Ask Rand a Question!

[EricaMcGillivray]

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!

[EricaMcGillivray]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. Rand now has the questions, and he'll be answering one in this month's newsletter!

[jeffrock]

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

[Indexxess]

Is penguin a penalty or just an update?

[flowsimple]

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?

[SEO-Doctor]

From recent Google algo updates, do you think a page level algoritmic penalty would effect overall domain trust?

[rayvensoft]

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!