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Francesca
The question you are asking is in need of more info. Can you either give us a screen shot of the report and black out anything you need to keep confidential or let us know the domain?
Otherwise there are too many possibilities. When you say 2,000 dupe content issues, there should be more than two pages. If you can give a bit more data, we will help.
Best,
Robert
BM7
This really is what Alan says, but the good news is there is help available . I will ask our VP of dev in the a.m. for the answer. I will have him PM you from here as he doesn't have an account. He is a master of these type issues. Or you can PM me with an email address and I will have him reach out to you.
Best,
Robert
Bob,
You have posed a question that is a Pandora's box of conflicting opinions. So, off the the opinions, etc.
First, for my money, the best read for analytics knowledge is Avinash Kaushik whose blog is Occams Razor. About a year ago he had a very thought provoking post on choosing what KPI's you use wisely. And this is a bit of your dilemma.
You start with "If visitor stats affect ranking..." and then the question assumes certain facts not in evidence: Pageviews are a factor in ranking, time on site is a factor in ranking, bounce rate is a factor in ranking, etc.IMO , if they are, they are small factors. Assume your problem looks this way: We have a site that now provides the quickest and easiest way for our industry to get a needed group of products. The ease of use and the rapidity with which a product can be found are staggering and we are seeing more and more conversions as the result. Is Google's algorithm going to cause us to lose SERP ranking as the result? I think the answer is NOPE.
Are you seeing more and more visits? Uniques? etc.? If things are as you say they are my guess would be yes you are. Congratulations.
In our shop we have a few clients. I do not know a one who would complain about more visits and more sales, even if they dropped in ranking. But, the good news is, you won't if all you say here is true. But,
If your info supplied here is anecdotal and based on a common belief that "Our site is better than the other guys because we built it.", then, well things may work out differently.
I urge you to read the post by Avinash as it is really enlightening. Simply put, a great question from it is this: if a site has a lot of visits and lower time on site and page views is that because people did not find what they wanted? or, Is it because they found what they wanted and took care of business? IMO, Google gets there are two correct answers.
Hope this helps,
Best
ndirseo
Since you "made a lot of optimization changes" I am going to assume you used fetch as Google a lot as well. If so, you will only have the option to Send URL and all linked pages 10 times per month. You can fetch as Google 500 times.
I think the issue here is simply one of bandwidth and overuse. Think of it this way.Fetch as Google was designed to let you see the pages as Google sees them for the purpose of errors, those who had been spammed, etc. As more and more people began using it, they had to limit due to overuse.
If you have checked a page with Fetch as Google and it comes back ok, and you do that for the whole site, you should not have to use url and all linked pages that often as the pages are linked.
Hope this helps. I Have pointed to where you see the limits in GWMT with image.
Here is the link re webmaster tools. Note its next to last paragraph.
Hope that helps,
Robert
salemtas
Nakul is providing reasonable guidance here, but I feel compelled to offer some myself. First and foremost _you are fighting the wrong battle. _(I am now going to my zen place before breaking my rule of being nice on this forum - nothing toward you or my friend Nakul, but those others you mentioned.)
The issue is not their ability to track or their need to touch analytics. I would not give them access at the admin level for analytics and they do not need it. You can link to the adwords from where you are using the GA you have. It is really quite simple. They are so full of roses and daffodils that you need to change the argument.
First, sit down with your client and ask them a few questions:
1. Is Yellow Pages going to provide spend data? Keyword lists? Ad Lists? Ad Group Lists? Cost per click? If not, (it would be a first if they did) tell the client the importance of that data. Otherwise you are unable to know reality and you are giving them $$$ to spend. Make a list of what is needed from them regarding the PPC spend.
2. Assuming your client is a local business, when they do the PPC for them is it ONLY FOR THEM? If they are directed to a YP site, with other similar businesses will that count as for your client or another YP client or do they plan to show that data to all of them as if they all got that click?
3. Again re local, are they going to use a different phone number for your client or the client's main number as listed in G+ or Places and on the site? If different, (and it will be) ask this: How do you plan on compensating for the damage to the current NAP? (Don't explain it these sweet children please, make them work.)
4. If you have any issues you need help with call someone who is on a mission to stomp out the irrelevant in the world, or you could PM someone, uhhh, think about it. There are those who really are wanting to help the world.... 
5. Lastly, please let anyone know that I never once said anyone was a scum eating bottom dweller and that I kept all clean and rated G.
Hope it helps,
Robert
Nakul,
That's kinda cool, I will check it out.
Hey, sorry to hear about Alan getting kicked out of the Guru club, (who know's what he said to offend the moz team!!!).
What?!?!
Me too!?!?!
I could understand with him, I mean hell, compare our photos! I am pretty!!!
We try them all out from time to time. I would suggest that you do the same since what your needs are may be more specific for one than another. At the same time I will tell you that for me, I still think of Google's Keyword Tool as very useful on a lot of levels.
With Google's Keyword Opportunities Beta, I find I am able to be quick and thorough. For competitive research, there are plenty of tools. For setting up the direction for a client site, etc. Google's works for me.
Here is a good description of the Beta on SEL by Crosby Grant.
Hope that helps,
Robert
Agreed, agreed, agreed.
Best
Savageseo
Alan has given you an excellent list and rather comprehensive as well. I will take another tact. When I look at a new site, I look at it from the POV of "What does the client wish to accomplish with this site?" Without answering that question, you may rank but not well for converting whatever you wish to convert.
Once that question is asked along with how much can they spend, etc. I want to know what are the queries around what they are wanting to accomplish. Notice I did not say Keywords, I said queries. What question(s) does the site purport to answer in order to give value? Let's take a drug store and an Ace bandage. What is the person asking about them? Maybe, how to wrap an ankle or what size tape to use, what size elastic bandage, etc.
Then, well armed, you have to do keyword analysis to determine what is going on around those queries. If the site is a local business, you must use whatever geolocation methodology you possess around keywords along with non geo located searches.
Then, the most overlooked item I see on sites we take over is this: The meta description. Most just want to stuff keywords or city names, etc. and that, IMO, is what makes my clients get more conversions. The meta description MUST answer the query. Seems so simple, most typically a total fail for people because "Google doesn't look at the meta description." (I've heard that a few times.)
So, once there, all the rest that you and Alan have are all over it. Remember content must be great and fresh and relevant to the query as well. Only then, will your client's customer have the greatest opportunity to buy from your client.
Hope this helps,
Robert
Quick Edit: Remember to insure they are optimized locally.
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
Darlene,
I think there are a couple of issues here that may be causing confusion. First and foremost, are the sites "microsites?" It does not sound like they are in the most exact sense. Because you are not giving an example, it is more problematic. Secondarily, it is easy in SEO to get caught up in should you or should you not do a specific thing and what are the effects of that, as if all is in a vacuum. Obviously, it is not and there is more at play than just the variables you describe.
Otherwise, if it were simple the question would be: We can build an RE Site with listings, title tags, etc. based on location such that BigCity/neighborhood/address (All - I am being simplistic for brevity only). Or we can build big city with listings in that city then build micro sites based on the neighborhoods.
If that were the case, I am going with big city and sub directories as opposed to multiple sites due to competing against myself. Also, if you are really the same company, and you are using the sites to appear as 5 different companies and be in the rankings 5 or 6 times (to "lock" others out) that would be against Google guidelines.
From what you have, I would say you have this:
MainTownRESiteExample.com (This site receives all MLS listings)- I am assuming using IDX or RETS feeds for the MLS to sites. You covered your duplicate content bases for the listings by using a canonical tag for each back to the main site (and this was likely not necessary IMO if using IDX or RETS feeds)
AreaofGeoSiteA - you said each covers a niche which to me means say TownHome sales or Leasing, etc. Do you mean niche to mean geographic niche?
AreaofGeoSiteB
AreaofGeoSiteC, etc. (I am assuming there is over lap of each of the 50mile radius points. If not, and main site is city center, you are in a city larger than Houston in area.
You state: "We then created a microsite for each branch..." I am assuming therefore, that each of the "microsites" has its own physical location with its own NAP.
Most importantly, you state
The reason we created a microsite for each branch is that the searches for each branch are very specific to their location and we felt that having only a subfolder would take away from the relevancy of the site and it's location.
To this, I would say, uhhh, nope, it does not decrease the relevance of the main site in the least. Nor, would a search on neighborhood X be more or less relevant due to the whole site being neighborhood X versus being MainSite.com/neighborhood-X. Either way, what ranks in the serps is a page, not a site and that is relevant to what you say about the site. If main site has a ton of DA, and small site has OK DA, where does the page better reside?
You also state:
**I understood that if the main site could support the separation of a section into a microsite, this would help local search. **From where did you understand that? I have not heard of separating sites into locations to support local. I am not saying you are wrong, just had not heard of it.
So the big questions are: will your arrangement hurt your client and if so, how? It can end up just competing with the main site and even if it wins, why do you have the data in two places to start with? But, if you are seeing no harm and the client is ranked well for a given area, you have to walk them through how a change would take place and what might happen, etc. Then, they get to make the decision, not you. (At least in my shop that's how we do it).
For me, for real estate, I would rather use small sites for an individual listing and the big site for the mls feeds. So, while I would not do it the way you have done it, it does not mean you are not getting a result you want. I personally believe you could have done it with sub directories, but you are where you are. Again, personal preference for me is in RE to have a site for Townhomes, Single family, Condos, etc., but again, the SEO in me says you can accomplish the same with other means.
Yes, if you change back to main site, you will lose your rankings when you remove your pages but you can 301 to capture some of that juice, etc. It won't guarantee that ranking though.
When people say you are taking "power" away, I believe they mean you are competing with yourself and your efforts on one site would be better served. Not that the micro site in some way leeches from the main.
Dave is on the right track from a business perspective and I would caution rushing out and taking the sites down. But, again, having done a LOT in dating starting back in the late 90's, I can tell you the microsite in its original iteration was meant to look like a different business and be able to rank organically and in PPC five different ways. That is against the rules and will get you penalized no matter how unique the content might be.
So, I hope I helped you out a bit and let us know what you did. If the decision is to take them down, get the clients to agree to start with one and track what happens, etc. Then learn and go to number two.
Best to you and to Dave,
Robert
PS - I am a vegetarian really.
greenhornet77
There is no need to name them differently in Google. What you are after is accurate NAP, Name, Address, Phone (and consistent) for each. Obviously, there are many businesses that have the same name for each location without a #3, etc.
Assuming you have no Local issue with any currently, you should set up each with its own directory listing and insure for each there is ONLY one address and ONE matching phone number. No other number anywhere (think YP and other tracking numbers). So, Bobs 1234 Hoho road, Bobs 3587 Hoho Rd., Bobs 4564 Ace Ln., Each with own phone number.
Check to insure any citation or directory site has exactly the same for each. We go so far as to insure there are differing photos, etc.
Hope it helps,
Robert
The ranking factors are not appreciably different for Bing/Yahoo than for Google, but you will always see some disparity between them. One suggestion I would offer is make sure you are as diligent with your Bing Business Listing as you are with Google. That will assist you in locally ranking. Otherwise, look at those ranking ahead of you and see what they are doing you are not, then see if you can manipulate a page to rise in the rankings.
Best
Robert
Bozzie311
They are tld's with no more or less "weight" than any other. Yes, they are used by professionals to some degree, but they won't outrank a .com of Dr. Jones or vice versa on the tld alone.
There are currently over 100K registered .pro domains. Most (about half) in US - all from Wikipedia.
As with any of the tld's, it will or won't rank based on other factors.
We handle various professional practices and we have zero .pro domains simply because most had a domain prior to engagement.
Best,
Dave,
That is one thing I did not think about. Excellent point! Cool.
Thanks a ton,
Robert
Excellent
No, the number in the meta description should not affect the NAP (and we have not seen it do so - yes we are watching for a stray to show up in a cite) due to the meta description not being a part of the algorithm and due to the number in no way appearing on the site.
In cases where we want a secondary number on a site/page and we do not want it to affect the NAP, we use an image of the number without the number in alt text. We keep the actual NAP # in the footer for Local cite purposes on that page.
Hope that helps. Great point!
Thanks Andy,
That is a reasonable consideration, but you have to ask the question: "Whose CTR are you affecting, your own, or the ones on the page without a number?" Yes, I think its both. But if you are lower (6 to 10) I think you take the higher traffic somewhat.
Then, say 10% of those who would have clicked through, called instead and you lost 10% of that traffic. Would you rather have ten click throughs or ten calls where you talk with a potential customer? For my money, I want to talk with the potential buyer.
Best,
tsolber1
I like this a lot. Good one.
Robert
The key word here is likely causes and there are a few qualifiers as well.
First, how are you arriving at the ranking for the terms each day? Assuming you are using the same tool and it is correctly doing non personalized search, the biggest difference is the geo locator. With local you are going to have less competition than competing with companies all over the web. When you add the +city you pare down many of the outside competitors.
Best
Robert
Excellent question Rand, and ...
... I was going to keep this hidden away, but love the moz.
For me the most underutilized and proven technique in our shop (not sure for every industry, but certainly for B2C) is having a phone number in the meta description for important pages. We usually have 5 to 10 per client that are distinct and trackable. We use an outside service (IfByPhone) to purchase numbers and their platform.
Each important page for ranking and where we are at least in the top 20 of SERP's, has its own distinct number and we are able to generate calls from there. (Remember don't put them on the site other than in the meta description).
The belief is that some people want the convenience of being able to get the answer now. By having a number where others do not, you can be ranked 6th and "steal" clicks from those higher.
So, if the meta answers the query and there is a number, we see people call without ever clicking through. If they do click through, that's good too.
Thanks,
Robert
Now William,
I hope you understand it was my effort to follow the question about 10 days before: Has anyone noticed how SLOOOOOW Q&A is or is it me...? (Rough approximation).
Just felt like if I was going to point out the negative I had to point out the improvement. But, hey, now that its back to rocking, I'm smiling too!!
Best
That is a great question. We have a very active site we added some new info into meta desc about 8weeks ago. One search (not a very large # search on that phrase) still has the old info while all others have new. I believe it is due to # of servers, etc. with Google.
Ralph,
In WMT, assuming this is not what you meant, you can use fetch as Google on the specific url and it may help. There is no guarantee and I have noted before that under certain searches, you may still see an older meta description snippet in the SERPs. (Note, this is not the real intent of Fetch as Google, it is for checking issues on the site as they relate to crawlability and it will not follow redirects.)
You can also resubmit the Sitemap.
Here is Fetch as Google from GWMT in case you don't have handy.
Hope this helps you out,
Robert
While I woud love to tell you it's easy it is not. You can do all Tom has here and, unless your content is smoking with views, nothing will change. Unfortunately, the ads are there and that is one reason where possible, we do not use YouTube if at all possible. We use Vimeo, etc. depending on the circumstance for the client.
Best
A while back when things had really gotten over slow, I asked the opposite. Today I go on Q&A and the feel is quite a bit different. I also notice other cool little changes.
I am wondering if moz did it just for me or is everyone seeing it???
As usual, steady improvement from the folks at SEOmoz. You guys are on.
Thanks
PS (For any who require uber speed, yes it takes about a second and a half for the response to load... I can live with that).
Andrew,
I can understand that you are concerned re the bounce rate, but you are likely over-concerned where you do not need to be. The reason is no site is losing ranking to bounce rate. Yes, there is a very low amount of debate on this, but I do not see it in the day to day and I look over a lot of sites. First, with your WMT settings as you have them, Google knows where your market is.
So, to help you feel better, do this: Take a look at your non UK traffic. Is the high bounce rate coming from there? If so and if the algorithm takes it into account (it does not), then the algorithm also takes into account the bounce is from other than your proclaimed market. (The increase in BR).
Worry about your traffic in the UK - is it up or down? Is your time on site increasing or decreasing? How many page views are you getting over time? Have you gotten your content to a place where it is not the same descriptions and images as others selling the same furniture? Then, or before, how are you converting? Are your sales good? Increasing? Decreasing?
Last question is this. Assume for whatever reason, that a crazy Yank goes to your site and sees a lovely divan he wishes to purchase and is willing to pay $1,000 to ship it to Texas... Would you let him?
Best to you,
Robert
P
My guess is that it's highly likely they are being linked to arbitrarily by the asian sites. It happens. Often these sites are just spamming out links for their own ends and no one went after them. As to value to an English speaking site, I don't believe if you are looking at it in a wide view perspective that it will assist them much.
Best,
Robert
Jesse,
This is not a bad question at all. Please note that this is not my first rodeo and that I have a few opinions around this. First, realize that even with its non profit status, the BBB is a business and the directors are typically well paid. So, where is the value for a small business?
If you are in the trades: plumbing, roofing, auto repair, auto body repair, HVAC, etc. I think it is a good bet that someone will look you up. Know that anyone who is worth their salt can become accredited even if they are not the "best" business. I do not know what the current fees are, but let's assume you can get your trial attys in at the $500 per year level. Will it hurt them? Nope? Will it help them? Probably not. (I have large trial firm accounts). The link will be on a page with a bunch of others, but you will have the seal for what it is worth. With an HVAC firm, I think it is more personal to people and they look at it like I may get cheated...
So for that type client it may be helpful. From an overall, I do not see value beyond that. Yes, its a good directory for local, but you said "accredited." Beyond being in the directory, unless you are a local trade, I don't really see value.
Best
Philip
SEOmoz is a great help for local and in our firm we have a saying we use with every new client. If you only have a little to spend, wait on everything else and let us get local tight for you. We have a local coordinator who stays on top of local and insure we get it right.
On moz there are several who have a ton of Local knowledge and as an associate, Miriam, is invaluable. You can also read Mike Blumenthal, etc. for a ton of data.
Hope it helps, best to you and your clients.
aamato,
I don't know how many you had up or how large they are and that would be helpful. Assuming they are smaller there are two things that will help. First, resubmit the sitemaps to Google. In that way you are letting them know you are up and going.
If they are smaller and if you are familiar with Webmaster Tools (WMT), go into WMT and Fetch each url as Google. (per site you can only do up to 1000 per month, but I would not do if sites are hundreds of pages except for home page, etc.)
I have attached a screen shot of the WMT Dashboard, note that Fetch as Google is under Health.
If you have any problems, here is a help link.
Once you are recrawled, you should start to see your rankings rising. Obviously, if you have lost traffic over the time you were down, it will take longer.
Hope that helps,
Robert
Brian,
I wrote a response to this, hit post reply and then got an error message from moz. This will be shorter.
Where are you seeing the reports of this or is it something with sites you control? The reason I ask, is I would love to see any examples to see if there might be a change occurring.
My guess is that the issue with Craig and Cubicle Centre is that the whole page is around Cubicle Centre and the targeted keywords are the Toilet Cubicles and WC Panel systems. With everything being Cubicle Center, those terms are being moved by Google's algo. All important on site SEO is around Cubicle Center.
It would be interesting though if there is a change afoot. If you could let me know for any you see I would like to look at them.
Thanks,
Robert
There are a couple of things to consider with your approach. First, will it provide you what you are looking for - reviews that matter for the site. First, is having them on the site the best/only place they should be?
With Google, being highly ranked in the seven pack is valuable real estate. Your reviews on the site will not carry any real weight as a review for the purpose of ranking; we have clients who literally have hundreds of reviews on their sites that I am sure bring them business for those that go to the site. We strive to show them ways to get the reviews put on Google, CitySearch, Yelp, etc. This is because it will help them rank better in local search.
If, you want to encourage people to put them on the site, are you going to state that somewhere on the site or will it simply be a reward? (By saying, hey, give us a review and we will put a page up about your company, it is really a bribe.) Not in the worst sense obviously, but in the literal. My concern would be the quid pro quo would cause you problems with Google and Yelp specifically.
The problem lies in giving something to someone and then stating it is not for just good reviews. When you do that, human nature is such that they tend to give better reviews for that because they feel they have to "pay back" the favor.
So, yes to doing it on the site. I would not if it is off the site as above.
Cautionary: words like "valuable link" are subjective. If you give them their own page and the link is from that new page, there will be no value in it in the beginning and likely none going forward. (Obviously, my 'no value' is subjective as well. It won't be a single link from a PA of 50 is my point.)
Phillip, I hope this is helpful and not confusing to you. If it is, let me know and I will continue to respond. One last thing is we are big in local and we have developed good and bad mechanisms to get reviews; experience is a dear teacher.
Best to you in your endeavours, (I think that's the Brit spelling;)
Robert Fisher
Craig, I have to add that I now know more about toilet cubicles than ever before! Wow. I did not need that info;)
As to an additional interesting component, when I did non personalized search in US, you are ranked 2nd and on Google.co.uk you are first for toilet cubicles even though Google has affected it. Not too shabby.
Best
Craig
I just looked at this and the title tag is what you have for FROM and when you look at the SERPs, you have the title moved as you say in TO.
This has nothing to do with Google and branding, etc. Here is a good quote from WMT:
Google's generation of page titles and descriptions (or "snippets") is completely automated and takes into account both the content of a page as well as references to it that appear on the web. The goal of the snippet and title is to best represent and describe each result and explain how it relates to the user's query.
I suggest reading the whole page; I am trying to be brief.
Now, when you look at the content, etc. on your page (I use view source as it is easier to get there) you see that as a home page for Cubicle Centre you talk much more about cubicles than about toilets. Google's algorithm is inferring that you are a cubicle centre first. If you look at the others on your site not all have changed, just a few. But, on this page it makes total sense that the algo would change it. Your alt text, most of your links, etc. are around Cubicles and Cubicle Center. Not around Toilet cubicles. Your content is around cubicles and cubicle center as well.
I think the meta description is just generic enough that t has not been touched and is verbatim. I see more often where a meta description is changed than seeing titles change, but it really makes sense here. What you may want to do is reconsider what you are ranking the home page for (Typically your business like you have here.) The problem is you are actually trying to rank for three terms here: Toilet Cubicles, WC Panel Systems for Washrooms, and then your brand. That is diluting the other two because you are strong with the brand.
Hope this helps,
Robert
Craig
I just looked at this and the title tag is what you have for FROM and when you look at the SERPs, you have the title moved as you say in TO.
This has nothing to do with Google and branding, etc. Here is a good quote from WMT:
Google's generation of page titles and descriptions (or "snippets") is completely automated and takes into account both the content of a page as well as references to it that appear on the web. The goal of the snippet and title is to best represent and describe each result and explain how it relates to the user's query.
I suggest reading the whole page; I am trying to be brief.
Now, when you look at the content, etc. on your page (I use view source as it is easier to get there) you see that as a home page for Cubicle Centre you talk much more about cubicles than about toilets. Google's algorithm is inferring that you are a cubicle centre first. If you look at the others on your site not all have changed, just a few. But, on this page it makes total sense that the algo would change it. Your alt text, most of your links, etc. are around Cubicles and Cubicle Center. Not around Toilet cubicles. Your content is around cubicles and cubicle center as well.
I think the meta description is just generic enough that t has not been touched and is verbatim. I see more often where a meta description is changed than seeing titles change, but it really makes sense here. What you may want to do is reconsider what you are ranking the home page for (Typically your business like you have here.) The problem is you are actually trying to rank for three terms here: Toilet Cubicles, WC Panel Systems for Washrooms, and then your brand. That is diluting the other two because you are strong with the brand.
Hope this helps,
Robert
Phillip, I am not sure others will be confused, but I am. This is what I hear you saying:
You have a site Company1.com that is a client.
Whoever gave the testimonial ("review" is what I think you mean) for a given company would get something written up on that companies website profiling the reviewing company. So, they give a review on Company 1 from their site JoetheMortician.com. You will put a page on Company1.com that is about JoetheMortician.com and link from that page to JoetheMortician.
Where did they leave the review? Google+, Yelp, Citysearch, YP, etc.? assuming it was Google and/or possibly Yelp, you could be creating a penalty situation for your client (I am assuming your client is Company1.com). You are inducing people to leave reviews it would appear.
Next, I think a blog post would be just as helpful with a link as a page. The issue with the page is that if others do not link to it, it won't have much PA and that link won't be helpful. Are you planning to link from a home page (remember each new link dilutes the others) or some other page with PA that is high?
As to title tag: http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/title-tag,
headline (assuming you mean the H1 and H2 here)http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/on-page-factors and
linking keywords (anchor text) http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/anchor-text
For each of these, you would follow the conventions in the links I have provided. BUT, It would help to have a clearer picture before you go down this road. I would hate to see you wasting time and money otherwise.
Best,
Robert
Bobrock4
First, you need to 301 url to url as a best practice. Second, you need to understand that the more difficult issue is you changed domain name and that may cause Google, etc. to take a little longer to credit the 301 (due to bad practices in the past). That said, there is a great resource on moz that considers whether you are on a LAMP stack or microsoft, etc.
The link is in Learn SEO and is better than just giving you a rewrite rule as it will allow you to comprehend what is happening and why.
I hope you find this helpful.
Robert
Alan,
I cannot think of an answer I have seen recently with the clarity of thought and ability to refute a very bad practice. (Especially on a security level). One thing we do with clients and upgrades (we do not handle clients on other peoples platforms) is to take a new update, give it a few weeks for bugs to be discovered and then do the upgrade on our end. We have clients sign off on us handling the upgrades, etc. from the beginning of the relationship.
For Erik I would suggest showing the client what has been said by someone with a lot of savvy experience. If the devs are worth their salt, they will change.
This was a good question and Alan delivered a great answer.
Robert
If you look at the conversation between Matt and I, you will see that your meta you do not want is showing in dmoz and a few directory sites. Since the query, freelance web design brisbane is a low volume query, and brisbane web development is getting 2400 searches per month, I would not worry too much about it.
Every search I did that I was able to find you had corrected meta. The one you don't like was last used on your site in mid 2011 it appears. I think over time it will change, but putting too much into it is not worth the time.
All the best.
Matt,
This info from google doesn't have anything to do with duplicate content.
The first one is about title tags and even that says they (Google) may try to improve the title. Nothing about the meta.
The second is from a Google forum in 2008 and says to first check dmoz to see if the meta is appearing there. If you just say, hey use noodp, noydir, you are making an assumption that is problematic.
The third where you have John Mueller, it is again about Titles and not using keyword stuffing.
Here is the issue Matt: When you state something like that (and I have made the same mistake) and leave a lot out, someone who doesn't do this day to day, assumes something that is simply not true. Frankly, I know of no instance where duplicate content has caused a SERP snippet to change.
Yes, you can use noodp, noydir, but you need to explain why and not say its because of duplicate content. The snippet he gives says "Provides a range of web design and print design services." If you put that search on Google.com.au, there is no duplicate content issue.
Yes, that does appear on dmoz, not on Yahoo Directory. But, it also appears on several directory type sites. Will using noodp keep it from happening? Only if that is the source.
So, I have thumbed you up for the courtesy of a reply to me (evens out the thumb down). Thanks for the reply and, feel free to let me know if I stray or if you believe something here is incorrect. I am open to being wrong and having it pointed out.
All the best,
Robert
Matt,
Where are you getting: **Usually it's duplicated content that gets your meta replaced **
I cannot find any reference to it anywhere in GWMT, etc.
Thanks,
Robert
I think I understand, but want to be sure. The first img attached is my listing in SERPs here in US with my homepage drumbeatmarketing.net/ Below the SERP link for the query are sitelinks.
The next is your Home Page meta per SEOmoz tool
The next is your About Page meta per SEOmoz tool
The last is your SERP page from Google.com.au showing ABOUT page as the first page to show. Note query was Tyssen design australia
Note that the SERP snippet and the meta you have are the same for that ABOUT page. This would mean that Google is showing precisely what you are asking for it to show.
If this was recently changed, it may not yet have been reindexed hence the need to resubmit sitemap or do a fetch as google on that page as I previously gave you.
I thought this might be a site link issue originally and should have done a bit more investigating and asked you more. If what you are seeing and what I am seeing is the same, then the issue is that you are assuming your homepage is what is first in SERP and it is About page. Short of that, I would need to know what meta you have for homepage, what query gives wrong result, etc.
Hope this helps you out.
Robert
John,
I would be curious to see if this changes anything for you. I have sites that are listed with the Open Directory Project (aka dmoz) and with Yahoo (we paid for the listings in Yahoo for our client). I do not see Google grabbing those descriptions any longer for use in the SERP snippet.
One thing I would suggest if you believe the noodp, noydir (both good links) change will make a difference is to resubmit your sitemap and/or run a couple of Fetch as Googles on some of your site url's like your home page where you are seeing this. I doubt anything will change.
Also, it sounds as if what you are talking about are site links as opposed to the search snippet that draws from the meta description. With site links, you can turn those off (demote them) for ninety days if incorrect. Go into WMT and on your site you will see: Configuration. Click and you will see sitelinks. Note that if you are doing this for your home page you add nothing to the url that you see first.
Here is info straight from GWMT:
I think you will find this much more effective.
Best
Maestrosonrisas,
I took a look at what is going on and it is quite interesting. Do note that not all of what shows for that search is the result of hijacking, some are the actual urls, some are urls rendering false title tags in organic, some are urls landing on other pages not associated with you. It would appear that whatever plug-ins (protections) you are using for protection from spam are not the best or have been turned down way too much so that someone is able to get through. (Trying to keep explanation simple here.)
I have sent you a PM where it is easier to communicate and provided my email address. Unfortunately, without looking at your dashboard in WP and being able to see how they are hijacking the title tags, etc. it is too time consuming for this forum. I would be happy to take a look though. Aqui (en Houston), tenemos una maestro de SEO con Espanoles fluidas. Tenemos una empleado pero no por SEO en Barcelona. Ayudemos ti gratis si el proyecto no es demasiado grande.
Hasta que oigo de ti,
Robert
Actually, both are reasonable in my opinion EGOL. I was stuck because my local person had put the numbers in and she kept saying they are not showing and I kept saying they are.
Here is the only other variable I failed to mention: there is a PPC ad on the query with the old meta term.
Thanks,
We have a site we added a number to in the meta description. Once we did that we did a fetch as google to hopefully recrawl the page quicker. A few days later and we cleared W3 cache on WP and clear computer cache, then did search on common search for the site/page. WidgetA for example. The url is OurClient.com/widgetA/ - on organic in meta on SERP and we see our new meta with number.
We then do a search on a similar term WidgetingA for example and the same url shows:
OurClient.com/widgetA/ BUT THE meta description is different on SERP! It is the old meta. When we look at the element using mozbar, it shows the new meta as it should same as when we look at it under the original search term.
So, search for WidgetA, get new meta in serps and search for WidgetingA (which returns same url as WidgetA) and we get the old meta.
Thoughts???
