Search Engine Optimization

  Wrong favicon in Google Search after website migration — and how we resolved it A step-by-step account of how we diagnosed, escalated, and finally resolved a brand favicon mismatch in Google Search results following a domain migration from LWReid to Trutex. The problem Following a website migration from the LWReid brand to Trutex , the correct Trutex shield favicon was showing perfectly in the browser tab — but Google Search was still displaying the old circular "LW" logo next to the site name in search results. The head of sales noticed this first: Head of Sales "The favicon is still coming up with 'LWReid' on Google Search — has this been fixed yet?" The technical lead initially suggested it was a caching issue: Technical Lead "I think it's a cached result. Is there a way to invalidate it again?" Both were partly right — but the full picture was a bit more nuanced. SEO analysis: ...

I recently handled an SEO domain migration from https://www.lwreid.com.au/ to https://www.trutex.com.au/ . The 301 server-side redirects were already live — my job was the next critical step: submitting the Change of Address in Google Search Console (GSC) . Here's exactly what happened. Challenge 1 — Wrong Access Level The client had set up GSC properties only for the non-www versions of both domains, and I was given Edit access — not Owner access. The Change of Address tool requires Owner-level access on both the old and new domain properties. I flagged this immediately, requested the correct access, and got it resolved before proceeding. Always request Owner access upfront. Edit access will block you at the submission step. Challenge 2 — Missing GSC Property for the www Destination Even though trutex.com.au had a GSC property, https://www.trutex.com.au/ did not — and these are treated as completely separate properties under the URL Prefix method. I set up the http...

Real-World Incident: How Google Indexed 9,500 Pages — Then Quietly Removed Them All A case study on AI-generated content, programmatic SEO, and the March 2026 Core Update A LinkedIn connection recently asked me to analyse their website — makdatainsights.com — a market research report platform with around 10,000 pages. What I found was one of the most textbook examples of a Google indexing trap I've seen in real time. Let me walk you through exactly what happened. The Index Graph That Tells the Whole Story Look at the Page Indexing report in Google Search Console. The pattern is striking: 7 Feb 2026 — 78 pages indexed 10 Mar 2026 — 9,528 pages indexed (peak — nearly the full 10K sitemap) 11 Mar 2026 — Drop begins. 9,292 pages. 27 Mar 2026 — March 2026 Core Update released 24 Apr 2026 — Only 2,641 pages indexed. 7,047 pages sit in "Crawled – currently not indexed" Google didn't ignore these pages. It crawled them, indexed them, reconsidered — and then s...

I recently tackled one of the more challenging tasks in local SEO — getting a fake Google Business Profile (GBP) review removed. Here's a full breakdown of the process, the roadblocks, and ultimately, how we succeeded. The problem Upon analysis, I discovered that the same review text had been posted across approximately 15 different Google Business Profiles, spanning multiple locations and three separate companies: Southern Cross Group Services Southern Cross Protection Southern Cross Investigations My client had no record of any customer interaction or engagement with this reviewer whatsoever. Furthermore, my client is an independent entity and is not affiliated with Southern Cross Protection or any similarly named organizations. Initial actions taken I began with the two standard methods available for flagging a fake review: Marked the review as "off-topic" directly on the listing. Submitted a formal removal request via the  Google Review Management Tool . Unfortunately...

Recently, I encountered an interesting indexing issue in Google Search Console while working on the website:  https://www.schoolblazerlimited.com/ Google Search Console showed the following notification: “Duplicate – Google chose different canonical than user.” This issue can sometimes be confusing because even when the technical SEO setup is correct , Google may still choose a different canonical URL. In this post, I would like to share the root cause, investigation process, and the steps we took to resolve the issue. The Issue Observed in Google Search Console When we inspected the homepage URL in Google Search Console , we noticed: The non-www version was indexed in Google -  https://schoolblazerlimited.com/ The www version was not indexed -  https://www.schoolblazerlimited.com/ When checking the URL Inspection Tool , the status showed: “Duplicate – Google chose different canonical than user.” This meant that although we had specified a canonical URL, Google had sel...

Recently, I came across a critical indexing issue on the website hopmyjob.com , which is worth sharing because it can help other website owners and SEO professionals facing similar problems. In Google Search Console (GSC) , the homepage was reported with the status: Page is not indexed: Duplicate, Google chose a different canonical than user At first glance, this looks like a common canonical conflict. However, a deeper investigation revealed a serious security-related SEO issue . Canonical Issue Identified in Google Search Console User-declared canonical:  https://hopmyjob.com/ Google-selected canonical:  https://9738492609.xgijnaqgavwkrbmhgqfeibhugadiz.org/significantly-reduce-their-motivation Screenshot reference: Canonical details from GSC and When Google chooses a different canonical URL than the one we declare, it means: Google does not trust the declared canonical Google believes another URL represents the content better In this case, Google selected a suspicious, ran...

Interesting SEO Observation from a Professional Listing Website Recently, we encountered a critical SEO issue related to a Dynamic Result Page section on a professional listing site. This issue highlights how URL inconsistency can directly impact Google’s ability to process XML sitemaps. What Went Wrong? Our development team unintentionally changed the internal linking structure of dynamically generated pages. New dynamic URLs were generated unexpectedly These URLs did not match : Submitted XML sitemap URLs Canonical URL formats The incorrect URLs were being used in internal links As a result, Google started seeing multiple URL versions for the same pages. Impact on Google Sitemap Processing Before Fix Google stopped processing the XML sitemap URLs Sitemap pages were ignored or delayed Indexing signals became inconsistent This happened because Google was confused about which URL version was the correct one . What We Fixed Updated all int...

 Recently, we came across an interesting case in Google Indexing that highlights how small mistakes in Google Search Console can have a big impact on rankings and visibility. The Case: Page Missing from SERPs The page https://www.experience.com/reviews/joe-spisak-403982 was not showing up in Google Search Results (SERPs). When we inspected the URL in Google Search Console (GSC) , the tool clearly said: Crawled and Indexed – meaning Google had the page in its index. However, when we checked with the “site:” search operator ( site:experience.com/reviews/joe-spisak-403982 ), the page was not visible in the results. At the same time, repeated submissions for re-indexing were not helping. The Root Cause On deeper analysis, we discovered something unusual: The page was being crawled and indexed correctly. But it was not ranking or appearing in Google. Finally, we found the real issue — a removal request for this page had been mistakenly submitted in Google Sea...

I’d like to share one of the most complex SEO challenges I’ve encountered, triggered by a Google Core Update—and how we successfully recovered our organic traffic by identifying key issues and implementing critical fixes. The website in question is a professional listing platform built using NextJS with dynamic rendering. It hosts over 5 million pages , making it a large-scale JavaScript-based site where SEO management is particularly nuanced. How I Analyzed the Drop in Organic Traffic Shortly after Google’s Core Update, which spanned August to September , we noticed a significant drop in both organic clicks and impressions . The aim was to determine whether this drop was caused by internal issues, external factors, or a mix of both. Key Observations: When the Drop Occurred: The decline started in the second week of September , closely following the Core Update's rollout completion.  August and September . Metrics Overview: Clicks: Dropped from 16K–18K to 12K–13K I...