Troubleshooting Page Optimization

If you’re having trouble with your Page Optimization reports, we’ve outlined a few common issues along with troubleshooting tips below.

Quick Links

• My Page is Showing a Rank of 51+
• "This Page Is Not On The Same Domain" Error
• Page Optimization Error
• I’m Still Having Trouble

Page Optimization pulls ranking data based on the page and keyword entered when the report is generated. If you’re seeing that a pairing you’ve created is returning a 51+ rank in Page Optimization but a higher rank in our other tools or within your Tracked Keyword Overview, it may be due to the way the pairing was initially set up.

To ensure the correct rank is pulled into the Page Optimization tool, make sure that the correct URL was entered at the time of report generation. Some things to check include:

• The correct protocol was entered (i.e. http or https) for the page that is ranking
• The correct subdomain was entered (i.e. www or non-www)
• The correct ranking URL was entered

Verifying the URL protocol

To verify the protocol of the URL entered, hover over the URL with your mouse. The URL should then populate at the bottom left of the screen with the protocol included.

If the incorrect protocol is selected, the pairing will need to be recreated with the correct protocol. If you’re unsure which protocol is ranking, you can verify the ranking URL with Analyze a Keyword or Rank Checker.

Verifying the subdomain

The subdomain for the page you’ve entered into Page Optimization will be visible in the Page column of the tool.

If the incorrect subdomain is selected, the pairing will need to be recreated with the correct subdomain. If you’re unsure which subdomain is ranking, you can verify the ranking URL with Analyze a Keyword or Rank Checker.

Verifying the ranking URL

If you’re not sure which page URL is ranking for a specific keyword or you want to check that you’re creating a pairing for the correct URL, there are a few ways you can do this within the Moz Pro tools.

Within the Analyze a Keyword section of your Campaign, you can select Keyword Performance from the drop down to see the top five ranking URLs for a specific keyword.

You can also use Rank Checker to see what URL is ranking for a keyword on a particular subdomain or to check the rank of a specific URL. This can be especially helpful if you’re creating a pairing for a keyword with more than five ranking URLs from your site or if you want to verify that the URL entered into Page Optimization is, in fact, ranking.

• Learn more about Analyze a Keyword
• Learn more about Rank Checker

If you’re attempting to create a new Page Optimization pairing but are receiving the error:

This page is not on the same domain as your tracked Campaign

This indicates that the page you want to grade is outside the scope of your Campaign Settings. The Page Optimization tool is only able to grade pages that fall within the scope of your Campaign.

The same error will populate if you attempt to use Page Optimization with a page that is on a different subdomain or within a different subfolder than what your Campaign Settings allow. If you have set up a restricted Campaign and wish to use Page Optimization for a page outside your Campaign, you can either recreate the Campaign as an unrestricted (or less restricted) Campaign or use our On-Page Grader tool.

• Learn more about Campaign Settings
• Learn more about creating a Campaign
• Learn more about On-Page Grader

If you are attempting to create a new Page Optimization pairing but are receiving the error:

The URL you entered does not appear to be returning a page successfully. Please make sure that you’ve entered the URL of a valid, working page.

This indicates that the page you want to grade is not accessible to the tool. There are a few things you can check to ensure that the tool is able to access the page as intended.

Attempt to access the URL in your browser

You can quickly test the accessibility of a page by attempting to load the URL in a browser. If the page returns a 404 error or isn’t able to load, our tool won’t be able to access it.

We also recommend testing browser accessibility in an incognito window since admins of a specific site may be able to view a disabled page as “live”, resulting in a different experience than that of a visitor who is not an admin.

Verify that the page has been crawled within your Campaign

You can also check to see if we were able to crawl the page by searching in All Crawled Pages. If the URL is not listed in All Crawled Pages, it may mean we weren’t able to find and/or crawl that page, which may be inhibiting our ability to access the page in Page Optimization.

Verify that the page is not returning a 4xx or 5xx status code

Within All Crawled Pages you will also be able to see the status code returned to our crawler for this URL. This can help to narrow down whether the issue is due to a 4xx or 5xx status code blocking our crawler. Page Optimization will not be able to grade a page which returns these types of status code.

This is similar to checking browser accessibility, but it is more specific to our crawler, rogerbot. The status codes listed in your Campaign are those specifically returned to our crawler, so even if you see a server error or a 403 forbidden status code listed, the page may still be accessible to you in a browser.

Verify that rogerbot is not being blocked from accessing the page

If you have a disallow directive or meta directive in place that is blocking our crawler, rogerbot, we will not be able to access and parse the page for your Page Optimization report. Additionally, if rogerbot is being blocked on a server level from your site or certain pages on your site, this will keep the tool from being able to access the page.

If you’re still having trouble with Page Optimization, you can email our Help Team at [email protected] with the following information so they are able to help investigate:

• The login email for your account
• The name of the Campaign you’re working with
• The exact URL and keyword you’re attempting to grade
• A summary of the issue you’re encountering and/or the error message you’re seeing
• A screenshot, if possible