#gosh this event has been such a fun time ;u;; so glad i got to the dnd au first

[tinta--branca--art]

Guess who participated in something this summer uwu - this is for the @klapollo-minibang !! I was paired with @kaldurrr to draw a piece to accompany her fic - which you can and should read here!!

[icharchivist]

gosh, mentioning your friend who got bowled over by act 2 autumn must’ve been foreshadowing, because I, who foolishly was like, oh I don’t think I’ll relate to azami that much he’s very different from me but it’ll be fun to see autumn, cried twice while going thru the back half of this story. jeez. I’ll may have to be a bit less chronological than usual for the sake of keeping all of that stuff later.

zombie run night was rly great! more like zombie fun night amirite. I’m sorry I make bad jokes. banri getting azami to be a zombie as well was so nice like. again he’s being a good leader.

tenma being scared of zombies makes sense obviously. I’m with him. not zombies but when I was staying with a relative a while back I found a lizard the length of my hand in the bathroom and then refused to use that bathroom for the rest of my stay.

I really liked the eyeball necklace detail—it made the event feel real and also considerate? the moment yuki just went … at tenma I Knew he had planted the necklace on him tho. he’s so funny for that. seeing that and being like yeah tenma you’re so right. you don’t need to participate. cant believe mankai didn’t recognize banri when he caught them. azami must have some stellar makeup skills

azami going after sakyo and haunting him abt his budget lifestyle was sooo funny. like I was bracing for something slightly charged to happen but it was just funny. and he had a good time!! I’m glad. I liked that banri was like. still encouraging to azami even tho his acting motives aren’t the purest lol. I mean to be fair he has no room to talk there but it’s also just nice to like. meet him where he’s at. like we see azami doesn’t really get The Feeling until closing night but. things take time.

azami and omis whole thing was. so good. like the way he won’t even like accept a bandaid is so. azami… I loved the way they resolved it? first seeing omi juza and tsuzuru talking in uni was cool. but then kumon approaching azami was like. so nice. again the way that they like talk and kumon’s like I miss summer! and u can Hear the smile in azamis voice when he’s like come on summer literally just ended!

but him being awkward around omi bc he’s not sure what a mother should be like… gosh. like the way he describes the whole thing as like. strange and confusing I’m going to vote the wall like. like yeah actually that’s exactly how it feels when someone is kind to you in a way you haven’t yet experienced it makes you want to throw it off immediately bc it’s like whoa whoa hold on. I’m not allowed this kind of thing. anyways just. no wonder he likes kumon so much that guy is like, effusive in his praise and azami probably likes having ppl around who are Nice like that. loved omis portrait. it was so good. and it like. absolutely sucks that he had to grow up that quick. very nice to see nachi again, though. but when kid-omi was like: one day in the future. I’ll take a break for myself :) omi. omi I’m shaking you. have you ever really done that. well ig now that he’s living in mankai he’s letting his family take care of housework and stuff? but like, still.

minor note but when they’re doing a street act it was rly cool to see juza just like seamlessly and confidently advertise the play. he’s come so far…

*cracks knuckles* alright all of that was warmup now it’s time for the BIG STUFF. azami almost got hit by a car!!!! the cg there was like. So Good. like the way sakyo is absolutely Frazzled… yeah. like god I keep thinking abt that cg. its sooo. wow!! i dont think ive seen sakyo look so distressed!!! hes not wearing glasses bc he was so shocked that he ended up breaking his glasses in the rush to get there!! its like. azami look... u have a dad that wishes for your every happiness... and azami is just Sitting There mostly unharmed and looking a little confused like huh… why’s sakyo looking so out of sorts… it’s wonderful. and the way sakyo is like even if it was just a scrape I need to find who did this and hurt them. like godddd and the way he’s like “so I don’t even have the right to worry about you anymore?” I am. Going to cry.

what rly got me tho was like the whole jin-gi-oh cards though bc like first off sakyo remembered ALL of them but also!! also just the way u can hear azami kind of mumble stutter like we-well I bet he doesn’t even remember the card stuff (why would he really care about me…) and then sakyo clearly Does. and it’s just like.

it’s so clear that while sakyo is convinced that he barely has the right to talk to azami bc he betrayed him by chasing after his dream… a lot of what azami is worried about is that sakyo doesn’t care about him anymore. like imagine you’re fourteen and you’ve just learned that the guy you secretly think of as your dad, who’s like the only one that’s supported your dreams, is leaving you to pursue his own. without you. and you get into a huge fight with him about it and storm off. and then a week passes and you don’t hear from him. months pass and you don’t hear from him. whenever he’s around doing ginsenkai stuff you just… don’t really talk to him. and you’re fourteen maybe fifteen so you’re too embarrassed to reach out first. besides if he left that easily maybe this whole thing was just a job to him, huh? maybe he never liked you as much as you liked him. whatever. whatever. it’s fine. like the “I bet he’s having so much fun now” line azami says… it’s so clear he believes like. oh sakyo was slumming it with me and left for greener pastures.

and of course sakyo is sitting there like oh I’ve committed the biggest betrayal ever by not supporting his dreams well enough. he probably hates me and doesn’t want to ever see my face again. and like that’s not helping.

and then you run away from your bio dad because you can’t let go of your own dreams and when you don’t have anywhere to go it turns out that you can actually run to the place sakyo went to. and strangest of all sakyo is letting you stay. like the way he just. the pause he has when sakyo says he’s basically his guardian. the feeling of. sakyo is… admitting that? does he… does he WANT to be my dad (I thought he didn’t want to—)

and now you’re here in a hospital and just saw sakyo was super worried about you and also like. maybe treasures you in the way that you thought he did. sakyo says his story of running away is about a pathetic kid but it’s also like. for azami he just learned that the card thing he did with sakyo and liked so much that he still keeps them carefully is actually a parent-child thing sakyo did with his own mom!!! it’s like. oh my god.

azami talking abt his own experience with buying cards and then his dad trashing them, though… I. hm. I am going to leave the section abt azami’s bio dad alone bc I’m tempted to get mean about it and I kind of want to leave that for later.

so, skipping forward to the actual play… it was so cool to see summer come in for support! and I always love seeing how the chapters extend what we see in the actual play. also the voice acting that’s good too. the one thing I noticed was like. “you remember the boy with brown hair you killed three years ago?” who’s going to tell them that taichis hair is as red as ever. so roy’s hair was never brown. it got kinda brown when he became undead? but before I don’t think it was.

cannot believe those asshole delinquents were the ones who almost hit azami. the title “buff high schooler” is just rly funny to me tho. sakoda chasing after azami and then calling everyone was so good of him. smart choice my guy. love how everyone in autumn (minus taichi who seems a little nervous) is like. it’s fighting time. very cool to see all of natsugumi volunteer to be opening act. was confused by the “I always repay my debts” line but I think it’s for banri acting as stand in for kumon? which is nice bc it’s like. tenma is the one saying this so it rly just gives the idea that like. natsugumi is a team yknow. and later when they do the acting it meshes so well with the actual play? bc like they had a specific point where they were like oh let’s adlib and do some comedy that’s undead related to make sure the play isn’t a bummer. and then here’s natsugumi just doing like those sorts of jokes.

anyways back to azamis kidnapping.

muku: won’t it be bad if they see ur faces?

me: …ah. I have. the faintest idea of where this is going [judo bear nozaki flashes to my head]

THE CG WAS. THE BEST POSSIBLE USE OF A CG EVER ITS SO GOOD. I LOST MY SHIT. THE HOLLOW EYES R KINDA TERRIFYING IN A REALLY FUNNY WAY. TAICHI THIS WAS AN AMAZING IDEA. the guitar / bass guitar (? idk instruments) that rolls in during this scene is amazingggg. it’s just the like instrumental break part of respawn which is. I went and listened to that after finishing boyhood collage and the song is like, sooooo good. much love to it. the rly fast vocal parts made me think of the fast parts of worlds end dancehall. which is like also apocalyptic setting so that was cool. also I love worlds end dancehall.

they were so funny during this tho. sakyo going “roooar. give us back our friend, you punkass kids.” and juza forgetting what bears sound like so he just literally goes “beaaarrrr” what are you a Pokémon?

and sakoda running towards azami!!! <3 I grew soooo much affection for sakoda in this story tbh like he takes care of azami so well!

thought it was very interesting that like. when they return, everyone in natsugumi is audibly exhausted minus tenma (he’s probably got great acting stamina) and misumi (I don’t think he says any lines here? but he’s probably just got excellent physical stamina. and he and tenma did start out with the like best acting chops of the troupe) which is a cool detail.

and then azami just carefully opening up that he was terrified. not of being hit but of disappointing them and the play. and then when he says to sakyo… “I’m only saying this once, but when I was a kid, I always thought of you as my dad. And… I still do.” IM GOING TO CRY. idk. like the way that azami just Says That and let’s it hang there and then they do the play.

izumi: wow the fight scenes r intense today! (please don’t tell me it’s bc they were just actually fighting…)

damn izumi what do u want me to tell you then. huh. they stomped in their with their animal heads and azami pirouetted back to mankai? no violence involved?

and sakoda crying at the play!! again I can hear the smile in azamis voice when sakodas like bawling in front of him. when azami was like. shift couldn’t make it…? I paused and was like. azami implied shift had an interest in theater at the end of act 2 summer… could it be… and then when azami was like “the god troupe, huh…” I was like ahhhh fuck. we shall see what goes on there later ig.

also they bring up vkei again when talking abt what they want to do next and izumi shut it down… what do u have against it! honestly eyes emoji at masumi saying he likes it, tho... mazumi expressing an opinion that doesnt align with izumi's personal tastes??? maybe I’m missing something.

but the ENDING!!!!!

citron: "I have reached my limit..." AND THEN GUYS THERE HES LITERALLY THERE!!!!! I’m assuming the <> for their dialogue means they’re speaking in their native tongue anyways im going to obsess over <Citronia.> <I've come to get you.> / <I've been wondering when you'd get here.> I knew guy was coming to get citron so I’m glad to see that’s confirmed… already gave my theories on the specifics so I’m interested to see if I’m anywhere close to the mark there.

okay and Now I can talk abt azamis bio dad. i. uh. I hate him. actually he really grinds my gears in a way I didn’t think was going to happen. so I’m worried that I’m being like somewhat unfair to him bc I’m projecting my own biases onto him. so I’m sorry if u have like good opinions of him. it’s rly so funny tho I knew azami did like makeup and stuff and I was like “oh I have. No Interest in makeup or skincare so I probably won’t relate to it too hard” and then This happened and it’s like I got hit with a bowling ball.

like goddd. the way azami is like yeah I bought some cards with my allowance, and then my dad who’s not sakyo found out and threw them out. “I learned then to never let my dad get his hands on anything I’d bought with my own money” gah… not to overshare but like, I feel azami so much there. growing up I would like. never want to tell my parents I liked Anything bc I knew they’d be like oh you’re so silly and dumb and stupid for wanting any kind of merch or collectibles! it’s such a hassle!! why do u like this stupid thing!! so. ahah. I went to a concert for the first time this year and I remember my parents thinking it was weird but then one day my dad called me and he was like oh I was talking to a colleague abt the concert you’re going too and he says that band you like is like, super cool and popular. so it’s like ah. ig now that an Adult has approved it I’m a cool kid now. the same way my writing was worth shit and was totally useless until a family friend kept gushing about the way I’d helped their daughter. anyways what I’m saying it is azami I get it.

and his dad then trashed his makeup, too… like the way sakyos defense for the handmade cards were that they were like “yakuza” cards so he couldn’t complain like it’s a flimsy defense but the fact that he even had to like, make a Justification about these cards when it’s like. these handmade cards aren’t going to help azami fit in or make friends at all so like they’re not accomplishing what the store bought ones were for. but like you still need to defend against it.

but yeah the way it’s like. wow at a pretty young age azami was like oh okay. so if I like ANYTHING I can’t tell my dad about it or he might ruin it. do I feel that this is perhaps part of why he seems so cautionary abt romance yeah sure.

the first time I actually teared up during this whole thing was actually sakyo in the hospital telling azami not to give up. that he can do it even in defiance of his parents. and it’s so meaningful bc sakyos like his DAD. and he’s telling him he’ll support him… like idk. something so heartwarming abt a parental figure being like, hey, you need to prize yourself to the point that if needs must, you can even rebel against me.

the conversation sakyo and izumi have after that, too… “after seeing my boss, I get the feeling there’s no dad out there who doesn’t care about his kids.” this line makes me feel. So Complicated. like I won’t deny the fact that I think azamis dad cares for him on…. Some level…. but it’s like homares grandmother. im glad she loved him but it doesn’t erase the ways that she hurt him, yknow?

also sakyo. you live with misumi tenma and masumi. masumi you can maybe argue his dad caring abt him and same with tenma (but. I mean I’m not HAPPY abt arguing that bc they r rly under baseline care.) but anyways are u gonna do that with misumi’s dad. then again probably only summer troupe knows about the situation there… honestly sakyo probably knows nothing abt the tenma situation too. so he’d only know about masumi and masumis dad seemed like fairly reasonable and nice at the end.

sakoda was so cool here tho. first off having the nerve to even try to still lie about the tickets to protect azami. and then when azami got dragged to his bio dad the fact that sakoda just. started yelling at him? amazing. this made me cry again. like yeah sakodas been watching him… what azamis doing isn’t child’s play! he’s right! and sakoda knows all of this bc he’s been caring abt that kid for forever!! to the point that he’ll yell at the yakuza head like this bc he cares that much!!!

and azami is like. god. I rly love the way he was like. so openly resentful. “Since when have you ever been a father to me?! Dont pull that shit on me now!” ouch. so true though.

and the. the way that uh. “Wh-what are you bowing for? This asshole doesn’t deserve—“ you can HEAR the trembling in his voice. he’s holding back tears. sakyo bowing FOR azami is so good. like I think this scene hit me so hard bc like both sakoda and sakyo who have the lives they do now mostly in thanks to the ginsenkai, are like… sticking up for azami. who is fifteen and thus hasn’t really Given them anything but like his presence. and they care enough about him to stick up for him anyways.

anyways I hadn’t thought abt this until now but it’s like huh… yeah no wonder azami made something up. he wouldn’t want to talk abt sakyo in front of sakyo bc that would be like admitting he still cared abt him. and he didn’t want to talk abt his parents in front of sakyo bc uh. it would be complicated ofc. like in his boyhood collage he was like oh I don’t even remember why I ran away, but shift was probably frustrated and stuff. but like clearly azamis mom had just recently died at that point. he probably just didn’t want to talk about that.

the reveal that the magic brush he uses on kumon was his mothers makeup brush, though… like the way it was her cheek blush to make herself look less sick. and he does the same thing for kumon years later. it just makes it… so much more affectionate. ”I wanted to use its magic to make someone happy like that again. I wanted to do for someone else what I could no longer do for my mom.” and YOU DID!!!

and then his bio dad’s response to all of this. “well, aren’t you all just making me out to be some evil villain. you think there’s a parent out there who doesn’t want to support his child’s dreams?” yes. yes absolutely.

and the way his reasoning is just like. he just thought azami was making up excuses to run away from the family. that uh. that’s not. true… ugh this part is what made me so frustrated. like azami, after his portrait, so very specifically asserts that’s he’s his son and because of that he’ll do anything for him and ginsenkai family. and it’s like. Yeah. I know what it’s like to be so aware of your position as someone’s child and know that even as you hate them you will also do anything for them even if they won’t recognize that. like… he never even asked. azami was so pissed about getting his makeup trashed that he literally ran away and didn’t come back. and you’re still assuming oh it was a little side hobby, if he REALLY cared about it he would’ve, what, psychic mind beamed the force of his feelings to you? if you had paid attention like sakyo or sakoda you would’ve clearly seen how long and how deeply he’s loved it for. even if it had been for a short time how would you know it wouldn’t grow into something else, anyways. like acting.

also his “study your ass off and aim for the top.” line about makeup and then when he gifts him the makeup set later… good on him for personally buying that stuff. but that line left such a sour taste for me bc it’s like. ugh… honestly it just hit a sore spot bc I remember my parents being like. hi child. you can do like, anything you want supposedly but if you want to do like Anything in the humanities field or arts field you’ll have to be the top 1% of it otherwise you’ll die alone. so like if you’re not good enough to do that just quit (I am implying you’re not good enough). and it’s just like. idk. the sort of implications that if azamis not like the best at makeup ever and also that if he hadn’t chosen to do it bc of his mother and it was just something he Liked, then that reason wouldn’t be enough…? that’s just the vibe I get.

also azamis bio dad being like sigh I’ll tell sayuri you’ve become a strong independent man instead of the family head. it just rly irks me like. even now it felt like hey old man. are you looking more at your dead wife than you’re looking at your actual child. because that’s what it feels like.

anyways idk. I hope azami has more space later in life to be a bit more resentful bc I think he deserves it, yknow? I think the way the whole thing went down like, Made Sense bc why would that guy like admit he had hurt his son… that’s like. unrealistic. so I don’t think the story was written badly or anything. it just made me like. really sad. azami didn’t end up loudly crying (im not counting the wailing he has to do in the play for his dead dad.) and like that makes sense to me. actually I think it was very Cool Of Him to never lose his composure That Badly. uh and he’s going to do great considering he as a middle schooler is like rolling normally with college students. but I just want him to be like. feel safe even when he’s not excelling, yknow?

I fear I lost the plot or rambled a bit too hard there at the end, so sorry if it’s incoherent!! I rly like azami!! this was a very good story. im also ridiculously excited for winter.

HUH OH. SORRY ABOUT THAT LMAO. a3 relatability strikes again?

let's go into it!

dFKJDFKLFDJ zombie fun night is perfect. Banri is really being a good leader and figuring out how to have Azami engage with what they're going to do it's just. god Banri is good.

HELPP. Tenma scaredycat, but also for the lizard thing, so valid, i would do the same. AND HELP for the necklace. This is so funny. and yeah Azami's makeup skills truly are shining there! DLKFJDKLFJD being so used to a3 dropping emotional bombs that this just ended up being funny makes it even softer. But yeah agreed on the way Banri coaches him and still encourages him even though it's obvious Azami doesn't feel the same way about theater yet. For Banri who went from uninterested to "this is my whole life actually", it must be jarring to look at this past mirror, but even more reasons to take it easy.

God the Omi and Azami scene was so good. (friend was staring into oblivion during this whole scene and then cursed me. I would love to be all awww but i couldn't stop laughing.)

But yeah it was so nice that like, so many of them worked together in trying to help out? like it really shows that they're really all a family and a community now, and they'll try to help with their newest members as well. AND AWW. yeah Summer is happiness itself. always missing them. even Azami cannot resist them.

BUT YEAH Azami's awkwardness aroound Omi is just. man. Exactly as you say, it's just, difficult to approach right. but yeah it does serve to justify why it goes smoothly with Kumon on the other hand. Omimi's portrait… just, absolutely heartbreaking again as always. I wonder if Omi did take a break when he was being a delinquant and therefore is doubling down on being of service because he still feels guilty for this time. or if him joining the theater troupe is his vision of taking a break since it means his family has to handle things on their own. Or maybe like Juza and Taichi he's just being too hard on himself.

JUZA SO GOOD. ALWAYS.

and here's the meat of it! yes that CGI was so good man. You really feel just how important Azami is to Sakyo in that image. Also if i recall correctly, Kumon panicked over the phone so they really all expected it to be bad while it was just, Kumon panicking, which somewhat makes it even funnier to me. Anyway. Sakyo good dad. that's all i'd say. god this scene is so emo. AND YESS SOBS THE CARDS STUFF. IT'S GENUINELY SO EMO. Azami not able to believe Sakyo would care this much while of course Sakyo does, come on and it's just. god this arc. God the whole way you describe Azami's thoughtprocess is bringing me to tears. I feel like this is exactly how he felt it yeah. Sakyo is worrying about how he "betrayed" Azami by leaving while Azami would have been just fine with it if it didn't feel like Sakyo was abandonning him and only thinking of him as a duty, and it's just. godd. and goddd the way you describe the rest i'm just. soso emo. They really have a neat relationship, a hurt neither of them were able to explain to the other and therefore they hurt one another like that, but they genuinely care so much and want to be part of each other's lives and and y'know what Azami maybe Sakyo is the only dad you need.

SUMMER SO COOL YEAH!! And yeah the play is pretty nice, though yeah. I guess with Azami at makeup they tried new hair things but Taichi's hair stayed too red for it all smh! but i guess in a huge theater it might not matter so much.

SAKODA IS SOOOO GOOD, UNSUNG MVP OF THIS EPISODE. yeah for Tenma's "i always repay my debts" it's about how Autumn helped Kumon out, so Summer is going to help Autumn and Azami out as well basically. And yeah Tenma definitely see them as a team, he's Natsugumi's leader and therefore he speaks for and takes debts for all of Natsugumi. What a lad. But Natsugumi did such a good job and i love how hard they helped on this one. truly MVPs.

Also yes i love how all of Autumn was ready to fight except Taichi who was nervous, but i love even more that it's Taichi who comes up with the plan on how to infiltrate the base. Really reminding us that he was with the "Bad Boys" because of spy related crimes by how he can come up with plans to infiltrate stuff, but also i love this so much. It's kinda where i started to have my headcanon of "Taichi is scaryingly smart when it comes to illegal stuff". Like the idea of Taichi messing up say, simple math, but coming up with an infiltration plan that would even have Chikage pause is one of my favorit headcanons ever, and it all started because of this.

BUT YES THE CG WAS SO GODDAMN PERFECT. IT'S ONE OF MY FAV CG EVER IT'S SO FUNNY. And with the song in the back, it was GLORIOUS. i'm glad you liked Respawn!!!! it's such a neat song! Also i need to share this stage video: https://www.tumblr.com/icharchivist/708632707674079232?source=share

BUT YEAH it was so funny and i lOVE that they were dedicated in like, actually playing their animals like. dguys you didn't HAVE to. you're just so funny. AND JUZA'S "BEAAAR", it's so good. I love them so much.

Sakoda MPV <33333 he really does take care of Azami so well it's really soft.

And yeah Summer's exhaustion is a nice detail. god it makes me wonder for how long they went on, a wonder the public didn't get weirded out by it.

AND SOBS YEAH AZAMI'S SPEECH. YEAH. And also the "maybe it's because i have two assholes dad that i turned into such an asshole" with a bright smile on his face. god he's so good.

And eheheh for Shift, but, yeah. yeah…. AND SAKODA REALLY GOOD. and please just let them having some vkei related play it's all good!! it's worth it!! maybe this time none of you would oppose Juza wearing a dress if the whole thing is about being scared he wouldn't look feminine enough smh!! AND LDKJFKLDFJD MASUMI'S RARE INDIVIDUALISTIC MOMENT.

AND THAT ENDING!!! yeah < > are for foreign languages in general, and in their case it's their native one. But finally. Guy teasing just to build up to it now!!!

Ok so, now, Azami's dad.

"my dad who's not Sakyo" i love that we're carrying it on on "Real Dad Sakyo" and "Not Sakyo Dad", it says everything.

And i'm all good with the oversharing as long as you're comfortable with it, and man. Yeah i feel you on that, my family is pretty much the same. I've also had my family like, throw out or destroy my stuff, important stuff, either without my knowledge or in front of me, so to say i felt Azami really hard would be an understatement. It's a whole level of violation that is just, really hard to swallow and forgive. Impossible even.

Honestly the whole writings over the problematic dads of Mankai, in the whole story, is so conflicting to me in general. I feel like. The issue is that most of the bad parents we meet don't have anything else going for them, the only thing we know about them per se is their function in society, and that they're bad with their kids. They're tools for their kids's backstory more than actual people. And i feel like Azami's dad actually sounds like a real person. A conflicting, messed up person with his own issues, and that ends up hurting Azami as a result. There's a difficulty to reconcile how the dad took good care of Sakyo as a kid for instance, to how he behaved with Azami, and it's really unnerving in general. And as such it puts Sakyo in a position of wanting to defend the man because he owes him so much, and it's difficult to blame him for that, but as a result Azami loses one of his major support.

Honestly my feelings about Azami's dad are complicated. I believe he's the one father of Mankai who can actually realistically work on his issues and improves his relationship with Azami. I believe he cares for Azami on some level more than just material (in opposition to how i'd consider Tenma's, who cared for his carreer more, and Masumi's, who only cared when he needed to fill his divorce's loneliness, and well, Misumi's don't care.). So i end up believing there is a possibility still for this relationship to improve in a realistic way that doesn't feel just like a deus ex machina like the others dads have been. but god, this particular brand of neglect and mistreatment truly also struck a core with me and therefore i can't totally go unbiased about it and ends up just, uncomfortable and unsure. It's so complicated.

Mostly i'd say my different approach is that, even if Tenma, Masumi or Misumi wants to work things out with their dad, i would be completely opposed to it. Purely "why the fuck, no, that's not worth it" at them. But if Azami wants to work it out it's like. "Fine. just stay safe, know you can remove yourself from it whenever you feel like it, and remember to be yourself, and bail out anytime something would go out of hands". yaknow?

But yeah i agree i feel like it really puts Azami in a position of hypervigilence. Everything had to always be a secret, calculated, you only show to your father what you're ready to defend, and it would make some stuff like romance or passions in general, stuff that leaves you emotionally vulnerable, as something that's just too much risk for very little reward. So you just closes in completely.

so Sakyo being there and actually showing him that he can just be himself and he doesn't have to worry more ahead of it is meaningful because yeah, like you say, it gives him a parental figure who is actually willing to let him experiment and be free without having to always be prepared to defend why you want to do something.

“after seeing my boss, I get the feeling there’s no dad out there who doesn’t care about his kids.” i actually really hate this line in a sense, i know Sakyo is mostly just, extrapolating to what he's seeing now, but i hate it on a personal level. I do think Azami's dad cares for Azami, but yeah exactly like you said, like Homare's grandma, his own issues means he hurt Azami in ways that are ways too deep for love to just be enough. Sometimes parents love you and hurt you more than a parent who would merely tolerate you. Because they love you so much they want to make sure you're well fitted to the world and ends up messing you up as a result.

But yeah god, i'm glad we're on the same page, you can't say "all dads care for their kids" when you're living with those kids, and Misumi's in particular. This makes me see so red. I get Sakyo has a personal bias here but giod. but yeah Sakyo probably only knows about Masumi's and yeah, Masumi's dad was reasonable at the end that he might work it out. but also like, didn't Sakyo's dad abandon hm and his mom?! that the whole reason his mom had a hard time in life was because of that? bc i don't remember if Sakyo's absent dad is due to abandon or death. Bc if it's abandon, i feel like Sakyo shouldn't be the one saying all dad cares yaknow? I still think that, the Wastonian reasons of it all, is because Sakyo owes so much to the Boss that he tries to rationalize things in his favor yaknow? But the Doylist reason, i think, is mostly that the one weakness of a3's writing is truly with how they manage to create realistic scenarios of abuses and the way it affects the kids, but then they want to solve it with the parents going "my bad", and the problem is that it's not how coping with abuse works yaknow.

SAKODA IS SOOO COOL HERE YEAH. Like man, the glow up Sakoda got in this arc with how much he would go to hell for this kid and fight the devil himself if he had to. god. unsung mvp.

Azami is totally entitled to throw that at his father's face, go Azami go.

" sakyo bowing FOR azami is so good. like I think this scene hit me so hard bc like both sakoda and sakyo who have the lives they do now mostly in thanks to the ginsenkai, are like… sticking up for azami. who is fifteen and thus hasn’t really Given them anything but like his presence. and they care enough about him to stick up for him anyways. " OGHHH SO TRUE. THIS IS REALLY SO. SO GOOD.

and you're right about Azami's collage being the way it was. It makes sense Azami just didn't want to share this vulnerability, especially with Sakyo, at a point where he still believed Sakyo didn't care for him on top of that. It's really just. man.

SOBS AND YEAH FOR THE MAGIC BRUSH….

"and then his bio dad’s response to all of this. “well, aren’t you all just making me out to be some evil villain. you think there’s a parent out there who doesn’t want to support his child’s dreams?” yes. yes absolutely. " DJFHDL LEGIT. GOD.

But yeah i feel you on everything else you mention about Azami's dad it's just. Acting like Azami was at fault for not making it clear he was serious, while also making the environment too hostile for Azami to even come out and say that. He's responsible for how Azami couldn't trust him and then he blames Azami for not trusting him in a sense. It's really frustrating, and it feels like he's deflecting the blame, while also kinda taking the blame itself. I'm glad he's trying to fix things, and i do think he feels guilty, but it's still so sour.

and i'm so sorry your parents made you feel all those things :( but yeah i totally get what you mean on how it relates to Azami. It's just so unfair to put on him the pressure to be the best of the best.

In a sense i feel it fits a lot of the thematic of Autumn of like… The reasons they have Regrets to start with is because of the expectations people have put on them, whenever it is over their abilities (Banri) or their appearance (Juza) or their age (Sakyo) ect. And i feel like Azami is in this situation where he's about to regret it if he doesn't take his own life in between his hands. He has to break free from those expectations and fights for what he wants. but god. He shouldn't have to fight for it. ig you can't expect Yakuza to do things the easy way, but god he really shouldn't have to fight for it it makes me so sad.

"are you looking more at your dead wife than you’re looking at your actual child" so true unfortunately hhhh.

But yeah i hope Azami gets more ways to process everything later on :/

I do think that, out of all the bad fathers' plotline, like i said, this is the most realistic one in a sense, and i do think it's well written in general. And i do think that when it comes to abused/neglected kids and their parents, there is also just… i know online the consensus is "children should just cut ties with their toxic parents" and i get how it's the easiest way to see it, to free yourself for good for the influence, but it comes with its own type of downsides that are rarely discussed and is also a lot of pressure to put on a kid. Obviously, if it's too toxic it SHOULD be the case, like i said, chara like Misumi in particular are better off moving past it, but i feel like, in Azami's situation, where despite all the hurt and all the pain, Azami still definitely see his father as a human whom he wants to work things out with… It's just really complicated. I have really messy feelings about all of this.

I do hope Azami would manage to be more resentful and end up being able to actually discuss with his dad and challenge him like, no, YOUR behavior was truly fucked up, it's not fair to ask of ME to communicate my feelings better when you never tried to listen, yaknow?

Anyway i do feel like this sort of… complicated messy conflicting feelings of resentment and yet wanting to work it out that is in Azami and his father's storyline, for how fucked up his father is, actually works very well and is very realistic, even if there would be wishes for Azami not to bother at all for it. I feel like it allows Azami the grace of having really mixed feelings about all of this without going to one extreme or the next about how to be with his father, and it's something i really personally connected with, as someone with a very difficult relationship with my family, who thought cutting ties was my best solution at some point, and now as an adult, have to deal with how while i could never ever forgive them, the other extreme isn't satisfying to me, on multiple levels. I don't like his father, but i want Azami to be able to work it out in the way he would consider satisfying, and i think that the story is written in a way that leaves this approach possible and addresses it as such, in a way i think the others bad dads of Mankai get too much of a free pass. but man. messy. And with the patern of bad dads getting off too easily this can come up as much more sour than the conflicting feelings it could have actually worked on if the others dads were treated accordingly imo.

Azami's storyarc genuinely did hit hard for me as well because of that. He's not a chara i particularly relate to outside of this specific plotline but this plotline hits not only very deep, but on mixed feelings that are hard for me to face in fiction, so it's always hard to look at.

On the light hearted side, my friend we talked about was cursing me the whole storyarc bc of how he related to Azami and then Azami's portrait happened and he genuinely just went "okay you know what fuck you" and was so emotionally damaged by the mirror that i could forget for a bit my own pain by letting him suffer a bit. Terrible friend moment.

Anyway!!! it's all good, i'm glad you did ramble, it was really nice to read and well, it's interesting things to think about, even if the conclusion isn't easily clear cut.

I'm really glad you liked Azami and his story!!!

And ehehe Winter soon <3333

And "Conquering Misoshiosa Island!" first!

Take care and always feel free to ramble <333

[koolkat9]

👀

(Also, wanted to take the chance to say that I love ur GerEng AUs and fics. When I first got into Hetalia (a bit over 2 years ago) and started to know England and Germany, my brain totally went “oh yeah they make one great ship” only to be disappointed at how little is out there of these two. Like how come ppl not see how great they are together - there’s just so much goddamn potential! And now over 14 years later since the anime, it seems the fandom as a whole still didn’t catch up on this. Alas, I found u and I’m infinitely glad for tht. Thanks for being here and not making me feel like the only one cursed with liking a rare ship.)

Sorry this took forever. These things took way longer than I thought.

Oh my gosh! This is so sweet thank you🥰.

There really isn't a lot of content for them and that's a shame... Though I think it's gained a bit more popularity thanks to the adlib the creator of Dreamtalia did in her play through of it which created a whole GerEng subplot (that's how I got into the ship) and then creators like Teethhoarder (who runs the blog asking-gereng and has made many great fanart and fics of them) and myself who has made so many little fics and headcanons for them specifically. But still, it is underrated compared to other ships.

That's actually part of the reason I started making content for them. There was so little of it. And now I've been going 3 years strong writing fics.

And don't worry there is actually a handful of us who ship it. Teeth like I've mentioned and there is a whole GerEng discord server (ran by yours truly). But listen to me ramble. You want an au.

---

Here's probably one of my favourite aus. GerEng Roadtrip AU.

We've got character arcs, slow burn, finding yourself. It's so good, I love it. The GerEng server was great for sharing ideas and we built on it together.

Anyway, Ludwig is going to university for engineering, but after his first year and after doing very poorly on an exam, he's devastated because perfectionism, but also something else bubbling underneath that he's yet to realize/acknowledge.

With the school year ending, Ludwig decides to go stay with his brother for the summer. After all, despite owning it for a couple years now, Ludwig never got to visit the record shop his brother opened and Ludwig needs to get away for a little bit so why not spend the summer in a small quaint town near a river?

Arthur is on of Gil's employees. He and Ludwig don't exactly get off on the right foot. Arthur's grouchy, prickly, a smoker. But Arthur catches Ludwig sifting through some rock albums and the two start to bond over their shared music taste, only to find out they actually have a lot in common and enjoy spending time together.

A little over a month before Ludwig is set to return to school, Arthur proposes they go on a road trip together. One last hurrah before they go their separate ways. Ludwig, feeling more and more anxious as the date of school approaches, agrees for the distraction.

They travel all over, to all kinds of little towns, seeing all kinds of sights. And in the process, learn that they're both kind of broken and lost but find comfort in each other.

Like one time they stay at a campground and have a campfire. Arthur brought his guitar so he strums a bit as they sit. Ludwig asks if Arthur can sing. And Arthur makes a weird face, but gives in and they end up singing together.

One time they stay at a hotel but because it's summer and there is a big event going on, almost all the hotels are booked up, so they have to stay in a room where there is only one bedTM.

They stop in the middle of no where to watch the sunset. And they may or may not share their first kiss in this moment.

They go to some big mall and they end up having to help a lost kid together. Ludwig falls harder seeing how Arthur is with kids.

But it's not all fun and games. Over the course of their trip Ludwig learns Arthur used to be in a rock band. They were just about to hit it big, in talks with fairly big record company only for Arthur to get a case of vocal nodes that changed his voice forever. It changed his sound, his range, and though he still sounds decent he hates how he sounds now. And even if he was find with the sound of his voice, he didn't have the vocal fortitude to be a professional singer. Just when his dream was about to come true it was all snatched away.

Gilbert, a fan of Arthur's band who had become a dear friend offered Arthur a job at the record store to try to help him back on his feet.

Singing with Ludwig during their travels was the first time Arthur sang after the damage. Ludwig thinks he sounds beautiful.

Arthur mentions in passing once that he used to be a singer in a band. So when Ludwig hears Arthur sing, he asks why he doesn't anymore. This leads to an argument as some of Arthur's old wounds open up, making him more defensive and Ludwig doesn't know the full story so he doesn't get why Arthur is suddenly angry.

But eventually Arthur opens up, reminiscing about going on little tours with his band to nearby towns. Ludwig of course listens intently to all the stories Arthur starts to share about his band. Arthur ends up getting a little emotional by the end and Ludwig just hugs him. They stay like that longer than they probably should but Arthur can't deny it makes him feel warm and fuzzy.

Ludwig has his own struggles. He is dealing with his first major failure and with a bad case of anxiety and perfectionism it isn't easy. But there is even more to it. Ludwig has long had the doubt that engineering and university in general is the right path. He knows he's smart enough to be there (even though his anxiety sometimes tries to tell him differently), but his just isn't passionate about what he's studying and if he was to change paths he doesn't know to what. Some of his shitty feelings from failing the exam are connected to this doubt though he's not fully aware of it yet.

Anyway. The car breaks down some time during their trip and Ludwig fixes it. Arthur notices how focused and in the zone Ludwig is working on the car. It reminds Arthur of how he would get playing music. He knows Ludwig is going to university and is struggling a bit, but there is much of story he's still missing. He doesn't even know what Ludwig is studying. So he finally asks about it. Since at this point Arthur has opened up to Ludwig, Ludwig figures it's only fair to open up to Arthur and perhaps finally confiding in someone will might make him feel better.

Ludwig finally admits he's not happy in his program, but he doesn't know what else to do and he doesn't want to disappoint anyone who had high expectations of them (everyone around him just assumed he'd go to university because he was so academically gifted).

"Fuck them all," Arthur replies, "Do what you want first. That's what I always did."

"It's not that easy for me," Ludwig fires back, "Plus...I don't even know what I want."

"I wonder why..."

"What?"

"Nothing. Look Ludwig. I couldn't pursue my dream job, now look at me. Wasting away in that old record shop. I don't want that with you. You have a chance to do something you love, take it. Pursue it until you can't."

"Arthur I-I don't..."

"If you won't do it for yourself, do it for me. If you need an idea, I think you'd make a really good mechanic

Ludwig thinks about it. Reflects a bit and takes Arthur's words to heart and decides perhaps a mechanic apprenticeship would be his best path. He always liked tinkering with cars and machinery and being hands on with it. Wouldn't hurt to at least look into the idea.

Ludwig, thankful for Arthur helping him onto the right path, wants to help Arthur find a new passion or a way he can embrace music in a different way. Ludwig recalls how Arthur taught him a few cords on guitar and how good of a teacher Arthur is. So maybe Arthur could give lessons or even go to school to be a music teacher. Arthur shoots him down, but Ludwig catches Arthur researching what it takes to be a music teacher.

Anyway. The road trip comes to an end and Ludwig has to make his choice. Return to university, to a program he dislikes, or take a chance and stay and get an apprenticeship in town. So just as Gilbert is about to take him back to the city Ludwig comes clean. How he doesn't like his program, that he wants to try an apprenticeship as a mechanic. Ludwig is terrified of Gilbert's reaction, that he'll be disappointed, but Arthur's words echo in his head, keeping him grounded.

Instead, Gilbert is happy for him. "You always did love working on cars," he notes, "Remember our old neighbour who let you tinker on an old, broken down car they had? If only we could have gotten a new engine, perhaps it could have been saved from being scrapped.

Ludwig is shocked, having almost forgotten that summer.

"I bet someone would love to hear that news," Gilbert says with a smirk.

Ludwig runs back to the record shop, but Arthur is missing from his post. Lud hears a faint noise coming from the back room and finds Arthur, next to the old record player, singing along to the song they sung together around the fire. He sits and listens, only revealing he's there when Arthur finishes and Ludwig applauds.

Ludwig tells him how he's going to stay in town and try to get an apprenticeship with a mechanic Gil knows. Arthur is elated, jumping to his feet and kissing Ludwig hard. Their first kiss since that one time on the road during the sunset that they had thought they'd never talk about again.

"But on one condition," Ludwig says, pulling away breathlessly, "You look into school for next year and become a music teacher."

"Ludwig..."

"If you can't do it for yourself, then do it for me," Ludwig smirks.

Arthur can't help but laugh and kiss him again. "Okay. For you then."

And in the end, Arthur does become a music teacher and Ludwig gets to take over the shop he did his mechanic apprenticeship at. They also date and eventually get married 🥰

[autisticlalna]

ty for all the explanations!! i love learning abt stuff thru infodumps and youre so good at explaining events and stuff clearly in a way i understand, so this is just. the peak experience. and youre interested in So Much Cool Stuff!! this is such a neat intro to blaseball, it legit seems so fun

bruuuuh i adore the MaX skin so much!!!! its so pretty!!!!! the flannel is done so well, and the lil rip on the knee!! oh xes so charming. the colors are so good, i adore xem. and a whole removable jacket, im :o thats so cool!!! u are so talented in so many ways!! the wyatts should play mc together, it's what they deserve

esp for MaX bc theyre a Digital Ghost???? thats so good!!!! that is fantastic vibes omg!! xes so cool, oh my gosh. xes goals. glitchy nd nb characters are. such a culmination of vibes. i would pat xir floofy hair if xe were cool with it, xe seems so so rad, and ivy too!!! oh gosh all the wyatts are just the coolest people ever!! i am adoring their hat n sunglasses combo oooo! they r all so fantastic. do all the wyatts hang out even tho theyre on different teams? wyatt club sounds like such a good time, all the wyatts seem so neat

booo the coin!! is there extra power that comes from being The Official god of blaseball? bc four gods would seem to imply equal power levels except if coin wants to be the only god. which, rude. monitor and original wyatt both seem lovely

oh wow thats a lot of games! thats a cool season championship system. yall may not have won rankings but you did win MaX, so. whos the real bottom of the league here. is there a meaning to mild v wild, as well? like one is junior league and one is major? or theyre just split into two groups just bc?

and is. is there additional lore for unintentional necromancy? that sounds like like a safe and totally unconcerning thing. /hj and, hehehe, crow weather is whenever philza minecraft comes to watch a game n brings his chat

the peanut is so rude w the tacos pitchers tho, ffhgs, like jeez. did not expect shelled players to be such a concern

but yeah glad that one thursday was not, like, Everything sgfdggs, especially with That tales. that woulda been a whole lot for one day! v glad MaX and Ivy r both good, tho, that is an understandable problem for all the wyatt club

im glad my explanations make sense hgxlkdhgkldhf i just kinda. Go. i love saying words about things i love and blaseball sure is a thing that i love

this one is going under a cut bc i talk a Lot

TYVM AAAAA i love making minecraft skins,,, i have like. a whole bunch i should show off sometime. but i can never find a good way to get images of em fhgklshf but theyre very relaxing for me to make and hey if i ever need a skin for something i have, like, 50 of em fghklhgk

MAX IS THE COOLEST i got to kinda help w xer concept bc ! the garages on the discord do like, Lore Jams where we all band together and discuss concepts for the newest character and MaX’s was my first time participating and p much everything i suggested got incorporated??? which was super cool????? and there was a lot of us building off of each other and so many cool ideas and aaAAAA once MaX’s wiki page is done im deffo gonna share it here bc. its so good. theres a blaseball wiki (technically 2 but the fandom dot com one is defunct bc fandom dot com sucks) but some of the Garages are a bit out of date or dont have info up yet HOWEVER, MAX’S PAGE HAS ART I DREW, SO MY MAX DESIGN IS AS CLOSE TO CANON AS BLASEBALL GETS, WHICH IS??? OMG???????

MaX and Ivy kinda sorta hang out! MaX is uh. currently stuck in another dimension (there’s a gameplay mechanic called Elsewhere where if a player is on base they can get swept to Elsewhere and are out of play until they return. MaX got that mod and so has just been Gone ahfkxjdlhfj xe’s fine. there’s a waffle house) and xem meeting Ivy face-to-face is kinda risky bc of them potentially annihilating each other BUT that doesnt mean they cant be pen pals! so theyre pen pals. and ignoring the whole echoed-out-of-existence thing, the wyatts do all vibe together. which i would love to doodle if i didnt have to doodle 13 entire characters. but i very much like to think that theyre all friends and that none of them are actually Permanently Gone and Everything Is Fine and they like, talk about pokemon or share funny stories from their teams

so theres like, diff tiers of god i suppose? the Peanut & the Coin have more direct control over events, like they actively influence things that happen on the site, reward or rebuke the player base, and are generally in-canon responsible for things happening. the Monitor just kinda vibes, but also works under the Coin currently (and also the Coin fucked off and left the Monitor in charge, who is now very overworked and out of their depth) the Microphone has very little influence asides from a) twitter (bc. he has an official twitter he talks on. theres a couple canon in-character accounts run by the devs! altho the Microphone account has been inactive since he got sabotaged / the Re-Masoning happened) and b) speaking through Receivers, which are certain characters (like NaN!) who got a modification from the Microphone and can hear him in-canon. this is indicated in-game by the Receiver’s pregame rituals being messages from the Microphone, w the last update being “Have hope” ;w;

the league’s split up Just Because i think? it was smth that happened before i joined, it used to have a totally different division setup and then that got rearranged into mild v wild. i do not understand it very well beyond “cross-league play between wild and mild is very rare unless you make it to the playoffs” dhflkdhd i guess its like. OH okay so each sub-division (high vs low) can end up w different champions that then go to the playoffs to find out who’s the Best In The League? like uhh Wild High had the Tokyo Lift (edit: HADES TIGERS, FUCK Tokyo Lift got wildcarded in) and Wild Low had the Unlimited Tacos make it to the playoffs, and the Philadelphia Pies were the Mild High champs and the Canada Moist Talkers were Mild Low (and also won the championship overall! gg MTs, i was rooting hard for the Tacos tho)

BOY HOWDY, THE NECROMANCY. so. necromancy is actually a huge thing in blaseball lore. back at the end of season 1, Jaylen Hotdogfingers of the Seattle Garages was the first player to got incinerated after everyone voted to open the forbidden book, which did a LOT of things but mainly a) killed Jaylen b) added a weather type, Solar Eclipse, that players could get incinerated during c) fucked up the Moab Desert and turned it into a eldritch location so the Moab Sunbeams became the Hellmouth Sunbeams and d) was one of the reasons we ended up pissing off the Peanut

the Garages were DEVASTATED at losing Jaylen. she was our best pitcher! and her replacement, Mike Townsend, is. a disappointment. or, was, it was kinda a meme but now he’s better known as a credit to the team! there is a series of songs about him. because the Garages fans have a band called The Garages and they make very catchy songs about blaseball. here’s an album of songs about mike townsend and his character development

several seasons later, there was a vote option where if your team won the vote, the #14th ranked player on the idol leaderboard (which is like. popularity? you can choose a fav player.) would get recruited to your team. one of the teams, i dont remember which rn but it might’ve been the Baltimore Crabs messing around? found out that you can idolize dead players as long as you had access to their player page. cue a league-wide effort to get Jaylen to slot 14.

and this is like, one of the major turning points of blaseball. like, this happened after the Wyatt Masoning, but this is THE moment of blaseball imho. because it worked, and we got Jaylen back. Jaylen is, effectively, undead!

...except it turns out it comes with a price. Jaylen started having a unique Thing where, whenever she was up to pitch, she had a chance to hit a player with a ball and they got a new modifier, Unstable. no one knew what it meant until it finally activated-- anyone who’s in Solar Eclipse weather that’s Unstable just fuckin. goes up in flames. like the amount of incinerations SKYROCKETED. turns out Jaylen’s in Debt as a result of being necromancied, and shes gonna just keep getting players killed unless something is done

enter the Microphone. somehow, the Microphone strikes a deal and changes Jaylen’s debt-- now whenever Jaylen beans someone with a pitch, they’d get a modifier (Flickering) that made them more susceptible to switching teams in Feedback weather. which is far less lethal, thank FUCK, if still kinda a Mess bc it meant team rosters were all over the place. after that, the Microphone pulled some more strings and changed Jaylen’s debt AGAIN to something that activated in Reverb weather, which made it more likely for players to do their turn twice i think?

at this point in time, Jaylen’s debt is totally gone, although she’s been benched because of ending up with ultra-Flickering during the bossfight against the Peanut (she worked together with the Microphone, who gave her ultra-Flickering so she could hop between teams constantly and sabotage the Peanut’s team and it uh. didnt go away afterwards.) and when she finally flickered back over to the Garages we made the choice to bench her so she’d stay

...the thing is, uh. the fanbase has not learned from what happened to Jaylen. specifically the part where Jaylen killed a lot of people. there’s a player, Chorby Soul, who as part of a funny joke by the devs totally breaks the UI and also died like forever ago? and a small portion of the Garages fanbase won the raffle on MINISCULE odds to resurrect them. most of the Garages are not happy about this. there’s a chance that it Won’t end in murder bc each Debt variation Jaylen went through gave a different modifier, but its still not great, yknow?

...........and then, at the exact same voting results, a different team chose to necromancy another player, York Silk, who was a fan-favourite that’d gotten incinerated the same season

so there are uh. two players with the potential power to Kill loose in mild league rn

also, as a fun fact, MaX being able to echo modifiers means that, if circumstances line up, xe might echo Debt! :D WHICH IS. NOT GOOD. WE DO NOT WANT THIS

however there’s another fun thing which is that resurrected players also get the Returned modification, which at the end of a season has a chance to return them to the afterlife. this led to something hilarious recently where Sutton Picklestein got resurrected during an election and then INSTANTLY DIED AGAIN because Returned went off. he was alive again for, like, 9 seconds i think. it was beautiful

but yeah the necromancy / Jaylen plotline is kinda. was kinda one of the Main Plot Arcs of blaseball before finally getting resolved? and then whoops we now have TWO resurrected players this go around. AND this is happening at the same time as the Wyatt Re-Masoning. AND blaseball has gone on siesta for 2 weeks so everyone can take a break after. That. so, boy howdy,

[ts-akhmim]

Rites of Passage

TJ: Bodhi – I don’t know that much about you, but I’ve heard you are a crackhead, so I guess I’m ok having saved the experience of playing TS with you for a different time. It would have made the original tribes a lot more interesting to say the least, lol.

AMIR: I am so angerry we didn’t get to play together!!! I wanted to work with you back in Survivor Cutthroat and when I saw you were cast on this season i was excited to play with u again and was robbed of the opportunity AGAIN!  u were also the only person on this cast that i have played with previously so the familiarity was lovely, so anyways u were robbed even tho you got like a 35 in the first challenge luv u always

AUTUMN: I wish we had gotten to play together longer! I’m glad we’re in another game together because I think you’re a cool guy and I appreciate your humor, honesty, and just candor about everything. I know in the moment the vote felt very hurtful but it was purely about the challenge and wanting Thoth to be as strong as possible moving forward (little did we know what was coming lmaaaaoo)

TJ: Trace – Another person I never got to meet in this game, but everything I heard from the Brains that I did get to talk to was that you were a super nice guy and really respectable. Sorry this season didn’t work out for you; I think we all know we can just blame Thoth for being a cursed tribe!

AMIR: We never got to meet :(  may b in the afterlife

AUTUMN: I hope you’re well! Honestly your death felt like true Survivor because the target was someone else but once Devon and I found out that you had made an alliance with everyone except us, I flipped it and said you had to be the one to go. I think the game would’ve been completely different had you stayed because there’s no way you would’ve let me get this far and once I realized you wanted me on the bottom, I was like ok Trace is the real deal he knows I’m trouble hahaha. You’re a great guy though and I hope you understand it was just game

TJ: Isaac – The third person I have never met in this game (I feel bad, Autumn is going to be the only one of us three who can actually say anything about these first three). I know you brought an interesting dynamic to the tribe based on the tribals I had watched, so kudos to you for being able to make an impact on the tribe. Another person I think we can just blame Thoth and not really blame anything gameplay wise, lol.

AMIR: Bane of my existence but also taken way too soon from us smh, you didn't deserve to be on cursed ass thoth, rip in peace’s sweet bottom

AUTUMN: You’re so sweet and wholesome and I really miss our conversations. I was being dumb and naive when you told me Scott and Duncan were a duo because I was an alliance with them and Devon. So I very much wanted to believe we were rock solid but YOU KNEW!! You called it before anyone else and for that, I stan. That alliance is literally the reason you want home and I just didn’t want to turn on them at the time. But in hindsight you were right about a lot of things and I appreciate your kindness and maturity about it all even though you were lowkey robbed

TJ: Austin – I never thought that we would reconnect after a few years away from being on the same site, so it was a great surprise to realize that you and I had actually played a couple games together in the past. I wish we had more than 24 hours together to maybe see what a future in this game could have been like. You are just as genuine of a guy as I remember you being, so that was really nice for me to see.

AMIR: Hello king of dairy queen, we honestly never talked too too much but you always were really nice to me and everyone else on hathor, and even after you were voted out, you were kind and left so gracefully

AUTUMN: You were so fun to talk to and if it weren’t for Devon’s mist I would’ve saved you lmao. I almost wish that twist hadn’t happened because had we met at a normal swap, I think our good vibes could’ve turned into a great alliance and we got along super well. It was nice getting to know you in the time we had though and I hope we get a chance to really play together one day

TJ: Lovelis – I can’t apologize enough for having to vote you off both as early as I did and how I did so. I’ve played now two seasons of the Challenge with you, but I found that I built a better bond with you this season than those two seasons combined, and then it just snowballed into this giant series of unfortunate events the tribal we had to go to and there was nothing that I could do. I’m genuinely so sorry for not being able to tell you what was going on and hope there’s a small chance you may understand sometime down the line.

AMIR: I never got to meet you unfortunately but I always thought your name was pronounced Love-El-Leez and then someone said “Loveless” and i was shookums

AUTUMN: SIR WHERE DID YOU GO??? I love that you don’t give a single fuck though haha because mood and I love dramatic exits- do you boo

TJ: AJ – Other than a brief convo during the Osiris vote, you and I never really got to meet. From what I did see, you seem like a really nice person and one that I think got voted out way too early. Hopefully I can verify that myself in another game if there is one in our future, but I wish we had been able to meet and see what could have been!

AMIR: You are so funny and and one of my fav people from Hathor 1.0 when it was such a simple time, also your winter bells score was inhumane and you had a great presence to be around, i just had a hard time ever trusting u and ya hehe

AUTUMN: ROBBED KING!! We didn’t really get to meet but thank you for sticking up for Adam on Hathor and for being honest with him. Although it led to a crazy divide amongst the beauties that lasted the whole game lmao (cmon impact!), I think that takes character to step out on a limb for someone especially when it risks your game. Merge would’ve been so much more iconic with you since I’m rooting for everyone brown haha. I hope we get to talk more after the game!

TJ: Connor – You seem like such a great guy and I wish I had spent more time trying to know you on Hathor. One of the things that always scares me in these games is when I can’t get a read on someone. I never was able to get a solid read on who you were and what you were capable of, and for that, that made you the person I was most threatened by in that circumstance. 

AMIR: 

AUTUMN: SIS I MISS YOU!! That tribe was BLAND after you left lmaaaoo I couldn’t wait for merge. Even though we didn’t talk a ton, I feel like we really vibed towards the end and just talking about Survivor seasons all evening. I screenshot your rankings and I reference them all the time/ they’ve been a fun conversation starter at merge. But anyway you’re hilarious and messy and iconic and I’m glad we got to meet. Also, you’ll be glad to know I finished Cagayan, I am neither Tony trash nor a Spencer fan, and I’m watching Pearl Islands now

TJ: Dan – Seeing you on the cast and on my starting tribe was almost like a little sigh of relief. Knowing someone and trusting that they aren’t going to just randomly screw you over is the greatest feeling in that initial stage of this game, and it sucks that it wasn’t able to go too much further than that since we got through an easy tribal at Brawn and then we got swapped onto opposite tribes. You and Drew brought me into this crazy world that is TS, and I hope I can complete that initial season now with a win here.

AMIR: Oh my gosh has it been a long time, I really haven’t seen you around or spoken to you in about 3 years, so seeing you in this game brought back a lot of nostalgia and memories from being in this community during like 2016 looooool, but it honestly was really nice to reconnect with you and see where we’ve gone in life since leaving here, wishing you the best (‘:

AUTUMN: Girl what happened??? I mean ok yes a part of me was relieved that you wouldn’t be able to kill me haha but you were robbed and we really could’ve fucked shit up. Had a different Apis member been over then instead of you, whew we would’ve done damage together on Hathor. It’s all good though- I hope everything is well with you and that you’re taking that well deserved break. All these back to back orgs we’ve been doing is getting OLD haha

TJ:  Scott – When I saw the cast reveal, I was so excited to meet you. I really thought I would be a Brain and that we would be on the same tribe. We would have worked so well together, and I hope in some alternate universe you come back to ORGs and we find each other in another game to play. 

AMIR: Scott !! Oh wow I have thots when it comes to your vote out, I did know u were getting voted out and I’m sorry, but honestly, you were just too good!! Our whole tribe was loyal to you dead ass, and I felt like if you got to merge, you would run the game using the brains and the beauties. U were just too damn likable during the game and I hope U understand why I did it

AUTUMN: Wheeeww Scott. I’m still gagged by that tribal that was something else. It was hard to see you go out like that because you truly deserve the best and have such a kind, amazing spirit. To the point where I would’ve had a hard time ever voting you or even getting anyone else to do the same so. Yes you were robbed but please don’t internalize it cause you were playing an amazing game (even had the boys confronting me about all the tea you shared haha/ gave me some messes to clean up) so please please please play again because you will WIN

TJ:  Liam – Of all the names I wrote down this season, yours was by far the hardest. Emotionally, I had really grown close to you and I felt awful for the situation you were in. Everything I told you that whole round and before that was 100% genuine. I just wanted to see the fight you had that first Brawn vote when I wanted to save you over Lovelis. You are one of the kindest dudes I’ve ever met in these games, and I have so much respect for you, your priorities, and how you carry yourself.

AMIR:  We never really got to talk much at all, but the few times we have talked you were always very sweet, I hope you are doing well. Autumn: Ok I do actually love you I swear haha. You’re a very sweet, compassionate guy and I could tell you were going through a lot which I 1000% get. But once merge hit, I knew shit would hit the fan really quickly so I basically got everyone to target you because most people didn’t know you too well and all the other Apis boys went with it because they were terrified of being the sacrificial brawn (since 5 of y’all made merge). I hope things are going better for you and I hope not having to worry about this wild ass game helped in some way. You thought you and I were tired back at pre-merge- girrrrrlll that was nothing hahaha

TJ: Jordan – If you told me Day 1 that you would be the person I would strategize the most with and become the closest ally too, I would have laughed in your face! I thought there was no freaking way that our personalities would click. And then I got to know you, we bonded over Survivor, and then a genuine friendship formed in this game. We made a F2 pact during the swapped Hathor tribe and I would have stuck to that to the end of this game. You are a great player and fun influence for these games, and I hope I made you proud throughout this merge.

AMIR: Oooof! Okay we did not leave on the best terms, you, similarly to dan, bring me a lot of nostalgia and you remind me of what it was like being in this community years ago. I never really got a chance to meet you in a personal way and get to know you at all until this game and I loved that we were able to reflect on the past and look back together, but unfortunately, by the time we did finally get on the same page, it was a little to late for me strategically. We got to connect over c*rcle and going to Ryerson and you’re honestly a real cool guy. I’m sorry for doing you dirty and I was happy to hear that you felt better the day after everything happened. I still stand by my decision and do not want to come across as a suck up, because I felt like you were after me prior to that point, and while I did feel a person connection after one call, my head still said that betraying all my allies for your plan was not smart for me. I truly do wish u the best and really hope u give me a chance outside the game, because that call we had did truly matter to me i swear I’m not evil looool Autumn: There’s so much I could say here but I’m gonna go about it like this: hi, I’m Autumn Hill and everything I do in Survivor is purely based on of strategy. I’ve always wanted to play with you just because of all the things I’ve heard about you but I knew we were too cracked to ever really work together. So I said yes to that alliance to appease Duncan and to keep an eye on you/ figure out how to take you out from the inside. There’s been a running joke all game that I just woke up and decided to kill you lmao and I swear that isn’t true. Yes I had been taking notes on you the whole game but no I was not waiting to specifically kill you at Final 11. I literally just wanted you and/or TJ to be captain because neither of y’all had done shit the whole game and it was already Final 11. Did I KNOW y’all would wile out and you would dig your own grave? No but I was really hoping you would hahaha. So you openly targeting me made it easy for me and then you snapping on everyone before tribal sealed it. I hope you don’t still hate me but I wouldn’t be surprised if you do even though I don’t think it’s justified because it’s literally just game and you had no intention of going to the end with me anyway. And I’m sure you’ve been praying I walk into jury but that has given me so much motivation to do the opposite you have no idea

TJ:  Duncan – Regardless of how our relationship in the game ended up, you are still someone that I enjoyed getting to know and genuinely connected with you during the Hathor swap. You are such a smart and genuine soul, and that’s not something that’s always easy to find in these ORGs. If I screwed something up between us, I’m genuinely sorry about that and would love to talk it out afterwards.

AMIR: *wendy_williams_with_the_hat_over_her_head_gif*  you did not deserve what happened to you in this game, i hope you believe me when i say I was super super happy to see that you’ve been cast in this game, and assumed from the moment of cast reveal that we would be working closely together. We connect well, we had a lot of important conversations and both being gay poc and our experiences and I always felt that we would be great allies. Unfortunately in the game, the round where you were getting voted out, I actually wanted you to stay but all my closest allies did not and I felt like being a leader in that round was not what's best for my game. I was upset to lose you way earlier than I wanted to and I hope you know me not warning was never personal, and i really hope you’ll want to be friends afterwards b/c I definitely do Autumn: My bb :( I STILL LOVE YOU BUT YOU KNOW HOW I AM!!! I can’t be tamed lmao and I just felt really suffocated by our alliance and paranoid about us having been together the whole game. Devon lowkey came between us on Thoth and I felt like you were jealous that I was close to someone else so when you got Devon to vote me back on Thoth I was really shook. Idk it felt like a warning shot, that you and Scott would basically dangle me off a cliff for no reason so I knew what had to happen. Then the alliance with Jordan and TJ happened and you didn’t fuck with Ali and Adam and I was like oooop I need to cook something up. Then I really started aligning with other people at merge (Jakey, Amir, Augusto, etc.) and I was like ok I need to cover my tracks. And Idk there were just a lot of weird moments where you voted TJ captain first but wanted me to convince everyone else to do Adam, you protecting Jordan during the immunity challenge and cutting Augusto’s rope only for you to force Devon to cut Jordan’s rope, lying to Adam about targeting him- so I just couldn’t do it anymore. I knew I was trying to go deep in this game and I felt like we couldn’t go any further together so I put the vote on you and it became unanimous since a lot of people were hurt by all the lies you told. So whew that’s the tea but you always said if I ever killed you, I better win and here we are lol and I hope I continue to make you proud

TJ: Devon – Ah, Slithers! I was so excited to reconnect with you because there was so much unfinished business between us after Guyana. There was so much we could have done that game, and I was glad to at least get a small taste of that in this game. I wish we had met before merge so that we didn’t have to throw something together right at merge. Your elimination was a blessing in disguise for me, because it was that round or the round before that I started becoming weary of the fact you were telling things to others you said you had only told me, so maybe it was good? You’re a strategic genius and I truly think you’d win if you came back one more time.

AMIR: Oh my god Devon you were always a confusing one for me, I felt quite close to you for a lot of this entire game and for a good portion of it, I actually felt quite loyal to you. When I met you at one world, we instantly clicked as people and I was excited for you to get back into the game and we were tight from that point on. At merge, things started getting complicated and at some point, I truly did start to get intimidated by your social game and how calculated you were about every single decision. I definitely was not the driving force behind your vote off but I also did not do much to try and stop it, overall tho, you protected me a bunch of times in this game over and over and I’m not ignorant to that and I’m thankful for that time we had as allies and friends mr 95% top Autumn: Girl what the fuck hahaha. I have half the nerve to leave the message with that but you’re lucky I still love you. To this day I have no clue why you turned on me and I was always loyal to you. So many people talked shit about you but I continued to give you the benefit of the doubt and forgive you. And I genuinely wanted to go to the end with you, Amir, and Augusto (or you, me and Ali) and had you actually believed me, you would be sitting here instead of me. But then you tried it and got the whole tribe to lie to me and if that wasn’t bad enough, you were coming at me for believing you were the rat (even though you, Amir, and Augusto were intentionally covering Kendall’s tracks) and saying you had my back no matter what. So between that and realizing that you were intentionally trying to put me on the bottom of the tribe is why I put a hit on you. I was truly never coming for you until you gave me a reason. So yes I was in my bag about it then but it’s all good now and I’m now back to thinking you’re a sweet, funny guy who deserves nice things. I miss the good ole days on Thoth ugh when we just call and laugh and make fun of everyone but alas. ALSO THANK YOU FOR CUTTING THE WRONG ROPES!! It’s one of my favorite moments of the game and it makes my day every time I think about it lmao I really need all the laughs I can get these days. Unless you actually have been rooting for me this whole time and you cut your allies’ ropes intentionally??? I can’t wait to finally hear that story hahaha

TJ: Ali – I need to start by apologizing for not replying the last hour-ish before your elimination. You are such a high caliber player – potentially the highest of caliber – that I didn’t want to give you any more information to possibly spook you and change what you and Jakey had talked about. You were someone I knew from the getgo that I couldn’t let you get far, and yet you cease to amaze me in your ability to be so freaking likeable and get far in these games. I will never forget doing the name scramble with you and I truly wish every challenge could have been that.

AMIR: WHHEWW weeeee i have so much respect for you, you have no idea. Like okay I never had met you but I knew that you were a godly player due to bbpokemon, but I never judge based on placements, but playing in this game with you confirmed that. Tbh tbh we were never gonna work out as loyal allies because you scared the absolute shite out of me as a player and had a damn toybox of powers, but i am glad that this game gave me the opportunity to get to know you as a person and ive come to really really like you. You were a force in the game but also super nice and respectful to everyone the entire way through and i can only admire that, and after like literally years of just hearing about you i get why everyone loves u

Autumn: I CAN’T DO THIS. I cannot cry over you twice in this game I really cannot. I cannot articulate the guilt I felt watching you die when you didn’t have to. I go back to that moment where you gave your negator power to Adam in case you died and it crossed my mind to tell you to play the idol on yourself because I just had a weird feeling. And like- we were right we knew we wouldn’t be able to do this whole game together because Auli is too powerful. But I just thought we had more time together. You really are like a brother to me and when you died, Adam and I called and he did all the talking for a good 15 minutes because I was on the other end just crying. But! This means you’ve joined the elite cause the only other allies I’ve MOURNED are Ned and Eddie. I just love how you are literally the nicest person but constantly have everyone shaking in their boots. Like the way all these people had a hard-on trying to get you out like 3 rounds in a row is just so powerful ugh. King of living rent free in everyone’s minds! Idk it would’ve been too good to be true for us both to go to the end but you  are truly a legend and I’m grateful for literally any time I get with you and I REALLY wouldn’t be here without your idol sis so your spirit really did live on

TJ: Jakey – Day One I really thought that you and I would be at the end of this game together. And even throughout that entire merge, despite a few ups and downs we both had, I really saw us sitting here together. It sucks that we got blindsided together and I didn’t have that chance to save you, but I am so glad that we were able to connect the way we did. Our dynamic in having information from both sides of the house was perfect for both of us, even if it was your downfall. I was not kidding when I told you after Jordan left that I still had your back and that I wanted to get us to the end. 

AMIR: I am so glad I got to meet you in this game because you literally became one of my fav people ever in the span of a month, and you know I love you. You’re someone I plan on being tight with for a very long time and have come to care about you so much, and we ended up calling like every single day for hours. You not being in the game anymore always did feel weird afterwards since you were essentially my other closest ally in terms of how you knew just about everything about my game and were kind of like a sounding board for me. I didn’t fully trust you sometimes, and I often think back to a “what if” and if we both could be here rn if my ass decided to take that risk and fully commit to this alliance and 100% trust you, but when this game is over, our nightly late night calls are probably going to be the main thing I remember and I am so appreciative that I got the chance to get to know you and become as close we did ❤️

Autumn: LMAO now see when you do clownery… I have so much respect for you and you are truly brilliant but girl you do too much haha and you know I’m OLD. I can’t do the back and forth and watching someone play both sides and have this je ne sais quoi energy about fucking everyone’s games up, allies included. Fam if you had waited to kill Ali ONE MORE ROUND, this game would’ve been yours. You had Amir and TJ whipped, you would’ve had me, Adam, and Kendall powerless, and Augusto would’ve kept chilling. But no I had to avenge Ali so me and Adam got to work and came up with a bunch of lies and truths to get you out and the kids ate it UP. But anyway, you’re still my son, you will bounce back, and I’m rooting for you in everything you do.  You’re hilarious and perceptive and cracked and I told all the POC’s every round you were the only white boy I would actually vote for hahaha and I mean that

TJ: Adam – My biggest personal regret is not getting to talk to you more and at least get to know you more on a personal level. You always seemed so sweet and we talked about a decent bit, but I don’t think I ever put my best foot forward to build that connection since we were never on the same side. You are such a kind, sweet guy and I wish more guys were like you. 

AMIR: Hello hunty, I think out of everyone in this cast, you are the first person I had ever met and it goes way way way back...like 2014 back. Our relationship is this game was…. ICONIC and messy to say the least. I was always a huge fan of your blog back then, and never thought we’d both end up on the beauty tribe. I honestly saw so much potential for us being super close allies, and at some point, I considered you my closest ally during day 1-2. The issue was the creation of an alliance without you in it, and then that alliance targetting you and you getting word of it which just kinda set us on the wrong foot from the very beginning because you didn’t trust me and I was anxious about that. It was literally all just shitty circumstances because bible i literally wanted to work with you so bad. We eventually set things straight again, but due to alliance lines, previous mistrust, and the people we were both working with, we ended up being on opposite sides and never were able to work out on a strategic level despite the fact that we always meshed well on a personal level, it was unfortunate but also kind of an iconic rivalry/alliance thing that was going on

Autumn: MY BABY!!! When you died I was just numb and I miss you so much. That happening right after I finally won immunity was just cruel and my system short circuited. We had a million alliance chats and just like that the house was empty and it’s just been quiet all the rounds since. Tbh I was triggered cause I was ALONE alone in Crossroads so when you died I was just sitting at Final 5 with the idol like awww shit here we go again haha. You are one of the funniest, kindest, most loyal, and most authentic players I’ve ever met and your social game is TOP SHELF sir. Watching you lie and finesse and manipulate people round after round actually cleared my skin. In my mind, I always referred to you as the Mad Hatter because you always had tea and you always had something brewing on the stove haha. I miss our conversations so much and I really wouldn’t be here without all the trust you put in me and for being like “giiiirrrl you need to get on the blog RIGHT NOW.” You know I can make hoes mad all by myself haha but it was at its best when you were by my side

TJ: Augusto – I want to mirror what you said about me in your goodbye message. You are so pure, you are so likeable, you are such a king when it comes to the social game. I didn’t think our games would gel that much coming into this game, but once we got over the little hump that was the first couple rounds of merge, I really clicked with you and enjoyed meeting you this game. I wish we had followed the plan and you’d still be here over Amir, but ‘tis the game.

AMIR:  This is probably the hardest one to write because you have been my partner in crime and my closest ally since day 1 in this game, and I truly did want to go to the end with you and Kendall. You kept me sane for like the majority of the game and I 100% could not have made it here without you. I am not going to diminish the impact that you had on this game and how big of a factor you were in my survival. I have never lied or kissed ass when I said I believed you played one of the strongest games by far. As a person, I love you and you know I mean that and have enjoyed your friendship a lot over the past month, and really really hope we’ll be friends after this game. The game does not feel the same without u there and i miss your dumb gay memes that make me cackle, and im sorry for how things ended up, I truly felt like at that point, it was me going home or u, and i chose to pick me. I don’t want to dwell but I also don’t want to invalidate how badly I screwed you over and how you get to be mad for it. i cant wait 2 talk to u after the game  

Autumn:Lmaaaaooo listen. That whole thing was one of the most cracked things I’ve ever done in my entire org career and Iiiiii don’t wanna get into it here but I will so that miss Amir can’t take credit for it hahaha. Basically…. what had happened was… I was very much going to idol Amir out but he randomly came into my pm’s after TJ won immunity and begged that we work together and that I spare him if I had the idol even though he had just killed Adam. And it took a lot of convincing but I thought about how well positioned you were to go to the end with anyone so I said: yes Amir but I’m killing Augusto which means you’re going to tell the beauties you have the idol since everyone has to vote me. Meanwhile TJ was talking to me and being very straight up that it was between me and Amir/ it was based on who had the idol. So I threw Amir under the bus and said everyone was giving the game away to him and that TJ was no better for always talking shit but never doing anything about it. And he kept trying to corner me into saying I had the idol and that “everyone was still concerned” so I got tired of going back and forth and was just like lemme go address everyone in the tribe cause I’m not doing this all day when I know I’ll be at Final 4 no matter what. So that’s when I gave a monologue in the tribe chat about how everyone should be honest with me and that there’s no point in lying when I’m essentially a sitting duck. Then you and Kendall admitted to voting me, which allowed me to a) play the idol correctly and b) split you and Amir. Tbh I just felt like you had the best spot in the game because the whole round it like never crossed your mind that you could die and I was like oop hold my beer. Meanwhile you had talked shit about Amir’s game to me more than once so I started twisting the knife on him and when you weren’t talking to him as much, Amir really got paranoid and was like they’re gonna kill me soon I just know it I’m all in. So that’s the tea. But! You know it was strictly game because I adore you and I legit called you more than anyone in this cast haha. I just got spooked about you getting any deeper in the game. You have a great heart and I hope we can still be friends after this because you’re an amazing person and I’ll always be here for you

TJ: Kendall – You haven’t even been gone for 24 hours and I already miss your lunatic history facts! I never expected to meet someone in this game who I truly understood and care about in this game, and that’s exactly what I found starting very early in that merge with you. You are so freaking quirky, but so am I so I get it completely. I wish everyone in this game got to see how amazing you were and how you were completely robbed from being able to make the finals with me. I truly think I met a friend for years to come with you, and I’m so grateful for that. (Also ps, apparently we had a flirtmance going according to the other two… I wasn’t aware of this, lol).

AMIR: This is interesting because I kinda already messaged you yesterday right before the vote with everything I have to say, in the end, you have the right to feel how you feel and your reactions are 100% valid. I apologize for lying to you and blindsiding you, It was not an easy decision and I own it, and even writing this right now is quite difficult because I want to talk about the hilarious and amazing times we had together and make it a cute rop, but I know the wounds are still fresh and I know you said you are not happy with me rn and I would not want to act oblivious to your current emotions. Maybe if I make it to jury or FTC, you will be able to say everything you want to say to me and we can move on from there and pick up where we left off,

Autumn: Sis I don’t even know where to begin with you haha. Because we were never allies or even friends lmao but we always had mutual respect for each other the whole game and just tried to stay out of each other’s way. I do genuinely believe you get a bad wrap for no reason and people talked a lot of shit about you for no real reason. And I love that both the women in the game were despised but for different reasons haha. You were playing a good game tbh and even though I really considered sitting beside you at the end, it frustrated me that you (like Augusto) felt like you were guaranteed to be at the end and you were essentially the prettiest girl at the dance and meanwhile I had to fight for my life every single round since Final 6. So I was like ok if sis really wants to go to the end, then she’ll pull up and meet me at firemaking haha. Amir went back and forth about the whole thing and legitimately told me he was voting me earlier that day but I got in his head and I said you know damn well they will clip you at Final 3 no hesitation so unless you want this whole game to have been for nothing, you need to just send me to firemaking and if Kendall wins she wins and if I win I win. So, it was strictly strategic for me because there was no way for you, me, and Amir to all make final 3 and you and TJ were very transparent about voting me lol. But anyway! Thank you for your humor and patience and constant forgiveness throughout this game and your incredible knack for manipulating men. I salute you and I’m glad we got to meet

Amir: Tj tj tj oh wow oh wow, I literally feel like our relationship is like the disappointed dad (you) and me being the rebellious child who keeps promising to straighten myself out and then keeps up my fuckery. Anyway, it was a pleasure playing this game with you, you were kind to everyone, had a huge underdog hero arc, and you were probably the person who was onto my antics the most. Somehow after every vote, you’re like “I hate u but I get it so I still like u” and it was just a very wholesome hilarious relationship that I’ve had this whole game. You had me shaking during that final “autumn take me” riff raff and you deserve to be sitting in this spot just as much as I do

Autumn: Oh boy- not to be dramatic but killing you, my favorite adversary, wasn’t nearly as satisfying as I thought it would be. Listening to you talk last night made me realize how much heart you had put into the game and I felt really compelled to give you a chance to vouch for yourself at FTC just out of respect. But I know how allies get and I didn’t see a whole pocket of jurors voting for me over you when they had probably been rooting for you the whole game. So once my laptop died last night haha and I was sitting with my notes, it came down to a) leveling the playing field amongst the jurors, b) trying to picture what jury would really value, and c) how persuasive you are. If you could do aaaaaall that off the record to save your game, I knew you were gonna bring it at FTC. But it’s not the same without you. I have no one to tease, no one to call out, no one’s business to air, no one’s game to undermine lmao- it’s too quiet, everyone’s dead. The reason I love our relationship so much is because we think very similarly so our elaborate multi-round game of cat and mouse game gave a lot amusement and frustration but most importantly focus. We are literally the movie Catch Me If You Can and you’re were always watching me scam everyone and do the most and no one wants to listen to you so you take it upon yourself to chase me yourself round after round. And I was always watching you and egging you on and doing everything I could to throw you off my tracks haha. You’re my Tom Hanks and I’m your Leo and a lot of people made it easy on me but you never did and I have a lot of respect for that. You never miss a beat and you have fantastic instincts so after all this time, I can finally say I am a TJ fan, fedora and all

[omoghouls]

1) omg no you didn't bore me at all and in fact I was kind of sad I didn't get MORE to read because this is really fascinating and cool????? A band????? With a whole fictional and acted out story???? Along with good music????? And good characters????? Wtf WTF WT- 2) wowza after a few moments into that I was already READY to listen to this band 3) the BOIS,,,,, they're,,,,,, gööd -💖 anon

aaaaaAAAAA oh my gosh ;0; imma straight up cry nonny oh my goodness 😭💖💖 there was one ghoul I left out bug he's pretty darn neat! His name is Special Ghoul, he was the ghoul that use to do all (or 90%) of the interviews for the band ;u;

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3lxuEokUhvb5ynqbgtK-yVypFdmMS-fH There is a playlist with some of the nameless ghoul interviews; I lowkey have only watched like a handful but these interviews reay help give insight into the band and just how playful the ghouls are and gives lil snippets of lore and stuff (the interviews he does where kids interview him are a d o r a b l e ) and are just fun to watch because it's just a masked ghoul talking so politely and being cute ❤❤

But aaaa omg so glad you like the music! It's like, got so many different styles in each song, so there is almost always a song for someone♡♡ 

There are four albums currently; Opus Eponymous(their very first album), Infestissumam, Meliora and their newest ,Prequelle (which, you can buy on 8-track?? This band is kinda quirky in that way😂)  

Each album has a tie in story! Opus is the beginning of the impending doom and darkness, the last song on Opus, "Genesis" ties into the next album, Infestissumam, which is the birth of the anti-christ and how everyone is dealing with that. Meliora story/theme is about the absence of God, how there is absolutely no higher power there to help or save you, but there will be something dark, something diabolical there to 'help', it takes place in a metropolis- post dystopic-era future, which had been all caused by the birth of the anti-christ in the first album♡

Prequelle is a bit different though to the rest, it goes back in time and is more so about the survival of treacherous events, death and doom that surrounds the black death(or the Plauge), showing you how to survive the days and to be mindful of all that are around you☆

Also, all their songs are on YouTube 👈🏻😎👈🏻 Even their cover songs (they have covered ABBA because well, swedish band, how could they not??)

But Y E S all good bois, good LADS just doing their best and rocking the heck out (and also huge kudos to the ghoulettes/Lasses, those three are q u e e n s) 10/10 all own my heart now and would fite for them😭❤❤❤❤ 

[kyunsies]

Hi mädch!!! It’s been a bit of a crazy week for me since I’m preparing for exams, but I missed you so I thought I’d pop in and chat 😊 The conference that I went to was super fun and I feel like I got really close to all the other people who went! I only got to go to one hands-on lab (which was on teeth cleaning and how to do dental nerve blocks) and it was super interesting!! It was a little sad tho bc they were using donated dog and cat heads, and looking at them made me think about my dog… also I went to a seminar on suicide prevention and it was sad bc I know the vet profession has one of the highest rates of suicide, but I feel like I learned a lot and am more prepared to enter the field and support my colleages, so that’s good. I started a new cross-stitch (it’s a cow and a rabbit 😬) to help me de-stress before exams and it’s coming along really well! Also I went to my friend’s leaving party yesterday (she’s an exchange student from Wales) and got a little bit tipsy for the first time, so that was exciting. How has your week been? I hope you have fun in Chicago! Love you!!!!

-💜💜💜

Määäädch, I think my ask also got eaten, and I can’t remember what I said in it 😭😭 I’ll just talk about my day today. I had an exam at 7:30 in the morning and I don’t think that I did very well on it… I had to leave a few questions blank and I guessed on a lot of the ones I did answer. I won’t get my grade until the end of the week tho, so I’m trying not to stress about it. I made mac and cheese for dinner and it was my first time making a roux, but it actually turned out really well, so I’m proud of myself 😊 I have one more exam on friday and then I’m officially done with school (until I apply for vet school) 😱 I’m excited for a chance to relax a little bit, but it’s also kind of scary. How was work today? Hope you’re taking care of yourself! 💋

-💜💜💜

angel !!!!!!! your ask didn't get eaten love i have it right here i'm so sorry i haven't gotten to it, it's been busy with work and updating mxinfo right after dinner i have limited time to relax LSDKFJ so i'm sorry for making you wait angel ;______; i've missed you so much :( are you doing okay? THE CONFERENCE i hope u had a lovely time hun, were you able to do some networking? it seems like it was super interesting !!!! and the suicide prevention thing sounded really nice too bub i'm really glad you went <3 i know it's tough esp in the medical field of any kind, but it's nice to know there are companies our there who are willing to take care of their employees and groups for ppl to go to you know? also my week has been okay lol as u know i will be working for the next few weeks before i go back to uni so its fine !!!! just sucks i can't be on here as much :/ and i only went to chicago for the day angel !!!!! it was beautiful, i've gone many times, i really like chicago <3 have you ever been?

about your exam today :(((( ahh love, i really hope you did better then what you think you did !!! i really hate that feeling of guessing on stuff but sometimes the exam is that hard where you kinda just have to go with your gut :( praying for a good score bc i know you work hard and oure the smartest cookie i know okay? <3 ALSO THAT MAC N CHEESE SOUNDS AMAZING lsdkfj i haven't had mac n cheese in such a long time ;____; gosh and one more exam and then you're done angel? THAT'S CRAZY !!!!!!!! im so proud of you :( i feel like we've been going thru the same thing for such a long time, it's nice to know we are here for each other through big life events like his !!!!! i'm so proud of you my love !!!!!!! <3 almost there :)

[sapphicscholar]

Anon: Hello! I love your fics & writing! I know you have a lot of prompts so feel free to disregard / no rush! I would love to see more of NB!Sawyer being a mentor to young(er) NB folks. Thx for considering! I really love reading your NB!Sawyer fics they are phenomenal! And I hope your day is going well! :D

From @geofender -  So, I heard that Asia Kate Dillon came out as a non-binary and pansexual person and received the HRC Visibility Award. Idk if u accept prompts but... can u write NB!Sawyer reacting to this news?

From @lilbevmary -  for more of NB!Sawyer (sorry this one isn’t Director Sanvers!)

And for KimberKatie, I'm sorry this is so much later than expected!!

TW for a brief discussion and instance of misgendering

A/N: This chapter brings back Charli from Chapter 127! Apologies for the delay on getting back to Sawyer – I had this chapter all written on my work computer a little while ago but it got deleted and that was just demoralizing…

Chapter Text:

“Damn, they really went all out this year, huh?” Alex whispered, squeezing Sawyer’s hand as they wove through the throngs of people gathered by the silent auction tables and the line from the makeshift bar that snaked through the room.

“Stuff like this is what makes them enough money to keep going through the year,” Sawyer explained, gently tugging Alex over to a relatively quiet corner of the room so they could figure out the game plan for finding the best food and making sure they saw all the people they wanted to see.

Alex settled up against the wall, feeling Sawyer’s arm settling around her waist. She had to admit, the LGBTQ Center had been completely transformed. The fluorescent lighting had been turned off, replaced with strands of twinkling lights and a few spotlights dotted along the “red carpet” for the award night theme. The TVs—more often tuned to the news or to the handful of television shows that had decent LGBTQ representation—had been moved to the edges of the room and were showing clips from other awards ceremonies.

Sawyer glanced around at the different screens, noting Asia Kate Dillon being awarded the HRC Visibility Award on one screen and them presenting the first non-gendered acting award to Emma Watson on the next. They smiled to themself, dropping their head to Alex’s shoulder.

Noting the direction of Sawyer’s gaze, Alex asked, “Nice to get a bit of representation out there, huh?”

“Yeah,” they nodded. Sure, a handful of people out there did not a revolution make, but people like Dillon and Smith were splashing they/them pronouns on mainstream news sites, getting people who were more likely to read Entertainment Weekly than Everyday Feminism to hear about trans and non-binary and genderqueer labels, among others, and learn in a way that didn’t put the onus for education solely on the shoulders of those few out folks in media.

They pulled their gaze off the speech they had pretty much already memorized and scanned the other screens, finding the cast of Moonlight winning their well-deserved Oscars, Ellen Page coming out, and footage from the annual GLAAD awards. As Sawyer moved to turn back to Alex, they noted Charli lingering near the entrance, a roll of raffle tickets hanging from their wrist and a broad smile on their face.

“Should we go buy some tickets? Give Charli a little business?” Alex asked, looking over at the entrance as well.

“Ah, well, they should earn their free dinner,” Sawyer teased. “I’ll go grab tickets from them if you want to find us food.”

“You’ve got a deal. Dessert first?”

“Always.”

While Alex peered over the food table, inspecting all of the options and making small talk with a few of the staff members from the Center she had gotten to know over the past couple of months, Sawyer found their way over to Charli. “Excuse me, I’ll need all of your tickets,” they announced dramatically. “I need to win all of the prizes for my fiancée.” They still beamed at the new title—at the subtle band that sat on their left ring finger—a reminder of the forever they had promised one another.

“That so, Sawyer? Here I thought she stayed with you for love. Didn’t realize it was just your deep pockets.”

“Ouch! You wound me,” Sawyer teased, though they were glad to see Charli in high spirits. As much as they had opened up to Sawyer their first time meeting in the Center, it had taken a while for Charli to begin treating Sawyer as more of an equal—someone they could tease right back instead of someone who was always in the role of mentor and adult and educator.

“Yeah, yeah, somehow I don’t think the hurt will last.”

“Mm, probably not,” Sawyer agreed. “Now, how goes the volunteering? Any fun stories to tell? You know: sharing is caring and gossip is best shared with your dear friend and mentor…”

“You just wanna know if Marc brought the boyfriend that he hasn’t let anyone meet.”

“Did he?”

Charli laughed and shook their head. “He’s been here since noon panicking about all the last-minute decisions. He would’ve been the worst date.”

“Fair…” Sawyer mused, looking around to see if they had questions about anyone else in the vicinity. “Everyone being alright to you?”

Charli shrugged, their smile faltering slightly. “Eh, a few people see the dress and keep calling me miss, but, I don’t know, I guess it’s fine.”

“You can correct them, you know, if you feel comfortable.” They knew that the Center had become something of a safe place for Charli, a place where they could be out and open, could come and know that people wouldn’t misgender them or assume they were straight and cis just because they wore a skirt and lip gloss.

“It’s fine. It’s—tonight isn’t about me.”

Sawyer pursed their lips, not wanting to force Charli to do anything but also knowing just how demoralizing it could get when person after person wasn’t getting it, wasn’t acknowledging that there might be something wrong with assuming a he/she gender binary at a freaking LGBTQ Center event. Catching sight of Alex with a still empty plate talking to one of the Center’s board members who had been trying to talk her into running for a spot on the board now that she spent almost as much time as Sawyer in the Center, Sawyer decided they could hang out with Charli a little while longer, help make sure that they were being treated well even by the attendees who only showed up at the Center for its twice yearly black tie events.

The next few guests were fine. One knew Charli and greeted them with a warm hug as he thanked them for giving up their night to help out, then introduced them to his husband, and the next few were polite enough as they declined the offer to buy tickets, most of them making a beeline for the bar instead. The next group to stroll in brushed right past without listening to Charli’s pitch about the proceeds going to a good cause, and they caught Sawyer’s gaze and rolled their eyes. “Keeps happening.”

“Yeah, well, at least we’ve got a cash bar so that we still get something out of them.”

“Excuse me, miss?” came a guest’s voice as she made her way through the door. “Can you tell me where the reserved seating is?”

“Uh, sure,” Charli answered, gritting their teeth and gesturing at the door and toward the rows closest to the stage. “Left side is reserved for Center staff and awardees. Right side for family and friends of the Center.”

“Thank you, dear. Also, I love your dress. You look so pretty!”

“They do have a rather wonderful sense of style,” Sawyer cut in, throwing an arm around Charli and grinning down at them.

“Oh, ah, yes—yes, they do.”

As she wandered off into the crowd, Charli looked up at Sawyer. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I didn’t have to—and I won’t again if you don’t want me to—but I know I like it when Alex does it for me when I’m not quite feeling up to it.”

“Yeah…thanks,” they mumbled.

“Anytime, kiddo.”

“Excuse me, I’m 16 years old.”

“Psh, barely.”

“I can drive!”

“Don’t own a car, though.”

“You’re rude.”

“I’m delightful.”

Charli just rolled their eyes and turned back to the door, almost immediately turning back to Sawyer with an undignified little squeak.

“You okay?” Sawyer asked, all signs of teasing gone as they went into protective mentor mode.

“Yeah! Yeah, um, totally fine,” Charli rambled, their gaze flicking back and forth between Sawyer and the line of people filing in through the main entrance.

Sawyer scanned the crowd, their gaze lighting on one of the high school-aged girls they’d noticed hanging around the Center once or twice over the past few weeks. “Have anything to do with Neeti showing up?” they asked, a knowing glint in their eyes and a teasing smile on their lips.

“No!”

“Really? So your cheeks are just always pink and I haven’t noticed it?”

“Yep, mhm.”

“You should talk to her.”

“We already talk.”

“Why not tonight?”

“She just…” Charli trailed off, finally letting out a dramatic sigh and giving in. “This past week I think…I think maybe she was flirting with me?”

“Do tell! Let me get Alex, hold on!”

“No!”

“Fine, I’ll wait a few minutes. Spill.”

“I don’t know! She just said something about how it would be nice to see me outside the Center and maybe we should get coffee, just the two of us.”

“So she asked you out on a date.”

“I don’t know.”

“No, I’m telling you: she asked you on a date.”

“Well it’s happening in two days—whatever it is.”

“Oh my gosh, we need to make sure she’s good enough for our baby! We need get Alex over here first. She’s better at the intimidation tactics.”

“Ugh, you’re like the embarrassing parents I thought I escaped for the night,” Charli sighed, but the smile they kept trying to hide suggested otherwise.

“Oh, Alex!” Sawyer called out, motioning for her to come over and join them.

Eventually Alex made it through the crowd, two plates of food held aloft to keep them safe. She arched an eyebrow as she handed over a plate. “You bellowed?”

“Charli here has a date this week and is in desperate need of some embarrassing parental figures for the night, which means we need some shitty dad jokes to properly embarrass them. Hit me with your worst puns!”

“Why do you think I would just know bad puns?”

Charli snickered as Sawyer shrugged, looking far too innocent. “I’m just saying, out of the two of us…I’m too funny to tell jokes that awful.”

“I resent that. You’re barely funny.”

“Quite the opposite—I crack myself up.”

“Yeah, yeah, Sawyer. If you’re the only one laughing…”

“Hush,” Sawyer retorted, silencing Alex with a kiss.

“Alright, well, I’m gonna leave you two lovebirds alone…”

“Not so fast!” Alex called, handing off her plate to Sawyer and rounding on Charli. “Tell me all about your mystery date. Who are they?”

Charli sighed, even though they were secretly pleased that Alex had been just as welcoming as Sawyer. She certainly didn’t have any obligation to—not that Sawyer did either, but at least they were a volunteer—but Alex had been quick to invite Charli over to their home and hang out with old science journals while Sawyer chatted with Charli about their own experience coming out and dealing with assholes out in the world. Every so often she would lean over the back of the couch and chime in with words of encouragement or grumbled threats when Sawyer recounted some of the more egregious stories, but she was just as happy to open her doors and let the two of them take over the kitchen for the night.

“Well, her name is Neeti—she’s the one over in the black pants and the maroon shirt over there. She goes to the private school across town, but she lives kind of close to me. She’s really smart.”

“Dating nerds is the best!” Sawyer crowed through a mouthful of cupcake.

“One day she saw me in the Center reading Macbeth for my English class, and when I threw it down, she came over and sat with me and helped translate it into modern English, told me it helps to read it aloud or see it performed.”

“That sounds like a nice date idea…” Alex trailed off, grinning at the way Charli’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“No, I mean, she invited me over to come watch some of the movies, but I think she was just trying to help me with my homework.”

“Who do you think is more oblivious,” Sawyer asked, a shit-eating grin on their lips, “Charli or Kara?”

“Oh man, I can only pick one?” Alex laughed.

“You’re the worst.”

“That’s factually incorrect. We feed you. Now let us meet your totally just a friend that you have a big crush on who wants you to come over her house to cuddle and watch movies with her.”

Charli grimaced but dutifully waved to Neeti. And, as nervous as they might have been about introducing her to Sawyer, they also knew that Sawyer always had their best intentions at heart. Plus, if waving at Neeti earned them that smile…well, they would wave a hundred times more.

“Hey, Charli!” Neeti greeted them, pulling them in for a hug that had Sawyer and Alex giving exaggerated thumbs up to Charli behind Neeti’s back.

“Hey! I didn’t know you were coming tonight.”

“Oh yeah, well, um, I remembered you mentioning it, so…”

Sawyer just barely resisted the urge to let out a loud noise of excitement at the adorable awkward flirting.

“Cool, yeah, I’m, uh, really glad you made it.”

“Yeah?” Neeti beamed at Charli. “I know you’re stuck on door duty for a while, but want me to go steal you some dessert?”

“It would be a shame if you missed out on the cannoli,” Sawyer interjected, unable to resist any longer.

Seeing the look of confusion on Neeti’s face at the new voices, Charli took a deep breath and introduced them: “Neeti, this is Sawyer.”

“You look familiar,” Neeti noted.

“Yeah, I volunteer at the Center. But normally just on weekends.”

“Ah okay, yeah, I come in after school sometimes, but not a lot on the weekends.”

Sawyer bit their tongue and didn’t ask whether it was because Charli also tended to spend a couple of nights a week in the Center working on their homework.

“And this is Alex, their fiancée,” Charli added, gesturing toward Alex who offered a wave and a small smile.

“Nice to meet you, Neeti.”

“You too.”

Deciding the awkward hovering between just friends and trying to date wasn’t the best time to subject Charli and Neeti to an interrogation or shovel talks, Alex turned to Sawyer. “What do you say we go hit the buffet one more time before we find our seats?”

“It doesn’t start for another half hour,” Sawyer protested.

“And you can’t think of any way to spend half an hour with your fiancée?” Alex shot Sawyer a pointed look, trying to communicate that they should leave the two young ones to themselves, give them a chance to flirt awkwardly and stumble their way toward realizing that the liking bit wasn’t one-sided.

“Oh…oh! Okay, sure!” Shooting a wink over their shoulder at Charli, they called, “She means stuffing our faces with dessert and playing 20 Questions, just so we’re all clear!”

“Whatever you say, Sawyer! Whatever you say,” Charli laughed, turning back to Neeti, their broad grin morphing into a shy smile. “So, uh, how was your week?”

Sawyer was tempted to linger, hiding behind a group of tall people, but they let Alex drag them back to the table for proper dinner food this round. “If things go any further between them…”

“If it goes further, you can get in line behind me to make sure that they both have only the best of intentions.”

“And you’ll do the dad jokes?”

“Why do you keep insisting I tell dad jokes?”

“Look, Danvers…I’m not saying it wasn’t adorable, but I do remember the anniversary card you wrote me that began with asking me if I was made of copper and some other element ’cause I was so damn cute.”

“Tellurium,” Alex interjected, grinning and chuckling to herself.

“See! Big nerd—right there.”

Alex silenced them with a kiss, feeling their lips pulling up into a broad smile and fearing another teasing remark was coming. “If you wanna get as lucky as DNA helicase tonight…” She let the threat linger in the air.

“But you’re not even wearing jeans, Danvers!”

[dreamerology]

my biggest i love monsta x ever!!!!

no offence but if u had told me a year ago that these seven boys would have had this much of an impact on my life and not only that but i still love them as much now as i did on day one (maybe even more) i’d say u were lying. usually my interests come and go in phases and nothing has ever lasted as long as mx???? but i rly truly cannot imagine my life without them at this point. in fact, the 2-3 months at the very beginning of uni where i stopped having time for them and thought i was moving on were the worst of this year (ofc that wasn’t the only reason those months were hard, but feeling like i was falling out of love w mx hurt more than id care to admit). they’ve brought me so much happiness and connected me with so many amazing people and not 2 be cheesy but made me into a better person! like they just continue to have the biggest positive influence in my life and i got the opportunity to meet one of my best friends bc of them, i’ll forever be thankful for them

i know i havent been w mx since the beginnign but!!!! even just seeing shownu grow so much this year has made me sooooo happie!!!!!! i Love how u can just see he’s more comfortable now and seems a lot more at ease……..the fact that hes comfortable enough to host his own solo vlives and no offence but theres not a single thing i dont love abt that man! hes so fucking funny….like its sorta weird humor?? dad humor almost? BUT HES HONESTLY FUNNY WITHOUT EVEN TRYING hes just reached a point where he’s got no filter and will just say whatever and sometimes even the wording will make me laugh dkjfhkjsd the true underrated comedian of the group tbh. hes so selfless too bicht………….i still cant believe he split the money from his solo event w the other members My Heart :-((((((( and when hes on a solo schedule he’s always mentioning the others!!! nd doesnt let anyone forget abt them, they rly are one big family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALSO HIS SMILE is the cutest shit ive ever seen!!!!! like when he smiles rlllly big nd his eyes crinkle nd he :D and his big “ha ha ha” ,,,,music 2 my ears!!!!!!!! i wish he could be that happy forever. hes the biggest softest teddy bear i just wanna give him a giant hug???

fun fact wonho was the first member i knew abt nd was able to recognize nd such!! my friend who helped me get into mx talked abt him a lot so i grew to love him before i even knew the others!!! actually hes probably still the one i know the most abt bc of her? anyways! angels exist and wonho is living proof of that! his love for mbbs is on a whole other plane of existance???? ive never felt this loved nd appreciated as a fan before nd its all genuine!!!!!. wonho is a monbebebebe first and a monsta second. hes just so full of love….im convinced thats why hes so Large he needs to fit his heart in his body somehow...hes just got so much love to give!!!!!!! he is the most thoughtful and caring person??? like not even towards monbebes and his memebrs but like at the end of mxray when he made sure to buy all the staff and crew little gifts as well, my heart grew 3 sizes for him!!!!!! and im so soo soooooooooooooosososooo proud of him to have some of his songs on the albums this year and not only that but! from zero getting a stage on tv!!!!!! his song!!!! he did that!!!!!! his hard work paid off….i hope he continues to be able to produce more music this year! oh one last thing, i love how? childish he is??? idk if thats the right word but hes always teasing or changing or playing around w the other members and hes always being goofy and laughing and it just makes my heart!!!!! rly happy nd warm

what is there left 2 be said abt minhyuk that i havent already said yet jdfshkjdhf i just! Love Everything abt that boy :-((((((( i love his sunshiney positive personality that never fails to cheer me up, i love how caring he is and how he always makes sure to be there for his members and makes himself open for them, i love his uneven blink, i love how soft his voice is and how it sounds exactly how sunshine looks, i love his fingers go sorta crooked when he makes a peace sign, i love his laugh and how silly he is, i love his thoughtful and serious side, i love how smart he is, i love his toothy smile, i love when hes on stage and he looks so radiant and glowing and u can see how happy he is and how he was truly built to shine, i love his ears, i love how affectionate and loving he is, i love his one (1) dimple, i love how sometimes he just says the weirdest shit…...like i rly wanna understand what hes thinking sometimes, i love how cute he looks wearing hats or how soft he looks in giant sweaters, i love him sooooooo much my heart hurts

can u believe i didn’t used to love kihyun this much? past me was a whole fool! i’ll try to keep this one sorta short too since i’ve already written a love essay for him but! once again i rly do love him w my whole heart!!!!!! absolutely Everything he does is so endearing and i loooove how he cares so much….he rly went and made us our own season's greeting for free nd his photography is rly No Joke! hes so talented nd u can rly see how passionate he is abt it!!!!! it makes me so so happy seeing him talk abt it, like he just lights up its the best thing ive ever seen. i Love his smile!!!! when his face scrunches up and u can see the little dimples on his cheeks and see all his teeth and he laughs and throws his head back or hits whoever’s closest to him or just collapses thats Good Shit!!!!!!!! im so glad he’s happy enough to be able to smile like that!!!!!!! it makes my heart tingle thinking abt him being happy. he rly is the cutest, i love him nd all his beauty marks :D !! nd no offense but hes never had a bad hair colour/style nd thats the tea on that!

chae hyungwon 2018’s lord nd saviour????????? anyways its about Damn Time i write him a love essay :-((((( having both best friends being hyungwon biased ive secretly been converted 2 a whole chaebebe….their love rubbed off on me!!! i love it :D idk where to start...gosh hes seriously so hardworking????? im soooooo so soo so proud of him!!! icb he picked up djing as a hobby nd then made it to a big festival, is on mix and the city and has released not one but two (2) songs only months later!!!!!!!!! we love a talented man!!!!!!! nd his dancing bichksjdfhsdj hes so fluid nd smooth when he dances…...i always find myself watching him first in group practices like there something rly captivating abt him?? please let him show us more of his dancing its So Good. also hes got the nicest voice…...its so deep wtf...but like its So Calming 2 listen to? especially when hes sleepy nd its extra raspy? Good Shit! and when he sings!!!!!!!! bicshjkdfhksdhj hes got one of my fave vocal voices i rly wish he got the lines he deserves :((( hes! So! Cute! jfhsdjfhs he gets embarrassed so easily and always makes the goofiest faces but i love it….he covers his smile sometimes too :-((( i wish he wouldnt its So Bright nd cute nd warm just like he is!!!! hyungwon’s smile is the 8th wonder of the world thats just the facts folks!

mister jooheon……….the true example of the duality of man. i dont understand how he can go from his scaredy cat self to and Actual God,,,blows my mind. i’m pretty sure i’ve said this at least a hundred times but his stage presence is truly Unreal……..its on a whole other level…….ive never seen them live but if i ever do i fear for my life. nd i know once it’s over im only gonna know one (1) man and that man is lee jooheon. but at the same time hes rly The Cutest id trust him w my life???? his eyes are so warm!!!!!! And his Big Smile!!!!!!!!!!! his dimples? deeper than the marianas trench, i wanna build my home in them nd raise my family there. hes such a talented dude!!!! mx don’t have a single bad song thenks jooheon! also for the first couple months i’d alway forget he was one of the youngest? like hes very mature too nd seems very responsible djfhkjsdhfjsd idk how he was the only one 2 be able to keep it together during their first win 2 give the speech…..hes so strong. i love him so much :-( hes so cute nd gentle nd thoughtful...truly the biggest angel who deserves the world!!!!!!!!!!

i think if there's any member i would actually get along best w it would b changkyun. we’re both rly similar from what i can tell...like sorta quiet, but loud around those we’re comfortable with!!! first off hes so funny nd…..weird but like in a good way sdjfhksdjhf sometimes i rly just think he says the first thing that comes to his mind “actually we have a baby” ????? who let him \…..he always makes me laugh reading his fansign notes too omg that being said hes also one of the most serious members at times i feel like. hes just got this rly mature vibe nd he handles things rly well??? idk if that makes sense but Yeah. he’s just someone who’s not rly afraid 2 be themselves, i wish that were me??? ive got so much to learn from them. also icb he literally invented being cute???? he doesn't even have 2 try hes just adorable!!!!!! like his laugh nd smile? The Best!!!!! and when u can see his lil dimples yeahhhhh hes sooo super sweet and cheesy. i looooove how close hes gotten w the other members despite their rough start, they rly are a family nd im glad hes comfortable around them it rly warms my heart!!!!! whenever hes getting showered in love my heart !!!!!!! its what he deserves!

on that note, the one thing i think that has stayed with me more than anything is that one fansign note where ck was asked how he wants to be remembered in the future, when they only occasionally thought abt him and his answer was “that i gave you happiness” and not 2 b a sentimental shit but fuck! i cry every time i think abt that!!!!!!! bc i Know there’s gonna come a day where i don’t think abt them at all! there’s gonna be a day where i won’t think abt them until i see something that jogs my memory and jolts me back to this time and even tho this year has been rough i know i always will remember how much happiness they’ve brought me. i’ll remember how they were able to cheer me up when nothing else worked. i hope one day i’ll be able to feel the Pure Joy i felt when they got their first win….i’ve never felt anything like that before. i cant wait to be able to look back in nostalgia at all the happiness they’ve brought me.

anyways that got real sappy towards the end i gotta blast now bye!

[kimbapcrying]

Journalism!Jimin

jimin is such a radio-television-film nerd

he loves broadcast so much especially during football season when he gets to run the technical board for the big screen

he even gets to go with his friend taehyung, who’s the photographer for the newspaper, to these events and it’s just all around a good time

he also just loves telling the camera people what to do (highkey lowkey he loves the power)

but even though he’s super passionate about broadcast and he loves the class he’s in and the friends that are in it, he really just wants to do film and be a cinematic bitch

it’s always been jimin’s dream to make a cool feature length film, but when he tried to sign up for the film class the scheduler messed up and put him into broadcast and his optimistic ass was like “hey u know what that’s okay”

this boy is just all smiles and happiness and everyone in the program loves him because he’s always making news packages and feature stories that look AMAZING and he is just such a kind soul yes

he also loves being on air and he’s definitely the most well known person at school because on air he’s such a cutie and everyone is like wow! that’s the broadcast guy

he’s also pretty well known bc he’s on the dance team and he’s amazing and people are like wtf ur just perfect?

he’s just always willing to learn new things and he’s open to so many options

even though he’s pretty well known, the school is pretty big and there are teachers who are like “oh, the announcements are on let’s just shut it off and use these ten minutes to do more work:)”

(bc like the broadcast runs everyday for like 10 minutes at like 10:45 am)

(just to... be clear)

and you happen to be in one of those classes

your teacher is like we have more important things to do than get information on the school :)

and you were like :/ because you didn’t want to do work, but you honestly didn’t care too much since you didn’t understand anytHING in this class so any time was good time to catch up

but one day your teacher wasn’t in class bc he was sick or something and the sub just kind of let the announcements run and you were like okay whatever i’ll just ignore this and keep doing work

but like you hear the softest and most a ngel ic voice in the world and immediately you’e enraptured

like your eyes are glued to the screen and the cutest person you’ve ever seen in your life and he’s cute with his orange hair all swept back and his smile eyes and you’re like “wow! would ya look at that”

you didn’t catch anything that he actually said though

but like you’re essentially i n  l o v e  with this boy now

but you straight up don’t know his name or shit about him

so late you’re at lunch with ur friend hoseok and you’re talking about the cute boy with orange hair on the broadcast and he’s like “OH YOU MEAN HIM?” and turns and like points to him and ur like fuck hoseok what the fuck

so like hoseok being Hoseok catches his attention obviously and he like looks over with his cute wide eyed confused face like “what who me?” and ur like god damn it he’s still cute

and he looks at hoseok pointing and you trying to shove his hand down and gives a big eye smile and you’re melting

but he just looks back at his lunch and hoseok turns back and everything is like normal except your face is burning from embarrassment

hoseok: his name is jimin

you: thanks you didn’t havE TO EMBARRASS ME TO TELL ME THAT

the next day your teacher is back and he shuts off the broadcast like normal but now you’re kinda sad that you’re missing out

like u got a taste of jimin

and once u jimin you cant jimout

you kind of give up on the idea of seeing the broadcast again and go back to doing your work but now your mood is like :(

but then you remember snapchat exists bc hoseok sends you a snap of jimin on the announcements with like 400 wink emojis all over it

and immediately you’re like “pleASE ke ep sendi ng me snaps of hi m”

and hoseok is like “okAY gosh...”

so that’s how u get ur daily dose of jimin

which is admittedly a little weird but hey listen ur school work load does not allow very much time for cute broadcast boys

so you always go to cafes to study bc like u have a lot of work that u need to get done and you need a shit ton of caffeine to stay awake and every time u go u got like bags under ur eyes and u probably look like you’re on the verge of a breakdown but this is what u get for wanting to take the hardest damn classes

and you’re sitting there trying to type ur 1000 word essay that’s definitely due at midnight and tbh you actually are about to have a breakdown

and you’re so concentrated on your essay that you don’t even notice someone set their stuff down across from you until there’s a tiny hand waving in front of your screen

you’re super annoyed like who the fuck is breaking your concentration and about to curse at this guy

but u look up and make eye contact with none other than pa rk jimin himself

and your mouth is kind of hanging open like wh at is happening am i having a fever dream i s this real have i becom e so tir ed that i am hallucinating?

and he’s like “hey, the rest of the cafe is full, is it okay if i sit with you and work? I won’t bother you” and he gives u a cute shy lil smile and you’re like ho w could i even t hink to say no

so he plops down and pulls out his laptop and starts working and you’re like flustered but you gotta keep working

so yall just sit there in silence for like two hours doing your own respective work

and you’re kinda glad jimin is there. his presence relaxes you for some reason

after u finally finish your essay and you feel good about it and submit it you like shut your laptop and start packing up and you’re super satisfied like yes i really did that 1000 words bitches take that professor

“are you leaving?” jimin is like giving u a damn cute look like his elbow is on the table and his head is leaning against his hand and he’s smilin and you’re like “...... yes?”

and he closes his laptop and packs up too and you’re like “wh at” and he’s like “let’s get food!” and you’re like “w h a t”

jimin: there’s a burger joint a few doors down let’s go

you: you don’t know me?

jimin: i wanna get to know you ;)

and you’re like wtf... is he flirting? (also that was cheesy as fuck who does he think he is)

but you end up going to get food with him anyway

and you’re like why and how is this happening?

yall order and sit down and jimin is being a damn cutie just all smiley and shit

(he’s so fucking cute i don’t think anyone would be able to handle it)

and he’s talking to you and you’re kind of responding, but you don’t really know how to handle this situation because you definitely didn’t expect your night to go like this

eventually you’re like “why are you doing this, i don’t think you even know my name?”

and he’s like “yeah i do! it’s Y/N right? hoseok told me lmao we’re buddies on the dance team”

and you’re like “oH” and also in ur mind like god fucking damn it hoseok why didn’t u tell me

and then you’re like “you’re on the dance team?”

and he lights up like yeah! i love dancing! it’s super cool and fun and i love everyone

and you kind of fall in love with the way he just lights up

and he just keeps talking about how much he loves dance and then it becomes how much he loves broadcast then he’s like talking about how he wants to become a filmmaker and a director of photography and he’s all over the place but it’s really cute and you listen to every word he has to say

and at the end of the night yall are walking back to ur cars and he’s like “waIT fu ck i wanted to get to know u and i literally just talked about myself the whole time” and he looks so sad ? and you’re like wtf ? stop being cute?

and you kinda giggle like “here lemme give u my number and we can talk more”

and he fucking lights up like a damn christmas tree again and you’re like yeah im dead for this boy

he hands u his phone and u put ur number in and ur like there :) it’s all good

and he looks so happy he like leans in and gives u a kiss on the cheek and is like awesome! i’ll catch u later and runs off

and again you’re like w hat

and once you get home u have like a ton of texts from jimin

all of them have winky faces in them

he’s like “tonight was fun ;) let’s do it again some time ;)”

after that he’s always inviting you to e v e r y t h i n g

especially his dance practices and the sites he has to film at

you: i have homework

jimin: do homework while i’m dancing! we can get food after

and you guys start spending ALL your time together

bc when you two are working both of you are so concentrated, but yall just enjoy each others presence so much it’s relaxing and easy (which u really liked bc ur literally always stressed about school)

and he never officially asks you out, but everything just kind of falls into place?

like one day yall were back in the cafe and he was editing a video and you were doing ur calc hw and he was probably like “hey babe can you grab me some napkins” and you were like “babe?” and he was like “ho ld on that jus t slipped ou t” and you were like “omg... it’s fine i mean... i can be your... exclusive babe?” and he was like “;)” and you were like “stop that”

and yall become the chillest couple in the world

yall push each other to do the best u can do like he always supports you with ur work and ur like “yeS that is my BOYFRIEND on the announcements”

and even though u don’t actually get to watch the announcements, jimin would definitely try to sneak tiny shoutouts to you, even though the teacher is like don’t do that. he’ll like type a tiny “love u” in the corner of a graphic bc he’s a cheesy motherfucker

at one point jimin invites u to one of his film contests and ur like yell heah i’ll go

you also want to go bc he never shows u his films like he’ll show u the stuff that he works on for broadcast but when it comes to cinematic stuff he’s like “it’s a secret;)” and ur like fuck u

and u didn’t really know what to expect bc like what is a film contest even like

you hadn’t even watched his film yet bc he REFUSED to show u

but at the event, they were screening all the films and u see this one that’s just like so cinematically b eau tiful and it just immediately draws u in and ur like hol y shit and jimin is like haha guess who made that

and ur like “hol y shit u did that?”

and he’s like “yeAH i did that” and ur just so proud of him

when they announce winners jimin’s film gets first

and he’s like so happy he picks u up in a hug and twirls u around and yall are like “yEEAH”

in the heat of the moment he gives u a big kiss

and you’re like !!!

and he’s also like !!! bc tbh neither of you expected him to do That

but you’re like fuck it and pull him in for another kiss

he’s all skinship after that

he loves giving u light kisses while ur working

you’re like “ur distracting” and he’s like “;)” and you’re like “stOP DOING THAT”

one day yall are just laying around and cuddling (damn cuties u two) you’re like why’d you even sit with me at the cafe that one day like what made u do that

and he’s like “well u know that one day when hoseok was being loud and pointing at me or whatever” and ur like “oh god yes don’t make me remember” and he’s like “well, i thought u were cute and i asked hoseok about it and he was like lmao they’re into u, but like i didn’t actually decide to get close to u until i saw how cute u looked concentrating on ur work in the cafe and u also looked like u were about to cry so i wanted to keep u company”

and ur like okay that’s cute stop being cute? and hes like no

and you two are just the cutest and most hardworking but lowkey couple. you guys just understand each other really well and work hard for what yall want and it’s good it’s just a good time and you guys love each other so much it’s ridiculous

yall are probably the type of couple that’ll be like laying on opposite sides of the room doing your own respective work and jimin would probably look up at u and see u workin real hard and he’ll be hit with how much he cares about u and he’ll just be like “god i love u” and ur like “i love u too” bc it’s just so natural for yall

Journalism!Taehyung (link)

[voidwizerd-archive]

[[ "Shall we play a game?” Kankri Vantas, hurt and resentful but still in love.

part two of Wiz/Kankri logs!! the questions game ]]

valorousimperial What's your favorite color?

wiz-texts ...purple. especially dark pink n blue are tied for second

valorousimperial Your turn.

wiz-texts you mean i ask you one?

valorousimperial Yes.

wiz-texts well there we go thats it ....kiddin

valorousimperial Shh. I laughed.

wiz-texts what bout your favorite color?? i promise i wont jus be stealin your questions but colors is a good one

valorousimperial Blue, like indigo bloods. It doesn't really fit with the theme of the crown, though. The color just seems peaceful.

wiz-texts yea!!! yea indigo blue is real pretty your turn

valorousimperial If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

wiz-texts oh gosh if....... if there was a way to just.... stand on top of everythin n watch..... all of it roll out in front of you........ i would do that maybe that sounds like some kinda crazy god fantasy but i just think itd be really beautiful but since that prolly aint a doable thing

valorousimperial Considering you're some kind of crazy god, maybe it is.

wiz-texts maybe but my alternate answer would be a garden a huge huuuuuuuuuuuuge garden, w everythin in it!!!! or near everythin i love plants so much

valorousimperial Your lilacs are still overrunning mine.

wiz-texts >:0 theyre misbehavin?!!! i better give em a talkin to they aint usually growin outta their spot so, um, if you remember your dreams.... whats your favorite thing youve ever dreamed about??? for whatever reason, ha

valorousimperial They got so big!!! Mmm... My favorite dream is the one that came true. When I was young, I dreamed of freedom.

wiz-texts n you got it?

valorousimperial I don't know if I'm free. There's a lot of binding about being the emperor.

valorousimperial But at that time, freedom meant being out of my donor's control. I *did* get that.

wiz-texts holy shit thats.... thats wonderful. im so glad you got that maybe...... hm

valorousimperial ?

wiz-texts just a thought. i... hm im scared its a hurtful one so i should prolly just.... keep it to myself for now

valorousimperial If you want.

wiz-texts fuck knows you deserve a break but not yet because uh, your turn to ask a question

valorousimperial If you could change one thing that happened to you, what would you change and how?

wiz-texts ha. loaded question

valorousimperial Doesn't have to be recent.

wiz-texts problem is i dont remember like......... a lot of things. most things i cant remember what th event wouldve been but it had to have started somewhere

wiz-texts th first time my friends ever hurt me. if i could, id change it so id never have believed it was my fault

valorousimperial That's a good thing to want to change.

valorousimperial I think your whole life would have went very differently.

wiz-texts id be different thats for sure maybe less scared i guess th important thing is that i did realize it wasnt my fault or more likely someone told me bc i..... do not come easily to realizations like that on my own

valorousimperial (It was me.)

wiz-texts ....oh thats. huh. so i guess..... i still remember things i learned from you wonder what else there is um!! whats your favorite myth? or folk tale??

valorousimperial Mmmm... That's hard. Fantasy was all I had when I was growing up, so I know a lot of things. I think that probably my favorite stories were the ones that didn't have lessons - they were just full of people doing what they wanted So, ancient mythology really caught my eye. It made the gods seem troll-like, and they just did what they wanted.

wiz-texts oooooh :0

wiz-texts i keep feelin like i oughta look more at myths because so many are bout gods n thats sorta? what i am i guess??? its nice to seem em bein regular but like. actin regular except w mighty powers i guess, ha

valorousimperial Right.

wiz-texts this question thing is sorta fun actually did we play it before??

valorousimperial I agree! No!

wiz-texts we shouldve!!!!!! its.... its a fun sorta way to get to kno each other anyway um, your turn....

valorousimperial I'm thinking...

wiz-texts think fasterrrr im kiddin. take your time

valorousimperial If you could go any*when* and change any*thing* with no horrific consequences, What would it be? It doesn't even have to be something related to you, Just. Something that you want to be different.

wiz-texts well frankly i would go back to last night n smash my goddamn phone [[<BACKSPACE! BACKSPACE!!! ]] gee um all of time is a rough one to pick from

wiz-texts if theres an event that couldve stopped th game from happenin, thats what id go for but then maybe i wouldnt exist???? idk. exchangin me n a few others to save multiple universes seems like a fair trade ....whoa thats a grim answer. oops

valorousimperial From what I've heard of the game, it's not that simple. So many universes wouldn't have been *born* then, right?

wiz-texts not really. they kill a universe and in theory you get to make one maybe..... one in several million sessions actually ends in created universe

valorousimperial I thought it was only one planet that was supposed to be destroyed?

wiz-texts nah they wreck th whole shebang ....i think most of th game is fuzzy between th violence n alcohol my turn!!!!

valorousimperial Your turn!!!

wiz-texts this is sorta silly but i keep thinkin bout it so here goes: do you ever paint your nails??? if you do or dont, what colors do you think youd like?

valorousimperial I do! Lots of trolls paint their claws.

wiz-texts (that totally aint two questions its one question in.... two parts. with a bunch of extra question marks)

valorousimperial It's seen as an accentuating thing, as claws are a vital part of troll standards of beauty.

wiz-texts ooohhhhh :0

valorousimperial My favorites are matte red and metallic gold.

valorousimperial Mm... What's your favorite sort of thing to wear?

wiz-texts mm?

valorousimperial Like, Do you have a favorite type of clothing?

wiz-texts hmm.... button-up shirts. they can be comfy or stylish and i guess accessories that go w that?? though ive only recently started experimentin like watches n bow ties n cuff links also: gold rings. fr some reason i have a bunch: i think there was a party?? i vaguely recall there bein a party

valorousimperial I've had you at a few parties. Do you know how recently it was?

wiz-texts real recent. i think th rings went w a suit?? yyyyea this red n black one

wiz-texts hm. i never really thought of red as my color

valorousimperial Auriel's party.

valorousimperial It matched my suit.

wiz-texts oh my god i promise i didnt mean to diss th color red!!!! i jus figured since i already got th pink thing goin, itd b a bit too much??? so i never wore it ...guess i changed my mind

valorousimperial You came to the party as my quadrant, so you probably decided to just match me.

wiz-texts speakin of clothes, um.... i hope this is an okay question do u wear gloves a lot or somethin???? i know i never rly do but there are a bunch of gloves in my sylladex

valorousimperial ...

wiz-texts all like, really nice material n stuff. black or white. some are gray. um. are they yours??

valorousimperial Oh. They're for my psionic. I always forget gloves, but whenever I touch other people, I feel their emotions. I guess you were preparing for me.

wiz-texts i guess so... ill um, ill keep em in th 'dex if thats alright. in case you need em n im round.....

valorousimperial Alright. ... What were you thinking earlier?

wiz-texts heck

valorousimperial Sorry.

wiz-texts thats kinda... um sorry in advance if this is upsettin?? sorry

valorousimperial I know I said I wouldn't ask, but the curiosity is killing me.

wiz-texts what you were sayin bout freedom made me wonder if.... if maybe freedom had somethin to do with why i made that choice

valorousimperial ... Free of what? Of me?

wiz-texts no!!!! no i mean th scars!! they can be....... bindin

wiz-texts in a real bad way

valorousimperial ...mm. I know about that.

wiz-texts you do???

valorousimperial Yes.

wiz-texts im kinda surprised, i thought round here scars are considered attractive n all that

valorousimperial They are.

wiz-texts (...did you tell me that?)

valorousimperial (Yes.)

wiz-texts (okay)

wiz-texts um... whose turn is it??

valorousimperial It's mine.

wiz-texts oh okay

valorousimperial Wait, No, it's yours.

wiz-texts 0o0 tbh i shoulda asked this first because Super Important what....... is........ your opinion on purrbeasts?

valorousimperial !! We went on a date to a cat cafe

valorousimperial I brought home four of them!

wiz-texts you took me to a cat cafe?? :0

valorousimperial You took ME to a cat cafe!

wiz-texts *what* no way.... where did i get that kinda initiative omfg more importantly!!! there's FOUR MORE KITTIES round here somewhere????? i gotta meet emmm

valorousimperial ?? Shouldn't you remember the cats? They love you.

wiz-texts i guess they were too close to you. i mean now that i think bout it i sorta remember???? but its fuzzy like th ball w that Auriel lady

valorousimperial Their names are Mushik, Halmim, Romila, and Vessin.

wiz-texts that sounds bout right..... yea, bout right i took you out to a cat cafe n you adopted four. wow your turrrn

valorousimperial My question WAS going to be if you DID remember the cat cafe, but that answers that. What's your favorite dessert?

wiz-texts i think it might be milkshakes!! i only tried em recently but theyre super yummy (least favorite is anythin with squash. especially pumpkin)

valorousimperial (Even pumpkin spice milkshakes?)

wiz-texts (i ate nothin but pumpkins for so long....... so so long =_="")

wiz-texts what is........... your favorite..... veggie dish

valorousimperial I really like peas...

wiz-texts omg theyre sweet!

valorousimperial But they get stuck in my teeth

wiz-texts 0-0

valorousimperial The little casings do. The same with corn.

wiz-texts that reminds me of my next question but its ur turn first

valorousimperial What should always be on a sandwich?

wiz-texts food

valorousimperial Hah.

wiz-texts but meat i guess????? though i really like tomatoes tomatoes ARE the red ones right

wiz-texts n when th leaves r all crispy!!!! they taste sweetish n refreshin somehow??? idk i jus like it im just buildin a whole sandwich at this rate

wiz-texts mmm.......

wiz-texts what kinda teeth do you have?

valorousimperial Two rows of something awfully sharklike!

[[ Several Hours In The Future, Because I Heckin Fell Asleep... ]]

wiz-texts ....fallin asleep without rememberin that you even laid down is a surreal dang feelin

valorousimperial I know, right? I passed out without realizing I'd closed my eyes...

wiz-texts yea i had..... felt like some kinda multiple row thing was goin on. otherwise that mark in my shoulder wouldnt make as much sense also because peas stuck in shark teeth is a funny mental image

valorousimperial Shoosh!!

wiz-texts ha so, your turn if um. if were still playin

valorousimperial Hmm.. What's your favorite texture?

wiz-texts dang uh...... thats actually super hard bc i love experimentin with all kinds of textures

wiz-texts i guess my favorite.... kind? of texture? that would be stuff that feels soft like kitty fur!! purrbeast i mean

valorousimperial Why do you keep saying that??

wiz-texts sayin what

valorousimperial Purrbeast You, uh. You know that cat is the normally recognized word, don't you?

wiz-texts oh!

valorousimperial I've been saying cat,

wiz-texts no ive just heard purrbeast n meowbeast used by trolls a bunch so i figured itd be considerate to switch when im talkin to trolls.....

valorousimperial Oh.

wiz-texts ive been tryin to make it a habit...... well now i just feel silly, ha

valorousimperial ' - beast' is generally lowblood vernacular Which I'm trying to phase out by providing better education. Descriptive naming is a habit that trolls without access to worthwhile education picked up so they could communicate ideas.

wiz-texts whoa. i had no idea

valorousimperial I mean, honestly, Mituna still adamantly calls the meowbeasts, so you do what you like, but We do call them cats. So if you don't want to, you don't have to correct yourself, and most trolls will still know what you mean.

wiz-texts huh. okay thanks for th lesson there

valorousimperial Happy to!

wiz-texts so..... my turn.....

valorousimperial It is!

wiz-texts do you want to meet today? it um. its okay if you dont, of course

valorousimperial Mm... We probably should.

wiz-texts so youre.... youre okay w that?

valorousimperial Yes, but Not RIGHT this second, if you don't mind...

wiz-texts oh um, right. of course so... when, then?

valorousimperial It's just that I have a guest right now So maybe not too long, maybe an hour or so.

wiz-texts oh!! oh right, okay. wouldnt wanna impose or nothin, of course

valorousimperial Hours in the future, but like one: -------------------- Okay, I'm ready.

wiz-texts me too. comin back now

valorousimperial You said that before. Except now I can't say 'the hall between my block and yours' because you'll get lost now.

wiz-texts oops

valorousimperial So, I'll just Come to yours.

wiz-texts alright. im still headin over so i guess well see who shows up first

[lawrenceseitz22]

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205

Click on the video above to watch Episode 205 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

  Announcement

Adam: All right. We are live. Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts Episode 205. Today is the 10th of October 2018. We’ve got the whole gang here as well as our special guest, who I will get to in just a moment. But real quick, we’re gonna take a minute to say hi to everybody, get through some quick announcements and then we will dive right into it.

Actually, I’m starting to realize, and it only took me 204 episodes to realize, that I think you guys are lined up the same time every single time on my screen, which is interesting. There we go. It only took almost four years. Chris, how are you doing good, man?

Chris: Doing good. Excited to be spot number one here all the time. Love it. How are you doing?

Adam: Can’t complain. This is like one of those shower thoughts. It’s just this revelation that means absolutely nothing and I feel stupid for having realized it. But, yeah, it’s good to know. Hernan, how are you doing, man?

Hernan: Good. I’m excited to be after Chris all the time. Yeah. I’m really, really excited for what’s coming. I’m really excited to have our guest today. Also for POFU Live 2018, it’s gonna be amazing too.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I’m not trying to skipper on purpose, but I’m not sure if you guys can see we have Lisa Allen as our special guest. We’re gonna circle back around to her in just a minute and introduce her a little bit more properly. Marco, how are you doing, man?

Marco: What’s up, man? It’s great to see Lisa Allen here. She’s a good friend of Semantic Mastery. We’ve had her around before. She does some awesome automation. I’m not gonna take your spotlight, Lisa. You can go ahead and toot your own horn. But it’s really good to have you here again joining us. It’s always fun to have you on talking about what you’ve been up to. Thank you for joining us.

Lisa: Thank you for inviting me.

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Good deal. Last but not least, Bradley, how are you doing, man?

Bradley: Okay. I think I just figured out why they’re always lined up the way they are. I think it’s by alphabetical order by the name in the profile. So it’s Adam, Chris, Hernan, Lisa, Marco, and then, for me, it says “you,” Y-O-U. I think it’s always alphabetical.

Adam: No, on my screen, you’re Semantic Mastery. Yeah, this is a train wreck. Thanks, everybody for watching us. This is what we do every episode.

Bradley: Anyways, I’m glad to be here, glad that Lisa is here. We’ve got an exciting week ahead of us because POFU Live is next weekend. We’re really looking forward to that. I’m actually preparing for that now. That’s what I’ve been doing all day. POFU Live members, I’m really excited about it. I’m excited to have Lisa here. It’s been a long time since we had her here so it’s good to catch up with her again. She’s always got a lot of great insight about the SEO industry and marketing in general. So happy to be here, man.

Adam: Cool. Well, we got a couple quick announcements, like Bradley just mentioned, POFU Live next weekend. If you can make it, we still do, I think there’s two or three tickets still available. I’ll pop the links on there in a little bit after we get done talking here. But you can still grab those kind of the last chance to do that before we go to shut things down lock in the numbers and all that good stuff.

Also, if you’re watching us for the first time, thank you. We’ve obviously been here. We didn’t make up the number. We’ve been here for 205 episodes. We hope we’re here for another 205. Thank you for watching. We really appreciate it. If you wanna ask questions live, that’s great. If you’re watching the replay, that’s fine too. Check us out on YouTube or wherever you’re watching us and feel free to ask questions. You can join us live at semanticmastery.com/hdquestions every week.

Bradley: By the way, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Adam: Yes, which would be right here. So, yeah, subscribe. Also, if you’re looking for the place to start with us, the Battle Plan, I’m gonna pop the links on the page for you. This is good for anyone starting, anyone who wants a repeatable process, who’s been in the game for a while. It covers a lot of really good aspects of SEO, digital marketing, things for keyword research, working with a new domain, aged domains, all that stuff. Then, if you’re ready to take it up a few notches, of course, we do have our Mastermind and we invite you to also check out that and see if that’s the right fit for you.

One last thing before we get started, I believe, Marco, that the MGYB store has had some updates, right?

Marco: Yes, sir. We got CORA, we’ve got Syndication Academy up and running, and since we’ve been talking so much about Local Lease Pro press releases.

Adam: Yeah.

Bradley: Which, by the way, there’s still two lessons missing out on Local Lease Pro, one is for citations and one is for Press Releases. Part of the reason those lessons weren’t there was I was waiting for our order page to be done on MGYB for me to be able to demonstrate how to order Press Releases through that, guys. The citations stuff, honestly, I’ve just been really slammed this week. I haven’t got the lesson done. But I’m hoping as soon as I get done with Hump Day Hangouts today to record a quick lesson on that. It’s very simple. Hopefully, I’ll have that up within about 10 or 15 minutes after Hump Day Hangouts today, guys. Any of you that were inquiring about that missing lesson, it will be there shortly. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.

Adam: Good deal. Any last minute announcements, you guys, before we dive into it?

Hernan: Let’s do it.

Adam: All right. Cool. Well, like we said, Lisa Allen is here with us. We appreciate Lisa, you coming on and hanging out with us. Again, for people who haven’t seen us over maybe for, about a year I guess was the last time we talked, man, that’s crazy.

Lisa: Yes.

Adam: Anyways, we talked to Lisa about a year ago. Instead of telling everyone about you, if you don’t mind, just kinda get everyone up speed where you came from and what you kind of do online. I think that’d be the best way for people to kind of find out about you.

Lisa: Well, I’m one of those people who always kinda have my hands on everything. I see something that looks interesting and I kinda go that direction. It’s just kinda how I got into online marketing, it’s how I got into the internet. It’s just I see something interesting and I think I could do that, so I go off and I kinda explore what’s going on. I really got into the internet first after a divorce, a few, probably like 15 years ago, 20 years ago. Gosh, I’m dating myself.

Adam: Just a couple of years ago, it’s all right. I’ve started seeing the same face.

Lisa: Anyway, I started hanging out. Do you guys remember when AOL was king and there were like all these little local systems with local bulletin board system?

Bradley: Yeah.

Lisa: [Inaudible 00:06:43]

Chris: Until last year?

Lisa: Well, no, I mean, it’s been quite a while. Anyway, that’s just kinda where I really hit the internet really hard was after that. Got into working for a company doing web mastering for a while and that kinda flung me off into doing coding. Then I’ve had an online store, a couple of different online stores, and so I was kind of using my coding along with some of my organizational skills to do that. Then, of course, I ran afoul with Google, and who hasn’t done that at least a couple of times? So they kicked me off their ad platform, so then I had to figure out this whole SEO thing.

Adam: What was the timeframe on that? When did you start getting into SEO stuff?

Lisa: I would say that was about 2011, 2012 really because I was running a store for about five years before that and, like I said, I got kicked off. They decided they didn’t like the product that I was selling and they booted me off, all my stores got booted off.

Bradley: Lisa, you said 2011 or ‘12ish, which is crazy, because I remember specifically buying a product that you launched with Peter Garety’s help about …

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: It used IFTTT and it was for triggering syndications through Google Calendar using IFTTT. It would resyndicate because you could set calendar events in the future, they would cause it to re-syndicate the video again out to the network. It was amazing training. It was right after I had learned about IFTTT, David Cossack or whatever. It was amazing training. I’ll never forget that. That was around 2011, 2012, if I remember correctly.

Lisa: Yeah. I think that was probably 2012 or maybe early 2013 because I had launched something else with Peter about Pinterest. It was how to get traffic using Pinterest which was my first real product.

Bradley: That’s with Peter Drew or where Peter Garety? It was Peter Garety, right?

Lisa: It was Peter Garety, yeah.

Bradley: Right.

Lisa: We worked for a while. Yeah. That was actually a lot of fun. I think that may have actually been an add-on to that product, like an extra bonus training. It’s funny, the thing I remember about that training is the bonus and not the original training.

Adam: I was just looking around, what’s Peter Garety up to? This is a total tangent, but that’s just … Yeah. He was coming out with stuff like that.

Lisa: Yeah. I think he decided that he wanted to spend a little more time with his family. As far as I know he built himself his own little shopping cart platform, kinda like Shopify. He runs that and he gets recurring from that. So you see him pop up every once in a while, in JVZoo groups and stuff like that just to say some things, but he’s not really promoting really hard anymore.

Bradley: Yeah. I think before he went off the grid he was doing a lot of heavy ecomm, promoting ecomm products and stuff, so I’m assuming that that’s what he went into.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: That’s right. DashNex. Okay. I was looking this up while we were talking. Okay. Cool. Okay. So sorry about that. We just totally went off the grill there. Okay. We’re up to like 2011, 2012, you start getting into the SEO side of things, how did it go from there?

Lisa: Well, I was SEO and things so that I could get traffic for the online store that I had, I was selling jewelry parts. The stuff that I learned while I was trying to rank for things got turned around into products. So we did a curation traffic blueprint where I was teaching people how to curate content and get traffic from that, because that’s so much easier than writing original content. You can do it just snap, snap, snap.

So we did that and then I started doing some keyword tools. I just sort of, actually, I think before we got to the keyword tool, the RSS authority sniper strategy that we do, that was something that we had started doing manually. My sister was acting as one of my VAs. It took a long time to do that manually. I mean, it was really effective but it took 15, 20 minutes, sometimes an hour to do that, to look up all the different feeds and then go and do all the copy-paste to put it here, put it there, all that kinda stuff. She started complaining about that, just really, she was really like …

Adam: That’s a very real pain point when your sister was complaining to you.

Lisa: Yeah, I know. I’m like, “Okay, I better go code something.” That was where RSS Authority Sniper came from.

Bradley: Which, by the way, that was a great product. I was gonna say you still have Rankfeeder going right now, correct?

Lisa: Yeah, I do. I’m actually just been rewriting the whole feed generation so that I can add more features in. I’ve got something really neat coming out in the next month or so with Rankfeeder and then a rerelease of RSS Authority Sniper to go with it. It’s gonna be the way it targets local places very, very specifically.

Bradley: Oh, man, now you’re speaking our language, Lisa. Honestly, guys, we promoted Lisa’s Rankfeeder before because it’s the co-citation tool using RSS feeds. It’s amazing. It’s super, super powerful. It’s very, very effective. I stand by that statement. Anything that you’re gonna be doing that’s gonna address local specifically, Lisa, certainly reach out to us. We will get behind that in a heartbeat because about 60% of our RSS is local.

Lisa: I think you’re gonna like it because, like I said, we’re gonna … Some of the stuff that I’ve already added in after I finished rewriting the feed generator is I’ve added the categories that you get to pick into so that they’re actually inside the feed and all the tags also get treated as categories inside your feed. I mean, you’re getting a lot more power to really target with the feed on an SEO basis, that kinda thing. Yeah. I think you’re really gonna like what comes after that.

Bradley: Very cool.

Adam: Sounds awesome. Well, I wanted to make sure we have enough time to cover this. The next question I had, and I love asking this to people, is where do you see, in terms of, I’ll leave this really broad, not just SEO, but where do you see either SEO or kind of online digital marketing going in the next couple of years? Then a side question of that, or somewhere else you can go with this, is what’s the most important things you see happening?

Lisa: Well, this is a really interesting time for online things. You’re seeing a lot of movement, different places, and you’re seeing a lot of things happening that people don’t necessarily like, you’re seeing a lot of censorship, you’re seeing a lot of kinda misrepresenting what people are saying and that kind of thing, and you’re seeing Silicon Valley really go and start trying to basically meddle in society that they wanna be the … It’s like the government isn’t big brother anymore, but they wanna be.

I think you’re gonna see, and I’m already kind of seeing movement, this is outside of Google’s control and outside of Facebook’s control. I think as marketers and SEO is we really need to be monitoring those additional places that are coming into the marketplace and start using those platforms and start seeing them because I think that censorship and …

I mean, Google tries to censor SEO people all the time. They try and say, “Well, we don’t want you to backlink,” and “We don’t want you to do this,” and “We’re in control of whether you rank for anything or not.” I don’t know any SEO person who actually says, “Yeah, you’re right. You can have total complete control over everything I do and say.”

It’s like, we find a way around. I think you’re gonna see that there’s gonna be as they’ve kinda spread out from just kind of controlling, trying to control SEOs to try and control the wider society. I think you’re really gonna see that there’s gonna be a lot of movement outside where people are gonna go, “Well, I think that’s a little bit too far.”

Adam: Yeah, definitely. It’s funny, I think me and Marco came across that article at the same time, but there’s one about Tim Berners-Lee working on like a decentralized kind of protocols. I think it’s called Solid through MIT. Have you heard about this?

Lisa: No, I haven’t heard of that one yet.

Adam: Yeah. Just check it out afterwards. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s that idea of saying, “Yeah. You know what, no matter what happens, if this turns into a monopoly, which it quickly is, then that doesn’t really benefit anyone.” So it was meant to be decentralized in the first place so I think, anyways, I don’t know if this is gonna work, but something like that I think appeals to a lot of people.

Lisa: Yeah. You’re already seeing movements. A lot of people are moving away from them as their search engine when they’re doing their own personal things. I mean, I haven’t used Google as my search engine when I’m actually doing research for years. I mean, I’ve been using DuckDuckGo, and you have places alternatives to Twitter like Gab coming up, and there’s a several new video platforms coming up that now that YouTube is really kind of just really been stomping on people. Yeah. I mean …

Adam: I’m just curious, what are some of the new YouTube-, sorry, new YouTube, that’s showing how well ingrained it is, what are some of the new video platforms?

Bradley: Well, Amazon Video has got to be one of them, right?

Lisa: What’s that?

Bradley: Amazon Video has to be one of them, right?

Lisa: Yeah. Amazon video is a pretty good one, although they also, I don’t know, I kinda think that they also have that risk of becoming more of a bully in the future.

Adam: Well, they’ll just take over what you’re creating and create it themselves.

Lisa: Yeah. Just like they have, like all the little online stores and that people would find a little niche and they would sell something, and then Amazon goes, “Boom. They’re selling a lot of that. Let’s start our own.” I mean, they’ve kinda done that, kind of the same way Walmart has done that to the mom-and-pop stores. Amazon is kinda doing that to the online stores.

But the one that I discovered the other day that I actually thought was pretty good was called Real Video. It’s real.video. That’s not real.video.com. Just the video is the root domain.

Bradley: Real like R-E-E-L or R-E-A-L?

Lisa: R-E-A-L.

Bradley: Okay.

Lisa: It’s started by a guy who got deplatformed by Google. It’s not a fully developed platform yet, but it seems pretty good for what he’s already worked through. You have to get an invitation from them. You have to actually request to be on there, kinda like you did with Pinterest in the beginning. But the player is really nice and they’ve got kinda sharing capabilities and some other things. I think that’s someplace that really you should look into, particularly if you’re running content that maybe Google’s not gonna like very much.

BitChute is another one, although I think that one’s kind of not that good yet.

Adam: BitChute, got that.

Lisa: Yeah. BitChute and, I remember some of the other ones that I’ve looked at. As far as like Facebook, there’s a really interesting new social media place called … What is it called, Minds? Minds.com.

Adam: Interesting. I have not heard … Have you guys heard of this?

Marco: Yeah, I like Minds. I’m in Minds. It’s over 100 million people right now.

Adam: I should have known that, Marco.

Marco: It’s basically over 100 million people. Come on.

Lisa: Yeah. They’re kind of integrated with some of the blockchain payment methods and things like that, so that you can actually pay people for their content in a way that you can’t really be tracked and can’t really be blocked from making your payment. So there’s a lot of interesting things that are going on where people are just kinda going, “I’ve had enough.” People are starting additional things. It’s kinda like people never really thought that MySpace would ever die, but it did. I think you’re probably gonna see a little bit more of that movement, away from big consolidated platforms.

Adam: Yeah, that’s an interesting-

Bradley: It’s gonna happen anytime … I mean, I can see some of the shifting as well, Lisa. I agree with that. Some movement, especially with the Silicon Valley stuff, which you mentioned. I mean, when Facebook and Twitter execs are being dragged up on the Capitol Hill and quite repeatedly for hours and hours and hours, you can rest assured, you can bet your ass that there’s gonna be some movements, some changes made.

Lisa: Yeah. I’ve been shadow banned on Twitter. It’s like you go and you post something that’s relatively innocuous and you go and search for it, you can search for the exact text of the whole thing and it never comes up in search. That’s when you know you’ve been shadow banned. They never tell you anything, they just want you to just assume that your message is getting out there, but they’re not gonna … So, anyway.

Bradley: Yeah. Well, I think it’s something that will happen. We, as marketers, are kind of on the cutting edge or of like what the shifting is, but I think the general population is much slower to react.

Lisa: That’s true.

Bradley: I think we still have plenty of time to exploit what we can from the big sites.

Lisa: Absolutely. I’m just saying you gotta kinda keep your heads up and be aware that people are starting to move around a bit.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Well, in terms of what’s going on right now, we touched on a little bit, so if you’ve got some big stuff coming out in like a month, I don’t want or expect you just spill the beans right now, but you can you tell us, and if you can’t, that’s fine, but what it is that you’re kind of working on there in a little bit more detail?

Lisa: Well, right now, most of what I’ve been doing for about the last six to seven weeks is really working hard on the upgrades to Rankfeeder. Now I’m doing RSS Authority Sniper 3.0. This is going to be considered a major release because it’s gonna have some really nice extra features in there. That’s mostly what I’m working on. Then I have some other plans for some other products after that either re-imaginings or new ones. But that’s most of what’s right there.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I know, like Bradley said, we’ll definitely keep our ears open or rather our email inboxes open for letting us know when you got that ready. That’d be awesome because we got a lot of people who are really interested. Actually, we just had one comment here real quick. I just wanna read it to you because this is pretty awesome. Greg just said, “Hey Lisa. Nice to have Lisa here. She’s one of the greatest people as far as support and products go. A big thank you.”

Lisa: Well, thanks.

Adam: That was a very nice comment from Greg. Yeah. I mean, it’s good. Obviously, we promote products and services that we like and use. Definitely, yours is up there, not in our minds only, but everyone that we promoted it to has had a lot of good things to say.

Lisa: Great.

Marco: Before we go, I have a question for Lisa. Something that I’ve been going back and forth with other people. It’s more on the coding side and how you see things. The thing is that I’ve been asking people whether they think that Google is broken, because as you know they just write code on top of code on top of code on top of code. Now what you just said, which just struck me as very interesting, is that you’re doing a complete rewrite. So would you agree or disagree that right now at that level Google is broken?

Lisa: I’m not sure that I would say that Google is broken. I mean, you gotta remember they have thousands and thousands of engineers on staff. I’m doing a total rewrite because I didn’t like some of what was done by the people who wrote some of the code for me that I paid to write code for me. These are guys who were supposed to be professional and they just, there’s things in there that I’ve just never liked and just thought, uh, that just really bothers me every time I’m in there. But to rewrite it would take so long.

But no, I don’t really think Google is broken so much. It’s just philosophically they’ve kind of shifted out of the, do you remember when their motto used to be don’t be evil? Well, they seem to have totally and completely forgotten about that. I think it has really become more of a reflection of the fact that they have decided that they have some hatchets to grind and then they really just kinda wanna dominate the market and they’ve decided that the market also means information and what people think and-

Bradley: And they wanna control and manipulate information, which is what they do.

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: Absolutely.

Lisa: It’s absolutely what they do.

Bradley: Yep.

Adam: Well, good deal. Real quick, I just want to say I noticed a little bit of a delay on this, if anyone’s watching, if you have any specific questions for Lisa, please pop them in there and then we’re going to get into the Hump Day Hangout questions.

Jay says, “I like Rankfeeder. Lisa, would love to know if you have any new creative ways on how to use it.”

Lisa: Well, like I said, new features are coming. You’re gonna like them.

Bradley: So hold your breath is what you’re saying?

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Stay tuned. We’ll definitely be asking her the same question in what sounds like a month.

Lisa: Yeah. I think you’ll really, really gonna like how you’re gonna be able to be getting really, really specific with locations.

Adam: Awesome.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Well, cool. Lisa, thanks again. Like I said, hang out if you want to, if you’re busy and got a run, we understand, but we’re gonna kinda switch over and we’ll do some Hump Day Hangout questions.

Lisa: All right. Well, I’ll hang out for a little while.

Adam: All right. Sounds good.

Lisa: Great.

Bradley: Guys, I’m gonna grab the screen and we’re gonna get right into it. Lisa, I emailed you the event page URL in case you want to check out the questions so if you want to check out the event page URL. But I’m gonna grab the screen and get into it.

Is There A Need To Put A Summary For The Full-Text Option For The RSS Feed Output Of A Self Hosted WordPress Website?

Okay. Nexxus Designs is up first. He says, “Hey. I have one question, it’s very important to me. With the RSS feed output of a WordPress self-hosted website, should we put out a summary for the full-text option?” That’s up to you, Nexxus Designs. It’s entirely up to you. It’s a personal preference. I don’t think it’s an issue to post the full text only because, well, for two reasons.

Number one, we have the attribution link that is either provided by the plugin or you can code that into the IFTTT applet yourself. Either way, if you followed our training, you know that the attribution link is critically important if you’re gonna be syndicating the full text of the post. Number two, is if you’re using our standard Syndication Network setup, there’s only three blog sites that we’re syndicating to. So there’s only three sites to get the full-text post anyways, right? That’s Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress. So it’s not an issue.

Essentially, I always like to leave full text posts because, again, it’s only being syndicated to really three sites that will republish the entire post anyways. The key is to be using the internal link from within the post itself from your main blog to be linking to the pages of the landing pages that you’re trying to rank. By publishing the full text of the post that internal link from within the body, the post body of the blog post itself, will also be published on the blog sites. Right? So Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress. So you get a little bit of additional links, in other words, built back to your original post and also to the page that you’re promoting within the post, if that makes sense.

However, if you want to just go summary, that’s perfectly fine. I prefer the full post method. But you can go with the summary method, just know that you will lose a little bit of SEO value to your internal page that you’re ultimately trying to promote. Because when you syndicate just the summary of the post you will get a link back to the post itself but you won’t get any of the internal links that we’re within the post body, if that makes sense. Which is still fine because now you’re funneling link juice or link equity back to that post, the original post, anyways, which will contain the internal link up to the page that you’re trying to promote.

Again, it’s 6 and ½ dozen in the other really. I prefer the full-text post because it looks less spammy on the blog sites. Think about it, summary posts on blog sites, guys, look spammy because it’s just usually a paragraph or a set number of characters and then it’s just a dot dot dot or read more or whatever. So in my opinion, on my branded blog syndication sites, which would be Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, I want the full text post so that it doesn’t look spammy. I want it to look nice, right? That’s part of the reason why I like the full text post. But again, it’s a personal preference, it’s not gonna hurt you either way.

Can We Connect DFY IFTTT To GMB RSS Following The Local Lease Pro (LLP) Posting System?

Anybody wanna comment on that? Okay. Peter’s up. He says, “Hey. Can we connect Done-For-You IFTTT to GMB RSS following the LLP posting system?” Yes, you can, Peter. I may be doing an additional training video on-, well, not maybe, at some point, probably after or after POFU Live, I’m gonna be doing some updated training for Local Lease Pro members. I’ll probably just host a webinar, guys, and invite all the Local Lease Pro members. I’m gonna be talking about some other stuff. I’m working on some other methods right now to push the GMB Maps listings into the 3-pack if they don’t appear in there initially from just the initial set up, which is really what the Local Lease Pro method is all about: finding those easy opportunities and securing them with little to no work.

However, there are gonna be some that you’re going to attempt that aren’t going to rank right away. But don’t abandon those, you can certainly get them to produce results or generate leads, but they’re gonna need a little bit of additional work. So that’s some of the stuff that I’m gonna be covering in update webinar. It will likely be in November before that’s available though, guys, because we got a ton other stuff we’re working on at the moment.

I’m still testing some new methods too. I can tell you one thing I’m really excited about. Lisa’s product coming out because I guarantee you Lisa’s product would work very, very well with this Local Lease Pro method since we’re gonna be able to use the RSS feeds from the GMB Autoposter to connect with Rankfeeder and create co-citation. I can see that being very, very powerful. So when Lisa’s product is ready, I will certainly look into that as part of the Local Lease Pro method as well. Okay.

Nexxus is up again. He says, “Edit. Thinking in terms of duplicate content here, if I am thinking correctly, RSS output is the summary only, then that’s good against duplicate content.” Okay. Nexxus Designs, I’m gonna stop you right there. Stop with the duplicate content stuff. Duplicate content is a myth on other sites, right? It’s only a problem if it’s on the same domain. If you’re publishing the same article over and over again on the same domain, then it’s a duplicate content issue that can create Panda penalties. But when it’s republished on external domains, it’s not a duplicate content issue, especially if you have an attribution link which points back to the original source. Okay?

Again, guys, I don’t mean to be hard on you, Nexxus Designs, but that comes up all the time. We cover this extensively in the training as well as in our frequently asked questions in our knowledge base at support.semanticmastery.com. All of that is covered because this question comes up a lot. Don’t worry about duplicate content. If duplicate content were a thing on external domains, Press Releases wouldn’t work. We all know that Press Releases work incredibly well, so explain that. Right?

Can You Look At My IFTTT Network?

Okay. Chris says, “Support question from Judd. I saw there was a forum where you can manage my IFTTT network. Also, I have two other companies that need SEO services. My request is, can I pay you to look at my IFTTT network?” Well, I mean, here’s the thing, Judd, if you bought it from us, sure, we’ll take a look at it. If you bought it from someone else, to be honest with you, I’m not gonna spend the time looking at it and I don’t think any of our builders or anybody on our team or support staff would. Because if it wasn’t built to our specifications, it’s basically should be canned and rebuilt anyways, like start all over, back to the drawing board, so to speak. I don’t know. If you bought it from us and you’re having issues, just contact Support.

“Also, for other companies that need SEO services.” No, we don’t provide SEO services. We provide Done-For-You services. However, you could always post your request in one of our groups that you’re a member of and see if there are any takers that you could chat with about potentially providing SEO services for you.

Hernan: Yeah. Actually, in our Mastermind, there are some people that have their own agencies. So if you’re part of that, you can post there and some Mastermind units will actually pass on work from one to the next and to each other because they’re either swarm or that’s not their style, there’s something else that they’re doing and whatnot. So that’s a pretty cool community over there.

Bradley: Yeah. I mean, even on the free group, Facebook group, you could still post and there will be … Just be aware that we are not vouching for anybody that you communicate with. In the Mastermind, that’d be a different story, but in any of our other groups, you have to vet anybody that responds to your request. You have to vet them on your own, okay? There’s nothing that we can do to help you with that and I apologize.

But, yeah, again, for IFTTT network stuff management, SERP space has a manager. It’s a basic manager that basically monitors the networks to make sure that properties aren’t down, it’ll alert you if RSS feed stop detecting new items, things like that. That’s over at Serpspace.com. That’s the network management. You can check that out too, if you’d like. Again, that’s just a very simple service. It’s more of a monitoring service than a management service. It’s beneficial when you’ve got a bunch of networks to maintain.

What Changes Should We Expect To The IFTTT Method Once Google Plus Shuts Down?

Chris Hayes says, “What kind of changes will happen in the IFTTT method once G+ shuts down? Can you guys make a video update?” Yeah, of course, we do. But I mean, it’s just one channel that gets shut down. It’s not really gonna affect much at all. I mean, G+ is being terminated. We see more evidence of that now than ever. Almost daily we’re seeing more and more evidence of that. I just saw an article posted recently in one of our groups about even more steps that Google’s taking to remove or to completely shut down Google Plus. But it’s only one property, Chris. Don’t worry about it. It’s one property out of what, two dozen? It’s not that big of an issue. I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

Will we create an update video? Yeah, sure. I mean, we do update webinars, although we’re gonna be probably shifting or changing how that’s handled too. But anyways, in one of the upcoming update webinars, we will discuss that a little bit more. In fact, I’m gonna make a note of that right now.

Marco: Yeah. While you’re making a note, let me just say that there’s plenty more Google properties that we can abuse besides Google Plus, which we do. If you’re a part of RYS Reloaded you know just how many properties we go into and just totally hammer away at Google.

When Will You Add Citations Lessons In Local Lease Pro?

Bradley: Yep. Okay. Peter says, “Hey again. When you’ll add citations lesson in LLP Local Lease Pro?” I’m hoping to add that today. If it’s not done today, it’ll be done tomorrow, Peter. It’s just a quick lesson, very, very simple. I’m just gonna point you to a resource that’s affordable for monthly citation packages, which is what I recommend. But I’ll create a quick video explaining it too, okay? It should be there today. If not today, it’ll be there tomorrow for sure.

Will The Video Power House And Network Management Subscription Services Be Moved To Mygb.co From SerpSpace?

Chris says-, or excuse me, Ritchie Inman posted: “We have a video powerhouse subscription and a network management subscription currently at Serpspace. Are those moving to mgyb.co?” No. Those are gonna stay in Serpspace. “Are we able to get an update as to what is going to be where?” Well, I mean, pretty much just check out mgyb.co often because we’re adding more and more products. Again, three were just added to it today, Press releases, what else?

Marco: CORA and Syndication Networks.

Bradley: Syndication Networks. All I would recommend, Ritchie, is just go check MGYB often. But, yeah, video powerhouse, maps powerhouse, network management or monitoring, that’s all staying under Serpspace. Okay.

Is It Still Worth The Time To Keep Using Rank Feeder For Co-Citation Now That Google Plus Is Shutting Down?

Next, Kay Dee says, “Hey guys, with Google Plus shutting down, is it still worth in the meantime to keep using Rankfeeder for co-citation or will this be wasted effort? Thanks.” Well, Google Plus shutting down doesn’t affect Rankfeeder unless you’re using Google Plus RSS feeds as part of Rankfeeder. Does that make sense? Lisa can talk about that too. But Rankfeeder is about combining feeds together or adding multiple feeds to create a feed which creates co-citation. Unless you were using Google Plus RSS feeds, which there are a few online services that you can generate a Google Plus feed-, or an RSS feed from Google Plus, then it shouldn’t affect that at all. Right?

I mean, there’s still plenty of other RSS options out there. Remember, with Rankfeeder, those of you that are familiar with it, you can also add sticky items which aren’t even RSS feeds, they’re just singular-, excuse me, single URLs and you can add those as sticky items to blend in with the overall feed to create that additional co-citation. Again, Google Plus is just one of many different things that you could include into Rankfeeder.

Lisa, do you wanna mention something about that?

Lisa: Yeah. Actually, if you are using some of the Google Plus feeds in some way, what happens when a feed disappears is that Rankfeeder just starts ignoring it. If it ignores it a certain number of times, like for a long period, then it will just be removed. But since you can go in and edit your feeds, they’re not one-shot and you’re stuck with whatever you put in there, you can also go and replace the missing Google Plus RSS feeds with other things.

Bradley: There you go.

Lisa: You can completely update it and you keep them fresh and relevant with the same URLs that were generating power for you up till that point.

Bradley: Kay Dee, a couple of options would be Google Plus-, or excuse me, Google sites, also the GMB, if you’re using Google My Business stuff, it’s for local, if you’re using our autoposter, which generates a RSS feed from the GMB posts, that’s something else that you can include. There’s a lot of snazzy stuff that you can do with it. So Google Plus, G+ was just a one piece of many that go into that. I wouldn’t worry about it, guys. Google Plus is not that big of a deal that it’s shutting down. That’s the nature of the internet marketing world, right?

Lisa: Yeah. I think it’s really a relative nothing in terms of never really … I know a lot of people hopped on there to try and get SEO benefits from it because, as we all know, that Google favors their own properties. But as far as being a real social network, I don’t think it ever really caught fire and really caught on. I think that’s why they’re dumping it. I’m kinda surprised they didn’t dump it sooner because it just didn’t do that well.

Bradley: Yeah. It’s interesting. I remember all the way back in, I think 2010, '11, when I started my career in digital marketing that Google Plus, I remember articles coming out all the time, the big curated SEO sites like Search Engine Journal and all those sites, and also like social media examiner and all that, all the time I remember articles coming out saying, “Google Plus is dead,” “Google’s killing Google Plus,” this and that.

For years I’ve seen articles like that. I used to laugh at it because for a while there Google Plus was so integrated into all of Google’s products and it was really as part of the onset of the semantic web. When Google started to adapt semantic web technology and I think they were using Google Plus as kind of a identity validator. Right? It was a way to associate a profile with an individual, like a Google account with an individual, and then that way it would attach that profile or identify that person as being real because that Google Plus was now integrated with all of other Google’s products. I think it was a way to, originally, was to kind of reduce spam, believe it or not.

I didn’t think that they were ever going to shut it down. But apparently after just being beaten to death in the social media world by all the other platforms for so many years, Google finally decided to remove it. They’ve been taking steps for, what, the last year and a half, two years. I think it really started when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube, when they disintegrated or when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube. Remember, guys, in order to have a YouTube channel, you have to have a Google Plus account. I think when they separated those two is really the start of the demise of Google Plus. Anyways, that was a good question.

Does A Google Site Created Through The GMB Profile Show Up In The Organic Search Results Or Is Only Accessible Via The GMB Profile?

Gordon says, “Hey guys, thank you very much again for your help on Hump Days, it’s greatly appreciated.” You’re welcome, Gordon. He says, “Does a Google site created through GMB profile show up in organic search results or is it only accessible via …?” No. I’m not sure I understand, Gordon, what you’re saying. You’re saying “is a Google site,” now are you talking about sites.google.com or are you talking about GMB website?

In either case, they’re available and they’re both indexable which means they’re public. Publicly viewable to anybody, right? GMB websites as well as Google sites, sites.google.com are both indexable so anybody can see them. You don’t have to be logged in through a profile to see them, unless they’re just not indexed yet. But just be patient, the windex provided you guys some content on there and they’ll be fine.

Marco: The business site indexes within an hour.

Bradley: Yeah. The business site index is really quick, yeah.

Marco: And it does rank.

Bradley: Yep.

Marco: There’s things that you have to do to make it rank, which is taught in Local GMB Pro or you can just go and ask me in Local GMB Pro how to get that website to show up and rank. But I mean, it does. It’s a great asset.

Bradley: I’m curious because I haven’t worked on this project in months. Yeah. Right there, it’s Mario’s-, excuse me, right there, it’s the business site for, this was the case study I did for Local GMB Pro and that’s the business site right there. That’s the GMB website right there, guys, and it’s ranked number two for the brand search. See that? Yelp outranks the brand search, that’s crazy. But there you go, business site right there. So, yes, it will rank.

Does Google Ranks Mobile Responsive And Stand Alone Mobile Specific Site Differently?

Number two, “For ranking purposes, does Google look differently at mobile responsive site and a standalone mobile-specific site? If you’re targeting mobile searches only, can you rank in standalone mobile-specific site without forwarding a desktop site?” Yeah, you can. I don’t know. Marco might know this. But does Google look at differently between mobile responsive and standalone mobile specific sites? I don’t know. I know that a lot of responsive sites like WordPress themes that are responsive WordPress themes are coded really shitty. They suck and they’re terrible for the mobile algorithm, a lot of them are. They might say that they’re mobile-friendly, but they’re just coded really poorly. Again, I’m not a coder so I don’t understand any of that stuff, I just know that some of those mobile responsive WordPress themes suck in the mobile first index, they don’t perform well.

In the past, I would create just an HTML landing page as a mobile and put it on an M-dot subdomain and then use a redirect script, a PHP redirect script to point any mobile browsers to the HTML mobile page. But I’ve even stopped doing that because, honestly, I’m not even really building, I’m doing everything in GMB now, which is all GMB code and it’s all mobile responsive and mobile-friendly and everything else. I’m not even building WordPress sites at the moment.

Marco, what can you say about that?

Marco: I’m with you. I haven’t built a WordPress site in quite a while. Mobile responsive versus standalone, I would think that there would be no difference as long as they’re mobile responsive. Check it and make sure that it is actually mobile responsive and that it validates. Right? Other than that, I’m sorry, but dude, we’re doing everything inside the Google My Business-

Bradley: Or Google, period. Like sites.google.com, those are mobile responsive now, especially the new ones. They look great too.

Marco: The classic were also responsive. All you had to do was take a box while you were working on it to make it mobile-friendly.

Bradley: Yeah. That’s it. Guys, I’m not trying to discourage you from creating WordPress sites. I just, honestly, I’m building my business completely within Google right now, just because they’re free, number one; number two, it’s easy and fast. As long as it’s working I’m gonna do it. I can always go back to WordPress as needed. There’s a lot of headaches that come along with working in WordPress, like all the stupid updates and hosting issues. It’s just a lot of stuff that I’m so glad I’m not having to build a bunch of WordPress sites right now. It’s been refreshing.

Is It True That Google’s Recent Change On Mobile First Indexing Affects Ranking?

Number three, he says, “If it does not appear-, excuse me, if it does not appear that Google’s recent mobile first indexing changes affect ranking, can you please clarify?” Gordon, it should. I mean, it really depends. What they’re saying is the mobile, they’re basing desktop and laptop search results now off of the mobile index. Unless you’ve got sites that just don’t respond well at all for mobile, for example, they’re not mobile-friendly, the text is too small and you can’t click on menu navigation links and that kind of stuff, then that kinda stuff can actually pull now your rankings down because it’s based upon the mobile first index or the mobile index first, essentially.

But if you’re using stuff that is responsive and it passes like that, there’s even a tool that Google has for testing that, then you shouldn’t really have an issue. Right? I mean, at least that’s what I found. What I found was really interesting is you said it doesn’t change the fact rankings, it doesn’t change or affect ranking much.

But what we’ve been finding, especially because of the GMB stuff that we’ve been doing inside of Google My Business, is that we’re really speaking directly to the mobile algorithm with GMB posts and all the stuff that we’re doing with proximity and geolocation and all of that stuff is speaking directly to the mobile first algorithm, which is awesome because we’re able to get results even if they’re ranking, and I’m using air quotes, doesn’t show that we’re ranking well, we’re still able to generate clicks to the website and calls, generate leads essentially, from stuff that the rank trackers are showing aren’t ranking well. So explain that.

Well, that’s because we’re tickling the mobile-first index. That’s what Marco calls “the google tickle.” Right? That’s one of many that we have. But that’s exactly what we’re doing, is because we’re using geolocation and proximity and all of that stuff to be able to serve our content directly to mobile searchers in the area where they’re searching. Again, that has to do with the mobile first index.

Guys, this has opened up so much opportunity, in my opinion, since the end of July when this was really rolled out. We’ve been reaping the benefits of these opportunities for the GMB Pro method and Local Lease Pro method now for the last few months, last couple of months. It’s awesome because, as I’ve mentioned on previous Hump Day Hangouts, guys, I used to always just target my primary keywords for local stuff plus local modifiers. In other words, it would be whatever the service or product was plus the local modifier.

That’s always how I optimize for everything up until this summer. Now I’m optimizing for just the general product or service keywords and I’m getting crazy results. I’m generating more leads now than ever because we’re able to get those short tail search queries, we’re able to get results and get traffic from those because we’re talking directly to the mobile first algorithm.

People that are searching for mobile, typically, unless they’re searching for a product or service outside of where they’re located, like in another area that they’re going to be going to, typically, people when they start to search for a product or service from a mobile device, they’ll start typing their query and then they’re just gonna hit whatever the suggested phrase pops up that Google suggested to them that’s closest to their intended query. Most of the time Google is going to suggest without local modifiers. So that’s what they’re tapping on now and that’s what our content is optimized for those terms without the local modifier because of where we’re publishing the content is within close proximity to that searcher. Right?

Again, it’s a little bit more advanced than what we typically cover on Hump Day Hangouts, but it works really, really well. If you’re basing any of your tracking now on any desktop, laptop search result stuff, guys, stop it. Okay? Stop it. Just be paying attention to mobile stuff. That’s why part of the reason I always talk about using Google Ads ad preview and diagnosis tool because then you can go in and actually set a location. Within Google, you can specify a location and then do a search there and you will see what the search results should look like to somebody in that specific location. You can’t really do that with rank trackers anymore.

Okay. Anyways, that was a good question, Gordon. Go ahead.

Marco: Let me just add that we keep seeing a direct correlation between activity in the Google My Business listing through everything we do through Local GMB Pro. Everything that we teach inside Local GMB Pro, there’s a direct correlation with activity, and then even in organic, it brings up the organic rankings.

Bradley: Yeah.

Marco: I mean, you can see it. You’ll see the amount of keywords that you’re ranking for blow up in search console. To the point where you’re ranking for hundreds of keywords that you never thought would be attainable and all of a sudden that’s right there. If you just look at organic, you would never know how that was done, but we know that we’re doing all of the work in the Google My Business listing.

Bradley: Yeah. One of the other things I wanna mention is, and we’ve kind of talked about this in some of our other groups, guys, but I don’t want to give out too much, but this is a nice little nugget. Guys, go into your GMB Insights. For those of you doing local, which again it’s most of you, go into GMB Insights and take a look at the search queries that have brought engagement to your listing, and extract those search queries that are relevant, which most of them will.

By the way, you’re gonna see a lot of near me and near my location and stuff like that type of keywords right now. I mean, that’s why it’s all mobile stuff, guys. It’s all mobile search stuff. If you extract those keywords from the GMB Insights report that are relevant and start promoting those in GMB posts and content, then you’ll start getting more and more traffic for those. It’s crazy. It’s like Google tells you which keywords are bringing you traffic and then you promote those keywords and it brings you so much more. It’s crazy. It’s just like Google’s giving you the keys to the kingdom right now, guys.

Amazon SEO

Again, I don’t know how long it’s gonna last, but while it does exploit it. Okay. Jordan. What’s up, Jordan? He says, “Is anyone here an Amazon SEO guru?” I am not. I don’t think any of my partners are either. “Needing help with a potential client, either white-label or we’ll give them to you for finder fee, and I don’t wanna learn that mess.” I don’t blame you, Jordan. “It’s not our wheelhouse nor do I want it to be. Staying large regional and national focused. Hit me up jordanfowler@moonandowl.com.”

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: I’m sorry?

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: No. He’s in Syndication Academy but in Mastermind.

Hernan: Okay. Well, I mean, in the Syndication Academy group, maybe you can find somebody.

Bradley: Yeah. I was going to ask Lisa if she had any advice on ecommerce SEO or Amazon SEO.

Lisa: Well, just make sure you’re in a cart that is friendly to SEO URLs. Also, one thing that I found when I was doing my store, now I’ve sold my store several years ago to somebody else, but one thing that I did find is that the RSS for products actually will help boost the products quite a bit. So if you have, make sure you get a cart that has the ability to have RSS feeds for product categories. Then go and submit those feeds to all kinds of different aggregators, you’ll get quite a boost. I mean, it was really amazing what we found when I had a VA doing that for me.

What Is The Best Way To Index Press Releases?

Bradley: Jordan, looks like Greg might have also replied to your comment on the event page. I suggest also maybe getting through that. Greg’s question is: “Hey, I purchased a monthly subscription of Press Releases service after your webinar three weeks ago. First, two PRs went out last week. For each, I received a list of 100 plus pickups. However, when searching in Google for the title or a sentence in quotes, only the PR services, PR and digital journal show in Google. What is the best way to get all those other indexed? Or just simply wait for Google to notice and index them over time?”

Greg, first of all, don’t worry about it. Most of them are probably indexed, they’re just in the supplemental index, because that’s the nature of Press Releases. Because it’s the same content, right? Guys, don’t associate duplicate content penalties with this, with what I’m talking about here because that’s not the case. But if a press release which is republished word-for-word across hundreds of sites, Google will take those and many of them and put them in what’s called the Supplemental Index.

I’m going to show you exactly what I mean here to demonstrate. Okay? Right here, this is press release title that I just had published for the project that I built out for the Local Lease Pro training. Okay. This was just published, well, just a few days ago, anyways. You can see that I just did a search for the title, which is showing digital journal here, right? So this was just published, I don’t know, just a couple days ago. Anyways, you can see that that’s the full title of it, right? That’s what’s showing digital journal. It’s the only one that’s indexed on this page.

But if you look down at the bottom where it says “In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the six already displayed.” Well, I don’t see six displayed, I see one, unless they’re talking about five images here, which they might be. Yeah, I guess they are, because the rest of those are ads.

But if you take a look and click on the Supplemental Index, all of a sudden here it shows up, there’s five of them that are showing as indexed. By the way, that’s why, this was just published 12 hours ago. That’s why not all of them have even been indexed yet. So if we were to come back and search this again in another 24 hours, it’s likely that there will be dozens and dozens of results. They’re probably still gonna be hidden behind the Supplemental Index, you have to click that link at the bottom to see all of them. But what happens is you end up with most of that.

Now again, don’t worry about getting them indexed, Greg, you’ll drive yourself absolutely crazy if every time you submit a press release you go collect all the links from the report and then submit them to indexers. That’s a lot of additional work. Don’t worry about it. Those news sites get crawled often by Google, they will get indexed. Whether they show or they’re put in the Supplemental Index, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them. Trust me. So don’t worry about that because you’re just adding additional work, you’re over-complicating, which you don’t need to.

Okay? I’m not picking on you at all, Greg. I understand why you may worry about that. But a lot of people have asked us questions about Syndication Networks and the links not being indexed. But if you go in the search console and you look at links to your site, you’ll see WordPress, and Tumblr, and Diigo, and all the sites within the syndication network do have backlinks pointed to the site, and Google knows about them. Whether they’re indexed or not, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them and is giving you credit for them. We’ve even tested no index PBNs, guys, and it’s worked. It’s given us boosts.

Again, don’t worry about that, you’ll drive yourself crazy, Greg. All right. We’ve only got about five more minutes, guys. I do have to leave pretty much on time today. So we’re gonna try to roll through just a couple more questions.

“Can we get a recorded webinar link from Monday, from Marco’s webinar?” Yeah. Guys, it’s coming. Everybody relax. It’s coming. We promise you the replay will be made available as soon as possible. Marco, do we have an ETA on that?

Marco: It’s not only the replay, I’m putting everything together. Right? I have to put together all of the training, the video that I did showing, well, you know what it does, from S3 to CloudFlare. I’m also giving them tutorials for CloudFlare and S3 buckets. I’m trying to put everything together. It doesn’t help when I have people reaching out to me. The video was still, I think I told you guys, it was rendering and people were already reaching out to me for the replay webinar. It doesn’t help, guys. It’ll get done when it gets done. As soon as it gets done, it’ll be made available.

Bradley: Scott. “Finally got a plumbing client onboard for GMB account that was set up with your service. The account was sitting just outside the 3-pack when it was first verified. Now in the 3-pack with just a small amount of effort after week one. Location population for a city of 125K. Thanks, guys.” That’s freaking awesome, Scott. I love that you posted that. That’s amazing. Guys, I mean, it’s crazy, even the site that I just was showing you guys, the press release for Mustang 3 pros, I just set that up last week, and 12 hours ago, the press release was published and I’m sitting in the number four position right now, if I do a localized search, like I said, using …

Anyways, my point is, guys, it’s sitting in position number four and I still haven’t done citations to it yet, I haven’t really done any GMB posts other than the original post that I did. So I mean all the stuff that I teach in Local Lease Pro, guys, hasn’t even been applied to that yet and I’m already in the number four position in maps. So think about that. Scott is just validating what I’ve been talking about, guys. You do the research properly on the front-end and then you optimize the profile when you first set it up, or get it back from us if you’re using our service.

So far, about 60% of the time, for me, that’s all it takes to get into the 3-pack. Doing the other stuff that I’m doing right now, which is the GMB posts press releases, and then monthly citations, I’m seeing like almost, out of the remaining 40%, another 15 to 20% of those within the first seven days get pushed into the 3-pack. The remaining ones that aren’t pushed into the 3-pack, it just requires a little more of the same. Just more of the same, so more GMB posts, perhaps another press release, perhaps another month of citation building, something like that. Right? That’s all it takes.

We’re also working on some additional methods right now, guys, for pushing those listings that aren’t popping into the 3-pack. Yeah. I’m working on some other methods too and I’ll update you guys on that probably in November. All right.

Is There Any Limit On The Number Of Links You Can Throw At An RYS Project And Not Get Penalized?

Okay, guys. I guess I’m gonna answer Jeff Sass’s question and we’re gonna wrap it up because we’re at the 5 o'clock mark and I have to go and I’m sure others do as well, Jeff says, “Question regarding RYS project done for a client through Serpspace. Is there any limit that you’ve seen with regards to links you can throw at it and not get penalized?” Marco can answer that one, but we haven’t seen a limit yet. Have we, Marco?

Marco: No limit.

Bradley: Okay. Number two, “Also, even though my client already has one RYS project produced, is there an additional benefit to doing another and another or should we just be beating the shit out of the one that’s already done?” No. There is benefit, Jeff. It just depends. It really depends on what your setup is and your configuration, your site structure, all that kind of stuff. Marco, what would you suggest?

Marco: I would suggest that, if he’s a member of RYS Academy Reloaded, that he reaches out to me in there because we did a webinar telling you exactly what you need to do with that one drive stack and how to power it up to get even more power out of it, and just continue getting power out of that same stack.

Bradley: There you go. The last thing, he says, “If you haven’t pimped your research service yet, do so now. It rocks.” I’m assuming he’s talking about the keyword research service yet. Is that available? That’s live in MGYB now, isn’t it?

Marco: Keyword research? No, it’s not live yet. We’ve done sales of it. I mean, we could try doing another one, maybe next Hump Day. For you guys attending live, we’ll have a few keyword research projects available that you can take advantage of. But, yeah, it’s coming. It’s just getting hooked up into the marketplace-, excuse me, the MGYB store.

Bradley: Yep. Okay. I just saw Eddie said … Thanks for that, Eddie. “I’m not an SEO or a CEO, but the way Bradley teaches makes it easy to understand and great for newbies.” He’s talking about Local Lease Pro. “What is the best way to bill or charge the business?” I’m pretty sure that’s covered in the training, Eddie, but I’ll double check when I’m in there adding the citation lesson. If it’s not, then I’ll make a note to add another lesson specifically about how to bill or charge a business. Honestly, I just use PayPal for that, but you can get as creative with that as you want. Anyways, I’ll make a note of that if it’s not in there and I’ll add a lesson for it. Okay?

Everybody, I wanna thank you guys for being here. Lisa, thank you for sticking around even for the additional time.

Lisa: It was awesome to be here.

Bradley: Awesome, guys. Thanks everyone else. We’ll see you guys next week. Lisa, please keep in touch with us and let us know about the updates.

Lisa: I will. I definitely will. I think you’re gonna love them.

Bradley: Great. Thank you guys. Bye.

Hernan: Bye guys.

Lisa: Bye.

Marco: Bye everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205 posted first on your-t1-blog-url from Blogger https://ift.tt/2yheB2c via IFTTT

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205

Click on the video above to watch Episode 205 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

  Announcement

Adam: All right. We are live. Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts Episode 205. Today is the 10th of October 2018. We’ve got the whole gang here as well as our special guest, who I will get to in just a moment. But real quick, we’re gonna take a minute to say hi to everybody, get through some quick announcements and then we will dive right into it.

Actually, I’m starting to realize, and it only took me 204 episodes to realize, that I think you guys are lined up the same time every single time on my screen, which is interesting. There we go. It only took almost four years. Chris, how are you doing good, man?

Chris: Doing good. Excited to be spot number one here all the time. Love it. How are you doing?

Adam: Can’t complain. This is like one of those shower thoughts. It’s just this revelation that means absolutely nothing and I feel stupid for having realized it. But, yeah, it’s good to know. Hernan, how are you doing, man?

Hernan: Good. I’m excited to be after Chris all the time. Yeah. I’m really, really excited for what’s coming. I’m really excited to have our guest today. Also for POFU Live 2018, it’s gonna be amazing too.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I’m not trying to skipper on purpose, but I’m not sure if you guys can see we have Lisa Allen as our special guest. We’re gonna circle back around to her in just a minute and introduce her a little bit more properly. Marco, how are you doing, man?

Marco: What’s up, man? It’s great to see Lisa Allen here. She’s a good friend of Semantic Mastery. We’ve had her around before. She does some awesome automation. I’m not gonna take your spotlight, Lisa. You can go ahead and toot your own horn. But it’s really good to have you here again joining us. It’s always fun to have you on talking about what you’ve been up to. Thank you for joining us.

Lisa: Thank you for inviting me.

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Good deal. Last but not least, Bradley, how are you doing, man?

Bradley: Okay. I think I just figured out why they’re always lined up the way they are. I think it’s by alphabetical order by the name in the profile. So it’s Adam, Chris, Hernan, Lisa, Marco, and then, for me, it says “you,” Y-O-U. I think it’s always alphabetical.

Adam: No, on my screen, you’re Semantic Mastery. Yeah, this is a train wreck. Thanks, everybody for watching us. This is what we do every episode.

Bradley: Anyways, I’m glad to be here, glad that Lisa is here. We’ve got an exciting week ahead of us because POFU Live is next weekend. We’re really looking forward to that. I’m actually preparing for that now. That’s what I’ve been doing all day. POFU Live members, I’m really excited about it. I’m excited to have Lisa here. It’s been a long time since we had her here so it’s good to catch up with her again. She’s always got a lot of great insight about the SEO industry and marketing in general. So happy to be here, man.

Adam: Cool. Well, we got a couple quick announcements, like Bradley just mentioned, POFU Live next weekend. If you can make it, we still do, I think there’s two or three tickets still available. I’ll pop the links on there in a little bit after we get done talking here. But you can still grab those kind of the last chance to do that before we go to shut things down lock in the numbers and all that good stuff.

Also, if you’re watching us for the first time, thank you. We’ve obviously been here. We didn’t make up the number. We’ve been here for 205 episodes. We hope we’re here for another 205. Thank you for watching. We really appreciate it. If you wanna ask questions live, that’s great. If you’re watching the replay, that’s fine too. Check us out on YouTube or wherever you’re watching us and feel free to ask questions. You can join us live at semanticmastery.com/hdquestions every week.

Bradley: By the way, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Adam: Yes, which would be right here. So, yeah, subscribe. Also, if you’re looking for the place to start with us, the Battle Plan, I’m gonna pop the links on the page for you. This is good for anyone starting, anyone who wants a repeatable process, who’s been in the game for a while. It covers a lot of really good aspects of SEO, digital marketing, things for keyword research, working with a new domain, aged domains, all that stuff. Then, if you’re ready to take it up a few notches, of course, we do have our Mastermind and we invite you to also check out that and see if that’s the right fit for you.

One last thing before we get started, I believe, Marco, that the MGYB store has had some updates, right?

Marco: Yes, sir. We got CORA, we’ve got Syndication Academy up and running, and since we’ve been talking so much about Local Lease Pro press releases.

Adam: Yeah.

Bradley: Which, by the way, there’s still two lessons missing out on Local Lease Pro, one is for citations and one is for Press Releases. Part of the reason those lessons weren’t there was I was waiting for our order page to be done on MGYB for me to be able to demonstrate how to order Press Releases through that, guys. The citations stuff, honestly, I’ve just been really slammed this week. I haven’t got the lesson done. But I’m hoping as soon as I get done with Hump Day Hangouts today to record a quick lesson on that. It’s very simple. Hopefully, I’ll have that up within about 10 or 15 minutes after Hump Day Hangouts today, guys. Any of you that were inquiring about that missing lesson, it will be there shortly. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.

Adam: Good deal. Any last minute announcements, you guys, before we dive into it?

Hernan: Let’s do it.

Adam: All right. Cool. Well, like we said, Lisa Allen is here with us. We appreciate Lisa, you coming on and hanging out with us. Again, for people who haven’t seen us over maybe for, about a year I guess was the last time we talked, man, that’s crazy.

Lisa: Yes.

Adam: Anyways, we talked to Lisa about a year ago. Instead of telling everyone about you, if you don’t mind, just kinda get everyone up speed where you came from and what you kind of do online. I think that’d be the best way for people to kind of find out about you.

Lisa: Well, I’m one of those people who always kinda have my hands on everything. I see something that looks interesting and I kinda go that direction. It’s just kinda how I got into online marketing, it’s how I got into the internet. It’s just I see something interesting and I think I could do that, so I go off and I kinda explore what’s going on. I really got into the internet first after a divorce, a few, probably like 15 years ago, 20 years ago. Gosh, I’m dating myself.

Adam: Just a couple of years ago, it’s all right. I’ve started seeing the same face.

Lisa: Anyway, I started hanging out. Do you guys remember when AOL was king and there were like all these little local systems with local bulletin board system?

Bradley: Yeah.

Lisa: [Inaudible 00:06:43]

Chris: Until last year?

Lisa: Well, no, I mean, it’s been quite a while. Anyway, that’s just kinda where I really hit the internet really hard was after that. Got into working for a company doing web mastering for a while and that kinda flung me off into doing coding. Then I’ve had an online store, a couple of different online stores, and so I was kind of using my coding along with some of my organizational skills to do that. Then, of course, I ran afoul with Google, and who hasn’t done that at least a couple of times? So they kicked me off their ad platform, so then I had to figure out this whole SEO thing.

Adam: What was the timeframe on that? When did you start getting into SEO stuff?

Lisa: I would say that was about 2011, 2012 really because I was running a store for about five years before that and, like I said, I got kicked off. They decided they didn’t like the product that I was selling and they booted me off, all my stores got booted off.

Bradley: Lisa, you said 2011 or ‘12ish, which is crazy, because I remember specifically buying a product that you launched with Peter Garety’s help about …

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: It used IFTTT and it was for triggering syndications through Google Calendar using IFTTT. It would resyndicate because you could set calendar events in the future, they would cause it to re-syndicate the video again out to the network. It was amazing training. It was right after I had learned about IFTTT, David Cossack or whatever. It was amazing training. I’ll never forget that. That was around 2011, 2012, if I remember correctly.

Lisa: Yeah. I think that was probably 2012 or maybe early 2013 because I had launched something else with Peter about Pinterest. It was how to get traffic using Pinterest which was my first real product.

Bradley: That’s with Peter Drew or where Peter Garety? It was Peter Garety, right?

Lisa: It was Peter Garety, yeah.

Bradley: Right.

Lisa: We worked for a while. Yeah. That was actually a lot of fun. I think that may have actually been an add-on to that product, like an extra bonus training. It’s funny, the thing I remember about that training is the bonus and not the original training.

Adam: I was just looking around, what’s Peter Garety up to? This is a total tangent, but that’s just … Yeah. He was coming out with stuff like that.

Lisa: Yeah. I think he decided that he wanted to spend a little more time with his family. As far as I know he built himself his own little shopping cart platform, kinda like Shopify. He runs that and he gets recurring from that. So you see him pop up every once in a while, in JVZoo groups and stuff like that just to say some things, but he’s not really promoting really hard anymore.

Bradley: Yeah. I think before he went off the grid he was doing a lot of heavy ecomm, promoting ecomm products and stuff, so I’m assuming that that’s what he went into.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: That’s right. DashNex. Okay. I was looking this up while we were talking. Okay. Cool. Okay. So sorry about that. We just totally went off the grill there. Okay. We’re up to like 2011, 2012, you start getting into the SEO side of things, how did it go from there?

Lisa: Well, I was SEO and things so that I could get traffic for the online store that I had, I was selling jewelry parts. The stuff that I learned while I was trying to rank for things got turned around into products. So we did a curation traffic blueprint where I was teaching people how to curate content and get traffic from that, because that’s so much easier than writing original content. You can do it just snap, snap, snap.

So we did that and then I started doing some keyword tools. I just sort of, actually, I think before we got to the keyword tool, the RSS authority sniper strategy that we do, that was something that we had started doing manually. My sister was acting as one of my VAs. It took a long time to do that manually. I mean, it was really effective but it took 15, 20 minutes, sometimes an hour to do that, to look up all the different feeds and then go and do all the copy-paste to put it here, put it there, all that kinda stuff. She started complaining about that, just really, she was really like …

Adam: That’s a very real pain point when your sister was complaining to you.

Lisa: Yeah, I know. I’m like, “Okay, I better go code something.” That was where RSS Authority Sniper came from.

Bradley: Which, by the way, that was a great product. I was gonna say you still have Rankfeeder going right now, correct?

Lisa: Yeah, I do. I’m actually just been rewriting the whole feed generation so that I can add more features in. I’ve got something really neat coming out in the next month or so with Rankfeeder and then a rerelease of RSS Authority Sniper to go with it. It’s gonna be the way it targets local places very, very specifically.

Bradley: Oh, man, now you’re speaking our language, Lisa. Honestly, guys, we promoted Lisa’s Rankfeeder before because it’s the co-citation tool using RSS feeds. It’s amazing. It’s super, super powerful. It’s very, very effective. I stand by that statement. Anything that you’re gonna be doing that’s gonna address local specifically, Lisa, certainly reach out to us. We will get behind that in a heartbeat because about 60% of our RSS is local.

Lisa: I think you’re gonna like it because, like I said, we’re gonna … Some of the stuff that I’ve already added in after I finished rewriting the feed generator is I’ve added the categories that you get to pick into so that they’re actually inside the feed and all the tags also get treated as categories inside your feed. I mean, you’re getting a lot more power to really target with the feed on an SEO basis, that kinda thing. Yeah. I think you’re really gonna like what comes after that.

Bradley: Very cool.

Adam: Sounds awesome. Well, I wanted to make sure we have enough time to cover this. The next question I had, and I love asking this to people, is where do you see, in terms of, I’ll leave this really broad, not just SEO, but where do you see either SEO or kind of online digital marketing going in the next couple of years? Then a side question of that, or somewhere else you can go with this, is what’s the most important things you see happening?

Lisa: Well, this is a really interesting time for online things. You’re seeing a lot of movement, different places, and you’re seeing a lot of things happening that people don’t necessarily like, you’re seeing a lot of censorship, you’re seeing a lot of kinda misrepresenting what people are saying and that kind of thing, and you’re seeing Silicon Valley really go and start trying to basically meddle in society that they wanna be the … It’s like the government isn’t big brother anymore, but they wanna be.

I think you’re gonna see, and I’m already kind of seeing movement, this is outside of Google’s control and outside of Facebook’s control. I think as marketers and SEO is we really need to be monitoring those additional places that are coming into the marketplace and start using those platforms and start seeing them because I think that censorship and …

I mean, Google tries to censor SEO people all the time. They try and say, “Well, we don’t want you to backlink,” and “We don’t want you to do this,” and “We’re in control of whether you rank for anything or not.” I don’t know any SEO person who actually says, “Yeah, you’re right. You can have total complete control over everything I do and say.”

It’s like, we find a way around. I think you’re gonna see that there’s gonna be as they’ve kinda spread out from just kind of controlling, trying to control SEOs to try and control the wider society. I think you’re really gonna see that there’s gonna be a lot of movement outside where people are gonna go, “Well, I think that’s a little bit too far.”

Adam: Yeah, definitely. It’s funny, I think me and Marco came across that article at the same time, but there’s one about Tim Berners-Lee working on like a decentralized kind of protocols. I think it’s called Solid through MIT. Have you heard about this?

Lisa: No, I haven’t heard of that one yet.

Adam: Yeah. Just check it out afterwards. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s that idea of saying, “Yeah. You know what, no matter what happens, if this turns into a monopoly, which it quickly is, then that doesn’t really benefit anyone.” So it was meant to be decentralized in the first place so I think, anyways, I don’t know if this is gonna work, but something like that I think appeals to a lot of people.

Lisa: Yeah. You’re already seeing movements. A lot of people are moving away from them as their search engine when they’re doing their own personal things. I mean, I haven’t used Google as my search engine when I’m actually doing research for years. I mean, I’ve been using DuckDuckGo, and you have places alternatives to Twitter like Gab coming up, and there’s a several new video platforms coming up that now that YouTube is really kind of just really been stomping on people. Yeah. I mean …

Adam: I’m just curious, what are some of the new YouTube-, sorry, new YouTube, that’s showing how well ingrained it is, what are some of the new video platforms?

Bradley: Well, Amazon Video has got to be one of them, right?

Lisa: What’s that?

Bradley: Amazon Video has to be one of them, right?

Lisa: Yeah. Amazon video is a pretty good one, although they also, I don’t know, I kinda think that they also have that risk of becoming more of a bully in the future.

Adam: Well, they’ll just take over what you’re creating and create it themselves.

Lisa: Yeah. Just like they have, like all the little online stores and that people would find a little niche and they would sell something, and then Amazon goes, “Boom. They’re selling a lot of that. Let’s start our own.” I mean, they’ve kinda done that, kind of the same way Walmart has done that to the mom-and-pop stores. Amazon is kinda doing that to the online stores.

But the one that I discovered the other day that I actually thought was pretty good was called Real Video. It’s real.video. That’s not real.video.com. Just the video is the root domain.

Bradley: Real like R-E-E-L or R-E-A-L?

Lisa: R-E-A-L.

Bradley: Okay.

Lisa: It’s started by a guy who got deplatformed by Google. It’s not a fully developed platform yet, but it seems pretty good for what he’s already worked through. You have to get an invitation from them. You have to actually request to be on there, kinda like you did with Pinterest in the beginning. But the player is really nice and they’ve got kinda sharing capabilities and some other things. I think that’s someplace that really you should look into, particularly if you’re running content that maybe Google’s not gonna like very much.

BitChute is another one, although I think that one’s kind of not that good yet.

Adam: BitChute, got that.

Lisa: Yeah. BitChute and, I remember some of the other ones that I’ve looked at. As far as like Facebook, there’s a really interesting new social media place called … What is it called, Minds? Minds.com.

Adam: Interesting. I have not heard … Have you guys heard of this?

Marco: Yeah, I like Minds. I’m in Minds. It’s over 100 million people right now.

Adam: I should have known that, Marco.

Marco: It’s basically over 100 million people. Come on.

Lisa: Yeah. They’re kind of integrated with some of the blockchain payment methods and things like that, so that you can actually pay people for their content in a way that you can’t really be tracked and can’t really be blocked from making your payment. So there’s a lot of interesting things that are going on where people are just kinda going, “I’ve had enough.” People are starting additional things. It’s kinda like people never really thought that MySpace would ever die, but it did. I think you’re probably gonna see a little bit more of that movement, away from big consolidated platforms.

Adam: Yeah, that’s an interesting-

Bradley: It’s gonna happen anytime … I mean, I can see some of the shifting as well, Lisa. I agree with that. Some movement, especially with the Silicon Valley stuff, which you mentioned. I mean, when Facebook and Twitter execs are being dragged up on the Capitol Hill and quite repeatedly for hours and hours and hours, you can rest assured, you can bet your ass that there’s gonna be some movements, some changes made.

Lisa: Yeah. I’ve been shadow banned on Twitter. It’s like you go and you post something that’s relatively innocuous and you go and search for it, you can search for the exact text of the whole thing and it never comes up in search. That’s when you know you’ve been shadow banned. They never tell you anything, they just want you to just assume that your message is getting out there, but they’re not gonna … So, anyway.

Bradley: Yeah. Well, I think it’s something that will happen. We, as marketers, are kind of on the cutting edge or of like what the shifting is, but I think the general population is much slower to react.

Lisa: That’s true.

Bradley: I think we still have plenty of time to exploit what we can from the big sites.

Lisa: Absolutely. I’m just saying you gotta kinda keep your heads up and be aware that people are starting to move around a bit.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Well, in terms of what’s going on right now, we touched on a little bit, so if you’ve got some big stuff coming out in like a month, I don’t want or expect you just spill the beans right now, but you can you tell us, and if you can’t, that’s fine, but what it is that you’re kind of working on there in a little bit more detail?

Lisa: Well, right now, most of what I’ve been doing for about the last six to seven weeks is really working hard on the upgrades to Rankfeeder. Now I’m doing RSS Authority Sniper 3.0. This is going to be considered a major release because it’s gonna have some really nice extra features in there. That’s mostly what I’m working on. Then I have some other plans for some other products after that either re-imaginings or new ones. But that’s most of what’s right there.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I know, like Bradley said, we’ll definitely keep our ears open or rather our email inboxes open for letting us know when you got that ready. That’d be awesome because we got a lot of people who are really interested. Actually, we just had one comment here real quick. I just wanna read it to you because this is pretty awesome. Greg just said, “Hey Lisa. Nice to have Lisa here. She’s one of the greatest people as far as support and products go. A big thank you.”

Lisa: Well, thanks.

Adam: That was a very nice comment from Greg. Yeah. I mean, it’s good. Obviously, we promote products and services that we like and use. Definitely, yours is up there, not in our minds only, but everyone that we promoted it to has had a lot of good things to say.

Lisa: Great.

Marco: Before we go, I have a question for Lisa. Something that I’ve been going back and forth with other people. It’s more on the coding side and how you see things. The thing is that I’ve been asking people whether they think that Google is broken, because as you know they just write code on top of code on top of code on top of code. Now what you just said, which just struck me as very interesting, is that you’re doing a complete rewrite. So would you agree or disagree that right now at that level Google is broken?

Lisa: I’m not sure that I would say that Google is broken. I mean, you gotta remember they have thousands and thousands of engineers on staff. I’m doing a total rewrite because I didn’t like some of what was done by the people who wrote some of the code for me that I paid to write code for me. These are guys who were supposed to be professional and they just, there’s things in there that I’ve just never liked and just thought, uh, that just really bothers me every time I’m in there. But to rewrite it would take so long.

But no, I don’t really think Google is broken so much. It’s just philosophically they’ve kind of shifted out of the, do you remember when their motto used to be don’t be evil? Well, they seem to have totally and completely forgotten about that. I think it has really become more of a reflection of the fact that they have decided that they have some hatchets to grind and then they really just kinda wanna dominate the market and they’ve decided that the market also means information and what people think and-

Bradley: And they wanna control and manipulate information, which is what they do.

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: Absolutely.

Lisa: It’s absolutely what they do.

Bradley: Yep.

Adam: Well, good deal. Real quick, I just want to say I noticed a little bit of a delay on this, if anyone’s watching, if you have any specific questions for Lisa, please pop them in there and then we’re going to get into the Hump Day Hangout questions.

Jay says, “I like Rankfeeder. Lisa, would love to know if you have any new creative ways on how to use it.”

Lisa: Well, like I said, new features are coming. You’re gonna like them.

Bradley: So hold your breath is what you’re saying?

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Stay tuned. We’ll definitely be asking her the same question in what sounds like a month.

Lisa: Yeah. I think you’ll really, really gonna like how you’re gonna be able to be getting really, really specific with locations.

Adam: Awesome.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Well, cool. Lisa, thanks again. Like I said, hang out if you want to, if you’re busy and got a run, we understand, but we’re gonna kinda switch over and we’ll do some Hump Day Hangout questions.

Lisa: All right. Well, I’ll hang out for a little while.

Adam: All right. Sounds good.

Lisa: Great.

Bradley: Guys, I’m gonna grab the screen and we’re gonna get right into it. Lisa, I emailed you the event page URL in case you want to check out the questions so if you want to check out the event page URL. But I’m gonna grab the screen and get into it.

Is There A Need To Put A Summary For The Full-Text Option For The RSS Feed Output Of A Self Hosted WordPress Website?

Okay. Nexxus Designs is up first. He says, “Hey. I have one question, it’s very important to me. With the RSS feed output of a WordPress self-hosted website, should we put out a summary for the full-text option?” That’s up to you, Nexxus Designs. It’s entirely up to you. It’s a personal preference. I don’t think it’s an issue to post the full text only because, well, for two reasons.

Number one, we have the attribution link that is either provided by the plugin or you can code that into the IFTTT applet yourself. Either way, if you followed our training, you know that the attribution link is critically important if you’re gonna be syndicating the full text of the post. Number two, is if you’re using our standard Syndication Network setup, there’s only three blog sites that we’re syndicating to. So there’s only three sites to get the full-text post anyways, right? That’s Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress. So it’s not an issue.

Essentially, I always like to leave full text posts because, again, it’s only being syndicated to really three sites that will republish the entire post anyways. The key is to be using the internal link from within the post itself from your main blog to be linking to the pages of the landing pages that you’re trying to rank. By publishing the full text of the post that internal link from within the body, the post body of the blog post itself, will also be published on the blog sites. Right? So Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress. So you get a little bit of additional links, in other words, built back to your original post and also to the page that you’re promoting within the post, if that makes sense.

However, if you want to just go summary, that’s perfectly fine. I prefer the full post method. But you can go with the summary method, just know that you will lose a little bit of SEO value to your internal page that you’re ultimately trying to promote. Because when you syndicate just the summary of the post you will get a link back to the post itself but you won’t get any of the internal links that we’re within the post body, if that makes sense. Which is still fine because now you’re funneling link juice or link equity back to that post, the original post, anyways, which will contain the internal link up to the page that you’re trying to promote.

Again, it’s 6 and ½ dozen in the other really. I prefer the full-text post because it looks less spammy on the blog sites. Think about it, summary posts on blog sites, guys, look spammy because it’s just usually a paragraph or a set number of characters and then it’s just a dot dot dot or read more or whatever. So in my opinion, on my branded blog syndication sites, which would be Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, I want the full text post so that it doesn’t look spammy. I want it to look nice, right? That’s part of the reason why I like the full text post. But again, it’s a personal preference, it’s not gonna hurt you either way.

Can We Connect DFY IFTTT To GMB RSS Following The Local Lease Pro (LLP) Posting System?

Anybody wanna comment on that? Okay. Peter’s up. He says, “Hey. Can we connect Done-For-You IFTTT to GMB RSS following the LLP posting system?” Yes, you can, Peter. I may be doing an additional training video on-, well, not maybe, at some point, probably after or after POFU Live, I’m gonna be doing some updated training for Local Lease Pro members. I’ll probably just host a webinar, guys, and invite all the Local Lease Pro members. I’m gonna be talking about some other stuff. I’m working on some other methods right now to push the GMB Maps listings into the 3-pack if they don’t appear in there initially from just the initial set up, which is really what the Local Lease Pro method is all about: finding those easy opportunities and securing them with little to no work.

However, there are gonna be some that you’re going to attempt that aren’t going to rank right away. But don’t abandon those, you can certainly get them to produce results or generate leads, but they’re gonna need a little bit of additional work. So that’s some of the stuff that I’m gonna be covering in update webinar. It will likely be in November before that’s available though, guys, because we got a ton other stuff we’re working on at the moment.

I’m still testing some new methods too. I can tell you one thing I’m really excited about. Lisa’s product coming out because I guarantee you Lisa’s product would work very, very well with this Local Lease Pro method since we’re gonna be able to use the RSS feeds from the GMB Autoposter to connect with Rankfeeder and create co-citation. I can see that being very, very powerful. So when Lisa’s product is ready, I will certainly look into that as part of the Local Lease Pro method as well. Okay.

Nexxus is up again. He says, “Edit. Thinking in terms of duplicate content here, if I am thinking correctly, RSS output is the summary only, then that’s good against duplicate content.” Okay. Nexxus Designs, I’m gonna stop you right there. Stop with the duplicate content stuff. Duplicate content is a myth on other sites, right? It’s only a problem if it’s on the same domain. If you’re publishing the same article over and over again on the same domain, then it’s a duplicate content issue that can create Panda penalties. But when it’s republished on external domains, it’s not a duplicate content issue, especially if you have an attribution link which points back to the original source. Okay?

Again, guys, I don’t mean to be hard on you, Nexxus Designs, but that comes up all the time. We cover this extensively in the training as well as in our frequently asked questions in our knowledge base at support.semanticmastery.com. All of that is covered because this question comes up a lot. Don’t worry about duplicate content. If duplicate content were a thing on external domains, Press Releases wouldn’t work. We all know that Press Releases work incredibly well, so explain that. Right?

Can You Look At My IFTTT Network?

Okay. Chris says, “Support question from Judd. I saw there was a forum where you can manage my IFTTT network. Also, I have two other companies that need SEO services. My request is, can I pay you to look at my IFTTT network?” Well, I mean, here’s the thing, Judd, if you bought it from us, sure, we’ll take a look at it. If you bought it from someone else, to be honest with you, I’m not gonna spend the time looking at it and I don’t think any of our builders or anybody on our team or support staff would. Because if it wasn’t built to our specifications, it’s basically should be canned and rebuilt anyways, like start all over, back to the drawing board, so to speak. I don’t know. If you bought it from us and you’re having issues, just contact Support.

“Also, for other companies that need SEO services.” No, we don’t provide SEO services. We provide Done-For-You services. However, you could always post your request in one of our groups that you’re a member of and see if there are any takers that you could chat with about potentially providing SEO services for you.

Hernan: Yeah. Actually, in our Mastermind, there are some people that have their own agencies. So if you’re part of that, you can post there and some Mastermind units will actually pass on work from one to the next and to each other because they’re either swarm or that’s not their style, there’s something else that they’re doing and whatnot. So that’s a pretty cool community over there.

Bradley: Yeah. I mean, even on the free group, Facebook group, you could still post and there will be … Just be aware that we are not vouching for anybody that you communicate with. In the Mastermind, that’d be a different story, but in any of our other groups, you have to vet anybody that responds to your request. You have to vet them on your own, okay? There’s nothing that we can do to help you with that and I apologize.

But, yeah, again, for IFTTT network stuff management, SERP space has a manager. It’s a basic manager that basically monitors the networks to make sure that properties aren’t down, it’ll alert you if RSS feed stop detecting new items, things like that. That’s over at Serpspace.com. That’s the network management. You can check that out too, if you’d like. Again, that’s just a very simple service. It’s more of a monitoring service than a management service. It’s beneficial when you’ve got a bunch of networks to maintain.

What Changes Should We Expect To The IFTTT Method Once Google Plus Shuts Down?

Chris Hayes says, “What kind of changes will happen in the IFTTT method once G+ shuts down? Can you guys make a video update?” Yeah, of course, we do. But I mean, it’s just one channel that gets shut down. It’s not really gonna affect much at all. I mean, G+ is being terminated. We see more evidence of that now than ever. Almost daily we’re seeing more and more evidence of that. I just saw an article posted recently in one of our groups about even more steps that Google’s taking to remove or to completely shut down Google Plus. But it’s only one property, Chris. Don’t worry about it. It’s one property out of what, two dozen? It’s not that big of an issue. I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

Will we create an update video? Yeah, sure. I mean, we do update webinars, although we’re gonna be probably shifting or changing how that’s handled too. But anyways, in one of the upcoming update webinars, we will discuss that a little bit more. In fact, I’m gonna make a note of that right now.

Marco: Yeah. While you’re making a note, let me just say that there’s plenty more Google properties that we can abuse besides Google Plus, which we do. If you’re a part of RYS Reloaded you know just how many properties we go into and just totally hammer away at Google.

When Will You Add Citations Lessons In Local Lease Pro?

Bradley: Yep. Okay. Peter says, “Hey again. When you’ll add citations lesson in LLP Local Lease Pro?” I’m hoping to add that today. If it’s not done today, it’ll be done tomorrow, Peter. It’s just a quick lesson, very, very simple. I’m just gonna point you to a resource that’s affordable for monthly citation packages, which is what I recommend. But I’ll create a quick video explaining it too, okay? It should be there today. If not today, it’ll be there tomorrow for sure.

Will The Video Power House And Network Management Subscription Services Be Moved To Mygb.co From SerpSpace?

Chris says-, or excuse me, Ritchie Inman posted: “We have a video powerhouse subscription and a network management subscription currently at Serpspace. Are those moving to mgyb.co?” No. Those are gonna stay in Serpspace. “Are we able to get an update as to what is going to be where?” Well, I mean, pretty much just check out mgyb.co often because we’re adding more and more products. Again, three were just added to it today, Press releases, what else?

Marco: CORA and Syndication Networks.

Bradley: Syndication Networks. All I would recommend, Ritchie, is just go check MGYB often. But, yeah, video powerhouse, maps powerhouse, network management or monitoring, that’s all staying under Serpspace. Okay.

Is It Still Worth The Time To Keep Using Rank Feeder For Co-Citation Now That Google Plus Is Shutting Down?

Next, Kay Dee says, “Hey guys, with Google Plus shutting down, is it still worth in the meantime to keep using Rankfeeder for co-citation or will this be wasted effort? Thanks.” Well, Google Plus shutting down doesn’t affect Rankfeeder unless you’re using Google Plus RSS feeds as part of Rankfeeder. Does that make sense? Lisa can talk about that too. But Rankfeeder is about combining feeds together or adding multiple feeds to create a feed which creates co-citation. Unless you were using Google Plus RSS feeds, which there are a few online services that you can generate a Google Plus feed-, or an RSS feed from Google Plus, then it shouldn’t affect that at all. Right?

I mean, there’s still plenty of other RSS options out there. Remember, with Rankfeeder, those of you that are familiar with it, you can also add sticky items which aren’t even RSS feeds, they’re just singular-, excuse me, single URLs and you can add those as sticky items to blend in with the overall feed to create that additional co-citation. Again, Google Plus is just one of many different things that you could include into Rankfeeder.

Lisa, do you wanna mention something about that?

Lisa: Yeah. Actually, if you are using some of the Google Plus feeds in some way, what happens when a feed disappears is that Rankfeeder just starts ignoring it. If it ignores it a certain number of times, like for a long period, then it will just be removed. But since you can go in and edit your feeds, they’re not one-shot and you’re stuck with whatever you put in there, you can also go and replace the missing Google Plus RSS feeds with other things.

Bradley: There you go.

Lisa: You can completely update it and you keep them fresh and relevant with the same URLs that were generating power for you up till that point.

Bradley: Kay Dee, a couple of options would be Google Plus-, or excuse me, Google sites, also the GMB, if you’re using Google My Business stuff, it’s for local, if you’re using our autoposter, which generates a RSS feed from the GMB posts, that’s something else that you can include. There’s a lot of snazzy stuff that you can do with it. So Google Plus, G+ was just a one piece of many that go into that. I wouldn’t worry about it, guys. Google Plus is not that big of a deal that it’s shutting down. That’s the nature of the internet marketing world, right?

Lisa: Yeah. I think it’s really a relative nothing in terms of never really … I know a lot of people hopped on there to try and get SEO benefits from it because, as we all know, that Google favors their own properties. But as far as being a real social network, I don’t think it ever really caught fire and really caught on. I think that’s why they’re dumping it. I’m kinda surprised they didn’t dump it sooner because it just didn’t do that well.

Bradley: Yeah. It’s interesting. I remember all the way back in, I think 2010, ’11, when I started my career in digital marketing that Google Plus, I remember articles coming out all the time, the big curated SEO sites like Search Engine Journal and all those sites, and also like social media examiner and all that, all the time I remember articles coming out saying, “Google Plus is dead,” “Google’s killing Google Plus,” this and that.

For years I’ve seen articles like that. I used to laugh at it because for a while there Google Plus was so integrated into all of Google’s products and it was really as part of the onset of the semantic web. When Google started to adapt semantic web technology and I think they were using Google Plus as kind of a identity validator. Right? It was a way to associate a profile with an individual, like a Google account with an individual, and then that way it would attach that profile or identify that person as being real because that Google Plus was now integrated with all of other Google’s products. I think it was a way to, originally, was to kind of reduce spam, believe it or not.

I didn’t think that they were ever going to shut it down. But apparently after just being beaten to death in the social media world by all the other platforms for so many years, Google finally decided to remove it. They’ve been taking steps for, what, the last year and a half, two years. I think it really started when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube, when they disintegrated or when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube. Remember, guys, in order to have a YouTube channel, you have to have a Google Plus account. I think when they separated those two is really the start of the demise of Google Plus. Anyways, that was a good question.

Does A Google Site Created Through The GMB Profile Show Up In The Organic Search Results Or Is Only Accessible Via The GMB Profile?

Gordon says, “Hey guys, thank you very much again for your help on Hump Days, it’s greatly appreciated.” You’re welcome, Gordon. He says, “Does a Google site created through GMB profile show up in organic search results or is it only accessible via …?” No. I’m not sure I understand, Gordon, what you’re saying. You’re saying “is a Google site,” now are you talking about sites.google.com or are you talking about GMB website?

In either case, they’re available and they’re both indexable which means they’re public. Publicly viewable to anybody, right? GMB websites as well as Google sites, sites.google.com are both indexable so anybody can see them. You don’t have to be logged in through a profile to see them, unless they’re just not indexed yet. But just be patient, the windex provided you guys some content on there and they’ll be fine.

Marco: The business site indexes within an hour.

Bradley: Yeah. The business site index is really quick, yeah.

Marco: And it does rank.

Bradley: Yep.

Marco: There’s things that you have to do to make it rank, which is taught in Local GMB Pro or you can just go and ask me in Local GMB Pro how to get that website to show up and rank. But I mean, it does. It’s a great asset.

Bradley: I’m curious because I haven’t worked on this project in months. Yeah. Right there, it’s Mario’s-, excuse me, right there, it’s the business site for, this was the case study I did for Local GMB Pro and that’s the business site right there. That’s the GMB website right there, guys, and it’s ranked number two for the brand search. See that? Yelp outranks the brand search, that’s crazy. But there you go, business site right there. So, yes, it will rank.

Does Google Ranks Mobile Responsive And Stand Alone Mobile Specific Site Differently?

Number two, “For ranking purposes, does Google look differently at mobile responsive site and a standalone mobile-specific site? If you’re targeting mobile searches only, can you rank in standalone mobile-specific site without forwarding a desktop site?” Yeah, you can. I don’t know. Marco might know this. But does Google look at differently between mobile responsive and standalone mobile specific sites? I don’t know. I know that a lot of responsive sites like WordPress themes that are responsive WordPress themes are coded really shitty. They suck and they’re terrible for the mobile algorithm, a lot of them are. They might say that they’re mobile-friendly, but they’re just coded really poorly. Again, I’m not a coder so I don’t understand any of that stuff, I just know that some of those mobile responsive WordPress themes suck in the mobile first index, they don’t perform well.

In the past, I would create just an HTML landing page as a mobile and put it on an M-dot subdomain and then use a redirect script, a PHP redirect script to point any mobile browsers to the HTML mobile page. But I’ve even stopped doing that because, honestly, I’m not even really building, I’m doing everything in GMB now, which is all GMB code and it’s all mobile responsive and mobile-friendly and everything else. I’m not even building WordPress sites at the moment.

Marco, what can you say about that?

Marco: I’m with you. I haven’t built a WordPress site in quite a while. Mobile responsive versus standalone, I would think that there would be no difference as long as they’re mobile responsive. Check it and make sure that it is actually mobile responsive and that it validates. Right? Other than that, I’m sorry, but dude, we’re doing everything inside the Google My Business-

Bradley: Or Google, period. Like sites.google.com, those are mobile responsive now, especially the new ones. They look great too.

Marco: The classic were also responsive. All you had to do was take a box while you were working on it to make it mobile-friendly.

Bradley: Yeah. That’s it. Guys, I’m not trying to discourage you from creating WordPress sites. I just, honestly, I’m building my business completely within Google right now, just because they’re free, number one; number two, it’s easy and fast. As long as it’s working I’m gonna do it. I can always go back to WordPress as needed. There’s a lot of headaches that come along with working in WordPress, like all the stupid updates and hosting issues. It’s just a lot of stuff that I’m so glad I’m not having to build a bunch of WordPress sites right now. It’s been refreshing.

Is It True That Google’s Recent Change On Mobile First Indexing Affects Ranking?

Number three, he says, “If it does not appear-, excuse me, if it does not appear that Google’s recent mobile first indexing changes affect ranking, can you please clarify?” Gordon, it should. I mean, it really depends. What they’re saying is the mobile, they’re basing desktop and laptop search results now off of the mobile index. Unless you’ve got sites that just don’t respond well at all for mobile, for example, they’re not mobile-friendly, the text is too small and you can’t click on menu navigation links and that kind of stuff, then that kinda stuff can actually pull now your rankings down because it’s based upon the mobile first index or the mobile index first, essentially.

But if you’re using stuff that is responsive and it passes like that, there’s even a tool that Google has for testing that, then you shouldn’t really have an issue. Right? I mean, at least that’s what I found. What I found was really interesting is you said it doesn’t change the fact rankings, it doesn’t change or affect ranking much.

But what we’ve been finding, especially because of the GMB stuff that we’ve been doing inside of Google My Business, is that we’re really speaking directly to the mobile algorithm with GMB posts and all the stuff that we’re doing with proximity and geolocation and all of that stuff is speaking directly to the mobile first algorithm, which is awesome because we’re able to get results even if they’re ranking, and I’m using air quotes, doesn’t show that we’re ranking well, we’re still able to generate clicks to the website and calls, generate leads essentially, from stuff that the rank trackers are showing aren’t ranking well. So explain that.

Well, that’s because we’re tickling the mobile-first index. That’s what Marco calls “the google tickle.” Right? That’s one of many that we have. But that’s exactly what we’re doing, is because we’re using geolocation and proximity and all of that stuff to be able to serve our content directly to mobile searchers in the area where they’re searching. Again, that has to do with the mobile first index.

Guys, this has opened up so much opportunity, in my opinion, since the end of July when this was really rolled out. We’ve been reaping the benefits of these opportunities for the GMB Pro method and Local Lease Pro method now for the last few months, last couple of months. It’s awesome because, as I’ve mentioned on previous Hump Day Hangouts, guys, I used to always just target my primary keywords for local stuff plus local modifiers. In other words, it would be whatever the service or product was plus the local modifier.

That’s always how I optimize for everything up until this summer. Now I’m optimizing for just the general product or service keywords and I’m getting crazy results. I’m generating more leads now than ever because we’re able to get those short tail search queries, we’re able to get results and get traffic from those because we’re talking directly to the mobile first algorithm.

People that are searching for mobile, typically, unless they’re searching for a product or service outside of where they’re located, like in another area that they’re going to be going to, typically, people when they start to search for a product or service from a mobile device, they’ll start typing their query and then they’re just gonna hit whatever the suggested phrase pops up that Google suggested to them that’s closest to their intended query. Most of the time Google is going to suggest without local modifiers. So that’s what they’re tapping on now and that’s what our content is optimized for those terms without the local modifier because of where we’re publishing the content is within close proximity to that searcher. Right?

Again, it’s a little bit more advanced than what we typically cover on Hump Day Hangouts, but it works really, really well. If you’re basing any of your tracking now on any desktop, laptop search result stuff, guys, stop it. Okay? Stop it. Just be paying attention to mobile stuff. That’s why part of the reason I always talk about using Google Ads ad preview and diagnosis tool because then you can go in and actually set a location. Within Google, you can specify a location and then do a search there and you will see what the search results should look like to somebody in that specific location. You can’t really do that with rank trackers anymore.

Okay. Anyways, that was a good question, Gordon. Go ahead.

Marco: Let me just add that we keep seeing a direct correlation between activity in the Google My Business listing through everything we do through Local GMB Pro. Everything that we teach inside Local GMB Pro, there’s a direct correlation with activity, and then even in organic, it brings up the organic rankings.

Bradley: Yeah.

Marco: I mean, you can see it. You’ll see the amount of keywords that you’re ranking for blow up in search console. To the point where you’re ranking for hundreds of keywords that you never thought would be attainable and all of a sudden that’s right there. If you just look at organic, you would never know how that was done, but we know that we’re doing all of the work in the Google My Business listing.

Bradley: Yeah. One of the other things I wanna mention is, and we’ve kind of talked about this in some of our other groups, guys, but I don’t want to give out too much, but this is a nice little nugget. Guys, go into your GMB Insights. For those of you doing local, which again it’s most of you, go into GMB Insights and take a look at the search queries that have brought engagement to your listing, and extract those search queries that are relevant, which most of them will.

By the way, you’re gonna see a lot of near me and near my location and stuff like that type of keywords right now. I mean, that’s why it’s all mobile stuff, guys. It’s all mobile search stuff. If you extract those keywords from the GMB Insights report that are relevant and start promoting those in GMB posts and content, then you’ll start getting more and more traffic for those. It’s crazy. It’s like Google tells you which keywords are bringing you traffic and then you promote those keywords and it brings you so much more. It’s crazy. It’s just like Google’s giving you the keys to the kingdom right now, guys.

Amazon SEO

Again, I don’t know how long it’s gonna last, but while it does exploit it. Okay. Jordan. What’s up, Jordan? He says, “Is anyone here an Amazon SEO guru?” I am not. I don’t think any of my partners are either. “Needing help with a potential client, either white-label or we’ll give them to you for finder fee, and I don’t wanna learn that mess.” I don’t blame you, Jordan. “It’s not our wheelhouse nor do I want it to be. Staying large regional and national focused. Hit me up jordanfowler@moonandowl.com.”

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: I’m sorry?

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: No. He’s in Syndication Academy but in Mastermind.

Hernan: Okay. Well, I mean, in the Syndication Academy group, maybe you can find somebody.

Bradley: Yeah. I was going to ask Lisa if she had any advice on ecommerce SEO or Amazon SEO.

Lisa: Well, just make sure you’re in a cart that is friendly to SEO URLs. Also, one thing that I found when I was doing my store, now I’ve sold my store several years ago to somebody else, but one thing that I did find is that the RSS for products actually will help boost the products quite a bit. So if you have, make sure you get a cart that has the ability to have RSS feeds for product categories. Then go and submit those feeds to all kinds of different aggregators, you’ll get quite a boost. I mean, it was really amazing what we found when I had a VA doing that for me.

What Is The Best Way To Index Press Releases?

Bradley: Jordan, looks like Greg might have also replied to your comment on the event page. I suggest also maybe getting through that. Greg’s question is: “Hey, I purchased a monthly subscription of Press Releases service after your webinar three weeks ago. First, two PRs went out last week. For each, I received a list of 100 plus pickups. However, when searching in Google for the title or a sentence in quotes, only the PR services, PR and digital journal show in Google. What is the best way to get all those other indexed? Or just simply wait for Google to notice and index them over time?”

Greg, first of all, don’t worry about it. Most of them are probably indexed, they’re just in the supplemental index, because that’s the nature of Press Releases. Because it’s the same content, right? Guys, don’t associate duplicate content penalties with this, with what I’m talking about here because that’s not the case. But if a press release which is republished word-for-word across hundreds of sites, Google will take those and many of them and put them in what’s called the Supplemental Index.

I’m going to show you exactly what I mean here to demonstrate. Okay? Right here, this is press release title that I just had published for the project that I built out for the Local Lease Pro training. Okay. This was just published, well, just a few days ago, anyways. You can see that I just did a search for the title, which is showing digital journal here, right? So this was just published, I don’t know, just a couple days ago. Anyways, you can see that that’s the full title of it, right? That’s what’s showing digital journal. It’s the only one that’s indexed on this page.

But if you look down at the bottom where it says “In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the six already displayed.” Well, I don’t see six displayed, I see one, unless they’re talking about five images here, which they might be. Yeah, I guess they are, because the rest of those are ads.

But if you take a look and click on the Supplemental Index, all of a sudden here it shows up, there’s five of them that are showing as indexed. By the way, that’s why, this was just published 12 hours ago. That’s why not all of them have even been indexed yet. So if we were to come back and search this again in another 24 hours, it’s likely that there will be dozens and dozens of results. They’re probably still gonna be hidden behind the Supplemental Index, you have to click that link at the bottom to see all of them. But what happens is you end up with most of that.

Now again, don’t worry about getting them indexed, Greg, you’ll drive yourself absolutely crazy if every time you submit a press release you go collect all the links from the report and then submit them to indexers. That’s a lot of additional work. Don’t worry about it. Those news sites get crawled often by Google, they will get indexed. Whether they show or they’re put in the Supplemental Index, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them. Trust me. So don’t worry about that because you’re just adding additional work, you’re over-complicating, which you don’t need to.

Okay? I’m not picking on you at all, Greg. I understand why you may worry about that. But a lot of people have asked us questions about Syndication Networks and the links not being indexed. But if you go in the search console and you look at links to your site, you’ll see WordPress, and Tumblr, and Diigo, and all the sites within the syndication network do have backlinks pointed to the site, and Google knows about them. Whether they’re indexed or not, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them and is giving you credit for them. We’ve even tested no index PBNs, guys, and it’s worked. It’s given us boosts.

Again, don’t worry about that, you’ll drive yourself crazy, Greg. All right. We’ve only got about five more minutes, guys. I do have to leave pretty much on time today. So we’re gonna try to roll through just a couple more questions.

“Can we get a recorded webinar link from Monday, from Marco’s webinar?” Yeah. Guys, it’s coming. Everybody relax. It’s coming. We promise you the replay will be made available as soon as possible. Marco, do we have an ETA on that?

Marco: It’s not only the replay, I’m putting everything together. Right? I have to put together all of the training, the video that I did showing, well, you know what it does, from S3 to CloudFlare. I’m also giving them tutorials for CloudFlare and S3 buckets. I’m trying to put everything together. It doesn’t help when I have people reaching out to me. The video was still, I think I told you guys, it was rendering and people were already reaching out to me for the replay webinar. It doesn’t help, guys. It’ll get done when it gets done. As soon as it gets done, it’ll be made available.

Bradley: Scott. “Finally got a plumbing client onboard for GMB account that was set up with your service. The account was sitting just outside the 3-pack when it was first verified. Now in the 3-pack with just a small amount of effort after week one. Location population for a city of 125K. Thanks, guys.” That’s freaking awesome, Scott. I love that you posted that. That’s amazing. Guys, I mean, it’s crazy, even the site that I just was showing you guys, the press release for Mustang 3 pros, I just set that up last week, and 12 hours ago, the press release was published and I’m sitting in the number four position right now, if I do a localized search, like I said, using …

Anyways, my point is, guys, it’s sitting in position number four and I still haven’t done citations to it yet, I haven’t really done any GMB posts other than the original post that I did. So I mean all the stuff that I teach in Local Lease Pro, guys, hasn’t even been applied to that yet and I’m already in the number four position in maps. So think about that. Scott is just validating what I’ve been talking about, guys. You do the research properly on the front-end and then you optimize the profile when you first set it up, or get it back from us if you’re using our service.

So far, about 60% of the time, for me, that’s all it takes to get into the 3-pack. Doing the other stuff that I’m doing right now, which is the GMB posts press releases, and then monthly citations, I’m seeing like almost, out of the remaining 40%, another 15 to 20% of those within the first seven days get pushed into the 3-pack. The remaining ones that aren’t pushed into the 3-pack, it just requires a little more of the same. Just more of the same, so more GMB posts, perhaps another press release, perhaps another month of citation building, something like that. Right? That’s all it takes.

We’re also working on some additional methods right now, guys, for pushing those listings that aren’t popping into the 3-pack. Yeah. I’m working on some other methods too and I’ll update you guys on that probably in November. All right.

Is There Any Limit On The Number Of Links You Can Throw At An RYS Project And Not Get Penalized?

Okay, guys. I guess I’m gonna answer Jeff Sass’s question and we’re gonna wrap it up because we’re at the 5 o’clock mark and I have to go and I’m sure others do as well, Jeff says, “Question regarding RYS project done for a client through Serpspace. Is there any limit that you’ve seen with regards to links you can throw at it and not get penalized?” Marco can answer that one, but we haven’t seen a limit yet. Have we, Marco?

Marco: No limit.

Bradley: Okay. Number two, “Also, even though my client already has one RYS project produced, is there an additional benefit to doing another and another or should we just be beating the shit out of the one that’s already done?” No. There is benefit, Jeff. It just depends. It really depends on what your setup is and your configuration, your site structure, all that kind of stuff. Marco, what would you suggest?

Marco: I would suggest that, if he’s a member of RYS Academy Reloaded, that he reaches out to me in there because we did a webinar telling you exactly what you need to do with that one drive stack and how to power it up to get even more power out of it, and just continue getting power out of that same stack.

Bradley: There you go. The last thing, he says, “If you haven’t pimped your research service yet, do so now. It rocks.” I’m assuming he’s talking about the keyword research service yet. Is that available? That’s live in MGYB now, isn’t it?

Marco: Keyword research? No, it’s not live yet. We’ve done sales of it. I mean, we could try doing another one, maybe next Hump Day. For you guys attending live, we’ll have a few keyword research projects available that you can take advantage of. But, yeah, it’s coming. It’s just getting hooked up into the marketplace-, excuse me, the MGYB store.

Bradley: Yep. Okay. I just saw Eddie said … Thanks for that, Eddie. “I’m not an SEO or a CEO, but the way Bradley teaches makes it easy to understand and great for newbies.” He’s talking about Local Lease Pro. “What is the best way to bill or charge the business?” I’m pretty sure that’s covered in the training, Eddie, but I’ll double check when I’m in there adding the citation lesson. If it’s not, then I’ll make a note to add another lesson specifically about how to bill or charge a business. Honestly, I just use PayPal for that, but you can get as creative with that as you want. Anyways, I’ll make a note of that if it’s not in there and I’ll add a lesson for it. Okay?

Everybody, I wanna thank you guys for being here. Lisa, thank you for sticking around even for the additional time.

Lisa: It was awesome to be here.

Bradley: Awesome, guys. Thanks everyone else. We’ll see you guys next week. Lisa, please keep in touch with us and let us know about the updates.

Lisa: I will. I definitely will. I think you’re gonna love them.

Bradley: Great. Thank you guys. Bye.

Hernan: Bye guys.

Lisa: Bye.

Marco: Bye everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205 syndicated from https://medium.com/@SpanishFly

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205

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  Announcement

Adam: All right. We are live. Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts Episode 205. Today is the 10th of October 2018. We’ve got the whole gang here as well as our special guest, who I will get to in just a moment. But real quick, we’re gonna take a minute to say hi to everybody, get through some quick announcements and then we will dive right into it.

Actually, I’m starting to realize, and it only took me 204 episodes to realize, that I think you guys are lined up the same time every single time on my screen, which is interesting. There we go. It only took almost four years. Chris, how are you doing good, man?

Chris: Doing good. Excited to be spot number one here all the time. Love it. How are you doing?

Adam: Can’t complain. This is like one of those shower thoughts. It’s just this revelation that means absolutely nothing and I feel stupid for having realized it. But, yeah, it’s good to know. Hernan, how are you doing, man?

Hernan: Good. I’m excited to be after Chris all the time. Yeah. I’m really, really excited for what’s coming. I’m really excited to have our guest today. Also for POFU Live 2018, it’s gonna be amazing too.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I’m not trying to skipper on purpose, but I’m not sure if you guys can see we have Lisa Allen as our special guest. We’re gonna circle back around to her in just a minute and introduce her a little bit more properly. Marco, how are you doing, man?

Marco: What’s up, man? It’s great to see Lisa Allen here. She’s a good friend of Semantic Mastery. We’ve had her around before. She does some awesome automation. I’m not gonna take your spotlight, Lisa. You can go ahead and toot your own horn. But it’s really good to have you here again joining us. It’s always fun to have you on talking about what you’ve been up to. Thank you for joining us.

Lisa: Thank you for inviting me.

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Good deal. Last but not least, Bradley, how are you doing, man?

Bradley: Okay. I think I just figured out why they’re always lined up the way they are. I think it’s by alphabetical order by the name in the profile. So it’s Adam, Chris, Hernan, Lisa, Marco, and then, for me, it says “you,” Y-O-U. I think it’s always alphabetical.

Adam: No, on my screen, you’re Semantic Mastery. Yeah, this is a train wreck. Thanks, everybody for watching us. This is what we do every episode.

Bradley: Anyways, I’m glad to be here, glad that Lisa is here. We’ve got an exciting week ahead of us because POFU Live is next weekend. We’re really looking forward to that. I’m actually preparing for that now. That’s what I’ve been doing all day. POFU Live members, I’m really excited about it. I’m excited to have Lisa here. It’s been a long time since we had her here so it’s good to catch up with her again. She’s always got a lot of great insight about the SEO industry and marketing in general. So happy to be here, man.

Adam: Cool. Well, we got a couple quick announcements, like Bradley just mentioned, POFU Live next weekend. If you can make it, we still do, I think there’s two or three tickets still available. I’ll pop the links on there in a little bit after we get done talking here. But you can still grab those kind of the last chance to do that before we go to shut things down lock in the numbers and all that good stuff.

Also, if you’re watching us for the first time, thank you. We’ve obviously been here. We didn’t make up the number. We’ve been here for 205 episodes. We hope we’re here for another 205. Thank you for watching. We really appreciate it. If you wanna ask questions live, that’s great. If you’re watching the replay, that’s fine too. Check us out on YouTube or wherever you’re watching us and feel free to ask questions. You can join us live at semanticmastery.com/hdquestions every week.

Bradley: By the way, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Adam: Yes, which would be right here. So, yeah, subscribe. Also, if you’re looking for the place to start with us, the Battle Plan, I’m gonna pop the links on the page for you. This is good for anyone starting, anyone who wants a repeatable process, who’s been in the game for a while. It covers a lot of really good aspects of SEO, digital marketing, things for keyword research, working with a new domain, aged domains, all that stuff. Then, if you’re ready to take it up a few notches, of course, we do have our Mastermind and we invite you to also check out that and see if that’s the right fit for you.

One last thing before we get started, I believe, Marco, that the MGYB store has had some updates, right?

Marco: Yes, sir. We got CORA, we’ve got Syndication Academy up and running, and since we’ve been talking so much about Local Lease Pro press releases.

Adam: Yeah.

Bradley: Which, by the way, there’s still two lessons missing out on Local Lease Pro, one is for citations and one is for Press Releases. Part of the reason those lessons weren’t there was I was waiting for our order page to be done on MGYB for me to be able to demonstrate how to order Press Releases through that, guys. The citations stuff, honestly, I’ve just been really slammed this week. I haven’t got the lesson done. But I’m hoping as soon as I get done with Hump Day Hangouts today to record a quick lesson on that. It’s very simple. Hopefully, I’ll have that up within about 10 or 15 minutes after Hump Day Hangouts today, guys. Any of you that were inquiring about that missing lesson, it will be there shortly. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.

Adam: Good deal. Any last minute announcements, you guys, before we dive into it?

Hernan: Let’s do it.

Adam: All right. Cool. Well, like we said, Lisa Allen is here with us. We appreciate Lisa, you coming on and hanging out with us. Again, for people who haven’t seen us over maybe for, about a year I guess was the last time we talked, man, that’s crazy.

Lisa: Yes.

Adam: Anyways, we talked to Lisa about a year ago. Instead of telling everyone about you, if you don’t mind, just kinda get everyone up speed where you came from and what you kind of do online. I think that’d be the best way for people to kind of find out about you.

Lisa: Well, I’m one of those people who always kinda have my hands on everything. I see something that looks interesting and I kinda go that direction. It’s just kinda how I got into online marketing, it’s how I got into the internet. It’s just I see something interesting and I think I could do that, so I go off and I kinda explore what’s going on. I really got into the internet first after a divorce, a few, probably like 15 years ago, 20 years ago. Gosh, I’m dating myself.

Adam: Just a couple of years ago, it’s all right. I’ve started seeing the same face.

Lisa: Anyway, I started hanging out. Do you guys remember when AOL was king and there were like all these little local systems with local bulletin board system?

Bradley: Yeah.

Lisa: [Inaudible 00:06:43]

Chris: Until last year?

Lisa: Well, no, I mean, it’s been quite a while. Anyway, that’s just kinda where I really hit the internet really hard was after that. Got into working for a company doing web mastering for a while and that kinda flung me off into doing coding. Then I’ve had an online store, a couple of different online stores, and so I was kind of using my coding along with some of my organizational skills to do that. Then, of course, I ran afoul with Google, and who hasn’t done that at least a couple of times? So they kicked me off their ad platform, so then I had to figure out this whole SEO thing.

Adam: What was the timeframe on that? When did you start getting into SEO stuff?

Lisa: I would say that was about 2011, 2012 really because I was running a store for about five years before that and, like I said, I got kicked off. They decided they didn’t like the product that I was selling and they booted me off, all my stores got booted off.

Bradley: Lisa, you said 2011 or ‘12ish, which is crazy, because I remember specifically buying a product that you launched with Peter Garety’s help about …

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: It used IFTTT and it was for triggering syndications through Google Calendar using IFTTT. It would resyndicate because you could set calendar events in the future, they would cause it to re-syndicate the video again out to the network. It was amazing training. It was right after I had learned about IFTTT, David Cossack or whatever. It was amazing training. I’ll never forget that. That was around 2011, 2012, if I remember correctly.

Lisa: Yeah. I think that was probably 2012 or maybe early 2013 because I had launched something else with Peter about Pinterest. It was how to get traffic using Pinterest which was my first real product.

Bradley: That’s with Peter Drew or where Peter Garety? It was Peter Garety, right?

Lisa: It was Peter Garety, yeah.

Bradley: Right.

Lisa: We worked for a while. Yeah. That was actually a lot of fun. I think that may have actually been an add-on to that product, like an extra bonus training. It’s funny, the thing I remember about that training is the bonus and not the original training.

Adam: I was just looking around, what’s Peter Garety up to? This is a total tangent, but that’s just … Yeah. He was coming out with stuff like that.

Lisa: Yeah. I think he decided that he wanted to spend a little more time with his family. As far as I know he built himself his own little shopping cart platform, kinda like Shopify. He runs that and he gets recurring from that. So you see him pop up every once in a while, in JVZoo groups and stuff like that just to say some things, but he’s not really promoting really hard anymore.

Bradley: Yeah. I think before he went off the grid he was doing a lot of heavy ecomm, promoting ecomm products and stuff, so I’m assuming that that’s what he went into.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: That’s right. DashNex. Okay. I was looking this up while we were talking. Okay. Cool. Okay. So sorry about that. We just totally went off the grill there. Okay. We’re up to like 2011, 2012, you start getting into the SEO side of things, how did it go from there?

Lisa: Well, I was SEO and things so that I could get traffic for the online store that I had, I was selling jewelry parts. The stuff that I learned while I was trying to rank for things got turned around into products. So we did a curation traffic blueprint where I was teaching people how to curate content and get traffic from that, because that’s so much easier than writing original content. You can do it just snap, snap, snap.

So we did that and then I started doing some keyword tools. I just sort of, actually, I think before we got to the keyword tool, the RSS authority sniper strategy that we do, that was something that we had started doing manually. My sister was acting as one of my VAs. It took a long time to do that manually. I mean, it was really effective but it took 15, 20 minutes, sometimes an hour to do that, to look up all the different feeds and then go and do all the copy-paste to put it here, put it there, all that kinda stuff. She started complaining about that, just really, she was really like …

Adam: That’s a very real pain point when your sister was complaining to you.

Lisa: Yeah, I know. I’m like, “Okay, I better go code something.” That was where RSS Authority Sniper came from.

Bradley: Which, by the way, that was a great product. I was gonna say you still have Rankfeeder going right now, correct?

Lisa: Yeah, I do. I’m actually just been rewriting the whole feed generation so that I can add more features in. I’ve got something really neat coming out in the next month or so with Rankfeeder and then a rerelease of RSS Authority Sniper to go with it. It’s gonna be the way it targets local places very, very specifically.

Bradley: Oh, man, now you’re speaking our language, Lisa. Honestly, guys, we promoted Lisa’s Rankfeeder before because it’s the co-citation tool using RSS feeds. It’s amazing. It’s super, super powerful. It’s very, very effective. I stand by that statement. Anything that you’re gonna be doing that’s gonna address local specifically, Lisa, certainly reach out to us. We will get behind that in a heartbeat because about 60% of our RSS is local.

Lisa: I think you’re gonna like it because, like I said, we’re gonna … Some of the stuff that I’ve already added in after I finished rewriting the feed generator is I’ve added the categories that you get to pick into so that they’re actually inside the feed and all the tags also get treated as categories inside your feed. I mean, you’re getting a lot more power to really target with the feed on an SEO basis, that kinda thing. Yeah. I think you’re really gonna like what comes after that.

Bradley: Very cool.

Adam: Sounds awesome. Well, I wanted to make sure we have enough time to cover this. The next question I had, and I love asking this to people, is where do you see, in terms of, I’ll leave this really broad, not just SEO, but where do you see either SEO or kind of online digital marketing going in the next couple of years? Then a side question of that, or somewhere else you can go with this, is what’s the most important things you see happening?

Lisa: Well, this is a really interesting time for online things. You’re seeing a lot of movement, different places, and you’re seeing a lot of things happening that people don’t necessarily like, you’re seeing a lot of censorship, you’re seeing a lot of kinda misrepresenting what people are saying and that kind of thing, and you’re seeing Silicon Valley really go and start trying to basically meddle in society that they wanna be the … It’s like the government isn’t big brother anymore, but they wanna be.

I think you’re gonna see, and I’m already kind of seeing movement, this is outside of Google’s control and outside of Facebook’s control. I think as marketers and SEO is we really need to be monitoring those additional places that are coming into the marketplace and start using those platforms and start seeing them because I think that censorship and …

I mean, Google tries to censor SEO people all the time. They try and say, “Well, we don’t want you to backlink,” and “We don’t want you to do this,” and “We’re in control of whether you rank for anything or not.” I don’t know any SEO person who actually says, “Yeah, you’re right. You can have total complete control over everything I do and say.”

It’s like, we find a way around. I think you’re gonna see that there’s gonna be as they’ve kinda spread out from just kind of controlling, trying to control SEOs to try and control the wider society. I think you’re really gonna see that there’s gonna be a lot of movement outside where people are gonna go, “Well, I think that’s a little bit too far.”

Adam: Yeah, definitely. It’s funny, I think me and Marco came across that article at the same time, but there’s one about Tim Berners-Lee working on like a decentralized kind of protocols. I think it’s called Solid through MIT. Have you heard about this?

Lisa: No, I haven’t heard of that one yet.

Adam: Yeah. Just check it out afterwards. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s that idea of saying, “Yeah. You know what, no matter what happens, if this turns into a monopoly, which it quickly is, then that doesn’t really benefit anyone.” So it was meant to be decentralized in the first place so I think, anyways, I don’t know if this is gonna work, but something like that I think appeals to a lot of people.

Lisa: Yeah. You’re already seeing movements. A lot of people are moving away from them as their search engine when they’re doing their own personal things. I mean, I haven’t used Google as my search engine when I’m actually doing research for years. I mean, I’ve been using DuckDuckGo, and you have places alternatives to Twitter like Gab coming up, and there’s a several new video platforms coming up that now that YouTube is really kind of just really been stomping on people. Yeah. I mean …

Adam: I’m just curious, what are some of the new YouTube-, sorry, new YouTube, that’s showing how well ingrained it is, what are some of the new video platforms?

Bradley: Well, Amazon Video has got to be one of them, right?

Lisa: What’s that?

Bradley: Amazon Video has to be one of them, right?

Lisa: Yeah. Amazon video is a pretty good one, although they also, I don’t know, I kinda think that they also have that risk of becoming more of a bully in the future.

Adam: Well, they’ll just take over what you’re creating and create it themselves.

Lisa: Yeah. Just like they have, like all the little online stores and that people would find a little niche and they would sell something, and then Amazon goes, “Boom. They’re selling a lot of that. Let’s start our own.” I mean, they’ve kinda done that, kind of the same way Walmart has done that to the mom-and-pop stores. Amazon is kinda doing that to the online stores.

But the one that I discovered the other day that I actually thought was pretty good was called Real Video. It’s real.video. That’s not real.video.com. Just the video is the root domain.

Bradley: Real like R-E-E-L or R-E-A-L?

Lisa: R-E-A-L.

Bradley: Okay.

Lisa: It’s started by a guy who got deplatformed by Google. It’s not a fully developed platform yet, but it seems pretty good for what he’s already worked through. You have to get an invitation from them. You have to actually request to be on there, kinda like you did with Pinterest in the beginning. But the player is really nice and they’ve got kinda sharing capabilities and some other things. I think that’s someplace that really you should look into, particularly if you’re running content that maybe Google’s not gonna like very much.

BitChute is another one, although I think that one’s kind of not that good yet.

Adam: BitChute, got that.

Lisa: Yeah. BitChute and, I remember some of the other ones that I’ve looked at. As far as like Facebook, there’s a really interesting new social media place called … What is it called, Minds? Minds.com.

Adam: Interesting. I have not heard … Have you guys heard of this?

Marco: Yeah, I like Minds. I’m in Minds. It’s over 100 million people right now.

Adam: I should have known that, Marco.

Marco: It’s basically over 100 million people. Come on.

Lisa: Yeah. They’re kind of integrated with some of the blockchain payment methods and things like that, so that you can actually pay people for their content in a way that you can’t really be tracked and can’t really be blocked from making your payment. So there’s a lot of interesting things that are going on where people are just kinda going, “I’ve had enough.” People are starting additional things. It’s kinda like people never really thought that MySpace would ever die, but it did. I think you’re probably gonna see a little bit more of that movement, away from big consolidated platforms.

Adam: Yeah, that’s an interesting-

Bradley: It’s gonna happen anytime … I mean, I can see some of the shifting as well, Lisa. I agree with that. Some movement, especially with the Silicon Valley stuff, which you mentioned. I mean, when Facebook and Twitter execs are being dragged up on the Capitol Hill and quite repeatedly for hours and hours and hours, you can rest assured, you can bet your ass that there’s gonna be some movements, some changes made.

Lisa: Yeah. I’ve been shadow banned on Twitter. It’s like you go and you post something that’s relatively innocuous and you go and search for it, you can search for the exact text of the whole thing and it never comes up in search. That’s when you know you’ve been shadow banned. They never tell you anything, they just want you to just assume that your message is getting out there, but they’re not gonna … So, anyway.

Bradley: Yeah. Well, I think it’s something that will happen. We, as marketers, are kind of on the cutting edge or of like what the shifting is, but I think the general population is much slower to react.

Lisa: That’s true.

Bradley: I think we still have plenty of time to exploit what we can from the big sites.

Lisa: Absolutely. I’m just saying you gotta kinda keep your heads up and be aware that people are starting to move around a bit.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Well, in terms of what’s going on right now, we touched on a little bit, so if you’ve got some big stuff coming out in like a month, I don’t want or expect you just spill the beans right now, but you can you tell us, and if you can’t, that’s fine, but what it is that you’re kind of working on there in a little bit more detail?

Lisa: Well, right now, most of what I’ve been doing for about the last six to seven weeks is really working hard on the upgrades to Rankfeeder. Now I’m doing RSS Authority Sniper 3.0. This is going to be considered a major release because it’s gonna have some really nice extra features in there. That’s mostly what I’m working on. Then I have some other plans for some other products after that either re-imaginings or new ones. But that’s most of what’s right there.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I know, like Bradley said, we’ll definitely keep our ears open or rather our email inboxes open for letting us know when you got that ready. That’d be awesome because we got a lot of people who are really interested. Actually, we just had one comment here real quick. I just wanna read it to you because this is pretty awesome. Greg just said, “Hey Lisa. Nice to have Lisa here. She’s one of the greatest people as far as support and products go. A big thank you.”

Lisa: Well, thanks.

Adam: That was a very nice comment from Greg. Yeah. I mean, it’s good. Obviously, we promote products and services that we like and use. Definitely, yours is up there, not in our minds only, but everyone that we promoted it to has had a lot of good things to say.

Lisa: Great.

Marco: Before we go, I have a question for Lisa. Something that I’ve been going back and forth with other people. It’s more on the coding side and how you see things. The thing is that I’ve been asking people whether they think that Google is broken, because as you know they just write code on top of code on top of code on top of code. Now what you just said, which just struck me as very interesting, is that you’re doing a complete rewrite. So would you agree or disagree that right now at that level Google is broken?

Lisa: I’m not sure that I would say that Google is broken. I mean, you gotta remember they have thousands and thousands of engineers on staff. I’m doing a total rewrite because I didn’t like some of what was done by the people who wrote some of the code for me that I paid to write code for me. These are guys who were supposed to be professional and they just, there’s things in there that I’ve just never liked and just thought, uh, that just really bothers me every time I’m in there. But to rewrite it would take so long.

But no, I don’t really think Google is broken so much. It’s just philosophically they’ve kind of shifted out of the, do you remember when their motto used to be don’t be evil? Well, they seem to have totally and completely forgotten about that. I think it has really become more of a reflection of the fact that they have decided that they have some hatchets to grind and then they really just kinda wanna dominate the market and they’ve decided that the market also means information and what people think and-

Bradley: And they wanna control and manipulate information, which is what they do.

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: Absolutely.

Lisa: It’s absolutely what they do.

Bradley: Yep.

Adam: Well, good deal. Real quick, I just want to say I noticed a little bit of a delay on this, if anyone’s watching, if you have any specific questions for Lisa, please pop them in there and then we’re going to get into the Hump Day Hangout questions.

Jay says, “I like Rankfeeder. Lisa, would love to know if you have any new creative ways on how to use it.”

Lisa: Well, like I said, new features are coming. You’re gonna like them.

Bradley: So hold your breath is what you’re saying?

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Stay tuned. We’ll definitely be asking her the same question in what sounds like a month.

Lisa: Yeah. I think you’ll really, really gonna like how you’re gonna be able to be getting really, really specific with locations.

Adam: Awesome.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Well, cool. Lisa, thanks again. Like I said, hang out if you want to, if you’re busy and got a run, we understand, but we’re gonna kinda switch over and we’ll do some Hump Day Hangout questions.

Lisa: All right. Well, I’ll hang out for a little while.

Adam: All right. Sounds good.

Lisa: Great.

Bradley: Guys, I’m gonna grab the screen and we’re gonna get right into it. Lisa, I emailed you the event page URL in case you want to check out the questions so if you want to check out the event page URL. But I’m gonna grab the screen and get into it.

Is There A Need To Put A Summary For The Full-Text Option For The RSS Feed Output Of A Self Hosted WordPress Website?

Okay. Nexxus Designs is up first. He says, “Hey. I have one question, it’s very important to me. With the RSS feed output of a WordPress self-hosted website, should we put out a summary for the full-text option?” That’s up to you, Nexxus Designs. It’s entirely up to you. It’s a personal preference. I don’t think it’s an issue to post the full text only because, well, for two reasons.

Number one, we have the attribution link that is either provided by the plugin or you can code that into the IFTTT applet yourself. Either way, if you followed our training, you know that the attribution link is critically important if you’re gonna be syndicating the full text of the post. Number two, is if you’re using our standard Syndication Network setup, there’s only three blog sites that we’re syndicating to. So there’s only three sites to get the full-text post anyways, right? That’s Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress. So it’s not an issue.

Essentially, I always like to leave full text posts because, again, it’s only being syndicated to really three sites that will republish the entire post anyways. The key is to be using the internal link from within the post itself from your main blog to be linking to the pages of the landing pages that you’re trying to rank. By publishing the full text of the post that internal link from within the body, the post body of the blog post itself, will also be published on the blog sites. Right? So Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress. So you get a little bit of additional links, in other words, built back to your original post and also to the page that you’re promoting within the post, if that makes sense.

However, if you want to just go summary, that’s perfectly fine. I prefer the full post method. But you can go with the summary method, just know that you will lose a little bit of SEO value to your internal page that you’re ultimately trying to promote. Because when you syndicate just the summary of the post you will get a link back to the post itself but you won’t get any of the internal links that we’re within the post body, if that makes sense. Which is still fine because now you’re funneling link juice or link equity back to that post, the original post, anyways, which will contain the internal link up to the page that you’re trying to promote.

Again, it’s 6 and ½ dozen in the other really. I prefer the full-text post because it looks less spammy on the blog sites. Think about it, summary posts on blog sites, guys, look spammy because it’s just usually a paragraph or a set number of characters and then it’s just a dot dot dot or read more or whatever. So in my opinion, on my branded blog syndication sites, which would be Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, I want the full text post so that it doesn’t look spammy. I want it to look nice, right? That’s part of the reason why I like the full text post. But again, it’s a personal preference, it’s not gonna hurt you either way.

Can We Connect DFY IFTTT To GMB RSS Following The Local Lease Pro (LLP) Posting System?

Anybody wanna comment on that? Okay. Peter’s up. He says, “Hey. Can we connect Done-For-You IFTTT to GMB RSS following the LLP posting system?” Yes, you can, Peter. I may be doing an additional training video on-, well, not maybe, at some point, probably after or after POFU Live, I’m gonna be doing some updated training for Local Lease Pro members. I’ll probably just host a webinar, guys, and invite all the Local Lease Pro members. I’m gonna be talking about some other stuff. I’m working on some other methods right now to push the GMB Maps listings into the 3-pack if they don’t appear in there initially from just the initial set up, which is really what the Local Lease Pro method is all about: finding those easy opportunities and securing them with little to no work.

However, there are gonna be some that you’re going to attempt that aren’t going to rank right away. But don’t abandon those, you can certainly get them to produce results or generate leads, but they’re gonna need a little bit of additional work. So that’s some of the stuff that I’m gonna be covering in update webinar. It will likely be in November before that’s available though, guys, because we got a ton other stuff we’re working on at the moment.

I’m still testing some new methods too. I can tell you one thing I’m really excited about. Lisa’s product coming out because I guarantee you Lisa’s product would work very, very well with this Local Lease Pro method since we’re gonna be able to use the RSS feeds from the GMB Autoposter to connect with Rankfeeder and create co-citation. I can see that being very, very powerful. So when Lisa’s product is ready, I will certainly look into that as part of the Local Lease Pro method as well. Okay.

Nexxus is up again. He says, “Edit. Thinking in terms of duplicate content here, if I am thinking correctly, RSS output is the summary only, then that’s good against duplicate content.” Okay. Nexxus Designs, I’m gonna stop you right there. Stop with the duplicate content stuff. Duplicate content is a myth on other sites, right? It’s only a problem if it’s on the same domain. If you’re publishing the same article over and over again on the same domain, then it’s a duplicate content issue that can create Panda penalties. But when it’s republished on external domains, it’s not a duplicate content issue, especially if you have an attribution link which points back to the original source. Okay?

Again, guys, I don’t mean to be hard on you, Nexxus Designs, but that comes up all the time. We cover this extensively in the training as well as in our frequently asked questions in our knowledge base at support.semanticmastery.com. All of that is covered because this question comes up a lot. Don’t worry about duplicate content. If duplicate content were a thing on external domains, Press Releases wouldn’t work. We all know that Press Releases work incredibly well, so explain that. Right?

Can You Look At My IFTTT Network?

Okay. Chris says, “Support question from Judd. I saw there was a forum where you can manage my IFTTT network. Also, I have two other companies that need SEO services. My request is, can I pay you to look at my IFTTT network?” Well, I mean, here’s the thing, Judd, if you bought it from us, sure, we’ll take a look at it. If you bought it from someone else, to be honest with you, I’m not gonna spend the time looking at it and I don’t think any of our builders or anybody on our team or support staff would. Because if it wasn’t built to our specifications, it’s basically should be canned and rebuilt anyways, like start all over, back to the drawing board, so to speak. I don’t know. If you bought it from us and you’re having issues, just contact Support.

“Also, for other companies that need SEO services.” No, we don’t provide SEO services. We provide Done-For-You services. However, you could always post your request in one of our groups that you’re a member of and see if there are any takers that you could chat with about potentially providing SEO services for you.

Hernan: Yeah. Actually, in our Mastermind, there are some people that have their own agencies. So if you’re part of that, you can post there and some Mastermind units will actually pass on work from one to the next and to each other because they’re either swarm or that’s not their style, there’s something else that they’re doing and whatnot. So that’s a pretty cool community over there.

Bradley: Yeah. I mean, even on the free group, Facebook group, you could still post and there will be … Just be aware that we are not vouching for anybody that you communicate with. In the Mastermind, that’d be a different story, but in any of our other groups, you have to vet anybody that responds to your request. You have to vet them on your own, okay? There’s nothing that we can do to help you with that and I apologize.

But, yeah, again, for IFTTT network stuff management, SERP space has a manager. It’s a basic manager that basically monitors the networks to make sure that properties aren’t down, it’ll alert you if RSS feed stop detecting new items, things like that. That’s over at Serpspace.com. That’s the network management. You can check that out too, if you’d like. Again, that’s just a very simple service. It’s more of a monitoring service than a management service. It’s beneficial when you’ve got a bunch of networks to maintain.

What Changes Should We Expect To The IFTTT Method Once Google Plus Shuts Down?

Chris Hayes says, “What kind of changes will happen in the IFTTT method once G+ shuts down? Can you guys make a video update?” Yeah, of course, we do. But I mean, it’s just one channel that gets shut down. It’s not really gonna affect much at all. I mean, G+ is being terminated. We see more evidence of that now than ever. Almost daily we’re seeing more and more evidence of that. I just saw an article posted recently in one of our groups about even more steps that Google’s taking to remove or to completely shut down Google Plus. But it’s only one property, Chris. Don’t worry about it. It’s one property out of what, two dozen? It’s not that big of an issue. I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

Will we create an update video? Yeah, sure. I mean, we do update webinars, although we’re gonna be probably shifting or changing how that’s handled too. But anyways, in one of the upcoming update webinars, we will discuss that a little bit more. In fact, I’m gonna make a note of that right now.

Marco: Yeah. While you’re making a note, let me just say that there’s plenty more Google properties that we can abuse besides Google Plus, which we do. If you’re a part of RYS Reloaded you know just how many properties we go into and just totally hammer away at Google.

When Will You Add Citations Lessons In Local Lease Pro?

Bradley: Yep. Okay. Peter says, “Hey again. When you’ll add citations lesson in LLP Local Lease Pro?” I’m hoping to add that today. If it’s not done today, it’ll be done tomorrow, Peter. It’s just a quick lesson, very, very simple. I’m just gonna point you to a resource that’s affordable for monthly citation packages, which is what I recommend. But I’ll create a quick video explaining it too, okay? It should be there today. If not today, it’ll be there tomorrow for sure.

Will The Video Power House And Network Management Subscription Services Be Moved To Mygb.co From SerpSpace?

Chris says-, or excuse me, Ritchie Inman posted: “We have a video powerhouse subscription and a network management subscription currently at Serpspace. Are those moving to mgyb.co?” No. Those are gonna stay in Serpspace. “Are we able to get an update as to what is going to be where?” Well, I mean, pretty much just check out mgyb.co often because we’re adding more and more products. Again, three were just added to it today, Press releases, what else?

Marco: CORA and Syndication Networks.

Bradley: Syndication Networks. All I would recommend, Ritchie, is just go check MGYB often. But, yeah, video powerhouse, maps powerhouse, network management or monitoring, that’s all staying under Serpspace. Okay.

Is It Still Worth The Time To Keep Using Rank Feeder For Co-Citation Now That Google Plus Is Shutting Down?

Next, Kay Dee says, “Hey guys, with Google Plus shutting down, is it still worth in the meantime to keep using Rankfeeder for co-citation or will this be wasted effort? Thanks.” Well, Google Plus shutting down doesn’t affect Rankfeeder unless you’re using Google Plus RSS feeds as part of Rankfeeder. Does that make sense? Lisa can talk about that too. But Rankfeeder is about combining feeds together or adding multiple feeds to create a feed which creates co-citation. Unless you were using Google Plus RSS feeds, which there are a few online services that you can generate a Google Plus feed-, or an RSS feed from Google Plus, then it shouldn’t affect that at all. Right?

I mean, there’s still plenty of other RSS options out there. Remember, with Rankfeeder, those of you that are familiar with it, you can also add sticky items which aren’t even RSS feeds, they’re just singular-, excuse me, single URLs and you can add those as sticky items to blend in with the overall feed to create that additional co-citation. Again, Google Plus is just one of many different things that you could include into Rankfeeder.

Lisa, do you wanna mention something about that?

Lisa: Yeah. Actually, if you are using some of the Google Plus feeds in some way, what happens when a feed disappears is that Rankfeeder just starts ignoring it. If it ignores it a certain number of times, like for a long period, then it will just be removed. But since you can go in and edit your feeds, they’re not one-shot and you’re stuck with whatever you put in there, you can also go and replace the missing Google Plus RSS feeds with other things.

Bradley: There you go.

Lisa: You can completely update it and you keep them fresh and relevant with the same URLs that were generating power for you up till that point.

Bradley: Kay Dee, a couple of options would be Google Plus-, or excuse me, Google sites, also the GMB, if you’re using Google My Business stuff, it’s for local, if you’re using our autoposter, which generates a RSS feed from the GMB posts, that’s something else that you can include. There’s a lot of snazzy stuff that you can do with it. So Google Plus, G+ was just a one piece of many that go into that. I wouldn’t worry about it, guys. Google Plus is not that big of a deal that it’s shutting down. That’s the nature of the internet marketing world, right?

Lisa: Yeah. I think it’s really a relative nothing in terms of never really … I know a lot of people hopped on there to try and get SEO benefits from it because, as we all know, that Google favors their own properties. But as far as being a real social network, I don’t think it ever really caught fire and really caught on. I think that’s why they’re dumping it. I’m kinda surprised they didn’t dump it sooner because it just didn’t do that well.

Bradley: Yeah. It’s interesting. I remember all the way back in, I think 2010, '11, when I started my career in digital marketing that Google Plus, I remember articles coming out all the time, the big curated SEO sites like Search Engine Journal and all those sites, and also like social media examiner and all that, all the time I remember articles coming out saying, “Google Plus is dead,” “Google’s killing Google Plus,” this and that.

For years I’ve seen articles like that. I used to laugh at it because for a while there Google Plus was so integrated into all of Google’s products and it was really as part of the onset of the semantic web. When Google started to adapt semantic web technology and I think they were using Google Plus as kind of a identity validator. Right? It was a way to associate a profile with an individual, like a Google account with an individual, and then that way it would attach that profile or identify that person as being real because that Google Plus was now integrated with all of other Google’s products. I think it was a way to, originally, was to kind of reduce spam, believe it or not.

I didn’t think that they were ever going to shut it down. But apparently after just being beaten to death in the social media world by all the other platforms for so many years, Google finally decided to remove it. They’ve been taking steps for, what, the last year and a half, two years. I think it really started when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube, when they disintegrated or when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube. Remember, guys, in order to have a YouTube channel, you have to have a Google Plus account. I think when they separated those two is really the start of the demise of Google Plus. Anyways, that was a good question.

Does A Google Site Created Through The GMB Profile Show Up In The Organic Search Results Or Is Only Accessible Via The GMB Profile?

Gordon says, “Hey guys, thank you very much again for your help on Hump Days, it’s greatly appreciated.” You’re welcome, Gordon. He says, “Does a Google site created through GMB profile show up in organic search results or is it only accessible via …?” No. I’m not sure I understand, Gordon, what you’re saying. You’re saying “is a Google site,” now are you talking about sites.google.com or are you talking about GMB website?

In either case, they’re available and they’re both indexable which means they’re public. Publicly viewable to anybody, right? GMB websites as well as Google sites, sites.google.com are both indexable so anybody can see them. You don’t have to be logged in through a profile to see them, unless they’re just not indexed yet. But just be patient, the windex provided you guys some content on there and they’ll be fine.

Marco: The business site indexes within an hour.

Bradley: Yeah. The business site index is really quick, yeah.

Marco: And it does rank.

Bradley: Yep.

Marco: There’s things that you have to do to make it rank, which is taught in Local GMB Pro or you can just go and ask me in Local GMB Pro how to get that website to show up and rank. But I mean, it does. It’s a great asset.

Bradley: I’m curious because I haven’t worked on this project in months. Yeah. Right there, it’s Mario’s-, excuse me, right there, it’s the business site for, this was the case study I did for Local GMB Pro and that’s the business site right there. That’s the GMB website right there, guys, and it’s ranked number two for the brand search. See that? Yelp outranks the brand search, that’s crazy. But there you go, business site right there. So, yes, it will rank.

Does Google Ranks Mobile Responsive And Stand Alone Mobile Specific Site Differently?

Number two, “For ranking purposes, does Google look differently at mobile responsive site and a standalone mobile-specific site? If you’re targeting mobile searches only, can you rank in standalone mobile-specific site without forwarding a desktop site?” Yeah, you can. I don’t know. Marco might know this. But does Google look at differently between mobile responsive and standalone mobile specific sites? I don’t know. I know that a lot of responsive sites like WordPress themes that are responsive WordPress themes are coded really shitty. They suck and they’re terrible for the mobile algorithm, a lot of them are. They might say that they’re mobile-friendly, but they’re just coded really poorly. Again, I’m not a coder so I don’t understand any of that stuff, I just know that some of those mobile responsive WordPress themes suck in the mobile first index, they don’t perform well.

In the past, I would create just an HTML landing page as a mobile and put it on an M-dot subdomain and then use a redirect script, a PHP redirect script to point any mobile browsers to the HTML mobile page. But I’ve even stopped doing that because, honestly, I’m not even really building, I’m doing everything in GMB now, which is all GMB code and it’s all mobile responsive and mobile-friendly and everything else. I’m not even building WordPress sites at the moment.

Marco, what can you say about that?

Marco: I’m with you. I haven’t built a WordPress site in quite a while. Mobile responsive versus standalone, I would think that there would be no difference as long as they’re mobile responsive. Check it and make sure that it is actually mobile responsive and that it validates. Right? Other than that, I’m sorry, but dude, we’re doing everything inside the Google My Business-

Bradley: Or Google, period. Like sites.google.com, those are mobile responsive now, especially the new ones. They look great too.

Marco: The classic were also responsive. All you had to do was take a box while you were working on it to make it mobile-friendly.

Bradley: Yeah. That’s it. Guys, I’m not trying to discourage you from creating WordPress sites. I just, honestly, I’m building my business completely within Google right now, just because they’re free, number one; number two, it’s easy and fast. As long as it’s working I’m gonna do it. I can always go back to WordPress as needed. There’s a lot of headaches that come along with working in WordPress, like all the stupid updates and hosting issues. It’s just a lot of stuff that I’m so glad I’m not having to build a bunch of WordPress sites right now. It’s been refreshing.

Is It True That Google’s Recent Change On Mobile First Indexing Affects Ranking?

Number three, he says, “If it does not appear-, excuse me, if it does not appear that Google’s recent mobile first indexing changes affect ranking, can you please clarify?” Gordon, it should. I mean, it really depends. What they’re saying is the mobile, they’re basing desktop and laptop search results now off of the mobile index. Unless you’ve got sites that just don’t respond well at all for mobile, for example, they’re not mobile-friendly, the text is too small and you can’t click on menu navigation links and that kind of stuff, then that kinda stuff can actually pull now your rankings down because it’s based upon the mobile first index or the mobile index first, essentially.

But if you’re using stuff that is responsive and it passes like that, there’s even a tool that Google has for testing that, then you shouldn’t really have an issue. Right? I mean, at least that’s what I found. What I found was really interesting is you said it doesn’t change the fact rankings, it doesn’t change or affect ranking much.

But what we’ve been finding, especially because of the GMB stuff that we’ve been doing inside of Google My Business, is that we’re really speaking directly to the mobile algorithm with GMB posts and all the stuff that we’re doing with proximity and geolocation and all of that stuff is speaking directly to the mobile first algorithm, which is awesome because we’re able to get results even if they’re ranking, and I’m using air quotes, doesn’t show that we’re ranking well, we’re still able to generate clicks to the website and calls, generate leads essentially, from stuff that the rank trackers are showing aren’t ranking well. So explain that.

Well, that’s because we’re tickling the mobile-first index. That’s what Marco calls “the google tickle.” Right? That’s one of many that we have. But that’s exactly what we’re doing, is because we’re using geolocation and proximity and all of that stuff to be able to serve our content directly to mobile searchers in the area where they’re searching. Again, that has to do with the mobile first index.

Guys, this has opened up so much opportunity, in my opinion, since the end of July when this was really rolled out. We’ve been reaping the benefits of these opportunities for the GMB Pro method and Local Lease Pro method now for the last few months, last couple of months. It’s awesome because, as I’ve mentioned on previous Hump Day Hangouts, guys, I used to always just target my primary keywords for local stuff plus local modifiers. In other words, it would be whatever the service or product was plus the local modifier.

That’s always how I optimize for everything up until this summer. Now I’m optimizing for just the general product or service keywords and I’m getting crazy results. I’m generating more leads now than ever because we’re able to get those short tail search queries, we’re able to get results and get traffic from those because we’re talking directly to the mobile first algorithm.

People that are searching for mobile, typically, unless they’re searching for a product or service outside of where they’re located, like in another area that they’re going to be going to, typically, people when they start to search for a product or service from a mobile device, they’ll start typing their query and then they’re just gonna hit whatever the suggested phrase pops up that Google suggested to them that’s closest to their intended query. Most of the time Google is going to suggest without local modifiers. So that’s what they’re tapping on now and that’s what our content is optimized for those terms without the local modifier because of where we’re publishing the content is within close proximity to that searcher. Right?

Again, it’s a little bit more advanced than what we typically cover on Hump Day Hangouts, but it works really, really well. If you’re basing any of your tracking now on any desktop, laptop search result stuff, guys, stop it. Okay? Stop it. Just be paying attention to mobile stuff. That’s why part of the reason I always talk about using Google Ads ad preview and diagnosis tool because then you can go in and actually set a location. Within Google, you can specify a location and then do a search there and you will see what the search results should look like to somebody in that specific location. You can’t really do that with rank trackers anymore.

Okay. Anyways, that was a good question, Gordon. Go ahead.

Marco: Let me just add that we keep seeing a direct correlation between activity in the Google My Business listing through everything we do through Local GMB Pro. Everything that we teach inside Local GMB Pro, there’s a direct correlation with activity, and then even in organic, it brings up the organic rankings.

Bradley: Yeah.

Marco: I mean, you can see it. You’ll see the amount of keywords that you’re ranking for blow up in search console. To the point where you’re ranking for hundreds of keywords that you never thought would be attainable and all of a sudden that’s right there. If you just look at organic, you would never know how that was done, but we know that we’re doing all of the work in the Google My Business listing.

Bradley: Yeah. One of the other things I wanna mention is, and we’ve kind of talked about this in some of our other groups, guys, but I don’t want to give out too much, but this is a nice little nugget. Guys, go into your GMB Insights. For those of you doing local, which again it’s most of you, go into GMB Insights and take a look at the search queries that have brought engagement to your listing, and extract those search queries that are relevant, which most of them will.

By the way, you’re gonna see a lot of near me and near my location and stuff like that type of keywords right now. I mean, that’s why it’s all mobile stuff, guys. It’s all mobile search stuff. If you extract those keywords from the GMB Insights report that are relevant and start promoting those in GMB posts and content, then you’ll start getting more and more traffic for those. It’s crazy. It’s like Google tells you which keywords are bringing you traffic and then you promote those keywords and it brings you so much more. It’s crazy. It’s just like Google’s giving you the keys to the kingdom right now, guys.

Amazon SEO

Again, I don’t know how long it’s gonna last, but while it does exploit it. Okay. Jordan. What’s up, Jordan? He says, “Is anyone here an Amazon SEO guru?” I am not. I don’t think any of my partners are either. “Needing help with a potential client, either white-label or we’ll give them to you for finder fee, and I don’t wanna learn that mess.” I don’t blame you, Jordan. “It’s not our wheelhouse nor do I want it to be. Staying large regional and national focused. Hit me up jordanfowler@moonandowl.com.”

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: I’m sorry?

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: No. He’s in Syndication Academy but in Mastermind.

Hernan: Okay. Well, I mean, in the Syndication Academy group, maybe you can find somebody.

Bradley: Yeah. I was going to ask Lisa if she had any advice on ecommerce SEO or Amazon SEO.

Lisa: Well, just make sure you’re in a cart that is friendly to SEO URLs. Also, one thing that I found when I was doing my store, now I’ve sold my store several years ago to somebody else, but one thing that I did find is that the RSS for products actually will help boost the products quite a bit. So if you have, make sure you get a cart that has the ability to have RSS feeds for product categories. Then go and submit those feeds to all kinds of different aggregators, you’ll get quite a boost. I mean, it was really amazing what we found when I had a VA doing that for me.

What Is The Best Way To Index Press Releases?

Bradley: Jordan, looks like Greg might have also replied to your comment on the event page. I suggest also maybe getting through that. Greg’s question is: “Hey, I purchased a monthly subscription of Press Releases service after your webinar three weeks ago. First, two PRs went out last week. For each, I received a list of 100 plus pickups. However, when searching in Google for the title or a sentence in quotes, only the PR services, PR and digital journal show in Google. What is the best way to get all those other indexed? Or just simply wait for Google to notice and index them over time?”

Greg, first of all, don’t worry about it. Most of them are probably indexed, they’re just in the supplemental index, because that’s the nature of Press Releases. Because it’s the same content, right? Guys, don’t associate duplicate content penalties with this, with what I’m talking about here because that’s not the case. But if a press release which is republished word-for-word across hundreds of sites, Google will take those and many of them and put them in what’s called the Supplemental Index.

I’m going to show you exactly what I mean here to demonstrate. Okay? Right here, this is press release title that I just had published for the project that I built out for the Local Lease Pro training. Okay. This was just published, well, just a few days ago, anyways. You can see that I just did a search for the title, which is showing digital journal here, right? So this was just published, I don’t know, just a couple days ago. Anyways, you can see that that’s the full title of it, right? That’s what’s showing digital journal. It’s the only one that’s indexed on this page.

But if you look down at the bottom where it says “In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the six already displayed.” Well, I don’t see six displayed, I see one, unless they’re talking about five images here, which they might be. Yeah, I guess they are, because the rest of those are ads.

But if you take a look and click on the Supplemental Index, all of a sudden here it shows up, there’s five of them that are showing as indexed. By the way, that’s why, this was just published 12 hours ago. That’s why not all of them have even been indexed yet. So if we were to come back and search this again in another 24 hours, it’s likely that there will be dozens and dozens of results. They’re probably still gonna be hidden behind the Supplemental Index, you have to click that link at the bottom to see all of them. But what happens is you end up with most of that.

Now again, don’t worry about getting them indexed, Greg, you’ll drive yourself absolutely crazy if every time you submit a press release you go collect all the links from the report and then submit them to indexers. That’s a lot of additional work. Don’t worry about it. Those news sites get crawled often by Google, they will get indexed. Whether they show or they’re put in the Supplemental Index, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them. Trust me. So don’t worry about that because you’re just adding additional work, you’re over-complicating, which you don’t need to.

Okay? I’m not picking on you at all, Greg. I understand why you may worry about that. But a lot of people have asked us questions about Syndication Networks and the links not being indexed. But if you go in the search console and you look at links to your site, you’ll see WordPress, and Tumblr, and Diigo, and all the sites within the syndication network do have backlinks pointed to the site, and Google knows about them. Whether they’re indexed or not, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them and is giving you credit for them. We’ve even tested no index PBNs, guys, and it’s worked. It’s given us boosts.

Again, don’t worry about that, you’ll drive yourself crazy, Greg. All right. We’ve only got about five more minutes, guys. I do have to leave pretty much on time today. So we’re gonna try to roll through just a couple more questions.

“Can we get a recorded webinar link from Monday, from Marco’s webinar?” Yeah. Guys, it’s coming. Everybody relax. It’s coming. We promise you the replay will be made available as soon as possible. Marco, do we have an ETA on that?

Marco: It’s not only the replay, I’m putting everything together. Right? I have to put together all of the training, the video that I did showing, well, you know what it does, from S3 to CloudFlare. I’m also giving them tutorials for CloudFlare and S3 buckets. I’m trying to put everything together. It doesn’t help when I have people reaching out to me. The video was still, I think I told you guys, it was rendering and people were already reaching out to me for the replay webinar. It doesn’t help, guys. It’ll get done when it gets done. As soon as it gets done, it’ll be made available.

Bradley: Scott. “Finally got a plumbing client onboard for GMB account that was set up with your service. The account was sitting just outside the 3-pack when it was first verified. Now in the 3-pack with just a small amount of effort after week one. Location population for a city of 125K. Thanks, guys.” That’s freaking awesome, Scott. I love that you posted that. That’s amazing. Guys, I mean, it’s crazy, even the site that I just was showing you guys, the press release for Mustang 3 pros, I just set that up last week, and 12 hours ago, the press release was published and I’m sitting in the number four position right now, if I do a localized search, like I said, using …

Anyways, my point is, guys, it’s sitting in position number four and I still haven’t done citations to it yet, I haven’t really done any GMB posts other than the original post that I did. So I mean all the stuff that I teach in Local Lease Pro, guys, hasn’t even been applied to that yet and I’m already in the number four position in maps. So think about that. Scott is just validating what I’ve been talking about, guys. You do the research properly on the front-end and then you optimize the profile when you first set it up, or get it back from us if you’re using our service.

So far, about 60% of the time, for me, that’s all it takes to get into the 3-pack. Doing the other stuff that I’m doing right now, which is the GMB posts press releases, and then monthly citations, I’m seeing like almost, out of the remaining 40%, another 15 to 20% of those within the first seven days get pushed into the 3-pack. The remaining ones that aren’t pushed into the 3-pack, it just requires a little more of the same. Just more of the same, so more GMB posts, perhaps another press release, perhaps another month of citation building, something like that. Right? That’s all it takes.

We’re also working on some additional methods right now, guys, for pushing those listings that aren’t popping into the 3-pack. Yeah. I’m working on some other methods too and I’ll update you guys on that probably in November. All right.

Is There Any Limit On The Number Of Links You Can Throw At An RYS Project And Not Get Penalized?

Okay, guys. I guess I’m gonna answer Jeff Sass’s question and we’re gonna wrap it up because we’re at the 5 o'clock mark and I have to go and I’m sure others do as well, Jeff says, “Question regarding RYS project done for a client through Serpspace. Is there any limit that you’ve seen with regards to links you can throw at it and not get penalized?” Marco can answer that one, but we haven’t seen a limit yet. Have we, Marco?

Marco: No limit.

Bradley: Okay. Number two, “Also, even though my client already has one RYS project produced, is there an additional benefit to doing another and another or should we just be beating the shit out of the one that’s already done?” No. There is benefit, Jeff. It just depends. It really depends on what your setup is and your configuration, your site structure, all that kind of stuff. Marco, what would you suggest?

Marco: I would suggest that, if he’s a member of RYS Academy Reloaded, that he reaches out to me in there because we did a webinar telling you exactly what you need to do with that one drive stack and how to power it up to get even more power out of it, and just continue getting power out of that same stack.

Bradley: There you go. The last thing, he says, “If you haven’t pimped your research service yet, do so now. It rocks.” I’m assuming he’s talking about the keyword research service yet. Is that available? That’s live in MGYB now, isn’t it?

Marco: Keyword research? No, it’s not live yet. We’ve done sales of it. I mean, we could try doing another one, maybe next Hump Day. For you guys attending live, we’ll have a few keyword research projects available that you can take advantage of. But, yeah, it’s coming. It’s just getting hooked up into the marketplace-, excuse me, the MGYB store.

Bradley: Yep. Okay. I just saw Eddie said … Thanks for that, Eddie. “I’m not an SEO or a CEO, but the way Bradley teaches makes it easy to understand and great for newbies.” He’s talking about Local Lease Pro. “What is the best way to bill or charge the business?” I’m pretty sure that’s covered in the training, Eddie, but I’ll double check when I’m in there adding the citation lesson. If it’s not, then I’ll make a note to add another lesson specifically about how to bill or charge a business. Honestly, I just use PayPal for that, but you can get as creative with that as you want. Anyways, I’ll make a note of that if it’s not in there and I’ll add a lesson for it. Okay?

Everybody, I wanna thank you guys for being here. Lisa, thank you for sticking around even for the additional time.

Lisa: It was awesome to be here.

Bradley: Awesome, guys. Thanks everyone else. We’ll see you guys next week. Lisa, please keep in touch with us and let us know about the updates.

Lisa: I will. I definitely will. I think you’re gonna love them.

Bradley: Great. Thank you guys. Bye.

Hernan: Bye guys.

Lisa: Bye.

Marco: Bye everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205

Click on the video above to watch Episode 205 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

 Announcement

Adam: All right. We are live. Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts Episode 205. Today is the 10th of October 2018. We’ve got the whole gang here as well as our special guest, who I will get to in just a moment. But real quick, we’re gonna take a minute to say hi to everybody, get through some quick announcements and then we will dive right into it.

Actually, I’m starting to realize, and it only took me 204 episodes to realize, that I think you guys are lined up the same time every single time on my screen, which is interesting. There we go. It only took almost four years. Chris, how are you doing good, man?

Chris: Doing good. Excited to be spot number one here all the time. Love it. How are you doing?

Adam: Can’t complain. This is like one of those shower thoughts. It’s just this revelation that means absolutely nothing and I feel stupid for having realized it. But, yeah, it’s good to know. Hernan, how are you doing, man?

Hernan: Good. I’m excited to be after Chris all the time. Yeah. I’m really, really excited for what’s coming. I’m really excited to have our guest today. Also for POFU Live 2018, it’s gonna be amazing too.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I’m not trying to skipper on purpose, but I’m not sure if you guys can see we have Lisa Allen as our special guest. We’re gonna circle back around to her in just a minute and introduce her a little bit more properly. Marco, how are you doing, man?

Marco: What’s up, man? It’s great to see Lisa Allen here. She’s a good friend of Semantic Mastery. We’ve had her around before. She does some awesome automation. I’m not gonna take your spotlight, Lisa. You can go ahead and toot your own horn. But it’s really good to have you here again joining us. It’s always fun to have you on talking about what you’ve been up to. Thank you for joining us.

Lisa: Thank you for inviting me.

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Good deal. Last but not least, Bradley, how are you doing, man?

Bradley: Okay. I think I just figured out why they’re always lined up the way they are. I think it’s by alphabetical order by the name in the profile. So it’s Adam, Chris, Hernan, Lisa, Marco, and then, for me, it says “you,” Y-O-U. I think it’s always alphabetical.

Adam: No, on my screen, you’re Semantic Mastery. Yeah, this is a train wreck. Thanks, everybody for watching us. This is what we do every episode.

Bradley: Anyways, I’m glad to be here, glad that Lisa is here. We’ve got an exciting week ahead of us because POFU Live is next weekend. We’re really looking forward to that. I’m actually preparing for that now. That’s what I’ve been doing all day. POFU Live members, I’m really excited about it. I’m excited to have Lisa here. It’s been a long time since we had her here so it’s good to catch up with her again. She’s always got a lot of great insight about the SEO industry and marketing in general. So happy to be here, man.

Adam: Cool. Well, we got a couple quick announcements, like Bradley just mentioned, POFU Live next weekend. If you can make it, we still do, I think there’s two or three tickets still available. I’ll pop the links on there in a little bit after we get done talking here. But you can still grab those kind of the last chance to do that before we go to shut things down lock in the numbers and all that good stuff.

Also, if you’re watching us for the first time, thank you. We’ve obviously been here. We didn’t make up the number. We’ve been here for 205 episodes. We hope we’re here for another 205. Thank you for watching. We really appreciate it. If you wanna ask questions live, that’s great. If you’re watching the replay, that’s fine too. Check us out on YouTube or wherever you’re watching us and feel free to ask questions. You can join us live at semanticmastery.com/hdquestions every week.

Bradley: By the way, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Adam: Yes, which would be right here. So, yeah, subscribe. Also, if you’re looking for the place to start with us, the Battle Plan, I’m gonna pop the links on the page for you. This is good for anyone starting, anyone who wants a repeatable process, who’s been in the game for a while. It covers a lot of really good aspects of SEO, digital marketing, things for keyword research, working with a new domain, aged domains, all that stuff. Then, if you’re ready to take it up a few notches, of course, we do have our Mastermind and we invite you to also check out that and see if that’s the right fit for you.

One last thing before we get started, I believe, Marco, that the MGYB store has had some updates, right?

Marco: Yes, sir. We got CORA, we’ve got Syndication Academy up and running, and since we’ve been talking so much about Local Lease Pro press releases.

Adam: Yeah.

Bradley: Which, by the way, there’s still two lessons missing out on Local Lease Pro, one is for citations and one is for Press Releases. Part of the reason those lessons weren’t there was I was waiting for our order page to be done on MGYB for me to be able to demonstrate how to order Press Releases through that, guys. The citations stuff, honestly, I’ve just been really slammed this week. I haven’t got the lesson done. But I’m hoping as soon as I get done with Hump Day Hangouts today to record a quick lesson on that. It’s very simple. Hopefully, I’ll have that up within about 10 or 15 minutes after Hump Day Hangouts today, guys. Any of you that were inquiring about that missing lesson, it will be there shortly. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.

Adam: Good deal. Any last minute announcements, you guys, before we dive into it?

Hernan: Let’s do it.

Adam: All right. Cool. Well, like we said, Lisa Allen is here with us. We appreciate Lisa, you coming on and hanging out with us. Again, for people who haven’t seen us over maybe for, about a year I guess was the last time we talked, man, that’s crazy.

Lisa: Yes.

Adam: Anyways, we talked to Lisa about a year ago. Instead of telling everyone about you, if you don’t mind, just kinda get everyone up speed where you came from and what you kind of do online. I think that’d be the best way for people to kind of find out about you.

Lisa: Well, I’m one of those people who always kinda have my hands on everything. I see something that looks interesting and I kinda go that direction. It’s just kinda how I got into online marketing, it’s how I got into the internet. It’s just I see something interesting and I think I could do that, so I go off and I kinda explore what’s going on. I really got into the internet first after a divorce, a few, probably like 15 years ago, 20 years ago. Gosh, I’m dating myself.

Adam: Just a couple of years ago, it’s all right. I’ve started seeing the same face.

Lisa: Anyway, I started hanging out. Do you guys remember when AOL was king and there were like all these little local systems with local bulletin board system?

Bradley: Yeah.

Lisa: [Inaudible 00:06:43]

Chris: Until last year?

Lisa: Well, no, I mean, it’s been quite a while. Anyway, that’s just kinda where I really hit the internet really hard was after that. Got into working for a company doing web mastering for a while and that kinda flung me off into doing coding. Then I’ve had an online store, a couple of different online stores, and so I was kind of using my coding along with some of my organizational skills to do that. Then, of course, I ran afoul with Google, and who hasn’t done that at least a couple of times? So they kicked me off their ad platform, so then I had to figure out this whole SEO thing.

Adam: What was the timeframe on that? When did you start getting into SEO stuff?

Lisa: I would say that was about 2011, 2012 really because I was running a store for about five years before that and, like I said, I got kicked off. They decided they didn’t like the product that I was selling and they booted me off, all my stores got booted off.

Bradley: Lisa, you said 2011 or ‘12ish, which is crazy, because I remember specifically buying a product that you launched with Peter Garety’s help about …

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: It used IFTTT and it was for triggering syndications through Google Calendar using IFTTT. It would resyndicate because you could set calendar events in the future, they would cause it to re-syndicate the video again out to the network. It was amazing training. It was right after I had learned about IFTTT, David Cossack or whatever. It was amazing training. I’ll never forget that. That was around 2011, 2012, if I remember correctly.

Lisa: Yeah. I think that was probably 2012 or maybe early 2013 because I had launched something else with Peter about Pinterest. It was how to get traffic using Pinterest which was my first real product.

Bradley: That’s with Peter Drew or where Peter Garety? It was Peter Garety, right?

Lisa: It was Peter Garety, yeah.

Bradley: Right.

Lisa: We worked for a while. Yeah. That was actually a lot of fun. I think that may have actually been an add-on to that product, like an extra bonus training. It’s funny, the thing I remember about that training is the bonus and not the original training.

Adam: I was just looking around, what’s Peter Garety up to? This is a total tangent, but that’s just … Yeah. He was coming out with stuff like that.

Lisa: Yeah. I think he decided that he wanted to spend a little more time with his family. As far as I know he built himself his own little shopping cart platform, kinda like Shopify. He runs that and he gets recurring from that. So you see him pop up every once in a while, in JVZoo groups and stuff like that just to say some things, but he’s not really promoting really hard anymore.

Bradley: Yeah. I think before he went off the grid he was doing a lot of heavy ecomm, promoting ecomm products and stuff, so I’m assuming that that’s what he went into.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: That’s right. DashNex. Okay. I was looking this up while we were talking. Okay. Cool. Okay. So sorry about that. We just totally went off the grill there. Okay. We’re up to like 2011, 2012, you start getting into the SEO side of things, how did it go from there?

Lisa: Well, I was SEO and things so that I could get traffic for the online store that I had, I was selling jewelry parts. The stuff that I learned while I was trying to rank for things got turned around into products. So we did a curation traffic blueprint where I was teaching people how to curate content and get traffic from that, because that’s so much easier than writing original content. You can do it just snap, snap, snap.

So we did that and then I started doing some keyword tools. I just sort of, actually, I think before we got to the keyword tool, the RSS authority sniper strategy that we do, that was something that we had started doing manually. My sister was acting as one of my VAs. It took a long time to do that manually. I mean, it was really effective but it took 15, 20 minutes, sometimes an hour to do that, to look up all the different feeds and then go and do all the copy-paste to put it here, put it there, all that kinda stuff. She started complaining about that, just really, she was really like …

Adam: That’s a very real pain point when your sister was complaining to you.

Lisa: Yeah, I know. I’m like, “Okay, I better go code something.” That was where RSS Authority Sniper came from.

Bradley: Which, by the way, that was a great product. I was gonna say you still have Rankfeeder going right now, correct?

Lisa: Yeah, I do. I’m actually just been rewriting the whole feed generation so that I can add more features in. I’ve got something really neat coming out in the next month or so with Rankfeeder and then a rerelease of RSS Authority Sniper to go with it. It’s gonna be the way it targets local places very, very specifically.

Bradley: Oh, man, now you’re speaking our language, Lisa. Honestly, guys, we promoted Lisa’s Rankfeeder before because it’s the co-citation tool using RSS feeds. It’s amazing. It’s super, super powerful. It’s very, very effective. I stand by that statement. Anything that you’re gonna be doing that’s gonna address local specifically, Lisa, certainly reach out to us. We will get behind that in a heartbeat because about 60% of our RSS is local.

Lisa: I think you’re gonna like it because, like I said, we’re gonna … Some of the stuff that I’ve already added in after I finished rewriting the feed generator is I’ve added the categories that you get to pick into so that they’re actually inside the feed and all the tags also get treated as categories inside your feed. I mean, you’re getting a lot more power to really target with the feed on an SEO basis, that kinda thing. Yeah. I think you’re really gonna like what comes after that.

Bradley: Very cool.

Adam: Sounds awesome. Well, I wanted to make sure we have enough time to cover this. The next question I had, and I love asking this to people, is where do you see, in terms of, I’ll leave this really broad, not just SEO, but where do you see either SEO or kind of online digital marketing going in the next couple of years? Then a side question of that, or somewhere else you can go with this, is what’s the most important things you see happening?

Lisa: Well, this is a really interesting time for online things. You’re seeing a lot of movement, different places, and you’re seeing a lot of things happening that people don’t necessarily like, you’re seeing a lot of censorship, you’re seeing a lot of kinda misrepresenting what people are saying and that kind of thing, and you’re seeing Silicon Valley really go and start trying to basically meddle in society that they wanna be the … It’s like the government isn’t big brother anymore, but they wanna be.

I think you’re gonna see, and I’m already kind of seeing movement, this is outside of Google’s control and outside of Facebook’s control. I think as marketers and SEO is we really need to be monitoring those additional places that are coming into the marketplace and start using those platforms and start seeing them because I think that censorship and …

I mean, Google tries to censor SEO people all the time. They try and say, “Well, we don’t want you to backlink,” and “We don’t want you to do this,” and “We’re in control of whether you rank for anything or not.” I don’t know any SEO person who actually says, “Yeah, you’re right. You can have total complete control over everything I do and say.”

It’s like, we find a way around. I think you’re gonna see that there’s gonna be as they’ve kinda spread out from just kind of controlling, trying to control SEOs to try and control the wider society. I think you’re really gonna see that there’s gonna be a lot of movement outside where people are gonna go, “Well, I think that’s a little bit too far.”

Adam: Yeah, definitely. It’s funny, I think me and Marco came across that article at the same time, but there’s one about Tim Berners-Lee working on like a decentralized kind of protocols. I think it’s called Solid through MIT. Have you heard about this?

Lisa: No, I haven’t heard of that one yet.

Adam: Yeah. Just check it out afterwards. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s that idea of saying, “Yeah. You know what, no matter what happens, if this turns into a monopoly, which it quickly is, then that doesn’t really benefit anyone.” So it was meant to be decentralized in the first place so I think, anyways, I don’t know if this is gonna work, but something like that I think appeals to a lot of people.

Lisa: Yeah. You’re already seeing movements. A lot of people are moving away from them as their search engine when they’re doing their own personal things. I mean, I haven’t used Google as my search engine when I’m actually doing research for years. I mean, I’ve been using DuckDuckGo, and you have places alternatives to Twitter like Gab coming up, and there’s a several new video platforms coming up that now that YouTube is really kind of just really been stomping on people. Yeah. I mean …

Adam: I’m just curious, what are some of the new YouTube-, sorry, new YouTube, that’s showing how well ingrained it is, what are some of the new video platforms?

Bradley: Well, Amazon Video has got to be one of them, right?

Lisa: What’s that?

Bradley: Amazon Video has to be one of them, right?

Lisa: Yeah. Amazon video is a pretty good one, although they also, I don’t know, I kinda think that they also have that risk of becoming more of a bully in the future.

Adam: Well, they’ll just take over what you’re creating and create it themselves.

Lisa: Yeah. Just like they have, like all the little online stores and that people would find a little niche and they would sell something, and then Amazon goes, “Boom. They’re selling a lot of that. Let’s start our own.” I mean, they’ve kinda done that, kind of the same way Walmart has done that to the mom-and-pop stores. Amazon is kinda doing that to the online stores.

But the one that I discovered the other day that I actually thought was pretty good was called Real Video. It’s real.video. That’s not real.video.com. Just the video is the root domain.

Bradley: Real like R-E-E-L or R-E-A-L?

Lisa: R-E-A-L.

Bradley: Okay.

Lisa: It’s started by a guy who got deplatformed by Google. It’s not a fully developed platform yet, but it seems pretty good for what he’s already worked through. You have to get an invitation from them. You have to actually request to be on there, kinda like you did with Pinterest in the beginning. But the player is really nice and they’ve got kinda sharing capabilities and some other things. I think that’s someplace that really you should look into, particularly if you’re running content that maybe Google’s not gonna like very much.

BitChute is another one, although I think that one’s kind of not that good yet.

Adam: BitChute, got that.

Lisa: Yeah. BitChute and, I remember some of the other ones that I’ve looked at. As far as like Facebook, there’s a really interesting new social media place called … What is it called, Minds? Minds.com.

Adam: Interesting. I have not heard … Have you guys heard of this?

Marco: Yeah, I like Minds. I’m in Minds. It’s over 100 million people right now.

Adam: I should have known that, Marco.

Marco: It’s basically over 100 million people. Come on.

Lisa: Yeah. They’re kind of integrated with some of the blockchain payment methods and things like that, so that you can actually pay people for their content in a way that you can’t really be tracked and can’t really be blocked from making your payment. So there’s a lot of interesting things that are going on where people are just kinda going, “I’ve had enough.” People are starting additional things. It’s kinda like people never really thought that MySpace would ever die, but it did. I think you’re probably gonna see a little bit more of that movement, away from big consolidated platforms.

Adam: Yeah, that’s an interesting-

Bradley: It’s gonna happen anytime … I mean, I can see some of the shifting as well, Lisa. I agree with that. Some movement, especially with the Silicon Valley stuff, which you mentioned. I mean, when Facebook and Twitter execs are being dragged up on the Capitol Hill and quite repeatedly for hours and hours and hours, you can rest assured, you can bet your ass that there’s gonna be some movements, some changes made.

Lisa: Yeah. I’ve been shadow banned on Twitter. It’s like you go and you post something that’s relatively innocuous and you go and search for it, you can search for the exact text of the whole thing and it never comes up in search. That’s when you know you’ve been shadow banned. They never tell you anything, they just want you to just assume that your message is getting out there, but they’re not gonna … So, anyway.

Bradley: Yeah. Well, I think it’s something that will happen. We, as marketers, are kind of on the cutting edge or of like what the shifting is, but I think the general population is much slower to react.

Lisa: That’s true.

Bradley: I think we still have plenty of time to exploit what we can from the big sites.

Lisa: Absolutely. I’m just saying you gotta kinda keep your heads up and be aware that people are starting to move around a bit.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Well, in terms of what’s going on right now, we touched on a little bit, so if you’ve got some big stuff coming out in like a month, I don’t want or expect you just spill the beans right now, but you can you tell us, and if you can’t, that’s fine, but what it is that you’re kind of working on there in a little bit more detail?

Lisa: Well, right now, most of what I’ve been doing for about the last six to seven weeks is really working hard on the upgrades to Rankfeeder. Now I’m doing RSS Authority Sniper 3.0. This is going to be considered a major release because it’s gonna have some really nice extra features in there. That’s mostly what I’m working on. Then I have some other plans for some other products after that either re-imaginings or new ones. But that’s most of what’s right there.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I know, like Bradley said, we’ll definitely keep our ears open or rather our email inboxes open for letting us know when you got that ready. That’d be awesome because we got a lot of people who are really interested. Actually, we just had one comment here real quick. I just wanna read it to you because this is pretty awesome. Greg just said, “Hey Lisa. Nice to have Lisa here. She’s one of the greatest people as far as support and products go. A big thank you.”

Lisa: Well, thanks.

Adam: That was a very nice comment from Greg. Yeah. I mean, it’s good. Obviously, we promote products and services that we like and use. Definitely, yours is up there, not in our minds only, but everyone that we promoted it to has had a lot of good things to say.

Lisa: Great.

Marco: Before we go, I have a question for Lisa. Something that I’ve been going back and forth with other people. It’s more on the coding side and how you see things. The thing is that I’ve been asking people whether they think that Google is broken, because as you know they just write code on top of code on top of code on top of code. Now what you just said, which just struck me as very interesting, is that you’re doing a complete rewrite. So would you agree or disagree that right now at that level Google is broken?

Lisa: I’m not sure that I would say that Google is broken. I mean, you gotta remember they have thousands and thousands of engineers on staff. I’m doing a total rewrite because I didn’t like some of what was done by the people who wrote some of the code for me that I paid to write code for me. These are guys who were supposed to be professional and they just, there’s things in there that I’ve just never liked and just thought, uh, that just really bothers me every time I’m in there. But to rewrite it would take so long.

But no, I don’t really think Google is broken so much. It’s just philosophically they’ve kind of shifted out of the, do you remember when their motto used to be don’t be evil? Well, they seem to have totally and completely forgotten about that. I think it has really become more of a reflection of the fact that they have decided that they have some hatchets to grind and then they really just kinda wanna dominate the market and they’ve decided that the market also means information and what people think and-

Bradley: And they wanna control and manipulate information, which is what they do.

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: Absolutely.

Lisa: It’s absolutely what they do.

Bradley: Yep.

Adam: Well, good deal. Real quick, I just want to say I noticed a little bit of a delay on this, if anyone’s watching, if you have any specific questions for Lisa, please pop them in there and then we’re going to get into the Hump Day Hangout questions.

Jay says, “I like Rankfeeder. Lisa, would love to know if you have any new creative ways on how to use it.”

Lisa: Well, like I said, new features are coming. You’re gonna like them.

Bradley: So hold your breath is what you’re saying?

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Stay tuned. We’ll definitely be asking her the same question in what sounds like a month.

Lisa: Yeah. I think you’ll really, really gonna like how you’re gonna be able to be getting really, really specific with locations.

Adam: Awesome.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Well, cool. Lisa, thanks again. Like I said, hang out if you want to, if you’re busy and got a run, we understand, but we’re gonna kinda switch over and we’ll do some Hump Day Hangout questions.

Lisa: All right. Well, I’ll hang out for a little while.

Adam: All right. Sounds good.

Lisa: Great.

Bradley: Guys, I’m gonna grab the screen and we’re gonna get right into it. Lisa, I emailed you the event page URL in case you want to check out the questions so if you want to check out the event page URL. But I’m gonna grab the screen and get into it.

Is There A Need To Put A Summary For The Full-Text Option For The RSS Feed Output Of A Self Hosted WordPress Website?

Okay. Nexxus Designs is up first. He says, “Hey. I have one question, it’s very important to me. With the RSS feed output of a WordPress self-hosted website, should we put out a summary for the full-text option?” That’s up to you, Nexxus Designs. It’s entirely up to you. It’s a personal preference. I don’t think it’s an issue to post the full text only because, well, for two reasons.

Number one, we have the attribution link that is either provided by the plugin or you can code that into the IFTTT applet yourself. Either way, if you followed our training, you know that the attribution link is critically important if you’re gonna be syndicating the full text of the post. Number two, is if you’re using our standard Syndication Network setup, there’s only three blog sites that we’re syndicating to. So there’s only three sites to get the full-text post anyways, right? That’s Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress. So it’s not an issue.

Essentially, I always like to leave full text posts because, again, it’s only being syndicated to really three sites that will republish the entire post anyways. The key is to be using the internal link from within the post itself from your main blog to be linking to the pages of the landing pages that you’re trying to rank. By publishing the full text of the post that internal link from within the body, the post body of the blog post itself, will also be published on the blog sites. Right? So Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress. So you get a little bit of additional links, in other words, built back to your original post and also to the page that you’re promoting within the post, if that makes sense.

However, if you want to just go summary, that’s perfectly fine. I prefer the full post method. But you can go with the summary method, just know that you will lose a little bit of SEO value to your internal page that you’re ultimately trying to promote. Because when you syndicate just the summary of the post you will get a link back to the post itself but you won’t get any of the internal links that we’re within the post body, if that makes sense. Which is still fine because now you’re funneling link juice or link equity back to that post, the original post, anyways, which will contain the internal link up to the page that you’re trying to promote.

Again, it’s 6 and ½ dozen in the other really. I prefer the full-text post because it looks less spammy on the blog sites. Think about it, summary posts on blog sites, guys, look spammy because it’s just usually a paragraph or a set number of characters and then it’s just a dot dot dot or read more or whatever. So in my opinion, on my branded blog syndication sites, which would be Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, I want the full text post so that it doesn’t look spammy. I want it to look nice, right? That’s part of the reason why I like the full text post. But again, it’s a personal preference, it’s not gonna hurt you either way.

Can We Connect DFY IFTTT To GMB RSS Following The Local Lease Pro (LLP) Posting System?

Anybody wanna comment on that? Okay. Peter’s up. He says, “Hey. Can we connect Done-For-You IFTTT to GMB RSS following the LLP posting system?” Yes, you can, Peter. I may be doing an additional training video on-, well, not maybe, at some point, probably after or after POFU Live, I’m gonna be doing some updated training for Local Lease Pro members. I’ll probably just host a webinar, guys, and invite all the Local Lease Pro members. I’m gonna be talking about some other stuff. I’m working on some other methods right now to push the GMB Maps listings into the 3-pack if they don’t appear in there initially from just the initial set up, which is really what the Local Lease Pro method is all about: finding those easy opportunities and securing them with little to no work.

However, there are gonna be some that you’re going to attempt that aren’t going to rank right away. But don’t abandon those, you can certainly get them to produce results or generate leads, but they’re gonna need a little bit of additional work. So that’s some of the stuff that I’m gonna be covering in update webinar. It will likely be in November before that’s available though, guys, because we got a ton other stuff we’re working on at the moment.

I’m still testing some new methods too. I can tell you one thing I’m really excited about. Lisa’s product coming out because I guarantee you Lisa’s product would work very, very well with this Local Lease Pro method since we’re gonna be able to use the RSS feeds from the GMB Autoposter to connect with Rankfeeder and create co-citation. I can see that being very, very powerful. So when Lisa’s product is ready, I will certainly look into that as part of the Local Lease Pro method as well. Okay.

Nexxus is up again. He says, “Edit. Thinking in terms of duplicate content here, if I am thinking correctly, RSS output is the summary only, then that’s good against duplicate content.” Okay. Nexxus Designs, I’m gonna stop you right there. Stop with the duplicate content stuff. Duplicate content is a myth on other sites, right? It’s only a problem if it’s on the same domain. If you’re publishing the same article over and over again on the same domain, then it’s a duplicate content issue that can create Panda penalties. But when it’s republished on external domains, it’s not a duplicate content issue, especially if you have an attribution link which points back to the original source. Okay?

Again, guys, I don’t mean to be hard on you, Nexxus Designs, but that comes up all the time. We cover this extensively in the training as well as in our frequently asked questions in our knowledge base at support.semanticmastery.com. All of that is covered because this question comes up a lot. Don’t worry about duplicate content. If duplicate content were a thing on external domains, Press Releases wouldn’t work. We all know that Press Releases work incredibly well, so explain that. Right?

Can You Look At My IFTTT Network?

Okay. Chris says, “Support question from Judd. I saw there was a forum where you can manage my IFTTT network. Also, I have two other companies that need SEO services. My request is, can I pay you to look at my IFTTT network?” Well, I mean, here’s the thing, Judd, if you bought it from us, sure, we’ll take a look at it. If you bought it from someone else, to be honest with you, I’m not gonna spend the time looking at it and I don’t think any of our builders or anybody on our team or support staff would. Because if it wasn’t built to our specifications, it’s basically should be canned and rebuilt anyways, like start all over, back to the drawing board, so to speak. I don’t know. If you bought it from us and you’re having issues, just contact Support.

“Also, for other companies that need SEO services.” No, we don’t provide SEO services. We provide Done-For-You services. However, you could always post your request in one of our groups that you’re a member of and see if there are any takers that you could chat with about potentially providing SEO services for you.

Hernan: Yeah. Actually, in our Mastermind, there are some people that have their own agencies. So if you’re part of that, you can post there and some Mastermind units will actually pass on work from one to the next and to each other because they’re either swarm or that’s not their style, there’s something else that they’re doing and whatnot. So that’s a pretty cool community over there.

Bradley: Yeah. I mean, even on the free group, Facebook group, you could still post and there will be … Just be aware that we are not vouching for anybody that you communicate with. In the Mastermind, that’d be a different story, but in any of our other groups, you have to vet anybody that responds to your request. You have to vet them on your own, okay? There’s nothing that we can do to help you with that and I apologize.

But, yeah, again, for IFTTT network stuff management, SERP space has a manager. It’s a basic manager that basically monitors the networks to make sure that properties aren’t down, it’ll alert you if RSS feed stop detecting new items, things like that. That’s over at Serpspace.com. That’s the network management. You can check that out too, if you’d like. Again, that’s just a very simple service. It’s more of a monitoring service than a management service. It’s beneficial when you’ve got a bunch of networks to maintain.

What Changes Should We Expect To The IFTTT Method Once Google Plus Shuts Down?

Chris Hayes says, “What kind of changes will happen in the IFTTT method once G+ shuts down? Can you guys make a video update?” Yeah, of course, we do. But I mean, it’s just one channel that gets shut down. It’s not really gonna affect much at all. I mean, G+ is being terminated. We see more evidence of that now than ever. Almost daily we’re seeing more and more evidence of that. I just saw an article posted recently in one of our groups about even more steps that Google’s taking to remove or to completely shut down Google Plus. But it’s only one property, Chris. Don’t worry about it. It’s one property out of what, two dozen? It’s not that big of an issue. I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

Will we create an update video? Yeah, sure. I mean, we do update webinars, although we’re gonna be probably shifting or changing how that’s handled too. But anyways, in one of the upcoming update webinars, we will discuss that a little bit more. In fact, I’m gonna make a note of that right now.

Marco: Yeah. While you’re making a note, let me just say that there’s plenty more Google properties that we can abuse besides Google Plus, which we do. If you’re a part of RYS Reloaded you know just how many properties we go into and just totally hammer away at Google.

When Will You Add Citations Lessons In Local Lease Pro?

Bradley: Yep. Okay. Peter says, “Hey again. When you’ll add citations lesson in LLP Local Lease Pro?” I’m hoping to add that today. If it’s not done today, it’ll be done tomorrow, Peter. It’s just a quick lesson, very, very simple. I’m just gonna point you to a resource that’s affordable for monthly citation packages, which is what I recommend. But I’ll create a quick video explaining it too, okay? It should be there today. If not today, it’ll be there tomorrow for sure.

Will The Video Power House And Network Management Subscription Services Be Moved To Mygb.co From SerpSpace?

Chris says-, or excuse me, Ritchie Inman posted: “We have a video powerhouse subscription and a network management subscription currently at Serpspace. Are those moving to mgyb.co?” No. Those are gonna stay in Serpspace. “Are we able to get an update as to what is going to be where?” Well, I mean, pretty much just check out mgyb.co often because we’re adding more and more products. Again, three were just added to it today, Press releases, what else?

Marco: CORA and Syndication Networks.

Bradley: Syndication Networks. All I would recommend, Ritchie, is just go check MGYB often. But, yeah, video powerhouse, maps powerhouse, network management or monitoring, that’s all staying under Serpspace. Okay.

Is It Still Worth The Time To Keep Using Rank Feeder For Co-Citation Now That Google Plus Is Shutting Down?

Next, Kay Dee says, “Hey guys, with Google Plus shutting down, is it still worth in the meantime to keep using Rankfeeder for co-citation or will this be wasted effort? Thanks.” Well, Google Plus shutting down doesn’t affect Rankfeeder unless you’re using Google Plus RSS feeds as part of Rankfeeder. Does that make sense? Lisa can talk about that too. But Rankfeeder is about combining feeds together or adding multiple feeds to create a feed which creates co-citation. Unless you were using Google Plus RSS feeds, which there are a few online services that you can generate a Google Plus feed-, or an RSS feed from Google Plus, then it shouldn’t affect that at all. Right?

I mean, there’s still plenty of other RSS options out there. Remember, with Rankfeeder, those of you that are familiar with it, you can also add sticky items which aren’t even RSS feeds, they’re just singular-, excuse me, single URLs and you can add those as sticky items to blend in with the overall feed to create that additional co-citation. Again, Google Plus is just one of many different things that you could include into Rankfeeder.

Lisa, do you wanna mention something about that?

Lisa: Yeah. Actually, if you are using some of the Google Plus feeds in some way, what happens when a feed disappears is that Rankfeeder just starts ignoring it. If it ignores it a certain number of times, like for a long period, then it will just be removed. But since you can go in and edit your feeds, they’re not one-shot and you’re stuck with whatever you put in there, you can also go and replace the missing Google Plus RSS feeds with other things.

Bradley: There you go.

Lisa: You can completely update it and you keep them fresh and relevant with the same URLs that were generating power for you up till that point.

Bradley: Kay Dee, a couple of options would be Google Plus-, or excuse me, Google sites, also the GMB, if you’re using Google My Business stuff, it’s for local, if you’re using our autoposter, which generates a RSS feed from the GMB posts, that’s something else that you can include. There’s a lot of snazzy stuff that you can do with it. So Google Plus, G+ was just a one piece of many that go into that. I wouldn’t worry about it, guys. Google Plus is not that big of a deal that it’s shutting down. That’s the nature of the internet marketing world, right?

Lisa: Yeah. I think it’s really a relative nothing in terms of never really … I know a lot of people hopped on there to try and get SEO benefits from it because, as we all know, that Google favors their own properties. But as far as being a real social network, I don’t think it ever really caught fire and really caught on. I think that’s why they’re dumping it. I’m kinda surprised they didn’t dump it sooner because it just didn’t do that well.

Bradley: Yeah. It’s interesting. I remember all the way back in, I think 2010, '11, when I started my career in digital marketing that Google Plus, I remember articles coming out all the time, the big curated SEO sites like Search Engine Journal and all those sites, and also like social media examiner and all that, all the time I remember articles coming out saying, “Google Plus is dead,” “Google’s killing Google Plus,” this and that.

For years I’ve seen articles like that. I used to laugh at it because for a while there Google Plus was so integrated into all of Google’s products and it was really as part of the onset of the semantic web. When Google started to adapt semantic web technology and I think they were using Google Plus as kind of a identity validator. Right? It was a way to associate a profile with an individual, like a Google account with an individual, and then that way it would attach that profile or identify that person as being real because that Google Plus was now integrated with all of other Google’s products. I think it was a way to, originally, was to kind of reduce spam, believe it or not.

I didn’t think that they were ever going to shut it down. But apparently after just being beaten to death in the social media world by all the other platforms for so many years, Google finally decided to remove it. They’ve been taking steps for, what, the last year and a half, two years. I think it really started when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube, when they disintegrated or when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube. Remember, guys, in order to have a YouTube channel, you have to have a Google Plus account. I think when they separated those two is really the start of the demise of Google Plus. Anyways, that was a good question.

Does A Google Site Created Through The GMB Profile Show Up In The Organic Search Results Or Is Only Accessible Via The GMB Profile?

Gordon says, “Hey guys, thank you very much again for your help on Hump Days, it’s greatly appreciated.” You’re welcome, Gordon. He says, “Does a Google site created through GMB profile show up in organic search results or is it only accessible via …?” No. I’m not sure I understand, Gordon, what you’re saying. You’re saying “is a Google site,” now are you talking about sites.google.com or are you talking about GMB website?

In either case, they’re available and they’re both indexable which means they’re public. Publicly viewable to anybody, right? GMB websites as well as Google sites, sites.google.com are both indexable so anybody can see them. You don’t have to be logged in through a profile to see them, unless they’re just not indexed yet. But just be patient, the windex provided you guys some content on there and they’ll be fine.

Marco: The business site indexes within an hour.

Bradley: Yeah. The business site index is really quick, yeah.

Marco: And it does rank.

Bradley: Yep.

Marco: There’s things that you have to do to make it rank, which is taught in Local GMB Pro or you can just go and ask me in Local GMB Pro how to get that website to show up and rank. But I mean, it does. It’s a great asset.

Bradley: I’m curious because I haven’t worked on this project in months. Yeah. Right there, it’s Mario’s-, excuse me, right there, it’s the business site for, this was the case study I did for Local GMB Pro and that’s the business site right there. That’s the GMB website right there, guys, and it’s ranked number two for the brand search. See that? Yelp outranks the brand search, that’s crazy. But there you go, business site right there. So, yes, it will rank.

Does Google Ranks Mobile Responsive And Stand Alone Mobile Specific Site Differently?

Number two, “For ranking purposes, does Google look differently at mobile responsive site and a standalone mobile-specific site? If you’re targeting mobile searches only, can you rank in standalone mobile-specific site without forwarding a desktop site?” Yeah, you can. I don’t know. Marco might know this. But does Google look at differently between mobile responsive and standalone mobile specific sites? I don’t know. I know that a lot of responsive sites like WordPress themes that are responsive WordPress themes are coded really shitty. They suck and they’re terrible for the mobile algorithm, a lot of them are. They might say that they’re mobile-friendly, but they’re just coded really poorly. Again, I’m not a coder so I don’t understand any of that stuff, I just know that some of those mobile responsive WordPress themes suck in the mobile first index, they don’t perform well.

In the past, I would create just an HTML landing page as a mobile and put it on an M-dot subdomain and then use a redirect script, a PHP redirect script to point any mobile browsers to the HTML mobile page. But I’ve even stopped doing that because, honestly, I’m not even really building, I’m doing everything in GMB now, which is all GMB code and it’s all mobile responsive and mobile-friendly and everything else. I’m not even building WordPress sites at the moment.

Marco, what can you say about that?

Marco: I’m with you. I haven’t built a WordPress site in quite a while. Mobile responsive versus standalone, I would think that there would be no difference as long as they’re mobile responsive. Check it and make sure that it is actually mobile responsive and that it validates. Right? Other than that, I’m sorry, but dude, we’re doing everything inside the Google My Business-

Bradley: Or Google, period. Like sites.google.com, those are mobile responsive now, especially the new ones. They look great too.

Marco: The classic were also responsive. All you had to do was take a box while you were working on it to make it mobile-friendly.

Bradley: Yeah. That’s it. Guys, I’m not trying to discourage you from creating WordPress sites. I just, honestly, I’m building my business completely within Google right now, just because they’re free, number one; number two, it’s easy and fast. As long as it’s working I’m gonna do it. I can always go back to WordPress as needed. There’s a lot of headaches that come along with working in WordPress, like all the stupid updates and hosting issues. It’s just a lot of stuff that I’m so glad I’m not having to build a bunch of WordPress sites right now. It’s been refreshing.

Is It True That Google’s Recent Change On Mobile First Indexing Affects Ranking?

Number three, he says, “If it does not appear-, excuse me, if it does not appear that Google’s recent mobile first indexing changes affect ranking, can you please clarify?” Gordon, it should. I mean, it really depends. What they’re saying is the mobile, they’re basing desktop and laptop search results now off of the mobile index. Unless you’ve got sites that just don’t respond well at all for mobile, for example, they’re not mobile-friendly, the text is too small and you can’t click on menu navigation links and that kind of stuff, then that kinda stuff can actually pull now your rankings down because it’s based upon the mobile first index or the mobile index first, essentially.

But if you’re using stuff that is responsive and it passes like that, there’s even a tool that Google has for testing that, then you shouldn’t really have an issue. Right? I mean, at least that’s what I found. What I found was really interesting is you said it doesn’t change the fact rankings, it doesn’t change or affect ranking much.

But what we’ve been finding, especially because of the GMB stuff that we’ve been doing inside of Google My Business, is that we’re really speaking directly to the mobile algorithm with GMB posts and all the stuff that we’re doing with proximity and geolocation and all of that stuff is speaking directly to the mobile first algorithm, which is awesome because we’re able to get results even if they’re ranking, and I’m using air quotes, doesn’t show that we’re ranking well, we’re still able to generate clicks to the website and calls, generate leads essentially, from stuff that the rank trackers are showing aren’t ranking well. So explain that.

Well, that’s because we’re tickling the mobile-first index. That’s what Marco calls “the google tickle.” Right? That’s one of many that we have. But that’s exactly what we’re doing, is because we’re using geolocation and proximity and all of that stuff to be able to serve our content directly to mobile searchers in the area where they’re searching. Again, that has to do with the mobile first index.

Guys, this has opened up so much opportunity, in my opinion, since the end of July when this was really rolled out. We’ve been reaping the benefits of these opportunities for the GMB Pro method and Local Lease Pro method now for the last few months, last couple of months. It’s awesome because, as I’ve mentioned on previous Hump Day Hangouts, guys, I used to always just target my primary keywords for local stuff plus local modifiers. In other words, it would be whatever the service or product was plus the local modifier.

That’s always how I optimize for everything up until this summer. Now I’m optimizing for just the general product or service keywords and I’m getting crazy results. I’m generating more leads now than ever because we’re able to get those short tail search queries, we’re able to get results and get traffic from those because we’re talking directly to the mobile first algorithm.

People that are searching for mobile, typically, unless they’re searching for a product or service outside of where they’re located, like in another area that they’re going to be going to, typically, people when they start to search for a product or service from a mobile device, they’ll start typing their query and then they’re just gonna hit whatever the suggested phrase pops up that Google suggested to them that’s closest to their intended query. Most of the time Google is going to suggest without local modifiers. So that’s what they’re tapping on now and that’s what our content is optimized for those terms without the local modifier because of where we’re publishing the content is within close proximity to that searcher. Right?

Again, it’s a little bit more advanced than what we typically cover on Hump Day Hangouts, but it works really, really well. If you’re basing any of your tracking now on any desktop, laptop search result stuff, guys, stop it. Okay? Stop it. Just be paying attention to mobile stuff. That’s why part of the reason I always talk about using Google Ads ad preview and diagnosis tool because then you can go in and actually set a location. Within Google, you can specify a location and then do a search there and you will see what the search results should look like to somebody in that specific location. You can’t really do that with rank trackers anymore.

Okay. Anyways, that was a good question, Gordon. Go ahead.

Marco: Let me just add that we keep seeing a direct correlation between activity in the Google My Business listing through everything we do through Local GMB Pro. Everything that we teach inside Local GMB Pro, there’s a direct correlation with activity, and then even in organic, it brings up the organic rankings.

Bradley: Yeah.

Marco: I mean, you can see it. You’ll see the amount of keywords that you’re ranking for blow up in search console. To the point where you’re ranking for hundreds of keywords that you never thought would be attainable and all of a sudden that’s right there. If you just look at organic, you would never know how that was done, but we know that we’re doing all of the work in the Google My Business listing.

Bradley: Yeah. One of the other things I wanna mention is, and we’ve kind of talked about this in some of our other groups, guys, but I don’t want to give out too much, but this is a nice little nugget. Guys, go into your GMB Insights. For those of you doing local, which again it’s most of you, go into GMB Insights and take a look at the search queries that have brought engagement to your listing, and extract those search queries that are relevant, which most of them will.

By the way, you’re gonna see a lot of near me and near my location and stuff like that type of keywords right now. I mean, that’s why it’s all mobile stuff, guys. It’s all mobile search stuff. If you extract those keywords from the GMB Insights report that are relevant and start promoting those in GMB posts and content, then you’ll start getting more and more traffic for those. It’s crazy. It’s like Google tells you which keywords are bringing you traffic and then you promote those keywords and it brings you so much more. It’s crazy. It’s just like Google’s giving you the keys to the kingdom right now, guys.

Amazon SEO

Again, I don’t know how long it’s gonna last, but while it does exploit it. Okay. Jordan. What’s up, Jordan? He says, “Is anyone here an Amazon SEO guru?” I am not. I don’t think any of my partners are either. “Needing help with a potential client, either white-label or we’ll give them to you for finder fee, and I don’t wanna learn that mess.” I don’t blame you, Jordan. “It’s not our wheelhouse nor do I want it to be. Staying large regional and national focused. Hit me up jordanfowler@moonandowl.com.”

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: I’m sorry?

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: No. He’s in Syndication Academy but in Mastermind.

Hernan: Okay. Well, I mean, in the Syndication Academy group, maybe you can find somebody.

Bradley: Yeah. I was going to ask Lisa if she had any advice on ecommerce SEO or Amazon SEO.

Lisa: Well, just make sure you’re in a cart that is friendly to SEO URLs. Also, one thing that I found when I was doing my store, now I’ve sold my store several years ago to somebody else, but one thing that I did find is that the RSS for products actually will help boost the products quite a bit. So if you have, make sure you get a cart that has the ability to have RSS feeds for product categories. Then go and submit those feeds to all kinds of different aggregators, you’ll get quite a boost. I mean, it was really amazing what we found when I had a VA doing that for me.

What Is The Best Way To Index Press Releases?

Bradley: Jordan, looks like Greg might have also replied to your comment on the event page. I suggest also maybe getting through that. Greg’s question is: “Hey, I purchased a monthly subscription of Press Releases service after your webinar three weeks ago. First, two PRs went out last week. For each, I received a list of 100 plus pickups. However, when searching in Google for the title or a sentence in quotes, only the PR services, PR and digital journal show in Google. What is the best way to get all those other indexed? Or just simply wait for Google to notice and index them over time?”

Greg, first of all, don’t worry about it. Most of them are probably indexed, they’re just in the supplemental index, because that’s the nature of Press Releases. Because it’s the same content, right? Guys, don’t associate duplicate content penalties with this, with what I’m talking about here because that’s not the case. But if a press release which is republished word-for-word across hundreds of sites, Google will take those and many of them and put them in what’s called the Supplemental Index.

I’m going to show you exactly what I mean here to demonstrate. Okay? Right here, this is press release title that I just had published for the project that I built out for the Local Lease Pro training. Okay. This was just published, well, just a few days ago, anyways. You can see that I just did a search for the title, which is showing digital journal here, right? So this was just published, I don’t know, just a couple days ago. Anyways, you can see that that’s the full title of it, right? That’s what’s showing digital journal. It’s the only one that’s indexed on this page.

But if you look down at the bottom where it says “In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the six already displayed.” Well, I don’t see six displayed, I see one, unless they’re talking about five images here, which they might be. Yeah, I guess they are, because the rest of those are ads.

But if you take a look and click on the Supplemental Index, all of a sudden here it shows up, there’s five of them that are showing as indexed. By the way, that’s why, this was just published 12 hours ago. That’s why not all of them have even been indexed yet. So if we were to come back and search this again in another 24 hours, it’s likely that there will be dozens and dozens of results. They’re probably still gonna be hidden behind the Supplemental Index, you have to click that link at the bottom to see all of them. But what happens is you end up with most of that.

Now again, don’t worry about getting them indexed, Greg, you’ll drive yourself absolutely crazy if every time you submit a press release you go collect all the links from the report and then submit them to indexers. That’s a lot of additional work. Don’t worry about it. Those news sites get crawled often by Google, they will get indexed. Whether they show or they’re put in the Supplemental Index, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them. Trust me. So don’t worry about that because you’re just adding additional work, you’re over-complicating, which you don’t need to.

Okay? I’m not picking on you at all, Greg. I understand why you may worry about that. But a lot of people have asked us questions about Syndication Networks and the links not being indexed. But if you go in the search console and you look at links to your site, you’ll see WordPress, and Tumblr, and Diigo, and all the sites within the syndication network do have backlinks pointed to the site, and Google knows about them. Whether they’re indexed or not, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them and is giving you credit for them. We’ve even tested no index PBNs, guys, and it’s worked. It’s given us boosts.

Again, don’t worry about that, you’ll drive yourself crazy, Greg. All right. We’ve only got about five more minutes, guys. I do have to leave pretty much on time today. So we’re gonna try to roll through just a couple more questions.

“Can we get a recorded webinar link from Monday, from Marco’s webinar?” Yeah. Guys, it’s coming. Everybody relax. It’s coming. We promise you the replay will be made available as soon as possible. Marco, do we have an ETA on that?

Marco: It’s not only the replay, I’m putting everything together. Right? I have to put together all of the training, the video that I did showing, well, you know what it does, from S3 to CloudFlare. I’m also giving them tutorials for CloudFlare and S3 buckets. I’m trying to put everything together. It doesn’t help when I have people reaching out to me. The video was still, I think I told you guys, it was rendering and people were already reaching out to me for the replay webinar. It doesn’t help, guys. It’ll get done when it gets done. As soon as it gets done, it’ll be made available.

Bradley: Scott. “Finally got a plumbing client onboard for GMB account that was set up with your service. The account was sitting just outside the 3-pack when it was first verified. Now in the 3-pack with just a small amount of effort after week one. Location population for a city of 125K. Thanks, guys.” That’s freaking awesome, Scott. I love that you posted that. That’s amazing. Guys, I mean, it’s crazy, even the site that I just was showing you guys, the press release for Mustang 3 pros, I just set that up last week, and 12 hours ago, the press release was published and I’m sitting in the number four position right now, if I do a localized search, like I said, using …

Anyways, my point is, guys, it’s sitting in position number four and I still haven’t done citations to it yet, I haven’t really done any GMB posts other than the original post that I did. So I mean all the stuff that I teach in Local Lease Pro, guys, hasn’t even been applied to that yet and I’m already in the number four position in maps. So think about that. Scott is just validating what I’ve been talking about, guys. You do the research properly on the front-end and then you optimize the profile when you first set it up, or get it back from us if you’re using our service.

So far, about 60% of the time, for me, that’s all it takes to get into the 3-pack. Doing the other stuff that I’m doing right now, which is the GMB posts press releases, and then monthly citations, I’m seeing like almost, out of the remaining 40%, another 15 to 20% of those within the first seven days get pushed into the 3-pack. The remaining ones that aren’t pushed into the 3-pack, it just requires a little more of the same. Just more of the same, so more GMB posts, perhaps another press release, perhaps another month of citation building, something like that. Right? That’s all it takes.

We’re also working on some additional methods right now, guys, for pushing those listings that aren’t popping into the 3-pack. Yeah. I’m working on some other methods too and I’ll update you guys on that probably in November. All right.

Is There Any Limit On The Number Of Links You Can Throw At An RYS Project And Not Get Penalized?

Okay, guys. I guess I’m gonna answer Jeff Sass’s question and we’re gonna wrap it up because we’re at the 5 o'clock mark and I have to go and I’m sure others do as well, Jeff says, “Question regarding RYS project done for a client through Serpspace. Is there any limit that you’ve seen with regards to links you can throw at it and not get penalized?” Marco can answer that one, but we haven’t seen a limit yet. Have we, Marco?

Marco: No limit.

Bradley: Okay. Number two, “Also, even though my client already has one RYS project produced, is there an additional benefit to doing another and another or should we just be beating the shit out of the one that’s already done?” No. There is benefit, Jeff. It just depends. It really depends on what your setup is and your configuration, your site structure, all that kind of stuff. Marco, what would you suggest?

Marco: I would suggest that, if he’s a member of RYS Academy Reloaded, that he reaches out to me in there because we did a webinar telling you exactly what you need to do with that one drive stack and how to power it up to get even more power out of it, and just continue getting power out of that same stack.

Bradley: There you go. The last thing, he says, “If you haven’t pimped your research service yet, do so now. It rocks.” I’m assuming he’s talking about the keyword research service yet. Is that available? That’s live in MGYB now, isn’t it?

Marco: Keyword research? No, it’s not live yet. We’ve done sales of it. I mean, we could try doing another one, maybe next Hump Day. For you guys attending live, we’ll have a few keyword research projects available that you can take advantage of. But, yeah, it’s coming. It’s just getting hooked up into the marketplace-, excuse me, the MGYB store.

Bradley: Yep. Okay. I just saw Eddie said … Thanks for that, Eddie. “I’m not an SEO or a CEO, but the way Bradley teaches makes it easy to understand and great for newbies.” He’s talking about Local Lease Pro. “What is the best way to bill or charge the business?” I’m pretty sure that’s covered in the training, Eddie, but I’ll double check when I’m in there adding the citation lesson. If it’s not, then I’ll make a note to add another lesson specifically about how to bill or charge a business. Honestly, I just use PayPal for that, but you can get as creative with that as you want. Anyways, I’ll make a note of that if it’s not in there and I’ll add a lesson for it. Okay?

Everybody, I wanna thank you guys for being here. Lisa, thank you for sticking around even for the additional time.

Lisa: It was awesome to be here.

Bradley: Awesome, guys. Thanks everyone else. We’ll see you guys next week. Lisa, please keep in touch with us and let us know about the updates.

Lisa: I will. I definitely will. I think you’re gonna love them.

Bradley: Great. Thank you guys. Bye.

Hernan: Bye guys.

Lisa: Bye.

Marco: Bye everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205 posted first on your-t1-blog-url

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Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205

Click on the video above to watch Episode 205 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

Full timestamps with topics and times can be found at the link above.

The latest upcoming free SEO Q&A Hump Day Hangout can be found at http://semanticmastery.com/humpday.

  Announcement

Adam: All right. We are live. Welcome everybody to Hump Day Hangouts Episode 205. Today is the 10th of October 2018. We’ve got the whole gang here as well as our special guest, who I will get to in just a moment. But real quick, we’re gonna take a minute to say hi to everybody, get through some quick announcements and then we will dive right into it.

Actually, I’m starting to realize, and it only took me 204 episodes to realize, that I think you guys are lined up the same time every single time on my screen, which is interesting. There we go. It only took almost four years. Chris, how are you doing good, man?

Chris: Doing good. Excited to be spot number one here all the time. Love it. How are you doing?

Adam: Can’t complain. This is like one of those shower thoughts. It’s just this revelation that means absolutely nothing and I feel stupid for having realized it. But, yeah, it’s good to know. Hernan, how are you doing, man?

Hernan: Good. I’m excited to be after Chris all the time. Yeah. I’m really, really excited for what’s coming. I’m really excited to have our guest today. Also for POFU Live 2018, it’s gonna be amazing too.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I’m not trying to skipper on purpose, but I’m not sure if you guys can see we have Lisa Allen as our special guest. We’re gonna circle back around to her in just a minute and introduce her a little bit more properly. Marco, how are you doing, man?

Marco: What’s up, man? It’s great to see Lisa Allen here. She’s a good friend of Semantic Mastery. We’ve had her around before. She does some awesome automation. I’m not gonna take your spotlight, Lisa. You can go ahead and toot your own horn. But it’s really good to have you here again joining us. It’s always fun to have you on talking about what you’ve been up to. Thank you for joining us.

Lisa: Thank you for inviting me.

Bradley: Awesome.

Adam: Good deal. Last but not least, Bradley, how are you doing, man?

Bradley: Okay. I think I just figured out why they’re always lined up the way they are. I think it’s by alphabetical order by the name in the profile. So it’s Adam, Chris, Hernan, Lisa, Marco, and then, for me, it says “you,” Y-O-U. I think it’s always alphabetical.

Adam: No, on my screen, you’re Semantic Mastery. Yeah, this is a train wreck. Thanks, everybody for watching us. This is what we do every episode.

Bradley: Anyways, I’m glad to be here, glad that Lisa is here. We’ve got an exciting week ahead of us because POFU Live is next weekend. We’re really looking forward to that. I’m actually preparing for that now. That’s what I’ve been doing all day. POFU Live members, I’m really excited about it. I’m excited to have Lisa here. It’s been a long time since we had her here so it’s good to catch up with her again. She’s always got a lot of great insight about the SEO industry and marketing in general. So happy to be here, man.

Adam: Cool. Well, we got a couple quick announcements, like Bradley just mentioned, POFU Live next weekend. If you can make it, we still do, I think there’s two or three tickets still available. I’ll pop the links on there in a little bit after we get done talking here. But you can still grab those kind of the last chance to do that before we go to shut things down lock in the numbers and all that good stuff.

Also, if you’re watching us for the first time, thank you. We’ve obviously been here. We didn’t make up the number. We’ve been here for 205 episodes. We hope we’re here for another 205. Thank you for watching. We really appreciate it. If you wanna ask questions live, that’s great. If you’re watching the replay, that’s fine too. Check us out on YouTube or wherever you’re watching us and feel free to ask questions. You can join us live at semanticmastery.com/hdquestions every week.

Bradley: By the way, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Adam: Yes, which would be right here. So, yeah, subscribe. Also, if you’re looking for the place to start with us, the Battle Plan, I’m gonna pop the links on the page for you. This is good for anyone starting, anyone who wants a repeatable process, who’s been in the game for a while. It covers a lot of really good aspects of SEO, digital marketing, things for keyword research, working with a new domain, aged domains, all that stuff. Then, if you’re ready to take it up a few notches, of course, we do have our Mastermind and we invite you to also check out that and see if that’s the right fit for you.

One last thing before we get started, I believe, Marco, that the MGYB store has had some updates, right?

Marco: Yes, sir. We got CORA, we’ve got Syndication Academy up and running, and since we’ve been talking so much about Local Lease Pro press releases.

Adam: Yeah.

Bradley: Which, by the way, there’s still two lessons missing out on Local Lease Pro, one is for citations and one is for Press Releases. Part of the reason those lessons weren’t there was I was waiting for our order page to be done on MGYB for me to be able to demonstrate how to order Press Releases through that, guys. The citations stuff, honestly, I’ve just been really slammed this week. I haven’t got the lesson done. But I’m hoping as soon as I get done with Hump Day Hangouts today to record a quick lesson on that. It’s very simple. Hopefully, I’ll have that up within about 10 or 15 minutes after Hump Day Hangouts today, guys. Any of you that were inquiring about that missing lesson, it will be there shortly. Trust me, it’ll be worth the wait.

Adam: Good deal. Any last minute announcements, you guys, before we dive into it?

Hernan: Let’s do it.

Adam: All right. Cool. Well, like we said, Lisa Allen is here with us. We appreciate Lisa, you coming on and hanging out with us. Again, for people who haven’t seen us over maybe for, about a year I guess was the last time we talked, man, that’s crazy.

Lisa: Yes.

Adam: Anyways, we talked to Lisa about a year ago. Instead of telling everyone about you, if you don’t mind, just kinda get everyone up speed where you came from and what you kind of do online. I think that’d be the best way for people to kind of find out about you.

Lisa: Well, I’m one of those people who always kinda have my hands on everything. I see something that looks interesting and I kinda go that direction. It’s just kinda how I got into online marketing, it’s how I got into the internet. It’s just I see something interesting and I think I could do that, so I go off and I kinda explore what’s going on. I really got into the internet first after a divorce, a few, probably like 15 years ago, 20 years ago. Gosh, I’m dating myself.

Adam: Just a couple of years ago, it’s all right. I’ve started seeing the same face.

Lisa: Anyway, I started hanging out. Do you guys remember when AOL was king and there were like all these little local systems with local bulletin board system?

Bradley: Yeah.

Lisa: [Inaudible 00:06:43]

Chris: Until last year?

Lisa: Well, no, I mean, it’s been quite a while. Anyway, that’s just kinda where I really hit the internet really hard was after that. Got into working for a company doing web mastering for a while and that kinda flung me off into doing coding. Then I’ve had an online store, a couple of different online stores, and so I was kind of using my coding along with some of my organizational skills to do that. Then, of course, I ran afoul with Google, and who hasn’t done that at least a couple of times? So they kicked me off their ad platform, so then I had to figure out this whole SEO thing.

Adam: What was the timeframe on that? When did you start getting into SEO stuff?

Lisa: I would say that was about 2011, 2012 really because I was running a store for about five years before that and, like I said, I got kicked off. They decided they didn’t like the product that I was selling and they booted me off, all my stores got booted off.

Bradley: Lisa, you said 2011 or ‘12ish, which is crazy, because I remember specifically buying a product that you launched with Peter Garety’s help about …

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: It used IFTTT and it was for triggering syndications through Google Calendar using IFTTT. It would resyndicate because you could set calendar events in the future, they would cause it to re-syndicate the video again out to the network. It was amazing training. It was right after I had learned about IFTTT, David Cossack or whatever. It was amazing training. I’ll never forget that. That was around 2011, 2012, if I remember correctly.

Lisa: Yeah. I think that was probably 2012 or maybe early 2013 because I had launched something else with Peter about Pinterest. It was how to get traffic using Pinterest which was my first real product.

Bradley: That’s with Peter Drew or where Peter Garety? It was Peter Garety, right?

Lisa: It was Peter Garety, yeah.

Bradley: Right.

Lisa: We worked for a while. Yeah. That was actually a lot of fun. I think that may have actually been an add-on to that product, like an extra bonus training. It’s funny, the thing I remember about that training is the bonus and not the original training.

Adam: I was just looking around, what’s Peter Garety up to? This is a total tangent, but that’s just … Yeah. He was coming out with stuff like that.

Lisa: Yeah. I think he decided that he wanted to spend a little more time with his family. As far as I know he built himself his own little shopping cart platform, kinda like Shopify. He runs that and he gets recurring from that. So you see him pop up every once in a while, in JVZoo groups and stuff like that just to say some things, but he’s not really promoting really hard anymore.

Bradley: Yeah. I think before he went off the grid he was doing a lot of heavy ecomm, promoting ecomm products and stuff, so I’m assuming that that’s what he went into.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: That’s right. DashNex. Okay. I was looking this up while we were talking. Okay. Cool. Okay. So sorry about that. We just totally went off the grill there. Okay. We’re up to like 2011, 2012, you start getting into the SEO side of things, how did it go from there?

Lisa: Well, I was SEO and things so that I could get traffic for the online store that I had, I was selling jewelry parts. The stuff that I learned while I was trying to rank for things got turned around into products. So we did a curation traffic blueprint where I was teaching people how to curate content and get traffic from that, because that’s so much easier than writing original content. You can do it just snap, snap, snap.

So we did that and then I started doing some keyword tools. I just sort of, actually, I think before we got to the keyword tool, the RSS authority sniper strategy that we do, that was something that we had started doing manually. My sister was acting as one of my VAs. It took a long time to do that manually. I mean, it was really effective but it took 15, 20 minutes, sometimes an hour to do that, to look up all the different feeds and then go and do all the copy-paste to put it here, put it there, all that kinda stuff. She started complaining about that, just really, she was really like …

Adam: That’s a very real pain point when your sister was complaining to you.

Lisa: Yeah, I know. I’m like, “Okay, I better go code something.” That was where RSS Authority Sniper came from.

Bradley: Which, by the way, that was a great product. I was gonna say you still have Rankfeeder going right now, correct?

Lisa: Yeah, I do. I’m actually just been rewriting the whole feed generation so that I can add more features in. I’ve got something really neat coming out in the next month or so with Rankfeeder and then a rerelease of RSS Authority Sniper to go with it. It’s gonna be the way it targets local places very, very specifically.

Bradley: Oh, man, now you’re speaking our language, Lisa. Honestly, guys, we promoted Lisa’s Rankfeeder before because it’s the co-citation tool using RSS feeds. It’s amazing. It’s super, super powerful. It’s very, very effective. I stand by that statement. Anything that you’re gonna be doing that’s gonna address local specifically, Lisa, certainly reach out to us. We will get behind that in a heartbeat because about 60% of our RSS is local.

Lisa: I think you’re gonna like it because, like I said, we’re gonna … Some of the stuff that I’ve already added in after I finished rewriting the feed generator is I’ve added the categories that you get to pick into so that they’re actually inside the feed and all the tags also get treated as categories inside your feed. I mean, you’re getting a lot more power to really target with the feed on an SEO basis, that kinda thing. Yeah. I think you’re really gonna like what comes after that.

Bradley: Very cool.

Adam: Sounds awesome. Well, I wanted to make sure we have enough time to cover this. The next question I had, and I love asking this to people, is where do you see, in terms of, I’ll leave this really broad, not just SEO, but where do you see either SEO or kind of online digital marketing going in the next couple of years? Then a side question of that, or somewhere else you can go with this, is what’s the most important things you see happening?

Lisa: Well, this is a really interesting time for online things. You’re seeing a lot of movement, different places, and you’re seeing a lot of things happening that people don’t necessarily like, you’re seeing a lot of censorship, you’re seeing a lot of kinda misrepresenting what people are saying and that kind of thing, and you’re seeing Silicon Valley really go and start trying to basically meddle in society that they wanna be the … It’s like the government isn’t big brother anymore, but they wanna be.

I think you’re gonna see, and I’m already kind of seeing movement, this is outside of Google’s control and outside of Facebook’s control. I think as marketers and SEO is we really need to be monitoring those additional places that are coming into the marketplace and start using those platforms and start seeing them because I think that censorship and …

I mean, Google tries to censor SEO people all the time. They try and say, “Well, we don’t want you to backlink,” and “We don’t want you to do this,” and “We’re in control of whether you rank for anything or not.” I don’t know any SEO person who actually says, “Yeah, you’re right. You can have total complete control over everything I do and say.”

It’s like, we find a way around. I think you’re gonna see that there’s gonna be as they’ve kinda spread out from just kind of controlling, trying to control SEOs to try and control the wider society. I think you’re really gonna see that there’s gonna be a lot of movement outside where people are gonna go, “Well, I think that’s a little bit too far.”

Adam: Yeah, definitely. It’s funny, I think me and Marco came across that article at the same time, but there’s one about Tim Berners-Lee working on like a decentralized kind of protocols. I think it’s called Solid through MIT. Have you heard about this?

Lisa: No, I haven’t heard of that one yet.

Adam: Yeah. Just check it out afterwards. It’s an interesting idea, but it’s that idea of saying, “Yeah. You know what, no matter what happens, if this turns into a monopoly, which it quickly is, then that doesn’t really benefit anyone.” So it was meant to be decentralized in the first place so I think, anyways, I don’t know if this is gonna work, but something like that I think appeals to a lot of people.

Lisa: Yeah. You’re already seeing movements. A lot of people are moving away from them as their search engine when they’re doing their own personal things. I mean, I haven’t used Google as my search engine when I’m actually doing research for years. I mean, I’ve been using DuckDuckGo, and you have places alternatives to Twitter like Gab coming up, and there’s a several new video platforms coming up that now that YouTube is really kind of just really been stomping on people. Yeah. I mean …

Adam: I’m just curious, what are some of the new YouTube-, sorry, new YouTube, that’s showing how well ingrained it is, what are some of the new video platforms?

Bradley: Well, Amazon Video has got to be one of them, right?

Lisa: What’s that?

Bradley: Amazon Video has to be one of them, right?

Lisa: Yeah. Amazon video is a pretty good one, although they also, I don’t know, I kinda think that they also have that risk of becoming more of a bully in the future.

Adam: Well, they’ll just take over what you’re creating and create it themselves.

Lisa: Yeah. Just like they have, like all the little online stores and that people would find a little niche and they would sell something, and then Amazon goes, “Boom. They’re selling a lot of that. Let’s start our own.” I mean, they’ve kinda done that, kind of the same way Walmart has done that to the mom-and-pop stores. Amazon is kinda doing that to the online stores.

But the one that I discovered the other day that I actually thought was pretty good was called Real Video. It’s real.video. That’s not real.video.com. Just the video is the root domain.

Bradley: Real like R-E-E-L or R-E-A-L?

Lisa: R-E-A-L.

Bradley: Okay.

Lisa: It’s started by a guy who got deplatformed by Google. It’s not a fully developed platform yet, but it seems pretty good for what he’s already worked through. You have to get an invitation from them. You have to actually request to be on there, kinda like you did with Pinterest in the beginning. But the player is really nice and they’ve got kinda sharing capabilities and some other things. I think that’s someplace that really you should look into, particularly if you’re running content that maybe Google’s not gonna like very much.

BitChute is another one, although I think that one’s kind of not that good yet.

Adam: BitChute, got that.

Lisa: Yeah. BitChute and, I remember some of the other ones that I’ve looked at. As far as like Facebook, there’s a really interesting new social media place called … What is it called, Minds? Minds.com.

Adam: Interesting. I have not heard … Have you guys heard of this?

Marco: Yeah, I like Minds. I’m in Minds. It’s over 100 million people right now.

Adam: I should have known that, Marco.

Marco: It’s basically over 100 million people. Come on.

Lisa: Yeah. They’re kind of integrated with some of the blockchain payment methods and things like that, so that you can actually pay people for their content in a way that you can’t really be tracked and can’t really be blocked from making your payment. So there’s a lot of interesting things that are going on where people are just kinda going, “I’ve had enough.” People are starting additional things. It’s kinda like people never really thought that MySpace would ever die, but it did. I think you’re probably gonna see a little bit more of that movement, away from big consolidated platforms.

Adam: Yeah, that’s an interesting-

Bradley: It’s gonna happen anytime … I mean, I can see some of the shifting as well, Lisa. I agree with that. Some movement, especially with the Silicon Valley stuff, which you mentioned. I mean, when Facebook and Twitter execs are being dragged up on the Capitol Hill and quite repeatedly for hours and hours and hours, you can rest assured, you can bet your ass that there’s gonna be some movements, some changes made.

Lisa: Yeah. I’ve been shadow banned on Twitter. It’s like you go and you post something that’s relatively innocuous and you go and search for it, you can search for the exact text of the whole thing and it never comes up in search. That’s when you know you’ve been shadow banned. They never tell you anything, they just want you to just assume that your message is getting out there, but they’re not gonna … So, anyway.

Bradley: Yeah. Well, I think it’s something that will happen. We, as marketers, are kind of on the cutting edge or of like what the shifting is, but I think the general population is much slower to react.

Lisa: That’s true.

Bradley: I think we still have plenty of time to exploit what we can from the big sites.

Lisa: Absolutely. I’m just saying you gotta kinda keep your heads up and be aware that people are starting to move around a bit.

Bradley: Yeah.

Adam: Well, in terms of what’s going on right now, we touched on a little bit, so if you’ve got some big stuff coming out in like a month, I don’t want or expect you just spill the beans right now, but you can you tell us, and if you can’t, that’s fine, but what it is that you’re kind of working on there in a little bit more detail?

Lisa: Well, right now, most of what I’ve been doing for about the last six to seven weeks is really working hard on the upgrades to Rankfeeder. Now I’m doing RSS Authority Sniper 3.0. This is going to be considered a major release because it’s gonna have some really nice extra features in there. That’s mostly what I’m working on. Then I have some other plans for some other products after that either re-imaginings or new ones. But that’s most of what’s right there.

Adam: Good deal. Well, I know, like Bradley said, we’ll definitely keep our ears open or rather our email inboxes open for letting us know when you got that ready. That’d be awesome because we got a lot of people who are really interested. Actually, we just had one comment here real quick. I just wanna read it to you because this is pretty awesome. Greg just said, “Hey Lisa. Nice to have Lisa here. She’s one of the greatest people as far as support and products go. A big thank you.”

Lisa: Well, thanks.

Adam: That was a very nice comment from Greg. Yeah. I mean, it’s good. Obviously, we promote products and services that we like and use. Definitely, yours is up there, not in our minds only, but everyone that we promoted it to has had a lot of good things to say.

Lisa: Great.

Marco: Before we go, I have a question for Lisa. Something that I’ve been going back and forth with other people. It’s more on the coding side and how you see things. The thing is that I’ve been asking people whether they think that Google is broken, because as you know they just write code on top of code on top of code on top of code. Now what you just said, which just struck me as very interesting, is that you’re doing a complete rewrite. So would you agree or disagree that right now at that level Google is broken?

Lisa: I’m not sure that I would say that Google is broken. I mean, you gotta remember they have thousands and thousands of engineers on staff. I’m doing a total rewrite because I didn’t like some of what was done by the people who wrote some of the code for me that I paid to write code for me. These are guys who were supposed to be professional and they just, there’s things in there that I’ve just never liked and just thought, uh, that just really bothers me every time I’m in there. But to rewrite it would take so long.

But no, I don’t really think Google is broken so much. It’s just philosophically they’ve kind of shifted out of the, do you remember when their motto used to be don’t be evil? Well, they seem to have totally and completely forgotten about that. I think it has really become more of a reflection of the fact that they have decided that they have some hatchets to grind and then they really just kinda wanna dominate the market and they’ve decided that the market also means information and what people think and-

Bradley: And they wanna control and manipulate information, which is what they do.

Lisa: Yeah.

Bradley: Absolutely.

Lisa: It’s absolutely what they do.

Bradley: Yep.

Adam: Well, good deal. Real quick, I just want to say I noticed a little bit of a delay on this, if anyone’s watching, if you have any specific questions for Lisa, please pop them in there and then we’re going to get into the Hump Day Hangout questions.

Jay says, “I like Rankfeeder. Lisa, would love to know if you have any new creative ways on how to use it.”

Lisa: Well, like I said, new features are coming. You’re gonna like them.

Bradley: So hold your breath is what you’re saying?

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Stay tuned. We’ll definitely be asking her the same question in what sounds like a month.

Lisa: Yeah. I think you’ll really, really gonna like how you’re gonna be able to be getting really, really specific with locations.

Adam: Awesome.

Lisa: Yeah.

Adam: Well, cool. Lisa, thanks again. Like I said, hang out if you want to, if you’re busy and got a run, we understand, but we’re gonna kinda switch over and we’ll do some Hump Day Hangout questions.

Lisa: All right. Well, I’ll hang out for a little while.

Adam: All right. Sounds good.

Lisa: Great.

Bradley: Guys, I’m gonna grab the screen and we’re gonna get right into it. Lisa, I emailed you the event page URL in case you want to check out the questions so if you want to check out the event page URL. But I’m gonna grab the screen and get into it.

Is There A Need To Put A Summary For The Full-Text Option For The RSS Feed Output Of A Self Hosted WordPress Website?

Okay. Nexxus Designs is up first. He says, “Hey. I have one question, it’s very important to me. With the RSS feed output of a WordPress self-hosted website, should we put out a summary for the full-text option?” That’s up to you, Nexxus Designs. It’s entirely up to you. It’s a personal preference. I don’t think it’s an issue to post the full text only because, well, for two reasons.

Number one, we have the attribution link that is either provided by the plugin or you can code that into the IFTTT applet yourself. Either way, if you followed our training, you know that the attribution link is critically important if you’re gonna be syndicating the full text of the post. Number two, is if you’re using our standard Syndication Network setup, there’s only three blog sites that we’re syndicating to. So there’s only three sites to get the full-text post anyways, right? That’s Blogger, Tumblr and WordPress. So it’s not an issue.

Essentially, I always like to leave full text posts because, again, it’s only being syndicated to really three sites that will republish the entire post anyways. The key is to be using the internal link from within the post itself from your main blog to be linking to the pages of the landing pages that you’re trying to rank. By publishing the full text of the post that internal link from within the body, the post body of the blog post itself, will also be published on the blog sites. Right? So Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress. So you get a little bit of additional links, in other words, built back to your original post and also to the page that you’re promoting within the post, if that makes sense.

However, if you want to just go summary, that’s perfectly fine. I prefer the full post method. But you can go with the summary method, just know that you will lose a little bit of SEO value to your internal page that you’re ultimately trying to promote. Because when you syndicate just the summary of the post you will get a link back to the post itself but you won’t get any of the internal links that we’re within the post body, if that makes sense. Which is still fine because now you’re funneling link juice or link equity back to that post, the original post, anyways, which will contain the internal link up to the page that you’re trying to promote.

Again, it’s 6 and ½ dozen in the other really. I prefer the full-text post because it looks less spammy on the blog sites. Think about it, summary posts on blog sites, guys, look spammy because it’s just usually a paragraph or a set number of characters and then it’s just a dot dot dot or read more or whatever. So in my opinion, on my branded blog syndication sites, which would be Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress, I want the full text post so that it doesn’t look spammy. I want it to look nice, right? That’s part of the reason why I like the full text post. But again, it’s a personal preference, it’s not gonna hurt you either way.

Can We Connect DFY IFTTT To GMB RSS Following The Local Lease Pro (LLP) Posting System?

Anybody wanna comment on that? Okay. Peter’s up. He says, “Hey. Can we connect Done-For-You IFTTT to GMB RSS following the LLP posting system?” Yes, you can, Peter. I may be doing an additional training video on-, well, not maybe, at some point, probably after or after POFU Live, I’m gonna be doing some updated training for Local Lease Pro members. I’ll probably just host a webinar, guys, and invite all the Local Lease Pro members. I’m gonna be talking about some other stuff. I’m working on some other methods right now to push the GMB Maps listings into the 3-pack if they don’t appear in there initially from just the initial set up, which is really what the Local Lease Pro method is all about: finding those easy opportunities and securing them with little to no work.

However, there are gonna be some that you’re going to attempt that aren’t going to rank right away. But don’t abandon those, you can certainly get them to produce results or generate leads, but they’re gonna need a little bit of additional work. So that’s some of the stuff that I’m gonna be covering in update webinar. It will likely be in November before that’s available though, guys, because we got a ton other stuff we’re working on at the moment.

I’m still testing some new methods too. I can tell you one thing I’m really excited about. Lisa’s product coming out because I guarantee you Lisa’s product would work very, very well with this Local Lease Pro method since we’re gonna be able to use the RSS feeds from the GMB Autoposter to connect with Rankfeeder and create co-citation. I can see that being very, very powerful. So when Lisa’s product is ready, I will certainly look into that as part of the Local Lease Pro method as well. Okay.

Nexxus is up again. He says, “Edit. Thinking in terms of duplicate content here, if I am thinking correctly, RSS output is the summary only, then that’s good against duplicate content.” Okay. Nexxus Designs, I’m gonna stop you right there. Stop with the duplicate content stuff. Duplicate content is a myth on other sites, right? It’s only a problem if it’s on the same domain. If you’re publishing the same article over and over again on the same domain, then it’s a duplicate content issue that can create Panda penalties. But when it’s republished on external domains, it’s not a duplicate content issue, especially if you have an attribution link which points back to the original source. Okay?

Again, guys, I don’t mean to be hard on you, Nexxus Designs, but that comes up all the time. We cover this extensively in the training as well as in our frequently asked questions in our knowledge base at support.semanticmastery.com. All of that is covered because this question comes up a lot. Don’t worry about duplicate content. If duplicate content were a thing on external domains, Press Releases wouldn’t work. We all know that Press Releases work incredibly well, so explain that. Right?

Can You Look At My IFTTT Network?

Okay. Chris says, “Support question from Judd. I saw there was a forum where you can manage my IFTTT network. Also, I have two other companies that need SEO services. My request is, can I pay you to look at my IFTTT network?” Well, I mean, here’s the thing, Judd, if you bought it from us, sure, we’ll take a look at it. If you bought it from someone else, to be honest with you, I’m not gonna spend the time looking at it and I don’t think any of our builders or anybody on our team or support staff would. Because if it wasn’t built to our specifications, it’s basically should be canned and rebuilt anyways, like start all over, back to the drawing board, so to speak. I don’t know. If you bought it from us and you’re having issues, just contact Support.

“Also, for other companies that need SEO services.” No, we don’t provide SEO services. We provide Done-For-You services. However, you could always post your request in one of our groups that you’re a member of and see if there are any takers that you could chat with about potentially providing SEO services for you.

Hernan: Yeah. Actually, in our Mastermind, there are some people that have their own agencies. So if you’re part of that, you can post there and some Mastermind units will actually pass on work from one to the next and to each other because they’re either swarm or that’s not their style, there’s something else that they’re doing and whatnot. So that’s a pretty cool community over there.

Bradley: Yeah. I mean, even on the free group, Facebook group, you could still post and there will be … Just be aware that we are not vouching for anybody that you communicate with. In the Mastermind, that’d be a different story, but in any of our other groups, you have to vet anybody that responds to your request. You have to vet them on your own, okay? There’s nothing that we can do to help you with that and I apologize.

But, yeah, again, for IFTTT network stuff management, SERP space has a manager. It’s a basic manager that basically monitors the networks to make sure that properties aren’t down, it’ll alert you if RSS feed stop detecting new items, things like that. That’s over at Serpspace.com. That’s the network management. You can check that out too, if you’d like. Again, that’s just a very simple service. It’s more of a monitoring service than a management service. It’s beneficial when you’ve got a bunch of networks to maintain.

What Changes Should We Expect To The IFTTT Method Once Google Plus Shuts Down?

Chris Hayes says, “What kind of changes will happen in the IFTTT method once G+ shuts down? Can you guys make a video update?” Yeah, of course, we do. But I mean, it’s just one channel that gets shut down. It’s not really gonna affect much at all. I mean, G+ is being terminated. We see more evidence of that now than ever. Almost daily we’re seeing more and more evidence of that. I just saw an article posted recently in one of our groups about even more steps that Google’s taking to remove or to completely shut down Google Plus. But it’s only one property, Chris. Don’t worry about it. It’s one property out of what, two dozen? It’s not that big of an issue. I wouldn’t sweat it too much.

Will we create an update video? Yeah, sure. I mean, we do update webinars, although we’re gonna be probably shifting or changing how that’s handled too. But anyways, in one of the upcoming update webinars, we will discuss that a little bit more. In fact, I’m gonna make a note of that right now.

Marco: Yeah. While you’re making a note, let me just say that there’s plenty more Google properties that we can abuse besides Google Plus, which we do. If you’re a part of RYS Reloaded you know just how many properties we go into and just totally hammer away at Google.

When Will You Add Citations Lessons In Local Lease Pro?

Bradley: Yep. Okay. Peter says, “Hey again. When you’ll add citations lesson in LLP Local Lease Pro?” I’m hoping to add that today. If it’s not done today, it’ll be done tomorrow, Peter. It’s just a quick lesson, very, very simple. I’m just gonna point you to a resource that’s affordable for monthly citation packages, which is what I recommend. But I’ll create a quick video explaining it too, okay? It should be there today. If not today, it’ll be there tomorrow for sure.

Will The Video Power House And Network Management Subscription Services Be Moved To Mygb.co From SerpSpace?

Chris says-, or excuse me, Ritchie Inman posted: “We have a video powerhouse subscription and a network management subscription currently at Serpspace. Are those moving to mgyb.co?” No. Those are gonna stay in Serpspace. “Are we able to get an update as to what is going to be where?” Well, I mean, pretty much just check out mgyb.co often because we’re adding more and more products. Again, three were just added to it today, Press releases, what else?

Marco: CORA and Syndication Networks.

Bradley: Syndication Networks. All I would recommend, Ritchie, is just go check MGYB often. But, yeah, video powerhouse, maps powerhouse, network management or monitoring, that’s all staying under Serpspace. Okay.

Is It Still Worth The Time To Keep Using Rank Feeder For Co-Citation Now That Google Plus Is Shutting Down?

Next, Kay Dee says, “Hey guys, with Google Plus shutting down, is it still worth in the meantime to keep using Rankfeeder for co-citation or will this be wasted effort? Thanks.” Well, Google Plus shutting down doesn’t affect Rankfeeder unless you’re using Google Plus RSS feeds as part of Rankfeeder. Does that make sense? Lisa can talk about that too. But Rankfeeder is about combining feeds together or adding multiple feeds to create a feed which creates co-citation. Unless you were using Google Plus RSS feeds, which there are a few online services that you can generate a Google Plus feed-, or an RSS feed from Google Plus, then it shouldn’t affect that at all. Right?

I mean, there’s still plenty of other RSS options out there. Remember, with Rankfeeder, those of you that are familiar with it, you can also add sticky items which aren’t even RSS feeds, they’re just singular-, excuse me, single URLs and you can add those as sticky items to blend in with the overall feed to create that additional co-citation. Again, Google Plus is just one of many different things that you could include into Rankfeeder.

Lisa, do you wanna mention something about that?

Lisa: Yeah. Actually, if you are using some of the Google Plus feeds in some way, what happens when a feed disappears is that Rankfeeder just starts ignoring it. If it ignores it a certain number of times, like for a long period, then it will just be removed. But since you can go in and edit your feeds, they’re not one-shot and you’re stuck with whatever you put in there, you can also go and replace the missing Google Plus RSS feeds with other things.

Bradley: There you go.

Lisa: You can completely update it and you keep them fresh and relevant with the same URLs that were generating power for you up till that point.

Bradley: Kay Dee, a couple of options would be Google Plus-, or excuse me, Google sites, also the GMB, if you’re using Google My Business stuff, it’s for local, if you’re using our autoposter, which generates a RSS feed from the GMB posts, that’s something else that you can include. There’s a lot of snazzy stuff that you can do with it. So Google Plus, G+ was just a one piece of many that go into that. I wouldn’t worry about it, guys. Google Plus is not that big of a deal that it’s shutting down. That’s the nature of the internet marketing world, right?

Lisa: Yeah. I think it’s really a relative nothing in terms of never really … I know a lot of people hopped on there to try and get SEO benefits from it because, as we all know, that Google favors their own properties. But as far as being a real social network, I don’t think it ever really caught fire and really caught on. I think that’s why they’re dumping it. I’m kinda surprised they didn’t dump it sooner because it just didn’t do that well.

Bradley: Yeah. It’s interesting. I remember all the way back in, I think 2010, '11, when I started my career in digital marketing that Google Plus, I remember articles coming out all the time, the big curated SEO sites like Search Engine Journal and all those sites, and also like social media examiner and all that, all the time I remember articles coming out saying, “Google Plus is dead,” “Google’s killing Google Plus,” this and that.

For years I’ve seen articles like that. I used to laugh at it because for a while there Google Plus was so integrated into all of Google’s products and it was really as part of the onset of the semantic web. When Google started to adapt semantic web technology and I think they were using Google Plus as kind of a identity validator. Right? It was a way to associate a profile with an individual, like a Google account with an individual, and then that way it would attach that profile or identify that person as being real because that Google Plus was now integrated with all of other Google’s products. I think it was a way to, originally, was to kind of reduce spam, believe it or not.

I didn’t think that they were ever going to shut it down. But apparently after just being beaten to death in the social media world by all the other platforms for so many years, Google finally decided to remove it. They’ve been taking steps for, what, the last year and a half, two years. I think it really started when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube, when they disintegrated or when they pulled Google Plus out of YouTube. Remember, guys, in order to have a YouTube channel, you have to have a Google Plus account. I think when they separated those two is really the start of the demise of Google Plus. Anyways, that was a good question.

Does A Google Site Created Through The GMB Profile Show Up In The Organic Search Results Or Is Only Accessible Via The GMB Profile?

Gordon says, “Hey guys, thank you very much again for your help on Hump Days, it’s greatly appreciated.” You’re welcome, Gordon. He says, “Does a Google site created through GMB profile show up in organic search results or is it only accessible via …?” No. I’m not sure I understand, Gordon, what you’re saying. You’re saying “is a Google site,” now are you talking about sites.google.com or are you talking about GMB website?

In either case, they’re available and they’re both indexable which means they’re public. Publicly viewable to anybody, right? GMB websites as well as Google sites, sites.google.com are both indexable so anybody can see them. You don’t have to be logged in through a profile to see them, unless they’re just not indexed yet. But just be patient, the windex provided you guys some content on there and they’ll be fine.

Marco: The business site indexes within an hour.

Bradley: Yeah. The business site index is really quick, yeah.

Marco: And it does rank.

Bradley: Yep.

Marco: There’s things that you have to do to make it rank, which is taught in Local GMB Pro or you can just go and ask me in Local GMB Pro how to get that website to show up and rank. But I mean, it does. It’s a great asset.

Bradley: I’m curious because I haven’t worked on this project in months. Yeah. Right there, it’s Mario’s-, excuse me, right there, it’s the business site for, this was the case study I did for Local GMB Pro and that’s the business site right there. That’s the GMB website right there, guys, and it’s ranked number two for the brand search. See that? Yelp outranks the brand search, that’s crazy. But there you go, business site right there. So, yes, it will rank.

Does Google Ranks Mobile Responsive And Stand Alone Mobile Specific Site Differently?

Number two, “For ranking purposes, does Google look differently at mobile responsive site and a standalone mobile-specific site? If you’re targeting mobile searches only, can you rank in standalone mobile-specific site without forwarding a desktop site?” Yeah, you can. I don’t know. Marco might know this. But does Google look at differently between mobile responsive and standalone mobile specific sites? I don’t know. I know that a lot of responsive sites like WordPress themes that are responsive WordPress themes are coded really shitty. They suck and they’re terrible for the mobile algorithm, a lot of them are. They might say that they’re mobile-friendly, but they’re just coded really poorly. Again, I’m not a coder so I don’t understand any of that stuff, I just know that some of those mobile responsive WordPress themes suck in the mobile first index, they don’t perform well.

In the past, I would create just an HTML landing page as a mobile and put it on an M-dot subdomain and then use a redirect script, a PHP redirect script to point any mobile browsers to the HTML mobile page. But I’ve even stopped doing that because, honestly, I’m not even really building, I’m doing everything in GMB now, which is all GMB code and it’s all mobile responsive and mobile-friendly and everything else. I’m not even building WordPress sites at the moment.

Marco, what can you say about that?

Marco: I’m with you. I haven’t built a WordPress site in quite a while. Mobile responsive versus standalone, I would think that there would be no difference as long as they’re mobile responsive. Check it and make sure that it is actually mobile responsive and that it validates. Right? Other than that, I’m sorry, but dude, we’re doing everything inside the Google My Business-

Bradley: Or Google, period. Like sites.google.com, those are mobile responsive now, especially the new ones. They look great too.

Marco: The classic were also responsive. All you had to do was take a box while you were working on it to make it mobile-friendly.

Bradley: Yeah. That’s it. Guys, I’m not trying to discourage you from creating WordPress sites. I just, honestly, I’m building my business completely within Google right now, just because they’re free, number one; number two, it’s easy and fast. As long as it’s working I’m gonna do it. I can always go back to WordPress as needed. There’s a lot of headaches that come along with working in WordPress, like all the stupid updates and hosting issues. It’s just a lot of stuff that I’m so glad I’m not having to build a bunch of WordPress sites right now. It’s been refreshing.

Is It True That Google’s Recent Change On Mobile First Indexing Affects Ranking?

Number three, he says, “If it does not appear-, excuse me, if it does not appear that Google’s recent mobile first indexing changes affect ranking, can you please clarify?” Gordon, it should. I mean, it really depends. What they’re saying is the mobile, they’re basing desktop and laptop search results now off of the mobile index. Unless you’ve got sites that just don’t respond well at all for mobile, for example, they’re not mobile-friendly, the text is too small and you can’t click on menu navigation links and that kind of stuff, then that kinda stuff can actually pull now your rankings down because it’s based upon the mobile first index or the mobile index first, essentially.

But if you’re using stuff that is responsive and it passes like that, there’s even a tool that Google has for testing that, then you shouldn’t really have an issue. Right? I mean, at least that’s what I found. What I found was really interesting is you said it doesn’t change the fact rankings, it doesn’t change or affect ranking much.

But what we’ve been finding, especially because of the GMB stuff that we’ve been doing inside of Google My Business, is that we’re really speaking directly to the mobile algorithm with GMB posts and all the stuff that we’re doing with proximity and geolocation and all of that stuff is speaking directly to the mobile first algorithm, which is awesome because we’re able to get results even if they’re ranking, and I’m using air quotes, doesn’t show that we’re ranking well, we’re still able to generate clicks to the website and calls, generate leads essentially, from stuff that the rank trackers are showing aren’t ranking well. So explain that.

Well, that’s because we’re tickling the mobile-first index. That’s what Marco calls “the google tickle.” Right? That’s one of many that we have. But that’s exactly what we’re doing, is because we’re using geolocation and proximity and all of that stuff to be able to serve our content directly to mobile searchers in the area where they’re searching. Again, that has to do with the mobile first index.

Guys, this has opened up so much opportunity, in my opinion, since the end of July when this was really rolled out. We’ve been reaping the benefits of these opportunities for the GMB Pro method and Local Lease Pro method now for the last few months, last couple of months. It’s awesome because, as I’ve mentioned on previous Hump Day Hangouts, guys, I used to always just target my primary keywords for local stuff plus local modifiers. In other words, it would be whatever the service or product was plus the local modifier.

That’s always how I optimize for everything up until this summer. Now I’m optimizing for just the general product or service keywords and I’m getting crazy results. I’m generating more leads now than ever because we’re able to get those short tail search queries, we’re able to get results and get traffic from those because we’re talking directly to the mobile first algorithm.

People that are searching for mobile, typically, unless they’re searching for a product or service outside of where they’re located, like in another area that they’re going to be going to, typically, people when they start to search for a product or service from a mobile device, they’ll start typing their query and then they’re just gonna hit whatever the suggested phrase pops up that Google suggested to them that’s closest to their intended query. Most of the time Google is going to suggest without local modifiers. So that’s what they’re tapping on now and that’s what our content is optimized for those terms without the local modifier because of where we’re publishing the content is within close proximity to that searcher. Right?

Again, it’s a little bit more advanced than what we typically cover on Hump Day Hangouts, but it works really, really well. If you’re basing any of your tracking now on any desktop, laptop search result stuff, guys, stop it. Okay? Stop it. Just be paying attention to mobile stuff. That’s why part of the reason I always talk about using Google Ads ad preview and diagnosis tool because then you can go in and actually set a location. Within Google, you can specify a location and then do a search there and you will see what the search results should look like to somebody in that specific location. You can’t really do that with rank trackers anymore.

Okay. Anyways, that was a good question, Gordon. Go ahead.

Marco: Let me just add that we keep seeing a direct correlation between activity in the Google My Business listing through everything we do through Local GMB Pro. Everything that we teach inside Local GMB Pro, there’s a direct correlation with activity, and then even in organic, it brings up the organic rankings.

Bradley: Yeah.

Marco: I mean, you can see it. You’ll see the amount of keywords that you’re ranking for blow up in search console. To the point where you’re ranking for hundreds of keywords that you never thought would be attainable and all of a sudden that’s right there. If you just look at organic, you would never know how that was done, but we know that we’re doing all of the work in the Google My Business listing.

Bradley: Yeah. One of the other things I wanna mention is, and we’ve kind of talked about this in some of our other groups, guys, but I don’t want to give out too much, but this is a nice little nugget. Guys, go into your GMB Insights. For those of you doing local, which again it’s most of you, go into GMB Insights and take a look at the search queries that have brought engagement to your listing, and extract those search queries that are relevant, which most of them will.

By the way, you’re gonna see a lot of near me and near my location and stuff like that type of keywords right now. I mean, that’s why it’s all mobile stuff, guys. It’s all mobile search stuff. If you extract those keywords from the GMB Insights report that are relevant and start promoting those in GMB posts and content, then you’ll start getting more and more traffic for those. It’s crazy. It’s like Google tells you which keywords are bringing you traffic and then you promote those keywords and it brings you so much more. It’s crazy. It’s just like Google’s giving you the keys to the kingdom right now, guys.

Amazon SEO

Again, I don’t know how long it’s gonna last, but while it does exploit it. Okay. Jordan. What’s up, Jordan? He says, “Is anyone here an Amazon SEO guru?” I am not. I don’t think any of my partners are either. “Needing help with a potential client, either white-label or we’ll give them to you for finder fee, and I don’t wanna learn that mess.” I don’t blame you, Jordan. “It’s not our wheelhouse nor do I want it to be. Staying large regional and national focused. Hit me up jordanfowler@moonandowl.com.”

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: I’m sorry?

Hernan: Isn’t Jordan on the Mastermind?

Bradley: No. He’s in Syndication Academy but in Mastermind.

Hernan: Okay. Well, I mean, in the Syndication Academy group, maybe you can find somebody.

Bradley: Yeah. I was going to ask Lisa if she had any advice on ecommerce SEO or Amazon SEO.

Lisa: Well, just make sure you’re in a cart that is friendly to SEO URLs. Also, one thing that I found when I was doing my store, now I’ve sold my store several years ago to somebody else, but one thing that I did find is that the RSS for products actually will help boost the products quite a bit. So if you have, make sure you get a cart that has the ability to have RSS feeds for product categories. Then go and submit those feeds to all kinds of different aggregators, you’ll get quite a boost. I mean, it was really amazing what we found when I had a VA doing that for me.

What Is The Best Way To Index Press Releases?

Bradley: Jordan, looks like Greg might have also replied to your comment on the event page. I suggest also maybe getting through that. Greg’s question is: “Hey, I purchased a monthly subscription of Press Releases service after your webinar three weeks ago. First, two PRs went out last week. For each, I received a list of 100 plus pickups. However, when searching in Google for the title or a sentence in quotes, only the PR services, PR and digital journal show in Google. What is the best way to get all those other indexed? Or just simply wait for Google to notice and index them over time?”

Greg, first of all, don’t worry about it. Most of them are probably indexed, they’re just in the supplemental index, because that’s the nature of Press Releases. Because it’s the same content, right? Guys, don’t associate duplicate content penalties with this, with what I’m talking about here because that’s not the case. But if a press release which is republished word-for-word across hundreds of sites, Google will take those and many of them and put them in what’s called the Supplemental Index.

I’m going to show you exactly what I mean here to demonstrate. Okay? Right here, this is press release title that I just had published for the project that I built out for the Local Lease Pro training. Okay. This was just published, well, just a few days ago, anyways. You can see that I just did a search for the title, which is showing digital journal here, right? So this was just published, I don’t know, just a couple days ago. Anyways, you can see that that’s the full title of it, right? That’s what’s showing digital journal. It’s the only one that’s indexed on this page.

But if you look down at the bottom where it says “In order to show you the most relevant results, we have omitted some entries very similar to the six already displayed.” Well, I don’t see six displayed, I see one, unless they’re talking about five images here, which they might be. Yeah, I guess they are, because the rest of those are ads.

But if you take a look and click on the Supplemental Index, all of a sudden here it shows up, there’s five of them that are showing as indexed. By the way, that’s why, this was just published 12 hours ago. That’s why not all of them have even been indexed yet. So if we were to come back and search this again in another 24 hours, it’s likely that there will be dozens and dozens of results. They’re probably still gonna be hidden behind the Supplemental Index, you have to click that link at the bottom to see all of them. But what happens is you end up with most of that.

Now again, don’t worry about getting them indexed, Greg, you’ll drive yourself absolutely crazy if every time you submit a press release you go collect all the links from the report and then submit them to indexers. That’s a lot of additional work. Don’t worry about it. Those news sites get crawled often by Google, they will get indexed. Whether they show or they’re put in the Supplemental Index, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them. Trust me. So don’t worry about that because you’re just adding additional work, you’re over-complicating, which you don’t need to.

Okay? I’m not picking on you at all, Greg. I understand why you may worry about that. But a lot of people have asked us questions about Syndication Networks and the links not being indexed. But if you go in the search console and you look at links to your site, you’ll see WordPress, and Tumblr, and Diigo, and all the sites within the syndication network do have backlinks pointed to the site, and Google knows about them. Whether they’re indexed or not, it doesn’t matter, Google knows about them and is giving you credit for them. We’ve even tested no index PBNs, guys, and it’s worked. It’s given us boosts.

Again, don’t worry about that, you’ll drive yourself crazy, Greg. All right. We’ve only got about five more minutes, guys. I do have to leave pretty much on time today. So we’re gonna try to roll through just a couple more questions.

“Can we get a recorded webinar link from Monday, from Marco’s webinar?” Yeah. Guys, it’s coming. Everybody relax. It’s coming. We promise you the replay will be made available as soon as possible. Marco, do we have an ETA on that?

Marco: It’s not only the replay, I’m putting everything together. Right? I have to put together all of the training, the video that I did showing, well, you know what it does, from S3 to CloudFlare. I’m also giving them tutorials for CloudFlare and S3 buckets. I’m trying to put everything together. It doesn’t help when I have people reaching out to me. The video was still, I think I told you guys, it was rendering and people were already reaching out to me for the replay webinar. It doesn’t help, guys. It’ll get done when it gets done. As soon as it gets done, it’ll be made available.

Bradley: Scott. “Finally got a plumbing client onboard for GMB account that was set up with your service. The account was sitting just outside the 3-pack when it was first verified. Now in the 3-pack with just a small amount of effort after week one. Location population for a city of 125K. Thanks, guys.” That’s freaking awesome, Scott. I love that you posted that. That’s amazing. Guys, I mean, it’s crazy, even the site that I just was showing you guys, the press release for Mustang 3 pros, I just set that up last week, and 12 hours ago, the press release was published and I’m sitting in the number four position right now, if I do a localized search, like I said, using …

Anyways, my point is, guys, it’s sitting in position number four and I still haven’t done citations to it yet, I haven’t really done any GMB posts other than the original post that I did. So I mean all the stuff that I teach in Local Lease Pro, guys, hasn’t even been applied to that yet and I’m already in the number four position in maps. So think about that. Scott is just validating what I’ve been talking about, guys. You do the research properly on the front-end and then you optimize the profile when you first set it up, or get it back from us if you’re using our service.

So far, about 60% of the time, for me, that’s all it takes to get into the 3-pack. Doing the other stuff that I’m doing right now, which is the GMB posts press releases, and then monthly citations, I’m seeing like almost, out of the remaining 40%, another 15 to 20% of those within the first seven days get pushed into the 3-pack. The remaining ones that aren’t pushed into the 3-pack, it just requires a little more of the same. Just more of the same, so more GMB posts, perhaps another press release, perhaps another month of citation building, something like that. Right? That’s all it takes.

We’re also working on some additional methods right now, guys, for pushing those listings that aren’t popping into the 3-pack. Yeah. I’m working on some other methods too and I’ll update you guys on that probably in November. All right.

Is There Any Limit On The Number Of Links You Can Throw At An RYS Project And Not Get Penalized?

Okay, guys. I guess I’m gonna answer Jeff Sass’s question and we’re gonna wrap it up because we’re at the 5 o'clock mark and I have to go and I’m sure others do as well, Jeff says, “Question regarding RYS project done for a client through Serpspace. Is there any limit that you’ve seen with regards to links you can throw at it and not get penalized?” Marco can answer that one, but we haven’t seen a limit yet. Have we, Marco?

Marco: No limit.

Bradley: Okay. Number two, “Also, even though my client already has one RYS project produced, is there an additional benefit to doing another and another or should we just be beating the shit out of the one that’s already done?” No. There is benefit, Jeff. It just depends. It really depends on what your setup is and your configuration, your site structure, all that kind of stuff. Marco, what would you suggest?

Marco: I would suggest that, if he’s a member of RYS Academy Reloaded, that he reaches out to me in there because we did a webinar telling you exactly what you need to do with that one drive stack and how to power it up to get even more power out of it, and just continue getting power out of that same stack.

Bradley: There you go. The last thing, he says, “If you haven’t pimped your research service yet, do so now. It rocks.” I’m assuming he’s talking about the keyword research service yet. Is that available? That’s live in MGYB now, isn’t it?

Marco: Keyword research? No, it’s not live yet. We’ve done sales of it. I mean, we could try doing another one, maybe next Hump Day. For you guys attending live, we’ll have a few keyword research projects available that you can take advantage of. But, yeah, it’s coming. It’s just getting hooked up into the marketplace-, excuse me, the MGYB store.

Bradley: Yep. Okay. I just saw Eddie said … Thanks for that, Eddie. “I’m not an SEO or a CEO, but the way Bradley teaches makes it easy to understand and great for newbies.” He’s talking about Local Lease Pro. “What is the best way to bill or charge the business?” I’m pretty sure that’s covered in the training, Eddie, but I’ll double check when I’m in there adding the citation lesson. If it’s not, then I’ll make a note to add another lesson specifically about how to bill or charge a business. Honestly, I just use PayPal for that, but you can get as creative with that as you want. Anyways, I’ll make a note of that if it’s not in there and I’ll add a lesson for it. Okay?

Everybody, I wanna thank you guys for being here. Lisa, thank you for sticking around even for the additional time.

Lisa: It was awesome to be here.

Bradley: Awesome, guys. Thanks everyone else. We’ll see you guys next week. Lisa, please keep in touch with us and let us know about the updates.

Lisa: I will. I definitely will. I think you’re gonna love them.

Bradley: Great. Thank you guys. Bye.

Hernan: Bye guys.

Lisa: Bye.

Marco: Bye everyone.

Weekly Digital Marketing Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 205 published first on your-t1-blog-url