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You are right - you could only use teh rel=alternate if there was an m. version or similar

Regards

Nigel

Then there is no problem simply putting a self-referencing canonical. There is in effect no mobile version as there is a single URL so no need for a rel=alternate.

It's an even easier solution. Well, there isn't a problem in the first place.

rel=alternate is only necessary if you have two different URLs! The fact they are the same takes away the problem.

Regards

Nigel

Hi Evoe

If the partner is paying you to maintain Website B then it is vitally important that you keep that one alive. In this case, I would canonicalise the other way round so that all of their pages on Website A are canonicalised to Website B. You would need to make the pages different from website A to continue to rank.

However

If you do not do this then Website B will disappear all together form SERPS and the company will not see any activity.

If it was my site I would remove Website B completely and canonicalize their pages to the version on Website A, (as you have suggested) but bear in mind that they will not be able to see Website B. When you canonicalize to A the organic traffic will collapse anyway so you may as well remove it.

Then you can report the stats for their pages on Website A, the primary site.

You cannot keep both with canonicals as you have said and still get organic traffic to Website B!

Regards Nigel

Hi India

It is unusual to keep both domains if you really want to move site but yes, you can do cross-site canonicals.

So place ON EVERY page of the old site a canonical to the corresponding page on the new site.

The old site will disappear from SERPS and the new site will appear.

Warning

The problem you will have is that the new site will not inherit any of the backlink equity you have built up on the old site. For that, you will need to do a page by page 301 redirect in htaccess on the old site.

I hope that helps

Regards Nigel

Hi again vtmoz!

1. Make sure that they are not created in the first place
2. Make sure that they are not in the sitemap
3. Go to search console and remove any you do not want - it will say temporary removal but they will not come back if they are not in the structure or the sitemap.

More:

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1663419?hl=en

Note: Always self canonicalize the home page to stop versions with UTM codes (created by Facebook, Twitter etc) appearing in SERPS

Regards

Nigel

Hi JH

This is very straightforward.

Use the following annotations:

1. On the desktop page, add a  rel=”alternate” tag pointing to the corresponding mobile URL. This helps Googlebot discover the location of your site’s mobile pages.
2. On the mobile page, add a link rel=”canonical” tag pointing to the corresponding desktop URL.

It is that simple and doing this will not create duplicate content

More here: https://developers.google.com/search/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/separate-urls

Regards Nigel

Hi Mark

If you are trying to get your Cycling Tours Carnarvon Gorge into SERPS for a Cycling Tours Italy search then you are barking up the wrong tree. Of course, they are going to add the place (Geo Modifier) because that is what they want.

I would have a drop-down menu which had a link

Cycling Tours South Australia>
                                                Queensland>
                                                                   Carnarvon Gorge
                                                                   Tambourine Mountains
                                                                    Etc

...and all of the other places in Queensland where you run tours. Then build out each page fully with photos and local information.

Don't create pages with links, to links - put them in a logical menu structure otherwise the pages will be too many clicks away & people won't follow them.

You cannot do this so forget it:

“cycling tour Carnarvon Gorge” which is in Australia into the SERP when someone searches for “cycling tour Italy”

MAPS on the tour pages will help them rank.

Regards Nigel

Hi Chook1

I would set up 'City pages' or in your case 'Country Pages' which target the different places you offer cycling tours.

For example:

websiteurl/italy-cycling-tours

Then fill the page with highly detailed content and alt texted photos & maybe videos of the tours you offer in that country.

Make them local specific and you will see traffic. It works like a dream.

Simple to implement and highly effective.

Regards Nigel

Hi Justin

If the two businesses have different names, different phone numbers and different URLs then I don't see this as being a problem at all. One company would target commercial sales & lettings and the other residential sales & lettings.

Just make sure that:

Categories are fully optimised. Choose every relevant category for both.
Add a full description for both, stating clearly what they do.
Add Google maps for both
Add images & video (upload via image link) 
Write weekly blog posts
Do not interlink between the two.

Similarly, the websites must not duplicate content. If they do and you cannot avoid it then add cross-site canonicals and choose 1 page to rank.

Regards
Nigel

Hi

Gutenberg is simply a back office editor. It has no impact on SEO.

How you organise your web pages is up to you, whether you use teh classic editor (for which there is still a plugin) or use the new editor.

Neither affects SEO as long as the on-page content and technical aspects are correct.

Relevent Title tags
On Page content
Images

All the usual stuff!

Regards

Nigel

Hi

You need to 301 redirect all of the teh pages on the old domain to the new. This will also forward the link equity from any backlinks you had pointing at the old domain.

Just as teh developer to add them in Htaccess.

Regards

NIgel

Hi spacecollective

As long as you tag the sites correctly then you will not have a problem.

Add Hreflang tags to the pages. They can be identical pages on the same server in if you wish but this is how I would do it. As long as they are separated like this.

website.com for the US
website.com/en for the UK

Any other country would then have its own directory.

This avoids you having to mess with the various country TLDs like .co.uk or any other you'd wish to set up.

Then add Hreflang tags to tell Google which country is targetted and the relationship between each one.

 https://moz.com/learn/seo/hreflang-tag

(The first part en is the language and the second, the country)

The combination of search console and Hreflang tags is enough for Google to know that there is no duplication.

You would move UK users on to the gb version and US users would see the .com. It would all resolve pretty quickly as you are telling Google the alternative country versions in the Hreflang tag.

I hope this helps

Nigel

Carousel Projects

Hi Julie

Yes, add a post and a link. Right click ‘view source’ and find the link. If it doesn’t‘ have rel=nofollow in the ‘a href’ it is do follow.

regards

Nigel

Hi Julie

If they are your blogs which relate to your business and you have set them with do follow links back to your business website then they will be useful. It's when people use Tumblr to set up PBNs (Private Business Networks) where it becomes grey hat and ill-advised.

If the subject of the blogs, (URL & Title) have no relevance to your business then you may do more harm than good.

Also be careful with exact match anchor text - spread it out over different relevant keywords/phrases.

You determine whether a link is do follow or no follow.

Regards

Nigel

Hi James

This is a huge question - 'How do I do SEO?'

If you know nothing then hire a consultant to help.

However:

1. Make the site structure easy to understand so Home>Department>Category>Subcategory
2. Use attributes for colour and size, so you have product pages with drop downs. Otherwise, the colour & size URLs compete with each other.
3. Construct an easy to follow menu.
4. Make sure filters do not create extra URLs - better to use Ajax
5. Make the site as fast as possible - consider a content delivery network (CDN) for larger sites.
6. Keep images under 100k by exporting them as 'save for web'.
7. Keep the descriptions and Add To Cart buttons above the fold - in the visible eye line when loaded.
8. Install a quick & simple checkout.
9. Write rich and interesting descriptions
10. Make sure every page has complete Meta tags - Title and a compelling 'buy me' meta description.

More
https://moz.com/blog/how-to-craft-the-best-damn-ecommerce-page-on-the-web-whiteboard-friday

https://moz.com/blog/heres-how-to-create-a-product-page-that-converts

https://moz.com/learn/seo/on-page-factors

There are 100s of things to consider but these are the priorities. I am sure some of my colleagues will add many more.

Regards Nigel

Hi Becky

If you just think of it in terms of not losing any backlinks and so that the old URLs in Google Index don't 404, then they just need the most appropriate page on your new site to be 301'd to.

You won't go wrong if you stick to this approach.

If there is no relevant category, then go up to department, no department? go to home.

Keep it simple & logical.

Regards Nigel

Hi Jens

I don't know Drupal but if it's like Wordpress it will add a noindex tag to the page.

Do it for one page then take a look at the code.

Go to the page: right click > View Source

Then go to the three dots top right in chrome and search noindex. It will look like this attached. (ignore the red line crossed out piece)

Best Regards Nigel

x6DFb9q.jpg

Hi Roman,

I work with a lot of e-commerce companies and I have to say from one SEO to another this is great advice!

Best Regards

Nigel

Hi Andy

You are probably better off doing this in your CMS or directly in the database. As far as I know, there is no MOZ tool to scan content for a particular keyword. You could query Google with site:yourdomain.com "cycling caps" This would give you a list of all URLs with the term Cycling Caps in. Then copy the link of each one and drop them in a spreadsheet.

However! I would warn against linking back through these two anchor texts back to the money page https://www.prendas.co.uk/collections/headwear/cotton-caps as you will likely kill the page for that search.

Make internal linkage natural and use a variety of anchor text. Cycling cap, Cycling caps, Caps for cycling and even **Check out our range of cycling caps **even here and the URL itself. Check out our range of cycling caps: https://www.prendas.co.uk/collections/headwear/cotton-caps Whacking a keyword over and over again in the content with a link is bad practice.

Regards Nigel

Hi Molly

There is no logical reason for you to do this unless the .org was live and listed somewhere so you would lose traffic. You suggest that the .org needs to be 'set up' so this is my suggestion.

If it is set up already then 301 each page on the .org to the most relevant page on the .com. If there is no relevant page then 301 to the homepage. Do this in htaccess, not on the pages themselves.

If the domain you are redirecting from is https then you will need an SSL on the server for that domain.

If there is a .org then it is most likely doing the main .com some damage anyway through duplication so 301ing is the best thing to do.

If there is no .org set up, don't bother.

Regards

Nigel