Wordpress SEO Expert

Improve your Google ranking with Peter Mahoney, 20+ years SEO & Wordpress experience

Feedback on another SEO company’s proposal

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I’m looking at a local firm for my digital marketing and would like your feedback on their proposal.

The company we met proposed £900 per month for a full package including paid advertising on google/ socials and SEO.

SEO Analysis

The current domain authority score of your website stands at 9 out of 100. Given the fact that your site has only secured 7 backlinks, this is a respectable figure. It’s clear that no prior search engine optimization efforts have been made on the site, presenting us with a blank canvas to start our work. This means there’s no need to undo any previous SEO mishaps. At present, your site is listed for 27 distinct keywords within the UK market, the specifics of which are included in the attachment to this email. Currently, the keyword foundation is quite minimal.

Our strategy should encompass a dual approach of link building and content generation. These foundational SEO practices do not require extraordinary measures. Your website exudes a high-end, luxurious appeal, though it lacks substantial textual content. Enhancing the blog and integrating more content throughout the site will significantly contribute to improving your D/A rating and achieving organic rankings for your chosen keywords.

Paid Advertising Insights

Google Ads allows for precision in selecting search terms to appear on the first page, leveraging our existing data on effective terms, optimal times, and target demographics.

Social Media Advertising requires more targeted efforts, focusing on individuals who have expressed interest in similar products, even if they have not specifically searched for yours. We advise directing users to a Meta-generated form upon ad click, facilitating direct communication.

Advertising Budgets

We suggest a minimum budget of £500 for Google Ads and £300 for social media to begin.

Our Agency Services

We offer a comprehensive package that includes SEO efforts, such as content and blog creation and link building, alongside management of Google Ads and Social Media Ads, for a monthly fee of £900 plus VAT.

There’s a couple of red flags in that proposal.

900 quid a month is a lot. And I guarantee that almost all of that will go towards PPC, which has a very low ROI.

They also mentioned something about getting you first page listings through PPC. That’s a bit of a bait and switch – hearing ‘first page’ sounds exciting but of course they’re just buying that, there’s nothing clever or sustaining about it (like there is with proper SEO). Also all kinds of studies have demonstrated people are a lot less likely to click on ads they see in search compared to organic results–which is precisely why Google keeps experimenting with ad placement, style, etc.

In my experience (which is longstanding, it predates even Google and certainly their PPC system) people selling PPC and SEO are usually just focussing on PPC. It requires the lowest amount of work from them (and therefore easy income) and looks like it gives quick results (“Look! You’re on page one!”) even though that’s not really what’s going on, nor is it providing the most useful visitors.

Your crew here may be different. There are definitely exceptions, and also some really awesome people out there.

I would suggest this as a measure. SEO grows over time and builds upon itself, but PPC doesn’t – it’s just one click costs x – so in that regard any return you get should be immediate.  Ask them to give you access to the PPC account, so you can see the monthly spend. If you didn’t make more than that spend in that month from revenue sourced through ads–it’s not worth it.

I know they say they’ll do SEO too – and I do hope that’s the case. But a red flag there is that they seem to put a real focus on link building…again, ask to see the list of links they made in a month. Because most people focusing on link building as a primary strategy are just clicking a few buttons and auto-generating (through inexpensive software) low quality links that will hurt in the long term. And it takes them about 30 seconds a month to action that.

I guess all I’m saying is…be careful out there. 🙂

Page Indexing in Search Console

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Good morning Peter

When you come to do this month’s checks, please can you take a look at the Page Indexing in Search Console. We have a rocketing number of not indexed pages.

Digging deeper, it seems that a lot of the recent new Posts and Pages I have added have randomly duplicated themselves up to 23 times.

They all have suffixes of /page/ then a number ???

Actually I’m going to look at this for you right now. 🙂

So, a few things. It appears some of those 400+ redirected URLs of made up /page/# go back to 2021! I know during our time together you redeveloped the site at some point…by any chance was it around then?

Essentially Google is finding those /page/# links somewhere, following them and quite right seeing they’re being redirected to where they should be.

WordPress does that redirect by default, even on my site if I head to a blog post and add, say , /page/19 it will redirect to the correct post URL.

So the trouble with your site is that somewhere something is trying to link to those spurious URLs. It could easily be a theme issue and some problem there.

Some good news though – it really doesn’t matter. It’s untidy which I don’t like myself, but from an SEO point of view Google is simply informing us that there are URLs redirecting to other proper pages. It doesn’t hurt you in any way.

Yes I think the new site went live in spring 2021.

Also in the unlisted section, and Alternative page with proper canonical tag, they all have a suffix of ‘am’.

And in the Crawled – currently not indexed, most have the suffix ‘feed’ which has appeared?!?

Good news though, in the last 3 weeks I’ve added content to 270 of the case study pages and internal links incoming and outgoing so there is content there for google to rank now rather than just four or five images per page.

I have a constant stream of ideas and changes I want to do at the moment, it’s finding the time to do them all.  I have built a page cluster around a particular keyword and will follow that with others. Each will have 10 Posts pointing at the main Product page to build topical authority.

Also in the unlisted section, and Alternative page with proper canonical tag, they all have a suffix of ‘am’.
It’s ‘/amp’, which is part of how Google’s own Accelerated Mobile Pages system works. So that’s all doing what it should.

And in the Crawled – currently not indexed, most have the suffix ‘feed’ which has appeared?!?

Some of those date back 8 months – and again this is just how things work with WordPress and Google. There’s no problem though – Google is literally just saying “We’ve found these feed pages that we know you won’t want indexed so we’re not going to.” 🙂

There is something I can do though. The AMP pages we need to leave as is, but if you’re certain you don’t have any posts that are multi page (and would need the /page/#) I can force Google to ignore those in the robots.txt file. Same for feed pages.

It’s purely a cosmetic thing for us though, to make Search Console look as beautiful as possible.

Great news on the case studies – always remember the rule of thumb that you need 300+ words in paragraph format to get indexed.

Your content is really stellar – and you’re one of my few clients who actually commit to it – which is why you do so well!!

Cheers,

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

Pages listed as Discovered – currently not indexed

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Looking at buying this offer. Quick question, just looking at Google search console and I have a bunch of pages listed as ‘Discovered – currently not indexed’. Not sure how to resolve this. Will the things you do in this package help or do I need something else?

Looking at that sort of issue is something that’s more suited to a bespoke job, or at the very least taking me up on the free month of my ongoing service I offer as part of this fixed price service – in that month I can have a good look through those things.

Notice I used the word issue in italics. Normally there’s very good reasons Google chooses not to index pages. Have a look at the list of pages it’s giving you in that report. Sometimes it’s ‘feed’ pages or or pages you won’t want scanned anyway. Ideally those would be marked as noindex (which prevents Google and other search engines from scanning them) just to clean up those reports. But actually what Search Console is telling you there is that Google has caught those pages you won’t want in search results pages anyway.

The most common reason Google doesn’t scan legitimate pages is simply how much text you have on there. If a page is fewer than 300 words of paragraph text* it’s very unlikely to get picked up by Google.

When they first brought that report in to Google Search Console I made a spreadsheet of all the posts I have that were listed there and they ALL had that in common. So as time permitted I went through each one and just fleshed it out to get to the 300 word mark – and then on resubmitting those specific URLs to Google they were all indexed without fail.

* – by paragraph text I mean the actual useful, article (body) content of the page. You shouldn’t count words in the menu, footer, that sort of thing.

I hope that helps! Cheers,

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

My enquiries are virtually nothing with no new clients

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Hi Peter, I’ve had a message from Google console saying you’ve taken ownership of my domain – please can you change it back to myself? I can then add you as admin.

With Google Console, Ive noticed that clicks and impressions are down compared to last period and same time last year.

My enquiries are virtually 0 with no new clients and keywords like:
medical website design have dropped massively to Avg. position is actually: 46.5 – Where I used to be third.

Is there anything you can do to help as my business is truly in financial trouble!

That whole ownership thing is a major misnomer on their part. I definitely haven’t taken over anything! I simply added myself as a full user to the Google Search property you set up. You are also a full user.

The way Google words those messages does freak people out–it looks like someone is essentially stealing their website, when really it’s just adding an extra admin user to look at the data.

So, here’s a few things.

1) Ignore average rank
That whole stat is a weird one, and sort of means the opposite of what you’d expect. The best way to explain it is this – because Google can index your site for any single word or phrase it has, as your site grows in popularity they will index you for more things – but a lot of those are not your core terms and in fact you’ll find your average rank appears to be getting worse.

But it’s really an indication that your site has more visibility and SEO authority.

I recommend people instead look at the top 20 search queries for their site (ordered by impressions) and find the average there. Then repeat when needed.

That gives a better impression of your average position for things that are important.

2) I’m surprised you have so few enquiries
Your site ranks really well, with 1,000s of impressions for competitive terms. So firstly, have you double checked your forms and enquiry lines work?

3) You need to consider how you target
I have the impression you sell yourself as a general web design firm that specialises (or used to) in the medial practice field. You mention that you’ve dropped for ‘medical website design’ but your content I believe also shifted. The word ‘medical’ doesn’t even appear on the homepage!

I also think, SEO aside, there is a confusing message for potential clients. People looking for, say, a GPs website are going to be put off because you don’t appear to be specialising in that anymore. But general website design clients are also likely to be confused because of how many of my clients clearly are in the medical field.

If ‘medical website design’ is a key term for you then the website needs to be focused on sites for people in healthcare. Not just that one page you have.

The extra thing to consider here is how well you are doing for general searches relating to your area and ‘web design’ )which is – very well!). It would be a shame to throw that away.

If I were you, I would split the site into two. One website for general site design, and a completely second one for the medicine focus.

That way you can make the most of everything you’ve got–including your potential, without confusing the message to potential clients.

Cheers,

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

Should I start SEO? The phone isn’t ringing and business is really slow.

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This is from a regular series I post here, which are replies I send to commonly asked SEO questions. I get a lot of them!

I’m thinking of starting Search Engine Optimisation but I’m just a bit stressed at the moment and the phone isn’t ringing and business is really slow.

It’s no secret that economic downturns can have a significant impact on businesses across all industries. When times are tough, many companies tend to cut back on spending, including investments in digital marketing and SEO. However, it’s worth noting that in times of crisis, SEO can actually be more critical than ever.

During the 2008 global financial crisis and the Covid pandemic, there were three types of clients: those who paused SEO, those who stayed throughout, and those who quit entirely. The clients who stayed throughout and continued to invest in their SEO efforts were the ones who ultimately reaped the greatest rewards.

By maintaining a strong SEO presence during challenging times, companies can position themselves for greater success in the long run. This is because SEO is a long-term strategy that requires ongoing effort and investment. By continuing to optimize their website and build high-quality backlinks, companies can improve their search ranking and visibility over time. When the economy picks up again and people start looking to spend, those companies will be in a much better position to capitalize on the increased demand.

It’s also worth mentioning that during tough times, some companies may not be able to afford to invest in SEO at the same level as they did before. This is where discounts and other cost-saving measures can be helpful. By offering discounts or flexible payment plans, SEO experts like you can help clients weather the storm and stay competitive, even when times are tough.

While economic downturns can be challenging, they can also be an opportunity for companies to invest in their long-term success through SEO. By staying the course and continuing to optimize their website, companies can set themselves up for greater success when the economy rebounds. And with options like discounts and other cost-saving measures, SEO experts can help their clients navigate the ups and downs of the business cycle with confidence.

Cheers,

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

New Page indexing issues detected in submitted URLs

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This is from a regular series I post here, which are replies I send to commonly asked SEO questions. I get a lot of them!

I have received an email from Google about my website after you did the Search Engine Optimisation work. It says New Page indexing issues detected in submitted URLs – what does this mean please Peter – you’re the WordPress SEO Expert!

Of course! Let me explain the concept of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and provide more information on the concept of “noindex” pages first. 🙂

SEO is the process of optimizing a website’s content and structure to increase its visibility and ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). This can be achieved through various techniques, such as optimizing on-page elements, building high-quality backlinks, and improving the user experience of a website.

One aspect of SEO involves ensuring that search engine crawlers can easily access and understand a website’s content. This is where the concept of “indexing” comes in. Search engines like Google use automated programs, also known as crawlers or spiders, to scan and index the content of web pages. This allows them to quickly and accurately retrieve relevant search results for user queries.

However, not all pages on a website need to be indexed by search engines. As mentioned in the original document, pages like privacy policies or terms of use pages may contain duplicate content that doesn’t add value to the website’s search ranking. Additionally, some pages may not be relevant to the website’s overall content or business goals.

In these cases, website owners can use the “noindex” directive to tell search engines not to index specific pages. This is achieved through a meta tag placed in the HTML code of the page, which instructs search engines to exclude the page from their index.

By marking these pages as “noindex”, website owners can avoid potential issues with duplicate content, improve their website’s overall SEO, and ensure that search engines focus on the most relevant and valuable content on their site.

In conclusion, receiving a notification about “New Page indexing issues detected in submitted URLs” after SEO work has been carried out is a common occurrence, and usually, it’s not something to worry about. It simply means that some pages on the website have been marked as “noindex”, which is a recommended best practice for optimizing a website’s search ranking and visibility.

Cheers,

Peter Mahoney
WordPress SEO Expert

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