7 replies to this topic

[Sambo]

A client has a site that's been around for years but is entirely Flash. I'm recreating the site in HTML and will be launching it soon. Am I correct in assuming that the new site will still be affected by the aging delay?

[Jill]

Correct. The aging delay (if it even still exists) is just for new domains.

[Breakline Marketing]

Correct. The aging delay (if it even still exists) is just for new domains.

Hello Jill & Company,

Does this exist for new pages? I have a new client that we have created a total of 10 to 15 new pages for. Half or a little less than half have been indexed. The ones that have been indexed have popped anywhere from a page 1 to 5. The other ones don't show up at all. If I search site:www.example.com target keyword. Nothing is showing.

I know there could be a number of things that could be holding back these pages but I feel I've addressed all major issues with the architecture of the site. We've addressed the canonicalization issues, setup SE friendly navigation with drop downs so the sub pages should be getting picked up off the home page, no flash on the site, no cms, SE friendly URLS.

The Arch issue I just recently addressed was OLD URLs. I had the developer team setup WM tools. Once I logged in I found 20 to 30 OLD URLs that were linked to from some other partner sites or were just live and leading to a 404. I mapped out where I felt best suited these OLD URLs to the new site via 301's. However most of these OLD URLs don't directly relate to the new pages I'm having an issue getting indexed. So I started thinking maybe there was an aging delay or whatever. The site's PR is 1. Some of these target pages/keywords aren't that competitive so I'm thinking it's something with Architecture.

Thanks for any input,

BRLM

[Jill]

Sounds like a low PageRank for those pages. It will take a very long time to get low PageRanked pages indexed (and by PageRank, I mean real PageRank, not toolbar). When you say your sites PR is 1 do you mean the home page PR? If so, that would explain it because by the time that tiny amount of PR is passed down to your new pages, there's going to be so little that those pages won't be deemed important enough for Google to want to bother with.

[Breakline Marketing]

Sounds like a low PageRank for those pages. It will take a very long time to get low PageRanked pages indexed (and by PageRank, I mean real PageRank, not toolbar). When you say your sites PR is 1 do you mean the home page PR? If so, that would explain it because by the time that tiny amount of PR is passed down to your new pages, there's going to be so little that those pages won't be deemed important enough for Google to want to bother with.

Wow that's unfortunate to hear. Yeah I'm saying toolbar page rank of 1. Not actual page rank. When you say very long time? Are you talking about 6 months? 12 months? I want to set the expectation with the client on the next call. Because they are getting antsy. I've told them that it will take time but I did not anticipate a "very long time"

In the interim should we just keep plugging away at our linking strategy with the understanding that in time the link equity of these target pages as well as the domain will increase and thus start getting indexed?

[Randy]

I'm not clear on the question.

Are you asking when those new pages will get indexed?

If so, and if you're building good links to the site, you're probably talking about 6 months.

As far as having decent rankings and starting to see a return on investment when the only traffic channel is organic rankings, when I still did SEO for others I never, ever told anyone to expect to see much before 12-18 months had passed. If it's a competitive field more like 2-5 years, depending upon how competitive. Of course I always set those expectations before I ever took any money or signed a contract. If they weren't onboard, I wouldn't accept them as a client.

[Breakline Marketing]

Randy,

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah I set the expectation up front that it would take as long as 6 to 12 months. It's a 12 month engagement. I guess I under estimated a website with a PR 1 with minimal existing links. I stand by my work and I included verbiage in the contract that I will refund money if a certain % of keywords don't attain page 1 rankings. Just means we need to go into overdrive (ethically that is) on the linking over the next couple of months.

Best,

BRLM

[Jill]

Yep, a handful of really high quality links could help you substantially. Hopefully you're dealing with a link worthy site.