What are my options if a moved article no longer ranks for its title?
I've tried changing the title several times, but to no avail. The site diversity thing occurred unfortunately just after the move.
When you changed the title, did you select new keywords? If you selected new keywords, how competitive are they? If you selected new keywords, did you change your on-page optimization to reflect the changes? Did you also sprinkle your new keywords into the article summary? Did you update each of the captions on your article’s images to include at least one of the new keywords?
Eugene, are you referring to the June 5 Google update?
Gregory,
What do you mean by "on-page optimization to reflect the changes"?
Kenna, I wrote a nostalgia article entitled “2009 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History.” Suppose I decide to change the title to “2009 Fun Facts, Trivia, and News.” First, I need to do research for the keyword “news” over at SEOBook.com, which has a really fantastic keyword tool. I need to find out how competitive the keyword “news” is, and in what other combinations the keyword is being used. (For example, “breaking news,” “cable news ratings,” and “celebrity news”) Here is a link to SEOBook’s keyword tool, but you might have to sign up for a free account first in order to access the tool:
http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/
If I decide to replace the keyword “history” with “news,” I would first remove most (but perhaps not all) occurrences of the keyword “history” in the body of the article, in the article summary, in the text capsule headings, in the Table of Contents, and in the captions for my images, and replace them with “news.” Since Google is now capable of reading embedded text in an image, I might also add a graphic that has the word “history” embedded therein.
Kenna, for the title “2009 Fun Facts, Trivia, and History,” I rank higher for the keyword(s) that are closer to the beginning of the title. No, I do not rank high at all for “2009,” but I do for “2009 fun facts,” “2009 fun trivia,” “2009 trivia,” etc. I do not rank as well for keyword combinations that contain the word “history,” since “history” is the last word in my title. (It took time for me to learn this complicated mess!)
Of course, I would have to wait for Google to update my article in its index and then see how I rank in the SERPs for the new keyword.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Gregory, I am going to look over your comments and study them real good!! Thank you!
It's my article about electricity, so I'm trying to rank for the keywords "volts", "watts" and "amps", but I can only rank for "ohms" and "kwh" and "appliances". The first three keywords are so important that I don't want to omit them. I've added some "power words", but that doesn't seem to make a difference. The niche site has a similar older article which I can't seem to rank alongside. According to Google, the diversity update (which was the same week as the search algorithm update) attempts to limit SERP results for the same type of search terms to two per site (or more if they see fit), but I haven't managed to even get indexed for the three important keywords yet. When the article was on DenGarden, it ranked on the first page for those keywords. Maybe I should persuade the editors to shift it back, but Owlcation is a more suitable site. It was bad timing to request a shift I suppose.
One of the problems resulting from the diversity update is that Google does not specifically know what domains like DenGarden or HobbyLark are really about. Take HobbyLark as an example. On that domain, there are about 30 different categories of articles, including lawn games, trivia games, stamp collecting, comic books, toys, antiques, and stamp collecting. (I’ve seen the exact same issue over at DotDash, which is one of HP’s big competitors.)
Now, was the article on DenGarden before or after the update? If the article was on DenGarden before the update and did well in the SERPs, you might ask to have it moved back there. But then, how will it do now with all the rearranging that has been done on Google? Of course, only Google knows that.
Yes, you want to keep the most important keywords near the beginning of the title.
OK, I understand what you mean by “a similar older article which I can't seem to rank alongside.” I have a similar issue on Google with some of my nostalgia articles. (I had this issue before and after the update.) It seems that several of the lower-traffic articles get ranked lower in the SERPs by two competing websites, both of which have been online for about 20 years apiece. Oh yes, these two websites also take turns getting the Google snippet.
GA first recognised it on its new domain on 13th May. Traffic was at about 160 per day, then all of a sudden it dropped to zero until the 25th May. Then it increased to a peak but has been falling since. So it was on DenGarden until a few weeks before the update. The reason I suggested that it should be moved was because traffic had fallen considerably since early last year and Owlcation seemed like a better match because of the STEM category. Also if Alexa is anything to go by (probably not), Owlcation seemed to becoming more popular than DenGarden as regards traffic.
OK, have you checked on your competition at Google for the keywords that you are optimizing? Check out the titles that your competition is using, as well as the domain names. Do the domain names give Google a good idea as to what the webpage/website is about? Are the domain names general or specific? In addition, read the descriptions of competing web pages that come up in the SERPs. With the diversity update, Google might be ranking sites with more specific domain names higher than before June 5. Maybe.
You wrote:
“According to Google, the diversity update (which was the same week as the search algorithm update) attempts to limit SERP results for the same type of search terms to two per site (or more if they see fit). . . .“
OK, based on what you said above, you’re absolutely right. If you’re being battered by another older article in the SERPs, then ask to have your article moved back to where it will potentially perform better.
Do you use ubersuggest? You can fiddle around with different keywords and until you find phrases that the other article isn't ranking for.
Butting heads with a preexisting article on the same site that already ranks for the keywords you are targeting isn't usually worth the effort, unless the other article is subpar. That's always been true, even before the update. I think I've figured out which article you're competing with and it looks pretty strong.
Your article probably would do better on Dengarden if they were willing to move it back.
Been there. Done that. You are being subjected to the over-saturation-syndrome for this topic. No way around it that I know of.
An update. I have just proven to myself that publishing an article in an over-saturated topic is a complete waste of time. Been a week and Google still won't index the critter. Lesson learned.
"Google Site Diversity Changes"
Maybe having a general topic website isn't so bad after all...
Paradigm, I see that General.com has already been taken!
No, that one has not been taken. But I'm sure that the domain is worth beaucoup d'argent!
How is having a general topic better? Please clarify because it's Sunday, off day?
I was being somewhat whimsical with that statement. After all, there certainly won't be any duplicate topics I will be writing about on the same site.
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