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What environment is the site built in? Normally, you build the microdata markup into the site template, this way no hard-coding of individual microdata is needed.

If you're on WordPress, there are plugins for that.

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the Moz community and Pro membership! Which reports were you looking at specifically?

The Moz index updates regularly, about once a month. You can see the latest updates to the index here: http://moz.com/products/api/updates

The next update is scheduled for January 15th.

True, the pages can be reached directly when you add the https://www to the URL.

However,

• http://domain.com
• http://www.domain.com
• domain.com

The above should all be redirecting to the https://www version of the page. Because the above are redirecting back to your home page, that could be the issue causing the deindexing of the page. If you're not seeing anything in your Google Webmaster Tools account, then I would start with this issue.

Here is a good resource on http to https and preserving rankings - http://moz.com/blog/seo-tips-https-ssl

Correct, thanks for that correction. I do not think this would be considered blackhat.

PageA.html's links still exist in the wild and haven't been updated to reflect the new page. When calculating the page authority, we still see all the links pointing to pagea and it calculates an authority for the page, although it has been permanently redirected to pageb.html.

Then the calculated authority is transfered through the 301 redirect. But, since all the external links exist, you won't see that PA vanish completely for pagea.

There's quite a bit going on here

'av' could stand for a lot of things, such as anti-virus. Most people know the acronym, but having the url as /av doesn't help you in terms of SEO - use friendly URLs that identify a specific topic, such as you've suggested with /video-conference

For each specialty/service, create a unique page and add content that demonstrates your value proposition to the reader.

Make sure each of these pages has the proper information hierarchy applied - H1, H2, H3, and the rest as necessary. Your <title>and <h1> tags should be human readable and highly targeted to the topics you want to rank for.</p> <p>Any content that is hidden behind tabs (i.e. you click a link and new text appears) is now known to be discounted for rankings. I highly suggest that you put all highly relevant content that you want to help you rank in front of the user without them needing to interact with your application.</p> <p>I hope this helps you get started creating those new pages!</p></title>

Unfortunately, Moz has not announced International Local capabilities as of yet. They responded back in March about how it is not in their roadmap, but hope to add it in. It does not seem to be a priority yet.

http://moz.com/community/q/moz-local-in-the-uk-and-the-rest-of-the-world

There are a few considerations to think about here:

Each search engine treats a 302 redirect differently, so just because it could be a correct use case in one search engine, doesn't mean that it won't negatively impact you for another. This is a major reason why most SEOs do not recommend using 302 redirects, they are more harmful then beneficial.

a 302 redirect, in the situation you explained, could be a correct use case if the redirected destination was on the same domain. So, if www.thisisyourdomain.com 302 redirects to www.thisisyourdomain.com/temporary-site then it could be a correct use of the 302 redirect. However, the first point above is much more important and I wouldn't recommend doing this.

If you do want to put up a temporary site for that downtime, then I do suggest you apply canonical tags back to the original site AND you prevent search engines from indexing it entirely to be safe from duplicate content penalties. Then, I also suggest not to have a 302 redirect, but an error page that says your team is working on fixing the problem and they can use this alternate site (provide a link) in the meantime.

However, I would avoid it altogether. If your site must remain online during these unexpected downtime experiences, then it is probably because you are losing a substantial amount of revenue (e.g ecommerce websites with frequent transactions). If that is the case, then I recommend investing in a server setup that can accommodate this scenario - they can be expensive, but you're generating revenue so it should fit into someone's budget.

You can also go the route of using a CDN to deliver cached content to allow the visitor to continue to browse a cached version of the website while it is offline. You won't be able to take transactions, but if the downtime is short their experience may not be interrupted - look at Cloudflare's Forever Online feature.

If your site isn't losing revenue while offline, then improve the setup to minimize downtime, throw up a nice error page letting people know, and don't mess with those redirects.

I would also keep looking or stick with www.thephotoboothguys.com.au

the .gy or .co are not worth a switch, imo.

http://www.weddingrings.com/www.yoy-search.com

This is probably due to to a relative URL being used in the site code. When relative URLs are used improperly, you usually see the url added to the end of the correct http url. Make sure to use http in your anchor tag.

i.e. and not

Well, that depends on the structure of your website and how you want to use category pages. For example, I manage an ecommerce website that sells Widgets. I have a high ranking XYZ Widgets product page. It sells amazing and since my price is so awesome, people link to it from their blogs and such. However, XYZ widgets just became discontinued. When the product page disappears, it creates a 301 to my main Widgets Category.

My Widgets Category page isn't going anywhere (not being removed from the site anytime soon) and ranks high in the SERPs. All those 301'ed product pages help improve its authority and allows me to rank high for a broad industry term - it also acts an efficient landing page.

That's just one store setup though, it could be that your category pages do not add value and you use a different page for that type of use. If you're not using your category pages to rank in the SERPs, then I would find which broad pages you do want to rank and have the product pages 301'd to those pages (to save any authority gained).

In terms of Internal linking, since I want my category pages to rank, a clear internal link structure helps that case. It also ends up that my category pages have a higher internal link count because of the structure I have in place. That all contributes to the category pages ranking higher for broader terms and allows my product pages to rank higher for the specific terms.

Hi  StevenPeavey,

Yes, G is pretty darn smart and would understand similar terms for local areas. However, there are other local ranking factors, such as having a Name, Phone Number, and Address. you'll want to make sure you have these details apparent on your site, usually in the footer. Having those, combined with the 'slang' terms will help you rank locally. Also, be sure to setup a proper business page with a verified location.

Of course, use Moz Local to solidify yourself in those local rankings.

Lastly, make sure that the slang term you're using is popular. If people are using it to search Google (e.g. Indy plumbers) then it is a good idea to use the term. If the term is not widely used then you won't get much benefit from having it in within your site.

Hi vijayvasu,

Maintaining a healthy link profile is necessary; and being proactive, like your question implies, is a great skill to exercise.

Start by using Moz's link analysis tool. Export the links to an excel, remove duplicate domains, then identify from that list the domains that may be spammy (low DA/PA).

You'll need to visit the site to know how spammy it is and whether or not your should proactively shun that link. Use Google's disavow tool to remove them from your link profile.

To add to what Massimiliano said - once you change the URL to be more descriptive and you have 3 pages, 301 the /av to the closest related new page. Then, add internal links to the 2 other new pages that target their primary term/topic. This way you have the authority from /av going to 1 of the newly created pages and then the other 2 new pages have a clear internal link structure so Google understands they are a higher authority for the new topics they are targeting.

Hi Rob,

One strategy I didn't see mentioned was the use of Case Studies. Case studies can be used to help convert clients with similar goals - they add a lot of confidence in the ability of the service provider and provide a direct example of success.

I also suggest getting on the phone as often as possible with potential clients. I've found it much easier to convert a client when speaking to the client's needs directly over the phone. Sometimes, the goals and needs can get lost in email and speaking with them directly allows me to align both parties; and a sense of unity is a great conversion tactic.

I wouldn't worry about the location of the IP too much. What's most important is that you're getting quality, value-added links to your website for your niche.

This is conjecture on my part, but I say it would be more important to receive a link from a .es domain than from a website with an IP in Spain (for specifically ranking in the .es SERPs). However, unless the terms you're trying to rank for are very competitive, I would concentrate on just receiving quality links, regardless of location. I'm not sure that there would be that much incremental benefit from the IP address location.

Hi Alex - Are you saying that you want your www.domain.com to resolve to www.domain.com/devs/ ?

If so, I would highly suggest that you consider using www.domain.com as your primary location and URL - unless your website is somehow targeted to 'devs' and it make sense to keep it in the URL structure. If not, it is preferred to have the shorter, more concise URL.

Making this change depends on your host environment and website setup. Are you using a custom web app or something like WordPress?

Given your scenario, there could me many areas to check and see what is has changed to effect your rankings. Have you done a 'what's changed' analysis to see exactly where your traffic dropped?

Month-to-month look at the keywords that were sending you traffic and identify which keywords have reduced their visits. Then track those keywords in Moz, see where you can improve on-page, and see what your competitors have done to outrank you.

Once you know why the change has happened, you can adjust to get that traffic back that you've lost.

I do think you would be working against yourself, given the scenario you've outlined. You may find more success if you include zip code content into the landing page of each city you've created. I.e. We service the following zip codes - and provide a table of zip codes your business area services.

You'll want to make sure that each location your business has/services, also has its related local information in the local directories (Google business, Moz Local, ect). Also, be sure to include a proper, consistent NAP (name, address, phone number) on your websites.

Get creative with your content to satisfy all related keyword terms. For example, if you know people will search 'plumbers near me' then you may want to include a headline and content section about Plumbers near Dallas, Texas and talk about all the plumbing related services you provide near the Dallas city (Dallas and plumbing are only used for examples).

if you'd like to instruct Google not to crawl the URLs with that parameter, select 'No URLs' in the Google Webmaster Tools > URL Parameters section.

Still, this is a guide for Google to follow and they do not always follow the rules set. Going the robots.txt method ensures that Google will not crawl those URLs.

It's not - the agencies most likely rely on brand appearance and driving traffic through other means (blog content, ppc traffic) for conversions.

Digital marketing agencies compete in a tough organic niche. It's a growing business niche and has very low barrier to entry. Therefore, websites need to find other ways to compete rather than targeting the broadest terms and ranking their home page organically for them. Sometimes, leaving information out and having a luxurious or successful appearance is enough to convert traffic.

Many times, WordPress users (and similar CMS') noindex their media categories to prevent duplicate content. I suggest noindexing the media category if you have a main page for the videos.

File not found errors should show an http status code of 404. 404 pages will be naturally dropped by Google, I wouldn't worry about them.

Make sure any of those 404'ed pages shouldn't have been 301'ed to a related page, to save any authority, if necessary.

You can use the Moz toolbar to check the http status code too.

An 'aged domain' is desirable for SEO. However, don't put too much clout into the age of the domain, focus on the content, usability, and accessibility. With those taken care of AND an aged domain, you should benefit a little from its 12 years.

Being parked is indifferent - just make sure to connect with Google through GWT (and all its other services) so G knows the domain is starting to be used for value-added content (and no longer parked).

Have you considered Screaming Frog SEO Spider? You can let it crawl your entire site and then start with the content that has a very low word count. That would be a signal that the page is too thin and needs to be adjusted. Depending on the site, that might cut down quite a bit on the manual analysis.

My developer claims that this is a common — and natural — occurrence when using WordPress

WordPress does tend to create duplicate pages. However, they can be easily managed/prevented.

and that there's not a duplicate content issue to worry about. Is this true?

You definitely need to worry about duplicate content - especially when there are auto-generated pages, category pages, author pages, and tag pages.

In your site the /authors/fear URL has "http://www.quotery.com/topics/fear/" set as the canonical URL. So, the developer did add a correct canonical setting to try and prevent duplicate content issues. However, a canonical setting is only a suggestion for the search engines and they do not necessarily adhere to the settings. Therefore, since the pages seem identical, I suggest noindexing the /authors/fear page.

A nod from the wizard :0 - I'm counting this week as a good friggen week!

Generally speaking, a 301 redirect transfers 98%+ of the authority when implemented properly. However, I would do a complete evaluation to see if a new domain is the strategy you want to move forward with. Even though Toyota may be narrowly targeted, can you create subdirectories (toyotaparts.com/maza-tires) that are intuitive? If so, it may be more effective to keep the original domain intact.

Also, since you have an authority website, creating content on both and intelligently linking from the old domain to the new domain (creating quality content on both site and linking from toyotaparts.com to mazdatires.com) may also be immediately effective for certain keywords.

Hi Theodore - You pose an interesting problem, are you currently experiencing this issue? I don't see why someone would create a bunch of random non-existent links to your site, but if they did (and the pages were receiving low quality traffic) then I would proactively disavow those domains that created the links. That would be enough to prevent any penalties you're afraid of receiving.

If, however, you're noticing that specific 404 pages are receiving quality traffic (maybe an old page was removed but good traffic is still sent to the page) then you would want to 301 that page to its closest relative page that deserves the traffic and authority.

Does that help? Maybe a little more information around you specific problem would allow me to tailor the advice better.

The best way is to provide high quality, value-added content without spamming keyword rich anchors back to your blog. Guest posting, when done properly, can still be an effective link building strategy if it doesn't minimize the content.

For example, find a highly related niche website and write up an insightful, lengthy article (none of that 300 word crap). In that article, touch briefly on a related topic that you've expanded upon in detail on your own website - like an aside note where a reader can visit to gain deep understanding on a supplemental topic. If both articles (the guest post and your own article) are unique and high quality, the contextual link should be a positive addition to your link portfolio.

You want it to be seen as natural and appropriate - not spammy and an obvious tactic at only receiving a link. Keep the readers' best interest in mind and you should be ok, as long as the quality of the website you're guest blogging on also executes legitimate link building strategies.

What topics are you intending to write about?

I believe it is because Sephora is using a recommended 3rd party product review aggregator, Bazaarvoice.

They most likely share their product reviews with Google through a data feed file and Google understands enough to implement the reviews in the Organic search. I've only seen reviews shared this way for the purpose of includes reviews in Google Shopping (previously, PLAs), but not organic search.

FWIW, I think you executed appropriately. I would have redirected 1 -> 3 and 2 -> 3 just as you did. It is going to take a while for the authority to catch up to the new (#3) domain and I would expect a lot of that authority coming from 2 -> 3 since 1 -> 2 has had a lot of time for its authority to pass to the #2 domain.

If youre going to be updating your URLs for best-practices, I would incorporate the conversion to https as well - do it all in one shot, as you've said.

Just ensure you're implementing 301 redirects properly. Not doing so can have disastrous results.

It looks like the 301s were meant to force a trailing slash at the end of the URL. This would be done to prevent duplicate URLs. However, rather than add each URL manually, you could replace it with a regex

Example:

<code>RewriteRule ^(.*)([^/])$ http://%{HTTP_HOST}/$1$2/ [L,R=301]</code> 

Moz provides a list of recommended agencies to work with.

http://moz.com/community/recommended

The list isn't updated often, so if you've already considered those and need more direction I can be emailed through Moz's PM system and/or contacted through the website in my profile.

Hi Paul - You're correct from the start, you want to 301 those dead pages to their closest related page. Maybe the sports team or sport category. From what you've written, I'm sure you can figure this one out - nice job!

Hi Jess,

I suggest considering the following for your page:

• Add in an h1 tag - currently, it is missing from the page and it is an important on-page ranking factor

• Add a transcript of the video

• This can add a lot of content and structure to the page (more headings). It also improves usability, there are many people out there that prefer to read through a transcript rather than sit through a video.

• Wrap your video and its pertinent details in the proper Schema data

• https://schema.org/VideoObject

• Create a video sitemap

• https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/80472?hl=en

These should help you increase the ranks and fill out those video pages.

Are you only looking to have the person's job title available via snippet? I hope you're not looking to have the person's photo show up in the SERPs, I believe that is still a discontinued feature.

The People icrodata you've implemented appears to be correct. You could try going with microformats instead of microdata and see if that helps, https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/146897. Google's example used microformats, so maybe they favor that schema.

However, I'm more inclined that they've deemed the page quality too low and not doing much to update the SERP. I would try adding content to the agent's page, maybe highlight content pieces they are proud off, skills they possess, previous travels they have put together, locations they specialize in, testimonials from customers of the agent, and anything creative you can think of - then see if that helps it get updated in the SERPs.