Questions created by SoundinTheory
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Multiple products with legitimate duplicate descriptions
We are redeveloping a website for a card company who have far too many products to write unique descriptions for each. Even if they could I don't think it would be beneficial to the user. However they do have unique descriptions for each range which is useful for users viewing an individual card. Which is better practice: a) Ignore the duplicate content issue and supply the user with info about the range b) Provide clear enticing links to find out more about the range which will leave the individual card page a little void of content. Many thanks
Algorithm Updates | | SoundinTheory0 -
Is all duplication of HTML title content bad?
In light of Hummingbird and that HTML titles are the main selling point in SERPs, is my approach to keyword rich HTML titles bad? Where possible I try to include the top key phrase to descripe a page and then a second top keyphrase describing what the company/ site as a whole is or does. For instance an estate agents site could consist of HTML title such as this Buy Commercial Property in Birmingham| Commercial Estate Agents Birmingham Commercial Property Tips | Commercial Estate Agents In order to preserve valuable characters I have also been omitting brand names other than on the home page... is this also poor form?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SoundinTheory0 -
Page Rank vs Page and Domain Authority - who wins?
A client has found another SEO agency promising various things to do with link building. Most of these promises are based upon links from sites with allegedly high page ranks. So my questions: Page rank seems to be fading out am I safe to stay with PA and DA metrics instead? I don't agree with link building tactics and feel that it should more a networking activity to provide USEFUL links to users... am I being too white hat and missing opporunities? The other company have promised long list of links including 100 SEO friendly web directory listings, 200 PR 8 back links from Pinterest (which i thought was no follow) & 10 long lasting and high quality mini web sites (with three pages/posts, video and pictures). Am I right that this all sounds a little spammy or is this really what I should be doing for me clients?
Moz Pro | | SoundinTheory0 -
How bad are poor link profiles for a website?
A client has recently switched to us for their SEO and is hugely concerned about their previous company's link building efforts.They say that they have recently removed over 300 links but OSE still lists 160 links.So three questions: How long will it take for OSE to recognise if the links have been removed? How great could the effects of this be on the site's rankings? If we continue to struggle with getting the links removed would Google's disavow tool make much of a difference or are there negatives that sould be considered first?
Moz Pro | | SoundinTheory0 -
Footer links vs Homepage Content
We are redesigning this site http://www.crystalshop.co.uk/ but not reinstating the ecommerce yet so the primary aim of the site is to increase foot traffic in the shops. The list of shops on the RHS of the homepage is really messy but is useful. I would like to move these to the footer... is this a bad idea? If this is, is it a bit of a gamble to move it to the bottom of the homepage rather than higher up as it is? We are already featuring a link to the shop finder page but I want to get the locations in as prominent place as possible but it's quite a long list!
Image & Video Optimization | | SoundinTheory0 -
Contact Forms Vs Email Enquiries
This is a usability question more than SEO but I thought this community would be the one to ask. Are completed conversion rates generally higher for contact forms or email enquiries? I try to encourage our clients to have short contact forms where possible to ensure the first contact (ask questions later). Personally an email seems like a giant daunting and potentially irrelevant enquiry that could get lost in the plethora of spam emails flying around. Also half the time I start the email and then give up.
Conversion Rate Optimization | | SoundinTheory0 -
Is a New Visits ratio of 39% a really bad thing?
I do a lot of work for a large estate agency based almost solely in London. They get a considerable amount of traffc and all other stats, on the whole, are always positive. The only thing that is decreasing regularly is the percentage of new traffic. My understanding of user behaviour for this market is that no one in their right mind would make an enquiry or arrange a booking without a) looking at the property at least twice themeselves (once to before the enquiry and once before a viewing) and b) more than likely show a partner. Plus the site is well laid out and useful so I believe users are favouring our site over the comparison sites. So questions: Should I be panicing What is the most efficent way of increasing new visits? Things to note: The HTML titles throughout the site are a bit of a mess - key word rich but too long and inconsistent. Could this be a contributing factor to the CTR? Also in the past month we appeared in over 4k different queries but our non branded impressions are down 22%. Could more concise, less keyword stuffed HTML titles help this? Do I need to look at the page titles to ensure that they contain the exact phrases that are in decline? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Algorithm Updates | | SoundinTheory0 -
Queries vs Keywords
Can anyone clarify why my list of queries from google webmaster tools varies so much from the keywords that have resulted in clicks? I have a site that, according to Google analytics, has had clicks from 125 key phrases where as in webmaster tools (via analytics) allegedly only 17 queries have resulted in clicks. Is it becuase GA can't handle less than 5 clicks from the webmaster data or is it something else I am missing? The site I am researching for has very little traffic from other search engines.
Algorithm Updates | | SoundinTheory0 -
Crawl Report Warnings
How much notice should be paid to the warnings on the SEO Moz crawl reports? We manage a fairly large property site and a lot of the errors on the crawl reports relate to automated responses. As a matter of priority which of the list below will have negative affects with the search engines? Temporary RedirectToo Many On-Page LinksOverly-Dynamic URLTitle Element Too Long (> 70 Characters)Title Missing or EmptyDuplicate Page ContentDuplicate Page TitleMissing Meta Description Tag
Moz Pro | | SoundinTheory0 -
Google Love and Bing Hate
I have a site that is currently ranking 6th for a certain key phrase. But when i search on Bing it is on page 4. The result on google is for the homepage and the bing result is a search result. Does anyone have any suggestions? I am not logged into to google when searching but we do use adwords.
Algorithm Updates | | SoundinTheory0 -
Tricky Decision to make regarding duplicate content (that seems to be working!)
I have a really tricky decision to make concerning one of our clients. Their site to date was developed by someone else. They have a successful eCommerce website, and the strength of their Search Engine performance lies in their product category pages. In their case, a product category is an audience niche: their gender and age. In this hypothetical example my client sells lawnmowers: http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/men/age-34 http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/men/age-33 http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/women/age-25 http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/women/age-3 For all searches pertaining to lawnmowers, the gender of the buyer and their age (for which there are a lot for the 'real' store), these results come up number one for every combination they have a page for. The issue is the specific product pages, which take the form of the following: http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/men/age-34/fancy-blue-lawnmower This same product, with the same content (save a reference to the gender and age on the page) can also be found at a few other gender / age combinations the product is targeted at. For instance: http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/women/age-34/fancy-blue-lawnmower http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/men/age-33/fancy-blue-lawnmower http://www.example.com/lawnmowers/women/age-32/fancy-blue-lawnmower So, duplicate content. As they are currently doing so well I am agonising over this - I dislike viewing the same content on multiple URLs, and though it wasn't a malicious effort on the previous developers part, think it a little dangerous in terms of SEO. On the other hand, if I change it I'll reduce the website size, and severely reduce the number of pages that are contextually relevant to the gender/age category pages. In short, I don't want to sabotage the performance of the category pages, by cutting off all their on-site relevant content. My options as I see them are: Stick with the duplicate content model, but add some unique content to each gender/age page. This will differentiate the product category page content a little. Move products to single distinct URLs. Whilst this could boost individual product SEO performance, this isn't an objective, and it carries the risks I perceive above. What are your thoughts? Many thanks, Tom
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | SoundinTheory0 -
Googles 'freshness' update and how it may affect Estate Agents.
We have some clients who have raised concerns over how this new update will affect them. They are an Estate Agents who regularly update their property portfolio, blogs and news section etc. Can you advise how they may or may not be directly affected? Thank you.
Search Behavior | | SoundinTheory0 -
Do you run Facebook pages for your clients?
If so,how? Sorry if this sounds like a really vague question but our client has asked us to take control of their Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn account and Im just trying to research the best practice for this? Any advise would be greatly appreciated!
Social Media | | SoundinTheory0 -
Link Building....confused!
Hi Guys, I'm after some advise please. We have a client who offers self catering accommodation to let on his website. We are looking at ways to increase links to his site and one idea we had was to possibly affiliate ourselves with local companies within the areas of the specific accommodation. Our client is looking to partner with local business's in each area of said accommodation (probably two of each kind) and then send the details of these business' with whatever special deals they will offer customers on every confirmation that goes out to the clients. Obviously, in return, these business' will then link to Room-B. What I'm trying to find out is if linking to partners via an email delivered from thewebsite is safe in terms of link juice: it's important that Google doesn't index any outbound links to partners from us at all. Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Link Building | | SoundinTheory0 -
The best SEO practice for a .hk domain
We are currently working on a project which involves 3 separate .com domains in relation to a UK company selling/renting residential, commercial and investment properties within the UK. We are now working on producing a .hk site for the overseas customers. Can anyone advise what the best practice is for a .hk domain and where best to start? Should the domain be hosted in that geographical location for example? We are relatively new to this so any advise would be greatly appreciated.
International SEO | | SoundinTheory0 -
Combining web pages and it's affects on SEO?
We are looking into amending a website we are working on to try and combine 2 or 3 current pages onto one page. This site is similar to an estate agents site and currently has images, map, floor plan sub pages etc. Can anyone tell me, if we were to combine these pages and include the above details on one page, how that would affect the current search engine rankings?
Web Design | | SoundinTheory0