Questions
-
Dealing with the impending Google mobile compliance update - is bMobilized any good as a temporary measure?
I should clarify, I'm not saying don't make a stripped down mobile version, in fact I agree it may be a great idea. I also think setting it up to meet the standards as outlined in the post is the best way to do it. I think it is a better idea than using a conversion to mobile service, if you have to make a choice. Basically, the sooner you can meet the mobile standards the better! At the same time, if it is going to cause you to make a bad decision/put out a product that isn't finished or potentially hinder the overall progress of your website, then I think it isn't worth the rush. As pointed out below, take your top pages and really hit those hard, make sure those are up to par and move on from there. I think the hesitance you are reading in my post is the importance of "measure twice cut once in" and taking every single possible outcome into account.
Web Design | | HashtagHustler0 -
Best practice for setting up multiple Google Places listings?
Chris is absolutely right. Here's a tip: For each Google+ Location create a separate landing page on your website to associate it with and in the 'website' section on Google+ use the landing page URL, instead of simply your domain name. This is standard best practice when dealing with multiple business locations.
Local Listings | | RangeMarketing0 -
My company wants to set up some blogs - what's best practice in getting started from scratch?
I agree with the earlier responses left by EGOL and David-Kley. You asked about must-have's and best practices for creating a blog. Coincidentally, one of our fellow-Mozers wrote and pubished a how-to-launch-a-successful-blog post on October 13 that I think will answer your questions and work as a great how-to example at the same time. That same post talks about blog promotion. Neil Paten and Aaron Agius at Sprout Social have also written a very helpful (and free!) Complete Guide To Building Your Blog Audience that you might find helpful. Good luck.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DonnaDuncan0 -
Outbrain 'Promoted Stories'
Hi there, Whether "links" pass any value is determined by how they're structures, so different content sharing platforms do and don't pass SEO value on a case by case basis. If the content is shared in an iframe, goes through 302 redirects or other similar techniques, is blocked from search engines, contains nofollowed links etc. then it offers no value. This is the "proper" way to share paid advertising content as far as search engines are concerned. If you view the source of a page on which an Outbrain box appears, then search for the text used for link titles in that box, you won't find them in the source code. There is no a href link to the linked-to articles. This is because the content is being drawn in from elsewhere via the widget. As such, it looks identical to the regularly-linked to content, but it's not appearing in the source nor passing SEO value. Again, some services will set their content sharing up differently, but they'd be remiss to set up a service that linked directly to external content, for money, in a way that benefitted the linked-to sites' SEO. Google frowns on that solely because it would be a paid link. Cheers, Jane
Online Marketing Tools | | JaneCopland0 -
AdWords/Analytics Paid Search conversions not matching up - any idea why?
Couple of links addressing this topic below: Adwords and Analytics not matching up Adwords and Analytics tracking
Paid Search Marketing | | SEO5Team0 -
How are you taking you e-commerce site forward in 2014
Hello M, It all depends on the site. I find most eCommerce sites need substantial copy-editing or writing of unique, useful product descriptions and category page content. That is probably where I would spend my time with regard to on-page. Of course you can't ignore major technical issues either. In terms of building links, asking influencers and brand evangelists to do product reviews has always been good PR, long before Google. Just don't ask for a link (though you will probably get one) and don't request that it be made "followable" if it's not. Just be happy for the traffic and exposure. There are lots of other link building tactics and content marketing strategies that work for eCommerce sites, but it all depends on the site so it's tough to really say what's best for your client in 2014. Nine times out of ten what eCommerce sites need the most of is better, more unique, more useful product page copy. Good luck!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Everett0 -
Digital marketers - what are some of your QUICK WINS?
Hi, It's difficult to answer this question without some understanding of the client, their industry and what you are trying to improve (e.g. brand awareness or sales - Product or Saas). I've found there are very few "quick wins" unless your client isn't an established internet player in which case you can focus on getting the basics sorted - such as performing an SEO Audit (e.g. Moz) and set up an Analytics package (e.g. Google Analytics) so that you can measure campaigns effectively. If they are established online then assessing their Social Media strategy, Backlinks and optimising their PPC campaigns would be a good place to start, though these are both going to take a fair bit of work. If there's a substantial client email list then you could run segmented / split tested email campaigns to drive sales or brand awareness. I would definitely advise against paying for fake followers/likes/+1s on their Social Media profiles, or running any large campaigns without understanding your client, their industry, customers and competitors first. Good luck, George
Affiliate Marketing | | webmethod0 -
What is your SEO agency doing in terms of link building for clients?
I'd like to bump this question as well.. I see allot of agency's talking the talk, but when it comes down to actual deliverable's, they still turn to outdated and low value "links" just for the sake of reporting that they have built links. (Blog networks, Social shares, bookmarks and resource pages from their networks of sites etc) In a nutshell, link building isnt about that anymore. Its about real world marketing, providing value first and getting links second. On one hand, we could put all our eggs into the "New SEO" basket but then we fall short on actual deliverable's that clients have been used to getting. (Links built) with "New SEO" links aren't a guarantee, it all falls around a campaign and in a nutshell is all about Outreach and PR. I guess its all about educating the client, but at the end of the day, other (Old school) agencies CAN guarantee links and we cant. (Less internal resources, no blog networks all links dependent on outreach and real campaigns) In response to your questions: What are you or your SEO agency doing for your client's link building efforts? Guest Articles (PR / Outreach) Niche Directory Submissions (High Authority and Paid) Broken Link Building (no guarantees, based on hours spent) What are you (or the agency) doing yourself, or out-sourcing, or having the client do for link building? Feedback on content ideas for the content team in the industry. Commonly asked questions from clients. Encourage client Reviews on G+ If a new client needs some serious link building done, what do you prescribe and implement straight off the bat? Only option here is to go old school. (Social Bookmarks, Directory Submissions, Resource page submissions, Paid Links) Alternatively, make it a point that "serious link building" should not be done unless they create something worthy of the amount of links they want/need. (other than internal links, always room for optimization here) What are your go-to link building tactics for clients? Competitor Analysis - Identify Tactics they use, make notes of possible content / campaigns to create to legitimately get the same links Niche Directory / Local link building What are the link building challenges faced by your agency in 2013/2014? As described above, main challenge is educating the client on how a Digital Agency SHOULD be working (with Google, not against it by manipulating rankings IE "building" links) What's working for your agency and what's not? Outreach... We need more contacts and mutually beneficial relationships (PR stuff) Does your agency work closely with the client's marketing department to gain link traction? If so, what are collaborating on? When their PR agency creates a campaign, we review and find ways for them to incorporate a link to the site in all online publications were possible. When reporters contact them for an angle on a story, we take a look and advise were applicable What else might you be willing to share about your agencies link building practices? Looking at the future, we're trying to set ourselves apart from the average agency. Staying away from Link building and moving towards "link earning". Having the motto were whatever we create, it needs to be link worthy or provide real value to people. If we do this consistently for all clients, the links will come in automatically. This is all in theory obviously but really don't want to be doing old school "link building" if i know the value isn't going to last very long. What's the real alternative?? In summary, I'd love to know what other agencies get up to as well. Do they rely solely on outreach? Do they have their own network of sites to rely on for when its time to report and links haven't yet been built? I guess its about finding that balance, old school and new school. Its a work in progress i guess!!
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | RobLaughton0 -
This is a clear-cut canonical issue, right?
yeah, I think it's best to suggest they rewrite their blogs before re-distributing now.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Martin_S0 -
Re-designing a homepage
I found this video extremely helpful in terms of the architecture of one's site: http://moz.com/academy/website-architecture Since I don't know what products or services you provide, I'll just give you some suggestions I have implemented with other websites which may or may not work with your concept. 1. Implement appropriate, useful social media icons. Too often, people put EVERY icon possible on there but just add the ones that your community uses. One exception, I'd add Google+ regardless of how large your community is. 2. Add a "subscribe to our newsletter" form somewhere tasteful. 3. "Brand out" your homepage, but make sure it's well written. If necessary, hire a copywriter. 4. If you have a web design company build your site, make sure if they add a "website designed by X" that you are getting something out of that in return or delete their link. 5. Do not use a slider. It makes your site slower and serves no valuable purpose. Good luck! Ruben
Web Design | | KempRugeLawGroup0 -
Getting listed in the Google local result - help!
Be forewarned, you stop paying Yext, and all of those changes and accuracies made sure of, are kaput. Do this math: Do what yext does, manually yourself or outsourced, ONCE, AND CORRECTLY. and you are pretty much set for life. else, you pay $300 a year to Yext and in return, they give you a whole lot of free listings and a few unique and paid ones, the value of which is really not that much more than the free listings you can manually create on a good 95% of yext partners. Also, there are a lot more legit local directory sites to use on top of what yext has to offer which will be missed if one pressed the button, pays, and forgets. just my 2 cents on Yext.
Search Engine Trends | | Raydon1 -
Researching (and launching a site within) a foreign language market
Never ever rely only on GTranslate for International SEO. Simply don't.
International Issues | | gfiorelli10 -
How do you de-index and prevent indexation of a whole domain?
Fastest way to do it would be through a combination of Google Webmaster Tools and Robots.txt / noindex,nofollow meta tags. Firstly if your domain hasn't been verified within GWT, go through that process. Then proceed with the remove URL request within GWT. (Image Attached) You will need to upload a robots.txt and/or implement the noindex meta tag within the header of the pages you no longer want indexed. Example Robots.txt: User-agent: * Disallow: /offendingportal/ Example Robots Meta tag: That should be enough to get rid of the offending content from within the SERPS and prevent it from being re-indexed. removeurl.png
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SebastianCowie0 -
Guest blogging resources
Hey, there are a bunch of ways to identify guest blog opportunities, and some sites / services etc, but I tend to think a lot of that is played out to some extent and if they are accepting content from any Tom, Dick and Harry then how much value will your post have from a pure SEO / exposure / link perspective AND for how long? I tend to think, rather than looking for Blogs that accept guest posts, look for the best Blogs in your target niche and try to spark up a relationship with the owners. Then, try to find a gap or someway you can contribute always focusing on the 'what is in it for them' angle AND be focused on doing it for the exposure you can generate. Sure, you want a link or two but make sure it is super valuable, super relevant to their core audience and then that post may pick up more links, shares etc from the current audience and subsequently, the links to your site and more importantly the exposure will have more value. Forget about volume, think about quality and focus on getting links that your competitors can't just pull up in OSE and copy. Hope that helps! Marcus
Content & Blogging | | Marcus_Miller0 -
'Increase in soft 404 errors' Webmasters notification. What to do?
We have an internal site search that moved into HTTPS. Google sending me the same message although all errors are redirect from HTTP to HTTPS with no issue. The hosting company checked that too - No errors at all!
Web Design | | Elchanan0 -
Know of a decent hosting service in France?
http://www.ovh.com/fr/index.xml OVH has a fairly decent reputation, i don't have any personal experience, but they should be fairly decent. http://www.ovh.ie/aboutus/ovh_infra.xml
Technical SEO Issues | | Host10