How do search engines react? An important factor in resource promotion, or good content for search engines
Greetings, dear friends! I have been tormented by the question for a long time: Does the non-uniqueness of a design template on a WordPress site affect the site’s ranking in search engines - Yandex, Google, that is, if you put on a site a template that is on other hundreds-thousands of sites, how do search engines feel about it?
The question is quite interesting and concerns everyone who has a website. Let's try to figure it out.
How do search engines treat non-unique templates on a website?
There are two opinions:
First opinion: The website needs a unique theme. When search robots study a site, they see a non-unique theme code, it is non-unique because such a theme was also installed on other sites before you, and because of this, sites are lowered in search results, so you need to make a design theme from scratch. Order designers to draw a website, then give it to layout designers to put the design on a CMS, in my case WordPress, and then search engines will treat such a site well.
Second opinion - That you can put a non-unique theme on your website - that is, a template. Templates are available both free and paid. Choose which one you want, put it on the site and that’s it. For search engines, the main information is articles, videos, etc. that are published on the site, so the non-uniqueness of the topic does not affect the search results in any way.
After reading the opinions, I realized that there is no way to sort it out, because both opinions have the right to exist, both have their pros and cons.
Then I decided to write, so to speak, to the original source - write directly to Yandex technical support and ask them how they rank sites. Yes, I'm just a damn genius! :-D))
This is what I wrote to them:
"Hello. I didn’t find an item to just ask a question, so I’m sorry if the category of the question is wrong.
Please tell me, I have a question, I have a site on cms WordPress, when Yandex robots index the site, do they see the design theme, that this is a template, not a unique option? The same as those who also install such a template on their website. And maybe because of this the site is lowered in search positions?
Do Yandex robots give preference to sites with a unique design? Rather than formulaic.
Is this really bad or not? Thank you."
Screen:
The next day the answer came:
Screen:
The conclusion is that, as we see from the response from Yandex support, the first place for them is convenience for visitors, and this is what they base their policy on how to correctly rank sites and display them in search results.
That is, for them it does not play a big role; if there is an impact of the non-uniqueness of the template on search results, it is very small. Of course, it’s possible that if you compare two sites—one with a template design and the other with a unique one—then the second will be a little ahead. But again, do not forget about the policies of search engines; if a site with a unique design has, for example, terrible navigation and uninteresting articles, then the design will not save it in this case!)
What I think about this is that let everyone choose for themselves what they like and what suits them best :-)
Unique website design, of course it’s cool:
This increases your brand and online visibility. After all, you are the only one with such a design on the entire Internet.
You can make it completely the way you want to see it, which is not always possible to do with a template version.
— The biggest disadvantage of this option is the price. Of course, different designers and layout designers have different prices, but on average, a unique design theme will cost from 20 thousand rubles.
— Also, in the future, any extensions may not fit your theme.
Regarding templates:
Another plus is the price. There are generally free solutions, especially now more and more very good templates are appearing - adapted for mobile devices and with other goodies. Well, if you decide to buy a template, the price is not quite high. Let's take as an example the most famous site with WordPress templates - Themeforest.net. Very high quality and professional templates with an average price of $40-60.
Since the templates are made by professional studios, we can be sure that 98% of extensions will fit this theme.
— Of the minuses, the main one is its non-uniqueness. But it depends on which side you look at. Considering that there are millions of sites on the Internet, it is not so often, let’s say :-D, that your visitors will come across the same template that is on your site and therefore they will not throw tomatoes at you.
And we can also modify the template. Nowadays there are more and more settings with which we can change the template beyond recognition.
In conclusion, I want to say that you can start with a template theme, and later, when you have already promoted your resource, you can redesign the site. There are many examples when sites that have template design themes went crazy attendance figures of 5000-10000-20000 people per DAY! Yes, there are such examples and you should not forget that people go to your site because of the content in the first place, and only then they look at whether your site is beautiful or not!)
This is how the article turned out. Write your opinion in the comments - which opinion do you belong to or write your opinion what you think about this. Bye!)
What is this
DuckDuckGo is a fairly well-known open source search engine. Servers are located in the USA. In addition to its own robot, the search engine uses results from other sources: Yahoo, Bing, Wikipedia.
The better
DuckDuckGo positions itself as a search engine that provides maximum privacy and confidentiality. The system does not collect any data about the user, does not store logs (no search history), and the use of cookies is as limited as possible.
DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information from users. This is our privacy policy.
Gabriel Weinberg, founder of DuckDuckGo
Why do you need this
All major search engines are trying to personalize search results based on data about the person in front of the monitor. This phenomenon is called the “filter bubble”: the user sees only those results that are consistent with his preferences or that the system deems as such.
Forms an objective picture that does not depend on your past behavior on the Internet, and eliminates Google and Yandex thematic advertising based on your queries. With DuckDuckGo it is easy to search for information in foreign languages, while Google and Yandex by default give preference to Russian-language sites, even if the query is entered in another language.
What is this
not Evil is a system that searches the anonymous Tor network. To use it, you need to go to this network, for example by launching a specialized .
not Evil is not the only search engine of its kind. There is LOOK (the default search in the Tor browser, accessible from the regular Internet) or TORCH (one of the oldest search engines on the Tor network) and others. We settled on not Evil because of the clear hint from Google (just look at the start page).
The better
It searches where Google, Yandex and other search engines are generally closed.
Why do you need this
The Tor network contains many resources that cannot be found on the law-abiding Internet. And their number will grow as government control over the content of the Internet tightens. Tor is a kind of network within the Internet with its own social networks, torrent trackers, media, trading platforms, blogs, libraries, and so on.
3. YaCy
What is this
YaCy is a decentralized search engine that works on the principle of P2P networks. Each computer on which the main software module is installed scans the Internet independently, that is, it is analogous to a search robot. The results obtained are collected into a common database that is used by all YaCy participants.
The better
It’s difficult to say whether this is better or worse, since YaCy is a completely different approach to organizing search. The absence of a single server and owner company makes the results completely independent of anyone's preferences. The autonomy of each node eliminates censorship. YaCy is capable of searching the deep web and non-indexed public networks.
Why do you need this
If you are a supporter of open source software and a free Internet, not subject to the influence of government agencies and large corporations, then YaCy is your choice. It can also be used to organize a search within a corporate or other autonomous network. And even though YaCy is not very useful in everyday life, it is a worthy alternative to Google in terms of the search process.
4. Pipl
What is this
Pipl is a system designed to search for information about a specific person.
The better
The authors of Pipl claim that their specialized algorithms search more efficiently than “regular” search engines. In particular, priority is given to social network profiles, comments, member lists, and various databases that publish information about people, such as databases of court decisions. Pipl's leadership in this area is confirmed by assessments from Lifehacker.com, TechCrunch and other publications.
Why do you need this
If you need to find information about a person living in the US, then Pipl will be much more effective than Google. The databases of Russian courts are apparently inaccessible to the search engine. Therefore, he does not cope so well with Russian citizens.
What is this
FindSounds is another specialized search engine. Searches various sounds in open sources: house, nature, cars, people, and so on. The service does not support queries in Russian, but there is an impressive list of Russian-language tags that you can use to search.
The better
The output contains only sounds and nothing extra. In the settings you can set the desired format and sound quality. All sounds found are available for download. There is a search by pattern.
Why do you need this
If you need to quickly find the sound of a musket shot, the blows of a suckling woodpecker, or the cry of Homer Simpson, then this service is for you. And we chose this only from the available Russian-language queries. In English the spectrum is even wider.
Seriously, a specialized service requires a specialized audience. But what if it comes in handy for you too?
What is this
Wolfram|Alpha is a computational search engine. Instead of links to articles containing keywords, it provides a ready-made answer to the user's request. For example, if you enter “compare the populations of New York and San Francisco” into the search form in English, Wolfram|Alpha will immediately display tables and graphs with the comparison.
The better
This service is better than others for finding facts and calculating data. Wolfram|Alpha collects and organizes knowledge available on the Web from a variety of fields, including science, culture and entertainment. If this database contains a ready-made answer to a search query, the system displays it; if not, it calculates and displays the result. In this case, the user sees only nothing superfluous.
Why do you need this
If you're a student, analyst, journalist, or researcher, for example, you can use Wolfram|Alpha to find and calculate data related to your work. The service does not understand all requests, but it is constantly developing and becoming smarter.
What is this
The Dogpile metasearch engine displays a combined list of results from search results from Google, Yahoo and other popular systems.
The better
First, Dogpile displays fewer ads. Secondly, the service uses a special algorithm to find and show the best results from different search engines. According to the Dogpile developers, their systems generate the most complete search results on the entire Internet.
Why do you need this
If you can't find information on Google or another standard search engine, look for it in several search engines at once using Dogpile.
What is this
BoardReader is a system for text search in forums, question and answer services and other communities.
The better
The service allows you to narrow your search field to social platforms. Thanks to special filters, you can quickly find posts and comments that match your criteria: language, publication date and site name.
Why do you need this
BoardReader can be useful for PR specialists and other media specialists who are interested in the opinion of the masses on certain issues.
Finally
The life of alternative search engines is often fleeting. Lifehacker asked the former general director of the Ukrainian branch of Yandex, Sergei Petrenko, about the long-term prospects of such projects.
Sergey Petrenko
Former General Director of Yandex.Ukraine.
As for the fate of alternative search engines, it is simple: to be very niche projects with a small audience, therefore without clear commercial prospects or, conversely, with complete clarity of their absence.
If you look at the examples in the article, you can see that such search engines either specialize in a narrow but popular niche, which, perhaps, has not yet grown enough to be noticeable on the radars of Google or Yandex, or they are testing an original hypothesis in ranking, which is not yet applicable in regular search.
For example, if a search on Tor suddenly turns out to be in demand, that is, results from there are needed by at least a percentage of Google’s audience, then, of course, ordinary search engines will begin to solve the problem of how to find them and show them to the user. If the behavior of the audience shows that for a significant proportion of users in a significant number of queries, results given without taking into account factors depending on the user seem more relevant, then Yandex or Google will begin to produce such results.
“Be better” in the context of this article does not mean “be better at everything.” Yes, in many aspects our heroes are far from Yandex (even far from Bing). But each of these services gives the user something that the search industry giants cannot offer. Surely you also know similar projects. Share with us - let's discuss.
Most recently, SEOs have penalized Google for pop-ups and hidden content on the site. Then, to the surprise of many, Google representatives stated that the search engine’s algorithms do not impose sanctions for hidden information and asked a counter question: why hide content on a page at all?
It’s hard to say how honest Gary Ilsch and John Mueller were at that moment. It is unlikely that people so close to SEO are hearing about hidden information and “sheets” of text hidden beyond the boundaries of the user’s screen for the first time.
Probably, seonews.ru journalists came to exactly the same opinion. And they asked the question - “how does Yandex treat hidden SEO text?” The answers of three prominent representatives of the Runet are below.
Mikhail Slivinsky
one of the top managers of Yandex company
He expressed the opinion that any attempt to manipulate the search will lead to disastrous results.
“The site should be focused on the user, not on search engine robots.”
The main thesis of his message is that each case should be considered separately. Sometimes the use of hidden elements benefits the project; in other cases, hidden text becomes a source of problems during promotion.
Not counting “hell-spammed” hidden content (this will be banned in any case), all options for hiding part of the information are considered at the level of assessors - living people reacting to signals from algorithms and/or user complaints.
According to Dmitry, here you need to understand what effect the optimizer is counting on:
- mislead the search engine (an attempt to manipulate search);
- improve the usability and functionality of the site, thereby improving the user experience.
Correct and convenient implementation will not raise questions even for the assessor. Accordingly, there will be no negative consequences for the site. And, on the contrary, deliberate manipulation, an attempt to work directly with a search robot, will have a bad effect on the Internet resource.
Dmitry admits that some of the Pixel Plus projects cannot do without “hidden” elements. But each time they evaluate how necessary it is and whether it is possible to use alternative methods of filling the site.