Integrated Scheduling

Schedule Integration to Existing Site (Wordpress)

According to Google's best practices for websites:

• Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
• Don't deceive your users.
• Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
• A good rule of thumb is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"
• Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.

While vague, the translation becomes more clear when we understand the negative impacts of not following the simple order.

Limitations to Sub-Domain Use

(myurl.com vs booking.myurl.com)

• Negative Impact to SEO to primary domain
  • Clients are redirected from primary domain (as if going to another site)
  • Negative impact on ALEXA ranking (user time spent on site)
  • Diminished MOZ rating
  • Negative impact on returning user credit
  • No pass of SEO "juice" from primary to sub
• Client confusion/drop off
  • Moving between information / function
• Two sites to manage.
  • Each site is viewed by Google/Bing/Yahoo as separate entities/domains
  • Each site requires management
  • Each site incurs cost
  • Both sites would require SEO to be found
  • Both sites require SSL
• Two sets of data to track.
  • Limited ability to track conversions
  • Limited ability to track behavior flow
  • Limited ability to track source/medium
  • Limited ability to track new/returning users
• Increased potential for spam rating
  • Emails are sent from primary domain but are originating from sub-domain
• Increased chance of invalid data
  • Information not updated on both sites

If you are currently using a subdomain for scheduling functionality (schedulingsoftware.yourdomain.com or yourdomain.schedulingsoftware.com) you should be aware that your SEO is impacted. Attributed ALEXA ranking (how much time people spend on the site), traffic volumes, and rank are separate from the primary domain. Google sees these as two different assets. If you are using your own subdomain to use a plugin, it would be in your best interest to redirect any traffic from the no longer valid URLs to your homepage, or appropriate landing pages. Until Google finalizes a new index of your site, the old links will still display dead pages. Removing the URLs from Google’s index (in webmaster tools)or using code to hide them (bad practice) won’t immediately stop the flow of traffic that may be attempting to load the data. As a courtesy to your customers, as well as to your standing with the Google police, a 301 redirect for a period of time is a great idea. If you are currently hosted on a software provider's sub-domain, you may not have any choice regarding the traffic redirection.