Google On Diagnosing A Deindexed WordPress Site

Google’s John Mueller answered a mobility astir a WordPress tract that was wholly deindexed from Google Search aft changing to a different web hosting platform. Mueller’s reply shows wherever to commencement investigating nan reasons why that happens.

Dropped From Index After A Site Migration

A submitted mobility to nan Google Office Hours podcast related that their tract vanished from nan hunt motor results pages aft they had migrated their tract from WordPress to “self-publishing” and that nan tract was subsequently deindexed.

The mobility whitethorn mean that they were hosting nan tract connected nan WordPress.com managed WordPress level and past migrated their tract distant to different web host, typically referred to arsenic self-hosting.

Migrating a WordPress tract to different web big takes a fewer comparatively elemental steps but it tin spell incorrect astatine virtually each measurement of nan process.

More connected migrating a WordPress tract later because it’s applicable to nan question.

John Mueller Answers The Question

Mueller answered nan mobility from nan constituent of position of analyzing nan website itself, which is nan champion spot to commencement successful this circumstantial case. The logic is because nan mobility implies that nan tract tin still beryllium reached online.

This is nan question:

“After nan tract was transferred from WordPress to self-publishing, almost each publications vanished from nan index. The hunt results are ‘0’.”

John Mueller responded:

“If your website dropped retired of nan hunt results and is nary longer being indexed astatine all, correct astir nan clip erstwhile you did a migration, past my conjecture is that your caller website is someway blocking hunt engines, aliases astatine least, blocking Google. I’d commencement by analyzing nan information successful nan Search Console, and moving guardant from there.”

Search console whitethorn show nan nonstop day that pages started dropping retired of Google’s scale and nan logic why they’re dropping out. Typical reasons whitethorn beryllium nan pages are not recovered (404) aliases that Google was blocked from crawling by a robots.txt. Those are nan starting points for identifying what’s happening connected Google’s side.

Diagnose If WordPress Is Blocking Google

This benignant of problem typically happens erstwhile a WordPress tract is group to beryllium hidden from nan hunt engines, which intends there’s a robots.txt introduction that’s blocking hunt engines from indexing nan site.

Google Search Console will show you erstwhile this is happening done nan Page Indexing Report which will show that nan tract is blocked by a robots.txt successful nan file of nan study branded “Why pages aren’t indexed”.

If that’s nan lawsuit past you tin really spot this to beryllium nan lawsuit successful your robots.txt record typically located successful nan guidelines of your domain, /robots.txt (example.com/robots.txt).

If nan page is blocked by Robots.txt past it whitethorn beryllium that a WordPress mounting was applied astatine immoderate constituent successful nan migration to artifact hunt indexing.

This is simply a mounting that’s autochthonal to nan WordPress admin sheet that tin beryllium reached here:

Settings 🡪 Reading.

There you’ll find a mounting called “Search Engine Visibility” pinch a checkbox branded Discourage hunt engines from indexing this site.

Screenshot Of WordPress Visibility Setting

If that’s nan lawsuit past untick that container and you’re done.

If there’s a robots.txt introduction that’s blocking hunt engines but nan supra container isn’t checked past it could beryllium different plugin doing that, for illustration an SEO aliases migration plugin. If that’s not nan lawsuit past possibly whoever was helping do nan move inserted that introduction successful which lawsuit it’s an easy point to download nan robots.txt, edit nan record successful a matter record editor past uploading it back.

Other issues could beryllium a nonaccomplishment to update DNS settings to constituent to nan caller web hosting work aliases it could beryllium thing connected nan web big side. Starting nan investigation astatine Google Search Console is bully advice.

Listen to Google’s reply present astatine nan 7:24 infinitesimal mark:

Featured Image by Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi