Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Gerry,

I have dealed with same situation. Basically what we have done (since we have a gTLD .net) is that we have created sub-folders for each country and geo-targeted each sub-folder from GWT to the specific country.

Now, people say that having your own ccTLD (country codeTLD) can help you even more in rankings for local searches.

Another factor that you should consider, is moving the hosting of subfolder (if you are going for the first version) or ccTLD (if you use the second one) on a hosting from the targeted country.

P.S. if your client has a .co.uk domain (which is ccTLD) you can not geo-target a sub-folder from Google Webmasters Tools to another region, therefore I would advise you to buy their brand name in each country, check for a hosting, then start optimizing for the specific country.

I hope my answer helped,

Istvan

Hey,

You would probably want to go to: http://advertise.bingads.microsoft.com/en-us/home then sign in, not sign up (if you already have a bing ads account)

Gr., Keszi

Hey Michael,

In your case I would go for a long tail plan, try to get something really innovative into the field this way you can make yourself a name.(Innovative ~ both from Marketing and SEO).

I can't tell you numbers like how much to spend on this or that, but if you have a low budget I would try inbound marketing vs. payed marketing, cutting some costs from your list.

Gr.,

Istvan

Hi Gary,

Yes it will overwrite it. We have had clients with same situation and it has worked fine.

Greetings,

Istvan

Hi Alan,

The code should be ok

Try to "drive-test" it with a custom crawl from http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/crawl-test then you will see if it works well.

I am glad the link was useful.

Gr.,

Istvan

Garry,

If you need help with that, let me know. I will write a quick step-by-step.

Greetings,

Istvan

Totally agree. Many clients aspect to gain a lot of links without contributing with content that is really good enough to gain links to.

And if you ask for a better content, then they will just announce that your job is to get links and not to change the content they have (that happened a few times with me, and I really didn't enjoy that).

Hi Mozmonkey,

There is a very simple way to deal with this kind of issues: canonicalization. It is the key to tell Search Engines that the http://www.XXXX.com/product1234.html?sef_rewrite=1 is the same as http://www.XXXX.com/product1234.html

Adding the canonical link to the page will help you reduce the duplicate content from your website.

Greetings,

Istvan

Hi Joginder,

I would propose to contact the help team with this kind of inquiry. The fact is, that we, as a community, wont be able to help you out with such a technical issue (but engineers from Moz can take a look from their part).

Just go and write an email to them: help @ moz.com

I am convinced that they will quickly answer your question there.

Greetings,

Keszi

SEOmoz staff is usually asking if people leaved their questions unmarked if a specific answer was helpful or not.

Hi AWCthreads,

Your question was: "Does the absence of keywords in the url significantly impact the page rank of an article?"

Now if we talk about Google PageRank, then you should not worry about it. But if we look at search engines rankings, then you should.

Using your keywords in the URl, gathering every +signal for the search engines may help you in gathering higher on-page SEO score, which will eventually lead to a higher ranking also for the targeted keywords.

I hope it helped,

Istvan

Hi Alessio,

Regarding gaining a lot of links (from agencies or from softwares) I am always getting back to the same idea:

Do you think the software or the link builder (which is payed 4$ for 100 links.... and no kidding I have heard even rougher payments in that industry) does respond on the following questions?

1. Does that link provide information, +value for the reader?
2. Is that link complementary to the content where it is placed?
3. Does the visitor, who reaches our site find what he was looking for through that link?
4. Is that link valuable for robots?

I believe that we, as online marketers we should focus for the idea of gaining more trust from both visitors(HUMANS) and Search engines(ROBOTS).

Now gaining a lot of low quality links will not harm Humans (at least not directly) but may harm robots reputation. I think you should ask yourself: Do I really want that?

I hope that helped,

Istvan

Hi DMurtagh,

Well, did you check the inbound links for the index(PR2) and for the inner page(PR3).

To be honest, I would suggest you not to worry about this issue, there are a lot of websites that have valuable inner page content, and visitors tend to link to this pages more than to the home-page.

Maybe if you provide a link, we can have a look at it.

Hope, that helped,

Istvan

Later Edit: Also there might be the problem which was underlined by Alan.

Hi Bob,

I am not 100% sure if I understood well the question, but: if you make a change to a website and Big G indexes it, you should aspect changes in the rankings in the same time.

I am working on some mini-site lately, and experienced rankings from even 2-3 days after launch. So You can aspect changes soon also.

At least this is my experience.

I hope it helped,

Cheers!

Hi Anthony,

Are you checking with personalised search maybe?

Another thing could happen is that RogerBot (seoMoz) and you are connecting to two different databases and gaining two different rankings as the result of different search filters Google is testing on the databases.

I hope that helped,

Istvan

Hi Ade,

When targeting two very different countries then I would go for two separate websites, just as you have mentioned.

Also I would go for country specific TLDs which will help you in targeting the local markets easier. Build up country specific link partnerships, do some local SEO.

If going for only one domain you could go for a domain with different subfolders/subdomains which you geo-target for the specific countries.

If you are going for the second option, maybe you would like to check this whiteboard friday: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/international-seo-where-to-host-and-how-to-target-whiteboard-friday

I hope it helped,

Istvan

I would firstly check the competitions for that term. What they are doing, where to they get their "juice" from. And only then start thinking about a strategy how to out-rank them.

Good luck!

Istvan

Hi Atul,

First of all I would advice to get rid of frames. It is a lot healthier to have a site that can be crawled more easily by the search engines.

2nd: you miss a lot of on-page optimization elements.

3rd: if the website is going to grow in products over time, you should think about information architecture. Go check in advance if you can get duplicate content issues because of multiple paths that can reach 1 product, and try to eliminate it. (p.s. advice - check for a faceted navigation at the products, maybe it will help you out)

4th: don't forget that content is king. Check for the keywords which you are targeting, create a keyword mapping, then on the most important pages/keywords write awesome content! And I mean the best you can deliver. This way you will give a boost from content.

5th: custom 404 pages, sitemaps...

Basically you still have a lot to do on the website.

Good luck with it!

I hope it helped,

Istvan

Hi André,

While Meta Descriptions really don't effect the Search Engine Rankings it can give a quality signal for your page, just as you quoted, by the click-through-rate.

If you think about it, it makes sense, if you get a high number of impressions in SERPs but you have a low CTR, what could cause it?

• Do you have an engaging Title?
• Do you have an engaging Description?

If you were a Search Engine and you see someone in the top 10 results for a highly searched query, but with a low CTR, would you let them stay there? (Underlining the fact that your motto contains: "make the web a better place").

If it was me, who can take that decision... I wouldn't let them stay there.

Both your Meta Title and Meta Description should describe the real intent of the specific page, of what you are trying to deliver there.

Write your meta title and meta description for your potential visitors and your CTR will grow.

I hope that helped,

Istvan

As far as I know, Rogerbot crawls from US (but you can ask this from Helpdesk guys, they will probably give you the details).

Checking rankings for Google.co.uk from two different countries may lead you to gain the SERPs from two different databases. -> Different results. This might be happening in your case too.

Please correct me if I am wrong,

Istvan

YW!

I am glad i could deliver something valuable For further question contact me via PM and will help you out. Done some similar projects in the last few months.

Istvan

Hi CP,

The fact is, that I wouldn't republish those articles that were already published to article directories. There are a lot of content scrappers which use these article directories. and you don't want to publish articles that have been copied many-many times.

This is only my opinion. Start building up new content, Query Deserves Freshness will just love it

Good luck!

Istvan

just edit your post. from next time you should use URL shortener

Hi Elias,

I have seen a similar issue a few months ago at an ex employer. In their case 301 redirects have been ignored!

So basically what happened:

1. They had an older link structure which they have redirected to the new url versions (this happened around 2009-2010)
2. After a "silence" period in affiliate marketing they have reactivated their affiliate programs and heavily invested in it.
3. Because of no. 2. they have gained a lot of incoming links with the old links

Now what we believe went wrong is that Google could interpret this as an "accidental" 301 redirect because of the high number new incoming links to the old version.

As far as I know, when they resolved their affiliate links everything went back to normal.

It might be that your situation is a similar one to theirs.

I hope it helps,

Istvan

Hmm... I will tell you a less good news... There you are creating duplicate content, because it is not a redirect and you don't have a canonical neither.

Regarding the original question... I would address the helpteam regarding this one, because they can tell you in details if Roger-bot will crawl your data (as you have requested) or not. you can contact them at help@seomoz.org

Hey Ash,

If you use a canonical in the index.html, then when you load example.com or example.com/ or etc. etc. versions you basically load the index.html (in which there is configured the canonical link).

My developer usually makes a 301 redirect from non-www. to www. and we implement to canonical link into index.html and that is it

I hope it helped,

Istvan

Hi CP,

If it would be me, then I would go for a "hybrid", and create web, social and local listings too.

I think you could benefit from all of them.

Good luck!

Istvan

Hi Catfish,

The thing with the number of links is that usually having a lot of links on one site can devalue the "juice" that the article pages get from the fact that you are linking to them. I am always trying to keep the number of links on one page below 50 if that is possible, since then we target our audience better to targeted pages (and it is less confusing for the visitors).

I hope that helped,

Istvan

There was a very good article from Dr. Pete about HTTP status.

Canonicals do not transfer information like noindex, follow.

What they transfer is the incoming "link juice" to the original version of the page. So basically it counts as a redirect for Search Engines without redirecting the visitor, which means it won't be indexed (the non-original version) and all the link juice that the page got will be transferred to the original version.

I hope it helps,

Istvan

Hi Omri,

Here you can check the schedule of the LinkScape API update.

http://apiwiki.seomoz.org/w/page/25141119/Linkscape Schedule

Gr.,

Istvan

There is a guide in Google help central which tells the steps to move a site.

http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83105

Maybe you forgot to change the address in Google Webmasters Tools?

Hope that helped,

Istvan

Hi Caroline,

There might be an automated software, but there are companies which are paying people to do that manually. And because of low qualification of those link builders, they usually are working as some "spam-bots".

In the email header check if the sender is the same as the reply-to address, that should tell if you are facing a software spam-bot or a human "spam-bot".

I hope it is the second one

Gr.,

Istvan

As fair as I know, there is no other equivalent of this value. You should wait 1-2 days, usually big G is fast at checking the sitemaps and showing up some relevant data.

Also you can now test your sitemap data with the GWT so it will benefit from more than 1 part your work if you submit your sitemaps.

Cheers!

Istvan

Hi,

I do not really understand the question. Is the secondary site on a separate domain or are you implementing it on the same domain?

Could you give a little more information? So we can give an easier answer

Gr., Keszi

Salut Iulian,

After a few hours you should be able to see results for the first 250 pages Roger crawls. When Roger crawled all the data you will get an email and then you can check from your campaigns page the results.

Be patient, Roger does it's job.

Cu stima,

Istvan

Hi Gareth,

There is a very good article about this @Google: https://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=83105

You can check that.

I hope it will help,

Istvan

Hi Mof3kz,

First of all I do not recommend anything that is automated SEO. I just don't believe in that. (I know there are people who will disagree with me )

Secondary, link building... Now this is tricky. Because it all depends on what niche are you in, what kind of websites do you work with. Once again I will pull out an idea which probably is not supported by to many, but I don't like directory listings. There are some, which can give you a real boost, but from visitors point of view, I still love to target blogs. I just love how you can target niche-targeted visitors to your website through some content link from a blog entry or a banner. Building links while participating in communities is, from my point of view, a winning situation. You will not just earn the visit, you will earn trust.

BTW: placing ads on blogs can help you, but... I would suggest guest blogging. It is way cheaper than buying an ad on a blog(on monthly basis) and it contributes to the specific blog with good content (and a good link, ).

I hope that helped,

Istvan

P.S. : I know there will be other opinions regarding this matter, this is only my thought.

All your campaigns are going to be crawled on weekly basis and you will get an email from the seoMoz team, when the crawl is finished.

You will find additional information on: http://seomoz.zendesk.com/home

The Zendesk provides all the information.

Sorry for not posting direct links to pro webinars, but you will find some great info on how to use your pro membership over there.

Greetings,

Istvan

Like Linda mentioned it, I would also keep it under one domain. What you could do is to present the cons and pros of each version, maybe you can convince your client

Hi Nova,

It seems to be some kind of bug. I have checked with several tools I have and all of them pointed out that the website is hosted in France.

Maybe you should point this out to SEOmoz help team, so the team can check it up, and resolve bugs in the system.

Gr.,

Istvan

Hi Jacob,

I would go for a canonical in the index page. This should remove the .com version from index and tell search engines which is the "main" language.

I hope that solves this issue.

Greetings,

Istvan

Hi UtahTiger,

I would underline the fact that link metrics are not enough to check the weight of a valuable link partnership.

For example, let me show you what I look at when choosing a link partnership:

1. Does my link provide additional value to the specific page? (if so, after click-through there is a higher chance of converting)

2. Where is my link placed? (Although people can place a link randomly on their website, I prefer to have a link that fits in naturally in the text. Not only for Search Engines, but human visitors will also be more likely to click on a link in the content than one in sidebar.)

3. Is there a chance for Search Engines easily reach the page? (well you do Link exchange for gaining some link reputation, right? you don't want to miss out the search engines neither)

4. Is it follow/nofollow?

5. And only on this stage I check the link metrics.

I have left the link metrics on the last position just for one reason: try to provide value with your link first and only after try to gain something in exchange (the good-old link juice).

Numbers can tell you a lot, but not everything.

Good luck with building good links!

Gr.,

Istvan

You can always use the tool from: http://pro.seomoz.org/tools/on-page-keyword-optimization/new

I hope that helped,

Istvan

Usually Wordpress SEO by Yoast implements this automatically when we are talking about category/tag/date/etc. archive pages.

In case of the homepage, I do not know personally where to implement it - I'd need to see the code for it.

I do believe seoMoz engineers are working hard to achieve this. You can check what updates are done on seoMoz on the change-log page.

It will offer you a better picture of what they work on and also you can suggest this info or other great ideas of what the tool could contain to our most loved Roger.

Gr.,

Istvan

P.S. Don't spam Roger please

Hi Bob,

There is another tool which is developed for Mac too. It is called Screaming frog.

With that you can also check the website health just as with Xenu.

I hope it will be helpful.

Istvan

Hi James,

With this question I would contact the Help Desk Team.

You can go to: https://seomoz.zendesk.com/home and submit a ticket or contact them directly via help@seomoz.org

I am sure they will come up with an answer or advice how to do resolve your issue

Good luck,

Istvan

Hi!

I do not know where you are from, but I think what you may have seen is the Google Pigeon update, which was rolled out to the UK, Canada and Australia on the 22nd of December 2014. Read more about it on: http://searchengineland.com/google-pigeon-update-rolls-uk-canada-australia-211576

I hope it has helped. Gr.,Keszi

Hi Sarah,

If your notices, warning or errors increase and you want to analyse easily the data, then maybe you should try exporting the information (this is how I do it, it makes it more clear for me).

So the steps:

1. you go to your campaign overview

2. click on the crawl diagnostics

3. click on the notice you want to analyse

4. on the page export the info to CSV and click export

5. now download and open it with a Microsoft Excel or Openoffice Calc? (I believe that is the Excel version of Openoffice)

then in excel you can sort, filter, etc. the info.

Another approach would be to download all the information from the crawl diagnostics. Then you can sort, filter, etc the data from there.

I hope this helped,

Istvan