Month: November 2019

Can Google give relevant results when search query includes “small”?

Summary – This post is just an observation (not a clear test), that Google does not understand the term “small” in banquet hall niche.

Google search works with data – Google can give better results only if it has relevant data.

There are valid niches where a person might search for something “small”.

For example someone may search for “small banquet hall in Mississauga” because they want to host a small party.

However Google results were not very useful when I tried the above query.

I noticed that Google results for “banquet hall in Mississauga” and “small banquet in Mississauga” were not much different. The rank of some pages was different, but essentially almost same pages were showing up in both SERPs and certainly they were not small banquet halls.

This is not a full test. However at least in the banquet hall niche, Google does not seem to understand “small”, at least as of now (Nov 2019).

So a small banquet hall would have to use some SEO or ads to get featured in Google search results.  Google would not show them on their own, even though this should have been possible if Google would have had better data.

Useful info on Google ads policy disapprovals

If you are a PPC pro then this article might be a useful read – https://www.ppchero.com/google-policy-ad-disapprovals-a-story-of-false-flags/

If you are a business owner managing your own PPC, then most probably you may not have time to check your Google ads account everyday. In such a case, do follow the “Email Notifications” section of the above article, to set up email notification for ad disapproval.

 

Free VPN for accessing Google Ads (adwords) web interface

Most people would not need a VPN solution to access Google ads web interface.

However if are using a VPN for accessing Google ads web interface, and if that VPN solution happens to be  Windscribe for Chrome then you would know that Windscribe is no longer working well. (as of November 2019)

You could try https://setupvpn.com/ or  http://freevpn.zone/ , instead of Windscribe.

Paid (premium) VPN solutions also exist and may be better in some contexts, but I find that above free VPNs work fine too.

Expired Domain – can I access WP dashboard?

Expired Domain – can I access WP dashboard?

If your WordPress website data is still on your old web host but your old domain name has expired you can still get your old WordPress site and move it to a new domain, as well as new web host.

Problem synopsis –

1. Old domain expired hence your site is not reachable by old domain name.

2. WordPress admin dashboard cannot be accessed using old expired domain name.

3. WordPress data is still on old host.

4. Client wanted to use a new web host and new domain name, but wanted the same WordPress website as hosted on old expired domain name.

Solution Steps –

1. Find out your old web host’s IP address from the cpanel of you old web host, where your old WordPress website data still resides.

2. Enter this IP address and old expired domain name in the hosts file on your computer. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosts_(file)  for more details on your hosts file location.

The file is usually present in
Windows: C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts
Linux: /etc/hosts
Mac: /etc/private/hosts OR /etc/hosts

You may Google for how to edit hosts file or follow instruction on this article – https://www.howtogeek.com/howto/27350/beginner-geek-how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/

After editing your hosts file, your web browser should be able to resolve your old expired domain name to the IP address of your old web host. So, now clear your browser cache, or use an incognito window (private browsing mode of your browser) to access your old WordPress website, using your old expired domain name.

3. Once your WordPress website and WordPress dashboard is accessible using your old expired domain name, you should install the Duplicator plugin on your old WordPress website.

4. Next use the duplicator plugin to create “package files” (the backup file and installer script created by Duplicator plugin) on the old expired domain’s WordPress install. Download these package files to your system. The plugin is very intuitive to use but if you want details, please follow the instructions on this page – https://snapcreek.com/blog/wordpress/techniques/how-to-move-a-wordpress-site/

5. Upload these package files to the new web host of the new domain, using cpanel (or FTP) on the new host.

6. Create a new database, and a new database user, on the new web host. Note down this info as it will be required while restoring from the duplicator package file.

7. Execute duplicator plugin’s installer.php script and in most cases you will be successful in restoring your old (expired domain) website on the new domain, new host.

8. Your website should be accessible on the new domain name now.

9. Undo the changes you made to the hosts file on your computer.

10. If your old domain has expired you have fewer options in terms of preserving SEO, but if you already had a Google search console account on the old domain, you should use the “Change of address tool” at https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9370220?hl=en&visit_id=637091560872705890-3050482164&rd=1 to inform Google about change of website address.