Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Samuel, There are about 200 factors that rank sites.

The competition chart shows you overall analytics, but you need a more in depth audit in order to see why someone is really outranking your site.

Search ensines look at: Links, social media, relevancy, natural progressions, and easy crawlability. They are also looking for bad signals: over optimization and unnaturally linking.

We look to see what our competition is doing just to create ideas to put into play, or to create a better piece of content that they have written about.

Hi Monica!

To answer your initial question I would have to say YES it can definitely effect your SEO in a number of ways.

Uptime/Downtime, Speed and Location can all effect your websites user experience & overall rankings.

Regarding the dynamic hosting, I don't have much experience with that but will look into it and if I discover any good info I will let you know.

The days of link building are over. The days of creating content that help the users find what they are looking for efficiently are here. If you give the user what they are looking for they are more likely to bookmark your site or link to it for reference.

Whatever is better for the user. Having 600 pages on your site is spreading you link juice all over, It would be better from an SEO perspective to make pages for your targeted keywords and post all the other content, I would also link the blog contents to the pages and between the blog posts.

Keep in mind its better to 6 really good pages with great content and social interaction. then 600 articles with useless data that no one cares about.

Dear g-d no!!! Unless you are using fiverr to have a funny video made to embarrass your friend on his birthday, I wouldn't use it.

Using fiverr for anything related to SEO (including blog mentions) would be considered spam, and for that reason.... I'm OUT! (Mark Cuban voice)

From a UX perspective: This allows the visitor to refer to the linked page/info but be able to continue on with the article/page from your site.

From an SEO perspective, IMO This helps your bounce rate from jumping when people engage the links you have on your site.

Check out this previous Q&A posted by our buddy Max Minzer! Hope this helps with your question!!

http://moz.com/community/q/when-is-it-good-to-use-target-_blank

Hi Scott!

We've experienced situations where we moved a site to a new server, a new IP address was assigned and the rankings dropped for a month or so, then leveled out and we regained all original rankings back. However, like Ryan stated, we did not make any changes to the url structures, page names, etc. in this case. Also using a site like he referenced helps a lot. You can also use this site to find out what other sites are on the server you are hosted on: http://www.ipfingerprints.com/reverseip.php

We have also migrated another site to a new server, keeping the same IP as the previous server and the rankings did not fluctuate at all.

I would think that the answer lies in "HOW" you perform the migration and be sure to "measure twice, cut once". As the move could be very smooth if done properly, however it could turn into an absolute disaster if rushed and done improperly. If you haven't already, check out this website migration guide. Study it. Know it. Implement it. Hope this helps!

Hey Ceran!

Yes it is a separate service. Check out this page for the pricing details. There is an annual cost per location. https://moz.com/local/how

Cheers!!

Truly a personal preference deal here!

In regards to keyword stuffing, there isn't much of an issue as Google doesn't focus on  anymore these days. They are frying much bigger fish! However, I don't like the idea of the GORILLA approach where you are thumping your chest with ALL CAPS LIKE THAT (nice analogy EGOL lol)!

Using a site like Craigslist for example, they will remove a post if you use all caps in your title because it is considered spammy to the users. Nobody likes to feel they are being FORCED TO LOOK! Like EGOL mentioned, it makes me cringe when I see things like that. I would highly recommend against it, if at all possible.

End of the day, keep your end users in mind. Don't force feed them. Provide high quality content and a great user experience. You shall prevail!

Hey Arkix!

Check out this article from Google support about the topic. Hope this helps!

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1032401?hl=en

You are correct in your thinking HashTagHustler (Nice name btw)!

If the domain you purchased and redirected over to xyz.com has no age, link profile, authority, etc., then it will not have anything to pass over to xyz.com domain. Thus making your fathers idea pretty useless.

Now if you are able to find a domain that is industry specific/relevant that has some age, authority and a clean link profile, you may have some value here. But keep in mind if you DO redirect a domain that has "value", the redirect does not pass over as all of its juice.

Hope this helps!! Good luck

Just found this as well:http://raventools.com/blog/ultimate-list-of-relauthor-resources/

Might help..

Hey Patrick!

Check out this previous Q&A post about this same topic. Might help you a bit. Within the article it provides a link to another article from the Moz blog which dives further into DA vs Page Rank. The differences between the two and yatta yatta yatta

http://moz.com/community/q/pagerank-vs-domain-authority

Hope this helps!!

I would do a few checks, first see if they are ranking for their own term, ie we are in the miami/fort lauderdale our terms that we are looking (and are) to rank for are SEO Miami or SEO Fort Lauderdale. Local SEO does not have to be done by a local SEO person or company. However a local SEO guy probably has local connection.

Great point and I can't believe I left that out of my initial response lol. Thanks Ray!!

But yes, you can check your server using a site like: http://www.ipfingerprints.com/reverseip.php

This will show you if there are other sites hosted from the same server/ip address.

First find the listing if it exists then

look for this...

OWN THIS BUSINESS?

"Sign in to update your listing" <------ Click on that for the listing that is incorrect. Then sign in and fix the listing.

oh and if you did not set up the original and do not have the login info

perhaps a phone call will help resolve the inconsistant listing.

Still having trouble logging in?

Call a representative at (888) 857-6722 or Email us at customersupport@local.com

Hope this helps

Hey Monica

Great decision!! A "professional" second set of eyes is always the best approach regarding online marketing. I would suggest that you go through the Moz Recommended companies and call around to find the best fit.

Also (if you haven't already) check out this WBF about the topic. Hope this helps you find the right fit!

Cheers!

Ugh... Yeah just log into your Google acct and go to that link I sent and have them call you. They called me right away when I went that route.

Monica, you should see if EGOL will be your guy! I believe it states in his Moz bio that he LOVES that type of work.

Juuuuust kidding!!! But seriously, he made some great points!! Best of luck

Is article spinning and article marketing has its place in video marketing after Google Updates?

Do not do any spinning it might get some traffic and ranking but it's not long term.

Which is the best Keyword research tool to buy?

My favorite keyword tool is Google Keyword Adwords Tool. It's free and gives you plenty of great ideas to go after. I also use the google search field for ideas by typing "how to [Keyword]" and seeing the suggested results.

Is services like traffic kaboom is worth buying?

Never heard of Kaboom, however if they can create real unique articles that will help your users and they don't spin content it might be worth it.

Is buying youtube views is effective?

It all depends on who you target. This would help with marketing the actual video but has very little to do with seo.

Yes Nikki, great addition about avoiding redirect chains! Redirects are useful and difficult to avoid in most cases but redirecting to a redirect should always be avoided for the sake of Page Speed and common sense Cheers!!

This will help.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-rank

19. Diversify Your Anchor Text - Naturally

If Google’s Penguin update taught us anything, it’s that over-thinking anchor text is bound to get us in trouble.

When you link naturally and editorially to other places on the web, you naturally diversify your anchor text. The same should hold true when you link internally.

Don’t choose your anchor text to fit your keywords; choose your anchor text to fit the content around it.

Practically speaking, this means linking internally with a mix of partial match keyword and related phrases. Don’t be scared to link occasionally without good keywords in the anchor – the link can still pass relevancy signals. When it comes to linking, it’s safer to under-do it than over-do it.

Hey there! Here are some basic principles to follow...

Step 1: Add a blog to your site

Step 2: Publish articles about relevant, industry related topics that your readers will find valuable

Step 3: Share your article(s) on social media outlets

Step 4: Perform outreach

Here is a great article on the topic from Neil Patel. Read up, read it again and then get to work!

This should get you moving in the right direction. Hope this helps!

The struggle is real!! We have clients and internal projects that get outranked by competitors with the same, thin content and unnatural link profiles. Hopefully Google will get this nonsense addressed. But we can't hold our breath waiting around for that to happen...

1. I would certainly recommend submitting to relevant directories.

2. You can run an OSE link profile report on competitor sites to find relevant directory/link opportunities.

Question:

The content you are creating now, are you sharing it on your social platforms in relevant groups/communities?

Also, are you creating any infographic content? We've found this to be a very effective approach to build links from relevant sources.

Hey Rena!

I would just redirect that duplicate page to the new https version and call it a day!

Keep the SSL, just go through like you are and check to make sure everything is directing properly. You should be good to go. Hope this helps! Cheers

Hey petwho!!

I agree with Pixel by Pixel as well, Nofollow links don't have as much impact on rankings as "follow" links do, however they help show a natural link profile, being that not all sites that link to your content will be followed. Check out this awesome slideshare that Rand released last month at Mozcon 2014.

It has some really great experiments. If you fast forward to slide 73, it covers his experiment on "Do Nofollowed Links Have Any Direct Impact on Rankings".

http://www.slideshare.net/randfish/mad-science-experiments-in-seo-social-media

Pretty good stuff! Hope this gives you some insight! I certainly got a LOT out of it

Hi Tina,

You can set up a canonical tag that will let the search engine know which page to rank.

Heres a great article on canonical tags: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/canonical-url- a-the-most-important-advancement-in-seo-practices-since-sitemaps

This should solve your problem.

Hey guys!

Once you reach 200 points in your Moz account, they will remove the "no follow" from the first link in your profile. Check out more about how Moz points work here.

Hope this helps! And you will get a nice juicy link from Moz once this happens

Only use a link canonical for two pages with similar content to avoid duplication and let the search engine know "this content is all the same but I want to rank this page"

Do a 301 redirect from the old page to the new page if you have a new page to deliver. If not build a 404 landing page with call to action for that user.

I hope this helps.

Hey Imran!

From what I've experienced and been told by Moz, it can take up to two months for new links to appear in OSE. This is due to the way their crawls are scheduled.

But to answer your question, your links should show up within two months unless anything new has changed with the way Moz crawls the web. Hope this helps!!

Hmm, that does seem a bit drastic!

Have you tried checking your links using another tool other than Moz? Maybe on the last Moz scan there was some sort of hiccup? Try checking your link using: https://ahrefs.com

It all depends on how you reciprocate the link. If the sites are both relevant to each other and they are both quality sites it will help you. If you use software to automatically send out a billion emails to other site owners asking for a link exchange you may be punished or never even rank.

The goal is to provide useful content to the reader. Forget link building, focus your efforts on #RCS. If you get to a site that you want to link to, or want a link from because it will help your users, you are on a good path.

If you get to a site that has nothing to do with yours and you are able to get a link (reciprocating or not), be sure that it can help their/your users. Building links just to manipulate the search engine might get some ranking but not for the long hall.

Put yourself in Googles shoes, what would you want your searchers to find? A site that is recommended by all niche related sites or a site that is recommended by non-niche related sites?

Yes you are correct, you need to provide the path to access your xml sitemap. Add your sitemap to the root directory of your domain via FTP then you should be all set. Try submitting again using the url

Hope this helps!

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/183668?hl=en

If the site wide liks are helpful to the user, branded and nor anchored with gaming text it can be followed. However, if the links are not helpful to the user I would not add them.

1)Start with relevancy... Will this link help anyone?   Y or N

2)Is this page quality? do they follow best Search engine practices(Panda/Penguin)?  Y on N

3)Are they active? do they have any social media interaction?  Y on N

If all three are yes then get the link. I would recommend using a no follow tag if the link is below the footer. If the link is above the footer and all three of the above are yes then you can link it.

Only use an exact anchor if it looks right for the user, otherwise use your brand. Tip: I would use the brand just to be safe and keep the exact key phrases around the link. Search engines read around the link as well.

I agree eyepaq.

Keep the title tags:

1. Relevant/Targeted to the page (targeted kw/phrase as close to the beginning as possible)

2. Dense. Don't exceed the recommended pixel length. This tool from Pete Myers always comes in handy. You don't want to truncate your title in the SERP

3. Natural/Readable to the users

Hey luckybluebox!

IMO, this is rather important aspect of proper development and we make sure every site we work on is W3C compliant. These are typically easy fixes and should always be cleaned up.

Check out this youtube video from Google Webmasters channel. They say it is NOT a ranking factor but I would always suggest keeping things tidy

Hope this helps you out!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XlKn6I9rSc

"User Experience" is the answer!! It always is.

When you see a title tag that is cut off, it makes you wonder... "What do they mean?" or "What are they trying to say?"

Most will skip right on by.

Man... That's what I'm talking about George!!

I agree with my man Ray from Compton! You should choose one URL (my preference would be the non-www since it is shorter) and set everything else to redirect there to avoid the duplicate issues you're seeing in Moz.

Cheers!

Oh and my last follow up question is... when will Moz be going mobile? Hopefully on or before April 21st

No problem Bradley!

The redirects will pass authority but not 100% of it. I wouldn't worry too much about it honestly. Here is a post on the topic, its a bit old (2012) but hopefully it helps explain in more detail.

http://moz.com/community/q/how-much-juice-do-you-lose-in-a-301-redirect

Cheers!

Why is this offensive? It's based on an algorithm. It's not Google's fault what the majority of people are searching for within the US.

I am going with with FALSE on one this Dylan. Final answer

Sure, having the company contact info (phone & address) up there serves well for your site visitors to reach you (which is GREAT) but does not offer any real value from an SEO standpoint.

Hope this helps!!

Right! This is far from offensive, in fact since majority of people are searching for it, I would be offended if Google hid it.

Absolutely! Check out their facebook and shoot them a message. They always get right back to me!

You can also run each of your competitors in Screaming Frog and get ideas of their keyword focus based on their meta data.

Hey Stukers!

When you go the the Moz Perks page, scroll to the MailChimp perk and click "View this Perk". Once the dialog box opens, click " Redeem this Perk". This will direct you to MailChimp.com to create your account.

*If you're already a MailChimp user, contact help@seomoz.org with your username and email to redeem the perk. A $50 credit will be applied to your account for use towards your next bill.

When all else fails, email Moz! But this should get you all sorted out.

Hope this helps!

Hey Don!

The reason is because Moz keyword tool pulls the SPM (searches per month) data from Bing unfortunately. Google doesn't allow Moz to access this info from their API.

If you notice up at the top of the column it actually states "BING Search Volume". I've added a screenshot to reference. Hope this helps!

LLxYCwX

This should help: http://support.google.com/websearch/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2410479

Hey Reed!

We experienced a similar dip for a site when migrating to a new server back in September 2013. Did you reference the tips listed in the post from Moz? Website Migration Guide

Its unfortunate that you made a few tweaks at the same time, which makes this more difficult to pin down.

When you migrated, did you carry over the original ip address or was a new one assigned to the site?