Welcome to the Q&A Forum

One of the basic tools SEO's use to determine the strength of their website's rankability and trust on behalf of Google is a website audit. This process effectively gives you an outline of your ranking factors and potential issues that you can fix such as 404 disconnects, incorrect 301 redirects, improper heading usage or missing meta tags, among 100 other factors. This is what I think you should have done for your website.

If you want a DIY method, several website audit tools include:

SEMRush (semrush.com)
SEM PowerSuite (Website Auditor) 
WooRank (woorank.com)

If you want someone to go over the results of the audit with you, it would be a good idea to consider hiring an SEO consultant who will be able to make sense of your audit and help you reach your SEO goals.

From the sounds of it, my gut tells me it has something to do with a 301 redirect error or set up errors with respect to your site. There is a small chance it's related to your Google+ profile or perhaps to duplicate content or your link profile, but these are less likely.

For extra credit, you might also consider locating your top competitors and using Analytics to determine what their metrics are like compared to yours as a benchmark for where you stand. It's great to know how well you are doing relative to yourself, but it also helps to know where you stand overall compared to your competition.

This is a complicated scenario - there is no "simple" answer to what you are asking because there are so many factors at play here.

My suggestion is that you conduct a local SEO audit on your website to determine what ranking factors you need to work on. It might be as simple as failed optimization on your Google+ page to limited local site authority or even that it wasn't properly registered. It could be that you need further reviews on your Google+ or 100 other things. Without direct access to your site there's not much I can tell you from the outside other than that a site audit would probably do you good.

If you merged two pages to become one, it might be something to do with the redirect process (assuming this is what you did). If you made alterations and your rankings suddenly dropped through the floor, this suggests that there is something Google has picked up that it isn't happy with. Again, a website audit would probably do some good in this scenario.

Hope this helps! If you need further help feel free to ask.

All the best!

Rob

Hello Andrew,

This is a difficult question. It's like asking someone to choose only one of hundreds of types of cheesecakes, brownies and ice cream.

I will give 3 plausible answers:

1. Brightlocal.com

Brightlocal is my go-to answer for all things local SEO. It gives so many benefits that I don't think I could live without it on a local scale. Benefits include:

• Rank checker (SERP Rankings)
• Website Check-up (site auditor)
• Google+ Local Wizard (Checks your Google+ account and can be used for competitor analysis)
• Citation Tracker (Small link-building potential)

And there is still more coming.

The beauty of this tool is not only in its accessibility and general usefulness but also that it is an all-in-one answer to most of your local SEO needs. This means that with 1 tool even a start-up business could compete with established businesses and build their client base. This makes it extremely powerful, especially in the scenario you set up.

2. MajesticSEO or Ahrefs

These two products effectively do the same thing - competitor analysis, site metrics and ranking. They are both very powerful and useful to have. I personally prefer Ahrefs because I have used it more than MajesticSEO, but both have a good product. I typically use one or the other as part of a greater strategy, so it is hard to say that these would be the only tools I would want in my bag, but it is a great starting point from which you could work if it was all you had.

3. SEO Powersuite

I don't know if this is cheating based on the scenario you set up, but I am going to go with it anyway. The SEO Powersuite is what I would want up my sleeve for any SEO challenge. It encompasses most technical aspects of SEO within 4 tools: SEO Spyglass, Rank Tracker, Website Auditor and Link Assistant. These are all powerful tools in their own rights that allow you to formulate raw data, measure and analyse it, and to create professional customized reports for clients. It is technically 4 tools in 1, and can be pretty expensive for a start-up business, but it is definitely worth it if you can afford it. I would take the Powersuite over even Brightlocal, but I have a feeling that this wasn't in the spirit of the question you were asking.

Can't wait to see what others have to say on the topic!

Hello Layth,

Sometimes new pages can "Google-Dance", especially if they are highly-relevant or likely to be searched regularly (you say this is for a client participating in a very prestigious healthcare event). What this means is they can receive a very quick boost in rankings then alter their positions rapidly as they settle into a more organic setting.

If you have been implementing SEO services for 3 years and not seen any results, it is highly likely that the approach has not been ideal and might even be creating penalties (or not taking full advantage of opportunities). This is especially true if you are still applying SEO strategies from 3 years ago.

I highly doubt this is a coding issue - I spoke to one of my team members (a web design and development expert) and he told me this was not likely to be the cause of your issue, unless something is seriously wrong. However, if that were the case, it is likely you would be facing extreme penalties and not merely staying stagnant.

You could do any number of audits, but automated reports are unlikely to shed much light on the situation. My suggestion would be to have a consultant look at your SEO efforts and determine whether there is anything that can be done to create better results moving forward - many of these issues can be fixed with some refined site architecture, effective link-building or on-site optimization. That being said, until I see the site itself, I am only giving an educated guess.

Feel free to get in touch with me and I will see if I can be more helpful. Until then, enjoy your 3rd place ranking!

Best,

Rob

Hi Jon,

The answer might seem pretty straightforward, but sometimes looks can be deceiving. On the one hand, it seems to make sense to target keywords that are both higher search volume and describe the service more accurately. On the other hand, it can be painful to leave something behind that is currently doing well.

The simple truth is that even a lower ranking for a higher volume search term can be better than a high ranking for a low search volume one. If you were able to rank the smaller search term in 3rd place, there's no reason you can't do the same for a larger term with equal competitiveness. Just let your customer know they are likely to experience slightly lower traffic for a short duration while you sort it out. They should be understanding and down the road they will thank you for creating a better end result for them.

It will probably be better if your new approach is a better descriptor of the business, as this is more likely to create higher conversion levels moving forward (targeted traffic is worth its' weight in gold).

Just be prepared to do some hard work in the near future!

Best of luck!

Hello Gary,

I have to agree with RangeMarketing, in this case the keyword matches are probably your best bet - my only question is in regards to whether you might have multiple brands in the future that produce "Ciro" or "Vogue" in which case it might get a bit heavy and bulky if enough products become available.

As things stand, however, your keyword match options are probably your best bet.

Without getting too technical, .htaccess might be the solution you are looking for. This will allow you to retain both websites and transfer your organic traffic without risk of penalty. You can find .htaccess commands in the link below:

http://kb.mediatemple.net/questions/85/Using+.htaccess+rewrite+rules#gs/-httpexamplecomfolder1-to-httpexamplecomfolder2--

At the end of the day, you can insert the following into the .htaccess on your web hosting:

Redirect 301 /url1 (Website B) http://www.newsite.com/url1 (Website A)
Redirect 301 /url2 (Website B) http://www.newsite.com/url2 (Website A)
Redirect 301 /url3 (Website B) http://www.newsite.com/url3 (Website A)
Redirect 301 /url4 (Website B) http://www.newsite.com/url4 (Website A)

If you are looking for a redirection tool without needing .htaccess (and are using wordpress), I have found that this one works wonders:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/redirection/

Either way, I don't think there is much to worry about in regards to risking negative effects as long as you are not transferring urls with penalties on them already.

Hello Zach,

Based on what you are saying, this is an algorithmic warning and is not based on manual action. Since we are still talking algorithms, all you have to do is clean up your link profile - disavow all low-quality links and perhaps build a few higher-level links and over time the ranks should return to their former state. I know this is pretty much the same answer you received to your question on the Webmaster Help Forum, but I think that gentleman has a point. I disagree that you should "ignore" the emails, but a lack of manual oversight probably means that it is a technical issue that can be addressed rather than one you willingly perpetrated.

In regards to your link profile, it's possible that the form the links took - for example, blog comments, posts etc. - contributed to the decline in rankings, but would not affect your "rankability". I don't think a Reconsideration Request is necessary as long as you ensure that your profile is clean of all "waste material". Perhaps push a link-building program for better links and see where that puts you.

Also, completely unrelated to link-building, but is there a chance that the content might be responsible? Are you sure there is no duplicate content on your URL's? It might be that the current loss in rankings is Panda-related and not Penguin at all - that warning may be over and done.

I work for a local Canadian digital marketing company and we are seeking to expand our client base but are having difficulty with converting potential clients. We do excellent work and get good results across the board for our current customers. That being said, we can't seem to convert new ones at the rate we hope to. I am wondering what we are missing and would really like to see what has worked for others to see if we can augment our approach to be more successful. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

We are currently beating the competition on local SERPs, and rank very well nationally. 
We have run AdWords campaigns, attempted cold-calling, worked with website audits, worked with different sales funnel ideas, social media and done our share of outreach in both online and local communities, among other marketing moves. Tips on these topics are also welcome, because it is possible we just went about it the wrong way.

David,

Great to hear that your rankings are improving - I was looking at the above comments with Hutch and I noticed you mentioning that your competitors are creating backlinks on their clients' sites even after services have been rendered. It's a tactic I have come across before and while it technically isn't "illegal" I do believe there is something "unethical" about it. That being said, with new algorithm updates coming from Google I expect this will backfire on them within a year or so - having multiple links from a single domain is not as powerful as a diverse link profile.

In regards to future link-building endeavors, definitely try out Link Prospector - with some dedication and focus I can create about 10-15 links to relevant websites within an hour. Remember not to over do it, as forming too many links (I put the number as higher than 15/month although some would argue higher or lower). It is a paid tool, but if you are only handling a few websites there aren't many better in-depth link search tools I have used for the cost.

In terms of forum access, I believe you have access to the forums regardless of if you have a subscription. However, you are only allowed to read which I find isn't as powerful as being able to address specific questions directly to knowledgeable individuals. I treat it a bit like a consultation firm for SEO services - if there is something I need a specific answer to, this forums beats simple Google searches any day of the week.

Hope your SEO endeavors continue to bear fruit!

Best,

Rob

David,

I have personally found the Moz subscription very useful because it opens up a wide array of learning opportunities from like-minded individuals. There are questions that have been answered for me on these forums that I haven't been able to find elsewhere.

I think there is a balance to be struck between services like Moz and other industry tools. As with any other industry, tools such as Spyglass are very powerful if used correctly. I wouldn't say there is a "better" or "best" approach because everyone tackles this business differently. I just think you have to identify what you plan to use the service for, and then decide whether it is worth the cost to do so. For me, it is definitely worthwhile to keep the subscription if for no other reason than to have access to people who are smarter than me.

Hope this helps!

Rob

Oh that does make a significant difference - yes, in that case I think it might be best to take them down, especially if they 404. I was operating on the assumption there was originality in the blogs.

With copied content there is no penalty but you are not gaining the benefits that original content would provide you. This may change in the future as algorithms are altered but for now there is no penalization for copy/pasting content like that. I have an ecommerce client that previously used this strategy and it didn't "hurt" them, per-say. However, when we adjusted with updated, original content, their rankings jumped considerably.

If you have control of/access to these blogs, it still might be more useful to your cause to update with new content and build up the links' authority. However, if you do not want to put the time and effort into creating a legitimate fix on the issue, then disavowing is probably a better option - just as long as you are aware that you are likely to suffer some short-term ranking drops.

In order of preference, I would say:

1. Build up blogs to create relevance
2. Disavow links
3. Ignore problem

You might also take a middle route and disavow broken/404 links and continue with others - in the grand scheme of things if your link profile is generally strong, this shouldn't hurt you too much either way.

Definitely agree with Hutch,

Those links are poison and should be removed ASAP. Try to rebuild your link profile using relevant sites. I have found the best approach has been to find competitors in my client's industries and using sites/tools like:

ahrefs (https://ahrefs.com/)
SEO Spyglass
Link Prospector (linkprospector.citationlabs.com)

These sites will show you what your competitors are doing to rank high for keywords you select. Simply search your chosen keywords in Google and see who pops up 1st page in the SERPs. Put their url into these tools and watch their link profiles pop up - then you can determine which links are worth pursuing and which are better left behind. Remember to make your profile retain a "natural" look to avoid future flagging - stick to relevant sites to begin with, and add occasional connections with varied relevance.

If you take this approach, you should start to see improvement fairly quickly - link-building is a grinding process and you just have to stick with it.

Hello Peg,

For best results, here is what I would do:

1. Retain Wordpress.com blogs and build them up with new content to generate further links and traffic - closing them will only hurt you unless the links or content are poor quality and likely to be penalized in the near future. If you are on a large budget, try boosting them simultaneously. If not, try working on one at a time per month until they are each built up. This will help you more than disavowing them, which will land you back at square one.

If they are producing traffic and are quality content/link producers, keep them.

2. Close one of the YouTube accounts unless both are generating fair amounts of traffic. Consider the value of a YouTube channel and if only one (or neither) are generating any value, then you only need one active. The same goes for the Google+ Accounts - if both are successful in generating leads/clients, then keep them (there is no penalty associated as long as they are under separate names). If only one is successful, remove the other. If neither is successful, then remove either one.

This isn't too big of a deal - there won't be huge penalties either way. However, you do stand to gain if you build on the previous work, assuming it was well-conceived and structured.

Hope this helps!

Hello Phillip,

Based on what information I could gather from what you have said, I think the DA is a bit of a red herring here. In fact I don't think this is a penalization as much as it is a reflection of your competition.

The primary focus I have is on your content and on your link profile. From what I can see, your link profile is practically non-existent but your content is both original and quite decent. I think there is really only 1 logical solution: you need a better link profile.

Dropping in SERPs can simply be the result of competitors with better link profiles and relatively powerful content out-ranking you. I would put some effort into attaining some powerful and relevant links and see if that doesn't solve the problem. I have had this issue in the past and a few quality links boosted my client's site from a Rank 7 to Rank 1 for their terms within a month. Not saying these results are ordinary, but it can't hurt.

Your content is fine, but perhaps you could market it a bit more and get those links.

Hope this helps!