Two Related Articles From the Same Site in SERPs

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   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   I have two closely related articles (basic and advanced troubleshooting guides) with four of the same words in both titles on the first page of SERPs, yet on Owlcation an article won't rank at all for four consecutive words from the title because there's an older article on the site using those words.
   If you've written a "part 1" and "part 2" article with similar titles, have you found that Google will allow them on the same page since the Site Diversity changes were implemented?

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2. 96

   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   Just had one of these totally de-indexed, well from the first 200 results at least.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks that's good to know. Sorry for you though.

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      OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      I don't understand the mysteries of Google ranking.  What is de-indexing and why was your article de-indexed?

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         eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe de-indexing is the wrong term. What I meant was that it no longer ranks for the search phrase in the top 200 search results. Previously it was in the top 10 results. Since the Site Diversity changes, Google no longer lists multiple results on SERPs from the same domain. They say they may list two or more but that's not my experience. I can't get an article on Owlcation to rank on the first 10 pages (it was on page one before) for any of the three important keywords because there's already an article that uses these words.

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            OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

            Just to make sure that I understand what you are saying, almost all of my articles are on Dengarden so that means that only 1 or 2 articles from Dengarden will be ranked?  Or is it only 1 or 2 articles on the same topic on Dengarden will be ranked?  For instance, I'm sure that there are a zillion articles on compost on Dengarden, but only 1 or 2 will rank?

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            1. 96

               eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

               It probably depends on titles and what terms people search for. If they enter the complete title of the article, it will probably show up in results, however my experience was that when I entered a fragment of the title, the first five consecutive words, my guide didn't show up in the first 200 results. The other article uses three of these keywords and it seems to have a monopoly on them. No matter what I do, I can't rank if I use these keywords in a phrase. Previously I ranked near the top of the first page. Readers of course don't necessarily land on a page by searching for a title alone. They may search for keywords from the title plus other bits that occur in sub-headings. You can try different search terms, bits of the title and sub-headings and see whether your articles turn up in searches. My understanding of the Site Diversity thing is that it was a change in the search algorithm to stop lots of similar results from the same website turning up in the SERPS and instead displaying two max, or possibly more if they're relevant.

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                  OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  Thanks, I think I understand now.

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               DrMark1961posted 4 years agoin reply to this

               If you are going to write a new article, it is always a good idea to check the rankings and see if Google already has an article from your site on the first page. Even if you write a fantastic article on how to plant seedlings, and Google has already given that top ranking to Eugene, your article is not going to appear next to or above his. It will most likely not even appear.
               This is very frustrating in many cases, since the older article might be poorly written and full of mistakes. (I am not talking about Eugene´s article here!) If your article is longer, and has more keywords, it will show up in some other searches, but if the same keywords are used the other article will show up, not yours.

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                  OldRosesposted 4 years agoin reply to this

                  Thank you for the clarification.

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   eugbugposted 4 years ago

   Some info on the subject here:
   https://searchengineland.com/google-sea … mes-317934

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   PaulGoodman67posted 4 years ago

   I remember the "good old days" when there'd be 3 HP articles in the top 5. Nowadays, you have to be careful when it comes to competing with other hubbers (generally best to avoid it!) or even competing with yourself!
   
   Never easy to understand the ways of the Big G sometimes, and when you do get your head around the criteria they're using, they just alter the algo again!

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   1. 96

      eugbugposted 4 years agoin reply to this

      The second part of my guide seems to be back in favour with the fickle Google. The two guides are back on page one, one above the other!

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