Welcome to the Q&A Forum

You aren't alone!  I have a client that just lost all of his 1-5 rankings!  About 20 in all.  Taking ubiquitousinnovation 's direction, and creating a disavow file for the spammy links that were created before our firm started working on the site.

Beyond building a solid website....

Off page - have you considered MOZ local?  For $49 they can kick start a citation campaign for you.  First you will need to make sure the client has a Facebook fanpage or Google Plus account.

The rest is all elbow grease.

Like a page that lists every show in your database?  Isn't that what a sitemap is for?  Couldn't find one on your site.

Your search is already fantastic!  I can search for Lion King... and pick a city I want to see it in.  The dates aren't listed, so I don't know if I've missed the one in Boston or not... would be helpful for vacation planning.

The only benefit I see to listing all the shows on one page (with perhaps the city and dates listed) is for prompting ideas to the visitor who knows nothing about theater (like me and only know about the ones I've seen or want to see).

I don't know how it works over in the UK, but here in the States, I can run a PPC campaign with a generalized keyword "web design" and only target specific zip codes, cities or county (through Google PPC), and even more granular based on hobbies (in FB).

So, yes, I would do the generalized, and then if you can, spread it around the several different geo areas that you can target.

Good luck!

We're in the same predicament here on the other end of I-4 (Clearwater).  Technology proficients in our area are slim pickings.  Here's a few things we've done that has worked well in the past:

(1) Documentation - Document your SEO procedures and utilize a system for maintaining all your work (so it's scalable).  We use Access07, for managing implementations, history from Dmoz and citation history and effort - kept on a server and accessed remotely via logmein or vpn.  That way you can manage effort and results on a scalable platform.  We have a solid on-boarding process that can get new folks performing great SEO within a week.

(2) Locally - Hire experienced admins that are really good at researching online, being creative with data and good with Excel.  We generally give a short homework assignment to qualified candidates to test their speed and creativeness.

(3) Remotely - Hire employees from outside the area to telecommute.  We've hired out of Atlanta and NC, which are both relatively cheap airline tickets and short flights for necessary "day trips" to the office.

If you've done #1 well, the rest is teachable.  Besides, you want folks who will SEO your way (which works for you and your clients) and not broken or trained improperly by somebody else.

Ditch the .ca - makes me just as nervous as the .us here in the States.  Even though .biz and .info and .net get some traction - the country specific ones seem to be harder to rank for - and quite honestly very confusing.

Better off being unique or finding an expired .com domain with some Alexa rank.

What has worked for my clients in the past, is to have two domains:

(1) the main domain for SEO purposes, controlled in Google Webmaster tools as the primary domain
(2) a shorter marketing domain, that forwards (with masking) to the main domain.. and passes the juice.

This way the marketing domain can be shorter, advertised in newspapers,business cards, etc... and can be easily remembered.... and main SEO domain still gets the value of the direct hit traffic.

Thanks!  I downloaded the paid version of JoomSEF... the free version includes a link in the footer... kinda tacky for a client's website.  The paid version was only $35.57 USD.  So... crossing fingers.. here goes nothing!

According to CodeCanyon... the Smart SEO plugin is only valid up to Joomla version 2.5 (as of 1 month ago).  Looks like JCH Optimize is for only for speed optimization.

Still looking for a good SEO plugin for Joomla.  My client does not want to convert to Wordpress (even though they aren't selling any products, just service based org).

To simply answer your question, perform a Google Search for "Google's Amit Singhal keyword density".  Amit's research paper may prove useful to you on your quest.

Because your are in my client's competitive geo area, I do look at your site from time to time.  To guide your question, take a look at your boat accident page:

http://www.kempruge.com/personal-injury/boating-accidents/

This really does read as keyword stuffing.  You have way too many variations of "boat accident" on a page with very little content.  Which may partly explain why your page is buried on page 3 for "Tampa Boat Accident Attorney".    Your page is NOT written for the reader, it's obviously written for the search engine.  BIG MISTAKE.

You are looking for a tool to tell you yes or no, and the best tool for this is the Moz on-grade checker.  If you aren't getting the score you want there.... then I'd question your content.  You probably won't get much assistance in this forum if you are looking for advice on how to effectively keyword stuff under the radar.  The SEO professionals here probably won't engage to help you.

When you use the OnPage Grader, scroll down under the scores.  It will give you green checks and red x's and will indicate what is critical or optional.  You want as many as the critical items completed as possible.  Really, you want as many green checks as possible, but in some cases it's not always possible (like the URL).  If you are spamming on a page, it will tell you that too.

KeriMorget,

Thanks for that!  Realized that AFTER I posted it... but hey - I ran across this... the answer may help somebody else out too!

PPC landing pages and SEO landing pages ARE NOT THE SAME!  Nor should they be treated the same.  Sure, every page on a website that is exercising SEO should be treated liked a "landing page" - but not in the same way.  Let me explain.

SEO Landing Pages When you have rolled up your sleeves, written your content, worked it to a Flesch-Kinkaid grade level and optimized it, it would be a total bummer if your visitor couldn't convert.  Conversion could be, reading the next blog page, next blog article, signing up for newsletter, signing up for trial offer, or actually buying x. In other words, on an SEO page, there are lots of options for conversions or browsing beyond the actual page itself, including bookmarking for later reference.

PPC Landing Pages Now, let's take the visitor who you paid to visit your website. Those visitors, you don't want them to browse or look around, you want them to buy or convert RIGHT THEN AND THERE!   That conversion should be there only option.  There should be no other leaks out of the page to keep browsing and tire kicking... either sign up, enter email to download, start the trial or buy RIGHT NOW, or back out.  Those pages should have the on-page meta done OK.  They clicked on your ad, if written properly, because they wanted to buy/try/sign up right now.  The page needs to have enough content on there to help them make the conversion and actually convert.  But not so much that it deters the conversion.These are the pages you can roll up your sleeves on and have fun testing with A/B conversions, customizing meta, etc...  One well written landing page can serve the purpose for several, if not a handful of keyword ads. They key is that the content (message) needs to match the intention (ad).  So, if your ad promises a free trial for white apples - then your LP better offer a free trial for white apples.  However, if you ad promises super cheap white apples with free delivery, don't take them to a landing page that offers a free trial for white apples.  Capisce?

I hope that makes sense.  Good luck to you!

Flat rate, and charge an hourly rate for setting up additional ad groups and tie in the reporting.  We try to keep the client's money in their pocket and just charge for a reasonable amount of effort.  That seems to work well for both clients who spend $10,000/month and those that spend $1,000/mo on PPC.

I wouldn't.  But the advice in the MiriamEllis's link is great advice!

This is one of my biggest challenges too!

I'm sending you a response privately, because I don't want the answer publicized.

Use the Moz OnPage Grader if you are that concerned about keyword stuffing... because chances are.. if you are concerned about it... you probably are!!!  The Grader will tell you.

...is you will not have much trouble with it and get lots of double listings in the SERPs even when lots of people say that ain't possible any more.

Long tail keywords... especially when used the way BobGW is wanting,  can get double listings.  We see it every day from the clients who take this advice!   Whoever is saying it ain't possible anymore isn't putting in the elbow grease that BobGW obviously is.  Which is fine for the rest of us, we'll pick up those opps!

SEO Sarah,

I'm also considering WordTracker, and was wondering... now that it's been about a year since you posted this... have you found it useful?  If not... what did you do instead?

Well you've got flexsteel as a keyword on two URL's.  Google probably is putting more empahsis on the deeper page  because it either existed longer OR has been crawled with higher factors for the keyword.

You may want to check out your other internal linking and make sure everything is going to the new product page.  Chances are you have lots of internal links pointing to the deeper page, hence making it appear more authoritative on your site.

Check on that, then re-upload a new sitemap for a new crawl.  Good luck!

No, I would not.  In fact, I just signed two new online product companies for SEO, and I'm taking them away from different product pages for each variation of the product.  Here's why:

(1) Confusing Google not good.
You will confuse Google all to death if you have 4 different product pages for your BOOK.  One for online, one for ebook, hardback, paperback, etc....    You need to be clear on which page you want Google to land when I search for "the best book ever"

(2) Risk Duplicate Content
By putting the same book/product/service description on each variation page, you risk being tagged for duplicate content.  Again, this upsets Google.  Don't do that.

(3) Lack of Content Depth
You will get tired and burned out on writing details on all those products, you will cut corners, and your content will end up being short or non-descriptive.  Better to write one very long product/book/service page and have buttons that allow customers to add the variations into their cart from that page.  In this way, this particular page will have deep content, images and everything else Google loves, and it won't be confused one bit on what you are trying to rank for.

I've got my work cut out for me on fixing these two product pages, so at some point I'll have to follow up and share the results on my little scientific experiment.  My money is on my theory.  Bet yours is too!

You probably need to set your preferred domain in your Google Webmaster Tools.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/44231?hl=en

See if that is what you are looking for.

Bummer!  I didn't get a postcard, but I agree... really not liking the upgrade.  I don't care about fancy... just useful.

Joel, is it possible to have a separate login?  I want to give access to another person in my organization for running reports, but I don't wan them to have full access.  Please advise.

Rahul,

I'm glad you are asking some really great questions.  Each one is very complex and requires a thorough understanding of how SEO and google/bing/yahoo work. Which, I think, is beyond the scope of this forum or site.

1. Getting ranked nationally is very different then getting ranked locally.  There are quite a few factors that come into play - the most important being TIME.  The amount of time your site has existed as well as how much TIME you have put into growing your internet presence.  This translates into links established naturally over time and that leads to a historical record of traffic over time.  There are a few tricks up an SEO person's sleeve to get listed on page 1 locally the fastest, but you may not want to hear that answer.  The answer is Google Maps.  Make sure you are listed there first.

2. You may be confusing Google+ places and pages with Google rankings.  Granted Google + pages can show up in the primary Google SERP, I don't think you can substitute the good work there for the good work done on your website.  Your google+ work should SUPPLEMENT your webpage work.

3. Nobody really knows how the mysterious MOZ tool works.  Use it as just another tool in your toolbox, not the ultimate source.  Although we use it for our primary research and for finding needles in a haystack.  We appreciate it for what it helps us accomplish.

4. yes.  See #2 above.  Actually three times, add in  your Google maps too!  However, if you are listed in other highly referral directories, they may overshadow your Google+ (ie: manta, mapquest, yellowpages).  Don't simply rely on Google+ to be your end-all-to-be-all.

5. Huh?  Not sure what that is.  According to wikipedia Google Pack is no longer available for download.  Not sure why you are referencing them.

All in all, you may want to check out some other reference items.  This site proved very useful to me when I was first learning SEO:  http://www.bruceclay.com/seo/search-engine-optimization.htm  They authored "SEO for Dummies" and it's a great reference tool for beginners.

Good luck!

NoahGlaser,

I'm sure the SEO Moz algorithm works, but I'm pretty sure the DA of the sites linking in plays an important factor in the establishment of the DA.  The more links you have from higher-then-you DA sites, the higher your score grows.

From my research on other sites, the algorithm doesn't care if the sites were paid for or not. if AJJ paid bought a bunch of links, and they are lucky enough to pass the SEO MOZ filter - then good for them!  I have a lot of contractor clients that are in the same boat, and as a result of the SEO MOZ competitive links, went toe to toe with the competitor's purchased links.

It may sound dirty, and expensive, but it's the way it is sometimes.  If your client can afford it, they are better off.  Because - at least they know where the link equity is coming from and they can level the playing field.  And that's what they pay you for!

We have the same experience as Cody.  Google Places is like ADDING another listing to the SERP.  From what I understand the Google places, is supposed to rotate around.  But your #1 or #2 spot should stay firm - unless you get knocked off by a competitor!  We have several clients that are in #1, Google Places and then #4 or 5 - so it is possible to take up quite a bit of real estate on a SERP.

I always list the local area code number for my clients in all their directory listings.  An 800 number sounds too fishy for the local listings, but would be "ok" on the website.

With long distance being so cheap - virtually free - these days, I'm finding fewer and fewer positives to using a 1-800 number - except for my national clients.  But even then, it's amazing how many people prefer to call the local number.

Good question.

I Agree with NoahGlaser, maintaining a consistent META TITLE of your articles really is the right way to go.  Choose your title with relevant keywords, avoiding keyword stuffing.  If you naturally use your keywords throughout your article, you should be good to go!

Yes, I've had this happen to me too.  I'm not sure of the technical reason for this, other then the internet being re-propogated. Everytime I relocate a website, I run into this issue.  After a month or so, everything seems to go back to normal.

TOTALLY AGREED!

"They'd be much better off cultivating their own branded YouTube channel".

Great advice, that's exactly what I'm going to respond with.  Thanks!

Does YouTube do that?  If so, that is probably why this YouTube Channel was only created in October 2012.  That alone was a red flag to me!

Thanks for the info on that site.  I checked it out, and that is probably what happened.

Dana, That was my first thought to.. like a robot... but they said they already received 5 valid phone calls.... maybe prank calls to prove?  They were offering 90 days for free before paying.  I don't even think HubSpot or Mashable can get results like that!

It sounds like a scam to me, especially since they are getting 12,000 hits in the first week and no comments!

https://www.youtube.com/user/FollowMediaVideos?feature=watch

Thoughts from my SEO community, please?

Only with the company's permission. I don't see much harm for this since we aren't in the "hosting game". Although we will host if we need to. Our clients are proud of the work we do and don't mind showing us off. Of course, we're pretty good at referring clients to them outside of how we've been contracted (ie:word of mouth). So, I think it boils down to agreement & relationship. Everything does.

What's OSE?

Agreed! At the end of the day, my clients want to know: Where are we in the SERP How much more traffic are we getting? How much revenue did this result in? We can talk all we want in SEO speak, but like any other business practice, at the end of the day, it's about business. THEIR business, it ours. We are being entrusted with their businesses, and we need to show them what we've done to moreover their business. After a few months, you have to (according to my dad) S--- or get off the pot.

Seo is a marathon, not a race. One client leads to others! Keep up the good work!

Agency..... In house is for those who can't handle the heat... Cesar

We use excel. It's a bit old school, even though I have an Access certification and could prob dev something sexier. It's easier for sharing with clients and no training is needed. It's easy to let it get overwhelming, so we oly keep the key metrics that matter. On page updates, link building activity, and ranking results. It's let's us see enough info over time for us and our clients. Also is a good place to store all those passwords!