SEO tricks?
I have read multiple reviews on SEO tricks. I have read its better to use SEO tricks, and I have read its best to not follow them. To all the successful hubbers out there, this question is for you. Do you follow the SEO tricks out there to rank top in the search engines for more traffic, or do you find it more beneficial without using SEO tricks?
I like the topic of this forum. It you start to use "SEO Tricks" you should remember that google is intelligent software. It is almost like a mind of it's own that is programmed to spot things l like SEO tricks. So if you start to use little trick to boost your page rank Google will spot this and crush your tricks. The best thing to do is go with natural organic growth which means writing your hub and using social networking and such to promote it. Yes use aids and techniques to boost the readership of your hubs but be careful about trying to trick the google search engine because you could lose out in the long term.
I use keywords or title near the beginning and end of hub in a very natural way. so it fits. Another writing site says to use them within the first 140 words. Using your title several times in the beginning is not advisable. Do you get the topic on page 1 of Google when you use this technique? I do like the topic of this post. Thanks for introducing it, Sarah.
It is wise to be aware if how search engines work and develop good techniques. I don ' t know what you would consider a 'trick'
Sorry, maybe "trick" was the wrong word, technique sounds better. Thanks for your response
If by trick you mean "artificial linking schemes designed to fool search engines into thinking your content is better than it is," no, that's not a good idea.
That's like running big billboards advertising a poorly-written, content-free book that doesn't have what you claim it has between the covers.
If you mean "learning how search engines work and what people who search are looking for, so that you can make sure that your content is more effective and the packaging helps people find it," that's a whole different ball of wax.
That's like...
--studying your readership and what their needs are, then researching and creating exactly the content they're looking for
--giving the book a good title and cover that indicates clearly what's inside of it
--making sure the table of contents gives a clear indication of what people will get out of the book
--organizing the book in a clear, logical structure to make it easy to read
--learning how people find your books and making sure your books are available there.
--attending conferences in your field and giving good presentations so that you establish a reputation
--learning what worked and what didn't for that book, and using everything you learned to write the next book.
See what I just did there? That's some basic SEO techniques, translated into a print medium.
A book can be a bestseller even if you don't do all those steps, but depending on the audience, competition, and subject matter, using some of those techniques can help get the word out and sell more copies.Greekgeek has, as always, produced a high value post, and I would add only one thing to it.
Because the giant library (we call the internet) has an librarian/index (that we call google) with a very low IQ it is necessary to help that index a little by teaching it what the subject of our book is. Although engineers constantly work to improve that low IQ, and it requires less and less "teaching" as they do so, it is still necessary to give it a little boost by proper keyword usage. Learn how to do a little on-page SEO with keywords to teach that stupid librarian what you are writing about.GreekGeek- I always love your responses. They are extremely thorough and self explanatory, thank you so much
Wilderness- Thank you as well, I think I have been over analyzing the SEO techniques out there and putting in too much thought, which by the sounds of it, can only really hurt me in the end.Probably. Although there are still "SEO gurus" out there that will advise spreading 10,000 backlinks (and sell you the software to do it with
) they are the ones to stay away from.
For the most part effective SEO is accomplished by natural writing of an easy to read and understand article. Maybe just a little sharing on social sites or other sites, but not much is necessary any more. The day of counting backlinks to determine quality is gone, thank goodness.Yeah, by the sounds of it, I should probably just focus on minimal use of keywords, and focus the rest on quality content. I have read a lot of SEO info stating to repeat your topic 2-3 throughout the first paragraph, which actually boosted my traffic a little bit. I just do not want to over do it, but I also want focus on some techniques but keep it to a minimum. It seems once I get a significant amount of content I will be able to learn the pros and cons of how I can improve traffic.
2-3 times in the first paragraph is too much! Once in the first paragraph is enough.
I am fairly new to hubpages, I have not earned anything yet. I also removed all my ads from Amazon, which I will be putting them up shortly. Also, having issues getting approved with Adsense. It has been really difficult for me, and because hubpages is so different from blogging, I have been doing a lot of research so that I can become successful. Don't get me wrong, I am very knowledgeable and I am not a newbie on the subjects I write about. I have studied health, fitness, mental illnesses, homeopathic remedies, etc. for quite some time. Hubpages is a whole different ballgame. I have spent hours learning about all the ins and outs, and I know you don't become successful overnight, takes time for sure, and the more quality content you have, the better. I am just trying to get educated as much as possible. So if you have any tips please feel free to share.
That was not aimed at you, but:
Build good content in the first place.
Do quality social networking and be active on the sites you use for that.
Build decent quality links from relevant sites.It takes a while to learn what "works" on HubPages. Your writing is fine, so you should do well in the long run. The use of properly attributed photos is important - use original photographs or obtain images from Wikimedia Commons, Flickr (creative commons), etc. and cite the source properly (i.e. "By Bob Smith, CC-BY, via Flickr").
Another tip is to use more than one text capsule to break up a long stream of text - it can improve the overall "look" of a hub.
It's the mindset of a digital sharecropper... not that it is a bad thing if you are only concerned with a passive income stream.
The real truth is, the only ones making any real money online are the site owners (where you do your sharecropping) because they benefit from fresh and unlimited free content; and those that pay for their traffic. Paying for traffic, not for pay per click pennies, but for affiliate offers that pay huge commissions and these are also the ones who care less about SEO. There is no need for SEO if you are paying for traffic.
Sharecroppers earn a little here and there and the more sites they plant their content, usually the better the earnings. The real question is, are you comfortable remaining a sharecropper, or do you want to have your own plantation?Passive income? WTF is that?
I agree though - I am learning the ins and outs of Facebook ads right now. I am also lucky enough to have access to about 600 sites for link building that are well protected and high quality. Combine that with some decent social networking and you are good to go.Mark, I am experimenting with FB as well. Every time I spread a hub around, views go up 30-40 per day, but only for a few days and then promptly goes back down. As I'm looking for passive income (as near as possible), I'm not interested in constant work to maintain traffic and this may well be a failure.
Overall traffic is way up since beginning the project, but there is no way of knowing of it is the result of providing links back to my subdomain or just riding the coattails of HP as it also climbs.
I haven't looked at FB ads, but have started a niche page for my profile. Again, not enough experience to know what it will do as it gets very little in the way of comments yet. It's also not something I wish to continue if it's going to require an hour or two every day. I didn't retire just to find another job is my attitude.Personally, I think passive income is dead. Once upon a time, it was possible to build a body of work online (and a network of links to it), and then virtually sit back and let the money flow in. I know people who did it. True, they worked all hours of the day (and night) for the first two or three years to get there, but it was achievable.
These days, Google is insisting on "freshness". You can't just build a website, now you have to keep adding new content. A network of old links isn't enough - and besides, they're steadily disappearing as friends throw their hands up, decide the internet business is all too hard and delete their blogs. You have to keep getting Likes and Shares and Pinterest pins. Not to mention the need to constantly keep abreast of Google's latest updates. Not passive at all!I think you're right, Marisa - there is no such as a true passive income from writing on the net anymore.
I don't think, however, that takes 40 hours per week to keep a couple hundred hubs ranked. I am personally quite willing to put in a little time each week or month to "maintain" older hubs if that what it takes, and at this point I believe that a few hours per month will accomplish that. We don't need to spend large quantities of time backlinking or refreshing everything every other day or so.
That's why I referenced "passive income (as near as possible)". A steady, truly passive, income isn't possible, but it doesn't take a great deal to keep an account active and ranked either.
Guess that depends on what you call decent. I'm happy with it.
I could never live off of what I earn, but then I don't even come close to working full time at it, either. That was never my goal and still isn't.Great. So - you don't know what "effective SEO" is then. Odd you feel comfortable advising others in this field.
Because I don't want a full time income (or job) from HP means that I don't know how to get traffic or earnings from the site?
Considering the time and effort I put into HP, it's paying about as well as any brick and mortar job I've ever had. If your definition of "decent" income is limited to full time income AND effort, you need to rethink that. You also need to reconsider advising people that only "work" the site for a few hours per month as if they were spending 50 hours per week here. Not everyone wants or does that.Sorry - what does that have to do with your knowledge of "effective SEO" exactly? Thanks for the advice. I earn a full time living doing this and have done for years.
Great that you feel comfortable advising others when you don't make a living at it. Make you feel good?Hi Mark. If you were to list ten good tips for increasing traffic to you hubs what would those top ten tips be. Please reply if you can. I ask because I'd love to be earning a living wage from hubbing but I'm not to those targets yet and I posted in this forum because I would like more tips on boosting the number of page views to my hubs.
First off, you’re not going to find a magic button that gets you tons of traffic to your hubs or any online content. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time to cultivate that traffic. If you have a lot of content on one site that is unrelated then your chances are thin at getting more than community referred traffic (traffic from other members of the community) Too many people come here and to other sharecropping sites thinking that all it takes is to write a few articles and you start earning some money... they also equate having tons of content with earning tons of money... That sort of thinking will leave you with empty pockets... It use to be true here and on other sites a year or 2 ago but not any longer.
There are some that are still earning a decent income stream from these sort of sites and those are people that have a good knowledge of writing quality content that people want to share. They have well developed social networks and groups of followers that hang on their every word because they have a good history of providing quality content. It’s the new content creators that are having difficulties because, for the most part, they are putting the cart before the horse.
Here are a few tips that can really help the new content creator, but if you expect to earn a living wage then you should also expect to put in the long hours, the same way a new small business owner would. This is not a step by step process, it is concurrent, meaning it is all part of the same process.
1. Choose 3 or 4 social networks and spend no less than a half hour (each day at first) developing relationships. Learning and keeping note of the topics that are being shared and discussed. These are key topics that will get you short term traffic but also keep your following coming back for more. Friend people on those networks that are not members of your inner circle of friends but those that share your interests. Comment on their shares, share their shares, engage them.. get them to engage you. Do Not just share your own content.
2. Create unique content on those topics that are of interest to your social networks. Articles, videos, images, etc... All of that content will somehow link back to where you post your main and similar content. Just remember, not all traffic or all content will be treated the same. Some will have high ad value some will have little or no ad value. You want to have a mixture that you share on your networks but links to High ad value content on your sharecropping sites.
3. Keep your content on Hubpages tightly grouped in related niches. Write 10 or more hubs on related and similar topics and make sure those hubs are all in the same ‘group.’ Don’t just write the same hub 10 different ways... write unique but similar content: (How to do your own oil changes - How to clean your engine block - How to change your windshield wipers - How to change your headlights... etc) Hubpages and other sharecropping sites are not going to make you an authority on any topic on their own so it is all that other content you are sharing with your social networks that will do that job.
Doing the above 3 things will get you traffic over time. Nothing is going to be instant though you may see spikes here and there. Keep mind of line 2, your content. If you are researching your topics and creating the content that people are not just searching but also talking about then you can attract some of that traffic to your content. But event these 3 things will not do a thing for you if you don’t put in the time and effort to provide content that has not been regurgitated a thousand times already. Add a unique slant to it... either use humor or pessimism, but don’t expect to get many shares if you choose to be antagonizing.I know you don't have success instantly, and it takes time, dedication and a lot of work to get anywhere. I am not one of those who believe I can just join hubpages and become a millionaire.
Thank you for taking the time to give great points and tips, I will keep those in mind for sure!Thanks for those tips livewithrichard
Yes Mark, if you are earning a substantial income on hubpages, do you have any other tips to help me and others become successful? Any knowledge you have would be greatly appreciated. I am trying to learn as much as possible.
Sorry Mark, but you won't sucker me with a "better than thou" attitude. I doubt that you are actually earning much more per hub or more per hour invested on HubPages than I am.
If your vast knowledge of years old SEO tricks has you advising a nube of less than a month to go out and find lots of sites to backlink from, and it makes you feel good to provide that ancient advice, have at it. They'll find a better use for their time eventually. Playing marbles, maybe.That is not what I suggested. I suggested producing good quality content and then finding relevant, good quality sites to backlink from and combining that with an active social networking effort. Please stop lying about me - thanks. Can you even read English?
You openly admit you don't make any money here. Why would you think I don't? I most certainly do still make money here - and probably a lot more than you do, but I cannot afford the time with hubpages constantly moving their goalposts so it is nowhere near as important to me as it used to be. I make my living doing this. I know your advice doesn't work because I have tried it.
Have you tried mine? Or are you too lazy to do any work?I apologize. I thought that "finding relevant, good quality sites to backlink from" (your post) and " find lots of sites to backlink from" (my post) both meant basically the same thing; go out and find backlink sites. Of course, those sites should always be quality sites and relevant, but they are still sites to backlink from, or so I thought. I didn't realize you didn't mean to "find sites to backlink" from. Are you sure you can write English? I freely admit that I went beyond your post and assumed that those sites would actually be used as well as found; that backlinks would be put into place on them. That may have been an unwarranted assumption, though - did you mean just to search those sites out, to find them but not to use them?
I haven't used the strategy of spreading thousands of backlinks, no. I have spread links through social sites, just as I said (can you read English?) but do not have evidence it was of particular value beyond a few hits for a few days.
I openly "admit" that I don't make a full time income here but have said nothing of making NO money (can you read English?). The point was that not everyone wants a full time job on HP (or writing online). I did not address the total quantity of your earnings (can you read English?) but only the earnings per hub and [/i]per hour of invested time[/i]. Do you understand elementary level mathematics enough to follow what those terms mean? They most definitely do NOT refer to total quantity of earnings, but if you don't understand that we could set up an basic arithmetic course for you.
Now, if we have sufficiently insulted each other and got it out of our respective systems, and if you would like to discuss SEO I would be interested in what you have to say. I DO value your experience and input, and I AM aware that you make your living this way. I am also aware that there is more than one way to skin a cat, that goals vary between people and that not every method of gaining traffic will be appropriate for every writer. While I'm not particularly interested in discussing the value of large numbers of backlinks, social or otherwise, there are other facets of the problem that are of interest to me.
What do you consider "quality" content, for instance? Should a subdomain have multiple niches? If yes, is there a minimum number of hubs per topic that should be written? What should the appearance of a hub be for best results - a large pic at the top maybe? Should that top right space be left open for an ad? How much keyword repetition is best? Is Pinterest of value or should it be mostly ignored? How long should a hub be?What are you talking about? I never said anything about "thousands of backlinks," - one link can be worth thousands if it is on a relevant, popular site. And if you can't see the difference between what I wrote and what you say I wrote - we surely have a communication issue.
This is what I actually said:
"Build good content in the first place.
Do quality social networking and be active on the sites you use for that.
Build decent quality links from relevant sites."
Your personal attack on my ability to reason is worthless - pretty certain I return far, far more per hour invested than you do.
Your questions just demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge about SEO, because the answer to all of them is "it depends."
I have told you what works from an SEO perspective - you told me you are not interested."Your personal attack on my ability to reason is worthless" - agreed. It was worth exactly the same as your prior attacks on my ability to read; i.e. nothing. Need I say more or is the point made?
"Do quality social networking and be active on the sites you use for that." Really?
Search Engine Optimization. Do you really feel that links posted on social sites encourage a SE to bump the ranking of a hub, or is it merely another way to promote viewers by putting a link in front of them? To encourage readers to visit because you've become an interesting or authoritative source of information? All that I've read puts a low value on the SEO aspects of social backlinks; while they may drive large amounts of traffic (read WryLilt on the subject of Pinterest), google puts a very low value on those backlinks, as they do the vast majority of backlinks nowdays.
Convincing google to rank your hub better is most definitely not the same as promoting a hub for the purpose of gaining traffic. The two can, and sometimes do, work hand in hand but they are not the same.
Get CBS to backlink your hub and you may go viral with 10,000 views the next day, but have you optimized that hub for the search engines or will those views go away in a few days, leaving you with a few $$ and the SE ranking and traffic you started with?
Backlinking and promotion can certainly provide traffic today, but it does not carry anywhere near the SEO value that it did a few years ago.I personally have ranked a site for an extremely competitive term by optimizing the page for a specific keyword and then driving a lot of social networking traffic to it.
Sorry if that doesn't jive with your testing.
Tell us about SEO again..............Interesting, and information of value as I've wondered if doing just that - driving traffic through use of ads, social backlinking, or whatever else might work - might not convince google a hub is worthy of a higher rank. It shouldn't, mind you, but google is far, far from perfect yet. One would have to write the hub and wait for the ranking to settle out before commencing the promotion to know if that is the actual cause, but such tests can be done. There is also the question of whether google is looking at primarily traffic numbers or simply getting more and faster data for bounce rate, time on page and whatever other factors it considers valuable in assigning SE rank - if the latter then time would accomplish the same thing without the "promoted" traffic.
But Mark, I'm tired of the abrasive and abusive posts - it isn't worth putting up with any more to continue the discussion, at least not to me. When you've learned to have a discussion without degrading comments every time you lay fingers to keyboard we may talk again. I understand that neither I nor anyone else has anything to say that you would find of value, but the reverse is not true and I'm always open to learning.
You have a good day.'
After the crap you gave me?
You already rejected my advice.
Tell us about effective SEO again. I like that.My first reply to your post:
"Guess that depends on what you call decent. I'm happy with it.
I could never live off of what I earn, but then I don't even come close to working full time at it, either. That was never my goal and still isn't."
And your reply to mine:
"Great. So - you don't know what "effective SEO" is then. Odd you feel comfortable advising others in this field."
If you took my post to be abusive or derogatory, I certainly apologize. It certainly wasn't meant to be abusive, sarcastic or in any way derogatory but as a simple reply to a simple question. The same cannot be said of yours, but I guess you don't get that part of it.Great - so you admit you have no idea about SEO then?
Odd you feel the need to advise others..........
Perhaps you should preface it with, "I could never live off of what I earn," ?
Sorry Wilderness, but you should probably do some more reading on the topic because your comment shows that you do not understand the real value. Whoever lead you to believe that "google puts a very low value on those backlinks" obviously has no clue in the matter. It's not just the link that is placed on the social network, it is how you engage that social network. If you develop your social network and engage and be engaged then those people will share your links and they will spread naturally and at the same time build up your authority on a particular topic. There is no point in just placing a link on a social network and then leave it on its own. You must engage and be active on those networks to have any value. So yes, links posted on social networks do encourage a SE to bump the rankings. The lack of them will not demote your ranking, they will boost the ranking of your competitors that do make good use of social networks.
I hope you do realize that there are multiple aspects to SEO... you are only talking about 'on page' SEO which on sharecropping sites like this, you have very little control over. HP decides what works best and they are clueless as well, which is why they are always 'experimenting.' That google banner at the top of your hub, above the title (when logged off) is a case in point... Google does not want top heavy advertising yet there it is, the very first thing you see is a long Google banner. HP decides how to 'best' optimize ad placement, the result for me at least has tanked my earnings from $20+ a day to maybe $2 a day. Oh yes, you get to rearrange your capsules to make them visually appealing to you, but do you then log off to see how they really appear to others? Quite ugly if you ask me... which you haven't... So what does that leave you? Keyword optimized URL... nope, all gone. Keyword optimized title... nope, already taken. Keyword optimized content... maybe, if you know what that means, and you keep up with the changing aspects of keyword density. What's left? H1, H2, H3 etc headings and sub-headings... pretty much worthless as well now other than to point out a keyword, but you better not over run the density. You have to write unique content on topics you enjoy... wait no, that doesn't work either because if those topics are not highly searched topics then the Big Brothers at HP force your hub into hibernation... Please, if I have missed some 'on page' SEO, enlighten me.
'Off page' SEO is just as important and you have much more control over it.. you decide where to place you links, who should see them, how frequently they should be seen. There are other elements that are out of your control such has how and when and for how long they are shared. And I'm not even going to get into 'Off Line' SEO which is by far the most important when building a brand.
I'm not questioning your intelligence. I've read many of your hubs and I know you to be highly intelligent. I'm just stating that your view of SEO is not complete, nor is it correct as it relates to social networks.I will try to respond in a way that makes sense. What you are describing in the use of social sites could very well be true; I have no problem with the idea that google will still take some notice of organically derived backlinks that these sites can provide. For me, though, and I think for the majority of hubbers, it just isn't worth the effort. It takes time to do what you are describing and most of us either aren't willing to spend that kind of time or simply don't have it to start with. We will lose out on some traffic, yes, but we will also gain time, and consider that to be the more important of the two. A matter of personal choice - I will take the time to write a hub because I enjoy that, but I won't spend the hours each week to remain active on a variety of sites because I don't enjoy that. As a result I don't know much about it.
You ask what else can be done with on page SEO - let me list a few.
Title keyword optimization is certainly still possible, whether the exact title you want is taken or not. At times I have even had HP allow me the use of an identical title (I assume because the beginning of the URL is different). I know because I've written hubs and then found the same title elsewhere on HP.
Do you use photos to not only improve appearance and time on page but to provide something else to rank for? You can rank for a simple photo sometimes if done correctly and you have to tell the SE what the photo is; it can't see images, only the code that makes up that image (if I've expressed that correctly). I've seen quite a few adsense clicks in the past from slideshow views; do you assure that you have a decent length slide show on every hub?
Do you use interactive capsules to improve your time on page? It can be valuable.
Topic permitting, do you use multiple keywords? Ranking for several diverse keywords is often possible and ranking for several similar keywords is quite easy if done correctly.
Not truly SEO but still valuable - do you write on topics and in a manner designed for Pinterest? Something my chosen niche does not do well with the "surfers" of Pinterest, but others do.
Do you write a custom, SE friendly summary that is informative and with a "hook"?
As you say, the different headers can provide the SE with information; do you make an effort to use all three, or let it go at just one?
Do you use sidebar text capsules to draw interest and invite the reader into staying a few more seconds?
Do you make at least an attempt to link to authority sites? Not from, TO those sites?
Again not truly SEO, but do you interlink your hubs through textual links? The tiny bit of "google juice" provided by those links (if there is any at all anymore) is dwarfed by the traffic they can produce.
Although I've written these as questions I don't actually mean them that way - I know you already do most if not all of them. Nevertheless, they DO provide some additional suggestions for on page SEO that you requested. That subject isn't simple, either, and few hubbers will make a real effort to include ALL of these suggestions. As with my own feelings on social sites, some think it isn't worth the effort. Some don't know them and some don't think they are any value at all.
What you mention here are not tricks they are probably sound actions to improve interaction between your webpages and Google.
I take the term "Tricks" to mean things that will dupe Google into lifting your Page Ranking. Lets be clear there are "tricks" then there are real effective strategies for boosting your page ranking rather than tricking Google.Well SarahLynneB. What do I recommend. To improve your search result ranking stick with the Google and Hub Pages guidelines. I got with my belief that Google is very intelligent so trying to trick Google will not work.
Let me give you an example. In most of my hubs until November 2012 I was using photos that were simply downloaded from a Google Search. These photos because they are part of the websites Google measures gave me a huge boost. I got ranked higher because the photo's I was using were already indexed and known to Google. So my page ranking was my own content ranking through Google plus the ranking of the photos. I was listing near the top of the search for certain key words.
BUT and it is a great big BUT....Because I was using photos that were breaking the Hub Pages rules on photos because these photos of Air India were not for licensed use my earnings were hardly shifting at all.
I got rid of the photos that were against hub pages rules. The consequence was my page ranking started to fall because now my hubs needed to work under their own quality and strength to get a good Google page ranking rather than one unlawfully borrowed from someone else images.
The result. The ranking of my hub has dropped but because my hubs are in keeping with the rules on photos my earnings over the past 21 days have tripled.
So what I'm trying to say is to get the traffic that you are looking for don't break rules and hope that no-one will notice. Both Hub Pages and Google are intelligent programs. Like a strict teacher both Google and Hub Pages scan what we publish. And though we may not believe so if we are breaking the rules by trying to trick Hub Pages or Google we risk losing earnings.
My best tip is to write your hubs by all means. And anything else you are writing. But stay within the rules and keep up your research on how to improve traffic to your hubs. As a tip the more your hubs and publishing stay within the rules the more likely you are to command improved traffic and better earnings. Leading me back to what I was saying earlier. Do not trick Google, Get to Know Google instead to found our what Google likes to bring you upwards in your Page Ranking.Great, Thanks! I corrected my wording earlier, although many probably have not read it. Using the word "trick" was not what I should have used. More so, techniques. I don't want to trick search engines, that sounds bad. That is not my intent.
The basic techniques are often pretty well covered just by using plain language to convey useful information
It's best to always follow the rules of the game than looking for a shortcut to success.
ThanksI don't use SEO "tricks" but I use Google's advice on what to do and I rank well.
Of course on HubPages, I am at the whims of the HubPages staff so I don't do as well as I do on my personal sites, but the Adsense/Amazon/Ebay thing is set up a lot better here so I feel like it's a trade off.Sarah,
Your most difficult journey is no matter how much information you get from folks, which incidentally will be from legitimate and well intentioned people and from some charlatans (both on this site unfortunately) you will need to find your own path.
You will get much knowledge but, when it comes down to it, you need to do whats best for you.
Don't stop asking questions.
Don't be afraid to attempt and try different things.
When you fall down, get back up again.
Sometimes, the best suggestion is just to let see how some (articles, blogs websites, ebooks, training packages, items you create, etc) run over time.It's about learning to become the internet success you want to be and it is also about sticking with hub pages over a number of years. You will find that those who have been members for longer have higher traffic and more hubs. Build it up slowly content and traffic rather than overnight. Rome wasn't built in a day and nor is success on hub pages. It is all about quality and time. Read hubs, Answer Questions, Post In Forums it will all help boost your search engine ranking and boost your earnings too. Good luck Every Step of the way.
Mark/Wilderness - can you stop hijacking this newbie's thread? She must be wondering what a bunch of squabbling kids she's landed in!
Wilderness - your opening remark to Mark did have an underlying edge of disapproval to it, which you may or may not have intended. You can't blame Mark for biting back, and there's no need to escalate into insults. It seems out of character for you.
I'm not sure if you're aware that Mark makes his living online (and he does live on the Riviera so I don't imagine his lifestyle comes cheap...) so the fact is, your knowledge (and mine) pales into insignificance compared to his. Some people have painted Mark as a black hatter but that's not so. He has been very adept at adapting his online strategies to fit the new Google landscape and he's still pretty successful, unlike many other former internet success stories.
Mark - as I said, I did feel Wilderness's opening remark was a bit sharp, so I don't blame you for reacting, but you really do sound like you got out of bed the wrong side today. Can we let it go now...?Just saw this. You're a little late, Marisa - I last responded (to livewithrichard, not Mark) nearly 4 hours prior to your post. As he was civil, it was with a list of on page SEO tricks that he asked to see and was in line with the OP's request as well rather than with tit for tat language.
Yes, I know Mark makes his living writing online and is without doubt knowledgeable about the subject. I said that, and also apologized if my first post was objectionable as it was never meant to be.
I've crossed horns with Mark before, and decided then that I didn't like the rude and condescending attitude. Why I allowed myself to be drawn into another squabble I don't know.
So be quiet, teacher, and go away: I'll be a good boy.Ah, I might've known there was some history. Mark can be very scathing but usually his targets richly deserve it. I was surprised to see him go so over the top with you!
Wilderness' opening remark was sharp and tinged with the "holier than thou," attitude common to many of these discussions. But - more to the point - he was advising a newbie with what is bad advice
This is bad advice:
Now - when I first started, I was caught out by people offering me advice they had never ever tested and I find it some what offensive how many people are giving out advice when they have not actually proven themselves.
Backlinks are vital. Absolutely vital. You just need a different approach to getting them than used to work. Quality social networking that generates traffic is vital. Absolutely vital.
That is if you want to do SEO that creates rankings, traffic and income.
I don't like to see people giving out crappy advice they have not actually tested.Thank you for those tips, I just bought a book yesterday so I can learn about many things including backlinks. I am going to learn about it more and then try it out.
I hope it was an ebook not a real book, and that it was written very, very recently. Every time Google changes its algorithm, SEO changes. Google released changes to its algorithm 150 times last year alone! So books get outdated very quickly.
Blogs are probably more reliable, and even then, there are far too many sharks out there, pretending to be internet experts. They're not experts at all - basically, they've failed to make money from building websites themselves, but they've discovered they can fool other people by pretending they've made their own fortune already.
Can you share the name and author of the book, we may recognize it and be able to tell you whether it's a good one or a con?Yeah I was on the fence on which book to buy. . I looked for the most recent publish date which I believe to either be May or June of 2012. It is SEO for Dummies by Peter Kent.
I don't know anything about that book, fingers crossed someone here will have some input. I've never heard of Peter Kent but that's not necessarily a bad thing - the high profile "internet gurus" are often the biggest scammers!
Yeah. . I tried to stay clear of those. So many books claim to be the best, I just passed on those. Hopefully SEO for dummies is alright, I know it had good reviews.
I'm afraid Kent is one of those 'ancient' gurus who only keeps up with SEO from what he now reads and not what he practices. This is evident by going to his own website and seeing how low his traffic is. For the most part, much of the old advice is still sound... it's the 'tricks' that have fallen out of grace and are no longer relevant. For anyone to claim that backlinks are not important, clearly has no clue and is not earning more than a few pennies a month online. That's fine for those that are not here to earn online, but for me, I see no other purpose if I am going to invest my time. Wilderness suggested earlier that time was more important... and he is correct, but when you are first starting out online, it only makes sense that you start on the right path and by doing so, you will save time in the long run. Like Mark, I've been doing this for quite a few years and have experimented my arse off with what works and what doesn't work. Building a social network takes time but it is absolutely necessary if you want to achieve real traffic and real earnings. You see, building backlinks the old and (right) way by contacting an authority site webmaster/blogger and requesting is absolutely tiresome and not beneficial to someone that only writes articles on sharecropping sites like this. However, building backlinks is very easy when you have a well developed social network in place. Well developed doesn't necessarily mean having thousands of followers. (on Pinterest, I only have about 50 followers though I have had my images pinned thousands of times.) Well developed means that you are engaging people, they are engaging you, you are sharing information that your networks has interests in and not all of it is your own and across several networks. My big hitters are StumbleUpon, Folkd, Fark, Reddit, Twitter, Pinterest, and slowly but surely G+. I only use Facebook as a personal network and only vary rarely share links there and almost never my own (except on the Facebook Pages that I have created.. total different ball of wax.) I also bookmark at a few sites but that is mostly out of habit. Besides those types of backlinks, I also have quite a few from guest blogging. I know this works because over the past few weeks alone, I have unpublished over 50 hubs that were falling 'idle' and getting zero traffic here and republished a handful of them on a brand spanking new site that in less than 3 weeks has gone from 0 to 200+ per day. The only thing that was changed on those republished hubs is the URL and the title and each and every one of them are indexed and ranking in Google and Bing/Yahoo, earning from Adsense, Amazon, and Ebay and a few affiliate networks which HP does not approve of.
Social networking is not an SEO 'trick' it is an important aspect of the overall indexing process. If it wasn't, do you think HP would have those buttons to Twitter, FB and Pinterest on every hub? No, the links don't hold as much weight as links coming from authority sites but they are clear indicators to the SE's of the popularity of the content being linked to.Thanks for the help. .If you don't mind my asking, where did you re-post your hubs? I have been looking into creating my own blog as well.
LivewithRichard knows what he is talking about - so if he says Peter Kent isn't worth listening to, you've probably wasted your money on that book!
If you're going to create your own blog, it's important to identify a single subject that you want to write about, and stick to it. Unlike rev-sharing sites, blogs only work if they're totally focussed on one topic. The old advice was to find a narrow niche (e.g targeting a long tail keyword). However these days, Google is looking for "authority" sites, which means you'll need to build up a solid body of work on the subject and keep adding to it over time, which is difficult if you pick too narrow a subject. When deciding on your topic, ask yourself, "can I see myself still finding new stuff to write about this in two years' time?"
So for instance, I used to have a blog on belly dance DVD reviews, and others on Tribal belly dance. Australian belly dance, belly dance costumes and belly dance classifieds. I've recently combined all of them into one big belly dance blog.
As for other sites to repost to (or to spread your work around), try Seekyt, Infobarrel, Zujava, Wizzley, Xobba, PubWages and ThisisFreelance. There are other sites, but you need to read their TOS carefully to make sure they allow you to remove your articles if you decide to leave - some don't.Thank you for all that information. It is very helpful. I will be doing more research on the matter and hopefully can decide exactly what I want to do.
There are so many ways to make money online. Cheating search engines by sending them false signals is getting more and more difficult. Much better to focus on content and forget the SEO tricks.
Legit SEO pretty much begins and ends with site architecture, page titles and keyword research.I tried to sneak in the words "bikini, xxx, and free" into my websites in various places, but that didn't help. Ha....!
Search engines are clever beasts. You can try all the tricks but you find people like myself who get their links showing high up on the rankings with little to no SEO tricks involved. Good content beats the best SEO tricks every time. Write something that people like to read and they will pass the link to a friend who will pass it on to their friends and to their friends, and so on and so on.
It's amazing how that happens. Soon you'll be number one on the list.
I made on the top ten a few times, so what? Didn't make me a millionaire, not even close.
Write good stuff and often. Have something to sell when they get there, then repeat.
Good luck to you.Look guys. It is non of my business really. But the point of this forum is SEO. Let's if we can cut out the quibbling and focus on answering the questions.
I think SEO is still required and still profitable, there is no other way as it
- googleseoservicesposted 11 years ago
0I like the different points of view, and my opinion would be, search engine optimization is all about user experience and great website, therefore, if we use the term "techniques" then surely, seo specialists are experienced in good website design and architecture, for example: redundant code used on most websites, SEO trick would be to identify this and correct it, I see nothing wrong with that.
Having said that, almost 90% of seo techniques many spammers use (mainly keyword spam, and self promotional content in form of article spins or low quality articles, are gone and buried for Good) thank you Google.
Also, we must understand there isn't a way to trick Google, it uses supervised machine learning technology, that keeps a track of the internet in four dimensional view (complex, I know), furthermore, they have big profits to protect (billions) so before long, all the SEO's will understand how to simply follow Google guidelines and simply provide great user focused content, so SEO is always good and ethical search engine optimization will always prevail and can add value to any online business.After reading everything. . I think the best thing to do is focus on quality content (which has always been my intent), learn more on SEO, try it out, if it works for me wonderful. One thing I will be doing is learning more on backlinks and social media. I will just have to test the waters and see what works best for me. Opinions are still welcomed for sure, its great to see so many responses. I will not be trying to "trick" search engines however, which was the wrong word of choice on my part when I originally started this thread. Thank you everyone
I never follow any SEO trick to get ranking but yeah. I do keyword research, find low competition long tail keywords and use that keyword within article several times. about 1%. Every title of my article is a long tail keyword have more than 300 exact searches per month and some of my article are on first page of google search.
It don't need any SEO trick to get ranking here as Hubpages is already a page rank 6 website and crawled by crawler frequently. A unique article with on page SEO (Use of keywords) is enough to get in google results in HubPagesI've never seen this site go over an hour without one single forum post before...
I would write for the user and not the engines. It is said you will rank better.
A plastic fawn.One of my favorite places online to read about SEO is the seomoz site. They have very helpful, easy to understand blog entries.
I'll second that... seomoz.org/learn-seo is where anyone that wants to keep up with the latest SEO information needs to begin.
@SarahLynnB I have written on a large variety of topics and I have republished my hubs on several of my own self hosted blogs. The newest one that I mentioned above is linked on my profile page. It's just a plain (self hosted) Wordpress blog and I made very minor changes to the Twenty Eleven theme that comes standard on all new Wordpress blogs. Of course there are some must have plugins that help me achieve my goals. To republish hubs, you have to make sure that they are de-indexed from Google Yahoo, and Bing. So far, I have only moved hubs that became idle. Those, I know have sank out of Google but I unpublish them, wait about a week until they become de-indexed on Yahoo/Bing then I know its okay to republish them where ever I want. It's slow, but I don't want to add too much too quickly to any one blog... my goal is to build a following and traffic and then an income will follow. You can't build a reliable following if you overwhelm your readers.
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