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I’m having a problem … the wrong page is indexing with Google, for search phrases “not on that page”.

Explained … On a website I developed, I have four products. For example sake, we’ll say these four products are:

  1. Sneakers (search phrase: sneakers)
  2. Boots (search phrase: boots)
  3. Sandals (search phrase: sandals)
  4. High heels (search phrase: high heels)

Error:

What is going “wrong” is … When the search phrase “high heels” is indexed by Google, my “Sneakers” page is being indexed instead (and ranking very well, like #2). The page that SHOULD be indexing, is the “High heels” page (not the sneakers page – this is the wrong search phrase, and it’s not even on that product page – not in URL, not in H1 tags, not in title, not in page text – nowhere, except for in the top navigation link).

Clue #1 … this same error is ALSO happening for my other search phrases, in exactly the same manner. i.e. … the search phrase “sandals” is ALSO resulting in my “Sneakers” page being indexed, by Google.

Clue #2 … this error is NOT happening with Bing (the proper pages are correctly indexing with the proper search phrases, in Bing).

Note 1: MOZ has given all my product pages an “A” ranking, for optimization.

Note 2: This is a WordPress website.

Note 3: I had recently migrated (3 months ago) most of this new website’s page content (but not the “Sneakers” page – this page is new) from an old, existing website (not mine), which had been indexing OK for these search phrases.

Note 4: 301 redirects were used, for all of the OLD website pages, to the new website.

I have tried everything I can think of to fix this, over a period of more than 30 days. Nothing has worked. I think the “clues” (it indexes properly in Bing) are useful, but I need help.

Thoughts?

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  • Sounds like Google is personalising your search results... your logged in, or Google is caching the results based on your IP or is using a stored cookie. Personalised results have been a common thing since 2009 . To avoid Google sometimes tailors results based on your previous behaviour, use incognito mode, chances are your not ranking well at all on either of those pages for that search term.
    – Simon Hayter
    Jun 9, 2016 at 21:23
  • Furthermore I noticed that you used in the word were 301 redirects were used, for all of the OLD website pages, to the new website., a 301 redirect should be a permanent thing, and not a temporary thing. Otherwise, your going to lose those backlinks that are linked to the old domain.
    – Simon Hayter
    Jun 9, 2016 at 21:27
  • What was the old domain name?? Are the page paths and file names (if that applies) exactly the same from the old site to the new? 301 redirects can cause this issue when the old domain name, paths, and file names differ and are giving different semantic clues. These clues can seriously skew search results. As each page is fetched on the new domain, this should correct itself within a few days or 1-2 weeks at the most. Cheers!!
    – closetnoc
    Jun 10, 2016 at 2:13

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It seems you need to help Google Bot out.

I suggest you create a sitemap, go sign up for Google Webmaster tools and submit the site URL (add property) , confirm the site ownership, add the sitemap, submit to index.

It will sort itself out (old links) and if there is a problem you will be notified via Google Webmaster Tools console, and email.

Google Webmaster Tools - Register

Create a sitemap online

Learn how to set up Webmaster Tools - step by step

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