Welcome to the Q&A Forum

By that, I mean that does Google just devalue spammy links, or does it devalue the links and penalize your site on top of it? Does it hit specific keywords, or does it have effects site wide? Does penguin run constantly, or only on specific days? If spammy links are removed, how long does it take to recover?

One of customers provides IT Support for a municipality. The municipality's website (1000+ pages) has a footer link with the anchor text "IT Support" linking to our customer's site. The link is there for employees to get help. In mid summer, our customer's rankings tanked for "IT Support". It looks like a hit by Penguin. The question is, could removing the links bring the rankings back? Does Google's penguin algorithm penalize you for the footer links, or are they simply de-valued? Should we pull them down or no-follow them? If they aren't truly hurting their rankings, we would just leave them

I have a customer, a Psychologist, who put up +/-20 websites many years ago. He has 1 main site (with his name as the domain) with hundreds of pages of quality content. The other sites are all exact match domains - anxiety counseling, couples counseling, etc. Some are single page sites, others have a good amount of quality content. Many of the EMD sites were getting ranked on the first page, as was the main site. The money site was ranking on the first page for the best keywords All of the EMD pages linked back to the main site, many with site wide footer links. The main site did not link back. All of the sites are on the same IP address. These sites have been in place for years. I don't believe that he has a duplicate content problem. About 8 weeks ago, the rankings for the main site crashed, moving 10 or more SERP pages deep. The EMD sites are still ranking. He has not gotten any nasty-grams from Google in Webmaster Tools. The Psychologist relies exclusively on organic for his business, and it has taken a significant hit. 1. Has anyone else seen this happen? 2. Is it safe to assume that Google finally nailed him for using a linking scheme? 3. How can we unwind this? The other sites are still generating business, and if those go away, he is really screwed. 4. Will taking down all of the links from the other sites be enough? Would moving the money site to another hosting company on a different IP make a difference? Ideas? I think the white hat answer would be to take down the EMD sites, and 301 redirect to the main site. The problem is that the loss of business from this process could be catastrophic.

We are looking for a solution that will allow us to create attractive and effective PPC landing pages with WordPress. We need to be able to easily create multiple pages with no navigation. Any Suggestions?

I have 2 questions: 1. To check keyword rankings with firefox, i am choosing: Tools>Options>Privacy>"clear all current history" Timerange to clear: Everything Check Boxes: Browsing and download history, form and search history, cookies, cache, active logins Is there anything else I need to be doing? 2. Search results in my Niche are heavily localized. Is there any way to check rankings in another area? Ex: By default, our rankings are for Northeast NJ. Is there any way to check Baltimore, for example?

I don't want to give details, but a competitor's site ranks ahead of us by a spot or 2 for some of our major keywords, and we can't figure out why. We have more content indexed, we have better content (my opinion), we're better optimized, we have significantly better MozRank and Majestic rankings, we have more links, we have better links. They have a plain Jane Wordpress blog, and their pages don't even have 300 characters. They don't have any awesome links.  There are plenty of other sites besides ours that should outrank them. When I am using the various tools at my disposal, I can see why a competitor outranks us. I'm not obsessing, but this one, I just don't understand. Has anyone had this experience?

Some of our generic, non localized keywords (ex: "Information technology services") are triggering Google+ 7 Pack listings with local results. We are ranking on the first page for those keywords in organic. The companies listed in the 7 packs have worse link profiles, mediocre SEO fundamentals, fewer citations, and no +s or reviews. Our Google+ page has been up for a few weeks, and we added content: images, videos, a detailed profile, and articles. Our competitors have nothing but a blank site. We did our research, and we also built well-optimized pages for each of the keywords that triggers a 7 Pack. Assuming Google decides we deserve to be there, how long should it take for Google to place us in the 7 Packs? Our vertical is a little different - IT Support - the 7 packs are localized within a 40 mile radius, and the organic SERPs are a mix of regional and national (ex: IBM) players. Are the results totally geocentric? Does it pay to build legitimate backlinks to our Google+ page or link there from content on our corporate site?

We rolled out a new site for a customer on an old (branded) domain (14 years old) about 3 weeks ago, and we are doing very, very well in Google for 40+ keywords, but we can't make a dent in Bing. Absolutely nothing. We are using the Webmaster tools for both. Are we missing something? Are we not using the Bing Webmaster tools correctly?

Based on what I've read, setting up localized landing pages ie: /web-design-atlanta, web-design-nyc, /web-design-chicago, etc especially with duplicate content is a big no-no. Remarkably, 2 of our competitors are doing it, (they are just swapping out the locations), and it's working. They don't even have office addresses or local phone numbers listed. They are on the first page for multiple location based searches ("web design nyc", "web design atlanta", etc.). I thought Google penalized for this, or at least didn't index the content. What gives? Am I misinterpreting Google's AUP? Can I report them? If it's legal, we should be doing it as well.

We have a sister company that provides online administrative services to .EDUs. The administrative site has thousands of pages, with good pagerank, excellent trust, and a clean bill of health from Google, as does our corporate site. We have the ability to put footer links on every page back to our corporate website. Options: 1. Do nothing for fear of getting penalized by Google 2. Footer Link: Web Design by Logo, with "Web Design" being the anchor text. 3. Footer Link: Web Design by XYZ with "Web Design" and "XYZ" being the anchor text for link diversity. 4. Footer Link: Web Design by Logo with "Web Design" and the Logo (Alt Text "XYZ Corp") being anchors for link diversity. 5. Put up a page (or 2) about web design on the administrative site, have all of the footers link to that page, and have that page link back to our corporate site. We really aren't doing anything wrong here, but both sites have a clean bill of health and the Google spam police have me paranoid. Our corporate site has an excellent link profile with hundreds of links from .gov, .us, and .edu. The links have commercial value, and can drive traffic to our site. Looking for your thoughts before we make a move.

We are currently ranked #2 locally (NJ) for "IT support", and #27 for "it support". This is a fairly recent development - like today. I know "it" is a stop word, but I have never seen this before. The funny thing is that this is the only "IT" search where this happens. Most of my keywords contain "IT". What's up with this?

The Google SERPs for my keywords are pretty regional. We are in the "IT Support Company" space. I've checked with friends in other parts of the country, and we don't show up in the SERPs in other parts of the country for KWs that we are ranking for locally. Questions: 1. I see both national and local players showing up in the SERPs. Is there any kind of formula for how Google decides who gets on the first page? 2. Some of my keywords trigger Google+ listings. How long does it take to show up in Google+, assuming we're optimized appropriately, and we have earned a placement? 3. For Moz's keyword ranking tool, how does it handle regional searches? Moz's tool is going to show different KW rankings than what I will see. My immediate concerns are rankings in my area (NY Metro), but we want to go national. How do we track rankings in different areas? 4. Is it possible to be on the 1st page with Google+ and Organic listings? 5. Do the Google+ 7 packs have generally better, or worse CTRs than similarly placed organic listings?

We just did a site redesign, and removed the noindex, etc. about 10 days ago. Over the last 24 hours, I've gotten some of my top keywords on the first page, but now they are gone, a few hours later. I assume this is typical?

Are the 7 packs representative of Google+ business listings or Google + Places listings? This is making my head hurt..

I was doing keyword research, and for some of my keywords I was seeing Google+ listings last week. they were gone earlier this week, but now they are back. We weren't in them anyway (new project) but can anyone explain this? Same computer, Same IP,

I have 3 keywords that I am targeting. Assume for the time being that they are all equally competitive. Includes local exact match monthly searches: Managed IT Services - 3600 IT Managed Services - 720 Managed IT Support - 170 They are all exactly synonymous, not to mention other keywords such as IT Managed Support, Managed IT Service, IT Managed Service, Managed IT Service Provider, etc..  My current strategy is to target the top 3 all on one page. The problem then is the title tag: Managed IT Services | IT Managed Services | Managed IT Support Pretty spammy. I could build pages for all 3, but how would I incorporate them into the website since they are all synonyms. Can I get some recommendations on how to handle this? What would you use for a title tag? How would handle separate pages with synonymous content?

Google+ has thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into my SEO plans. Over the last few weeks, Google+ listings started showing up in the SERPs for my money keywords. The good news is that once we launch our new site, we have a good chance of getting into the Google+ 7 packs. The bad news is that SEO on a national level just got tougher with the local Google+ listings crowding natural listings down the page. Questions: 1. How does Google+ determine who goes into the 7 pack?
2. Is there always a 7 Pack? Can there only be a 4 pack?
3. I see Google+ listings for companies that don't have a Google+ page. How is that possible?
4. Through my keyword research, I have about 20 keywords that are triggering Google+ listings in the SERPs. Some SERPs are only showing  2-4 G+ listings. Is it safe to assume that this is because no one has put those keywords in their Google+ description, and hasn't optimized for those words on their site?

Looking for suggestions - one of my targeted keywords is "IT Support NY". I can't for the life of me figure out a way to use it in a sentence. Any ideas?

When evaluating a PPC landing page for Quality Score, does Google evaluate the other pages that the landing page is linked to? For example, if we have a well optimized page on the site for "Widgets", can it outscore a well optimized  PPC landing page that is isolated in a "disallow" directory with no links into or out of the page? I'm not sure if I am making myself clear...

From a purely SEO /link juice perspective, is there any benefit to linking from body text to a page that is in a pervasive primary navigation?  The primary nav puts a link at the top of the HTML. With the tests done by members of this site, the "first link counts" rule negates the link juice value of a link in the body text if there is already a link in the nav. Now I've also seen the data on using hash tags to get a second or third link, but ignoring that, it would seem that links in the body text to pages in the nav have zero effect. This brings me to another question - block level navigation. If anchor text links pass more juice than links in the top navigation, why would you put your most coveted target pages in the top nav? You would be better off building links in the content, which would create a poor user experience. To me, the theory that anchor text links in the body pass more juice than links in the primary nav doesn't make any sense. Can someone please explain this to me?

I understand the concept of silo architecture. What I don't understand is how to build the site navigation. I see experts talking about silos, but their sites have pervasive top level navigation. In theory, your top level nav breaks your silos.  If I have 20 pages of supporting content all linked to my silo page, and the top nav is on the supporting content pages, then those pages all link to the pages in the top nav - silo broken, and link juice diluted. it would seem to me that the only way to build a true silo is to strip out all of the navigation on a supporting page, and only have it link to: 1. The silo landing page 2. Other supporting pages in the silo. is this what Bruce Clay does? I've seen Rand's lectures on silos as well. Is this what he is doing? I recently saw a video by the Network Empire team, and they'd also have a pervasive nav. Can someone please explain this?

Can someone give me a sample of an effective meta description tag? All of the best practice stuff I read doesn't talk about how to raise CTR. It seems to me that this is a neglected area of SEO, and we want to do this right. Obviously, we will need to test. For example, my main home page keyword is "IT Support" Things I might want to put in the tag: Free Network Assessments 100% Risk Free Trials "Relentless IT Support" (Major Theme) 30 Years of Experience (since 1984) Eliminate your IT Support Headaches Forever (Too long) Call to action? BTW, Thanks to everyone for your help. This is a great community. Solid advice from experts. Here's an example of what I would create Relentless IT Support Since 1984. Trust and Accountability. 100% Risk Free Trials. Contact us today for Free IT Assessment.

Looking for some advanced help here. I've been reading a lot of conflicting information on this, and I am hoping someone can clear this up. My question is regarding length and complexity of title tags. For example, my top level keywords are: IT Support, IT Services, IT Outsourcing, Help Desk, etc. I also have pages for many modified versions ex: IT Support Services, Managed IT Services, etc. I have robust pages for each. Should my title tag be: IT Support | CSM Corp. - Simple IT Support Company | CSM Corp. (Picks up a longer tail) or IT Support | Secondary Keyword | CSM Corp. Does adding secondary keywords dilute the strength of the primary keyword? If long is preferable, can someone give me an example using "IT Support"?

I have been reading a lot of conflicting information on the Link Juice ramifications of using "NoIndex". Can I get some advice for the following situation? 1. I have pages that I do not want indexed on my site. They are lead conversion pages. Just about every page on my site has links to them. If I just apply a standard link, those pages will get a ton of Link Juice that I'd like to allocate to other pages. 2. If I use "nofollow", the pages won't rank, but the link juice evaporates. I get that. I won't use "nofollow" 3. I have read that "noindex, follow" will block the pages in the SERPs, but will pass Link Juice to them. I don't think that I want this either. If I "dead end" the lead form with no navigation or links, will the juice be locked up on the page? 4. I assume that I should block the pages in robots.txt In order to keep the pages out of the SERPs, and conserve Link Juice, what should I do? Can someone please give me a step by step process with the reasoning for what I should do here?

It's been a while since I've SEOed a Wordpress site. How do I add "nofollow" or "noindex" to specific links? I highlight the anchor text in the text editor, I click the "link" button. I could have sworn that there used to be an option in the dialogue box that pops up.

I ran the SEOMoz onpage diagnostic, and i got an alert for keyword cannibalization. My taxonomy is: www.mysite.com www.mysite.com/category  (category page) www.mysite.com/category/category-keyword (supporting page) Links will be exact match in the primary navigation. www.mysite.com  anchor text "category" => www.mysite.com/category www.mysite.com anchor text "category keyword" => www.mysite.com/category/category-keyword www.mysite.com/category anchor text "category keyword" => www.mysite.com/category/category-keyword and example would be /IT-support linking with anchor text "IT Support Servers" => /IT-Support/IT-Support-Servers I'm not going to have a cannibalization problem, am I?

I need a better understanding of how links in different parts of the page pass juice. Much has been written about how footer links pass less juice than other parts of the page. The question I have is that if a page has a hypothetical 1000 points of Link Juice and can pass on +/-800 points via links, and I have 1 and only 1 link in the footer to another page, does it pass the full 800 points? Or... since  footers only pass a small fraction of link juice, it passes lets say 80 points, and the other 720 points stays locked up on the page. This question is a hypothetical - I'm just trying to understand relationships. I don't know if I've explained the question too well, but if someone could answer i it, or point me in the right direction, I would appreciate it.

Hi All! We have a small e commerce site, www.ruggedpcstore.com, built on Wordpress. The home page has a PR of 3, our About page is a PR 0, and all other pages are PR N/A. We've been pulling our hair out trying to fix what's wrong. Any ideas?

Which of these is the better taxonomy? www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing/hr-outsourcing solutions www.mysite.com/hr-outsourcing/solutions

We are an IT services firm. A conversion for us is completion of a lead form. Generally speaking, is it better to have a form to fill out in the sidebar on most organic pages, or a button that takes you to a lead form? I see both used, which do you think converts better?

in Wordpress, I want to block Google from crawling my site using the primary navigation. I want to use anchor text links in the body and custom menus in the sidebar to make maximum benefit of the "first link counts" rule. In short, I want to obfuscate all of the links in my primary navigation without using the dreaded nofollow. I do not want to block other links to the pages - body text, custom menus, etc. . This would be site wide. I'd rather not use Ajax or any type of programming unless it's part of a plugin. Can anyone make a simple, Google-friendly suggestion?

This is a fairly common question, but I am going to ask it again. I want to get ranked for many keywords: "hr outsourcing sheboygan", "HR outsourcing duluth", etc., all in my small state. Doing some random research, there are few if any pages with exact match phrases in the URL, Title, Etc. = No competition) Moreover, Google is not popping google places ads for these terms. My plan is to create fairly unique pages on my site optimized for each town.  Right now, the pages are at 65% duplicate. I would assume that all of my pages will have some degree of duplication - there are similar elements on every page. If I run the content through a duplicate content tester, is there a % of unique content that would be fairly safe to avoid the duplicate content slap? Yes, I know it's more complicated than that semantic, heuristic, etc. - just looking for some general guidelines.