I've Made a HUGE Mistake - SEO Experts Help!
In fact, I've made a HUGE mistake over and over and over again, and I've only just realized it today.
I was starting to get these thoughts about it. Like "Hm, maybe this isn't the right thing to do."
And today it hit me, this is the WRONG thing to do.
You see, I've been writing these amazing blog posts with 1500 - 3000 words. Just what Google's been looking for!
And yet, my traffic is decreasing and decreasing.
The only thing holding me afloat right now is traffic from Bing and Yahoo.
And I couldn't figure out why.
What is happening? Why is Google ignoring me? I'm creating complete content just how they like!
And then it hit me. Like a ton of bricks.
I've been doing something so stupid.
Here's what happened.
I like writing content in SiteContent because I like to keep a track of my word count and I like that the images get optimized when I load the content into Wordpress.
But I have Thrive Architect and I LOVE using that to piece my content together because it makes everything look nice and it's going fancy pants buttons and all that good stuff.
So what I've been doing is loading the content to Wordpress and changing the permalink name because I somehow thought that would make people not find that content.
Why don't I want them to find the content?
Because I delete that post.
And then I create a different version in Thrive Architect. (It sounds like a lot more work, but it's not. I just copy and paste the content back over from SiteContent.)
I was doing this because, as I said, the images get loaded up all optimized and I liked that.
But now I want to hit my head against a brick wall.
Because i just realized that Google can still find and index that content and now I have two versions of it, which means that it's duplicate content.
OH NO!
How could I have been so dumb? lol
Now the Questions
SEO experts - is there anything I can do to fix this? Can I go into the deleted content, set it as no index and no follow and erase all the content that's there??
Can I resubmit those pieces of content after? Submit my sitemap?
Is there ANYTHING I can do? Or should I just move on and learn from my mistake?
Everyone - what is the best way to optimize my images going forward?
Please learn from my mistake! It's embarrassing to even put this out there, but I want people to know that these kinds of things can happen.
Also, when you make mistakes, fix it and move on.
I'm not going to dwell on this. I'm just going to do the best that I can to clean it up, move forward, and continue to create great content.
- Christina
P.S. In a way, I'm also pretty excited. Even though Google has been ignoring me, I've still been getting a pretty steady stream of referrals.
Now that I know my mistake, I bet my visitors and referrals are going to get so much better. I can't wait to see! :)
Recent Comments
121
Hi Christina,
I don't think this is too big of a problem. Unless you're doing something really shady, Google is pretty forgiving.
So, this is what I'd do...
The first thing I'd do is go through the duplicates you don't want and make sure they are only drafts, or no longer exist at all.
Install the plugin Redirection (or a similar plugin) and do 301 redirects from your the old URL to the new one so that Google knows (if they have the old ones indexed) which one is the right one.
You can also use Pretty Links, you just have to make sure the old URL no longer exists in your database, then use that as your "pretty link" and your new URL as your target.
Once your redirects are done, go into Google Search Console and I'm not sure how to do it in the new version, but on the left side menu you can choose 'go to old version' and then...
Google Index >> Remove URL
In there you can submit the old URL for temporary removal (but since they no longer exist they'll be removed permanently).
If duplicate content was the issue, you should see your posts start to move up over the next few days to a few weeks.
Of course, it doesn't always work that way because for Google to move you up the rankings, it means they have to move someone else down the rankings and in a lot cases those posts that are ranked ahead of us get enough engagement that there's just no reason for Google's algorithm to do that.
In my experience, it's often just a matter of your blog outlasting the ones that are outranking you now. Half of those blogs that outrank us on certain keywords die off or go stale because people just give up on them. That's when patience and persistence pay off :-)
Jay
Wow, thank you so much Jay! I will give this a try. Even if it doesn't work out and I can't outrank the other sites, I'd at least like to try.
Thank you, thank you! This is great! :)
- Christina
No problem. Like I say, I don't think this is too big of an issue... it's just a technical hiccup and once it's cleaned up Google will be able to crawl your site properly so they can do their thing (whatever it is that Google's algorithm does, lol).
I can't help with your main question.
But upon talking with a web developer some time ago, he said to avoid using pagebuilders as much as possible for blog posts because adding buttons and fancy stuff slows the page down and can harm rankings.
I don't know how right he is, but I now only use page builders for styling my main pages and then just use the WP editor for posts.
Cheers,
Dan
Hello Christina
You made a blunder and you are not alone in making that particular one.
You don't actually say if its the whole website and not just an article or two.
If its the whole site then here's what you have to do -
Create a new property in your Google Analytics for the site you want to keep.
Insert the new site's Analytics ID in your Wordpress of the site you want to keep.
Then
Delete the site URL in your Google Console you don't want to keep.
Submit the Sitemap for the Site You Want To Keep in your Google Console
Then you can do a manual Index for it.
You cannot delete the old site yet but you can make sure all the nofollow and noindex boxes are ticked.
The only other way is a Re-Direct and that could take some time.
https://www.wikihow.com/Redirect-a-URL
There is also a plugin you can use for this procedure.
https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-website-redirect/
Thanks so much! It's not the whole site. It's just quite a few of my articles that I've most recently written. And, of course, my BEST content. UGH. lol
But I appreciate the try!
- Christina
If its just an article or two and you have them copied over then delete their original URLs in your Google Console and Trash them in your Wordpress.
Hi Robert. How do you delete urls in Google Console? I wanted to do that to a couple and couldn't figure it out. Thanks.
Mary Ann
Hello Mary Ann (I have an aunt called that and she likes you to use her full name as well).
If you go into your GC and scroll down the page and at the bottom left you will see the words
Go To Old Version - click on it.
Then you click on Index then Remove URL and follow the instructions.
It can take a wee while but it will get done and remember to Trash that Articles URL in your Wordpress.
Hope alls clear but if not get in touch.
Robert
Sorry to hear this sad but like you said you have to move on. I'm am not sure how to or if it can but when you submit it. It will not go through. Maybe try to contact Google it might work you never know if you don't try something. sorry to hear about this.
Truly,
Tguth
Thank you! It's OK. I'm happy that I discovered this issue now before I sent even more great content to the abyss.
- Christina
Thrive has a built in image optimiser called lossy images. I just use that and there seems to be no problem. Like you I also create my articles in sitecontent but I don't publish it.
Once i'm happy with the article I simply copy everything over to thrive and delete the sitecontent draft.
I knew that if I published content in site content and then transferred it to thrive it would cause some sort of an issue.
Oh, Lossy images. I don't think I put 2 and 2 together with that. Thanks so much. I will do exactly this process from now on.
- Christina
Now I do exactly what you do Christina with my content, I write in site content for the same reasons you do, but also because my content seems to index quicker that way, when researched properly obviously
I then do what you do and paste to WordPress, before making adjustments in WP, but where I was using Thrive Architecht as you were, before changing to Divi Builder, because in my opinion it is slightly bettter, with more value and benefits at a a fraction of the cost
What I don't do, however is change the permalinks or write different content : )
As you say, you have impacted yourself and learned from it, sao the only thing that can happen is everything goes up, which it will
Thanks for sharing and good luck
I don't write different content. I delete the content after I publish it from SiteContent, then copy and paste from SiteContent again.
So the way you do it much better. I know this now. haha :)
- Christina
H Christina. I am curious about something. When you do the content in Site Content and copy and paste from it to WP, I know you said you delete and rewrite. I guess my question is, what happens if you publish it and then when it goes to WP, you unpublish (put in draft mode) and work from there?
Mary Ann
See more comments
Hi Christina, sorry to hear about what happened. Shoot we all make mistakes, it is how I learn. You would even go as far as saying I am the smartest person because of the multitude of mistakes I have made and the lessons learned from them.
I sent site support a ticket, and I am pretty sure they figured my mistakes were just too much, not that they couldn't fix them but they are rolling the dice to find a victim to fix my problems.
Christina, I have read all the comments below and I am pretty sure you will make things right again.
All the best,
Michael
Thank you so much! I actually believe in the power of mistakes. They really help you learn some stuff.
- Christina