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Problems with Google indexing new site

by jodiesmitham
22 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Ok, here's the deal. I launched a new educational website nearly 3 months ago and have become somewhat of an expert in the niche. I've set up Facebook and other social media in order to drive traffic through to the site. I'm updating once every few days with detailed articles on the niche and have paid experts in the field to write lots of articles. The Facebook page is doing really well, but is sending over little traffic.

This time I'm not going to rely on Google at all, but something is irking me. My new content is taking ages (up to a week) to be indexed, even though links to each page are being added to Facebook, Twitter etc and the main social bookmarking websites. My main keywords (around 10 of them) are all teetering around the 100th position and have so since day 1 - no movement at all in nearly 3 months. The pages are not over optimised for SEO and I'm not adding any further back links apart from the ones mentioned above and some very targeted forums in the niche.

I don't get why after 3 months the keywords haven't budged in Google's ranks. It's not like most of them are competitive. My site is definitely being indexed, but only after I give it a shove in Google Webmaster (fetch or submitting the sitemap again).

Anyone else having the same problem with new sites?

J
#google #indexing #problems #site
  • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
    Resubmitting your sitemap is not the Google push button, and either is SERP.

    To check for indexing of a page, do a site search for the url:

    site:urlyouwanttocheck (url without the http:// part of address)
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    • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
      Thanks Kevin, but that doesn't answer my question. I know how to check whether the pages are being indexed! I'm asking if anyone has had any problems with Google takes ages to index pages.

      I understand what the sitemap in Google Webmaster does, I just wanted to be clear on what I've tested in case I've left anything out.

      Anyone else?
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      • Profile picture of the author Kevin Maguire
        Originally Posted by jodiesmitham View Post

        Thanks Kevin, but that doesn't answer my question. I know how to check whether the pages are being indexed! I'm asking if anyone has had any problems with Google takes ages to index pages.

        I understand what the sitemap in Google Webmaster does, I just wanted to be clear on what I've tested in case I've left anything out.

        Anyone else?
        Its fairly normal for G not to index a site fully all at the same time, thats not to say they have not crawled and found the new pages though. But re-submitting site maps is just asking them to re-index the whole site again and again and again. It doesn't work like that I'm afraid. If anything its putting you back to square one every time.

        Things you could do.
        1. Relax and let it happen
        2. Use internal do-follow links from your most authoritive pages (homepage etc..)
        3. Social syndication as you are doing (Try Reddit, I hear good things about it)
        4. Build some external links to the post.
        5. Relax and let it happen
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        • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
          Originally Posted by Kevin Maguire View Post

          Its fairly normal for G not to index a site fully all at the same time, thats not to say they have not crawled and found the new pages though. But re-submitting site maps is just asking them to re-index the whole site again and again and again. It doesn't work like that I'm afraid. If anything its putting you back to square one every time.

          Things you could do.
          1. Relax and let it happen
          2. Use internal do-follow links from your most authoritive pages (homepage etc..)
          3. Social syndication as you are doing (Try Reddit, I hear good things about it)
          4. Build some external links to the post.
          5. Relax and let it happen
          Thanks Kevin. I've already done all those points and was wondering if 3 months is the norm (my other educational websites only took a few weeks to start bouncing around in the SERPs). I'll give it some more time then.
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  • Profile picture of the author SatishSEO
    Which platform it is? If its WordPress, make sure you install a good XML sitemap. If its Joomla, then you can install jsitemap or anything which has good rating. If you are on a custom php website, then ask your developer to make you a xml and sitewide sitemap for better indexation.

    You should make sure the domain which you have is a fresh one, but not used by any other. There are quite a few chances of buying penalized domains without knowledge. Check with that. And check if Google webmasters have any issue indexing your website. Check the robots.txt that your home and other pages are properly unblocked.

    Let me know if that didnt work!
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    • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
      Originally Posted by SatishSEO View Post

      Which platform it is? If its WordPress, make sure you install a good XML sitemap. If its Joomla, then you can install jsitemap or anything which has good rating. If you are on a custom php website, then ask your developer to make you a xml and sitewide sitemap for better indexation.

      You should make sure the domain which you have is a fresh one, but not used by any other. There are quite a few chances of buying penalized domains without knowledge. Check with that. And check if Google webmasters have any issue indexing your website. Check the robots.txt that your home and other pages are properly unblocked.

      Let me know if that didnt work!
      Thanks - it's WordPress and I'm using Google XML sitemap. My domain is new - checked it before purchasing. Robots.text file is fine although it disallows wp admin pages.
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  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by jodiesmitham View Post

    My new content is taking ages (up to a week) to be indexed, even though links to each page are being added to Facebook, Twitter etc and the main social bookmarking websites.
    Even though you can click those links on FB/Twitter, those types of links might as well not exist as far as SEO goes.

    Get some decent same niche links.

    If you've submitted an xml sitemap to Google, add that same xml sitemap URL in your robots.txt file (code below). Verify that your xml sitemap URL is correct by copy/pasting the xml sitemap URL in your browser, If you can see the sitemap content, so can Google.

    Code:
    Sitemap: http://domain.com/sitemap-name-here.xml
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    • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
      Originally Posted by yukon View Post

      Even though you can click those links on FB/Twitter, those types of links might as well not exist as far as SEO goes.

      Get some decent same niche links.

      If you've submitted an xml sitemap to Google, add that same xml sitemap URL in your robots.txt file (code below). Verify that your xml sitemap URL is correct by copy/pasting the xml sitemap URL in your browser, If you can see the sitemap content, so can Google.

      Code:
      Sitemap: http://domain.com/sitemap-name-here.xml
      Got lots of niche links, but probably not high PR enough. XML sitemap works fine and is included in robots file. This is what my robots.text file states:

      User-agent: *
      Disallow: /wp-admin/
      Disallow: /wp-includes/

      Sitemap: http://www.mysite.com/sitemap.xml.gz
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  • Profile picture of the author Laubster
    I think it's part of their new fight against SPAM. It is definitely taking longer to get pages indexed than ever before. And they're slow to reindex existing pages too. Nothing you can do but submit your sitemap through WMT and wait. Old tricks like the Video XML Sitemap plugin don't even work anymore.
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    • Profile picture of the author yukon
      Banned
      Originally Posted by Laubster View Post

      I think it's part of their new fight against SPAM. It is definitely taking longer to get pages indexed than ever before. And they're slow to reindex existing pages too. Nothing you can do but submit your sitemap through WMT and wait. Old tricks like the Video XML Sitemap plugin don't even work anymore.
      I have pages that get re-indexed daily, it's not complicated (strong backlinks).

      When you check a strong backlink page Google Cache date, you'll see those types of pages get re-cached daily, sometimes even multiple times per day. Those are the the types of backlinks needed to help keep googlebot returning to your own pages via the strong backlink, those are authority links (pages).
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      • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
        Originally Posted by yukon View Post

        I have pages that get re-indexed daily, it's not complicated (strong backlinks).

        When you check a strong backlink page Google Cache date, you'll see those types of pages get re-cached daily, sometimes even multiple times per day. Those are the the types of backlinks needed to help keep googlebot returning to your own pages via the strong backlink, those are authority links (pages).
        Thanks Yukon. Have you found this with new sites? My other websites are exactly like yours - they are re-indexed regularly and posts take a minute or so to be indexed. The only difference I can make out is that this is a new site.
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        • Profile picture of the author yukon
          Banned
          Originally Posted by jodiesmitham View Post

          Thanks Yukon. Have you found this with new sites? My other websites are exactly like yours - they are re-indexed regularly and posts take a minute or so to be indexed. The only difference I can make out is that this is a new site.
          If your other site/s are the same niche as the new site, get the new site/page posted (live web page), then go back to one of your old sites pages that has todays date on the Google Cache or at least a day or two old (consistent recent cache) & add a backlink pointing at the new web page on the new site. That should get a recent Google Cache on the new site/page.

          Having the xml file submitted to GWT can also help but I would include a link in the robots.txt file to the same xml file just so it's easy for Google to find whatever URLs your trying to get indexed. Plus GWT gives you a confirmation that the xml has been indexed, proof googlebot is looking at the new URLs.

          BTW, cache & crawl dates are two different things & can be off, still the cache date is a good visual to know when Google looked at the page.
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    • Profile picture of the author Michael Carlin
      Originally Posted by Laubster View Post

      I think it's part of their new fight against SPAM. It is definitely taking longer to get pages indexed than ever before. And they're slow to reindex existing pages too. Nothing you can do but submit your sitemap through WMT and wait. Old tricks like the Video XML Sitemap plugin don't even work anymore.
      I've had luck with using Google links. It's no surprise that they crawl their own properties pretty quickly. :rolleyes:
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      • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
        Originally Posted by Michael Carlin View Post

        I've had luck with using Google links. It's no surprise that they crawl their own properties pretty quickly. :rolleyes:
        Thanks - I use Google + and Blogger.
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  • Profile picture of the author anny1985
    Submit your site in below ping submission services sites.

    Ping-o-Matic!
    http://googleping.com/

    Within 2-3 hours your website will be indexed.
    Signature
    Guest Posting Services by Expert Guest Blogger
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  • Profile picture of the author jxam69
    If you have Google Webmaster Tools then you can get up 500 pages per week indexed by going to:

    Crawl -> Fetch as Google
    Then fetch the URL you want indexed
    Then click the button saying "submit to index"

    Nearly all my new pages get indexed within minutes doing this.
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    This space will be awarded to the first WSO owner who can prove they make Million$ from their methods.

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    • Profile picture of the author satrap
      Originally Posted by jxam69 View Post

      If you have Google Webmaster Tools then you can get up 500 pages per week indexed by going to:

      Crawl -> Fetch as Google
      Then fetch the URL you want indexed
      Then click the button saying "submit to index"

      Nearly all my new pages get indexed within minutes doing this.
      Does anybody read the OP anymore?....

      To the OP:
      I am seeing the same thing with 2 new sites I started recently. And just like you, my old site's posts get indexed within minutes.

      That said, I agree with Yukon about strong backlinks. On of the new sites I started building a few good backlinks and it seems like posts are now getting needed much faster. Still not like the old site, but usually within a day or so.

      Also, seems like putting the link on a Google property (g+ or blogspot blog) does the trick.
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      • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
        Originally Posted by satrap View Post

        Does anybody read the OP anymore?....

        To the OP:
        I am seeing the same thing with 2 new sites I started recently. And just like you, my old site's posts get indexed within minutes.

        That said, I agree with Yukon about strong backlinks. On of the new sites I started building a few good backlinks and it seems like posts are now getting needed much faster. Still not like the old site, but usually within a day or so.

        Also, seems like putting the link on a Google property (g+ or blogspot blog) does the trick.
        Thanks - I think high PR back links are what I need (although my other sites don't really have any high PR links either).

        Most of the authoritative sites in this niche are Government sites, so I'll have to do some digging around to find out who'll let me guest post.
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        • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
          Oh, just one other thing I forgot to mention. I have always used Google Alerts to notify me of all pages that are being indexed with my keyword. Every day I receive tons of alerts with links to loads of websites, but my site pages are never in these alerts. I'm not sure how Google prioritises these links, but could this be an indication as to why indexing is so slow and why the site isn't ranking?
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  • Profile picture of the author affilorama-portal
    Have you also checked your Google webmaster tools and probably there are crawl errors that needed to be fixed? Try to check first your onsite errors and perhaps it is also helpful if you have a checklist of the important (and updated) onsite SEO analysis to see if you are missing something.

    Once you have everything cleared in your on-page SEO, then you need to reanalyze your off page SEO campaign.

    Aside from social bookmarking and social media sites, have you tried doing content marketing to high PR, related niche sites? This may also help indexed your pages and get your keywords ranked. Doing guest posting for example helps a lot.
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  • Profile picture of the author jodiesmitham
    Looks like Yukon was right - the cache dates of my backlinks were nearly a week old! I've added some links from a few of my other websites that are loosely related and now my pages are being indexed pretty quickly.
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    • Profile picture of the author wayneh
      Originally Posted by jodiesmitham View Post

      Looks like Yukon was right - the cache dates of my backlinks were nearly a week old! I've added some links from a few of my other websites that are loosely related and now my pages are being indexed pretty quickly.
      That's good to hear. When I want to get something in Google's index I use:
      Googleping.com
      Submitstart.com
      and
      https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/submit-url

      It can be indexed in minutes.
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