If the amount of visits in your web store has suddenly reduced and its pages are not indexed by the search engines – it is a good reason to verify whether it is configured correctly.
Let us review which Google filters exist and how to struggle with them in Magento ®. Also please pay attention that you can use special extensions for Magento ® in order to optimize your store in Search Engine Optimization. For example, GoMage SEO Booster extension works for it.
1. The existence of this filter is denied by Google employees, but SEO specialists are convinced that it exists. The filter is called «Sandbox». This filter is applied to absolutely all sites that exist for less than 6 months. According to statistical data, the amount of visits is almost not increasing during this period even if the optimization is done on a high level. You need to update page links, and buy URLs carefully;
2. Next filter – «Domain Name Age». This filter operates in the same way as «Sandbox», but it is applied to the domain names. The domain names younger than 1 year are insufficiently explored by search engines and are not yet trusted. The easiest way out is also buying links but you should use trusted resources with high PR values;
3. «Supplementary Results» is one of the most troublesome filters. It shows that your site has a lot of duplicated pages and possible repeating content. In order to get rid of it, you should regularly verify that your content is unique and check the results in Google Webmaster Tools;
4. Now we will review several filters with the same principle of operation. «Bombing», «Links» are the filters which track so-called ‘URL disposal dumps’ – once a visitor opens such a site and clicks any link, they are redirected to another site, and so on. These sites have nothing in common with popular and useful blogs or web stores.
5. «Bombing», «CO-citation Linking Filter» and «Too Many Links at once» is a scourge of all web store owners. In order to improve their store’s position, many webmasters begin to actively buy links. This becomes a key factor in the filters’ application. The anchors should be bought carefully and gradually.
6. There are many filters used against low-unique stores, redirections and URL disposal dumps: «-30», «Duplicate Content», «Panda». These are very serious sanctions and some webmasters consider buying a new domain name easier than clearing the old one from filters. But if you decide to take this process into your own hands, this may take more than 6 months or a year;
7. Over optimization filters – «Over Optimization» and «Penguin». They are applied to a web store if descriptions contain too many keywords and/or texts are too frequently marked as spam. In this case, Google reduces the site ratings.
If you have any problems with Google filters in Magento ®, please contact us by leaving a comment to this article, and GoMage experts will do their best to assist you.
