Google indexing only the front page

  • I have already searched and researched on google and wp.org forums. There are a number of instances where google is not indexing, but mine seems to be a bit different.

    For my site codingraptor.com google has indexed the front page but does not go further than that.

    Earlier I had a static landing page and a link to sitemap.xml in the footer. Then I changed to blog style reverse-chronolgical ordered posts. My current landing page has link to all of my 50 or so posts.

    But google does not return search results pertaining to those.
    For example, if I google site:codingraptor.com array, I get text from the front page only, although there are no less than 5 posts on arrays.
    If I google site:codingraptor.com politician, I draw a blank although politicians have been heartily shamed on the site.

    I must point out here that the domain and the site is two months old. Some people say that domain age is a factor. Appears shaky argument. If domain age rather than quality of content is what matters to google than why is it indexing my front page? After all my landing page is no older than my posts.

    I have already used https://google.com/webmasters. Fetch as google and submit to index. Google does come and index my site but just my front page and not even a word beyond. I know all this based on my info:Codingraptor.com query.

    I am doing everything by the book – having sitemap, using seo plugin(s), having unique content, 700 word posts and religiously adhered to posting schedule.(Except for the last two weeks. Now I am focussing on this indexing issue.)

    I have submitted to search engines, have a facebook g+, twitter, instagram, and heaven knows what else accounts to highlight the posts.

    I also know Dear(est) Mr. Cutts says that as long as info:codingraptor.com query returns a result, you should be fine. He may be fine, but webmasters can’t be fine with that. Seeing a result for an info query does not bring in traffic and €€€s

    What does one do in my situation?
    Am I mis-handling WP?
    Or is someone making google penguin penalize me by generating fake backlinks?
    How do I know?
    What do I do?
    Is this happening because of domain age?
    Do I abandon the site codingraptor.com or continue my efforts there?

    Please, I am deseparate… and I have the guts to admit it.
    I am willing to try anything…from updating wordpress to para gliding on mars.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

  • uncheck the setting > Reading > Search Engine Visibility > Discourage search engines from indexing this site (Uncheck this option). This generally blocks the bots.

    Thread Starter anjanikalyan

    (@anjanikalyan)

    Hello Syam,

    Thanks a ton!
    I am not sure if your trick helped but the problem SEEMS to be resolved.
    I did what you said and at the same time also applied dozen other mantras I got from other sources.
    Within couple of hours I was able to see one of my 50 posts ranking for a targeted keyword. The other 49 posts are still in oblivion, but I have a feeling that things will sort out over a period of time.

    As I said I cannot be sure which of the charms worked, but thanks a lot anyways. Long live WP.org and its forums.

    Cheers.

    Jason King

    (@jasoncharlesstuartking)

    I see about 20 results by typing site:https://codingraptor.com/ into Google.

    Get a free Google Search Console (used to be called Webmaster Tools) account. That will tell you whether Google is indexing your pages properly.

    Thread Starter anjanikalyan

    (@anjanikalyan)

    Hello Jason,

    Thanks at the outset for looking into the issue.
    The results you are seeing are from subdomains excel.codingraptor.com and wordpress.codingraptor.com . These subdomains are hosted on blogspot and have been indexed very nicely by Google.
    The main site codingraptor.com is in WP and is poorly indexed, in spite of, what I believe unique and valuable content.
    Since I don’t want WordPress problems to negatively impact my work I have moved the subdomains to excelf1.net and wpf1.com

    Update: I have 23 sites hosted on blogspot.com. All 23 range from mild to astounding success in their respective fields. Traffic is awesome. I produce quality content on blogspot.com and Google always indexes and drives organic traffic.

    Some moron said WP is good for SEO and I ventured into it with codingraptor.com

    BIG MISTAKE.

    LESSON LEARNED – If you want traffic and money from a website, stay away from WordPress.

    Thanks anyways Jason.
    I am looking at alternatives such as Drupal, Joomla and also at easier to index websites such as tumblr.
    Seems I have been conned.
    WordPress is modern day equivalent of medieval bubonic plague.

    @anjanikalyan said

    Seems I have been conned…. WordPress is modern day equivalent of medieval bubonic plague.

    You’re free to use or not use WordPress; that’s your decision. But with ~50 million users, WordPress must be more than OK with SEO capabilities.

    Jason’s advice to use Google Webmaster’s Tools is absolutely correct. Those tools are state of the art to control Google’s indexing of your site.

    And syamnath was exactly right: you had your whole site blocked to search engines.

    Thread Starter anjanikalyan

    (@anjanikalyan)

    Hello Mark,

    Thanks for taking the time to reply.

    I have have been using google webmasters for over 5 years now.
    I have mentioned that explicitly with link in my first post.
    Understandable that you missed that part because I have a lot of details up there.

    The problem here seems to be that every single wordpress post needs to be explicitly entered in google.com/webmasters.
    I am sure there would be a fix for that.
    My landing page has all 50 URLs and Google is faithfully indexing the main page from day 1.
    Now I got one of my employees to enter all the URLs manually.
    But clearly, this leaves us wondering what is wrong.
    Is this wordpress or weirdpress?
    I can submit only 500 URLs each month and my org produces almost one and half times that number.

    Yes, all of us are free to move away from wordpress.
    Fact of life is if Google stops indexing wp websites then… I am not sure who would want to be left behind in the sunken ship.

    Cheers,
    Anjani Kalyan

    You’re still blaming WordPress and Webmaster’s Tools for problems rather than realizing that you are not using the software and the services correctly.

Viewing 7 replies - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
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