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while it's true image links do pass PR it is thought that they pass less than text links. adding the alt tag adds contexts, like an anchor text. create SEO friendly badges like this example and you can make your badge a text link instead! http://www.onlinemedicaltourism.com/get-the-seal.html

Very helpful, thanks John!

The most important factor is to ensure only one URL is available for each page. You should not present the same page through both the /index.html and / URLs. Pick one. My strong preference is to use the simple / URL as "index.html" does not offer any value to users nor search engines. It just makes the URL longer and more cluttered. I'm sure Google knows that these are the same pages and does not consider them as duplicate ... Not true. On your site you may choose to offer the same content via /index.html and /, but another site could choose to present completely different content on those pages. You are offering two unique URLs, your content is duplicated and that can cause multiple issues. Duplicate content is an issue and a division of your links is another issue. The simple fix is to design your site from the beginning to only offer a / page and not a index.html page. If you have an existing site where this is an issue, use the 301 redirect to fix the problem.

There is nothing out of the ordinary here at all. Google India, Google UK, Google France, etc. are all separate instances of the search engine. They can use different algorithms, different languages, comply with different laws, etc. Google.com is the largest and most competitive version of the search engine. It also uses the latest algorithm updates. It is quite common for a site to be listed on the first page of a given country's index yet not in the top 50 of google.com. An analogy would be if you had a pizza restaurant in Los Angeles. You might get voted the #1 pizza restaurant in LA, but when you ask what the best pizza restaurants are in the entire US, the location may not even make the top 50.

Thanks for reply John - appreciated. Pretty infuriating isn't it, huh. To be honest, I think the SEO industry needs a minimum standard, a code of conduct that's policed in some way. There really is so much awful stuff being carried out in the name of SEO. From what I've seen, the SEO agencies I've come across do it (1) Because it's easy (2) Because they can show their clients quick results.

There are tons of things you could do but content is king! I would read this article http://www.seomoz.org/blog/4-graphics-to-help-illustrate-onpage-optimization

Do you recall what the cost was? I'm considering it for a few of our clients.

What I mean by real value: Link wheels are just websites you create, put a bit of (spun) content on it and link to your main site or to another site in the link wheel. It is not really adding anything to the web. It is just getting you rankings. Why not try to make genuine, real content people appreciate and link to, talk about on social media, etc. That way, in the long run, getting links and getting higher rankings is actually much much easier. Because you don't have to do any more work. Make something great, that people will like and they will create a unique "link wheel" if you like, for you!

There's a good overview here: http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/15-smart-ways-to-find-guest-posting-opportunities

A good call Josh, one that you'll surely benefit from in the medium to long term by not participating in selling links. Glad I was able to help you reach that decision

Thanks for the response Alan.  We haven't explored this route yet, but I am becoming more thoroughly convinced and am practicing some tips offered by another SEOmozzer.  I agree that it seems to be all in the blog selection.

We just purchased the Mozcon videos which has 68 videos of SEO presentations from some of the top SEO professionals in the industry. SEOBook also has a good reputation as an authority in the industry. You might also check out Market Motive's courses on SEO. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/2011-mozcon-videos-here

That is a thing, I monitor for my own sites also! Combined with web analytics this delivers strong potential for SEO

Thank You Rich, i had the doubt because i saw too many websites using this tecnique. I just think was something relevant.

We were in the middle of looking at a lot of the PR submission sites and at that time the latest Panda came crawling. We did a bit of checking and even the one with Warren Buffet and the patented SEO program took a hit. From what we have been able to learn PR Web did not take a hit, but....we are still not ready to spend client money on it until a few more weeks past.

These are not real links, but a bug where OSE thinks pdf files and downloadable programs are links. The problem is in the process of being fixed. Rand has some more information in today's blog post at http://www.seomoz.org/blog/november-linkscape-update-is-live

Actually, they're pretty easy to copy. Just a bunch of open blog posts and forum profile spam.

This reply is worth a LOT of money.

Yes, I would like to exchange links with other sites, but if I put their links in my homepage (sidebar), in On Page Optimization it says I have too many external links, and it could be traduced by Google as a spammy site. My question is if I should have a outletspain.net/links page in order to locate their links or should be in homepage? Other question would be if reciprocal but follow links have any effect (Good/ Bad) for Google. Thanks in advance Maria Jesus