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Hi Maldinii

This could potentially be harming, though mainly because you say the only links are from bad sites with poor anchor text.  If the website also had a reasonable number of good links, then it wouldn't matter, probably.

This is because Google in particular simply discount irrelevant links from poor websites/websites in a bad neighbourhood rather than penalise a site for having those kind of links.  Except for when it's apparent that those links have been purchased as a part of a link building scheme to try and artificially inflate rankings, when both link provider and link receiver are at risk from a penalty.

For some reassurance, have a read of this blog post entitled "What if My Competitors Point Spammy Links to My Site?" and in particular, the section "Defending Yourself from Potential Link Attacks".

Also, view the whole of this video from Rand entitled "I'm Being Outranked by a Spammer" which has some relevant information for you around what I've described here, which is poor spammy links being discounted by Google, so no harm will likely be done purely from having these links.  Still need to have some good links coing in though otherwise the overall SEO will be poor and indeed, you probably won't rank highly.

There isn't much that can be done about those unwanted links pointing in, which is a reason why it won't usually attract a penalty purely for having those links.

What you can do is to start some ethical link building, create some great valuable unique content and distribute it well to start attracting some of the right kind of links from relevant authoritive websites.

I hope that helps

Regards

Simon

Hi James

If you have reason to believe that your website has received a penalty from Google, then I'd suggest submitting a Reconsideration Request once you're sure that your website no longer violates any of Google's guidelines, such as excessive duplicate content in your case, going by what you've described.  It sounds as though your traffic levels have dropped as a result of significant drops in ranking.

There are two main types of penalty;  'Algorithmic Penalties' and 'Manual Penalties'.

If you received an Algorithmic Penalty (more common of the two) then your rankings will start to improve anyway, once some time has passed since you rectified your issue with duplicate content and have added value to your website.

If you received a Manual Penalty (less likely for duplicate content issues though certainly still possible) then a Reconsideration Request would be worth a try.

So once all is great & healthy again with your website (which it could be already) then decide whether or not to submit a reconsideration request based on how much time has passed since you believe you received a penalty and rectified the suspected issue. If you feel enough time has passed and your rankings haven't started to improve, then go for it.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

Exactly. A great answer from Adam.

Stick to the Blog rules/commenting policy, otherwise you could find that your comment is removed by the blog moderator.

Hi William

Likewise, I haven't heard much about Volunia yet.  There are a few blog posts around about it, details are still rather thin.  Seems as though it will be based around 'Hyper Search' and available in 12 languages upon public launch, according to this post.

There's a video at  http://youtu.be/-Ph9S2xeCSU  which has 'Massimo Marchiori' introducing Volunia, though still not much information is given away.  He's a really bright chap with an impressive background, so will be most interesting to learn more of Volunia and see how it takes off upon public launch.

Regards

Simon

You're welcome Phil, glad to have helped

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 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 Mike

The last update to the Linkscape Index was on November 28th, the next one is due tomorrow (January 4th).

So the next time your site is crawled, you should see changes in the reports that reflect your recent changes.

The main thing is knowing that you've made the changes and improved your site, so long as your modified page titles are appearing in search results then all is good.

Regards

Simon

Hi Pano

1)  what may be the cause of some rank declines?  ~  there are literally so many possibilities as to why your rankings have dropped, impossible to have any realistic idea without a site history brief and a full analysis.

Have a think as to what changes, if any, have been made recently, such as new content, content removal, lost links, new competition, site restructure, redirects...  the possibilities are (almost) endless.

A 'decline in traffic' can be attributed to a decline in rankings, there is often a correlation that exists, however that's just one factor out of so many, so is likely to be a more heavily weighted factor or even more likely, a combination of different factors that have caused a drop in rankings.  More to the point, it's the drop in rankings that will likely cause the drop in traffic, though not always.

2)  how do I bring them back up when the indexed page is the homepage?  ~  there are a few changes you could make, the first one I'd suggest is looking at your site structure and perform some Housekeeping.

From what you've described, you are correct, it's (usually) not at all feasible or realistic to target 1 page (the homepage in your case) for a variety of different keywords.  It's lately been deemed a Frankenpage when that does happen, as in one page trying to be the jack of all trades, ends up in an ugly mess and can be detrimental.  Check out a Whiteboard Friday Video entitled "Mapping Keywords to Content for Maximum Impact".

So the answer to this question is above;  figure out what page is supposed to serve what purpose, do some housekeeping to ensure that the navigation is easy and logical so that users can find the right page for what they are looking for.  Focus on your Category Pages for those important Yoga keywords that can't be catered for on the homepage yet are still very important to be found for.

I 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

Hi Francesco

The Canonical tag does usually work for similar pages, that's different pages with content which is similar enough to be classed as duplicate.

If the content can't be made unique enough, which it likely can't be as they are car ads so will be similar in content terms, then Canonicals are your best bet.

Just add authority and usefulness to the site through high quality content outside of those car ads and distribute & share that content to attract those important inbound links.

Regards

Simon

Hi Francesco

A good question;

Implementing Canonical Tags _(a guide here on SEOmoz) _would help you to cater for your duplicate content issue when it comes to those car ads placed by your registered users.

Also check out 6 Extreme Canonical Tricks for more advanced use of the Canonical tag, a blog post here on SEOmoz by Dr. Peter Meyers

For the rest of the site, continue to ensure that you have valuable, fresh, unique, relevant content to benefit your visitors.

Hope that helps,

Regards

Simon

An awesome answer from Ryan, very comprehensive.

The only thing I'd add is that moving forwards as the site matures, only be concerned with Average Monthly Rankings & Visitor Numbers, rather than a ranking at one particular point in time.

This is because rankings often fluctuate so much, and there will always be changes and movement going on;  look at the monthly reports and respond to those when need-be rather than daily movements, this will save a fair amount of time to spend on other areas such as content & distribution.

All the best and regards,

Simon

Indeed, the general consensus seems to be to host a blog at eg. mydomain.com/blog

Depends on the purpose of the blog really, plus the relevance to the main website. Sometimes a subdomain is the better option.

RE. a 301 Redirect from  mydomain.com/blog  to  mydomain.com/v/blog  it will make very little if any difference on the SEO side, so long as any inbound links to your blog to go straight to the actual location rather than through a redirect (thus not loosing any link juice through the redirect).

On the Usability side, the /v/ directory will likely be confusing to some people as to what it actually means, they won't know the reasons for it being there.

So likely no direct issue on the SEO side, however may put a few people off on the Usability side.

Hope that helps,

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

Hi Robert, thank you.

Indeed, it would be great to have some research to validate the actual answer, if indeed there is a definitive answer.

From reading my original answer and your reply above, it seems that we are both in general agreement that hyphens in domain names tend to have no bearing on SEO. User Experience is key to choosing the better option rather than SEO. We've just gone about explaining the same thing in a different way.

From my experience and knowledge, hyphens in a domain name have Zero Direct Impact on SEO and search rankings, they make no difference either way.

However, there are Usability factors such as User Engagement that do affect SEO; if having a hyphen in a domain name or not affects the click through rate one way or the other, that could well have a small part to play in the overall ranking algorithm, thus in search rankings.

Personally, like yourself, I like to see hyphens in domain names because it does often read better.

So to summarise, I believe there is No Direct Impact when it comes to hyphens in a domain name, however I believe there Is In-Direct Impact through User Experience factors.

With best regards,

Simon

Exactly, I agree with you, is a shame that this goes on, probably always will !

Those figures from OSE will be correct at face value, however won't take into account any search engine penalty that could be applied and indeed, should & likely will be applied at some point. Unethical spammy practices such as this can have high scores such as you've identified here, doesn't mean what has gone on is sustainable though.

Which leads on to your question; Yes, what they've done (based on your findings) is the creation of a link farm, with many of their own domains with poor quality websites/landing pages all linking to one another. It's a great example of what not to do for anybody with any ethical search ethics.

So don't worry about it, just concentrate on creating your own valuable site that adds some value to your visitors' experience.

Hi Ravi

As you mention SEO in your question, I am relating my answer to SEO.

Your suspicions are justified, as in there being no SEO value in doing anything like this. It adds absolutely no value to any User's Experience, no SEO value, I personally and professionally regard it as a pointless unethical practice.

If somebody has a domain for sale, then fair enough in putting a sales banner on the homepage, however doing so with the hope of gaining any SEO benefit and including all those links to other spammy domains is a game that can only be lost.

So I'd recommend to Not follow suit and to help keep the Web a better place by avoiding doing the same if SEO benefits are the main goal.

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

A great answer from Ryan.  The subdomain route can provide a better seamless user experience than the entirely different domain option.

The only thing I'd add is to consider what to name the subdomain if that ends up being your chosen option.

E.G.  mobile.playpoker.com  or  m.playpoker.com

Many (though not all) opt for the shorter option of just an m rather than the full word mobile.

Regards

Simon