Hey there,

Since I obviously don't know the specifics of your situation, I'll give you an answer based on generalities. I'd say that there are probably 3 possible reasons that they'd lower the position offered to you:

1. They found someone they feel is more qualified for the position.
2. They no longer want to fill that position.
3. They simply don't feel that you currently fit the criteria, but that you might after more experience.

However, it doesn't matter why they might have offered you a lower position, I think what matters is if you'd be happy at the one currently being offered. If not, then be gutsy and ask them frankly why they offered a lower position - either you won't be hired (which you don't want) or they'll explain and you can make a more educated decision.

If you're happy with the lower position, or you feel that there's high potential to move-up, then go for it. The worst case is that it doesn't work out, which would leave you where you are now.

Please keep in mind that this is all subjective opinion - I, and no one else, should tote it as anything other than that. Good luck to you! I hope it works out for the best.

First, an H1 should pretty much never be in the footer. H1 tags are meant to be the lead-in for the page and the content therein. It should tell visitors and Google what your page is about, using keywords if possible. That said, there isn't inherently anything wrong with having 2 or 3 H1 tags if your page is long and has several different bits of content that don't fall under one category.

Second, while it's important for a company's name and brand to be relatively prominent on a website, having it on every page as an H1 tag is extremely excessive. If I saw it as a user, I'd think it's not only spammy, but strange since it's presumably in other prominent places on the site (in the header, content, some H tags, etc).

I strongly recommend that you remove these H1 tags from your footer and, if having the brand name within pages is something your client really wants, have it placed more organically in the content.

There are effectively 2 ways you could handle this properly:

1. Consolidate all of those duplicate pages into one page; keeping these listings one a single page and using a gallery / ajax / etc. to bring up one specific car at a time.
2. Choose one page from each set of duplicates as the base page, and place "rel-canonical" tags in the duplicates.

Option 2 is likely the better of the two in terms of SEO and your business, but both are technically viable options.

I would strongly recommend removing the one that's not doing well locally and adding the content to the structure and content of the other website. Your client should also consider condensing the two businesses into one.

I say that because from what you said, it sounds like he views the two service types as different businesses that only share a name. This is very likely counterproductive, and I'd have to assume means that both websites are competing against one another in SERPs regarding branded keywords.

Touting all of his services as one business would have a lot of different benefits; but is there any reason he's treated them as separate businesses? If so, my advice may not be prudent - but it seems unlikely that there's a good reason to do so.

Of the 4 points you mention you've seen, I'd say the only one that's entirely incorrect is #3.

1. Only use H1 once: True. Think of it like a book title. That's the most important thing, so nothing else should share that prominence.

2. H1 is crucial for SERP: **True. **This is what Google looks to, after your title tag, for information about your page and the content therein. This reaffirms that your metadata, keywords, title, content, etc. are all related - while also showing visitors what this page is about (Google values visitor experience more and more with each update).

3. Use H1s for subheads. False. Think back to #1 - H1 should be reserved only for the 1 absolute most important thing (which should be your title).

4. Google almost never looks past H2 for relevance. Kind of true. Google DOES look beyond this (and even parses your body-text), but with each lowering of prominence / heading, Google gives it less weight. #4 is true in the sense that this weight is lessened significantly, but it's incorrect generally - your content is still very important.

I hope this has been helpful to you! Good luck!

I can think of 3 options that may help:

1. This is the sort of thing for which a secretary or assistant is really best. They can assess which calls would be necessary to forward to her, while taking the secretary's/assistant's time to explain what's on the site for those that aren't. Growth comes at a price, and it sounds like your client is at that point.
2. Your client gets a second phone line, which would be used as the number shown on her website's contact section (or wherever those who've parsed the site would see it). Those calls could be forwarded to her original number, and so long as she gets a service that tells her which of her lines is getting the call, she can know (to some degree) which calls are more worthwhile.
3. She can set up an automated message that directs callers to visit the website for information before following through with the call. This may deter some business, however, so this option would require weighing the current time lost with the possible lost business.

I hope that helps you out!