Questions created by mark_baird
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Can a rel author tag point to a Google+ business page
I’m trying to get my blog posts to show with rich snippets but they are a collaborative effort from our staff and as such are posted under our business name. We do have some guest bloggers who write under their own name and we use the author tags to show this. Is there a similar way to do this with a business?
Content Development | | mark_baird0 -
Q&A text box not working on iPad
Has anyone else noticed that you can't move the courser or copy and paste in the comments on an ipad without continually having to click out of the box and back in again.
Moz Bar | | mark_baird0 -
Do Q&A 's work for SEO
If I create a good community in my particular field on my SEO site and have a quality Q&A section like this etc (ripping of MOZ's idea here sorry, I hope it's ok) will the long term returns be worth the effort of creating and man ageing this. Is the user created content of as much use as I think it will be?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mark_baird0 -
Google Pus Places, page and youtube issues. PLEASE HELP!!!
Ok I have a youtube channel, a page connected to that and I have a business listing but I cannot get all three to work together. Any ideas? https://plus.google.com/+CentralsaddleryCoUk is the page (I want to ad the location to this one) http://www.youtube.com/user/centralsaddleryvideo our youtube The two above seem to work fine but the local listing below will not connect to the page or youtube. https://plus.google.com/b/107598085314018001171/107598085314018001171/about?hl=en-GB This has been driving me nuts for ages.
Social Media | | mark_baird0 -
Why is this site beating mine? I can't work it out!
I feel my site is not to bad. Needs more work and could be better but what site could not, However i'm bamboozled by some of the sites that are out ranking me on key terms. e.g. Horse Rugs http://www.fasttackdirect.co.uk/products-1-122/Horse_Clothing/HORSE_RUG_SALE.html ranking 8th http://www.centralsaddlery.co.uk/horse/horse-rugs/ not ranking in first 10 pages I dont expect my site (the later) to rank well as its not up there with the bigger players in our industry yet however I can't see why a page like the one i mentioned is ranking so well when as far as i can see its not as well optimized and has very little content. This is not me ranting about it or whining about why i'm not top etc. I just can't work it out and would love sombody to explain the reasons for this? The only thing i can think of is that they have more category with the words "Horse Rugs" in them. Other than that i'm stumped! Ideas on a postcard please!
Technical SEO | | mark_baird0 -
Has the Humminbird update caused links to be worth less or more?
As things move on will links be worth less as recent updates including the hummingbird update are moving further and further in the direction of content and social signals being the important. On the other hand good links are becoming so hard to find, that may make them become more important than ever. I'm trying to split my time up between content creation and link building/PR. which area should be focused on most. we have more quality content than we do quality links. our link profile is good but far to small. any suggestions what to focus on?
Link Building | | mark_baird1 -
Is there a content ratio that google looks for?
What i mean by this is: If i have a 1000 page ecommerce site that has say 10 pages of good quality content (1% good content) and a competitive site that has 100 pages of good content (10% good content) and another that has 500 (50%). if they are all almost the same in every other way the 50% content site would win hands down. however this is not always possible to have so much good content on some types of site. The question is: Is there a min percentage to aim for? Also is there a similar min rate of content production to aim for. Is their a kind of tipping point to get past that google will think they are doing things right i should keep an eye on them!
Content Development | | mark_baird0 -
I want to try some Google PPC ads on other sites but don't know what i'm doing.
We have seen a massive drop in traffic this year and i am contemplation using banner ads to try to increase sales and also to help with marketing. the problem is i know nothing about doing this. I have used it in the past but to limited success and i was just stabbing in the dark. I have a few questions. Am i better to target keywords related to the product or to the people who may buy my products? Is it better for direct sales or brand awareness? What kind of ROI can i expect if i get it working well? Is it better to pay for the big keywords or pic all the low hanging fruit? Does it work? Should i employ an expert, are they worth it? Any insights into the world of PPc would be a massive help.
Paid Search Marketing | | mark_baird1 -
Should I use rel=canonical on similar product pages.
I'm thinking of using rel=canonical for similar products on my site. Say I'm selling pens and they are al very similar. I.e. a big pen in blue, a pack of 5 blue bic pens, a pack of 10, 50, 100 etc. should I rel=canonical them all to the best seller as its almost impossible to make the pages unique. (I realise the best I realise these should be attributes and not products but I'm sure you get my point) It seems sensible to have one master canonical page for bic pens on a site that has a great description video content and good images plus linked articles etc rather than loads of duplicate looking pages. love to hear thoughts from the Moz community.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mark_baird0 -
Why is google webmaster tools ignoring my url parameter settings
I have set up several url parameters in webmaster tools that do things like select a specific products colour or size. I have set the parameter in google to "narrows" the page and selected to crawl no urls but in the duplicate content section each of these are still shown as being 2 pages with the same content. Is this just normal, i.e. showing me that they are the same anyway or is google deliberately ignoring my settings (which I assume it does when they are sure they know better or think I have made a mistake)?
Technical SEO | | mark_baird0 -
Directory sites in 2013
Are there any directory sites or article/press relies sites that are worth getting links on in the post panda/penguin worked of 2013?
Link Building | | mark_baird0 -
How do I find and can I trust link building companies
I'm finding it hard to build quality links. I don't want to employ a link building company as I can't find anyone I can trust. I also don't know what is a realistic rate of pay for link building work.
Link Building | | mark_baird0 -
Is there any good tools for toxic link checking.
I have done a manual link audit and made a good, bad and not sure list. Is there any tools I can run over the list to see if I missed anything and help me decide what to do with the not sure list?
Link Building | | mark_baird0 -
Next big Google update. Andy ideas when?
I'm interested to find out if anyone has and idea of when it will be or good guesses I would be interested to hear your thoughts. I have put a big effort into an SEO upgrade on my site and I'm interested in what impact I can expect when the next big update comes. Assuming I have fixed the issues that had been causing my traffic drop.
Algorithm Updates | | mark_baird0 -
To many links on page. Big or small issue for eCommerce
On my site I have around 3k pages and about 90 categories. Most of which have a sensible number of products but some have only a few products and some have loads. if I have say 40 links on the page ignoring the producand is it a big problem if I have more than 60 products on the page? Assuming a link limit per page of 100 user wise we have filters and sorts for thme to find what they breed without issue. But simply from an seo point of view how damaging would I be to have the 23 "to many links on page issues? Worth fixing by making two categories and splitting out products even tho it would hinder the user.
Technical SEO | | mark_baird0 -
Can't seem to get traffic back post Panda / Penguin. WHY?
I have done and am doing everything I can think of to bring back lost traffic after the late 2012 updates from google hit us. I just is not working. We had some issues with our out of house web developers which screwed up our site in 2012 and after taking it in house we have Eden doing damage control form months now. We think we have fixed pretty much everything. URL structure filling up with good unique content(under way. Lots still to do) making better category descriptions redesigned homepage. Updated product pages (CMS is holding things back on that part otherwise they would be better. New CMS under construction) started more link building(its a real weak spot on our SEO as far as I can see) audited bad links from dodgy irelavent sites. hired writers to create content and link bait articles. Begun making high quality video's for both YouTube (brand awareness and viral) and on site hosting (link building and conversions) (in the pipeline not online yet). Flattened out site architecture. optimise internal link flow (got this wrong by using nofollows. In the process of thinking of a better way by reducing nun wanted Nav links on page.) i realise its not all done but I have been working ever since the drop in traffic and I'm just seeing no increase at all. I have been asking a few questions on here for the past few days but still can't put my finger on the issue. Am I just impatient and need to wait on the traffic as I am doing all the correct things? Or have I missed something and need to fix it. you anyone would like to have a quick look at my site and see if there is an obvious issue I have missed It would be great as I have been tearing my hair out trying to find the issues with my site. It's www.centralsaddlery.co.uk Criticism would me much appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mark_baird0 -
Nofollow in site archutecture. Good or bad in 2013?
We have been using nofollow links to create a silo architecture. is this a good idea or should we stay away from using this on our site. Its an eCommerce site with about 3000+ pages so not sure of the best architecture. ideas and suggestions on best practice welcome!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mark_baird0 -
Ecommerce site content upgrade timescale.
I have been upgrading my sites content and structure and I have been wondering how long I should wait for a traffic increase before I should think it has been a failure and try a new plan of attack?
Content Development | | mark_baird0