Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Many thanks for your input - and I agree with you with regards to how Google might see the content, and why I asked the question.

Google know what content people hang about and browse and are clever enough to know if a 'style' puts people off.  So what may be my clients 'visual' comfort zone is probably not the majority of the prospects he is trying to reach.

But, if all else fails Marks suggestion is a compromise.

Thanks again

PH

Thanks Mark

Your answer is very helpful - and one I shall adopt if the client insists.

However, it begs the question - if Google might see this as a poor quality content (my initial concern) then they have a reason for that and know what engages the web browser - and whilst having text with no caps is in my clients 'visual' comfort zone it might not be the same for those he is trying to sell to!

Thanks and again and best wishes

PH

Hi

I have a client who wants his whole site to be in lower case with the exception of his company name.  Absolutely everything.

I just want to check whether or not this will effect the way Google sees the site?

Does anyone have any idea?

........ and do you have any experience or data to support your views?

Thank you

PH

In my view you should do what is natural and relevant to your content for both Google and your visitor - because you must not forget your visitor experience.

Identify your primary keywords / phrase and supporting secondary ones.

It is important that your picture file name uses keywords, ideally with two hyphens (ie: three words), all lower case.

The alt tag can ideally be up to seven words, again all lower case - and must make sense.

If you have a lot of text on the page then the use of your keywords would not be too concentrated so you could use the same file name a couple of times with a numeral to differentiate between the two.  That is not unreasonable when filing pictures. eg: xxx-xxx-xxx2.jpg  The secret is to be natural.

It is ok to look at your competitors, but remember their use may not be right.

If you wanted to use a number of pictures because they were interesting and relevant and did not actually need to have so much text, then I would suggest putting your relevant text at the top of the page, then your pictures, and then add additional optimised text at the bottom of the page.

I appreciate that this does not exactly answer your question about "How many", but that is difficult to answer in isolation - but I hope my answer underlines the importance of being "natural" and focussing on your visitor experience as well as Google et al.

I would also be interested to hear any one elses view.

All the best

PH

Hi Brian

What Brent says in key, although some web developers tell you can't be done - don't get put off by them.

Also - (but not instead of) in Google Webmaster tools you can select which URL is always displayed.

Hope this helps

PH

HI Gary

I don't believe you can either -

Unless it is seriously detrimental I would not demote a page - I would just try and make others more important

Maybe the thing is to have some pages optimised and be very relevant for a phrase and work on that page having a high authority. Add video (and send links to the video), and other ethical means.

PPC is definitely a good solution and then add site extensions to the ads - that can be very effective. (The site extensions may only show if you are in position 1 - 3 at the top of the page.  You can add in a number and Google choose which ones they will display (if they do).  But when they do, it can be really effective.

Hope this helps

PH

Ok, so lets drill down a bit - of course there is information 'out there' - some will be accurate and some will be hype.

Then it becomes a question of looking at the source, how do they come to their conclusions, how much do they test, what is their information based on, who are the people behind the information, what are their ethics and belief systems, what drives them. Is there accountability and transparency ... ? that type of thing

I have been on the internet for a long time, and always learning, but I like to believe that one thing I have sussed is who to follow and where to go for good information.

I use this website for myself, and for my clients ....... and wish I had more time to spend on it.

Why not give it a go for a few months, and make sure you use it, and then decide

Hope it works for you, as it does for me and that this perspecitve helps

PH

As the Oracle said, look at the tools

Take advantage of the SEOmoz community

Get answers to specific questions by the experts

Learn from the experts who have tried and tested their hunches.  (There is a lot of rubbish / noise out there from so called "experts")

Join the events - both on and off line

They are really really nice people (and fun - I know, I have met them)

The statistics they run on sites are extremely useful and save you hours of head scratching (You could even sell a report or two to pay for your monthly fee)

Time is money ...... this site will save you time, and make you money

All the very best in your quest  ............

PH

HI

This is off the cuff - but may help your approach to this.  (I too have a medical client)

We know Google can't see the image (yet!!)

It can read the jpg file name and alt tag

Two ideas:

If it is a new service why not password protect the area with sensitive photos

or

Create a link which takes them to a gallery.  Explain the link is to a gallery with photos that may be distressing.

that they click agree to continue and could always have a data capture to prevent children finding it

You could then have the gallery pages with a no follow robot so the page is not cached and they aren't found through any search, and that way you can still optimise the rest of the site / or hold onto your existing rankings

Further to this if there were any 'before' and 'after' photos that could be displayed - they could be done in page and the link for more case studies underneath.

Also

If you were concerned about any language you may have to use embed it in a graphic button.

Just a few thoughts.

Let me know what you do, I will be interested

PH

HI Again

You are welcome -

Ok - they are two separate pages that have basically the same content (all be a couple of minor differences)

So - you have two options.

If http://www.datacenterscanada.com/blog/page/101/ doesn't have any links to it, nor is it getting much traffic, then you may as well delete it.

Otherwise do a 301 to http://www.datacenterscanada.com/blog/torix-peer-saskatchewan-telecommunications/

All the best

PH292 (uk)

As the Oracle said, look at the tools

Take advantage of the SEOmoz community

Get answers to specific questions by the experts

Learn from the experts who have tried and tested their hunches.  (There is a lot of rubbish / noise out there from so called "experts")

Join the events - both on and off line

They are really really nice people (and fun - I know, I have met them)

The statistics they run on sites are extremely useful and save you hours of head scratching (You could even sell a report or two to pay for your monthly fee)

Time is money ...... this site will save you time, and make you money

All the very best in your quest  ............

PH

HI Gary

I don't believe you can either -

Unless it is seriously detrimental I would not demote a page - I would just try and make others more important

Maybe the thing is to have some pages optimised and be very relevant for a phrase and work on that page having a high authority. Add video (and send links to the video), and other ethical means.

PPC is definitely a good solution and then add site extensions to the ads - that can be very effective. (The site extensions may only show if you are in position 1 - 3 at the top of the page.  You can add in a number and Google choose which ones they will display (if they do).  But when they do, it can be really effective.

Hope this helps

PH

Unbeknown to me our web developers have hosted our UK e-commerce site (and only serving the UK & outer islands) on a US based server.  Can this impact our SEO efforts?  My further concern is when it comes to sending out emails and opt-in regulations - I am right to be concerned about this as well?
Thanks

Hi Alan

To change your business name (or address) you have to verify by mail or phone. (I am assuming you have received your pin number and are able to edit your details??)

Have you tried contacting Google using the 'help' link at the top right of the GooglePlaces page.

Like Robert says it isn't totally clear but I hope this helps.

GooglePlaces are great so perservere!!

If you have great content, say 450 - 600 words that include your keywords then you can use this as a basis for some effective link building. Basically recycle it. Put an edited shorter version on the website, but be sure NOT to use this version in a text format anywhere else. Create other version - for example "How To", "7 Steps To" "Myths about ..." and so on.  Submit the versions over time to article directories, publish parts of the articles on web 2.0 sites with links back to your site, publish articles as a PDF and submit to appropriate sites, create a video - with slides and voice over, do an audio podcast - optimise your submissions in each instance including your file names.

All the best

HI Walid - It is difficult to give a concise answer without seeing the complete URL howerver, my one tip would be when you are listing "feeding" for example - it could be feeding anything so you could have (based on your research of course) for example

/shopping/baby-feeding

/shopping/toddler-feeding

that way it becomes a bit more optomized and surfer friendly

If the key part of the URL left you in no doubt then you could have

/feeding-tips

/feeding-products

/feeding-accessories

Hope that helps

Although locals may refer to it as "Maple Street", do they know it is also called "Route 44"  - if so, then you should definitely go with Route 44?

However, I also agree if you depend on tourists for your revenue then you should go with "Route 44" - if you wanted to mention the other address on your site you could put it into a graphic.

Whatever you decide to do make sure you duplicate the same on your website and then go to

http://getlisted.org/  and make sure your entry is absolutely identical on every entry.

Have fun

Ok, so lets drill down a bit - of course there is information 'out there' - some will be accurate and some will be hype.

Then it becomes a question of looking at the source, how do they come to their conclusions, how much do they test, what is their information based on, who are the people behind the information, what are their ethics and belief systems, what drives them. Is there accountability and transparency ... ? that type of thing

I have been on the internet for a long time, and always learning, but I like to believe that one thing I have sussed is who to follow and where to go for good information.

I use this website for myself, and for my clients ....... and wish I had more time to spend on it.

Why not give it a go for a few months, and make sure you use it, and then decide

Hope it works for you, as it does for me and that this perspecitve helps

PH

Hi Brian

What Brent says in key, although some web developers tell you can't be done - don't get put off by them.

Also - (but not instead of) in Google Webmaster tools you can select which URL is always displayed.

Hope this helps

PH

HI

This is off the cuff - but may help your approach to this.  (I too have a medical client)

We know Google can't see the image (yet!!)

It can read the jpg file name and alt tag

Two ideas:

If it is a new service why not password protect the area with sensitive photos

or

Create a link which takes them to a gallery.  Explain the link is to a gallery with photos that may be distressing.

that they click agree to continue and could always have a data capture to prevent children finding it

You could then have the gallery pages with a no follow robot so the page is not cached and they aren't found through any search, and that way you can still optimise the rest of the site / or hold onto your existing rankings

Further to this if there were any 'before' and 'after' photos that could be displayed - they could be done in page and the link for more case studies underneath.

Also

If you were concerned about any language you may have to use embed it in a graphic button.

Just a few thoughts.

Let me know what you do, I will be interested

PH