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"Websites that provide content for different regions and in different languages sometimes create content that is the same or similar but available on different URLs. This is generally not a problem as long as the content is for different users in different countries. While we strongly recommend that you provide unique content for each different group of users, we understand that this may not always be possible. There is generally no need to "hide" the duplicates by disallowing crawling in a robots.txt file or by using a "noindex" robots meta tag. However, if you're providing the same content to the same users on different URLs (for instance, if both example.de/ and example.com/de/ show German language content for users in Germany), you should pick a preferred version and redirect (or use therel=canonical link element) appropriately. In addition, you should follow the guidelines onrel-alternate-hreflang to make sure that the correct language or regional URL is served to searchers."

My scenario has completely independent domains served from a central CMS/database, so all that differs is the language content:

• example.co.uk
• example.de
• example.it
• etc...

I'm just not so sure I should be interlinking with every homepage on ever page of each domain with a do follow link, so hesitating on reverting.

thanks David.  No there is no group homepage as such - each domain is only different in language so each homepage is the same and important to rank in the relevant Google engine.

The only 'central point' as such is a .com which is a page linking out to each domain.

A site i'm working on has about 12 language domains - .es, it, .de etc.

On each page of every domain the header has links to every homepage.  At the moment these are all set to no-follow as an initial step to stop potential link profile issues spreading around.

Moving forward i'm not totally sure how to handle these links.  On one side I see and agree that no-follow is not necessary, but do-follow is just filtering out and weakening link juice.  What is the best way to handle this scenario?

Doesn't Apache mod_rewrite do the trick?

pagerank has no direct impact on ranking. It's just a tiny signal - a site with little pagerank can outrank a site with high pagerank.

In any case the rank you see is the public level which is never current and Google seldom does an update.  I ignore pagerank.

If you 301 a toxic domain then the toxicity will pass on to the new domain.

The first thing to do is determine if there is an algorithmic penalty applied to the domain, which could relate to either content or the link profile.

I don't think you can filter out on response codes.

However, first I would ensure you are running the right version of Java if you are on a 64bit machine.  The 32bit version functions but you cannot increase the memory allocation which is why you could be running into problems.  Take a look at http://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/user-guide/general/ under Memory.

Forum links have little value, so I would not participate just for the links.  But if you've something to say, can build your authority as a source of good knowledge. you'd get a weak sniff of link juice and possible referral traffic - and possible linking opportunities elsewhere on the back of that work through relationship building.

There is some excellent stuff in here - http://moz.com/community/q/best-to-spend-marketing-budget-on-high-quality-articles-or-link-building-services that might help sculpt your attitude/approach to a strategy.

A new site can dance all over the place and stable good rankings are dependent on so many factors including

• competition
• architecture
• content
• optimisation
• link profile
• authority
• and on...

A completely natural link profile will have a range of authority sites with the strongest group probably being around 35 to 50 as they are probably more common, with a few either end.  In that link profile will be a healthy smattering of no-follow links because otherwise it would be engineered.  You will not be penalised/disadvantaged for having 100 no-follow links and 2 do-follow, as with 2 no-follow links and 2 do-follow.

I would keep focusing on your social media channels along with sourcing opportunities on good authority sites you can get a do-follow link on like interviews, articles, reviews etc.  Also bear in mind that good content on a popular site with a no-follow link can still draw referral traffic.

There is nothing wrong with comments as long as the only reason for them is to participate and add value.  If there are any hints of spam, off-topic or piles of vague 'great post' replies on the post or elsewhere on the site then leave alone.

I'm going through the same issue with a client with 2 offices - both are shared.

I'm taking heed of the advice given at http://moz.com/community/q/local-seo-how-to-handle-multiple-business-at-same-address and http://moz.com/community/q/multiple-businesses-at-the-same-address-avoiding-google-places-trouble

Go into the Adwords account >> hit Help on the right >> you should have a phone link within Contact Us

Are the addresses unique and not shared with any other business? https://maps.google.co.uk/?q=Tall+Trees+Cottage%2C+Winkfield+Road%2C+ASCOT%2C+Berkshire%2C+SL5+7EX

I've heard of some real strange behaviour if the business does not have a fully unique address in some cases getting merged with another business, although I cannot see the connection here.

I would give them a call.  A ticket is then raised and they are usually very helpful.

Absolutely agree with Frederico.  I've had first hand experience of infected domains poisoning when coming in as 301's.  Always make sure the link profile is clean before redirecting.

I'm working on a site that has 10 languages served from centrally located core files in Magento.  So each language has its own TLD with localised content served from SQL.  GWT has also had the preferred country set for each domain.

The problem is that each and every domain is indexed in each of the local Google indexes.  In DE Google the FR homepage is ranking higher for the brand keyword.  I kind of think I am wasting my time with hreflang but would like some advice whether this is an option or clues how I can handle this situation best.

I am working on a revamped multi-language site that has moved to Magento.  Each language runs off the core coding so there are no sub-directories per language.

The developer has created sitemaps which have been uploaded to their respective GWT accounts.  They have placed the sitemaps in new directories such as:

• /sitemap/uk/sitemap.xml
• /sitemap/de/sitemap.xml

I want to add the sitemaps to the robots.txt but can't figure out how to do it.  Also should they have placed the sitemaps in a single location with the file identifying each language:

• /sitemap/uk-sitemap.xml
• /sitemap/de-sitemap.xml

What is the cleanest way of handling these sitemaps and can/should I get them on robots.txt?

The penalty is for links rather than thin or duplicate content, so at this stage I would primarily focus on your link profile.  If your content is indexed first with social signal pointing to it then Google will (should) know you are the originator.

You will need to systematically go through every single link coming back to the site.  If you have any URLs 301ed to your site then those link profiles will need close examination too.  If you have had a manual penalty you can't mainly get it right, you have to completely clean out anything with a whiff of toxicity.  Keep a close record of all your activities, possibly using a tool like Rmoov, when your have exhausted manual attempts use Disavow then file a reconsideration request.  There are some good threads and posts on here covering all these aspects.

I don't think there is a problem in removing the 301s.  You are not doing anything underhand.  The 301 is in place because for whatever reason you have decided it is better for your visitor to reach the redirected page.  There could be many valid reasons why the original pages are now valid, you aren't always to know a redirect is definitely temporary. Just in the same way you may need to amend a 301 to a new URL.

However, I would introduce the URLs back in small batches and monitor rankings and traffic.

In comparison to the sites overtaking you your domain authority and page authority is low.  You need to seriously work on your link profile which seems full of press releases and syndicated articles.  This strategy will at best not do you any favours.

Sean gives some good points.

What I would also suggest is look for not just fancy keyword sales stuff, but what are they going to do with you under the hood, what's currently wrong with any of the on-page elements, how are they going to fix those, what impact are those changes likely to have on organic ranking.

Having a list of keywords and saying here are some keywords, here are the monthly search volumes, if you get to top 3 for x,y and z you will be getting 'this' amount of traffic is not enough.  There is so much more, what strategy do they have for content development and more importantly how do they approach link development - what is their overall philosophy in these areas.  Can they show you any evidence of overall growth of sites.

Easy to be seduced by keywords, but far more difficult to start over or come back from an algorithmic or manual penalty.