Collaborada

Most background images are considered decorative. Version 7.1 use null alt text which is appropriate, here's more info: https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H67.html

If needed, you could add code to handle the alt text. But if an image is conveying important information, consider an image block for better user experience across devices.

And here's the answer marked as the solution with more info: 

Hi @shyless Google can understand and process this without issue. You'll find examples of sites on the same template performing well. There are other issues at play here, such as the site name field, site structure, etc. To start, look for our article on site names which should help.

Hi @jdenninger The site has more compelling issues. It looks to be a recent migration. There should be 301 redirects pointing old URLs to new URLs.

For example /biotech-laboratory should redirect to /laboratory. Or using your example above,  /directory/listing/alexander-demare-m-d should redirect to the new page for Dr. DeMare. That said, you'll likely want the doctor URLs to be more clear for positive user experience. So instead of /doctor-tz9t8 it might be /alexander-demare-m-d or similar. 

You can use free tools such as Google Search Console or Ahrefs traffic checker to see the impact the migration is having on visibility. We have articles with more info on website migrations.

Hi @Peyton_instant sitemaps should update within 24 hours: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206543547-Your-site-map if not, then ask Squarespace to regenerate it for you. 

And yes the tags are annoying, but they were deprecated by Google a couple of years ago: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/05/spring-cleaning-sitemap-extensions

We have more info on both of these issues in our post on Squarespace sitemaps. 

Hello all. We reported this issue the day it was moved to production in 2021 and many other users have reported it since then. The good news is the tags were deprecated in 2022: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/05/spring-cleaning-sitemap-extensions 

We have more info in our blog post about Squarespace sitemaps. 

Hi @aboubakrvfx If a website isn't appearing for brand searches, it might simply be because it's very new. But many different factors affect online visibility. It could be a brand name that is similar to more established brands, poor SEO practices, low-quality content, poor site structure, Google spam violation, etc. If you built the site yourself, you’ll want to learn about search engine optimization.

Hi @Jaz_Currie_12. Yes a site needs to be public for search engines to crawl it. But there's a bit of confusion regarding the role of sitemaps. Google does not require a sitemap to crawl and index a website: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/sitemaps/overview

You have the right idea on getting it crawled sooner rather than later. Just make sure to explain to the client the missed marketing opportunities and delayed visibility on search engines if they choose to wait. 

Hi @BilO. Screaming Frog is a reliable tool when checking for broken links. The 999 above does not indicate a broken link. LinkedIn is denying the request. Here's more info: https://http.dev/999

Hi @aboubakrvfx  Google doesn't index all the pages on a site. Some reasons in this report highlight URLs that are intentionally excluded from indexing. Here's more info: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7440203

Hi @JacquelineVero I messaged you. It is not user error. Here is another detailed report from Reddit: 

Hi @VeroVino. Yes, this has happened fairly recently on our site for the first time (that we are aware of). Please report it to Support immediately. Also see this similar post: 

@DocWalls This was posted yesterday: 

@DocWalls Did you report this to Support? A few months ago, I had a saved published blog revert to a previous version. I initially chalked it up to a one-off weird event, but then saw this in Reddit:  

Hi @pushthatenvelope most of the links on the homepage point to a /page-coming-soon URL. Finish the site then ask for a recrawl via Google Search Console. 

Hi @evemarden Your meta description displays fine on my end, try asking the client to clear his cache/history. 

This SEJ article offers a different POV on DA/DR: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ranking-factors/domain-authority/

Hi @rainsscs There is already another website with your same name. The way Google currently handles site names means you likely need to offer an alternate name: https://www.collaborada.com/blog/site-names

Hi @Frihedssind Google may have crawled pages before they had rich content. Use Google Search Console to ask for recrawls of your URLs. Good luck! 

Hi @ouli.oli please see the info above about changing the built-in domain. When a URL no longer exists, Google eventually drops it out of the index. 

Yes it is worth a try 🙂

If this is the issue, please submit a report to Squarespace. 

Hi @smilebeard This Squarespace page explains hosting video on Squarespace vs embedding from YouTube or other platform: https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/206542397-Adding-videos-to-your-site

When we've seen it happen, a YouTube link fixed it. Alternatively backgrounds can also be images. Good luck! 

Hi @smilebeard Regarding the soft 404, before jumping through too many hoops, check to see if the video is uploaded to Squarespace. If so, try another approach. See this other post for more details, note we've also seen it happen with video blocks not just background videos: 

18 hours ago, Strange said:

says "view original" on the header

Hi @Strange this sounds like you turned on AMP under blog settings. 

Hi there! Thanks for your response. We always aim to support beginners, which is why we recommend consulting Google's own documentation on their ranking systems and best practices - they provide clear insights on <title> elements: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/seo-starter-guide

Just a friendly note: while some resources suggest specific character counts, it's important to understand that these are guidelines rather than strict rules. Many factors influence how many characters of a page's title appear in Google search, including desktop, mobile, featured snippet, SGE links, and more. 

Feel free to reach out if you need further assistance! 😊

Hi @PEN_72 you don't need to do anything for Google to sort things out. Your site's homepage is: https://www.philnunez.com. When linking to your site, don't use the /home version. Many messages in GSC's indexing report are informational vs errors.

Hi @Strange Did you ask Google to recrawl the page via Google Search Console? If so, just give it some time.