Google is showing the "wrong" page in the serps for user queries
-
Our site, cpuboss.com has two main types of pages: comparisons of CPUs, and pages about individual CPUs.
When I google search for "fx8350", a keyword for the cpu "AMD FX-8350", I hoped to see our CPU page ranking, instead I see a comparison of this CPU against another.
http://i.imgur.com/QwNczDj.png?1 (Our page ranks #5)
Any idea? Many of our comparisons rank for CPU keywords, when I think it'd be a better experience for the user if our cpu pages ranked instead.
This particular CPU page is linked to on our homepage with appropriate anchor text, and linked to on that comparison also. I would have hoped the relevance of the cpu page to this keyword would be stronger than the comparison page, and google might use that relevance signal to show the user the right page.
thoughts?
-
Cool, I'd be interested in the outcome! Let us know how it went:)
-
Thats a great idea, I'm going to try that. I think I'll get some descriptions written up for some CPU pages, and leave others without and compare how they do, see if rankings change.
Thanks!
-
Oh yes true, now I see it. You linked to it 21 times, so actually this now looks like you linked too much!
But like you've said, I think relevance is key. Try to add a little bit of content to the CPU page. A quick unique description of it or so. See if that helps. I guess you might have to test a few different approaches to see which ones work. This is actually a really interesting case.
-
Hi Miki, thanks for the response.. just playing devil's advocate here, the site's homepage has a higher page authority than the comparison, and more external links, so would we expect it to show up in the SERPs instead of the comparison page?
This is a class of problem, it seems to happen with keywords for every CPU, so I'd have to implement your solution of building links for hundreds of pages.
Aren't links typically created by third parties? Or do you create all your own links to your site?
-
Hi Moosa, I'm a bit confused.
There are many pages on the internet that are better results than my comparison page, yet they do not show up, because they are not about the cpu. I'm pretty sure we should be focused on relevance here, not authority.
I don't really have any control of how often other people +1 a page, or link to a page. As it happens this comparison page has been +1'd more than the cpu page. I don't see how that is related to google showing a user a relevant page.
Sure, I could try to get this product page some more +1s, but as I mentioned to Philipp, this is a class of problem, e.g. all my cpu pages have this issue, they don't show up in the serps and instead a comparison of the cpu vs some other cpu shows up in instead.
For example, the site's homepage has more +1s and links than the comparison page, it also has a bit of content about the fx8350 on it, yet google is not showing the homepage in the serps for this query.
-
Hey Philipp, thanks for the response. The Comparison page does link to the CPU page many times with the text "FX 8350", also with "AMD FX 8350".
Keep in mind this issue exists for all the CPU pages (over 200), and each CPU of course is searched for by users with a variety of keywords.
-
Completely agree with Philipp’s strategy plus you can also share the page on social media forums (Google+ specially) and get some +1s for that page to let search engine know what is the better result for users!
Linking from the page that is ranking to the page that you want to be ranked is also a good idea to be implemented!
-
What works pretty good for me usually is linking from the page that does (but should not) rank to the page that should (but does not) rank, using the anchor text you want to rank for.
In this case this means linking from the comparison page to the CPU page with the anchor text including "fx8350".
-
Well, the comparison page has a page authority of 32 while the product page only has a page authority of 21.
This is the most important factor.
THe comparison page also has external links from PC Gamer, and Bit-Tech - while the product page has zero external (followed) links.
I would try to build some external links to the product page.
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
-
Reducing multi-page website to one page & SEO ramifications?
Hello there! I just want to check in before I do this. I am reducing a multi-page website to one page (temporarily, but for at least 4-6 months). I will be 301 redirecting all old pages to the one, new home page. The new home page has a lot more content, long and short keyword phrases. Aside from losing the benefit of internal links, will reducing the number of website pages hurt a ranking? Does having associated keywords on other website pages provide benefit to another (in this case Home) page? Thanks so much for your invaluable advice!
On-Page Optimization | | lulu710 -
Google Webmaster Tools Not Showing Correct Data?
Hi, I am experience a weird issue. Google webmaster tools suggested me some HTML improvements a few weeks ago. The suggestions were about duplicate Title Tags and Short Meta Descriptions. I changed the Title Tags and Meta Descriptions. But after 3 Google Updates, webmaster still shows the same suggestion. Please advise Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | Kashif-Amin0 -
Getting different search queries in Google Webmaster
Hi All, I have a website Afrofood.com. In it's Google webmaster search queries i have more than 90 Queries, but not a single query is related with this site. All queries are from different site or subject, they have no any relation with my site. Can any one please tell me how to correct this... Site is Afrofood.com related with African foods, recipes, spices and all that. But showing search queries are: [canada goose](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose) [canada goose outlet deutschland](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose outlet deutschland) [polizei shop düsseldorf](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#polizei shop düsseldorf) [canada goose deutschland](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose deutschland) [canada goose weste](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose weste) [canada goose kaufen](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose kaufen) [canada goose hamburg](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose hamburg) [canada goose größentabelle](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/top-search-queries?hl=en&siteUrl=http://afrofood.com/&authuser=1#canada goose größentabelle)
On-Page Optimization | | 1akal0 -
2000 Active pages 404 on LIVE Ecommerce site - what will google do now?
Hi All, One of my ecommerce site having more than 20,000 pages from that one of the categories having 2000 pages showing 404 and still taking time for developer to fix this issue and may be they will be able to fix after 2-3 days so is this okay with google or google will take any action during this period? Thanks! Dev
On-Page Optimization | | devdan0 -
Ranking for "synonym" terms on separate pages?
(My title says "synonym" but it's not exactly the most accurate word, but works best for the title_) I have a site that ranks #1 for a term, and let’s pretend it’s “cheap phone”. It’s also ranks #1 for “cheap phone service” and #3 for “cheap phone plans”. These are all the home page with those rankings I have a sub page whose natural title would be “Cheap Phone Plans” or “Cheap Phone Service”. I have it named something these and it is not optimized for either of these terms because I think it would be best to not mess with the good rankings I have already for those two terms So here’s my question: what would likely be the outcome if I optimized that subpage for “Cheap Phone Plans” or “Cheap Phone Service”? If Google began to direct searchers of this term to my subpage rather than my home page, would my home page lose some of it’s ranking with it’s main and most popular keyword, “cheap phone? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | bizzer0 -
Using rel="nofollow"
Hello, Quick question really, as far as the SERPs are concerned If I had a site with say 180 links on each page - 80 above suggested limit, would putting 'rel="nofollow"' on 80 of these be as good as only having 100 links per page? Currently I have removed the links, but wereally need these as they point to networked sites that we own and are relevant... But we dont want to look spammy... An example of one of the sites without the links can be seen here whereas a site with the links can be seen here You can see the links we are looking to keep (at the bottom) and why... Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | TwoPints0 -
Page title getting cut off in SERPS even though it's under 70 characters?
I re-wrote the page title of a home page for a site I'm working on and made sure it's under 70 characters (68 to be exact) to comply with best practices and make sure it doesn't get cut-off in the SERPS. It's still getting cut-off though and right when it gets to the brand/website name. Does a "-" have anything to do with it? Does that translate to an elipsis? Format: keywords - website/brand.com Can anybody tell me why this would be happening?
On-Page Optimization | | MichaelWeisbaum0 -
Getting pages indexed by Google
Hi SEOMoz, I relaunched a site back in February of this year (www.uniquip.com) with about 1 million URL's. Right now I'm seeing that Google is not going past 110k indexed URL's (based on sitemaps). Do you have any tips on what I can do to make the site more likeable by Google and get more indexed URL's? All the the part pages can be browsed to by going to: http://www.uniquip.com/product-line-card/suppliers/sw-a/p-1 I've tried to make the content as unique as possible by adding random testimonials and random "related part numbers" see here: http://www.uniquip.com/id/246172/electronic-components/infineon/microcontrollers-mcu/sabc161pilfca Do I need to wait more time and be more patient with Google? It just seems like I'm only getting a few thousand URL's per day at the most. Would it help me if I implemented a breadcrumb on all part pages? Thanks, -Carlos
On-Page Optimization | | caneja0