This week’s Ask An SEO question comes from Harjeet:
“Hi! I have a website that provides information of warehouses all over United states. The problem is that only eight to nine pages are indexed by Google. But it has many dynamic pages.
For example, if you do a search for any location on homepage search bar, it will open the location page with the listings.
But Google is not indexing the location pages and warehouse listings as well. Can you help me solve this issue?”
That’s a great question, and I think I can help.
After looking at your website, it looks like you have a crawling issue with a lack of actual pages and not an indexing one.
I can verify you only have nine pages in Google’s indexes. This is because you only have nine actual pages on your website.
I want to start with an overview of some of the site issues. Then, after the overview, I’ll share how to resolve a large chunk of this so you can begin getting pages crawled and indexed.
Identifying The Gaps In Your Website Structure
It’s very hard for both consumers and search engines to navigate your website because you are missing links and easy-to-find navigation.
There are also two sitemaps, and one of them is incorrect. The good news is your correct one is listed in robots.txt, but it only has your site’s navigation in it and not the pages that are being created dynamically.
To start, list the most important subpages in your sitemap so search engines can find them more easily.
The robots.txt file also includes a disallow directive for all user agents which is problematic because this is blocking crawling and not guiding crawlers to proper folders and pages.
Specify “allow” for the important folders and pathways you want crawled. This guides spiders to the pages and folders you feel are most important.
On top of the sitemap and robots.txt issues, there is no internal linking. Internal links are important to allow crawlers to move around your site and find new pages that need indexing.
Next is to look at the quality of your content and how it is displayed.
The content on your site is thin and there is no content that can provide the kind of information that experts in storage in the local area would know.
Add unique content and location information to each page individually (more on this below in the how to fix this issue section).
The site is also missing robots meta tags and canonical links. Meta robot tags give directions on whether the pages should be indexed or not and if links should be followed or not.
Canonical links say which version is the official version of a page and can help deduplicate similar or competing pages. Adding these will help search engines know what to do as the pages and links are discovered.
Last, you have no city or state-based pages as dedicated resources, but you do have them in a drop-down in the search box. The issue here is these pages don’t exist unless searched for.
If they don’t exist on an official URL, search engines cannot find them and index them easily.
There are other tech and content issues here, but I’m going to jump into fixing the main one, which is getting more pages indexed for you. And this is an incredibly easy one, so this is good news.
Filling The Missing SEO Elements
There are a few steps I would take if this were my site or project:
- Build a cities and/or regions and states folder structure.
- Get unique content for each.
- Add in breadcrumbs and internal links.
- Modify the robots.txt and sitemaps.
- Do local PR work, not spammy links and directories.
Build A Folder Structure
When you allow a site search to generate URLs for cities, states, and locations, you create a ton of competing URLs.
People can spell a city wrong or use an abbreviation: Philly, Philadelphia (and is it Missouri or PA), or neighborhoods like Fishtown or Center City if it is the Pennsylvania version of Philadelphia.
And if you live in the DMV (DC, MD, VA) like I do, you may type in Washington or Columbia Heights vs. the state or city name. Washington could also be either DC or the state.
Building a folder structure lets you guide people to the correct location and makes it easier for search engines to know where you offer services.
For example, EU companies can structure by country; individual countries like Mexico could have states like Jalisco and Oaxaca and the major cities in each.
Create Unique Content
Original location-based content is easy to use for your niche. Each region has different climates, and cities do, too. Bring these into consideration when writing the copy.
If the region has more humidity, talk about how the building protects against mold, mildew, corrosion, and other humidity issues that impact storage and warehousing.
For areas that lose power because of hurricanes, snow, or even heat, talk about backup systems and refrigeration for temperature-critical items being stored.
You could include city-based content and localize with original talking points, including directions to the location. Don’t forget to include physical addresses, hours of operation, and phone numbers.
I wrote this guide to localized title tags and descriptions a while back, it applies here, too.
- Read More: How To Create High-Quality Content
Add Breadcrumbs And Internal Links
Now that you have unique content for the states and major cities in an easy-to-navigate directory structure, help users and search engines find them.
Add breadcrumbs with breadcrumb schema to the site – ideally, at the top of the page so users can click and use them.
In the unique copy for the state pages, link to the city pages. If it will benefit the user, link back to the main head state pages from the city pages.
An example for this would be if one city has people renting in other cities in that state, or if one location fills up, other locations that are close by and are easily accessible as an alternative.
The copy may mention looking for other warehousing options in that state or other city/region. Use the name of the state or city with the call to action and make them an internal link.
You’re helping the user find a solution, and search engines understand what each page is about.
This is how you build an effective and meaningful internal linking structure for SEO. The main goal is to help a customer; the benefit is you make it easier for search engines to understand your site structure.
Modify The Robots.txt And Sitemaps
At this point, you have a good site and user experience. Now is the time to make sure the states and cities are in the sitemap, and then modify your robots.txt to allow the folders.
You can request a crawl from Search Console for Google and Bing’s version of Webmaster Tools.
As the spiders access robots.txt, they will find your listed pages, then through internal links find other pages to crawl to find all your pages.
With proper meta robots and canonicals, they will see clean pathways and be able to crawl your site better.
Drive Demand Through Local PR
Anyone can list in directories and pay to play. Yes, some may help you, but the real benefit is local PR.
Getting your business featured in the media drives local demand. People in those regions begin searching for your company by name and the services as modifiers on the keywords.
This may or may not help with SEO, but it does one thing: It builds consumer trust and gets you localized, high-value backlinks. These can send trust signals and customers to you.
Local media includes local blogs that do not allow guest posting or sponsored posts, TV and print media like local newspapers, radio stations and podcasts with descriptions with links, and other platforms that people in the city or state use.
You may be able to add a PR bar with “As Seen In” featuring local media logos to build trust with that region.
Summary
The good news is that you don’t have an indexing problem. The pages that exist are indexed.
You have discovery problems because only nine pages actually exist on your website.
The solution here is to build the state and city-based pages, fill them with content and site structure, and then do the work to build trust with PR and trust-building activities.
I hope this helps. Thank you for asking your question – it’s a good one!
More Resources:
- Website Indexing For Search Engines: How Does It Work?
- Ask An SEO: Why Are My Pages Discovered But Not Indexed?
- How Search Engines Work
Featured Image: Sammby/Shutterstock
