Welcome to the Q&A Forum
Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.
A portfolio is not necessarily time-specific therefore it is not a post type such as a blog. A portfolio is just that, a portfolio of your work that you have completed (ie static) so why would you need to keep updating it. If you need to update/new articles then you would use the post type (blog).
Re filter have you tried https://wordpress.org/plugins/evm-portfolio/
In your case I would recommend not going down the post/blog route and use a custom taxonomy (ie portfolio) as using a post to publish your portfolio will also be available as rss and is also considered as time-specific.
As Andy has already said it's what you prefer. Personally I dislike http://template-demo.org/woo/WCM01/WCM010002/product/quod-mazim/ I think it's the green left hand fold over.
My fav is http://demo.jawtemplates.com/goodstore/goodstore03/product/black-t-series/ Well laid out with obvious cart functionality (I did see the third one had a cart also it just wasn't as obvious on page open)
I agree with Martijn. Also I have previously had this same scenario ie hiding/changing elements of text based on IP lookup. I can also recommend using GeoIP2 Country web service from MaxMind.
Are you using the hreflang tag which helps Google crawlers understand that certain pages, section, subdomain or country code level domains (cctlds) is targeted for a specified country.
Good Moz article here: Using the Correct Hreflang Tag: A New Generator Tool
Posts are the default content type that is used for blog posts etc. They are dynamic content, with the first blog post displayed changing as a new one is added.
Pages are the default WordPress content type that is used for static content. Unlike posts these are not time-specific.
Portfolio or for that matter what ever you wish to name it are custom post types and taxonomy and can act as either, a good article to read here: Introducing Custom Posts and Taxonomies
Just a very quick look for my penny's worth: The 'Read More' links on this page http://www.zulu.org.za/archive are then being 301 redirected rather than then new URL being used on the 'Read More' also some of the archive pages do not appear have any copy in such as http://www.zulu.org.za/index.php?view_page+180295
The sitemap link in the page footer 404's
The contact us in the page footer (http://www.zulu.org.za/contact-us) is redirected to http://www.zulu.org.za/archive/contact-us-F30503
I'm slightly confused as the question title is 'Problems with Wordpress and Yoast SEO Plugin' however you then say 'the plugin was somehow stopped but not this time'. Are you having an issue with the plugin or could it possible be something else you have done either on or off site?
Think of it this way if you already rank for 'Townscript' with the domain name being a match. Why would you need to use this word throughout the whole site titles. I would recommend using it on some generic pages such as 'About Townscript' etc.
Use the title for something better, something more descriptive (wow just think of all that extra space!).
Excellent that you have used Canonical which should be enough of a signal however personally I also use the robots.txt file to disallow the dynamic element of the URL ie ?xz=
You might want to start here: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/how-search-engines-operate
In your example, what position did this result appear and I going to assume to did this as a 'non personalised search'?
Here are some good answers - http://moz.com/community/q/good-rank-tracker-tool
I think you may need to elaborate a little on your question as to why the page goes from http to https ie for a cart checkout etc?
1. 'Will this get me into trouble creating duplicate content with the main category page? Should I only have the main category indexed and "no-index, follow" all the product attribute pages? '
I don't feel that you have anything to worry about here, however having an extra element of descriptive text would help on the sub category pages ie. on chainsofgold.co.uk/earrings/studs/ etc..
2. 'Can I link to those product attribute pages without the risk of getting accused of creating duplicate content?'
Linking is fine however to ensure the search engines do not consider those extra parameters you should filter them via robots.txt ie Disallow: /?filter_gold-type OR Disallow: /?filter_* (if all your filters begin with '?filter_')
You should also link your sitemap from your robots.txt file
I guess it depends on what works for you as any of the platforms you mentioned are capable of selling most physical products.
I've tried out quite a few (not tried Prestashop sorry Lesley) and my personal favourite is WooCommerce, If you can work with php, I suggest you create a child theme and make all code changes in the child functions.php/css then you have a framework that is fairly simple to upgrade.
Google bans sites (domain names) rather than IP addresses. However if you are thinking of moving your site so https then you would need a dedicated IP address. Yoast has published an interesting article here Moving your website to https / SSL: tips & tricks perhaps that's what they are referring to.
From a technical prospective that's fine, you can find more information on the implementation of this scenario here Advanced Configuration - Web Tracking and here Multiple tracking codes on web pages
No, I would recommend that you fix the underlying issue. I can see from your sitemap that you still have the URL's with commas in.
Personally I would use screamingfrog.co.uk to find your crawl errors as you will not need to wait a week for the next report.
So since you tidied the URL's has moz crawled your site again or are you waiting for the next crawl?
Where are you seeing the errors being reported? If you have corrected the problem with the error URL's and there are no links to theses URL's then there should not be a problem.
If however you are seeing theses URL's in the search results then yes a 301 redirect would be appropriate.
A 301 redirect would be sufficient as this is effectively telling the search engine that the page has moved permanently.
Hi, I am assuming that coriate.com is the web designer, if so they should have blocked search engine/public access to the site via something like Htpasswd.
The sub domain is appearing in the search results so yes I would recommend a 301 redirect.
Now I'm confused, you said "But it's not visible on front end side (except the Facebook comment iFrame)." Then "the hidden text is not inside the iFrame"
In the source code do you actually see the word iFrame?
Generally speaking anything in an iFrame will not be indexed for your site and therefore will provide no SEO benefit. So if the hidden text is within the iFrame this will have no positive or negative effect for your site.
A quick test for this would be to test your site in http://seo-browser.com and compare it to the same page source code (in browser right click 'View Page Source' or 'View Source' depending on browser) as I'm not sure what elements are being hidden
Your link will not work as it is within your account. Perhaps an image may work better
What's your thought behind the question. In my opinion telling Google that this is a no-follow link indicates that the receiving site is not trusted.
If your happy to link to them then you should be happy to allow follow - if that's an actual term 
Hi
Just did a very quick test via saucelabs.com using windows 7 ie9 and the client logos get messed up, more importantly the 'ball park estimator' does not display any input information in the actual field. ie where you have the $Bond Amount text this is not displayed on the tests I did.
Signup for a free account (30mis of testing I think) it would be well worth it. There are other cross browser testing sites out there so any will do the job.
Hi,
As long as you have the domain then you have control over the redirects. The hosting is just a place that your domain lives in. So you can host your domain anywhere you wish and redirect the traffic within your new hosting account.
Also as I asked earlier what did you mean by 'the wordpress site is hosted on hostgator as a subdomain of another site'?
I can see it on auto_dealer_bond.htm rather than auto_dealer_bond.html
Have you done cross browser testing with something like www.saucelabs.com Check your analytics for the most popular browser you visitors use and test against that, also check if certain browsers are resulting in more bounces.
I agree with Federico, as long as it's readable to the search engine then you should not have an issue.
You could try seo-browser.com to see if the menu is visible to search engines.
Hi,
I'm going to assume that as you have said it's an e-commerce site that the URL parameters are created by product variations, filters, sorts etc. If so then you must already be seeing those parameters on the URL of your site as you navigate and in your analytics or search results.
Your SEO specialist should easily be able to add those parameters to the robots file. Then personally I would resubmit a site map for completeness and wait for results to take effect.
If www.michelangelohotel.com will be pointed to www.starhotels.com/hotels/michelangelo/ then all you need to do is use a 301 redirect via the www.michelangelohotel.com htaccess file.
For example to redirect the location page:
Redirect 301 /en/location.aspx http://www.starhotels.com/hotels/michelangelo/en/location.aspx
Do the same for all pages on michelangelohotel.com
This is assuming that you no longer want www.michelangelohotel.com as a separate site as you have suggested. Anyone visiting the www.michelangelohotel.com directly or via a link will be redirected to the correct page on www.starhotels.com. The 301 also tells search eninges that the page has moved.
Hi,
Just trying to understand 'the wordpress site is hosted on hostgator as a subdomain of another site'
So will your new site be
www.affordable-uncontested-divorce.com
OR
Hi,
I picked up a tool seo-browser.com from this post http://moz.com/community/q/what-recommendations-do-you-have-for-the-seo-of-this-site#reply_237515 by David Kley
It's a bit like a Fetch as Google https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/158587?hl=en
Unfortunately yes you will need to 301 the subdomains back to the folder structure.
Hi, Assuming you are setting a cookie to detect the visitors previous visits then this should be fine. Google will only see the new visitor variation as robots do not accept cookies.
If you are not setting a cookie let us know how you are detecting the visitors previous visits so others may help you further.
Interesting article here: http://motionographer.com/2013/04/23/how-to-make-sure-you-can-show-work-in-your-portfolio/ Not exactly your question but in principle the same.
The advice to use sub domains is a wow in it self from an SEO point of view. Sub domains do not pass authority so it's basically like having a new domain for each sub domain.Folders would have been a far better solution in my opinion.
Interesting debate regarding the learning page re domains on Moz here: http://moz.com/community/q/moz-s-official-stance-on-subdomain-vs-subfolder-does-it-need-updating
I'm no legal beagle but just because you have completed work for someone doesn't entitle you to use their logo. Why don't you just ask them, if you have done a great job I'm sure they won't have an issue with it.
Personally I use the folder structure ie. www.domain.es and www.domain.es/en.
Good posts on moz here: The International SEO Checklist And Using the Correct Hreflang Tag: A New Generator Tool
In short the content contained in the iframe will not be indexed. I have previously used iframes for this reason to ensure that they do not get indexed.
I hear what you are saying re having the control over the code, I've been coding for more years than I care to remember however I prefer to run sites on Wordpress for a number of reasons such as control over content, navigation is simplified, translation management, hundreds of plug ins and it's written in php so is a standard language.
I always use a child theme and recommend anyone to create one for their theme if the developers has not provided one for you. This is where the real control over a well written theme comes into play. I have full e-commerce sites using woocommerce, optimised using yoast and customised to work and look exactly how I want by me and my team.
I would just say try it, get a decent pre built theme (suggestion only - http://themeforest.net/item/impreza-retina-responsive-wordpress-theme/6434280) to give you some idea what Wordpress and a theme can actually do.
Moz's HTTP Status Codes infographic is a great explanation of status codes. Personally I would 301 them to another page at best a similar product or blog post relating to the service/product at worst another page. 500 error doesn't help anyone either the visitors, links or search engines it just shouts 'server failed to complete the request'
It would be best to have a responsive site in terms of SEO and for your own content management issues however if you currently have separate URLs (as you do with the m.domain) then this is useful https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/details#separateurls and also this post on moz Mobile Site Audit Checklist from March 3rd, 2014 would also be a good read.
Responsive is the way to go in my opinion.
The Rules of Link Building - Whiteboard Friday posted on April 4th, 2014 which advises against this:
Don't link externally in the footer
A couple of other rules that I see people violate all the time that Google has made painfully clear in the past few months: Don't link externally in the footer. Just don't. I'm not going to go into the reasons. Just don't do that.
And
Avoid site-wide links
By the same token, except for navigation, avoid site-wide links. This is something that we've known for years. If someone links to you externally, site-wide, in the side bar, that's ripe for Penguin-style links.
Congratulations on your new position Jason.
Also nice to see that you have responded to everyone who made a comment.
I do like to give new themes a chance to bed in and get some feedback first so I agree with you on that one. Re the cost this could be an attempt to get some sales in on the theme to boost it's popularity.
Side note: I have just started using this one http://themeforest.net/item/impreza-retina-responsive-wordpress-theme/6434280 as it has the visual composer built in (a separate plugin which you can further extend - http://codecanyon.net/item/visual-composer-page-builder-for-wordpress/242431), it's well written and I am raving about it. Better that Avada in my personal opinion. (No affiliate link, no personal or commercial interest in my recommendation)
Sure you know already - Use a child theme
I also would suggest that you delete them as no search engine use them and as already suggested it gives your competitors a list of keywords that you are trying to optimise for.
Think content rather than a list of keywords