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Hi Me again!

You wrote:

"the worst we've done is including links in the footers of some themes we've distributed"

So, perhaps you should start with the worst and see if that is it?

I have a feeling that these Client Footer Links used to provide rankings and now don't because of adjustments to the algorithm.  I think that rather than view it as a penalty, you may be best to view it as a previous gift that is now gone.  I am formulating theories as to why, and I am currently somewhere beyond my original hunch (which was that they look like paid links), and not yet to my actual theory (which is much broader, but I haven't fully formulated, so I will keep to myself for a bit).

Anyway, I have figured out how it would be quite easy for search engines to devalue Client Footer Links, along with the blog networks and paid links they have been taking down, by using some available metrics.  So, when my theory comes together, if the search engines are not using it, they will be forced to sometime in the next few years.  (Stroking my own genious ego here, I know).

Open Site Explorer only updates in batches.  They crawl the web, then they process it, which takes a lot, then they publish it.

Somewhere around here there is a schedule for the next planned update

With such an opening statement, I think you should hire someone.

I think your friends link network has been devalued.

those articles as northstarheadgasket and 4homebuilder look like they were written for search engines (as in, nobody would normally post an article there for any other reason than to get links - because nobody actually goes to those sites to find articles on sunglasses).

I don't have any idea if the Search Engines do it, but they ought to value a link from how much real traffic the source page has.  Therefore, a page that has a lot of traffic, is likely to only put on only good quality links relevant to the market - and real users might actually use those links.  Or perhaps they could value a link based on how often it is used.  Of course perhaps this could be manipulated by bots, but it would be another step in the right direction (instead of just knowing how to insert links, spammers would have to know how to program bots to click on certain links, or they would have to do it manually).

You have a cool product, and could probably get (and perhaps have) lots of interaction on facebook, and could have a cool blog, with videos, product demos, and with weird subject like "10 coolest celebrities wearing Gatorz" and "Gatorz Guys are Girl Magnets" or for the girls: "Gucci is old and busted - Go Gatorz Girlz!" or the other side of that "Every Gucci needs a Gatorz"

Are those "useful links" really useful to users?

Or are they there as part of a link exchange?

It is my opinion that what I will call "Client Footer Links" are being devalued or possibly penalized.

• They start to look like private blog networks, since all the sites are unrelated.
• Would your customers put those there to advertise your services if you did not put them there?  If the answer is no, they look like paid links.

As you are aware, private blog networks and paid links are being devalued by Google quite regularly

I have no data to back this up, just the logic above, a feeling, and a pattern I have seen lately from these types of companies.

Hi,

I agree you have overoptimized.  I also think you may have a different problem, or at least you did.

Your redirect of gatorzwarehouse is working today, but did not work yesterday for me.

Maybe a fluke, but something to look into.

I think your problem is crappy links. You will need to build some high quality content that people will want to link to. And get rid of the crap links if you can.

As I have watched you respond numerous times, I once again am impressed with your awesomeness.

You should change your avatar to have a bright light shining around your head or something...

Hopefully this does not come off as sarcastic, it is intended to be actual praise, and lighthearted

Just my opinion, but I would change a few things:

1. Get rid of the links you have placed at the bottom of clients websites, they don't seem natural, and the clients would probably not voluntarily put them there.
2. Get rid of feeder pages like this: http://www.brentwood-seo.co.uk/ and this:http://www.brentwood-seo.com/.  They are not built for users.
3. Get rid of these pages that you have parked for clients with your stuff on them, like this: http://www.lambro-contracts.co.uk/  and this:  http://www.argentumjewellery.co.uk/  They are effectively a private link network, which is being penalized like crazy.

Perhaps you could add a link to the original source on some of these where you have the permission.  This should send a signal to google that you are showing it on your site for the convenience of users, but it is from a different source.

Do you know which plugin (or combination) was the trouble?

I use a lot of wordpress, and this is very interesting.

I am going to disagree with the above.

The command <meta < span="">name="robots" content="noodp, noydir" /> has nothing to do with denying any access to the robots.</meta <>

It is used to prevent the engines from displaying meta descriptions from DMOZ and the Yahoo directory.  Without this line, the search engines might choose to use those descriptions, rather than the descriptions you have as meta descriptions.

Is Yoast generating another sitemap for you?

You have a sitemap from a different plugin, but Yoast can also generate sitemaps, so perhaps you have 2 - and one of the sitemaps lists the items that you are disallowing.

Hi,

Keri has a more complete answer.  Mine is quick.

I had a campaign: domain.com - SEOMoz only crawled one page

I changed it to *domain.com - SEOMoz crawled all pages.

Good Luck.

I believe that what Matt Cutts says is still true, that the location of your server can impact your SEO.

I used Open Site Explorer, which is available under the "Research Tools" section of SEOMoz.  (look in the main menu above for "Research Tools" then look on the left of the page for the Open Site Explorer.

Just put your url in there, and it will bring up lots of links.  Then just go and visit them to see what they are like.  You can also filter for follows vs nofollows, and other attributes, depending on what you are looking for.  I just opened up a half dozen or so of them to get a feel for your links, and found what I mentioned above.

There are other tools too, such as Raven Tools, which could also show these to you, but since you are a pro member, you might as well use SEOMoz tools.

Yes,

and

your involvement in Linkmarket and any other link enchanges you are on, I saw some others too.

and

the footer links you put on websites you have designed.

I think you are likely to have duplicate content issues.  All that subdomaining with the city name being the only change - probably not a good long term strategy for you.

First, you are diluting your authority on the various subjects.  The search engines will not know which pages among the many near duplicates are the important pages on a subject.

Second, you are risking future penalties from search engines.  They are constantly improving the algorithms to improve user experience, and all those subdomains with duplicate content do nothing for user experience, except to perhaps confuse them.