Help: domain name change and Google News
-
Hi. I work for a regional news source, and our (separate) Spanish-language news publication recently changed its domain name. The publication lost its Google News inclusion. Most of their traffic came from Google News, so traffic tanked. They're trying to get back in. They reapplied but didn't get approved. They're now in the 30-day waiting period to reapply again.
The website is run by a third-party company, which handled the domain name change in April (2015). That company has been running their site for a couple of years. Our in-house devs' hands are tied on helping, because we (at the mother company) don't manage their site. This third party has not been responsive.
The Spanish pub folks have reached out to me to help them prepare for Round 2 of reapplication. I'm the mothership in-house SEO, but I've never experienced this situation before. Because everything seems to be in order besides the ham-handed changes, my best advice to them so far is: You'll have to wait until Google gets to know you again, unfortunately.
Does that sound right? Any pointers out there for bringing their best possible A-game to the next round?
-
Thank you Kristina; I'll take a look.
-
That's a bummer, that Google didn't give more feedback.
My question about meta keywords is related to this: https://support.google.com/news/publisher/answer/68297?hl=en
Other than that and what I've listed, I can't think of anything else that you'd need to keep an eye on. Let us know how things go when Google reevaluates!
Best,
Kristina
-
Thanks for replying, Kristina. I spoke to my Al Dia contact for answers to your questions:
Did they change the look and feel of the site? No, it’s the same as before.
**Did they change the URL structure (this is especially important, since Google looks at the URL for dates)? **The only change it is the name on the url , the date still appears the same as before on each story. Now: http://aldiadallas.com/news/2003/aug/05/co0867348576356/. Before: http://aldiatx.com/news/2003/aug/05/co0867348576356/.
**Did they update their Google News sitemap? **When they requested the google news confirmation, they did include the new sitemap.
Are they still properly using Google News meta tags, specifically news_keywords? They are using open graph tags. I'm not familiar with specific Google News meta tags or news_keywords -- can you point me to a resource on that? I might be mis-googling; I'm not able to find anything specific to that kind of tagging.
Did they remove Authorship? She says she's not sure about Authorship. I'm thinking it wasn't part of the overall scheme to begin with.
Also, did Google give any feedback when they rejected their first application? Google just said to reapply in 60 days and check their guidelines.
Thanks in advance for any other insight you (or anyone else reading this) else can lend.
-
Hi Christy,
I think my biggest piece of advice other than "hang tight" is, what did they change other than the domain name?
- Did they change the look and feel of the site?
- Did they change the URL structure (this is especially important, since Google looks at the URL for dates)?
- Did they update their Google News sitemap?
- Are they still properly using Google News meta tags, specifically news_keywords?
- Did they remove Authorship? (I have no proof of this, but I've heard rumors that people think Google still uses Authorship, even though they've removed it. It's possible that's just a mean rumor from bitter SEOs after their rich snippet loss, though.)
Also, did Google give any feedback when they rejected their first application?
Best,
Kristina
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
-
GSC: Change of Domain Not Processed, Despite Saying "Approved"?
Hi folks, I've just completed a straightforward olddomain -> newdomain migration. All the redirects were done on 7th Feb. I submitted the change of domain request on 7th Feb. All seemed fine - as can be seen in the attached. It's now 19th March and our pals at GSC are still saying that the domain migration is ongoing. I've never had this take so long before; 2-3 days tops. Their results are tanking as I can't geo target and more features in GSC are out of action as it's 'locked' due to this migration (I just get a screen as per the attached). Thoughts? Shall I risk withdrawing the request and starting anew? The old "turn it off and on again"? Thanks! hJXKC
Technical SEO | | tonyatfat0 -
Suddenly disappear from google SERP : Pls Help
I am facing too much problems with my all sites and i am afraid with google SERP result. I was penalize by google in previous yea and again Today too. i have a website name is removalinmelbourne.com.au i was happy with my seo because it was coming on the first page and 2nd page with most of the keywords like removalists melbourne, removals melbourne, movers in melbourne, removalists in melbourne and today i was shocked with my result this not showing anywhere on google . Please someone help me . How can i get back .
Technical SEO | | Tufail0 -
Forwarding kw rich domains to main domain
Hi My client has a clutch of kw rich domains that want to point to main domain, apart from being good for promotional reasons is there any seo benefit for doing so (i know there used to be years ago but under impression hasn't been any benefit for a long while) Most importantly though can any bad come from doing this ? Best Rgds Dan
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Domain forwarding
Hi Is it ok or bad practice to domain forward shorter more memorable snappier domains used for promoting a website to a longer domain where the website actually lives, such as: Promoting in social media profiles, emails and offline literature a domain with forwarding set up like: www.brand.com To the main website: www.brandincludingprimaryproductrelatedkeyword.com And if ok (not bad practice), since its the forwarded domains that are being promoted they are hence the links most likely to be shared on social media and other websites so will they be treated like 301's and 'link building' for those will pretty much equate to link building for the main domain (or not) ? Many Thanks Dan
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Best source to keep abreast of Google Alogorith Changes
Good morning from 13 degress C about to chuck it down wetherby UK... I want to make sure i keep my finger on the pulse regarding Google Algorithmic changes. What is the best source to make sure your kept up to date with Googles ongoing tweeks to its Algorithm (apart from SEO moz). Thanks, David
Technical SEO | | Nightwing0 -
About Google Spider
Hello, people! I have some questions regarding on Google spider. Many people are saying that "Google spiders only have US IP address." Is this really true? But I also saw video from Google's offical blog and it said "Google spider come from all around the world." At this point I am really confused. Q1) I researched and it seems like Google spiders have only US IP address. THen what does exactly mean by "Google spider come from all around the world."? Q2) If Google spider have only US IP address, what happen to site which use IP delivery? Is this means that Google spider always redirect to us site since they only have US IP? Can anyone help me to understand?? One more questions! When Google analyzing for cloaking issue, do you think Google analyze when spider crawls the site or after they crawled the site?
Technical SEO | | Artience0 -
301 redirects and old domain names
Thanks to the great advice i've received on this forum, I'm combining 50 different truck sites into a single, ultimate truck website. So my question is how long should I make a website 301 redirect to the appropriate page on my new website? My thought is that if it works well to have a single website, it might be nice to eventually sell off some of the old domain names that I won't be using anymore. Thanks! Andy
Technical SEO | | daenterpri0