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Now that you have identified why your web pages were moved to Google’s omitted results and how to correct the problem; it’s time to ensure that you keep them out. Below are a few good pointers for moving forward and keeping your web pages out of Google’s Omitted Results.
- If you use a Dynamic Web Template (DWT) either from Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver, it is imperative that you set an editable region within the <head></head> section. Once this is done, insure that you have your title, meta description and meta keyword tags within that editable region. This will ensure that you have the ability to provide unique titles, meta descriptions and meta keywords to each web page.
- Always use your domain name when linking to your home page. Often times websites use index.htm, ./, #, www.mydomain.com or some variation of this to link to their home page. Keep your home page linking unified. This will ensure that you do not end up with a couple of home pages listed in Google and what may look like duplicate content.
- If you have a content management system that automatically creates titles or meta descriptions for you, chances are it may replicate the same title tag or description across various pages within your site. Ask your web designer to ensure that you can have unique titles and meta descriptions for each page. This may require a few extra database fields to be created, but it is well worth it.
- Utilize your robots.txt file to purposely remove content that you feel is low quality, duplicated or was created for visitors (such as log in pages, checkout pages, privacy statements etc.).
Remember, if your goal is to gain the most of your search engine exposure, your pages have to show up in the results. Ensuring your pages are truly search engine friendly will provide you with one of the highest return on investments possible. Continually watch over your site and check Google’s omitted results to ensure you are helping to provide a high quality visitor experience for all users.
Finally, be sure to sign up for a Google Webmaster Console account, it is fast and simple and can provide you with a wealth of information pertaining to problematic areas within your website; and help keep you out of Google’s omitted results!
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