Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Toby

I would keep the link.  It is a good link, indirect but worthy of keeping. Takes so much effort to get a link nowadays that I hold on to them like gold when I get one. I check links with open site explorer.

Moving away from content have you considered reviewing the title tag & h1. The word molded x 3 appears in the title and it does not appear 3 x relevant to search. ie more people are googling "custom" in the uk.  Your first paragraph is more empathetic to what customers are typing in than your title tag.  Semrush is a great tool to have a look at for keywords and there are countless articles on it.

https://moz.com/learn/seo/on-page-factors

A bit of a tweak with your title tag and h1 and that may also assist on search volume. It is a niche area so I think you could get some upside.

Hope this assists.

Yes, congrats that link is gold. It is a follow link.  Links like that are very hard to get.  The anchor text is your website, so it will definitely assist your home page DA.

The next mozscape index is on 9 October, I expect you will see a good jump up from today.

So yes you should expect SEO help from the link. If you do not, I would undertake a technical audit of your site.  https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015 track down any issues.

Hope that assists.

Firstly it is not something to be encouraged copy someone's blog post. I am assuming you have permission to re-post. Duplicate content is confusing for the search engine, which page to show to the searcher? The below link details duplicate content issues.

In your instance I would imagine that if someone was to type in a query in the language of the blog post - then that may mean your blog post would be returned as the most relevant to answer the query.

https://moz.com/learn/seo/duplicate-content

If any issues after reading the link let me know.

Periodically you should do a link audit.  I call it a link detox and it is an ongoing issue for most sites.

It is really up to how how to judge a link but I use a combination of tools inclusion moz and majestic. Trust is a big factor. There are several factors to look at in undertaking a link audit.

Review https://moz.com/blog/link-audit-guide-for-effective-link-removals-risk-mitigation

Hope that assists.  All that said if your site has never had a penalty I would do a tidy up, and be conservative in my disallows.

Every Channel is different.

We benchmark at 6% for 1 company and are wrapped to hit 1% for another. We have a niche product/client at 14%.

If there was a standard - I would suggest in the range of 2-4%.  All that said it really comes down to on site behavior - where are they dropping off?  Is it the landing page - Why ? Is it the checkout page? Why? I would be very very carefully monitoring each page interaction.  Find out what makes them click and what does not. Then make adjustments accordingly.

Have you considered Optimizely or Unbounce? Not a fan of either but they are good at promoting themselves and many do rate them.

If you have the budget I would spend some time trying to find out why people drop off, via survey and analytic's.  Some very small improvements can make a massive difference. Nice little article.  http://tinyurl.com/nomws53

Hope that assists.

Good question, I am not sure anyone knows the secret sauce - but in my experience It comes down to ratios... so if you have 100 back-links and all 100 of those back-links have a reverse back link - then the site would be at high risk of a penalty...

But if it is a one off then it is of little consequence.  Why don't you just nofollow the reverse link?

Also no data on it, but I think google devalues the original link if you reverse it... hence we avoid like the plague... if a high quality link.

Hi

The quick win is page loading speed. If the site is slow 2 seconds + - often getting it below two seconds you will see often a jump in traffic to your website.  Google certainly likes the site more!

If forced to choose 1 - that would be my start, page loading speed.

The second quick win - is ensuring the key pages are optimized, ie title tag, H1 to answer the searchers query.

And a third to make it is not a "quick win" is a link audit or detox if required.

But as silk stream states - without knowing your site.  It is hard... but that is a super quick answer to your query.

Though in fairness I would take a extra 24 hours and walk through the attached site audit, identify weaknesses and then prioritize.

https://moz.com/blog/technical-site-audit-for-2015

Hope that assists.

Aaron

See google policies, but in short what you are suggesting is fine from where I sit. You are doing some hard work to hopefully have them publish your blog post. Unless I have missed something... it is a strong tick..

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en

Yes.  That is a good way to go, assuming all are top level domains.

They will scrutinize each website carefully, then may contact you - explain why they will only list one site etc.  If it gets passed onto a good moderator - you may get a bit of contact.

Good luck with getting listed.

It sounds like you to intend to adopt an un-natural link building approach.  If that is the case then there is no answer to your question. Link building should be natural and mainly hard work.

How are you going about obtaining links?

We do alot of experiments for clients on the difference between pipes, colons and hyphens.

99 out of 100 the pipe is the preferred separator.  Generally the pipe is best for both SEO and Clickability.   This is as the pipe also uses less pixels. Recommend as follows:-

Most Important Key Word | Second Keyword | Brandname ( no more than 512 pixels in length or otherwise it truncates).

If you detail a couple of options I can probably tell you what is likely best.

Combination is the answer

Assuming a new site. SEO is the cheapest way long term way online to capture customers. PPC enhances that process and certainly when starting is important on many fronts.  You can test customers UX - and drive traffic quickly to the site.  SEO takes time, and effort and long term is cheaper and more effective.

I would run strategies for both, and make sure you work hard on both. Hope that assists.

You are always right... so I got confused!  All good...

I suggest google, learn from the best.  The certification brings you into a loop, which is great to keep you continually updated. Main thing is to be able to apply it practically on a live account at the same time.

https://support.google.com/partners/answer/3154326?hl=en

I had a quick look at the source code on your main page. In fairness to google you have not told them exactly what you site is about.  It is important to structure your site so google can easily identify what "query" your website answers.

Your title is presently "Tuning Solutions" - which could be interpreted as music by google. hamotorsports is using "engine tuning solutions".  I think you should start with the basics title tag, h1's etc and then move on from there.  Schema, breadcrumbs there is a few things I would do...

https://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag

http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/how-to/2154469/write-title-tags-search-engine-optimization

Also I suggest you watch this video for a more macro approach how to draw focus to the keywords you are chasing.

https://moz.com/blog/panda-optimization-whiteboard-friday

Hopefully that is s start, let me know if any more queries.

The short answer is that no-one 100% knows.

The better way to go about it, is to keep your eye on SEO, but build the website content for your customer. Make it relevant, exciting and clickable. On page title and url differences - there does not have to be a great amount of difference and in many cases they utilize the same keywords. You will get in more trouble repeating the same keywords, in the same formats. ie if your meta description had wedding dress in 3 or 4 times - that would look spammy and not be helpful.

Hope that assists.

Patrick

The company I work for specializes in CTR on search results - we run complex experiments on them ie 30-40 today alone. There is a difference between pipes and hyphens on CTR.  It is small but it is statistically significant. Sure it is irrelevant to most but for big boys chasing keywords like "car insurance" etc it is vital as each click is has such high cost in competitive spaces.

Matt Cutts noted the CTR factor between them as well. I do not believe it makes any difference on SEO except in so far as it uses more pixels.  So maybe we agree, but a clean tidy looking title that looks professional to the customer does have an impact on CTR.

There are a few things to check.  Have you changed any internal links to the page? A website audit on Moz etc.?

Have you undertaken a link audit? Is there a whole lot of links recently been sent to that page? Page speed? When was that page last updated? Is the page mobile friendly?

Hope that assists in getting started.

Agree with Marcel, in essence he recommends a deeper dive. I recommend collate links, from majestic, moz, ahrefs and WMT's.  Then you have to go through them each manually.

I tend to focus on exact matching anchor text, and non branded anchors. That is where you usually find the culprits. Also when identified disavow from the root.

Focusing on bad links though is not enough.

I would also be tracking any other site changes, did the new seo company change any title tags, h1's etc. Is the page speed still under 2 seconds... you should be able to do deep dive off WMT's as it all seems within 90 days... pin point some dates of drops... look at the words specifically that have dropped. Get granular. WMT's should really help at this stage, so I would do a deep dive there, capture as much data as you can as it is slipping away.

Hope that helps.

Hi, Backing Joe in,  it can sometimes be more complex as can negatively spam yourself, with too much branding.

Hi Dan

The words or makeup of your brand name are relatively ubiquitous. Google may have served up GMB for a little while - to check on CTR etc. as it considered a brand then "little action" or "authority" and you are no longer served up.  It is relatively common for new websites or businesses.  Sometimes get lucky and stick.

Would suggest built up some domain authority and see if that is enough to get you back..

Astrid

Do not pay them. I have dealt with several of these companies on behalf of clients.  In Australia they lock you into a 12 month contract.  The fact is at law they have an obligation to provide a product fit for service - and they are not doing that. In fact from reading the blog only it seems they could be doing long term harm typical type operators.

Send them an email along the lines

"As you are appreciate various promises were made to increase site rankings using white hat practices.

Can you please detail exactly what you have done for the money paid to date. No further payments will be made and this contract ceases immediately if not done forthwith.

I have had several SEO experts review the website and the site now has a number of spammy bad links pointed at it.  This is considered black hat practices and is rejected as a sub-standard practice by google webmaster.

I await for your response. If I do not get a detailed report within 7 days I will assume that the contract is repudiated.

I reserve my legal rights in relation to the damage occasioned to the business in relation to the spammy links"

Fight hard... these guys make our lives very hard..

Thanks for the post, I thought it maybe special to me.  I have the same problem. Assume moz are fixing it.

Yes, in short that is what a domain authority does.

What country are you based in?  The first step is to organize a site audit/s. It is 100% best to be done - by someone currently external to the websites. Then you find out what is working and what needs work.

Think of SEO as a bit more complex than hiring a person.  If you equate SEO to your health, at various stages in your life you may need to see a doctor. Sometimes you see a general practitioner and other times a specialist. It is dangerous for your health to see an eye doctor to fix a problem with your foot. SEO works the same way. SEO has many facets and sometimes needs different specialist to solve the problem. Like the human body, SEO is complicated and one change can affect the other, so be careful.

Still clear as mud!

The first thing is a bit tragic and may be frowned up - you need to set up a female address sarah@brandname.com.  I find if you ask for a link as a male you receive a low response rate. If the email comes from a female - then the response rate is reasonable. A personal choice.

However that is for generic link building.

Of the 75 URL's you have collected I would create a strategy for each one - they are that important!  A phone call, begging, swapping services - whatever you need to do..  it is actually good fun, you will meet some great people. If you get a chance drop into their office.  Do free psychic readings... whatever it takes.

Each of those links has great SEO value.  The reality is it is just hard work but play to your strengths you know what they are.

Tough one, this site ranks above etc. www.shop21live.com/, facebook etc so still believe it is a brand strength issue, it could almost be part of an address for a shop in any shopping center globally...

But you rely on inside knowledge - gut instinct.

All the best.

I have done it for an ecommerce site and I found there was no simple solution.  Be great to hear if there is one.

I chose or knew the keywords then went to google translate. Then put those keywords into various tools to see how they extrapolated out.  ie Adwords keyword tool.  I also used semrush.  Also put some onus on keywords on the client.

Because I was also terrified that the translate and then "my combination" might not means what I hope it to mean I then got it reviewed by a native speaker.  Great learning curve.  That was where I learnt the most from speaking to a local. There is heightened risk not speaking to a someone fluent - so I would not recommend publishing without doing that.

After that it is a process - move back to the re-fining the standard and arduous practices we already know about in keyword research. I was chasing simple clothing keywords and then fortunately the retailer was opening shops which made the job easy.

Hi

Disavow should be a last resort.

The Spam score is a guide ONLY.  It is a wake-up call to investigate.  As you have done examine each link where possible individually.  It appears no action is required based on your findings.

That said the first queries are - is your site ranking well? have there been any large dips or a noticeable decline?  Can you clarify?

I add if so then need to undertake a full technical audit, so not a disavow yet..

Regards

Torbett

There is no audit process for seo experts. That is one of the significant problems in the industry and one you are facing now. Your "gut" as you say is the best instinct you have got. In fairness we have similar issues with clients who do not understand the seo/internet.  So in part it is a two way street. Our company has a general rule and does not act for companies where the head of Digital reports to the Head of Marketing. They are two separate functions of equal importance and though they are intertwined from an seo perspective we have found that marketing rarely understands digital.

On your platform - if it is a typical magento built site and we see a few - you will find the magento specialists (as they all claim) have built a great shopping site - without an eye to SEO. It is very normal. As a positive fundamentally & generally the sites are sound, need some on page optimization and hardwork. If you want a genius from your backyard - Michael Cottam - does consulting somewhere over there is the US. Very practical, first rate & should be able to make a referral if cannot do the job. You should find his details on this site. If you pm me the website link can have a quick look.

I will not comment on the directories discussion as the boys have canvassed it well.

On link building the first suggestion or step I recommend is to capture the first 75 URL's that appear in the SERP for the most important keyword you are targeting.  Then strategize how to get a link to each of the URL's - yes some are competitors so they are no good.  Many are not competitors.  Links from these pages have high SEO value. Be relentless in pursuit of these websites for backlinks.

After I have maximised my efforts on the aforesaid I then look elsewhere.

Good luck, let me know if you need any help.

You are correct. Also Semrush gives two CPC numbers for each keyword on the same page. I actually rang Semrush about ti, and they said it was on their to fix list. That was 6 months ago and still has not been fixed.

Just use Semrush as an indicator. I find it is reasonable for competitive traffic and not so accurate for low volume keyword traffic. Though in your case - it seems not at all. It would be impossible to get right as many keywords fluctuate widely depending on season.

Not sure if I helped but there are significant inconsistencies in the CPC data.

Had a very quick look.  There is plenty to do.  I have not looked from a technical side - Moz should do that for you, highlight deficiencies. I would suggest a keyword review.  ie you are not on the first page in the US according to Semrush for your prime keyword phrases - volunteer thailand etc.  So I would undertake a keyword analysis identify what you want - if that is it.

Best starting point is this blog post from Moz. https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research

Also is Thailand as a volunteer destination this year as popular as it was a few years ago?  Anyway you should focus on improving your ranking regardless.

So without doing much more work, as the keyword research is an internal - cant really assist - i would review you Title and H1 tags.  Not sure I would start with affordable for your title & use the word experience. "Volunteering in Thailand" - maybe the optimum way but as said. There are 1000 things you could do, but in short i would start with keyword research in your instance, assume moz has crawled your site and you are addressing those issues.

Then build a strategy from there.

Good luck let me know if can assist further.

If

Hi A

Well done, you are 100% on the right track.  Go get em.

Regards

Hi

Set up a separate search console property for the two url's.  That is the easiest method that allows you to measure and track both sites separately.

Hope that helps.

Regards

1. What is Baiduspider?
Baiduspider is Baidu search engine program which is used to visit pages on the internet and build information into Baidu index. This enables users to locate your site when they perform a search.

2. What is Baiduspider’s user-agent?
Baidu uses different user-agents for different products:

| Name of Products | User-agent |
| PC search |

Baiduspider

|
| Mobile search |

Baiduspider

|
| Image search | Baiduspider-image |
| Video search | Baiduspider-video |
| News search | Baiduspider-news |
| Baidu bookmark | Baiduspider-favo |
| Union baidu | Baiduspider-cpro |
| Business search | Baiduspider-ads |
| other search | Baiduspider |

3. Will Baiduspider creates additional loading to customer servers?
In order to ensure the search results cover most of your pages, Baiduspider must keep the crawling at a certain level. We have been trying our best to avoid increasing the loading to your servers, and to adjust the frequency based on combined factors, such as your server's capability, your site’s quality and the update frequency of your site. If you find any unreasonable access from Baiduspider, please inform us athttp://webmaster.baidu.com/feedback/index (arab，thai，Português)

Hope this helps.

happy to do it online - ie through Moz blog.  Post your website address and will have a look.

This WBF provides the perfect answer to your question. Plus it is captivating..

https://moz.com/blog/why-good-unique-content-needs-to-die-whiteboard-friday

Comparably has there been any traffic impact?  To yourself or competitor... ?

As DA is a guide only..

It seems you are using the old gs.js page tracking on the site. Looking at cogri
Maybe replace the tracking code with the new Analytics.js?

Anayltics.js has some new tracking features compared to the old ga.js and might be the reason why you aren't able to see data & statistics.

Available here: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/upgrade/reference/gajs-analyticsjs

It can take a couple of days for GA to update... as well.

There is nothing to be done about it, but stay the course. Unfortunately their are no credentials for SEO as such. So anyone can claim to be an expert.  Ironically it would be difficult to create a course as there are so many potential solutions given most sites have unique criteria.

All that said the new Search Analytics has given me hope in setting identifiable dashboards for clients - ie simply clicks per page. We are introducing that. Measurable and identifiable tangible results.

On worried - not at all, though some give SEO a bad name, good quality work leads to more work from word of mouth than is almost achievable...

Bob

I love two sites .. ... airbnb is my favorite site..

https://www.airbnb.com.au/

The second, for layout and ideas is:-

http://www.squarespace.com

Hope that assists. ps do not like squarespace as a platform and not on airbnb.... !

Very good question. It is ultimately a matter for yourself. I always take the primary keyword head on - even if there is no realistic chance of ranking for it in the short term.  However I also make sure that I target keywords off the same branch that I can rank for.  I usually start with 5-7.

I believe you should always have your eye on the ultimate prize. Ubersuggest is good I also like Semrush.com - as you also get to see what organic keywords your competitors are getting traffic from.  Semrush may further fine tune the keywords you target.

On a nexus between primary and secondary - if you are targeting "dell computers" and words around that frame - once you get some traction with your other keywords then you may start to rank for "dell computers" but at 300 etc. . In fairness though it is impossible for anyone to suggest a true nexus as it will all depend on your seo optimization and the keywords you initially target and what you actually publish/do.

Hope that assists and good luck.

On your comment on generic advice as I am not 100% familiar with your brand strategy accordingly I do not like to give "hard advice".  There are too many variables.

That said I will do the best with what provided.

In short there are zero SEO tactical advantages to separating content from brand. Perhaps if the content site is a trick to get someone thinking that the branded site is independent and then refer to your branded domain - about the only time I would consider or recommend it.  Is that the case?  Hence there are almost zero advantages to setting up a separate site. Site maintenance is hard work, and the doubling of SEO efforts foolhardy.  Why have two houses if you only live in one? Unless of course you are rich and it is of no consequence.

If I was advising you I would suggest it is not even worth considering. The domain authority for https://www.esl.co.uk is 25 - which is weak for a specialized site.  In short you are not rich enough to afford the second house, the main domain is a straw house at present. If the domain authority was 60+ I might be with you. First thing I worry about is susceptibility to competition.

Given such a low domain authority for the prime domain I would be working hard in improving my link profile and domain authority. Every marketing dollar matters. Focus on building https://www.esl.co.uk into a dominant power - at present however a strong competitor coming into your space would have a powerful impact on search - as it would be easy to outrank. That said great looking site, well optimized from my quick look - needs some strong linking work.

Hopefully not to blunt and a little clearer but happy to answer.

It sounds like technical SEO from your profile. One of the first questions I ask if they have heard of Moz/Rand ? If they say no...

On landing pages.  I would show them a page and ask them the first 3 things they would check to determine if optimized for SEO. For me they:-

page loading speed

Title tag

H1

If they say the colour of the graphic... probably not as technical as you want!  Some cannot even check source code..

Have some fun with it...

I am a little confused.

Are you saying that an exact copy of a unique page you have created on your website is on another domain name (which you know nothing about) and then that site is linked to your site, ie via a backlink?

Maybe more complicated decision than asked.

To me and my clients it is about market share. As you know ultimately there is usually only one winner/survivor. Law of the jungle.

google -v- bing

pepsi v coke. etc,

I suggest you use adwords as one tool in the kit to strategically gain market share at a faster rate than your competitors - however carefully monitor the cost of client acquisition. At some stages it may get too expensive to chase key Adwords in the high season - due to bulging cheque books of competitors - but stay in the hunt as long as you can afford to. Do not go head on for the "main" keywords if you cannot afford it. Also get smart if you can't afford to go head on - use social media, mail outs, editorial, long tailed keywords - fight to the death.  A favorite of mine at the moment is outbrain. Never stop thinking about stealing clicks from your competitors. But never stop marketing at any time, just do it smarter. In high season you must be seen and heard as that is what will carry you through the slow season...

James

SEO London, appears natural to me.  But that would be in the Title Tag, once. Your H1 is what I assume you are talking about? That could be Search Engine Optimization Experts, London, or skip the London. They dovetail.

It does matter what your competitors are up to. Old school, but you could do a keyword density analysis of the top 20 results and see if you can identify any trends.

Exact match is still powerful, but too many exact matches may lead to being penalized. So it has to be natural and inviting and better still answer the customer query.

Hope that assists.

Not enough info.  Can you identify and target key influencers within each niche?

I also recall (I think) Rand stating (in one of those top 10 type lists) that one of the big things for SEO 2015 would be the correct re-categorization of direct to search.

Effectively exactly what you intuitively think is correct.. that Direct traffic is over compensated for in respect of Search.