Messages

16

White Hat SEO / Re: wordpress or blogger

« on: November 08, 2011, 06:11:29 pm »

Blogger isn't a stand-alone CMS it has to be hosted on blogger.com where-as wordpress is actually a stand-alone CMS platform. The 2 can't really be compared. You can host on wordpress.com but that's not primarily what wordpress is about unlike blogger.

Blogger is only for casual bloggers. For SEO you're always better self-hosting.

17

White Hat SEO / Re: how does panda update effected your site?

« on: November 08, 2011, 06:09:24 pm »

All my sits have over 500 words on each page and over 20-30 pages per site. All unique content with diverse backlinks. All stable rankings thus far.

I think 1 of 4 things will be experienced from panda:

1) You get obliterated. (dup content, backlinks from dup content sites etc etc)

2) You drop a few places. (Your competitors probably have more content than you. 1000+ words vs 500 etc)

3) You stay stable. (All your competitors are similar in content to you.)

4) You rise a few places. (You have the 1000+ word content vs your competitors with 500'ish etc)

18

White Hat SEO / Re: how does panda update effected your site?

« on: November 08, 2011, 06:06:42 pm »

 as well as article links but now don't really have any effect. Actually articles just seemed to push me down.

Wow really? Interesting. Perhaps that's why so many people that do a lot of article type stuff seem to bounce around. Google definitely knows that article sites are all just affiliates self-promoting so it's not too far-fetched an idea that they do negatively impact for a short time now.

I'll need to do some tests to see. I don't use article directories for backlinks but it would be good to find out anyway.

19

Black Hat SEO / Re: What in your opinion is the best Blackhat tool ever

« on: November 08, 2011, 05:55:46 pm »

Scrapebox has unfortunately become less effective as everyone has it.  Xrumer is great but google are rapidly picking up on it.

Ehehehe, that's really funny. :-) If Google were only now starting to pick up on xrumer they'd be a pretty slow company!

The Florida update in nov 2003 was the beginning of Google combating heavy backlink spam. That's 8 years ago!

Granted that 18 months to 2 years ago xrumer was still quite effective if you knew what you were doing, ie, either an aged domain or using lots of buffer sites.

But in the past I'd say 12 months xrumer really hasn't been anywhere near as effective. The people doing well with xrumer are either noticing that after a lot of blasts they'll slowly climb to a decent place after a few months or the competition is not as high as they think. If they climb steadily after a few blasts then what's probably happened is that they've had a few decent backlinks in place and over time the negative effect of all the bad backlinks decreases so the site starts to rise. Had they just gotten a few good backlinks in the first place they would have ranked a lot quicker.

scrapebox and xrumer still have uses, but for SEO? No, not anymore. Many will disagree with me but I laugh at those that proudly stick to xrumer and are continually fighting and working hard to climb the serps when all it takes is fresh, unique long content updated regularly for a while with social bookmarking for backlinks for the majority of terms.

20

Journals / Re: Come back journal!

« on: November 08, 2011, 03:09:28 pm »

Sure was creo! I implemented ASAP and it works great - pure gold !

Actually got my new PR4 tonight

That's great, glad my advice has helped someone! So many just shrug it off and go back to xrumer/scrapebox but the Panda is a hungry beast and he only likes content :-)

Google have an algorithm that determines how fresh content should be for a particular keyword and they always have had that but the difference now is that they seem to have cranked up the sensitivity of it.

It makes sense though because even for keywords that don't necessarily benefit hugely from new content what's going to be better for the users, a site with 500 words of content updated once or a site that updates regularly with 1000+ words of content. It's hard for the spammers to really beat the system too this time because the only way to beat the system is to "join the system", ie more regular good content. I can't see that happening though, so those of us who take the time to write good stuff will have a big advantage.

You don't have to update forever either, just pretty much until you're top spot, or as high as you can go purely from content. Since you're doing a hard keyword you'll want to just keep hammering with fresh content and social bookmarking those updates.

I would even go so far as to say that for SEO the following are now superfluous:

article marketing
directories
forum profiles
forum signatures
2 way link exchanges
comments

Note I say 'superfluous' because they still work, but it's like using an old manual lawnmower when you have an electric one at your disposal.

So many big SEO companies still use the above, but it's just madness and it's really people blindly ignoring the facts and clinging to beliefs. That's something people do naturally. Once they have an idea that's strongly ingrained people find it VERY hard to let it go and accept something else.

Things are actually simpler than most think. Google are trying to get as close as possible to acting like 1 big omniscient human reviewer that wants to give people the best possible pages in search results. They do want that because by providing people with the best organic results they'll continue to be on top which means they'll continue to make money from Adwords.

I always ask myself what would make most sense for returning the best results for people if I were an omniscient Google algorithm as the algorithm is becoming so advanced that we can actually ask ourselves that question now. 3-4 years ago that question wouldn't make sense because the algorithm was too elementary and 5+ years ago it was very simplistic.

I also read up on the google patents

Code: [Select]

http://www.seobythesea.com/2011/02/google-patents-updated/
Also listen to Matt Cutts. He gives so many clues to things. People dismiss him because they think nothing useful can be learned since he is part of Google. He doesn't spread misinformation in a futile attempt to get people to stop doing certain things. If he says something it's because it's actually true. it's in his/Google's best interest you find out what works. If sites didn't do any seo/promotion it would be very hard for Google to rank the best pages for users so they want you to know what works. What they don't tell you is shortcuts to get ranked high and beat the system.

We know that Google has something called a 'self' link which are links that it knows you've created yourself and have very very low value. Forum profiles and comments are self links. I'm not sure about article directories. I don't think they are although I'm not 100% on that one. It's quite likely they are as Google knows about the article directories and it knows that almost no one creates articles to link to other sites except their own. :-)

Article directories are even lower now with Panda due to the fact that the sites themselves aren't as strong since they're so full of duplicate content. So that combined with the above fact makes them really useless. That's why people mess around for months jumping up and down the serps when all they're doing is scrapebox/articles/directories/comments and maybe eventually settle somewhere reasonably high after a while if they've ended up with some good links in there or more likely just keep jumping around.

One thing I don't know is the negative effect certain backlinks have on your site. Too many too fast will definitely knock you down and they actually list a formula in the one of the patents that can explain why that happens and why it's temporary. But that's just for massive xrumer/scrapebox spam. What I'm not sure about is if just having a bunch of articles/directory comments etc can have any negative impact or if it's just netural.

But really for backlinks all you want is social bookmarking(just the big sites, not 1000's of social bookmarks, again that's just the spammer mentality adding superfluity) and guest blog posts linking to you.

For guest blogs go after sites either in your niche if you can, or in a similar niche. Google knows how closely 1 niche is to another. Got a call of duty site? Any gaming site will be good for you etc. For your article make sure you're allowed to link INSIDE the article. Links within relevant content on a good relevant site are as good as it gets. Avoid all 'blogroll' links. Google also knows the difference between them and content links. They're ok though providing it's not a 2 way link. (site a to site b and site b to site a, ie even different pages on the site) but if you're guest blogging and taking the time to write someone an article you'll be able to ask that you can link within that content.

And remember to social bookmark the guest blogging post too.



Oh and if anyone reading this runs an SEO company I wouldn't advise that you just do social bookmarking and guest blogging because some of your customers will be smart enough to have a basic understanding of what you're doing and even if you rank their pages they might think they're not getting enough value as people often associate value not with results but with work. Just mix in some articles, directories so your customers feel like it's a "big complex plan" :-)


Good luck with your journey to page 1 for your keywords, bulldogzg! You're definitely going to get there.

21

Journals / Re: Come back journal!

« on: November 08, 2011, 02:03:23 am »

Heh, was that my tip to do the 1000+ articles instead of 400-500?

Hello all and happy Halloween!

Day 10.

I kept at it and continued to build links using BMR and linkamotion BUT actually increased to 3 post a day each. Got my bookmarks outsourced to 120+ sites every 2-3 days. My private blog network post is still not set up but the guys said between 7-10 days so waiting for this to kick in too any day now.
Got a great tip on this forum to add new content but not the usual seo size (400-500 words) so I posted a 1000+ word article to my site. This is what I'm gonna be doing every few days too.

Anyway my no1. targeted KW sitting at #19 and all the other KW's are climbing like crazy too!

I'm getting very optimistic about this site and promise to keep you updated till I hit no1. 

22

General Discussion / Re: Do you have a bad back because of IM?

« on: November 08, 2011, 01:51:44 am »

Best way to fix that is strength training. Before I started strength training in my mid teens I used to get a sore back all the time but now I can sit for 18 hours slouched on a chair without a single pain because my lower back is really strong thanks to things like deadlifting and planks :-)

1-2x a week at the gym, 45-50 minutes of HIGHLY intensive weight lifting and you'll be sorted. More than twice a week isn't needed and if you're going as intense as you should be you won't manage the "3x a week" most gym-heads go unless you're roiding.

Intensive doesn't mean lifting weights too heavy, it just means you train hard enough that it hurts and you feel sore for days afterwards.

I go to the gym 1 day on, 3-4 days off. Easy and doesn't take up a lot of time. It's hard at first, but after 3 months it becomes easy and fun. Give it a go and you'll notice a big improvement in your working day. Things like carrying bags, taking out the trash becomes effortless too.

23

Content rewriter / Re: Weird Text

« on: November 07, 2011, 05:43:00 pm »

That's how it's suppose to look, hits79. The spinable content checkbox is enabling the {a|b} syntax which is if you are using any software that supports that format.

For just using regular content uncheck the "Output spinable content" and you'll be left with the text with the &#372 type stuff. That's your spun article. If you copy that and create a new html file such as

<html><body><p>This іs ѕоme spun text </p></body></html>

and then open that .html in Firefox or your favorite web browser you'll see "This is some spun text". To the search engines it's different than the original text, to the human eye its the same.

24

General Discussion / Re: Mods .....Did we just.......

« on: November 07, 2011, 03:17:25 pm »

We get quite a few but we're generally quick to get on top of it so you won't notice much. :-)

Curse bloody xrumer!! Being on the receiving end of it is not fun. :-)

25

Forum Suggestions and Feedback / VERY IMPORTANT: Regarding items/services for sale here

« on: November 07, 2011, 02:49:01 pm »

Hi everyone,

Just a note to warn people that there may be the occasional scammer who tries to sell something on here and since the staff aren't here 24/7 it can take a few hours before we come online to delete it.

So whatever you do don't send ANY money to anyone trying to sell you anything anywhere on the forum unless you see an ok from an admin, either myself or seo20.

We are planning on allowing members to sell their services in the future but when we do it will have its own dedicated section *and* you will always see a staff review.

So if you see anyone selling anything at all please report it immediately and feel free to post on the thread warning others not to send any money.


Thanks,
creo

26

Making Money / VERY IMPORTANT: Regarding items/services for sale here

« on: November 07, 2011, 02:47:40 pm »

Hi everyone,

Just a note to warn people that there may be the occasional scammer who tries to sell something on here and since the staff aren't here 24/7 it can take a few hours before we come online to delete it.

So whatever you do don't send ANY money to anyone trying to sell you anything anywhere on the forum unless you see an ok from an admin, either myself or seo20.

We are planning on allowing members to sell their services in the future but when we do it will have its own dedicated section *and* you will always see a staff review.

So if you see anyone selling anything at all please report it immediately and feel free to post on the thread warning others not to send any money.


Thanks,
creo

27

White Hat SEO / Re: Question About Ranking Pages

« on: November 06, 2011, 06:58:33 pm »

It depends how competitive the keyword is and where it's currently ranking.

If you're number 1 then you don't have to add new content unless it's the type of keyword that Google thinks should have fresh content, ie, is very time-dependent.

If you're not number 1 then adding more content to your pages is VERY beneficial post-panda.

Your main domain targets the primary keywords and you can list all the articles there on the main index but when you click on an individual article it goes to its own page.

So when you add new content you should be both targeting new keywords you've not targeted before, the same keywords as before to add even more content for them and then giving each article its own page linking back to the home page as well as on the main index home page displaying all posts/articles as the index is generally where the bulk of your traffic will come and will be targeting your main keywords. (unless you're a very very large site)

28

CPA / Re: Do you cloak your CPA links?

« on: November 05, 2011, 03:32:26 pm »

Never ever trust a network. I have been marketing online since 06 and I have seen countless friends/partners get ripped off by the network swiping their ideas. They are in it to make money too and if they see you are making easy money then why wouldnt they jump on the money train?

This is why you avoid the fly by night affiliate networks in it for the quick buck. These networks are often run by failed marketers who think they can go on easy street by running a network. They steal campaigns and if things go belly up they'll just keep your money and run.

Stick with the big names or the good well-established private networks.

29

CPA / Re: Do you cloak your CPA links?

« on: November 05, 2011, 03:29:23 pm »

Um yes you do. If your network is able to see your traffic source then they can copy it and compete against you. 

That's a failing business model. It's like saying you can eat yourself for an unlimited source of food. :-)

They might make profits in the short term, but when that affiliate stops making money what will he do? Maybe try another campaign with that network again and find the same happening again? He's going to leave pretty soon and realise something fishy is up.

Networks don't steal your traffic. I've part owned a network in the past so I know how things work. This is the *last* thing on your mind. What you want to do is help your affiliates, get them making more money, scaling their campaigns and keeping them happy == more money for you and more time to grow your network.

30

CPA / Re: Do you cloak your CPA links?

« on: November 05, 2011, 03:26:32 pm »

Try to cloak them even it is white hat, because some aff. manager could easily trace your technique and he himself will make some money with your Strategy

To be honest this isn't really something to worry about. Affiliate managers are 95%+ of the time clueless and aren't out to steal anything.

Even if they did want to steal things what are you really giving away?

Let's say you've found some low competition keywords. What's the traffic going to be on them? Not a lot.

If it's a big traffic keyword then it's going to already be well known, like "windows hosting review" or things along those lines. What's your affiliate manager going to do? Suddenly create some site that's going to out rank you? If he could outrank you for competitive keywords then why would he even bother being an affiliate manager? There's no shortage of well known medium competition keywords you can go after if you're good at SEO.

If you're with the sort of affiliate network that has shady affiliate managers then you shouldn't be with them in the first place. Any network worth its salt didn't get where it is by hiring shady affiliate managers who try to steal stuff.

Affiliate managers are of the employee mind-set. If you hire writers, web designers, seo guys and give them work to do they're not going to steal your stuff. Not because of any moral reasons but because to them it's a "job" and they just do it. Running things for themselves is too much hassle, too difficult, too many problems.

You'll maybe get the odd affiliate manager who's there to steal campaigns but anyone that does that is a noob who's tried and failed at marketing so really isn't going to be a threat to you.

If you're already good at marketing and making money would you go and join an affiliate network and have to work full time so you could try to steal some campaigns or would you just go and do some research to find something good? Not really a hard choice.

The good private networks like EWA are very careful about who they hire and everything is quite transparent among the staff at them plus those affiliate managers are usually picked from the good affiliates who are making money and play more of a business role.

The really big affiliate networks like clickbooth are very corporate and their employees are just run of the mill joe-averages with either failed affiliate experience or no experience at all. I've never met an affiliate manager outside a private network who has ANY clue.


I would say that you should never have to cloak your activities from your affiliate manager for the fundamental reason that if you think for a second he's going to try to steal your stuff or rip you off in any way then you should NOT be doing business with that company in the first place.

Business is all about trust and this is business, folks. You just don't do business with people you don't trust. I think a lot of us forget that IM is business, especially those with a blackhat background.

Like offline businesses too you can't just "steal" someone's traffic. What makes an online business a success is a whole multitude of things.

The only exception is when you have 'tricks' etc for certain niches that help with conversions, BUT, as long as you don't go mouthing off on forums or to your AM that you have this "amazing trick" to help conversions in "X niche" you're fine. Even if your AM went so far as to analyse your web site, get on your email lists and further analyse your email copys unless he really knows his stuff he won't know what it is that makes your campaign work and as I've said above if he's good enough to know what works he doesn't need to be an AM and he certainly doesn't need to try to steal from your campaigns.