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I think the problem with this strategy is that you are at a big disadvantage compared to building links direct to the page, if we take for example you blog - how many links are on the page, now divide 100 / number of links on the page and this is how much power (%) you will gain compared to building the link direct. The big gain with building links to a blog is that it looks more natural and with the right content can be much easier than a product page to build links, but it should be part of an overall strategy like most things in SEO.

Liam, There's no problem with the links as long at they're nofollowed. You can let the client know that sitewide followed footer links from a network of sites when out of practice as an SEO techique back in the dark ages. As long as the client doesn't think of them as helping the algorithmic results of the other sites and only thinks of them as a way to send referral traffic to the other sites, they'll be in good shape.

Yes, it's a strange one. I don't understand what advantage they get from scraping my logo and headings. I have disavowed their entire domain as there appears no reasonable way to contact them. I doubt they'd reply if I did. I did a full backlinks report this morning and found four more similar sites (similar URL structures) linking back to me, although none of them appear to be working. If they end up getting better SERPs than me, I'll be wanting to know why!

My 2c; I'm deleting all mine now, even though I originally paid for a lifetime listing. Why? because Link Detox (for one) is now classifying BOTW as 'highly toxic'. I've come to agree with them. They are, at the end of the day, paid links.

Hi Rusty, That's great that you're considering amassing the skills you need to begin offering Local SEO to clients. It's a huge, ever-changing form or marketing that requires on-going study. If Local SEO is new to you, I recommend you access the following free resources to kick of your learning process on steady feet: First and foremost, study the Google Places Quality Guidelines, here: https://support.google.com/places/answer/107528?hl=en Here is a recent Moz post I wrote which takes the Top 20 Local Search Ranking Factors and illustrates each: Top 20 Local Search Ranking Factors - An Illustrated Guide The above post features ranking factors that are deemed to be most important by the annual Local Search Ranking Factors Survey which is the premiere annual survey in the Local Search industry and must-read stuff for every aspiring Local SEO. Here is my post on the psychological mindset behind a strong, good Local SEO campaign: The Zen of Local SEO And another on the more technical tenets of a Local SEO/SEM campaign: The Rudiments of Local SEO As you are also working on the design end of things, I recommend your read Matthew Hunt's article on local on-page optimization: How To Do Onpage Optimization for Local SEO – The “Perfectly Optimized Local Page” ExampleAnd here's a great one from Darren Shaw on the art of citation building:How To Identify Quality Citations SourcesThere are many other great, free learning resources out there, but I've highlighted here some that will get at the heart of basic good practices for you.Moving along to the specifics of your question: directory submissions - called 'citations' in Local SEO - are one of the key components of any local search marketing campaign. Citations must feature completely consistent data about the business and follow all guidelines for each given platform. Where phone verification is necessary, the best thing to do is to alert your client that he must be ready to answer his phone within a given time window. Do not attempt to redirect the phone number as redirecting numbers are against Google's guidelines (linked to above) and could cause major NAP consistency issues for your client.You can choose to build citations manually. This is often the best way to go. On an agency level, however, you may be so busy that your clients' needs will best be served by you using a third party resource. Yext is such a service. I personally recommend WhiteSpark's service, which is conducted manually and is very highly thought of in the industry. Here's a link:https://www.whitespark.ca/citation-building-submission-serviceIf you do choose to hire a citation building service, be absolutely sure that you are carefully researching your options. Some work better than others and some have known problems. Thankfully, there are various option to choose from!One last tip: success as a Local SEO often depends heavily on knowing what NOT to do, as well as what to do. Studying guidelines and making daily reading of top Local SEO blogs part of your job is going to be a smart way to get started. In this industry, one never stops studying and learning, and changes happen overnight on a regular basis. Exciting stuff!Good luck and happy reading!

Wow, Dr Pete replied to my question! Thank you - and, actually, thanks to everyone who took the time to post. UPDATE... Since my last posts, I have actually moved forward a little. I did have an audit undertaken by someone that specialises in traffic drops. It transpires that it's not very clear cut - definitely not entirely a clear link-based penalty situation - and the indications are that it's probably Panda with a touch of Penguin. Upshot is, I'm having the site redesigned to minimise duplicate/thin content issues (and generally improve the user experience) and I have engaged someone to do the link removal outreach/disavow. Still early days, but now I have some kind of game plan, I feel a little more optimistic. TBH, I'm still a little wary about the link removal/disavowal process, but we'll see... I had such varying quotes for this work, it's crazy. And, still need to crystallise in my mind how I'm going to earn new links.

I would still optimise the target landing page as per tradtional on page techniques and guidelines for the keyphrase, just in conjunction with my, and the other contributors to this threads, comments too

Hi, My domain authority is also 1 no matter www or non-www. My domain is http://autoproject.com.au/. Can you guys please help?

Hi, there are lots of experts you could call on to help you. I don't represent Moz, but speaking independently my best advice for a pool of companies you could contact would be to look at the Moz recommended list of companies and speak to some of them. You can see the list here: http://moz.com/community/recommended I hope that helps, Peter

For months, Google has sometimes added SEOmoz to the end of our title tags after we moved to Moz. Sometimes Google will do their own title tags, and have for years.

LOL Paul - I don't know you as well as I hope to in the future, however you have already through the multiple interactions we've had, proven you're trustworthy, friendly and a good person by nature (your actions have spoken). So yes, this is a great example of how to build a valid professional relationship.  Because even if you hadn't made that referral, the interactions themselves beyond that have been high quality and "trustworthy".  So I am already inclined to be of help should the situation arise.

Hi Nick, If you can take the business owner through door number one, I agree that will be the very best choice. Good luck with the conversation with him.

Your question shows the problem SEO has had for a long time, which is trying to optimise a page/site for search engines, specifically, Google. You should be looking at your pages in terms of your customers - Are your pages easy to read, do they contain unique interesting information relevant to the type of query that might return your page, do you engage with your site visitor, can they find what they want on your site easily and so on. The same is true of the term 'link building', think in terms of 'link earning', if you produce content that is interesting and worthwhile engaging with then people will want to talk about and share that content. Don't get me wrong, having clear unique page titles and on-page relevant headlines, and using different routes to getting your content out there is not a bad thing. Press releases and media stories, videos, infographics, interviews, customer reviews etc etc are all good ways to get the word out there but the question to always ask yourself is "Why?" - Why should someone want to read about your site, or do business with you - Why do you have a site - if the only answer is to make money then it's unlikely you'll be a must visit must write about or link to site. Good luck!

Not that much people will actually link to you (people are naturally lazy or don't have blogs) so don't worry. I would just put the site's brand in there like "Link to Brand or url" and have it change from time to time. You can have you developer create a simple form where people can enter what they want and it would generate an embed code which will fit their site/blog perfectly. In my experience, people will choose to use social buttons rather than sharing actual links on their blogs (I'm referring to regular people unless you target bloggers) so having the buttons there would give you more benefits rather than not having it on the page.

Hi Aaron If the website is new I would still encourage you to build a blog of articles on the site showing your expertise for the products the site is selling. Also share the articles in social media channels including Google+ by publishing snippets of each one (i.e. headline + intro) with a link through to read the full article on the website. Peter

Good questions; do you think you're under penalty now? If not, just work on cleaning up the future of your "link building" efforts rather than trying to go in reverse and fix things. A few answers to your questions: No, Google will not penalize you for having a profile that is "too clean." Google doesn't care if you "manipulate" your link profile. They care if you've built links to manipulate their ranking system. Anchor text is one big sign that you're attempting to increase your rankings for certain terms. Google is pretty good at targeting links you've built to increase rankings. The links that will hurt you are those you've built - not the junky links that everyone acquires over time. The only exception might be a spam attack from a competitor, but that's rare and another issue altogether. If you've built highly-targeted links, take those down. Don't waste your time taking down low-quality links that other people build to you. If you think links you haven't built are harming you, double-check WMT for a penalty and make sure there's no overly-targeted anchor text  stemming from your own efforts.

Google is very good at devaluing links nowadays so I wouldn't worry too much. If a company wants to conduct negative SEO against your website then they can't be a serious competitor because nobody in their right mind would waste time and money trying to get a competitors' website hit. As Doug said, concentrate on creating some great content around your business/niche and then look at your outreach.

Mozcast also record a spike in the Google weather between 1st and 3rd November, but there were bigger rises between 23rd and 28th October showing more changes went on during that period. http://mozcast.com/ Peter

I too find it very helpful for all my sites. Thanks Michael for your help, Regards, Sophie