Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Website rankings drop significantly after moving to new hosting provider
-
My website - www.isacleanse.co.nz has dropped from being top10 rankings for all of my keywords to not even being in top 50 after just checking now.
It used to be hosted on: www.1stdomains.nz
It got migrated to Sitground servers about a month agoSee attached screenshot - would moving hosting provider cause such a huge drop? Or would there be anything else I should be looking at ?
-
Now that I check rankings for isacleanse.co.nz (without the www.) the keywords are all ranking in the same spot they used to be... so what I can gather there is no issue but instead my 'rank tracker' for keywords within MOZ was updating the rankings for a www. when the rankings have now moved to the non www. site?
Does that make sense? I've now reinstated back the www. before the domain name as I prefer it this way.
I will still make those changes that you've mentioned above! Much appreciated
-
Make sure that you are doing 301 redirects from your www links to your new non-www links. This will tell search engines where the new pages are.
-
Not as important reason as the rest I mentioned. Correct all and will be fine.
-
Thanks for your responses Frank & Krzysztof!
From what I can tell the site has been migrated and is now showing as isacleanse.co.nz and it used to have a www. before it - would this be the reason for the drop?
-
Hi Sandi Matic.
Indeed, server location is in US and that matters.
On the other hand I see in google search result versions of your website: with www and without www. I see also this at the end of google results:
"In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the 89 already displayed.
If you like, you can repeat the search with the omitted results included."
so this means you have some amount of similar content.In code I see this: but your website is dedicated to New Zealand right? Change this (and all other) to en-NZ. Setting hreflang can help too.
Also you have little amount of linking domains (weak or weaker domains after new penguin 4). Worth to do is linkbuilding.
Another errors are meta descriptions are part of main content, heading h1 doubled, etc. To check all, page by page seo audit is needed. Even if you had it before, now you have to fix those onpage things to get better serps/traffic.
-
I only see 2 reasons for your rank to drop like this after switching servers. Your site is slower after the move and your servers location(not sure about this one, maybe someone else can confirm).
#1 - Site speed is a key factor for ranking so if you had excellent speed and you switched to average speed, this could be one of the cause.
Did you notice if your site is slower after the move? And how long after the move did your rank start dropping?
#2 - If your server was in New Zealand and now it's, lets say in the US, there is an added respond time for people looking for you website in New Zealand.
Do you know in which country is the new server located in? A good CDN might help if that's the issue.
I hope this points you in the right direction to get your issue resolved!
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
-
What type of website is best for seo.
I need a new website for my health insurance business. What type is best for SEO? Many thanks
Web Design | | laurentjb0 -
NO Meta description pulling through in SERP with react website - Requesting Indexing & Submitting to Google with no luck
Hi there, A year ago I launched a website using react, which has caused Google to not read my meta descriptions. I've submitted the sitemap and there was no change in the SERP. Then, I tried "Fetch and Render" and request indexing for the homepage, which did work, however I have over 300 pages and I can't do that for every one. I have requested a fetch, render and index for "this url and linked pages," and while Google's cache has updated, the SERP listing has not. I looked in the Index Coverage report for the new GSC and it says the urls and valid and indexable, and yet there's still no meta description. I realize that Google doesn't have to index all pages, and that Google may not also take your meta description, but I want to make sure I do my due diligence in making the website crawlable. My main questions are: If Google didn't reindex ANYTHING when I submitted the sitemap, what might be wrong with my sitemap? Is submitting each url manually bad, and if so, why? Am I simply jumping the gun since it's only been a week since I requested indexing for the main url and all the linked urls? Any other suggestions?
Web Design | | DigitalMarketingSEO1 -
What factors make a ranking difference between Desktop and Mobile?
Hi all, What makes a website rank better on mobile? Usually page load speed and mobile responsiveness matters and makes a difference to rank w website better on mobile than desktop. our website is surprisingly ranking better on Mobile but not much on desktop. What might influenced here in improvement in mobile ranking and drop in desktop? Thanks
Web Design | | vtmoz0 -
Is The HREF Link "Title" Tag Needed on Mobile Websites?
Hello To Those Who Are Wiser Than I, I am wondering if the href link "title" tag is needed, or serves any purpose, on mobile websites? Also, does it effect SEO in any way? I ask because generally the href link title tag provides more information to the user when they scroll their mouse over the link - but this action does not happen on mobile! Users have no mouse and thus no extra information would be displayed. I'm really wondering if it still matters for SEO purposes on mobile though. -The UnEnlightened
Web Design | | Stew2220 -
How long should an old site redirecting to a new site remain activated on a server?
Once I switch a site to a new domain (with links to corresponding/relative pages), will I have to keep the old site live forever for those links to work, or how long should I wait before I inactivate the old site on our server?
Web Design | | jwanner0 -
Implementing a new Nav Bar: Best practice, SEO benefit, your suggestions?
Hi Mozland, We are going to have a new Nav Bar for our site built from the horror that we currently have to up with. We want to make it a simple affair, similar to The Guardian two-tier Nav Bar - main menu which will drop down to the 2nd tier according to what you clicked on in tier one. Regular stuff, I think. Any suggestions, from your experience, about how best to implement this, what to include, what not to do, what can be included and done to make it as best it can be to get people to peruse our site as easily as possible? Thanks
Web Design | | Martin_S0 -
Where is the best place to put reciprocal links on our website?
Where should reciprocal links be placed on our website? Should we create a "Resources" page? Should the page be "hidden" from the public? I know there is a right answer out there! Thank you for your help! Jay
Web Design | | theideapeople0 -
Site-wide footer links or single "website credits" page?
I see that you have already answered this question before back in 2007 (http://www.seomoz.org/qa/view/2163), but wanted to ask your current opinion on the same question: Should I add a site-wide footer link to my client websites pointing to my website, or should I create a "website credits" page on my clients site, add this to the footer and then link from within this page out to my website?
Web Design | | eseyo0