Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thank you Andy and respondant!

That is really helpful information.  I'm grateful for you following through!

Kind RegardsCatherine

Thank you Andy - that is kind of you:)

Hello Mozers

My client asked a very good question today.  I didn't know the answer, hence this question.  When you submit a 'Removing content for legal reasons report':

https://support.google.com/legal/contact/lr_legalother?product=websearch

will the person(s) owning the website containing this inflammatory content recieve any communication from Google?

My clients have already had the offending URL removed by a court order which was sent to the offending company.  However now the site has been relocated and the same content is glaring out at them (and their potential clients) with the title "Solicitors from Hell + Brand name" immediately under their SERPs entry.

**I'm going to follow the advice of the forum and try to get the url removed via Googles report system as well as the reargard action of increasing my clients SERPs entries via Social + Content. ** However, I need to be able to firmly tell my clients the implications of submitting a report.  They are worried that if they rock the boat this URL (with open access for reporting of complaints) will simply get more inflammatory)!  By rocking the boat, I mean, Google informing the owners of this "Solicitors from Hell" site that they have been reported for "hosting defamatory" content.  I'm hoping that Google wouldn't inform such a site, and that the only indicator would be an absence of visits.  Is this the case or am I being too optimistic?

Hi Mozers

I'm in the process of trying to secure a client that requires social media expertise.  I want to be able to use my SEO knowledge as a benefit.  I am struggling to explain in simple terms how a knowledge of SEO underpins a good Social Media campaign.

Does anyone know of any good resources I can work through to communicate this issue effectively?

Thanks

Thank you Miriam, I am very grateful.  I'll follow all your advice to the letter.  I apologies if I came over a bit too anxious, it's just I was really rattled.  Feeling safe at home is something we lucky westerners take very much for granted, until we feel threatened!  Thanks again, taking positive, informed action is empowering!

Hello Andera

You are quite right.  I don't know why I fly into flap when someone says something I don't understand.  That is what I'd requested (via the client).  But got the aforementioned response back.

Thanks for the cool clear accurate advice.  Will try again:)

My client has recently had his site rewritten by a company which supplies a website/hosting/seo service.  The client still wants to use me for establishing his site locally and for SEM.  My problem is that the code is not accessible to me.  They have set up GA tracking which feeds into the reports dashboard.  There is no way of actually access the raw data.

When I asked for access to the GA account I got this message from bOline solutions:

"Your SEO consultant will need to create a new GA account and then add the meta tag to the reports tab of your site"

Because I am still very much learning GA I do not know what meta tag they are referring too.  I'm therefore stuck as to how to create it.  I've started learning about "Google Tag Manager" and am working through "Digital Analytics Fundementals",  I've a feeling this is just a question of terminology - can anyone more experience in the subject help me?

Hello Google Local Experts

I'm a little stress, to put it mildly.  I have been working hard to get to grips with Google+ and Google Local.  I have followed all the advice on Moz that I can lay me hands on.

Following advice, I have added my private address (in rich text snippets) to the header of my own site.  I've not felt particularly comfortable about doing that, but it's clearly one of the messages Google Local requires to be sure that your site is authentic.

My concerns got concrete last evening when a new follower on Google+ started to send me private messages - culminating in asking where I lived.  Despite family demands I went straight to my site and removed my house number.  Now I know I'm messing up my NAP - but Ahh - my About section points straight to my site which at that point had my full address in Bold on each page of my site.

I really am upset about this and think that Google should be rethinking their demand for displaying a companies address on the site.  If you are self employed you are put in a vulnerable position which is morally questionable.

Please would someone give me some advice on the best way to address my worries in the short term?

Please could someone with a bit of clout point this potentail danger to women out to the powers that be in Google?

Thank you again:)

My client has been very successful in local for yoga hertford.  Now she wants to do an additional site with five other yogies.  The name of the company is obviously different and as with her original company hertsyoga - the actual venues for the sessions are all over the place but principally at a local venue called the Castle which hires out a studio.

My question is what do I do to keep her Nap consistent.  She apparently has friendly neighbours who are happy for her to use their address (one door up), and apparently they wont move!  But I really don't think they will be happy for me to put their address on the site and in citations locally.

What should I do?

Thank you Miriam, I'll look at Bright local and yes the technical team where very helpful!  Sorry form the delay in getting back, I was struck down with a bug!!

Regards

Catherine

Thank you Dan:)

I'll do as you advise.

Well - at the moment I just have list of the of titles under the page title and txt (see attached url) - what I'd like to do is make it more like http://sugarrae.com/reviews/ - with image and some of the post's text.  I've no idea how to go about achieving this.

I do know to get the plugin to work I had to set 'the page template for category pages' to 'Front Page'.

Sorry if I'm being dim!

Thanks for replying

Catherine

?cat=21

Hello Mozers

I have learnt from the forum about the competitive analysis tool http://www.51blocks.com/online-marketing-tools/free-local-analysis/ and followed the link - only to find that it is for the US.  I'm in the UK and need to access this for google.uk - does anyone know of a UK equivalent?

Could I also check with the forum to ask the question that got me into this in the first place.  It's probably a daft question.  For the Ranking report in Moz, do I just need to put the local city name in front of the keyword to get the local rank.  I have been doing this and assuming it's ok, and my local ranking does show up.

Thanks

Catherine

Hello Dan

I have finally managed to get near to the examply you posted.  I've failed totally to find any help documentation however and so for my test site 'www.seoherts.co.uk' I've got a test customized category page minus anything other than the titles.

Could you be even kinder and direct me to some help for customizing the plugin?  You help  has really been amazing, you actually helped me back out of a corner.  Now I'm nearly home an dry.

Thanks Dan

Ahh, it took me two weeks, but you could be right....

I probably would have been better off talking to you before I started!

That's what comes of teaching yourself.  I'll give it a try tomorrow.  Will let you know - and thanks again Dan!

I will have to give up the Recent 'Coverage' Recent 'Companies' list in the footer (which I was rather proud of!)

Catherine

Hello Dan

I did as you suggested and got the options for categories of my 'blog'.  The problem is that I've got these posttypes with their own categories.  I'm probably asking too much of the plugin - but it doesn't give me the option to set up a page template with these as it doesn't recognise they exist.  I seem to have lost them deep down in WP...

Thank you David

I will try again, but I have told them three times over the course of three months.  I was told to first contact the tutor, which I did.  I got no response!  I contacted them again two more times and got no response at all!

Hello Dan

Would it be ok for me to send you the login details?  I'm finding it hard to explain because as I was lead by the nose by the tutorial I was a little lost in the woods in the process.

What I was aimming to achieve was to create two additional dynamic content pages i.e. 'companies' and 'coverage'.  My client and old friend is successfully getting new businesses and national coverage for them on a daily basis!  The 'online portfolio tutorial' on lynda.com appeared to meet the need.

In the tutorial (using twenty eleven) the tutor takes you through setting up two different posttypes, 'recipes' and 'one other, I've forgotten now'.  I basically followed doggedly setting up these two seperate posttypes and ended up with 'companies' and 'coverage' which actually do work.

The problem came when I tried to display these as a list - as you do with a blog page.  In the tutorial you simply had to change the default permalinks, then somehow magically the option to select the url for this illusive list appeared in the Menu option.  This doesn't happen when you follow the same set of operations in twenty twelve, and I know it is to do with a change in function somehwere in the php.  As I don't really understand php to this level I ended up with a terrible fudge as you will see at www.maxwellcomms.com.

If it is appropriate and if you are able to help would you like me to send you login details?  I will totally understand if you think it's too big and ask.

I have tried hard to get help from Lynda.com but they only insisted I contact the tutor, he didn't respond!  Ahh....

Hi folks

Can anybody help me.  I foolishly, dogedly followed  a Lynda.com tutorial for developing an 'online portfolio in WP'.  Little did I know that my initial assumption - to use the 'twenty twelve' rather than the 'twenty eleven' theme would land me in such deep water.

I was attempting to learn php on my own.  All went well, until, --- the index page for the customized post type.

Now I have two beautiful customized posttypes, 'companies' 'coverage' and no idea how to create an index page for either.  I can't do the next step!  I have tried every permutation - changing the permalink settings, changing them back, desperately searching for any handle to the nebulous links within the menu section.  The only thing I can do (and have done for now) is to link the menu item 'company' and the menu item 'coverage' to a single post.  Then the poor visitor has to scroll through the posts individually.

I tried contacting the tutor and Lynda.com, to no avail!  I have searched forums and found this is a common problem, but because I am so confused and novice to php they might as well be speaking Chinese.

To compound my problems, looking through 'Wordpress SEO' for Yoast, I am painfully aware I can't go to the first basic step and fix the peramilinks to 'Postname' as that just makes my flakey menu collapse like a pack of cards.

Help!

I've a client with a jobs page.  I've found that a high traffic, low competition keyword phrase 'OH jobs' and wish to optimize appropriately.  The trouble is that there is hardly any body text and any number of job entry listing.  As the listing which all go to individual job description pages, naturally fit the description (part description) OH Job - would it be good to use this description within the anchor text of the links?  If so is there a maximum?  I've been trawling around SEOmoz and Google Search and have got more and more bogged down!

ta

My problem is that I do have the referrer, it's an internal page, often the page that is creating the duplicate content.  I keep searching for links that are generating the discrepancies and can't find them.

I've run a report using xenu, but now I've got even more wood (can't see the wood for the trees).

Can you recommend any good resources for using xenu?

That would be a big help!

Thanks Catherine

I've just submitted one.

Thank you Brian

Catherine

Thanks Alex

Two very sensible suggestions, thanks.  I just got myself in a loop!

Ta

Hello Mozers

Can anybody help me.  It's a bit OCD, but, I really want to find the internal links within a clients site that are generating duplicate urls.

I did start looking page by page using search, but got a bit stir crazy!

I'm sure one of you smart SEO's will have a simple, clever solution:)

Thanks

Catherine

I realize I'm probably opening a can of worms, but here we go.  Do you or do you not add a sitemap.xml to a clients site?

Hi Kane

No you have got it in a nutshell.  I've just missed that logical summation in my general confusion with juggling too many commitments.

Thank you for helping the confused:)

Hi Mozers

I'm still struggling with my London based client with two locations and one business.  Basically she has a location in W1W 'Westminster' and a location in 'WD!' Borehamwood.

Has anyone any good resources of input concerning geotargeting.  I've done some searching but can't get quite the help I'm seeking.

I'd like to make the Pages cover a 5mile radius and be highly specific to their locations.  Is this the right way to proceed?

Thanks

Dear Miriam

Totally awesome reply - as usual:)

Thanks

Catherine

Hi Mozers

I keep puzzling over this one!  I work from home and really don't want to plaster my address all over the web.  The GP page now allows for me to hide my exact location, which is great.  However, as far as I can see this is not the case with all the potential local directories and listings.

I have been trying in to get around this by not adding my house number and last digit and 2 characters of my post code.  So far this has been allowed by the local listings I have signed up with.

When I tried doing as recommended by the excellent Miriam and checking my business name with 'Getlisted' I found that I could only see these local listings if I added the doctored address, i.e. no house number or full postcode.

My question, finally is, if I continue in this fashion for businesses based at home addresses am I going to confuse the search engines.  I want to provide a consistent NAP but GPP insists that I add a full postcode.  The only way I could possible see around this is to add:

street name

city

full postcode

and omit the house name/number.

Will this be a reasonable work around to maintain client confidentiality and satisfy the NAP requirement of Local search?

Thank you

Hi sorry, I'm like a dog with a bone!

Will editing the 'Mobile Nail Technician' pages title -mean the rankings drop out of Places?  I did read Andrew's post and it was very informative (now I'm following him as well!), but, he was very much concentrating on rebranding, which this probably isn't, just GPP (multiple) tidying.

Hello Miriam

You are being very kind!  I'm off to look at the link you have given me now.  One more question to you though - the second page for (spabycar) which is now called 'mobile nail technician' has a distinctly different address!  I want it to have the updated name spabycar, but be a separate page with it's own geolocation, i.e. W1 as apposed the other GPP with the WD location.  Will Google allow me to do this?  Because I've not created or maintained multiple GPP pages for the same brand and am trying to come into a ready  made mess I could probably do with some remedial help on the whole concept of GPP and multiple locations.  I'm assuming, although they represent the same brand they are also independent of one another both in having an individual page indexed in GP and as a result their own ranking?

Sorry I'm going on, I'm just rather trashing about in my own ignorance at the moment.  I know it will all come clear eventually, and really thank you for your patience and time:)

with thanks

Catherine

Hello Miriam

They have 2 distinct addresses and phone numbers.  2 pages in GPP 'spabycar' and 'mobile nail technician', both pointing to the same website 'spabycar.com'.  I'd like to have two pages with spabycar as the business name instead of 2 pages with 2 different business names  'mobile nail technician' and 'spabycar'.  She is now no longer using the 'mobile nail technician' name, but the page ranks no 1 for the keywords shes chasing in Westminster.  I'm nervous of touching it until I'm confident I know fully what is best practise!

Thanks again Miriam

Regards

Catherine

Hi

I've had a couple of Google Places Pages for a few years.  They rank well.  I've just discovered Getlisted, via a tutorial.

It will not see that I have claimed these pages.  Can see Yelp etc.  Any ideas.

thanks

Catherine

Thank you Irving for your kind support.  I've come back from a rather traumatic holiday and am not quite in the swing of SEO.   I've read your answer and then read my question and realized that what I wrote and what I was puzzling over were not the same thing at all.

Sorry to use up your time by being completely misleading!

What I intended to ask was -

The W1 and WD are just the start of the different Google Places Pages Postcodes.  One page, the W1 Postcode, is called 'Mobile Nail Technician' and one, with the WD Post Code, is called 'Spabycar'.  They are both representing the same company.

I'd like if possible to keep the two addresses, particularly the 'W1' - 'Mobile Nail Technician' is top of Google Places for Westminster for 'Mobile beauty salon'.  However the 'Mobile Nail Technician' name is historical and the company is now branding itself as 'Spabycar'.

I'd quite understand if you don't answer my question twice, and I'll just tick good answer in a day or two, but if your feeling generous would you answer the question I intended to ask?

Thanks

Hello Miriam

I've reread my query, and you are right, it doesn't make sense to me either!

The W1 and WD are just the start of the different Google Places Pages Postcodes.  One page, the W1 Postcode, is called 'Mobile Nail Technician' and one, with the WD Post Code, is called 'Spabycar'.  They are both representing the same company.

I'd like if possible to keep the two addresses, particularly the 'W1' - 'Mobile Nail Technician' is top of Google Places for Westminster for 'Mobile beauty salon'.  However the 'Mobile Nail Technician' name is historical and the company is now branding itself as 'Spabycar'.

Does that make sense?

Hello Mozers

I'd like to know if two existing GPP can have the same name 'spabycar'.  At present 'mobile nail technician' based in W1 and 'spabycar 'WD' are ranking (ironically the one that has the old brand name is very high!).

Both need to be 'spabycar'

If this is feasible, is there a down side, and is there a good tutorial source for an aspirant to follow?

Thanks

Catherine

Thank you Ankit I thought that was the case.  I just got impatient!  I'll play the waiting game. ta!

I've read about the changes in requirements for Google Places - and hidden the address for my relevant local clients.  Is there any step I can take to speed up the edit being recognised and displayed in SERPs.  In addition, I would like to know, will the address also disappear from the actual Google Places page as well?

Thanks Rand, I needed that.  I've just been informed by my son's school that the council want to withdraw his funding - the UK is pretty dire at the moment.  He has SEN.  Still puts things in prospective.

Hi Rand

I nearly fell off my chair when I saw your face on this answer!

You've probably grasped that I am a struggling novice working on her own.  The only thing that got me through Wednesday night was the thought that I could ask for help in the morning.  I'm pretty sure that the additional links are not detrimental and that (having read the PA/DA link) the score we now have is a fairer reflection on our true DA.

I've set up our social profiles, established a blog and content strategy, followed all the 'make it readable advice' and am now doing the reaching out to other bloggers method you suggested.  (I've even got one genuine backlink to our piece on Finnish Digger Sitters) that was a proud day http://socialmedianordic.com/author/ingeborgv/page/2/.

My initial job with an old school SEO was a far cry from what I'm learning now.  Your site is awesome, I really can't thank you enough.

Catherine

Ok I'll chill - don't like the idea about the paper cup!

You're a star!

Thanks

Catherine

Thanks Wayne Stats on organic keywords keep going up.  And I'm thinking of links from other sites (following the trail or my competitors).

Thank your for the reassurance - it's very hard learning this job on ones own sometimes, particularly when the unexpected happens.  That's happened to me twice this week and it's unnerving

Yours sincerely

Catherine

Hello from a tired SEO

I slept badly last night when I discovered last evening our Domain Authority had slumped.  I've found that my client is now receiving followed backlinks from links placed in the footers of two good quality/related sites.

My question is should I ignore the reduction and keep link building around these - or - should I ask for these links to be removed?

Another factor in the mix is we have gone from about 300 links to 600 in a month.  I have been working hard on our blog and site content with feeds to technorati.

Any advice for a tired novice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks Jassy.  I'm beginning to think you are right.  I'll keep the bubbly on ice for awhile longer!

Thanks that is good practical advice.

Thank you that's very helpful I'll try that.

Thank you that clearer - I'll put the bubbly in the fridge.  Good to know I'm not the only one!