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Hi Patrick,

Will this hurt your SEO? Maybe, but not in the more traditional way. For example, there is no direct penalty that this would fall under, but what it could do is confuse the user experience. Just keep in mind that SEO isn't just about your SERP positions.

As a user on any site, you want to see consistency. If you change theme part way through, then this can devalue the level of trust in the site as it no longer looks like the original site.

I would stick with one theme and if you aren't happy with the current look and feel, change your whole site to match this.

From Google's perspective, no, this wouldn't cause a devalued ranking by installing an additional theme (unless SEO issues arise from the installation), but there are a whole host of reason why you shouldn't do it.

-Andy

Hi Yiannis,

I tend to add these in as an advisory to my clients because for the most part, and unless I see something specific, the results have absolutely no effect on SEO. If they wish to act on them, it is for their developers to handle.

I don't argue my corner really - never had to. I just tell them like it is - the site is rendering fine in everything and with no issues, so fix errors if you have the time and resources.

As I said, unless I spot something that is an actual problem, then it tends to just get bypassed.

-Andy

Problem is I still see these URL's indexed and this has been in the robots now for over a month. I am wondering if I should just do

It can take Google some time to remove pages from the index.

The best way to test if this has worked is hop into Webmaster Tools and use the Test Robots.txt function. If it has blocked the required pages, then you know it's just a case of waiting - you can also remove pages from within Webmaster Tools as well, although this isn't immediate.

-Andy

No problem at all

-Andy

Hi Dave,

You aren't really missing anything as one point you make here...

How do we therefore have 1 page that talks about all kinds of great stuff about the "Rugged smartphone" but one that also targets rugged handheld, rugged android device etc etc?

You have kind of answered your own question here. Of course, your Page Title has a limited number of words available to you, so you need to focus heavily on the page content itself. You want to talk about rugged phones, that is fine - mention in detail, Android devices, iPhones, link out to reputable sources as citations, build supporting content and any of your own insights.

Use these other keywords in the page, but don't overuse them as that will land you in trouble.

There is no secret really, just a good dollop of research and writing - if you target the phrase 'Rugged Handset' you will find Google can return your page even though this isn't mentioned in the title. G is very good at matching searches with intent and will pick up on what you talk about.

-Andy

Hi Edward,

If you are looking to find supporting keywords, a nice little tool for Wordpress is SEOpressor. It costs just a few dollars a month and allows you to get suggestions for LSI keywords. A great and inexpensive way to enhance your keyword research.

-Andy

This is the company who designed the site for them - perhaps get in touch? But I also think it might be a custom build - perhaps on the back of another well known theme.

http://www.innergys.com/

-Andy

Hi Rosemary,

Is Google penalizing my client for this?

Does it look like there is any penalty going on?

What you need to do is add a rel=alternate from the desktop location pages to the mobile versions and a rel=canonical from the mobile page back to the desktop version. This should remedy all duplication issues and send Google the correct signals at the same time.

What Google says...

1. On the desktop page, add a special link rel=”alternate” tag pointing to the corresponding mobile URL. This helps Googlebot discover the location of your site’s mobile pages.
2. On the mobile page, add a link rel=”canonical” tag pointing to the corresponding desktop URL.

You can read the information you need that matches your separate page format here on Google.

This should fix all issues.

-Andy

To be appearing so far down the SERP's, it sounds like a trust issue from Google.

How old is the site? Have you performed an audit to see if there are issues lurking anywhere that could be causing problems? As Hector said, you are no-following links from the menu, but based on what you said above, this is to prevent the fact this information is pulled in from other sites? I suspect problems might start from around here.

From Google, this might seem like a strange way of doing things. There is no harm in allowing the links ( I would not advise no-following these), but you can no-index pages that you worry might get caught up in duplication.

Let Google crawl your site and see the pages you don't want indexed.

-Andy

Hi,

As Logan has said, you want to avoid too many redirect chains, but if you are only talking about 1 or 2 hops, then the chances are you will never see any negative effect.

That said, I always try and keen these down to 1 hop so rather than having page A to page B & page B to page C, are you able to edit the redirects and then just have Page A to Page C? If you can cut out the middle hop, this would be much better.

Wordpress is going to be the same as any other site where redirects are concerned. There are also a lot of really good plugins to help with redirects, so do look into them.

-Andy

The best thing you could do Dave is decide on what you want to write, but don't focus on keywords too heavily otherwise it could sound very odd. Look at the subject as a whole and delve in.

Here are a few articles that will give you some ideas...

• Moz
• Kiss Metrics
• Quick Sprout

Just keep in mind that you are writing for your audience, not Google. Research your subject heavily as this will help make the work more accurate.

With regards the keywords, you will need to do some keyword research and add in supporting content. For example, if you are talking about Cats, you would talk about different breeds, life span, history, etc.

-Andy

I think I know what you are saying, and by the sounds of it, if you rel=canonical page 2 to page 1, this should circumvent any duplication issues.

If I have understood

-Andy

I asked Rand this exact question about 2 weeks ago - it might happen at some point, but they have lots going on to get the site done first.

Here's hoping it will happen

Hi,

Have you had a look at installing Wordpress under Windows? There are also alternatives to Wordpress if you wish to look at these.

I'm not aware of a workaround otherwise - it isn't something I have ever had to do, but someone else might chip in with ideas.

-Andy

I see - and you are absolutely correct that a canonical here wouldn't be advisable.

The two pages are very similar with just the one product being changed, so I would try to add additional content in there or re-write other aspects so that this doesn't become an issue.

There isn't a 'trick' to get around what you are trying to do here. Two different products and two sets of page titles targeting different keywords. Keep each page as unique and content-rich as possible,

-Andy

It's a waiting game sadly - there is no extensive reporting available for us that shows where we were, etc, or has any history. You would need to use something else as well if you want to see a timeline.

Regards,

Andy

For this type of link, yes, that can be a little risky as it's a full page redirect (probably seen as a 301) rather than a textual link.

If it does turn out to be nofollowed (I would need to see the link to confirm) then it's a little different as link juice doesn't flow and that then satisfies Google, but I would err on the side of caution. Unless there is a good reason to pay for a premium link (more traffic, etc), then I wouldn't really bother.

-Andy

Hi Dave,

The way to do this is by targeting one primary phrase per page. The reason you do this is so you don't fall into the trap of duplication / cannibalisation, which will end up causing you issues. You don't want to end up competing with your own pages.

The way you do this is:

• Page Title - Primary phrase / keyword and Brand
• Page Content - Backing up what the page title says

This doesn't then mean you go in and spam the page, but rather add in content that supports what you want to say. Don't worry too much about getting the keyword into the page as much as possible, but you can use a range of synonyms and LSI keywords to further increase the page diversity. The more descriptive you can be, the better - but no keyword stuffing.

There is no minimum number of words you should focus on, but try and make sure you focus on page usability. If it is too long, you will bore people. Focus on big messages that will cause a thought / call to action and if you do have a lot of content, break it up into bite-size chunks that are easy to digest.

And most importantly, write for your visitors, never the search engines.

-Andy

The only other tool I use regularly is called SEO Ranking and it is an iPad app and also for the iPhone. It helps to be mobile with these things

I am sure there are lots out there - perhaps others will be able to chip in with some additional info?

Regards,

Andy

No worries Dan

-Andy