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Thanks Andy,

Yeah, I was thinking about a pure content based strategy and getting some top-notch writers lined up as the main way to generate a decent link profile.

We are also developing their site, and so we will have bucket loads of time initially to develop on-site too.

However what, in addition, could be utilised that would add real value outside of content?

Further to the content  - I'd need to look at some additional writers which may take a while to locate and bed in, so does anyone know of any trusted third party (UK Based) writers that could be contracted in in the short time?

Hi All,

This is more of an open discussion to gather some advice /  strategy tips for a large spending client - so looking for some experts tips here.

Potentially, there is a large client on the horizon, with a budget for 'SEO'  starting at the 15k PM region.

My question is- in what way would you personally begin to utilise this budget in absolute benefit of the client. What would you propose strategy-wise to begin with, what else would you incorporate along the line? How would you generate results not just from SEO, but from additional channels?

PS - They have a separate budget for PPC.

An open discussion and plenty of ideas would be fantastic.

Hi Mozzers!

We have recently been handed this client due to the former SEO company building up a bad link profile, which resulted in the site dropping off the search results all together. Forcing them to get a new domain.

This happened in July last year and we are unsure whether it would be wise to submit a reconsideration request and then 301 their old sites pages to the new domain.

Basically I'm asking whether you can spot any spammy links being built in their profile.

Here is the old domain: http://www.claimssolicitors.co.uk/

It would be great if you could help me out!

Thanks

There also seems to have been an increase on the prevalence of EMDs - anyone else picked this up?

Thanks for the reply - i've not seen the stability tool, where is this in the pro account?

Getting some strange results, yes the it services results of the last few days do not make any sense whatsoever. Will have to see what happens with these....

Hey guys,

Can anyone shed some light on these bizarre and confusing SERPs which Google seems to be producing following their latest update??

For example, we have a client who targets "payday loans" with another targeting "IT services".

However, since the update, the former keyword brings back a host of spammy domain results while the latter seems to have given all focus to educational institutions like universities.

This just seems utterly ludicrous considering that if I'm searching for "IT services" I don't want the help desk of a local university - that's completely irrelevant, right?

Can anyone provide some information on what seems to be going on?

Thanks

It looks as though there has been an update of some kind. Take a look at the 'payday loans' sector for example, there seems to be a lot of new, spammy domains which have found their way onto the first page. With the likes of Wonga dropping down several pages, in some instances. Really strange.

Hi All,

I have a client who is looking heavily at Google+ Local.

He has a main business, with a number of locational franchises.

He has created a local listing for each of these franchise pages.

The question he has asked is 'How do I improve my rankings for these local listings?'

Now some of them seem to rank well without any work performed to improve them, but some are not.

My question is, What can we do to improve the rankings of Google+ Local listings?

This has changed greatly since I last looked into it, so anyone who can say 'right, this is what you need to do to improve Google+Local listings' would be greatly appreciated!!!!

Many thanks Guys!!

Hi Nightwing!

I had the exact same problem a couple of weeks ago. But I seem to have resolved the issue now!

Try adding a link to your Google + page in the 'author bio' section of one of your articles. As well as a link to that article in the 'contributor to' section of your G+ page. Which I can already see that you've done the latter.

It can take a couple of days to show up but it worked a treat for me!

Best of luck

I see, that's certainly cleared that up!

Thanks again

So it wouldn't make a difference if I included a link back to the original piece?

Thanks for the help anyway

Hi Mozzers!

Quick question for you all. This is something I've been unsure of for a while. But when a guest post you've written goes live on someone's blog. Is it then okay it post the same article to your own blog as well as Squidoo for example?

Would the search engines still see it as duplication if I have a link back to the original?

How old is the site?

Have you been building back-links with the aim of manipulating Google rankings?

What is the URL of the site?

What keywords/pages rank in what engine?

Were you previously ranking well in Google/Yahoo for that search term but not anymore?

Bing and Google are different search engines and there is a lot of difference between two. These search engines use different algorithms, and so look at different factors. There could be lots of reasons,l but without knowing the above it might become tricky for the community to help / provide reasons why.

Also, you can install the this word press plugin http://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/.

Works very well and has an option in the plugin menu to make redirect changes to your htaccess file for redirecting pages.

The string to add in is:

redirect 301 "/page-name.html"  http://wwwdomain-name.com

Yeah, getting similar downtime on mozbar (chrome).

Egol is correct. This doesn't sound like a company i'd want to be working for yet alone paying money to look after my online interests. One good point of this company is you, in that you are wise enough to instantly spot the flaws in what was asked by the manager and in what was promised by your head of dept - no doubt in a panic.

This not only puts unrealistic pressure on him/herself but also on the employees reporting to the manager. All in all i'd take Egols advice and bail.

It sounds like its all too desperate based on lack of knowledge. Things arn't going right, so they pluck a figure out of the air and promise to hit it - they should be asking the guys for a brainstorming session to pool ideas and generate some realistic goals to acheive.

Hitting 600+ could be possible, as mentioned if the search volume is there then why not? But how will it be achieved, where will the visits be from and will they add value to the business(s)?

This could be an opportunity for you within the company to demonstrate your understanding of the situation and current landscape and prove your worth. Or seriously consider moving on.

Are you sure this is the 'Best' practice post panda/penguin?

er, contrary to some posts on here i'd say that yes, it still does play a (small) part in the overall mix.

Getting a listing in Dmoz no longer has the impact it once had, and getting listed can take an age, so submit to it and forget about it.

Most of the manually edited directories can still play a part, and more than anything getting listed in directories is a natural process for any website.

If you have already visited the moz list and submitted your site to them then good work, as long as you worked towards getting listed in directories that are specific to your industry then a job well done.

Keep moving along with your day to day seo efforts and submit to directories as and when you find a good, relevant one.

Further more, as you have probably already seen on the moz list and by reading other Q&A posts there are some paid directories such as Yahoo and BOTW (others are available) that for me have proved worthwhile when submitting to, and I did see a ranking increase as others have in the weeks after I submitted to them.

Hi,

We had a vaguely similar thing happen where we took over the running over a site and the old dev added a robots.txt disallowing the site from being indexed, which wasn't pick up for a while as dev work was on-going. Basically the sites rankings panned out.

We fixed the issue an re-submitted the site through webmaster tools. Site was reindexed within a week or so and rankings came back over the next 6 weeks.

"Therefore what weighs more - a domain name with a lot of years behind it or a domain name with the no. 1 keyword included in the domain name."

I'd go for the domain name with lots of years behind it every time. Put your site under this.

_ "writing thousands of unique product descriptions, and I was actually wondering if it is really worth the effort?"_

How many other companies are selling the same product, using the stock description? IMO it's worth spending time creating unique product descriptions along with your other SEO activities - the more ways you differentiate yourself, your site and your products the better. There are no short cuts, all areas need attention however long it takes.