Questions
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Fetch as Google is showing this, help!
Hi There, The possible reasons your page might be considered as redirected: The homepage URL redirects to /index.htm or /index.html or /index.php or redirects to https:// version of the website Some website scripts also redirect the pages or so it seems to search engines. A possible malware / virus on the website, which redirects the bots to their own sites. Please check if any of these reasons can be possible for the redirect, this can found using simple tools for SEO audit available online, which will render yours page as Google Fetch will do. Let me know if you have further queries. Regards, Vijay
On-Page / Site Optimization | | Vijay-Gaur0 -
Proper URL Structure. Feedback on Vendors Recommendation
Hi there, I've got a few thoughts to drop about this, but I want to make sure I answer your specific question first, then answer what I think are the lead up or follow up questions that are either on your mind or that you'll land at in the end anyway. There are specific instances where you may favor one URL structure over the other. For example, our landing pages are similar to your current structure, and the rest of the website is more similar to your vendor's proposed structure. Folders are a great way to categorize your content and help both Google and users navigate and understand your content. However, you do not want to lose the hyphens. That can make it difficult for users to read in search when they're deciding on a page to view and it can be difficult for Google to read. Let's say your URL has an acronym in it - maybe you're writing about basketball and NBA is in the URL. So your URL becomes: website.com/sports/hownbaistakingcharge Or website.com/sports/baskteballnbakobe. Are either of those readable? You have two stakeholders, Google and Users and your URL structure should support both. Compare the above to website.com/sports/how-nba-is-taking-charge or /basketball-nba-kobe. That's much better for Google because they can clearly read the different words and make sense of it, and it's much better for Users who are trying to quickly scan the URL on Google. I would push back on the vendor that the hyphenation is necessary. I've listed a few other questions below that I would have for my vendor and team if we were proposing a major restructuring of the site's content. A new URL structure means a few other things will likely change. 1. Have you thought about creating a redirect map for every page that is going to move? 2. How will the new URL structure interact with breadcrumbs on your site? 3. If you move to folders are you going to need to create head pages e.g. website.com/sports/how-nba-is-taking-charge is located under a main "sports" page that maybe doesn't exist yet. You WILL have users that attempt to reach the head page whether it exists or not and they'll be sent to a 404 instead. 4. Will changing your URL structure alter your main and sub navigation elements on the site? (in almost every instance, it should) And then my final question, knowing how much work it is to take a healthy site and improve it by changing the URL structure alone is this: what is the expected value? Why are we doing this? Sometimes there's a legitimate reason and sometimes it's pure vanity. The SEO upside to a major restructuring like this isn't normally enormous, but the effort involved can be titanic. So be sure your expectations are realistic going into it and get the details fleshed out as much as possible ahead of time. Best of luck, let me know if I can answer anymore questions.
On-Page / Site Optimization | | brettmandoes0