Welcome to the Q&A Forum

As my Nanna always used to say, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is...and so it is with SEO and in particular, link building...

I'd like you to visit this page...

http://www.searchengineoptimisationworks.com.au/seo-tools-tips/choose-best-seo-company/ (link deliberatley removed by me - just copy and paste)

...and then this one...

http://www.searchengineoptimisationworks.com.au/seo-tools-tips/link-building-strategies/ (also removed - this ain't the place for gratuitous links)

The first lists some helpful questions you should have asked your SEO company before appointing them and the second lists a range of alternative link methods...a few key directories such as the ones you can find here on SEOmoz...

http://www.seomoz.org/dp/seo-directory

...can be helpful...

But yes, your "gut feel" is correct, they should be identifying unique, one-way incoming link opportunities from a small number of quality sources. SEORoyal is quite right...stop now before they do some real damage...and when you start looking for your next SEO company, use the above checklist and ask to speak to client references.

Hope that helps!

KP

From your brief explanation, I'm not sure that you can achieve what you want without utilising a more robust framework than WordPress or Joomla or other "open source" solutions - maybe Silverstripe ...you need a fair amount of System Admin "grunt", UI controls and security to achieve what you are describing in a scalable size.

If you do head down the Open Source path, then WordPress is the way to go - they have a "below the radar" Multisite solution that provides Network Administration functionality - you can find out more here:

http://codex.wordpress.org/Create_A_Network

You will also need to add in:

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/multisite-user-management/

Again, this is really a "work around" for multiple WP sites...I'm still not convinced that this will really deliver what you need...

Hope that helps...

You might find GA's recent release of "real time" reporting useful...

http://analytics.blogspot.com/2011/09/whats-happening-on-your-site-right-now.html?utm_source=mandatory&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=v5default

"We just turned the reports on for a number of you, and over the coming weeks, everyone will have access to Real-Time. If you can’t wait, sign up for early access here:https://services.google.com/fb/forms/realtimeanalytics/. We’d love to hear about how you are using (or planning to use) Real-Time, so please share in the comments."

Hi Aspirant...

Regarding point #1, that is definitely a myth - we frequently secure local numbers and redirect these to call centres/800 numbers etc - we're sure that Google can closely associate a regular number with a geographic region, but until they start interrogating the Telco's (which I think even the Big G might struggle with) picking up a redirected number seems to be off their radar.

In relation to #2, according to our own research, experience, results and with a little help from David Mihm's "Local Search Ranking Factors" you need to honor the NAP "holy trinity" - consistency across all citations (including your clients' website numbers) for Name, Address and Phone is critical to success in local. Not just similar - exact right down to capitalization and spaces...so, if you can't change the 800 numbers (which would be better for Google Places but probably not ideal from a public/consumer perspective) then use the 800 numbers together with Address and Name everywhere - eventually Google will associate the 800 number with the geo location and you and your client will be happy.

Hope that helps...

Indeed...

• The Page 1 position 2 page is http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186338-d224752-Reviews-Mina_House_Hotel-London_England.html
• On Page 2 (Malaysia) http://www.tripadvisor.com.my/Hotel_Review-g186338-d224752-Reviews-Mina_House_Hotel-London_England.html
• And on page 3 (France) http://www.tripadvisor.fr/Hotel_Review-g186338-d224752-Reviews-Mina_House_Hotel-London_England.html

...which is of course frustrating...same content/page but different TLD's.

You may find this YouTube video from Matt Cutts helpful in explaining why they treat similar content of different TLD's as not being duplicate content (in the case of teh Page 2 listing)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ets7nHOV1Yo&feature=youtu.be

...and the Page 3 one is because Google has not yet been able to figure cross-language duplicate content...

Not an answer but perhaps the explanation you were seeking...

Hi Mike...

I am sure that you are always going to get a range of opinions to this kind of question.

I think that for your site the answer may be simply that having a robots.txt file is more of a “belt and braces” safe harbour-type thing – the same goes for say whether you should have a keywords meta tag – many say these pieces of code can be of marginal value but, when you are competing head to head for a #1 listing (ie 35%+ of the clicks) then you should use every option and weapon possible ...furthermore, if your site is likely to grow significantly or eventually have content/files that you may want excluded, it’s just a “tidy” thing to have had indexed over time.

Also, don’t forget that best practice robots.txt file taxonomy is to also include directions to your xml sitemap/s.

Here is an example from one of our sites...

User-agent: *
Disallow: /design_examples.xml
Disallow: /case_studies.xml

User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /

Sitemap: http://www.sitetopleveldomain.com/sitemap.xml

In this example there are two root files specifically excluded from all bots and this site has also specifically excluded the Google Images bot as they were getting a lot of traffic from image searches and then subsequently seeing the same copyright images turn up on a hundred junk sites – this doesn’t stop image scraping but certainly reduces the ease of finding them.

In relation to the  “or 1-line file giving all bots all access” part of your question...

Some bots (most notably Google) now support an additional field called "Allow:"

As the name suggests, "Allow:" lets you specifically indicate what files/folders CAN be crawled, excluding all others. However, this field is currently not part of the "robots.txt" protocol and so not universally supported, so my suggestion would be to test it for your site for a week, as it might confuse some less intelligent crawlers.

So, in summary, my recommendation is to keep a simple robots.txt file, test if the Allow: field works for you and also ensure you have that guide to your xml sitemap – although wearing a belt and braces might not be a good look, at least your pants are unlikely to fall down

Search Engine Watch published a "Farewell Yahoo Site Explorer" article today which touches on some alternative options here http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2126582/Yahoo-Site-Explorer-Shuts-Down-Today-What-Alternatives-Are-There

Having been in the SEO space for over ten years, yes the number of players has grown, but as they say, the cream always floats to the top...

Here are ten key questions (and some guideline answers) that you should put to a prospective SEO company plus some questions they should be asking you too...

• **What do you think about my site’s technical structure, on-page and off-page content and link profile? **Ask them to make some observations about these three key SEO factors that influence Search Engine visibility in relation to your site, especially link building.
• **What kind of changes will be required to your website and will they be noticeable?**You should expect them to talk about on-page and off-page changes. On-page will require the subtle inclusion of the targeted keyword phrases in various locations on each page, off-page will require changes to your meta data such as your title tag and meta descriptions
• **I know that developing an incoming link profile is important, how will you develop additional links to my site? **You should be looking for them to talk about quality of links as well as quantity and a balanced link profile including free and paid directories, local websites, government or educational institutions, your suppliers etc
• **Can you show me examples of your work? **Don’t bother with references, no one will provide you with a bad one. You just want to see that they can point to current examples of their successes – short competitive keyword phrases such as “computer repairs” rather than “computer repairs for left handed plumbers”
• **What volume of traffic increase is it reasonable to expect and over what time frame?**There are a lot of factors to consider here but assuming your site is technically sound and has quality original content you should expect a 50-100% increase in quality traffic within about three months and potentially much more if your site is languishing
• **What keyword phrases do you think should be targeted for my website? **Not easy during an initial discussion but they should be able to identify the core keywords for your industry and let you know how competitive the segment is. They should discuss geographic considerations and talk about the “money” keywords such as buy, find, deals, get, compare, best, cheap or luxury
• **How many people on your team? **This just allows you to understand whether you are dealing with a small, medium or large SEO firm. Each has it’s strengths and weaknesses. Small or one-person firms can be great but may get busy with other more lucrative clients or they may struggle to keep up with the latest trends. Large firms can be like a sausage factory, churning out SEO in bulk.
• **Who will be working on the assignment? **Often you may be speaking to a Business Development person or the company principal. They should be experts and probably are, but once you have signed up, you should expect to be dealing with a qualified SEO expert with at least three years SEO experience
• **How long have you been doing SEO? **This is a general fact finding question but you might be surprised at the answers you receive and the way they answer. If it is less than three years, keep shopping around.
• **Amongst all the SEO companies out there, in one minute, why should you choose them?**This is giving them the chance for their “elevator pitch”. If they can’t confidently answer this, move on…and you would be surprised how many will stumble at this question.

Naturally, you should also ask them how much, for how long and whether there are any long term contractual obligations. You should also ask for a written proposal that clearly states every action and initiative that they will be undertaking.

A smart SEO representative should also be asking YOU some questions. This enables them to evaluate you as a client. The very best SEO companies are busy and can afford to be selective when determining how reasonable your expectations are and how easy you will be to work with…SEO requires a partnership between client and provider to get the best results.

• What are some of the keywords you would like to turn up for?
• Who do you see as your major competitors, online and offline?
• How old is your URL?
• Do you have a Content Management System (CMS) to edit your site content?
• Have you conducted any SEO activities before?
• Are you using Pay-per-click advertising?
• What do you expect from your SEO investment and over what time frame?
• Can you provide access to your web stats or Google Analytics account?
• Do you have any other URL’s or websites?
• What other marketing initiatives do you undertake, online and offline?

If they start asking you these kind of questions then you know you are well on the way to choosing your SEO provider.

Hope that helps...

Aaaah…what an ideal world it would be if you could simply buy your way to the top of the Search Engine results…no, wait, that’s called Pay Per Click!

Hi Sadullah…

Zsolt has pretty much nailed it with his response – there simply is no quick, permanent way to the top – Google has about 27,000 of the smartest engineers on the planet and they are pretty good at anticipating or adjusting to attempts to spam the SERP’s (although I do wish they would wind back further the factor that deals with keywords in URL’s).

Yes, there may be quick wins out there – but they tend to be fleeting. And in link building in particular, staying within the confines of “reasonableness” is essential to achieving your long-term ranking, traffic and conversion goals.

SEOMoz is one of the best resources we know for building up your knowledge-base and has a range of resources to help you through the Search Engine Optimisation minefield…to start with, http://www.seomoz.org/dp/seo-directory - in many cases, acquiring a link from these resources is not an easy process - you may need to send an email and convince an infrequent editor or submit to very stringent criteria (or pay), but this is to be expected. If the links were easy to earn, they would certainly be much less valuable.

You can also search SEOMoz and find a ton of link building ideas that really work - http://www.seomoz.org/pages/search_results?q=link+building

We have proven time and time again that five high quality, relevant, on-theme links from authority sites can exceed the impact of a thousand “junk” links – and the time and effort it often less, and the risk much less.

Also, just as a side-note, although you may have owned the domain for five years, the Search Engine “meter” only started ticking over when the site finally had a website attached – so, form Google’s perspective, your site is indeed a one month old domain.

Hope that helps…

Yup - even to capital letters...but, you are never going to get 100% perfection - and G knows that too - before we created our custom in-house citation and review tracking solution, we used to use just a simple spreadsheet; the first tab has your Google Places content exactly as it appears, then create a new tab for every citation - one tab group for existing citations that you may want to correct and one tab group for each new one that you create, always referring back to your GP tab as a reference.

We say internally that Google Places is like an onion - many layers, often stinks and sometimes just makes you cry

Hi Justin...

Perfect keywords, good technical infrastructure and great content all set a solid foundation, but your key challenge is the same as all sites experience...

http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/links?page=1&site=www.americanscooterstore.com&sort=page_authority&filter=&source=&target=page&group=1

Not very many domains linking to the site...

A great simple place to start is...

http://www.seomoz.org/dp/seo-directory

...whilst you research some unique linking opportunities...

Hope that helps...

KP