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Thanks for the comment. I was able to get them to make the changes, but I think I have made some new enemies. Oh well, I will move on in a few months anyhow.

Thanks again,

Joe

They have put it on every page. The programming manager is quick to point out that according to W3C neither http nor https are required for proper links. I have just never seen anyone purposely make all internal links begin with double slashes (//). It certainly makes xenu die, but I am not sure if there is any downside other than xenu and a few other tools not working.

Thanks!

The base href has been set in the following format:

<base href="//www.example.com/">

I am working on a project where many of the programming team don't believe that SEO has an impact on a website. So, we often see some strange things. Recently, they have rolled out an update to the website template that includes the base href I listed above. I found out about it when some of our tools such as Xenu link checker - suddenly stopped working.

Google appears to be indexing the the pages fine and following the links without any issue - but I wonder if there is any long term SEO considerations to building the internal links in this manner?

Thanks!

I worked on a site in your industry a couple of years ago. Brought them from nowhere to the 1st page of Google for things like plastic bottles. They are still on the 1st page for that phrase and many others. Don't worry about the big players - if your site has been around a while you can compete. After all - Google is a machine. You just have to feed it what it wants to see.

Here are things I would do if I were going to rank your site - based on what it appears you have already been doing:

Your non anchor text content is condensed in one area at the very bottom of the page. It's even below the Facebook and Twitter icons that I'm almost nobody visits. I would move that content UP. I would also build it out more. I counted 253 words in that section and 71 of those words are cities and states. I kind of think you're blurring the focus of each geography with all the cities and states jammed together in one spot, but I wouldn't remove it just yet. [after looking at this more I realized this text dump is not unique to the home page - you have almost NO unique content on your home page ----- I would change this immediately]

I would add more non-anchor text content higher up on your site. I know not all of your competition is doing that (some are) but this is not the time to emulate the competition - now is the time to be something else - To stand a little taller and mean a little more.

Seriously - I'm not a "content is king" type of player, but why do I need to buy a plastic bin? Who uses plastic bins?  It's easy to see you sell them - heck, according to Google you have "plastic bin" in the title of around 35% of all your pages. Be more confident in your message. Google can see (easily) that you sell plastic bins. Try the soft sell and just tell your story --- right now so much of your site just feels impersonal... industrial. I know your selling plastic widgets, but you can easily add content that makes a conversation.

Start telling the story about WHY someone would need YOUR plastic bins. Talk about the kind of people or industries that need your SOLUTIONS to their problems. It's just like the old adage - people don't buy shovels because they want a new tool - they buy shovels because they want a hole.

If I were you I would start selling holes. Some of your competitors are already doing that in a limited way, but you should just blow it out. Go big or go home. Who needs your holes? People into food storage, crafts, cleaning a garage, organizing basements, accountants, home based businesses to store parts or inventory, the medical industry, emergency preparedness, book storage.... the list can get very large if you just start expanding.

Non-content issues:

Remove the unused pages in your By Industry top navigation. It frustrated me and I am sure Google is not impressed by "There are no categories." Really? If there are no categories then remove the link. If you are using your top navigation as a memory assistant for your "to do" list.... Don't. Tighten your site down. Look everywhere for broken links - make it look like you really care.

Links

Yeah, you need more links. I think you can still climb to the 1st page and stay there without much more link building if you straighten the rest of your site out. It's critical that you start providing solutions to peoples needs rather than widgets. When you provide solutions - people will link to you naturally. Of course, you can and should prime the pump. There are many journalists that will write about a topic of your choosing and include links to your website - if you ask, are willing to pay (my experience has been a minimum of $100 and up to $500) and you have something worth linking to. This is why having that engaging content is important - you can get links from unusual sources and still look relevant.

I would also reduce the number of links on your home page and try to reduce the number of repetitive information break outs across the site. There are likely many more things I would do... but if you pull off the above things you will be fine.

[last thing - I just can't leave it alone -- get those links out of the sitewide footer. Find a better way.]

This advise is free to take it for what it's worth.

Best of luck.

Joe

(I am using a clients SEOMOZ account - my non-pro wouldn't allow me to post)