NYC-SEO

Personally, I like being listed in ODP/dmoz and believe it is a valuable link. Like anything, you cannot look at it in a vacuum. If this were the only link, it might not be as good as others with authority and less links to you. But, it is recognized as a good link and it cannot be bought. You have to have it submitted (to speed up the process if possible - they do get listed without you submitting) and then hopefully an editor will approve and you get a listing at some point.

We always submit a site after its been up three to six months or with a newer client and an older site, etc. Sometime they end up listed, sometimes they don't. When they do, I think the link is good.

On the paid side, Yahoo Directory is a similar link IMO.

Best,

Robert

Laurie,

I agree with Inhouseninja and would add this: When you buy the domain, try to purchase it so that it is under a different name, on a different server. Minimally, have it on a different C-block. I am not sure how much from a percentage point of view it can effect link evaluation, but we know that it does. 
So, if both of the new domains are on the same server, owned by the same entity, you will not get near the weight from the search engines (if any).

I do this in a couple of verticals but we the sites are actually fully related, have contact forms and other mechanisms for customer contact, etc. These sites are about 5 pages (not sure that any more would improve our lot) and we are able to use them for linking to the main site. If our main site did not exist, these would be real functioning sites that could be affiliate sites, etc.

Best,

iNet,

In answer to number 1, there is one giant in China and that is Baidu. Luckily,there are a lot of articles on SEO and Baidu (here is one 8 tips on Baidu and SEO). Also, there are articles on Search Engine Land, etc. so you should be good to go there.

As to number two and three, since I have no direct experience, I would have to refer you to the above.

We are handling a couple of sites in South America and working on an African site. The one cautionary would be that the only way to work with another language is to have a true language pro. So, you have to have someone who works professionally with translation of Chinese for mainland China on a regular basis. I would personally look for someone who has lived there or lives there now that already has clients or a body of work.

Sounds quite exciting, good luck.

Dan is correct and the biggest reason to redirect the www to non www or non www to www is that the chance will always exist that they will be seen as two sites and by virtue of that you will split the value of the site. We see it every day when we take on new clients.  While the DA is the same on both, the PA for a home page or important other ranking page is different. One I just finished sending a proposal on has a DA of 23 for the site. The www version home page has a PA of 32 while the non www version has a PA of 21. There are four links on the non www that do not exist on the www.

So, your call, Dan is right.

Best

Good link Luke. I remember when Russ wrote this and how interesting it was.

Also, I really do not think the vast majority of links we see that are "bad" are the result of a coordinated attack on us. We probably give too much credit to our competitors. Yes, it does happen, but I think it is rare. But it does make you wonder in a case like Alex's where the linking site is a porn site with no reason to link to him.

Thanks,

Ruwanthi,

You can use Moz analytics/OSE to do it, but I typically find that ahrefs gives me more. I could never do without the set of Moz tools, but for backlinks, I like ahrefs.

Hello Sushant,

I feel your pain, but I think you are worrying too much about site size, etc. First, if you can actually accomplish anything with GoDaddy, please do a white paper. GoDaddy is a SALES organization: "Thank you for calling sales and support, my name is Matt. May I please have your four digit pin number?" Yes, it is a direct quote.

If you do not light a fire under your client, you will regret it long term (a month or two from now). Remember that with an eCommerce site and an entrepreneur it will only grow. I am going to guess that you likely are not a developer of sites and that may be the cause of some of your fear of moving due to the size of the task. Actually, when I look at a 200 page eCommerce site (assuming most are product pages) I do not see anything daunting at all. Many on moz are handling 10,000 pages plus.

Marcus makes a great suggestion in steering you toward WP and I would also say, with a little study, you could likely have a competency in Joomla. Utilizing osCommerce, you can use a WP platform and life is fairly simple. You would just need a web developer (no offense to anyone, but not a designer) with a reasonable track record and someone (you) to supervise and supply SEO direction. Remember, you are not recreating the wheel and by all means keep it simple. Do not go for a full redesign, etc. Keep it essentially the same, move the data. Just get it done.

With a platform and correct architecture, you are just moving data once all is set up.

Yes to all, it is an over simplification, but you cannot let fear stop you from pushing a client. I would rather push the client and lose them than be a party to their downfall. Remember, when they fail it will be on you. I would rather fail making a move than fail standing still.

So, the final push is this: You have this forum for help as a first base; if you push your client and make the move, get a dev with at least a year of experience to assist you with the basics, you can PM me and I will allow one of our developers to answer your questions via phone/Skype/email to assist you with any roadblocks or questions you run into. We will not carry you, but we can certainly move some hurdles. We will provide the instruction but not do the work for you.

So, no excuses, call the client and tell him what he has to do.

Hope this helps,

Robert

Prime85

The only ones I would ever suggest to anyone would be BOTW and the Yahoo directory. Many of the others that are listed on Moz are fine IMO, we just do not use directories that often.

Hope that clarifies,

Best

Sushant,

As I was writing my response I saw this. There is no problem with a 1300 or 3000 product WP eCommerce site, etc. Since you are selling furniture, there is not going to be a huge parts inventory, etc. and my guess is that your product pages will initially come from the manufacturer (please change asap after move). 
If the developer really doesn't want to use WP you can use Joomla. The problem with a Drupal build is you have to have a good Drupal dev and they have to know process to do this efficiently. You do not want to be designing and building at the same time. Please do not do that. You will be 6 months and still no site.

hope this helps,

Peter,

It appears you are new to Moz and I appreciate your desire to tell about your directory site. This is not really what this forum is for and i would suggest you talk with someone at Moz re how to get the site listed with getlisted, etc.

Personally, I think directories with few exceptions are not good for business. (Yahoo directory, botw, etc. can help a small amount, but with any of these they are more helpful to a brand new site with no links and then they become an albatross.)

We work every day trying to correct all the directories that have come into being with no other purpose than to be a directory. (Not really a blue ocean strategy IMO.) So, businesses feel they have to be in Yelp, YP, CitySearch, etc. and yes, for attorneys, Martindale, etc. But, at the end of the day, the directories really do nothing to improve the business outcomes (unless you are going to tell me about link juice). As it stands now, a search on practically any trade or profession returns over half of the results with directories. Gosh, as a searcher that is what I wanted, to go to search so I could go search a directory.

Please understand it is not about you and you may have a great directory. I work in SEO everyday and my job is to rank my clients, not the directories they are in.

Best,

Robert

I agree. No follow if you are going to do it. I will also tell you that we get calls re specific sites we have built, and we do not use footer links. Do I think I could have missed a call because I did not, I would guess it is very likely.

Best,

Peter, I have no way of knowing what your intent/meaning is by "pouring out your heart," etc. but,  I can assure you this is not a "heart" issue for me. I spent years in trauma centers and my heart issues are kids that are abused or injured or ill, and animals in the same situation. Beyond that, only the abuse of power or station can ring my bell.

I was frankly stating a point of view. Trust me that my opinion will not keep people from using directories. I did not thumb you down nor did I attach any vitriol to what I wrote.

Best to you and your endeavors,

Robert

EGOL - I always appreciate your answers.

A question arises with this: If NearlyKeyword.com purchases Keyword.com and 301's each url to the new site URL's (Keyword.com redirects now to NearlyKeyword.com) does it increase the aggregate value in a one to one addition assuming all links and content are different (obviously this is a stretch and there are other factors). If no, then with two similar ECommerce sites as above, similar content, similar on site optimization, etc. what would one transfer to the other? Would it even be a 5% increase in domain or page rank?

If the Domain name is the only change and there is a cost that would not be recouped for say 3 to 4 years, is it even a reasonable idea? Could they not insure that they have good keyword use in the urls and spend the money on other SEO, etc. and be better served?

I do think the keyword domains rank a little easier for exact match queries, but have not seen a significant conversion increase one to the other when I am comparing multiple sites under my management all targeting the same keywords.

Good question. Good answer EGOL.