Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thanks for your comments Nishadha !!

I would deifnately do so for different languages but keep seeing and hearing seo/social peeps say that for both seo & social reasons you should set up country specific social paegs such as Twitter and FB

So i still welcome peoples opinions as to which ones ?

If your going to target multiple countries but who have same language (such as US & UK) which of the main social media accounts should you set up a country specific version for ?

I know some like Google+ allow for sub-pages/listings for different localities/outlets etc so I presume you only need the one G+ company page (but pls confirm if you agree or not ?).

I keep hearing peeps say set up country specific Twitter and FaceBook pages, do you agree ? and what about other main social sites like Pinterest & LinkedIn etc ?

Thanks

Dan

sure i was just using that as an example

thanks i appreciate that i will pm you

cheers

dan

Thanks i appreciate the offer

I don't have a custom domain yet i'm having problems finding a suitable option, only seems to be versions with sub-folders such as .ca/sh for example, rather than ca.sh

Thanks Ash !

I do have bit.ly integrated with Buffer and im trying to set it up so rather than use a buff.ly or a bit.ly i have a much more branded shorter domain

I have read that page and tried those sites but cant find anything suitable but suppose i just need to keep trying, some keep suggesting optiuons with forward slash/folders which seems weird and not what we are after

Hi

Can anyone recommend any good sources/sites for quickly trying to find good shortened custom domain options for using instead of bit.ly etc

Any hints and tips at trying to find suitable ones too ? since ive tried a few sites and cant find anything suitable and keeps suggesting options with subfolders

Thanks

Dan

Very pleased to have been of assistance

heres links to older threads where i asked similar before, for further verification and credit to those that originally helped me:

http://moz.com/community/q/removing-a-staging-area-dev-area-thats-been-indexed-via-gwt-since-wasnt-hidden-from-the-index

http://moz.com/community/q/staging-development-areas-should-be-not-indexable-i-e-no-followed-no-index-in-meta-robots-etc

Thanks Robert and for the extra comments too !

I cant remember which Mozzer helped me with the above in the first place who should be credited but ill track down the original thread and add it to this post since also contains further info and discussion

All Best

Dan

Hi

I'm in a similarish situation with a clients site.

Their situation is that the dev site is on a subdomain i.e. staging.domain.com and they want to keep the staging area active for demonstrating future development work, so situation may be slightly different from yours.

They have now blocked via robot.txt but that's like shutting the stable door after the horse has already bolted.

I asked Moz Q&A a few months ago and got the below answer from a few very helpful and wize Mozzers

1. Setup a completely different Webmaster Tools account unrelated to the main site, so that there
   is a new W.T account specific to the staging area sub-domain

2. Add a robots.txt on the staging area sub domain site that disallows all pages and all crawlers
   OR use the no-index meta tag on all pages but Google much prefers Robots.txt usage for this

Note: Its very important when you update the main site it does not include or push out these files and
instructions too (since that would result in main site being de-indexed)

3. Request removal of all pages in GWT. Leave the form field for the page to be removed blank,
   since will remove all subdomain pages

4. After about 1 month OR you see that the pages are all out of the Search Engine listings (SERPS),
   and Google has spidered and seen the robots.txt, then put up a password on the entire staging
   site.

Hope that helps

All Best

Dan

Thanks Tommy

Its just a .com at the moment but language versions will be on subfolders .com/us and .com/uk with hreflang handling the rest of the internationalisation in conjunction with webmaster tools etc

All the dupe content is on the .com

cheers

dan

That great info thanks for clarifying that Lynn !

Im sure ill have some further questions though when going through the process with the developers

Many Thanks

Dan

Thanks for commenting Tommy !

The problem is though that the site already has lots & lots of duplicate pages, so want the developers to fix that, and i have been advising they do this via canonical tag since standard practice.

So are you saying that if we use hreflang then no need to use canonical for this existing duplicate content since using hreflang on the new international pages will deal with the old dupe content as well as the new uk/us dupe content too ?

cheers

dan

Hi

Im working with a site that has ALOT of duplicate content and have recommended developer fix via correct use of Canonicalisation i.e the canonical tag.

However a US version (of this UK site) is about to be developed on a subfolder (domain.com/uk/ & domain.com/US/ etc so also looking into adopting the hreflang attribute on these.

Upon reading up about the hreflang attribute i see that it performs a degree of canonicalisation too.

Does that mean that developing the international versions with hreflang means there's no need to apply canonicalistion tags to deal with the dupe content, since will deal with the original dupe content problems as well as the new country related dupe content, via the hreflang ?

I also understand that hreflang and canonicalisation can conflict/clash on different language versions of international subfolders etc as per:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igbrm1z_7Hk

In this instance we are only looking at US/UK versions but very likely will want to expand into non english countries too in the future like France for example.

So given both the above points if you are using hreflang is it advisable (or even best) to totally avoid the canonical tag ?

I would be surprised if the answers yes, since whilst makes logical sense given the above (if the above statements are correct), that seems strange given how important and standard best practice canonical usage seems to be these days.

What best ? Use the Hreflang alone, or the Canonical tag alone or both ?

What does everyone else do in similar situation ?

All Best

Dan

Thanks for replying !  i'm referring to serps reported by Moz (as in via central data centre) rather than what i'm seeing personally in the serps, or does the same principle apply ?

cheers

dan

Thanks Dan !

ah yes ! i was looking for a delete button within the campaign dash itself, thanks Peter

Hi

How do you delete a campaign in Moz Analytics ? (i set up 2 campaigns for the same project by accident)

cheers

dan

Moz Analytics and Google analytics is saying some keywords are driving organic search traffic & hence MA suggesting them as keyword opportunities, yet theres no rank for any of them so how can that be so ?

cheers

dan

Thanks Martijn

ideally one that covers all bases but client already has Yoast so will see how far that gets us, i take it since plugin no tech knowledge needed or does require an element of schema training to use ?

cheers

dan

Hi

Can anyone recommend a good Schema plugin for wordpress sites, does anyone know if Yoast SEO plugin has schema features ?

Cheers

Dan

thats a mighty fine answer !!

Many Thanks have a top weekend !!

All Best
Dan

Thanks Federico !

Would appreciate your response/answer re the 404/nonexistent urls question i asked earlier this week of you get a moment ? http://moz.com/community/q/strange-traffic-viewed-content-in-analytics

many thanks

dan

ok thanks David

as an aside note is it possible to set up subdomains etc as were with pro on new MA, i didnt see an option to but may have missed it ?

cheers

dan

Hi

I have just completed setting up a new campaign in Moz Analytics but when i press finish theres a graphic representing somehting updating/loading and then nothing happens like a message saying campaign set up complete and it just stays on same page.

Does that mean its set up or theres a problem ?

Cheers

Dan

if u get a moment would appreciate any further comments/ideas from you re the fact that they are returning 404's and/or any other related comments ?

many thanks

dan

Thanks for that very interesting info Anthony !

I never had it down as a ranking factor but have been showing to clients as a trending metric to show improvement against competitors, which i feel i can still do so long as in comparison to competitors rather than looking at the number by itself ?

All Best

Dan

Ok great thanks for the update,

As a suggestion it would be good to have that kind of info as a 'newsflash' or mentioned prominently somewhere so we know its happened rather than spending ages analysing backlink profile for drop in other metrics trying to find causes of the overall DA drop.  Apologies if such an area exists and i just havnt seen it yet (such as a service status update area etc)

Specifically though any ideas why a site that has earn't some really high quality/authority links over november/december authority not have increased its DA. Is it that those links are likely not being factored in yet ? (i thought that they would be since so high authority and hence easily identified)

Thanks
Dan

Hi

Is anyone else seeing a drop in DA across the board ? Has Moz changed the criteria/scoring method ?.

I have a client/project that naturally achieved some great links from high authority sites on contextual pages yet the DA has dropped by 2 points in the month or two since, when i would expect it to have gone up or at least stayed the same.

In addition the link profile has otherwise improved with an increase in subnets, ips, links, domains etc etc so combined with above would certainly expect a rise in  DA

Anyone else experiences similar or someone from Moz can confirm if scoring method changed or possibly not yet discovered these links ?

All Best

Dan

Hi Federico, Yes they do

Thats great thanks Phil !

Hi

Pls advise when these have been regenerated once fixed or will they just be emailed out automatically ?

My clients all after their New Year monthly & quarterly reports hence this info is needed urgently, pls advise ?

Also when will reports start showing social data in the reports and also when will the data that currently shows on the dash start to be accurate ? (or are you leaving this 'as is' on pro since your migrating to Moz analytics ?)

Many Thanks

Dan

Hi

Im looking at the content viewed in December for a clients site and there's a high number of page views for some non-existent pages which received multiple hits eg. domain.com/dr-capability/ with 241 page views (54 unique page views)

How can you have multiple page views (and many unique page views) for pages that don't exist ?

Is it possible page is being generated automatically or something ? if so how come ?

Any ideas as to whats causing this much appreciated ?

All Best

Dan

ps - also many above average home page views

Hi Ash

Personally i would wait and see since G has been known to drop rankings for recently 'improved' pages just to stop people being able to correlate changes with ranking improvements.

I would give it a couple of weeks and see where you are then, if no improvement then change one thing at a time to undo possible over-optimisation.

Also keep an eye on a couple of competitors (who have similar domain authority to you) rankings too since if they are volatile over same time period then could just be general volatility

Having said that I have noted some of my clients/projects pages achieving an A grade with previous good rankings have recently dropped quite significantly and hence im testing reducing the numbers of keywords on page and using synonyms and plurals/singulars as well as the broadest of broad match combinations.

All Best

Dan

Is the https://www.youtube.com/keyword_tool the best solution for researching keywords to help with your YT descriptions and tags etc ?

I'm finding that huge numbers of the keyword ideas suggested by this tool are being listed as 'Not Enough Data'

Should you ignore them, or because they are being suggested they are being used but just not much ?

Any other resources for kw research for YT ?

cheers

dan

Can you have one for each region such as Uk & US like you might with FaceBook etc:

I know its a good idea for Geo-targeting reasons to have country specific social pages to promote country specific websites (i.e. UK FaceBook for .co.uk website and US Facebook for .com site etc), does the same apply to YouTube ?

Does YouTube allow this (since videos will be effectively the same on both channels) ?

I would hope so since say if you wanted to exploit annotated links to the main site from the videos then you would want the US viewer following a link to a US product page not a UK page and vice versa ?

Many Thanks

Dan

Hi

I have a UK based e-commerce client/project who has authorised a US distributor/dealer to set up their own US site along with US focused Facebook & other socials etc etc

Should they also have country specific YouTube channels (even if both target countries English language i.e. UK & US) ?

They brand has lots of video content of 2 main types:

1. Product reviews to host on the website (to win serps, snippets and hence conversions from search)

2. Longer more entertaining productions to put on YouTube channel to captivate, entertain and eventually drive YT target traffic to website via 'in video annotations' external link feature etc.

Hence it makes sense to me that the US agent should set up their own YT channel along with their other social pages like FB etc, since annotated links go to different sites (US & UK).

1. Does Google allow this (multiple channels)

2. If not and sticking with the one channel is it possible to geo-target in video annotated external links so depending upon viewer location serves up relevant country link ?

3. Any other ideas, help/advice, comments from anyone who has experience in this type of scenario ?

Many thanks

Dan

Hi Branden , sorry but i have no idea what that even means pls advise ?

Many Thanks

Dan

sorry, just saw both this q&a question and the news article within a few minutes of each other so just posted in case of interest, certainly not advocating an opinion either way just sharing the info.

possible ethical considerations with Go Daddy to:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1372007/Is-worst-branding-GoDaddy-boss-Bob-Parsons-filmed-shooting-elephant-Zimbabwe-villagers-wearing-company-logo-hack-carcass-Bob-Parsons.html

many thanks

thanks Michael but who do you call ? i have never seen a phone number for Google (UK) ?

Hi

Wheres the form for filling in/registering your brand with Google for trademark protection in adwords ?

I can only find an infringement/complaint form, which given no one currently infringing i imagine will be pointless filling it in.  I understand its possible to register trademark with Google in the first place

If someone can direct me to the exact page will be much appreciated ?

Many Thanks

Dan

A fantastic answer, as always Tom !!

Many thanks for clarification

All Best

Dan

Hi

I know authorship is all about the author hence should be a real person (the author) but in the case of children's books etc etc is it really not ok to develop authorship around the character rather the actual author ?

For example kids searching google will recognise the character but not the author

Even if G doesnt like it how bad is it to ignore them and proceed with the character ?

All Best

Dan

many thanks Erica

Should be fine !

May be worth even renaming the company/brand to include the Keyword, then you will find people naturally including the keyword in online & offline mentions (which often get added online too) of your brand etc and always a good idea to 'say what you are on the tin'

Whilst EMD & PMD have been devalued a domain name featuring the keyword that most applies to your service is still a very good thing to do IMO :0

All Best

Dan

Thanks Bex but im referring to username/url not page name of a page with a few thousand fans, so trying to find out if safe to change username/url without losing fans/likes