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This is a good place to start: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml.

Also, I think there was a Whiteboard Friday on it a few months back (I think November or December.)

They're one and the same, fundamentally. DMOZ was the original name, it was later renamed to the Open Directory Project. Google Directory has google search technology layered on top of the ODP data.

TLA may be doing more harm than good. Ditto for the multi-topic free reciprocal link directory.

Also in the Diamond Education subtopics  - I'm seeing  some duplication when I search on random text strings. Is it your original content or syndicated feeds?

No concrete answers - just trying to identify things that might be displeasing to Google ...

Google Places (formerly, Google Local) isn't the right solution for a situation like this - you need to have a bona-fide address at each location to list there.

Some people USED to get around the PO box requirement by using mail centers that provide you with a street address instead of a box number, however I don't recommend this. Not only would it be an unreliable tactic on a large scale, but it would be way too easy for Google to identify and block these providers (if they aren't already.)

At the risk of stating the obvious, make sure the location is in your page titles. Local directories are a start, but try to get backlinks from local businesses and resources.  What are your competitors doing that you can do better? Lots of web sites post local weather links - the trick is in getting them to post YOUR link.

Hope this helps!

To address the other half of your question: I'm quite certain that if your site is hosted in the US and your host were to receive a spam complaint, they'd be obligated to address it according to the laws of their jurisdiction, which means you would have to abide by the US CAN-SPAM regulations.   I'd definitely run this by your company's legal counsel to be on the safe side.

A couple of others which could be in the top 10:  Poker, Gambling ...(those won't show up on Adsense top lists because of content guidelines), Downloads, Loans, Free ... I would put those ahead of Homepage or Click Here because nobody's likely to be optimizing for the latter two (at least, not on purpose!)

If your prospective insurance client is a local business, expect to be up against a LOT of competition - from other locals and the big, national brands.  Choose your battles wisely :).

Agreed this is a VERY "thin" affiliate site - not just dupe content but really redundant, keyword-stuffed content besides. Not good!

In my experience, it's not the size of the site or the amount of the content so much as the ratio of good content to everything else. Make the home page less promotional, don't overdo keyword density and be selective about where you place the ads. Improve the quality of the content overall.  I see a lot of repeated text in your page titles - make your page titles more unique from page to page.

Do that and make sure you're OK as far as Google's other webmaster quality guidelines. If that doesn't bring it back in several weeks, then try a reconsideration request.

They already recognize page sectioning (headers, footers, navigation sidebars, content area), regardless of doctype.  This is why links in some parts of a page carry more weight than others.

Target the actual location on your site. If you can fudge a few other related geographic keywords into your content in a non-spammy way, do so, but focus on building up local search (listings and citations).  As your local search rankings take hold, you will start appearing for proximity searches on Google Places.

Newark is a bit out of range - nothing much to be done about that. BUT if they search for "real estate lawyer Garfield" or surrounding towns, you want to show up in that Places map.

Great local search resource: http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml.  There was also a WBF on optimizing for local a few months back.

Hope this helps!

Using an 800 number may have a negative impact on local rankings - especially if it's the only phone number.  http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml#62

Cell phone number shouldn't be a problem - especially if the area code matches the address.  Per Google's own Places quality guidelines:

"Provide a phone number that connects to your individual business location as directly as possible, and provide one website that represents your individual business location.
Use a local phone number instead of a call center number whenever possible.
Do not provide phone numbers or URLs that redirect or “refer” users to landing pages or phone numbers other than those of the actual business."

(http://www.google.com/support/places/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=107528)

A business cell phone should meet that criteria.

The basic steps outlined below should work. CAVEAT: I'm a linux/apache person I don't know the specific implementation details for a windows/.net environment (but I believe it IS do-able - hopefully someone else can verify or expand on that)

1)  Copy the default index (default.aspx) to a new name (example: mydefault.aspx)

2. Make mydefault.aspx the directory index for the root directory

3. Modify the original default.aspx so that all it contains is a redirect to _http://www.outsolve-hr.com/_

4)  NOW default.aspx can be 301'd safely

5)  Don't ever build any links to "mydefault.aspx" or you'll just re-create the problem!

Existing links to default.aspx would then be resolved safely and it's highly unlikely new ones to  mydefault.aspx will appear.

Probably worth looking into, since a 301 is more powerful - rel=canonical is viewed by some search engines as more of a "suggestion."

Local search is a bit different than universal search and yes, you there are things you can do off-site to optimize the results.  This Whiteboard Friday touched on the basics: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-basics-of-local-seo-whiteboard-friday.

You may also want to check out the list of Local Ranking Factors on David Mihm's site http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml.

Hope this helps!

I generally would try to mix them up - keeps your link profile looking more "natural".  I would also focus on optimizing for local search (Google Places, etc.), if it's a local business.  For many verticals, the Places results take up a LOT of real-estate on the results page.

Interesting that Google mentions absolute and relative urls, but  they don't specifically address root relative  urls (what this is, since it begins with the "/") or show it in their examples.

Agree with Shailendra Sial - the home page is more convincing to me.

• Home page clearly explains process (the landing page focuses on the benefits, but it wasn't clear to me exactly what this was or how it worked.).

• Home page is simple and the graphic elements make everything stand out.  To me, the landing page is a little crowded and sections seem to blend in with each other ...

-  Trust signals more prominent on the home page. I didn't notice the "100% guarantee" at first on the lander ... or the form when you click through, because it's in the upper right and the white-on-light green at the bottom of the page.  On the home page it's right in the middle of the page and the green header text and icon make it stand out more. At least, to me.

-  The first CTA on the lander appears a little bit "lost" under the checkmarks.  You're only asking for one piece of information, I'm thinking why even make them click through to a second page?

-  Re the video:  I run FF with Flashblock so it doesn't load and run immediately for me (another, albeit small, demographic to consider besides the proxied users).  When I played it, it not only drew my eyes away from the benefits list and the CTA but the video itself didn't feel dynamic enough to capture my attention and make me want to whip out a credit card.  Maybe the video should be an optional "See how it works" link?

No concrete answers, but a few things you can test - hope this helps!

In theory, I believe Google drops PR if the domain expires.  In practice, people have been successful with this tactic in the past...

A safer bet would be to buy the domain at auction before it actually expires.  Word of warning:  Some sellers resort to blackhat tactics to falsify TBPR and artificially boost traffic/Alexa stats so they can "pump 'n' dump" the domain. Do your homework and make sure what you're buying is the real deal.

Agree with the other two replies - as long as the link goes to a respectible and useful resource, I would leave it as "follow".  My reasoning being:

1)  People have linked to useful sites since the beginning of the web - It's the more "natural" thing to do.  Google tends to like "natural".

2)  There's always the chance the site owner will notice the link on my site and link back to me.