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I agree you are ok to include links in a badge but the main objective of the badge should be to build brand credibility not build links for the search engines.  If you nofollow and stick with branded anchor text I think you are safe.  It's a no harm no foul approach erring on the side of caution.

It depends on how you are coding it?  Can you paste some sample code?

Why would you want to build comment spam?  Are you trying to get penalized by Google?

I would continue with erring on the side of caution when it comes to link building.  That competitor is on a one way street to a penalty sooner or later.

I do think you should make the whole article available on the download page.  If the page is designed well and the content is laid out in a digestible manner I think it's probably more link worthy as an html page than a PDF.  You could also convert it and share on SlideShare type sites for added exposure and co-citation.

Well if you want links to the content on an html page and not the PDF then make the content fully HTML compatible.  Place a small form at the bottom of the page allowing users to submit their email for the PDF version and you won't have people trying to link directly to your PDF.

You could set it up in GWT but it sounds like you are using utm tags on internal links so you can see which physical links on a page are driving clicks.  If that's the case a cleaner solution is to upgrade your Google Analytics code for enhanced link attribution. I'm assuming you are using GA but if so this will allow you to see which links are driving which clicks and won't create tons of duplicate page titles in SEOmoz.

See link:  http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2558867

Let me know if you have questions,

JS

I agree with both responses, there is no reason to 301 redirect just because of new title tags.  I think 3 redirects is really pushing it in terms of retaining your link value but 2 I have done several times with no effects on rankings.

Hope this helps!

It is usually a good thing to do some natural internal linking from your editorial content to your main site or product/service pages.  Be careful not to "over-optimize" the anchor text when you link internally or you stand a high risk of an over optimization penalty.

1.  Yes you are correct about moving the blog to /blog so you can get the DA value from the root domain.  It also will help your root domain more to have the content at /blog b/c any links you generate to your content will go back to the root domain DA.

2.  I wouldn't recommend switching from wordpress.  There is just no business case (SEO-wise) for switching away from Wordpress.  The Yoast SEO plugin makes on page optimization and technical seo for wordpress a no-brainer and the WP community support will more than make up for any advantages you might think of on a propreitary system.

3.  Yes tracking on GA will be suffice.  You may want to setup a custom profile to track just the blog content in google analytics if you have someone who you want to be able to view blog analytics but not the entire site analytics.  Just a suggestion!

Sounds like you are on the right path, hope this helps!

I would focus on producing high quality content and getting it syndicated on high authority relevant websites.  This strategy is safer in the long run and it is also very difficult to duplicate without putting in all the time and effort.

I think it may be hurting you b/c even though the links aren't passing link juice they are likely still messing up your anchor text distribution.  This sounds like a case of negative SEO by a competitor.

What is your plan of action?

I think Google is smart enough to recognize that one of your top anchor text terms is your actual brand name but may still penalize you if those links are coming from spammy sites.

I think SimpleLivingWithGod.com will help you rank faster for simple living queries.  Titling with your brand name at the end is a best practice in my opinion but definitely not required.  I never recommend leading with the brand name unless you are Sears.com or WalMart.com.  Those brands are recognizable to the point it makes sense to lead your titles with the brand b/c the brand actually drives CTR.  If you're brand isn't known and you aren't investing heavily in the brand they I think your keyword targeted approach is the best option.  Just don't get carried away and spammy with it and make sure your page titles reflect the actual content on the page and you should be good to go.

Thumbs up if this helps!

Thanks,

It sounds like you are being tested against another service provider for performance.  I would recommend that you define a real test with the client so that each of you can perform work on different keyword targets and measure over 90 days who has the most impact.  I think that makes sense as long as all parties are using white hat methods.  If not then I recommend dropping whomever is involved in black hat seo.

Did you pull your link profile from webmaster tools, opensiteexplorer, majestic, or ahrefs?  I would start with pulling your profile from as many of these as you can.  Are you sure a competitor didn't hit you with some negative SEO?

Can you provide the url and keyword you are referencing?

You should 301 redirect the old URL's to the new URL's and setup a disallow for search results in your robots.txt file.

I don't think you should forget them altogether.  You aren't going to get penalized for directory listings with Yahoo, Manta, etc.  I would use your best judgement as to whether you believe the directory is user friendly enough that you would use it and decide if you want a link there.  I think of it more as putting your brand on another brands site, do you want to be positioned with that brand?  I personally don't want links from shitty brands or sites, I think it's too risky.