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Actually I added it last week, but within a few days it showed up in rankings. I mean, low in rankings, but it showed up pretty quickly. So now I figure if I just claim and Verify this new listing that has already shown up in rankings, we'll get it down quicker and more efficiently.

Finally, an email response from Google Places! I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Yes, I did actually use the Edit Maps function from the Google Maps page and I ended up adding the location and business manually through a Google Maps User Edit...and it got approved that way.

I have a client with three Google Places locations pending. Two of them have been pending for probably two months now, and the third we just verified this morning and instead of getting approved it has automatically gone into pending mode. Does anyone know of a contact form or direct line to Google to get this issue resolved? It's creating a rift between me and my clients, and unfortunately I don't know how to get Google's attention.

Thanks!

Get creative. Take on topics that do deal with Christmas year 'round, but in a relevant and creative way. Most importantly, take a look at how your competition takes on the topic of Christmas wreaths year 'round. Make it fun. There's always "Christmas in July" and a bunch of other fun ways to integrate the topic of Christmas wreaths throughout the year.

Yep, this definitely is an issue that we are painstakingly working through. The old SEO really did a number on their content. Thanks so much!

Thanks Streamline Metrics! Yes, the drop has been across all keywords. I've checked our branded rankings and they have remained the same as branded traffic has decreased. And yes, I did check Google Webmaster Tools and do not see anything fishy, although it does appear that Google is crawling less pages, though not sure why. It's got to be the recent Google updates.

(update: How would I know if someone has filed a DMCA Takedown Request? There is no message on Webmaster Tools. The reason I ask is because a few months back my client's old SEO threatened him with copyright infringement, and I believe the date of the threatening letter coincides with our drop in traffic. Coincidence?)

We've been increasing traffic for a pest control client on a very consistent basis throughout the year. However, in October we noticed a drop but I honestly didn't dig too deeply into the issue. In November we saw another drop...a very large drop...in traffic. Since September, we've lost 50% of search traffic.

We've lost specifically branded search traffic, which baffles me. What are some reasons for losing branded search traffic? I've consulted the client and asked if there is anything happening within the business that I should know about, but things seem to pretty normal as far as he can tell.

We are also losing rankings dramatically. We've had two locations on Google Places pending for over a month, which I've consulted Google about but, of course, have received no response.

The strangest part is that SEOMoz is showing our errors on site have increased dramatically, when we have done nothing new or different over these past few months. It's been business as usual, and yet we are losing traffic, rankings, and errors have gone up.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated! http://www.MagicPest.com

Thank you!

A client of mine has decided to work all Link Building through an India team that she's used for a few years. The problem that I'm having with this situation is that the link building list below contains quite a few 0/10 PR websites, spam websites, and websites that have no direct relation to the client's industry. Am I wrong in thinking that link building should be done to high PR, authoritative sites that are related the the client's industry?

The link below will take you to the Google Doc that contains all links built for this client. I would love it if someone could take a look at that list and tell me what they think. Is this  recipe for disaster or great link building?

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B4a0JOKKFu0SUFZRbFRBNUZJekE

Thank you so much!!!

Thank you!!

Get creative. Take on topics that do deal with Christmas year 'round, but in a relevant and creative way. Most importantly, take a look at how your competition takes on the topic of Christmas wreaths year 'round. Make it fun. There's always "Christmas in July" and a bunch of other fun ways to integrate the topic of Christmas wreaths throughout the year.

PS -  Load time on the site was at over 140 seconds...perhaps this is the root of the problem.

Completely agree with Bryan. Speaking from experience, the greatest results do seem to come from option 3. Yes, your main domain will probably already have some authority attached to it, but I truly believe that the main benefit is getting that fresh content directly onto the main site. By going with option 3, you give yourself the opportunity to not only add fresh content, but to focus on a variety of keywords through different blog topics, right there directly on your main website.