11 replies to this topic

[Worldraj]

Hello,
Our eCommerce website had nearly 8000 pages indexed by Google but now its decreasing day by day and coming to 2750 and still its decreasing.
We haven't changed anything to our pages like Title, H1, Adsense, backlinks etc.
But this is being really serious issue here. Could you please suggest why this happened and how can I (reach to my original state ) increase the google indexing ? Your suggestions would be really great. Thank you.

[chrishirst]

Has traffic from Google reduced?

Are sales or conversions from Google referals down?

[Jill]

Is it possible that they were previously indexing multiple URLs for the same or similar content, but now they've fixed it?

You can't really go by Google's indexing numbers as they really don't mean much. As Chris mentioned, if it's not affecting your traffic and sales, then it's likely not an actual problem, but just a reporting error.

[bggb33]

Hi Jill,

I have a couple questions:

1. If the URL of the home page of a site reads: http://www.goodyeardealers.com/cfmx/web/multisigcms/GoodyearDealersCom/sitePages/home.cfm?ms=Northeastern%20Ohio,
but in the SERPs it is displayed very simply as www.goodyeardealers.com/cleveland is this alright for SEO/indexing purposes? Or does the actual URL on the website need to become more user-friendly?

2. Now, if the URL on the SERPS is long and unfriendly, will this create a negative impact on SEO?

Please let me know at your earliest convenience.

Thanks

[chrishirst]

Answers in order


Yes, No and No

[Jill]

It sounds like you have 2 URLs for the same page. You'll want to 301-redirect the long one to the short one for best results.

[bggb33]

It sounds like you have 2 URLs for the same page. You'll want to 301-redirect the long one to the short one for best results.

Well, if I type in the shorter URL into the browser, it redirects to the longer one. So I assume that means the redirect is already in place. I just didn't know if the Google indexing algorithm cares that the URL is long and unfriendly in the browser.

Conversely, would it be worse for SEO purposes if the URL was displayed as long and unfriendly in the SERP's?

[Jill]

I just didn't know if the Google indexing algorithm cares that the URL is long and unfriendly in the browser.

If it's 301-redirected, the long URL doesn't really even exist.

Conversely, would it be worse for SEO purposes if the URL was displayed as long and unfriendly in the SERP's?

Depends on the URL, but for the most part, it makes no difference which URL you use as long as you choose only 1 URL for any page of content.

[bggb33]

If it's 301-redirected, the long URL doesn't really even exist.

Unfortunately, due to the content management system that is in place it is actually the shorter URL that gets 301 -redirected to the longer one. So it is like the shorter one doesn't exist.

Hopefully, this is not a negative! (But I have a feeling it might be)

[Jill]

Hopefully, this is not a negative! (But I have a feeling it might be)

It shouldn't be.

[bggb33]

It shouldn't be.

Ok, so as long as there is the 301-redirect (in this case from the short to the long URL) that I shouldn't have to worry about any duplicate content issues (the "non-malicious" kind)?

I was nervous because technically they are still URL variations of the same page.

[Jill]

There's no duplicate content if you are redirecting one to another.