Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by grace jolliffe on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 01/31/2016).

Should I start my site again?

SHOULD I START MY SITE AGAIN
Hi again you gents kindly helped me with my question on using Alt tags for images last week.
I watched the video of you dealing with the question and found it really, really helpful and I think a lot of my confusion about image tags and keywords is now gone.

However, I am now more worried than before because during the video it was mentioned that there seems to be a lot of problems with my site.
CODE
Among other problems, errors in coding were mentioned.
As recommended I checked it in the linked validator but I  just use Wordpress and add themes. I don’t code so I had no idea what it meant. Does it mean the theme has bad code?
BAD PRACTICE
The really alarming thing was when Edwin Jonk mentioned that there seemed to be a div with set ? Something about American express and the code was ‘display none’ which is bad practice.

Now, I have never put adverts (apart from links to my own kindle books) on the site.

EMPLOYED A FREELANCER
I did employ a freelance to do SEO on the site before Christmas. 
However he did ’nothing’ ?? for a couple of weeks, then he told me he had ceased trading.  He had access to my site and I worry that he placed malware or did something wrong.

SHOULD I START AGAIN WITH NEW SITE NAME?
I don’t know how to find, or fix the problems so 
I am thinking of taking my site www.ballyyahoo.com down and starting again with the new name:
www.ballyyahookidsstories.com or similar.
The thought doesn’t totally dismay me as this site never did as well as my others - so maybe this would help?

What do you gents think?
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YOUR ANSWERS

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

  • grace jolliffe: SHOULD I START MY SITE AGAIN
    Hi again you gents kindly helped me with my question on using Alt tags for images last week.
    I watched the video of you dealing with the question and found it really, really helpful and I think a lot of my confusion about image tags and keywords is now gone.

    However, I am now more worried than before because during the video it was mentioned that there seems to be a lot of problems with my site.
    CODE
    Among other problems, errors in coding were mentioned.
    As recommended I checked it in the linked validator but I  ;just use Wordpress and add themes. I don’t code so I had no idea what it meant. Does it mean the theme has bad code?
    BAD PRACTICE
    The really alarming thing was when Edwin Jonk mentioned that there seemed to be a div with set ? Something about American express and the code was ‘display none’ which is bad practice.

    Now, I have never put adverts (apart from links to my own kindle books) on the site.

    EMPLOYED A FREELANCER
    I did employ a freelance to do SEO on the site before Christmas. ;
    However he did ’nothing’ ??? for a couple of weeks, then he told me he had ceased trading.  ;He had access to my site and I worry that he placed malware or did something wrong.

    SHOULD I START AGAIN WITH NEW SITE NAME?
    I don’t know how to find, or fix the problems so ;
    I ;am thinking of taking my site www.ballyyahoo.com down and starting again with the new name:
    www.ballyyahookidsstories.com or similar.
    The thought doesn’t totally dismay me as this site never did as well as my others - so maybe this would help?

    What do you gents think?
  • Edwin Jonk: I don't know what the svg [1] is, but the div has a display none. Maybe it is a donate button, that wasn't implemented correctly.

    My guess with regard to the bad code is that a plugin isn't installed properly.

    You don't have to start over on a new TLD. As far as I can see the TLD is not toxic. ;

    Personally I would do a fresh install of WP on test sub-domain. I would block search engines with a noindex on that sub-domain, install the plugins you use and re-write the content so that it reads naturally. After I would migrate that to the root (don't forget to remove the noindex). ;

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics
  • Edwin Jonk: And make sure you use the same URL's. That way you don't have to 301.
  • grace jolliffe: HI Edwin thanks for coming back to me. To be honest I have no clue how to do any of those things. I got wordpress to simplfy things for me.
    I don't know what a test domain is and I don't know how remove noindex
    ( I cant find it either)
     ;I also would have no idea how to migrate that to the root.
    Is this something you do? Or could you refer me to someone trustworthy who does.
    You can email me on [email protected] if you wish.

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 01/31/2016).