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You may have heard of Firefox. Firefox is a browser. What might be preventing en-US content about Firefox on www.mozilla.org from appearing in en-US search for "browser"?

https://www.google.com/search?q=browser&lr=lang_en&pws=0

Results for that search include...

  • Dozens of pages for things that aren't browsers but just happen to use the word "browser" in their URL or content
  • Pages for any number of web browsers, including almost every web browser you can imagine except Firefox

But no matter how many result pages you click through, you are extremely unlikely to ever find a link to content on www.mozilla.org. The current position of www.mozilla.org for "browser" searches is somewhere above infinity.

The attached image shows what "browser" searches that produced en-US results on www.mozilla.org look like in webmaster tools. There are dots where the site appears in the top 20 (which is probably its appropriate ranking) and then it immediately disappears. There are short lines where a new page on the site starts to rank for "browser" (as in the case of Firefox Focus), and then those disappear too.

When it ranks, it ranks well. But mostly it does not rank.

Some points to consider:

  • Mozilla's website is quite authoritative (Ahrefs rank ~30) and gets a lot of traffic, including lots of traffic from people intending to download a browser, Firefox.
  • If you force results in other languages, Firefox shows up (e.g. it was #7 in Danish SERP when I typed this): https://www.google.com/search?q=browser&pws=0&lr=lang_da
  • If you do a site-specific search for "browser", plenty of Firefox pages on www.mozilla.org appear: https://www.google.com/search?lr=lang_en&pws=0&q=browser+site%3Amozilla.org
  • The en-US site continues to rank well for all sorts of other keywords that include the word "browser" -- it's usually in the top 5 for "private browser" and "fast browser".
  • www.mozilla.org is usually first or second for "browser" on Bing.
  • Firefox pages on www.mozilla.org are at least as well optimized for the keyword "browser" as, say, a random GitHub project on the 14th page of "browser" results.
  • Firefox pages on www.mozilla.org are less optimized for "browser" than the competitors whose sites appear in top 10 (according to various SEO tools e.g. Moz).
  • This has been going on for several months. It's not new; it does not appear to be temporary.

Is the en-US Firefox site being penalized for some reason on this keyword (and if so, why aren't the hyper-optimized competitors who occupy top slots)? Does anyone see some obvious misconfiguration causing it to fall out of rankings?

Thanks.

hoosteeno
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  • This question appears to be off-topic because it is not about a website you control. This type of question is better suited for [chat]. – John Conde Aug 25 '17 at 18:36
  • @JohnConde Au contraire, I lead the SEO program at Mozilla. That's how I come by a screenshot from webmaster tools for www.mozilla.org. Ref: https://mozillians.org/en-US/u/hoosteeno/ – hoosteeno Aug 25 '17 at 21:28
  • The way the question is written suggests to many that you're asking questions about a general web browser, not about a website that you manage. – Mike -- No longer here Aug 26 '17 at 01:07
  • I don't see anything that shows you are actually an admin for mozilla.org. The screenshot doesn't indicate what site it is actually for. Not to mention, your profile indicates you represent a different company/website. Additionally, companies like Mozilla typically have a direct relationship with Google and can ask these sort of questions directly. Case in point, Stack Overflow has done so in the past. So, as it stands, this question remains off topic. – John Conde Aug 26 '17 at 02:11
  • I didn't realize proving site ownership was a prerequisite for posting.

    At Mozilla we have lots of folks who contribute to lots of websites -- volunteers and staff alike -- and I would hope that any of them could ask a question here intended to improve our site without having to show their credentials first.

    That said, I'm a product engineer working for Mozilla and I do SEO on www.mozilla.org right now. Perhaps one of these links is adequate proof?

    • 2017 bugs: https://mzl.la/2w62g06
    • My SO CV: https://stackoverflow.com/cv/hoosteeno
    • All my Hacks Posts: https://mzl.la/2vxaj28
     – hoosteeno Aug 26 '17 at 03:33
  • On the topic of Google contacts, @JohnConde I would welcome a PM from you or someone at Stack offering to connect me with someone at Google who might explain this situation. My overtures in Google product forums met a similar reception to the above, which is unfortunate. I have not seen any indication that Google is forthcoming with details about their ranking algorithms or whatever invisible penalties their algorithm might be enforcing against a site. – hoosteeno Aug 26 '17 at 03:38
  • I have re-closed this question with a different reason. Even high profile sites don't get site reviews here. If it were more general, this question would be duplicate of What are the best ways to increase a site's position in Google? – Stephen Ostermiller Sep 12 '17 at 23:59
  • @hoosteeno I've only a small amount of 'reputation' points on this forum, so don't think that my opinion will do anything to sway the mods. However, I find your concerns to be very interesting and would very much welcome a further discussion of them, especially from those with strong technical knowledge. It doesn't seem you're looking for a site review, as much as a discussion of search algorithm nuances. Furthermore, IMO, marking "what are the best ways to increase a site's position in Google?" as a duplicate question is effectively saying all sites possess the same SEO potential.(they don't) – alphazwest Sep 13 '17 at 21:18
  • Thanks to recent commenters for context and encouragement. Moving over to r/SEO where discussion of this may be more appropriate/welcome. https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/7038vl/why_cant_our_authoritative_website_about_our/ – hoosteeno Sep 14 '17 at 16:58

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