Why won't my sub-domain blog rank for my brand name in Google?
-
For six months or so, my team and I have been trying to get our blog to rank on page one in Google for the term "Instabill." The URL, http://blog.instabill.com, is a sub-domain of our company website and they both use the same IP address. Three pages on our www.Instabill.com site rank in the top three spots when searching our brand name in Google. However, our blog ranks 100+.
For our blog, we are currently using b2evolution and nginx.
We have tried adding static content on the home page, static content in the sidebar, static content on an About Instabill page, and optimizing blog posts for the keyword Instabill, but nothing seems to work.
We appreciate any advice you can provide to us.
Thank you!
Meghan -
By the way, has the blog ever ranked for instabill?
-
Not knowing how much traffic the blog gets or how much of that converts to new business, you might try experimenting with some things.
If you're thinking of moving the site, you might first see if your problem is domain related by just copying and rel=canonicalizing the whole blog to the new domain and seeing if it eventually shows up for "instabill", while keeping the original in place. If it does, you can then put in your 301s and eventually delete it. If it doesn't then it's likely architecture or content related. Personally I think it's content related.
If the new domain doesn't rank for instabill, delete the blog software on the new domain and remove the rel=canonicals to it from the old domain, throw up a wordpress blog, and put a couple of posts on it with a link from your website's homepage and see if that works.
-
We are now considering changing the url from blog.instabill.com to something like instabillblog.com. I have following concerns about the change;
- Will changing the domain really be that helpful (i.e. will the change get our blog on page one for the term instabill)
- We have over 350 pages of content on our blog. Will changing the domain have possible negative effects ( I was thinking of using url updater in webmaster tools and creating a permanent 301 redirect from the older url to the new)
- Having never changed a url for a site with this much content and seo value for my company I would like to know the following from someone who has made mistakes here before;
- what not to do
- what steps you would take to make the transition easier
Any help here will be greatly appreciated.
cheers,
-
We still cannot get our blog to rank on page 1 for the term Instabill. Thank you all for your previous input, but I am marking this question as answered.
-
Don't control your own anchor text - you'll get yourself into trouble.
-
Don't mention it : )
You may also want to look at anchor text for your links pointing from instabill.com to blog.instabill.com. It would probably be better to use "Instabill Blog" vs. just "blog" and even better might be simply "Instabill", if you could get away with it.
-
Again, I appreciate your feedback, but it is a technique we have tried in the past.
Originally, we were not optimizing the Instabill Blog for the keyword Instabill and it was ranking poorly. We found resources that encouraged us to use our company name more, so we added static content, an about page, and blog posts with Instabill in the title and heading tags.
For a short amount of time, our blog fluctuated between pages one and two for our brand name. Now, although our technique has not changed (and we even update our static content regularly), our blog does not rank at all for our brand name.
We will keep what you have said in mind, but it has failed us in the past. Oh, and thank you for your helpfulness within your snide remark.
Cheers!
Meghan -
Funny.
While you're twittling your thumbs waiting for some actual traffic, keep what I said in mind.
-
Thanks for your comment. I dont feel your feedback has any scientific value. We are still waiting for an answer.
-
I see "instabill" used 58 times on the default page and a whole bunch of blog posts about Instabill. Google's seen this before and as I recall, they came up with a couple algorithm tweaks in order to push website owners to make real websites with information that real people might possibly want to read. Try doing what everybody else has to do--tone down the heavy handed SEO and invest in copy that's focused on a specific audience, not on you.
-
Hey Meghan,
Any particular reason you 301 http://blog.instabill.com to **http://blog.instabill.com/index.php
?
http://blog.instabill.com** has more authority and backlinks. You should 301 http://blog.instabill.com/index.php to http://blog.instabill.com instead and see if that helps.
-
That was one of our theories, but we wanted to research additional possibilities before deciding the real reason for the poor ranking. Thanks!
-
Google decided that your main site represents your company.
Type "instabill blog" and you rank for people searching for your blog.
Same with my site.
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
-
When creating a sub-domain, does that sub-domain automatically start with the DA of the main domain?
We have a website with a high DA and we are considering sub-folder or sub-domain. One of the great benefits of a sub-folder is that we know we get to keep the high DA, is this also the case for sub-domains? Also if you could provide any sources of information that specify this, I can't see to find anything!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Saba.Elahi.M.0 -
Does having multiple Domain aliases hurt SEO rank ?
Our company having multiple domain aliases (DIfferent TLD) like example.com, .net, .org, .club, .win to one site (Same Content). We do this because our country ISP is blocking a few of the domain aliases. Question: Does this hurt the SEO rank? What approach is the best for us to gain SEO Rank?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | missionunpossible0 -
Domain.com/postname vs. Domain.com/blog/postname
I am wondering what is the best practice regarding blogs? I read that it would be best to structure a website like a pyramide instead of a flat panckage But I have seen many blogs where the post shows right after the domain name. Domain.com/postname instead of Domains/blog/postname My point is that if a website has many post then the structure will get very flat and this will maybe make your most optimized and important pages less important to google domain.com/page a) What do you think about this, which one of the two blog solutions do you prefer and why? b) in context to blog If for instance you had a keyword like Copenhagen property would you then consider renaming your blog to realetateagent.com/Copenhagen-property-news/post-name c) Would write a little intro like 200 words for the page 1 of your blog and add in some keywords.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nm19770 -
SEO connectivity between domains and sub-domains
Hi, My web site georgerossphotography.com and my ecommerce site store.georgerossphotography.com each reside on different servers. georgerossphotography.com has a domain authority of 30 store.georgerossphotography.com has a domain authority of 30 Clearly, they are considered two individual sites but is there any way that I can boost the performance of the primary domain by passing along some for that good SEO juice from the sub-domain? Any input would be gratefully received. Regards,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sirgeorge0 -
Can we have differnt Domain name and Busienss name?
Can we have different domain and Business name for website? I want to create real-estate website. I want to registered domain name ‘Nycityhomes.com’ and want to my business name (in logo as well) is ‘Sunny Associates’. Can we do that for local SEO?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AlexanderWhite0 -
Why isn't google indexing our site?
Hi, We have majorly redesigned our site. Is is not a big site it is a SaaS site so has the typical structure, Landing, Features, Pricing, Sign Up, Contact Us etc... The main part of the site is after login so out of google's reach. Since the new release a month ago, google has indexed some pages, mainly the blog, which is brand new, it has reindexed a few of the original pages I am guessing this as if I click cached on a site: search it shows the new site. All new pages (of which there are 2) are totally missed. One is HTTP and one HTTPS, does HTTPS make a difference. I have submitted the site via webmaster tools and it says "URL and linked pages submitted to index" but a site: search doesn't bring all the pages? What is going on here please? What are we missing? We just want google to recognise the old site has gone and ALL the new site is here ready and waiting for it. Thanks Andrew
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Studio330 -
Does Google prefer Wordpress Blogs?
In creating a regular brochure website such as one for a dentist or doctor, do you see any SEO benefit to having it based in a Wordpress blog? I do see the SEO benefit of having an actual blog on the site and continually updating that, but simply using the Wordpress platform as a CMS - does that give the site any benefit? If there is a benefit, is there a way to duplicate that advantage without going through the trouble of creating a Wordpress template for the site? Maybe just publishing a sitemap.xml, and feed, etc? Thanks! Tom
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TomBristol0 -
Does a 'Certified Domain' help SEO?
I see that GoDaddy offer a 'Certified Domain' option. Does this help SEO at all?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Techboy0