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First port of call is the Beginners guide to SEO from Moz.... it genuinely gives you the best starting point. Along with lots more great articles here in the Learn SEO and Search marketing section of Moz. Also see if the recent Webinar on how to perform a Website SEO audit from Moz is available yet, it will help you gain some real insight into numerous measurable facets of your site and its outreach. Finally keep coming back to the Q&A section of Moz, there are lots of real people giving real and genuinely great insight into lots of topics. Good luck Tim

Hi Alick! Did Lynn answer your question, or would you like more help?

Hello CHolidays, I don't see the pop-ups. Has this been changed since your post? Often times on eCommerce sites you'll have a "quick view" window to see the item in a larger photo, and possibly read the product description. There is no single answer as to how this affects SEO because there are many ways to implement it. If I could see an example I would have more feedback. I noticed while checking out the site that you have a broken link in the main navigation. It's the one that goes to the Island-Escapes page (Vacations).

I know this was also reported in a message to our help team, so I just wanted to follow up here to note that this was a bug in our system that has been resolved by our engineers. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused!

Applying Broken Windows Theory to SEO is such an underrated tactic. It's totally worth the time. Will you be able to directly attribute revenue to the cleanup? Probably not. Will it improve the overall quality and user experience of the site? Absolutely, 100%, and that's where it becomes an SEO play - because that better quality and better UX exactly what Google is aiming to reward in the long run. And because your site no longer looks like an easy mark for spammers, it should attract less spam in the long run. Also, adding to MattAntonino's comment, Paul Haahr said a few weeks ago that the quality rater guidelines are basically Google's ideal algorithm, so you can count on Google working to incorporate as much of that as they can into the algorthm over time as they figure out how to automate it instead of relying on human maintenance. So even if it's not there now, count on it being there in the future. Future-proofing is always a good idea.

Above the fold my site always has a title that perfectly matches the query, a seductive subtitle that I hope will elicit reading, a spectacular image that I am willing to spend big bucks for, and a carefully crafted opening paragraph that states the basics of the topic. What else is above the fold?  Not much, just my domain name, which is killer.  The page looks like a newspaper with the full intent that nothing else will detract from the content or the domain (there are a couple of visible ads that do not interfere with the content - that pay for this stuff). I know for a fact that having your relevant content above the fold is essential.  Someone once designed me a fantastic template and the image at the top was killer killer killer... it was spectacular but irrelevant for most pages of the site.  Visitors bounced and I had enough traffic at the time to know that it tanked within a couple hours.  Ad revenue sucked too. I removed that image and the only thing left above the fold was the domain, the titles, the image and the text (and a couple ads that interfere with nothing).  In the next 60 minutes the people started exploring the site and the ad revenue was up multiples. It's like some athletic events... run as close to naked as you can.

Hi Ken! Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. In the example that you've provided here, I will elaborate on how our campaign structure works in regards to URLs: Each of these could be created as separate campaigns and if you click the "Exclude subdomains to restrict this campaign to the domain you entered". Subsequently, if you had any subfolders beyond the last slash in your URL, that would be included in that campaign data as well. For example:  Campaign A is setup for http://www.yoursite.com/product1 and you've clicked the "exclude subdomains" checkbox. This would include data for this site structure, as an example: http://www.yoursite.com/product1 http://www.yoursite.com/product1/subfolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product1/subfolder1/examplefolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product1/subfolder1/examplefolder2 (etc) http://www.yoursite.com/product1/subfolder2 http://www.yoursite.com/product1/subfolder2/examplefolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product1/subfolder1/examplefolder2 (etc) so and so forth... While Campaign B is setup for http://www.yoursite.com/product2 and you've clicked the "exclude subdomains" checkbox. This would include data for this site structure, as an example: http://www.yoursite.com/product2 http://www.yoursite.com/product2/subfolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product2/subfolder1/examplefolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product2/subfolder1/examplefolder2 (etc) http://www.yoursite.com/product2/subfolder2 http://www.yoursite.com/product2/subfolder2/examplefolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product2/subfolder1/examplefolder2 (etc) so and so forth... And Campaign C could be: http://www.yoursite.com/product3 http://www.yoursite.com/product3/subfolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product3/subfolder1/examplefolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product3/subfolder1/examplefolder2 (etc) http://www.yoursite.com/product3/subfolder2 http://www.yoursite.com/product3/subfolder2/examplefolder1 http://www.yoursite.com/product3/subfolder1/examplefolder2 (etc) so and so forth... It's also important to note that if your subfolders exist on the "www" version of your site, you must base the campaign on the "www" URL or else your data won't show up for those subfolders. I hope this helps explain this a little further but please let me know if there's anything more I can clarify! -Kristina

Eric, you're right that you should be 301 redirecting the old page to the new one using a 301 Permanent Redirect. If Google Search Console is showing you that they're getting a 404 error on that URL, then they're getting it--it's not that they're telling you you no longer are getting any benefit from the 301 redirect. I would check the redirect to see if it's still working. Use a server header check tool, or I like Rex Swain's HTTP tool: http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html Also, you should use Google's own Fetch and Render tool to make sure that they can reach the page and they don't get a 404 error: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6066468?rd=2 I have seen cases where we can get to a page or see the redirect but Google cannot. So you need to use the Fetch & Render to make sure Google isn't being blocked. I've see a case where users could get to the site but Google was being blocked and given a 404 error.

Like Deacyde I use the content in quotes in Google itself "to test if this is duplicate." But I also use a couple tools: http://www.copyscape.com/ http://www.siteliner.com/ http://www.webconfs.com/similar-page-checker.php http://www.plagspotter.com/ (undergoing a bit of renovation currently) If you wanted to build this into your own tool, PlagTracker has an API http://www.plagtracker.com/api.html (As do a few of the ones above.)

Hi Brian, 809 over 863 is over the 93% of the site indexed. I'd wait a little more. Also, I dont think that i will add value that you manually submit the URLs that you think are not indexed. A reminder, WMT is being realy delayed on the latest information shown. In my case, the last record is from 4th may.

There really isn't a typical amount of time as it depends on links to your site, crawl frequency of your current page, and how many resources they choose to use on you at that time. There are, however, ways to speed up the process. Claim your site in Search Console (Webmaster Tools) Submit a sitemap Use the "Fetch" tool in Search Console. Build/earn some new links to the pages you care about. All of those will help your pages be reindexed more quickly. Also, if you want the "very fast, slightly cheap" way of doing it, post the links on Google+, ping them with Indexkings and build internal links from new blog posts. All of those definitely help with index status.

Thanks, this is all great advice! I'll have to look into the CarWebsites Terms of Use to see if we have a leg to stand on when it comes to domain and content ownership. The local listings and most other links around the web are already pointing to the new site, so that is a good thing. That is very interesting about the .CARS extension. I have always wondered if that would have an impact... I might try that when I get some time down the road. I have also been considering going to each landing page on the old BrandXCarDealer.net site, erase all the content, and replace it with, "This page has been moved to BrandXCarDealer.com/landing-page-1" Any thoughts?

Hi there! Apologies for the long wait for a response! It's sort of a convoluted answer. For practical purposes, the search engines treat subdomains as their own separate domains. So, even though Blogger.com has a DA of 92, if you were to start a blog there you'd still be "starting over" when it comes to building link authority. A new blog there will notbenefit from blogger.com's existing authority. Where Open Site Explorer and the Mozscape index are concerned, though, you'll still see a DA of 92 on that new, not-yet-established blog. In the simplest terms, that's because OSE calculates _domain _authority, not subdomain authority. So, in this case, Page Authority would be the better metric by which to evaluate your new blog, as it will be specific to the home page at yourblog.blogger.com. Does that make sense?

Hi Sarah, I can only see three pages in the index now. Google tries to find any and all content people might want to find using their index. They have a number of ways to identify anything that might be of use. Now you said that you put a noindex in the sitemap. That is new to me, sitemaps are used to index files, not to command a noindex. Typically, a noindex is placed within the page's code. Can you clarify what you have already attempted? A noindex is best (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/93710?hl=en), teh page will still be crawled but cannot be put into the index.

Hi  YotpoKaiser, Thanks for the question. I think this brings up a really good point when it comes to the review platform space. As you mentioned - it appears that Yotpo is doing this to track clicks back to you (that's why they 301 redirect). If I were in your shoes, I would take one of 3 approaches (from least to most risk-averse): Don't worry about the links - There are plenty of websites out there that spin up copies of your website that the engineers at Google are brilliant enough to filter those out of your Google Webmaster Tools (GWT), they'll eventually get these Yotpo ones as well. Email the support team at Yotpo and see if they can "no-index, no-follow" the 301 redirect links that go back to your website. This is happening to you and it's happening to everyone else who is using the system. If they really want to provide a long-term review solution, this is INVALUABLE feedback that they can get. Disavow the links. As Eric and Deacyde above mentioned - you can go through a full analysis of the links and disavow them or disavow the entire domain. I like taking a data-driven approach, so here's how I would decide: Look at the impression data in GWT from Before/After you started using Yotpo. Look at a few of your best performing pages, that also have reviews pointing to them (very important), and see if (seasonally-adjusted*) the impressions are down. If you started using Yotpo>90 days ago, you cant using this technique due to the data limitations in GWT. I would pick a handful (maybe 10) pages to review first - look at ones that are the highest traffic/impressions. If Impressions have bottomed out (seasonally adjusted) for these pages - disavow the domain AND email the support team at Yotpo. Here are the instructions straight from Google. Use the domain:yotpo.com flag in your file. Look at the Organic session/user data in Google Analytics (GA) from before after you started using Yotpo. Use the same criteria here as you would GWT, about 10 pages, that have a decent number of monthly visits (>300). If your data is small - this probably won't help much as any change could cause a big swing in it. If your Organic sessions have bottomed out (seasonally adjusted) for these pages - disavow the domain AND email the support team at Yotpo. If you are unsure about #1 and #2 - email the support team at Yotpo and ask them to noindex/nofollow their 301 redirects. They owe it to you as a customer NOT to mess up your SEO. If you are ok with a little risk, then don't worry about it for now and monitor continuously. A word on seasonally adjusted data - I worked with a Ski Gear/Equipment company in the past and we saw very dramatic swings in traffic from November - February. You are probably seeing something similarly. If your work with Yotpo started during the "high season", I'd recommend seasonally adjusting it (divide the monthly session data by the % that Google Trends gives for that target keyword, in country. Yes - it's ALOT of work, but it will give you a precise idea). Since you posted this question in April, I presume that's soon after you started it and I would recommend only having your "before" traffic start sometime in Mid-March, after the high-season and into the shoulder season/summer. Weather and all other seasonality does play a factor here, but without the data telling you what's going on, you could either over/under panic and no one likes extra anxiety! Let me know if this helps!

Hi ozil! Did Eric's answer help? We'd love an update.

Thanks for you answer Eric!  In your example its actually an attorney getting the .attorney extension so it makes sense. But what if I was selling shoes online, would it make a difference if my site would be Myshoebrand.com or Myshoebrand.world? Or even Shoeshop.com or Shoeshop.world (if I want to rank for Shoe shop)? I know Google stated that all domain extensions have just as good a chance of ranking as any other. But as Bill Hartzer also writes: we can't always take their word for it: we need to see proof.