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When going through a website migration you should always redirect old pages to the most relevant new page. For me, it doesn't matter whether that is an internal page or homepage. If you redirect the old homepage to the new homepage and the content is not relevant then you are going to have a high bounce rate as customers will not be seeing the right page for their search query.

It may be worth tailoring the design to show people that they are on a new website (sounds daft but users sometimes need the reassurance) and this way they are more likely to remain on the website even if things aren't exactly the same. It is probably a good time to go through your link profile to double check the keywords as well, make sure you have a mix of branded and non-branded keywords (which it sounds like you have already).

Hi Olivier,

Just to add to what the guys have said, with a www. and non-www. version of the website, you should really 301 redirect one to the other (I'd always choose to redirect to the www version but you can choose).

It's all about relevance so as long as the is a purpose to each page then there is no harm in creating a page for each city. Make sure you do your Google Places listings for both (if there is an office for each) as well as that will give you some extra visibility. As David said, just be careful with the content to make sure it is completely different for each page.

Hi,

As Thomas said in his first comment...your competitors (and I do this when researching for our clients) will use this when trying to see what keywords you are trying to compete for so I always leave it out. There are obviously other ways of seeing this so it's not going to mean they'll never know what you are targeting but it makes them work a bit harder to get the info.

In short...leave it out.

PR and SEO do go hand in hand though, if they have an external/internal PR agency then use the coverage they provide and use it contact bloggers, put it on social media websites etc. It's something I do for our clients and works quite well. Use various branded links in the content and push that out to websites/bloggers that will help influence customers.

Was there something on the website that was omitted in the new design? A tool/ news story etc. Maybe they were doing a lot more PR than they are now so it has resulted in less branded traffic. It does sound very strange but doesn't sound like it is a penalty because you would have lost your rankings which hasn't happened.

Have you lost rankings for branded terms as well? If so then it's almost definitely a penalty. The drop in PR to n/a is very strange but I'd be more worried if the branded terms have gone. What are the rankings looking like at the moment? Any huge drops?

Hi Ciaran,

Welcome to the SEO world!!

Moz's ranking software shows you were you rank, the >50 you mentioned is how much it has risen/dropped since they last crawled the website. I use Advanced Web Ranking for my keywords, its not free but does as many keywords as you like. However, if you are only managing 1 account then use Moz's ranking tool

Hi Jon,

What are the stats like year-on-year, are they ~20% down as well. If it coincided with the launch of the new website maybe it is worth asking them if they utilised all the correct redirects, if they didn't and Google is still trying to reach the new website and the old links point to the older domain then this could have an adverse effect.

It doesn't seem like a penalty to me because if it was then all your keywords would have reduced, not just the branded traffic. If they are a well known company, why not look at doing more PR, look at driving traffic that way.

DONT JUST IGNORE THEM!! First of all, I'd get in touch with the websites to see if they will remove them, this is always the best option rather than just disavow-ing the links. If you don't get a response or they won't take them down, then use the disavow tool. Remember to put that your website was spammed by someone at the top as well.

Hi Paul,

The disavow tool should be used as a last resort really, you should really try and get the links taken down because Google wants to see you have made an effort. Did you receive the message in Webmaster Tools or is it just an algorithm penalty you received?

Hi Brian,

I use http://linkrisk.com/, it is really good and has been endorsed by many of us in the industry. There are different packages available depending on how big the backlink profile you have is but it categorises the links into suspect, high, neutral, reduced and low risk and helps you identify which links you need to concentrate on. I'd recommend you have a look at it.

You're welcome, good luck with it all!

Hi,

I had a quick look through the back link profile on OSE and there are a number of low quality websites linking to the website. I'm assuming some of these are websites that he's built but the way he is linking to the site isn't the best. He links to "web designers sim designs" and that is sitewide (as you said).

I would also look at the ratio of branded to non-branded anchor text links as there are a high percentage of keyword rich anchor text links. This is likely to have resulted in seeing the profile as unnatural. Look at getting rid of the sitewide links and changing some of the keyword links to branded links. Have a good look through the linking domains because some will be doing more harm than good.

I agree with David..it seems like the drop was due to the one of the algorithm updates. Did the drop happen at the end of May by any chance? There's no way it is down to installing GA.

I'd be really careful when it comes to keyword anchor text links. I find that 99% of them are either unnatural (ie in author bios) or paid for which is even worse (unless you no-follow it!). Ensure that your onpage SEO areas are perfected and make sure that there are no other issues onsite that could be hindering your rankings and then concentrate on producing high quality content.

Have a look at your backlink profile and see what percentage of branded links to keyword anchor text links you have because you should have a higher percentage of branded links. Those who concentrate on including too many anchor text links will (if they haven't been already) be penalised.

Unfortunately this is a problem that many people have. Sometimes the best thing to do is to simply rewrite your content. I know it seems the wrong thing to do because why should you have to rewrite yours but its often the easiest thing to do. The websites with your content on will be getting penalised for copying yours not the other way around as Google will realise that your website is the authority on this.

However, you can visit https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice?pli=1 and file a DMCA complaint to Google. Also, have a read through this post http://blog.kissmetrics.com/keep-content-thieves-away/ as well, if you haven't already sorted out your rel=author tags then this will help you.

Good luck!

When you are looking to post content or get links from anywhere, look at the potential of the website as well as the stats. Yes, it is really good if they have a high DA and PA because it will tell you that it is an established website but it is not the be all and end all. Look at the social presence of a website/blog, whether they tweet the story or post it on facebook, look at how many posts they have made and how regularly they are posting and what they are posting about. This will tell you much more about the blog/website.

If you are really interested in posting then why not ask them how many readers, sign ups, followers, visits etc they have/get because if your post is just going to sit on a website and nobody reads it then your time is best spent elsewhere. So a blog maybe new and therefore only has a DA of 10, but they may have many followers and a high readership count so the post will be useful.

Hi Andy,

To me, that post looks paid for and as the link is not no-followed Google probably thinks the same. If the post is driving traffic then I'd recommend you get it no-followed (this can be hard to describe to a blogger) so that you do don't lose the traffic. I think that 99% of anchor text links in blog posts look spammy because they rarely fit naturally and bloggers rarely use them, saying that, the link in the blog doesn't look too bad but I'd no-follow it if I was you.

I've used Business Directory before because I think it's quite good. It is relevant (because it is a UK website) and as long as it is in a relevant category, it is ok. Directories are often useless though so I would look at industry specific directories rather than the generic ones.

Hi Steve,

yeah of course, send me an emails to karlb@deepred55.co.uk and give me some more details, eg website and what has been done on it in the past.

thanks,

Karl

You would have only received a message in Webmaster tools if you had got a manual penalty, if it is an algorithm penalty you wouldn't have got any message. I would have a look at all your inbound links and see if any look unnatural, it would also be useful to look at your website structure to make sure there are no glaringly obvious errors that may be hindering you.

Hi Steve,

Is your website a .com.au site? If you want to rank well in .co.uk etc then you may need to look at setting up a UK version and using Webmaster tools to let Google know. However, as Chris said, it does sound like you may been hit with a penalty. Is this the case for all pages on the website and keywords?

How your website ranks for different search terms is based on many things. First of all, I get you at number 2 for "irish payroll online" in Google UK. Google will look at a number of things to determine what your website is relevant for. It will look at the optimisation of the website, so if you want to rank for "irish payroll online software" then you will need to find the relevant page on your website (which I'm assuming would be the homepage looking at the site) and include that term in the key areas (title tag, meta description, H1, Content etc).

Then once you have optimised the website you need to start creating some unique pieces of content and then use them to get in touch with bloggers, key websites that will help drive traffic and sales to the business. As Chris said, setup up your campaign in Moz and look it will explain ways of optimising your website.

Good luck!

Hi,

I can seem pretty hard to get some quality links nowadays but I think the best thing to do is not to think of it as "getting links" and to think about where your content will be seen by your potential/existing customers. Guest blogging can still be useful because if it is on a relevant and powerful blog then there is a good chance that people will read your post, realise you have a good knowledge on the subject and look for more information.

The secret is to give enough information about the subject you are writing about but enough in reserve to make readers want to know more. Think about creating some content (without the subject of the website you are looking to build for it is hard to be specific) and adding it to your website. As saw this before on Direct Travel's website (www.direct-travel.co.uk/infographic/uk-aviation) and thought it'd be a good example. They created this infographic and they can now contact different travel-related websites to ask them to link to this page. On the page where you create the "linkable asset", make sure you have details about the products/services you offer because you want to entice people to search through the website and ultimately convert.

This is just one way of getting links but it can be quite successful if you find the right type of content.

Hope that helps!

To add to the top 2 posts, it was only clustering domains after the first 2 pages I seem to remember reading

Whilst Cesar is right than Nike has a perfect link profile, they don't really need to do much link building because they get it all done naturally for them. 99% of companies don't have the social interaction (or the budget!) that Nike does so it isn't really that helpful to study their linking profile.

Saying that, the majority of your links should be branded because when people are talking about you they are unlikely to link your website via an anchor text keyword. You need to create some linkable assets so, for example, content based around the cities you have apartments in  and create some content that bloggers will want to have on their website.

Was "service apartments Bangalore" the keyword you pushed the most by any chance? Article directories have been seriously devalued and directories haven't been worthwhile for years now (unless they are really good!). I suggest looking through your backlink profile on OSE and Webmaster Tools and start to get rid of the article links because they will be doing you more harm than good.

Just make sure that your posts are relevant to the blog you are posting on and that the links match the blog post you are writing. In terms of the benefit, because they are going to different pages on your website there is some benefit to be had.

hi Larry,

That does seem like an extortionate amount of links from ONE website. I had a quick look because I thought it may have been a footer link across all the pages but it wasn't. I did a search http://en.dilandau.eu/download-songs-mp3/audio%20books/3.html and saw all the links.

I don't think it will have harmed the website that much. They all seem like legitimate links to me, audio book links on a music website may be a grey area but I don't think Google will see it as spamming.

What kind of link building are you doing?

Hi Justin,

I'd say it depends on how important the keyword is to you. If you got a grade F for something then I assume you aren't even targeting that keyword!

Look at easy/hard the fix would be as well because some of the fixes need a considerable amount of work. As long as it is a keyword and page that is going to drive traffic and sales, I'd concentrate on moving the C's to B's and B's to A's.

"Google will slam you into a wall, pick you up, throw you on the floor, punch you in the junk, toss you out of a window, and then start dating your mom." beautifully put!!

Hi Mozzers,

Just wondering how many of you had used Bing Advertising and what kind of results you got compared to Google's PPC ads? Just wondering whether or not to set up a few campaigns and trial it.

Thanks!

I wouldn't waste your time to be honest. Article directories, even Ezine Articles, took a huge hit and I honestly don't think they even drive that much traffic. We used to use them a while back and they drove hardly any traffic so I'd focus on other areas. If you are going to the effort of creating unique content, use it as a way of attracting people to your website, you'll get much better results from it.

Whatever you do, DO NOT PAY FOR LINKS!!!! If the content you have to offer is quality then they will be willing to take it. Don't just guest post for the sake of links though, if links is why you are doing it then you're wasting your time because Penguin 2.0 was released to stop people doing exactly that!

Concentrate on writing compelling and interesting copy in your website and reach out to people using it as a way of getting people to visit your website where you can then sell your products and services. If you find a website that looks good, see what kind of stats they have. If they openly say what kind of visits they get then that's good, how often to they post, look at the cache date of the website and look at the quality of the posts.

A good place to start is to look at where your competitors have links on, especially nowadays with the changes, those ranking at the top are sure to have some good links.

Have you tried using Whois to find the contact details?

If you disavow the domain rather than an individual page in the disavow tool, you shouldn't have to update the file every time they take one of your feeds. I don't think there is anything you can do to stop them taking it though unfortunately.

100% in agreement with Alan here. Reconsideration request and the disavow tool DO work and we have used them on 2 clients with proof. It can take anything from 4-12 months for you to actually see the positive results, they do work. Try and get the links removed first BEFORE using the disavow tool because Google wants to see that you have made an effort to get them removed rather than just take the easy way around!

It is true that you won't get responses from them all, especially if it is article websites where the webmaster rarely does anything on the site itself. That is when you use the disavow tool, just make sure that you are 100% certain that the links are doing your website harm.

Be honest though and look at which links are spammy and do your up-most to get them removed first. It takes time and a lot of effort but it will work....eventually!

It is basically looking at targeting spammy links. Rankings in a number of industries have been altered, some considerably. It also targets the lower level pages on your website rather than just your home page as was the case with Penguin 1.0.

However, it really is too early to know exactly what has changed but the points above are the main ones I think.

I wouldn't agree that you don't need to worry about bad links built 18 months ago. Google are always refining their algorithm so you shouldn't just hope that your links won't be seen and penalised.

Hi John,

If they were doing articles and promoting them then this is why your website has been hit. Article websites took a major hit in the update prior to Christmas and the Penguin 2.0 update last night has more than likely reaffirmed any penalty you were going to receive unfortunately. Do a backlink analysis in OSE and find all the article websites with links on and get them taken   down (if you can, obviously if you have login details then this will be easier). If you can't then use the disavow tool.

Don't forget that any onsite changes that you make, you will have to wait for Google to come back and cache the website before you see any effect. Concentrate on creating great content and look to create relationships with those in your industry and concentrate on your outreach. 5 links on relevant, topical blogs are worth a million times more than 10000 links on article websites.

Hi Jonathan,

Lets deal with the disavow-ing first. I'd do a backlink analysis of the website and find ALL the links that look irrelevant and spammy and try and get them taken down first, if that fails then use the disavow tool but only if you are 100% sure they are doing you harm. It's a tricky thing the disavow tool but Google does urge you to try and get them removed before using it.

In terms of the website and the products in the footer...Why not create a section in the main body of the website such as "Customer Favourites" or "Most Popular". The reason for this is because, I'm not sure if users would scroll to the footer whereas if it is in the main body of the website, your customers are more likely to see it.

I think it largely depends on the industry you are in. The important thing to remember is that SEO is a long term strategy and therefore a long term commitment.

Google is always looking to refine its searches and it will get to all industries and those who are spamming will eventually get penalised. As Penguin 2.0 has only just been released, give it a few days and you will see the true effect of it. Keep the faith (even though its hard to sometimes!)

Are you using PR websites to spread news or build links? If its the latter then don't waste your time. If its the former then you're better off finding bloggers that regularly talk about your company's services and send the PR to them (and tailor to their audience if necessary). Read this post http://www.seroundtable.com/google-press-release-links-16136.html which should tell you all you need to know about PR's.

I agree with Simon, GA is perfect for showing data. Just create a login for the client on the account so they can see their stats.

This is where Google gets it wrong in my opinion. The video that Matt Cutts did a few weeks ago said they were going to target key industries that are typically spammed like Payday loans but even companies on there seemed to have been missed. Also, EMD's should have been devalued but here is another example of companies dodging this.

I think the only thing to do when you operate in industries like this is to concentrate on your own website and make sure you are creating quality content to engage with customers online.

Screaming Frog is quite good I seem to remember, it will crawl all your URL's then create the sitemap for you. You may need to change the "priority" of the pages but the hard work is pretty much done for you.

Hi Rafiqul,

Your links look very spammy which is a sure fire way of getting your website penalised. I didn't look at all of them but the ones you have on blogspot are footer links and they are really bad. I suggest going through every link to your website and be really honest about which links look out of place and which are natural.

How have your other rankings been since last night? If they have all dropped then you may have been penalised and you need to act quickly. Check your Webmaster Tools account to see if you have had any warnings, start fixing the links ASAP though.

One place to start is to see whether the suppliers of your products have "where to buy" section on their website as they are relevant links and are an easy place to start.

As Elias said, it is more about getting links on somewhere your potential customers will see it and be encouraged to visit your website and to buy your products. One good idea is to run some surveys or competitions that you will be able to use the results to create some some unique, interesting content.

Hi Jonathan,

Have you looked at the links to the page you want to rank compared to the links to the other 2 pages? it may be that the other 2 pages just have better quality links to them. If that is the case then get in touch with the webmasters and ask them to change the link.

Alternatively, if you have been building heavily to the page you want to rank, the page may have received a penalty from Google (not accusing you of doing so by the way, just a possibility!). As Mark said, if you can supply us with the URL of the 3 pages then we can have a look into it for you.

a no-follow tag just means that the link won't pass any link juice, if you don't want Google/SEOmoz to crawl then you'll have to no-index the pages or disallow the URL's in Webmaster Tools

Why have you decided on this structure? In terms of usability, it could be a bit confusing. The Co-op Electrical website used to have a similar structure but they changed it a while ago to just the top navigation bar.