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@MikeDammann - Not certain I follow the objective of that comment
@graywolf - you may be surprised what is relatively unknown out there, particularly if the business implications/benefits are not adequately addressed up front
I like this analogy a lot - particularly when working on the consulting side of the SEO business.
The official Google Webmaster Blog has a post on this which references testing 1 section or sub-domain first to ensure success. Here's a link to the original post back in April:
http://tinyurl.com/5s2w3q
I've moved entire sites in a single stage and not had an issue - but its important to make sure you've "covered all the bases", particularly if you are redirecting page by page.
I found it interesting because there are a lot of different opinions and perspectives, even within the 21 responses thus far (believe it is at 23 now). At the least, it showcases pain points people are feeling who are on the outside, looking in.
@JimSpencer - I tend to agree with that but wonder how many employ a tiered pricing schedule. In similar fashion, I would guess that you may have an expansive partner network and simply add a management fee on the top - but I would guess that gets into issues with outsourcing work and the transparencies around that (whole other topic worth exploring of course).
@Jill - agreed as well - I tend to feel clients understand that "why" of an important SEO recommendation, they just don't always have the "how" for how it gets implemented. That's one of the reasons I would say an intermediary step is the "plan of action" which is tailored to their website environment.
To be honest - we offer implementation of recommendations to many of the businesses we work with, but I feel it's a more appropriate solution for clients when an established relationship and trust has been gained. I don't know if it's appropriate for an SEO consultant to come in and offer implementation (on the site side) when they may not know the site environment well.
Just throwing that last part out there for discussion.
I have to believe that a more integrated "my network" function will add value to Sphinn, hopefully as it relates to discussions and comments. Personally, I would use Sphinn more knowing that there is a greater reason and opportunity to connect with individuals whom I not only respect in the industry, but also meet at events, conferences etc.
That being said, am I correct in assuming that the my network function is in addition to the rest of the navigational elements? Meaning, it will be just one other way to filter content and submissions (and not necessarily prevent users from discovering new things because someone was not in their network).
Thanks in advance and appreciate the discussion.
@iBrian - while it may not be much new information, my key point for writing the post was to give readers some insight into what a proven SEO practitioner/consulting company has been doing - along with some specific processes that may beneficial - not to all, but definitely for some.
Business owners have a finite amount of time to figure out where the most appropriate strategies for SEO fit in. Getting advice from those with proven experience is a great way to help make that determination.
Thanks to Marty for thinking it would be valuable to the rest of the community. (and thank you SpostareDuro for the additional feedback)
g1smd - thanks for taking the time to comment and make suggestions. Its completely appreciated. I am pretty certain I uploaded the new robots file in coordination with the post - and have since simply removed the block.
I also tweaked a couple other things and we'll see what happens.
Your comments did get me thinking about checking Google's index of the site in greater detail and it does appear that I need to spend a bit more time on this.
Interestingly enough, more pages have now been removed (since this morning - including the sitemap page), although Google Blog Search has indexed all posts as appropriate.
The funny thing is - I don't even receive a substantial amount of Google traffic (now have I ever) but can't really NOT rank this blog for a select group of keywords. Sigh.
Thanks again for the time.
@MattCutts, g1smd - thanks for the replies and the quick check. I didn't really think there was/is some form of conspiracy going on here - but it was fun to write about (sorry).
I also did not consider the relationship between search engine crawl rates, robot.txt files and timing. That is a really interesting point of reference and something to pay attention to in the future.
Thanks again!
@Weip, Jeff - lol. Thanks for the great compliments and I had to write something when my colleague gave me the great Google piece.
@jeffquipp - Let's hope your Patriots predictions are not as fine tuned ;-)
Thanks for all of sphinns everyone. It just goes to show what a great community this is and can be.
I am somewhat surprised that this received as little as 12 sphinns, however perhaps it is because it is one part of an ongoing series.
Being able to get Lionel Richie into a Sphinn submission is reason enough for me to Sphinn this
Here's a link directly to the Myspace forum for review. Consumerist takes a light look at this, but what would you do if your employees where moving in this direction?
Andy has great points here. I would add and echo Tamar Weinberg's (Techipedia) post on understanding each community as well, since each one is unique.
What works or is accepted here on Sphinn will not have the same success on Digg, Reddit etc etc. Take a bit of time just to get used to what people are contributing and doing. The good thing is that people are generally understanding of those that have good intentions and are trying to be a positive community member.
Don't get frustrated by the time commitment either, because there absolutely is a time commitment to this endeavor.
Story: Is Your URL Digg Compatible?
I don't think that the article was necessarily about "what" specifically is causing an issue with a particular website and it's compatibility with the Digg submission form versus "what you may want to check" when making certain your website is "social media friendly".
The comments present in the article may be valuable to some, particularly if you're running into issues and hadn't considered how your HTML headers were being rendered.
As such, if you don't feel its valuable in your Sphinn endeavors, there's nothing wrong with that opinion.
It's things like these that can be both frustrating and (ironically) fruitful. As the awareness of SEO increases, we see people and prospects whom read things like this (referencing the first section & article in the post) and then misintepret or assume what is perceived as being easy.
Fortunately, there are enough smart people out there that read between the lines and either get things right or realize that they need to set a plan in motion to hire good people to get things right for them.
There is also an intro page/post on the blog with a short video tutorial, background and request for feedback.
http://www.seobook.com/new-seo-tool-website-health-check-tool
probably should have put this under "water cooler" upon rethinking this (changed category from origina submission: link building)
The link to the story points to part 1 of a 7 part, developing story. A lot of good information and details.
Story: Baiting The SEO Blogosphere
I have no issue with people trying to create compelling titles & headlines. This has been a core recommendation for successful blogging, social media for some time now. However, clever titles are just the beginning.
The real issue is when someone spends the time to create a decent title and it leads to a poor piece of information. But ultimately (and maybe I am being idealistic), this type of tactic leads to a drop in subscribers and traffic for that source. And - if people are just voting up these type of articles in community sites and not paying attention to the applicable content, it hurts the community in the long run.
I'm really enjoying the series of videos/video posts that Aaron Wall is putting out there in the past few days.
I thought the post was great (and valid) - wish I had seen it sooner in the "what's new" section!
Hey Jab - don't worry about breaking in. I don't think my post was an end all be all to link building research, and I am certain that other professionals do more, take alternative routes and can aggregate/analyze data even better.
Note that my post was less about buying links and more about creating an effective process for prioritizing opportunities and strategies.
Either way, glad the community found it valuable and there's nothing wrong (imo) with adding more details and ideas to the conversation.
I sat in on a SEMNE presentation where they were discussing Robots.txt files. One example used was a person who had inadvertantly instructed all search engines to block all pages. Could you imagine that? Sometimes taking a step back and looking over the basics is the right way to go.
Story: 7 Search Marketing Strategies for B2B Manufacturers & Distributors