Uncategorized - Search Marketing Group®

Why aren’t my website pages being indexed?

February 25, 2022

You’ve put all this time and effort into creating a great page. So why isn’t your website showing up on the search results page?

Now, it could be the newness of your page, or perhaps because you haven’t focused on search engine optimization. But in some cases, your pages may not be displayed for another reason: they simply aren’t being indexed.

If it has been more than a few hours since you added your page, do a search using the following format:

site:yourwebsite.com/yournewpage

If you get no results, your page isn’t being indexed.

Common indexing problems

There are many reasons why Google or any other search engine may not index your pages. We’ve gone through some of the most common ones below.

You’ve received a penalty.

In some cases, Google may remove a site from its index if legally obliged, the site doesn’t meet Google’s quality guidelines, or for a number of other reasons. You should receive a notification in Search Console if your site has been removed.

Your domain has a bad history.

You can do everything right, but it may be tainted if the person who had the domain before you engaged in black hat SEO. You can check a domain’s history using the Internet Archive.

If your domain does have a bad history, you may need to submit a reconsideration request to the search engine.

You’re missing domain variations.

You may have different variations of your domain – say, if you swapped over from http:// to https://. Make sure that each one is verified in Search Console.

You have no sitemap (or your sitemap isn’t updating)

Your sitemap is how search engines understand the structure of your site and crawl new pages. They are crucial for SEO, meaning you have to have one.

You can submit a sitemap to Google via Search Console if you haven’t already. This is one of the faster ways to get new web pages indexed. If you aren’t comfortable making your own, XML Sitemaps is a great online tool to generate a free sitemap for your website.

Your site is not mobile-friendly

Since Google switched to mobile-first indexing, making sure your site is mobile-friendly is necessary. We have a complete guide on creating a mobile-friendly site here.

Your site isn’t user-friendly.

Your site should be accessible for people to use and complete their goal, whether to find information or purchase. Search engines prioritize sites that prioritize user experience, which can help you index your site.

You need to consider site speed (more on that below), navigation, linking hierarchies (where that page sits in relation to the rest of the site), design, and distractions (e.g., ads, pop-ups).

Your site is too slow.

Think: When did you last sit around and wait for a website to load?

Exactly. If your site is too slow, users will give up on it. This means that search engines won’t display your webpage.

PageSpeed Insights is an excellent tool for improving your site speed and can give you.

Your content isn’t well-written

Search engines only want to show their users content that answers their queries and satisfies them. This means duplicated and poorly written content will tank your page’s ranking and may even result in it not being indexed.

Review your web page content, blog content, and all other content on your site: are there duplicated pages? Are there areas where you can make improvements? It may be worth consulting with a content specialist .

You have a redirect loop.

If a crawler (and user) have to go through too many redirects, they’ll eventually give up. This is a common indexing problem for many businesses and is often caused by a single typo.

To break the cycle, you’ll need to locate the page causing the redirect. You can use “find” in Windows Explorer or Command + F for Mac to search for files containing the term ‘redirect’.

You’ve blocked the search engine from indexing your site

In some cases, you may not want a webpage to be indexed. You may use this for pages you don’t want random users stumbling across – thank-you pages, for example – or in eCommerce, where you may have similar product pages you don’t want to be classified as duplicate content.

Make sure that the relevant page doesn’t have a no-index tag. This is a relatively straightforward fix and should resolve any issues.

If you use WordPress, each new website automatically uses no-index tags, so you must disable it yourself.

You’ve blocked the search engine’s crawlers.

Apart from no-index tags, there may be other robots.txt files that prevent crawlers from accessing your site.

Using Google’s testing tool, you can check to see if robots are blocking your site.

Your site has other crawl issues.

To see if there are any crawl errors preventing your webpages from being indexed, you can go to your Search Console and select ‘Settings’ > ‘Crawl Stats’ > ‘Open Report’.

How can I get my website pages indexed fast?

Apart from the fixes we’ve discussed above, you can do a couple of things to ensure your pages get indexed.

Link your new web pages from a page with higher authority (like your home page) and fix any orphan pages (pages that aren’t linked to any other page on your site)
Obtain backlinks from authoritative sites.
Once you’ve eliminated the likely problem with your site, click the ‘Request indexing’ button in Google Web Console to speed up the indexing process.

Overall, you’ll need to pay special attention to the content on your pages, the links you use, and technical SEO Melbourne.

It’s worth noting that getting your site indexed isn’t the final hurdle. In order to show up on the first page of results, you’ll need an intelligent SEO strategy. You can check out our blog for more information about how to get started.

Need help getting your site indexed and in the running for the top spot on Google? Our team of SEO experts is on call and can help with a range of indexing issues.

How Digital Marketing Agencies Help Businesses Increase Sales

August 28, 2018

Digital marketing agencies are not just there to handle those daily online marketing tasks off your hands. These companies contribute to your business in several different ways, such as brand recognition, product recognition, improved website ranking, improved website appeal, and more. One of the most enormous benefits of using a marketing agency is that it can increase your sales. Here is how marketing agencies help increase sales for your company.

Search Engine Optimisation

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is still a very important marketing strategy to keep your website listed at the top of most search engine result lists. Organic listings still receive 90% of clicks. That means that items on a list that aren’t financially promoted still have the upper hand, and SEO is still the master digital strategy to apply to your site. Less than 10% of users will check Google’s second page for results. This is where digital marketing agencies boost your sales. By improving your SEO ranking, your website can rank higher in Google’s search rankings, meaning more visitors.

Product Descriptions and Information

Producing a lot of quality content is one of a digital marketer’s main strategies to boost SEO. Customers learn to understand your products much better when they read your posts. They learn how your products work and what they are for, and they find out how these products can change their lives. Customers who understand products better are much more likely to purchase your goods and services.

Brand Recognition

It is no secret that people are much more willing to invest in a popular brand. Marketing agents are important for brand recognition and will ensure that your business name floods the internet, so more people will learn your name and get to know your company. This gives you a much higher chance of sales than competitors that might not be quite as well known.

Social Media Influencing

70% of internet users are more likely to buy based on social media referrals. To get people to talk about your product on social media, you need to have an account, and you need to promote frequently. Your marketer will take care of social media marketing for you and will ensure that your products are shared and talked about by all the right influencers.

Easy Functioning Website

It is a common fact that website users have absolutely no tolerance for a slow-performing or messy website. Plenty of digital marketers have the needed skill to improve your website so it will be SEO Sydney optimized, more organized, easy to understand, easy to navigate, and easy to use. If the website is easier to use and navigate, customers won’t have a hard time getting your products and won’t shy away from using your site.

Improved Target Audience Reach

One hundred website visitors who buy your products are much better than 1000 visitors with no intention of spending money on your business. Digital marketing agents realize that clicks are not the only essential things. You need the correct type of clicks – meaning people looking to buy. Marketing agents will research your intended target audience and design marketing campaigns and ads to appeal to these audiences specifically. They also help to reach your entire target audience and thus boost sales dramatically, even though you might not always see that big spike in web visitors.

Digital marketing agencies can make a huge difference in your business and can help your business reach its full potential much more quickly. These companies are an excellent investment for any business that needs more sales over less time.

5 Ways to Optimise Content for Google Featured Snippet Box

April 30, 2018

In the past, Google has refined how it displays results to users, and the notable change has been the featured snippet boxes it displays before the search results. A featured snippet box appears when users input a question-based query in the search bar. The snippet displays content from one of the pages ranking high on the SERP that directly gives answers to the question-based question without the user having to visit the page. The featured snippet box appears before the results on the SERPs, and a section of the people call them answer boxes.

While many SEO Sydney specialists complain that featured snippet boxes may have a negative impact on site traffic since fewer people click on the pages with the content. However, this could is further from the truth. Statistics show that it increases the click-through rate.

How to Optimize Content for Google’s Featured Snippet Box

Featured snippet boxes are the forte of sites that rank on page one; read our post for tips on how to optimize your content to rank higher on SERPs.

You can optimize your content for Google’s featured snippet box in five proven ways.

Answer Common Queries Asked By Your Target Audience

You might have some of the most valuable content, but if it fails to answer the questions asked by your target audience, your content will not be included in the featured snippet box. Get a focus group, brainstorm the common questions your potential site visitors will ask, and have them in your post. Ensure to form words and phrases such as ‘uses of’ or benefits, which statistics show that they help content feature in the snippet boxes.

Do not forget about keyword density, which increases the chances of drawing more traffic and is considered for a place in the featured snippet boxes. Make use of forum threads in your areas of specialization to get ideas of what your target audience will ask.

Make the Search Query Part of Your Header

While creating your content, optimize it for Google’s featured snippet box by ensuring that the query is under heading tags, that is <h1><h2><h3> et al. The answer to the search query must be directly under a paragraph <p> tag following the header. Google sometimes pulls the sub-headings as an answer to a search query.

Give Logical Answers

Content creators have the difficult choice of creating logical arguments in their posts. Ensure that you make the answers as rational as possible, having researched the trend that users answer the questions. The answers must be easy to understand and avoid industrial jargon. Lengthy introductions will reduce your chances of ranking in position zero (featured snippet box). Include tables, lists, or steps when possible.

Attend To the Number of Words

Google also considers the word count when including a post in the featured snippet box, according to a study involving 1.4 million featured snippets. The results of the study found that the optimal length of a featured snippet ought to be a maximum of 97 characters, around 40-50 words. The number of steps ought to be a minimum of 4 to 5 items and a maximum of 8 steps, with 3-4 rows for a table.

Study Your Competitors Already Ranked In a Featured Snippet Box

The ultimate way to optimize your content for Google’s featured snippet is to learn from competitors in your industry. Make a list of the search results that your content ranks between position 1 to 10 and not in the snippet box, and use the above tips. However, you can still make notes on the strategies used by your competitors and then apply them wisely in your content.

In conclusion, Google’s featured snippet box is an equalizer, and it gives small sites and low authority domains to rank above the big industry players. Most of the content in the featured snippet boxes is from sites ranked in position 5 and below. Follow these tips; they will help you rank higher than the high authority domains, increasing your CTR.

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