WordPress.org

1. fokjulle
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   My blog is http://www.urbantrash.co.za. It's been running for about 6 months, and gets loads of hits per day. What I don't understand is why Google doesn't see it.

   Before Ihad the blog on the same domain, I had a static HTML website, and came up as the first result, in Google. After I migrated to WordPress, it slowly lost its Google position.

   Why is this? How can I fix this? In fact, when you do a Google search for 'urban trash', everything that RELATES to my site appears, but not my own site. Even my own Wikipedia entry appears, but not my site.

   What has happened?

2. seanrox
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   I did a Google search for your domain and it came up.

   I also looked to see if you had a site map on your site and you don't. Google likes site maps.

   For WordPress, check out the Google Site Map plugin.

3. fokjulle
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   Thanks a lot, but, where did my domain come up on Google? I tried, and couldn't find it. Not my own domain, though, but other domains ABOUT my domain.

   I certainly can't see my domain on Google.

   I'm going to try out that site map plugin.

4. whooami
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=urbantrash.co.za&btnG=Search

   Before Ihad the blog on the same domain, I had a static HTML website, and came up as the first result, in Google.

   Thats incomplete information - it came up first using what query? Thats the important part of that statement.

   http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&num=10&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=Being+proudly+stereotypical&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images

   Google sees your blog just fine.

5. fokjulle
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   I see what you're saying, but what I mean is that when I had a static site, searching for "urban trash" gave me a good Google result (1st page). A few months later, after running WP, I don't even get listed on the first few page results. And I get FAR more hits now, than ever before.

6. whooami
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   well for starters, and this is a guess, you probably had the words: urban trash" prominantly displayed within that static page. You do not now.

   Your page title, for instance, reflects this: <title>Trash Media - Illustration Studio </title>

   Unfortunately, youre not alone with the use of those words, and thats sort of the way it goes when it comes to Google.

   Your meta info doesnt reflect that keyphrase either. And while Google doesnt look just to that for stuff, it does take it into account if your content follows. If you look at the meta keywords on my own site, and plop them into Google, MINUS my actual domain name which is included within those keywords, you will notice I come up first and second in Google.

   You have to realize thats your front page has changing content, so you need to provide something static that includes those keyphrases you want to have Google notice.

   Thats one of the purposes of <meta name="keywords" ...

   It doesnt help that your probably publishing more images than written content.

   But the fact remains, google sees you.

   --

   I score quite nicely on Google and dont use any sitemap gizmos to accomplish it.

7. azventurecapital
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   use Arne's GoogleSitemap plug-in in combination with DagonDesign's sitemap plug in http://www.dagondesign.com (Aleister is a good guy)and that will help.

   Chris

8. fokjulle
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   Thanks guys. I understand now. Where can I add in these meta keywords?

9. seanrox
   Member
   Posted 5 years ago #

   fokjulle: you add the meta keywords and description into your header file just below your title tag.

   You'd have something like this:

   <meta name="description" content="Site Description Here" />
   <meta name="keywords" content="Keywords Here" />

   Good luck.

10. fokjulle
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Just an update on this issue.

    I still can't find my site on Google. My url is both urbantrash.co.za and trashmedia.co.za (for those who want to help me a bit).

    Normally, if one searches on Google for the name of the domain (without the .co.za or whatever), the results normally show it.

    Strangely, my Wikipedia page is about 3rd or 4th from the top, and just about every website linking to or discussing my site (I'm a cartoonist, drawing a daily comic strip) appears, but not my own. Why is this? And how can I fix this?

    Google simply doesn't show my website, and I've checked for it over numerous of its page results.

    However, Yahoo immediately gives me fantastic results. I simply searched for 'urban trash' and 'trash media' (as I did with Google).

    Yahoo but not Google? What am I doing wrong?

11. fokjulle
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Might I have done something wrong for Google to remove me from their results? Or does have it something to do with my PHP code?

12. letterknit
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    I also use the AutoMeta plugin... I usually have to edit the meta tags it supplies, but it makes it easier to include them.

13. doodlebee
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    People compete for keywords and search terms *every day*. Millions (if not billions) of new sites are created *every day*. That's a lot to compete with. Your site isn't the *only* thing you should be using for marketing purposes. If it is, it won't matter *what* you're using to create your site with, eventually it will fall out of rank. (for the record, Google no longer uses keyword meta tags - they ignore them for the most part. They look for your content, not your tags.)

    You need good incoming links from valid and reputable sites, you need to be sure your content is strong and is keyword-rich, and you need to be sure you update regularly and make sure your site's code is valid.

    Those are just a few things you need to do. If ranking is what you're after, then I would suggest hiring an SEO expert.

14. kayintkh
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Do you have a robot.txt in your site? If so, you might need to remove it.

15. DianeV
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    I would leave the robots.txt file; I'll assume it's okay if Yahoo has picked up the site.

    My url is both urbantrash.co.za and trashmedia.co.za (for those who want to help me a bit).

    That's a problem. You can *use* both domain names, but one has to point to the other. If you have *one* site, and it can be reached by both domains -- without one domain pointing to the other -- it's very likely that at least some search engines will see that as two sites (because they can't tell otherwise) and may give you problems about it because generally none of them like to see the same sets of pages at multiple domains; it just looks like you copied your site somewhere else. The first clue is your site has dropped out of sight on Google; although it's still there ... it's just buried.

    However, if you make one domain the main one, and redirect the second domain to the first, they'll be able to distinguish ... and visitors will see the change in their browsers' address bar.

    Search the Web for .htaccess and mod_rewrite and redirect and you should be able to come up with something.

16. kayintkh
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    I don't understand this - "Search the Web for .htaccess and mod_rewrite and redirect and you should be able to come up with something."

    Can you explain more in details?

    [sig moderated]

17. DianeV
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Yes. Use a search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.) to search for these words (without the quotes):

    ".htaccess" "mod_rewrite" "redirect"

18. kayintkh
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    I have performed the search in google. But I still don't have any idea of how to solve my problem. My site - http://www.k-director.com still an invisible site for google. :(

19. DianeV
    Member
    Posted 5 years ago #

    Well (and I'm addressing this to both of you), with all due respect, you can keep saying that it's invisible, or you can learn *why* that is.

    First, it's not invisible; your site is in Google.
    Search for site:yourdomainname.com

    You need to ensure that your page titles are different from each other, and are not just URLs (e.g., http://www.whatever.com) or your domain name.

    You might also look around to see what plugins you can find to add a meta description to your pages.

    Lastly, you need to ensure that search engines cannot reach your website by both http://www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com -- that's what the mod_rewrite is for.

20. Drawer
    Member
    Posted 4 years ago #

    This has been worrying me lately. I have one blog up, and am ready to start the second (and last!@!) one shortly.
    My url is http://www.mywebsite.com/my_blog_name/ . My second one will be http://www.mywebsite.com/wordpress .

    Will these web addresses be picked up by google? Or will it think that all 3 are the same as http://www.mywebsite.com ?

    Is there a way, and SHOULD I change these blog urls now to http://www.my_blog_name/ ? Because if that's what I should do, I want to do it before I start the second blog!

    Thanks, people smarter than I!

Topic Closed

This topic has been closed to new replies.