Site has disappeared since Panda 4 despite quality content, help!
-
Our site www.physicalwellbeing.co.uk has lost over 20 first page rankings since the end of May. I assume this is because of Panda 4.0.
All content on the site is high quality and 100% unique, so we did not expect to get penalised. Although I read somewhere that if Google can't read particular js anymore they don't rank you as high.
The site has not been blacklisted as all pages are showing in Google's index and there are no messages on webmaster tools. We have not taken part in any link schemes and have disavowed all low quality links that were pointing there just in case (after the penalty).
Can anybody see anything on www.physicalwellbeing.co.uk that may have cause Panda update to affect it so negatively?
Would really appreciate any help.
-
With a bounce rate that low, do you by chance have multiple GA tracking scripts, or something that's triggering an event even if no one goes to another page? Look at the source code when you're in incognito mode, in case your CMS suppresses one of the GA codes when you're logged in as admin.
[voice of experience and learning the hard way here!]
-
I would say you are bordering on over-optimization. Your alt tags are a bit spammy, you are using the keyword meta tag ( a spam signal), you're using both tags and categories within Wordpress, which can cause duplication.
I agree with the other posters ( and your post on Google), not Panda related - just viewed again by Google.
-
EGOL again thank you for your help it is highly appreciated. Bounce rate is really low at 4% so I am not sure it is that but I take your point. The target audience is more 25-45 really as my client offers Urban Conditioning which would potentially be too much for someone over 45.
Maybe you are right about the pixel info, I think that can be solved by toning down some of the heavy media.
My only issue with both responses here is that it was ranking highly before panda. Where you are pointing out general optimisations and not Panda specific, so what I really need to know is what panda 4.0 has picked up on.
-
Thank you for your comments Lee. I agree that it is a bit media heavy as this was the request when the site was built, we could do with altering it really so that there is just the video or just the slider. The disavow was done well after the rankings drop so I doubt it will be the case.
-
I took a quick look at the site and agree with Lee. The content is good, could be a little thicker but that is probably not the problem.
Just tossing something out... a lot of space is given to huge images, huge whitespace, huge video, huge navigation.... So much that the first word of content is 800 pixels down on the content pages and over 1000 pixels down on the homepage.
So, I am wondering about two things.... 1) are people not going down to look at the content and instead bouncing? 2) are search engines seeing no content in the first thousand pixels and giving you a demotion.
Finally... and I am just saying this, knowing nothing of the business in specific, but being a person who has spent a long life in very intense athletics. Between ages 15 and 45 I would have been one of your best clients. Now, decades later, I am still someone's client, but not a client that matches my first impression of your website. So, if your biz matches the images on the website then you have no need to change. But, if your potential clients are below that intensity then they could be bouncing off of the website, in search for something less rigorous. The images are much higher than my impression of "physical wellbeing".
Maybe you have heard this famous quote that I read in a climbing magazine decades ago.... "The demands of the sport attract a certain type of person.... but at the same time severely limit its appeal."
-
Whilst it is possible that Panda had something to do with your ranking drop I don't think so looking at your site. You have well structured text although it could certainly be thicker on your main pages. Your homepage current has 264 words including headers. Understandably it is challenging creating 100% unique content that is actually high quality whilst being a good length to optimize for Panda.
I would say that where you have disavowed links it is possible that you have disavowed some links which were in fact helping your ranking as opposed to hurting it. This has happened to a number of my clients and the solution is simply to work hard a building natural links.
Alternatively, your homepage is very media heavy (despite being well optimized for page speed). This wouldn't explain such a dramatic drop but it would certainly improve your rank as well as your bounce to bring that load time down. Sliders and videos on the same page even with deferring the JS still add a large data load. Yoast explains this better than I could.
Hope this helps!
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
-
Fresh content..how important to SERP position?
I've heard that fresh content helps boost your position in the serps. If i wrote all new unique content on some of my pages that havent been changed in several years, would i see a boost in the rank? If so, how many positions?
Algorithm Updates | | Ron100 -
How do I code SEO for a secondary site without impacting the main site?
We have a secondary site for our online magazine, how do I code the SEO so I don't steal links from the main site?
Algorithm Updates | | gacwebteam0 -
SEO having different effects for different sites
Hi, I hope this isn't a dumb question, but I was asked by a local company to have a look at their website and make any suggestions on how to strengthen and improve their rankings. After time spent researching their competitors, and analysing their own website I was able to determine that they are actually in a good position. The have a well structured site that follows the basic search rules, they add new relevant content regularly and are working on their social strategy. Most of their pages are rated A within Moz, and they spend a lot of time tweaking the site. When I presented this to them, they asked why there are sites that rank above them that don't seem to take as much care over their website. For example, one of their main competitors doesn't engage in any social networking, and rarely adds content to their site. I was just wondering if anyone could shed any light on why this happens? I appreciate there's probably no simple answer, but it would be great to hear some different input. Many thanks
Algorithm Updates | | dantemple880 -
Do links count in syndicated content?
If I write a press release that goes viral and is syndicated all over do each of those links to my site in the syndications of the press release count and pass page rank with Google? Or does Google only count the link in the original press release? I heard that Google counts all the links for a time then eventually counts only one link from the original content and discounting all the other links as duplicate content. Any truth to this? Thanks mozzers! Ron10
Algorithm Updates | | Ron100 -
Regarding site url structure
OK so there are already some answers to questions similar to this but mine might be a little more specific. OK website is www.bestlifeint.com Most of our product pages are as such: http://www.bestlifeint.com/products-soy.html for instance. However I was trying to help the SEO for certain pages (namely two) with the URL's and had some success with another page our Soy Meal Replacement I changed the site URL of this page from www.bestlifeint.com/products-meal to www.bestlifeint.com/Soy-Amazing-Meal-Replacement-with-Omega-3s.html (notice I dropped the /product part of url and made it more seo friendly. The old page for this page was something like www.bestlifeint.com/products-meal The issue is that recently this new page and another page I have changed http://www.bestlifeint.com/Whey-Milk-Alternative.html I have dropped the "/product" on the URL even though they are both products. The new Meal Replacement page used to be ranked like 6th on google at the begining of the month and now is like 48th or something. The new "whey milk" page (http://www.bestlifeint.com/Whey-Milk-Alternative.html) is ranked like 45th or something for "Whey Milk" when the old page...."products/wheyrice.html" was ranked around 18th or so at the begining of the month. Have I hurt these two pages by not following www.bestlifeint.com/product.... site structure? And focusing more on the URL SEO? I have both NEW pages receiving all link juice inside web site so they are the new pages (can not go to old page) and recently seeing that google has pretty much dropped the old pages in search rankings I have deleted these two pages. Do i just need to just wait and see? According to my research we should rank much higher for "Whey Milk" we should be on the first page according to googles own statements of searchers finding good relevant material. Any advice moving forward? Thanks, Brian
Algorithm Updates | | SammisBest0 -
Site-wide Footer Link on Client/Friend Website - Dangerous?
Hi Guys, I've got a friend / client / business associate who's website I helped develop. It's a three letter dot-com, so good trust, and an eCommerce site, so lot's of pages. When I launched my new site about 6 weeks ago I put "Official IT Partner of MySite.com" in the footer. No keywords in the anchor text, just the domain URL... There are no other external links like that on the site whatsoever, and I haven't been hit by Penguin. I'm ranking well for local targeted keywords a few weeks after launch, and traffic continues to increase... I am worried that Google will see this is unnatural, but I've received no warning or experienced any decline in rankings. There's about 2800 pages linking from the site to my site, all in the footer of course. Would it be better to remove the link from the footer and add it just to the home page and a couple of other high authority pages, or should I leave it be. It's not "unnatural", I am affiliated with the site and work in partnership with the site, but it does fit that profile. I'm thinking about removing the footer link and adding a small graphic on the home page of the linking site which links to my root domain, with a couple of broad keyword anchored links in a description underneath that also link to relevant pages on my site... What do you think? 2800 links w/ my URL as anchor text from high Domain Authority / Low Page Authority pages (the homepage and a few other pages have decent authority) to my root domain OR Three different links from one High DA/ High PA homepage (one image alt, two anchored w/ broad keywords) to three different pages on my site. Again, there are no other site-wide external links on the domain, and I'm pretty sure I escaped the Penguin. Looking forward to hearing the different points of view. Thanks, Anthony
Algorithm Updates | | Anthony_NorthSEO2 -
Panda Update 2.5
All right mozers... What do you think? Apparently Google has just realized the next wave of "Panda" .... I'd love to hear your experiences with the new Panda Update. Have you experienced any decline in organic traffic?
Algorithm Updates | | NerdsOnCall0 -
Recovered From The Panda Update?
Does anyone know if there are websites that have recovered from the Panda update?
Algorithm Updates | | dirkla0