not all bad, per se - just what I see):
- Previously hacked site
- Timthumb file
- Some very spammy links
- HTTPS implemented on unknown date
- Moved to CDN / WAF
- Redirects
No doubt, you're going to have to disavow the bad links. Take down requests are nice and all, and you should note them in your disavow submission, but you don't have to manually contact each individual link/domain. It's not really a fire-and-forget process. You can submit it more than once.
I would bet a shiny nickle the attack/hack exploited the timthumb file. The site still uses it. Stop using it. Find an alternative. All it does is resize images.
The https migration (redirects... etc.) is just a confounding factor.
After you've removed the timthumb file, request a security review. Also consider the site may still have issues from the hack. So fetch as google from Webmaster Tools. If you see anything different than the real page, you still have a problem.
Read a little more about recovering from a hacked site here. I think that's more than likely the core of the problem right now.
-
Let me guess - you're using SiteLock after you were hacked to keep them out?
SiteLock creates this issue frequently (we solved it for another Q&A user about a month ago.)
Disable SiteLock, check your settings are all right in Webmasters Tools and Fetch the page in WMT. Add a link to it on Google+ so it gets recrawled quickly.
I only see 1 backlink to the site from Ahrefs (https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer/overview/subdomains?target=www.newstaradhesives.com) and only 2 in Majestic (https://majestic.com/reports/site-explorer?folder=&q=www.newstaradhesives.com)
Very, very low authority & SiteLock - those would be the two I'd start with.
-
It absolutely was very hacked. I'm currently in the process of submitting takedowns manually for those spam posts in google's index. The site has been cleaned up and relaunched since. Could these be harming the indexing of the homepage as well?
-
I think Incapsula is throwing the false noindex tag. But yeah, that's just how Incapsula do. The home page shows just fine with a site: operator.
Judging by the anchor text I see pointed at the site... and the Timthumbs.php file... the site was very very hacked at some point.
Edit: Yep. It was hacked until late last year.
-
Hi Patrick
Thanks for taking a look. If I could ask, where are you seeing this noindex tag and what are you using to see it? I've got my homepage set up in the yoast seo plugin to index and follow, and I had also previously added a into my header just to make sure. My suspicion is that the sitelock firewall installed on our site right now is blocking robots. Does this make any sense?
Thanks again
-
I wanted to attach this image - in my crawl, I am getting a "noindex,nofollow" but your code isn't showing it. I would check with your web development team to see what exactly is happening and how this can be fixed.
-
Hi there
It appears your homepage has a "noindex,nofollow" tag - change this to "index,follow". Make sure this is fixed across the site.
If for some reason that doesn't work (which it will):
Have you checked to see if you have a manual action?
If you have multiple URLs going on with the same content - check your canonical tags and make sure you do a content audit to see if this information can be removed, consolidated, or updated. Your SSL seems to not be configured properly also.
I would also make sure that you do a backlink audit to see if any links can be removed or updated. Also, check your local SEO presence and that everything is on point and consistent. Same with on-site SEO.
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
-
Are these doorway pages or not? Concerned due to Panda 4.0
For a new site we're building, the Products team wants the header (let's call this Product-Header) to have links to every subsection of every section on every page. Since this is a bad idea, I want Product-Header to be coded in such a way that it doesn't appear in the code or the links are nofollow, noindex. I want to instead create static versions of these pages without the Product-Header. The homepage links to the static URL section pages, those main section pages link to static subsection pages, and so on. It's one nice silo. I am concerned though that Google won't like this due to these static pages are being created specifically for search engines. Users could click through to this static parallel site from the homepage, or they could use the dynamic URL site. This is similar to what etsy.com is doing where you can search Google for "mermaid bridal" and get this page https://www.etsy.com/market/mermaid_bridal but the dynamic version of the page does not show up. However you can search on etsy.com for " mermaid bridal" and get https://www.etsy.com/search?q=mermaid bridal&ship_to=US. Could these static versions that show up in search engines be seen as doorway pages? I know ebay.com got spanked for doorway pages and I don't want to do anything that would get this site penalized.
Web Design | | CFSSEO0 -
Best course of action when removing 100's of pages from your site?
We had a section on our site Legal News (we are a law firm). All we did there was rehash news stories from news sites (no original content). We decided to remove the entire Legal News section and we were left with close to 800 404's. Around this same time our rankings seemed to drop. Our webmaster implemented 301's to closely related content on our blog. In about a weeks time our rankings went back up. Our webmaster informed us that we should submit each url to Google for removal, which we did. Its been about three weeks and our Not Found errors in WMT is over 800 and seems to be increasing daily. Moz's crawler says we have only 35 404's and they are from our blog not the legal news section we removed. The last thing we want is to have another rankings drop. Is this normal? What is the best course of action when removing hundreds of pages from your site?
Web Design | | MFC0 -
Re-designing a homepage
Hi all, Of those who've done it or have valuable advice to impart, what are the things to look out for when re-designing a homepage? In the same breath, what are vital considerations and elements to include/features to bear in mind when 'prettying up' a primary landing page as a homepage essentially serves as? UX fundamentals? Thanks folks
Web Design | | Martin_S0 -
301 forwarding during site migration problem - several url versions of the same page....
Hello, I'm migrating from an old site to a new site, and 301 forwarding many of the pages... My key problem is this I'm seeing www.website.com/ indexed in SE and www.website.com/default.aspx in showing as URL when I'm on homepage - should I simply 301 forward both of these? Then for several internal pages there are 2/3 versions of each page indexed. Canonicalization issues. Again, I'm wondering whether I should 301 forward each URL even if there are several different indexed URLs for the same page? Your advice will be welcome! Thanks in advance - Luke
Web Design | | McTaggart0 -
Show root domain (that is 301 redirected) in SERP?
Hi, If I have the domain name www.businessname.com.au pointing (using 301 redirect) to a particular page on a business directory site (eg www.bizdirectory.com.au/businessname), is it possible to have the URL www.businessname.com.au displayed in the Google search results rather than the destination page of www.bizdirectory.com.au/businessname? Thanks in advance,
Web Design | | blackrails
Adam0 -
Transitioning to a dynamic home page. Impact on SEO?
Home page redesign advice, please. We're a growing college textbook publishing company; a unique one in that we publish everything under an open license. Our homepage www.flatworldknowledge.com has a solid page score (80), and since our product serves several different customers/audiences -- students, faculty, bookstores -- we're transitioning to a dynamic home page approach. Returning instructors will be served a personalized faculty page, returning students a student oriented page featuring the books they've most recently accessed, and first time/anon visitors will receive a more neutral welcome page until we know more about them. Pros, cons with this change to a dynamic homepage? What should we be thinking about/concerned about from an SEO perspective? How do you address title tags? Will this approach dilute page authority? Thanks all!
Web Design | | JasonBilog0 -
3 Products & 50 Options each, How does Google handle product variant or options?
We are selling furnace filter and we might move our existing store host by BigCommerce to Americommerce or Corecommerce. Before moving the store, I have a questions about our online store structure. We are selling 3 different furnace filters, GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE Series. Each furnace filter come in about 50 different sizes, for a total of about 150 different products. The way our store is setup now, it is 150 different product, 150 different URL, 150 different page name... The way it is setup now, might look like duplicate content. All the product page are the same, all the pictures are the same, the only thing that change, is the furnace filter size in the product description. Look at those pages for example: http://www.furnacefilterscanada.com/20x20x4-Furnace-Filters/ http://www.furnacefilterscanada.com/categories/2-Inches-Thick-Filters/10x20x2-inches/ http://www.furnacefilterscanada.com/categories/2-Inches-Thick-Filters/16x25x2-inches/ Would it be better to only have 3 products and 50 variables or size options? What would be the best structure in a SEO point of view? One thing we have to keep in mind, when searching for a furnace filter, shooper will use keywords like: 16x25x4 furnace filter filter 20x20x1 air furnace filter 10x20x1 furnace filter 24x24x4 canada furnace filter Most of the Google search will included the filter size_._ How does Google handle product variant or options_?_ If I have 3 products, I will have only 3 URL and 3 different page name. I know for the shoppers, 3 products with sizes options might provide a better experience, but what about Google ranking the products? What is opinion the best online store structure in our case? Thank you for your help, preciouse time and support. BigBlaze www.furnacefilterscanada.com/
Web Design | | BigBlaze2050 -
Google News we were dropped and need help finding ot why
Hi i have a site called in2town lifestyle magazine http://www.in2town.co.uk/ and up until two months ago we were with google news and for a long time. But then all of a sudden we were dropped which left us with no confidence about our site and led us to make changes to the site, some good and some bad to try and find out what was wrong with our site and why we were dropped. We have now been concentrating on sorting the site out which has led in a drop in traffic due to not updating it as we should because we are more concerned in trying to make it a quality lifestyle magazine and get back in google as well as making it a good experience for our readers.. I would like your help and finding out what you feel is wrong with our site so we can then work on it and change it and try and find out what went wrong with google news. we have spent years on the site but now we have gone in the wrong direction because we were more worried about google news. If you can advise us on how we should change the site and sort the site out and make it into the professional site it was once more then that would be great.
Web Design | | ClaireH-1848860