Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Dean,

As previously mentioned my knowledge of 'Portfolio' was limited. Now that you have advised the nature of a 'Portfolio' being static in design, I can simply write articles to my hearts content and publish them. Additionally, I will have the added advantage to set categories and tags and visual appearance.

I believe this is game, set and Match!

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

Thanks for the information.

Dean,

I have taken the example provided on the filterable portfolio from here. I believe your example and mine are talking about the same thing, hence using the same Portfolio Custom Post Type.

Would I have to keep the article written on the portfolio page updated more often then a regular static page for Google ranking?

Thanks Mark

Hi Andy,

Thank you for the information.

My initial goal is to create a rich visual menu for users to filter in readiness to read an article of interest.
That said and done, i believe you cannot create categories and tags on static pages, hence a custom posts would need to be created with the article.

I want the user to have visual and filter experience and cannot see another way of achieving this without using isotope.

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

Thank you for your words of wisdom.

My reason for creating a portfolio was to get the best of both worlds (Pages + Posts). I'm looking to create an image based menu where users can see a graphical representation of an article. 'Eye Candy' and not heavy on text. This way the user is drawn into clicking an image to read the feature rich article.

Addiitonally, using categories and tags the user can fine tune what he or she is looking for. Here is a example of what I'm looking to create.

Your thoughts and comments would be much appreciated.

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

I'm looking to put pen to paper and design my main structual template for my website. I will be creating the new site in Wordpress.

My understanding of Wordpress is broken into the Static Pages, Posts and Portfolio.

Static PAGE
Static one off content.
No tags, categories or archived

Posts
content entries, which is listed in reverse chronological order.
Update post entry to maintain overall freshness of your website.
tags, categories & archived

Portfolio
?????

Question

• What are the benefits of a portfolio page over Static Pages & Posts
• When creating feature rich articles should i use static pages, posts or portfolio.

Thanks Mark

Hi Ruben and Alex,

Many thanks for the great advice.
I'll be making a strong coffee and reading your article very shortly! ... Thanks Alex for the link.

I have one question that comes to mind.
You redirect many urls via your .htaccess file.
Your .htaccess file growns in size.
Search engines take considerably longer to read and process this information.

Surely the read + process overhead would be classed as poor site speed and therefore subject to some form of penality by the gods of Google?

Regards Mark

Hi,

Thank you for your response.
I'm glad to see that you can simply 301 the exact old page to the exact new page.

My fears were that all the hard work and cost associated to creating these feature rich articles would be wasted.
I suppose this is exactly how large organisations would tackle such a move. To mention an example SEOMOZ to MOZ.

I would appreciate any further information from anybody who has experienced such a move and how they carried out the migration. Additionally and issues and drop in traffic resulting to a new domain name move.

Thanks in advance

Mark

Hi All,

I'm looking to rebrand my current website to a new domain name.
In short the current website has out grown it's potential. The domain name is not memorable nor is it attracting a wider audience.
I will create my new website and 301 redirect the old website to the new, hence pass SEO value.

Google Places
Having spoken to Google they tell me that I can simply change the URL in Google Places to the new URL.

Articles on my current website
I have a number of rich content articles on my current website, can I simply create my new website and copy & paste these previously written articles?

Google+, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
What should I do for accounts associated with the current website?

Any other useful information would be much appreciated.

Regards Mark

Hi Jane & Spencer,

Thank you for the additional information.

Regards Mark

Hi William and Jennifer,

Thank you for your words of wisdom.

Regards Mark

Hi Jane,

Thank you for you advise.

Regards Mark

Hi All,

To keep this example simple.
You have a home page. The home page links to 4 pages (P1, P2, P3, P4).

**   Home page**
P1   P2   P3   P4

You now use Google Webmaster removal tool to remove P4 webpage and cache instance. 24 hours later you check and see P4 has completely disappeared. You now remove the link from the home page pointing to P4.

My Question
Does Google now see only pages P1, P2 & P3 and therefore allocate link juice at a rate of 33.33% each.

Regards Mark

Hi William,

Interesting points ... Thank you.

In order to avoid the admin overhead trying to locate an authority within the company to sanction the use of there company icon, could I just do the following.

Within my T&C's state wording to the effect that allows me to use there company icon if we have carried out works for them. Additionally offer a removal request procedure by letter or email.

Regards Mark

Hi Spencer,

Thank you for you reply.
My logic was telling me the same.

Redirect 301 /no-traffic-page.html www.mywebsite.co.uk/main-content-page.html

Question
Whilst using a 301 redirect within my .htaccess file, removing the the instance of the page on the physical server and within my XML sitemap, should i be doing anything else?

Regards Mark

Hi Gary,

I was not aware of DMCA ... Thank you
Your right, Google Authorship is key.

Regards Mark

Hi Dean,

I think the article is a little overkill in my situation.
The article focuses on T&C's allowing the owner to intellectual property rights on any and all content.

Thank you for the article.

Hi Dean,

On occasions when dealing with blue chip companies, we help as a geo or branch level.
Additionally, Branch managers/ Area Managers or authors of the task don't necessarily have this level of authority. Trying to contact the most suitable person within the organisation is like a needle in a haystack.

I look forward to further advice.

Hi All,

Over time we have provided our services to many clients big and small.
As part of my new website I'm looking to create a simple icon thumbnail slide show on the home page. The slide show will show new customers a icon image of the companies we have helped.

My Question
Naturally, we have a full email audit of communication and works being completed for each client. Can I simply place the client icon my slide show without their permission?

Regards Mark

Hi All,

I have a number of web pages that yield little or no traffic. I have analysed the traffic data in both normal SERPs and Google Adwords over a year. All low traffic pages rank on the first page.
Redirecting these poor performing pages to the main content page would provide the user with a richer experience.

Why do I need to remove these pages?
Cost, time and duplicate content issues is causing untold problems.
Removing the existance of the low/no traffic pages will allow me to provide fresh content on the main content pages.

Question
Each main content page has about 20 low/no traffic pages associated with it.
I have about 30 instances of the main page scenario.

Would carrying htacces page redirects hurt my ranking or worse?

Regards Mark

Hi All,

I understanding the way to protect content such as a feature rich article is to create authorship by linking to your Google+ account.

My Question
You have created a webpage that is informative but not worthy to be an article, hence no need create authorship in Google+
If a competitor comes along and steals this content word for word, something similar, creates their own Google+ page, can you be penalised?

Is there any way to protect yourself without authorship and Google+?

Regards Mark

Hi All,

I have attached a simple website model.
Page A is the home page attracting 1000 visitors per month.
One click away is Page B with 400 visitors per month, so on and so forth.

You get an idea of the flow and clicks required to get to various pages. I have purposely placed Pages E-G to be 3 clicks away as they yield very little traffic.

1] Is this the best way to distribute link juice?
2] Should I point Pages C + D back to page A to influence its Page Rank (PA)

Any other useful advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Mark

vafnchI

Hi Andrew,

The old URL /green-shoes will provide content to the user from a different perspective to /designer-green-shoes. The Old URL will be a hyperlink on the /designer-green-shoes page.

Thanks Mark

Hi Andrew,

"Main Menu" is the horizontal navigation bar.
"Menu URL" is the page that the user is sent to upon clicking an option in the "Main Menu" horizontal navigation bar.

Based on a silly example:
Let say one of the options in the "Main Menu" horizontal navigation bar is called 'Green Shoes'. When clicked the user is directed to the url mysite.co.uk/green-shoes. I would like to replace the url (mysite.co.uk/green-shoes) to a new page mysite.co.uk/designer-green-shoes.

Additionally, lets say one of the "Main Menu" horizontal navigation bar options says "Sports Shoes". I would like to rename the anchor text to "Casual Running Shoes". The url will point to the same page that has relevant content.

Hope this silly example provides clarity.

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

I have a well established site. I would like to make a couple of adjustments to my main menu.

1] Replace a menu url with an established page url.
2] Rename a menu anchor text to something more meaningful.

What impact would changing the menu have?

Thanks Mark

Hi Miriam,

Thank you for the advice.

I understand the consequences of Google seeing both live sites and same NAP information. I have a few additional question.

Additional Questions Is there a way to stop Google crawling the new work in development site?

If I do not associate the new work in development site with any NAP information, i.e, info on website, directories, Google Places, etc. will this still effect me?

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

I have been going crazy trying to find a thread I read last week ... I think!
Several search attempts later, no closer to finding the thread in question. A genius moment or simple frustration got me thinking.

How cool would it be to have the following features on MOZ Q&A Forum.

Watch List
1] Check off any threads that you would like to monitor over time. Should you stumble upon a thread of value then simply add to watch list and view it's progress over time. No searching for the thread in question.

History
2] Keep a history off all threads viewed over a period of time.

Thanks Mark

Hi Andy,

Thanks again for all you help. I agree more user input here is needed.

I welcome additional community users to contribute.

Hi Andy,

My new site will be the daddy of all sites. It will provide feature rich content, an A-Z of information, and all things relevant.
My plans are to work towards being an authority and reference point in addition to provide a service.

I would like to run both site together for about 6 months. My current old site will be my bread & butter.

Why 6 **Months?**Initially, like all new sites there will be no seo value. When customers send quote requests and ring, I would like to give them an opportunity to see the new site. This will be my way to see how effectively they are able to navigate, add or tweak relevant information, etc.

During the 6 months, customer experience will be key towards perfecting the site based on user site experience and human conversations.

Additionally, with social engagement via the new site, I will be able to gain backlinks from users sharing valuable feature rich content. Upon such time in the 6 month windows, should the new site overtake the old in SERPS then i will make the switch.

Make the Switch: 301 redirect my old site to the new site. Pass all things goods from the old to new.

Concerns I had read a while ago that having more than 1 site in SERPS within the same trading area is a violation of Google policy.
Put simply,  anyone with seo knowledge or deep pockets can create untold websites to manipulate SERPS.

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

I welcome more information on this subject.

Thanks Mark

Hi Alex,

Thank you for your insight and words of wisdom.

It's comforting to know that using G+ Social, NAP (company name, address, telephone number), marker location and website url can be changed without losing user reviews.

Thanks Mark

Hi David,

Thank you for your reply.

Surely having a menu link and on page link pointing to the same page would be an ineffective use of link juice.

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

I'm a little confused. I have read a number of articles from authority sites that give mixed signals over the importance of menu links vs body content links.

It is suggested that whilst all menu links spread link juice equally, Google does not see them as favourably. Inserting a link within the body will add more link juice value to the desired page.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks Mark

Hi Alex,

Thank you for the detailed answer.
I have the Google+ Social (posts tab present).
Have you ever changed the Domain URL or know anybody that has with success?

Whilst I understand the NAP logic, I just need to be certain of the url change.

Thanks Mark

I currently have a Google places location.
Years of hard work, sweat and tears have resulted in a high number of user reviews.

I'm looking to rebrand and therefore change the website url. Will changing the url in Google places reset my profile or remove my user reviews.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks Mark

All,

Thank you for the quality information.
I was not aware that 'out of country - bad influences' would not affect your UK site performance.

I agree with your logic that untold ip addresses would slow down site speed thus affect Google rankings.

Thanks Mark

Hi Andy,

No issues with content.
Current domain name does not represent size of company, portfolio of services or potential market. Rebranding would simply provide greater opportunities and customers.

Thanks Mark

Let say you are an electrician. You have a website in Google Serps

After much deliberation you realise that the current domain name is giving the wrong signals to your potential customers. So you decide to rebrand to a new domain name. The new domain will have fresh content (no duplication).

Question
Can you have both instances live in Google Serps and eventually retire the current website via a 301 redirect to the new domain.

Thanks Mark

Hi Andy,

Thank you very much for the great advice.

Thanks Mark

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the additional info.
Had a quick look into Whitespark and see they offer a $200 yearly package.

From your experience of this product are the results provided (lets say for directories) of significant value. Are most directories provided subject to annual/monthly costs or can you get quality free sources?

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

I operate from the UK only. How can I exclude select countries from viewing both my organic website and Google Adwords listing.

Organic Website
Are the any free online services that give you a simple click + download/view script to cut & paste into a .htaccess file.

Google Adwords
Ditto as above with the exception to paste the IP list into Campaign | Setting Tab | Advanced settings - IP exclusions

Thanks Mark

Hi Andy + Vadim,

Thank you for your thoughts.
I have the following questions and concerns.

I have read that web directories offer little or no seo value. Google simply see's them as link farms.

I'm confused with regards to placing a 750-1500 word article on a 3rd party client site. Is this not the same as 'Guest Blogging'. Again, I have read how Matt Cutts frowns upon this practice.

Please kindly clarify....

Thanks Mark

Hi Andy,

Thank you for the information. I will read this shortly.
May I ask you for your advice and how you would tackle such a grey area.

Thanks Mark

Hi All,

Based on a hypothetical scenario, lets say you are a plumber. You live and operate within Chelsea in London. You have established a Google places profile and incorporated schema data to tell Google your fixed place location.

In addition you operate in several nearby towns with no fixed location presence. i.e Brentford, Bromley, Catford, Cheswick and Tottenham.

I create a feature rich page on 'How to find a quality plumber'. Within the page I incorporate the following description:

blah blah, as a quality plumber serving the community of Chelsea, we also offer our services to nearby towns of Brentford, Bromley, Catford, Cheswick and Tottenham.

I create hyperlinks for the towns (Brentford, Bromley, Catford, Cheswick and Tottenham) that allow the user see in details a full list of services, operation hours, etc. Naturally all towns will have there own unique content (no duplication).

Question
Is the above scenario the correct way to provide local seo or is this approach considered spammy to Google?

Thanks Mark

Dear Devanur,

Thank you for your response.

To date i have checked both Google Analytics, Keyword Planner, and live running Google Adwords Campaign. All have not yielded favourable traffic. Please bear in mind the low traffic examples stated previously have no bearing to my actual low traffic pages. However, I have seen almost 99.5% of customers hitting my high traffic page.

With this in mind, I cannot see any way that even to incentivise customers (based on your model) that any additional traffic can be found.

Therefore, would redirecting my low traffic pages still be beneficial?

Regards Mark

Thank you Chris you your response.

The example provided was an over simplified scenario.

In reality, I will be driving the users to a high traffic page that has relevance. Additionally, users would seldom search for the low traffic pages and therefore by removing these from Google's index won't make them appear in the search. Within the high traffic page, I will give the user the experience and information on all low traffic content.

Please give your thoughts.

Regards Mark

A number of pages on my site have low traffic metrics. I intend to redirect poor performing pages to the most appropriate page with high traffic.

Example
www.sampledomomain.co.uk/low-traffic-greyshoes
www.sampledomomain.co.uk/low-traffic-greenshoes
www.sampledomomain.co.uk/low-traffic-redshoes

all of the above will be redirected to the following page:
www.sampledomomain.co.uk/high-traffic-blackshoes

Question
Will carrying out htaccess redirects from the above example influence to web positioning of both www.sampledomomain.co.uk/high-traffic-blackshoes and www.sampledomomain.co.uk

Regards Mark

Thank you for your quick and detailed response.
Apologies, I think I have not explained my question well...

See link: http://imgur.com/iDy0E1Z

As you can see, every url has the same link anchor text named 'Home'.

My question is:
What is the best naming convention for this link anchor text. Should i simply leave it blank, call it 'Home', my website url, etc.

Regards Mark

Moz - Open Site Explorer using the following setup:

Tab: Inbound Links
Show: "all"
from: "Only Internal"

I have run a number of random tests and have noticed the following results in the link anchor text.

[No Anchor Text]
company name
website url
Home
etc.

What is the best practice and naming convention to be used?

Regards Mark

Hi All,

I have carried out keyword research based on Google Analytics, Keyword Planner, competitors and various other toolsets.
My research has been based on performance metrics favored towards Google.
I'm looking to research keyword traffic metrics and suggestions based on Bing Ads Intelligence.

My Logic
I have compiled my master list based on Google metrics.
I will carry out Bing search traffic metrics based on my Google master list.
I will carry out Bing keyword suggestions based on my Google master list.

My Questions
#1 Will my logic yield me any favorable benefits based on the high number of Google users vs Bing users
#2 Should Bing favor a particular keyword with high search traffic compared to Google, is there a fear that creating a 'seo user friendly website page' could dilute link juice based on the high Google users.

Any other useful advice would be welcome.

Regards Mark

Hi All,

Scenario
I have Instant Wordpress installed on my local machine.
I am in the process of redesigning my website; content, articles, etc.
I have internet access on my local machine.

Question
I would like to cross check all internal links/pages against each other for duplicate content.
I would also like to check all internal pages against external www page instances for duplicate content.

How can I achieve the following.

Thanks Mark