(Entry was posted by Sylwyn Fey on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/15/2014).

I feel like I have been penalized for even trying, and it`s frustrating. What can I do to change this situation?

I feel really frustrated almost to the point of just giving up with SEO all together!

Sorry if this is awkward, but my question needs my specifics...

feywildecosplay(dotcom)/nude-cosplay-e-shop/

I wanted my eshop to rank for the term "Nude Cosplay" so I optimized it a little bit... after google reindexed, my eshop page (linked above) dropped off the face of google and every attempt to try and reverse the situation has not turned any results.

Meanwhile ... Google is just not getting it with my website. Instead of ranking specific product pages that are somewhat optimized, it`s favoring random wordpress tags that I didn`t even realize I had! For example...For the search "Miqote nude cosplay"Instead of pulling up my optimized product page:

feywildecosplay(dotcom)/nude-cosplay-e-shop/miqote-ffxiv-photopack/

It`s ranking a random ass wordpress tag as number 1 and not showing my product!:

feywildecosplay(dotcom)/tag/miqote-nude/

What can I do to change this situation? I feel like I have been penalized for even trying, and it`s frustrating... At this point I just want to go back to the way things were. Because right now things are such a mess, that google is actually hurting my traffic by sending people to unintended pages. Things I`ve tried: Submitting a sitemap to WMT, restructuring the website so that the product pages are no longer individual, and are now child pages of the main store, going through and deleting keywords here and there. And checking in WMT for manual spam actions (which I have none)

Thanks... And sorry if this is long..?

This question begins at 00:33:06 into the clip. Did this video clip play correctly? Watch this question on YouTube commencing at 00:33:06

OUR ANSWERS

Answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Panelists.

Dave Elliott: Who is cosplay? Lol Tim Capper genuinely made me laugh, which probably wasn`t a good idea seeing as i was on the page at the time and people turned round!

Oh, well. Enjoy your vanilla ice cream guys! :D

One thing that hasn`t been mentioned in this is are you looking at ranks etc with safe search on or not? It isn`t porn by any stretch of the imagination but i`m not quite sure when festish/cosplay etc gets trashed from Google when in safe search.

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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

Sylwyn Fey: I feel really frustrated almost to the point of just giving up with SEO all together!

Sorry if this is awkward, but my question needs my specifics...

feywildecosplay(dotcom)/nude-cosplay-e-shop/

I wanted my eshop to rank for the term "Nude Cosplay" so I optimized it a little bit... after google reindexed, my eshop page (linked above) dropped off the face of google and every attempt to try and reverse the situation has not turned any results.

Meanwhile ... Google is just not getting it with my website. Instead of ranking specific product pages that are somewhat optimized, it's favoring random wordpress tags that I didn't even realize I had! For example...For the search "Miqote nude cosplay"Instead of pulling up my optimized product page:

feywildecosplay(dotcom)/nude-cosplay-e-shop/miqote-ffxiv-photopack/

It's ranking a random ass wordpress tag as number 1 and not showing my product!:

feywildecosplay(dotcom)/tag/miqote-nude/

What can I do to change this situation? I feel like I have been penalized for even trying, and it's frustrating... At this point I just want to go back to the way things were. Because right now things are such a mess, that google is actually hurting my traffic by sending people to unintended pages. Things I've tried: Submitting a sitemap to WMT, restructuring the website so that the product pages are no longer individual, and are now child pages of the main store, going through and deleting keywords here and there. And checking in WMT for manual spam actions (which I have none)

Thanks... And sorry if this is long..
Greg Baka: Hi +Sylwyn Fey ; - Wordpress can be great when done right, but it can also be a royal pain when done wrong. I have a couple of suggestions...

1) Find a WP wiz that also understands basic SEO and have them look over your page code to make sure nothing has gotten messed up.

2) get rid of the odd characters in important metatags (title and description and og tags) Doing a View Source, I see lots of them like & and ; » and ' (they may be from pasting in content originally typed elsewhere)

3) h1 tag - only one per page and a different one on each page. I checked two pages and both had LOTS of h1 tags. For SEO the h1 is important that it sum up what the page is about. It is a ranking signal, not just a way to make words big and bold.

So in summary, you may be having these problems because your code is a bit of a mess. If you built the site yourself, they are common beginner mistakes. If a pro built it for you, then they really aren't a pro and you may want to find a new website person.
Sylwyn Fey: Thanks for the input!

1) I don't really have the money to hire an SEO person, I'm a college student and simply don't have the funds yet for that quite yet. Do you happen to know where I might find someone well versed in WP who would be willing to give it a glance?

2) Thanks! I'll try getting rid of them to see if it helps. All the content is typed originally. They are symbols mainly, hearts and squiggly lines.

3) I'll try reducing the H1 tags, but is there a way I can quickly and easily get larger font without having to use the h1 tags? I used them for areas where the font needed to really stand out and where bolding simply wasn't enough.

If anyone else sees anything or wants to add, I'd greatly appreciate it.

~Fey
Edwin Jonk: From the expert panel in this weeks SEO Questions hangout on air on 00:33:06 into the YouTube video: https://dumbseoquestions.com/q/i_feel_like_i_have_been_penalized_for_even_trying_and_its_frustrating_what_can_i_do_to_change_this_situation +Sylwyn Fey

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Greg Baka: Hi +Sylwyn Fey ; - Before I get to code stuff, I will second the idea from today's panel that you compare the look of your site to other successful sites doing photo downloads. The overall appearance is pretty amateur.

Sometimes the way to fix a Wordpress mess is to stop using it. Are you comfortable using HTML and CSS outside the Wordpress system? If so, download Notepad++ (free) and try creating a basic product page. You would manually enter all the metatags and other bits. If you can do that, then parts of that page become a template for the next product page. I've built both my ecommerce sites this way. Any library will have many books on how this is done.

About replacing the h1 tags... Basically you create a class with a name like bigtext. Then in your CSS file you specify the font-size and all the other styles to match whatever your h1 styles are. Then you replace this:
<h1>Some unimportant headline</h1>
with this:
<p class="bigtext">Some unimportant headline</p>

Good luck!

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 08/15/2014).

I feel like I have been penalized for even trying, and it`s frustrating. What can I do to change this situation?

Answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Panelists.

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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