Word Press SEO Technique

by toivo
6 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
  • |
Screenshot attached, relates to my index page and am wondering: Is it better to place the links that are currently in this drop down menu, directly on my index page and get rid of the drop-down altogether? I do have the Yoast SEO plugin activated and properly configured, and have added image tags etc.

I ask this, because my old (windows-based Frontpage2002) site had these links on the index / home page and I had many of the inside pages almost #1 in the search results for their respective keywords. However, over time, my URL was penalized via the Penguin / Panda etc. debacles and the HTML5 hierarchy eventually hit the old site hard....which forced me into rebuilding and relaunching the current site.

After the sitemap for new site was submitted to G. webmaster tools last Feb. 6, I notice many of the inner pages are barely showing in the 2nd page of results for same respective keywords. Frustrating.....
#press #seo #technique #word
  • Profile picture of the author RobinInTexas
    I would say it's just a question of time, I don't see how the menu hurts the search, if the dropdown depended on .js it would be different, but your links to the categories will show on every page due to the menu. Drop down or fixed display should not make a difference.
    Signature

    Robin



    ...Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just set there.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9073062].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author toivo
      Here is a good example of a site with inner pages linked on the index page....right here. What I meant by "fixed display" was in terms of SEO and whether this would be best for a WordPress oriented web site.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9073682].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author AZ-439
    It really shouldn't matter, as google doesn't "read" your site like a human being. What it's looking for is content in the database, not how a menu is laid out for humans to read. As long as those pages you link to in your drop down menu exist in your database and the googlebot can index them, there is no particular seo value in menu items existing on the top level, vs. as sub menus. I would also add that if you are using the exact same domain as the one that was slapped by google, it's more difficult to revive a slapped site for it's keywords than it is to rank a brand new domain for the same keywords...
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9074258].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author toivo
      I appreciate your clarifying this AZ-439.....I don't even know if I was slapped for the sake of being slapped because I basically noticed the drop due to the HTML5 hierarchy issue. I believe my page rank is still the same (at 5)....although of course many say PR is not important nor does it mean anything at all.....so why was it even an issue in the first place? My main concern is regenerating traffic.....trying not to concern myself with penalties. I just haven't any way of knowing if I was penalized to begin with, so why worry about that part of it. Now the site is on a completely different web host (last site was on a Windows server), and not this is on a Linux server. The old site only had 100 pages or so, this one has about 10,000 based on taking advantages of categories, tagging, making pages + post pages etc. Thanks again, your insights have helped see things a bit more definitively (keeping in mind my sitemap was submitted last Feb.6)
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9074875].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author AZ-439
        Anytime man... Good luck with your site!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9075114].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author toivo
          Had an offer by a content writer to have focused content written for my site but had to be honest with him and tell him I am not certain even written content that is laser focused is something that will generate traffic. I have a blog on my site and even that has some good writing but nothing seems to be generating traffic if you want to consider a few hundred pages views a day as valid traffic. I offer a daily image for web sites and even that offer doesn't get much of a response so as it stands right now, I need to re-examine things. It's odd in that I have over 10,000 pages in this new site and it's a more robust site that offers a built-in search engine, a blog, the daily image I offer, the new CMS based platform (being word press), I have the Yoast SEO plugin installed and configured it but still nothing seems to elevate it....no problem, I'll look at other options later and sure did appreciate your input.
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9075175].message }}

Trending Topics