Here I am listing out some very important findings from Googlers discussions on Webmaster Group. I am sure this will be very helpful for all webmasters & SEOs. * Does links from .edu, .gov, .org, blogs & social networking sites have much value? No, links from .edu, .gov, .org etc. will not give any additional boost to your site PR. Google generally treat all links the same - be it from .gov or .edu or .info sites. Similarly, social media sites and blogs are also treat in same manner as other sites. * Is abc.com/def better or def.abc.com better in terms of Search Engine Positioning? Both are good from search engines point of view. It really is a matter of preference depending on what you're trying to do; it may be easier to manage one over the other. * Does inconsistent capitalization of URLs cause duplicate content issues and dilution of page rank? For example, www.site.com/abc Vs www.site.com/Abc. (On Windows hosts, these are the same page, but are different pages on Unix hosts) Yes, URLs are case-sensitive & treated differently if they appear with different cases. Google always prefer to have only one version in it’s indexing. It is always advisable to keep only one URL for one page & if another exists with other case then put them in robot.txt file. Also, ask other sites to link back with the main version of the URLs. * IP share can punish if you share it with a bad site. -- true or false? Don’t worry about that anymore. The situations where it would matter are when the server is overloaded (can't respond to your visitors) and when it's incorrectly configured (not returning your site to your visitors). * Does Google supports Link Buying & exchange? No, participating in linking schemes to impact ranking is not advised it's against the webmaster guidelines. The best linking strategy is to create a site with unique content or services that people want to link to. Then publicize it. * Does it matter how I 301 redirect? No, this does not have any effect on Google. Just make sure you're returning the correct status code in the HTTP headers. * Does link: gives exactly the number of back links to a site? No, the link: operator only shows a sampling of links to a site, so it may not show all of the links that Google knows about. To find more information about backlinks to your own site, Google gives verified site owners more information about backlinks in Webmaster Tools. * Should I be using hyphens instead of underscores in my URLs to improve a page's rank? We should use hyphens instead of underscores. If you're already using underscores and that's working fine for you and your rankings, it's not worth switching. But if you're doing a new site, then I would go with hyphens. * Does having the domain name for a long period e.g. 5 or 10 years really affects SEO and give high rankings? A site's reputation can be a indicator to search engines, but of course, it's not everything. Having a site for a long period of time can establish credibility with users, and as a search engine we also want to reflect this type of credibility. Of course, newer domains can also gain users and credibility. It seems like running a good site is a bit like running a reputable business. So yes, if your domain has been credible for years it can help. If you buy an old domain and put all your content on it in hopes of getting instant rankings, that's not the best idea. * How many chained 301 redirects does Google not "like"? The HTTP 1.0 standard allows for a maximum of 5 redirects for a URL. That said, search engines might treat it in different ways, so it is recommended reducing the redirects to a minimal number. * Of late, many webmasters experience sudden drop in rankings for their sites. One day it would be on #3 and the other day it would go back to #19 or #26. Any specific reason behind this..? Most likely, you have been accessing different Data Centers checking your rankings. As Google DC's are being updated continuously but not all simultaneously, slight variations in the SERP's are possible. * Will it make any difference between a shared IP and a dedicated IP on SEO or search results, as opinions are divided on this aspect? Most of the web is on shared IP addresses, so it doesn't make much sense for us to give those on dedicated IP addresses any advantages. That said, if your server is struggling with the load of your website, it might make sense to move to a dedicated server that helps to make sure that your users are happy when visiting your website. * Does Google differentiate between searches in lower case and searches with proper capitalization? Google may take this into account if it recognizes that it is relevant to the query. * Is there any limit on the number of redirections 301, a Web site?. In a large site, if you change the URL structure, is the optimum time to do it with 301? or is best done gradually There's no per-page limit on the number of 301s you can do, so you could move 100K pages to 100K new location. However, if Google see a really long chain of redirects, eventually it will decide to stop following the chain.
Good job mate... Keep going... Very usful and undoubtable information... Every seo should read this...
really great info! I was wondering about some of these. What is your opinion on .info domains? Does it affect your ranking?
Thanks for the info, this tips should really be appreciated to evaluate in website starting from scrap...
To get more answer related to SEO, follow this link of Google Live Chat Session, there are bunch of questions that have been answered by Google to the webmasters during the chat session, I think it is quite helpful too.