Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thanks again Patrick.

I thought this was a good summing up by Neil Patel.

Hi

In my quest to develop a strategy to enhance "brand exposure" I'm considering guest blogging on sites with very good authority. However my question is;

1. Can I post my article and place my "author bio" (which includes my company linked name and social platforms)  at the bottom of an article?

2. Should author bios links be no follow?

3. Or, does Google allow page rank to pass for this.

We have some fantastic articles that are based on projects we've carried out, and would like to share these with readers on Dezeen, Contemporist and the rest of the interior design world.

Your help is always very much appreciated!

Regards

Gary

I've just spoken to an editor at the Daily Mail (National UK Newspaper) who expressed that they work closely with PR agencies to "endorse" certain companies and there products, however all links are not followed.

Example here; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-2952597/Exploit-inch-home-clever-multi-functional-furniture.html

Hi Lesley

This was certainly my perception. General rule -  a balanced link profile is certainly required, and such a strategy should not be performed at scale.

Patrick

Thanks so much for your feedback. Yes, your backlink profile should certainly be balanced. I'm certainly more reluctant to stay away from commissioned articles now, regardless of Google's perception.

What is Google's stance on a guest posts containing the linked author bio? Is this looked upon as sponsored? Is it required by the webmaster to set author bio links as no follow?

Apart from creating great content, linking to influencers and posting on certain social media platforms, how else to you attain links. What would a standard SEO practice implement into such a strategy?

Maybe links in the future will be devalued as semantic search takes over?

Thanks again Patrick

Ok "Commissioned Posts" meaning industry influencers/bloggers etc writing about your brand, products or services and possibly "linking" to your website (in exchange for money, or not)

a) I'm contacted by a blogger who wants to write a piece about our product and naturally links back.

b) A blogger says, yes, we can write a fantastic article about your brand and link to you for $$$..$ - is this ok if not at scale?

What is deemed as ethical?

I want to make sure our link building campaign is done within Google's guidelines. Here is currently what we are doing, or intending to do;

1. We're producing unique content on our site and sharing this with key influencers organically on Twitter, Facebook and G+ communities. This so far is working well for a new start up.

2. Writing guest posts on authoritative sites (with only our author bio at the bottom, branded link to our site, social links) sharing knowledge or interesting content which readers will want to read. Sites like HuffPost, The Guardian would be great although we're starting on authoritative well maintained blogger sites within the industry to begin.

3. Reaching out to industry influencers who may like to review our products. Many of them have got back to me stating that they "can" run commissioned posts (normally requires a large fee) which carries a followed link, branded or unbranded. Although we may have initially contacted them, and money could be exchanged, in the eyes of Google wouldn't this appear as a natural post?

Please let me know your thoughts on this? It would be great to gain more of an understanding exactly what I can or cannot do when it comes to developing high quality links for our business!

Your feedback (sharing any examples if possible) would be truly appreciated.

Thanks

Gary

Thanks for your help guys.

I want to make sure our link building campaign is done within Google's guidelines. Here is currently what we are doing, or intending to do;

1. We're producing unique content on our site and sharing this with key influencers organically on Twitter, Facebook and G+ communities. This so far is working well for a new start up.

2. Writing guest posts on authoritative sites (with only our author bio at the bottom, branded link to our site with social links) sharing knowledge or interesting content which readers would want to read. Sites like HuffPost, The Guardian would be great although we're starting on authoritative well maintained blogger sites with the industry to begin.

3. Reaching out to industry influencers who may like to review our products. Many of them have got back to me stating that they "can" run commissioned posts (normally requires a large fee) which carries a followed link, branded or unbranded. Although we may have initially contacted them, and money could be exchanged, in the eyes of Google wouldn't this appear as a natural post?

Please let me know your thoughts on this? It would be great to gain more of an understanding exactly what I can or cannot do when it comes to developing high quality links for our business! I would like to be more pro-active.

Your feedback (sharing any examples if possible) would be truly appreciated.

Thanks

Gary

Hi

I'm a little curious as to what the lastest guidelines are for sponsored posts by Google?

The writer blurb at the bottom of an article is of course ok, but what about companies who pay money to another company to have a fantastic piece written "with a link" but with no evidence who the writer is?!

Thanks

Gary

Hi Guys

I apologise for not responding sooner. Attached are "most" of our keywords we are ranking for (for individual pages) since launching in Feb this year. We're now starting to execute a marketing plan that will contribute to earning links. Hopefully this will begin to rank our more "competitive" keywords.

Have you guys worked with many start ups? How quickly were they able to rank for non competitive/competitive keywords?

Would really like to hear from you regarding your experiences, to ensure I get everything right from the get go. Thanks.

Gary

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Just the one keyword per page

Thanks for your feedback.

We have around 80-100 researched keywords which are completely relevant to each page, and have produced the necessary content to improve UX for these specific pages.

The question is, do we cut out around 40-50 keywords or more? Would this have a more positive impact on the keywords we choose to use that are deemed by us as very important?  Or should we now just concentrate on developing great content that is relevant to our products and services..?

Thanks Miriam

For a new start up business, would you place a limit on the number of unique key words used for the website?

We're two months live with around 40 key words ranking in the top 50. The other 50 key words are more competitive and are yet to appear in the top 50.

Hi Miriam

The company is for Hardwood Flooring.

One business location in central London. Competition is fairly tough. All keywords on the site have been targeted to target specific wood colours, types and locations in London.

Hi Guys

Just taken on a new site with around 80 keywords with no links because the site is new. Each page is optimised correctly, very user friendly with completely unique content for each and every page.

I'm interested to know what would be your online marketing "plan" for such site to begin ranking.

Thanks

Gary

Hi Steve

Having unique content for each product page is a must! I guess sofa beds are individually unique to a degree in terms of brand, size, functionality, design etc.

If you could elaborate about what it is exactly you are trying to do, I'll try to help?

Gary

Hi Guys

We're about to launch a very large website for a flooring company and would like to find out more about _key word _cannibalisation - to put my mind at rest. I know Rand posted a Whiteboard Friday early last year about this topic and mentioned using part of the same keyword was ok to use.

All our keywords are specifically geared for "user intent" meaning each keyword has relevance and the content to back up the keyword. We've ensured the keywords are located within each url, placed at the start of the page title, h1 etc.

Hello

I've recently asked the community which urls would be best for a company with a variety of wood flooring products. This question relates to "keywords" within the url which relates to each and every product.

Which would you choose,     1.  a or b?          2. a or b?

1. - Product: CIRO

a. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/rustic-oak-ciro  - Keyword Match, YES. "Rustic Oak Flooring"

b. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/ciro  - Keyword Match, NO. "Rustic Oak Flooring"

2. - Product: VOGUE

a. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/prefinished-oak-vogue  - Keyword Match, YES. "Pr_efinished Oak Flooring"_

b. www.thewoodgalleries.co.uk/engineered-flooring/vogue  - Keyword Match, NO. "Pr_efinished Oak Flooring"_

Although seemingly a basic part of SEO, I find myself revisiting this question time and time again - what is really better for SEO? Shorter URL's or "slightly" longer to achieve keyword match?

_After researching many keywords which we have chosen to use as part of this project, it seems to have any chance of ranking on the first page, the key word (or part of the keyword) must appear within the url. _

I would like to get some "extra" clarification. Thanks for your help!

My thoughts also. We're limiting to 2 sub folders to allow everything to be more manageable, plus naturally this contributes to keyword targeting.

Thanks Leonie

1 – www.company.com/subfolder/subfolder/keyword-keyword-product (I’m able to keyword match with this url)

or

2. www.company.com/subfolder/subfolder/product  (no url keyword match)

What would you choose? A url which is "short" but still relevant, or, a url which is more descriptive allowing “keyword” match?

Be great to get your feedback guys.

Many thanks

Gary