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Been doing some searches for this directory, we have used them for quite a few links and now it seems as though they do not show up in serps for branded terms and the actual "www.hotvsnot.com" search phrase. Scary! Have a look let me know if you are having the same issue ladies and gents.
Ideally you want to keep your URL's short and to the point. Depending on the CMS you are using their could be an option to turn on friendly URL's.
Scroll to the bottom of this page where it says URL Structures http://www.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-seo/basics-of-search-engine-friendly-design-and-development
I would just disavow to be careful. Who wants to keep looking over their shoulder .
If this is a real business with real long term plans I would use the branded domain name. This feels more professional and as a business owner I would rather be identified with my company name on the internet rather than city+service.com.
On the other hand you can use the keyword domain to have two listings on Google. Question is, are you will doing to put in the time!!!
Does anyone know of any good quality website award/competition type site? Somewhere where we can submit our site and try to win an award?
Dont spam your nav bar with keywords. Use about us, contact us and home as your nav links because users are used to seeing them. To add descriptive tags to your links use the title attribute on your href links
Ya its not 100%. Average the totals together for each keyword and that should tell you which is most popular.
I agree with Matt, there is no go-to directory. A directory or listing can have value for one site but not for another based on relevance, location, and site quality.
If you're looking for a list of directories that MIGHT be valuable then you're going about it all wrong. Don't waste your time with directory listings. Instead, spend time building good off-site content and link bait. Look at the two following discussions for ideas and caveats.
http://moz.com/community/q/niche-directories
http://moz.com/community/q/seomoz-directory-list-some-clarity-needed
How do you know you are getting penalized? Did you add those links and then drop in rankings. Send over a link to your site.
A customer of mine had a new channel come to their place of business today in regards to valentines day (they are florists). They shot a video and wrote an article. Only problem is they only mentioned the business name and no link to the website. Has anyone had experience with reaching out to reporters and asking for a link in this type of a situation. Is a telephone call or email better?
I think I disagree as moving site A's hosting to a new ip causes a drop in rankings.
Never heard about this before. I think this is not true, i have chagned IP's in the past without any consequences.
You need to find a new approach in discussing website usability for the user + search engines. Set realistic expectations (as stated above) and do the best you can. I would continue impressing the need for a better website design which includes more content and functionality. Give them some examples. Pull some competitor data, show them other sites. If these are publicly held companies you might be able to find some great information or press releases on how companies are fairing with internet marketing.
Regardless, you can get that website to rank well for specific keywords by building more high quality links than the competition. Ive seen it work numerous times. Without allot of content you simply are not going to be able to target long tail keywords or less competitive keywords.
You can also build a blog for them and drive traffic there.
Yes I would say that you definitely have a problem. Google doesn't like it when your URL changes constantly or is over-optimized. You need to see if there is a way for your CMS company to fix this asap before you get penalized or banned.
So i figured out another way. I did a 301 at the registrar level directly to the https. this ensures every version from that domain (http, https, www or non www) all go to the same URL with https without 2 or 3 redirects.