Search Engine Q&A

When evaluating the value of a given link, does Google consider the PR of the web page the link is actually on, not the PR of the home page of the website?

Are there any negative SEO implications to including a social bookmarking and sharing button to the more popular pages on your website to leverage some of the popularity of social networking?

I’ve been ensuring that each client has unique valuable and professionally edited content whenever possible on the rest of the site, but I’m afraid that if I make the portions of the site that use the semi-public data accessible to the search engines, they will find duplicate information on other sites and my client site(s) would not be indexed.

I would highly recommend not changing your URLs at all. It is a common misconception that keywords in URLs are somehow helpful to search engine rankings, when in reality, they have very little (if any) effect on
rankings.

Someone emailed me with a list of quick questions about some SEO terminology they didn't understand.  I figured if one person was looking for these answers, many of you would be, too.

If you syndicate your own content, you have nothing to be concerned about but ensure that anyone who syndicates your content gives you proper link credit.

Two excellent questions are answered in this article: A.) Which steps should I follow when optimizing my dynamic website? B.) Can you maintain the integrity of my design while implementing SEO?

There is no doubt in my mind that the company needs someone skilled in web marketing to help us grow in positioning, traffic, and conversion but I do not know if I need A) a team of people or B) 1 person on staff who is like a junior SEO person while the strategist SEO person is working behind the scenes.

Before an inbound link can be established as credible your page must be credible. For your page to be credible it must clearly identify the topic that is reflected on the inbound page.

Supplemental results are generally pages that Google has determined to be secondary to other. What determines whether pages get sent to the supplemental or omitted results section of Google?

Like most questions in SEO these days, the answer of course is a big, fat "It depends." Not all template sites are created equal, with some being okay and others being much less than okay. Most of the template real estate sites I've seen in the past are not very search-engine- (or crawler-) friendly. A good percentage of them simply frame some standard content and listings that are provided by a real estate marketing service.

Write great, professional marketing copy while keeping your keyword phrases in mind. If they stick out like a sore thumb, all you've done is written spammy, keyword-stuffed content, and who wants their company associated with that?

Are mirror sites a good idea? What if have two instances of your site and suddenly both instances were dropped by Google? Jill Whalen discuss these issues in this SEO Q&A article.

A simple overview of the factors engines use, search engine algorithms and the secrets to getting high rankings.

I often meet people who don't understand how search engines gather their information. They know what they are and understand the importance of being indexed and listed on them - well some do - but the minute you start talking about spiders and the like, they freeze up. Freeze no more. This article aims to shed some uncertainty you may have about search engines. After all, if you want to benefit from being listed on search engines, you'd better know how they work.

Jill answers Robots Meta Tag and Changing Domain Names questions.

Jill answers questions about optimizing graphical pages, switching hosts, and site redesign and file name changes.

Jill answers questions about submitting to search engines and automate link building.

Jill answers questions on dynamically generated pages, and keywords in header tags.

Jill takes on frequently asked questions related to your Google placement, keywords, and content.