Google Traffic Going Down After Migration
- Thread starter TheBigK
- Start date
Carlos
Well-known member
Why are we still talking about sitemaps? We were never talking about sitemaps, as I said before, it's just one part of the Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) program.
Once again, my site was on vB4 + vBSEO which the developers implores you to add sitemap if you have that setup. But again, like I said earlier, I agree that sitemaps aren't needed.
Once again, my site was on vB4 + vBSEO which the developers implores you to add sitemap if you have that setup. But again, like I said earlier, I agree that sitemaps aren't needed.
Deebs
Well-known member
Come on Carlos, Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) to the big sites has always been about stuff not to do with sitemaps. Most of the information is about how your site is viewed from Google, a sitemap does not change that.
Carlos
Well-known member
That's why you add your site to Google Webmaster Tools. *Two thumbs up*
GWT has a section where you can add a sitemap to a section of GWT, called ...you guessed it: Sitemaps. That is for sites that feature a sitemap, like a Wordpress blog, or like mentioned in this thread twice already: vBSEO.
GWT, and GWT Sitemaps are two different things. GWT is part of the program itself. Two completely different things.
If your site can have a sitemap, take advantage of it! But if your site can't distribute a sitemap on it's own, like xenForo currently can't, then you don't need it because xenForo has already implemented 20% of SEO practices. *Two thumbs up again*
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go back to what I was going to do: Play COD4. Good day.
Carlos
Well-known member
Are you stupid or something?
I said that many times throughout this thread.
You clearly haven't used Google Webmaster Tools before.
TheBigK
Well-known member
Ouch!
Our forum is PR5 and I hope the rankings are maintained. So far, Google's picking up the new URLs and removing the older ones without needing the sitemap. I'm monitoring the total number of URLs in Google index by using the site:<domain.com> operator. I've increased the crawl speed in GWT and hopefully it will be active sometime today or tomorrow.
Yes, we're focused on content creation and hope that the traffic will come back in January. Lot of people search for our website in Jan
. But the point is clear : The sitemaps are optional once Google knows you're there. There's a chance that Google might have indexed faster with a sitemap with 40k URLs in it; because it would simplify the job of finding new URLs and the linked ones. I think everyone agrees with this.
I hope new webmasters will find this information useful. Will post my observations in this thread.
Our forum is PR5 and I hope the rankings are maintained. So far, Google's picking up the new URLs and removing the older ones without needing the sitemap. I'm monitoring the total number of URLs in Google index by using the site:<domain.com> operator. I've increased the crawl speed in GWT and hopefully it will be active sometime today or tomorrow.
Yes, we're focused on content creation and hope that the traffic will come back in January. Lot of people search for our website in Jan
. But the point is clear : The sitemaps are optional once Google knows you're there. There's a chance that Google might have indexed faster with a sitemap with 40k URLs in it; because it would simplify the job of finding new URLs and the linked ones. I think everyone agrees with this.I hope new webmasters will find this information useful. Will post my observations in this thread.
TheBigK
Well-known member
The site's definitely loading faster. I noticed super improvement after I enabled eAccelerator on the site. Google, won't punish your website but it would rank it higher if it loads faster. Google's made it clear that faster is better.
I'm performing an analysis of Google's response to our site. I'll publish it after 2-3 weeks.
Anthony Parsons
Well-known member
Even with redirects, changing software is enough to change every single pages content structure according to Google. Unless the page design is near identical, from a HTML viewpoint being read by Google as raw data, then according to Google, every page of your site has changed, thus they will have to reevaluate every page of your site.
Changing software, expect 6 months to fully recover.
Changing software, expect 6 months to fully recover.
TheBigK
Well-known member
Well, 6 months is a long time. The new content should help us get back on track faster.
Anthony Parsons
Well-known member
Don't kid yourself... 6 months. New content will not derive traffic loss due to changing software. I cannot stress enough, changing software is a massive change, especially when VB pages look nothing like XF pages when in raw format.
VB pages deliver loads of crap before the pages real content. XF pages are structured so that the page content is near delivered first, then all the crap is at the end of the page.
To a search engine, that is like giving them all brand new pages. That means, every page will suffer a performance lag for 6+ months.
In the long term, you will actually recover with superior results due to the way XF pages are structured when broken into raw format, which is how spiders see the page.
It has been 12 months now for my main site since changing from VB4 to XF, and I have only just fully recovered the actual same traffic, however; my posting traffic has surpassed that of VB4, as my stats now reflect around a 60/40 split of new vs. returning visitors. I never had that even with VB3... it was usually around 70/30. The aim is to lower your uniques and increase your returning, when it comes to forums. Returning traffic means lots more participation. When I changed to XF, I got back to VB3 new vs. returning visitors. A year later... I have surpassed what I ever obtained with even VB3 software when it comes to posting interaction data.
So even with all the new content posted over the past 12 months, it has taken that long to fully recover uniques, again though, it only took a few months to recover and surpass posting numbers.
VB pages deliver loads of crap before the pages real content. XF pages are structured so that the page content is near delivered first, then all the crap is at the end of the page.
To a search engine, that is like giving them all brand new pages. That means, every page will suffer a performance lag for 6+ months.
In the long term, you will actually recover with superior results due to the way XF pages are structured when broken into raw format, which is how spiders see the page.
It has been 12 months now for my main site since changing from VB4 to XF, and I have only just fully recovered the actual same traffic, however; my posting traffic has surpassed that of VB4, as my stats now reflect around a 60/40 split of new vs. returning visitors. I never had that even with VB3... it was usually around 70/30. The aim is to lower your uniques and increase your returning, when it comes to forums. Returning traffic means lots more participation. When I changed to XF, I got back to VB3 new vs. returning visitors. A year later... I have surpassed what I ever obtained with even VB3 software when it comes to posting interaction data.
So even with all the new content posted over the past 12 months, it has taken that long to fully recover uniques, again though, it only took a few months to recover and surpass posting numbers.
TheBigK
Well-known member
Okay, point taken well. Now that we've made a shift all we can do is observe and do our best to make sure we come back on track fast. I'm already analyzing the whole trend for my site and will continue to share it with users.
However, you've been stressing on 6 months time-frame. If Google finds new stuff which it likes; it would eat it as if it's not ate anything in the last 6 years of our site being functional. That should help us get the traffic back. Fingers crossed.
However, you've been stressing on 6 months time-frame. If Google finds new stuff which it likes; it would eat it as if it's not ate anything in the last 6 years of our site being functional. That should help us get the traffic back. Fingers crossed.
Carlos
Well-known member
Anthony confirmed everything I had been saying in this thread the whole time.
I have been empathizing adding it to google Webmasters Tools throughout this thread, which eliminates the wait for that "6 months" timeframe. But even if you add it to GWT with the stats your forum is holding... it will take a long time for the threads to be completely re-indexed.
TheBigK
Well-known member
Carlos - as I mentioned; the site is already in GWT.
CTXMedia
Well-known member
@Carlos, it won't "eliminate" the wait.
I've been through the same process vB3.8.4 > IPB and it took around 6 months to "level out".
Webmaster Tools is a *single* entity, and it simply allows you to "inform" Google about a limited few things whilst giving you an overview of how your site is viewed by Google's engine - tweaking is about the sum of it.
Google Analytics gives you information about what your *visitors* are doing and is useful for tailoring your site areas/features/content.
It takes time - but just make sure robots.txt is setup properly, redirects in place, Google can see everything you want it to, and you haven't limited the speed at which it can crawl your site.
Cheers,
Shaun
I've been through the same process vB3.8.4 > IPB and it took around 6 months to "level out".
Webmaster Tools is a *single* entity, and it simply allows you to "inform" Google about a limited few things whilst giving you an overview of how your site is viewed by Google's engine - tweaking is about the sum of it.
Google Analytics gives you information about what your *visitors* are doing and is useful for tailoring your site areas/features/content.
It takes time - but just make sure robots.txt is setup properly, redirects in place, Google can see everything you want it to, and you haven't limited the speed at which it can crawl your site.
Cheers,
Shaun
Carlos
Well-known member
I had thought that you did not add it to GWT yet. Some of the messages make it seem like you left it out of GWT, which like I said before, prolongs the wait for re-indexing. I'm sorry.
I read your messages wrong. Ya know what they say about assumptions.Then, how is it that CODForums was able to reach Google faster? It was already on GWT, and I didn't need to put in redirections, and I didn't need to do anything else!
CODForums had been transferred from vB4 + vBSEO [it was vb3 + vbseo] to xenforo.
Yeah, it takes a long time for the site to re-indexed... as in pretty much all the old threads, all the old links into the new ones. That's what I said here:
Moving on...
Yeah, that's the message I tried to get across throughout this thread.
TheBigK
Well-known member
I'm observing the trend and it looks quite optimistic. However the number of links in the index is actually going up and down. In about 12 days; we've had Max 33k links indexed and now we've about 25k links. The number goes up and then down then up and so on. I'm tracking the trend.
With the current trend; I think it would take about 1 to 1.5 months for complete reindexing. I'll keep everyone updated. But the de-indexing of the older URLs is faster.
With the current trend; I think it would take about 1 to 1.5 months for complete reindexing. I'll keep everyone updated. But the de-indexing of the older URLs is faster.