Site traffic / Google / help please!
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Hello everyone,
I have been trying to contact support, and am getting nowhere on my own so I thought I would post here.
I am concerned that there is a problem with my site: https://frankhaviland.com/ which I have had since August 2018.
I seem to be generating almost no traffic to my site, not for want of trying.
In particular I am:
* Not showing up under wordpress.com / wordpress.org directories
* Not showing up via google – though the website I write for do
* Not generating any subscribersCan anyone suggest what might be wrong with my site?
Or is it merely the case that my content is awful?!Thank you very much for your help
Frank
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi Frank, this site isn’t on our servers, so that’s why it’s not showing in tag listings on WordPress.com. You’d be welcome to transfer it here if you’d like, as we take care of that and several aspects of SEO for you. Here are some other differences:
Otherwise, some of the advice here may help:
And you might also check out SEO tips for self-managed installations:
https://codex.wordpress.org/Search_Engine_Optimization_for_WordpressLet us know if you need more help!
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Dear Supernova,
Thank you so much for your response.
I’d love to transfer it, but I don’t know how – please can you send me a link or explain how I can transfer it so it shows up in tag listings?I will check the links you posted, thanks again!
Framl
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Hi there,
Migrating is definitely an option, but you should realise WordPress.com is not exactly the same as the version you’re currently using, and there will be some limitations should you move to us. Most importantly, you will have to be on our Business Plan to continue using any of the plugins you currently have installed on your site, and some of them are not compatible with WordPress.com and cannot be used here at all.
You can find a guide here:
https://transferto.wordpress.com/
But also look at this comparison between the two flavours of WordPress, and make an informed decision:
That said, I don’t think moving to us would necessarily solve any of the issues you mention above:
* Not showing up under wordpress.com / wordpress.org directories
WordPress.org is the site where the open source WordPress software is made. It’s not a platform, and there’s no directory of sites over there.
We don’t have a directory of sites on WordPress.com either, but we do have a Search feature in the WordPress.com Reader where any WordPress.com or Jetpack connected site (yours fall under the latter) can be found. I’ve checked, and your site is indexed in the WordPress.com Reader.
That is if I specifically search for the term “Frank Haviland”. Your site shows up in post and site suggestions for other search terms as well, so everything is working there, and nothing in that regard would change if you migrate to our hosting.
You can also have your site appear in Tag listings, and in related posts or recommeded blogs in the Reader, by upgrading to a paid Jetpack plan. Free Jetpack sites are not eligible to be featured there as free WordPress.com sites are. You can find details on Jetpack plans here:
Not showing up via google – though the website I write for do
Your site is also indexed in Google:
https://www.google.co.za/search?q=site%3Afrankhaviland.com
It might not be appearing on the first page of results, even for your own name, but it’s definitely there. And I see you’re already using the Yoast SEO plugin, which is an excellent plugin to configure SEO on your site.
But it takes time so build up a search ranking in Google. Your site is only a few months old, looks like you only have around 14 posts published, your post are published sporadically, with big gaps where you don’t publish anything, and I’m willing to wager there are very few, if any, other sites on the web currently linking to your site. The site you’re writing for (that dominates Reader search results for your name) has been around for a while, has a lot of content, and probably has many other websites citing it and linking back to it, so it’s to be expected that results from that site will rank much higher than your own site at this point in time.
Whether or not your site will show up in any search depends on whether it matches the key words that a particular person is searching for, and there’s no guarantee that anyone will find your site that way, through either a Reader or a Google search. That’s not something you can control. All you can control is to consistently write high-quality, original content, so that when someone does find your site in a search it has a better chance of being what they’re looking for, and something they will share or link back to, thus driving up your search engine ranking again.
We have some tips here on writing content that is more SEO friendly:
Not generating any subscribers
Building a readership takes time, and of everyone who finds your site, be it via search, a link that was shared somewhere, a recommendation by someone else, only a very small number will actually click the subscribe button. It depends on whether your content is what someone is looking for, and again that’s not something you can control.
So here the best thing you can do is to pro-actively get your blog out there. Share it. Invite people you know to follow it. Connect with other bloggers by following and commenting on their sites (but be genuine – if you’re commenting just to get a follow-back people will know and most bloggers don’t appreciate that).
And then make sure that when they get to your site, the content they find is so good that they want to say. (I know I’m sounding like a broken record, but in all of this your content really is the most important :) )
If you want to move your site to our hosting, you are most welcome, and we will help you with every step of the process. But it won’t solve the problem you’re experiencing. That will only be solved by persistence and patience – from a technical perspective your site has everything needed to succeed (though a Jetpack plan could give you an extra edge to specifically reach people on WordPress.com), and there’s nothing broken here that needs to be fixed.
Let us know if you have any more questions about this.
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Dear Sir,
Thank you for such a thorough response to my query.
I really appreciate your suggestions, and will implement them as best I can.Thanks again,
Frank
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