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if You are a huge site with a good domain authority any keyword difficulties are easy for you to rank but if you are a small brand new site Then try to rank for the low competition keyword and keep increasing the competition score as you grow

Ok I was hoping there was a good way to do it.  Thank you.

I agree with Elliott and Oleg's answers, it is better to measure performance with changes in organic traffic to the landing page that you are optimizing.  With all the personalization and increased importance on device and location, it is very difficult to measure a 'true' ranking. However, if you are set on tracking rankings, I would recommend (and use) the following: - Search Analytics Report in Google Search Console: Unfortunately only shows 90 days worth of data but it is free and will provide you data on your site's average ranking position (Avg. Position). You can adjust the filters to see the average ranking position for a specific query (or query set) or individual landing pages. - SEMRush: Personally, my favorite keyword tool (no offense Moz!). This will require signing up for a paid subscription (as the free subscription does not take you very far) but you will be able to track individual keyword rankings in 'projects'. Their least expensive plan ($99.95/month or $999.40/year) allows you to track up to 500 keywords and will provide you with organic visibility trends, individual keyword rankings (over time), average position, estimated traffic, ranking distributions, landing page reports, and more. If you are willing to spring for the 'guru' package, you can look up historical ranking and search volume data as far back as January 2012. - Moz Rank Tracker: Another great tool for tracking keyword performance over time. If you are willing to upgrade to Moz Pro, you will be able to track rankings here. What I like about Moz's rank tracker is that it allows you to track rankings against specific competitors, it allows you to track both mobile and desktop rankings side by side, and you also have the option to track keywords nationally or in a specific location. I am also a fan of the SERP features report, great for identifying featured snippet and instant answer opportunities that you may not have known were there. Moz is offering a 30 day trial, may as well give it a shot! Hope this helps, good luck finding the tool that is right for you!

Hi Oleg, Brilliant thank you for responding to this. This information really helps - appreciate you taking the time to answer back! Kind regards, Jay

Completely agreed with Oleg.

In addition to the benefits from a UX and SEO point of view already mentioned, you're also destroying your Google Analytics data. When users go from a HTTPS page to a HTTP on your site, the original attribution is lost and that HTTP page will show up as direct traffic. Measurement becomes a nightmare real quick when you have users going back and forth throughout their session on your site.

Anytime you relocate an entire site's worth of URLs, you should always redirect them to their new counterparts, it's the quickest way to ensure search engines and people are able to access your new content. Updating your URLs in the index can take a very long time without this step.

Hi Aviad, It depends. I recently managed a full eCommerce re-platform where URLS changed due to a new site structure. I mapped thousands of old urls to new (your option 1) and had minimal ranking fluctuations. Be aware that there will be fluctuations, however if you're meticulous they should be minimal. In the day to day running of the eCommerce store I actively keep old, well ranking URLs alive, rather than unpublishing them when items sell out (your option 2). When similiar items come into stock I can simply change the image, title etc etc and leave the URL. The slight discrepancies in URL to page content has not been an issue for usability at all. So depending on your situation both options could work. Send through some more information and the community will be better placed to recommend the best way forward. Jake

you can ping google to recrawl those pages and see the new status codes. Aside from that, you just need to wait.

Don't think there is anything special for web apps. Use regular title and meta description best practices.

So long as www.citi.com points to https://online.citi.com/US/login.do, via the platform code and/or the .htaccess file, then it doesn't matter. The primary issue is a domain name that is easy for users to type in and remember if they know the site and want to access it directly, rather than from a search engine results page. The cleaner the better. Once the user is on the site, then it is fine for the domain to point to a site in a subfolder. For example, some WordPress users prefer to have their blog in a subfolder to keep their main directory tidy, and this is even when the blog is the purpose of the site in the first place, and not a subset of the site. It is quite common to see www.mysite.com/blog, where www.mysite.com redirects to the blog folder and that is then the index page for the website. IOW, a user might type in "mysite.com" and then will be auto redirected to mysite.com/blog via the PHP code and the .htaccess file. One drawback is that the location of the main site in a folder may add a small amount of latency to load times. A slight redirect as you show in your example is quite common, so search engines are used to it. No, I don't see there being a penalty from a search engine company. As to which is "better", you have to think through your business goals for the site and determine the best information architecture and site design for your services, products, company, or organization. That will drive the correct answer to that question. -- Jewel

First, here is my opinion. I believe the parent company wanted to retain the identity of these sites as being related to the Gap as related subsidiaries of it, so they kept gap.com as the canonical domain. Much as Google has done with their products and services. Next, let's talk about information architecture and business goals, versus SEO. Pros to using subdomains: it differentiates different arms of your business. Each subdomain can be SEO'd individually, and yet you retain the brand name and recognition on the domain level. I think they may have done it this way to make it easier to manage the content in some way. Cons: Subdomains all require as much work as having separate domains, so you need to use them sparingly. Compared to subfolders, they don't share link equity. The pros to having each business have its own domain or to be established as a microsite, is that it allows for more targeted marketing. I.e., you can niche your product or service, or offer a specific service. Each unit can control their subdomain, but not mess up the larger parent site, which might happen if folders and subfolders are used. Also this snippet says it better than I can write it: "A subdomain is a a separate website on your brand’s domain meant to host content all relative to a common theme. The most prominent examples of subdomains are from Google, who uses them to host their different subdivisions such as Google News, Google Maps, and more. The benefits include better organization, an ability to capitalize on your brand’s domain authority while building upon its own, and creating a separate entity that is still on brand. Many brands opt for a subdomain because they are often easiest to set up, especially if you’re using a third-party host. Subdomains are most beneficial for brands looking to organize specific content that many speak to different audiences, for example by region or product. In addition, brands use subdomains as a way to separate different product lines, divisions, events, or digital publications. Unlike a subfolder, which is often hosted on the main domain’s site navigation or footer, subdomains are a little more independent." From: http://www.skyword.com/contentstandard/marketing/should-i-host-my-content-on-a-microsite-subdomain-or-subfolder/ My guess is that gap.com, the parent company, followed Google's lead in wanting to brand the products to the parent company while allowing the divisions to maintain control over their niche product, and yet still speak to the target demographic. If you want to read more, this page has some great advice: https://www.stonetemple.com/subfolders-subdomains-microsites-and-seo/ -- Jewel

I'd agree with Oleg above; marking up as a product is likely your only option with regards to appearing in SERPs. One thing that you may want to look further in to is the schema for service, you can store data such as provider and rating, which may suit your needs further down the line.

Your WordPress plugin has probably taken care of this, but check you're canonicals. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Hopefully some other MOZ friends will chime in and help ya out Good luck!

Adding your contact number is allowed, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it -- especially if you use tracked phone numbers on your website to track the leads coming in organically, direct, paid, etc. i recommend mkaing your meta descriptions catchy and include a call to action that will entice them to click through to your site, which is where they will find your contact information.

How would you perform that on Google Analytics?

Thanks Lisa.

Thanks guys for the answers. I guess I just have to be more patient. Since last week, we are already moving up in the search results and hopefully in another month or two we will get back to the first page.