7 replies to this topic

[69PCRepair]

I have a website that's consistently on top of page 2. I have a blog with about 5 unique blog posts I've written.

 

Now I've re-built my site a couple times, switching back and forth between a complete Wordpress site and a Wordpress-only-for-blog site. Each time I've switched, I've had to delete all Wordpress files and re-create and re-post my blog posts. That means copy/paste everything into "new" posts.

 

Once my newest more recent site was up I moved up on Google to the very top of page 2 and stayed there for a couple days. Today, I'm nowhere to be found (maybe page 14 or so). The only possible explanation I've come to is that Google "thinks" I'm creating multiple pages on my site with the same large amounts of content each time. The reason is because the directories change each time I change my site over (website.com/blog to website.com and vise-versa).

 

The same thing happened when I moved from a Wordpress site to a self-built site previously - I skyrocketed on Google for days, then instantly plummeted.

 

My question is... Now what? Do I remove my blog posts and start over? Or wait until Google "realizes" it's not duplicate content...? If that even happens...

 

Or should I cut my losses and start fresh with a new domain?

 

Or could it be something else completely? I can't think of anything else - although I'm not SEO pro.

[Jill]

Why do you keep changing everything to begin with?

[69PCRepair]

Mainly for asthetic reasons. Either way I should have changed everything. I also know that wordpress is helpful with seo ... Supposedly...

[Jill]

Pick one way...and...leave it!

[qwerty]

If the changes you're making require you to republish all of your pages to new URLs (which seems odd to me, but I guess you're changing more than just the WP theme), then you need to set up 301 redirects from those pages' old URLs to the new ones every time you do this. And that's another reason why you shouldn't do this without a very good reason.

[torka]

Yeah, if you're doing it simply for "aesthetic reasons" why do you have to nuke everything and start all over? Just change your theme. Whether you keep everything on WP or only use WP for your blog, it's very easy to coordinate the look between non-WP pages and WP pages and to integrate the menus. With a few custom post and custom page layouts, you can create just about any look you want and accommodate almost any type of content within WP. That's part of the beauty of WP -- it separates the content from the look-and-feel so you can change the aesthetics anytime without having to start from scratch with the content.

 

I would guess the main reason you keep seeing all this jumping around with rankings and traffic is that you've managed to totally confuse Google as to what you're doing and where to find your content. Do whatever you want with the visual theme, but when it comes to your content, pick a configuration and architecture and stick with it.

 

--Torka

[piskie]

Torka

pick a configuration and architecture and stick with it

And so say all of us.

Edited by piskie, 23 February 2013 - 04:33 AM.

[chrishirst]

So the general advice from all at HR Forums is:

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't want to walk with a limp, .....

 

 

 

....

Stop shooting yourself in the foot!!!