tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77529631636293063942024-03-08T13:05:02.091-07:00Make a Splash Online - For SEO BeginnersAn introduction to SEO for beginners that shares how to safely promote your site and increase its ranking in search engines. It is intended mostly for beginners new to SEO and internet marketing but also addresses and discusses more advanced ideas or controversies in SEO at times.Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-79151114528887290342023-12-20T15:49:00.003-07:002023-12-20T16:12:54.083-07:00Great and Entertaining youtube Video Channels that Will Help You Learn SEO<span style="font-size: large;">Wes McDowell</span><br />
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I really love the Wes McDowell youtube channel for learning SEO. Watch it as much as possible. He'll help you make a website that will help bring you more business, and in a simple, understandable way.<br />
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Here's one video I found very helpful:<br /><br />
<a href="https://youtu.be/xkyAwGcuy2s?si=luiXnIWkgCSuS6bY">Wes McDowell's SEO Tutorial for Beginners</a>
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And from his channel you can find all the rest.<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMq1R1LgS04lIKdpLh_OS1w">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMq1R1LgS04lIKdpLh_OS1w</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unknown Secrets of Internet Marketing</span><br />
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This guys are both entertaining and very informative. You will learn a lot and laugh while you're learning.</span><br />
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<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YGanmBxHcGU" width="560"></iframe><br />
<br /><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's a newer video from them.</span><br />
<br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-YjRiDRKJ4?si=ojykTsbGgOpTq6RE" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> And visit their channel too:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ0kUUqs9OX6flAQlXcGUCg">https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ0kUUqs9OX6flAQlXcGUCg</a><br />
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Or if you'd like to learn more SEO and get help designing a website or getting it to rank come to <a href="https://www.ducktoes.com/calgary-seo.php">Ducktoes SEO site</a>.</span>Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com157tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-82283131990471622192016-12-26T11:06:00.003-07:002017-01-12T08:47:24.964-07:00The Ridiculously Amazing Case Study about What Basic SEO Can Do, Part Two<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwsAC_JvgPKvunJWndDvidbmnkE20CfY4L-tLU_AhZjxlSOpSKJTtp1y4Th4YdRXxt-avDWFQ1NkHtB86vd-PAd2iDLC01cgZYUCeSSlhTLpth5FFx4c_SN5eqBQ4CnwgbsXJoH-CFXaQ/s1600/basicseotitle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="136" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIwsAC_JvgPKvunJWndDvidbmnkE20CfY4L-tLU_AhZjxlSOpSKJTtp1y4Th4YdRXxt-avDWFQ1NkHtB86vd-PAd2iDLC01cgZYUCeSSlhTLpth5FFx4c_SN5eqBQ4CnwgbsXJoH-CFXaQ/s640/basicseotitle.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">This post is by Cathie Dunklee-Donnell, Advanced SEO Analyst and owner of <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/calgary-seo.php">Ducktoes Computer Services Inc</a>. Ms. Dunklee-Donnell is certified In Advanced SEO by Bruce Clay and Yoast SEO. Also trained at Pubcon Master Training several years in a row.</i><br />
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">In <i style="font-weight: bold;"><a href="http://www.makeasplashonline.com/2016/09/case-study-what-can-basic-seo-do-for_9.html">The Ridiculously Amazing Case Study about What Basic SEO Can Do, Part 1</a></i>, I showed how a site went up in ranking after I did the minimum amount of essential SEO work on it. I began the case study because I wanted to test for myself how effective a small amount SEO could be on a non-ranking site.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">The minimum included both onsite and offsite SEO. The site I chose was a four-year-old site, Salon-g.ca, a hair salon in Calgary. I tracked the keyword with the most search queries, the best money keyword: hair salons Calgary.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><b>What I did:</b></span></span></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>For the onsite SEO</b>, I created the title and meta description tags, and also added text, keywords, synonyms, and internal links. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>For offsite SEO</b>, I created eight links, high ranking ones, between 83 and 30 in Majestic Trust Flow. (Since the demise of Google page rank, at Ducktoes we use <a href="https://majestic.com/">Majestic's trust flow</a> as a ranking signal and SEO quality indicator.)</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">The above SEO work resulted in the site going from not ranking at all to ranking on the fourth page, position 35, in only three weeks. Read more about that <a href="http://www.makeasplashonline.com/2016/09/case-study-what-can-basic-seo-do-for_9.html" style="background-color: white;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">.</span></span></li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbHl3Z1D7izy9SsDvNYB999hgUHYDNb3KPqfQIh5JRho5Inb2jd7ONfWqEeH35qeWTMBDabCIcndYY6yjEsX9_Ounq5XcWsLyR1DK1amjOESXfpsbFAl-pcImpZU2vThZXHXsGrMXUetU/s1600/month-3-SEO.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIbHl3Z1D7izy9SsDvNYB999hgUHYDNb3KPqfQIh5JRho5Inb2jd7ONfWqEeH35qeWTMBDabCIcndYY6yjEsX9_Ounq5XcWsLyR1DK1amjOESXfpsbFAl-pcImpZU2vThZXHXsGrMXUetU/s400/month-3-SEO.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><b>Month 3</b></span></span></h3>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">So now it's been three months since I've done any SEO on the Salon G site, and the site has continued to go up in ranking, but only slightly, and not enough to be where a site needs to be to get any traffic: <b>on the first page</b>. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">It is now on page three, position 28, for its money keyword "<a href="http://salon-g.ca/">hair salons Calgary</a>." </span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span></span></span>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">In the last month, the site went from position 35 to 51 then back up to 28. I'll discuss this volatility later.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Adding Five Citations</b></span></h3>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">So now I'll add five citations to the backlink portfolio for Salon-G and see where the ranking goes from here. Citations are typically done for local search rankings, but they also help organic rankings. </span><br />
<b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span></span></span>
</b><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>The five citations are:</b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
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<li>Foursquare</li>
<li>About.me</li>
<li>Canada411</li>
<li>CTI Directory</li>
<li>Wand</li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">For our regular cl</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">ients, we create many more citations than this, but for this case study I wanted to see what a minimum basic amount of SEO can do.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><b>Tweaking the Title</b></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I also tweaked the title to include the money keyword "hair salons Calgary."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Google Plus Page</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">I'm also trying to sort out Salon-G's Google plus/Google My Business pages. Salon G had several, for some reason. Every site needs to have a Google Plus/Google My Business Page. (They work together and give you a map listing in local search results.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">However, while a Google Plus page is absolutely necessary for this or any site, duplicate Google plus pages are problematic. Working with a Google support tech, I deleted the extra Google plus pages and am verifying the remaining one. We're waiting for the Google postcard to come in the mail with the verification pin.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">For local search, if you didn't know, the optimal place is to be is the top three listings for your money keywords.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;">Wait and See</span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;">Now I'll wait and see what happens to Salon G's ranking for its money keyword "hair salons Calgary". Stay tuned.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppG9xw8TdubWx6mLbV0AqSh59012WB9EN8Td7C5LyD4UstXR-V2d8LdnibjiSkysMPjHyH3glaT26nD14qKs3Zg0pMJJXwm_DKugELBdT4ojb46q4yVTU3gKcg-6gp_TZuozAMVSfADnm/s1600/Copy+of+month+3+SEO+%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppG9xw8TdubWx6mLbV0AqSh59012WB9EN8Td7C5LyD4UstXR-V2d8LdnibjiSkysMPjHyH3glaT26nD14qKs3Zg0pMJJXwm_DKugELBdT4ojb46q4yVTU3gKcg-6gp_TZuozAMVSfADnm/s400/Copy+of+month+3+SEO+%25281%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Month 3, Week 1</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-weight: normal;">I must admit, I'm surprised, if not flabbergasted. I didn't expect Salon-G's rise to the first page for their money keyword this soon. The rankings have been up and down quite radically in the last two weeks, but now in the last two days, Salon-G has been consistently on the first page for "hair salons Calgary"! They're on the bottom of the first page in 10th place, but on the first page nevertheless.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-weight: normal;"><br /></span>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">High Volatility for "Hair Salons Calgary"</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-weight: normal;">The ranking for "hair salons Calgary" has been quite volatile, going from 31 to 28 to 49 to 16 to 51 to 10. The rankings for other major keywords are not changing rapidly like this. See below graph from ProRank.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV98LhZUs_c-RuzLDL7igTNC8RUl0xeVq-0witxGdg259yvE7ao5k53kFoSFPiY-n3epwPCOGOyNWxJUbYp9nJK1u9aYdeQaQMCAF-cof6IRZldhPLGtv-9vKdCmPpknuuaPQUU6x0gVfy/s1600/salon-g-daily-ranking.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV98LhZUs_c-RuzLDL7igTNC8RUl0xeVq-0witxGdg259yvE7ao5k53kFoSFPiY-n3epwPCOGOyNWxJUbYp9nJK1u9aYdeQaQMCAF-cof6IRZldhPLGtv-9vKdCmPpknuuaPQUU6x0gVfy/s640/salon-g-daily-ranking.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">There must be something particular about this keyword that is causing it to go up and down with Google's algorithmic changes. The only way I've treated this keyword any differently is that I used it for the exact match anchor text for internal links to the home page. If the ranking goes dramatically down again, I'll change up the anchor text.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span></span></span>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;">Wait and See (Again)</span></span></h3>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;"><span style="font-size: 13.2px;"></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px;">Now I'm waiting and seeing again. Stay tuned.</span></span></div>
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Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-34768639532485405902016-10-18T09:42:00.007-07:002016-10-18T19:11:04.446-07:00Links Still Most Powerful Ranking Factor<i>This post is by Cathie Dunklee-Donnell, Advanced SEO Analyst and owner of <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/calgary-seo.php">Ducktoes Computer Services Inc</a>. Ms. Dunklee-Donnell is certified In Advanced SEO by Bruce Clay and Yoast SEO. Also trained at Pubcon Masters Training several years in a row.</i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUw-TIkTPTvuXyRwykYqN7rtpgLwwqvf5k2s36Q-WOBtsCkQp8AZz0rmvD-w59Di3mpuIIiyQ4h7kJzlI_NjvxVQirZYYgvAmRfLy51HUPxupOSub9l_Bbxdej4D9wqrtPmtkQ5gxXSMy/s1600/linksraiserankingcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBUw-TIkTPTvuXyRwykYqN7rtpgLwwqvf5k2s36Q-WOBtsCkQp8AZz0rmvD-w59Di3mpuIIiyQ4h7kJzlI_NjvxVQirZYYgvAmRfLy51HUPxupOSub9l_Bbxdej4D9wqrtPmtkQ5gxXSMy/s400/linksraiserankingcropped.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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To me, as owner of a small online marketing agency in Calgary, Alberta, doing successful SEO for several years, links have always seemed like an effective way to raise ranking. Yet,even though I believed links to be powerful, I wanted definite proof, and have been following research on links as a ranking factor from several sources.<br />
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Lately, I found this <a href="https://www.stonetemple.com/links-remain-a-very-powerful-ranking-factor-study/">study from Stone Temple</a> by its founder Eric Enge. (I also just attended a Masters' Training on SEO Traffic Optimization at Pubcon in Vegas and Eric was one of the speakers. He is an incredible trainer with tons of knowledge and expertise on internet marketing. If you get a chance, go to conference like Pubcon, when he is a speaker. If you can't, at least read <a href="https://www.stonetemple.com/blog/">his blog</a>.)<br />
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Since then Eric sent me some slides about the research. Here they are:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="485" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="//www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/HEiauHzEKx8grg" style="border-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 5px;" width="595"></iframe><br />
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<strong> <a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ericenge/links-as-seo-ranking-factor-still-very-powerful" target="_blank" title="Links As SEO Ranking Factor: Still Very Powerful!">Links As SEO Ranking Factor: Still Very Powerful!</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="https://www.slideshare.net/ericenge" target="_blank">Eric Enge</a></strong> <br />
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The study shows conclusively that links are still a powerful ranking factor. It is important to note, however, that quality links don't compensate for poor quality content or website. The research proves that if your site has good content, it will rank higher with good links. Without good content, the links will be much less effective.<br />
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If you would like more information on our link building or SEO services please call Ducktoes SEO at 403-219-3031 or go to our <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/calgary-seo.php">website's Calgary SEO page</a>.</div>
Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-44174999201790859882016-09-19T13:37:00.004-07:002021-02-02T19:20:25.650-07:00The Ridiculously Amazing Case Study about What Basic SEO Can Do<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKnJlfvY-NJ0e5xUjqS7rLebCk9kOpXnn3VaH4PbwQ4XNYfALaiVtHG7BcEvPDTSZ9FIWXM4lkjSNf4ld2eQnzD_jdMsxo2Q-8Pj_1v27bubAYKXdem79aHMc16_Z-Z4AMSTUB4gQ5frF/s1600/title+%25282%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKnJlfvY-NJ0e5xUjqS7rLebCk9kOpXnn3VaH4PbwQ4XNYfALaiVtHG7BcEvPDTSZ9FIWXM4lkjSNf4ld2eQnzD_jdMsxo2Q-8Pj_1v27bubAYKXdem79aHMc16_Z-Z4AMSTUB4gQ5frF/s400/title+%25282%2529.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;"><i>This post is by Cathie Dunklee-Donnell, Advanced SEO Analyst and owner of <a href="https://www.ducktoes.com/calgary-seo.php">Ducktoes Computer Services Inc</a>. Ms. Dunklee-Donnell is certified In Advanced SEO by Bruce Clay and Yoast SEO. Also trained at Pubcon Master Training several years in a row.</i></span></div>
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I'm doing a case study to show how basic SEO can help a website's ranking in search. Since it can be difficult to tell what particular elements of optimization are causing changes in ranking, I picked a domain that had no prior optimization and did not rank at all for any query except for its own name. Then I did some onsite optimization, internal links, and a few high ranking links. I used only white hat techniques, meaning techniques that follow Google Webmaster Tools guidelines. Now I'll see if and how the ranking changes and how quickly.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWf7p-Wcsomg8cVcEDUkK4O-MnP1wgG6hirKMs9d1cpGg7EsgtrI5XC2zOeV8rKx9WmNNGYDLHFiZZzBuqs0o3PuDi6lp-IIvHLzMwIOlntDfcJSOlM3VX4c1Z4bQhCbeIIpo5HIF_kJC/s1600/basicseocasestudytrans+%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSWf7p-Wcsomg8cVcEDUkK4O-MnP1wgG6hirKMs9d1cpGg7EsgtrI5XC2zOeV8rKx9WmNNGYDLHFiZZzBuqs0o3PuDi6lp-IIvHLzMwIOlntDfcJSOlM3VX4c1Z4bQhCbeIIpo5HIF_kJC/s640/basicseocasestudytrans+%25281%2529.png" width="426" /></a></div>
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Site to be Optimized: The Salon G Website</h3>
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Salon-g.ca is the site I'm optimizing. It was designed without a title and little text to create an artsy minimalistic style, a choice made by the web designer and the owner of the site. The owner also didn't want SEO at that time. As a result, the site never ranked for its keywords.<br />
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As part of the onsite optimization, I added a title and some text to the home page which is why you can see one below. Before then, the site had no title and very little text.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtUqPvXQ5REEdHmpRHj7DNJbrWdtlI9VmN2L-zSw_GlkwPFWNY63wXvHWvrkSMtWrWRelIr-ww3gAh6y-FkqYvoQpZCMN31maBOwBnELk8W9y7ncgkSzk91I9sO6knnFhjiilCiZ0OFEaq/s1600/salon-g1.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtUqPvXQ5REEdHmpRHj7DNJbrWdtlI9VmN2L-zSw_GlkwPFWNY63wXvHWvrkSMtWrWRelIr-ww3gAh6y-FkqYvoQpZCMN31maBOwBnELk8W9y7ncgkSzk91I9sO6knnFhjiilCiZ0OFEaq/s320/salon-g1.JPG" width="296" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The front page has a title and text now.</td></tr>
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The site is one of many inner city <a href="http://salon-g.ca/">hair salons Calgary: Salon-G.ca</a>. The site and domain are four years old.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjdqhTn0iJXfiOxvSOCRDOSVFYYrebS2_4XNzy_8rmgs4XCrBviaXXYdmw82gOqULMdiqSj8gT4rQMQ4HFj3WGxZOB7klwtvucQhdaVrLuBa6_n1AolO9LGkddOpcqv35ShcKbreqPxJj/s1600/Copy+of+day-one-seo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLjdqhTn0iJXfiOxvSOCRDOSVFYYrebS2_4XNzy_8rmgs4XCrBviaXXYdmw82gOqULMdiqSj8gT4rQMQ4HFj3WGxZOB7klwtvucQhdaVrLuBa6_n1AolO9LGkddOpcqv35ShcKbreqPxJj/s320/Copy+of+day-one-seo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Day One</h3>
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<li><b>Keyword research:</b> I did keyword research with Google Adword's Keyword Planner and found that "hair salons Calgary" is the best money keyword with 1300 searches a month and low competition.</li>
<li><b>Yoast and metas</b>: After installing, Yoast SEO plugin, I added the money keyword to the title, meta-description, and body text. But the money keyword <b>Hair Salons Calgary</b> seemed awkward and user-unfriendly within the title, so I reversed the order of the words to <b>Calgary Hair Salon</b>. Awkward or not, I added "hair salon Calgary" to the body text anyway.</li>
<li><b>Added body text:</b> Speaking of body text, the site had almost none on the home page, not even a title, so that is one reason the site isn't ranking after four years. I wrote a bit of text but not the 300 words that is recommended for ranking. I also added some synonyms and closely related terms such as hair cutter, hair stylist, and the singular version of another money keyword "Calgary hair salon."<br /> </li>
<li><b>Added title</b>: I also added a title using one of the site's keywords. The lack of a title has serious SEO repercussions which can easily be avoided by adding one. Some SEO experts say the title is the single most important element in a site's SEO. Websites should always have a unique title for every page. </li>
<li><b>Internal links:</b> Since internal links are important for onsite SEO, I created some on all the other pages with the exact match anchor text: "hair salons Calgary" linking to the front page.</li>
<li><b>End of day: </b>I checked the rankings of these keywords: Hair salons Calgary, Hair salon Calgary, Calgary hair salons, Calgary hair salon, Calgary hair stylist. The site is not ranking at all within the top 100 results for any of these keywords.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxikIUn2C17mpbF975CjPpi-t8ap5CcHina81QwXzSA_V4iyrho6T8xLdiPyBIS1BI8MS1-kmtiQDKpXeU4hTMRXzRS3y1IxznT3kHtwN4rIm3K55IDsN8jJozFS8XuiFvJavA9WQ4yUq/s1600/day-two-seo+%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDxikIUn2C17mpbF975CjPpi-t8ap5CcHina81QwXzSA_V4iyrho6T8xLdiPyBIS1BI8MS1-kmtiQDKpXeU4hTMRXzRS3y1IxznT3kHtwN4rIm3K55IDsN8jJozFS8XuiFvJavA9WQ4yUq/s320/day-two-seo+%25281%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Day Two</h3>
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At the beginning of Day Two, Salon-g.ca is not yet ranking for any keyword, including its best money keyword, "hair salons Calgary."</div>
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<li><b>Google Search Console:</b> I added the site to Google Search Console and configured it as per below. A more detailed process is outlined in this post about <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2015/10/google-search-console-very-first-baby.html">how to set up Google Search Console</a>. Here is an <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/infographic-Google-Search-Console.php">infographic</a> of the same information.</li>
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<li>Created a gmail.</li>
<li>Added properties to Google Search Console.</li>
<li>Verified through Yoast SEO plugin.</li>
<li>Set preferred domain.</li>
<li>Picked international preference.</li>
<li>Added sitemap.</li>
<li>Created .htacess</li>
<li>Created robots.txt file.</li>
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<li><b>NAP and site description</b>. I wrote out the NAP, keywords, and site description for use in citations and link building.</li>
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<li><b>Built links</b>. I gave the site some high ranking links with these Majestic trust flows:<br /><br />
Link one: 68<br />
Link two: 46<br />
Link three: 83<br />
Link four: 71<br />
Link five: 42<br />
Link six: 47 <br />Link seven: 84</li>
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As far as previous backlinks Salon-g.ca already possesses, Majestic found 3 and gives the site a trust flow of zero. Ahrefs found 30 links and gives the site a domain ranking of 13 and a url ranking of 4. Google Search Console, so newly set up, didn't find any backlinks.<br />
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<b>Amazingly, at the end of day two, the site is already ranking for one keyword.</b> It is the 84th listing for "Calgary hair stylist." But still not ranking for the best money keyword, <b>hair salons Calgary</b>.<br />
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Position on Google search:</b><br />
Calgary hair stylist: 84<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kGY1h9i1jtcbOhVJfYG8EyxPfisI7f-_V04H2I6ND9pUOIOMB5zRQsQYZt4tc7Y5F0jsomKfQDVnX61osBjre1XHGdxHzd04917lbDnc3y63yt_iVCuvOmrPo-yIAS8sk6w5lGu7kvyQ/s1600/day-three-seo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6kGY1h9i1jtcbOhVJfYG8EyxPfisI7f-_V04H2I6ND9pUOIOMB5zRQsQYZt4tc7Y5F0jsomKfQDVnX61osBjre1XHGdxHzd04917lbDnc3y63yt_iVCuvOmrPo-yIAS8sk6w5lGu7kvyQ/s320/day-three-seo.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Day Three</h3>
I stopped doing <a href="https://www.ducktoes.com/calgary-seo.php" target="_blank">SEO</a> on this day, but the site is now ranking for several keywords, including the best money "hair salons Calgary." It's in rank 63, on the 7th page of Google, in only three days!<br />
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<b>Position on Google Search:</b><br />
Calgary hair stylist: 76<br />
Calgary hair salon: 83<br />
Calgary hair salons: 70<br />
hair salons Calgary: 63<br />
hair salon Calgary: 90<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9b3Bl7RwHM8n-rOrjER9sGePqqI-Zm4SZnkqGvLQ15-C4OjLKW9KHVunGPBLMe2Z8qgBBJrhI60-DkbAwCZM2DM_beXpaqmJjft5AAkRPtwmGFuxkzj_-0ADszpddFF3GKrN_wwRYren/s1600/week-one-seo+%25281%2529.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9b3Bl7RwHM8n-rOrjER9sGePqqI-Zm4SZnkqGvLQ15-C4OjLKW9KHVunGPBLMe2Z8qgBBJrhI60-DkbAwCZM2DM_beXpaqmJjft5AAkRPtwmGFuxkzj_-0ADszpddFF3GKrN_wwRYren/s320/week-one-seo+%25281%2529.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Week One</h3>
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At the end of the first week, the rankings continue to go up.</div>
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<b>Position on Google Search:</b></div>
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Calgary hair stylist: 62<br />
Calgary hair salon: 77<br />
Calgary hair salons: 60<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;">hair salons Calgary: 49</span><br />
hair salon Calgary: 90</div>
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If you look at the money keyword "<span style="background-color: yellow;">hair salons Calgary</span>", you'll see it went from not ranking at all when I began optimizing, to ranking on the fifth page <i><b>within the first week.</b></i> This shows that while basic SEO does not place a previously non-ranking site on the first page within a week, it can propel a site up 51 positions within the first 100 results in the same amount of time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiOJY8v1_rH5i6la4NoEi-9j3Y1E6wJvpZxhyphenhyphenrRktPDOzZstUA4ag8ZQN4HQ5OT2frorQa58_tpBg5WUkHUnds7vRzwR5BA6g3xQ31-DHhmEf-FGcGhAh8btAc71y3jg2MMZib53BdQEj/s1600/week-two-seo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCiOJY8v1_rH5i6la4NoEi-9j3Y1E6wJvpZxhyphenhyphenrRktPDOzZstUA4ag8ZQN4HQ5OT2frorQa58_tpBg5WUkHUnds7vRzwR5BA6g3xQ31-DHhmEf-FGcGhAh8btAc71y3jg2MMZib53BdQEj/s1600/week-two-seo.png" /></a></div>
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Week Two</h3>
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At the end of Week Two, Salon-g.ca is ranking on the fourth page of Google results, better than I would have estimated at the beginning of this case study. With only basic SEO done onsite and a few high-ranking links, it went from Nth (not ranking) to 34 in two weeks.<br />
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And this is significant because the site didn't rank at all for four years before I optimized it a bit. The only change to the site was the optimization I did and the seven backlinks I gave it.<br />
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<b>Position on Google Search:</b></div>
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Calgary hair stylist: 54<br />
Calgary hair salon: 69<br />
Calgary hair salons: 45<br />
<span style="background-color: yellow;">hair salons Calgary: 34</span><br />
hair salon Calgary: 66<br />
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A month after creating links for Salon-g.ca, it's interesting to note that <a href="http://majestic.com/">Majestic</a> has only found two of the eight links I made and <a href="http://ahrefs.com/">ahrefs</a> only three. Google Search Console has only found three as well.</div>
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If only a small bit of SEO is so effective, think of what a full SEO campaign could do for this or any site. Of course not every site or campaign will go up as fast as this one has. Nor is this site on the first page of search results which is the only spot on Google which is effective for increased business and revenue.<br />
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Yet the power of SEO is clearly demonstrated by this case study. SEO should not be underestimated or dismissed as a potential way to increase traffic and revenue to a business. If you'd like more information about SEO for your website please see our <a href="https://www.ducktoes.com/calgary-seo.php">SEO (Calgary)</a> site.<br />
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<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-52743939087913178332016-08-07T12:20:00.001-07:002016-08-10T18:00:22.506-07:00Why Being Mobile Friendly is so Important<b>Great Video on Being Mobile Friendly</b><br />
I found this great and funny video on mobile responsiveness by Eric Enge and Mark Traphagan of Stone Temple.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zhe1-DkuyWE" width="560"></iframe><br />
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As Eric and Mark point out in such a fun and informative way, being mobile friendly is an important part of SEO and will effect your ranking, especially on mobile devices. Google wants mobile friendly sites. <b>And what Google wants, Google gets</b>, or should get, if you want to rank higher, that is. That's important, even essential for SEO, but is not the <i><b>quint</b></i>essential, absolutely tiptop, epic, most important, mother of all reasons to be mobile friendly.<br />
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<b>The Quintessential, Tiptop, Epic, Most Important, Mother of all Reasons</b><br />
So what <i>is</i> this mother of all reasons? <b style="font-style: italic;">To be kind to visitors, of course. </b>Didn't your mother teach you that?<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>When you make your site mobile friendly, you are also making it visitor friendly. Visitors come to your site because they need your services or are interested in your content. Many will come on their smart phones or tablets. They want to do business with you. <br /><br /><b>Not a Good Welcome Mat</b><br />If you make it difficult for these potential business clients to see or use your site, they will become extremely frustrated. And they are only trying to find your address, for instance, or to read some compelling content (you do have compelling content, don't you?) and are struggling to touch the links or scrolling sideways to read. Your site's mobile unfriendliness is putting huge obstacles in their way. Not a good welcome mat.. And also a good way to get a higher than average bounce rate.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5UXVHPkffFXzPj72BBCWffQLdU0OjOigmhlv244PxZzXA1AIQW9AN2HnYY_rIeH5akbAT-07i8Ff18iHJXPvbYGvixNV_hpZmLkwM_6qWwOKYrAl4e0py9eLWrdmSq0I6YSeW9Y9I-67C/s1600/welcomemat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5UXVHPkffFXzPj72BBCWffQLdU0OjOigmhlv244PxZzXA1AIQW9AN2HnYY_rIeH5akbAT-07i8Ff18iHJXPvbYGvixNV_hpZmLkwM_6qWwOKYrAl4e0py9eLWrdmSq0I6YSeW9Y9I-67C/s400/welcomemat.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Your Raison d'Être</b><br />Never forget that visitors are who you made your site for, and you should make things easy for them. Visitors are clients and are the whole and sole purpose of making a website in the first place. They are your raison d'être.<br />
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Being kind to visitors, and making them happy with a great site and content, is also what Google wants, and is excellent for SEO and ranking, by the way. </div>
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<b>How to do it?</b> <br />
Here`s a short guide on <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/blog/web-design/make-your-site-mobile-responsive/">how to make your site mobile responsive</a> by Joshua Van Oosten, web developer at Ducktoes Computer Services. Also here is <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/blog/web-design/mobile-responsive/ducktoes-is-responsive-now/">another post</a> about how Ducktoes's site is mobile friendly now.<br />
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<b>Need More Help?</b><br />
<b><a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/">Ducktoes Web Design of Calgary</a> </b>can make your site mobile friendly if you don't have the time to do it yourself. We do it all the time.<br />
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<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-48358807398889937592016-08-05T12:20:00.001-07:002016-08-05T12:26:40.187-07:00SEO for Beginners Subreddit!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FYabK___uiFZL_NuRtW6aNwcV6iiqPdsPrXLIg8tgY7GRfPwoh_QkXdPUS14hVv5e2c64cyt33_g0U7UEmvd9OOWrm5YdaviUmWRNKEzBp2g9TZCcsXeeeg8wI3mMyJawgi-2QTU4KEX/s1600/seo-subreddit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-FYabK___uiFZL_NuRtW6aNwcV6iiqPdsPrXLIg8tgY7GRfPwoh_QkXdPUS14hVv5e2c64cyt33_g0U7UEmvd9OOWrm5YdaviUmWRNKEzBp2g9TZCcsXeeeg8wI3mMyJawgi-2QTU4KEX/s320/seo-subreddit.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Hey, we've started an <a href="http://reddit.com/r/SeoforBeginners">SEO for Beginners subreddit </a>on reddit.com. Check it out! You can ask for help on SEO for your site or help others. Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com140tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-41140855707851288782016-04-12T08:12:00.003-07:002016-05-18T11:21:47.273-07:00Ghost Referral Spam is Gone?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I first heard the news on <a href="http://www2.webmasterradio.fm/seo-101/">the podcast SEO 101</a> with hosts <span style="font-family: inherit;">Ross Dunn and John Carcutt:</span> <b>Google analytics spam was gone.</b> Wonderful news! Yay, yay, yay, yay. (That's me dancing around the room and high fiving myself.) No longer would we have to filter the spam out of Google Analytics results to get truer data. Google had gotten rid of it. </div>
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But could this really be true? When I googled this news, I couldn't find anything about it anywhere. Nothing. Nada. Zippo. Zilch.<br />
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I searched again. Then I found <a href="http://www.localsearchforum.com/local-search/40350-google-referral-spam-decreasing.html">Conor Treacy's mention</a> on Local Search forum. He offered this link to <a href="http://www.thesempost.com/google-analytics-referral-spam-removed/">an article on SEM</a>. <a href="https://www.bigredseo.com/google-analytics-traffic-drop-feb-2016-dont-panic-yet/">Conor has also written his own article</a> on the disappearance. Right on, Conor, SEM, and SEO 101 Ross and John! Weird, such a big thing and only a few people talking about it and certainly not Google.<br />
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If it is gone, then why is no one talking about it? Maybe no one is paying attention. Because if you did pay attention, you would have seen a drop in traffic in your Google Analytics data and reports starting in February or March. It's not traffic you'd ever miss, because with its loss you should have a lower bounce rate and a longer average session duration, a good, indeed excellent, thing.<br />
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Here is the content within the referral tab results of a site <i>before</i> Google started getting rid of the ghost referral spam. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxtDAcpkySolsiOExzRFbgzWmTvsK7cWegk9OmCP468XMhWKJyMHOu8UzRh4udkMMindgfykxfD-RgGLgUZ353h3RsRWbRVbuxxhMXiNEQgnofMMfrgqDdDrjVi2pCV4t-G5b4te-7Xs6/s1600/ghost-referral-spam2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaxtDAcpkySolsiOExzRFbgzWmTvsK7cWegk9OmCP468XMhWKJyMHOu8UzRh4udkMMindgfykxfD-RgGLgUZ353h3RsRWbRVbuxxhMXiNEQgnofMMfrgqDdDrjVi2pCV4t-G5b4te-7Xs6/s1600/ghost-referral-spam2.jpg" /></a></div>
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You can see that the referrals shown are all ghost referral spam and that it is giving the site a very high bounce rate and low average session duration.<br />
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Now see the results after Google had started getting rid of the ghost spam.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvkjaSghZDhtrm42Bs44tgfxwzlMOzdDiB9AcBuflV6pu8MY3AoHFZt2O1nh3IO-DrajiSNxLSp6YFzWfwljo4hdJVNWsRXL_118usxYM-VMU3PoT3TedhaAh3k0cb2Eszu2Z9K9FVCba/s1600/ghost-referral-spam-filtered2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvkjaSghZDhtrm42Bs44tgfxwzlMOzdDiB9AcBuflV6pu8MY3AoHFZt2O1nh3IO-DrajiSNxLSp6YFzWfwljo4hdJVNWsRXL_118usxYM-VMU3PoT3TedhaAh3k0cb2Eszu2Z9K9FVCba/s1600/ghost-referral-spam-filtered2.jpg" /></a></div>
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As you can see, the bounce rate has only improved slightly and the average time on site has gotten worse, because <b><i>there are still ghost referrals.</i> </b>I gave them a grey ghostly pallor in the above image as they deserve. So maybe this is why few people are mentioning the disappearance of ghost spam, Google hasn't been able to get rid of it all. <br />
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You can also see some real referrals from Yahoo, Cylex, Facebook, and Newswire beneath the ghost ones and how that traffic has a much better bounce rate and session duration. That is why no spam in referrals would be so ideal and why I look forward to this happening in the future. I hope Google will filter the heck out of the spam. Otherwise our traffic in GA is not accurate. That is, unless we filter it ourselves, a difficult job.<br />
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Ghost referral spammers don't really go to your website at all, it's not real traffic, that's why the word <b style="font-style: italic;">ghost. </b>Somehow these companies are spamming Google Analytics with false traffic so people like us will notice the urls in our analytics data and go to their, the spammers', websites. They get traffic from their fake traffic, so they can sell us something or give us malware or something else not so fun or funny. So don't go there. We don't want to encourage them.<br />
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If you need help with your SEO or Google Analytics give us a call 403-219-3031. <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">Or go to our SEO webpage</a>. Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-54105234980350886442016-03-30T22:14:00.000-07:002016-04-12T13:12:05.407-07:00Be the Site Google Wants to See<span style="font-weight: normal;">To do a good job of online marketing for yourself and others you have to have some sense of what Google wants.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">So what <i>does</i> Google want?</span> </h3>
The answer is, of course:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="320" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_VAgP2-ST1w?start=142&;end=153&;version=3" width="427"></iframe><br /></div>
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Money. Google is a business like any other. They want and need to make a profit. Millions of people use Google's search engine because it provides excellent results for almost any query. Along with those excellent results, Google serves ads, generating a huge profit. In 2015 Google generated almost 67.39 billion dollars in ad revenue.</div>
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If Google no longer provided good search results, they'd lose the visitors to their search engine and all the revenue generated from those searchers when they click on the ads. That would be a staggering loss for them.<br />
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Which leads to the next question:<br />
<h3>
What does Google <i>not</i> want?</h3>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="320" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/g8huXkSaL7o?start=67&;end=92&version=" width="427"></iframe></div>
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Spam. They don't want manipulation of their search results so poor results are returned instead of excellent ones. In other words, Google doesn't want people to trick them with black hat or grey hat SEO into serving poor sites when others would be better. Ultimately this would wreck their search engine and their business. They're not about to let that happen. That is why they've developed their search algorithm and Penguin, Panda, Hummingbird, Pigeon, and all the other updates that are safeguarding the quality of their search engine. They will cut you off at the knees if they see you trying to trick them by manipulating their results. You'll be penalized in no time flat with a manual or algorithmic penalty.<br />
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What do you need to do then to make your site optimized for Google search?
Make your site a search result Google wants to see and, more importantly, would love to return in response to queries.<br />
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How do you do that? With excellent content that users are actually looking for and by making your site attractive and user friendly. Also by letting Google know about your site's search worthiness by signaling authority and relevance. There are hundreds of things you can do. It's a lot of work but it is worth it.<br />
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If you want to learn how to do this SEO work yourself read this blog and <a href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/free-seo-resources/">many others.</a> If you don't have time, hire <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">an ethical and quality SEO company</a> that will do this for you.Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-74093594639512646112016-02-05T10:09:00.001-07:002016-10-18T20:03:42.141-07:00Google Analytics - The Second Baby Step of SEO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwFUXyLXL799hAvu69iV3aP3q2jpfCgYyHHTIIBUj3fDnDnkDwwxkB5vq6CipGrCm54REiaUu_we_1A7_Q-loEZupOP-30-ITn6wG-CqsFDrC6F2A3MW1DN_Gb7PffQtwesYkGJJzSh_qj/s1600/babysteps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwFUXyLXL799hAvu69iV3aP3q2jpfCgYyHHTIIBUj3fDnDnkDwwxkB5vq6CipGrCm54REiaUu_we_1A7_Q-loEZupOP-30-ITn6wG-CqsFDrC6F2A3MW1DN_Gb7PffQtwesYkGJJzSh_qj/s320/babysteps.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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So you have Google Search Console set up and are ready for the next baby step on the road to SEO greatness (and standing among the SEO grown ups.) The next baby step is, drum roll please, setting up Google Analytics. This will be very exciting, I promise, as only things SEO can be.<br />
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<ol>
<li> To set up Google Analytics, you first need to login to your Google account, the account where your <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2015/10/google-search-console-very-first-baby.html">Google Search Console</a> and your Gmail account reside, and go to https://www.google.ca/analytics/</li>
<li>Click on "Sign In." See red oval.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD7c_cZZjyukthzdmc32mdhHpYOiALkWswYVy-8o2k_R3WM9M6Tun7nE-mY0o44JNWvsuz7il-FOf4o4_3VtXHshWP9UKB9spKZ7c4XvuhTJxcsov5SFGJwNHrSmOC9X1T5CvuaJdk_3JR/s1600/google-analytics-sign-in.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD7c_cZZjyukthzdmc32mdhHpYOiALkWswYVy-8o2k_R3WM9M6Tun7nE-mY0o44JNWvsuz7il-FOf4o4_3VtXHshWP9UKB9spKZ7c4XvuhTJxcsov5SFGJwNHrSmOC9X1T5CvuaJdk_3JR/s400/google-analytics-sign-in.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<li>Next create an account for your business or personal website, blog, and mobile apps. For instance create an account for your business, and choose either the name of your business or some helpful description that will help you identify it should you create more accounts later. To create the account, click the "Admin" tab.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiym3V_cteI90QZ9f7smQgl2rCiFyzJImnx7XrVh_vhYbDLqtr_2Vta6e2T4dE3dxBc8QlnOGyN3ATJqKoCWz4aZcDcRrYBXJTVS3ILAe48shpckVjcaduK5zW94MWYpE3jVa01nWjnJc/s1600/admin-in-ga.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="99" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiym3V_cteI90QZ9f7smQgl2rCiFyzJImnx7XrVh_vhYbDLqtr_2Vta6e2T4dE3dxBc8QlnOGyN3ATJqKoCWz4aZcDcRrYBXJTVS3ILAe48shpckVjcaduK5zW94MWYpE3jVa01nWjnJc/s640/admin-in-ga.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<li>Fill in the New Account Form.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSzN8PZmVujfg_z3rKESMBBxSUBEhUuVTA8tOk1BD0zDo-KhFWKcOf8Z4iyAEC-6ZCAYlL304zOFMjuUn1J-wtYg5MCF7BrsPdSX0-GbWs8JFf_-chYwjtz9lygIpOeGK6hyphenhyphenWXIEKYZGOw/s1600/ga-add-account.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSzN8PZmVujfg_z3rKESMBBxSUBEhUuVTA8tOk1BD0zDo-KhFWKcOf8Z4iyAEC-6ZCAYlL304zOFMjuUn1J-wtYg5MCF7BrsPdSX0-GbWs8JFf_-chYwjtz9lygIpOeGK6hyphenhyphenWXIEKYZGOw/s320/ga-add-account.JPG" width="320" /></a></li>
<li>Create your properties within your account. For instance, create a property for your website, another for your blog, and another for your mobile app if you have one. Each will have its own tracking code. You can also have a separate account for each property if you want. Google Support has more detailed information about <a href="https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009618?hl=en">Accounts and Properties</a> in their Google Analytics Support site.</li>
<li>Now you're cooking, good looking. I told you this was exciting. Next you'll need to put in the tracking code into every web page you want to track. Go to Admin, then Tracking Code. You'll see a script. Highlight it to select it, then copy it by hitting Ctrl-C. Paste it with a Ctrl-V, on every page, right after the opening body tag if this is an html-based site, that is, put it just after this:<body></li>
<li> Or if it is a WordPress site, you'll want to paste just the account number in an analytics plug-in, which you download within your Dashboard. I usually use Yoast's version because I use Yoast's SEO plug-in too.</li>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ISoQDOkrlbGEe0UZqBEDmaTBfESSZQ1Qz3loiryssEZs6RkK3Q3BMUDloysPvbfzyBa5tdU5Yg-sU3RdLsLO2n0J4TklwY6b0iq_wVKni2VkPMnAvPXzoLVEUDPOEqm-Spzce4l6gH62/s1600/google-analytics-wp.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ISoQDOkrlbGEe0UZqBEDmaTBfESSZQ1Qz3loiryssEZs6RkK3Q3BMUDloysPvbfzyBa5tdU5Yg-sU3RdLsLO2n0J4TklwY6b0iq_wVKni2VkPMnAvPXzoLVEUDPOEqm-Spzce4l6gH62/s400/google-analytics-wp.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here's a <a href="http://kb.yoast.com/article/118-installation-guide-for-google-analytics-for-wordpress">guide</a> to using the Yoast analytics from those excellent folks at Yoast itself.
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<li>Now you'll want to check what you've done and see if it is working. To do this log in to your Google Analytics account and go to the new property you want to check. Then open a tab in your browser and go to the website itself. Keep that tab open. Go back to Analytics.</li>
<li>Select: <b>Real-Time > Overview.</b> You should see a number 1 meaning you have a visitor on your website. If there are more visitors you'll have a bigger number. It should look like this:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVi43zbQwKCIbu0_d2WeBLcxdc4YxgZhXL0uyjKk427eUzLvouOQiJXk65AgE6szvEb14AyFLoDo-_mnmEGI3457SVRS1E4WtrrNa1_RmEoB4rARG_JApprpdl96bUUHQir9bTMXh4yKtI/s1600/real-time-overview.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVi43zbQwKCIbu0_d2WeBLcxdc4YxgZhXL0uyjKk427eUzLvouOQiJXk65AgE6szvEb14AyFLoDo-_mnmEGI3457SVRS1E4WtrrNa1_RmEoB4rARG_JApprpdl96bUUHQir9bTMXh4yKtI/s400/real-time-overview.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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</ol>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
So you did it and are well on your way to SEO awesomeness! Applause. There is a lot more to learn about Google Analytics (you could spend a lifetime) but now your site is added and collecting data. </div>
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If you'd like more help please visit our <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">SEO site</a> and contact us.. We're in Calgary, Alberta but can help anyone, anywhere, remotely as well.</div>
<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-48299771408759622432015-10-03T08:27:00.000-07:002016-09-18T10:40:25.216-07:00Google Search Console - The Very First Baby Step of SEO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwfvOuGL6CqTZyJP9VeiJWHmd8CFLtcP2QZZjmtQkuxwaVDpSvIWEplAvbIdQhB9DTSMrJVUCajY1cG6lDk_6AORb5BnjM1RHXia6ZbkhuwLXP1cZDshdp8Tis3icxuK9ZVSbot1kXGoXJ/s1600/babysteps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwfvOuGL6CqTZyJP9VeiJWHmd8CFLtcP2QZZjmtQkuxwaVDpSvIWEplAvbIdQhB9DTSMrJVUCajY1cG6lDk_6AORb5BnjM1RHXia6ZbkhuwLXP1cZDshdp8Tis3icxuK9ZVSbot1kXGoXJ/s400/babysteps.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
You want to learn SEO, but where to start? The very first baby step on the road to becoming a great SEO analyst standing among the grown ups (or doing your own SEO for your own website) is to get a Google Search Console account previously known as Google Webmaster Tools. It is a must for anyone wanting to crank the rank of their site and help the right people find you. It is also a must for any webmaster or site owner wanting to enhance their website and use best practices for web design and maintenance.<br />
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<h3>
Google Search Console Training</h3>
<h4>
Video Tutorial<br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Here's a short video about how Search Console and Google Webmaster Tools can help:</span></h4>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SoxU5kz15Kc?rel=0" width="560"></iframe>
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<h4>
Webmaster Academy<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">Google also has an excellent course for webmasters called Webmasters Academy. Within this is course is section 3.1 to help you set up and use the webmaster tools: <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6001104?hl=en">Manage your Site with Google Webmaster Tools</a>.</span></h4>
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<h3>
Get a Google Search Console Account</h3>
Every website should have a Google Search Console account. This is the best way to signal Google that your site exists and needs to be indexed. Then you can tie it into your Google Analytics.<br />
<h4>
<br />How to Get One <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: normal;">To get a Google Search Console account you'll need to have a Gmail account. If you don't have one go to http://gmail.com and sign up. Once you have a gmail account, go to <a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools">https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools</a>". Once you're there, click on "ADD A PROPERTY" in the upper right hand corner of the Search Console. Of course it will say your name and not "Cathie" in your account but the red rectangle with the ADD A PROPERTY will be the same and in the same place.</span></h4>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-m9eC6yigdYX4lf7mZ2KJHpUAiMGk0X6ZV7KonHHhY1dhMkJauH56Au7kZJq1Di8acXUUsJskUpRL3CfJXIft0NjzIps0Lv1bu0rTIGvhrjqN8uDUssfZ4poFCmYqA3ZXd3PkVuEwWI3L/s1600/addapropertya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-m9eC6yigdYX4lf7mZ2KJHpUAiMGk0X6ZV7KonHHhY1dhMkJauH56Au7kZJq1Di8acXUUsJskUpRL3CfJXIft0NjzIps0Lv1bu0rTIGvhrjqN8uDUssfZ4poFCmYqA3ZXd3PkVuEwWI3L/s320/addapropertya.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h4>
Verifying your Site with HTML Site</h4>
Now comes the daunting part for SEO beginners: Verifying your site. That means verifying that you’re the owner of the site. This takes a little know how no matter which of the methods you use:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Uploading (with FTP client) an html file to the server.</li>
<li>Adding a meta tag to your website’s HTML within the header or if your site is a WordPress site within your WordPress dashboard, using an SEO plugin such as Yoast.</li>
<li>Adding a new DNS record to your domain account with your hosting company.</li>
<li>Use your Google Tag Manager account.</li>
<li>Use your Google Analytics account.</li>
</ul>
<h4>
My Preferred Method with an HTML Site</h4>
I think putting a meta tag within the HTML of your site is the easiest way to verify. If you have a web designer or webmaster then ask them to help you. If not, you'll need to cut and paste the meta tag Google Webmaster Tools gives you into the header of your index page. Then within the verification part of Google Webmaster tools, click the verification button.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Verifying with WordPress</h4>
If you have WordPress, install and use Yoast SEO plugin then put the verification code within the meta tag (that Google Webmaster tools gives you) into the line labeled for it. Only put in the code not the script containing it. Then go back into the Webmaster tools and hit verification.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2Zl44AsI0AemBo0eVEUuMU9uwFY36ZVqZsm8XZ3l1_H3R4w9b-ID0gANYsW9PxxcUZBsYyW2whANJcbRpdnl-NPqe54AsQiBjOyRun_r-mLg6F8JP3tvV00IZw9w0oEAESgMoCwhBYCY/s1600/yoast.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ2Zl44AsI0AemBo0eVEUuMU9uwFY36ZVqZsm8XZ3l1_H3R4w9b-ID0gANYsW9PxxcUZBsYyW2whANJcbRpdnl-NPqe54AsQiBjOyRun_r-mLg6F8JP3tvV00IZw9w0oEAESgMoCwhBYCY/s640/yoast.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<h3>
Select your Preferred Version</h3>
<h4>
Two Versions</h4>
<div>
Google sees two versions of your site, the www version: http://www.yoursite.com and the non-www: http://yoursite.com. You need to decide which you prefer and tell Google by selecting it within Search Console. You also must redirect one to the other with your .htaccess file, or Google will see two separate sites and your link juice will be divided between them. Your ranking could suffer. (I'll discuss that in a later blog post.)</div>
<h4>
<br />How to Select Preferred Version</h4>
<div>
Within your Search Console account, go to the gears in the upper right corner. Go to "Site Settings." You'll see this:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLWoneeMYFdh4Pw6RzO03aUHp8U1XbffD05C1jmV0aC966e3tUzFJO67Ohiv56C9dCgESg4WQS71TOEPlY_WFrPiO8lgyt33gz6L1Gg4n9irZhxZ7WNH_7T9etEAJhxDIVrad754NttUa/s1600/preferred-domain.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLLWoneeMYFdh4Pw6RzO03aUHp8U1XbffD05C1jmV0aC966e3tUzFJO67Ohiv56C9dCgESg4WQS71TOEPlY_WFrPiO8lgyt33gz6L1Gg4n9irZhxZ7WNH_7T9etEAJhxDIVrad754NttUa/s640/preferred-domain.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Select your preferred domain.<br />
<h3>
<br />Pick Your Country</h3>
<div>
Now you need to pick the country you're targeting for marketing. Assuming you're still inside your Google Search Console account, go to "Search Traffic" and "International Targeting." Now select the tab that says "Country."</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSQ_Rr_ywJZVVH-SHnQqXBP_JYzV1gaJ2SK4lC0b6-ZYij4i5lXShFspbf-ng5ToVgfSHbgVP_n85EiWKhgVWasKIiCiFyx2_WuEEvPv8B6Q7XWMaPpCLhhdXILQ9OLiM-5Rvd6vzDVQh/s1600/international-targeting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaSQ_Rr_ywJZVVH-SHnQqXBP_JYzV1gaJ2SK4lC0b6-ZYij4i5lXShFspbf-ng5ToVgfSHbgVP_n85EiWKhgVWasKIiCiFyx2_WuEEvPv8B6Q7XWMaPpCLhhdXILQ9OLiM-5Rvd6vzDVQh/s640/international-targeting.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pick the country you want to target.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
That's all for <i>International Targeting</i>.</div>
<h3>
<br /> XML Sitemaps</h3>
Next you'll need to make a XML sitemap to make it easy for the Googlebot and other search engine bots to find and index all your pages and resources. If you have an html and css site you'll need to use specialized XML sitemap software to make the sitemap and then upload it to your website with an ftp tool. If you have a WordPress site, the Yoast plugin will make a sitemap for you.<br />
<br />
<h4>
XML Sitemap for HTML Website</h4>
<div>
To make an XML sitemap for a typical html/css website go to this <a href="https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/">XML sitemap generator site</a> called XML Sitemaps.com. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmHyG3U8gcN_szVOrB9VmYpvwSPyjtEv0VkiAr4yABfOTpjDOOUXs3JHiX432oPody-lV4pROJoHSGlIqtecS2Xm6Jcb-aOpwFkWlfRqHp2nbVWkG_Whw3Wydz363tOX2yQYubRfA1cQ8Z/s400/xml-sitemap-generator.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="XML Sitemap Generator." width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the XML Sitemap Generator Website</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span id="goog_1291462400"></span><span id="goog_1291462401"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After the site generates the XML sitemap for you, you'll need to download it to your computer then ftp it up to your website in the root folder. I use Dreamweaver to do ftp uploads but there are many other ftp applications. A free one is called <a href="https://filezilla-project.org/">Filezilla</a>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h4>
XML Sitemap for WordPress Site</h4>
<div>
The Yoast SEO will make an XML sitemap for you automatically. If you have already installed Yoast SEO plugin then go to the word SEO on the Dashboard and then to XML Sitemaps. If not, you'll have to install it first. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO05cH6A2tShEvmTrHGORWhb1u-E1s7j7Rz6G2JF2q3OsOmIU1lrjj3OB9HCt5-fMfxMmBJAfnJt8C1DiK65FV8q5ToqKgSb5djL6VRLCKkBz-nThY22CcnwbqBD2PC9kKl_p_rRluD5VY/s1600/xml-sitemap-wp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO05cH6A2tShEvmTrHGORWhb1u-E1s7j7Rz6G2JF2q3OsOmIU1lrjj3OB9HCt5-fMfxMmBJAfnJt8C1DiK65FV8q5ToqKgSb5djL6VRLCKkBz-nThY22CcnwbqBD2PC9kKl_p_rRluD5VY/s400/xml-sitemap-wp.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yoast SEO Plugin makes it easy to make a sitemap.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<h4>
<br />Tell Google Search Console about your Sitemap</h4>
</div>
<div>
Now you need to let Google Search Console know about your sitemap. So go into your Search Console account for that website and go to <b>Crawl > Sitemaps</b>.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawhoI-JSzJ5ya-0E6hkrEnz6_3X1kg0owRJhq3oO1Rms436eLhlLFujoKmQd4TjZ2Uobc4791mUlk7R4zqQmQFzgnRsdEKes6ADebMs3ZbSmQD8CPF7jP2txwTwu-efYuZiMVjHh1h42y/s1600/search-console-sitemap1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgawhoI-JSzJ5ya-0E6hkrEnz6_3X1kg0owRJhq3oO1Rms436eLhlLFujoKmQd4TjZ2Uobc4791mUlk7R4zqQmQFzgnRsdEKes6ADebMs3ZbSmQD8CPF7jP2txwTwu-efYuZiMVjHh1h42y/s400/search-console-sitemap1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Find the "Add/Test Sitemap" button in red in top right corner.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFYXWHuQF89tIZBxgCTMsoYw1KmvC9Eul_5i3QoAILIKO_yaXF4Fjty18ACaBb0cm75fgQ_8ibJwgczU_ma4t8ODdMYXEfigW42q09vNGJCUgsbjDp9LYfqWG0C1quW3tPFofUKTEiugV0/s1600/add-sitemap-button.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFYXWHuQF89tIZBxgCTMsoYw1KmvC9Eul_5i3QoAILIKO_yaXF4Fjty18ACaBb0cm75fgQ_8ibJwgczU_ma4t8ODdMYXEfigW42q09vNGJCUgsbjDp9LYfqWG0C1quW3tPFofUKTEiugV0/s400/add-sitemap-button.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Write in the filename in the text box that opens. Hit "Submit". Now you'll the sitemap listed and the word "pending" until Google confirms it.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvarhNQrLyVtBHlOO0dFUU8cps7-df4tMFqfM-MeFBxKUaTFQKEBmwvFo1BzDV1d-pxfnv1_M9_Aq9hyJ_FXy7g4nwitvBSO7twHw1rflDd0yGynXSb_Uqt5a1lEn373J7JeWVTczDxnf/s1600/sitemap-pending.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDvarhNQrLyVtBHlOO0dFUU8cps7-df4tMFqfM-MeFBxKUaTFQKEBmwvFo1BzDV1d-pxfnv1_M9_Aq9hyJ_FXy7g4nwitvBSO7twHw1rflDd0yGynXSb_Uqt5a1lEn373J7JeWVTczDxnf/s640/sitemap-pending.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Adding Robots.txt File</h3>
<h4>
Creating your robots.txt for Html Site</h4>
<div>
Open Notepad for Windows or TextEdit for Macs. <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2014/12/10/mac-equivalent-notepad-windows-textedit/"> See this post on TextEdit.</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Type as per below, using your domain name instead of "www.yoursite.com" and whatever your sitemap file is called. Save it as robots.txt. Later if you need to, you can add more advanced directives to the robots.txt file, but this is good for now.<br />
<br />
You can copy and paste the below but make sure to put your own domain in "yourdomain.com.<br />
<br />
User-agent:*<br />
Sitemap:http://yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Using your ftp application, upload the robots.txt to the root of your web directory.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI89G7dS-Uwr1mrlIVTwFgb4s15K9aU78MaOuKJ_qMMnlGSCwgt0Rp5ET8df0uEakL_DFWXubMzDpkowPG8uz4LImVuLFGG9fnD6Q4oYj5LjqeXexTWI8mRAeAzmy1WGc-rugfI8gEbnQe/s1600/robots.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI89G7dS-Uwr1mrlIVTwFgb4s15K9aU78MaOuKJ_qMMnlGSCwgt0Rp5ET8df0uEakL_DFWXubMzDpkowPG8uz4LImVuLFGG9fnD6Q4oYj5LjqeXexTWI8mRAeAzmy1WGc-rugfI8gEbnQe/s640/robots.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h4>
Creating robots.txt with WordPress</h4>
<div>
If you have a WordPress site, login and go to your Yoast SEO plugin. It says "SEO" in the Dashboard on the left. Then go to the "Tools" section and then to the "File Editor."<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgItZC0N2k0aWuVBxCc4q2uzKEAtJ7OQjILULgVdxylY-_AErmGPcpGICoWdWmew12v1To-8zupgtDCFHjZpY-QQGh_S04UCRipkUgQeAEFRMpJJEFYuhmT-Q_HLKOt8dNjyfMsZDtFBYkB/s1600/yoast-seo-tools.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgItZC0N2k0aWuVBxCc4q2uzKEAtJ7OQjILULgVdxylY-_AErmGPcpGICoWdWmew12v1To-8zupgtDCFHjZpY-QQGh_S04UCRipkUgQeAEFRMpJJEFYuhmT-Q_HLKOt8dNjyfMsZDtFBYkB/s640/yoast-seo-tools.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is where you find the file editor tool in Yoast.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Inside the File Editor tool you'll see the robots.txt editor. Type the text as in the robots.txt file above in the "Create your Robots.txt file for Html Site" section. Click the "Save changes" button.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Testing and Submitting your robots.txt</h4>
</div>
<div>
For both types of websites we're discussing here: html and WordPress, you then need to test and submit the robots.txt within Google Search Console. Go to Crawl, then robot.txt Tester. Hit the "Test" button in bottom right corner. Then you'll see "Allowed" if your robots.txt passed. Then click "Submit"</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQH9WTCiw-ubRvOsgw0zmkEtMaV5bM80Q_KfJCnflq70yuuakt5DiKbEB1G3V_K8_t1KZV6-pLnKSrIMgsjEjoNiZfJxQWmv5Qn7-h3c7Iczv45TYQ-wP477-DTFxRGdVdfjZv4nC6I_tw/s1600/test.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQH9WTCiw-ubRvOsgw0zmkEtMaV5bM80Q_KfJCnflq70yuuakt5DiKbEB1G3V_K8_t1KZV6-pLnKSrIMgsjEjoNiZfJxQWmv5Qn7-h3c7Iczv45TYQ-wP477-DTFxRGdVdfjZv4nC6I_tw/s1600/test.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click this first.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiib30S7Vgo2T0NjXqF-8ehJHgtdghhVbeZsXBPXcYDXXDbHr0Cb-_Z3eJ4l8EgUY0FQoBTIxU3jGso-25R844mZkQsyA78pE6R-Ihd1cWbpR8LSop7OefVcbg3hyX2hJlxd45ZsMPFiU88/s1600/allowed.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiib30S7Vgo2T0NjXqF-8ehJHgtdghhVbeZsXBPXcYDXXDbHr0Cb-_Z3eJ4l8EgUY0FQoBTIxU3jGso-25R844mZkQsyA78pE6R-Ihd1cWbpR8LSop7OefVcbg3hyX2hJlxd45ZsMPFiU88/s1600/allowed.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">You'll then see this if your robots.txt is accepted.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILP7qwwwJHjoYn0E7sUG_wgMTVAdVa6kwrZo0_NDqoSqJJzALXpFmfnUjVKb28k8-rWCUkt_ewff8VTkBviTymrCU86exkRMRsRmZFDZDaUD4qb2LxbRYSgaHRLgWtL3riF0uT736irt9/s1600/submit.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILP7qwwwJHjoYn0E7sUG_wgMTVAdVa6kwrZo0_NDqoSqJJzALXpFmfnUjVKb28k8-rWCUkt_ewff8VTkBviTymrCU86exkRMRsRmZFDZDaUD4qb2LxbRYSgaHRLgWtL3riF0uT736irt9/s1600/submit.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Next click this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If you're successful you'll be able to see the robots.txt live and in the editor box. The editor box doesn't really edit the robots.txt, it is for testing purposes only. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Congratulations!!! You now have a Google Search Console account and configured it. You've completed the first baby step toward SEO greatness. Adding a site to Google Search Console is pretty complicated for newbies, so if you've accomplished this first task and skill you're well on your way to mounting the SEO learning curve. You done good bubba...lol!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
If you need assistance doing setting up your Google Search Console or if you'd like to watch while I do it for you remotely, please go to our <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">Calgary search engine optimization</a> webpage and contact us. Or call 403-219-3031. We'd be glad and excited to help you. We can also do all the above for you, if you sign up for our SEO and Online Marketing packages.Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com170tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-29846771333270975152015-06-10T08:45:00.002-07:002015-06-18T05:33:10.657-07:00Google to Make Websites Faster for Free<br />
Watch out, your site is about to be transcoded by Google on slow mobile devices. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqH8jyG3BKs_KJG-jFkaSwqTfuSgcsEXizq1YKxpCNyzv-RztmGiRsS4KrK8Xuw7FFNgYJeVeXnE8CYKJ1S9BM-bE8aX8b44c0tUuDawN789g61AsFt6IIhyng_fshp9mX9-e7GpRqXhC/s1600/fastcomputer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVqH8jyG3BKs_KJG-jFkaSwqTfuSgcsEXizq1YKxpCNyzv-RztmGiRsS4KrK8Xuw7FFNgYJeVeXnE8CYKJ1S9BM-bE8aX8b44c0tUuDawN789g61AsFt6IIhyng_fshp9mX9-e7GpRqXhC/s400/fastcomputer.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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According to a <a href="http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/google-optimizes-sites-for-speed-transcoder/">post on Bruce Clay's blog</a> by John Alexander, Google is going to make slow and non-mobile friendly sites to be fast and friendly with its new transcoder. The transcoder makes a much better user-experience for those on a slow mobile connection. Is this a good thing?<br />
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You can decide for yourself by checking out the Google transcoder page to see how your site renders when transcoded.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VrJDhrIymrCSuWDXFazM6KGDIE-thd1kjE2x3zQR2oN62a2s0OYJFls166Ix8Zw7fTi3N4kJe4tuTk1aekLiQiOK_sHETvSvV2Q6HweFEdvIDTIA9Xojmq4EhxgYkUjF04LL-_7Hccp4/s1600/transcoder.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="376" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VrJDhrIymrCSuWDXFazM6KGDIE-thd1kjE2x3zQR2oN62a2s0OYJFls166Ix8Zw7fTi3N4kJe4tuTk1aekLiQiOK_sHETvSvV2Q6HweFEdvIDTIA9Xojmq4EhxgYkUjF04LL-_7Hccp4/s640/transcoder.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<b>How to view your transcoded website:</b><br />
1. First go to Google <a href="https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/transcoder">transcoder site</a>.<br />
2. Type in the URL for your site and hit preview.<br />
3. Scan the QR code with your smart phone.<br />
4. Voila, you will see how your site looks once transcoded to the mobile user.<br />
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You can also use the method outlined in the Bruce Clay post (cited at top of this post) to render your website on your computer screen.<br />
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A couple of worries I have about the transcoder are:<br />
<ul>
<li>Will website owners be less motivated to make their web designs faster and mobile-friendly on their own?</li>
<li>Will some sites not work well with a Google bot optimizing them? (I tried one of my client sites and it looks not so great.)</li>
</ul>
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If you've taken great pains to make your mobile site look really good on mobile devices, you may not like Google's speeded up version.</div>
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If you want help making your site search engine friendly check out <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">Ducktoes Seo Services in Calgary.</a></div>
Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-46605158524561888192015-03-05T20:36:00.000-07:002015-03-05T20:36:31.694-07:00Google Sending Mobile-User Friendly Warnings to WebmastersTwice in the last week I've gotten an email from Google Webmaster Tools telling me that client sites are not mobile friendly. They look like this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQSmbwu-7ExknCcJ0wwtf9k8r09O_OGgOqFvBUiA7M1zUdPzLOpgw2JOatzlr1CwvhenyKHfCpW5UPxY0zKEI1Jsb3jWKbST3TYcIEFh9FIlNvS4Weri1P-9iYvU5f296RoNkj082iYoQ/s1600/gwtmobile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQSmbwu-7ExknCcJ0wwtf9k8r09O_OGgOqFvBUiA7M1zUdPzLOpgw2JOatzlr1CwvhenyKHfCpW5UPxY0zKEI1Jsb3jWKbST3TYcIEFh9FIlNvS4Weri1P-9iYvU5f296RoNkj082iYoQ/s1600/gwtmobile.jpg" height="640" width="593" /></a></div>
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I really appreciate this because it will motivate my clients and me to get all our client sites mobile-friendly which I want them to be anyway. It gives me a reason to urge reluctant clients to come onboard with the mobile responsive changes. Also Google may start including mobile responsiveness as part of their ranking algorithm and this gives my web designers and me a chance to fix them before the ranking begins.<br />
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According to <a href="http://searchengineland.com/google-sending-mobile-usability-warnings-huge-number-webmasters-213113">Search Engine Land</a>, Google is sending these emails to a massive amount of webmasters and company owners.Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-74953662208497977422015-03-02T09:06:00.000-07:002015-03-02T09:13:11.055-07:00Sitemap your Site for SEO<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Crank your Rank</div>
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There are two different types of sitemaps, .xml and html. The first you do for bots and the other for people. Both are great for SEO. Both are white hat SEO techniques if you want to crank up rank without risking Penguin or Panda penalties.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAyjGA4gvqtza8E83mmu81B_3WIwW30By6io0cBkRYrQS_i9sgvkMY5Xr3VZCi_DGUDO4XgVdOdBc8TwhmzUKnBVK2MSv35DhT3VU-lHnGV378S8jMrZ2Rxl3PhTfjjvEyKXc7s_M0Ci7O/s1600/sitemap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAyjGA4gvqtza8E83mmu81B_3WIwW30By6io0cBkRYrQS_i9sgvkMY5Xr3VZCi_DGUDO4XgVdOdBc8TwhmzUKnBVK2MSv35DhT3VU-lHnGV378S8jMrZ2Rxl3PhTfjjvEyKXc7s_M0Ci7O/s1600/sitemap.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sitemaps help users and bots find webpages and information on your site.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>XML Sitemap</b><br />
The .xml one you can make with a <a href="https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/">free tool</a> at XML-Sitemap.com. You then log into your Google Webmaster Tools and upload it. Now the bots are more likely to find and index all the pages on your site.<br />
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<b>Html Sitemap</b><br />
The Html sitemap is just a web page listing all the links within your site, so your users can easily find what they are looking for. Google and other search engine love user-friendly sites so you can't go wrong with making things easier for the visitors to your site.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2i-QXGjql3P-hkloXPMAJc1Daq-K0SDTWIfT6kxrXgEJ0XX3kKecjJSgYg-r861sKPm-mR9kI_kqALm0nYh8v3jk0wqaEnL7wNOuPzgQHsPp_x8dukuWqAYYAtGAZVaZmlvlKWbRbw4Zl/s1600/womanwtablet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2i-QXGjql3P-hkloXPMAJc1Daq-K0SDTWIfT6kxrXgEJ0XX3kKecjJSgYg-r861sKPm-mR9kI_kqALm0nYh8v3jk0wqaEnL7wNOuPzgQHsPp_x8dukuWqAYYAtGAZVaZmlvlKWbRbw4Zl/s1600/womanwtablet.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Html sitemaps make your site more user-friendly.</td></tr>
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You can use important keywords for the various pages on the html one, in fact you should use keywords. After creating the sitemap, put a link to it in the menu where it is easy to see and use.<br />
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Here's an actual Html sitemap for DawsCo Coffee Services, a <a href="http://dawscocoffee.com/business-coffee">Calgary office coffee services company</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1aBZUmxYiL2Bx5v2PntZCDJshyphenhyphenmgLZfYxtyqPdGwMr0l75VTeoWR8rTrUxE-2KdaeZa8eOwuKMlenPRJwGOh5Yeo3qhGfrnESvi-Lu0duZlkYAYYOP2gWyQ2G6LmC7rJK5pVzEQptdFW/s1600/sitemap.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD1aBZUmxYiL2Bx5v2PntZCDJshyphenhyphenmgLZfYxtyqPdGwMr0l75VTeoWR8rTrUxE-2KdaeZa8eOwuKMlenPRJwGOh5Yeo3qhGfrnESvi-Lu0duZlkYAYYOP2gWyQ2G6LmC7rJK5pVzEQptdFW/s1600/sitemap.PNG" height="640" width="555" /></a></div>
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If you'd like help making your sitemaps, <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">Ducktoes SEO Services of Calgary</a> can do it for you.
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Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-27098102441469613892015-01-01T12:43:00.003-07:002015-01-02T08:50:33.212-07:00Pigeon Unrolled in Canada on December 22<h2 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
The Pigeon has Landed</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnqAI_QgmW7uCamqlkDBHWrcelnMfiCCsEEjPk8iKgEK0JIvCanpHnd1efib8LrRpMp8HGUItXOcXcH-ufpbu0kz_zXIaUUg0Lt0Q28KtNDR3ebnDzS7wxtJ0Apafd5yfJCKP5RU3hZs0t/s1600/pigeon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Pigeon is sitting on head of statute that looks troubled." border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnqAI_QgmW7uCamqlkDBHWrcelnMfiCCsEEjPk8iKgEK0JIvCanpHnd1efib8LrRpMp8HGUItXOcXcH-ufpbu0kz_zXIaUUg0Lt0Q28KtNDR3ebnDzS7wxtJ0Apafd5yfJCKP5RU3hZs0t/s1600/pigeon.jpg" height="400" title="Pigeon Unrolled in Canada" width="252" /></a></div>
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Those who know me know I always follow ranking closely, an understatement, since really I'm obsessed with it. It's no surprise then that on December 22, 2014, I noticed right away that most of my sites and client sites had changed ranking in local listings. One of my client sites went from 6th in ranking to 1st organically and to 2nd on the map from 3rd. Another went 2nd on the map to 1st and 2nd organically. Another went from the 2nd page to first organically. Another finally showed up on the map for a keyword. The SERPs they were a-changing. So many changed that I knew something major was afoot (should I say awing? Lol.) I suspected that Google's Pigeon update had just landed in Canada. (And no, I don't mean or am misspelling <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/11/penguin-unrolled-finally.html">Penguin</a>, this is a totally different bird and Google update.) Pigeon had unrolled in the US in July and was due to unroll in other English-speaking countries as in Canada, UK and Australia sometime this last fall. Even though I suspected Pigeon right away, I couldn't find confirmation of it online for a few days except for a few random rumblings and tweets from others suspecting the same thing.<br />
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Most of my sites went up luckily and only a couple went down on the Google local listings with Pigeon so I was pretty happy. Yet local listings themselves had also changed and in places quite dramatically. Where once seven businesses had been listed on the first page in Google results for certain queries, now were only three. Some search queries even lost their local listing packs completely.<br />
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Here is an example of a seven pack listing for the query "Calgary computer repair" previous to the changes:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4r3dJn9RHJrXOq1E4KnQ7aNqHKGeozu-O3nwtV6KHfD_Cxv2BObYQz3ZFzzhS6BCxJzZY19qU1vNbXyUW0zWuUTStFA9kZeaa1Dt__QSZ4dWL4m2vJK7ZAw-UtTtDjN3z4UilS8RsbpnQ/s1600/7pack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4r3dJn9RHJrXOq1E4KnQ7aNqHKGeozu-O3nwtV6KHfD_Cxv2BObYQz3ZFzzhS6BCxJzZY19qU1vNbXyUW0zWuUTStFA9kZeaa1Dt__QSZ4dWL4m2vJK7ZAw-UtTtDjN3z4UilS8RsbpnQ/s1600/7pack.JPG" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now the listings are in a three pack:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbzdvyyJ2xu_bpPLRIIgW-BZqOJZ5j7K77Y8Ia-QKPg_L2dPNT02CWSMRTBZod5UjjS5uGPriWopfcIlCjqa0s-vbnVgFc8C_wBvfqfAelukCnvZ_yDk0UoGaYy2m-bIxl2uMzxz1xeXgL/s1600/3pack.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbzdvyyJ2xu_bpPLRIIgW-BZqOJZ5j7K77Y8Ia-QKPg_L2dPNT02CWSMRTBZod5UjjS5uGPriWopfcIlCjqa0s-vbnVgFc8C_wBvfqfAelukCnvZ_yDk0UoGaYy2m-bIxl2uMzxz1xeXgL/s1600/3pack.JPG" height="157" width="320" /></a></div>
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As you see can above only three businesses are listed for the same query where before there were seven. If your company was number four to seven on the local listings map, it now didn't show at all.</div>
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Finally I saw this post on <a href="http://blumenthals.com/blog/2014/12/22/pigeon-rolls-out-in-uk-australia-and-canada/">Blumenthal's blog</a> confirming my hunch. (By the way, if you want to learn more about local search Blumenthal's is the blog to read.) Yes, Pigeon had unrolled! Now local search in Canada is very different and, a week and a half later, still seems to be unsettled and in a bit of turmoil, the site listings shuffling around in ranking and in and out of the smaller three packs.</div>
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For more in depth information about Pigeon in general, read <a href="http://searchengineland.com/experts-weigh-googles-pigeonlocal-search-algorithm-update-198499">this post</a> from Search Engine Land.</div>
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If you want to <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">improve local search ranking</a> for your website, Ducktoes SEO can help. As you can see above we are number one for an important and competitive query. We can help you achieve similar results.</div>
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<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-45744482081872844262014-11-07T06:40:00.001-07:002016-03-23T09:14:31.277-07:00Penguin Unrolled, Finally!On October 17, 2014 Penguin unrolled again finally. This one is being called Penguin 3.0. If you used the disavow tool and used it correctly then you'll find your poor ranking has improved or is improving. If you had a lot of bad links or too high of percentage of keyword-rich anchor text, your ranking may have gone down. Clients who turned to me for Penguin penalty recovery are now back on the first page.<br />
<br />
Here is an infograhic from a <a href="http://blog.ahrefs.com/infographic-recover-google-penguin-penalty-using-ahrefs/">great post</a> about recovering from Penguin penalties. It's from Ahref''s blog. Ahref is a tool that I find very useful for finding and analysing backlinks.
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<strong>This infographic is from </strong><strong><a href="http://blog.ahrefs.com/">http://blog.ahrefs.com</a>/.</strong><br />
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<a href="http://blog.ahrefs.com/infographic-recover-google-penguin-penalty-using-ahrefs/"><img alt="Google Penguin Penalty Recovery" border="0" src="http://blog.ahrefs.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Infographic-Google-Penguin-Penalty-Recovery.jpg" width="600" /></a><br />
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If you want to discuss this or have an observation that is relevant, please leave a comment. All comments that are just their for a link, will be deleted. Thank you.<br />
<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-1651331508056944412014-10-16T08:40:00.003-07:002014-11-22T12:54:49.971-07:00This is the End (of Yahoo Directory)<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Yahoo Directory to Close</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-QHInk3yvgjwVvQgda-X0-omzSkHowafN9WxWMwsQTZ1jlFmimAEkUJSD7UzqFj_8pkZVDPVJsuzNqPZ76HPcKEm7MkEyWyP54YWq3ONCxYhD79ci-2JmTj7zEwFCkKWYYxYQMqTiyZDy/s1600/mobiledirectory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-QHInk3yvgjwVvQgda-X0-omzSkHowafN9WxWMwsQTZ1jlFmimAEkUJSD7UzqFj_8pkZVDPVJsuzNqPZ76HPcKEm7MkEyWyP54YWq3ONCxYhD79ci-2JmTj7zEwFCkKWYYxYQMqTiyZDy/s1600/mobiledirectory.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
Yahoo announced on it <a href="http://yahoo.tumblr.com/post/98474044364/progress-report-continued-product-focus">Tumblr site</a> that it is going to close the Yahoo Directory. <br />
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This is what the report says, "<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Yahoo was started nearly 20 years ago as a directory of websites that helped users explore the Internet. While we are still committed to connecting users with the information they’re passionate about, our business has evolved and at the end of 2014 (December 31), we will retire the</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><a href="https://dir.yahoo.com/" style="-webkit-transition: all 0.25s ease-in-out; background-color: white; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: rgb(29, 90, 245); font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; text-decoration: none; transition: all 0.25s ease-in-out;">Yahoo Directory</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"> </span><span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1411688969596_10885" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Advertisers will be upgraded to a new service; more details to be communicated directly.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">Since I usually recommend to my clients that they buy a listing in Yahoo directory to help improve traffic and exposure to their web content, now I want to wait until December 31, 2014 and see what the new advertising will be like before recommending it.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">In the meantime I still recommend <a href="http://botw.org/">Best of the Web</a> and <a href="http://dmoz.org/">Dmoz</a> directories. I met the Best of the Web directory representatives at Pubcon and they are a great company and reputable, effective directory. I'm now a Dmoz editor, just learning the ropes and am really happy about that.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;">In the meantime if you want to get on the waiting list to be a Ducktoes internet marketing client, <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">contact me.</a></span></span>Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-20366087139177348742014-09-13T06:48:00.001-07:002014-11-22T12:55:44.171-07:00Directories can be Problematic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9dV9Phyphenhyphenf81bvXADEcOy3NVMuWMrDpofaRWfdriTbIhsQP4kHIU4YM2WXYegDHYQLNLj2PQ06BcfTUgp5vattdKopGaLkaqt02n319n8yh6TKGJML8XFJSaw03Pac8AcLI3e47jlY4Um54/s1600/manwithlaptop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9dV9Phyphenhyphenf81bvXADEcOy3NVMuWMrDpofaRWfdriTbIhsQP4kHIU4YM2WXYegDHYQLNLj2PQ06BcfTUgp5vattdKopGaLkaqt02n319n8yh6TKGJML8XFJSaw03Pac8AcLI3e47jlY4Um54/s1600/manwithlaptop.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
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Directories can be problematic in SEO. You don't want to be listed in spammy, low-ranking ones. Even high ranking ones can be devalued or penalized by Google and end up being low ranking or toxic. Sometimes the directory owners, especially the owners of penalized directories, ignore your request for removal or make it impossible to request it, and then you have to <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-find-bad-links.html">disavow</a> them.<br />
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Local directories are good to submit to. They help you rank organically and on the local Google map for your search terms. Woorank has an <a href="http://blog.woorank.com/2013/09/free-business-directories-in-canada/">excellent list of local Canadian directories</a> that I refer to as a resource all the time. They also have <a href="http://blog.woorank.com/2012/12/10-free-us-local-business-listing-sites/">local directories for the US</a> and other countries.<br />
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As I have said in previous posts, <a href="https://dir.yahoo.com/">Yahoo Directory</a>, <a href="http://www.dmoz.org/">DMOZ</a>, and <a href="http://botw.org/">Best of the Web</a> directories are all high ranking and safe. DMOZ is free but difficult to get into. Yahoo Directory and Best of the Web are not free. You can buy Best of the Web for half-price ($150 for life) the Monday after Thanksgiving, that is US Thanksgiving. Yahoo Directory is $300 for one year.Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-83479663831383134832014-09-08T05:28:00.001-07:002014-09-13T07:21:40.841-07:00Hey, I Did It: Ducktoes Site makes Dmoz!!!Hey, I did it. I got my Ducktoes.com site listed on dmoz.org. This is almost impossible these days, since it is ridiculously hard to get a listing there. For those who don't know, it's the directory to get into, a goal worthy of achieving. Go to <a href="http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/North_America/Canada/Alberta/Localities/C/Calgary/Business_and_Economy/Computers_and_Internet/">this page</a> and you can see my site listed. You can also see <a href="http://www.dmoz.org/search?q=ducktoes">the listing itself</a> on its own. I must be doing something right. They spelled my company name a bit wrong (it should be one word instead of Duck Toes) but I'm over the moon or maybe I should say "Over the Rainbow." This is how I'm feeling:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3FeMp1saGHTepZbFivhnDBGbiayo0ncKkJko5FC7rMWM4XPF_NNQgIX1afEvwQ1kfxHzM6JCLqBs2HLtj3KDjAu3QoKqg9kUh0wNKYZnwJIrFD1hYQ_yF5CfisIOOTCMWeaspx3Mrdya/s1600/20140903_194317.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI3FeMp1saGHTepZbFivhnDBGbiayo0ncKkJko5FC7rMWM4XPF_NNQgIX1afEvwQ1kfxHzM6JCLqBs2HLtj3KDjAu3QoKqg9kUh0wNKYZnwJIrFD1hYQ_yF5CfisIOOTCMWeaspx3Mrdya/s1600/20140903_194317.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is a photo from my balcony in Calgary.</div>
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Now I'll try to list all my clients on dmoz. If you want to get in on the action go to <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">my website and check out my services</a>. Next month I'm going to stop taking clients for a bit so don't wait too long. I'm getting too many. I mean SEO clients not computer repair or web design. I don't have time for more SEO clients.</div>
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Here's another post about <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/01/dont-forget-dmoz-and-yahoo.html">Dmoz Directory </a>(and Yahoo.)</div>
<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-26023328285482538042014-08-16T11:14:00.002-07:002015-12-12T23:43:40.084-07:00Squidoo to Go Away and Delete (or Transfer) All Your Content!This is just in. I went to my Squidoo site to work on my lenses and found out that Squidoo is closing. What a shock. This is the message:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EoWGe96cAf2bTBDDk8jZwCpYQGDLIsLX2msGcOqzldUPFgZqIM5XzMHtYOuOEPueShhzBkF_Kd0TuCyYQoqsfQrMtXtlmxZEAQrVOp2UP2UrIj3ZgS2Jm_TprPtrR1pVx9E3Cp5cZBlH/s1600/squidooclosing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5EoWGe96cAf2bTBDDk8jZwCpYQGDLIsLX2msGcOqzldUPFgZqIM5XzMHtYOuOEPueShhzBkF_Kd0TuCyYQoqsfQrMtXtlmxZEAQrVOp2UP2UrIj3ZgS2Jm_TprPtrR1pVx9E3Cp5cZBlH/s1600/squidooclosing.JPG" width="580" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Squidoo is shutting down<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">You have a couple of weeks, almost, to move your content to Hubpages or it will all be transferred automatically.</span> <span style="font-size: small;"> All content will be deleted in October. Yikes. I have several lenses that I've made for my clients and myself on Squidoo which has been an excellent site until now. There's a lot of work however I stand to lose if I don't move it. Some of my lenses are great and others are still works in progress, soon to be greater. They'll have to be greater Hubpages now. Squidoo has been frustrating lately since some lenses would unpublish without any reason and then I'd have to spend time getting them republished. This was a minor inconvenience compared what this news means. Now I have to move all the Squidoo content to Hubpages.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I tried the transfer button button as shown above but since I already have a Hubpages account it says my user name already in use. Of course it is. There should be a way of moving to an existing account. Maybe I'll move them manually. I hope I don't get flagged for duplicate content since the content is already on Squidoo, if only temporarily.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I wonder if some people who are not be paying attention to their lenses or are on summer vacation will try to log in and find all their content transferred automatically. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I was planning on writing a blog post this weekend about using Squidoo or Hubpages as an SEO strategy. Creating Web 2.0 sites IS an acceptable white hat way of a creating a good link if you do it right. The Squidoo lens or Hubpage needs to be well-written original content. No spinning or duplicate content is tolerated and will cause trouble for you. Duplicate content isn't fair to the original writer. Photos and other images spruce it up. There shouldn't keyword stuffing or too many links to your site. Creating Hubpages and other 2.0 sites is a lot of work for just a couple of links and some are "no followed" but it is great for traffic and an SEO boost. People link to your Hubpage and your Hubpage links to your site and it is all great organic natural linking happening for you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here's a Hubpage I created:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://ducktoes.hubpages.com/hub/A-Guide-to-Good-Patio-Landscape-Design"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBeroWs7nfhjAUceuPlVJKbrCMgMQfZFmxZX-bAesSFu9MRgao5wbuDaQ7z2U9_2R3vRctvIx2XPjm2RRmi1bcjyb3YgJc7VvwstFjXB6eUG0FXz63FC-QuklHQDH5U8mIdDr2gCTjQFH/s1600/hubpages.JPG" width="553" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I'm proud of this Hubpage. I think it is gorgeous</span>. </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If you would like Ducktoes to create Hubpages for your company's internet marketing, <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign">our web design team does content creation</a>. We can also help your transfer your Squidoo lenses.</span></div>
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Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-50121282852771146922014-05-10T07:33:00.000-07:002014-08-16T09:56:18.586-07:00Creating Video Content for your Clients<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2tTdv8CP_TUaBWCrQSTk4ww0nKRlY4LsIL0y18XWjfb19DzgwUrURYctWn4UISX29EpGpLSuAvx2RJAddsUHSt3CB2_1vJ-mBhLPgKdF-BWmMrJR1lBoafUdFVsaCLChVl_s9eieWOWxw/s1600/20140411_121506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2tTdv8CP_TUaBWCrQSTk4ww0nKRlY4LsIL0y18XWjfb19DzgwUrURYctWn4UISX29EpGpLSuAvx2RJAddsUHSt3CB2_1vJ-mBhLPgKdF-BWmMrJR1lBoafUdFVsaCLChVl_s9eieWOWxw/s1600/20140411_121506.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filmmaking at Ducktoes Computer Services</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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A really good way to get more traffic and higher ranking is to create video content for your clients and yourself. Google loves high-quality content created to help users find information. This is <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">potent seo for your website or sites</a>.<br />
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You can do this a pretty low cost if you do the following:<br />
<br />
What you need to do:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Find a filmmaker who specializes in videos for businesses and hire him or her for a morning or day. This way you'll able to get a discount for your clients since the filmmaker doesn't have to move equipment or drive around and has instant business without advertising. </li>
<li>Prepare your clients ahead of time. Ask the filmmaker for the questions, he or she will be asking. Email the clients the questions they will be asked so they can prepare their thoughts. Don't let them memorize or read from notes because that will often provide a stilted conversation on the video. </li>
<li>Bring in your clients by appointment and let the filmmaker film them. </li>
<li>Put the videos on the clients' websites and on Youtube. This makes great content, which Google loves. </li>
</ol>
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Video production of content is a win-win-win for everyone involved: for the clients, the filmmaker, and you.<br />
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If you would like a video for your website or business, click <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">here</a>.Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-90320300965981334102014-03-29T18:49:00.001-07:002014-05-15T22:15:27.400-07:00How to Get Rid of Bad Links: Part Three<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Step Three: Create the Disavow File</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyXWQzHR7YKOCTi5OEU8jCcF4-ixmDYBgof4rYYgSslG1IypA7kpb_TsZlEPg-TfbJ-wOuA4PxQoEh04_s1ptW9LFVFiA1euNtiLnXbVleKwjQ_yyf5prHXfEsTuIbQloZAF9fRL6PAg1X/s1600/linklens.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyXWQzHR7YKOCTi5OEU8jCcF4-ixmDYBgof4rYYgSslG1IypA7kpb_TsZlEPg-TfbJ-wOuA4PxQoEh04_s1ptW9LFVFiA1euNtiLnXbVleKwjQ_yyf5prHXfEsTuIbQloZAF9fRL6PAg1X/s1600/linklens.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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Step Three is creating the disavow file of the links you haven`t been able to remove. You'll submit it to the disavow tool. Don't worry, it's not hard. <br />
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<b>What You'll Need</b><br />
<ul>
<li> A simple text editor like Notepad or, for Macs, TextEdit with plain text selected.<span style="background-color: #fefefe; color: #4b4b4b; font-size: 16px; line-height: 26px;"> </span></li>
<li>The spreadsheet of the links you downloaded and imported into Excel or Google Docs and used in Parts One and Two </li>
<li>Access to the disavow tool within Google Webmaster Tools. Don't use Word or other more elaborate word processing application since the documents they create won't be accepted by the disavow tool. Find all the bad links you have identified as bad for your site's ranking but have been unsuccessful at removing. </li>
</ul>
<b>Open your Notepad and Type</b><br />
Now that you have the links, type them into Notepad, one link or domain per line.<br />
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<b>How to Format the Disavowel of a Page</b><br />
It's better to disavow an entire domain instead of pages but if you want to disavow a single page you just format it like this:<br />
http://www.badlink.com/index.html
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<br />
<b>How to Format the Disavowel of a Domain</b><br />
If you have several links from one domain or if you are unsure how many you have and want to make sure you remove all of them, disavow the entire domain. Unless there are links from a domain you want to keep, disavowing the domain is the wisest choice. Disavowing the entire domain, looks like this:<br />
domain:www.badlink.com<br />
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<b>Making Comments</b><br />
You don't have to make a comment for each link, as some experts claim, but if you want to make a comment for your own use, <b>type the number sign</b> ahead of the comment. This comments out your words by telling the tool to ignore the text that follows. Here's how comments are formatted:<br />
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#I emailed the owner two times to ask for removal but haven't received a response.<br />
domain://www.badlink.com<br />
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<b>Example of Disavow File</b><br />
Here's an example of one of my disavow texts for a client. I've only disavowed domains here. There are no comments. Check out the formatting:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP23chlpyLfX00AQhXfeGscRsDqvmgqqIK2eSFe4MMaoOTIn2DtZBJnp9iKqtfpVbD3B_ntP7aGtB2qv6nex-ZYkEVxrrIzWhwryWL2pGmYxPLoHJXOSQYVz3cBLcY-wi37xudVXpp7iu4/s1600/disavowexample.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP23chlpyLfX00AQhXfeGscRsDqvmgqqIK2eSFe4MMaoOTIn2DtZBJnp9iKqtfpVbD3B_ntP7aGtB2qv6nex-ZYkEVxrrIzWhwryWL2pGmYxPLoHJXOSQYVz3cBLcY-wi37xudVXpp7iu4/s1600/disavowexample.jpg" height="450" width="600" /></a></div>
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Now here`s one with comments and links as well as domains. See how it's formatted:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirbu384XuLXeq-0abgsgFVeesHp6XAtlUpSFiCpM9ddBcs0xbDbMN4TU3Z11dtYqYO-FCExYfUL1KuB0W0huWor2wSBfn8Gc-659K_X3QrqJx5XyvE3s_sL1uzAeEWhfune2ThyphenhyphenABRaMBo/s1600/anotherdisavow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirbu384XuLXeq-0abgsgFVeesHp6XAtlUpSFiCpM9ddBcs0xbDbMN4TU3Z11dtYqYO-FCExYfUL1KuB0W0huWor2wSBfn8Gc-659K_X3QrqJx5XyvE3s_sL1uzAeEWhfune2ThyphenhyphenABRaMBo/s1600/anotherdisavow.jpg" height="226" width="600" /></a></div>
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<b>What I've Learned</b></div>
The above is how I used to format the disavow file in the past. I wrote comments as if I was making an argument to some poor Googler, convincing him or her to disavow the links. Yet now I`ve learned that no human reads the comments, so since then I make it much easier on myself by not spending a lot of time on them. Keeping the text uncluttered with comments also makes it easier for the the disavow tool to read the list of links to be disavowed and ensure greater accuracy. Now when I disavow, I make all the pages into domains and leave out the comments.<br />
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<b>The other posts in this series are:</b><br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-find-bad-links.html">How to Find Bad Links</a><br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-one.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part One</a> - Ask for Removal on the Site Itself<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-two.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part Two</a> - Use Whois to Find the Owner<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/03/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-three.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part Three</a> - Create the Disavow Tool Text<br />
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Ducktoes Search Engine Optimization can help you disavow your bad links and recover your ranking. We are an <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">SEO firm in Calgary.</a>Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-8858401475232339972014-02-18T06:58:00.000-07:002015-03-28T07:26:47.585-07:00How to Get Rid of Bad Links: Part Two<h3>
Step Two: Use Whois to Find the Owner</h3>
<div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIzzXy5FzNF2tomqrph4ZG2Vw_Ma44ilCXpWT8gaL8QdMEYq6LJMchoWXtcD-LfWf0qoGA7iKn1YEkWW8Cy37NDxyUVNpuaf4atLAGfTdG6OeiIhUGjxGv2WoE-HX0BOYD1z1YR63f_Jc/s1600/videogames.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMIzzXy5FzNF2tomqrph4ZG2Vw_Ma44ilCXpWT8gaL8QdMEYq6LJMchoWXtcD-LfWf0qoGA7iKn1YEkWW8Cy37NDxyUVNpuaf4atLAGfTdG6OeiIhUGjxGv2WoE-HX0BOYD1z1YR63f_Jc/s1600/videogames.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Link Removal can be Enjoyable like a Video Game</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
<br /></div>
What if you try to remove a bad link using a comment form or email found on the site, but you receive no response? Or on the site there is no comment form or email or any way way of contacting the owner? You need to move to Step Two. Step Two is to try to find some alternate way of communicating with the owner of the site.<br />
<br />
<b>Removing Bad Links</b><br />
Removing bad links is hard work. You have to be persistent. It is not for the lazy or the feint of heart. If you give up or get discouraged easily then you should not bother. Start over with a new domain right now. <br />
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You can make link removal more enjoyable if you have the right attitude and like a good challenge. Pretend it is a video game and the links are targets ( they are.) There is a certain satisfaction in removing each link and the end goal of recovering your ranking is the sheer pleasure of winning.<br />
<br />
<b>Site with Bad Link</b><br />
Here is a site with an article linking to my client. My client hired someone (not me) to do SEO for him in 2009, not knowing that low-ranking article sites might not be a good idea, or maybe the article site was not low-ranking at the time. Besides, it was before article spamming was even known to be harmful. Certainly my client was not at fault, but last spring, several years later, his site went down in ranking. The articles were still there on now low-ranking, spammy sites. His site got hit with the second Penguin.<br />
<br />
<iframe src="http://bestarticlesdaily.com/great-advice-for-lawn-care-calgary-and-everywhere-else/" style="height: 300px; width: 95%;"></iframe>
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For over six months I have been removing his bad links. I have tried in vain to communicate with the owner of this article website via the comment form.<br />
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<b>Comment Form Not Working</b><br />
What you can't see above are my comments, asking the owners to remove the link and article, so I'll let you see them below. They make me laugh since I sound so pleading and pathetic. Speaking of which, you can't let ego get in the way if you are doing link removal. Pathetic begging becomes routine. Think of that <i>before</i> you sign up for bad links. Link removal ain't pretty.<br />
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I use the "we" in the comments, although neither my client or myself signed up for this article. It was a previous SEO company who in 2009 thought that this was a good practice. I'm not judging them too much because it was standard then. (Much like guest posting was thought a good practice until recently.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynW6bsJ4OFk3T8BqudQQc5bRHDoOyy3sg9cpYRxBm2HCchqW986WhGmONnYWNCZ1nGLXH3ufFyMWh5OOEQdq64vc0DuggykZ8IPr8778uRJgMxLRd3Xg8DQa7jPwEcQCUJb8MEcwmnHJX/s1600/.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynW6bsJ4OFk3T8BqudQQc5bRHDoOyy3sg9cpYRxBm2HCchqW986WhGmONnYWNCZ1nGLXH3ufFyMWh5OOEQdq64vc0DuggykZ8IPr8778uRJgMxLRd3Xg8DQa7jPwEcQCUJb8MEcwmnHJX/s1600/.jpg" height="270" width="400" /></a></div>
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The owner is either not seeing these comments or ignoring them. It is obviously time for Step Two.</div>
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<b>Step Two: Use a Whois Site</b></div>
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You need to fine a good Whois website. I use <a href="http://whois.net/">whois.net</a>. You'll need to type in the domain of the site with the unwanted link. This is what I find:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7cT6TXfPX4lHEzR0uK636b4YAUqki2ovFvfDoMHMvtwt57l6nj69oHYK18ZYSdm3Ym_T_CmPTaYO4gayU1DQq-rffeusZGkFFpmd1FSwhDI1a_QY3-1W18DDlpdqeZKPVAmXWG0h4yqTZ/s1600/whois1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7cT6TXfPX4lHEzR0uK636b4YAUqki2ovFvfDoMHMvtwt57l6nj69oHYK18ZYSdm3Ym_T_CmPTaYO4gayU1DQq-rffeusZGkFFpmd1FSwhDI1a_QY3-1W18DDlpdqeZKPVAmXWG0h4yqTZ/s1600/whois1.jpg" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Still No Contact</b></div>
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If I want complete details, and the contact information, I have to go to the Godaddy Whois. When I get to Goddaddy I find I have to enter in the verification code into the captcha to see the details. This is the result:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE7LKOpZ8-i94-R4-v8UtdbnaRMi3xIGjvpVyNOck_K3A0EBCNxO8dNCNBvhtMi0hqMdDUiZUgXEcf-6qABFe20z0XY6Mm8y-T9BX86U2w6NLTMFihhXq_1xcTZRme5uyChVF8S1oIVfuR/s1600/godaddy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE7LKOpZ8-i94-R4-v8UtdbnaRMi3xIGjvpVyNOck_K3A0EBCNxO8dNCNBvhtMi0hqMdDUiZUgXEcf-6qABFe20z0XY6Mm8y-T9BX86U2w6NLTMFihhXq_1xcTZRme5uyChVF8S1oIVfuR/s1600/godaddy.jpg" height="321" width="400" /></a></div>
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I find the site is listed as private. The contact information is still not available. This is disappointing news but perhaps if I write to the Admin Email at bestarticlesdaily.com@domainsbyproxy.com of Godaddy, they will forward it to the owner. This is what I decide to do. I email the admin contact and ask for the link removal.<br />
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<b>Perhaps You'll Have Better Luck</b><br />
Sometimes the contact info is available on Whois and you can write an email or even a letter. I've even called an owner before when nothing else worked. Just because whois and emailing didn't work this time for me, it doesn't mean you won't find the information you need. <br />
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<b>Time will Tell</b><br />
Only time will tell if the owner will respond to my email. Let's keep our fingers crossed. And if not all is not lost. There is still Step Three.<br />
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<b>Update</b><br />
It is more than a month later and I still no response from the website/article owner. Definitely time for <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/03/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-three.html">Part Three</a>.<br />
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The other posts in this series are:<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-find-bad-links.html">How to Find Bad Links</a><br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-one.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part One</a> - Ask for Removal on the Site Itself<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-two.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part Two</a> - Use Whois to Find the Owner<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/03/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-three.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part Three</a> - Create the Disavow Tool TextCathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-63341548136756301652014-02-10T08:59:00.003-07:002015-03-28T07:32:18.421-07:00How to Get Rid of Bad Links: Part One<h3>
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Best First Step: Ask for Removal on the Site Itself</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVGtuxUgZqh8cLFtoPSm0QNPxVNP5ZXGoxVh1TuNkGC1jgdsJd-g0agverBvBhYn-nj-hYNekqGI2PJqHhQ6sBjggWyMyIvqna_Yb0_fOpn1eOdIckDgCFkI_S_p9vS0SjHEKelny4Dej/s1600/badlinks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSVGtuxUgZqh8cLFtoPSm0QNPxVNP5ZXGoxVh1TuNkGC1jgdsJd-g0agverBvBhYn-nj-hYNekqGI2PJqHhQ6sBjggWyMyIvqna_Yb0_fOpn1eOdIckDgCFkI_S_p9vS0SjHEKelny4Dej/s1600/badlinks.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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Now that <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-find-bad-links.html">you've identified your bad links</a>, you can now start the process of getting rid of them.<br />
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Here is are some links for a site downloaded from Google Web Master Tools. I've put them in a spreadsheet and started to analyse them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRUvtvQav587AUQlQxfi1mRDKNPIV6W9OKGsz1dvPz_qO1FyFDaCB3C4_7433RejljYP5kz1XLL1-n2XoVajDXJDDhgBXsJYfO4xikZd4Yv3tkPKaOi37hjtXQ2fjZ9MwrR1yppuyNZpC5/s1600/samplelinks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRUvtvQav587AUQlQxfi1mRDKNPIV6W9OKGsz1dvPz_qO1FyFDaCB3C4_7433RejljYP5kz1XLL1-n2XoVajDXJDDhgBXsJYfO4xikZd4Yv3tkPKaOi37hjtXQ2fjZ9MwrR1yppuyNZpC5/s1600/samplelinks.png" height="172" width="400" /></a></div>
<b>Nofollow, No Worry</b><br />
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Notice that the first six links are all nofollow, since I've put an "n" in the "Followed?" column. You don't have to worry about them, as a general rule, if they are "nofollow" since they don't pass much link juice. The seventh is a followed and low-ranking link from the domain: http://alestat.com. It has a PR 0. This is probably not good for page rank, and looks a good one to get rid of. Doing so can only help our ranking.</div>
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<b>Best Way to Start Link Removal</b><br />
The best way to start link removal is to go to the site itself to request link removal. Sometimes there is a contact form to request removal and, on the other end, in the best of cases, a person who after receiving the request, will immediately remove it for you. This is what happens with reputable site.<br />
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<b>Let's Try it Out</b></div>
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Let's go to Alestat and see if that is the case here. This is what Alestat looks like:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFsSwrmd4OnEtLhRva4snik7nMGY3ydSS-lauvFdVGQ6CWmdj54KqZIwZkLmTRLOsvjlInFAdFimzOXmBNJg8oWu6ZAsEVS5mAjB1JNYa8g1K8brZPOqJ29gA11t3cvnzULgpUDc1Py9J/s1600/alestatfrontpage.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxFsSwrmd4OnEtLhRva4snik7nMGY3ydSS-lauvFdVGQ6CWmdj54KqZIwZkLmTRLOsvjlInFAdFimzOXmBNJg8oWu6ZAsEVS5mAjB1JNYa8g1K8brZPOqJ29gA11t3cvnzULgpUDc1Py9J/s1600/alestatfrontpage.png" height="202" width="400" /></a></div>
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We will love their statistics, we are told. And so it seems, at first glance, we will. Alestat is one of those sites that will give you statistics about your page rank and Alexa ranking, if you enter your domain name into the text box. It looks professional, clean, and reputable, like a good site. It does not look spammy at all. The site probably added our link when someone, out of curiosity, submitted our domain to find out the statistics. (Warning: If you are following along, do not submit your site.)</div>
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<b>Find the Contact</b></div>
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To top it all off there is a "Contact " too. This is great, it seems, we'll be able to ask for removal. Clicking the "Contact", we find a form and on the form under "--select type of query--" there is even, yes, a "Delete link to website." At this point we're loving this site and how easy they make it to request removal. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes, we're almost there, we think. I enter "Delete link to website" and I find this:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0uBMi62OAQGDDhTMMRPkx6O6-8AT0WgeWmEdbS1Jyb5Xf0cn5pItYMCZIkVRsnQ9mliTUFJhYUcny58zf0QV2ROl8hsU6t9c3RdyhKLbrvGAsLpIMgyh4Mpkjtkf2L8Kz7Nj1eK_y79m/s1600/alestat.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0uBMi62OAQGDDhTMMRPkx6O6-8AT0WgeWmEdbS1Jyb5Xf0cn5pItYMCZIkVRsnQ9mliTUFJhYUcny58zf0QV2ROl8hsU6t9c3RdyhKLbrvGAsLpIMgyh4Mpkjtkf2L8Kz7Nj1eK_y79m/s1600/alestat.png" height="296" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Time to be Shocked</b></div>
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Now we're shocked, this site is so bad. It lures people into their really nice, clean and reputable looking website, saying we'll love their statistics. Unsuspecting, we enter our domain. After which they give us a low-ranking link we didn't ask for, and then charge us $10 a year to remove it and keep it removed? I don't think so. I would not pay this...this is not reputable or honest. This is a site to stay away from completely. Don't enter your domain to begin with, don't pay if you already have.</div>
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<b>What to do Next</b></div>
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What I did was to disavow the link in Google Web Master Tools which I will talk about in a future post. I put in a comment to tell Google why. Disavowing will take the bad link's link juice away without paying the $10 or $25 dollars.</div>
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<b>The Best First Step</b></div>
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With many sites, you can submit a request for removal in their contact form or, if they list an email address, by emailing them. This is the best and easiest way to remove a bad link. Many websites make it easy to request removal and will do it on first request. Start there. The harder link removals come next.</div>
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If you want help finding or removing bad links, <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php" rel="nofollow">Ducktoes</a> will be glad to give advice or do it for you.</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;">The other posts in this series are:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-find-bad-links.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">How to Find Bad Links</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-one.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">How to Remove Bad Links Part One</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"> - Ask for Removal on the Site Itself</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-two.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">How to Remove Bad Links Part Two</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"> - Use Whois to Find the Owner</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;" /><a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/03/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-three.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px; text-decoration: none;">How to Remove Bad Links Part Three</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.1999998092651px; line-height: 18.4799995422363px;"> - Create the Disavow Tool Text</span></div>
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<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-91834354478734551312014-02-04T10:01:00.001-07:002014-04-05T06:05:12.504-07:00How to Find Bad Links<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOgdj8mD-PbG1otN9PYuzxcF8NPZfjU2v-SSdJgv1_ZBcVxiPCx5J8gIKhTHKlfuukBiVQ6CRJRua7lQqyr3B94OinZLmV6U2dJycA2XLSjq_UC84YeXmIuyWBQaPJOAeG4PFzybwT0kF7/s1600/searching.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOgdj8mD-PbG1otN9PYuzxcF8NPZfjU2v-SSdJgv1_ZBcVxiPCx5J8gIKhTHKlfuukBiVQ6CRJRua7lQqyr3B94OinZLmV6U2dJycA2XLSjq_UC84YeXmIuyWBQaPJOAeG4PFzybwT0kF7/s1600/searching.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></div>
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Have you had a significant drop in traffic and ranking? You probably have bad links pointing to your site. If so, they could be hurting your ranking under Google's Penguin update. Here's is how to find them.<br />
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<b>Finding the Links</b><br />
First log into your Google Web Master Tools account. You'll find a list of your sites. Double-click on the site in question. The dashboard will open. Then find and click on the small triangle by "Search Traffic" so a drop down menu appears. Open "Links to Your Site." <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLrE5q5WvZ8x5i7bE9tx09XFjuFOGnQ7aLWp-0V6Igtnwvoz-NcddRe4JD9wV2WYRifpF_XCHqt_bZalhY_a4N1BrRx8MUTIgFbCnLBXFyscbfyCXtfhm16hHhKs5E9iMaClmNnFyo0TxD/s1600/searchlinks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLrE5q5WvZ8x5i7bE9tx09XFjuFOGnQ7aLWp-0V6Igtnwvoz-NcddRe4JD9wV2WYRifpF_XCHqt_bZalhY_a4N1BrRx8MUTIgFbCnLBXFyscbfyCXtfhm16hHhKs5E9iMaClmNnFyo0TxD/s1600/searchlinks.png" height="223" width="400" /></a></div>
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You'll see some sample links but they're not specific enough since they only tell you the domain not the actual link. You need to download the links themselves. Click on "Download more sample links" or "Download latest links".<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-8ceMoHb7qXgISSZdyZGdB3rkQ5RyGYmN38GX8rbVRYfkP2Ca2gmAux3hUZFywnsjYbpZwAfnxEybYf406LFuOiJyKhu1HnN4ZeriE3qX6cyLWyMC6CHHlSYJ3pouwoQ7Gw2kxcP5ru6/s1600/downloadsamplelinks.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-8ceMoHb7qXgISSZdyZGdB3rkQ5RyGYmN38GX8rbVRYfkP2Ca2gmAux3hUZFywnsjYbpZwAfnxEybYf406LFuOiJyKhu1HnN4ZeriE3qX6cyLWyMC6CHHlSYJ3pouwoQ7Gw2kxcP5ru6/s1600/downloadsamplelinks.png" height="242" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>The Spreadsheet</b></div>
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Google Webmaster Tools will ask you to choose the download format, either csv or Google docs. The first will open in a spreadsheet like Microsoft Excel, the other in Google Docs spreadsheet. You may need to download Google drive to access Google docs. I did.</div>
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Download and open your list.</div>
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You can copy and paste each link into your browser check out each link and find out the page rank. You need to click on the far left column then drag and highlight the link with your cursor. Paste that into the address bar of your browser. </div>
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<b>Check Page Rank and Quality </b></div>
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I use <a href="https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/">Google Chrome</a> with a <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webrank-seo/mkhilblbmkdnapffblmecglknalglfji">PageRank SEO extension</a>. You can also use a <a href="http://www.google.com/toolbar/ie/index.html">Google search toolbar</a> with page rank. Now you can check the quality of each link. </div>
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<ol>
<li>Go to the site by pasting the link into the address bar and see if the site looks spammy. If it doesn't look like a quality or even mediocre site, you may not want it as a link.</li>
<li>Check what the site's page rank is using your toolbar or page rank extension. If there is a question mark, n/a, or 1 then the site is low ranking. PR4 and above is best. Be careful, however, sometimes a high-ranking site may have just been delisted and will still show a high rank. Make sure you do the next check as well.</li>
<li>Check to see if the site is delisted. To do this go to Google and type Site:yourdomainname.com, for example site:duunia.org. If the site doesn't come up in the search results, it is delisted. You definitely don't want the link if it is. The example I gave for the Duunia directory is. You can also just search for the site. For this site search for "Duunia directory." If the site's actual domain doesn't come up in the listings it probably is delisted.</li>
<li>If there is a malware warning site, then the link is really bad.</li>
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<b>Nofollow or Not</b></div>
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Also you need to check if the link to your site is "nofollow" or not. If it is "nofollow" then it isn't passing much link juice either negatively or positively. If the site linking to your site is low-ranking but has nofollowed your link then you don't have to worry about its impact, at least in most cases.<br />
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To check, go to the webpage where your link is by copying and pasting the link into the address bar of your Chrome browser. Type Ctrl + U. That will take you to the page source where you can see the html coding. Now type Ctrl + F and search for your domain in the text box that opens in the top right corner</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2eQ6xwzH6obe4_RgnnPyiFxNSzc575bYpdaXMU3wzxTrHZoRRWog0S9FinTCaerds_vh46seii_RW2-gNgYitQdCHdx6yA04RaQTDGItI_EtkoJ0Cacfzts9ZIk_a-8TLTsOi_PMDgwiv/s1600/ctrlf.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2eQ6xwzH6obe4_RgnnPyiFxNSzc575bYpdaXMU3wzxTrHZoRRWog0S9FinTCaerds_vh46seii_RW2-gNgYitQdCHdx6yA04RaQTDGItI_EtkoJ0Cacfzts9ZIk_a-8TLTsOi_PMDgwiv/s1600/ctrlf.png" height="130" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Type Ctrl + F and then type the name of your domain into the text box.</td></tr>
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You`ll see the link within the html coding that links to your site. If you see rel = nofollow near your link or url.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyw7VoD8Fs8xXHtp23X2l7qtVeXXF8eTeC8bqLW-qyOl8Wa-lBlF2eNtLqU_rroxzpNp4otXGU59Fu8WR__OTXMlK0IvoaJJQK0LXaK-g7cZ3RpU1QCpyaYD06IGG5lc0nb1TqjZJbpX5E/s1600/nofollowed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyw7VoD8Fs8xXHtp23X2l7qtVeXXF8eTeC8bqLW-qyOl8Wa-lBlF2eNtLqU_rroxzpNp4otXGU59Fu8WR__OTXMlK0IvoaJJQK0LXaK-g7cZ3RpU1QCpyaYD06IGG5lc0nb1TqjZJbpX5E/s1600/nofollowed.jpg" height="80" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This link is nofollow.</td></tr>
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<b>Record your Results</b></div>
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Inside your spreadsheet you'll want to keep notes so you don't have to check the sites of your links over and over especially if you have hundreds which many older sites do, you won't be able to remember.<br />
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On mine I've added columns for page rank and if the link is "followed" or "nofollowed". I put in the word "gone" if the site is no longer online. I would also add in red if the site were delisted or had malware in red. None of these sites do.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcsQqyRrQuR6UdsGEfEA2NnOsuMpP2Q4oV1_P1fE3sc1Ge0aF8ZfCsqD8SmRBO68r-o5wdEAJmKQfbvM2W4FX5_ZC3y-YqfLWYPWXoi7oIp9VdsQetgvxRHro_omhbLqHeVVf0sbCuUFO/s1600/spreadsheet.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIcsQqyRrQuR6UdsGEfEA2NnOsuMpP2Q4oV1_P1fE3sc1Ge0aF8ZfCsqD8SmRBO68r-o5wdEAJmKQfbvM2W4FX5_ZC3y-YqfLWYPWXoi7oIp9VdsQetgvxRHro_omhbLqHeVVf0sbCuUFO/s1600/spreadsheet.png" height="288" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I`ve added PR and whether is link is nofollow to my spreadsheet.</td></tr>
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Next you'll need to get rid of the bad links. Click <a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-one.html">here</a> to find out how to start. <br />
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The other posts in this series are:<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-find-bad-links.html">How to Find Bad Links</a><br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-one.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part One</a> - Ask for Removal on the Site Itself<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/02/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-two.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part Two</a> - Use Whois to Find the Owner<br />
<a href="http://howidoseo.blogspot.ca/2014/03/how-to-get-rid-of-bad-links-part-three.html">How to Remove Bad Links Part Three</a> - Create the Disavow Tool Text<br />
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If you need help identifying bad links, Ducktoes can help. We are an <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/webdesign/seo.php">SEO and Web Design Firm in Calgary</a>.</div>
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<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7752963163629306394.post-5986103689172618822014-01-26T09:37:00.003-07:002014-09-13T07:23:04.391-07:00Don't Forget Dmoz and Yahoo <h3>
The Two Top Directories</h3>
Two great citations to raise trust in your website are Dmoz and Yahoo Directory. Don't overlook them. They can only help boost traffic to your site and ranking.<br />
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Dmoz</b><br />
Acceptance into Dmoz Open Directory Project is difficult at best and if you get your site accepted you are doing something right. It is a goal worth striving for and attaining.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixJ_obJ2E9EI2A_rxM99iLS0EcmyAfv3sHWdNSujYATY9xcLAcoDbxj3PfVU3l1khJYv2abuO-aIz62z5fG2lbE6kdz0OdtpPN12D2WH1bPn6P67s3ZdVPz5bjt5hTJMaye2QXa-za7axt/s1600/dmoz.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixJ_obJ2E9EI2A_rxM99iLS0EcmyAfv3sHWdNSujYATY9xcLAcoDbxj3PfVU3l1khJYv2abuO-aIz62z5fG2lbE6kdz0OdtpPN12D2WH1bPn6P67s3ZdVPz5bjt5hTJMaye2QXa-za7axt/s320/dmoz.jpg" /></a></div>
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You can also apply to be an editor for Dmoz. You have to pick a category you know enough about to edit successfully. You choose three sites you think should be included in that category and write titles and descriptions for those sites. If you do a good job Dmoz may accept you. I have applied to be an editor for Dmoz.</div>
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Yahoo Directory</b><br />
<a href="http://dir.yahoo.com/">Yahoo</a> costs $300 a year and does not accept all submissions, so there is a risk of losing your submission fee. You need to want the citation badly enough to come up with the money despite the risk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdvElWOHRz2DM2y5H6xqJXNqLjW7qFOP6-DjF4KUHCSZ9LG2YVmWmWm0yCC3GCyqWKvg_t7ygLGepMIUxOwdh-hdE6fIyLDL46F0shpvTeRN_b1uvna49upIrRvvjHxkzJWHZCAbt2gUjh/s1600/yahoodir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdvElWOHRz2DM2y5H6xqJXNqLjW7qFOP6-DjF4KUHCSZ9LG2YVmWmWm0yCC3GCyqWKvg_t7ygLGepMIUxOwdh-hdE6fIyLDL46F0shpvTeRN_b1uvna49upIrRvvjHxkzJWHZCAbt2gUjh/s1600/yahoodir.jpg" height="171" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you would like help promoting your site on the internet please follow this blog and I'll give you ideas and help. If you'd like even more help please go to my <a href="http://www.ducktoes.com/website/seo.php" rel="nofollow">website</a>.</div>
<br />Cathie Dunklee-Donnellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17082328779416063015noreply@blogger.com0