Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Graeme

Are you saying you want to add URLs manually or automatically? If automatic, then http://www.xml-sitemaps.com but manually then no I don't sorry.

Peter

Hi

To answer your last question first, yes, Google can generally understand different words joined together, but hyphenated is better for human readability.

Regarding your domain name choice, it really depends what keywords you are using in the domain as to what will work the best and what may or may not appear spammy. The spammy feel, if there is one, will really be to do with how people read the domain - and also maybe how long-winded a long domain name can be to type in.

Re Google, I'm not sure you are going to get much advantage from an SEO perspective by using multiple keywords in your domain, especially in the move towards semantic search, but as I say, it really depends on what those keywords are.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hello Matei

I don't what you mean by "auto"? Please can you explain.

Peter

Hi Rajat,

I don't think you need to be concerned about the these links all going to the same landing page. Essentially, it is a navigation button that points people to a page. The same thing, albeit not as an image typically, is true of an item on a menu, e.g. to an About Us page. That menu link will appear on every page as it is part of the main menu system for the site. Your subscription button is really no different in terms of helping users get to where they need to go to.

Peter

Hi Rajat

In terms of your site having 1000+ images in reality it is just one. In my view, if your pages are 2000+ words long then the re-use of the subscribe button shouldn't be a problem. All I would say on that is does that button need to appear on every page or just some types of pages? Only use it where needed.

Yes you could add a nofollow link but again ask yourself why the button is there. Is it there just as a call to action for users or does the page it directs to have more related information and therefore more value to Google to index and provide extended information. If just a call to action then probably best to make the links nofollow and just have follow links on one page.

On the legal disclaimer, I say keep it as text. If the repeated content is small then it isn't an issue.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi Bill

Yes, those two pages are competing with each other, but then so are all the other results on that page. The fact that those two pages are yours makes no difference. By removing one of them won't push the other up. Instead it would allow another result to come in its place.

So, yes, be glad you have two results turning up on the first page. Now see what you can do to push them both up a peg or two higher.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi, I am not familiar with Yoast SEO, but it's not what Google is doing as Google is just indexing the pages it finds on your website. As I said, it is to do with both of those pages using rel="canonical" code that points to themselves. I suspect that is the same with other pages. Follow one of the suggestions I have already given and you should be able to resolve this.

I don't know what you mean that your Google+ is not showing in the results for some of the Keywords you rank for this already. The Google+ profile listed as the rel="author" of your Jerry Billett page links to a profile that has a total of 2 posts. It's not going to rank for anything.

Peter

Hi Catherine

I am really sorry to hear this and it's obviously been very distressing to yourself and your family.

If you go to the user's profile page there is a little down arrow underneath their picture which allows you to Report/Block them and then gives you a range of options to say why. That may be a start and hopefully Google will be able to respond to you.

But if you think the approach was possibly a criminal offence I would also take it up with your local police

I hope that helps - a little.

Peter

OK, I think I understand now.

Essentially, you have two URLs that answer the same query of "Jerry Billett". In that case Google makes a decision on which page they think best answers the user's query.

Looking at the two pages, I would be inclined to agree that the non-tagged page does, but for some reason Google doesn't. If it's important for you that the other page is the one that surfaces in search then you have some options:

Remove the tag page from your URLs and set up a 301 redirect to the non-tagged page. That will mean that the existing link in Google's index will straight away link through to the non tag page and once they have updated their index, so their link will be updated.

Alternatively, change the rel="canonical" code you have in your tag page to point to the non tag page. At the moment it is pointing to itself. This is what Google's support page says on using rel="canonical":

Adding this link and attribute lets site owners identify sets of identical content and suggest to Google: "Of all these pages with identical content, this page is the most useful. Please prioritize it in search results."

_Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/139394?hl=en_

Whilst the two pages are not identical (hence my scoring through the word 'identical' in the extract, by using rel="canonical" to point to the non tage page you are suggesting to Google that the non tag page is the most useful and asking them to prioritise it in their search results.

I hope that helps,
Peter

PS. I don't know if it is just me, but I don't think the audio that automatically plays on your site when you visit a page will help people to stay on your site. I think it's a bit bewildering as it is not clear where it is coming from and you don't know how to turn it off which may prompt people to quickly click away. If they do, that will negatively affect your SEO. I understand the desire to promote the free 60 day course, but I think you would be much better to give people the option to hear the audio play by allowing them to click a button to choose to play it (e.g. "Listen to our free offer to turn you into a marketing rock star") rather than feeding it to them automatically. I think you could find your conversion rate would go up. Sorry to mention this, but I know you want to make your site work better for you so I thought it better to share what I think could help you with that too.

You're welcome David.

Peter

Hi David

I'm not sure there is a way to give visibility to your blog fast unless it is remarkable and, for example, you get PR through the media picking up on it.

Apart from being fortunate to get the above, I would give one word for my recommendation: Google+, but, with a big caveat..

Getting people to engage with your blog content through social media, and in particular Google+ starts when you engage with their content. Just turning up on to Google+ and posting your blog will not work. Instead, seek out communities that would fit the target market you want to reach, and join them. But again, don't push your own content to start with. Instead get to know the people there and allow them to get to know and trust you. They you will have earned the right to share what you have to say.

In truth, unless you are fortunate as I said above, I don't think there is a quick way to get your blog content out fast. As good as your content may be, your best route to success will be to put give time to doing so - which sometimes requires putting into some hard miles to get there.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Whoops! I forgot about that one! One day I will go to that conference - but it would be good if they held it in London too one day.

I'll shift my vote

Peter

I am still not clear really. So are you saying you are wondering why it is ranking for the page linked to a tag in your blog rather than to the actual article page itself? I couldn't find another untagged copy of this page if there is one.

Peter

Hi Nick

If you are ranking well for a number of private equity definitions and terms and have been increasing rank in those terms, then I would consider that a win. That are you are losing rank for "private equity firms" is possibly down to Google understanding the intent of search queries better and deciding that your site is better served and more authoritative for the other terms.

I know that sounds strange as your domain is exact match, but Google won't be ranking because of that. As your site offers a service via subscription to private equity firms then that takes your site one step away from Google providing a result for that query which probably hampers your site compared to other sites that possibly rank higher.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi Brad

If I could, but I can't and it would make no sense for me really (as I am UK based) I would go to the SMX conference. Details here: http://searchmarketingexpo.com/east/

Peter

Hi Matt

Sorry, but I am unclear about what question you are asking that you need help with. Please explain more.

Thanks,
Peter

Hi Arben

Google's definition of a canonical page is "the preferred version of a set of pages with highly similar content". (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/139394?hl=en)

Looking at the two pages you have linked to I don't think they fall into the category of having "highly similar content".

Similar content isn't just defined as what is the same textually but also functionally. These two pages serve different user needs to find first aid courses in two different locations. To my mind that makes them different.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Typically, press releases are issued by companies not people, unless the person is representing their own brand.

So in the case of a company, I would say no, because whilst you may have written it a press release is really a statement and not something you would consider as 'authored'.

For blog articles however, definitely yes. Link the article to the individual's Google+ account in the page code by using the rel=author tag in the page to do that.

I hope that helps,
Peter

Hi, I don't think there is any SEO benefit that's been proven. If you had asked the question a couple of years or so ago, the answer would have been make sure you use nofollow on your links.

But the web is changing and Google is rewarding authenticity in what you do online.

If you were to write a technical article in a magazine for example, you would typically cite anyone you referenced in your article to give them credit for the piece you referred to. So, if you write a blog post for your site, why shouldn't you do the same? It seems normal and authentic to do that and if you are going to credit them, why wrap a nofollow around it?

Technically, you are passing SEO value from your page to theirs and diluting your own page's SEO value. But I don't know now if Google sees it and treats it that way.

So, that may not have answered your question but it may give something to discuss further.

Peter

Hi

To answer your questions:

For a site that is only one to two months old, what is considered a natural amount of inbound links if you're site offers very valuable information, and you have done a marketing push to get the word out about your blog?

This is really a "How long is a piece of string" question. It depends. If the site is for an established brand launching say a new site, then inbound links during that time could escalate to 1000s or tens of thousands wouldn't be unrealistic to expect. For an unknown, who knows? In one sense, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that those inbound links are producing results, both from people clicking on them and it benefiting your site from an SEO perspective.

Even if you are receiving backlinks from authority websites with high DA, does Google get suspicious if there are too many inbound links during the first few months of a sites existence?

Again, it would depend on whether or not the new site was for an established brand or for an unknown, but suspicion isn't necessarily based on numbers - although it would be fair to say that the higher the number the more it might flag up an issue. The main thing though is that Google's algorithms are sophisticated and able to detect link quality on the basis of a number of metrics, e.g. the social profile of a site. You could just have 10 links and it could flag an issue.

I know there are some sites that blow up very fast and receive thousands of backlinks very quickly, so I'm curious to know if Google puts these kind of sites on a watchlist or something of that nature. Or is this simply a good problem to have?

As I said above, the more links accrued in short space of time, the more likely a yellow or red light might start flashing on Google's dashboard, but again it comes down to link quality which is evaluated on a number of metrics that will determine if there is an issue.

I hope that helps,
Peter