Updated page not ranking.

[isaac663]

Hi Guys.  Bit flummoxed by this.

I've recently updated our Mid year diaries page to be this years mid year products. i.e) Diaries that go from 2015-16 not 2014-15.

Last year we rank really well for the search term 'mid year diaries 14-15'.  All i've done is update the page to be focused on 2015-16 diaries, but when i type in 'mid year diaries 15-16' it's no where to be seen in the SERP.  Even our home page is ranking higher!  I'm really puzzled about this, nothings changed apart from the year!

The only reason I can think of is that Google is reading the file name of the images which are related to lasts years products?  For example the file name might say mid year diary 2014-15.  Do you think this is what's effecting us?  Very puzzling

I've submitted it through Webmaster tool btw

Isaac.

[Lumina]

First, it's important to note that you can never expect the same results year-over-year for a page that's similar to a previous one. You need to take into account competition, algorithm changes, etc.

One glaring issue I find on this page is that you have almost no unique text. Google looks very unfavorably on pages that have little content; your page only has about 100 words. I strongly suggest writing more about the product; what it's made of, it's dimensions, history, anything.

After inspecting the code, I see that your meta-description wasn't updated. It starts "Find your perfect mid-year diary 14-15 with TOAD." - but should ready 15-16, no?

Fixing these things may not reap the benefits you're looking for, but they're certainly a start. Good luck!

[TheWebMastercom]

I agree, Google is constantly evolving and becoming stricter on what it considers acceptable content.  You should be looking to constantly improve your website in line with the evolving best practices and Google Algorithm updates.

[LauraSultan]

You say that you only changed the date, but I assume that means the URL as well. Is the 14-15 page gone? If so, have you set up 301 redirects to the new URL, or is it returning a 404 error? If the page is gone, you'll need to set up 301 redirects to the new page. Otherwise, you'll lose any value from backlinks to the old page. This will also eliminate the duplicate content issue.

If the page is archived on the site, you have a duplicate content problem. Either revamp the new content or set up a canonical tag on the old page pointing to the new one.

I would also go ahead and update the image filenames to reflect the current year as well as the meta description, as previously mentioned.

If you don't plan to archive the product page for past years, set up a generic URL so that it doesn't change from year. Leave off the "-15-16." Change the meta and on-page content as needed, including image filenames, but keep the same URL. That way you won't ever lose value from backlinks.

I would also revisit the content each year to freshen it up.

[isaac663]

Thank you for your response.  There is clearly some great advice which I will apply.

However, it's just popped up on the top page for 'mid year diaries 15-16'.

Panic over  But it's great that we have some other things we can now apply to the page. Thank you very much