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Are the 7 packs representative of Google+ business listings or Google + Places listings? This is making my head hurt..

I was doing keyword research, and for some of my keywords I was seeing Google+ listings last week. they were gone earlier this week, but now they are back. We weren't in them anyway (new project) but can anyone explain this? Same computer, Same IP,

I have 3 keywords that I am targeting. Assume for the time being that they are all equally competitive. Includes local exact match monthly searches:

Managed IT Services - 3600

IT Managed Services - 720

Managed IT Support - 170

They are all exactly synonymous, not to mention other keywords such as IT Managed Support, Managed IT Service, IT Managed Service, Managed IT Service Provider, etc..  My current strategy is to target the top 3 all on one page. The problem then is the title tag:

Managed IT Services | IT Managed Services | Managed IT Support

Pretty spammy. I could build pages for all 3, but how would I incorporate them into the website since they are all synonyms.

Can I get some recommendations on how to handle this? What would you use for a title tag? How would handle separate pages with synonymous content?

Google+ has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into my SEO plans. Over the last few weeks, Google+ listings started showing up in the SERPs for my money keywords. The good news is that once we launch our new site, we have a good chance of getting into the Google+ 7 packs. The bad news is that SEO on a national level just got tougher with the local Google+ listings crowding natural listings down the page.

Questions:

1. How does Google+ determine who goes into the 7 pack?
2. Is there always a 7 Pack? Can there only be a 4 pack?
3. I see Google+ listings for companies that don't have a Google+ page. How is that possible?
4. Through my keyword research, I have about 20 keywords that are triggering Google+ listings in the SERPs. Some SERPs are only showing  2-4 G+ listings. Is it safe to assume that this is because no one has put those keywords in their Google+ description, and hasn't optimized for those words on their site?

Looking for suggestions - one of my targeted keywords is "IT Support NY". I can't for the life of me figure out a way to use it in a sentence.

Any ideas?

Ouch. In my opinion, you have way too much Red in your template. Red on white is very powerful - it draws your attention more than just about any color combination. When I look at your home page, i get confused. The nav bar is red, the bins are red, copy is red. I don't know where to begin. I can't figure out which way to go.

In design there is a concept of "foreground, middle ground, and background". This is about color contrasts. The content that you want customers to see and act on are "foreground". They have larger graphics, larger fonts, bold fonts, and attention grabbing colors. Middle Ground is supporting information - ad copy, generally. It needs to be readable without overpowering the foreground. The background is the fine print - terms of use, etc.

With all of the red, everything on your site is in the foreground. Half of the elements on your page scream "Look at Me!" That's what causes confusion. The most powerful foreground combinations are red on white, white on red, black on yellow, yellow on black, black on white.

Action Items:

1. Strip out all of the red on every page. Make your Nav bar a quiet shade of blue or green. No red bins in images. No Red copy.

2. Stay away from Red in general - Stop signs are red for a reason. Red buttons on pages typically don't convert well red=STOP!  For your action items, use orange and a bright green in small doses. They have tested out the best. Just about every major website has blue or green as the dominant color in the palate. There is a reason for it. It's easy on the eyes, and it's easy to drop in an orange button that grabs your attention.

Just doing this will vastly improve your bounce rate.

I can't even tell you about the site's organization - the red hurts my head.

Take a look at major e-commerce sites, and mimic what they do in terms of color, organization, navigation, etc. Every pixel on every page on Amazon has been extensively tested for usability and conversions. The color of the cart, the term "add to cart", the position of the cart, the color scheme, the navigation, -  everything has been extensively tested by the best in the business. Why would you want to reinvent the wheel?

When you are organizing your site templates, think about how you want visitors to behave, and make the navigation and choices that you want them to take stand out, and above the fold. Try to build your site so that visitors never touch the navigation bar. Map out a path that you want them to follow and make it easy on them - put buttons like "Start Now", "Click Here".

Pick up the books "Don't Make me Think" by Steve Krug and "Convert" by Ben Hunt.

That's what I thought. I just read something to the contrary. Does anyone else know anything different?

When evaluating a PPC landing page for Quality Score, does Google evaluate the other pages that the landing page is linked to?

For example, if we have a well optimized page on the site for "Widgets", can it outscore a well optimized  PPC landing page that is isolated in a "disallow" directory with no links into or out of the page?

I'm not sure if I am making myself clear...

From a purely SEO /link juice perspective, is there any benefit to linking from body text to a page that is in a pervasive primary navigation?  The primary nav puts a link at the top of the HTML. With the tests done by members of this site, the "first link counts" rule negates the link juice value of a link in the body text if there is already a link in the nav.

Now I've also seen the data on using hash tags to get a second or third link, but ignoring that, it would seem that links in the body text to pages in the nav have zero effect.

This brings me to another question - block level navigation. If anchor text links pass more juice than links in the top navigation, why would you put your most coveted target pages in the top nav? You would be better off building links in the content, which would create a poor user experience. To me, the theory that anchor text links in the body pass more juice than links in the primary nav doesn't make any sense.

Can someone please explain this to me?

I understand the concept of silo architecture. What I don't understand is how to build the site navigation.

I see experts talking about silos, but their sites have pervasive top level navigation. In theory, your top level nav breaks your silos.  If I have 20 pages of supporting content all linked to my silo page, and the top nav is on the supporting content pages, then those pages all link to the pages in the top nav - silo broken, and link juice diluted.

it would seem to me that the only way to build a true silo is to strip out all of the navigation on a supporting page, and only have it link to:

1. The silo landing page

2. Other supporting pages in the silo.

is this what Bruce Clay does? I've seen Rand's lectures on silos as well. Is this what he is doing? I recently saw a video by the Network Empire team, and they'd also have a pervasive nav.

Can someone please explain this?

Can you clarify? I am using Layer Slider, which uses a mix of text and graphics. You can see it at www.csm-corp.com. The sliders are generally 250 high, and the images (people) started off at 300 high. They needed to be scaled down to fit, and they don't encompass the whole slider.

What am I doing wrong?

No offense taken. They are high res. The slider is blurring them. Should I reduce the size of the slider?

Can someone give me a sample of an effective meta description tag? All of the best practice stuff I read doesn't talk about how to raise CTR. It seems to me that this is a neglected area of SEO, and we want to do this right. Obviously, we will need to test.

For example, my main home page keyword is "IT Support"

Things I might want to put in the tag:

Free Network Assessments

100% Risk Free Trials

"Relentless IT Support" (Major Theme)

30 Years of Experience (since 1984)

Eliminate your IT Support Headaches Forever (Too long)

Call to action?

BTW, Thanks to everyone for your help. This is a great community. Solid advice from experts.

Here's an example of what I would create

Relentless IT Support Since 1984. Trust and Accountability. 100% Risk Free Trials. Contact us today for Free IT Assessment.

Looking for some advanced help here. I've been reading a lot of conflicting information on this, and I am hoping someone can clear this up.

My question is regarding length and complexity of title tags. For example, my top level keywords are:

IT Support, IT Services, IT Outsourcing, Help Desk, etc.

I also have pages for many modified versions ex: IT Support Services, Managed IT Services, etc.

I have robust pages for each. Should my title tag be:

IT Support | CSM Corp. - Simple

IT Support Company | CSM Corp. (Picks up a longer tail)

or

IT Support | Secondary Keyword | CSM Corp.

Does adding secondary keywords dilute the strength of the primary keyword?

If long is preferable, can someone give me an example using "IT Support"?

So what you are saying is that there is no way to keep the pages out of the serps and restrict them from getting link juice?

This is nuts. My conversion pages will be getting huge amounts of link juice - there are links to them on every page.

I'm not happy about this. Any workarounds?

I have been reading a lot of conflicting information on the Link Juice ramifications of using "NoIndex". Can I get some advice for the following situation?

1. I have pages that I do not want indexed on my site. They are lead conversion pages. Just about every page on my site has links to them. If I just apply a standard link, those pages will get a ton of Link Juice that I'd like to allocate to other pages.

2. If I use "nofollow", the pages won't rank, but the link juice evaporates. I get that. I won't use "nofollow"

3. I have read that "noindex, follow" will block the pages in the SERPs, but will pass Link Juice to them. I don't think that I want this either. If I "dead end" the lead form with no navigation or links, will the juice be locked up on the page?

4. I assume that I should block the pages in robots.txt

In order to keep the pages out of the SERPs, and conserve Link Juice, what should I do? Can someone please give me a step by step process with the reasoning for what I should do here?

The plugin looks great for nofollow, but it doesn't do anything for noindex.

Thanks, Peter.

Can you recommend a plugin?

It's been a while since I've SEOed a Wordpress site. How do I add "nofollow" or "noindex" to specific links? I highlight the anchor text in the text editor, I click the "link" button.

I could have sworn that there used to be an option in the dialogue box that pops up.

BTW, Thank You!