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Things don't add up with this website

by sytemaker
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi everyone,

Thanks for having me in your forum and I hope to gain much insight in to the topic of SEO.

I have been asked to optimise a client's new website. It was launched on 21/03/14 under an existing domain used for their previous site. Upon examining not only the site but also the Google Analytics reports I found a number of strange anomalies which I pointed out to the client who subsequently instructed me to investigate.

These are the main issues:
  • Since the launch of the new site and without any work to it from myself or anyone else I'm aware of it has absolutely been dominant in Google for almost all of the major keyphrases relevant to their industry. (In fact some searches using fairly generic phrases for the industry like "floor standing temperature chambers" or "floor standing test chambers" produce results with 7 or more of their pages listed on page one of Google's SERPs.)
  • Also since launch the traffic according to Google Analytics has dropped by over 95% from an average of about 4000 visits to under 200 for any 30 day segment after launch.
  • The amount of new visitors has dropped from a pre-launch amount of around 3000 (75%) to less than 10 (5%).
  • Acquisition from organic search has dropped from 2600 (68%) to 110 (56%). As there are less than 10 new visitors I am assuming 100+ visitors were revisiting the site via a search engine.
  • I have found no natural (or any other) external links leading to the site.

This simply doesn't add up to me. Basically if there is nothing wrong here I am not needed.

Your thoughts are appreciated.
#add #things #website
  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Are you being serious? I'm guessing not.

    The site has almost 1500 links in just Ahrefs.
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    • Profile picture of the author sytemaker
      Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

      Are you being serious? I'm guessing not.

      The site has almost 1500 links in just Ahrefs.
      and that's bad because ?
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  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Would have been useful to you to have data from the old site.
    What did they change?

    It could be that analytics is wrong and there were never thousands.

    It could be that upon relauch, Google treated the site like the old one, then reanalyzed the site and you're seeing the results of that.

    Site looks crowded to me.

    Originally Posted by sytemaker View Post

    Hi everyone,

    Thanks for having me in your forum and I hope to gain much insight in to the topic of SEO.

    I have been asked to optimise a client's new website. It was launched on 21/03/14 under an existing domain used for their previous site. Upon examining not only the site but also the Google Analytics reports I found a number of strange anomalies which I pointed out to the client who subsequently instructed me to investigate.

    These are the main issues:
    • Since the launch of the new site and without any work to it from myself or anyone else I'm aware of it has absolutely been dominant in Google for almost all of the major keyphrases relevant to their industry. (In fact some searches using fairly generic phrases for the industry like "floor standing temperature chambers" or "floor standing test chambers" produce results with 7 or more of their pages listed on page one of Google's SERPs.)
    • Also since launch the traffic according to Google Analytics has dropped by over 95% from an average of about 4000 visits to under 200 for any 30 day segment after launch.
    • The amount of new visitors has dropped from a pre-launch amount of around 3000 (75%) to less than 10 (5%).
    • Acquisition from organic search has dropped from 2600 (68%) to 110 (56%). As there are less than 10 new visitors I am assuming 100+ visitors were revisiting the site via a search engine.
    • I have found no natural (or any other) external links leading to the site.

    This simply doesn't add up to me. Basically if there is nothing wrong here I am not needed.

    Your thoughts are appreciated.
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    • Profile picture of the author sytemaker
      Originally Posted by DABK View Post

      Would have been useful to you to have data from the old site.
      What did they change?
      I do have GA data from the old site, the domain has not changed. What has changed is the look, some product information and other content additions (the site is larger now) and that's about it. They are using a new CMS.

      Originally Posted by DABK View Post

      It could be that analytics is wrong and there were never thousands.
      You mean GA could have got it that wrong? That means it could be wrong now too, doesn't it?
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      • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
        Originally Posted by sytemaker View Post

        and that's bad because ?
        Originally Posted by sytemaker View Post

        • I have found no natural (or any other) external links leading to the site.
        You said there are no external links leading to the site, but in fact there are tons of external links pointing at it. Or am I totally not understanding what you are saying?
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        • Profile picture of the author sytemaker
          I was talking about link popularity which is as I understood it the amount of other websites linking to yours and is generally found entering link:weiss-uk.com into Google or linkdomain:weiss-uk.com into Yahoo for instance.
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          • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
            Originally Posted by sytemaker View Post

            I was talking about link popularity which is as I understood it the amount of other websites linking to yours and is generally found entering link:weiss-uk.com into Google or linkdomain:weiss-uk.com into Yahoo for instance.
            That is the absolute worst way to find links. They barely show any, if any at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    “floor standing temperature chambers” or “floor standing test chambers”
    These search terms get zero traffic in Google, so they can rank all they want for them, but they are not going to bring traffic.
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