Google’s John Mueller answered a query a couple of WordPress website that was utterly deindexed from Google Search after altering to a unique internet hosting platform. Mueller’s reply reveals the place to start out investigating the the explanation why that occurs.

Dropped From Index After A Website 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 could imply that they had been internet hosting the positioning on the WordPress.com managed WordPress platform after which migrated their website away to a different internet host, usually known as self-hosting.

Migrating a WordPress website to a different internet host takes just a few comparatively easy steps however it may go flawed at nearly 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 standpoint of analyzing the website 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, virtually all publications disappeared from the index. The search outcomes are ‘0’.”

John Mueller responded:

“In case your website dropped out of the search outcomes and is not being listed in any respect, proper concerning the time while you did a migration, then my guess is that your new website is in some way blocking engines like google, or not less than, blocking Google. I’d begin by analyzing the info within the Search Console, and dealing ahead from there.”

Search console could present the precise date that pages began dropping out of Google’s index and the explanation why they’re dropping out. Typical causes will be the pages will not be discovered (404) or that Google was blocked from crawling by a robots.txt. These are the beginning factors for figuring out what’s occurring on Google’s facet.

Diagnose If WordPress Is Blocking Google

This sort of drawback usually 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 occurring by way of the Web page Indexing Report which can 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 usually situated within the root of your area, /robots.txt (instance.com/robots.txt).

If the web page is blocked by Robots.txt then it could be {that a} WordPress setting was utilized sooner or later within the migration to dam search indexing.

This can be 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 settings

If that’s the case then untick that field and also you’re accomplished.

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 search engine marketing or migration plugin. If that’s not the case then perhaps 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 internet hosting service or it might be one thing on the internet host facet. Beginning the investigation at Google Search Console is sweet recommendation.

Take heed to Google’s reply right here on the 7:24 minute mark:

Featured Picture by Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi