Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thanks again Patrick.

I thought this was a good summing up by Neil Patel.

Hi

In my quest to develop a strategy to enhance "brand exposure" I'm considering guest blogging on sites with very good authority. However my question is;

1. Can I post my article and place my "author bio" (which includes my company linked name and social platforms)  at the bottom of an article?

2. Should author bios links be no follow?

3. Or, does Google allow page rank to pass for this.

We have some fantastic articles that are based on projects we've carried out, and would like to share these with readers on Dezeen, Contemporist and the rest of the interior design world.

Your help is always very much appreciated!

Regards

Gary

I've just spoken to an editor at the Daily Mail (National UK Newspaper) who expressed that they work closely with PR agencies to "endorse" certain companies and there products, however all links are not followed.

Example here; http://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-2952597/Exploit-inch-home-clever-multi-functional-furniture.html

Hi Lesley

This was certainly my perception. General rule -  a balanced link profile is certainly required, and such a strategy should not be performed at scale.

Patrick

Thanks so much for your feedback. Yes, your backlink profile should certainly be balanced. I'm certainly more reluctant to stay away from commissioned articles now, regardless of Google's perception.

What is Google's stance on a guest posts containing the linked author bio? Is this looked upon as sponsored? Is it required by the webmaster to set author bio links as no follow?

Apart from creating great content, linking to influencers and posting on certain social media platforms, how else to you attain links. What would a standard SEO practice implement into such a strategy?

Maybe links in the future will be devalued as semantic search takes over?

Thanks again Patrick

Ok "Commissioned Posts" meaning industry influencers/bloggers etc writing about your brand, products or services and possibly "linking" to your website (in exchange for money, or not)

a) I'm contacted by a blogger who wants to write a piece about our product and naturally links back.

b) A blogger says, yes, we can write a fantastic article about your brand and link to you for $$$..$ - is this ok if not at scale?

What is deemed as ethical?

I want to make sure our link building campaign is done within Google's guidelines. Here is currently what we are doing, or intending to do;

1. We're producing unique content on our site and sharing this with key influencers organically on Twitter, Facebook and G+ communities. This so far is working well for a new start up.

2. Writing guest posts on authoritative sites (with only our author bio at the bottom, branded link to our site, social links) sharing knowledge or interesting content which readers will want to read. Sites like HuffPost, The Guardian would be great although we're starting on authoritative well maintained blogger sites within the industry to begin.

3. Reaching out to industry influencers who may like to review our products. Many of them have got back to me stating that they "can" run commissioned posts (normally requires a large fee) which carries a followed link, branded or unbranded. Although we may have initially contacted them, and money could be exchanged, in the eyes of Google wouldn't this appear as a natural post?

Please let me know your thoughts on this? It would be great to gain more of an understanding exactly what I can or cannot do when it comes to developing high quality links for our business!

Your feedback (sharing any examples if possible) would be truly appreciated.

Thanks

Gary

Thanks for your help guys.

I want to make sure our link building campaign is done within Google's guidelines. Here is currently what we are doing, or intending to do;

1. We're producing unique content on our site and sharing this with key influencers organically on Twitter, Facebook and G+ communities. This so far is working well for a new start up.

2. Writing guest posts on authoritative sites (with only our author bio at the bottom, branded link to our site with social links) sharing knowledge or interesting content which readers would want to read. Sites like HuffPost, The Guardian would be great although we're starting on authoritative well maintained blogger sites with the industry to begin.

3. Reaching out to industry influencers who may like to review our products. Many of them have got back to me stating that they "can" run commissioned posts (normally requires a large fee) which carries a followed link, branded or unbranded. Although we may have initially contacted them, and money could be exchanged, in the eyes of Google wouldn't this appear as a natural post?

Please let me know your thoughts on this? It would be great to gain more of an understanding exactly what I can or cannot do when it comes to developing high quality links for our business! I would like to be more pro-active.

Your feedback (sharing any examples if possible) would be truly appreciated.

Thanks

Gary

Hi

I'm a little curious as to what the lastest guidelines are for sponsored posts by Google?

The writer blurb at the bottom of an article is of course ok, but what about companies who pay money to another company to have a fantastic piece written "with a link" but with no evidence who the writer is?!

Thanks

Gary

Hi Guys

I apologise for not responding sooner. Attached are "most" of our keywords we are ranking for (for individual pages) since launching in Feb this year. We're now starting to execute a marketing plan that will contribute to earning links. Hopefully this will begin to rank our more "competitive" keywords.

Have you guys worked with many start ups? How quickly were they able to rank for non competitive/competitive keywords?

Would really like to hear from you regarding your experiences, to ensure I get everything right from the get go. Thanks.

Gary

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Just the one keyword per page

Hi Ivan

Linking Root Domains are the number of "unique" domains linking to your domain or page; for example sony.com linking back to your website. Maybe you wrote for them and it was published on their site (with a link feed back to your site).

Multiple back-links from a "single" domain will be grouped and counted as a one linking "root domain". If you are doing something good or have a fantastic product, and you are telling the world online, and the world says WOW, you'll "naturally" develop links.

This article will give you more information about how to get yourself out there and achieve links.

http://www.quicksprout.com/2013/03/21/11-creative-ways-to-build-links/

Hope this helps you achieve your goals Ivan?

Hi Garrett

I suggest using followerwonk.com to pull out "bloggers" or influencers within your target market. This is a fantastic tool and I reccomened you check this out. You can search Twitter "profiles" and "bios" that relate to your business.

I'd never cold call an influencer "unless" your prepared to add true value to what they do, just saying :). It's much better for example to write and "epic" post and include the good things they do, how well they do it, as well as demonstrating your industry expertise - then let them know! This really does help to build true working relationships.

Hope this helps.

Hi Adam

I strongly advise you take a look at this article http://searchengineland.com/matt-cutts-stick-a-fork-in-it-guest-blogging-is-done-182147

Create good content and start to share using social media, forums. This will bring people back to you website or maybe not if the content is boring.

Create a good tile  "How to fix a pipe with your eyes closed" with good meaningful info.

Also if you need more industry specific specialists who will have an interest in the content you post, visit followerswonk.

Hope this helps?

Hey

It sounds like your talking about 'Schema Markup?' This post on KISSmetrics tells your exactly how to achieve schema mark up for your site.

I hope this helps you?

http://blog.kissmetrics.com/get-started-using-schema/

Most directories are not worth being listed on and certainly not worth the money in my opinion! Who uses directories anymore? Maybe some folk's still do, but like Eduardo says, make sure it's a "no-follow." Surely your money could be better spent elsewhere?

"Do paid directory links violate Google guidelines?" I'm going to have to say, yes! And I'm saying yes to "no-follow" links to - why? Purely on the basis that your practically throwing money away!

Any links intended to manipulate page rank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s guidelines.

You can find further information here.

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

Hope this helps?

Gary

A few which are considered "natural" are perfectly fine if there is "relevance." However excessive link exchanges "you link to me, and I'll link to you" or partner pages for the sake of cross linking in not good and will get you in trouble with the Google Police.

My advice, keep it natural.

Hi

I'm a little curious as to what the lastest guidelines are for sponsored posts by Google?

The writer blurb at the bottom of an article is of course ok, but what about companies who pay money to another company to have a fantastic piece written "with a link" but with no evidence who the writer is?!

Thanks

Gary

A highly debated topic. Domains with many key words, plus location key word stuffing have seen many sites penalised.  Much comes down to the keywords used within a domain to see if you have been penalised or not by Google. You would really need to look assess all algorithms to eliminate any doubt.

All specialists will tell you it's best to build a Brand site on a keyword domain so you get both brand mentions and generic intent keywords.

Moz is just one very good tool to use to assess the health of a website. A good marketing company will use various tools to check out any problems. Never stick to one. My advice - have an expert assess everything before coming to with a strategy to improve you website performance.

Hope this helps James.

Good luck

Gary

Ok, I hope this is going to be helpful, but I have created two options for you...

• Option 1: Create unique descriptions for each page if you can? 
  This will take some time and probably a lot of investment. I've experienced this before with clients who always seem to write something very similar for each description, so be very careful with this.
• Option 2: OR, Canonicalize all the variations your ' race event' product  - what is the best marketable page?
  I highly recommend you use the canonical tag to tell search engines that you are fully aware that these 'similar' products are using the same info descriptions, as well as heading etc (if they are). This will help you to keep everything the same for your users, and the bonus is, you do not have to rewrite any new product copy, and... of course this will help avoid getting 'dropped' by search engines. Do this by looking at Google Analytics, what page is working for you, what needs improving? Your analysis will help to create a canonical tag that uses that URL. You should then drop this same tag into allthe products in the set, including the your best page after working out which is working for you (canonical tags can be self referential causing zero problems).

Yes it was down around 9am PST today. There server is probably overloaded.