A Way to Contact A Google Representative Directly?

[Travis-W]

Hi forum, much of the Google algorithm and the way page ranking works seems like a well kept secret. Is there any way to directly speak with a live Google rep about SEO advice, why they chose not to index our pages, etc? With AdWords you are able to call in directly to speak to someone about similar issues and optimizing ads. Would you suggest the Google Product Forums? An email address? A contact form through Webmaster Tools?

[GuestBlogPoster.com]

Their phones would be ringing off the hook if they allowed this. The best way to get questions answered is here, the webmaster tool forum or asking somebody that is experienced.

Adwords people aren't going to help. I doubt they know more than an experienced SEO.

With that said, whats your question?

Kevin Phelps

[DarinPirkey]

(650) 253-0000

Option 5, Option 3

But they'll direct you to google.com/support or google.com/webmasters

What's the issue?

[Blenny]

Granted, Bing's not Google, but many of their ranking factors overlap. Bing has done a great job responding to me directly regarding issues with their webmaster tools and such. We did specifically ask them the question about our pages not indexing and they provided a constructive answer. Getting ahold of Google seems all-but impossible - but, if you're going to try, I suggest dealing with the most specific product as possible - lots of their newer products seem to have better product support (their new PLA/Merchant Center or Google+ for example). Also, if you're an Adwords user, it's (theoretically) easier to go through your Adwords Rep., or Adwords help since you're a paying advertiser. We used to use a large 3rd party firm to manage our ads, and had success going to their Google rep. for questions/answers. Hope this helps.

[josh-riley]

Adwords employees are also intentionally kept segregated from the SEO side of the business, to try to reduce perceived conflict of interests (according to my Adwords rep).

[josh-riley]

That's interesting - it's totally different from what the head of one of the Google offices told me, as they like to keep their PPC and SEO businesses separate to avoid some clients getting preferential treatment.

[ChrisHolgate]

I'm yet to try this out for myself however 'Office Hours' in Google+ hangouts seems to be one of the most direct routes to talk to a member of the Google Webmaster Central team:

https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/office-hours

Any feedback on whether you found this resource helpful or not would be appreciated as I keep meaning to give Office Hours a go but haven't yet got around to it.

[Travis-W]

This seems like a great idea. I'll be sure to check it out and let you know.