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Video content and audio content can be indexed and made SEO friendly  which can improve the search visibility on varied search options of the search engines.

One of the ways is to add the video and audio content using microdata as per the schema.org.

Usually when we add video we embed the code generated via YouTube for that video if it is on YouTube or for that matter any other video broadcasting site like vimeo, Ted, etc.

For example:

<iframe width="”560″" height="”315″" src="”http://www.youtube.com/embed/7xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx?list=UU0LI2nnnSO6lP8ZFj9FIdyA&hl=en_US”" frameborder="”0″" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>

But using the microdata format as per schema.org the same code can be written as :

Video: SEO xxxxxxxxxx

<iframe src="”http://www.youtube.com/embed/xxxxxxxxxxxxk”" frameborder="”0″" width="”640″" height="”390″"></iframe>

Description, keywords and markup here .

More information here: http://schema.org/VideoObject

In this scenario yes, a customized 404 page with a link to a few top level ( useful) links would be better served to both the user and to Google. From a strictly SEO standpoint, 100,000 redirects and or canonical tags would not benefit your SEO.

While not appealing, you should rewrite all the content to be 100% unique, if it is privacy policy, tos, etc, you can no index those to reduce duplication. Otherwise, your options are limited. I realize that the products/ services will be similar in nature, but writing them in a different way to reduce the significantly similar content.

Alternatively, you can do a cross domain canonical tag, this tells Google that this content is duplicated intentionally on the other URL.

Here are a few articles about that:

https://yoast.com/rel-canonical/

http://webmasters.stackexchange.com/questions/56326/canonical-urls-with-multiple-domains

Next, focus on building local links to the individual city pages, to further differentiate the cities and the intent. Also, using the schema.org for 'local business' on each versions of the URL's. And, again I will say this is not an ideal situation and the best case scenario would be to add that content on ONE domain just with different location pages, within a subdirectory format.

There should be no impact, you are following the best practices and guidelines. And I agree, you want to have it in place.

Direct 301's to the same pages on new format. Submit a sitemap with the old URL's, and submit to Google- this will encourage Google to 'see' the 301 redirects. Once those are crawled, be sure to submit a new sitemap, this reinforces the changes.

Agreed.

Google announced earlier this year,  that they are supporting markup for social media.  This will help show social profile information in the Knowledge panes in some searches as well as ensure the social profiles are shown in SERPs.

The link below has instructions for formatting and publishing the proper markup code:  https://developers.google.com/webmasters/structured-data/customize/social-profiles

After a quick review of the code snippets, it should be fairly simple to implement. Here is a snippet example: 
http://schema.org/Organization">
  http://www.your-company-site.com"> 
  [http://www.facebook.com/your-company](<a href=)">FB
  [http://www.twitter.com/YourCompany](<a href=)">Twitter

You can specify these types of social profiles with the markup but Google may not show other social profiles at this time (yet):
• Facebook
• Twitter
• G+
• Instagram
• Youtube
• LinkedIn

You can use this markup to override the information Google finds automatically, but you can't specify not to list a social profile.

To verify that your markup is well-formed and can be processed by Google, paste the HTML source of your marked-up page (or just the

Link reclamation for the client as well as the top competing websites. This can be a lucrative way to build up natural link profile, and obtain "new" links on older domains. I usually run Cognitive SEO with top three competitors, view links that are shared  and which are lost vs. live. This is an easy way to reach out to previously interested parties as well as build updated relationships.

I can see what your SEO person is saying, in creating a themed silo site structure. However, you can do this with virtual structural changes vs. UI changes. Also, if you are battling to get back on top less changes to what Google has already spidered the better. And I agree with Claudio as well, don't make it harder for Google to do their job.

Review your content to review cross linking abnormalities as well as missed opportunities in 'theming' your site structure and content.

Answer the question: Does this link from page a <-> page b useful to the reader / shopper and subsequently, the search engine.

Commonly on large ecommerce websites duplication between categories and sub categories is an issue. The views of search results can also be a factor IE: grid, list, etc-

Association the sub categories with the main top level categories by using the canonical tag. It is also a possibility to block the /search/ results by using the robots.txt- search results aren't the most beneficial to the user and this is a ranking factor.

The canonical tags are exceptionally effective for ecommerce structures.

No automated software for linking is beneficial for your search engine rankings, and it's a good way to do more damage than good.

Create great, unique - query friendly copy and attract incoming / viral links from that. There is no shortcut to SEO.

Hello Kate,

Thank you for your response. No previous site, new domain ( and only purchased for a year), we dropped off the radar for key terms:

Sugar Land Dentist

Dentist in Sugar Land

Dental Veneers Sugar Land

Cosmetic dentist Sugar Land

It's so confusing, but as Ron stated maybe the local citations weren't done properly, and I should be checking with the staff on that regard.

Hi,

I always tell the clients, "play with Google's toys" she likes that! It's beneficial as time goes on and these become more and more valuable. I don't believe that less is more applies with Schema, it's growing and becoming more and more valuable to ease the index-ability, build relevance and to stand out above your competition.

So, yes add breadcrumb schema, would be my opinion.

I wouldn't argue at all, I would agree. It is an old school SEO tidbit that you should not use relative URL's when building a site structure with the silo level landing pages. While the over all theme of the page is beneficial for general terms, you are losing valuable page rank/ link juice and the capability of ranking for long tail keywords. While the over all structure of the site as a whole needs work, and entire overhaul and recommendations for a virtual cross linking to the top level landing pages and specific content relevant to those terms.

Hello,

You could create categories based on manufacturer even if same product IE:

www.domain.com/manufacturer/ product/

And as the poster above, focus on including the manufacturer in on page optimizations to differentiate between the two. Now, in all honesty if you are a reseller of a popular product, you want to do a search online for duplication of the manufactures descriptions to avoid duplicated content across the Internet- which can be a negative as well.

A URL would be beneficial to answer this question. That being said, ensure that you are using the phrase in all your on page optimization efforts.

IE: Title, Description, Schema, breadcumbs, navigation, content, h1 & Alt tags. These are both relevant and more than likely you are ranking due to the auto answer by Google's infamous "Did you mean" or the auto complete. Next, would be are other pages on your site more relevant for the shorter term? Is the traffic value really that significant that you would prefer two over three? Do you have anchor text throughout the rest of the site utilizing the two word phrase? Links from third party sites with that term? Have you been penalized for keyword stuffing for that term? There are many variables, without an audit- it's difficult to say.

I love wild guesses, let's go:

1. Site speed

2. Usibility ( to the end user)

3. Crawlibility - is your code making it difficult for Google to crawl and index properly?

4. Do they have every single on page factor on their pages? Review their code, find what they are doing that you are not

5. Did they use Blackhat to obtain the domain? Could it have already been a high ranking domain

6. Are you blocking anything important in your robots.txt file

7. is your sitemap referenced in the robots.txt, is it accurate?

8. Do you have deep links to an app? Is your site responsive, is it mobile friendly.

Basically, you have to find what they are doing that you are not- and what they aren't doing ( there is always something).

Many factors could contribute to this:

1. Did the content change?

2. The on page optimization ( meta data etc,) change?

3. Were these previously orphaned?

4. Did these internal links add schematic and logical value to the theme of the website?

Did you use fetch as Google once these links were updated and /or were canonical URL's changed by this structure? More than likely this is just a boost because Google followed the new links, yet found the same page. The 'new' information needs to be reevaluated and ranked by Google. I'd give it 7-9 days and if no further movement, look to significantly improve the schematic structure of the website. Next, update the sitemap and resubmit the canonicalized URL's to Google through Google Search Console.

A large grain of salt! Google is notorious for saying these things and then ...well, backing down a bit.

Nice! Thank you David for the share.

Hello,

With anything SEO there is the chance of appearing spammy. Keeping in mind the user, does this link with anchor text makes sense to the user? Does it accurately describe what the user will find on the linked page?

Be aware that you should always design your website with the user in mind.

Yes, we are doing everything correctly, aside from waiting for IT department to create a sitemap.

Silly question about Local ranking monitors.

If I have a local client in Pheonix, AZ and I want to track rankings for keywords. Is it best to monitor city+keyword or just keyword?

I have ran tests with multiple clients and locations, and cannot ascertain the difference- as far as rankings go. I appreciate all input.

Hi Mike,

It's infuriating! I've had competitors tell me - "Well, we just build blogs and link all the sites together" we do great for our customer(s). Sadly, they do for the right now, it's hard to explain to prospective and current clients who see that  but all we can say is, give Google time.

Focus on great content, following the rules, code compliance and optimization- the good guys eventually win!

Just takes time.

In general you'd like to keep a redirect chain at a minimum, three redirects in a chain would be the limit I'd set.