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I don't think I ever realized that forwarding also can return a 301. That's really good to know. Thanks.

Glad I could help. I would just run it through one or two more versions of that tool just for peace of mind. You can just google "spider view tool" and try out a couple others.

It definitely depends on how you're doing it. Without seeing it, I can't say for sure, but usually this method only hides things from the user, not the search engines. I'd recommend running your page through a service that shows you what the spiders see.

Try: http://www.iwebtool.com/spider_view

If you see your text in the results, you're probably safe.

One of the sites I designed, customwovenlabels.com, uses this with javascript. If you go there and look at the copy on the homepage, you will see a link that says, "read more." Google sees all the text and doesn't distinguish the difference between what's initially seen vs. hidden.

So if you discover that your method isn't ideal, there are always other alternatives.

Why don't you try domain forwarding? That may be your only option as there is growing evidence that Google passes links from 302 redirects as well. You can find the domain forwarding option in the control panel where the domain name is hosted. Instead of doing a redirect, the change will take place with the DNS.

Here's some info: http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/422/forwarding-or-masking-your-domain-name

Make sure you choose forwarding without masking.

Yes, I agree. This is a good answer. I am, however, skeptical of the amount of 'link juice' one internal page on your website can really pass. I'd still consider this an issue not to lose sleep over. And while it is good to consider positioning of links and how they could potentially pass on value, overdoing it could be considered page-rank sculpting. But I agree overall.

The "too many on-page links" warning is merely a suggestion. It's not likely to hurt your rankings; it's more to remind you that it is believed Google only crawls and follows the first fifty or 100 (it's debated) links on a page.

"My current strategy is to target the top 3 all on one page."
Definitely have one page for all those keywords. "Managed IT Services" and "IT Managed Services" are the same thing. Even "Managed IT Support" could be considered the same thing. Google's algorithm is smart enough to decipher synonyms.
Resource: http://helpmyseo.com/seo-tips/296-language-synonyms-and-the-google-algorithm-and-how-it-affects-your-seo.html

"The problem then is the title tag: Managed IT Services | IT Managed Services | Managed IT Support"
Definitely do NOT do this. Google will see it as keyword spam/stuffing and it will hurt you, not help you. I'd recommend making the title tag "Your Company Name | One of those keyword phrases" (assuming your company name doesn't already have those phrases in the name)
Resource: http://www.pagetraffic.com/guide/keyword-repetition.php

"I could build pages for all 3, but how would I incorporate them into the website since they are all synonyms. . . How would handle separate pages with synonymous content?"
The way to handle pages with to avoid them like the plague.
Resource: http://moz.com/blog/duplicate-content-in-a-post-panda-world

I've noticed it happening with the site s you mentioned and then some. I started a discussion about it awhile back. http://moz.com/community/q/interesting-serp-trend-i-m-observing

We've been outranked by ebay, amazon, wikipedia, and etsy.

Without seeing anything, if you're positive Penguin was what you were hit by and you have a dodgy link profile, then the link profile is almost definitely the cause. Removing links and disavowing what can't be removed is the way to go. Feel free to PM me the link if you want.

The latest Whiteboard Friday should answer all of your questions.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-do-i-find-a-good-seo

I will leave you with one piece of advice. My number one rule for finding an SEO company is this: You find the good guys; the bad guys find you. In other words, do NOT respond to those solicitations from India. Go out and do some research.

Here's a really good post to check out as well: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-many-seo-consultants-actually-know-what-theyre-talking-about

That's an excellent idea, actually. It could be like having your own custom shortened URL. I wouldn't overuse it though; that could confuse people.

Oh, sorry. You said the shorter one was easier to remember and apparently that's the part of your response that stuck out in my mind. So we only half disagree.

I think the long one is easier to remember BECAUSE it tells people what it;s about.

You're right, Updating a post didn't take nearly as long. Also, it seems to be better overall today.

Personally I would go with the long one as well. Although for the opposite reason as littlesthbo. I think the longer one is easier to remember because it has meaning and isn't just letters and numbers someone has to remember.

I may be misunderstanding you, but I think the keywords "widgets extra large" or even "widgets white extra large" would be triggered with modified broad, not phrase match.

My favorite is modified broad match and my least favorite is regular broad match. Modified broad allows for the most variety in searches without returning results that are irrelevant the way regular board match does.

Our main keyword is "embroidered patches" so here is an example

[embroidered patches] - returns only "embroidered patches"
"embroidered patches" - could return "embroidered patches for uniforms"
+embroidered +patches - could return "patches embroidered onto hats"
embroidered patches - could return nicotine patches (useless)

The bottom line is that broad match will get you the most traffic, but a large amount will be irrelevant.
Exact match won't get you as much traffic, but most of it will be high quality.
I personally think modified broad and phrase are the best balance.

The fact that they're shtml files instead of html files has nothing to do with it.

You're definitely not preventing your site from being indexed. Google reads html and shtml files the same way. In fact, if you "view source"  you won't even be able to tell it's shtml.

If you want your site to appear in the address bar of your browser as cushingco.com without the index.shtml showing up, all you need is a simple redirect. This will be good for users and for Google.

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} index.shtml
RewriteRule .* http://www.cushingco.com/? [R=301,L]

Put that code in your .htaccess file, and you're good to go.

I was just going to ask this exact question. Q&A has always been significantly slower than the rest of the site, but today it is C R A W L I N G

EDIT: Time between my hitting the submit button on this response and it actually posting: two minutes. Ha, now it'll be another two minutes before this part shows up.

We have someone with a shady link profile ranking above us too. Don't worry; as was already said, it's only a matter of time before they're gone. Just keep working on your long-term #RCS strategies, and they will pay off in the long run--probably sooner rather than later.