SEO - Still having issues

lauriewinter · September 11, 2017

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone can help. My Google Search console is still riddled with errors. Most seem to be related to robots.txt and errors that say Googlebot is encountering blocked resources. I also have 503 errors and 404 errors.

I have done everything recommended for SEO according to Smugmug but I don't understand why I still have all these problems. I have all the meta tags, photo tags etc filled out. I have meticulously gone through all the options. My site is several months old now.

Searching "Wellington Landscape Photographer" doesn't find my site until page 4, though my friend has started a new Smugmug website only weeks ago and she comes up in the first page of results, even though she is ex-Wellington (Wellington is in her tags but not her site meta description like mine is). If you add "laurie" into the search then it is found.

Does anyone have any ideas of why all these errors are coming up? Or how I can go about fixing them?

There are many more I have screen shots of.

My site is: www.lauriewinterphotography.com

Would appreciate any guidance!

denisegoldberg · September 11, 2017

@lauriewinter said:
Searching "Wellington Landscape Photographer" doesn't find my site until page 4

Someone else will need to jump in with answers to your Google search console questions, but...

I just searched for both "wellington landscape photography" and "wellington landscape photograper" and both searches showed your site on page 1.

One thing that helps is to have links back to your site from other URLs. I just checked your blog, and clicking on the photos in your blog takes me to larger images of your photos but still in your blog. Have you considered placing the photos in your blog so clicking on them takes the viewer to the photo on your smugmug site?

lauriewinter · September 11, 2017

How strange that the results don't show for me on page 1. I had to go to page 4. Do you have any idea why you see something different?

I appreciate the comment about the photos. I am not sure how to do this but I will definitely do some research.

Originally I had my photos stand alone on my blog as this feels like another channel to get my images into Google search. Other friends of mind have said that they have had many purchase enquiries from blog results showing in Google. I guess I would lose this if I linked to my photography account, but possibly increase the google standings of the photography account right?

Hikin' Mike · September 11, 2017

You are on the first page as well, but it possible that I'm not in New Zealand too.

If you're trying to "rank" for "Wellington Landscape Photographer" then you should have that on your <title> element as well as part of your <h1> tag. Metadata description is NOT going to help you rank.

I'd like to see your friend's site if possible.

The are two errors '404' and '503'. A '404' means the page is not available any more. Did you move it? A '503' means the server was down. Both errors will fix themselves when Google craws your site again. Don't worry about the blocking resources.

denisegoldberg · September 11, 2017

@lauriewinter said:
I appreciate the comment about the photos. I am not sure how to do this but I will definitely do some research.

Instead of uploading the photos to your blog you can use the share dialog on your smugmug site to get the HTML to post the photo in your blog. I use the HTML tab of the share box - you can see the behavior by clicking on a photo in my blog (linked in my signature below). I pasted a screen shot of the share dialog in your Robots.txt/SEO thread back in April.

Hikin' Mike · September 11, 2017

@lauriewinter said:

Please see my comments.

lauriewinter · September 11, 2017

@Hikin' Mike said:
You are on the first page as well, but it possible that I'm not in New Zealand too.

If you're trying to "rank" for "Wellington Landscape Photographer" then you should have that on your <title> element as well as part of your <h1> tag. Metadata description is NOT going to help you rank.

I'd like to see your friend's site if possible.

The are two errors '404' and '503'. A '404' means the page is not available any more. Did you move it? A '503' means the server was down. Both errors will fix themselves when Google craws your site again. Don't worry about the blocking resources.

Hi Mike,

I wonder if not having a .co.nz site reduces my result within New Zealand? Something to think about.

I don't have the pro smugmug site. Where would I put "Wellington Landscape Photographer" for and H1?

My friend's site is www.meghanmaloneyphotography.co.nz

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

Laurie

lauriewinter · September 11, 2017

@Hikin' Mike said:
You are on the first page as well, but it possible that I'm not in New Zealand too.

If you're trying to "rank" for "Wellington Landscape Photographer" then you should have that on your <title> element as well as part of your <h1> tag. Metadata description is NOT going to help you rank.

I'd like to see your friend's site if possible.

The are two errors '404' and '503'. A '404' means the page is not available any more. Did you move it? A '503' means the server was down. Both errors will fix themselves when Google craws your site again. Don't worry about the blocking resources.

Hi Mike,

Here is a screen shot of my home page settings.

Hikin' Mike · September 11, 2017

It is quiet possible your friend ranks better in NZ because she has a 'co.nz' and you only have a '.com'. Viewing it here in California you number 5 and she is 8. She doesn't have any text and she doesn't list 'Wellington Landscape Photographer' anyplace on here home page so most likely that's why she ranks you better.

The <h1> is what the SmugMug calls a Title. You can just add a Title block to your home page.

lauriewinter · September 11, 2017

Thanks Mike. My homepage does have a title block and a text block below my photos. I am also going to add some blocks to my gallery pages.

I suspect the .co.nz thing is holding me back. I need to seriously think about if I change. My audience and buyers will predominately be NZers so I guess having .com will hold me back there.

Smugmug told me my A-name/forwarder was incorrect and causing some of the errors. Seems a bit strange to me but I have made some of the changes they suggest and will wait and see if that helps things.

Thanks for all your help.

@Hikin' Mike said:
It is quiet possible your friend ranks better in NZ because she has a 'co.nz' and you only have a '.com'. Viewing it here in California you number 5 and she is 8. She doesn't have any text and she doesn't list 'Wellington Landscape Photographer' anyplace on here home page so most likely that's why she ranks you better.

The <h1> is what the SmugMug calls a Title. You can just add a Title block to your home page.

lauriewinter · September 11, 2017

@denisegoldberg said:

Thanks Denise. I remember that now. My issue being that usually photos make it to my blog before they make it to my website but I think I will need to look at changing that workflow!!

Hikin' Mike · September 11, 2017

@lauriewinter said:
Thanks Mike. My homepage does have a title block and a text block below my photos. I am also going to add some blocks to my gallery pages.

Sorry, I guess I missed that last night.

Currently your <title> element shows "Laurie Winter - Landscape Photography - Wellington - New Zealand". If you want to 'rank' for "Wellington Landscape Photographer" then you might want to use "Wellington New Zealand Landscape Photographer - Laurie Winter".

For your home page title (<h1>) you currently show "Beautiful Landscape Photography From New Zealand". You might want to change it to "Beautiful Wellington New Zealand Landscape Photography".

lauriewinter · September 11, 2017

Thanks Mike. I will also look at those changes, that's really helpful also.

Thinking about it, I am not sure ranking for Wellington is a big deal. I more want to rank for New Zealand but that's obviously a really long game and a tall ask - NZ has some amazing, amazing photographers and I have every expectation they will long "outrank" me - and so they should. I just want to put my best foot forward with SEO so these ideas are all very useful. Much appreciated.

@Hikin' Mike said:

picsbydarah · August 23, 2018

> @lauriewinter said:
> How strange that the results don't show for me on page 1. I had to go to page 4. Do you have any idea why you see something different?
> It depends on the search engine and what has been tracked (unless you are using DuckDuckGo which doesn't track.) Make sure that you are looking through an Incognito/private browsing window.

SEO - Still having issues

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