Introduction to Search Engine Issues
A website owner recently reached out for help on the Bluesky social network, seeking assistance with their site’s sudden de-indexing and traffic drop after a domain migration. The owner believed the migration was the cause of the issue, but as it turns out, the problem lay elsewhere.
Site Migration and De-Indexing
The website in question had migrated from javatpoint.com to tpointtech.com, and shortly after, the site’s content was de-indexed by Google, resulting in a significant traffic drop. The owner attributed the de-indexing directly to the site migration due to the correlation between the two events. However, this assumption was incorrect.
SEO Insight
A common mistake made by SEOs and publishers is to stop investigating once they’ve found an obvious reason for an issue. In this case, the site migration was not the cause of the de-indexing. Instead, it triggered a chain of events that led to the discovery of the actual problem: low-quality content. The site migration preceded the de-indexing, but it was not the root cause.
Diagnosing the Issue
Google’s John Mueller suggested a clever technique to diagnose the issue: performing a site search on Bing using the new domain. This revealed a plethora of low-quality, off-topic content, including "top ten list" articles about Indian celebrities. Further searches using keywords like "watch online" and "top ten list" exposed more irrelevant content.
The Origin of Irrelevant Content
The irrelevant content originated from the original domain, javatpoint.com, and was migrated to the new domain, tpointtech.com. This meant that the new site inherited all the low-quality content from the old site.
Google’s John Mueller’s Response
John Mueller pointed out that the site had a lot of unrelated content, which raised questions about the site’s intent. He suggested using site searches on Bing to identify pages that Google was not indexing, which could indicate a content problem.
Takeaways
Bing as a Diagnostic Tool
Bing can be a useful tool for identifying pages that Google is not indexing, which can help diagnose content problems. This technique can be used to uncover issues that may not be immediately apparent.
SEO Insight
The fact that Bing continues to index off-topic content may highlight differences between Google and Bing’s algorithms. The domain migration may have triggered Google to re-evaluate the site’s content and intent, leading to the de-indexing of low-quality content.
Irrelevant Content and Intent
Adding wildly off-topic content can betray an intent to create content for traffic rather than for users. This can be seen as a violation of Google’s guidelines, which emphasize the importance of creating high-quality, relevant content.
Past Performance and Future Risks
Just because a site’s content has not been a problem in the past does not mean it will not become an issue in the future. It’s essential to proactively address content quality issues to avoid potential problems down the line.
Content Quality and Intent
The case highlights the importance of content quality and intent. While the irrelevant content may have been high-quality in itself, its presence on an educational site raises questions about the site’s intent and purpose.
Expansion of Content Topics
Finally, the case raises questions about the expansion of content topics. While it’s possible to expand a site’s topics, it’s crucial to do so in a way that makes sense for users and does not betray an intent to create content solely for ranking and monetization purposes.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the website’s de-indexing and traffic drop were not caused by the domain migration but by the presence of low-quality, off-topic content. The case highlights the importance of content quality, intent, and relevance. By using diagnostic tools like site searches on Bing and proactively addressing content issues, website owners can avoid potential problems and ensure their site’s success in the long run.