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Hello! I just came across your question. Here is a recent Moz post of mine on how to use log files for technical SEO -- the example screenshots are from the SEO dashboard in Logz.io. Feel free to sign-up at our site and test our public beta to see if it works for you. 
Disclosure: Yes, I work for the company.
Google+ is relevant in personalized search results. If I visit a website, like a website's Google+ page, +1 its content in Google+, or share stuff from that website while logged into a Google account, then I will be more likely to see stuff from that website again in the future when I am logged into that Google account.
Furthermore, Google+ authorship markup can still be shown in personalized search for selected Google+ content.
Yes, definitely save or reserve social profiles and so on for the new brand name as soon as you can (whenever possible -- on Twitter, for example, you have to wait to change the user name until you announce the rebrand). (When there are new profiles with the new name, just keep them inactive and don't publicize them yet.)
I don't work for Moz, but I am active in the community here. Yes, I think it's amazing too -- it's why I participate a lot. Welcome!
Thanks for the question! First, I'd go through these guides here and here on Moz to doing domain migration well. It can be complicated. (Note: Be sure to read the referenced posts and documents for more detail!)
Those articles (and referenced links) contain a lot of technical points that I endorse (for what's it's worth -- you don't know me!). Here, I just wanted to make a point about branding. (Specifically, the first post -- and referenced Mozinar -- mentioned above also details Moz's journey from SEOMoz to Moz as far as branding, which is relevant to your move to a new brand name.)
Basically, a branding change is not something that should be done slowly over time. A rebranding creates confusion in the mind of your audience and customers, and you want that confusion to be over as quickly as possible. If you list the new brand on your marketing collateral but then direct people to the website with the old brand, that creates brand confusion.
Instead, I would develop the new website and brand in the dark. Then, once it's ready, unveil the new website and brand all at once. Once the new website is live -- with all of the 301 (not 302) redirects and other technical issues in place -- THEN change your social media profiles, distribute new business cards, release new letterhead, and everything else. Make it a big deal. Celebrate, publicize, and promote the new brand. But make it all happen at the same time so that people become accustomed to the new brand quickly.
Thanks for the question! I'm sure the community would love to help, but the question is a little vague. If it's possible, could you tell us your brand name and website URL? There are numerous issues that could be involved, so it'd be hard to help unless we can get more details.
Thanks for the question! The answer is a bit complex, so I'll break it down by topic.
First, Moz does recommend here that people use top-level domains (such as .uk) and not second-level domains (such as co.uk). This is what you're now doing.
Second, you've done everything correctly as far as 301 redirects and GWT notification of domain change. (One possible note: If your target audience is primarily people in the UK, then you should also state that designation in GWT in Search Traffic > International Targeting.) If you're not doing this already, I'd also select a web host that will give you an IP address that is located in the UK.
Now, it's been only ten days? I'd humbly suggest that it's too soon to make any judgments. Whenever a major change is done to a website -- such as as moving a website to a new domain -- it takes time for Google to "catch up." Until that time, things will be a little "wonky" (to use UK slang). I'd give it a month -- possibly a little longer.
You're correct that the length of time that a domain has actively existed is a ranking factor. But as long as you've done everything correctly to "tell" Google that the domain has moved to a new domain, then that length of time should "carry over."
Lastly, I'd do whatever you can to get high-quality backlinks to the new domain that are 100% earned -- think of how to get natural publicity on any major, authoritive sites that are read by your target audience.
If you're still having problems after a month or so, I'd post here again -- I'm sure the Moz community will be happy to help again. Good luck!
Sure! What you're describing is called "deep linking." Here are some resources I've collected that will give you more information.
Google's portal with information on getting your app's content into Google search results
INMA's tips for using deep linking to drive traffic to your app
Ad Week's comparison of deep linking for Google, Apple, and Facebook
Hope it helps!
Thanks for the question!
For the most part, all rank-tracking tools are pretty much the same. Most tools out there incorporate two things: 1.) Choosing a search engine and country and 2.) Adding a parameter to show non-personalized results. the rankings that will be delivered will then include (only) those two factors.
However, the actual SERP that any person actually sees will be personalized and reflect his search history, the device he is using at the moment, whether he's logged into his Google account, his Google+ activity, his physical location (especially when searching on mobile devices), and a lot more that we probably don't even know.
So, it's important to know that any "ranking" that a person sees via any tool is always going to be an estimation. There are more than 200 ranking factors (as best as we can know) and no tool can incorporate all of them to present the exact same picture that Google sees -- chiefly because we don't know all of those factors and we don't know everything about that factors that we do know.
So, the actual ranking positions that a person sees will often not line up exactly with what a tool shows. Tools pretty much give you a good guess as to a ranking, but it's still just a guess. What I would recommend: People should care more about the overall trend than a specific ranking. If the tools show that rankings are slowly but surely increasing over time, then you're on the right track. It's a marathon, not a race.
Thanks for the question! The simple answer is that your website is too young to make any definitive conclusions. Three weeks is nowhere near enough time to know for sure what Google "thinks" about your website.
Whenever a company does something "new" -- create a website, publish a new piece of content, get a batch of new backlinks, and so on -- it will usually get a quick boost in rankings (and search-result impressions, as you mention) simply because it is new and fresh in Google's eyes. However, that exposure will lessen over time as the "newness" wears off. So, one answer is that it's crucial to keep the site "fresh" as much as possible.
But remember: SEO is a marathon, not a race. Rankings, impressions, and traffic will rise and fall on a daily or weekly basis. But the key is to keep them increasing over the long term in general -- think monthly, quarterly, and yearly, like the stock market. If you see the results going up over the long term, then you know you're doing the right thing. Anything good takes time to be successful. Nothing good comes quickly.
301 redirect each and every page -- not each and every folder. The reason is simple: External links go to specific pages (and not folders). If you want to keep the "link juice" from those links to those pages, then the pages need to be 301 redirected to other desired pages. It's about keeping the specific destination in mind -- for both users and search engines.
You should be fine. Here's Google's guide to multiregional and multilingual sites (emphasis mine):
Websites that provide content for different regions and in different languages sometimes create content that is the same or similar but available on different URLs. This is generally not a problem as long as the content is for different users in different countries. While we strongly recommend that you provide unique content for each different group of users, we understand that this might not always be possible. There is generally no need to "hide" the duplicates by disallowing crawling in a robots.txt file or by using a "noindex" robots meta tag. However, if you're providing the same content to the same users on different URLs (for instance, if both example.de/ and example.com/de/ show German language content for users in Germany), you should pick a preferred version and redirect (or use the rel=canonical link element) appropriately. In addition, you should follow the guidelines on rel-alternate-hreflang to make sure that the correct language or regional URL is served to searchers.
Just make sure that Google "understands" that the different domains are targeting different countries, I'd double-check all the technical factors listed in Moz's guides to international SEO -- International SEO, Hreflang, and CcTLDs. For example, be sure to state in each site's Google Webmaster Tools that it is targeting a specific country.
Good luck! If you run into any issues, feel free to post more questions in the Moz Q&A!
First, it's crucial to know that 99% of directory websites out there at best will not help you and at worst will hurt you. The directory is good only if the answer to all three of these questions is yes:
**1. Would I want this link if Google did not exist? **In other words, do a lot of real people visit this website? Would a link send you valuable referral traffic of people who are interested in your website's topic -- or, are you trying only to get a link to boost your search rankings.
2. Is this directory curated by a human who is an expert in the field and who does not accept each and every submission? In other words, would Google view the site's owner as an authority on the topic? For example, a list of recommended Seattle restaurants compiled by a local newspaper food critic is much better than a generic list of each and every restaurant in Seattle on some random website.
3. If this link is being paid for, does it not pass PageRank (i.e., is it a no-follow link that adheres to Google's guidelines as such)? Paying for any link to try to manipulate rankings could get you hit by Penguin.
For this reason, Google is not a big fan of directories. And that's why more and more of them are adding no-follow tags -- they don't want to get hit by Google themselves. Yes, no-follow tags do not pass "link juice."
When you say "higher-rankings posts and content," I presume that you mean the pages with the highest "authority" in Google's eyes? In general, I'd do a Google search for "site:[something].com" (minus the quotation marks and brackets) -- the higher the page in the search results, the "higher" it is in Google's eyes. SEO Review Tools also uses Moz's API in a bulk authority checker in this free tool.
As far as determining for which keywords it is ranking the highest, you can use Moz Analytics / Pro to get a site's rankings for a list of inputted keywords. You can also use free tools such as those at SEO Book and SERPS.com (though the functionality is less).
Unfortunately, I have news that might be a little disheartening. Google's main goal is to provide users with good search results. How many people would consider going to a local business that is located 20 miles away when there are countless others very close? Obviously, few of them. So, Google will reflect that fact.
But all is not lost! Read this great guide to local SEO on Moz -- specifically, point number two on physical address. I'll summarize:
because of Google's bias toward physical location, these businesses are unlikely to ever appear in the local pack of results. As things presently stand with Google, the best hope for these types of business owners is to begin developing city landing pages that showcase their professional association with these other cities, whether this involves windows they wash on the skyscrapers of Dallas or lectures they give at a Denver hospital. The goal here is to gain additional visibility in the organic results for these other geographic terms.
There are some exceptions that may overcome Google's bias. If you search for a niche business model in or around a major city, or search for any business model in a rural location, you may see listings in the local pack of results that stem from several cities. For example, if there is only one gas station serving a large radius in a rural area, it may pop up as a local result for any of the towns in that region. This scenario, however, tends to be the exception rather than the rule.
In sum, it is generally wise for local business owners to set the goal of earning local pack rankings for searches related to their city of location, and organic rankings for any other geographic terms they feel are important.
Good luck!
There are positives and negatives to using different strategies. Moz's education section has three articles on international SEO: International SEO, Hreflang, and CcTLDs. I'd suggest going through them and also reading any further resources that they cite.
Good luck!
This recent in-depth case study that was published on Moz is a great place to start -- seriously, it's amazing!
Thanks for the question. The best answer is that it's impossible to make a specific recommendation without knowing the exact keywords in question and how they relate to your overall digital strategy. But that being said, here are some high-level things to consider.
1. Place in the sales funnel. Take an example of "SEO software." Keywords would vary based on the place of the searcher in the funnel and thereby his or her likely location on your website:
"seo software" -- informational query likely from someone at the top of the funnel who wants to learn about SEO software. This would usually be targeted on the home page
"compare seo software" -- informational middle-tail query that would be likely targeted on an interior sales page whose "content" would obviously compare all the different types of software. This would target someone in the middle of the sales funnel
"buy seo software" -- transactional query from someone at the bottom of the sales funnel. This would be targeted at a check-out or sales page
2. Semantic understanding. Google is getting really, really smart. Years ago, people would have one page targeting "buy tennis shoes" and another for "buy sneakers" in an attempt to rank highly for both phrases. Today, Google (I'm sure) "knows" that both keywords refer to the same "entity." So, a single page should be created that would aim to rank for both.
If your two "boost" terms mean pretty much the same thing, then you should have one page for both. If you create more than one page in this context, you risk duplicating your content in Google's eyes.
There's a lot more I could say, but I just wanted to throw out these two considerations for now. I hope it helps!
I can only hope that we'll see more penalties for guest posting. It's a tactic that I truly want to die because "guest posting" is just an amateur form of marketing and public relations that deserves to get penalized. It's trying to shortcut the traditional marketing process in order to get higher rankings quickly for a brand that probably doesn't deserve them in the first place. Nothing good comes quickly.
Why do I mean when I say "guest posting"? As Jen Jopez wrote here on Moz, it's "trying willy-nilly to get your posts on every blog for the sole purpose of building (probably bad) links." Google, after all, doesn't want to give websites credit for links that they build themselves.
In this and this post of mine here on Moz, I outline the proper process for obtaining the best links naturally through the traditional practices of public relations and publicity. Two of the parts are audience and channel research: determine the websites, blogs, and news outlets that are read by your target audience, and then aim to get news coverage from them or quality articles published on them. One of those links is better than 100 or 1,000 links on random guest-post websites that no one even reads.
Just do good marketing, and the good links will come just as natural by-products without you even needing to think about it.
EGOL, thanks so much for the kind mention -- you've got an upvote!
Here is Google's definition of bad linkbuilding:
Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.
Google sites this an example: Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking.
So, basically, if you arrange to get clients to put links to you in their footer in an attempt to increase your search-engine rankings, then you are violating Google's guidelines and risking a penalty. (Nutshell: Google doesn't want to give you credit for a link that you give yourself.) So, I'd make sure that those links are no-followed AND that the anchor text is your brand name and not any desired keywords. The value from those links is the referral traffic, not any help that they give for rankings.
I would forget about Domain Authority -- it's about as useful as PageRank.
On which of those two sites should you get links? The one that is more prominently read among your target audience. If I have a website about basketball, I'd prefer a link from another big basketball site with a DA of 20 over a site on, say, cooking that may have a DA of 60.
In the age of "earning" links, the best links comes as natural by-products of just doing good marketing and public relations. And involves the process (which I outline here and here on Moz) of KPI setting, audience identification and research, messaging and positioning, channel research, content creation, and campaign execution. Do this process well over and over again forever, and the best links will come your way without you even needing to think about it.
No. Here's the basic reason why: Google doesn't want to give you "credit" for a link that you give yourself. One "earned" link that is 100% natural is better than 100 or 1,000 "built" and "artificial" links because links that others freely give you carry much more weight.
Here's the process that I recommend:
First, I'd suggest that you change your mindset so that you think less about getting links and more about genuine marketing. Second, read this Moz essay of mine on an introduction to getting coverage and attention to content. (I also have a follow-up on integrating SEO and public relations.) The best links, rankings, traffic and more are actually just good by-products of doing good public relations and publicity.
The basic idea:
First, determine your website's target audience. Second, find out what major news outlets, publications, and blogs are actually read by your target audience. Third, use the methods that I detailed to get news coverage, a quality article, and other attention from those specific websites.
Thanks for your question! It's a situation that I've personally seen a lot. I hope I can help.
First, I'd suggest that you change your mindset so that you think less about getting links and more about genuine marketing. Second, read this Moz essay of mine on an introduction to getting coverage and attention to content. (I also have a follow-up on integrating SEO and public relations.) The best links, rankings, traffic and more are actually just good by-products of doing good public relations and publicity.
The basic idea:
First, determine your website's target audience. Second, find out what major news outlets, publications, and blogs are actually read by your target audience. Third, use the methods that I detailed to get news coverage, a quality article, and other attention to the content that you produce from those specific websites. Essentially, get publicity for the amazing content that you produce!
One of those "earned" and "natural" links are better than 100 or 1,000 "built" links. If you have any questions, let me know!
Thanks for the question!
First, I highly recommend that you do not use widgets on external websites specifically as part of any "linkbuilding strategy." (Of course, I don't know whether you were using the widgets in that way or to fulfill another business or marketing purposes.)
Just some background. Matt Cutts, the head of Google's webspam team, said in 2013 that any links in widgets on third-party websites should have the no-follow attribute added to them. In Google's eyes, here's the simple reason why: Why should the search engine give you "credit" for a link that you have given yourself? The only links that Google wants to count are those that are 100% natural and "earned." The Penguin updates -- among other actions -- are all aimed at moving the search engine in that direction. (Here's Google's guide to no-follow.)
Secondly, I wouldn't used any keyword-based anchor text. (If you were doing that -- no-follow or not, you just don't want to risk incurring the wrath of the Penguin.) If you need a link back in the widget, just make the brand name of the website / company into the link.
So, in summary, here's what I would say: Widgets and badges are not bad in and of themselves -- as long as you add no-follow to all widget links and make the brand name the anchor text.
I hope that helps!
Hello, thanks for the question! If I understand you correctly, you want to know how to prevent company's franchisee's website from outperforming the main company's website? I'm not too familiar with Weebly, but I can offer some general thoughts.
Nutshell: Put franchisee websites "under" your own via subdomains or subdirectories.
Your website (root domain): example.com
Franchisee websites: (subdomains) franchise1.example.com and franchise2.example.com OR (subdirectories) example.com/franchise1 and example.com/franchise2
There are pros and cons to each. Subdomains tend to allow for much more variety in design and functionality because they are not usually "locked into" an overall layout. However, Google tends to view them as (almost) entirely-different websites. So, a link going to a subdomain may not "benefit" the overall root domain. However, links going to subdirectories do benefit the entire root domain but those individual sections of the site are usually locked into the overall UX.
I could go into a lot more detail, but I hope this might help!
Mark, thanks for the question. My short answer: If you are doing anything that is potentially risky, then don't do it. I mean using guest posts at all -- whenever I see people talk about using this strategy, I die a little inside.
Here's the long answer.
Matt Cutts, the head of Google's anti-spam team, said here that people should stop using guest posts to build links. In response, Jen Lopez of Moz wrote this great essay that I highly suggest you read at least twice:
As with anything, you don't want to be out there trying willy-nilly to get your posts on every blog for the sole purpose of building (probably bad) links. It's important to have this tied to your business and marketing goals, as you would with any other tactic. SEO is only one piece of the larger strategy, and if you focus solely on writing posts for link building purposes, you're missing out on a ton of other possibilities.
Here's why guests posts are usually bad ideas:
So, what's my answer? Read this Moz essay of mine that was inspired by Lopez's response. The key is to stop thinking about links and to start thinking about marketing. The best links, rankings, traffic and more are actually just good by-products of doing good public relations and publicity. My essay goes into to detail, but I'll summarize here.
First, determine your website's target audience. Second, find out what major news outlets, publications, and blogs are actually read by your target audience. Third, use the methods that I detailed to get news coverage or a quality article or opinion piece (not a few hundred words of fluff) published on those websites.
Yes, it's hard. But nothing good comes easily. ONE of those links is worth 100 or 1,000 random guest post links.
I'm getting a sense that you may be suffering from a duplicate-content issue. But first, let me explain.
Duplicate content is not exactly a "penalty" (most of the time). Here's what usually happens: Google sees that two pages of your website are essentially the same, and the search engine does not want to have redundant search results. So, it will usually make a decision to include one of the two in search results (and not the other).
I have to ask: Why do you essentially have two home pages? Is it only to attempt to have the home page rank for two different sets of keywords? If so, then I'm guessing that your two home pages are essentially the same except for some minor keyword variations. It's likely that Google changed its mind (for whatever reason) on which to include and which to ignore.
I'd keep the example.com page as the main home page and 301 (permanent) redirect example.com/index/ to that page. The next time that Google indexes your website, it should see the change and then the SERP should reflect the change shortly thereafter.
Thanks for your question. I hate to be a downer, but I looked at your site for two seconds and I can explain why. You are stuffing keywords everywhere. The meta title, the meta keywords tag (which you shouldn't even use anymore), the text at the top of the main page, and the text in the main page itself. It's very, very, very badly stuffed. Website text should be written first for your visitors, not search engines.
If this is the only approach you took to on-page optimization, then I would hate to imagine what you did as far as linkbuilding. It's very likely that whoever taught you "SEO," taught you wrongly -- and you may have been building very spammy links. Did you, for example, build artificial links with keyword-based anchor text? If so, get rid of them as soon as possible.
I'd de-index the site from Google to prevent further damage while you fix everything. But first, I'd suggest that you read Moz's Guide to SEO and Guide to Linkbuilding first.
Don't look at "SEO" as a bunch of tricks to get you to rank first in Google quickly. That's thinking from 2005, not 2015 -- and it doesn't work anymore. Approach your website with this philosophy of mine: "Build, promote, and publicize a website that delights its target audience, whoever that may be." Then, the rankings, traffic, and links will come just as natural by-products. Good luck!
For any business -- and that includes a website -- it's crucial to have a good integrated strategy in place from the beginning. What I will summarize below, I explain more in this detailed essay of mine on Moz -- feel free to let me know if you have any thoughts!
Basically, answer these questions:
1. What is the goal of your website? For some, it might be getting B2B business leads, mobile app downloads, B2C product sales, or something else. Secondary goals might include getting more social followers and whatnot. I don't know your website (it doesn't seem to be listed in the question), so I cannot tell. But basically, what goal do you want your website to achieve, in the end? In this hypothetical example, I'll use the goal of selling photos.
2. Who is your target audience (or customer)? Be as specific as possible. If you specialize in, say, sports photos, then you would want to target people who love sports A, B, and C.
3. What is your messaging and positioning? There are tons of photography websites and blogs out there. What truly makes you different and standout? What is your "unique product quality" and "unique value proposition"? Say that you love baseball and the New York Yankees. Then, you could brand yourself, say, as the top photographer of the New York Yankees. The "messaging" that you come up with can be applied to the text on your website, the sales text on the images themselves, your social media profiles, and countless other places.
4. Where is your target audience? Are they on Facebook, online message boards, reading certain publications? In my New York Yankees example, you would create a list of all the online communities, websites, and message boards that are used by Yankees fans. You'd also want to research and create a list of the biggest influencers and bloggers among Yankees fans (and more).
5. Create the content. What this entails would depend greatly on what is determined in the prior steps. In my hypothetical example, you might create graphics, infographics, e-books, and more that would all delight and interest Yankees fans enough to encourage them to spread your website's stuff naturally.
Obviously, this is a basic, short example -- this process can become very complicated. But I just hope it will get you started thinking in the right, strategic direction! Good luck!
That's getting a little close to keyword spamming by repeating the exact same thing. My personal suggestion is to keep all headers unique. Think more about what is good for the users and less about the specific keywords. Repeating the same title twice just looks off for the reader.
Important exception: Sometimes I'll have a meta title (<title>Text</title>) and
One other note: Do you really need "USA"? I'm sure Google knows that your site is in the United States and targeting Americans (you can also set that in Google Webmaster Tools). But adding that phrase looks more weird from a user standpoint than just saying simply, "Guitar Strings."
I hope that helps!
I did some digging on Moz and found some resources that might help!
A recent extensive case study on recovering from a penalty
Ultimate Guide to Google Penalty Removal
6 Ways to Recover From Bad Links
How to Check Which Links Can Harm Your Site's Rankings
Secrets of Google's Disavow Tool
Link Audit Guide for Link Removal
Hopefully this will help!
I certainly don't want to see self-promotional, but I actually published a Moz essay yesterday that deals with exactly that: How to Approach Owned and Earned Media. In the section entitled "How to Combined Owned and Earned Media," you'll see a step-by-step guide to maximizing the benefits of LinkedIn and your own blog.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment either there or here!
My general rule as far as URLs is twofold:
1. They should reflect a logical hierarchy separated by website topics, functions, and whatnot.
2. They should be a short as possible because shorter URLs are viewed with more credibility, they are remembered more often, and they are clicked more often in SERPs. (See some Moz resources on URLs here and here.)
In your example, I would included a /blog/ layer as in website.com/blog/sample-post/ because the blog's "main page" is a second-level page in this hypothetical example:
Home Page
Yes, I'd take out the date (Google knows when you published something). I hope this helps!
Edit: Oh, just be sure to 301 (permanent) -- not 302 (temporary) -- redirect each URL to the new one!
Seeing as this replaces a traditional link, which I'd very much doubt would carry a nofollow (these event organisers would not be aware of it) then would you agree that a 'powered by' link under the box would be ok without a nofollow, as long as we just use our brand as the anchor text?
How about a brandname + keyword anchor text? Such as "ticket sales powered by xyx"
I hate to sound negative, but this part of your response still seems like you are trying to use the widget to build links that will pass "PageRank" and increase your rankings. My recommendation is still: Do not do this at all! Such links are completely artificial and are one of the old tricks that Google definitely looks for today. Just because other sites do it right now does not mean that Google won't hit them at some point.
I stand by my recommendation: Use a no-follow attribute and make the name of your brand the anchor text. At the very most, putting a desired phrase such as "ticket sales" close to the link -- but not included in the actual link -- may help you out of the idea of co-occurance (sometimes called cocitation).
If you want to get more links, I suggest going through Moz's category archive for that phrase to see how to get links that are 99% natural and earned (rather than artificial and built).
First, I highly recommend that you do not use widgets on external websites as part of any "linkbuilding strategy." (I'm not saying that you are using the widgets as a cheap way to build links -- they can have a lot of valid uses, so I just hope that you are using them in the correct way.)
Matt Cutts, the head of Google's webspam team, said in 2013 that any links in widgets on third-party websites should have the no-follow attribute added to them. In Google's eyes, here's the simple reason why: Why should the search engine give you "credit" for a link that you have given yourself? The only links that Google wants to count are those that are 100% natural and "earned." The Penguin updates -- among other actions -- are all aimed at moving the search engine in that direction. (Here's Google's guide to no-follow.)
Secondly, don't even think about keyword-based anchor text. (No-follow or not, you just don't want to risk incurring the wrath of the Penguin.) If you need a link back in the widget, just make the brand name of the website / company into the link.
In summary:
1. Add no-follow to all widget links
2. Make the brand name the anchor text
Thanks for the question. First, you're not crazy! Second, I'd suggest reading all of these Moz resources on international SEO, Hreflang, and CcTLDs. They should answer all of your questions.
Just a couple of other observations. First, I would divide your English subdomain into two like this:
(Although, I'd personally prefer to use subdirectories such as domain.com/en-us and domain.com/en-uk.) The reason for this is that you can continue to tailor the subdomain to each location in addition to language. In just a basic example, the UK subdomain may want to have text in British English and show pounds while the US subdomain may want to use US English and show dollars.
In Google Webmaster Tools, you can also tell Google that a certain subdomain or subdirectory is targeting a specific country. There are several other things to do as well -- again, I'd suggest that you read the linked documents above.
Please feel free to post if you have any other questions!
Gary, thanks for the question. Based on the little that I've seen here, I would worry more about a Panda penalty than keyword cannibalization.
Here's the history in a basic nutshell. Years ago, webmasters would aim to have one page target one keyword. There would be one page for "red t-shirts," one for "green t-shirts," and so on. All of the text on those pages would be exactly the same -- except that "red or "green" may change based on the page. In such a context, webmasters did not want to have keyword cannibalization -- if the word "green" was used on the page for "red t-shirts," then Google might not know which page to rank for each desired term.
However, this created bloated websites with many more pages than were actually needed. Does a t-shirt website really need 50 pages (one for each color) when only one would be enough (and then the visitor could choose which color to buy)? In Google's eyes, such websites created bad user experiences -- and Google wants to eliminate bad user experiences.
So, in case you don't know, Google's Panda penalty targets websites that -- among other issues -- have a lot of "thin" or "duplicated" content such as in the t-shirt example above. (You can see more information in this Moz post by Cyrus.)
Before going further, I would have to ask you some questions: Does you website really need a separate page for each and every single one of those topics? Are the products really that entirely different? Are the text and images on each page completely different and unique -- in other words, does each page offer true value to the visitor, or are you just trying to rank highly in Google straight away as in the t-shirt example?
If many of those pages above are on similar topics, then you may want to have one page per topic (rather than per keyword) where by each topic consists of a group of related keyword phrases -- see this Whiteboard Friday on modern, semantic SEO for more information.
Please let me know your thoughts, and I'd be happy to respond further!
Did you 301 (permanent) redirect every single page from the www domain to the non-www domain? If not, this is something that you should do immediately. (Note: Be sure that you do not use 302 (temporary) redirects!)
In general, it is best to do all of the changes (the domain, branding, and URL work) all on a development site (that is blocking search engines) and then release the new site only after everything is complete. If you space it out piecemeal over too long of a time, it will look very messy both to Google and your website visitors. Releasing a new, properly-migrated website all at once is the quickest way to mitigate any "SEO" damage and return to your prior traffic and ranking levels quickly.
However, it'd be impossible for me or anyone to be more specific without doing a deep dive into your site. However, there are some general best practices for site migrations. For reference on all of these, I'd take a look at what Moz did when migrating from seomoz.org to moz.com. Moz has a webinar and associated blog post that goes through all of the technical details and results. Aleyda Solis also has a good migration checklist with links to more resources here.
I hope that helps -- good luck!
Hey, if I PayPal you $25 and give you my login details, could you modify the header.php file and get the dropdown menu to work? I'm sure it'd take just a few minutes. I don't know that much PHP.
My e-mail address is in my Moz profile -- feel free to e-mail there.
No, Cutline does not use that Menu function at all.
Thanks so much for taking the time to write that!
Unfortunately, I don't know exactly where to put it. I copied exactly what you wrote first at the bottom of this CSS file: http://www.btvsonline.com/wp-admin/theme-editor.php?file=style.css&theme=Cutline-1.4-3ColumnSplit (Stylesheet)
And then I placed the code here:
http://www.btvsonline.com/wp-admin/themes.php?page=editcss (CSS Stylesheet Editor)
After I tried both options, my horizontal menu doesn't provide any dropdown menus. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks SO much again!
Jeff, in the context of very specific advertising targets, here are a few random thoughts that I hope may help.
1. Google AdWords retargeting. Give a very specific URL to person X to visit on your website. Make sure no one else knows about that URL. Then, set retargeting to show your desired ads later to anyone -- i.e., person X -- who views that specific URL on your website. Only the decision-maker, then, will see your ads so you don't waste money advertising to people who don't have a say. This same idea could be expanded to people who work for a given company. I don't remember off the top of my head, but I think you can set retargeting based on IP address. If you know your target company's IP address, then I think you can show your desired ads to anyone using that specific IP address. In case you don't know about retargeting, here is Google's general guide along with a Moz Whiteboard Friday.
2. Facebook custom audiences. You can upload a list of e-mail address, phone numbers, or Facebook user IDs as a set of specific targets in a Facebook ad campaign. Moz has more information here.
3. Twitter targeting. You can now target Twitter ads by e-mail address or user IDs.
Just three ideas to target a specific individual or group of people -- I hope that helps. Good luck!
I've got a fan website for a cult US TV show (that also sells merchandise as an affiliate). The site's design is about five years old, and I should probably revamp it at some point: http://www.btvsonline.com/
Anyway, the site's Cutline theme (http://cutline.tubetorial.com/) does not support native headers, and the header menu shows only a text list of my top-level pages. There are many subpages below these pages, but it's hard for users to find them without going to different pages to try to find things. What I'm looking for: if someone hovers above "Store" in the menu, a dropdown menu showing all the product pages would appear.
I've tried to find Wordpress plugins or PHP hacks to add dropdown menus and I have gone through Cutline's support site, but I have had no luck. Anyone in the Moz community have any advice? Perhaps I just need to revamp the site with a new and modern Wordpress theme? Thanks in advance for any thoughts!
If I understand your situation correctly, you do not sell directly on the website but give (or get?) quotes instead? Here's a simple solution.
Whenever someone gives (or gets?) a quote, have the site direct them to a "thank you" page. Set that page as a Destination URL goal in Google Analytics (or any similar platform). One arrival at that "thank you" page would be one "conversion." Then, you can track conversions to see what people from what traffic sources tend to "convert" (by giving (or getting?) quotes).
However, it is important that there be no other way to arrive at that "thank you" page except by getting (or giving?) a quote. Block the page from search engines. Have no navigation to that page at all. And so on.
I also think you are asking how to know which "conversions" turn into paying customers? Unless you sell directly on the website and use e-commerce tracking, you will need to use a CMS (customer management system) and integrate it with Google Analytics (or any similar platform). This way, you can track results from the beginning to the end of the "funnel."
I hope that helps -- good luck!
Thanks for the question! I don't work for Moz, but I just wanted to direct you to the help guide for the Link Analysis page that you have cited. That general part of the Moz website should be able to help you with any questions on Moz Pro / Moz Analytics.
As far as the meaning of the terms you cite:
Total Links -- All external and internal links (of all types) pointing towards a given page or website as a whole.
Total Internal Links -- All links to a given page on your website or the website as a whole from pages on that website.
Internal Equity-Passing Links -- All internal links that pass "link juice," meaning that the "nofollow" attribute or other preventative methods are not being used.
I hope that helps!
A couple of things. First, a rel=canonical tag -- like many other things -- is only a suggestion to search engines. Google and others can choose to ignore it, though they rarely do. In your post above, you have "canonicall" spelled with two "l"s -- so it might be as simple as changing that!
Second, just to clarify your teminology: What you are showing is not "tracking code" but "URL paramaters." I'm curious as to why the pages with tracking paramaters are being indexed -- normally, this should not happen at all. How are you using the paramaters? Usually, it should only be used to track traffic from external websites. For example: If I run a Facebook ad campaign, I can add a parameter to the ad's destination URL to track the results of the campaign. Google, however, would not index that special URL as a separate page. I'd review Google's information and recommendations on URL paramaters and perhaps change any settings in Google Webmaster Tools.
Third, the recommended practice for paginated pages is to have a "single page" version of the article and make that canonical for search engines (have all paginated pages point to that single-page one with a rel=canonical tag). This can be done whether you want to show a single-page version for users -- though I'd recommend it because most pagination is a cheap attempt just to get more pageviews for advertising revenue, and it's annoying.
Good luck -- I hope this helps!
Here is what I use in the PHP files for pages and posts on my Wordpress sites:
Note: I don't think I've ever seen someone put the page title in the header file. You may want to move it to the template files for posts/pages.
In your case, though, it may work just to put an H1 tag at the beginning and end of the whole thing:
I hope this may help -- good luck!
Are you asking how to prevent certain pages from appearing in search results? If so, I'd review Moz's guide to robots.
Specifically, I'd recommend the use of both the noindex meta tag and the robots.txt file. Good luck!
Just a couple thoughts off the top of my head:
1. Double-check all technical international SEO issues and ensure that the robots.txt file is not mistakenly blocking any desired pages.
2. Make sure that you have a separate Google Webmaster Tools setup for each root domain / subdomain / subdirectory (however you have set up the international sites) and have submitted an individual XML sitemap for each one. Also make sure that the geographical targeting in each GWT setup is set to the desired country.
3. If Google is only indexing a small percentage of a site's pages, it is often because Google is thinking (accurately or not) that a site has duplicate content. "Duplicate content" is not a penalty per se -- it is when Google, for example, sees two pages that are very similar and then indexes only one of them so as to not provide redundant pages in search results.
Example: Say that you have an e-commerce product that has ten variations (such as color). The content of each variation page would often be very similar except, for, the listed color. In the case, you would want to use a rel=canonical tag on all variation pages that points to the main page for that product. (In other words, you don't want all of those pages to be indexed, and Google often would not index them anyway.)
Most likely, I would use a tool such as Moz or any other SEO software to crawl the site and see if any duplicate-content issues are present. Once these are addressed (if the problem exists), then Google will likely crawl and index your sites more thoroughly and accurately.
I hope this helps -- good luck!