URL's locations only found in site: search

URL's locations only found in site: search - what does this mean?

[stevej444]

Hi,
Wonder if anyone can help.

We've got a large website (approx. 300,000 locations) and we're finding that quite a few locations cannot be found in the main 'normal' Google search i.e. you just type the location into Google's main search, but, can be found in search results if you use the "site:www.mydomain.com inurl:key-location-pattern" type search.

What does this mean? Any thoughts anyone?

Many thanks,
S

[agerhart]

If PAGE A doesn't rank but PAGE B does, are they similar enough to do an A/B comparison? For example, let's say you have two state pages with one ranking and one nowhere to be found. The pages should be similar in content and placement within the site. So what are the differences? Does one have more internal site link juice? Does one have more external inbound links pointing to it? Is one keyword more competitive than the other?

If no pages within a section rank well it may indicate a site structure or internal linking issue.

Or it could be simply that your site doesn't have enough authority, links, and/or optimization to compete with other sites in your market.

There are quite a few potential reasons.

Do you have any other specifics that could help to diagnose the issue?

[stevej444]

Thanks for the reply.

Rather interestingly I've found that locations that didn't return any results in G if you type in the http:// form of the location DO if you drop the http://.

[edited by: caveman at 8:13 pm (utc) on Sep. 15, 2008]

[agerhart]

sticky me with details if you would like me to take a look