Is my domain holding me back in the SERPS?
-
Even after a good year or so, my site intensivedrivingschoolmiltonkeynes.co.uk does not rank in the top 10 (google.co.uk) for "Intensive Driving School Milton Keynes", and is nowhere for "Driving School Milton Keynes". Do you think the domain name is being penalised, or do you think there are other factors that contribute to the poor performance.
-
When you're buying a domain name, contact a good seo agency to see if they can see that the domain has had any penalties applied to it or not?
such as algorithmic or manual Google penalties applied in the past.
We did this when we purchased our garden room company, we wanted to see if the domain name, possibly had any Google penalties applied to it in the past
-
Thanks guys. Yes open site explorer does not register any backlinks. According to google webmasters tools we have 49 links in from 7 domains. I'll work through the points you raised.
I'm disappointed about the backlinks as we have, in the past, paid for blogger outreach with programmes like fatjoe and the hoth. I take it, you would not recommend these?
-
Agree with Donald above, I do not believe your website is being penalized in anyway for your URL. Some things to consider to help:
1. Setting up, and/or optimizing as much as possible, your social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest)
2. Create & Verify Your Google My Business Profile if you haven't already.
3. Use Moz Local to see what profiles your business has or doesn't have, then use Moz Local to help or do them manually.
4. Add Schema to Your Website to help Google properly index it.
5. Look at some of the backlinks the people ranking in the top 3 for the 2 searches you mentioned above using Moz's Open Site Explorer, Ahrefs, or SEMRush, and then see what links you can gain to your website as well from what they have. -
Hi Gemma,
Will need more information. Time is not the only factor the ranks a website. I used open site explorer and see that there are no backlinks.
Backlinks should be a focus area if you want to rank your site.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Use cookie-free domains
Is there anything simple i can install to reduce the Use of cookie-free domains, i have tried to used fooman extension but had major conflicts with other extensions? Kind regards
On-Page Optimization | | Mikaai0 -
How to rank in Google during domain name search?
We have received one requirement for this website. http://www.coldcasebeer.com/ We would like to rank in Google during domain name search. If we are going to search following search terms in Google then We are not able to see this domain on first page of Google search result. cold case beer coldcasebeer We have done quick research on this issue. And, We have decided to implement following tasks to make it happen.But, We are quite excited to read certain inputs on this question from experts! 1. Upload default Robots.txt file 2. Verify website on Google webmaster tools 3. Set up USA region on Google webmaster tools 4. Submit Google crawl request on Google webmaster tools 5. Title tag and Meta description optimization for all pages (There are 5 pages only on website) 6. Audit Google local listing 7. Develop quality links with domain name
On-Page Optimization | | CommercePundit0 -
.com vs .co.uk domain
I have a client who has a site live at example**.co.uk** and would like to rank for the term "example". But example**.com** is owned by another company who offers a different product and service and has been live since 2003. I know that I can make example**.co.uk** rank for keywords related to their service but I think it's going to be a struggle to get them to rank for the brand term "example" as the .com site already owns Page 1 with their domain name, Facebook page, Wiki page etc etc. The only variation is that example**.com** is a US based company and my client want to ranks in the UK only. What are the chances I can out rank example**.com** for the brand term on www.google.co.uk if example**.com** currently owns Page 1 on google**.co.uk**?
On-Page Optimization | | Marketing_Today0 -
Cookie Free domains
What is the advantage of having a cookie free domain and how does one set this up on wordpress?
On-Page Optimization | | casper4340 -
Exact Match Domain + shorter permalink vs. longer permalink?
So here's the scenario... You own the exact match domain for "Acupuncture Intake Form" and want to create a page that targets the phrase, "Acupuncture Intake Form Template"... In terms of SEO, which of the following permalinks does a better job targeting the term "Acupuncture Intake Form Template" : A) www.acupunctureintakeform.com/template/ B) www.acupunctureintakeform.com/acupuncture-intake-form-template/ From a user-friendliness perspective, I can definitely see why the /template/ is more ideal. It's more memorable, easier to link to, and logical. I'm just wondering whether there is some edge that the /acupuncture-intake-form-template/ has that I'm not aware of, or if there's some gray area. I can also think of scenarios where the longer version might be better. For example, if there were several different kinds of acupuncture intake form templates. If that were the case, then /template/ might be too vague (e.g. is it the normal "acupuncture intake form template" or is it the "acupuncture intake form template with diagram"). So in that respect, the longer one might be less concise in certain situations, but in others provide more clarity. (Note: I'm looking for answers to this situation as it applies to any website. I just chose this extremely small niche exact match domain because it's an example that illustrate my questions). Thanks in advance for any answers, insights, or comments! I'm not sure if there's a specific answer, but I'm sure there are some key points to discuss. Michael
On-Page Optimization | | InRakeLLC0 -
SERP listing of a websites' 'categories'
Hi all, just wondering if anyone has thoughts on what I can do to encourage SERP listings that include website categories, eg http://www.google.com.au/search?q=seomoz&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a . I'm assuming search engines only display type of listings when the search query closely matches the domain name? Thank heaps!
On-Page Optimization | | TheWebSearchMarketingCompany0 -
Cross-domain canonical
HI, We've got a German e-commerce site on an .at domain and would like to have a copy on a .de domain as we expect higher conversions for German users there. The idea now would be to make use of the cross-domain canonical tag, create a "duplicate" on the .de domain and add a canonical tag on all sites and refer to the original content on the .at domain. That would mean the .de won't rank, but German users could see the .de domain, Austrian users the .at domain in the address bar and everybody could feel "at home" ... that's the theory. What do you guys think? Valid strategy?
On-Page Optimization | | gmellak0 -
Purchased domain
We purchased the existing domain www.LancasterPA.com two years ago to promote local businesses. While individual pages within the site are ranking well, we can't get the home page to rank at all in Google. Would there be anything in the history of the domain that could be standing in the way? Or, what else could we check? Our other regional websites are ranking really well. Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | GordyH0
