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I'm not too hot on Smarty, but doesn't this generate the HTML templates?

However, this shouldn't cause a problem because the files that are being generated are html so as long as they have done this right, it should be fine.

Do you want to ping me the robots file or URL over and I will have a look for you?

Andy

You are very welcome - happy to help

My first question would be how are you finding your position in the SERPs? Are you not even on the radar or are you 1st page?

I would guess the doctors are coming up because of the "GPS" and "GP's".

My honest view is that isn't only really a problem if it is causing problems for you. If you appear 1st place for your key phrases, then I wouldn't worry - but need a little feedback on this first.

Edit- I should also add that I have seen high competition phrases return a site that has absolutely no related sites, yet the 2nd place had about 200 hundred.

Andy

I honestly don't see any problem with what you are wanting to do. That certainly wouldn't cause me concern.

Just remember that you don't want pages to fight against each other in terms of which one is going to serve the content for a given phrase. However, don't try too hard otherwise you might find Penguin coming along and giving you a hit before you even get anywhere. OOP (over optimisation penalties) are quite common when you try to do everything you possibly can.

Just keep it clean and you should be fine without having to worry about trying too hard.

And just remember that Wordpress has lots of little nuances that could be classed as problematic by other SEO's, but in reality, it is invariably pretty good at what it does, and does without penalty out of the box.

Andy

I would personally re-write the articles again so they are unique, but don't try to spin them. Once content starts to get duplicated, it is hard to try and be seen as the author of that.

Perhaps there could be some benefit in using Google+ to set yourself as the author, but I honestly don't know how Google would view this seeing as it has been reproduced elsewhere and potentially appear somewhere new. My gut feel is that if they see 3 or 4 copies of the same article, rather than try and determine who is the author, they might just not give the article the time of day.

Start again is my view.

Andy

Tom has this spot on. Google doesn't only look for direct duplication, but also very similar, and these really are I'm afraid.

You need to find ways to make each page unique in its own right - let Google see that no two pages are the same and there is a real reason to rank them.

No, this won't be an issue. All you are talking about is a URL structure, but then you can get round this by changing your permalink structure if you wish.

However, I know others who have added the categories to their Robots.txt and others who have noindex'ed them. I also see many other sites that do absolutely nothing and with nothing detrimental in the SERPs.

It's not a biggie, but I am sure others will have some suggestions for you if you do want to do something about it.

Just focus on the great unique content on the pages and this will be Google's primary concern.

Andy

Hi Raphael,

Basically, if you are only loading in results based on when someone lands on a page, and showing results that are not pre-determined, then you are right, there is nothing really here for Google to do anything with in terms of SEO. However, done right and this shouldn't be a problem and just write some great content for the page that Google can see.

Presumably you will be using an iFrame or similar?

Andy

Usability can play a big part in any site design, as can the page title and description for drawing people in.

However, if you wish to e-mail me, I would be more than happy to cast an eye over this for you. info@inetseo.co.uk

Andy

Good old Google - they had this same problem a few weeks back as well

Probably unrelated, but did you get a link warning in Webmaster Tools and that is what prompted the disavow?

It depends really - did you put in 200 exclusive pages, or did you say remove everything from *.site.com (which would remove all links from all pages on a domain)?

I have only had to do 2 disavow's but never had more links removed than were recommended.

Andy

Have you thought about actually hosting the video yourself? I have a few clients have started doing this now for a variety of reasons (control being one of them).

I'm not too sure I would be asking them to Robots the video out, but it does sound like you could do with more control over this and adding in some branding.

Could the video be re-worked so it has an introduction / splash screen? Could you add it to YouTube and create a channel there along with links back?

It sounds to me like you just need to take a look at what other possibilities exist in terms of directing people over to your site.

Andy

Just so I understand, are you wanting to ask for the third party to block the video so only your site appears when the video shows up in the search results?

• Does the video currently show up in the SERPs from your site?
• Is the video content in question owned by you?

At the end of the day, you can ask anyone anything you wish - you just don't know what the answers will be.

Andy

Have a watch of this video from Barry Schwartz and you will see many have found this but nothing has been announced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xNplIqrs-Os

Andy

I might have said there would be no harm normally, but after a client came to me to find out why a .co.uk was appearing above the .com, which was his main site, I would say it can do harm. The .co.uk was simply being pointed to the .com. First time I have seen this happen so just tread carefully. Either way, it's a too grey hat for my liking - to try and get more search traffic by trying to mis-lead people from one domain to another is a no-no. Just tell them that with all of the algo changes going on, they are best scratching that idea and focusing their efforts on great content. If that got found out (and it can very easily if someone reports it) then all domains will be penalised.

As David said, you will get nothing for doing this, unless it were a re-banding exercise and was unavoidable.

Stick with what you have and just write more great content as that is where the big benefits will come from.

Andy

I have never had a bad response with a local directory yet and is something I do for clients looking to enhance a local profile. As for what you get in terms of SEO benefit, a lot will depend on the directory and the type of listing you get with it.

Local directories I have never found harmful as long as you choose the best of those that are available to you.

However, I never stop just at local so it is hard to say just what you will get exactly.

Andy

Have you thought about going down the sub-domain route Matt? This is one of those occasions where it could work well. What you suggest in having to hide sites by having them hosted on different CIP's, is borderline Grey / Black hat and not something I would advise. If Google catches wind of what is going on (and they can), then they might wonder why this has been done and the only answer is to try and game them.

Remember, Google has a huge 10,000+ army of human raters that can always pick this kind of thing up if an algorithm doesn't.

You are right about the EMD update as well - they will get less from this.

I have seen job-boards get caught out trying to go down this route so tread carefully if you still plan on taking it. Speaking from experience here.

Andy

It shouldn't but remember that blog posts are date sensitive, whereas pages aren't.

Do check out the competition and see what they do - always a good indicator

Andy

Personally, if a site has been hit with a warning, then I would go through and remove everything that isn't a decent link back and I would be targeting directories as well - but this wouldn't be a complete removal - I would need to look at each first. Saying that, if I see www.greatbigdirectory4u.com, then this sort get immediate removal.

I'm not saying that every directory is a waste, because some can offer value - have a look at www.seomoz.org/directories as an example of decent ones.

Andy

It all depends on your readers really. There are times (and industries) when this wouldn't be the way to go.

As for pages pulling in more traffic, it is impossible to say why without looking at so many different factors. However, if your client is in the same industry as you and you have had success with this, then it sounds like you should give it a go.

Andy

Or you could do what most do, and that is to create a site with static pages and have a blog attached for news & discussions.

Is this a site that requires a lot of fresh content or is there an element of static (evergreen) as well?

A lot depends on the site and target audience really. As for the pages vs posts, I see such a huge variation, I couldn't say that one is better than the other as there are so many factors to take into account.

Look at the competition - see what those in the top spots are doing and mimc their strategy.

Andy

You are likely to get different feelings on this Mark.

However, are you thinking about using the disavow tool? If so, only do so if the client has been hit with a link warning. If not, and you just want to get rid of directories, then I would try and remove listings through direct contact.

As for FFA directories getting a hit in the future, I haven't seen Google state this could happen (unless I have missed something).

Andy

It all depends - if you were to create 100 external links, each with a back-link that said "click here" and they all were linking to the same page, it takes on an unnatural feel and at that point, Google might cast an eye over what you are doing.

Remember, Google looks for diversity in link pages and anchor text. They also look for links to (ideally) form a natural feel as part of content.

Keep it realistic and you will be fine.

Andy

As Paul said, there is a lot more effort required to try and SEO each sub-domain as Google will see each as a separate entity.

However, there are times when a subdomain might be the preferred option - Just had a quick glance and can't see any reason why they would have chosen this route.

Andy

I am completely with Daniel here - IP's can trigger this. I know you say you don't think this is IP related, but there are many other instances of this happening. Why Google might favour some over others is anyones guess, but this is where I would place my bets.

First, tread carefully with Business.com as I know of companies that pulled out of there after Panda hit them and reports that they had seen a drop in terms of rank. Basically, if you are going for generic directories, try and find ones in your niche.

As for which service to use, I don't actually use PR services myself so can't offer any real input here, but do hear good things about PRWeb.

One thing to also remember, if you are looking to build backlinks, you need to diversify, but not to the point where the site has no meaning to your industry. For example, you could quite happily look for blogs and sites that sell fitness equipment, fitness food, bikes, climbing equipment and even diet websites - it is all related at some level and Google will know this.

You might be surprised just what you can turn up.

Andy

I'm with you there Dana - getting the edge right now will pay big when Google rolls out more features.

It stands to reason that they will start to do something more with brand authority as well as personal. I can't see any reason why they wouldn't?

I actually don't know of any sites that have used rel-publisher internally and have only found it on the homepage. Not to say there isn't some, but I haven't been looking. I will have a look on the next e-commerce sites I visit to see what they do.

Andy

I see no problem doing this - like you said, just republish and you should be golden

Unless there is an actual address associated with the business, then Google will remove it. It won't even get as far as being accepted I'm afraid. They also don't let you use a PO Box.

However, you could think about renting an address? Some business complexes have this facility available.

Andy

Well, you can Sergio, but you will get nothing back from them.

Have a look at this list of directories SEOmoz has published and try to find something that is related to what you do.

It's all about keeping it on track.

By good quality, I refer to anything that has a vested interest in your industry. This can be both new and old sites alike, and, for example, a website design site and a social media website could link to an SEO site and still be seen as being within your niche.

I think thats the point Chris - there is no visual for brands right now. Even if you add a rel publisher and link it to a g+ business page, it still wont show anything.

Also, Google have confirmed that you shouldn't have both publisher and author on the same page.

I recently was in a hangout with AJ Kohn who was talking at length about authorship, but made no mention of publisher being used on any page other than the homepage, and author only being used on pages within the site. Of course, no fix for this situation right now, but if you use publisher yourself on product pages, what are you finding this does for you? Does it throw up any warnings on the structured data testing tool?

You're welcome - hope it gets sorted soon

Andy

At the moment, I really don't have a solution myself and have been thinking about it.

You could try the business page as the author and do a little testing, but my guess is that it won't take advantage of this, just because I have yet to see brands turn up as an author.

Perhaps try it with a business page and run it through the structured data testing tool to see what it comes back with?

Andy

Rel publisher is for the homepage only Paul and isn't for any internal pages - those should be given rel author.

I know what you mean about how it looks, but that is the way Google are doing things right now.

With large brands, I would be tempted to have rel publisher on the home page. What I can't tell you with any certainty is what others in a similar position do. However, I do know that you never see a brand turn up as a page author.

Andy

That's great to hear - and with it having been manual action that was taken, it's nice to know these are actually handled by real people - as Matt Cutts states here.

Andy

To be honest, I don't know anyone who has bad things to say about Screaming Frog - aside from the cost, but as you said, really worth it.

However, it is free for up to 500 page crawl limit, so perhaps give it a go?

Andy

You're welcome, but be careful with directories as they will do very little, unless they are industry specific ones.

Try and target sites within your niche where possible for a chance to get the best links back again.

Andy

There is no limit or threshold. Just be careful not to build too many too fast and make sure the referring sites are good quality. Diversity with anchor text is important, as is a range of landing pages - don't send them all to the homepage.

Andy

Screaming Frog Spider does a pretty good job...

As simple as enter the URL and leave it to report back when completed.

Andy

Then Google has clearly approved of what you have and ranked accordingly. As 'activity super' said, spend a little time enhancing the product page. Do a little sharing on Google+ and make sure that everything is as good as it possibly can be within the page. See if you can get some backlinks to that page as well.

Andy

Again, yes and no to having to wait. I wrote an article that was 1st page (and still is) within just 4 hours. That was down to Google+

With so many factors, it is hard to try and judge what has made a difference. Also be aware that sometimes a site can get a false bump for a shirt period of time after a major change, only to settle back again once Google has analysed it all again - just be sure it wasn't something like this as in 12 years, I have never seen just a change of structure make a dramatic change.

Hope you get everything sorted

You're welcome - hope you get it sorted

So the one at position 8, is that one that you wrote?