Ask Rand a Question!
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Hey Q&Aers,
As you probably know, Rand answers one question per PRO newsletter, and I need a question to ask him.
Please leave your questions below.
(I generally give Rand a few questions, so he can choose which one to answer, so this is by no means a first come, first serve situation. But please only ask one!)
Thanks!
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Thanks, everyone, for your responses. Rand now has the questions, and he'll be answering one in this month's newsletter!
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Hi Erica and Rand,
My wife and I just launched our first e-commerce start up and I am really confused about how Google is indexing our website.
I see HTTPS as well as non-HTTPS pages being indexed and I am wondering how and what is the best way to set up our sitemap and robots.txt file going forward. I recently read that we should set up a separate sitemap for HTTPS and non-HTTPS?
Does Google favor HTTPS in rankings? (oops that is a 2nd question)
Insanely confused and frustrated with this issue. ANY kind of guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers
Jeff
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Is penguin a penalty or just an update?
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With Google heavily pushing Google plus and authorship it seems this may eventually have a large influence on the ranking algo. If we assume this to be correct, how does a small business owner who does NOT engage much online create authority for themselves? I'm thinking of the dentist, the plumber, etc. Where does their authority come from?
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From recent Google algo updates, do you think a page level algoritmic penalty would effect overall domain trust?
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What advice can Rand give with regards to doing SEO for small to mid-size, not necessarily online, businesses? What is the most efficient use of time?
I am thinking of small service or brick & mortar businesses. In these businesses the owner/manager is also the one who is doing the SEO, so time is at a premium. This is my scenario, and I know it is the same for a lot of people. I know that SEO is work, and it takes time. But since time is limited, what things would Rand consider " 100% necessary" and what things would he consider "nice to have".
Thanks!
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