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  4. What's your best hidden SEO secret?

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What's your best hidden SEO secret?

Intermediate & Advanced SEO
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  • petrakraft
    petrakraft @HiveDigitalInc last edited by Mar 11, 2011, 3:04 PM Mar 11, 2011, 3:04 PM

    Lol - that's a different approach ...

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
    • HiveDigitalInc
      HiveDigitalInc last edited by Mar 11, 2011, 12:13 PM Mar 11, 2011, 12:13 PM

      1. Create a bunch of blackhat, auto-genned spammy sites in your space...

      2. See what they automatically get long-tail traffic on...

      3. Write content on your site targeting those keywords...

      petrakraft PabloGV TheGrid cbielich 4 Replies Last reply Apr 26, 2011, 4:50 AM Reply Quote -2
      • seospain
        seospain last edited by Mar 11, 2011, 11:27 AM Mar 11, 2011, 11:27 AM

        Not so much a secret but for me it's build a quality site for users and not for engines, don't rely solely on Google and other organic search traffic (use multiple channels like newsletters, blog commenting, link bailt, blogging, social etc) so that if you organic rankings are hit, it doesn't take out your business completely. Work hard on converting the visitors you do get by making good use of Google Analytics, usability testing and conversion optimisation. Ok, so that was more than one but I couldn't help myself. 😉

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • petrakraft
          petrakraft @kaashifk last edited by Mar 11, 2011, 4:23 AM Mar 11, 2011, 4:23 AM

          Hi Kaashif - thank you for sharing your "secret".

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
          • kaashifk
            kaashifk last edited by Mar 10, 2011, 7:13 PM Mar 10, 2011, 7:12 PM

            My best SEO strategi is to get moving and to stop consuimng infomation..in the begining i used to buy way to much SEO stuff, an dofun dmyself suffering from infomation overload.. Till one day i just formulated a plan and got cracking..

            My plan..

            effective keyword research

            identifty top 3 competitors and opensite explore them

            cheack,check and double chek ALL your onsite meta data

            recheck all onsite meta data

            proceed to offsite

            first and foremost submit to directory sites

            then spend and hr each day to build backlinks, aiming to build 1 extra link than the day before BUT also take a gap day on a random day each week inbetween, use this day for admin tasks like checking analytics,rank checks,check if any of your links have been indexed etc but above all, use this day to go back to your 1st day of the weeks links you tried to build and check up on them etc etc

            Also try and get a guest blog op for yourself on a blog in your niche.

            Finally,stay far away from anything remotely dodgy!

            hopes this helps and good luck!

            petrakraft IPIM FergusonSEO Budskab 4 Replies Last reply May 7, 2011, 7:43 PM Reply Quote 24
            • seoforward
              seoforward last edited by Mar 10, 2011, 11:14 AM Mar 10, 2011, 11:14 AM

              SEOMOZ and the web in general teaches me so much everyday, and I know it's basic but to write for the audience not the engines

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • Dan-Petrovic
                Dan-Petrovic @Kozmo last edited by Mar 10, 2011, 6:00 AM Mar 10, 2011, 6:00 AM

                Agreed, community is something that can not only educate but get you going and inspire to do more and better. It does get a bit lonely if you are hiding under a rock for too long.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                • LuminConsutling
                  LuminConsutling @MarkHodson last edited by Mar 10, 2011, 4:02 AM Mar 10, 2011, 4:02 AM

                  As I read through these down the page, this is by far the best answer yet IMHO

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -2
                  • MozMan2
                    MozMan2 @tclendaniel last edited by Mar 9, 2011, 11:46 PM Mar 9, 2011, 11:46 PM

                    I wish I knew what you were talking about, it sounds interesting but not very clearly explained.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ChrisMacNaughton
                      ChrisMacNaughton last edited by Mar 9, 2011, 6:36 PM Mar 9, 2011, 6:36 PM

                      I suppose that my biggest thing is good analytics and figuring out what your specific KPIs will be for a specific site.  After figuring out the best KPIs, work on those, don't get distracted by keyword rankigns, those can change all to easily when Google decides to chagne the ranking algorithm.

                      Focus on why we want rankings: to get converting traffic.  If you're spending hours or days working on something, it had better effect the bottom line for the company or it isn't woth doing.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                      • Kozmo
                        Kozmo @Dan-Petrovic last edited by Mar 8, 2011, 4:24 PM Mar 8, 2011, 4:24 PM

                        Love your reply!  And the "Zone".  It is a great place to be.  I guess you can't be in the "Zone" everyday.  Then it really would not be the "Zone".   Just another day 😉

                        I think being a part of this community and others is really the best SEO secret.  Learning from others, making mistakes and networking is the key and the secret to success.

                        Dan-Petrovic 1 Reply Last reply Mar 10, 2011, 6:00 AM Reply Quote 2
                        • dennis.globalsign
                          dennis.globalsign Subscriber @Dan-Petrovic last edited by Mar 8, 2011, 1:46 PM Mar 8, 2011, 1:46 PM

                          I find the secret to getting there is to find the smallest possible task related to the work need to do. Start small and build up momentum - the key to having one of those magic hours. 🙂

                          Budskab 1 Reply Last reply Oct 16, 2012, 7:08 PM Reply Quote 2
                          • LauraThomas
                            LauraThomas @Ken_Jansen last edited by Mar 8, 2011, 11:40 AM Mar 8, 2011, 11:39 AM

                            very true! and I'll add...keep focused.

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • Blargh123
                              Blargh123 @DanDeceuster last edited by Mar 7, 2011, 2:40 PM Mar 7, 2011, 2:40 PM

                              Your correct our jobs would not exist if SEO was easy and automated!  the "easy" button only helps you defeat those who dont know how to press it!  once your past that your normallty competeing head to head with other skilled SEO's for the top spots often one link can be indexed and change me from 1 to spot 3, because the link profiles have grown so similarly between competitors.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Blargh123
                                Blargh123 @tclendaniel last edited by Mar 7, 2011, 2:37 PM Mar 7, 2011, 2:37 PM

                                Niche SEO marketing is how alot of us got into the field! building portfolios much like the one you discuss 🙂  What kind of conversions are you seeing from your portfolio?

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • Blargh123
                                  Blargh123 @caseyhen last edited by Mar 7, 2011, 2:35 PM Mar 7, 2011, 2:35 PM

                                  SEO jobs in general put you into positions with business people, and profesionals from all varieties.  Great networking profession! one of my favorite job perks!

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • AlanMosley
                                    AlanMosley last edited by Mar 5, 2011, 7:45 AM Mar 5, 2011, 7:45 AM

                                    The Microsoft IIS SEO Tool Kit
                                    I am yet to find a site that does not have a pile of errors, I get all my sites free from violations, this gives me a head start (how big that head start is is debatable)

                                    If your technical side is not perfect all your SEM is discounted. Its like fishing with holes in your net.

                                    raxhuq 1 Reply Last reply Jun 13, 2011, 12:25 PM Reply Quote 2
                                    • AlanMosley
                                      AlanMosley @Dan-Petrovic last edited by Mar 5, 2011, 7:41 AM Mar 5, 2011, 7:41 AM

                                      good to hear that i am not alone.
                                      I can avoid a job day after day after day. but once im on my way, the sun comming up tells me its time to quit

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                                      • Thos003
                                        Thos003 last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 10:41 PM Mar 3, 2011, 10:41 PM

                                        In order:

                                        Secret #1 - Work + Time = Awesome SEO

                                        Secret #2 - Core Group of SEOs to work and share with.

                                        Secret #3 - Keeping secrets secret.  ... Sorry had to add that one. 😉

                                        Actually I should probably add that I don't believe there are many true secrets to SEO. Time and work will get you the best long term results.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                        • Wayne76
                                          Wayne76 last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 4:55 PM Mar 3, 2011, 4:55 PM

                                          One of the best SEO secrets I've learned (which took a while) is how to implement what works best and leave the rest alone. Trying to read and stay abreast of everything regarding SEO is a futile venture--it's as much art as it is science, and few 'secrets' exist.

                                          There are large components of SEO that are open to grand interpretation and it's often hard to separate good information from mis-information from out-dated information from just plain flase information. (If you ever get the opportunity to attend PubCon or an SES conference and listen to the bevy of conversation and opinion happening all about you, the quickl realization is that there are few fast and hard rules.)

                                          There are several camps that will advise you a bit differently in all aspects of SEO: some will claim that their methods are proven, others will be more humble and offer a "best-practices" approach sans the 'guarantee'. I often believe I'm only as good at SEO as the success I had yesterday.

                                          Try to find what works for you inside your vertical and then cherry-pick tips from the rest of the SEO community as you see fit. Translation: there is no magic bullet! 🙂

                                          Here's to future success!

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 5
                                          • AtoZion
                                            AtoZion last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 3:02 PM Mar 3, 2011, 3:00 PM

                                            A marker board schedule.

                                            I am not allowed to do anything (self imposed) that is not on my marker board for a specific time period. That makes me focus and get done what I need done.

                                            Personal Facebook time takes a backburner when I need to do SEO.

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • danbocain
                                              danbocain @eric_since1910.com last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 1:07 PM Mar 3, 2011, 1:07 PM

                                              This is another great one. I've built plenty of professional relationships with previous clients (we refer business back and forth), as well as with a few graphic designers who work mostly in the SEM side of things (banner creation, tracking, tweaking to increase conversions).

                                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                              • Blargh123
                                                Blargh123 @Dan-Petrovic last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 12:51 PM Mar 3, 2011, 12:51 PM

                                                Gotta love this!!! Most of my days are alot of information gathering then that one day of execution!! very grattifying!

                                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                                • eric_since1910.com
                                                  eric_since1910.com last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 12:00 PM Mar 3, 2011, 12:00 PM

                                                  This is a great question!  My best hidden SEO secret is developing relationships with resources of particular specialties so you can get specific help in the area you are focusing on.  Similiary how a Dr. will refer you to a specialist, in SEO, there are plenty of general SEO's out there, but there are a few stand outs in particular specialties.

                                                  danbocain 1 Reply Last reply Mar 3, 2011, 1:07 PM Reply Quote 2
                                                  • spnet
                                                    spnet last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 11:48 AM Mar 3, 2011, 11:48 AM

                                                    My best experience to track the competitors, review their strategy and then choose best point from each of competitors and make a strong strategy for project.  I use to analysis strategy on weekly basis. Also used some tools for competitor tracking.

                                                    Your competitor give you a lot of new ideas........

                                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                                    • tclendaniel
                                                      tclendaniel @Francisco_Meza last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 10:57 AM Mar 3, 2011, 10:57 AM

                                                      Almost identical to Francis, with a twist.  I make almost all my revenue from AdSense (weird, I know).  It took me a while to learn to do things in keyword research- 1) focus on high revenue per 1000 visitors stats for sellecting priority keywords by linking AdSense and Googgle Analytics, and 2) looking for the highest CPC keywords in the GoogleExternal Keyword Tool and then sorting on difficulty- oddly, in my space, a few lower-competition terms have extremely high CPC,making them prime targets for new pages onmy site andSEO efforts behind them.

                                                      Blargh123 MozMan2 2 Replies Last reply Mar 9, 2011, 11:46 PM Reply Quote 1
                                                      • semvibe
                                                        semvibe last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 9:15 AM Mar 3, 2011, 9:15 AM

                                                        My hidden secret is - a) build the website for the visitor b) be honest on your keyword choices c) follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines and Search comes your way.

                                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                        • NicoleMunoz
                                                          NicoleMunoz @caseyhen last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 1:40 AM Mar 3, 2011, 1:40 AM

                                                          I agree... great answer and very helpful!

                                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                          • BlooFusion38
                                                            BlooFusion38 last edited by Mar 3, 2011, 1:21 AM Mar 3, 2011, 1:21 AM

                                                            SEO Metrics: Focus on juicy analytics instead of shallow ranking reports. And get your company (or your clients) to follow you down that path.

                                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                            • UPform5
                                                              UPform5 last edited by Mar 2, 2011, 11:38 PM Mar 2, 2011, 11:38 PM

                                                              Paid tools... you really have to invest in order for you to conquer, I can share some but I personally think SEOmoz has all of them but you can still find good ones outside which SEOmoz also mentions hehehe

                                                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 4
                                                              • RedScooter
                                                                RedScooter last edited by Mar 2, 2011, 11:25 PM Mar 2, 2011, 11:25 PM

                                                                I have a whole list. 🙂 Patience and consistency. SEO is easy, but you have to constantly keep learning and trying new things. It often takes awhile to see results. Keep working and don't give up. As long as you create quality content and links that are relevant, eventually your hard work will pay off. Constantly learning is another key. Search engines change their algorithms over time, and your competitors are always changing, so you'll never be done. I like to set my homepage to an rss feed reader, where I've subscribed to about 10 blogs ranging from SEO to marketing to copywriting. That way new information is always the first thing I see, and I'm less likely to waste time on games or random browsing. Finally, having a network of people to help and encourage you can make the difference between giving up and sticking with it. You can learn from each other and provide sympathy and sometimes a little healthy competition.

                                                                glennfriesen 1 Reply Last reply Apr 12, 2011, 3:45 PM Reply Quote 2
                                                                • danbocain
                                                                  danbocain last edited by Mar 2, 2011, 11:11 PM Mar 2, 2011, 11:11 PM

                                                                  Guest blogging. It's nothing new, it's nothing that requires a lot of talent, but my god! It does the trick for most clients I manage. Helps me acquires custom anchor text dofollow links from themed sites and the long term relationship with these blog owners are worth their "weight" in gold!  You get a great link, you get some referral traffic, and you expand your network. Triple win!

                                                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 12
                                                                  • TheARKlady
                                                                    TheARKlady last edited by Mar 2, 2011, 3:45 PM Mar 2, 2011, 3:45 PM

                                                                    @Mark Hodson bought to mind something we do as a B2B service. We structured a questionaire that asks for industry terms and customer terms along with geotargeting information for local search. In many cases, the terms that the company or staff think are appropriate actually are very far from it. In addition certifications and awards often come in handy as well as professional memberships because they help us identify terms and other opportunities for SEO.

                                                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                    • petrakraft
                                                                      petrakraft @MarkHodson last edited by Mar 2, 2011, 8:48 AM Mar 2, 2011, 8:48 AM

                                                                      Great suggestions - thank's

                                                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                      • MarkHodson
                                                                        MarkHodson last edited by Mar 2, 2011, 8:00 AM Mar 2, 2011, 8:00 AM

                                                                        My best tip: get to know the sales team. I think a lot of SEOs fail to look up from their screens and recognise they are working for a real business - and that it's the sales team that have first-hand, all-day access to your paying customers.

                                                                        I've just started working for a small travel business with a sales team of three who answer phones all day from clients. I spent a session with them, explained briefly what I'm doing and asked them a slew of questions such as:

                                                                        • How do people describe the products? How do they categorise types of product. This feeds directly into KW research.

                                                                        • What do people ask for that isn't on the site? Great for content development ideas / usability.

                                                                        • What questions do people ask about the company? For instance, if lots of people seem unsure about whether this is a real company or just a website, create a prominent "about us" section.

                                                                        • At which points in the booking funnel do customers call to say they are stuck ? This is a great way of identifying usability issues. Users don't call the UX guys, they call the sales team.

                                                                        It's important to remember that sales people don't give a stuff about SEO, so your first task is to explain to them that your job is to send them more leads. At this point you'll see their indifference slowly turn to interest.

                                                                        Give it a try, it's incredibly valuable. Perhaps a subject for a future YouMoz post?

                                                                        petrakraft LuminConsutling MontanaFlynn83 seanmccauley webalive 5 Replies Last reply Apr 23, 2011, 8:04 AM Reply Quote 27
                                                                        • petrakraft
                                                                          petrakraft @TheARKlady last edited by Mar 2, 2011, 5:17 AM Mar 2, 2011, 5:17 AM

                                                                          Thank's for the reply 🙂

                                                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                                                          • TheARKlady
                                                                            TheARKlady last edited by Mar 1, 2011, 9:35 PM Mar 1, 2011, 9:35 PM

                                                                            Hmm, secrets? First, I do seo writing so I tend to look at things from that angle but have gotten into more seo itself as I work with more businesses and web designers. I agree that working and then taking a break is a great idea because sometimes the research can blind you. LOL

                                                                            But I think making sure you get the best info from the client or on the project prior to starting is essential and can help cut down the time spent in further research or is critical in targeting terms within a highly competitive category.

                                                                            I also use research tools to help condense the process while I ponder competition and their optimization prior to starting.

                                                                            petrakraft 1 Reply Last reply Mar 2, 2011, 5:17 AM Reply Quote 0
                                                                            • DanDeceuster
                                                                              DanDeceuster last edited by Mar 1, 2011, 3:18 PM Mar 1, 2011, 3:18 PM

                                                                              The secret to good SEO is to stop wasting time with automation tools. SEO simply cannot be automated and left to a robot. If it could, none of us would have jobs 🙂

                                                                              If it automates directory submissions, bookmarks, articles, blog comments or anything else, it's useless and should be left alone. Far too many SEO folks waste far too much time tinkering around with them...only to figure out they are useless and that they wasted a lot of time. The Onion comically gives us another great way to stop wasting time:

                                                                              http://www.theonion.com/articles/openminded-man-grimly-realizes-how-much-life-hes-w,19273/

                                                                              Blargh123 nimbledigit 2 Replies Last reply Jun 1, 2011, 6:25 PM Reply Quote 9
                                                                              • MarcinKowalik-195750
                                                                                MarcinKowalik-195750 last edited by Mar 1, 2011, 9:41 AM Mar 1, 2011, 9:41 AM

                                                                                Before creating costly, but usefull content - doing heavy topic research within the target group...

                                                                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                                                • rmteamseo
                                                                                  rmteamseo last edited by Mar 1, 2011, 8:02 AM Mar 1, 2011, 8:02 AM

                                                                                  I think one of the most overlooked aspects of good SEO is semantic markup and good onpage optimisation, and no it is not just getting those h1s and h2s sorted.

                                                                                  And i totally agree with Dejan Petrovic, that one hour of "getting in the zone" makes all the difference!

                                                                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                                                                  • KrisRoadruck
                                                                                    KrisRoadruck @Dan-Petrovic last edited by Mar 1, 2011, 6:32 AM Mar 1, 2011, 6:32 AM

                                                                                    Oh man this is me to a T. Its hard to explain to others that the rest of the time spent farting around online is really a primer for this. If I just tried to come in for an hour and leave It would never be an in the zone hour.

                                                                                    jdeb glennfriesen 2 Replies Last reply Apr 12, 2011, 3:41 PM Reply Quote 8
                                                                                    • petrakraft
                                                                                      petrakraft @WillyF last edited by Mar 1, 2011, 4:07 AM Mar 1, 2011, 4:07 AM

                                                                                      Thank you for your response 🙂 - great suggestion!

                                                                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
                                                                                      • WillyF
                                                                                        WillyF last edited by Mar 1, 2011, 2:55 AM Mar 1, 2011, 2:55 AM

                                                                                        I run a site with a daily e-mail list. Every day I get a few out of office replies from people who subscribe to the list.These are typically college employees, and their auto-response gives me their name, e-mail address, and job title. Since I know they already use my site and I now know who they are, I can target people to make link requests with a much more personal approach. It's probably unique to my specific niche, but it actually works really well.

                                                                                        petrakraft 1 Reply Last reply Mar 1, 2011, 4:07 AM Reply Quote 15
                                                                                        • Francisco_Meza
                                                                                          Francisco_Meza last edited by Feb 24, 2011, 4:16 AM Feb 24, 2011, 4:16 AM

                                                                                          To optimze a webpage for my number one converting keyword in Google Adwords instead of purely going off Google Keyword Tool.

                                                                                          tclendaniel 1 Reply Last reply Mar 3, 2011, 10:57 AM Reply Quote 5
                                                                                          • Ken_Jansen
                                                                                            Ken_Jansen last edited by Feb 22, 2011, 9:58 PM Feb 22, 2011, 9:58 PM

                                                                                            Chunking the big goals into smaller ones which I can achieve a little bit each day. Keeping an eye on my top competitors to see from crawl to crawl or week to week, how fast am I gaining on them.

                                                                                            LauraThomas 1 Reply Last reply Mar 8, 2011, 11:39 AM Reply Quote 3
                                                                                            • petrakraft
                                                                                              petrakraft @caseyhen last edited by Feb 18, 2011, 4:13 AM Feb 18, 2011, 4:13 AM

                                                                                              Hi Casey - I can't click any more "Helpful" answer - but I like this one most! That is definetifely true!!

                                                                                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                                                                              • caseyhen
                                                                                                caseyhen last edited by Feb 17, 2011, 1:32 AM Feb 17, 2011, 1:31 AM

                                                                                                Biggest secret that I have is to make great connections to people in the business.  I can't count the number of times I've run into a strange issue and it's great to be able to email someone you've meet with your question and get some expert feedback.  Not to mention sometimes they share their super secret SEO tricks and tips.

                                                                                                petrakraft NicoleMunoz Blargh123 3 Replies Last reply Mar 7, 2011, 2:35 PM Reply Quote 23
                                                                                                • DonnieCooper
                                                                                                  DonnieCooper last edited by Feb 16, 2011, 10:02 PM Feb 16, 2011, 10:02 PM

                                                                                                  I to use the free $75 of adwords (in the SEOmoz discount store) for every new customer to test their keywords. I think it's an over looked opprotunity by a ton of SEO's.

                                                                                                  As a by product, customers love that you're running paid ads for free, and it gives you a chance to up sell them (if you can prove a return for them).

                                                                                                  NickPateman81 JohnFCarroll 2 Replies Last reply May 11, 2011, 12:54 PM Reply Quote 33
                                                                                                  • ThomasHgenhaven
                                                                                                    ThomasHgenhaven last edited by Feb 16, 2011, 11:04 AM Feb 16, 2011, 11:04 AM

                                                                                                    One more thing: building a community and optimizing their contributions. That is the very future of SEO in my opinion.

                                                                                                    duncan274 1 Reply Last reply Nov 19, 2011, 1:45 AM Reply Quote 1
                                                                                                    • ThomasHgenhaven
                                                                                                      ThomasHgenhaven @gfiorelli1 last edited by Feb 16, 2011, 11:02 AM Feb 16, 2011, 11:02 AM

                                                                                                      I do that too! Only little problem with that is it often creates some significant bumps in link acquisition rates.

                                                                                                      Budskab 1 Reply Last reply Oct 16, 2012, 7:03 PM Reply Quote 1
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                                                                                                      Related Questions

                                                                                                      • jamiegriz

                                                                                                        SEO Best Practices regarding Robots.txt disallow

                                                                                                        I cannot find hard and fast direction about the following issue: It looks like the Robots.txt file on my server has been set up to disallow "account" and "search" pages within my site, so I am receiving warnings from the Google Search console that URLs are being blocked by Robots.txt. (Disallow: /Account/ and Disallow: /?search=). Do you recommend unblocking these URLs? I'm getting a warning that over 18,000 Urls are blocked by robots.txt. ("Sitemap contains urls which are blocked by robots.txt"). Seems that I wouldn't want that many urls blocked. ? Thank you!!

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Sep 4, 2017, 6:02 AM | jamiegriz
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                                                                                                      • SS.Digital

                                                                                                        Forwarded vanity domains, suddenly resolving to 404 with appended URL's ending in random 5 characters

                                                                                                        We have several vanity domains that forward to various pages on our primary domain.
                                                                                                        e.g. www.vanity.com (301)--> www.mydomain.com/sub-page (200) These forwards have been in place for months or even years and have worked fine.  As of yesterday, we have seen the following problem.  We have made no changes in the forwarding settings. Now, inconsistently, they sometimes resolve and sometimes they do not.  When we load the vanity URL with Chrome Dev Tools (Network Pane) open, it shows the following redirect chains, where xxxxx represents a random 5 character string of lower and upper case letters.  (e.g. VGuTD) EXAMPLE:
                                                                                                        www.vanity.com                                  (302, Found) -->
                                                                                                        www.vanity.com/xxxxx                        (302, Found) -->
                                                                                                        www.vanity.com/xxxxx                        (302, Found) -->
                                                                                                        www.vanity.com/xxxxx/xxxxx               (302, Found) -->
                                                                                                        www.mydomain.com/sub-page/xxxxx (404, Not Found) This is just one example, the amount of redirects, vary wildly.  Sometimes there is only 1 redirect, sometimes there are as many as 5. Sometimes the request will ultimately resolve on the correct mydomain.com/sub-page, but usually it does not (as in the example above). We have cross-checked across every browser, device, private/non-private, cookies cleared, on and off of our network etc...   This leads us to believe that it is not at the device or host level. Our Registrar is Godaddy.  They have not encountered this issue before, and have no idea what this 5 character string is from.  I tend to believe them because per our analytics, we have determined that this problem only started yesterday. Our primary question is, has anybody else encountered this problem either in the last couple days, or at any time in the past?  We have come up with a solution that works to alleviate the problem, but to implement it across hundreds of vanity domains will take us an inordinate amount of time.  Really hoping to fix the cause of the problem instead of just treating the symptom.

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Oct 2, 2017, 11:56 AM | SS.Digital
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                                                                                                      • RickyShockley

                                                                                                        Is Chamber of Commerce membership a "paid" link, breaking Google's rules?

                                                                                                        Hi guys, This drives me nuts. I hear all the time that any time value is exchanged for a link that it technically violates Google's guidelines. What about real organizations, chambers of commerce, trade groups, etc. that you are a part of that have online directories with DO-follow links. On one hand people will say these are great links with real value outside of search and great for local SEO..and on the other hand some hardliners are saying that these technically should be no-follow. Thoughts???

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | May 10, 2016, 1:48 PM | RickyShockley
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                                                                                                      • ydesjardins200

                                                                                                        Help FORUM ( User generated content ) SEO best practices

                                                                                                        Hello Moz folks ! For the very first time im dealing with a massive community who rely on UGC ( user generated content ). Their forum is finding a great deal of duplicate content/broken link/ duplicate title and on-site issue. I have Advance SEO knowledge related to ecommerce or blogging but new to forum and UGC. I would really love to learn or get ressources links that would allow me to see/understand the best practices in term of SEO. Any help is greatly appreciated. Best, Yan

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Jan 19, 2015, 7:52 PM | ydesjardins200
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                                                                                                      • alrockn

                                                                                                        Chinese Sites Linking With Bizarre Keywords Creating 404's

                                                                                                        Just ran a link profile, and have noticed for the first time many spammy Chinese sites linking to my site with spammy keywords such as "Buy Nike" or "Get Viagra".  Making matters worse, they're linking to pages that are creating 404's. Can anybody explain what's going on, and what I can do?

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | May 17, 2014, 7:30 PM | alrockn
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                                                                                                      • mirabile

                                                                                                        Brackets vs Encoded URLs: The "Same" in Google's eyes, or dup content?

                                                                                                        Hello, This is the first time I've asked a question here, but I would really appreciate the advice of the community - thank you, thank you!  Scenario:  Internal linking is pointing to two different versions of a URL, one with brackets [] and the other version with the brackets encoded as %5B%5D Version 1: http://www.site.com/test?hello**[]=all&howdy[]=all&ciao[]=all
                                                                                                        Version 2: http://www.site.com/test?hello
                                                                                                        %5B%5D**=all&howdy**%5B%5D**=all&ciao**%5B%5D**=all Question: Will search engines view these as duplicate content?  Technically there is a difference in characters, but it's only because one version encodes the brackets, and the other does not (See: http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_urlencode.asp) We are asking the developer to encode ALL URLs because this seems cleaner but they are telling us that Google will see zero difference.   We aren't sure if this is true, since engines can get so _hung up on even one single difference in character.  _ We don't want to unnecessarily fracture the internal link structure of the site, so again - any feedback is welcome, thank you. 🙂

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Oct 7, 2013, 3:15 PM | mirabile
                                                                                                        0
                                                                                                      • WEB-IRS

                                                                                                        Include Cross Domain Canonical URL's in Sitemap - Yes or No?

                                                                                                        I have several sites that have cross domain canonical tags setup on similar pages.  I am unsure if these pages that are canonicalized to a different domain should be included in the sitemap.  My first thought is no, because I should only include pages in the sitemap that I want indexed. On the other hand, if I include ALL pages on my site in the sitemap, once Google gets to a page that has a cross domain canonical tag, I'm assuming it will just note that and determine if the canonicalized page is the better version.  I have yet to see any errors in GWT about this.   I have seen errors where I included a 301 redirect in my sitemap file.  I suspect its ok, but to me, it seems that Google would rather not find these URL's in a sitemap, have to crawl them time and time again to determine if they are the best page, even though I'm indicating that this page has a similar page that I'd rather have indexed.

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Jul 6, 2012, 5:24 PM | WEB-IRS
                                                                                                        0
                                                                                                      • RichBestSEO

                                                                                                        Is there any negative SEO effect of having comma's in URL's?

                                                                                                        Hello, I have a client who has a large ecommerce website. Some category names have been created with comma's in - which has meant that their software has automatically generated URL's with comma's in for every page that comes beneath the category in the site hierarchy. eg. 1 : http://shop.deliaonline.com/store/music,-dvd-and-games/dvds-and-blu_rays/ eg. 2 : http://shop.deliaonline.com/store/music,-dvd-and-games/dvds-and-blu_rays/action-and-adventure/ etc... I know that URL's with comma's in look a bit ugly! But is there 'any' SEO reason why URL's with comma's in are any less effective? Kind Regs, RB

                                                                                                        Intermediate & Advanced SEO | Jul 3, 2012, 5:30 AM | RichBestSEO
                                                                                                        0

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