Craig Charley

Link removal and then disavow.

They're just saying that disavow works best as a last option for links you can't get removed and they're more likely to take it into consideration if you can prove you've put in the hard work first.

Skip to 1.56 to restore your faith in songs about marketing - http://www.brightonseo.com/brightonseo-rap/

Thanks Mark for sharing this. If anyone uses WMT in a way that I haven't thought of please let me know and I will add it in with a reference.

Update 09/07: Search Engine Land have reported that Google’s John Mueller has twice stated that if you are guest blogging for links, then those links should be nofollowed.

I think this shows that Google intend to crack down on guest post links in the near future, but I'm not sure whether they will consider the quality of the site/content or just go for an all out attach. What do you think?

Great article. I'm a big fan of this - "Once you’re done with the content, you can start to ask yourself whether this content needs a header. Or a logo. Or subnavigation. Does it need navigation at all? And does it really need all of those widgets? The answer to that last question is “No.” I’ve never understood what those widgets are for. I have never seen a useful widget. I have never seen a widget that’s better than white space."

I hate trying to take in content that clearly isn't the focus of the page, where all the site owner wants you to do is click to other pages or click on ads.

I like the idea of the transparency and trust factors, but it does tie you to quite a rigid email marketing strategy as you've told your subscribers exactly what they're going to get and when they're going to get it.

Hi Mark,

The thing is, I don't think he is referring to Author Rank in his comments. I think that AR could be one of many signals deciding 'verification' i.e. if a website has many well trusted authors then that will be a positive signal that the site is for a 'verified' brand.

If Google change the algorithm to heavily favour those who use their own products then I don't think they'll be so successful in defending themselves in court. It's one thing for SEOs to guess that using Google products helps their ranking, it's another for the Executive Chairman to explicitly state that as fact!

Just my thoguhts.