{"id":973,"date":"2023-05-16T18:01:15","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T18:01:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lowfruits.io\/?p=973"},"modified":"2023-05-16T18:01:15","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T18:01:15","slug":"case-study-2-month-6-solving-indexing-issues-for-a-programmatic-seo-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lowfruits.io\/blog\/case-study-2-month-6-solving-indexing-issues-for-a-programmatic-seo-website\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Study 2, Month 6: Solving Indexing Issues for a Programmatic SEO Website"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hey there, everyone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yoyao here with a story about some indexing issues we had (and how we fixed them)!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dim mentioned indexing issues in the case study update for month three<\/a>. We thought they had resolved on their own, but it turned out they hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After last month\u2019s update and the April Update was over, I figured enough was enough. Time to try something else!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

How I Usually Resolve Indexing Issues<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One thing I succeeded with in the past was tapping into the Google Indexing API<\/strong> directly. The Indexing API is meant for short-lived pages, job postings, or livestream videos, where content freshness is important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Search Central\u2019s documentation<\/a> says the Indexing API can only<\/strong> be used to crawl pages with either JobPosting<\/em> or BroadcastEvent<\/em> embedded in a VideoObject<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, the API can technically work with any type of page<\/strong>. There\u2019s no checking system in place that I\u2019ve seen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When certain pages on a site are stubborn and have not been indexed for some time, I'll post those URLs to the Indexing API to try and get them indexed.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Connect to Google\u2019s Indexing API<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The easiest way of connecting to the Indexing API is with the Rank Math Instant Indexing Plugin<\/a>. However, you\u2019ll still need to perform a few extra steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, create a project on the Google Cloud Platform and enable access to the API. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, you\u2019ll need to set up additional service accounts and JSON keys to use with Google Search Console and the plugin.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once everything is set up, enter your list of URLs that are not indexed, and they\u2019ll be instantly submitted to Google for indexing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"how<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Results<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

On May 4, 2023, 48 URLs were not indexed. Their status was either \u201cDiscovered – currently not indexed\u201d or \u201cCrawled – currently not indexed.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I submitted all 48 of those to the Indexing API. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 5th, I checked, and there were only 8 that needed to be indexed.<\/strong> This means we effectively got 40 URLs indexed with the plugin in 24 hours!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I submitted those 8 again, but they didn\u2019t index. Not sure why, but we\u2019ll continue to work on them to see if there are things we can do to get them indexed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of writing this article (May 13th), there are 15 articles that need to be indexed, meaning 7 were de-indexed. Not sure why the deindexing occurred, but we\u2019ll need to look into it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these non-indexed pages use two templates, but other pages use them, too, and they are indexed OK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will keep you up to date on how the indexing goes and what other methods we use! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 2023 Metrics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dim here. Now that we\u2019ve covered Yoyao\u2019s indexing wizardry (and the 7 articles that mysteriously keep disappearing from the index), let\u2019s talk about content production!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned in last month\u2019s update, March and April were going to be slow months for reasons unrelated to the case study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April 2023, we published 1 new template that covered 8 existing entities in 1 existing topical cluster, bringing the total number of articles published on the site to 104<\/strong> (a milestone!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topical Clusters<\/strong><\/td>2<\/td><\/tr>
Entities Covered<\/strong><\/td>10<\/td><\/tr>
Templates Live<\/strong><\/td>11<\/td><\/tr>
Posts Published<\/strong><\/td>104<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another milestone is the case study website reaching six months of age.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re ramping up content production from late May and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll use more generative AI<\/strong> to assist this process, which has already become a staple for content creators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ll also review the already-published templates to try to find patterns and identify what\u2019s working<\/strong> and what isn\u2019t \u2014 so stay tuned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traffic<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The site survived Google\u2019s April 2023 reviews update and had 160 clicks and 12.8k impressions in Google\u2019s SERPs, with an average CTR of 1.2% and an average position of 14:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"programmatic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you expand the timeline to look at the trend for the past six months, the line is definitely in the right direction:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"programmatic<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the Web is as uncertain as ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the new Google's algorithm updates to search engines generating their own answers instead of giving you results, the future of this business model looks less bright when you consider that we\u2019re competing for user attention<\/strong> with the platforms that are supposed to be sending them to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who remembers the social media boom and the downfall of the organic traffic from Facebook (and then Pinterest) knows that this usually doesn\u2019t end well for publishers, who will have to find new ways to stay afloat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

[ratemypost]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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