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Hi,

Backlinks certainly help, if there's no links at all to your site that could be a reason, but it's hard to say without looking deeper.

Are your internal pages all linked to each other? Does your website have a structured navigation system? This is also really necessary to ensure Google will index your whole site, not just a couple of pages.

Zoe

Hi,

Firstly I'd check that Google can index your website. Have you added your site to Google Webmaster Tools? I'd start there and check for any crawl issues, especially your robots.txt file and any no-indexing of pages.

Secondly, if your website is brand new, I'd add your website to Dmoz & some relevant good quality sites like Yelp, Yell, Yellowpages, Google Plus (where relevant). Make sure the details you add to each match exactly with the details on your website. It will take some time for your site to appear in Google's index- sometimes a few days, sometimes a week or so- you can check by typing site:yourdomainname.com into a Google search to find the pages.

If your website is not new & has been indexed by Google before, I'd investigate whether you have a penalty. This post on penalties from white.net is really useful!

Hope this helps, 
Zoe

Hi Micromano,

I'd say that having one big website, rather than four smaller ones, is what I'd recommend also, combined with a really sound and solid website structure. Whilst authorship is less of a focus, I wouldn't remove any work you've done on that, as there've been mentions from Google staff that this may come back in the future. Re: branding, I'd say that it's incredibly important- if a company has a really strong 'About Us' page, which details experience and history and really demonstrates that your company is real and trustworthy, this will help both rankings and user trust (leading to greater conversion rates).

In response to your two questions about parent pages, I'd say the URL is less important. What's important is that you use the parent pages to build your site's architecture in terms of links. So, the homepage of your website should have clear, bold links to the 4 areas you cover, and your website's navigation should ideally be structured with 4 links, and maybe drop-down menus for the sub-pages of each area? If search engines can infer the structure of your site just by following your links, this will help (and will help users too!)

You should also make sure each of the 4 'area' pages is filled with rich information, and is structured as a landing page with general information, and links to the most important sub-pages.

In summary, site architecture is a lot more important than just the URLs of the site, I'd recommend you use good internal linking structures to indicate that your site is structured in this way.

Hope this helps! 
Zoe

Hi,

It's my understanding that using responsive design/content, and dynamically serving content, does not cause a risk for any cloaking penalties. These are all recommended ways, along with a separate mobile site, to serve content to users (see this Google Webmaster article) The most important thing is that smartphone users see all content which Google's Smartphone Googlebot will see, and that desktop users see all content which the desktop Googlebot will see (as there are different Googlebots for this).

Here's a video from Matt Cutts, explaining that as long as the hiding is done for user experience rather than search engine deception, it's ok: https://www.seroundtable.com/google-hiding-content-17136.html

What a great response!

Hi,

It's also my understanding that Moz checks its own version, so wait for the re-crawl report email for that project and you should be able to see your changes! You can also use the on-demand report.

Zoe

Hi,

I'd take caution, provided you haven't built any shady linking yourself. I would never recommend disavowing links which have been built naturally even if they are from somewhat unrelated websites, unless they are spam or seem maliciously built. Also, you should try to remove the problem links before you disavow them- read this post for some useful tips!

Hope this helps, 
Zoe

Hi Nicholas,

OK, then I wouldn't worry about their comments on your meta data, it's far better to create good descriptions and titles manually than to use automated ones- I'd only ever recommend that as an interim solution, or where you have too much data to ever invest in manual changes.

There's always improvements that can be made to SERPs, but I don't think they have the solution for you- I'd invest in the different areas of SEO, e.g. ensuring your pages are well optimised, checking technical points, and working on usability and great content. You could do this with an agency/SEO consultant, or yourself/a staff member. The Moz beginner guide to SEO is a great place to start!

Hope this helps, 
Zoe

Hi,

I'd say yes- even 6 times might be too much if your page text isn't that long. I'd reduce the amount of times you say that keyword, ensure you have synonyms, and above all, make the text user-friendly and readable. Make sure that the page answers the user's questions as quickly as possible, you use header tags and paragraphs, and break it up with some images/other useful information.

Remember that the quantity of keywords and keyword density are less and less important, as long as you have the keyword in the title, H1 and 2-3 times throughout the body content (a few more as relevant if the text is quite long). The Moz beginner guide to SEO discusses common myths, and one of them is keyword density- it's very insightful, I'd recommend reading it!

Hope this helps, 
Zoe

Hi Nicholas,

I'd avoid any automated programmes like this- did they explain how it works? Does it just pull the first line of your page text or product description or something similar to be your meta description? Lots of software can do this, but it's not necessarily the best way- your meta descriptions should be compelling for users who see them in search, and they don't directly impact your ranking anyway. Your meta titles can also be generated automatically, most CMS systems will do this for you automatically unless you override the description, or you'll be able to change your settings or add a module/plugin to do this (e.g. so that a product title is the meta title, followed by your brand name). What is your website built on? E.g. Wordpress, Magento, PrestaShop?

I wouldn't trust this company though, as you'll be able to make such improvements yourself, and worst case scenario they might hurt your rankings.

Hope this helps! 
Zoe

Hi,

This is a great article (on the Moz Blog) on how to handle expired content. It mentions pros and cons of the different methods, and though it's from 2012 I think it's still highly relevant. In particular it talks through adding 301 redirects with custom messages, so that you can explain to your visitors that the property has been sold already, and redirect them to a search page, list of nearby properties, or similar. I'd make this really clear, with a bold message of 'Property sold!' or something similar, to avoid quick bounces.

I would personally avoid 404s or 410s, as even if your resulting page is helpful, some users are likely to bounce from this page without even reading the content and realising it's helpful to them. Also, of course, it completely stops the link value of the previous page.

I'd try to get the best of all worlds, and aim for the most user-friendly 301s possible as explained above.

Hope this helps! 
Zoe

Hi Nick,

Is your website responsive, or do you have a separate mobile site?

If it's a separate mobile site, is there a difference between the content on each? If so, I'd have a look at the content and investigate whether the mobile version is more user friendly, for example.

If it's a responsive site, or if the content is the same, I'd investigate the competition. Perform a search for the keyword from a mobile device, and from a desktop device, and check if the websites which are ranking above you on desktop but not mobile have mobile-friendly websites. I've seen this affect some clients more and more, and where we have a mobile-friendly site, that site often ranks slightly better for mobile queries.

Hope this helps, if you do have more information I'd be happy to help some more! 
Zoe

Hi,

Have you added each pages' location to the Meta Title, H1 tag and within the body text of each relevant page?

Also, you could use your internal linking structure to indicate that your location pages are important. For example, ensure each has a prominent link on your homepage, a 'Locations' page and your contact page. You can also have sub-pages for each location, which all link back to the original location page. I see you say you've added postcodes- I'd also add the full addresses of each location.

Does the Solicitor's main name contain a location? This may be why it's confusing the search engines, but the above suggestions should improve this.

I hope this helps!

Zoe

Hi Thomas,

The ill-effect of duplicate content isn't always logical, but generally it follows certain rules. Firstly, it's not so much a 'punishment', as search engines' confusion: if two pages are showing the same content, how does it know which result is going to be better for the user? Google, for example, are forced to choose what they think the best result will be, and if there's duplicate content it lessens your chances of being chosen.

Google don't specifically give penalties for duplicate content, but some practices are risky, for example scraping content from websites without permission. It depends how the content has been duplicated. (See this video from Google's John Mueller)

This post on Moz also clarifies the issues around duplicate content very well.

What type of duplicate content are you worried about? Do you own both of the websites for which you're worried?

Thanks, hope this helps. 
Zoe

Hi Anubis,

I'd first compare the two URLs, and question why search engines are favouring the second URL over the first. Is it because the page has more text, better optimised titles, more links, better internal linking? Is it because the page is more user friendly and what search engines are looking to provide as the answer to the visitor's question? I'd aim to get the most relevant result to the user ranking well, regardless of what's ranking well now, because ultimately that's what search engines are trying to do.

Is it a very competitive niche? I'd also check your on-page optimisation, and the user experience of the page, and ensure there's enough text for search engines to understand the content of the page, and enough information for users.

I'll let someone else come back on the tools, as I always use Open Site Explorer.

Hope this helps! 
Zoe

Hi Brian,

I usually follow this advice from John Mueller of Google in a Google Webmaster Tools help thread:

For search, specifically for geotargeting, the server's location plays a very small role, in many cases it's irrelevant. If you use a ccTLD or a gTLD together with Webmaster Tools, then we'll mainly use the geotargeting from there, regardless of where your server is located. You definitely don't need to host your website in any specific geographic location -- use what works best for you, and give us that information via a ccTLD or Webmaster Tools.You can find out more about geotargeting at https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/62399?hl=enand https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en

I think that as long as your website is fast, and usability & speed are prioritised, you won't see a negative effect. If the move causes your site to slow down at all, you might find an issue, but this could go the other way too.

Hope this helps! 
Zoe

What a great response!

Hi,

I'd say Moz' 2015 ranking factors study is great for this, particularly the correlation section. If you scroll to 'Social and Brand Features', there's a graph showing correlations between rankings and shares, broken down by social platform. I've always found this incredibly insightful and useful!

Also the latest Whiteboard Friday, and related Buzzsumo collaboration study, are slightly on a tangent but both very insightful, they investigate any correlation between social shares & backlinks, and touch on the correlations with rankings.

Edit: of course, correlation isn't causation. You might also want to mention this video from Matt Cutts, in which he explains that social signals, like shares, +1s etc, aren't directly factored into algorithms.

I hope this helps! Interested to see anything others might post here too. 
Zoe

Hi Brian,

I think your approach will definitely provide some benefit, as long as you're focusing on quality, relevant links and your blog content is related/aimed at the same audience as your website. The more relevant the blog is to your website as a whole, the better the link value would be.

I'd also work, of course, on your on-page optimisation, and answering/anticipating consumer questions with help pages which are as clear and precise as possible.

Hope this helps! 
Zoe

Hi Gary,

I understand your frustration. There's little industry regulation, and so many methods of SEO being used by different companies, it's hard to choose. I'd ask the following questions, or look for the following information in your search:

• Has the company worked on local SEO before, or do they specialise in it?  If I'm assuming correctly that you're aiming to rank locally in Baltimore, you're best to find a company with knowledge and experience specifically in Local search marketing, as there are many specific techniques which will help your rankings.
• Will they focus on 'white hat' techniques? Generally, assuming you're aiming to build your business for the long term, it's best to use a company which will not cut corners. You want to make sure your company aims to retain SEO clients for the long term.
• Are they going to carry out thorough keyword research? All good SEO companies will be able to explain their keyword research process a little, and this should involve several hours' work, at least, for your specific situation.
• Are they going to include on-page optimisation, a thorough SEO audit, and technical recommendations/changes? There are many companies which will focus only on backlinks for a cheap fee, and in my experience these companies are riskier to hire. It's generally much more beneficial, and future-proof, to hire a company which will dedicate some time to usability and on-page optimisation.
• Ask to see examples of websites the company has worked on. Ask specifically what work they've carried out. Take a look at the pages- does the text read well, does it sound like they've tried to repeat keywords over too many times? Can they show you evidence of successful work they've done before?

Search marketing definitely does cost money, but it also can be one of the best returns on marketing investment. I've worked with so many companies who have had 'bad' SEO in the past, and I really don't like seeing it when carrying out new client audits and work, so it's great that you're spending time finding the right company! This post also talks through quite well the considerations when hiring an SEO.

Please feel free to ask any more questions if you have them, I'm happy to help advise you further!

Thank you, and good luck. 
Zoe