Did webs.com mess this up badly?

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Steven Ciccantelli: After a very long phone call with my website builder they are finally taking site down and fixing coding issues.
  After over a year my paid site has never been indexed.So no matter how good the SEO is if Google can't find me really no use.
  They are only going to charge me half of what I owe in January.
  My question is after 15 months of no index is this fair and what are my other options?
  I am not even sure that when and if they fix the coding issues they will get my site noticed.My trust factor with them is zero.
  Thank you for all the help so far in the G+ communities any advice is most welcome.
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  Jim Munro: Please add the url, Steven. Let's look at it. :)
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  Ian Wortley: Steven, I'm assuming you mean the .biz site. For starters it has noindex tags on it so it's actively telling search engines not to index it. After that it is just appalling and they have some cheek charging you even half what you "owe" them (even allowing for there being two sides to every story).
  Honestly, there are any number of high school kids that could do a much better job of the coding. The stylesheet is embedded in the page, there are multiple doctype declarations, the javascript is also on the page, there are links out to directories etc etc.
  
  Even if you remove the noindex tags there is a looooaaaaad of work to be done cleaning up that mess.... and I haven't even looked at what you've been up to with link exchanges.
  
  I'd love to find something positive to tell you but there isn't anything.
  
  Do you own the domain and the hosting account or was that done through the "web design company"?
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Ian Wortley ouch!!!! And this is a major company.So I could try to buy the .biz...I own the .com through Go Daddy.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Jim Munro no wonder this site made the Seokitten I'll.abraxitaxi dot biz.Perhaps it is time to start over?
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  Ian Wortley: Steven, the .com version just displays the .biz site in an iframe - that would be complete with noindex tags. Make sure you have access to all your domains. Change the access codes. Then fire the present company and get somebody else. You don't need much. A wordpress install would do everything you're trying to do on your present site and more. All you need is a little theme design (new designer) and a few plugins for which there is plenty of advice available here.
  
  Sorry it's ouch, but I'd rather be totally honest than sugar coat it.
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  Dmitry Grunt: if you talking about ;http://www.abraxitaxi.biz/
  this site has low quality content, all text copied ;http://clip2net.com/s/6qS564
  
  and indexig blocked ;http://clip2net.com/s/6qS64B
  
  add some good articles about your service, maybe this will help, and sure remove noindex
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  Jim Munro: Listen to the good advice Ian and Dmitry have given here, Steven.
  
  This is the one ace you have in your hand: "I own the .com through Go Daddy."
  
  Forget about the .biz, you don't need it.
  
  Forget about GoDaddy. They have a low sticker price but once you factor in all their addins they are one of the most expensive on the internet. On a scale of one to ten where ten equals best, I give GoDaddy a zero for hosting. Actually it should be -10 because they continually and deliberately hamper googlebot's crawling to cut costs then lie about it.
  
  Transfer out of GoDaddy to another registrar where you can manage your own dns without paying $3.49 a month for it.
  
  wget your .biz site, then search/replace the noindex tags and swap out all of the .biz links to full urls like this: http://www.abraxitaxi.com/your site's pages.
  
  Find a good host and upload your edited site as the .com version, the coding is suboptimal but googlebot will swallow just about anything.
  
  Job's done. :)
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Dmitry Grunt +Ian Wortley +Jim Munro thank you for advice yes .biz linked to .com and .net.Unfortunately what I have little of is time.I do have a WP account so maybe I can try that.Let me free up the .com and go from there but think I am going to use a private developer.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: So good news is that they forced me to join G+.Next week I will have more time again thanks for the feedback as usual.
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  Jim Munro: Don't waste time on the  ;.biz and .net, mate.
  
  301 redirect them to your .com if you find yourself with nothing else to do one day but they are of no other earthly use to you.
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  Nicholas G: The backlink to "Trust Directory" on your homepage of the .biz domain is a bad sign. Probably exchanging links with them, which isn't good. So I dug a little further.
  
  I checked the backlink profile (of the .biz) and it doesn't look good. It's nothing but link directory backlinks and spammy "social bookmark" links pointing to your website. Not good. I also noticed at least one (probably) paid blog network link pointing to your site.
  
  All of those tactics worked great a few years ago. But Google is much smarter now and could actually penalize your site for trying to manipulate rankings with easy and/or paid backlinks. If you were doing this, I would stop immediately (but it probably wasn't you).
  
  What's weird is that a huge web design company couldn't even figure out there is a noindex tag in the HTML? I'm guessing it was the Web dot com company in the footer that made your site? Shame on them. And if they were the ones building the spammy links to your site, that is unbelievable. Hope that helps a bit!
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Nicholas G no I did use a SEO company but web dot com built the site.Let me see how they perform with rebuilding but I am a bit upset with them If I have to start from scratch so be it.But I really have no clue what to do next.
  
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  Jim Munro: How about if I download the .biz site, strip out the noindex, and replace it with absolute urls and send it to you as a zip? Do you know how to ftp to a new webhost? If so, I think I will have time tomorrow to do that for you.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Jim Munro ftp that's the florist right? No.First I need a web host like weezly,joomla etc right.Then I need to free up the .com? I am sure new host will have instructions so let me find a good host first.Any ideas? Can not believe how helpful everyone has been.Also need to free up some time for real PC.
  They need a new community for me...stupid people who use SEO on bad websites.
  Anyhow if you are willing and have time that would be cool but I think I need to learn more about florists....ftp
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Jim Munro let's wait and see what they do but what a generous offer.From what I read so far this site is doomed.
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  Jim Munro: FFS I just had a look at the code. Are you running some plugins or was this screwed up by webs dot com?
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Jim Munro They did all the coding.Wish I could send them these comments but I won't.Anyhow perhaps they will give me a good site. If not I will fire them and hire someone in this community.
  Not sure I can afford the expertise here but then again I really can not afford to be indexed.
  
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  Steven Ciccantelli: Not indexed even
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  Jim Munro: They are on G+. Talk to them publicly. If someone with a clue looks at your site, maybe they'll be embarrassed enough to fix it.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Jim Munro good idea.Anyway save your time for now.If new site sux I will be looking for a true professional that takes pride in what they do.
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  Jim Munro: +eBizWebpages ;Your comment has been removed. Please do not pitch for business in this community.
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  Nagesh shukla: +Steven Ciccantelli ;Please check for other issues, Robots TXT, .htacess, and other things. Have you submitted your sitemap to google with webmaster tools ?
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  Nagesh shukla: +Steven Ciccantelli ;You may refer this...http://moz.com/ugc/8-reasons-why-your-site-might-not-get-indexed
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  Nagesh shukla: +Jim Munro ;what do you think ? will code mess will prevent your site from being indexed? . I have seen many more sites with Worst coding problems but doing well in Google. Your feedback is appreciated.
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  Jim Munro: I am not an expert, Nagesh, but generally googlebot can read code that is far from validation. However this code has two head sections. Not sure how that will work, with or without the noindex.
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  eBizWebpages: +Jim Munro
   ;Ok so let me try this another way. By the way, my comment was hardly a hard pitch and it had some additional information that Steven may have found useful that you and the other guys never pointed out.  ; +Steven Ciccantelli needs some real help here and it's obvious that he isn't going to be able to correct all of the problems that his site has on his own. If you want a real and fast solution Steven that isn't a bunch of "check this and check that" back and forth and tech speak that you'll never figure out on your own and don't have time for anyway then I would be happy to personally help you. Just let me know.
  
  This community is great for inexperienced people to get some insight into why they are having problems. But not everybody is going to understand how to implement alot of the corrective measures suggested. Not letting direct offers of assistance in posts when clearly warranted is counter productive for everyone.
  
  That said, I get where you're coming from Jim. Nobody wants a bunch of spammy posts flooding in here and I think you can agree that is not what my comment was.
  
  - Eric W.
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  Nagesh shukla: +Steven Ciccantelli ;You will need to remove 2nd head tag from your website and the website will be indexed
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  Nagesh shukla: +Steven Ciccantelli ;You will need to remove <META NAME="robots" CONTENT="noindex,nofollow"> from your second code in order to get indexed. ;
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  Ian Wortley: I missed +eBizWebpages ;deleted post but I agree with the next one that Steven really needs help here..... and it's Christmas, so how about we all help out properly. ;
  
  +Steven Ciccantelli ;If you find a decent hosting company with servers in your locality (anybody with local knowledge feel free to offer advice please) I'll put up a wordpress install on it using your .com domain as a Christmas present. I'll also get it into reasonable SEO shape with your help on content.
  
  I started one to give you a very rough idea of how it would work ( ;http:// bit.ly/ 1a0qa8a ). It's just a slight variation on the twentythirteen theme that comes with wordpress, but it works well on cell phones which I would think is important for a taxi company.
  
  Then the other domains can be redirected or perhaps just parked in case there are any dodgy links attached to them.
  
  If you want to stick with the company you were with and see what they do that's cool by me, just thought I'd offer.
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  Jim Munro: Good one, Ian Wortley. For my part, I will link to your good deed from a better site than this community.
  
  However, please disable the link to your site in the above comment. I apologise for having to be pedantic but if we do not enforce our simple rules, the quality of our community would be quickly destroyed by linkdroppers and people seeking gigs.
  
  +Steven Ciccantelli ;- I suggest that you accept Ian's kind offer but along with that, also run from GoDaddy and Webs (dot) com as fast as you can.
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  Ian Wortley: Sorry +Jim Munro ;. I've added in a few spaces to break it up. Thanks for your help. I've no idea about hosting companies in Florida.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Ian Wortley that is pretty cool how do I find a decent local hosting company?Google it I suppose.
  On Monday I will call my designers and do as Jim Monroe has suggested....embarrass the b@@@Ards.
  There seems to be a lot of help on the WP community and I do have an account.Another thing to learn but time is my enemy.
  I should have been suspicious when wed design company sponsored the Jacksonville Jaguars.
  I joined these G+ communities to just learn a bit so I could ask those I was contracting intelligent questions.Man have I stepped into a firestorm.
  I wonder how many others are in my same position.And it was SEO Kitten that started it all.Thank you.
  
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  Jim Munro: +Ian Wortley ;thank you for your understanding, mate, but it would have been more useful to both you and the community as ;www.webshed(dot)ie/sites/abraxi/ :)
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  Steven Ciccantelli: This is a first.....everyone agrees my site stinks.lol
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  Ian Wortley: @ +Steven Ciccantelli ;I found bluehost (dot) com and hostdime (dot) com . The second one is a lot more expensive (165 / year) so I sent them a mail asking them to explain why they are more expensive. No reply yet but I only just sent it. Anybody else used either (or even heard of them?) I think it's time to post my first question in this community......
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Ian Wortley I found Innerplanet and the two you mentioned.Asking for EPP code so when I have time I need to call go daddy etc..Guess I will know more later.The .com name should be 4 years old or so that is good? And if I might ask why is a local server better.Again I am reading conflicting views.
  I am almost positive I own that .com for 2 more years and once I figure out how to transfer it I will let you know.
  Now I need to learn about XXX cloud windows etc. But will go with your suggestions.
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  Jim Munro: I am not an expert in many things but I do know that local server is better although Google denies it, Steve.
  
  GoDaddy are bastards and will try to make you give up before you can transfer away from them. Don't let them bamboozle you. You'll be glad you left them in the long run.
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  Ian Wortley: Let's see what other people come back with on hosting. It's not really important that it's local anymore - it used to be, and I guess I always try to do it out of habit. The age of the .com shouldn't make any difference. If anything it will be negative rather than positive because of how it was used, but I don't think it's anything to worry about.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Jim Munro see what that darn cat did? Anyhow Go Daddy not the problem as I just linked the .biz to the .com.It is just a big website developer creating bad products and then selling you ppc or AdWords.They should be ashamed.
  Still if I did not think I was being
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  Jim Munro: I think you must have selective hearing, Steven. :)
  
  Staying with GoDaddy is more expensive if you require all addins and gives you only limited control of your own domain without paying additional fees. Consider moving to a registrar that allows you to control your domain records without paying a fee for it.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +Jim Munro just trying to get .com.I will not be using go daddy at all.Heard ya loud and clear.
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  eBizWebpages: Local hosting is not necessary and where your domains are registered doesn't matter either.
  
  Another thing to avoid is making your choices primarily based on cost. That's kind of what got you into this mess in the first place. You get what you pay for when it comes to design/hosting. That includes quality, reliability, service, and support.
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  Steven Ciccantelli: +eBizWebpages Yes the design was free but the hosting and changes plus a mobile site is about 135.00 per month.
  I never really had issues with that they made changes add on etc..But I don't think that is cheap...lol
  Just someone made a mistake but I did call several times thinking this was cleared up...lol
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  Steven Ciccantelli: True story last night I was waved down by 4 people just looking to go home.I find out that they are having a Christmas party at the Jaguars game and that all 4 worked for the Major web design company that hosts .biz site.
  Perhaps tactlessy I bring up my situation.When I dropped this group home one of the gentleman was rather upset with me for posting my concerns on G+.Of course he will never use my services and I thought 2 things.....I am not indexed so you wont find me and if you are producing low quality work why sign it? If a chef is selling his specials and he doesn't taste to make sure it is palatable he won't last long in business.Small world and when we make mistakes why do we not just fess up instead of blaming others?
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  Jim Munro: Great story. :)