Business + Marketing > Google Page Rank Dropped After Switching to SquareSpace
One question comes to mind -- did the old website have a different file extension? (Never worked with Drupal so I don't know what kind of file it generates (PHP maybe?). If your file extensions have changed then all your existing SEO juice could be still associated with the old files.
[Insert rant about Sqsp not having 301 redirects and canonical tags -- though the blog import tool has purportedly solved this problem for some kinds of blogs.]
But this doesn't explain the low quality score for Adwords. I took the liberty of checking your currently cached homepage in Google:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:P6pZONWLKRkJ:www.counselingworksheets.com/+counseling+worksheets&hl=en&client=firefox-a&gl=us&strip=1
Looks like Google came by and crawled the site while it was being developed in Squarespace and while it was pretty much empty of content. THAT will sort itself out.
The links are a bigger issue. Assuming your file extension has changed, you should contact websites that are still linking to the old version to change their links.
You should also create URL Shortcuts from your old files to your new files. This is not the correct SEO solution because it doesn't transfer link credit but it will make sure users and spiders get to the new page.
Bonnie Gibbons
And seriously, SQSP, you HAVE TO fix this ASAP if you're going to attract established business. 301 redirects are essential for EVERY URL on the website, not just blogs. Canonical tags also. This tag has caught on and all major engines are either supporting it or are working on supporting it. (Source: SMX East conference "Ask the Search Engines" session, which I attended.)
I have promoted Squarespace to people but generally for new sites only. It would be SEO malpractice to recommend SQSP to an established website with SEO juice if it means changing your URLs.
Bonnie Gibbons
I love SquareSpace! It has made my life so much easier. But I have a big problem. A buddy and I have a website called: www.counselingworksheets.com - he's a counselor who developed these worksheets and I'm the web guy. We've been selling worksheets for a year and a half or so using a Drupal site. It worked fine but I wanted to move over to SS because it's so much easier to maintain.
Since switching to SS our Google PageRank has gone through the floor! I have copied the exact text to each worksheet page, I've checked the meta tags, I've submitted my site with Webmaster Tools, and I've pulled my hair out watching my hits tank! I'm not even getting Google Adwords anymore because Google says "rarely shown due to low quality score". My rankings were fine before, but now I'm can't even buy a link on Google.
Also, if you searched for "counseling worksheets" with organic search I used to be number one, now I'm number three.
All of this because I switched hosting environments? I'm desperate! I need help!! :)
What's going on with my website? Could it be the "sandbox effect"? I've already read through the SEO section on SS handbook. I don't see anything that's causing a problem.
This is costing me money, and my business partner is starting to freak out and question my sanity for using SquareSpace (I'm not crazy, but the way).
Nate