SEO lazy bag: Google can’t find your articles? Seven Troubleshooting Tips to Improve Your Search Visibility
This article (opens in a new tab) author Wayne Fu (opens in a new tab), the most in-depth research topic is Blogger, and he also delved into many application experiences related to the Internet and cloud. Thank you for authorizing “Content Hacker” to reprint. Thank you hereby.
A friend asked why “Search on Google, but cannot find the article (opens in a new tab)”? I believe that webmasters are very concerned about the visibility of their website articles in search engines. This is also because Google search results will directly affect website traffic. If you understand how Google’s search works, you can understand the basic actions we should take.
Similar questions are not uncommon, but the details are somewhat different. Therefore, I take this opportunity to sort out various common cases and present them in the form of FAQ to facilitate future inquiries.
Q1: Why are my articles never displayed when searching for them on Google?
In order for search engines to know the existence of our website, we must first let Google know us; let the search engine database have website information so that Google can build an index. Please refer to “How to use Google webmasters (opens in a new tab)” to perform the following steps:
1. Website login
Webmaster URL: https://www.google.com/webmasters/ (opens in a new tab)
After logging in to your Google account, enter the official website address listed above, and then refer to the Step by Step tutorial of “Google Webmaster (opens in a new tab)” to complete the website login and verification actions.
2. Submit site map
Then you must Submit a sitemap (opens in a new tab) so that the Google search engine can include the article at a faster speed. Blogger platform users can refer to this article “Blogger provides a new sitemap (sitemap) format: a once-and-for-all submission method (opens in a new tab)”.
On the page that submits the site map, you can check the progress of the current website articles being indexed by search engines.
3. Query search results
The first two points are basic actions to ensure that the article is indexed by Google. If you want to know how many website articles can be searched from Google, you can enter in the Google search box:
Please change the red part to your own URL.
Q2: I have submitted the article as instructed, why can’t I still find the article?
This is the case at the beginning of the article. The original PO stated that “after publishing the article, I still cannot see the title of the article appearing in the search results.” After inspection, the results of this case are as follows:
- The article is already visible on the search engine. It is believed that because new articles are not included so quickly, the searched articles have not yet been displayed when the original PO posted the article, so the results will be available after a few days.
- The original PO once said that “it is impossible to submit every article manually.” Indeed, manual submission can speed up the inclusion of articles, but if you don’t want to submit manually every time, please see the next point.
- The workload of Google servers is very huge. Countless new websites and more articles are generated every day, waiting to be found by search engines. Just like we are only available 24 hours a day, the number of search engine servers is also limited, and it is impossible to [index] every web page and every article in real time (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2642366?hl=zh-Hant (opens in a new tab)). Google can only determine the weight based on the popularity and traffic of the website, and determine the time when the website will be updated regularly, and then perform indexing work. In order to attract robots to shorten the time between crawling the website, we must first make the website strong. Until then, you have to wait patiently for Google’s favor (or submit it manually).
Q3: Why are my travel articles ranked higher than my own blog in the travel section?
This question (opens in a new tab) means that in addition to his own website, the original PO may also post articles with the same content in other forums and discussion areas at the same time. This situation will occur to bloggers who operate multiple blog platforms at the same time, such as: Pixnet (opens in a new tab), Blogger (opens in a new tab), Bahamut (opens in a new tab) or Xuite Xuite (opens in a new tab), etc.
- When there are many posts, it is difficult to say which platform will be ranked first, because we don’t know what Google’s algorithm will do. However, the weight of websites such as forums and discussion boards usually outweighs the websites we operate ourselves; unless our website has been operating longer than these forums. Having said that, if the website we operate has a higher weight than these platforms, then there is no need to post the article in other forums (naturally someone will help repost it).
- In order to prevent the traffic of the main website from being taken away, it is recommended that the article be posted on the main website. If you want to post the article elsewhere, do not copy and paste it from beginning to end, otherwise Google will judge it as a copied article, and both sides will be deducted points.
- For more detailed suggestions, please refer to original discussion thread (opens in a new tab), where experts can provide more detailed explanations.
Q4: You have set up “Search Help”, but you still can’t see it after searching?
“Search description” is the descriptive text below the article title and URL in the search results. For how to set post descriptions in Blogger, please refer to “6. Search descriptions” in the article “Blogger Post Setting Options (opens in a new tab)”. (opens in a new tab)This case (opens in a new tab) The concept behind it is actually very important, and it is worth readers to understand its principle.
In fact, not only the “search description”, but also the “article title” in the search results may be completely different from our naming. Why is this so? There are two reasons:
- In order to prevent SEO operators from filling the article title with keywords (opens in a new tab), Google will automatically adjust the string of “article title” based on the relationship between the content of the article and the title. Therefore, you may see the title of the article determined by Google in the search results.
- Another situation is that Google will automatically adjust the displayed “article title” based on the “keywords” searched by the user. Therefore, for the same article, if the search string is different, the title of the search results may also be different; this is a phenomenon caused by “the search results match the keywords”.
The cause of Q4 case (opens in a new tab) is similar to point 2. Although we have set a “Search Description” for the article, when the search keyword does not appear in the “Search Description”, the search engine will try to find a string that matches the “Keyword” from the article content and display it, which will make the original PO mistakenly think that he has not seen the “Search Description” set for the article.
In this case, when trying to search for the article using the “article title” instead, the “search description” is displayed normally.
Q5: If I put many keywords in “Search Description”, can I increase the chance of being searched?
This is a question and case from a reader. The theme of the blog is travel. I saw that the “Search Description” on its website or article looks like this:
Kaohsiung food, Kaohsiung restaurants, Kaohsiung snacks, Kaohsiung delicious food, Kaohsiung must-eat, Kaohsiung night market, Kaohsiung recommendations, Kaohsiung hotels, Tainan must-eat, Tainan food
I believe that this approach should be based on reading some ancient SEO articles, which is similar to the practice of stuffing keywords in META tags. However, Google changed its algorithm a long time ago and regards this kind of “keyword stuffing” behavior as SEO manipulation, which will instead bring negative scores to the website.
Therefore, my suggestion is that the “search description” means a paragraph of text describing the content of the website or article. You can describe it how you normally describe it. This paragraph needs to be read by “people”, not by “machines”. We treat it as a writing exercise, and then insert a few keywords in a timely and natural way, so that this description can be understood by both “humans” and “machines”, like this:
The most local food blog in Tainan and Kaohsiung, let us find all the must-try restaurants, night markets, and snacks for you!
Q6: How can I improve my search ranking to the first page?
This is a great question and a common question among novice webmasters. The first page of search results is a battleground for military strategists. If you want to grab the first place, you can only rely on your own abilities. Here are simple suggestions:
- Make yourself an expert in the field
- Put Blog Management to the first place in the same category
- Write [topics] that others have not written before (https://www.vista.tw/en/blog/five-ways-to-write-eye-catching-titles)
- Find ways to increase traffic
- If you have the budget, place advertising (opens in a new tab) to Google
Q7: How do other paging indexes appear in search results?
Q7 Case (opens in a new tab), the original PO asked how to display additional paginated content below the search results website name?
Basically, this is an extra reward (Bonus) given by Google to websites with higher trust. These contents are automatically generated and difficult to operate by yourself. So we must find ways to grow the website, and when it is recognized by Google, it will automatically appear.
The following instructions are for your reference:
- This function is called “Sitelinks (opens in a new tab)”, which cannot be set and does not need to be set. Google determines the presence of Sitelinks at its discretion based on the size of the site.
- Please refer to the official description of Google “Website Link”
- And this article “Google Sitelinks Optimization Tips (opens in a new tab)”
★ Suggested further reading:
- Recover the original intention of running a blog: self-improvement and building a personal brand
- Speed up your blog, start by choosing plug-ins carefully
★ This article (opens in a new tab) author Wayne Fu (opens in a new tab), the most in-depth research topic is Blogger, and also delved into many application experiences related to the Internet and cloud. Thank you for authorizing “Content Hacker” to reprint. Thank you hereby.
★ Image source: Pixabay (opens in a new tab)
★ Content Hacker Book Club: The power of content: don’t sell products! Use “content marketing” to let customers come to you! [Registration now] (opens in a new tab)
★ Content Hacking Lecture Series (CHL5): How to run corporate official websites, blogs and publications [Registration is now open] (opens in a new tab)
★ Content Hacking Lecture Series (CHL6): How to use presentations for content marketing [Registration now] (opens in a new tab)
★ To improve your content power, please don’t miss the online course “Content Power: The Super Power of Building Brands (opens in a new tab)”
Further reading
- Blogger webmaster takes a look: To pursue SEO effects, don’t forget to customize the article URL
- Blogger webmaster takes a look: SEO strategy, start with writing the “search description”
- Speed up website loading speed, which is expected to improve Google mobile search rankings
Next step
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Vista Cheng speaks and runs workshops on AI workflows, writing and content systems for companies, schools and public agencies.
