Newbie Question(s) so dumb, you're afraid to even ask!

I'm going through all my content and doing a quality check. I'm using a combination traffic stats and problems (pointed out by Screaming Frog) to prioritize which content to work on.

I have one question, how many months after publishing should you give a page before judging it based on traffic stats? I'm thinking 6 months or so.
 
Hey, a random question I was thinking about the other day:

So I remember asking this long ago, you mentioned how you can steal an article's h2 or h3 and write an article specific to that keyword.

But we assume that the article has had traffic already and naturally, it would build backlinks to that page, wouldn't it still outrank the more specific article? Or am I wrong in this? @Ryuzaki
 
But we assume that the article has had traffic already and naturally, it would build backlinks to that page, wouldn't it still outrank the more specific article? Or am I wrong in this? @Ryuzaki
The still need to evaluate the on-page signals and strength of a page regardless of the situation. It's not as simple as just writing a standalone article with an H2 from another article as your H1.
 
alright, another random question. So I am trying to promote an affiliate program basically, I was wondering has anyone here has been effective in paying people on Upwork or wherever to just write responses on Quora 8 hours and get a good return?
 
Can you compete with Youtube for a first page spot? (my site is new)
I found a keyword I want to target but the first page is 8 Youtube and 1 Wikihow.
Is it a dead end because Google own Youtube or do Google want diversity?
Only article is Wikihow.
 
Can you compete with Youtube for a first page spot? (my site is new)
I found a keyword I want to target but the first page is 8 Youtube and 1 Wikihow.
Is it a dead end because Google own Youtube or do Google want diversity?
Only article is Wikihow.
I think you can still compete with Youtube.
Sure, a lot of people will watch a video if google suggests it.

But some people prefer written content and your blogpost might just be what they were looking for. :smile:
 
I'm going through all my content and doing a quality check. I'm using a combination traffic stats and problems (pointed out by Screaming Frog) to prioritize which content to work on.

I have one question, how many months after publishing should you give a page before judging it based on traffic stats? I'm thinking 6 months or so.
6 months to 12 months. The timeline keeps stretching as Google continues to struggle with fighting spam. It's easier to demoralize people than figure out how to whack them without collateral damage.

alright, another random question. So I am trying to promote an affiliate program basically, I was wondering has anyone here has been effective in paying people on Upwork or wherever to just write responses on Quora 8 hours and get a good return?
This is a "waste of time" activity. You might see people grinding this kind of spam out on forums like BlackHatWorld in their "Journey" threads like [JOURNEY] $5 / Day on Quora. And then read it and they fail to make $5 a day and it devolves into a discussion on how to not get banned on Quora and how to have multiple accounts and all that. It's dumb and it's working against the forces of nature. I think it's worth it once to get a backlink though, that's about it.

Can you compete with Youtube for a first page spot? (my site is new)
I found a keyword I want to target but the first page is 8 Youtube and 1 Wikihow.
Is it a dead end because Google own Youtube or do Google want diversity?
Only article is Wikihow.
If a SERP is showing you that 9 out of 10 of the results are video results, it's because that's what the users have shown Google's algorithm that they want on that type of query. Doing anything other than a video is going against the grain. They might offer one slot for written content, and in that case, you're fighting over 1 slot instead of having the opportunity to usurp any of the other 9. Always match the intent of the SERP.
 
When buying link insertions, do you worry that the page that you get the link from is linking to other link buyers like you? Isn't the link juice going to be divided among all those sites diminishing the link value?

Do you try to get a link from a different page or is this how it is usually?
 
When buying link insertions, do you worry that the page that you get the link from is linking to other link buyers like you? Isn't the link juice going to be divided among all those sites diminishing the link value?

Do you try to get a link from a different page or is this how it is usually?
Depends, Yes, and Yes.

Haven't found an advertised link insert vendor that was entirely void of this so if I want just my site linked I default to "guest posts" which are often on similar domains and only have my link (+authority OBL and internals).

I still buy edits but just accept that there will be other clients on there. I'll click through, usually weak affiliates which isn't too worrisome. Penis enlargement links on the other hand will only be enlarging my vendor blacklist.
 
I've got what's probably a silly question, but here goes.

I'm setting up my website. I've installed the Astra Theme as it seems to be one of the most popular, and most performant (along with GeneratePress).

When I install the Astra Theme it looks quite barebones, and they immediately attempt to upsell me with "Starter Templates".

I'm all for investing some money into my site... but are these templates any good? I get that the experts among us here likely are coding their own site using CSS and javascript from the ground up, because that is how you eke the absolute best page speeds, and get the ideal look and feel that you're envsioning.

But for someone getting started, are these themes ok to use? Or should I stick with Astra default and build manually? Or is there a third option I'm not seeing?

To put it another way - I don't want perfect to become the enemy of good enough. Are "Starter Templates" good enough?
 
I'm all for investing some money into my site... but are these templates any good? I get that the experts among us here likely are coding their own site using CSS and javascript from the ground up, because that is how you eke the absolute best page speeds, and get the ideal look and feel that you're envsioning.

Personally, I use templates and pre-built themes and then customize them. You are basically paying to save time with pre-built elements. After you get your design ready and setup - you can then go and mess with the CSS/JS and optimize it for optimal speed.

I used to code wordpress sites from scratch, but that was a horrible waste of time and I don't recommend you do that because the themes/templates these days have a lot of pre-built features which are already optimized.

I personally think you should get a premium theme (not a starter theme) with a lot of good reviews and start from there. You can always upgrade/change themes later on if the one you got is horrible, but hopefully you do your research and find one with good reviews.
 
In ahrefs, I see tons of spammers linking to images on my site. Apparently this is really bad for SEO.

What is the best way to stop this?
 
Hey guys, I was wondering so a while back people suggested I add like infographic/chart type of thing in my article. I was wondering if this only applies to link bait articles or should I try to stuff/add little info graphic statistic charts into all my articles (Mainly talking about product review typa posts?)? Like even product review or product pricing articles?? I am assuming they'd want to know more about the product rather than a related niche/topic infographic/chart data.

I was also thinking if I create 2-5 articles that are very specific I know I will technically get more traffic since I'd be able to outrank people because the keyword is in my h1 and that article is all about that topic. However, I realized people like to link back to ultimate guide/comprehensive guides which are SUPER detailed but, I'd assume they'd get outranked by people targetting on very specific keywords wouldn't they? So, what would you guys say in this aspect to do?

Like, say you create 3 1k word articles and a 2k article that links to all 3 (1k word) articles. Would you overall build more backlinks than say someone who does 6k word article? I'd assume the 6k word article would get more backlinks. But, specific articles tend to outrank the more general ones.
 
What is the small logo before you webbadress on google search called and how do you size it? I have the WordPress w and it looks shit.

Another question, I have an About Page but I read that google likes if you have more Contact, Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Any thoughts about that?
 
What is the small logo before you webbadress on google search called and how do you size it? I have the WordPress w and it looks shit.
That's your favicon.ico file. Lots of generators online or you can just use Gimp.

Another question, I have an About Page but I read that google likes if you have more Contact, Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Any thoughts about that?
Legit businesses should of course have all this in place. For less-legit websites I tend not to bother.
 
Hey guys, I was wondering so a while back people suggested I add like infographic/chart type of thing in my article. I was wondering if this only applies to link bait articles or should I try to stuff/add little info graphic statistic charts into all my articles (Mainly talking about product review typa posts?)? Like even product review or product pricing articles?? I am assuming they'd want to know more about the product rather than a related niche/topic infographic/chart data.

I was also thinking if I create 2-5 articles that are very specific I know I will technically get more traffic since I'd be able to outrank people because the keyword is in my h1 and that article is all about that topic. However, I realized people like to link back to ultimate guide/comprehensive guides which are SUPER detailed but, I'd assume they'd get outranked by people targetting on very specific keywords wouldn't they? So, what would you guys say in this aspect to do?

Like, say you create 3 1k word articles and a 2k article that links to all 3 (1k word) articles. Would you overall build more backlinks than say someone who does 6k word article? I'd assume the 6k word article would get more backlinks. But, specific articles tend to outrank the more general ones.
I would add infographics and charts only on my core articles - these are the general, guide articles that are over 5k words. Be as detailed and precise as possible. They should be easy to read and understand - hire a graphic designer if this is not your strong point.

Long articles, that go deep, really deep into a topic rank better, at least in my case. They are very long, typically more than 5k words, and have a tonne of keywords, and they all bring in traffic. People love these trunk articles that cover a topic. However, you can add links to more specialized articles. For instance, you have a trunk article about "How does a clutch work?", and you can link to smaller articles about different types of crankshafts. These smaller articles will be focused on single keywords, while the larger one will have a variety of keywords.
 
Hello homies,

When I do keyword research I come across https://smallbusiness.chron.com a lot, they only write short articles and I quite often find them on the first page. But they have really high DA 91 and pushing out articles like crazy. Are they easy to compete against or are they classified as a newspaper or something like that? Are they hard to win against?

I know you are going to say topical authority and stuff but would you count them as a weak competitor like quora and reddit?
 
I got various small sites one of my sites which is top. Dropped for quite a lot there's also Cloudflare enabled which I'm paying for. Could be cloudflare reason for a drop or just a google update? What do you think if I disable cloudflare for 1 month and see if this got any impact on rankings? Curiosu what you think.
 
hallo, i have a case when some article was posted with same topics but different tittle. in this case, what should i do? since one of the ''original'' posted is down in ranking on search.
 
I did a siteaudit on seoptimer and it said that my site was www.xxxxxx.com - front page.

It also said.

Meta Description Tag
Your page appears to be missing a meta description tag.

What do we usually do here? I didn't know this was a thing to edit.
 
Say I have a page (imaginary cowboy niche, hah) with internal links, like this:

Article:
Our 10 Favorite Blue Widgets for Cowboys

URL:
domain.com/favorite-widgets-blue

Then at the end I include a FAQ section with links like this:

FAQ
1. Are blue widgets needed for cowboy saddles?
Yes, blue widgets are needed for cowboy saddles because blah blah blah. To get more information on why this is so important, check out our article about xxx (insert link to another article, different url, on our site that goes in more depth on the subject)

2. Are blue widgets used in making cowboy boots?
No, blue widgets are not used in cowboy boots because blah blah blah. To learn more about why blue widgets aren't necessary in cowboy boots see our page about xxx (insert link to another article, different url, on our site that goes in more depth on the subject)

3. What are the best blue widgets for cowboys?
The best blue widgets for cowboys, in our experience, are xxx, xxx, and xxx. To see a full list of our top picks for the best widgets go here (insert link, not jump link, to the URL of this very article, i.e. insert link to 'domain.com/favorite-widgets-blue')

If I have several links in the FAQ section that link back to itself like this (not jump links and not links to other articles), will that cause any negative consequences for SEO, rankings, flow of link juice, etc?
 
Say I have a page (imaginary cowboy niche, hah) with internal links, like this:

Article:
Our 10 Favorite Blue Widgets for Cowboys

URL:
domain.com/favorite-widgets-blue

Then at the end I include a FAQ section with links like this:

FAQ
1. Are blue widgets needed for cowboy saddles?
Yes, blue widgets are needed for cowboy saddles because blah blah blah. To get more information on why this is so important, check out our article about xxx (insert link to another article, different url, on our site that goes in more depth on the subject)

2. Are blue widgets used in making cowboy boots?
No, blue widgets are not used in cowboy boots because blah blah blah. To learn more about why blue widgets aren't necessary in cowboy boots see our page about xxx (insert link to another article, different url, on our site that goes in more depth on the subject)

3. What are the best blue widgets for cowboys?
The best blue widgets for cowboys, in our experience, are xxx, xxx, and xxx. To see a full list of our top picks for the best widgets go here (insert link, not jump link, to the URL of this very article, i.e. insert link to 'domain.com/favorite-widgets-blue')

If I have several links in the FAQ section that link back to itself like this (not jump links and not links to other articles), will that cause any negative consequences for SEO, rankings, flow of link juice, etc?
Do you use a plugin or something to make it stand out? In my post they look alittle slugish when added at the end of the article?
 
Do you use a plugin or something to make it stand out? In my post they look alittle slugish when added at the end of the article?
No, never. I hate plugins, hah. We have way too many plugins as it is and I want to get rid of as many as possible. We are doing FAQs by hand right now (though split testing results to see if FAQs actually benefits us) but after we're done running some split tests, I'll then do a test to have Cloudflare automatically insert the FAQ's. If that works well, we'll do that. If not, I'll have my Operations Manager come up with a different way to automate or perhaps hire an outside dev to do it.

Not sure what you mean by "look a little sluggish". If you mean it doesn't look beautiful, who gives a shit? Does it actually matter? Most likely not. Focus on what's important.
 
No, never. I hate plugins, hah. We have way too many plugins as it is and I want to get rid of as many as possible. We are doing FAQs by hand right now (though split testing results to see if FAQs actually benefits us) but after we're done running some split tests, I'll then do a test to have Cloudflare automatically insert the FAQ's. If that works well, we'll do that. If not, I'll have my Operations Manager come up with a different way to automate or perhaps hire an outside dev to do it.

Not sure what you mean by "look a little sluggish". If you mean it doesn't look beautiful, who gives a shit? Does it actually matter? Most likely not. Focus on what's important.
I been googling all morning an noticed that Wordpress have something called /separator. Looks qute neat if added at the end of the article to "mark" the start of the FAQ. Any thoughts about that? :happy:
 
I been googling all morning an noticed that Wordpress have something called /separator. Looks qute neat if added at the end of the article to "mark" the start of the FAQ. Any thoughts about that? :happy:
Yes, it's a horizontal rule ( <hr> ). You can also style it with css to make it fit in with your design.
 
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