Google is not indexing Pianotell.com at all?

iternabe · Nov 25, 2024

@navindra mentioned this in a PianoClack Forum post. I just tested by google search “site:pianotell.com flat hand arch problem” and 0 results came back. This seems serious. What can be done to get Google index our site?

PianoClack seems to be using the same forum. And it comes up in google results when I searched one of their post titles.

BBartK · Nov 25, 2024

Don't use Google. Results come up just fine in DDG.

navindra · Nov 26, 2024

iternabe I just tested by google search “site:pianotell.com flat hand arch problem” and 0 results came back.

I thought this might be a mistake, but sure enough Google indicates this page is not indexed. That's quite a mystery to me given the URL is in the site map. However, it's the case with many other URLs as well — Google confirms they are not indexed.

Google claims even the top level forums are not indexed, so I just submitted them individually for indexing.

This also bothers me.

Search for "piano forum", often Google will tell me "Piano | Tell forum" is a frequently searched term.
However when I click it, the results are anything but.

I have to scroll multiple pages before I finally find PianoTell. Probably the more clicks it gets, eventually it will rank higher.

navindra · Nov 26, 2024

BartK Wow! Looks like we're doing really well in DDG... so it's a mystery why Google is still being so temperamental about PianoTell.

iternabe · Nov 26, 2024

navindra Do I remember correctly that Piano Tell changed hosting recently? Could that have anything to do with Google stopped indexing? Like maybe some step to inform Google with site IP or domain registration needs to be redone? Just guessing here.

navindra · Nov 27, 2024

iternabe Google delisted us while we were on the previous hosting, coinciding with an outage that we experienced.

We never recovered in the ranking even though hosting has been rock solid since then.

navindra · Dec 19, 2024

The algorithm gives and takes.

While on the one hand, Google Search Console informs me that PianoTell content is being aggressively de-indexed presumably due to budget reasons, anecdotally, the ranking of the main site seems to have recovered from the previous penalty. Are others seeing this or am I only seeing personalized results?

Search for "piano forums" or "piano forum" or "piano discussions" and hopefully you'll see PianoTell on the first page.

If you do see PianoTell, please click it! There's a chance that signal will feed back into the algorithm...

iternabe · Dec 19, 2024

Still the same. Try the following search on Google vs on Bing. The difference is clear.

site:pianotell.com why perform for others

navindra · Dec 19, 2024

iternabe I think you're answering something else. Ranking of the main site is different from the de-indexing of the rest of the site content.

Just curious as to whether others are seeing PianoTell ranking now with searches such as "piano forums" or "piano forum" or "piano discussions".

iternabe · Dec 19, 2024

navindra Got it.

Topic searching is how I find most of the online resources. I really hope other people can find PianoTell that way, too.

De-indexing sites due to budget reasons, if true, sounds illogical to me and may not bode well for Google’s future.

navindra · Dec 19, 2024

iternabe I wish, but there is nothing actionable in GSC to address this. It's only a guess that Google is funneling more money towards AI while deprioritizing indexing smaller sites.

TC3 · Dec 19, 2024

I just Googled "piano forums." PT was the fourth hit. Not bad!

navindra · Dec 19, 2024

TC3 I just Googled "piano forums." PT was the fourth hit. Not bad!

Woohoo! Glad to see independent confirmation!

Hopefully the improved ranking will result in other goodness, if Google sees PT getting those clicks.

navindra · Dec 20, 2024

navindra Are others seeing this or am I only seeing personalized results?

Search for "piano forums" or "piano forum" or "piano discussions" and hopefully you'll see PianoTell on the first page.

If you do see PianoTell, please click it! There's a chance that signal will feed back into the algorithm...

It seems the tides have turned, I'm not sure who or what to credit though!

iternabe I just tested by google search “site:pianotell.com flat hand arch problem” and 0 results came back.

iternabe site:pianotell.com why perform for others

Both these searches are returning perfect results for me now. This literally changed overnight.

Hopefully others are seeing this as well!

Edit: It seems like I may have spoken too soon? PianoTell is indexed but ranking has tanked across the board.

FrankCox · Dec 20, 2024

I just did a google search for piano forums and this site showed up halfway down the fifth page of the search results, several pages past even such lovely sounding sites as "fart piano". (No, I didn't check to see what that one was.)

duckduckgo shows this site as the fifth link on the first page.

bing has it as the last link at the bottom of the first page.

So I don't think too many people around here are going to be finding this site through google.

navindra · Dec 21, 2024

FrankCox Yes we're back to square zero with Google. I no longer see PianoTell ranking for "Piano | Tell Forum".

For my sanity, I think I'll switch to Bing or DuckDuckGo... it will be easier to get the rest of the world to switch over to these search engines than to figure out how to fix Google.

PianoTell will need more community-driven/grassroots type growth.