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

[Taq]

I would not delete those posts. Some posts are good just to have as a 'base'. You can refer to those posts from other articles.

Maybe you cannot rank for the main keyword, but it is probably possible to address some long-tails in the H2's. You can try to rank the article on those long tails. To support the 'difficult to rank posts' you can also write separate articles on those long-tails and link back to the main article. Who knows, maybe you can rank in the future.

Thanks. I've decided to update them and maybe try for some easier keywords in the headings as you said.

 

[Nemophilist8]

I'm not quite grasping this whole 3 Likes protocol when we're limited to Orientation and only experienced users can give likes but why would experienced users hang out here? I'm seeing posters on here from months ago that don't have any likes.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I'm seeing posters on here from months ago that don't have any likes.

That’s because those posters aren’t meeting the rest of us user’s criteria to be released into the forum at large and the system works great. We don’t want complete newbie questions littering up the entire forum or low and zero effort posters trashing up the place. We care about the signal to noise ratio.

If people without 3 likes could give likes then spammers could release endless accounts into the wild by liking themselves. We have this system in place so we can trap spammers, mainly.

Anyone who can’t post something of quality enough to get 3 measley likes is likely going to continue writing low quality posts across the whole forum. Everything is working perfectly. All it takes is an intro thread with the slightest amount of effort put in and you’ll get your likes. That’s proven to be too large of a hurdle for the kind of people we don’t want littering the forum.

Also, this is the most popular section of the forum by far in terms of posting, viewing, and new threads. The concern that nobody who has earned 3 likes looks at it isn’t a problem.

 

[Potatoe]

I'm not quite grasping this whole 3 Likes protocol when we're limited to Orientation and only experienced users can give likes but why would experienced users hang out here? I'm seeing posters on here from months ago that don't have any likes.

I hang out there and I'm pretty generous with my likes.

Between you and myself, that's already two out of the three nuclear keys turned, so it just takes one more person.

While it's true that there are probably fewer experienced members hanging out in orientation, anyone who browses the forum by looking at new posts will see it. If someone can't decipher how to get a few likes on a forum post after months, they're going to have a really tough time.

Seems like the powers that be never took my suggestion of a dislike button in orientation that subtracts from the 3 likes, that's probably for the best, though.

Edit: Y'know, I took a peek through and there were a couple people lingering on 1-2 likes. I'll try to be more diligent on keeping an eye, I've been pretty distracted from forums lately. Cheers @Nemophilist8, you ought to do the same

 

[majid051]

Hi, I have a serious problem. My website is a Pet blog that ranks for a lot of keywords on Google but the problem is my website doesn't rank on Mobiles. When I search every day my keywords are ranked just in desktop Google. I don't have any problem with mobile-friendly and the Search console doesn't show any Issues.
The second problem is All of articles just rank for US Google. For example if I search keywords from Canada IP It doesn't show anything. If anybody had this issue before please help me. Thank you

 

[Sutra]

I just noticed that my Google SERP results do not have a thumbnail image. However, most of my competitors do have the thumbnail image.

What do I need to do to get that thumbnail to show for my Google SERP results?

This is the type of thumbnail I'm talking about (not my site or niche though):

 

[DevMystic]

I've been reading how backlinks from terrible websites can tank your site. Does that mean that the competitors could purchase a bundle of spammy links and target me? How can I defend myself?

 

[Trump]

Which plugin are you guys using to implement ads to your websites?

I'm going to use Google Adsense (foreign website) and want to avoid automatic ads. I used Ad Inserter in the past, but not sure if it's still relevant.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I just noticed that my Google SERP results do not have a thumbnail image. However, most of my competitors do have the thumbnail image.

What do I need to do to get that thumbnail to show for my Google SERP results?

This is the type of thumbnail I'm talking about (not my site or niche though):

I think Google is leaning on using the Open Graph images (what Facebook uses, etc.). Yoast makes it possible to select an image (usually your featured image) on the Social tab for each post. You can set one for Facebook (Open Graph) and might as well set it for Twitter while you're there.

If you don't have that going, I think Google leans on whatever image is large enough and is above the fold. That's usually a Wordpress (or whatever CMS) featured image. But it being a featured image isn't the key. It's just that it's large and above the fold.

The problem is some themes have featured images built in but use them is "background-image" in the CSS, which I doubt Google is grabbing. It probably needs to actually be in an <img> tag.

I've been reading how backlinks from terrible websites can tank your site. Does that mean that the competitors could purchase a bundle of spammy links and target me? How can I defend myself?

This used to be the case. It's still possible to tank people's sites but it's a more sophisticated venture now. It can be done with links but obviously I'm not going to share the method. It's something I did to myself by accident in the past that I don't think Google has sewn up yet.

But the Penguin filter that Google released and refined over the past decade now has finally let them take the stance of ignoring and discounting bad links instead of punishing for them. It's not something you need to worry about and it's not something you can defend yourself from (except constantly updating your disavow file). But again, 99.9% of us don't need to worry about it. I truly believe that now.

 

[DevMystic]

This used to be the case. It's still possible to tank people's sites but it's a more sophisticated venture now. It can be done with links but obviously I'm not going to share the method. It's something I did to myself by accident in the past that I don't think Google has sewn up yet.

But the Penguin filter that Google released and refined over the past decade now has finally let them take the stance of ignoring and discounting bad links instead of punishing for them. It's not something you need to worry about and it's not something you can defend yourself from (except constantly updating your disavow file). But again, 99.9% of us don't need to worry about it. I truly believe that now.

Thank you that makes a lot of sense.

Something else I'm wondering:

I have two niche sites for which I am both somewhat knowledgable. One I can source the products pretty easily for photos and even videos. For the other one, I rely on stock photos. I do place a filter on them and slap my logo.

According to the Google Search central guidelines though, they say here that:

• Provide evidence such as visuals, audio, or other links of your own experience with the product, to support your expertise and reinforce the authenticity of your review.

How much would that matter?

 

[Boy]

I just moved off Gumroad to shop.website.com.

A subdomain is treated as its own website, correct? Ranking 1st for a suite of "how to sell..." keywords (only person answering the query), wouldn't mind competing with myself.

 

[Sutra]

I think Google is leaning on using the Open Graph images (what Facebook uses, etc.). Yoast makes it possible to select an image (usually your featured image) on the Social tab for each post. You can set one for Facebook (Open Graph) and might as well set it for Twitter while you're there.

If you don't have that going, I think Google leans on whatever image is large enough and is above the fold. That's usually a Wordpress (or whatever CMS) featured image. But it being a featured image isn't the key. It's just that it's large and above the fold.

The problem is some themes have featured images built in but use them is "background-image" in the CSS, which I doubt Google is grabbing. It probably needs to actually be in an <img> tag.

Just noticed that it's only a problem on Desktop. On mobile the image thumbnail is actually there. Any idea why it would show up on mobile but not on Desktop?

 

[quicksproutseo]

Does getting a lot of nofollow backlinks have any SEO value?

 

[Bob_the_Builder]

Hi all,

Firstly, I want to say this forum is great. Really learned a lot since I got here.

My question is about ads. I'm not sure whether I should put them on my website. From what I read, most people believe you miss out on revenue by avoiding ads. Moreover, affiliate sales do not suffer because of ads. Still, I wonder if this is the best option for me.

Currently, my website has about 25k page views a month. Revenue is around 1k, which means a CPM of $40. This is all affiliates.

As you can see, I cannot apply for Mediavine yet. Hopefully within 6 months, but you will never know. I do not want Ezoic because of everything I read online about it (speed, bad support). So, when I would choose ads, I'm left with Adsense.

Is Adsense worth it until I can apply for Mediavine?

Moreover, I don't think ads are the best option for all websites (I mean, is it possible to have a 'best option for all'). Maybe ads can make a website less trustworthy? Can you give examples of when an informational website should not do ads in your opinion?

I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Trump]

Has anyone tried having multiple sites within the same niche and apply to Adsense/Mediavine/Ezoic?

Example
Site 1: Health, family life and kitchen
Site 2: Health, family life, kitchen, business, culture and fashion

Both sites target the same keywords for the 3 first niches, but site 2 also have additional niches/content.

Although they target the same keywords, the content is written differently. No copy/paste.

I know Google doesn't like duplicates, hence why I have separated the two sites in every possible way. But I'm thinking about applying to Adsense with them both.

What do you think, would this be an issue?

 

[Rob Stone]

I am going to run some Google Ad tests for my niche to see how many clicks I get for keywords before looking to rank for that keyword.

Are you bothering with niche's/verticals that have Ads as you could be losing a significant amount of traffic to the ads so less people click on the SERPS themselves?

 

[Taq]

Hi all,

Firstly, I want to say this forum is great. Really learned a lot since I got here.

My question is about ads. I'm not sure whether I should put them on my website. From what I read, most people believe you miss out on revenue by avoiding ads. Moreover, affiliate sales do not suffer because of ads. Still, I wonder if this is the best option for me.

Currently, my website has about 25k page views a month. Revenue is around 1k, which means a CPM of $40. This is all affiliates.

As you can see, I cannot apply for Mediavine yet. Hopefully within 6 months, but you will never know. I do not want Ezoic because of everything I read online about it (speed, bad support). So, when I would choose ads, I'm left with Adsense.

Is Adsense worth it until I can apply for Mediavine?

Moreover, I don't think ads are the best option for all websites (I mean, is it possible to have a 'best option for all'). Maybe ads can make a website less trustworthy? Can you give examples of when an informational website should not do ads in your opinion?

I would love to hear your thoughts about this.

Thanks a lot!

That depends on what direction you want to take your site. Some people only earn from ads, and others only from affiliate, yet some earn from both.

Keep in mind the recent product review update, a lot of sites got hit with this.

Adsense is a good choice while you wait for Mediavine, but keep in mind many people do get banned from there for no reason. This would possibly harm your chances of getting to Mediavine.

If you need the money you could try Adsense or Ezoic, if not I would wait until you could get onto Mediavine.

 

[polo]

Are there any ways to make pages like this: easily? Like any plugins or methods?

 

[Roy Cohen]

Are there any ways to make pages like this: easily? Like any plugins or methods?

I've been using https://affiliatable.io/ for this, I don't know about the first type of box but the Editor's Pick is definitely something affiliatable can do. I'm not affiliated with them, just think it's a solid product

 

[DevMystic]

Do networks like taboola or smartfeed bring quality traffic?

They seem very clickbaity and spammy, but I see them in big websites.

 

[Execute]

At the moment, the traffic is purely from social media where I have several hundred thousand followers. I

Wow, could you possibly create a thread discussing how to drive traffic from social media. Or a case study of some sort (without disclosing any key specifics of course).
I'm looking at leveraging social media traffic for my hobby site in case google refuses to play nice with SEO, so I can have a backup plan.
Would be great to learn some nuggets from someone driving huge traffic via social media.

 

[DanielS]

Would you ever use a .agency domain for, obviously, an agency? Or, stick to .com and find another name?

 

[Potatoe]

Would you ever use a .agency domain for, obviously, an agency?

Yeah, I would. I was a bit averse to the alternative extensions at first, but it's fine if it gives you a much better brand.

People will tell you how it's harder to type in and stuff, but who the fuck types in URL's really in 2022? Are you planning on buying any radio advertisements anytime soon? Are you buying a billboard? Even if you do, just get a .com to redirect for that campaign. It truly ain't no thang.

Out of the drop in the bucket of people who are ever going to type in the name directly, and then out of that tiny number, the amount of them who will not be able to pull off the herculean task of typing in word.agency, I think you'll be a-ok.

If 1 out of 1000 people are dragging their knuckles while gasping for air exclusively from their mouth, and that makes it impossible for them to type in daniels.agency, so be it. You probably don't want them as a client, anyways.

If you can get a SOLID word before the dot, you're chillin', my man.

 

[Golan]

^^ This.

[Strong 1word/name].[niche tld] >>> [mediocre].com

 

[mochi]

Hi, I registered a few months ago and have been a lurker, reading forum threads and learning from you and your experiences. Thanks.

I am going to explain my dilemma.

I've been working on two websites for a while now (I've had a period where I didn't work on the websites and I didn't have any progress). But now I am working constantly, and I feel like I'm making very slow progress by not focusing only on one of them. Getting organic traffic is slow, and so is revenue growth.

I don't know which one to choose to work on first with all my attention. I enjoy working on the topic of both sites, and I think this is the main reason why I find so difficult to make a decision, so I want to explain the main characteristics of these sites to get some feedback from you.

Site A: easier to rank and therefore easier to get traffic, but it has a low RPM (around 3$, most of the traffic is from Latin America)

Site B: less visits than site A, harder to get traffic than site A because it has more competition, higher RPM (~10$, most of the traffic is from the USA).

Lately I have been working a lot more on site A because if I work it consistently, it is easier to receive traffic than site B. But sometimes I get a peak in visits on site B where I can get more earnings with less traffic and I have doubts again about whether I am doing the right thing.

As I said before, the fact that I like the topic of both sites and that both involve the same level of work makes it more difficult for me to make the decision on which site I should focus on until I see significant progress.

What would you do? I appreciate your feedback a lot.

I hope I have made myself clear. English is not my first language and sometimes I have difficulties writing.

Thank you.