Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Below is a link to a calendar, but is subject to change; I believe the rough estimation is every 4 weeks

http://apiwiki.seomoz.org/w/page/25141119/Linkscape%20Schedule

You can have success with either option, but the general consensus here on SEOMOZ I believe is subfolder

Example;

www.yourdomain.com/blog

Shane

I am not sure there is an easy answer.

I would calculate your losses on the de-indexation

I would OSE the URL's in question (and verify through webmaster tools) See how many external sites point to them.

If you do not have many incoming links, then I am not sure de-indexation is so bad, comparatively to the man hours or work needed to keep this up now and in the future.

I think it would just become almost like a Profit and Loss (P&L) scenario.

Also if you are already seeing duplicate content penalty's, in the grand scheme it may help to get rid of those pages as post PANDA it MIGHT be dragging you down.

But really this is all speculation, as I am not fully "up to speed" with the exact situation, and the answer in my opinion would be based on alot of factors not just SEO.

Hope this helps!

Shane

Hi,

Just from the Looks of the site you gave as an "example" it looks like a BMR type site...

These are going to be going down hard, as they in most cases serve no purpose other than as a link farm, shrouded in thin badly written content.

These types of schemes used to work very well, but with recent updates I would HIGHLY suggest staying away from this strategy you give of searching on PR and Penalty and expand your search to include other factors such as...

User Experience

Alexa Rank

Is the content currently on the site in question even good?

Does it allow social sharing easily and are there social shares?

Is its backlink portfolio just a bunch of links from Blog comments and other shady looking sites

There is quite a bit more to consider, but just as a suggestion, I would say look further into the quality, other than just how you think a search engine might perceive the site in question

Shane

PS just as a "Real World" scenario, One of My Niche's has LOTS of guys who do this, and they all (March 23rd) lost all rankings for Anchor Texts that employed this strategy, due to it WAS their only strategy...

I believe...

As an associate/employee/owner of a business/website you cannot create a page for your self within Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a resource for general consensus information, not just information. Not saying you "marketing-hyped" it up, but even if you did a great objective wiki... It is still not a consensus since you did it on yourself therefore technically not "UN-biased" information.

So technically you can't "get" a page on Wikipedia it needs to be created about you.... And only if you are important enough to deem a page, but not really sure what important enough threshold is.

If you are an SEO company and not SEOMOZ or another notable SEO company with worldwide recognition I am not sure i would waste my time.... But that is only my opinion.

Others may have a different opinion;

But as you have described it, I am not sure there is really a good "SEO" answer other than re-write the content...

Reason;

Each duplicated page is probably already not passing rank, due to it is just duplicate content of something that has already been indexed. (I am assuming) Of course this might not be the case, but unless the content is re-written, and of high quality --- These pages are probably doing nothing for the sites (SEO/SEM wise), and the "Link Juice" they are passing is probably negligible (if any).

So to answer your question;

If the clients won't rewrite the content, the pages are probably useless as it pertains to "Link Juice" or SEM strat, so personally, counting on this as an SEO asset to the site is probably a miscalculation.

Since these are all different domains/clients a canonical is probably out of the question as well. I think you are on the right track, but more along the lines of just using for User Experience, not for any SEO/SEM tactic.

Hope this helps

w00t!

Hi,

After looking at your site, the redirect of non www ---> www is already implemented?

Did you just make this change recently, cause all URLS in Google still show non www

Just In my opinion this could be the reason for the rank drop, as Google is "Confused" but it should get it right soon (few weeks or so)

Why did you change from non www to www?    are most of you incoming links coming to www version?

Shane

Have you questioned the SEO Company About their practices and how they gain your links?

This could REALLY help us here give you the best possible answer (even though right off the bat, #2 seems like a bad idea, just for the fact you need to see what is going on, so it can be stopped if necessary before other sites are penalized)

The Best Answer is #1 in my opinion

Since the most probable cause for your penalty is content farms and overuse of anchor texts, here is a nice post about a person who went through that

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/unnatural-link-warnings-blog-networks-advice

This is a little old, but it is a WBF on this issue

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-oh-i-got-a-penalty

Here is also a post from Dr. Pete on cutting the bad links strategies

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/6-ways-to-recover-from-bad-links

IMHO

I would personally (since you know it is a penalty cause you were warned) use Dr. Pete's article to help you track down the bad links, attempt to remove them, fix any other issues you may have on your site that are "questionable" and submit a reconsideration letting them know you worked with an SEO firm, and you took matters into your own hands, cleaned them up, and it won't happen again.

And then you wait....

Hope this helps

Shane

I personally go with the "Ghostwriter" option, as having a real person is key - and creating a real "Face" for your Brand is even more important.

I know alot of people on here would suggest the "Create A persona" option and i think there is even a whle webinar on it - But I would completely disagree with this and think as you say it is icky and dishonest - but I know some niches a face is hard to come by

Shane

Make sure and back up you .htaccess before making any changes...

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(.*).asp$ $1.php [R=301,L]

Would convert all asp to php

but this would only work if you kept your directory structure the same

Example

Old Structure http://www.somedomain.com/about.asp

New Structure http://www.somedomain.com/about.php

If you did not you will need to do it manually for each page

Redirect 301 /about.asp http://www.somedomain.com/about-Us.php

If there are spaces, be sure to use quotes

Redirect 301 "/about us.asp" http://www.somedomain.com/about-Us.php

There could be other easier ways, but if I read correctly above, this would be my suggestions

And of course as TIm suggests above, the proper SEO process would be manually for each page, redirecting to its proper counterpart (if it is indexed, and has links pointing to it or a User Experience page)

Shane

Hi,

I am not sure about time, but most the forums I saw people were wainting over a month -

Google Says

If you think that a sitelink URL is inappropriate or incorrect, you can demote it. Demoting a URL for a sitelink tells Google that you don't consider this URL a good sitelink candidate for a specific page on your site. Google doesn't guarantee that demoted URLs will never appear as a sitelink, but we do consider a demotion a strong hint that we'll try to honor when generating sitelinks.

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=47334

I think it is just a waiting game - Or you could probably just 301 that 404 URL to a correct one?? This would probably be the quickest path to resolution

hope this helps

Of course below is just my opinion... But it seems highly plausible...

Everything we do leaves a footprint, that footprint is analyzed by the algorithm - The algorithm has flags both ways with unnatural links. Either done by you - or against you...

I think this has always been one of Google's biggest challenges,not always necessarily how to penalize site owners and SEO's who are actually using Black hat - but how do you filter that against having black hat done against them algorithmically ?

The reason some claim it work, is I am sure there ARE ways to do it... But as ipositions **excellently ** points out.. This money could be much better spent employing strategies that not only help your search positioning, but your overall brand perception and marketing in general. Opposed to just hurting someone else to make yourself look better (sounds like politics!)

Shane

Hi,

Last weekend (Or the one before that, they run together) Google did a PR update. Google even took a hit from a PR 10 to PR 9

Keep tracking your campaign and traffic for anomalies, if you see a unexplained decline, then worry, otherwise i would just keep focusing on creating quality content, gaining quality links and making sure your site is free of "spammy" SEO techniques and duplicate content.

Hi,

In regards to google, I think the best source of determining this would be Google

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=79812

To answer your question though, Google states it should be

There could be other search engines who prefer it the other way, but switching it around in my opinion would not help with rankings or keywords anymore than

the

Sure;

I am not sure what the incorrect page is, so below is an EXAMPLE ---- if you want to send me by private or on here, both old and new URL's I can complete the code for you

So EXAMPLE WOULD BE;

Be sure to back up .htaccess first !

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine on

Redirect 301 /example/example.html http://www.corect-page.com

My Initial Reaction with all the new reports and studies coming out on the Importance Social going forward -

Would be to say the Social Benefits, heavily outweigh the loss of PR to external sites..

But then again, also in PR as I understand it, the difference between .0001 and .001 in PR CAN be huge in the determination of placement..

So I think it is a give and take....

But both positions cannot be ignored **NOW  **BUT I most definitely agree that Vinnie's take on it is a more longterm approach, than hoarding page rank...

Probably not, although if he is acting unethically is this someone you want your customers/perspective customers seeing you involved with?

w00t!

I believe they are coincidental...

I am not sure Google would take action on the entire Subnet range, for a password breach.

I believe it is only when malicious intent is found or suspected, and the release of passwords was not a malicious act in its own.

Check your Webmaster Tools for Malware messages, and see if there are any other messages. As say, you might have just fell victim to the latest round of quality checks from algorithm -  You may have just been bumped -

The idea of first making sure you are protected - then trying to get some fresh content and social signal/links is probably the route I would take.

Shane

Not necessarily -

Alot of PRWebs high authority distribution network is Nofollow

Also just because it is picked up, does not mean it is not duplicate content - or will not be treated as dup content in the future

Over the past few years I have personally seen a massive depreciation of Online Press Release distribution "White Hat" SEO benefits.

I also am not sure I would agree post Panda/Penguin - that Press releases are a good way to pass "Link Juice"

I am not saying it is a lost cause, but just feel your assesment is a little circa 2009, 2010

Hmm so it seems it is just an ROI question...

So personally I would put it in those exact terms - What in terms of gains has been seen since the beginning of link building efforts?

Gains in SEO cannot always be monetary, so what is the goal of the site - and how have you helped towards that goal, and how can you show that you directly affected those gains to the goal?

I would not say he is a dumb person, I would say he want to know his ROI, and if you cannot justify the money he is spending to you (not being a jerk, just my opinion) is not showing tangible results in terms of rankings, traffic or increased conversions (or whatever the goal is) then I am not sure I understand what you would be doing for the client?

Totally agree with Zeph, and kind of goes with my statement "not being a jerk, just my opinion" that he may just be impossible to satisfy cause he does not understand his own goals or how to reach them for the longterm.