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Tags in Wordpress carry no SEO weight.  Going forward, I would ignore them completely.

If you erase your tag pages now, it may cause some broken links from your sitemap.  I attached a video of Matt Cutts explaining keyword meta tags.

Jared

watch?v=UnHhmy7Ovro

You can find do follow locations for your comments with this free search tool:

http://www.inlineseo.com/dofollowdiver/

When I comment, I make them long and thought out as a way to get my name out there.  People like to see debate and controversy, so don't be afraid to comment (politely) about why you disagree with their opinions.

Tags carry no SEO value.  All they do is notify your competition the exact keyword phrases that you are targeting.  Matt Cutts has suggested many times that categories alone are a best practice.

Have a good one,

Jared

The more you post and the more videos you make, the more exposure!  That is a more valuable goal.

Hey Mark,

Also, as you add content, let your analytics guide you towards long tails that you can write about.  Focusing on incoming search keywords will allow you to drill into micro niches within your market as well.

I used to put much of my time into manual back links, but I had to learn that it is far more valuable to analyze my stats and write a good post or two instead.

This leads to more long tail and more micro niches.

If you are using Wordpress and they are showing up as trackbacks, make sure you delete them, or disable trackbacks and pingbacks.

I almost threw up!

Worked fine for me just now.

Hey Garry,

The best lessons that helped me over the last two years are:

-Only analyze the strength of first page of Google results (MOZbar + keyword optimization).  Forget about exact match, intitle, and inurl numbers, etc.

-Make a huge list out to the long tail.  Group similar phrases together over time.  It is an ongoing process.

-Write more content above all else, insert your long tail phrases all over the place, then analyze.  Let the tools point you towards topics and niches that are working in your market instead of PPC (I don't have that money to waste).  You will be surprised about the route analytics takes you.  Don't corner yourself into thinking about a few topics.

-Look in places other than the Adwords Tool since the vast majority of Internet Marketers and SEOs look there.  I like Keyword Optimizer Pro and again, my analytics.

Take care,

Jared

Mainly it is site structure plus speed.  It does have quite a few  features, so when you use an SEO plugin, there may be some overlapping features to keep an eye out for.

As Rand says on the Whiteboards, "Howdy SEOmoz fans",

I am obsessed with Wordpress, but wanted to spread my wings a bit and have been playing around with Drupal.  I really like it.

I had the idea for a new site that would have a Drupal set up (in the front end for pages and training) with a Wordpress blog on the subdomain or a directory for the Social Media integration I like to do with Wordpress.

I'm just brainstorming a couple questions:

1. Would you guys and gals recommend sticking to just one or the other for SEO or does this not really matter as long as they are deep linked well?

2. Also, would you recommend subdomain or directory for WP?

Have a good one,

Jared

Here is what I like to do:

On Google Analytics go to Traffic Sources --> Sources --> Search --> Organic.  On the bottom right of that report, change "show rows" to a larger number.

This will give you the long tail search results that you are starting to snag.  Grab a few key phrases that look enticing to you.

Next, run those through Scroogle.org --> Scroogle Scraper.  It looks spammy, but I have used it over a year with no problem.

Scroogle will return Google results with no personalized or history enabled.  With the latest update, this is huge.  If you find you are not ranking very high and still getting a bit of traffic, you can get a back link or two for an easy boost.

Half the time, I see success just from a couple text links from my other posts (deep linking).

Hope I didn't confuse!

Jared

Hey Joe,

That's a nice looking site!

You could try the Wordpress SEO plugin instead of Platinum.  It is what I use and I like it better than Platinum.

Have a good one.

Hey everybody,

I finally started shooting some screen capture videos and it is actually fun!  Right now, I am uploading to Youtube and soon, Vimeo.  Next, I embed them on a post and share it around a few social sites, Tweet it, and share it on my Facebook Page.

I know there are more effective ways and sites for doing this.  What tips can you Mozzers share?

Thanks,

Jared

Hey Rachel,

If you are using Wordpress, Yoast has a Google Analytics plugin which offers many added variables and segmenting.  I played around with it for a little while, but basic analytics are enough for my efforts right now.  You can read about it here:

http://yoast.com/wordpress/google-analytics/

Hey Michelleh,

This won't count as duplicate content.  The more embeds, the better your videos will do based on the content that it is embedded within.

If Google sees a lot of embeds, it means that your video is helpful for people and should get more attention.

Hey Diane,

This may have been one of those little algorithm tweaks Google is so fond of.  They may be playing with their exact match domain strength.

The important thing is to not panic!  Get a couple of quality links, or maybe go vertical with a quick video, which could do well if you embed it.

You could also write a post about gastric band hypnotherapy and point the anchor text to the page that normally ranks, or link from content that already exists.

Also, you could throw your keyword in the H1 tag.

You're right, those other sites are garbage!

There are many routes you can take with your new blog to drive traffic.

One of the most cost and time effective strategies is to determine your most effective keywords.  These are ones that are driving traffic and sales to your site already.

If these phrases are low on the first page of results, or on the second page AND sending you leads, these are the phrases to target first in a blog post to get them higher in the search results.

The duplicate content will only happen if you copy exact product descriptions from the main part of the site onto the blog.  As for categories vs. products, it really depends on your top keywords and your goals.  If you are in a micro niche, it may be better to lean towards products.

Don't let these choices freeze you up, though.  Make related original content as you flesh out a plan and stay consistent!

A poem about keyword research?  You are a kindred spirit, sir!

Thanks for the reply.

Sounds like drivel, poppycock and shenanigans to me!