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Yeah the clean-up work can be quite intense on some sites.  The fact that we are able to help clients is a big thing on so many levels.   Having the patience to address issues like you describe is one of the most important attributes we can have.

In the past, I too have had this issue. I've found repeatedly that the quickest way to get verified is to get the Google Places/Local dept. to actually call you and speak to a real live person. This way, you can verify instantly over the phone and not worry about postcard PINs. Furthermore, I expect you'd be able to actually verify all your business locations during the same call, though it might take a while. Directions as follow to reach Google: What you want to do is to verify ownership of your business over the phone. In order to do this, you actually need to call Google. Visit this address to get the process started: http://support.google.com/places/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1399021&page=ts.cs Under "Which verification method did you try" select " I tried PIN verification for a single listing" .  At the next prompt, check "The status is NOT needs action". At the verification method prompt, check "Postcard"  and then last check "Yes" when asked "Have you waited 15 days". You will be given a "call us" link and a contact form. Never mind the form and click the call link. You'll enter your name and number and a real live Google rep will call you within a minute. Simply explain to them that your are trying to verify your Local+ or Places page, and ask if you can do it by phone. You should be all set within two weeks, tops.

I thought about a subdomain, but I think it would complicate things from an SEO standpoint. From what I've learned, a subdomain here would get treated as a separate domain and send link juice to an English page that wouldn't be accessible to visitors direct (only within another Chinese page as a lightbox). I'm sure there's a cleaner way to do this. What I'm looking for is ranking effects of using the Lang element or ATTLIST declaration with lang element to identify various languages on the same page. Or if there is any other way to let search engines know I'm using multiple languages on a single page, it'd be a super time saver. Thanks for all your input so far!

I am not sure to be honest. I use a lot of press release services and I've never heard of this one. Are they charging anything?

That is brilliant Marcus.  The if-else idea regarding the ID makes so much sense.  I will leave the old ones as is and change the ones from this point on. Thanks! p.s. I noticed that seomoz does the same thing with the Q&A urls.  This one's not too long because I asked a short question but some of the question urls in here are quite long!

LOL!  I guess she's not into girls, which is fine by me!  LOL!

I can afford both, so both it will be. Thanks a lot.

I'd echo the suggestion to start a new thread on this, we've all theorized about this and I've also heard it mentioned directly from an industry guru as a tactic he knew was being employed by some - and working. It would be great to have us all analyze and pick this apart to see how and why it's happening. In theory sites should be able to avoid being "hurt" by this kind of thing, just not helped, with the reason being that as we know, anyone could blast anyone else with bad links. But what is apparently happening is not simply these spammy links being discounted, but a penalty actively being imposed, which goes against what most of us have heard and believed until recently. Would love to see some of the great minds here take a crack at it. -Dan

thank you ! i will try it

Great content bla bla bla, aren't some of you people sick and tired of giving your silly little text book answers all of the time, yes you do need a site that has great content and yes it is a mandatory requirement if one is to succeed online, but why is it that when someone asks a direct question such as "Is Linkvana good yes or no!" do people side step it and go on a long spat about how they perform link building. Most of the people in this community say they know a lot about SEO and go around as Goody two Shoes preaching the same lines over and over again! What we need to realise is that services such as Linkvana or Build My Rank would not still exist if they did not work. I use both and have done so for a considerable amount of time, they are a vital part of my SEO efforts but are by no means the only two elements. If one has the desire to generate revenue online via SEO one must speculate in order to accumulate.

But still it's kinda confusing if Google sees keywords like "digg", "share" etc. as more significant as the actual topic ("coffee"). Also vBulletin is a well known forum software. I checked the vBSEO settings again and here is everything fine as well.

Thanks mate,

Thank you, that's good to know. PR Web charges more for releases that contain anchor text, so I hope it's really worth the higher price.

Yes i am, thanks. Which is a good reason to use tools like bookkmarking demon for links. Thanks