Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Hi Dimitrios,

The first question is which of the two languages is the most important to you?  That is the one you should prioritize and give the other language the subfolder.  The next question is are the English pages intended for the same country, but in a different language?  if this is the case, then you should also add the hreflang attribute so that Google knows which pages should be served to what type of users.

If you have follow up questions about hreflang application, here are a few resources for you:

http://moz.com/blog/hreflang-behaviour-insights

http://moz.com/blog/using-the-correct-hreflang-tag-a-new-generator-tool

IMO this is more of a business decision than an SEO one (especially without looking at the backlinks and the Google notification).  Depending on the business, I'd probably just leave the old site up (and keep capturing leads through there) until it is actually penalized, and work on doing things the right way on the new site.

But only you know the extent of the dirt that was done on the old site, and that should probably be the determining factor.  Don't get caught up in the PR stuff though, It wouldn't factor into my decision.

Hi Ennick,

From the perspective of the SE's I doubt there is any effect, positive or negative.  However, as a user, I always prefer that Alt-text be in the correct language.  And since you are calling the images to both versions of the site from one place, what you suggest looks like an elegant solution to me.

Hi Emerald,

My response is similar to the one that Chris gave, but I will tell you that we have extensive experience in exactly these types of situations.  It can sometimes take Google 2 or 3 months to index a particular individual page in a different language.

Keep doing whatever your marketing plan dictated, and this issue will work itself out.

BTW, I noticed that you have the reservations marked in red in English (to help conversions) but in Spanish  the reservations are the same color as the rest of the page...Is this intentional?

Best of Luck!

I won't bother writing too much as Takeshi has pretty much covered it (IMO).

Hi,

I am not sure I understand the question...are you saying that you have links from one part of your site to another that have been paid for with money?  That seems like a really strange way to do things.

You are absolutely right.  But if you think that you have duplicate content issues, then Screaming Frog can help you tease that out.

That is also why I suggested the SEOmoz tool, since it is supposed to mimick a SE spider, it can give you a pretty good idea of any issues that you might have.

Using the advanced operator of site:domain makes sense, but if there are issues there like eyepaq said, it is going to be tough sledding.

My suggestion would be to download take a closer look at what GWT is telling you.  Are there duplicates there?  Is your CMS auto-generating URL's?  That is probably going to be your best bet IMO.

Best of luck!

Use the tool Screaming Frog to see all your pages, that should help.  Also, the SEOmoz toolset has a function that will show you all duplicate content (if you are a pro subscriber).

You should always protect the brand.  But the question is, are their any SEO implications for the work that you are going to do?  
The answer is not much.  If you do an awesome job on you client site, you should be fine.

Glad I could help.  If you any other assistance, don't hesitate to drop me a line.

There are a variety of metrics that you can provide.

1. Increased referral traffic.  If your links are good and are coming from pages and sites that people read, then your referral traffic should always rise.

2. Increased traffic to specific landing page.  If you are targeting the links towards specific landing pages, then their traffic should go up, right?

3) Increase in rank for targeted keywords.  This is easier if the client is long term.  We always tell clients its going to take at least 2 weeks for rankings to increase.  This is my least favorite metric, but it does help clients understand.

Another thing that I have found is that clients need to know as much about where you failed as where you succeeded.  We always provide a list of pending or failed link attempts.  This shows them that the work we do is difficult, helps them understand our efforts.

It sounds to me like what could have been improved was the initial planning period.  If you had helped set expectations from the start, writing down your plans and KPI's you might not have this issue.

That being said, sometimes no explanation is good enough.  If you feel like you've done everything you can and the client is still not happy with your answers, it may be best for you both to go in a different direction.  Nobody wants to give up revenue, but sometimes it is for the best.

If the site is a nightmare then you shouldn't be building links to it yet!  First get the site architecture figured out, and then get back to this.

That might even be the reason why the client is so upset...he might be thinking that you should be focused on getting the site built instead of buidling links to an unoptimized site (and he would be right).

Welcome to SEO

Explaining what we do and why it has value comes with the territory.

Hey Kyle,

My guess is that it is probably a combination of both...Dr. Pete ID'ed Panda 3.7 not long ago, so it may be that you are just doing things right and the algo spotted it.  However,we've seen quite a bit of fluctuation (both bad and good) recently so I would hold onto your horses.  I am telling my clients to do the same, and take everything with a grain of salt right now.

It's doubtful that you are the victim of negative SEO, as you would have seen a spike in links (that is what negative SEO is, they attach spammy links to your site).

Seeing some variation in the rankings is not uncommon...Especially with the recent updates there is going to be an adjustment period.  The rank dropped this week.  They could very well get back on track next week.

Another question.  Did anything big happen in your niche recently?  Maybe there was a big announcement, and that changed the SERP's.  News stories can change the rankings significantly because of Google's interest in providing fresh content.

Also, if you notice in the rankings graph, you did have a previous drop in rankings, only to have it come back again.  So don't panic.  As long as you are doing the right things, you should be fine.

Hi Joel,

I used to spend a ton of time on the Warrior forum.  Every once in a while there is a worthwhile discussion, but mostly people are looking to sell their products.  When I first became interested in SEO, I even bought a few of their guides.  And while they were not completely useless, most of them didn't tell me anything that I could not have learned for free on a blog.

I personally would not pay for being a member of the Warrior Forum.  In the Post-Penguin world, many of the tactics expoused there are not only useless, but can be detrimental to the health of your websites.  Maybe I am painting with too broad a brush, but there it is.

Dude,

The best way to get links is to earn them.

Paid links are against Google's policies, and could get you banned.  Don't buy links.

And before you even start thinking about buying links, make sure that your site is worthy of being linked to.  Then check out this blog post:http://pointblankseo.com/link-building-strategies  And buy this book: www.linkbuildingbook.com.

Unfortunately getting links is not easy, but don't go down the dark road of link buying...no good can come of it.

Good Luck!

The question is, do you see SEO as a service that complements your current product?

Think about it from a branding perspective:

I have an SEO site.  If I decide to sell SEO tools, I might promote those tools on my SEO blog, but I probably would create a new branded domain for the tools themselves, right?  That is why I'd say that you should start over with a new site.

I'm also going to let you in on a little secret.  Very few of the top SEO companies rank for SEO related terms.  This is because ranking for SEO terms simply isn't worth the time and energy that you need to put into it in order to succeed.

Focus on building a beautiful site, writing stuff that people find useful, and providing excellent value for your first clients and you will do OK.

BTW, congrats on taking that leap, here are a couple of articles I wish I'd read before getting started:

http://www.sugarrae.com/seo-sphere/the-number-1-mistake-new-seo-consultants-make/

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/setting-up-your-seo-project-agency-for-success

http://www.seobook.com/starting-new-seo-business-2011

http://www.seobook.com/starting-an-seo-company

Good luck, and if I can ever be of assistance, I'd love to help.

Hi Adam,

What an interesting question!  While this is not really my speciality, I feel obligated to add my .02 cents.  Parts of what the client wants is unrealistic.  Mainly that her article would rank when someone searches the magazine name.

HOWEVER, there are ways to get her articles to show up when people search her, or the specific topics that she covers in her writing.  What you need is to get the magazines to give her the rel=author tag in the online version of these articles.  The expert on this particular subject is AJ Kohn from Blind Five Year Old.  Here are links to a couple his blog posts addressing this topic:

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/how-to-implement-rel-author

http://www.blindfiveyearold.com/author-rank

If your client is a well respected author, these sites shouldn't have an issue implementing the Author tag, but you never know.  It is certainly something she should request before writing in the future.

This also sounds like a great question for AJ, and since I'm going to MozCon, I'll be glad to ask him!

The advice that eyepac is offering you is pretty sound.

Geotarget for US? Check

Hreflang? Check My go to resource for how to do this is http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2232347/A-Simple-Guide-to-Using-relalternate-hreflangx

Using a subdirectory rather than a subdomain is the right way to go for sure.  It allows your authority to trickle down to your Spanish site, making it significantly easier to rank.

What I would add is that translation is a tricky business...so keep the following in mind:

The vast majority of Spanish speakers in Los Angeles are of Mexican heritage.  Make sure your translator is also.

Make them understand that the translation should not be literal.  Otherwise you end up with some terrible misunderstandings and terrible text.

Have someone vet the translation before you put it up on your site.  It could be a different translator, or if possible a current Spanish speaking customer (they will be in the best position to judge whether or not the translation is adequate.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask follow up questions!