As Jeff say, there's no problem with proactively disavowing low quality links to your domain.
Posts made by Chris.Menke
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RE: Should I Disavow Links if there is No Manual Action
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RE: Total Indexed 1.5M vs 83k submitted by sitemap. What?
Rob,
Your sitemap is but an indication to Google about urls on your domain. The sitemap does not limit google to crawling or indexing only the urls listed on it, nor is it a directive that tells google to remove urls from the index that it has already crawled. As stated in GWT, use **robots.txt **to specify how search engines should crawl your site, or request **removal **of URLs from Google's search results with the URL removal tool Google webmaster tools under the "google index" link.
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RE: When creating parent and child pages should key words be repeated in url and page title?
Andrea,
You're OK using "postcard" in the child pages with child pages you mentioned, as those topics can be written about in ways that indicate distinct differences from the parent topic. However, in those pages, I'd limit the use of "direct" in your copy in order to distance them from the topic of the parent page.
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RE: My Google Author Pic Disappeared
Wayne,
The same thing happened to me for a while. I went back and went through the process of setting up authorship and soon afterwards, my picture re-appeared. In the past, I'd tried using a logo as my picture and that stopped working pretty quickly and when I changed back to my picture, it started working again. Here are some other comments regarding the loss of authorship photo topic from some well know players: http://blumenthals.com/blog/2013/04/12/authorship-brownouts-due-to-facerank/ . I think it boils down to eventually, the photo will probably come back by itself if it is a proper photo.
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RE: Way has the number of pages crawled plummeted?
Wow, that was like an hour of digging--trying to track down the linkscape crawler. I think I've got it now.
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RE: Way has the number of pages crawled plummeted?
Ah huh, I see. So does the campaign crawler have a different name or does it go by Rogerbot too?
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RE: Website evaluation
Niccord, here are a couple of good resources for you:
- http://moz.com/blog/how-to-perform-the-worlds-greatest-seo-audit
- http://alanbleiweiss.com/professional-seo-audits/ (see links for parts 1,2,3, &4 )
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RE: Is article syndication still a safe & effective method of link building?
David,
Something that you can be sure of is that links like that are going to be of less and less value to your site in the future. So, even if, in fact, it's "safe and works for their other clients", I think we all understand that it's not Google's intention that such links will always carry the value they do now or once had. While it may not incur any penalty at this time, their value to your site may be dubious and thus the value of such a service for company may be as well.
What is the value of those links? It might all just boil down to the question: Are you getting what you paid for?--and I think that's what you're asking. But, unless you're willing to tell us the price you're paying for the service, it's hard to give you an answer. On the other hand, you could go to top-tier content publicist and get a quote from them and see how such pricing fits within your marketing budget philosophy. These days, the more editorially-given a link appears to be to Google, the greater its value. As you scale down from that, the cost for acquiring them should be less and less.
Your company's link building is a trajectory based on how quickly it wants/needs visibility, how much visibility it wants/needs, its budget for this type of marketing, as well as its knowledge/understanding of this type of marketing. Faster, shorter-term trajectories targeting relatively small markets are on one end of the scale and do have their place. Slower, long-term trajectories are on the other end of the scale and can effectively achieve different business objectives, but not all of them. Base on that scale, article marketing today is on the faster, shorter-term, relatively-less-traffic trajectory. Does that meet with your company's business objective(s) and is that what you believe you're paying for?
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RE: Way has the number of pages crawled plummeted?
Eyeglasses,
I wonder if your Mozrank or Moztrust has ratcheted down, as well, or if you've made any architectural/navigational changes to the site. With that many pages, it is possible that its not getting crawled as deeply as it had in the past if those dropped pages no longer met the value criteria for crawling by rogerbot--maybe you lost a good link or two or something like that. Also, if you changed any internal linking, it might be that those pages may have been pushed down in the architecture and not be as accessible as they once were.
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RE: Does adding subcategory pages to an commerce site limit the link juice to the product pages?
Santaur,
Ultimately you should go with what makes the most sense to the visitor. If the client's only value proposition to the visitor is price, then that should be a primary factor in architecting navigation that gets the product in front of the visitor fastest. Keep in mind, though, that if price is their only value proposition, ranking in google is a slippery slope, and could be a strategy that may not pay off for them.
If your client can create a unique value proposition, the home page and category pages are useful tools for its presentation. A category page, for example is a great place for copy such as: "Our collection of mens ski jackets features a combination of warmth, style and value that you cannot find anywhere else online." (that's kind of a superficial example--it takes hard work to develop a list of features that will resonate with your particular audience)--and then proceed to give more detail regarding each of the features. The product pages, then, give your client the opportunity to get even more detailed regarding product features.
There's nothing easy about all of that and there's really no shortcut to it either. If the client is asking you, the designer, to be responsible for their success when their business model is based on a low price strategy, you should be pushing back on them because it's not going to be the difference between having a category tier of pages or not that will ultimately make the site a success.
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RE: I formed a network with 12 domains in 3 different data centers.
Muhammed,
This forum and ALL the others are filled with people asking about how to deal with penalties related to link networks and link wheels. You may think you have a strategy no one else has thought of, but you should keep in mind that there are a lot of smart people out there, many with much more experience than you (those who don't need to ask how to build a link network because they've experimented with hundreds of them in the past, for example), who will tell you that you're much better off spending your hours working on more legitimate SEO tactics.
If you must create your link network, do so as an experiment with non-money sites that have no connection to your money site at all--not on the same server, not with the same host, and not linked to any site you would like to be of value to you in the future. You could even do 4 or 5 different networks using different tactics and see which one lasts the longest. Once they've all crashed and burned, you could write a blog post about your experiment and use it as link bait to help boost the authority of your money site.
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RE: Contest Outreach Strategy
Ivan,
I'd say that one audience that is likely to respond favorably to your contest would be small companies with new websites. Such an audience is most concentrated around lower-end and new web designers who are willing to make relatively inexpensive websites for clients in order to establish a client base.
Those types web designers are rarely at the top of the search results for "web designer [your city]"-type searches because their domains aren't established enough to rank highly. That means that if you do a search like that, you're like to find those rising-star web designers down past page two or three (along with the falling-stars who have had their time in the sun and have dropped out of page-one due to unsustainable SEO tactics--there are a lot more of those than there used to be). If you contact those low-ranking web designers with your contest, they may be happy to to ask their clients to tweet something to you in order for a chance to win.
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RE: Where is my access id?
Graham,
I think you're talking about the Mozscape API. If that's the case, you can generate your API credentials here: http://moz.com/products/api/keys
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RE: How should I use the 2nd link if a site allows 2 in the body of a guest post?
You should use your authorship link as the authority citation, not the links in the post. Out of 50 posts, maybe a couple could have a single link to your site and those should also have links going to other authoritative content on the topic--don't make them to a .edu or to wikipedia (not that those are bad but their so footprint-ish), make them to other sources that advance the thesis of your content. If another one or two had both links to your site, that would likely not harm you, but in the future, who knows?. The rest, I think I'd just link out to good, solid, non-footprinty type resources unique sources that have decent trust on your topic--some with links going to multiple resources, some with just one--the point is that your post should work to be as authoritative as possible, not appear to be a vehicle for links back to your site.
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RE: Someone has built low quality links to my site - what should I do?
If you've deleted the URL, you'll be in good shape. A gazzilion links to a non existing URL won't do anything to the domain that URL is on-figuratively speaking. If you 301'd that url with all those spammy back link to the the site that belonged to the owner of that post, they'd might have to come crawling back to you in the hope of getting the 301 removed. Not sure I would highly recommend that though.
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RE: Do Q&A 's work for SEO
As an early member of Moz, I can tell you that what brought me back to the site everyday was the blog and the comments on the blog. However I rarely commented on posts, I didn't didn't answer or ask any Q&A, and I didn't use the tools very much (although I used free tools at other sites pretty often) but I thought they provided a lot of credibility. The content was very high quality and taught me to do my job better. You could tell that quite an investment was being made in the content and that there was a dedication to it and the community.
It's my feeling that it was the content and the tools that developed nurtured a community Q&A section--it didn't just spring out of nowhere. A lot of work first went into building a community where a Q&A section could flourish. I think the long term rewards will be worth it as long as you're in it for sake of building a community and not for the sake of any SEO value the community can provide.
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RE: Rel=Publisher On Business Blog
You're not able to do the same thing with rel=publisher as you are with rel=author. Ann Smarty put together a great little slideshow on the differences. Its worth a watch: http://www.slideshare.net/seosmarty/relpublisher-versus-relauthor
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RE: Black Hat SEO Case Study - Private Link Network - How is this still working?
Well Howard, it's very true that there are many blackhat techniques that work. The reason they're called blackhat is that they go against search engine guidelines and thus are risky, short-term strategies. People aren't going to be arrested and thrown in jail for using them (typically) so everyone does have an opportunity to join in that fray. If you're not up for techniques that may leave you high and dry when you wake up tomorrow morning, or that don't add long term value to a commercial domain, it may just be enough satisfaction for you to know that people employing techniques like those you're describing are often the ones screaming the loudest in forums about how they got scerwed by Google and how much money they lost when Google updates their algorithm.
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RE: Which kind of backlink is best for SEO
In support of the above answers, here are some Matt Cutts videos/interview/other resources on those various types of links:
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RE: Any meta tag suggestion ??
Your descriptions is a 150 character commercial/call to action for the information on that page. Since some or all of it will likely show up in the search results snippet, it's job is to incite a click through. It should contain some form of the keyword or wording that is very, very similar to it but since the words used in the meta description don't assist with algorithmic ranking, it's not imperative.
It's a good practice that your header contain the following meta data: Title, description meta tag, rel=canonical directive, robots meta tag (kind of optional .
Also, you have two robots meta tags--you need to remove one--I'd remove the first one.
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RE: Need suggestion for link-building
Tough questions there Prince,
First of all, know that we all struggle with the same questions--how do we get back links to our content, how many do we need, where should they come from, and to what pages should they go. Being able to answer those questions well is really what separates companies at the top of the search results from those beneath them. If you think of each link as a relationship with the person who created it, then you understand that each link is unique, as is each person who creates one for you, each page they are pointed to, each page they are coming from.
It is hard work creating and maintaining those relationships. First you have to show those people who may build a link to you who you are, why they should like you, why they should trust you, and then you need to give them something exceptional to link to; something that is inspirational; something unique; something fun and credible; ultimately, something that is beneficial for them to share with others.
It doesn't have to be difficult to create content like that, especially in the lawyer space, as there tends to be a lot of conformity among them. it just takes thinking differently than every one else, seeing your services a little differently than all the other attorneys do, and recognizing that your audience has unique aspects about them to which you can tailor content. I'm not saying anything new here. Take a moment to review these and see if they don't help:
- A Manifesto of Content Marketing - Moz
- The Guide to Developing a Content Strategy for "Boring" Industries - Moz
Here are a few ways attorneys have set themselves apart and created something sharable:
- http://www.pinterest.com/webshark360/funny-attorney-marketing/
- http://abovethelaw.com/2013/06/how-to-write-a-great-response-to-a-cease-and-desist-letter/
- http://blogs.findlaw.com/strategist/2010/12/bed-bug-lawyer-attorney-finds-unique-practice-niche.html
- http://nylawthoughts.com/2011/03/28/bob-dylan-and-the-law/
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RE: Best way to deal with over 1000 pages of duplicate content?
It may not be helpful to you in this situation. I was just saying that if your server creates multiple URLs containing the same content, as long as those URLs also contain the identical rel=canonical directive, a single canonical version of that content will be established.
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RE: Best way to deal with over 1000 pages of duplicate content?
Ben, you use the rel=canonical directive in the header of the page with the original source of the content (pointing to itself), every reproduction of that page that also contains the rel=canonical directive pointing to the original source. So it's not necessarily a page by page solution. Have you read through this yet? Canonicalization and the Canonical Tag - Learn SEO - Moz
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RE: Do links from between common sites you run count as "bad" links?
Liam,
There's no problem with the links as long at they're nofollowed. You can let the client know that sitewide followed footer links from a network of sites when out of practice as an SEO techique back in the dark ages. As long as the client doesn't think of them as helping the algorithmic results of the other sites and only thinks of them as a way to send referral traffic to the other sites, they'll be in good shape.
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RE: When Googling site:mydomain.com what does listing order tell us?
Gregory,
Generally they are vaguely in order of strongest to weakest--according to google. The site:domain is a good way to get a sense of which pages on a domain are the strongest but don't rely heavily on those results.
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RE: Do links to my website improve all pages?
Yes, if content on your site acquires new links, those links can help with the authority of your services pages as well, but it takes more than authority for those pages to rank. On-page optimization for appropriate keywords is also important.
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RE: Do links to my website improve all pages?
Yes, links to your homepage and your interior pages will help the authority of the other pages and, if they're optimized well, can help with their rankings as well. Good links to a page of a website does a positive effect on all other pages.
I am missing something here though--what is the purpose of your "core targeted page"? "I'm wondering if 1-2 additional internal links from blog posts a month is really going to be enough?"
Enough for what?
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RE: SEO Ramifications of migrating traditional e-commerce store to a platform based service
** If possible, communicate with other sites using their service and see what their experience was and what issues they may have run into.**
But I guess that's what you're doing by asking your question here. : )
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RE: SEO Ramifications of migrating traditional e-commerce store to a platform based service
Dan,
Your domain's history and authority will remain since your domain will remain. Domain-wise, it's no different than any site changing hosts, which is done all the time. SEO-wise, there will be some challenges in the move (redirects) and differences in the extent to which you are able to implement SEO tactics compared to your existing platform and you should try to dig into those differences and understand them before you make the move. If possible, communicate with other sites using their service and see what their experience was and what issues they may have run into
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RE: My site's domain authority is 1\. why is that
It appears that your site hasn't been crawled by Moz yet and that it may be new. It will take time and considerable effort to build your domain's authority. Be sure to read through The SEO Guide From Moz for info on how to increase authority.
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RE: Does A Low Quality Post With Pagerank Merit Deleting?
Maybe you could get the videos transcribed (if they're transcriptionable) and add that content to the page. If you're getting search traffic to the page or to the video on youtube, I don't think I would worry about it. If not, you could put the video on a new url with new meta data and a couple new sentences--or the transcription-- and just let it ride until you can do more with it.
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RE: Do links to my website improve all pages?
Gavo,
It sounds like you might be going down the wrong path on your authority building. While the urge to do something concrete and countable like "link building" may be strong, you and your site will be better off if you resist. Spend time (and money if necessary) on figuring out how your site can "earn" links and then work to earn them. The reason is that the kind of link building that you're asking about isn't worth your time, is not going to add value to your domain, and most importantly isn't going to add to your bottom line.
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RE: Question about overoptimization and images "alt"
The problem with keywords on ecommerce sites is there tends to be lots of images of similar things and people end up using the same keywords over and over, which brings down their value as an indicator of what the image is. Sure it can help but as page-level factors start weighing less and less and keywords loose footing as a factor, keywords in alt tags become an even lower priority. My opinion is you're better off having fun with creating your alt tags than tying yourself to using keywords in each of them.
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RE: Does A Low Quality Post With Pagerank Merit Deleting?
If you think it's low quality based on your standards and its not adding any value to the rest of your site or visitors, it's likely fair game for deletion. From the sound of it, any PR those pages have isn't going toward helping any other pages, so again, I wouldn't put much weight on the PR factor as you make your decisions.
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RE: Question about overoptimization and images "alt"
Nadir,
The alt tag is your opportunity to describe the picture to those who cannot see it because they have their images turned off. Think of the purpose the image has on the page visually and then try to boil that purpose down to a short phrase that achieves the same purpose. They don't carry a lot of weight algorithmically so don't feel tied to keywords when writing them.
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RE: Does A Low Quality Post With Pagerank Merit Deleting?
Mike,
Certainly, PR isn't the metric to go by in this! PR isn't necessarily the ideal indicator of quality. Go by the actual things that indicate it, like whether or not the page is getting any traffic from search, any referral traffic, whether or not visitors are clicking through to it from other pages on your site, whether they're spending any time on the page, whether it fits with your brand message and if not whether it can be revised to do so--those kind of things. Even a PR of nul or 0 isn't an indication that something needs to be deleted.
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RE: How to Let Google Know I am a new Site Owner and to Remove or De-value all backlinks?
A three letter, brandable EMD-- Sounds like the kind of thing someone would want to keep and use or sell for a bunch of money. But then when you add the "6K junk links" it sound like the kind of thing someone would just want to sell and hope to get a bunch of money. Playing games with the registrar isn't going to help help you in the matter. Did you try offering them half price? It still may not be worth it.
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RE: Duplicate keyphrases in page titles = penalty?
Luke,
It's unlikely that would be be enough to incur a penalty. Not that revising those title might not help but typically, that would be more along the lines of poor optimization rather than outright spam.
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RE: Site Ranking for keywords that they haven't targeted in content
Steven, I'll go out on a limb and guess that its the site listed in your profile that you're writing about. If that's the case, I have a few suggestions for you.
It appears there may be some keyword cannibalization going on on the site as you have quite a few pages that compete with your home page for what looks like your main keyword. The page content and the meta data for the homepage and the packages seem to compete with each other over the keyword they're optimized for and, since the rest of the pages and your blog all used the three-word domain name at the beginning of the title, they look like they are competing for that exact match keyword. Be sure that to choose a primary keyword focus for your homepage and keep the rest of the page titles and corresponding content focused on distinctly different terms. With all the strength and relevance of particular keywords focused on single pages, those pages will have an easier time maintaining their highest potential ranking positions in the search results.
Also (this isn't the cause of the site's current issue but could be the cause of a future one) there are those links that point to a small group of interlinked sites that might be considered an effort to manipulate rankings unless they were nofollowed.
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RE: How to Let Google Know I am a new Site Owner and to Remove or De-value all backlinks?
You have to watch out for that, Richard. Here is video from Matt Cutts on the issue. Basically, you're putting yourself in deep water by purchasing such a domain. As Matt says, it can be "a little bit difficult" (that's Matt-speak for "next to impossible") to pull the domain out of a penalty because of it's back links. There is often good reason to pass on buying such a domain and you really need to do your homework before you make the decision to buy.
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RE: Other domains hosted on same server showing up in SERP for 1st site's keywords
Are those other domains also yours, by any chance and/or is this a Joomla cms?
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RE: Find all old links from a site to 301
Laura,
You can run your list of old links through screamingfrog and it will check the status of each one for you.
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RE: How do you manage phone verification when claiming listings on behalf of clients (local and remote)?
I've always found that dealing with the verification phone call is something that has to be done in a coordinated fashion with the client. I schedule a time with the client to initiate the verification calls (during business hours) and at that time, I first set everything up on the search engine control panel, get codes if needed, then contact the client at the number the search engine will use for verification and make sure they are ready, give code as necessary, hang up and initiate the verification call to the client, then call the client back to get code as necessary, enter code at search engine control panel. I've never found a more efficient way of doing it.
Sales calls from sites has never been an issue clients have brought up to me.
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RE: URL Changes And Site Map Redirects
Don't worry too much about the sitemap. When your new URLs are up, upload your sitemaps with the new urls and you're good. Between your redirects and sitemap, Google won't have a problem knowing about the new URLs--how long it takes to crawl all of them may be a different story.
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RE: Https Homepage Redirect & Issue with Googlebot Access
That appears normal. Sorry, I can't be of any help on this.
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RE: Https Homepage Redirect & Issue with Googlebot Access
That's a weird looking redirect--I wouldn't expect to see any html in the server headers . It kind of looks like the data you provided its being take from information directly on the page verses being provided by the server. Are you sure your redirect is set up correctly on the server?
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RE: Is Link Building Dead?
Llanero,
I was going to write a long list of reasons why you shouldn't do this but there are so many posts out there on the topic, I'm just going to say it's a horrible plan. Rather than looking for someone to build links for you, you're better off looking for someone to help you write content that is going to make a positive difference in your marketing.