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)

Hya

Assuming it is as you say, that these two URLs in their own right (with no redirects in place) display exactly the same content - then yes, it is duplicate content.

If Google has cached one of these then do a 301 redirect from the non-cached URL to the cached one.

If neither have been cached (or you just don't know) then redirect the one that has the least optimised URL to the one with the optimised URL - I would guess the /blog/page/59 is the least optimised.

You can find out in Google itself (or YouTube) how to do a 301 if you don't know - or look is SEOmoz

Hope this helps, and all the best with it

PH292

Hi

We are taught that Ratings on Google Places are becoming more and more significant for SEO purposes and with GoogleAds.

Does it penalize you to send your link for GooglePlaces to a client in an email and blatantly ask for a rating if you know they are pleased with you?

If it does, is there any way to increase your ratings.  After all most of your clients are unaware of just how powerful this can be.

Thanks

Hi

I want to add the same video (that is hosted on YouTube) onto a website on more than one page.

Is it ok to use the same same video link in each instance?

Are there any benefits in doing this?

Are there any detrimental effects from an SEO perspective?

Thank you

Hi Alan

Really sorry to hear that

I set up all my clients on different accounts so as to minimise risk of this type of thing.

What you could try (perhaps for a less important GooglePlace / client). Set up a new ID and then go in via a search on GooglePlaces and see if you can take over the listing. Worth a try perhaps.

HI Alan

Sorry you are having troubles - I assure you, you are not alone. I too help companies.

I am glad it was of some help - as I say persevere - it is worth it, and thanks for the 'tick'

Let's know how you get along.

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!!

Hi Paul

I can fully identify with your frustrations - been there!

A simple question may help you.  Did you have a web developer, and are you still in relationship with him/her.   If so, get them to do a 301 redirect from the www.simodal.com/index.htm to your chosen version.  Most seem to do www.simodal.com/  - but with a trailing forward slash at the end.  Someone else might like to comment on that.

Also as Aaron says also do it for the version without the www's  ie: http://simodal.com/  and do a 301 to exactly the same URL as the above.

If you haven't got a developer there is some info around telling you exactly how to do it.

Hope this helps

Hi Dan

Thank you - that is the final piece of information I needed to get so I could have an overall feel as to the way I should look at this. in a holistic way.

Best wishes

PH

Hi EGOL

Thank you for your reply - very good suggestions, especially for some other products - however, this one is about a certain element of manufacturing - so sexy titles don't quite work in this market (and my client may have a fit).

Having said all that, we have had a better response than we expected and it does create great leads.

I will speak with the developer to see what can be done though.

Thanks again

Hi EGOL

Thank you for your reply - very good suggestions, especially for some other products - however, this one is about a certain element of manufacturing - so sexy titles don't quite work in this market (and my client may have a fit).

Having said all that, we have had a better response than we expected and it does create great leads.

I will speak with the developer to see what can be done though.

Thanks again

Hi Byrce

Thank you for your helpful  reply - there are different products and this allows for tracking and ultimately collating the product against the applicants details whch are then forwarded to the sales guys.

HI Dan

Thank you for your reply - I may end up going down your route as the subject matter is manufacturing issues - so not rivetting facebook content, that's for sure.It is amazing how three different answers all contribute another perspective - all helpful as well.

My other challenge is battling with the developer!!

I would love an answer to the query tucked in the middle of my question - does having 25 identical page titles effect the way Google view the whole site?

Many thanks again

Hi

We have 25 pages with a download form on it. People arrive at the page through a ink with optimised anchor text which sits on the information pages.

As there is no information on these pages we do not need them to be optimised so the developer has given all the download pages exactly the same page title.

Although the pages in themselves are not significant would this effect the way Google viewed the whole site, and would it pay to make each one unique or doesn't it really matter.

Alternatively, is there a better way to handle this?  and if so would that ligate the benefit of the anchor text.

Thanks

Hi Richard

Thank you for coming back - no I didn't reword my original message, I just clarified it in a second message - my original query wasn't crystal clear.

You confirmed my concerns - however, I did go onto to ask - when a site has a a couple of hundred links or more can that increase that number as the 20 new links would become a far smaller percentage of the total sum than when you start out. (I hope that makes sense to you)

Thanks again

PH

Hi Theo

Thank you for replying -and sorry I wasn't clear

I was referring to inbound links  - are we talking about 10 or less, or 50 or less (for example) - or is it a matter of percentages so at first it might only be 10 or 20 a days but once you have a few hundred links it being no more than 20% for example

What do you suggest?

Thank you again

Hi

If you plan to add new links to a site which currently has very few inbound links what is the maximum amount you could add in any one day before it is deemed by Google to be suspicious and unatural. I am referring ot manually added links, not robotic.

Thank you

Hi Keri

Thank you for your succinct and very helpful answer - no wonder I couldn't find it, but did find out a lot on how to prune Wysteria!!

Best wishes

Hi - If I remember rightly someone from the SeoMoz team has mentioned a video submission site called Wisteria?  Is this right?  If so what is the URL and what are the benfits over TubeMogul from an SEO perspective / ease of use etc ?

Thanks

Hi

My tip would be to optimise the alt tag on your 'Simple ID' logo and file directory name (no more than two hyphens to be on the safe side)

and the same for your flash image = turn into a slide show and optimise the alt tags & directory names.  Keep them natural.

and compare you and your competitiors inbound links.

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

I was not only considering the visitor who can guess, but also Google. Perhaps by being less specific with the category "list" meant that it could further divide into premature / newborn / toddler etc as the market dictates.

Just a thought

Hi Walid - if that is what your landing page is about then I believe it won't be a problem (anyone else have a view?), and is "what is says on the tin" - Just be sure to keep your page titles, meta descriptions etc different though.

Hope that helps

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

Thanks Damien - all helpful

Thanks Damien, I certianly agree with putting the main keyword first - I just wondered what happened next.

What do you do with housekeeping pages -such as Privacy Policy - do you optimise it for the site, or state Privacy Policy first and then the company name?

Hi - I don't think you are being to fussy and I too would like to know how many hyphens is considered the maximum amount.

You could have some variations on the theme which would mean there would be some variation at least.  for example:-

change-a-tyre.jpg

changing-a-tyre.jpg

tyre-change.jpg ......... and so on .......

I have been told it is ok to have -1.jpg -2.jpg - but woud like that confirmed.

All the best

Thank you - Yes, I have seen the cheat sheet, but it was produced in a 2009 and as things change I wondered what the current feeling was.

From an SEO and user perspective what structure do you recommend for page titles.  For example (given that they shouldn't ideally be more than 70 characters) :-

Keywords (maybe two or three) | Company Name | more keywords

I understood the best place for the company name was about second place.  Is this now the considered view taking into consideration 'branding' which has been flagged up as the way forward.

Keywords are separated by the vertical bar    |     - any thoughts?

For 'house keeping' pages such as Privacy Policy - should this be optmised or simply stated as 'privacy policy'

Thanks

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