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I deleted a bunch of category pages (renamed mostly actually and thought they'd be auto redirected like my blog posts are but they weren't) so I used a plugin that reroutes any 404 page to the homepage. Is that the best thing to do in this situation? Google Webmasters says there are about 84 404-errors and this should get rid of those right? Is there anything SEO BAD about doing it this way?

I am doing well with a category page and I just ran a report card and am having issues with self-cannibalizing. I have a signature at the bottom of each blog post that links to this category page because it is my MAIN category. So I changed the anchor text so it didn't have the exact same keyword but underneath each post, it shows all the categories that post belongs to. Usually it is at least 2. So should I change the name of the category page and then have the SEO title be for the keyword I am ranking well with? Or should I just self-cannibalize? Or should I not have all the categories show underneath each post? I was thinking that would help lower my bounce rate since it would lead them to another page that interests them. Edit: To be clear, all these links are linking to that very category page. So linking back to itself. They are not linking to a different page with the target keyword. Also I am worried about reducing internal linking power if the anchor text is not the keyword I am trying to rank with? Help appreciated!

I am making some big changes to my site based on Moz's advice. How can I get google to see all of them? I submitted them to Google Webmasters. Is that the best thing to do? How long until Google updates all my pages?

Hello! I have a blog that is doing really well. Low bounce rate, search queries going up pretty fast, more organic traffic than my first blog. I shot up to spot 5 for my main keyword which was a thrill. But I have dropped back down. According to Google Webmasters I was at spot 11, then 12, and today 13. I worked on doing a lot of internal linking to the page that was ranking at # 5. It is a category page although I'd like my homepage to rank high for that same keyword one day. My site is less than 2 months old and I know it takes time but I am seeing so many signs of great potential. I am looking for ANY advice on how to boost my rankings for this one particular keyword. Thanks! 😃

I recently revamped all my category pages to make them Google friendly. I did a lot of keyword research and ended up deleting categories and renaming categories. Now Google Webmasters is showing a ton of 404 errors. How can I get rid of them? Do I have to remove the URL one by one with Google Webmasters? Is it something that won't hurt my rankings and will go away in time?

I was thrilled that my new blog catapulted up to spot # 5 on google last week for a great keyword. I worked hard on creating internal links to my category page as well as improving my content and getting a couple good external follow backlinks. But today, the report says I dropped off the top 50 list. How can I find some insight as to why this happened??

I am trying to improve the SEO for a few key category pages on my blog. I have two ranking really well so I want to boost them and bring up some others. Can I put two keywords in the meta title? Example: Maternity Deals | Pregnancy Deals Or should I just stick with one? Thanks!

I am ranking high with a certain category page and I am reading that I need backlinks to that page. It is going to be a challenge to get a backlink to that specific category page but how about this? Category page URL: www.mysite.com/category/name Backlink to this URL: www.mysite.com/category/name/specific-blog-post (EDIT: Apparently these types of links don't exist! I went into the category page and clicked on a blog post and it just gave me the www.mysite.com/blah-blah-blah) Will that count as a backlink to the category page? Right now I am only getting backlinks to these blog posts: www.mysite.com/this-is-a-blog-post Any help appreciated! EDIT: Well I guess now my question is worthless. But if you have any input, it would be appreciated.

How do I learn my competitor's best keywords? I realize I can add more keywords to my campaign but the problem is - I am not sure I am thinking of the right keywords. I don't want to compare with the keywords I am targeting - I want to know what THEY are targeting.

I started a second website recently and it is doing very well. I am on the first page for a competitive keyword - spot 5 according to Moz. It is actually a category page that is ranking so well which is a surprise to me as I have read many times that I should deindex category pages due to duplicate content! My questions: 1. How do I get backlinks to a CATEGORY page?! I have been able to get backlinks to certain posts because my website is a deal blog and other deal blogs give me credit for popular deals by linking to my post. 2. How can I maintain this high ranking? Of course I want in spot 3 but this website isn't even 2 months old so I know I should be patient. At this point, I just want to stay on the first page. What is the best way to do that? I am about to fill out the SEO stuff for the category page which I haven't done yet.Thanks!

I am having a hard time figuring out what the best META title tag is for my site. I have a deal blog that focuses on Amazon deals but I also write articles, top ten lists, etc. It is baby and mom related. Is there a tutorial for this? Should I just experiment and watch my organic search results? TIA!

I have been working hard to get follow backlinks but they have all been in the Just Discovered part of Open Site Explorer for a long time. So they don't count in my stats for Domain Authority and such. When do they move OUT of Just Discovered?

I am working hard to get backlinks from other blogs by submitting deal tips. I am a deal blog so I am wondering - is it better to get a backlink to a specific post that will expire because it is a time sensitive deal or sale? Or is it better to get a backlink to my homepage? I focus on the best blog with PR of 7 and DA of 72 as well as others that are high up there. In case I am not being clear, which backlink is better? A. www.mysite.com B. www.mysite.com/awesome-sale-of-the-day Sometimes I won't have a choice but just wondering what I should focus on or if it even matters. Thanks!

I have been working hard at getting quality backlinks but I had a lot of keywords slip in rankings this week. This may because I have been extremely busy for a week and haven't added a lot of content to my site. But I thought the backlinks would be helping. How long does it take backlinks to start boosting your site and what results should I see? I am focusing on getting backlinks from a site with a PR of 7. The others have a PR of 4-5. They are the BEST sites in my niche.

Some of my report cards say I have too many canonical URL tags. However, there is no information no how to delete one. Can someone give me a link or explain? Thanks.

I have received two follow links from a website with a domain authority of 64 because I contributed to 2 blog posts. Will it help my site to get more back links from this same website or should I focus my efforts elsewhere?

Last week, I had 14 keywords go up and less than 5 go down. I was so thrilled! Except this week, I had 10 go up and 14 go down! How can I figure out what is going on? I am up and down 30+ spots with Google. I'd really like to stay up. My site is pretty new, just a few months. I am still fiddling around with settings trying to follow all the advice I read. (robot meta tags, title tag) I didn't change any content in the last week. Does SEOmoz analyze the ranking data?

I have noindexed my category pages. Do I still need to write a description for my categories? I am using the plugin SEO Content Control to see what I can spiff up but I don't want to waste my time. Thank you!

I just installed a plugin called SEO content control and it is telling me I need to write descriptions for my tags. I haven't been using tags although I did create a list of them. I don't have an endless amount of time on my hands so is this a worthwhile task?

I know I should have all my affiliate links as nofollow but when should I dofollow a link? When will it HELP me to have a dofollow link? Right now - all my links are nofollow because I haven't figured out how to have nofollow and dofollow in the same blog post. Any info appreciated!

My latest crawl diagnostic is telling me that my homepage is missing a meta description. I am using wordpress and thesis. How do I add a meta description to my main page? ex www.mynewsite.com Mahalo!

I changed the name of a blog article I wrote and the original name is giving a 404 error. I am not sure why it isn't being directed like the other articles I renamed to improve SEO. Since the webpage no longer exists, I don't know how to redirect it. I use Wordpress and Thesis. Thanks!

What is the best thing to do with category pages? Should I deindex them or use SEO on them? I use the Thesis theme and the Wordpress SEO plugin. I am just not sure what to do with category pages. Also will they create duplicate content?

Hi, I have a deal blog that is several months old. My established and successful "competitors" have a high Domain Authority (43, 46, 63) but most of their blog posts are very short. Our readers want to know about the coupon, deal, discount, code etc - they don't want 250 + words for each post. However I am concerned that lots of short posts will label my blog as low quality and that Google Panda will get me. My competitors easily get on page 1 of google. Yes they also write articles but majority of their posts are short. I deindexed quite a few short blog posts but my audience googles for coupons and deals like crazy. I try to give as much info as I can without being wordy and annoying but sometimes that still gets me only 100 words. I also write a lot of articles relevant to my niche (mom/baby/maternity) that are high quality and several hundred words. Just looking for input on deal blog SEO. Thanks!

I made a lot of changes with Wordpress SEO by Yoast before I signed up with SEOmoz. But SEOmoz doesn't seem to see those changes. I am still being told I have multiple meta descriptions. I don't know why but SEOmoz is seeing the default meta description and not the one I wrote using the Yoast plugin. How can I get SEOmoz to see those changes? Edit: Google has not updated all the changes I made with Wordpress SEO.