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I found where I read it. Thanks for that post, I hadn't yet read it. However, we have some misinformation going on here from the engines because on [schema's getting started page](2c. Testing your markup) @ '2c.Testing your markup', they say, "Google provides a rich snippets testing tool, which you can use to test your markup and identify any errors."
Perhaps, we're just too soon, too early of adopeters 
Thanks oznappies
Agreed, absolutely agreed! Thank you very much Alan!
PS. Could you share the slides from your presentation at SMX Advanced please? If not, how about a link to a post of yours?
I think I read somewhere that Google's Rich Snippets Testing Tool works for testing schema's markup also. I'll see if I can find where I heard/ read this.
Take for example, a resort detail page on oyster.com. They have a section called "nearby hotels to consider", which I believe serves two purposes...
#1) it's likely helpful to users, as most people don't restrict themselves to staying at just one specific resort, and
#2) it helps search engines flow PageRank, crawl and index other pages in the 'Aruba' category.
What I can't figure out is, what benefit would it have to not include these links to nearby hotels? (Except perhaps, on checkout process pages of course.)
What if the 'Raddison' Resort for example, got a ton of inbound links and the 'Westin Resort' had only a few? Well, you could cross link them and help the Westin Resort page rank... and simultaneously show your users more relevant options.
Yeah, I agree Alan. I don't usually think it's a good return on invested time to practice PageRank sculpting either. One could for example, being building links or generating content with the time/ resources instead
I just re-read what you said, "Individual services details pages should cross-link to each other within that service section at that level though, for usability." To be sure I understand what you're saying.... if your architecture is for example
vehicles -> cars -> luxury -> bmw
vehicles -> cars -> luxury -> mercedes
vehicles -> cars -> luxury -> jaguar
then bmw, mercedes and jaguar would link to each other... correct?
Not at all, thanks Alan. I think we're in agreeance.
As long as one is not exceeding Google's approx. outbound links per page... and as long as the the navigation make sense to the users.... specific detail pages within the same category should be linked to each other. Is that what you're saying as well?
Here's one example of why I think this is best for indexation reasons. I've attached an image of the page where I circled some stuff
What do you think Alan?
Thank you dignan99. What's your opinion of silos? Do you like to cross link detail pages within a category to each other, or even category pages to each other?
I definitely agree EGOL. We like to meticulously plan out sites and SEO/PPC campaigns prior to launch, but over time a site's architecture definitely needs to be revisited. Usually at that time, we try to also implement any more advanced programming knowledge we might have accumulated to help ease the pain as well
Thanks EGOL!
Thank you Dave.
I guess it comes down to flowing PageRank within a category vs. restricting PageRank to the pages that have more links. Any idea why would someone prefer the latter?
Thanks Alan. You mentioned, "where all the pages in that section have a link to all the other pages in that section".........
Can you think of any reason why you would not want detail pages within a category to link to one another?
Howdy Brant,
You can update the website url by logging into your Google account, then clicking "account settings" at the top right. After that, click "Google Places", then update the listing(s) of your choice.
Citations aren't necessarily links to your site. SEOs more use the word to represent 'mentions' of your website, along with address, phone, etc throughout the web.
Here's a recent video I highly recommend you watch.... The Basics of Local SEO.
Also, David Mihm posted an updated version of the Local Search Ranking Factors, which I highly recommend you read. All of it
Don't forget to read every word in the Google Places Help Center as well.
I know it's a lot to study, but you're engaging in the optimization process, so it's crucial for you to understand as much as possible.
If you're still having trouble after all of that, I'd be happy to help you with some specific advice, just let me know (free of course). Otherwise, I'm sure some other mozzers will post some great ideas to this question as well
Does this help Brant?
Hey Jay,
Good question! I think the major benefits are 1) user interaction, 2) inbound links and 3) share-ability
Here's a few articles I can remember about the subject on SEOmoz...
#1) Original Link Building for beautiful-looking websites
#2) Put Your Best Foot Forward
#3) CSS Galleries are Great for Traffic & PageRank
#4) Making a Site Link Friendly
#5) Making Product Pages into Great Content [White Board Friday]
Not at all Marcus, it happens to us all. When managing SEO, we tend to stay super focused on specific stuff
Howdy Wouter,
Matt Cutts says some url shorteners do infact pass some value. I know Linkedin isn't using a shortener, but I suspect Google treats those similarly (from Linkedin). That said, Google knows Linkedin well, so they probably assign values to their links in a specific way, regardless of how Linkedin marks them up. That's my hunch and of course, I could be wrong. But with high profile social sites such as facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc... Google knows best about how to treat their massive amounts of outbound links. Just a thought.
Does this help Wouter?
Hey Daniel,
"yes" and "yes" to the best of my knowledge. They're checking your keyword against the same criteria each time. So, to get a copy of each recommendation that would appear if the criteria wasn't met..... just create a 'test' page and don't put any content on it. And don't run a keyword for it either. Also, I'd recommend checking out this post about how to optimize a page 'perfectly'.
Does this help Daniel?
Howdy Dunamis, I don't think you're alone with this at all. We use Google Calendars to manage our time carefully and to avoid slipping into the 'SEOmoz analysis paralysis'. That said, I personally feel like that's half the fun of being an SEO, all that study time! It makes me wonder how companies like SEOgadget, Distilled, and SEOmoz (when they did consulting) are able to teach and innovate soooo much. And yet they got stuff done as well. Distilled's new mantra seems to be Getting Things Done, so I suspect they've had the same problem also
I think a 50/50 time split is well enough. Perhaps, 70/30 (doing, studying) for those working by themselves. What do you think?
I'm curious to know what other mozzers think about silo's...
Can we first all agree that a flat site architecture is the best practice? Relevant pages should be grouped together. Shorter, broader and (usually) therefore higher volume keywords should be towards the top of each category. Navigation should flow from general to specific. Agreed?
As Google say's on page 10 of their SEO Starter Guide, "you should think about how visitors will go from a general page (your root page) to a page containing more specific content ." OK, we all agree so far, right? Great!
Enter my question: Bruce Clay (among others) seem to recommend siloing as a best practice. While Richard Baxter (and many others @ SEOmoz), seem to view silos as a problem.
Me? I've practiced (relevant) internal cross linking, and have intentionally avoided siloing in almost all cases.
What about you? Is there a time and place to use silos? If so, when and where? If not, how do we rectify the seemingly huge differences of opinions between expert folks such as Baxter and Clay?
That does sound like a bug. I have had excellent responses from the help desk in the past. During the weekends no one is usually working, so I bet you'll hear from them this week.
Ryan Kent, I agree with you. In SEO, you're either an early adopter, or a late-comer. Thumbs up for you sir.
Just in case of the small chance some people haven't seen this yet, I wanted to share it...
