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Ruben,
Thank you for your response, it certainly solidifies the stance I'm taking with my client. I certainly like to give people the benefit of the doubt as everyone in SEO has their own experience and perspectives. SEO is not black and white but in the case of this proposal, I needed some outside opinions because that price point to any business owner is just too appealing. That is, until their #1 sales channel is gone lol!
Thanks Ruben!
Kevin
Hey everyone!
I have a client that got a $500 proposal from some agency that summarized their work as follows. I'm literally copy and pasting this:
This is a national company with a strong brand. Nowhere in this "proposal" is any mention of onsite optimization, any real content marketing, infographics, brand mentions, nothing...
I have explained at length that the tasks they are suggesting are a terrible idea, that they will likely get penalized and that most budgets at this range are usually ill advised. The agency has even admitted that they source this overseas to illegitimate firms.
I would love it if I could go to this meeting and have some community feedback as to why this is a bad idea. Please share your experiences, best practices and why most of these tasks are going to get them penalized.
Thanks everyone 
Kevin
Oh how I wish Google used SEOmoz data in their algorithm!
Unfortunately this isn't the case, so there are many other metrics we need to be looking at. The first redflag on your site that I saw is that your a local marriage counselor and that you have THAT many links. Over 6k links to a locally-focused site isn't completely unbelievable, but it seems excessive. Upon looking into it, it would appear that the domain has a ton of directory submissions and if I looked futher, I'd guess I'd find some low-quality article submissions (I apologize if that is not the case).
If you're not ranking well anymore, it's a fair bet that you have too many low quality links. I would look into doing some higher quality link building like infographics, industry-specific and local directories (different than what you have) and guest blogging.
While your current website might not be a problem, that doesn't mean it's the best that it could be. I would look into a redesign or getting it up on something simple like WordPress. I would imagine your bounce rate is pretty high (just an assumption). There are several on page conversion aspects that you're missing such as a readily available phone number, no forms or calls to action, trust factors and just overall appearance.
Does that help? I can elaborate on parts if you'd like.
Good luck, Robert!
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
It's debatable on whether Google takes no-followed links into consideration. I've heard arguments on both sides but where they are most beneficial is creating discussion on a forum or comment board to boost your brands image.
I know comment linking is easy, but do not get caught up in it. In my early days I had the "lazy seo" mentality (as much as I want to deny it), and one of my personal sites got dinged hard. I actually blogged about it when I used to work at SEO.com here: http://www.seo.com/blog/staying-off-googles-naughty-list/
Here is an article about how JC Penney got slammed for buying links: http://www.seo.com/blog/seo-jcpenney-disaster/
There are ways of link building that aren't spammy, but like I mentioned, any legitimate link building tactic can BECOME spammy if you are lazy.
I forgot to mention, but infographics are a great way to build links as well, but don't have the "if I build it, they will come" mentality. You need to promote it and share it for it to grow
I hope this is helping Zora!
Kevin Phelps
Hey Zora,
The thing to note about link building is that you need to do it with your brand in mind, not for the purpose of manipulating the search engines. Excellent link building methods include:
Do not get mixed up in this garbage:
Make sure you understand what Google means by "paid" links. This doesn't mean hiring an agency to help you is a "paid" link since you're paying them. A "paid" link is a purchase where you are dealing directly with the site owner that is irrelevant and holds no value whatsoever. The recommended link building methods above have other purposes besides just the link.
You should check out our infographic we made to help people with guest blogging. I think you'd like it: http://www.guestblogposter.com/beginners-guide-guest-blogging-infographic/
Just remember, any of these link building methods can become spammy. It's how you treat them that makes them effective. Do not over due it either. Make sure you are varying your anchor text and don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't do all guest posting or all directories. Mix it up and be legitimate!
Does that help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
Google is a joke ever since Penguin and Panda so I hope my real example shows you that you can't leave anything up to them.
I would never assume that Google will give credit to the rightful owner. We published an infographic on guest blogging months ago and several people picked it up. Our company STILL doesn't get the recognition it deserves: https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Beginners+Guide+to+Guest+Blogging&pws=0&hl=en&num=10
We in fact aren't even on the first page which blows my mind.
It's going to be a pain in the butt but you'll need to differentiate those pages to a fair degree and disassociate them as much as you can if they are trying to rank for the same keyword. Google may just see one of them as too similar and ignore one of the domains all together, or just certain pages.
I suppose using a canonical tag could resolve this, but it will still make one of the sites next to meaningless. If you want both sites to perform, you'll need to treat them as truly different sites, with different content, different pages, different hosting, etc.
Does that help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
What funny timing. Did my answer in the other thread work?
Kevin
Never heard of it or used it.
You just need a program on your mac that can read xml files. Download https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/smultron-5/id543634397?ls=1&mt=12.
This will allow you to read the xml file once you create it using whatever program you choose.
Kevin
Try using the paid version of the site I recommended. I'm sure there are other quality sitemap builders out there as well besides the one I'm mentioning.
Kevin
That is one loaded question!
For the on-page, I would recommend testing out SEOmoz's on-page optimization tool: http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/on-page-keyword-optimization/new
It seems you have a fair amount of relevancy assuming your main keywords are "fake diplomas" and "fake degrees". Nothing on your site seems to be a glaring issue that would 'cause you to NOT rank, besides that "links" page. I would take that down ASAP. Also, adding a blog section will help with reoccuring fresh content. Something Google loves.
All of your onsite effort can be next to meaningless if you were hit by Panda and/or Penguin. From looking at your backlinks, it appears as though you may be experiencing some issues with relevancy, low-quality links and/or heavy keyword anchor text.
Have you been using blog networks like Build My Rank or Distribute Your Articles? Have you been spinning content? Have you been buying Fiverr ads that are claiming they'll get you 10 .edu links for 5 bucks?
If so, you're going to want to reconsider your link building strategy and focus on higher quality links from more legitimate websites.
Being a guest posting company, I would venture to guess that link building is going to be tough for this industry, even if it is a 100% novelty item. Just focus on more legitimate link building, vary your anchor text like crazy, try to have the link JUST be the URL and watch your Webmaster Tools. If you have gotten an unnatural links warning, you might just want to check out the new link disavow tool.
I hope this helps, you have quite the road ahead of you but it's nothing unattainable.
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
Hey Zora,
The thing to note about link building is that you need to do it with your brand in mind, not for the purpose of manipulating the search engines. Excellent link building methods include:
Do not get mixed up in this garbage:
Make sure you understand what Google means by "paid" links. This doesn't mean hiring an agency to help you is a "paid" link since you're paying them. A "paid" link is a purchase where you are dealing directly with the site owner that is irrelevant and holds no value whatsoever. The recommended link building methods above have other purposes besides just the link.
You should check out our infographic we made to help people with guest blogging. I think you'd like it: http://www.guestblogposter.com/beginners-guide-guest-blogging-infographic/
Just remember, any of these link building methods can become spammy. It's how you treat them that makes them effective. Do not over due it either. Make sure you are varying your anchor text and don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't do all guest posting or all directories. Mix it up and be legitimate!
Does that help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
Could live in the sitemap but also incoming links that were using that old URL structure. With recent versions of WP, I think when you change the permalink structure it should automatically place 301 redirects in place...
I would try downloading the "redirection" plugin. Pretty simple and straight forward. You're also going to want to rebuild your sitemap and submit it through Google Webmaster Tools.
Does that answer your questions or would you like to provide your URL so I can look closer?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
Dana pretty much nailed it. You're already in the right place though (SEOmoz). To add to this list I'd include:
Not really any "formula", just exposure, experience and time with this industry.
Going to have to disagree with the Rank Tracker Add on that Dana is talking about though. If you are running less than 10 keywords, you'll be fine but anything more than that and Google will block your IP and your results will be messed up.
Does this help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
How many pages do you have? If it's less than 500 (I think), you can use http://www.xml-sitemaps.com/ for free
Once it's complete, download the uncompressed file and upload it to the root directory within your hosting as "sitemap.xml". Then, go to yoursite.com/sitemap.xml to verify that it's working, it should just look like a bunch of code.
Or, if you're running Wordpress, download Google XML Sitemaps. It's a plugin that will create it for you and keep it up to date (unlike the site mentioned above).
Once you have your sitemap generated, submit it within your Google Webmaster Tools account. This will increase your odds of being indexed.
Does this help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
There may be a better answer than this, but I what I'm thinking would probably work.
You can have as many sitemaps as you want, just use different filenames (e.g. /sitemap-en.xml and /sitemap-bg.xml). You might need to manually build them though.
Link to them from your robots.txt files and just submit the individual sitemaps in your Google Webmaster Tools. Repeat everytime you want Google to know about new files (if Google doesn't already).
I hope this helps!
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
David Mihm seems to be a big local voice in the industry. I think this article on all of his ranking factors should give you a pretty good idea of what to do:
To build citations (similar to link building), you have a few options (or all):
Does this help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
+1
Getting news and/or advice right from the horses mouth is excellent. Just don't let one persons opinion on SEO guide you. You need to research because most of SEO is theory and if you get a "bad poster on a great site" like Ryan mentioned, you might waste a lot of time!
I'm sure there are still places out there touting article spinning and blog networks, but don't be fooled!
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps
Try using the paid version of the site I recommended. I'm sure there are other quality sitemap builders out there as well besides the one I'm mentioning.
Kevin
Not sure Angies List is indexable as it's behind a login, so I don't think there is much SEO value there. Looks like Judy's Book puts their links in the business profile within an iframe. Not much SEO value there either. But don't not look into them, still could provide much needed value for leads.
I know Matt Cutts covered BOTW and the Yahoo directory here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pu1YWcIh04&feature=player_embedded
I think the number one reason why I would submit to these directories is because Matt seems to find it okay and that it could be good if Google goes the way of treating citations as links. If Google goes that way, then yes, those paid inclusions could be great, even without a link.
For other paid directories, I would only recommend those specific to your industry that will also send some sort of traffic. For example, if you are a plastic surgeon, get accepted on plasticsurgery.org. I've done that and it's worked perfectly. Paying for general directories is a waste of money that could be spent on other forms of link building.
I would look into other citation sources that you can get from a UBL submission, a Whitespark campaign or a Localeze submission. They go through and add your local business to all the local directories. Seems to work pretty good for the local clients I've worked with.
Does that help?
Kevin Phelps
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinwphelps