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I'd say a product page (if it is very similar to the product that is no longer available). If you have something like "You May Also Like" on the products this would be useful to have. Only my opinion though and there is no right or wrong answer.

Don't look at it as how many, look at the quality of the directories. You are far better off getting 5/6 really high quality directories like BOTW and DMOZ than 20/30 average directories.

I'd also suggest looking for industry specific directories as they will be better for you than the general directories. However, if you are choosing the general dirs then make sure your link goes in the most appropriate section.

Use OSE on your competitors that rank well for your target keywords and then see which directories they have submitted to. You still need to look at them to make sure they are quality but it is always a good place to start.

Google still crawls and indexes "hidden content" but from a user point of view if you have to hide it then it probably isn't worth reading. From experience, we use some css to dropdown extra content when the client insists on it being there but it is too long.

If it has to be there then I don't think it will be doing any harm but if you don't need it then get rid.

Removing all links is definitely not the way to go but many people are still unsure what constitutes to a good and bad link. That company have gone about it the wrong way though!

Have you tried using Whois to find the contact details?

If you disavow the domain rather than an individual page in the disavow tool, you shouldn't have to update the file every time they take one of your feeds. I don't think there is anything you can do to stop them taking it though unfortunately.

I wouldn't waste your time to be honest. Article directories, even Ezine Articles, took a huge hit and I honestly don't think they even drive that much traffic. We used to use them a while back and they drove hardly any traffic so I'd focus on other areas. If you are going to the effort of creating unique content, use it as a way of attracting people to your website, you'll get much better results from it.

Just make sure that your posts are relevant to the blog you are posting on and that the links match the blog post you are writing. In terms of the benefit, because they are going to different pages on your website there is some benefit to be had.

Hi,

I can seem pretty hard to get some quality links nowadays but I think the best thing to do is not to think of it as "getting links" and to think about where your content will be seen by your potential/existing customers. Guest blogging can still be useful because if it is on a relevant and powerful blog then there is a good chance that people will read your post, realise you have a good knowledge on the subject and look for more information.

The secret is to give enough information about the subject you are writing about but enough in reserve to make readers want to know more. Think about creating some content (without the subject of the website you are looking to build for it is hard to be specific) and adding it to your website. As saw this before on Direct Travel's website (www.direct-travel.co.uk/infographic/uk-aviation) and thought it'd be a good example. They created this infographic and they can now contact different travel-related websites to ask them to link to this page. On the page where you create the "linkable asset", make sure you have details about the products/services you offer because you want to entice people to search through the website and ultimately convert.

This is just one way of getting links but it can be quite successful if you find the right type of content.

Hope that helps!

When you are looking to post content or get links from anywhere, look at the potential of the website as well as the stats. Yes, it is really good if they have a high DA and PA because it will tell you that it is an established website but it is not the be all and end all. Look at the social presence of a website/blog, whether they tweet the story or post it on facebook, look at how many posts they have made and how regularly they are posting and what they are posting about. This will tell you much more about the blog/website.

If you are really interested in posting then why not ask them how many readers, sign ups, followers, visits etc they have/get because if your post is just going to sit on a website and nobody reads it then your time is best spent elsewhere. So a blog maybe new and therefore only has a DA of 10, but they may have many followers and a high readership count so the post will be useful.

All the points made are great and I'd just add one more thing...look at the average length of the blog/website that the post is going on. Like EGOL said, on Moz, most posts are around 1000 words so that's what you should aim for but for another blog, they may want something longer or shorter. Match the content and length to the blog it is going on, that way you are adding value to the blog and not just blogging for links.

hi,

Well done on getting your first link, it's good to see people using the right techniques in order to gain links. Looking at stats of a page is a decent gauge of the quality but I also recommend our clients to look at the website as a whole. When deciding whether your to get a link from a website consider the following;

1. Does your links and content match what is already on the website? It has to look natural and fit in with the theme of the website.

2. What are the other posts like? Do they look paid? if so then you may be submitting your content to the wrong website. Are the links followed or no-followed?

3. Are people commenting on posts? You want people to interact with your posts because that is how you attract people to your website.

4. Is the website pushing your content through social channels? Ideally you want this so your post gets maximum exposure.

If you consider these 4 things when you are looking to push your content then you should be fine. To summarise,check the website for these 4 things are you'll know how much traction your post is going to get. If it ticks 3 or 4 of these points then I'd say it was 2 hours well spent!

Good luck.

Whoever gave you that advice is an idiot and is clearly inexperienced in the internet marketing field. However, EGOL is right that, to find out why they outrank you, we'd need to know a lot more about the industry you are in, what your website/your competitors websites are like.

Ok, ok, I get it, you think its a rubbish idea!

The way you have done the alt attributes for the images at the bottom of the homepage is correct. Don't stuff keywords into your alt tags because you will gain nothing from it. Try get a keyword into your image alt tag but it is more important that the description matches the image.

Tom's right, there is nothing wrong with having 301's on the website and you should use data to determine whether a 301 is necessary. However, if there is any chance that someone has linked to it then a 301 should be used.

Maybe get creative with your 404 page whilst there is a chance it may appear, customers like a good 404 and shows you are user friendly as well. Point them to the new URL and to other products they may like.

Good luck!

As a side note...why not get the client to contact the forum and make an official statement so they can clear up any misconceptions that a potential customer may have?

I know, it's frustrating and probably happened to all ethical SEO'ers at some point. Keep at it, you'll be rewarded! Good luck for the future

It is possible yes, your home page is where the majority of your website authority sits so if that gets penalised then other pages can be affected. Simon is right that without more details, it is hard to give you a proper answer.

If you have been doing a lot of articles recently then this may be a reason because article websites have taken a huge hit since the update in January.

It's all about relevance so as long as the is a purpose to each page then there is no harm in creating a page for each city. Make sure you do your Google Places listings for both (if there is an office for each) as well as that will give you some extra visibility. As David said, just be careful with the content to make sure it is completely different for each page.

Hi Dmitry,

It should point to the Womens Nike Sandals page because if that is the path the customer has taken to get to the shoe brand page, they may want to go back a step and they would probably want to go back to the generic womens nike sandals page.

Breadcrumb is usually created by the path the user takes but it can be changed if you REALLY want it to, but I wouldn't advise it.