Google’s John Mueller answered a query a few WordPress website that was utterly deindexed from Google Search after altering to a distinct hosting platform. Mueller’s reply reveals the place to start out investigating the the explanation why that occurs.
Dropped From Index After A Web site Migration
A submitted query to the Google Workplace Hours podcast associated that their website disappeared from the search engine outcomes pages after they’d migrated their website from WordPress to “self-publishing” and that the positioning was subsequently deindexed.
The query might imply that they have been internet hosting the positioning on the WordPress.com managed WordPress platform after which migrated their website away to a different net host, sometimes known as self-hosting.
Migrating a WordPress website to a different net host takes a couple of comparatively easy steps however it will probably go unsuitable at just about each step of the method.
Extra on migrating a WordPress website later as a result of it’s related to the query.
John Mueller Solutions The Query
Mueller answered the query from the perspective of analyzing the web site itself, which is one of the best place to start out on this particular case. The reason being as a result of the query implies that the positioning can nonetheless be reached on-line.
That is the query:
“After the positioning was transferred from WordPress to self-publishing, nearly all publications disappeared from the index. The search outcomes are ‘0’.”
John Mueller responded:
“In case your web site dropped out of the search outcomes and is now not being listed in any respect, proper in regards to the time if you did a migration, then my guess is that your new web site is one way or the other blocking engines like google, or at the very least, blocking Google. I’d begin by analyzing the info within the Search Console, and dealing ahead from there.”
Search console might present the precise date that pages began dropping out of Google’s index and the rationale why they’re dropping out. Typical causes would be the pages should not discovered (404) or that Google was blocked from crawling by a robots.txt. These are the beginning factors for figuring out what’s taking place on Google’s aspect.
Diagnose If WordPress Is Blocking Google
This type of downside sometimes occurs when a WordPress website is about to be hidden from the major search engines, which suggests there’s a robots.txt entry that’s blocking engines like google from indexing the positioning.
Google Search Console will inform you when that is taking place by the Web page Indexing Report which is able to present that the positioning is blocked by a robots.txt within the column of the report labeled “Why pages aren’t listed”.
If that’s the case then you’ll be able to really see this to be the case in your robots.txt file sometimes situated within the root of your area, /robots.txt (instance.com/robots.txt).
If the web page is blocked by Robots.txt then it might be {that a} WordPress setting was utilized sooner or later within the migration to dam search indexing.
It is a setting that’s native to the WordPress admin panel that may be reached right here:
Settings 🡪 Studying.
There you’ll discover a setting known as “Search Engine Visibility” with a checkbox labeled Discourage engines like google from indexing this website.
Screenshot Of WordPress Visibility Setting
WordPress search visibility settingsIf that’s the case then untick that field and also you’re carried out.
If there’s a robots.txt entry that’s blocking engines like google however the above field isn’t checked then it might be one other plugin doing that, like an website positioning or migration plugin. If that’s not the case then possibly whoever was serving to do the transfer inserted that entry through which case it’s a straightforward factor to obtain the robots.txt, edit the file in a textual content file editor then importing it again.
Different points might be a failure to replace DNS settings to level to the brand new hosting service or it might be one thing on the internet host aspect. Beginning the investigation at Google Search Console is sweet recommendation.
Hearken to Google’s reply right here on the 7:24 minute mark:
Featured Picture by Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi
