Questions
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Does Google Read Javascript?
Some additional notes... Traditionally, Google hasn't followed javascript, but they are getting much better at using it for link discovery. Just a few weeks ago Matt Cutts made a video in which he recommended making your javascript more readable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8yTn_HLDaJs And some evidence in the wild about Google becoming more script friendly: http://www.webpronews.com/is-googlebot-getting-more-human-like-2012-05 That said, it's still by far better for SEO purposes to ensure that your links are HTML based. Although Google may still discover javascript links, it's unknown what link attributes like anchor text and PageRank pass through them. Best practices, for now, still say to use regular HTML links.
Technical SEO Issues | | Cyrus-Shepard0 -
External Linking and SEO strategy
I've employed a similar strategy for a client who has several lead generation websites. The have the ability to sell their "service" in many cities. I created several hundred landing pages specific to each city, I.E.- "credit counselor in san antonio texas". Believe it or not it worked very well. The nice thing about this strategy is that you don't have to do any heavy link building because in reality how many people are optimizing/creating content for these terms. This is the very definition of long-tail. Although the search volume is much lower the conversion rates are through the roof. Some things that I believed helped us: Hand written, 100% unique articles. Low-mid level keyword saturation. (7 instances per 500 words) Avoiding keyword stuffing in titles. Including a unique image with keyword in alt tag. Including rich media (videos tagged as taking place within the geographic location) Rolling out 2-3 pages per day. I wouldn't pay much attention to the on-page stuff anymore. I built these pages last summer and perhaps focused too much on keyword usage. If you provide links to relevant external websites tag them with the "nofollow" attribute. They'll still be recognized as being relevant and you aren't spreading your link juice everywhere.
Whiteboard Friday | | C-Style1