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Pashmina is absolutely true in the fact that not anyone can give you an accurate limit.  Also, pointing out the 30 anchor links that she is specifying leads me to believe it's based on a great article that Randfish wrote.

This is the link to the article here: Testing the Value of Anchor Text Optimized Internal Links

You will notice that he replies to a commenter with the following questions:

"Very interesting Rand.  I've always wanted to test the effects of internal anchor texts.

You stated that excessive internal anchor text linking can trip an automated penalty, what do you consider an excessive amount?  Thanks for opening our eyes to this."

Rand's answer was based on his observation as the following:

"I honestly can't say where the limit lies, but in both cases I observed, there were in excess of 30 links sitewide that were clearly anchor text optimized to push rankings."

Although this info seems to be valuable information, it may be outdated and hold less value to the current time.

I think it will be most effective for people here to help you, if you can provide the URL and keyword your trying to rank for.

I found some great info here that I believe explains it: http://support.godaddy.com/help/2986/organizing-your-website-using-the-organize-site-page

Please do! You can PM me here on SEOMOZ.

I have never tried it, but I've also been pondering on the best method for this same subject.  I'm not saying it would be easy but think about it.

You only have to cut one deal, with one major company that has a multitude of locations and your set.

Shoot! It could end up being worth it even if you hired a professional sales team to close that deal for you with the head honcho.

Many companies know the value an SEO company can bring to there business.

Piggyback on a franchise that has many locations by offering them some type of package deal of your services as an exchange.

Let me ask you this: Does your site exist for both the www and non www? Example: http://www.site.com/   http://site.com/

Can you please list the domain?

Can you list your site domain?

I believe there is a "traffic data" tab within your campaigns top right where you can make edits when needed.

Request an exception by visiting the following url:

http://support.google.com/adwords/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=7523

Follow the steps and they should respond

Since there is no way possible anyone can give you an exact number.  Because there are times when pages with less words and even no content out rank ones with a lot. So, I'm just going to give you my personal preference which is between 450 to 700 for readability.

Personally, that's what I would do is delete it.  Unless, there is a reason you need that page.

Yes, I'm the same way.  If I am passionate about something then I will usually do it myself.  Although, it may not always be the best way to go about it, because sometimes it ends up pushing the higher priority things I should be attentive to behind.

Unfortunately for us passion doesn't always = priority

EGOL's point is valid

Pashmina's point is valid

At the end of the day, one or the other is only valid after knowing your full situation.  What do I mean by that?

Nobody can give you the right answer because we don't have all the information needed to make an accurate decision.

We don't know how much time you have to teach yourself, spend on setting up your campaigns and, monitoring your campaigns.

Don't forget that quote "Time Is Money"

It's like asking if you should hire a lawyer, handyman, painter, mechanic, movers and etc...

A lot of things that these professionals can do, you maybe able to do better for yourself but:

You need to determine how much time you have to put aside on it, how quickly you need it done and etc..

In other words based on everything that people have answered, only you can make the final decision.

Your welcome! Anytime

Yes it's an issue and I will help you fix this:

I noticed you are using sh404sef

From the back end of your site you will need to go to sh404sef

Then sh404sef configuration security tab,

At the bottom, you will find an option below "Anti-flood configuration",  you will need to set "Activate anti-flood" to "No".

Your welcome! I'm also sending the other side of the story not to confuse you but to allow you to make a decision based on both sides:  http://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!category-topic/webmasters/crawling-indexing--ranking/8nyxCtv9RHM

This is a javascript file and I don't see it being an issue unless Google thinks your hiding it to be spammy .  Also, there are some that say it's a benefit to block js files from the search  for SEO purposes. Here is an example of that situation: http://www.seomofo.com/advanced/do-not-let-google-crawl-javascript.html  I think since this is out of your control and goes by the standard of how Godaddy sets up there sites, then it shouldn't be an issue.

Also, the following are duplicates: http://www.shakes4life.com/shakeology.html  & http://www.shakes4life.com

When did Google last index your site? You can check this through webmaster tools. When did you instal the robots.txt file.  The reason I ask: If Google's last crawl was before you uploaded your robots file then that could be the issue.  Please look at these statistics and verify this before we move further.

Is Google webmaster tools giving you the specific name of the files that are being blocked?

I noticed you made the changes that I recommended except for one thing.  You fixed the 404 error on this page http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/localelectrician.html but did not 301 redirect it to the home page which is where your trying to rank for.  I would say unless you trying to rank for "Charlotte electrician" on http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/localelectrician.html it could possibly be fine but you then have a bigger issue. Both your home page http://www.providenceelectricnc.com and http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/localelectrician.html are duplicates.  Bad Idea!  If you redirect the http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/localelectrician.html to home page with a 301 redirect you should be able to garner most of the juice to home page.

Yes, but once again take a look at all the details Prime85 has given.  For example he says: "So the number 1 page that people exited from was the homepage..." If this is the same place they are coming from then it has nothing to do with the buy buttons.  Although I think that you brought and excellent idea in which could eventually increase conversions, I also think it would be unfair to make it the cause of his loss of conversions without knowing the full details why users are even landing on his site.  I would have to look into the analytics to get a more accurate understanding.

No it's not a stupid question.  Keep asking, that's how your going to reach your goals and you're at the right place for it.

Actually this is Google Analytics:

http://www.google.com/analytics/

1. Log in to your analytics account

2. Left column click "Traffic Sources"

3. Next expand "sources"

4. Then expand "search"

5. Last click "organic"

This will give you a list of all the keywords that you have been hit for

Also at the top, your able to change the date range to get a more specific time range

I believe your question is premature about conversions because you really need to look at your analytics data before you can understand what, where and why your traffic is coming from.

Try utilizing YouTube for some beginner tutorials for learning the basics on analytics.

You started this discussion with stating "My traffic has increased heavily, yet I am still not seeing a large increase in orders being placed." I was under the impression that you are utilizing Google Analytics to come up with this data.  How are you coming up with the data that you stated about increased heavily traffic?

Don't jump to fast!  The first question is what keywords are you getting hit for or how are you getting your traffic?  Did you check your analytics? If you can provide details of the keywords or avenues that are bringing users to your site, it will give a better basis for making a determination.  Keywords are the number 1 factor in determining conversions and many people over look that.

For some reason Google was giving more weight to this page for the keyword "Charlotte electrician"

http://www.providenceelectricnc.com/localelectrician.html

Which you’re ranking on 15^th page for

Unfortunately I couldn’t tell you why because you have a 404 error on that page which is a bad thing

If possible quickly 301 redirect it to home page to pass some of its lasting juice

Secondly you seem to be having a canonical error which forces twin domains battling for SERP positions.

Also causing a possibility of a duplicate content issue

I suggest you 301 redirect the non www to the www since you are already ranking on it

This is a great start that should get you rolling in the right direction and a possible change for the better

By the way, nice looking site

I did an additional case study.

I took a longer domain with not just 1 or 2 but 3 hyphens

http://www.high-higher-highest-rankings.com/

I located one of it's high competitive keywords that it ranks for

"increase website ranking"

I'm sure if you type this in the Google search PPC ads will fill both top and right side

Now we check to see where it's ranking for this key phrase

You will notice that it's located number 2 only losing to an article about Google by About.com

So, I guess that statistically we can't necessarily rule out that the length of the domain with hyphens constitutes a ranking factor.  Maybe only on a broader scale with other underlying issues

There is a lot of mixed opinions on both of these and personally I would rather not use a domain that's long.  I rarely see websites ranking within the top 5 for long domains and I'm sure many people own these long-tail phrases and use them as domains.

According to the SEOMOZ's Google's Ranking Factors 2011
Long Titles + URLs are Still Likely Bad for SEO

You should definitely take a look at this as it breaks down some interesting facts.

This is the slide share of it: http://www.slideshare.net/randfish/ranking-factors-data-2011-smx-elite-sydney

Google's Ranking Factors

This is an excellent resource that gives all details in accordance with domains and SEO: http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/domain

90% of your answers were discovered through SEOMOZ's On-page Analysis tool

Correction for Title Optimization:

1. The visible portion of the page title in the search results extends to 66 characters, after which the engines will often truncate with an ellipsis. In order to optimize for the best possible title (and provide the most compelling call to action for searchers) keeping the title tag under 66 characters in length is recommended.

Correction for Meta Description:

2. Since the meta description isn't used for rankings, and the snippet cuts off after 156 characters (in most instances), it's unwise to have a longer meta description tag. Words beyond this count won't be seen by anyone.

Correction for Keywords:

3. Search engines have, for years, ignored the meta keywords tag as a ranking signal. Although it technically does not harm rankings, it can be used by competitors as a method to extract your targeted terms and thus, we recommend against its use.

H1-H6 Tags:

4.

a. H1 tag above the fold is a bonus

b. Use your Main keyword in H1 tag preferably towards the front.

c. H2 tags is used break down the main topic and is effective

d. H3-H6 should be used as sub topics only if it going to be natural otherwise it may come off as spam.

Bold & Italics text:

5. In testing, search engines appeared to have a preference (albeit slight) for pages that employed a targeted keyphrase with one of these elements than those missing it. This may also be valuable to users who can more easily find references to their search query thanks to this highlighting.

Image Alt Attributes:

6. Keyword usage in the alt attribute of an image employed on a page is surprisingly positively correlated with good rankings. It also helps considerably with image search, a popular and oft-employed vertical/universal search system.

Body Text of Competitor:

7. Body Text:  I wouldn't worry about competitors, work on your own strategy

I think it’s only natural to be good minded about something when you already know what the outcome could be at any time.  They obviously broke the Google webmaster guidelines similar to JC Penny except they are the ones who are selling  the links to others.  My personal opinion is that many of these companies that are breaking Google’s rules are in it for the short term.  They already planned ahead by taking advantage of the time until caught.  At the same time, it seems to be a psychological thing; many people think its normal paying for links because it’s become a common thing.

Anytime! yw

I sent you a message!

Hello Ben,

They have over 58,000 backlinks (recorded) and most of them with the anchor text "web design".  I think that should answer your question.

Can you place the following in your browser and replace website with your domain name and www or non www in front.  website.com/robots.txt

Let me know if you see the same stuff you sent me in your last response

From what I know, Godaddy Website Tonight does not offer you the opportunity to create a custom robots.txt.  I believe you have to sign up for there Search Engine Visibility services. Here is some more information: http://support.godaddy.com/help/article/5321

The answer is right underneath your nose!  Learn from the pros, SEOMOZ is also offering a 30 day trial.  Take a look around and I'm sure you would be able to utilize some of the same strategies for your niche.

Yes, I usually take on every project with a different criteria.  Depending how important this project is for you, it's probably better you play it safe.  Let's take SEOMOZ for instance, which has different names for user levels and they sound professional and fun at the same time.  I would tighten it up in this way by balancing between professional and fun.

I totally agree and that' why I clearly stated that it may decrease the conversions :).  I was just suggesting what I would do.  I guess I'm a little bit more of a risk taker

The whole point of a freemium model is  to get lots of free users  to eventually convert into buying members.  Although, I totally like the new names for your plans, it may decrease the conversions due to the fact some people are big babies and may get offended if you call them boring.  Personally, I would go for it because I like to be bold and take the risk.

Adding to All Star's point, bounce-rate has been debated  of  it's relevancy to SERP within Google. That is enough for me to consider it as a ranking factor.  Dr. Pete posted an article on this with some proof that Google is factoring in dwell time as a quality signal. Here is the URL to that article http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-2-user-metrics-that-matter-for-seo

You can find out by utilizing Google page speed online here:

https://developers.google.com/pagespeed/

I found this information for you but you should definitely check that it doesn't break any of Google's guidelines before incorporating it to your website.

This is a simple code to allow bots to bypass the password on password protected pages

$allow_inside = ($is_logged_in) || substr_count($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'],'Googlebot');

http://davidwalsh.name/google-password-protected-areas

The reference post is older, so this code could have been updated

These are 2 completely different pages so you should be fine now.  As for the question "will it hurt if Google indexes both?", not at all.  Actually it's every SEOs dream to get 2 pages from one site indexed on 1st page.  Although, it's best practice to make sure that each page's content and meta tags are unique to each other.  The reason is that sometimes these can also battle for serp position if they are closely alike in terms of content and meta tags.  Just make sure there unique and focused on what that specific page has to offer.  But then once again if your already have a keyword ranking on 1st page for both urls then its probably best to leave them as is and see what the result 301 redirect will accomplish for you.  Allow for it to be re-indexed by Google again.

Here are some simple first step that will at the very least fix any of the underlying issues that were addressed by Google.

1. Contact the past SEO Company directly, explain to them the warnings from Google and see if they will give you that info.  You never know as it never hurts to try.  Many SEO companies would like to keep there reputation even after being dismissed by a client.

2.What If that doesn't work? Contact the site owners per each site and explain to them that you have been hired to address SEO warning by Google caused by a  prior seo company and you would like to resolve it by requesting them to delete the articles. This is actually a win/win because I don't know any website owner that really wants garbage on there site.

3. I don't see why there would not be an opportunity to increase there rankings again.  I would be upfront with them and explain to them that its pretty much like starting from scratch and that past rankings are irreverent.  Send them the release about the JCPENNY incident so they can familiarize themselves with the situation that they have encountered. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380306,00.asp

4. Once you've solved these issues, do what you do best and optimize there off-page SEO, since you said there on-page is pretty good.

You said they want results yesterday.  Don't give in to there pressure by making any false promises.  Just be straight forward.  It's better to lose a client with a piece of mind then make them false promises that will end up haunting you later.

Ha Ha, good one! Thumbs up

Here are the answers to both your questions:

1.The following are free video sitemap generators I found

http://www.video-sitemap.org/

http://www.check-domains.com/sitemap/index.php

2. I think you already know the answer to this one.

Since Google owns YouTube, You would think that the most benefit for SEO would come from there.