Any good SEO will tell you that if you cloak content on a page, Google will not only “slap” you, but furthermore, your site is in jeopardy of not fully recovering all of its rankings even after you fix the cloaking issue.

It appears, however, that not only will Wikipedia not be penalized, but Google feels the same way Wikipedia does — and even supports Wikipedia’s cause (because it will have a direct negative impact on Google’s own business as well).

The bottom line: this Wikipedia situation is yet another example of Google playing favorites and accommodating certain websites (aka its “white-list”). I challenge people to do a test the same exact way as Wikipedia did for 24 hours and see what happens to their rankings and traffic. We all know what will happen to us, and we all know it won’t happen to Wikipedia.

Update: Google is accommodating Wikipedia to help support their cause…doesn’t that mean that they are manually favoring websites?

In order to get them back to shredding at maximum potential, they should consider making some of these changes. Then they’ll be record label certified instead of your neighborhood garage band.

Problem 1: Images above text on product pages.

How to fix Problem 1: Text links should appear above the images because Google only counts the first link that it sees, and the text links pass more strength and relevance than pictures.  Therefore, the text links on the product pages should be moved above the images.

Problem 2: Sitemap only shows zipped versions.

How to fix Problem 2: Currently, there is no XML sitemap on SamAsh.com; only the zipped versions appear.  SamAsh.com’s webmaster should create both XML and zipped versions of the sitemap (as well as submit them both to the search engines).

Problem 3. Lackluster 404 page.

How to fix Problem 3: The 404 page is a dead end.  A good 404 page should provide a search functionality and useful links to encourage customers to return to the store.

Problem 4: Dynamic URLs in subcategory pages.

How to fix Problem 4: These pages should have static, keyword-rich URLs and content on the page.  Including these keyword-rich URLs and content on the subcategory pages will help SamAsh.com rank for additional keywords.

Problem 5: Canonical issues.

How to fix Problem 5: There are two versions of the home page.  The non-www version should be redirected to the www version because this is the stronger of the two versions.

We’re not trying to sweat you, Under Armour, but we too are all about performance. Take a peek at some ideas we had for them to take their SEO game to the next level.

Problem 1: JavaScript Dropdown Menus.

How to fix Problem 1: UnderArmor.com’s dropdown menus are created with Javascript. While search engines can crawl Javascript, it is unknown how much link juice is passed through the links.  Therefore, it is not recommended that sites use it for their global navigation.  We strongly recommend HTML and CSS navigation.

Problem 2: Lack of keyword-rich content.

How to fix Problem 2: The home page and all major category pages should have keyword-rich content that is accessible to the search engines and helpful to customers.

Problem 3: Cannot locate the sitemap.

How to fix Problem 3: The page http://www.underarmour.com/sitemap.xml exists, however, no sitemap loads when you go that URL.  We recommend implementing a sitemap that will actually load.

Problem 4: No Custom 404 Page.

How to fix Problem 4: All 404 errors return customers to the home page. A custom 404 page should be created with a search feature and useful links to encourage customers to continue shopping.

Problem 5: Product Pages are not indexed.

How to fix Problem 5: Poor internal linking structure is causing the product pages to not to be indexed.  Proper site architecture should be created making sure that all pages that should be indexed are accessible to search engines through links.

Bonus Problem: Slow Load time

The site loads in over 16 seconds.  Google penalizes sites that load in anything over 4 seconds.

Here are five SEO problems that DicksSportingGoods.com is currently facing, and our recommended solutions.

Problem 1: The site has multiple home page URLs.

How to fix Problem 1: Redirect all of the duplicate homepage URLs to the root URL:
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/

Problem 2: Many of the URLs are dynamic and are amongst the most non-SEO friendly URLs that we’ve ever seen. Here is an example:
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/category/index.jsp;jsessionid=QhfGTyGB0qZ5t4v8FWl7d7jHGVkJg5LySYTlbjjp2xcXv2RQn04C!1820288686?
ab=TopNav_Footwear&categoryId=4413987

(Imagine having to read that URL to someone.)

How to fix Problem 2: Update the URLs accordingly. Here is an example of what the above URL could look like: http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/category/footware

Problem 3: The category pages have no content on them, which is holding them back from an SEO perspective.

How to fix Problem 3: Add unique, relevant content to the category pages and add internal links to the most important sub-categories or products.

Problem 4: Not using H1 tags.

How to fix Problem 4: Adding H1 tags to the home page, internal category pages, and product pages is an SEO must-have.

Problem 5: There currently is no alt text on the logo and no title on the logo url

How to fix Problem 5: Add alt text to logo like this:
alt=”Dick’s Sporting Goods”

Every Thursday, we’ll publish a post about a specific, high-profile website and identify five opportunities where that particular website can improve its SEO. (If you
have any websites that you’d like for us to assess, please e-mail us at info@highlyrelevant.com.)

Not only will we point out five specific challenges that the website is having from an SEO perspective, but we’ll also make recommendations on how these issues can be corrected. We’re solutions-oriented at Highly Relevant

Being big football fans, and since we’re right in the middle of football season, the first website that we’ll be “tackling” is NFL.com.

Here are five SEO problems that NFL.com currently faces along with recommended solutions:

Penalty 1:
Many of the URLs are dynamic or contain non-SEO-friendly characters (e.g. question marks and equal signs). Here is an example: http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/profile?team=PIT

How to fix Problem 1: Re-write the URLs and ensure that all of the URLs have SEO-friendly characters.  This is what the above URL should look like: http://www.nfl.com/teams/pittsburghsteelers/PIT.

Notice that this new URL doesn’t have any non SEO-friendly characters in it.

Penalty 2: Many of the home page links to inner pages have unnecessary characters (for click-tracking purposes). Here is an example: http://www.nfl.com/goto?id=09000d5d8237f2f9&module=HP11_cp

How to fix Problem 2: Link to the base URLs to pass link juice and page strength to the correct URL.  This is what the above URL should look like: http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d8237f2f9/article/cowher-to-dolphins-both-parties-should-tread-carefully

Penalty 3:
NFL.com has multiple H1 tags.

How to fix Problem 3: Only have one H1 tag on a given page; change the other H1 tags to H2 tags.

Penalty 4: Not using rel=”canonical” tags.

How to fix Problem 4: Certain pages are tagged for clicks, and they should have the rel=”canonical” tag to the correct URL. The URL should look like this: http://www.nfl.com/players/search?category=team&filter=0610&playerType=current&clickid=topnav

Penalty 5: There is no alt text on the logo and no title on the logo URL.

How to fix Problem 5: Add alt text to logo. Here is what it should look like:
alt=”National Football League”
title=”NFL”

That concludes the first installment of our SEO audit series.  Feel free to comment with any questions that you may have about these particular problems of general SEO issues. We’ll see you next week when we take a look at DicksSportingGoods.com!

We’ve decided that we don’t want to hoard all of this good SEO information to ourselves, so we’ve published the Highly Relevant SEO Process for you to see.

The process is laid out in a step-by-step format, and it takes into consideration many SEO best practices (such as keyword research, on-page optimization, and linkbuilding), but we’ve also sprinkled in some other strategies that enhance our SEO efforts.

You can access our SEO process here or just click on the screenshot below.

Please let us know if you have any questions or comments about the SEO process. Enjoy!

74% of people searching for local business information use search engines to find it first. This is significantly higher than the old days when people used the yellow pages first. Think of SEO as the new, de facto investment you need to make as you would your de facto investment in the yellow pages. You now have to make that de facto investment. It has not become more clouded though and not as easy as taking an ad out in the yellow pages.

That’s because there are so many so-called “experts” out there and very few authorities. This course is the authority on search engine optimization.

Another statistic is that for every $1 spent online, it drives $6 offline. If you are actively looking for an agency, consider Highly Relevant’s ethical search engine optimization services.

Note: All statistics taken from “The Art of SEO.”

First of all, if you want to figure out how to see if your business has duplicate listings in Google Local results, here is a great reference about Identifying and Removing Duplicate Listings.

In addition to searching Google Maps for your business name, you can also search by your phone number as such “310 824 9590″. Searching by phone number can help identify duplicate Google Places pages based upon the phone number being used which is especially useful if you have recently changed phone numbers.

OK, I have duplicate Google listings. How do I remove them!?

Removing duplicate listings is a two part process that can take up to and over 72 hours to complete. Many people only do one of the two: they login to their Google Local dashboard, claim ownership of the old listing, remove and/or suspend their old listing and then are done, but that’s not enough.

To permanently remove and old or duplicate listing, you must do the following:

1. Login to your Google Local Dashboard, Claim ownership of the duplicate listing, and remove the listing from your Local Dashboard AND Google maps.
2. After you have remove it from your Google Local Dashboard AND Google Maps, go to the duplicate Google listing page. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and click the “Report a problem” link and a new window should pop-up.

   Check the radio box “Please is permanently closed.”, enter the following in the comments section: “Please remove. Alex Becker alex@highlyrelevant.com”, check the box “Send email when the problem is reviewed.” and then click “Report problem”. (see image below for example)

Update: If you want to give your new Google local account an added boost (literally and metaphorically) sign up for Google Boost inside of your local dashboard and for starters, have the Boost ad link to your actual Google places pace. This will help expedite the duplicate listing deletion and also help get your new profile some organic traction.

Indeed, months after the Panda update (Google’s largest update to their algorithm in recent memory), SEO’s are still scrambling to pinpoint what exactly has changed, and what strategy and tactics to use to remedy penalized sites.

The point is, the update didn’t target one specific item, but instead, addresses a range of factors made possible by Google Caffeine and their index infrastructure.
We don’t know the exact factors the algorithm update focused on, because Google “doesn’t want folks to game our search results.”

Below is a list of questions from Amit’s post that provides insight into what Google is looking for in terms of quality content. Some of these are qualitative and quantitative, but “if you want to step into Google’s mindset, the questions below provide some guidance on how we’ve been looking at the issue”.

• Would you trust the information presented in this article?
• Is this article written by an expert or enthusiast who knows the topic well, or is it more shallow in nature?
• Does the site have duplicate, overlapping, or redundant articles on the same or similar topics with slightly different keyword variations?
• Would you be comfortable giving your credit card information to this site?
• Does this article have spelling, stylistic, or factual errors?
• Are the topics driven by genuine interests of readers of the site, or does the site generate content by attempting to guess what might rank well in search engines?
• Does the article provide original content or information, original reporting, original research, or original analysis?
• Does the page provide substantial value when compared to other pages in search results?
• How much quality control is done on content?
• Does the article describe both sides of a story?
• Is the site a recognized authority on its topic?
• Is the content mass-produced by or outsourced to a large number of creators, or spread across a large network of sites, so that individual pages or sites don’t get as much attention or care?
• Was the article edited well, or does it appear sloppy or hastily produced?
• For a health related query, would you trust information from this site?
• Would you recognize this site as an authoritative source when mentioned by name?
• Does this article provide a complete or comprehensive description of the topic?
• Does this article contain insightful analysis or interesting information that is beyond obvious?
• Is this the sort of page you’d want to bookmark, share with a friend, or recommend?
• Does this article have an excessive amount of ads that distract from or interfere with the main content?
• Would you expect to see this article in a printed magazine, encyclopedia or book?
• Are the articles short, unsubstantial, or otherwise lacking in helpful specifics?
• Are the pages produced with great care and attention to detail vs. less attention to detail?
• Would users complain when they see pages from this site?

In a post Panda world, remember that fixing your strategy won’t immediately get you results, as you will have to wait for an algorithm refresh, meaning Google will have to re-evaluate your sites ranking score.

If you’re struggling with your SEO, look closely at these questions and re-evaluate your content and marketing strategies. Better yet, speak to us today to see what we can do for you.

• Login to Google Analytics
• Select the site you wish to analyze
• Click “Traffic Sources” then “Keywords”
• Show: “non-paid”
• Select a time period of about the past 6 months
• Display 50 rows
• Find 5-10 relevant KWs for your business (These are not necessarily the KWs that give you the most traffic)

For this example, I’m using Highly Relevant and will determine our keyword search market share for the following 5 keywords: digital marketing agency, digital marketing agency los angeles, social media marketing los angeles, digital agency los angeles, los angeles seo.

2) Search Google – What do you rank in Google for those KWs?

You can go about this two ways: First of all, you can manually search Google keyword-by-keyword and then manually find your ranking. This is pretty easy to do unless you have lots of keywords you are investigating.

The second way, and my preferred way, is to use a rank checker such as this one by seobook. Although the rank checker is definitely not 100% accurate, I find that it generally puts me in the right place to verify what the rankings for the keywords and domains in question actually are at the time.

You now should have your top keywords and their current rankings in Google.

3) Google External Keyword Tool – How many times are your keywords being searched monthly?

Next, you need to Google’s external keyword tool and put your keywords into the box, enter the captcha, and then click Search.

In the left-side menu under “Match Types” check the box “[Exact]” and then after the page refreshes, uncheck the box “Broad” and again let it refresh. You should now see a bunch of keywords (starting with the ones you input) with brackets around them. The next step is to note the total number of Global Monthly Searches for each of the keywords.

You now should have your top keywords, their current rankings in Google and the exact number of global monthly searches.

4) Back to Google Analytics – How much traffic did you get for your keywords the last 30 days?

The next step is to go back to Google Analytics and see how many visitors you have gotten the past 30 days for those keywords. Again, you need to do the following:

• Login to Google Analytics
• Select the site you wish to analyze
• Click “Traffic Sources” then “Keywords”
• Show: “non-paid”
• Display 500 rows
• Find out the visitors that each keyword sent

You now should have your top keywords, their current rankings in Google, the exact number of global monthly searches and the amount of visitors each keyword generated you the last 30 days. The last column we need to create is what your SEO market share is for each keyword. We will do this by taking the number of visits we received the last 30 days for the keyword divided by 80% of the exact number of global searches monthly (~80% of total searches go to SEO results; ~20% goes to PPC ads). Below is an example of our output: