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Most people like to use a blend of linking to your pages that include your brand name plus keyword, a certain percentage of just your brand, and then the smallest amount using the anchor text you want to get ranked for.

Also be sure  to so the same on the social networks too.

As long as the content is distinct to each page, and not just a rehash of what was found on the Branding page, you should be good.

Hi Naomi  -

You will probably get some various thoughts on this, but it's probably best to forget about the messages Google is telling you.

Focus your time on earning quality links from topical sites. This will easily replace the value lost from your previous linking efforts.

Without knowing all of the activities you've done for the site, it's hard to provide more reasons as to what could have caused the drop in rankings. Be sure to do a thorough audit of the site from a technical perspective and take a deep look at your backlinks to see what the issues might be.

Like Cornell said, there are much better ways to invest that monthly budget. You should look for a company that will work with your goals and create a strategy around getting your terms ranked.

There are many ways to earn links that will get quality traffic to your site.

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This is something we can help you with, if you're interested, send me a message!

Not sure if this will answer your question entirely, but the association of a contributor tells Google who wrote the article. So in time, the author is building up a brand presence due to the various places online where their content is being used on.

The one constant you should always use as a guide is will this action benefit the reader? Anytime that answer is yes, then you should have nothing to worry about.

If you are using strategies with the intention of building links only, then you have to figure at some point in time, Google will adjust the value of those links.

Google knows it's a parked domain and will discount that link in time - don't sweat about it.

I had to deal with this exact issue for a new client. Our solution - we compiled a list of all the parked domains (over 500!) and sent that to Google with a detailed account of why we felt those links should be discounted.

It took about 2 weeks from start to finish, and although those links still appear in OSE, the rankings have returned for the client.

Hope this helps - Good luck!

By all means produce it and have it on your site. Not only will it bring the possibility of traffic and links, but you are also expanding your brand presence online.

Be sure to include the embed code so that others can link use your image, and it will link to your site.

Good luck!

One of the first things I would check would be to see if the competition improved their search snippets. I've had clients enjoy great click thrus at the #3 spot in Google - because their messaging was more in tune with what the person was searching for.

That's one place to start.

Good luck!

It all depends on what you want to achieve with the blog. I run 2 sites that get lots of comments. For one site, the comments become part of the content of the site (it essentially sets a scenario for people to debate over) so for that example, it adds to the uniqueness f the site.

For another site that I run, I have to spend a lot of time monitoring the comments since many people are there to just drop a link. Like everything on the web, you need to decide what's going to make your site stand out from the rest.

Allowing "junk" comments won't add any value.

By "indexing" do you mean pinging them? Listing them? If you can provide some clarity I think you'll be able to get a helpful reply.

I recently went through this with a client of mine. Previously, they had their top 2 keywords first, then the company name.

They were ranked #2 in Google for both of their terms.

We made the switch last Monday, placing the company name first, then the keywords.

The other sites in the top 5 with them all have their keywords listed first.

Impact?

Since we made the title switch, they are still in the second position, but they are now averaging 15 more clicks per day!

I know some will say it's because the company name stands out from the clutter - and I agree on some levels. But as Doug mentioned, the title is phrased in a way that we humans like to read, so I think that helps too.

It could just be that OSE hasn't found them yet - Remember that they don't update as fast as Google's Index.

There's not a lot that can be done. You might be able to contact some of the sites and get a reply, but for the most part, your plan moving forward should be to create new content and earn links from quality sites.

I had the same issue. My solution was to request the report, and leave the browser open on the page - if I went to another tab or even used any other program, the report quit on me.

Here I thought I was the only one experiencing this!

Google knows that there are high quality directories out there, and BOTW is one of them. Since Google knows that real humans are reviewing the sites that are submitted and allowed to appear on the site, it's a quality service that benefits the web.

While the list of high quality directories is small, they are certainly worth getting for any link building campaign.

Since you are using Google's properties, this exercise should focus on Google's realm of influence. By pointing back to the Google Plus page, you are re-enforcing the value of the +1's that you get on your site to Google.

This will help build the brand and create trust in Google, which in turn will impact all your overall search efforts.

Good luck!

A low quality blog will have a few of the following features:

1.) Out of the box WP Theme with no changes

2.) Scraped content or obviously low quality content

3.) Automation - check to see if every post gets re-tweeted/Stumbled/etc

For your site, it's probably a link purge. That's one of the reasons why earning links on a monthly basis is a must.

Was the site a never before registered domain? Or was it already well in existence prior? If it's the latter, it might have had a history that was passed along to you.

The other thing to consider is that if you are entering a competitive space, your competition might have stepped up their game too...

I think you are looking at this the wrong way. A subdomain should warrant enough unique content that is related to the main topic of your site. Links to both a subdomain and folder will increase value of the TLD.

In regards to "link juice" - building on the TLD will always help. You should be looking at this from an ease of use perspective of your readers.

Point is, I have yet to see any difference from a subdomain vs a subfolder. I've never seen a subdomain have a higher PR than the TLD, and same goes to the subfolder idea as well.