Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Nightwing

I suspect you'll likely get several differing views to this question as it's a highly topical and debatable area of SEO for which there is no hard & fast right or wrong answer, it's down to ones' own views, beliefs, ethics and experience.

My view is:

• If providing a link out will likely benefit visitors (which means it's a valuable, relevant, value-adding link) then by all means link out.  It adds to the user experience if they have good quality relevant links to follow to other websites.

• If the link is purely there as a part of a link exchange and/or purely for SEO reasons (i.e. visitors won't benefit from visiting the site being linked to) then don't link out to that site.

• If the link out will benefit visitors from following it and just so happens to be a part of a focused & select link exchange, then go ahead (always with careful consideration) as it benefits the visitor and helps to create a positive user experience.

So in summary;  link exchanges can be beneficial to a website owner and to the visitors, however only when certain conditions are met.  If those conditions are met, then go for it.  If not, then don't partake.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Diego

These are called Sitelinks and unfortunately, it's entirely up to Google whether they are displayed or not in the SERPs for a particular search, usually a Brand search.  Once they are displayed, you can demote (remove) a Sitelink for a period of time.

Sitelinks themselves are apparently completely automated algorithmicly. II have a couple of pointers though that could potentially help you out in getting them for your website, though of course no guarantees as they are determined by the search algorithm.

To increase the chances of having Sitelinks appear for your website, you'll need to ensure that your site has a clear, consistent, logical site structure with the main keywords for each page at the beginning of the Page Title.

It helps if you have a reasonably authoritive website that provides useful information based on relevant search queries.

Regards

Simon

Hi there,

The nearer to the beginning of a page that content appears, the more prominence and perceived importance it has.

It's always a fine balancing act between User Experience, Core Messaging and SEO.  If in doubt, do what's best for the user experience (pretty images often don't have the desired result) then cater for Search afterwards.

You may find a blog post here on SEOmoz from yesterday a worthwhile read, it's very long but worth the time.  It's entitled "Just How Smart Are Search Robots?" and highlights towards the end just how important User Experience is and the content that appears above the fold.

So yes, it is believed that content placement does matter, both for user experience and for search.  I'd suggest ensuring that your core messaging and most important content for each page is above the fold, whilst also ensuring that the user experience is a pleasant and easy one.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

For somebody new to SEO, there is a great guide available at http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo

Your website looks great, is certainly in a competitive space though, ranking for generic keywords will be difficult. I'd suggest doing some keyword research around longtail keywords, which in time can lead to supporting the more generic higher volume keywords.

In terms of how SEOmoz could help you in improving your rankings, there are some great Research tools available, have a look at http://www.seomoz.org/tools

Keyword Analysis, Crawl Test, On-page Analysis and Link Analysis in particular will be helpful for you.

There is a 30 day free trial available for the tools, give it a go and see how you get on. That guide would be a good read beforehand.

Regards

Simon

Hi there

It could be that the new relevant keywords that you have replaced the 'fluff' words with within the Titles and Descriptions are more competitive than those previous words, resulting in a drop in rankings.

If you're now fully targeting the site towards more competitive keywords than before, it's justifiable to expect a drop in rankings.

Additional supportive content (still unique, relevant, valuable content) plus some good distribution and PR should attract some new inbound links, hopefully on relevant anchor text.

So you may well have a justifiable reason there, plus an action plan to remedy the situation, which a client will likely be appreciative of.

Regards

Simon

Hi Gaz

There probably are, though I find it difficult to make such a recommendation when it's my strong belief that Link Building should be a part of an integrated search & content campaign rather than outsourced as a standalone task.

The best links are almost always free (natural) links obtained as a part of producing some really valuable content and distributing it well. This can often be done in-house easily (resource dependent of course). Though it does take time to seed, distribute and promote content, which is where an agency can come in handy by assisting with this as a part of a bigger search & content campaign (an on-going campaign that is).

If you really are intent on outsourcing link building specifically though, or even as a part of a larger project, I'd suggest searching for an agency that is in fairly close proximity (within acceptable travelling distance that is), by searching initially to draw up a short-list of contenders, then evaluate them from checking out their clients' sites, rankings etc and asking for authentic testominials from the shortened short-list. That's in addition to all the usual evaluation criteria of course.

Regards

Simon

Hi Carlos

Welcome to the exciting world of SEO!

A great place to start is with "The Beginner's Guide to SEO" here on SEOmoz.

You've probably heard of the age-old saying that "Content is King", which indeed it still is, so important to have a well thought-out Content Strategy.

From Content, other areas such as Inbound Links can follow, link building is another fascinating and important part of SEO.

So rather than bombard you with an endless list at this point, consider the following (links included) :

1. start with the Beginners Guide to SEO as mentioned above
2. ensure that your website is in great shape SEO wise, both technical and on-page aspects  (check out some SEO Ranking Factors )
3. ensure that your website provides a great User Experience
4. work on a Content Strategy including Creation and Distribution, which will then lead you onto other areas such as Link Building.

That will get you off to a great start.

Good luck and have fun,

Simon

Agree it would be good to see a historical record of these changes over time.

I believe the only way to do this at present is to save the pdf exports or manually record them each week (or month is usually fine, weekly is a little too often for most). A tedious manual process, though would get the job done

Content in an iFrame can be indexed, that's the biggest issue here. iFrames have a URL all of their own, so are a page in their own right. Sometimes they are wrapped in a Frameset, which can tie them together to produce a whole normal page.

If their is any way to avoid using an iFrame, then go for it. If not, then it's not just about SEO anyway, Usability is also very important and it's often a compromise that has to be made.

So do what's best for the User Experience and cater for SEO afterwards, which could be using a 'NoIndex, Follow' tag on each iFrame and an 'Index, Follow' tag on the overall main page URL.

Regards

Simon

Hi Brian

This is an easy question to answer; "absolutely not". Please don't copy them, you'll end up regretting it.

How you've described your competitors' links makes them fall into the 'worthless spam' category; their efforts would have been for little gain, especially any long term gain, plus they've risked getting penalised for link spamming.

Links from blog posts are usually nofollow so will hold zero SEO value, there is only a small percentage of decent blogs out there.

To acquire some links that will actually be of benefit to your website, create some unique relevant interesting valuable Content for your visitors and Distribute this well. In turn, you'll likely be rewarded with some great natural links. Infographics with a text link built in can really help.

I hope this has been of some help to you.

Regards

Simon

Hi Danielle

Hopefully you'll be pleased to know that it makes no difference whatsoever.

There are a few differences in some browser extensions, nothing that will impact the SEO of a website though.

As for tools, most good tools are paid tools (such as the SEOmoz Pro Tools) and as such, work on both a PC and Mac OS.  So many are browser based rather than installs, they work on cross-platform browsers, or at least all the tools worth using do.

There are some good free tools (usually cut-down version of the paid ones) and all the tools work across both platforms anyway.

So deciding between a Mac or a PC  ~  decide for reasons other than SEO, such as what else you'll be using it for like design work, gaming, accounting, even the look of it on a breakfast bar...  Both are fantastic for differing reasons.

Regards

Simon

Hi Shawn

URLs are case sensitive;  so in the example in your question, yes you have duplicate pages there.

As Category is spelt with both an Upper case and a lower case C you will have two identical pages, which is not good for either Search or User Experience.

Some confirmation for you that it's an absolute must to stick with lower case URLs can be found under Point 10 of "11 Best Practices for URLs" which is a blog post here on SEOmoz from a long time ago by Rand Fishkin which is still extremely valid today.

So it's highly recommended that you 301 Redirect any URLs with Upper case letters in to the corresponding URL that's completely lower case.

Regards

Simon

Hi Ivaylo

I shall share a few pointers with you here for consideration;

1. Perform an on-page analysis of the website to identify and help resolve any issues that might come up, such as too many on-page links or too many no-followed links pointing in, any issues with titles or descriptions... (The SEOmoz toolset is great at helping with this).

2. Research what valuable links are pointing to the Wiki page and try and get some of the same links pointing to your clients' site (new followed links from different reputable websites will help a lot). Also, identify existing links where the anchor text could be improved.

3. Keep the content fresh, relevant and interesting.

4. Depending on what your clients' site offers, consider if there are any tools/widgets that could be developed to help make the site more useful.

5. Consider building upon the Social aspect, such as engaging with people on Twitter, Forums and Guest Blogging to attract more visitors and more sharing of your content.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Josh

This is a great question to ask and I will try to answer it as best as I can for you;

I understand the temptation here, which is as you've said, could be a great revenue stream. However with this comes a significant risk of devaluing your large group of community sites by selling out for a quick buck, which in all fairness is the measure of this.

Google's Web Spam team have many extremely bright people working hard on detecting this type of activity, that's what you'd be up against. I wouldn't fancy my chances of getting away with it unnoticed for any lengthy period of time and I believe that for any credible website, it's too high a risk to take, that's the revenue vs the risk of penalty for selling links.

Yes many sites take this risk and many have so far gotten away with the extra revenue with no downside, however logic says that it's only a matter of time and come that time, a lot will regret their original decision to sell links.

You're perfectly entitled to do this, just bare in mind the harm that a severe ranking penalty could do to your group of community sites and weigh that up against the extra revenue you could make.

(I haven't worked with the company that you mention or any similar company, though I do know people that have and I do know the risks associated with doing so. I'm not risk averse, I just don't like gambling when the chances of loosing are too great).

It also depends how you feel about ethical SEO, which is basically not trying to play against the system, not trying to manipulate the search engines. There are those out there that do love to, the so-called grey hat and black hat SEOs and sometimes, they suceed. It's just personally, not something that I'd feel comfortable doing, I much prefer to play the game fairly, which takes longer to get there however is far more sustainable.

Again though, it's a calculated risk that everybody is entitled to make, if it fits in with your strategy and goals, maybe it's the right thing for you to do. That's your call.

Hope that helps in your decision process,

Regards

Simon

Hi there,

To answer your real question, "How do small businesses use social media, without being annoying?"  ~  I have 5 tips for you.  It's by no means an exhaustive list, it's just 5 to consider and to start with:

1. Be engaging, don't simply broadcast, one-way conversations are annoying and won't encourage that many to actively converse and engage.

2. Content,  in order to have something worth communicating about, you'll need some great content, whether that be website based content or purely social content.  Having something interesting and topical to share and engage about is critical.

3. Join existing communities,  before being able to realistically build any social community of ones' own, become active in relevant existing communities, whether those be LinkedIn groups, forums, guest blogging... Becoming known and perceived as an authority in your chosen specialist areas can really help.

4. Don't be too opinionated,  by all means share your knowledge and views, just be careful not to force them on others, as that can easily become annoying.

5. Enjoy engaging socially,  if you enjoy engaging with people in social circles and get some satisfaction and value out of it, then chances are others will also.

An important point to note as to why some don't do so well when it comes to social online;  a lot of small businesses (and even large & medium ones) start out really well intentioned with their social networking initiatives, not realsing just how much resource it takes to be regularly, consistently engaging socially online and to focus on the reasons for being social in the first place, the social objectives if you like.

It often starts out well then becomes less and less regular with reducing value, purely because of the amount of time and resource it takes to participate in and be successful in social networking.

I hope all that is of some help to you,

Regards

Simon

Hi Niall

Google no longer use the Keywords Meta Tag in their ranking algorithm, **officially announced back in September 2009 **so from an SEO perspective in relation to Google rankings, not worth spending the time on.

There is an interesting YouMoz blog post here on SEOmoz by DinkyDory from a year ago entitled "Why I Still Use Meta Keywords" which details a few reasons other than Search Rankings as to why they can still have a part to play.

My take on Meta Keywords though is that if everything else was done & there was nothing left to do, then perhaps just for the fun of it and because some directories still use them, though that really is clutching at straws.  As there will always be endless tasks to do, I for one along with many others will continue to give them a miss.

I hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Geoff

Probably not the answer you'd like to hear;  there will be absolutely zero SEO benefit from doing this.  The new domain would have no history behind it, thus zero strength to pass on, no matter how many relevant keywords are in it, simply doesn't work like that.

If you were to purchase an existing website with keywords in the domain and redirect that, a different story, there would be some SEO benefit, so long as that website is a good quality website with a positive history.

Though the reason to do that wouldn't be for the keywords anyway, as it's the general consensus that keyworded domains do not carry as much SEO weight as they used to. Such a purchase and redirect would be for the overall websites' positive qualities rather than the keywords in the domain.

Regards

Simon

Hi Michael

Assuming this is Google PageRank that you're referring to, I'd suggest not paying much attention to it.

This is because it's only updated usually 3 or 4 times per year and is the public PageRank that Google occasionally publish, not Google's up-to-date internal PageRank for websites.

• There are alternatives that are more significant and meaningful, such as SEOmoz's Domain Authority, Page Authority, MozRank and MozTrust.

A really useful resource on SEO Ranking Factors is "The Periodic Table of SEO Ranking Factors" over on Search Engine Land.

Also, check out the "2011 SEO Ranking Factors" here on SEOmoz.

Making use of the SEOmoz Pro Tools to help with ideas and strategy to increase your website's authority signals will be far more beneficial than focusing on PageRank.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Maxwell

A few answers here for you to consider:

Comments are usually beneficial to a blog, it shows engagement and participation, so I'd suggest keeping the comments there, so long as they are relevant and not blatant advertising.

For comments that are purely there only for link building and add no value to the post concerned, I'd suggest removing them if your blog guidelines forbid such link & advertising practices. If not, update your blog guidelines and remove any further posts that are only made for link building purposes and ensure the existing ones are Nofollow.

For links within comments, I'd suggest making the links 'Nofollow' by default, if they are not already.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Hugo

Check out the introductory blog post entitled "Introducing Social Analytics in SEOmoz Pro" by Miranda Rensch which is specific to the Pro Tool in SEOmoz Pro Tools.

There is a Webinar entitled "Introducing the SEOmoz Social Analytics Dashboard" by Casey Henry which is also specific to the Pro Tool.

There is an upcoming Webinar on January 17th entitled "Understanding Your Audience Using Social Media" which will be presented by Mike King.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon