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WordPress SEO by Yoast allows you to add a "noindex, follow" to these pages. that will prevent the duplicate issues. You can also remove the media pages from your sitemap.
You can even drill down to each individual image and determine whether you want that image to be indexed or not.
Another option is to remove the link from the image in the post. I know you are dealing with quite a few images but unless you are wanting to promote that image, I would remove the link.
I use Standard Theme for all my blog sites. It integrates the core functions of WordPress SEO by Yoast with a really well coded theme. As far as the duplicate content. Wordpress SEO by Yoast lets you deal with what items to nofollow and noindex very easily on almost any theme.
I would be good to set up Site Search tracking and monitor the searches that are taking place. Depending on the results it might be a good idea to create a "You were looking for 'this product' but 'this product' or "this product" might be a good fit." page.
Also, make sure to check back through the links to the site and try to reach out to the websites in regards to changing the link URL. Watch GWT closely over the next few months.
That's great information and process.
According to Google Search Quality engineer, Uli Lutz, you only need to include the links in GWMT. Here is an article with more information on that.
This is being caused by your "Related Post" plugin/module. To correct this problem simply add rel="nofollow" to the links in that module.
I'm not a part of the SEOmoz staff or Dev team (I play one on tv though) but from the acquisition of GetListed.org and David Mihm saying over and over that the Web App is going to have some dramatic changes in the coming months I would say yes. Check out the first paragraph in one of David's most recent blog posts. I'm really looking forward to the full integration of GetListed.org data and tools.
It's best to link them to location pages on the domain. In local, domain authority wins over page authority. User experience wins over bot experience. This is the current trend of local and it doesn't appear to be changing. Here is a great article by Nifty Marketing that illustrates a good local landing page.
There is no telling what they will do with the page you replaced it with but I would put my money on the new optimized page doing better than the category page ever did. You should have more content value on the new page. Category pages are often linked to so I would run a link report on the old URL and try to get some of those links to change the page they are linking to.
Since you are using WP, I would also consider adding a category specific loop on the page that took the category page. This would be a big help to users and show some good relevance to the search engines.
I would not be afraid of duplicate content more than I would be afraid of diminishing value of your site's focus because the bot is wasting resources on the 301's.
I went through this exact issue. The way to fix it is to add a rel="nofollow" tag to the link that adds the item to the cart. This will prevent the search bot from indexing or wasting resources on the checkout pages that are dynamically populated.
I would say it would be good for the user to have a link back to the category that may hold more videos like the one they are watching.
If you are able to include some descriptive unique content on the category pages then I think you end up with a win. Content helps you rank and when a visitor on your site goes to this page they will have a clear direction on what it is about and what you want them to do.
This is one of the most common issues on an eCommerce site. In some cases, it is just better leave it the way it is. Obviously the best option is to optimized these pages and make them totally unique but that isn't always the right decision for you and your site.
Here is what I did. I took a list of the best selling products the larger eCommerce site. Then I compiled a list in a spreadsheet and worked with some other SEO's to develop a completely distinct title and description. We ended up focusing on different aspects of the product for each variation. Choosing more of a descriptive name than a direct name on the sub-products.
It was time consuming but it paid off. Google was able to more clearly focus on the product. We saw this by a clear rise in rankings for the main product page while also seeing a decrease in the variations of the product in the same SERP. Some of that could have been credited to the changes in the algorithm. I believe it just benefited from that position.
Hope that helps.
I'm saying I would use the link source context to determine my choice over a pr number.
From my experience, doing a catchall 301 redirect to the homepage would be more devastating than leaving the 404 pages. The best idea is just to start knocking them out as soon as possible. For the pages that don't exist and there isn't a related page, leave them on the 404. Over time they will work themselves out of the SERPs.
Definitely don't abuse the 301 redirect feature. It is for permanent changes not temporary changes. You could really hurt future efforts on your site.
Google uses a different data source for it's mobile results. From my experience, mobile results can greatly differ based on the location of the searcher.
What is the context of the site and link you are getting? Why can't you get both? If I had to choose I would base my decision on context of the site. PageRank changes and a site that improves over time will give much more lifetime value in actual referrals as well as link value.
I appreciate you taking the time to explain all that. I'm looking at all the usual ranking local ranking factors and need to compile a list of what they have that doesn't "compete" with all the other.
From my initial research it appears that the only thing these listings have in common with each other is an extremely low number of citations, an EMD that redirects to a different URL and they are listed as high as #3 but usually #5 or #6. It's just strange. I haven't looked at a domain ownership timeframe or even if they did possible make a move recently but I will do that.
Thanks again for all your help Jarno and Miriam.
It sounds like you have a big site (# of URLs) so I'm going to side with the idea of adding the different campaigns. I think I would do it that way for easier/better quality and tracking breakdowns.
I had one experience with an ecommerce site that needed to rank for product codes not just the product name. We didn't want to hurt the existing rankings for the product names so we added a " | 45eSUT" (product code) to the end of the title. This made most of the product titles way longer than the best practice length but within a few weeks began seeing our products showing up in Google under those codes.
It doesn't directly answer your question but I think the value of the title is found at the beginning but as long as it's not keyword stuffed, Google seems to appreciate the whole thing.
CTR is another story.
Thanks for the response Jamo. I'm asking if there is anything that this tactic directly offends in Google's eyes. The reason why I am asking is not so that I can justify it but so that I can speak from more experience than myself.
I've never seen a site get kicked out of the listing because of this so I'm not sure if it is something that I should warn clients about or not.
Have you seen anyone get penalized or is it like me, a theory?
I've been looking at 60+ location based searches for the base two months and noticed a big issue I can't explain. I know EMD was hit hard in the general SERPs but it obviously has not effected the location SERPs.
The main way I'm finding these situations is by seeing the 7 pack and it shows a site with only a quarter amount of the citations the other sites have and jumps to the top very quickly. It appears to be working because of the EMD bias in the Local SERPs algorithm.
From what I understand you are not suppose to add a TLD domain into a G+ listing and then 301 redirect it to your real domain but Google doesn't seem to mind at this point. I'm wondering if this tactic is a valid Local tactic at this time or if, from what I understand, it is a shady tactic that will end up hurting brand and have a strong chance of penalizing the real domain.
I've never really seen this before but one of my clients has 4000+ links from Print2Web. Their rankings are falling back a bit but I'm wondering if this is part of the problem. They don't seem to say their service is about SEO so I'm not so sure this is counted as spam or not. The main concern is that the next closest number of links from one site is only 97.
Has anyone heard of this service? Can someone tell me from experience if using this service has hurt SEO efforts?
Thanks!
Most of this is speculation based on the features and changes Google has been pushing out. Taking into account the mobile initiatives Google has been implementing like GoMo, the mobile Googlebot and the different SERP's for mobile users from desktop users, I would have to say that it is important to optimize your mobile version as well. If you have a responsive design then your meta information may remain the same unless you simply serve up a different menu all together.
Your CTR's are probably going to be different as well as your linking architecture. Just make everything user friendly by considering the user's context and you should do awesome no matter the changes Google puts in place.
Thanks Keri. That gives me some ideas for my next steps. I won't go against Google's guidelines but if I can generate a few pre-generated search pages that would be helpful to my visitors then I may get a win-win.
Maybe this is a common SERP for a generic product type but I'm seeing it a lot more often. Here is an example SERP "rolling stools".
The top 4 results are dynamic in-site search pages from Sears, ebay and Amazon (among others). I understand their influence and authority but why would a search return a dynamic in-site SERP instead of a solid product page.
A better question would be - How do I get my in-site SERPs to rank or how do I get my client's page to rise above the #5 spot is currently ranks at?
Thanks
The only way to solve the duplication error you are getting is to make the URL's distinct. Googlebot comes to your site and looks at the URL's and if they are not distinct it may not index them very well. I understand your site is showing up fine in the SERP's so this may be one of those items you place on a lower priority until later.
I think R.May knows Joomla so I'll refer to him on how to accomplish this but it may be worth it to make the adjustment. You may find the end result of making your page URL more distinct will actually increase your current SERPs. Just a thought.
Other than that. If your site isn't hurting and the only thing you are concerned about is the report in SEOmoz then I would move on and just make a mental note of it for later.
I'm not a Joomla expert but to make your URL's search engine friendly you are going to need to add an extension like this. That will allow you to make more distinct URLs that will not be considered "duplicate" anymore.
You should have atleast 10,000 pages per campaign. Did you just set up the campaign? This might be a good question for support.
The answer depends on how your DNS is set up. Usually it's simply adding a CNAME to your DNS information. Who is your domain name registrar?
Wordpress themes usually have the H1 tag around the logo on the homepage and then subpages have the page title as the h1 tag. That's not every theme but a majority of them. I would say it depends on the CMS you are using but for all the WP sites I've ever done it has worked out very well for SEO.
What kind of site is it?
I would make sure the homepage has plenty of space to include content. Wether that is a content block or integrated into the different elements on the homepage. Either way, you want to be able to add content or use images very wisely. If there is a slider, make sure Google can view each image and the information with that image.
I would make sure the subpage's content shows up before the sidebar.
Make sure they add images wisely and use CSS whenever possible. I've had too many sites that are all images instead of content blocks and it kills opportunity.
Navigation needs to be scrollable and doesn't include the H1 tag. It seems as if designers use the h1 tag too often to be the main navigation in sidebar. Watch out for that.
I'm sure others will have some more advice but those are a few things I'd have my eye on.
I would make sure you have the rel="next" and rel="previous" properly installed and continue optimizing the page that google sees as more valuable to the users for that SERP.
The architecture of your site is going to make it a bit difficult to do anything else. I could be wrong but I haven't seen too many SERP's that include an inpage anchor text link in the URL. (page.html#link)
Yes, "Authors" have authority over editing their own content, publishing the post and moderating their own comments.
The Codex is looking at the "universal" control features. Of which "authors" are very limited.
Hey David,
I saw the same information in the codex and it is a bit misleading. An "Author" has moderation control on their own posts but doesn't have "comment moderation" power over the whole site. Only admins do.
I just tested this out again. Make sure you go into the top "help" menu on the edit post page and check "comments" and "discussion".
An "author" can moderate any comments in the admin area of the posts they have written. Set their role to "Author" and you should be all set.
Everrett had a great post on the SEOmoz blog the other day. It covers this exact question. I always thought like you did but he makes a very strong case for the shorter URL. If the only difference in the product is what category it is listed in then bread crumbs should do the trick. If they are distinct pages and products then the user is going to be able to figure it out.
I really think the breadcrumbs is going to be the solution you are looking for. Most Ecommerce solutions have this in it's core development but some allow you to add it in with little effort.
I'm gonna say no. You don't need to make a separate mobile site map for a mobile design. Unless, you have different url's that are being called up by a mobile screen as apposed to a desktop screen. Depending on the size of the site, I would include those different domains as part of the same sitemap. The only times I would make a separate sitemap for a mobile site on a responsive design would be if I needed to see what pages were being indexed on my intended mobile URL's or if I had a huge amount of URL's and had to divide up the sitemap anyway.
Doh! forgot to mention the "duh's". Sorry.
GWT: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=checklist.cs&tab=1095580
GA: http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/index.html
Obviously getting information straight from the horses mouth is a great place to start. I can't tell you how basic features I missed out on for the first few years because I ignored the basic training they put out.
I have a client in Volusion as well. You need to go into the link on the page for leaving a review and add a "rel="nofollow" " tag to the link. This will solve your 302's.
I did the same thing to the "email a friend" option on the product pages and it solved that issue.
If I understand your question correctly...you corrected some quality issues on your site and you want to make sure they were done correctly but you don't want to wait till next week for the results.
I love using ScreamingFrog for my site scans. That may be a good resource for you to have. The free version only goes for 500 URLs but the paid version gives a bunch of great options that makes it totally worth it on such a big site.
This guy is my #1 resource when it comes to GA. http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
I bought "WebAnalytics 2.0" and ate it up. Most of the information he teaches is principles and so the practical action steps make more sense and as GA and GWT change in the coming years you will have a solid footing to develop your data mining.
I guess it ultimately depends on the audience but I would say that I would give it a few weeks and generate some sort of written response to the new features/design from the more active users. Then I would include those in an email blast letting everyone know what is different and that they should give it another shot. The testimonials (responses) would garnish much more upfront trust and generate a more positive attitude among those who were disappointed with the way things were handled in the past.
Starting fresh with a soft launch and then with the testimonials of a few, conquer the world! 
Or something like that.
Depending on how detailed you want it...
Inside the analytics dashboard:
Go into "Admin" --> "Goals" --> "Goal 1"
On that page you want to set up a "URL destination" then on the bottom you want to check "goal funnel" and fill in as many pages as you want in that funnel.
Obviously it can get very detailed but that is the general idea and setup.
I would love to help you out with this. Or..are you looking for a quick how to article or something?
