Page Juice not moving???

[ldnwickless]

Moved URL's from ldnwicklesscandles.com to ldnwicklesscandles.co.uk because I wanted to rank better for UK where I'm located and thought also the .co.uk for my competitors may have been giving them the advantage.

Use Squarespace 7 (transferred over from SS5)----they told me to set primary domain to .co.uk and I've done it.  I've also done a 301 redirect and done a change of address in webmaster tools although I'm not sure if all of this is needed?  Squarespace seem to think just setting the primary domain is enough.

My question is its been a couple of weeks, I've resubmited to Google webmaster to try to speed things up, the new URL is appearing in Google but none of my Page Juice seems to be transferring yet?  How long will it take?  I know not all the juice will move over but my PA/DA is non existent now and I have no idea if I'm just being impatient or I've done something wrong here.  Not a Pro, Just a small biz owner here so forgive me if this has been asked before.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Did you set up proper URL mapping when you migrated your site? Your URL structures look really odd to me as you move users between different experiences and domains (it's not a consistent site) and your sitemap needs a lot of work, basically because you have multiple sitemaps in one sitemap file.

You should also look into hreflang tags for Google and language tags for Bing to let them know where your different directories are supposed to be targeting. You can also do this by setting up a Webmaster Tools account for each international section and geo-targeting in both Google and Bing Webmaster Tools.

I would condense all of this under one domain (you move back and forth between http://www.ldnwicklesscandles.co.uk/ and https://ukwicklessscents.scentsy.co.uk/) so your users aren't going between different sites and your structure is consistent.

I would also take a look at my resources above if you are trying to specifically target regions.

Hope this all helps - good luck!

[ldnwickless]

No, I didnt do URL mapping---I just imported it through squarespace and followed the instructions to do so and not even sure what you mean 100%.   I am just a beginner with all of this TBH although I've taught myself a fair bit on my own.

I'm stuck with the two different domains----long story but I'm in direct sales and our ecommerce portion of our site has to be on the scentsy sponsored website but we have no blogging, no personalisation options or opportunity to add any content whatsoever on the scentsy portion so thus the external site that links to it.  I know its not particularly SEO friendly to do it this way but my hands are tied.  The external site I try to integrate looks so its a bit more of a consistent experience and the blog helps me with content and keywords and at least attempts to be a bit of my own personal branding to differentiate between the bazillion other Scentsy sites there are.

Site map----I initially had an external one through https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ but deleted it to try to save money and squarespace says they do their own site maps now so was trying theirs out.  Is the sitemap just a complete mess and should I return to the external sitemap?

Also my original question---why is it taking so long for my page juice to go through or is it because I've screwed up with something and these problems are there?

Sorry if I'm sounding like I dont know what I'm doing!!!! Thanks for your help!

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

Nothing at all to be sorry for! That's what the Q+A is here for - I am learning too by you asking questions!

So, what I mean by URL mapping is making sure that when you migrate a site or set up a new URL structure, that your old URLs have a place to go on the new site URL structure. So...

Old page A > 301 redirects > New page A
Old page B > 301 redirects > New page B

And so on and so forth. Usually you would do a content audit to see if content on your old site is still relevant or necessary, and structure your new site accordingly, but since you are relatively new to this whole thing, I wouldn't expect you to go through all of that at this time.

When it comes to your different domains, I would talk to Squarespace and see if they have a solution for a person in your position. Usually, you would want everything to live under one roof (domain) so that it's easier to maintain and structure, but mainly because it will provide a better user experience with consistency. See what options they have for you to consolidate and move everything under one domain. If that's not possible, if it were me, I would probably try and seek another platform that allows you to do so.

When it comes to your sitemap, this is another area I would seek Squarespace's help on, as it is their CMS and sitemap solution they are providing you. To answer your question, yes, the sitemap is a mess and needs to be updated and cleaned, and this is something that, again - as they are providing you a service, should be able to help you out with and make sure it is top notch.

To answer your question about passing "juice" - in an ideal situation where the migration was handled correctly and everything is accounted for, equity is passed rather quickly when search engines crawl the old URLs and see the site has moved. There will be dips in your traffic, as this is part of the growing pains of a new site, but it really shouldn't be too long after that you see your metrics and rankings go back to where they were or around there. This usually takes about 1-3 weeks.

So, depending on when you switched URLs, it depends on when search engines crawl your old URLs and see the site has moved to a new structure.

I would also recommend someone takes a look at your backlinks to see what links can be updated to point to the new URL structure, and what ones can be removed in case they are irrelevant or spammy. Again, someone else should do this, as it does require professional insights and knowledge.

Hope this helps a bit! Please let me know if you have any more questions or concerns! Good luck!

[MattRoney]

Hi Christine!

Just clarifying for myself—when you say your page juice isn't going through, are you specifically referring to DA/PA? Or something else (SERP position, etc.)?