Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Simon

I currently see your homepage ranking in 30th position on a Google UK non-personalized search.

Rankings do fluctuate constantly, there are so many factors as to why they do, such as different data centers, different locations, constantly changing strengths and weaknesses of sites, just to name a few.

As you are still ranking on the 3rd page and appear to have over 4,000 pages indexed by Google, I very much doubt you've been peanalized in any way, a penalty would cause your rankings to drop further than from the 2nd page to 3rd page.

Try searching again, from different browsers, even different locations, try exact and broad searches.  Chances are you'll see your site coming up again as it is still there.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Daniel

An interesting question.

1. widg.et ~ I can see why this was chosen, spells 'widget' stating the obvious. However in terms of search, it doesn't work like that, the keyword in the domain is 'widg' the top-level-domain isn't included. 'widg' isn't a word as far as I know, so not particularly helpful for Search or Usability as it does take a second look to figure out what it's supposed to say.

2. Exact Match domain names don't carry as much SEO weight as they used to, especially with regards to Google. Better off concentrating on getting the URL naming structure right, plus the Titles, Descriptions, H1 tags and the anchor text in some great inbound links.

3. If the website has become known as 'Share Widgets' (as in www.sharewidgets.com) then may as well stick with this rather than confusing existing followers & visitors with another change.

So out of all the options you're considering, I'd recommend going for No. 3, keep the current domain name and focus on optimizing that both on-page and off-page.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

I wouldn't suspect so. Wiki is seen as an incredibly Authoritive site and has many high quality links pointing to it, so it's high rankings are mainly down to the site being so authoritive and huge.

Wiki fulfills many of the factors within the periodic table of SEO ranking factors at http://searchengineland.com/seotable  It's a difficult site to beat, though can and is certainly achieved.

Glad you like the suggestions, they will help to get there.

Regards

Simon

I agree with Kyle's comments. Better off concentrating on building good quality links, plus don't forget about the all important content of course, keep it unique, relevant and interesting

In which case go for it if that's all that matters. User experience may be affected, depends on the designs, though as SEO is your only concern here, you're all set to press ahead

Hi Fuad

A good question.

The answer kind of depends upon your intended structure for your website going forwards.  It's usually advisable to keep pages at as high a level as possible, as in having a fairly flat hierarchy.

If you are to have a sub-folder for each country, then from the above, my answer would be:

www.example.com/uk/visit-visa

because you won't need 'uk' to be there twice in the URL.

If these were deemed to be really important pages for your visitors, then you could even consider:

www.example.com/uk-visit-visa

so that these pages are at the highest possible level.  Though this depends on how you are structuring the rest of your website, could be that it's best for the User Experience & Navigation that all UK pages fall within a UK sub-folder.

Also consider whether or not you need the www. as that is a subdomain, could go for  **example.com/uk/visit-visa **

As you are new to SEO, check out 'The Beginner's Guide to SEO' here on SEOmoz.  Chapter 4 has some coverage of URL Structures.

I hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Cyto

I've had a look and they do have alt-text on the three feature screenshots.  Granted the alt-text doesn't seem to appear when hovering-over, but the alt-text is there. In their respective orders:

• "Link Analysis"
• "Identify SEO Issues"
• "Monitor Changes"

The actual code is:

<div id="<a class="attribute-value">home_border</a>">
          <div id="<a class="attribute-value">home_contentC</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">hverts</a>">
        <div class="<a class="attribute-value">wrapper</a>">
          <div id="<a class="attribute-value">manageC</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">clearfix</a>">
  <h1>Effectively Manage Your SEO and Monitor Your Social Media
h1>
  <img src="[http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif](view-source:http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif)" id="<a class="attribute-value">stars</a>"
 class="<a class="attribute-value">hsprite</a>" alt="" _cdn="<a class="attribute-value">true</a>" />
  <div id="<a class="attribute-value">link_analysis_ss</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">span-8</a>">
    <a href="[/features](view-source:http://www.seomoz.org/features)">
      <img src="[http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif](view-source:http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif)" id="
<a class="attribute-value">link_analysis_ss</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">sprite-screenshots ss</a>" alt="<a class="attribute-value">Link 
Analysis</a>" _cdn="<a class="attribute-value">true</a>" />a>
    <div class="<a class="attribute-value">span-2</a>">
      <img src="[http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif](view-source:http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif)" id="
<a class="attribute-value">link_analysis_icon</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">hsprite icon</a>" alt="<a class="attribute-value"> </a>" _cdn="<a class="attribute-value">true</a>"
 />    div>
    <div class="<a class="attribute-value">pull-1 span-6 last</a>">
       Analyze links and track key performance metrics in an 
efficient all-in-one dashboard.
    div>
  div>

  <div id="<a class="attribute-value">identify_seo_issues_ss</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">span-8</a>">
    <a href="[/features](view-source:http://www.seomoz.org/features)">
      <img src="[http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif](view-source:http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif)" 
id="<a class="attribute-value">identify_seo_issues_ss</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">sprite-screenshots ss</a>" 
alt="<a class="attribute-value">Identify SEO Issues</a>" _cdn="<a class="attribute-value">true</a>" />a>
    <div class="<a class="attribute-value">span-2</a>">
      <img src="[http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif](view-source:http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif)" 
id="<a class="attribute-value">identify_seo_issues_icon</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">hsprite icon</a>" alt="<a class="attribute-value"> </a>" 
_cdn="<a class="attribute-value">true</a>" />    div>
    <div class="<a class="attribute-value">pull-1 span-6 last</a>">
      Identify critical SEO issues and get actionable 
recommendations.
    div>
  div>

  <div id="<a class="attribute-value">monitor_changes_ss</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">span-8 last</a>">
    <a href="[/features](view-source:http://www.seomoz.org/features)">
      <img src="[http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif](view-source:http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif)" 
id="<a class="attribute-value">monitor_changes_ss</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">sprite-screenshots ss</a>" alt="
<a class="attribute-value">Monitor Changes</a>" _cdn="<a class="attribute-value">true</a>" />a>
    <div class="<a class="attribute-value">span-2</a>">
      <img src="[http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif](view-source:http://cdn.seomoz.org/img/transparent.gif)" 
id="<a class="attribute-value">monitor_changes_icon</a>" class="<a class="attribute-value">hsprite icon</a>" alt="<a class="attribute-value"> </a>" 
_cdn="<a class="attribute-value">true</a>" />    div>
    <div class="<a class="attribute-value">pull-1 span-6 last</a>">
      Automatically monitor changes to your rankings and 
take control of your organic traffic.
    div>
  div>
div>

Regards

Simon

Hi Albere

It sounds like you've done some good work to progress as far as you have. I'd suggest to keep going and not give up, if what you've been doing has worked then keep doing more of it.

I've seen on many an occasion that it does take time and perseverance to jump from the second page to the first.

Try performing a competitor link analysis if you haven't already, look for any linking opportunities. See if you can improve the anchor text of any existing inbound links that you have.

Check your on-page and on-site attributes with the SEOmoz toolset.  Ensure those keywords that you are targeting and included in your Meta Title, Description, H1 tag and throughout your page content (without over-doing it, everything in moderation).

Have a read of  "A New Way of Looking at Ranking Factors" and check out the periodic table of ranking factors within it.

Keep producing fresh, relevant, interesting valuable content and share it socially across the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google+.  Do some online PR and share your content, this helps with acquiring new natural links.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Matt

Through Google Webmaster Tools, you can request that the whole website (the development site) be removed from Google's index.  Could speed up the removal process by doing so.

Regards

Simon

Hi James

A good question.  1,500 visits per month is enough for A/B testing, just means that it takes longer to get any useful or conclusive results than say if you had 1,500 visits per day or week.

Check out 'Google Website Optimizer' if you haven't already, is really useful for such testing.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi there

To answer your specific question, "Is it worth starting a blog like this for SEO?" :

When contemplating starting a blog, it's imperative to really consider just how much resource will be required to regularly post new content to the blog and to moderate and engage with the readers of your blog.

All to often, a blog is started with great intention however soon becomes too much to maintain and starts to dry up.

• A blog with regular high quality posts that gain a lot of readership, comments and sharing can provide some SEO benefits to the main site that it supports, if setup and run in a professional way.

You'll find a really insightful blog post here on SEOmoz from July this year, it's entitled:  "Blog Design for Killer SEO - Infographic" and is by Cyrus Shepard. It includes an awesome Infographic with full explanations of all 15 points covered.  Well worth a read, is probably just what you're after.

However before embarking down the path of creating a blog, ensure that the resource is there to make it a sustainable blog that will add value and gain readership through high quality content.

I hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

I agree with Alan. For the most part, reciprocal linking results in a neutral result, it's as though one link cancels out the other as it's a spammy link building method that usually no longer works.

Exceptions of course, like with Alan's Microsoft example. Better off acquiring one way links from relevant authoritive websites.

Hi Joe

A good question.  You'll find most of your answer in a video by Matt Cutts at Google  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ets7nHOV1Yo

As you are running different Top Level Domains (TLDs) then chances are that your websites and content won't be classed as duplicate, however saying that, if they are both hosted in the same country, e.g. the UK, then potentially they could be classed as duplicate, with only one of them showing up in search results.

Your best bet would be to Host the .co.uk in the UK and the .com in the US. That way, it's more likely that neither site would be classed as duplicate.

Regards

Simon

Hi Marie

Have you considered **Rackspace **?  They offer a range of hosting options and are at the higher end of web hosting.  As such, they aren't cheap, though as you don't mind paying more, definitely worth looking into.

If they do turn out to be rather too costly, then check out GoDaddy who are less expensive though still provide a great hosting option, so long as the right hosting service is chosen.

Regards

Simon

Hi Phil

Without knowing the keywords in question, region etc it's difficult to tell.

However, most of the time in this situation, it can be that although there apparently isn't much search traffic out there for particular keywords, a lot of companies may still be bidding on them, thus the Competition would be high, resulting in higher than expected PPC costs. Can of course be other factors too such as low ad quality scores, broad match vs exact match...

Is it worth pursuing these or not ?   Depends on the value of a visitor, if for example it's for "truck insurance", not a huge amount of volume though competitive because the average premium/purchase can be a couple of thousand, it could be worth bidding on these high cost keywords even though there isn't much traffic available.

A judgement call really as to the value of a visitor, likely conversion, other methods other than PPC of attracting them to your website...

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi there, a sub domain is a separate website when it comes to Search, so there is likely no quick method of ranking highly by ethical methods.

As you opted for the sub domain route, you'll have to approach SEO in the same way as for any new website, great content and great inbound links, amongst all the usual other important factors.

If it's not too late, consider moving your blog into a folder on your main website, e.g. www.example.com/blog as you'll then benefit from your main site's strengths, history, authority.

Hope that helps, Regards, Simon

Hi Aran

With Search, 'duplicate' can also mean 'very similair' as well as actually the same, hence why they've been flagged up as duplicate, which I think you already get from your addition of 'Almost'.

What I'd suggest is to make sure that the Page Content is noticeably different on every page. Still relevant to that page's product, just different enough from the other pages so that it's not classed as duplicate.

That way, the overall pages will most likely not be seen as duplicate pages, thus avoiding any duplicate content penalties.

Could also consider making use of the Canonical tag where pages are very similar with no real chance of them being made more unique.

If there is any way to distinguish some of the page titles and descriptions further then go for it, for some of them make use of the 65 to 70 available character space in the title.

Hope that helps.

Regards

Simon

Hi Matt

You say that you 'don't have a homepage built yet'  ~  if you are planning on creating a true homepage, then consider a 302 redirect as supposed to a 301 as a temporary redirect sounds like it could be the better option until you're completely sure on your site structure & what's best for the user experience.

If you're just planning on publishing a blog without a primary website, then why not host your blog on the main domain, e.g. http://myblog.com

If you are planning a primary website as well as a blog, then my advice would be to create a homepage on your website, even if it's just a quick first draft version, then link to your blog from there rather than redirecting to it.

Though if you are set on redirecting, then consider the first paragraph & a 302 for now.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Hi Steve

It appears that your reviews are being marked-up with Count instead of Vote.

An example is http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile(looking-glass-photography)_34386.htm which has a Count of 33.

Check out http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=1093493#countvote for more information on this, could be what's causing some issues with your reviews in search results.

Though with a Google search on 'Looking Glass Photography' you do have some reviews starting to appear on page 2 of the results.

Regards

Simon

Ok, all the best with your fitness site and forum, it looks great