Why is Google sending traffic to our homepage, not our optimized pages?
-
Hello Forum,
My team and I just completely redid a yoga eCommerce site, including its SEO. The old version of the site didn't feature page-specific optimization and, as a result, Google's search results for our keywords almost always directed visitors to the homepage.
For example, a Google search for the term "yoga bolster" sent users to the homepage, not the product category page for yoga bolsters.
After redoing the site and optimizing specific pages (i.e. the yoga bolster page is now optimized for the keyword "yoga bolster"), the Google search results are still taking users to the homepage, not the optimized page. (i.e. if you search for yoga bolster, find our search result, and click the search result link, you're taken to the homepage, not the bolster page)
It's only been about 36 hours since we've launched the new website and submitted it to Google's webmaster tools.
Does anyone know why Google is still sending people to our homepage and not the keyword-optimized pages we created? Is this a timing issue?
-
Within 36 hours it is definitely a timing issue at this point, but cannot say for sure that in the long term it will sort itself out.
There are many other things to take into consideration other than just META and onpage optimized content.
You would also want to do a high quality informational link building campaign that uses (gracefully) the anchor text "yoga bolster" to this newly optimized page. There is also internal linking you can do that would help re-inforce this directive to Google.
w00t!
-
Hi Pano
Timing is one issue, it will take longer. First the pages need to be indexed which can take much longer than 36 hours for some websites, then the pages need to be ranked for their targeted keywords. You say it's a new website, in which case this would be the case. If the URLs are the same as before, then just a reindexing delay and the ranking factors.
Though the Main Reason will be that your internal product/landing pages most probably do not have any (or any good quality) inbound links to them, chances they are all going to your homepage. I'd suggest looking at this as links are a major ranking factor.
So take a look at the on-page SEO again to ensure that it's as strong as can be, then analyse your inbound link situation and if necessary, get some high quality relevant links from reputable websites to link into your internal pages (though don't pay for the links, free natural links are the way to go).
Also, make sure that visitors and search spiders can easily navigate to your internal pages that you are trying to get ranked, have a check for any crawl errors and make sure that your robots.txt file is not disallowing any such pages from being indexed.
Regards, Simon
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
-
Infinite Scroll and SEO - Is it enough to only link to the previous and next page in the pagination?
Hi all, We are implementing an eCommerce site where the results pages of the products will be visibile on one page (always loading new products when you scroll down the page). Now, I have read that the Google spiders cannot "load" new products scrolling down the page, hence the spider only sees the first few products of the results page. Our developer wants to implement a system where a users sees the first products on example.com/products Then scrolling down, he will see new products with the URL changing to example.com/page/2 and so on. Is it enough that we add a pagination link that goes from example.com/products to example.com/page/2 Then another link that goes from example.com/page/2 to example.com/page/3 and so on, so the Google spider can make his way through all the pages? Or is that too much deep linking and the spider wouldn't even crawl all the results pages? Any recommendations how to go about this? Many thanks in advance!
Web Design | | Gabriele_Layoutweb0 -
Facebook is now only allowing owners of FB pages (not admins) to create keys for a WP blog post syndication. Is there a way around this?
I hired a contractor to configure a WP plugin to syndicate FB, G+, Twitter and standard WP posts. He is using NextScripts: Social Networks Auto-Poster. He came back to me saying that FB is now only allowing direct owners (not admins) of FB pages to create keys. This means I have to give my client's personal FB access to a third party contractor. I'm not comfortable asking my client to do this. Does anybody know of a way around this? Is there a way to create a FB key with just admin access? Thanks
Web Design | | RosemaryB0 -
Does Google penalise for alot of advertising on your site?
I look after the search side of a decorating website on which we carry a large amount of advertising from external brands as that is our business model. Do you know if we would get penalised for having too much advertising - would it be deemed to affect the user experience? Many thanks for your help on this.
Web Design | | Pday0 -
Does Google count the domain name in its 115-character "ideal" URL length?
I've been following various threads having to do with URL length and Google's happiness therewith and have yet to find an answer to the question posed in the title. Some answers and discussions have come close, but none I've found have addressed this with any specificity. Here are four hypothetical URLs of varying lengths and configurations: EXAMPLE ONE:
Web Design | | RScime25
my-big-widgets-are-the-best-widgets-in-the-world-and-come-in-many-vibrant-and-unique-colors-and-configurations.html (115 characters) EXAMPLE TWO: sample.com/my-big-widgets-are-the-best-widgets-in-the-world-and-come-in-many-vibrant-and-unique-colors-and-configurations.html (126 characters) EXAMPLE THREE: www.sample.com/my-big-widgets-are-the-best-widgets-in-the-world-and-come-in-many-vibrant-and-unique-colors-and-configurations.html (130 characters) EXAMPLE FOUR: http://www.sample.com/my-big-widgets-are-the-best-widgets-in-the-world-and-come-in-many-vibrant-and-unique-colors-and-configurations.html (137 characters) Assuming the examples contain appropriate keywords and are linked to appropriate anchor text (etc.,) how would Google look upon each? All I've been able to garner thus far is that URLs should be as short as possible while still containing and contextualizing keywords. I have 500+ URLs to review for the company I work for and could use some guidance; yes, I know I should test, but testing is problematical to the extreme; I look to the collective/accumulated wisdom of the MOZVerse for help. Thanks.1 -
Does Google have problem crawling ssl sites?
We have a site that was ranking well and recently dropped in traffic and ranking. The whole site is https and and not just the shopping pages. Thats the way the server is setup, they make whole site https. My manager thinks the drop in ranking is due to google not crawling https. I think contrary, but would like some feedback on this. Site is here
Web Design | | anthonytjm0 -
How Does Google differentiate a keyword you are optimizing for and a non-keyword?
So, let's say that my company is called John's Business Consulting and I offer outsourced HR work (recruiting, evaluating, personality assessments, background checks). So for my home page I want "Business Consulting" to be my keyword that I want to rank for. But "recruiting services", "talent development" are all words that describe a service that I offer and could potential be keywords, how do I get Google to not dilute my authority for "business consulting"?
Web Design | | wlw20090 -
Websites with only one "html file" and page href # is good for SEO?
I bought one website from templatemonster that contains only one HTML and the pages are generated by links (PROGRAMACAO) My website: www.nextformaturas.com.br This is good in term of SEO? or it is better an website with deveral pages with diferent contents? What are the pros and cons? I really lost on this.
Web Design | | Naghirniac0 -
Content position on page
I am in a limo service industry where people are not looking for great content or product description, all they want is a nice Lincoln Town car and a competitive price. Because I need to get more pictures in front of my customers rather than more content I am not sure if by not having the content high up in the page will affect my rankings. We are transitioning to a new template where we have more control over the layout of the website but because of the slider that we have on the homepage the content needs to go further down. We could insert some content in each of the slides but the page would start looking too "busy". We want the customers to see very clearly what we offer. They see the picture, click for more info and book the service. How important still is to have your keywords in the first hundred words on a certain webpage? Can we get away with having the content read by search engines after 3 - 4 slides and their description (about 20 words total) ?
Web Design | | echo10