Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hey guys,

Our agency inherited a client that no longer has all of their log-in information for a large number of listings. This is killing their rankings. Can anyone give us some advice on how to handle this? We subscribe to Moz Local, but it seems like it can only help so much (or so we think).

Thanks in advanced for any advice!

Thanks for the good advice, Jesse!

We inherited a site that has both http and https.  No e-commerce or data transfer...just html.  Should we dump the https certificate?  I think it might be causing issues with indexing and possible duplicate content.

The https site has a certificate warning message...not good.

The URL is www.charlottemechanical.com

Thank you for the help.  I thought it sounded a bit odd!

We heard that Google will read about 2,000 characters in a page header. We are using DoubleClick and need to insert more than 2,000 characters in each page header. Any insight?! Thanks!

Good stuff....thank you for the awesome advice!  I'll heed it.

Hey Ryan. I found a bunch of links through the SEOMoz link tool analyzer that our competitors have. When I visited the link sources, all of them required a reciprocal link to be placed on our website. However, I notice that none of our competitors have a "public link page" where these reciprocals might be. Therein was my question... Jay

Where should reciprocal links be placed on our website?  Should we create a "Resources" page?  Should the page be "hidden" from the public?  I know there is a right answer out there!  Thank you for your help!

Jay

Thank you all for your help and answers!  Barry, we re-created the Sitemap via FTP and it easily took it!  Also, we noticed that Chrome will not display the actual XML Sitemap...so we checked it in IE....works perfectly.  Again, thank you all for your help!

Jay

We have been putzing around with Google XML Sitemaps Generator (a plug-in on Wordpress) for our Wordpress blog and we cannot get it to write an XML sitemap!

Could somebody suggest a viable alternative that actually works?  Thank you for your help!

Jay

ryan, thank you for the help!

Hi all.

Should we be using File Compression software on our website files for SEO benefit?

If so, do you like Deflate or gzip?

Thank you for your help!

Jay

Write the content for the audience...there should be no minimums for superb content!

My site gets penalties as well for the same WP issue. You can click on Categories to edit descriptions.

Search Exchange Internet Marketing conference is here in Charlotte Oct. 3-5. Rand is giving the SEO keynote on Wednesday. Who is attending??!! Jay

The client wanted the entire site under https, against advice and knowledge.  Why is it always "the client"?!  Thank you for your idea on the canonical...nice idea.

Jay

Thank you, both, for the help! Jay

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Hi.

We receive advice to include so many Meta values in the Head Tag on each page.  Which ones are really needed and are really valuable in the SEO effort?

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Thank you for your help and ideas!

Jay

Hi. We have just launched a new website that is fully secure with the HTTPS url.

You can still access the home page with an ordinary HTTP address.

That is what we want to change.

Should we forward the HTTP url to the HTTPS? Redirect? It is the same URL for both.

http://www.parrotmoon.com   Thank you for all ideas! Jay

Thank you both for your answers and help!

Our website (www.theideapeople.com) has generally ranked on page 4 on Google search for the phrase "charlotte web design" for the past year...regardless of which browser I used. Oh, and my browser location is always set to Charlotte, NC. I also have the Moz toolbar installed and logged-in. Today, I Googled the same keyword using Chrome and we were on page 1 in 4th position! The other browsers still showed us on page 4, as usual. Has anybody else noticed this wild variance with Chrome? Is Chrome learning that I work at The Idea People?!!

Maybe increased competition is taking traffic away.

We are debating on whether to use primary keywords in the URL for every page for a new client for the sake of SEO.  What is the feeling in the Community on which version is smarter?

Version 1:  www.abccompany.com/miami-moving-company/about-us

www.abccompany.com/miami-moving-company/contact-us

etc. etc.

Version 2:  www.abccompany.com/about-us

Thank you for your thoughts!

Tim,

We always index ALL pages...the help tip on Google XML also suggests including all pages of your site in the XML sitemap.

For proper SEO, which version would you prefer?

A.  www.abccompany.com

B.  www.abccompany.com/index.html

Is there any value or difference with either home page URL??

I have used, and still use, MC for a part of our Internet marketing plan for each of our clients. The MC listing does aide in boosting page 2 and page 3 rankings. I too have noticed a drastic decline in MC total aide in page 1 rankings...especially since they were sold! I think MC still helps for service-based listings when used as a City+ name application.

Michael. We only have the 1 location but our current location is the one that is located in the non-desirable business zip code. My thought was to establish a mailbox location in the new zip code we are moving to next year and use that new address now to replace our current zip code location for Google Places. Jay

Hey Dan.

Thanks for your input on both questions...really good advice.  I agree with you on the Places response...I would be worried about appearing deceiving and I do not want to appear such.

We use Wordpress for our agency Blogs.  The URL's are very long and the Moz does not like the long URL's.

Should we use the stubby, short Wordpress URL's for each blog post?  Is there a "Best Practice" for how one should use the Wordpress URL string?

Hi.

Our agency office is located in a "bad" zip code relevant to active businesses who would need our agency services.  In a nutshell, we get really bad inquiries who can never afford our services...and it's coming directly from the Google geolocation function.

We plan to relocate our offices within 1 year.  Would it help us in Google Places if we created a "new" physical office location to cover up the "bad" one we are currently in?  We could use a paid location like a UPS Mail Center physical address that is located within a more desiring zip code.

Thanks for any input.

Jay

Thank you all very much for your help and answers.  It is very much appreciated!!

Good stuff, thank you for taking the time to help!

Hi.

We are launching a new website and our .html page extensions will be replaced with a .php page extension.

Example:   www.theideapeople.com/web_design.html  (current url)

www.theideapeople.com/web_design.php  (new url)

Will this require any special treatment to maintain the page SEO ranking?  Does it make a difference if you use a .html or .php?  Thank you for your help and insight!

Jay

Hi Donnie. Thank you for the links! Lots of reading to do.

Very nice, thank you for the links!

Awesome, Marcus. Thank you!

Are there any links to previous discussions or tips, techniques for how creative design has any impact on seo??

Thank you for the info and link. We are psyched about going and learning. Jay

I'm attending for the first time this year and I am just curious as to what to expect with attendance, etc.