#the lovingly featured representation and doing it in a way to really make you think

[bunny-heels]

i hate how obsessed ive become to this show but god i cannot help it

[yukiokumura]

Hi! I am INLOVE with Yukishima, so naturally, almost every day I flip through the manga, and scroll through the internet for crumbs of the ship, but tell me, do you think it has a chance of being canon?

Hello!! I love Yukishima too which I'm sure you know because you're in my inbox!! My best friend Rynoa and I have adored Yukishima for many years as we've slowly made our way through the monster we lovingly call Lettersverse ever since 2014.

But as much as it would make me happy, I don't think it has any sort of chance of being canon. Blue Exorcist is a shounen manga and shounen manga are notorious for having no LGBT+ representation, or if they do, they're presented as a joke (see the ghost bride in the 7 school mysteries arc).

Japan isn't really friendly to the LGBT community and that goes for their media too. Blue Exorcist is a Shounen Jump publication. Jump is pretty much THE publication for shounen manga. It's as mainstream as it can get. Just that fact leads me to be realistic and perhaps even a bit pessimistic.

I'm not sure if you've seen Yuri!! On Ice but it's a sports anime based around figure skating that prominently featured a gay coded couple as the main two characters. I say "coded" because given Japan's censorship laws and general distaste for anything "out of the norm," in order for them to show that anime on regular channels, they couldn't outwardly say that these two were in love. The one kiss that happened needed to be censored and never spoken of again. It HAD to be vague or else the anime itself would be shoved off into the fringes of the Boys Love genre and buried as far down as it would go.

There's a part of me that almost hopes that YukiShima never becomes canon. The last thing I want is for Blue Exorcist to become a victim of controversy in Japan and for Kato, who is an amazing writer, to possibly lose her job and following for it.

Who knows, maybe miraculously it could happen and all would be well. Shounen Jump may one day become progressive and allow such a thing. But history shows that if it did happen, it wouldn't go well. Even if Kato wanted to, all of her editors would likely advise her against it. So I'll happily live in the fan spaces and in my own google docs, indulging myself and my friends and my readers. Kato can keep doing what she does amazingly and I'll still love Blue Exorcist. ♥

[yukichouji]

OK, so. I just finished the quest “In Your Heart Shall Burn” and I have so many thoughts I just really need to put them somewhere alkfjaskd

Expect this post to be very unorganized and emotional xD

Alright. So, from a purely technical standpoint, this is not the best game I have ever played. There are many glitches here and there, both in the game mechanic and in the visual (though one could argue that they aren’t too annoying and kind of add to the game’s charme in their own way). But damn if this isn’t literaly the best game I have ever played alkdjfasl

I’ve put in nearly 40 hours of gameplay by now and it still feels very much like things are just getting started. There is so fucking much to see, do explore, experience. Even the smallest maps feel huge. There is so much dialog and cutscenes with your companions and advisors. Every single character feels so lovingly designed and thought through and fleshed out. Even those you only talk to once and then move on have beautiful designes, unique voices and characters that shine through.

The one trillion tiny side quests can seem a bit annyoing or overwhelming at times xD But they are still a nice way to be incentivised to explore the maps and a neat way to kill time as you wait for war table operations to finish (though, bless whoever decided to make them run in real time and not in game time aldfjkasld). And damn if the scenery isn’t fucking worth every second of exploring you get to do. I have said this before, but this has got to be one of the most beautiful games I’ve had the pleasure of laying eyes on so far. Granted I am not exactly a hardcore gamer but I’ve played my bit and to me, this is just mind-boggling.

And, oh gods, the main quests. Holy sh*t, really. I am completely blown away. The beauty. The story. The length of the cutscenes. It’s like watching an actual move. But it never gets annoying or seems like it is swallowing the game up, because there still is so much actual game around them. They are so emotional and beautifully done. I am like 20% through the main story arch rn (so I’ve been told) and damn if this story isn’t f*cking amazing.

And there are a lot of other things aside from the story itself, that make this game so amazing. Usually, a lot of games in their design, their characters and their stories are very much aimed at straight men. Which is not to say that they cannot be enjoyable also, but. This game is very much different and I can’t even begin to say how emotional this has me. The entire series so far has been so lovely about representation and everything, adding so many canonically bi characters already. But not only does DAI have two canonically gay characters (one gay, one lesbian, as you do :D), it also offers: Two bi characters, one of them a BDSM tinted romance experience, a possibly autistic or otherwise neurodivergent character, a canonically trans character (let that sink in for a second please. In a fantasy setting. In a huge game of this margin). The latter is not one of the companions, but he plays a decent role and I absolutely love him. All of these characters are created with so much depth and care and respect (as I have already mentioned) and each romance option comes with its own, unique flavor.

Not to mention how much love and detail the game mechanics themselves have to offer. Like, for example, someone had to come up with those quadrillion little side quests xD Those mind-boggling maps had to be designed. But you can also, craft your own weapons, your own armor, chose armor and weapons for all of your companions. There are so many different designs for armor and weapons. Each companion has their own stile you can chose to further cultivate or stray from. Armour can be modified and upgraded in a way that visually changes it. It can be tintet! In five different ways (metal parts, leather parts, cloth parths, some of those devided into two supparts). There are so many ways you can create unique looks. Your Inquisitor has an entire wardrobe of different formal and casual wears just for when you are strolling around the whole as keep you will eventually acquire. (which I just did and my mind is blown. I have been running around in it for like half an hour and I still haven’t seen all of it. bloody hell). There are like five (or more) categories of mounds you can get and all of them are so cool. You can customize your fucking castle. I repeat YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE YOUR F*CKING CASTLE. You can choose the windows, the courtains, the beds, the tapestries and so on. Like, never have I played an RPG that offers this level of an experience. And you know what the best part of all of this is? The thing that in this day and age feels almost mind-blowing? None of those features cost you any extra money. They are all just included in the game. (I mean they do cost you gold xD But you cannot buy gold, you need to collect it in the game, that’s it).

It’s just, the amount of love that was so clearly put into this game, a game made for a community of people that is clearly not the usual sell... man. I don’t know. I’m just feeling a lot of things right now xD I needed to digest that a bit and now it is everyone’s problem haha. Anyway. Back to fun little reaction posts now xD

Also, I took a handful of screenshots earlier and I will make another post with them the next time I start up my PC (am on Laptop right now, easier to think). If you actually stuck around to read all of this, I apologize for my ramblings and thank you. Please know that I love and appreciate you xD

[justahopelessssromantic]

I know u just posted another daddy angel request but I got another if u don’t mind , I was thinking of how daddy angel will react on how his little girl who’s in head start comes home saying she’s got a little boyfriend lol 😂 😂😂😂

A/N: Here it finally is! Thank you so much for the request girl and giving me more inspiration for our precious Daddy Angel! Like I said I got a little carried away, (something about Daddy Angel just does that to me lol) so it’s kind of long. I hope you all enjoy and thanks so much for reading! 💕

*gif not mine*

Warnings: Fluff and Smut 😏 18+ Only

Sitting on the floor of your living room you were folding the gobs of laundry you had while listening to your favorite true crime podcast through your ear buds. The host was just getting to the description of the grisly murders that rocked London in 1888. You listened intently, relishing in every detail as you folded the sparkly pink leggings of your four year old daughter, Penelope.

He was now onto the first suspect and you grabbed Angel's Romero Bros work shirt slipping it on a hanger and laying it flat across the sofa behind you smoothing any wrinkles out with your hands.

You then dug out the various change that littered the bottom of the basket. Angel always forgot to clean his pockets out before throwing a load of laundry in and it drove you insane. You now had a jar full of coins that you were calling your "vacation" fund. At this rate you'd be going on vacation any day now and you just might be going on your own.

Standing yourself up from your seated position that you had been in too long, with a bit of a struggle, you stretched out your back before rubbing your hand over your swollen belly. Smiling you felt the little guy kick at your hand from the inside.

He was either going to be an excellent soccer player or dancer. Or maybe even both, you weren't quite sure yet.

Setting the stacks of folded laundry into your empty basic you hoisted the thing up and was about to head to your bedroom when your front door opened. Slipping the bud out of your ear you smiled at your husband and daughter who just got back from school, "Hey baby. How was your day?" You asked your little mini me.

There was no response as Angel hung her backpack on the hook in front of the door. "Hey, P! You know the rules." Angel's voice stopped her as she attempted to storm past. She may be angry with him but he wasn't gonna let her get away with disrespecting the rules of the house. Whipping around she shot her Pops a glare before huffing and slipping her shoes off at the door. She then proceeded to make her way towards you, stomping down the hall and into her bedroom.

You looked to your husband who was clearly also not in the best of moods, "What the hell happened? What's up with your daughter?" You asked him, you were clearly missing something.

Slipping his cut off he hung it beside her backpack and slipped his own shoes off setting them nicely by the door.

He stepped up to you giving you a kiss on the cheek before taking the basket out of your arms to lighten your load. "Did you know our four year old daughter, our baby, apparently has a fucking boyfriend?"

"What?" You tried your best to keep in the snicker, you really did but you just couldn't keep a straight face.

That was what all this was about?

"Why the hell are you laughing woman? It ain't funny," He scoffed, licking his lips like he does so often, “You know what his name is? Anthony, our daughter is dating a boy named Tony. Fucking Tony!”

“Oh my god Angel he’s just a child.” Was he really so threatened about a four year old boy named Anthony?, “What are you going to do? Go intimidate a little preschooler?”

“He’s not a child,” He rebutted, “He’s a little punk who is gonna steal my daughter’s innocent years!”

“Wow, Daddy is so dramatic,” You remarked, looking down at your bump to the child in your belly. You looked back up at him with a smile on your face. “You know she’s just like you. That’s why you butt heads all the damn time.”

He knew that, that was the problem. As the days went by he could see himself more and more in her. There’s nothing like having a child just like you to make you feel bad for your parents.

He placed his large hand over your bump, rubbing his thumb back and forth across the cotton of your shirt, “You better be like your Mama little man. The last thing we need is for her to be stuck with three of us.”

You placed your hand over his, running your finger across the gold wedding band adorning his ring finger. It had been seven glorious years that you had been husband and wife.

“You know that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” you looked just a little longer at the physical representation of your promise to each other, to love the other in the good and the bad, always. You returned your gaze back to those beautiful eyes that had you melting since the first moment they locked on with yours, “to be like you. Sure you are stubborn and selfish and hot headed and..”

“Hey, I thought you said it wasn’t all bad,” he interrupted you, setting the basket of laundry on the table beside you so he could have both his hands free. He stepped closer to you running his hands down the sides of your bump before resting them comfortably on your hips.

“And you have a terrible habit of interrupting me.” You teased grinning up at him as you continued.

“Right,” he chuckled, relaxing in your presence, “I’m sorry. Continue, mi amor.”

“But you’re also so loving. You have the biggest heart, Angel.” You placed your hands on his shoulders straightening out the collar of his shirt, “And you are always doing your best to do the right thing for your club, your family, even when it could put you at odds with those closest to you.”

You smiled up at him and it was one of the most beautiful sights in the world.

He leaned his head down, gravitating closer to you. You smelled of coconuts, shea butter, and vanilla. You smelled of home.

Stretching up to close what little gap was left you kissed his cheek, “And your smart,” then his jaw, “And loyal,” then the corner of his mouth, “And so incredibly sexy.” You purred.

He chuckled biting his lip, “I think you're losing your point here, mi dulce, but I don’t disagree.”

“And you are loved.” You finished with a passionate kiss. You pecked his lips once more before laying a smack to his ass, “Now go shower. Dinner will be ready soon.”

“God I love you,” he said, grabbing your hand and kissing the back of it before cupping your face with the other and kissing you once more. He ran his thumb across your bottom lip soaking in your features as he pulled away and headed into the direction of the bathroom backwards all while grinning at you, his stunning beauty. His hand was still entwined with yours until he got too far away and he was forced to momentarily part with you.

You two had been together for a decade now but still acted like lovesick puppy dogs.

Picking the basket back up you made your way down the hall and to your daughter’s room. Tapping the doorway lightly to alert her to your presence you stepped into the room to find her sitting on her floor playing with her favorite motorcycle Angel had brought home for her after a run.

Placing the basket onto the bed you crouched down next to her, “Hey baby, do you wanna tell me about it?”

She rolled the bike back and forth across the floor keeping her focus on the toy, “Why won’t Daddy let me have a boyfriend?” She pouted, “It’s no fair.”

“Look at Mama for a minute baby,” You said gently running your hand over her dark curls. She did as you asked looking up to you with her big brown eyes. She was so much like Angel it was scary sometimes, “Daddy just has trouble sharing sometimes. He doesn’t want to have to share you,” you ran your thumb across her cheek lovingly, eliciting a little smile from her like you always could , “But he’s gonna work on it. Everyone has things they can do better at.”

“Like I’m gonna have to learn to share once my baby brother comes?” She asked, glancing to your stomach.

“Exactly,” you smiled down at her, “You are so smart, just like Daddy.” You kissed her cheek straightening back up. “You can play for a little longer but then it’s dinner time.”

She nodded returning her attention back to her motorcycle making little revving and rumbling noises as she rolled the toy around the ground. You put her clothes away into her little purple dresser before picking your basket up once more. You stole one more glance at your beautiful girl before exiting her room and heading down the hall to Angel and your’s shared bedroom.

Setting the basket on the foot of the bed you looked up just as Angel stepped out of the connected bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist. Smirking he watched you stare at him, "You like the view, mi dulce?"

"I'd like it better without the towel," you flirted biting your lip as your gaze lowered.

He shook his head sauntering over to you, "God pregnancy makes you fucking horny."

"I've never heard any complaints before,” You teased batting your lashes up at him. He cupped your face, kissing you slow and sweet.

“As much as I’d love to fuck you right now,” you murmured in his ear placing a kiss to his jaw. He groaned loving that foul mouth of yours, “You need to get dressed because dinner will be ready soon.”

With that you left him to it while you went to round up your daughter for dinner. She picked up her toys like you had asked before washing up for dinner and making her way to the kitchen with you. Helping her situated herself on her chair you placed a napkin over her lap.

Angel walked in shortly behind you, now much less distracting as he was fully dressed. He pulled you into him kissing you on the cheek as the oven timer dinged signaling your dinner was ready.

He pulled the lasagna out of the oven and set it atop the stove. Grabbing a spatula he cut the dish into pieces scooping out a small portion and cutting it up into little pieces to cool on Penelope’s favorite Toy Story plate. Next he scooped out a piece for you and then him, followed by some garlic bread to complete the meal with a scoop of sauerkraut spread across your toast just how you liked it. Carefully bringing them over to the table all at once, rather impressively, he set the meals in front of his two girls.

“Thank you baby.” You smiled at him. Licking your lips you turned your attention to your plate, mouth watering from the delicious aroma wafting from the food.

You gave your daughter a look as she pouted over her food clearly still holding a grudge against her father, “What do we say P?”

“Thank you Papi,” She grumbled rather begrudgingly before poking at her food with her little fork.

Angel took his place beside you cracking open his beer as he looked at his little world in front of him. He thought maybe she’d drop in by now and be all in his lap like usual but no she was a stubborn little thing.

“How about you tell us all about Anthony,” You suggested. Angel almost lost his shit as he looked at you wide eyed. She was already pissed at him, he didn’t want to add on to the fury.

She looked at you very suspiciously, not sure whose side it was you were on, her’s or her daddy’s. She took a bite of her lasagna as she stared Angel down, almost daring him to speak first.

You were starting to agree with Angel now and really hoped your second would be more like you. To say the atmosphere was tense would be an understatement.

“Daddy promises he will listen and be very understanding, right Daddy?” You looked to Angel with a smile plastered across your beautiful lips.

How could he say no to you? And you did put him on the spot, “Right,” he gave in. He would try his hardest, if only for you. He leaned back in his chair meeting her gaze and waited to hear all about this Tony kid.

You nodded giving her the room. Taking a sip from her sparkly cup filled with milk she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before beginning. “His name is Anthony,” she told you proudly with a smile on her face, ignoring her father’s gaze now.

“Yeah?” Angel spoke up and you prayed whatever came out of his mouth next would not set her off any more, “And what does this Anthony do? Does he work? How is he gonna provide for my baby?” He asked her, trying to throw her off.

“He’s Spider-Man, duh,” She said as if that should be common knowledge to him.

He tried to keep his composure but he couldn’t keep the smile from his face, “Spider-Man, huh? You can’t date Spider-Man baby. It’s too dangerous.” He tried to reason with the four year old across from him.

“But he’s a hero Daddy,” She furrowed her eyebrows at him before her features soften, “Just like you.”

His heart melted as he looked at his princesa. She knew exactly how to soften him up and he was a sucker for that.

“He’d protect me,” She continued on, “Just like you always do.” She added on to the sweetening of her father.

“I’ll make you a deal, Penelope,” He said, looking into those soft brown eyes surrounded by those dark lashes of hers as she batted her eyelashes at him. Now that she got from you. “I want to meet this Anthony the Spider-Man and then if he proves himself worthy of mi princesa I will consider it.”

She thought this proposition over for a moment in her head. It wasn’t exactly a win for her but she had softened him and she could soften him up some more, “Okay.” She agreed with a smug little smile on her face, “Can I be excused now?” She asked.

She had eaten a decent amount of food during the exchange so you gave her the go ahead. Picking her plate up she set it by the sink and walked off to go play in the living room.

“You know she just totally played you, right?” You grinned looking over at your husband. You expected there to be much more of a fight but damn was that girl good.

“I know,” He said flashing you a smirk, “But she’s not the only one playing this game, mi amor.”

You rolled your eyes mentally preparing yourself for the craziness that could await you in this next week.

—————————————————————————————————————

The next day your husband and daughter got home from school in a much better mood than the day before, thankfully. They were full of smiles as Angel hung her backpack up and they slipped their shoes off at the door like always.

“How’d it go?” You asked looking between the two. They exchanged a look and your daughter giggled. It appeared they were thick as thieves once again. “Did you meet Anthony?” You asked Angel.

“Nope.” He grinned at you, “Why don’t you tell Mama what you told me P?” He suggested proudly.

She shrugged nonchalantly, giving you a hug, “I broke up with Anthony. He tried to kiss me,” she scrunched her little face up in disgust, “It was icky.”

Angel chuckled at that, he’d never get tired of hearing her say that. Hopefully this phase lasted a while, “Yeah, kissing boys is very icky,” He agreed, “Right Mama?”

You shook your head letting out a laugh. At least the fighting was over, for now, “Yep, kissing boys is real icky.”

“And there’s only one hero for me,” She beamed at Angel before scurrying off to play in her room, full of energy.

“What about you Mama?” Angel asked, swaggering up to you, “Is there only one hero for you?”

“Oh yeah, definitely.” You teased, “Superman is plenty enough for me.”

He smacked you on the ass playfully planting a kiss on your cheek before walking off to go clean up from work before dinner.

That night you tucked your little girl into bed and Angel read her two bedtime stories like always even though she was only supposed to get one, he couldn’t say no to her little pleas, before heading off to bed yourselves.

Crawling into bed together you turned your lamp off and waited for Angel to do the same. Instead he just stared at you with that look in his eyes and smirk upon his face, “I think you’re forgetting something, mi amor.”

“Yeah? And what might that be?”

“My goodnight kiss.” He grinned at you and puckered his lips.

“Oh is that so? But don’t you remember kissing boys is icky,” you teased giving him a grin back before turning around and snuggling into the bed facing away from him.

“Yeah well baby I’m not a boy, I’m a man.” You felt the bed shift as he settled closer to you.

“Really?” You teased some more, the smile still plastered to your face. You held your breath as you felt his hot breath against the skin of your neck, his large rough hand sliding across your stomach.

“I was man enough to knock you up twice now, wasn’t I?” he purred into your ear giving you chills.

He wasn't wrong.

Gently moving your hair from your neck he began kissing and sucking your sweet flesh, his hand wandering down your nightgown and taking hold of your breast flicking your erect nipple with his thumb.

Your breath hitched as you enjoyed the touch only he could provide you. He grinned into his kisses relishing in how your body responded to him and his yours, his stiff member pressing firmly against your ass.

Being the tease you were you wiggled your ass against him causing a low groan to rumble from within his chest. His hand wandered down hooking into the sides of your underwear before slipping them slowly down your legs.

Running his hand back up the side of your leg slowly he stopped at your thigh moving his hand in the other direction to tease between your legs. He kissed your jaw, then the side of your mouth, then your lips as you turned your head to meet his face. Running his hand back down your thigh he grabbed behind your knee pulling your leg up opening you further to him.

Yanking his boxer briefs down whilst never breaking your makeout session he grabbed his hard cock and teased the tip at your entrance collecting your sweet juices. You gasped at the contact and Angel took the opportunity to snake his tongue into your mouth before pushing slowly inside you.

You took him well, you always did and he stayed still a moment just relishing in the moment of your bodies coming together as one. Once you started to wiggle your hips, desperate for some form of friction he gave in to your needs, and his, and began thrusting at a slow sensual pace, his hand finding its place to rest on your bump.

He kept his pace slow and teasing. You felt so good wrapped around him, it took everything in him not to rush, but he wanted to prolong the both of your pleasure as long as he could.

It didn’t take long until you were pushing back against him meeting his thrusts and he knew you had had enough. Littering sloppy kisses across your shoulder he picked up the pace hitting all the right places. His hand traveled to your clit running circles around your most sensitive spot.

“Fuck,” you moaned out as your walls clenched around him.

“You close?” He murmured into your ear, “You wanna come?”

You nodded your head finding it hard to muster out any words as he continued his assault on your clitoris while simultaneously thrusting into you with such calculated movements of his hips.

“Say it,” he growled into your ear, ceasing his hand movements. He nibbled at your earlobe as he waited for the words he loved so much.

“Fuck,” you gasped out, desperate for him to return his touch, “Yes Daddy,” you gave him what he wanted, “Please.”

He smirked working his thumb once more as he pushed into you deeper, his thrusts getting sloppier as he began to twitch inside you, you both almost to your breaking point. He quickened the movements of his thumb and it wasn’t long before you came undone around him. Just a few more thrusts and he was right there with you filling you up as he moaned out face buried in your neck.

You lay there together, spent as he held your back close to his sweaty chest, still buried deep inside you. Kissing the back of your shoulder he mumbled into your skin, “I fucking love you, (Y/N).”

Everything Tag List: @jad3djay @fairygardenss @carlaangel86 @briannab1234 @starrynite7114 @agirllovespasta @howaboutash @gemini0410 @naytraydr @knowles-morgan

[coraxaviary]

An Essay on POC and Fics

[ORIGINALLY A WRITER ASK GAME]: Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!

(AKA me explaining in long-form why June is white, complete with some drama and a lot of rambling. Do not feel obligated to read).

.

I’ve never talked about this extensively, but I want to discuss ethnic minority OFCs in fics. Specifically, SiA. I originally was going to make June partially nonwhite. And I ran into problems.

I really found myself worrying about relatability. If a character is POC, I thought it would ruin immersion for people who are looking for an OFC fic to lose themselves in. It’s no secret that I’m Asian-American, and I was originally all for making the character part Asian. It’s ironic that I was worried about immersion when outside of fic spaces, I argue unendingly for Asians to be cast as leads and stereotype-defying roles. Because any POC is also just a person who can be as “relatable” as any white character, theoretically. I feel a little hypocritical, but at the same time it’s true.

When I watched The Walking Dead, Glenn was my absolute favorite. Because he was Korean-American. And for the first time, I watched a major (Asian!) character in a show become hailed as a man defined not by his race, but for his achievements and his personality. If Glenn was white, he still would’ve been one of my favorites. But seeing Asians portrayed as... normal people shouldn’t be this rare. However, it is, at least in mainstream America.

The issue with creating POC characters is racism. That’s always the issue, isn’t it? Racism has been ingrained into every system and cultural dynamic, globally. The remnants of colonialism are alive and well, and the treatment of POC people, generally, is far from sterling.

Thus it became almost impossible for me to justify creating an Asian-American (or, for that matter, any other POC) OFC. They would be defined by race, because back in the 40s, any American ethnic minority had no choice but to be characterized by their appearance. It still happens today. And I wanted the focus to be on humanity, war, bonds, and gender. Not race, because race is unpleasant to talk about. It wouldn’t be fun for me to be researching 1940s race discrimination to create a character who must overcome that too. I’m not looking to undergo an identity crisis in the pursuit of a fic aimed at social justice. I just want to write something fun.

Fic is created, many times, by minority groups, including POC. However, like any institution, it’s white-centric. And I don’t fault it for that. Most media in the mainstream is white-centric and thus it makes perfect sense for the works created based on the material to be also that way. But I felt like I was betraying myself by writing fic and not taking a chance to diversify the narrative.

Because if a significant part of my irl advocacy is attempting to champion race diversity, and I don’t take that chance in the fandom space, am I a hypocrite?

The fault of this culture, and this struggle, is not with me. It’s with the centuries and ages of oppression and typecasting and discrimination in the pages of world history. It’s unavoidable.

However, to be kind of frank, it sucks to have to consider these things when all I wanna do is write a self-indulgent narrative about WWII boyfriends. I want to just be myself and imagine a fun time with my favorite characters. But I know, deep down, that anyone who is not white would not have been accepted into the group. I decided to just circumvent all these problems by writing a white character.

And it’s not true to the narrative if I wrote a POC OFC and then bent all the other characters OOC and forced them to be non-problematic. Because I know, regrettably, that the norm back then (and still in some areas) is casual racism. It was only 1948 when the American Army officially desegregated. You can watch The Pacific for yourself and find out what the Americans called Japanese people. The racial slurs, I’ll admit, made me uncomfortable despite how much I love the series. Army culture in the 40s towards a woman who is also a racial minority would have been egregious. And that’s not fun to write about in a fic.

I can’t not think about race -- not forever, at least. I don’t have that luxury. I do acknowledge that I, as an Asian-Amerian, benefit from a white-centric culture that has designated us (condescendingly) as a “model minority” and as an exception race. Systemic racism is less impactful towards Asians. This is, however, not to discount the terrible history of Asian-American discrimination that is not immediately apparent (I have been told that not everyone is educated of the existence of the Japanese-American internment or other examples of irrefutable discrimination). There is history in my family of experiencing both ends of the Asian-American experience: as a “model” and also discriminated against as a perceived threat (or a scapegoat, if you will, for the Vietnam war and other matters).

I went through a phase (as many American POC do) of wanting to be white when I was very young. I don’t know exactly why. Is it because the American identity is so deeply rooted in the striking visual of the white settler, despite the deep history of the continent in indigenous people? Is it because diversity is (or was) not common in the mainstream -- when we didn’t have people like Glenn at the forefront of media representation but instead had stereotyped caricatures like Mr. Yunioshi? I didn’t know what it meant to be beautiful back then unless the portrait was of caucasian features. I have a distinct memory of complaining to my mother when I was about five or six years old that I didn’t like my black hair, and I think my way of thinking unconsciously had to do more with my Asian heritage than the actual color. I cannot tell you honestly what specifically caused this type of thinking, but it’s more widespread than you’d think among POC children.

So this is why I am a POC and yet I choose to write a white protagonist. Historical fiction always contains complexities: decisions that must be made with the wisest discernment that I don’t feel like I can always make. History is a burden upon us all. The present will never be free of the past, and it’s our job as writers to navigate the gray patches between interpretation and accurate portrayal. Sometimes it seems like an insurmountable task, and sometimes it’s as if I can forget about my POC-ness altogether and lose myself in my OFC without thinking about heritage or discrimination.

But here we are, writing fanfiction of WWII heroes who come from a different time and a different era.

It had to have felt different back then, don’t you think? When I think of the forties, I think of patriotism and B-24s and victory; I think of a feeling of hope tinged with despair. I think of radios and dance halls and tragic heroes and the glory of soldiers dropping from the sky, backlit like angels and tasked with democracy and hope and things that are right and true. I think of a time where Americans united for good.

But this is a glamorized version of history. It’s the enjoyable version, we all know. And it genuinely consisted partially of these snippets of greatness, but there was a larger part that lay, vast, underneath the golden panorama that sometimes we forget about. And I think the WWII fic-writing community is keenly conscious of this aspect. I see it in the writing that we all so lovingly produce: a lot of us understand, at least on a surface level, that war is not glamorous and that the times were still as turbulent as they are today.

It’s something we all must grapple with.

And this, in a slightly dramatic fashion, is my personal conflict of being a person of color, and choosing to write a white character for the sake of joy and fun.

.

Thank you for reading if you got to the end! I love you all :)

.

(Partially inspired by this post by @rhovanian, but mostly my own ruminations based on the brief time I have existed on this earth).

.

[ice-cream-nekogirl]

lay us down, we’re in love (Tokoyami Fumikage X Reader)

I’m a slut for fluff!! I wrote this because I was going through an existensial crisis!! And I thought about Tokoyami, he’s one of my favorites... and this song is so soft and romantic and it reminded me of him!! That and I can’t stop listening to Brendon Urie’s beautiful voice...

SO PLEASE ENJOY THIS!! This also features Taromaru!!

Summary: Time’s moving too fast for your liking but Tokoyami’s love for you remains the same.

Wintertime was a season you were oddly fond of. It was nice and chilly outside, which meant you could just cuddle up in the warm blankets and get close to people you actually cared about, all the while enjoying a nice hot beverage.

You smiled and sighed in content as you opened the window to feel more of that cool air filling the empty common room, and made your way to the couch to snuggle into your favorite (D/S) blanket. As happy as you were getting comfortable, at the same time you felt a little bit sad knowing that another year had gone by and now you were starting all over without a clue what to do.

However, you didn’t want to think too much about that, you just wanted to get comfortable and feel the cool air in the room while you were wrapped up in your blanket, watching American Horror Story on Netflix. Something about Netflix that made you forget about the fact that January was already almost over and that it was still fucking 2020...

That was a disgusting thought... how could it be 2020 already? How could January almost be over already? How could Winter almost be over? Ugh you hated how fast time was moving and you just wished that you could be trapped in some never-ending show where time didn’t matter...

“Woof, woof!” The sounds of barking made you perk up as you saw Taromaru looking up at you with his adorable eyes as you giggled a bit and patted the couch to encourage him to jump up. Standing on his little hind legs, the puppy launched himself upwards and quickly made himself comfortable in your lap. “Hee-hee you’re one of the best things I ever got Taromaru...” You said rather lovingly to your puppy as he yawned happily while he lied in your lap.

That’s right... you got Taromaru as your new puppy. Before him you also found yourself the most wonderful boyfriend in the world. He was a little on the gloomy side but you were pretty gloomy at times yourself so it worked out perfectly. 

And from the corner of your eye you could see said curious boyfriend emerge from the shadows of the dim hallway, clearly, he was looking for you since you weren’t in your dorm-room.

“Hey Fumi~.” You waved to him with a smile to let him know that you weren’t oblivious to him being there, and he pretended to look not surprised and resisted the urge to shiver when he felt how cold it was in here.

Oh, the window was open. That’s right, he knew how much you enjoyed getting warm in the cold…

“Good evening (Y/N).” He said in that deep voice that made you feel things… especially when he said your name. It took quite a while to get him to call you by your first name instead of your last name, but you got him to, and you fucking loved hearing him say it. And he was only partially oblivious to this as he looked right at you with such intense eyes that withheld curiosity.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He assumed, since he was well aware that you didn’t have the best sleep schedule, because he didn’t really have the best sleep schedule either. It’s why he was up too.

You chuckled somewhat shyly as you nodded, “Yup… so I’m just sittin’ in the dark, watching AHS with Taromaru… maybe it’ll help me go to sleep.” Sighing, you looked pretty relaxed and then patted the spot next to you, gesturing for your avian boyfriend to come over and sit with you. Tokoyami took this offer without hesitation, while he certainly wasn’t the most expressive type, he didn’t miss a chance to be with you. You two had been together for over a year, and Tokoyami hoped that it would stay that way for quite a while. 

Sure he was a hero of the night and a creature of the darkness, but you were a constant source of light for him and you were never far away from him. He didn’t enjoy being too far away from you because you always brightened up his cloudy days and his darkest nights.

Not only that but he loved this show, it literally had ‘Horror Story’ in the title, plus it was American. America made some pretty classic horror movies, and all of these seasons never ceased to amaze him. Asylum was his favorite, and to his delight you were watching the first episode of the second season. “This will never not be the best season… but murder house is pretty close…” You thought outloud as he nodded.

“The first season was shrouded in mystery, and there was no way the audience could predict what could happen or what had happened until everything would unfurl. But Asylum is a grim representation of the darker nature of humanity and the madness that lies within.” Tokoyami wasn’t one to speak much, but he did whenever someone actually shared one of his interests, and you were the lucky one who got to hear him actually share, show and tell his opinions.

“Ohh yeah…” You tried not to giggle at how dramatic he sounded, because you agreed with him, “Ain’t that the truth? It’s so wicked~. But I love Coven too~.” You sang-songed a little bit, and the raven had to agree that Coven was also a really good season. It had witches in it!

Although he couldn’t fight the blush heating his cheeks when you leaned against his shoulder and nuzzled him a little bit. He was so glad he had the feathers to hide his blushing so he was less transparent, but at the same time he was certain that somehow you knew when he blushed. Still, he was able to be a little more open around you, it’s what he adored about you. He could be him with you, because for some reason, you liked him even when he was a bit of an oddball who enjoyed these kinds of shows.

Of course, you liked these kinds of shows too and you were an oddball too, it’s why you and him got along so well. Birds of a feather watch horror shows together.

You hummed in content as you watched the first three episodes of Asylum with your dear Tokoyami, giggling when Dark Shadow came out to lay down his head onto your shoulder and you happily pet him, much to his host’s annoyance. 

“Arf~.” Taromaru then had to stand and put his paws on your chest so he could reach up to lick Dark Shadow’s beak. You quietly cooed when the shadow giggled and pet the puppy, “Who’s a good doggy? Whose a good doggy?!” 

Tokoyami sighed in annoyance when his shadow just had to play with the puppy. Now it’s not that Tokoyami disliked Taromaru, in fact he did find the pup rather cute, but stealing his underwear was certainly NOT cute at all, and then sometimes it felt as if the puppy deliberately stole your attention away from him on purpose.

Including right now as you seemed enthralled in watching Taromaru happily whining under the shadow’s surprisingly soft petting and you just found it adorable. “Awww~...” You shamelessly cooed even if your boyfriend wasn’t amused.

Still, Tokoyami kept close to you and he was happy you shared your blanket because it was really cold in here. He wasn’t a physical person, but he felt comfortable being near you, and touching you, being so close to you made him feel warm inside as you hugged his arm.

As tempting as it was to stay warm with you holding him and watch another episode, it was about to be two o clock and you knew that someone might wake up and catch you both still up at this hour.

At least it gave Tokoyami the excuse to make his quirk retreat, and as he stood up he felt a little more tired than he was earlier. And you gave a rather vocal yawn as you tiredly stood up from the couch and made sure to close the window, “Mmmkay… I’m goin’ to bed now…c’mon Taromaru...” You mumbled, and yet you moved over to the raven and put your hands on his shoulders as Taromaru perked up with a bark.

“Lead the way…”

This somewhat surprised Tokoyami, but he knew what you were getting at. “You wish to sleep in my room tonight?” You said you were going to bed, but didn’t specify you were going to YOUR bed…

“Yeah!” Despite being sleepy, apparently you had enough energy to chirp out an excited but quiet ‘yeah’, and Tokoyami couldn’t help but sigh as he wordlessly led you to his room while your puppy followed. Although the inside of his room still embarrassed him, you didn’t mind it at all. You thought his room was awesome because you were into that gothic stuff, sure some of it was a little edgy, but it was still cool!

He had a freaking sword just like Game of Thrones!

“Fumikage you’re my dark angel…” You smiled drowsily at your boyfriend, and he refused to let himself get so flustered at your flattery. “Get into bed (Y/N), it’s late.” He said a bit firmly, but only so you could go to sleep already because it was clear you were tired. His face was hot over the fact that he was going to share his bed with you, but he wasn’t going to just kick you out of his room. He was always your gentleman and he wouldn’t dream of kicking his girlfriend out of his room.

“Okey~…” Without complaint you got under his covers and already got comfortable and took your own blanket under with you just in case you wanted to put it at your feet. Tokoyami then shakily sighed as he forced himself to get into his bed with you in it. This was no problem he was just getting into his bed with his very cute, very sweet girlfriend in it…

He swallowed hard as he got into his bed and realized that he was lying down right next to you, and did his best not to tremble but ultimately failed. Somehow lying right next to you was a little bit different than just sitting right next to you. Calm down, calm down… he wasn’t going to get so nervous about this, but oh gods it was too late…

“Woof!” 

Oh Thank God for Taromaru. The puppy made himself at home in the room and climbed onto his bed, but instead of taking your attention he just happily lied at the foot of the bed and circled himself into a ball as he gave a little yawn.

So much for that help...

“Awwww...” You did coo at your sweet little puppy, but then you diverted your somewhat flirtatious eyes back on Tokoyami, who immediately felt the nerves now that your attention was back on him.

Even when tired you weren’t completely oblivious to your poor boyfriend’s nerves so you smiled a little bit and held his hand, turning to face him as his eyes widened a bit when they looked into your (E/C) eyes and you suddenly started to softly sing.

“Hello darkness my old friend… I’ve come to talk with you again…”

“Hello~.”

And Dark Shadow popped out from under the covers and sang, making Tokoyami jump ever so slightly as he glared at his shadow for coming out without permission. But Dark Shadow didn’t pay him no mind, he loved singing with you and happily snaked right beside you as you giggled and kept on singing with the shadow.

“Because a vision’s softly creeping… left it’s seeds while I was sleeping…”

Despite Tokoyami’s annoyance with his quirk, you just kept on singing as the shadow nuzzled you as you happily sang with him. Tokoyami would have been entertained by your oddly comforting voice if not for his shadow hogging you and singing with you…

“And the vision that was planted in my brain still remains within the sound…”

Almost getting lost in the song you and Dark Shadow sung along as you nodded your head along with him, but then you and he came to a pause at the last part and turned to face Tokoyami with smiles on your faces. The raven resisted the urge to sigh as he had no choice but to humor you both.

“Of silence…”

Tokoyami softly sang the last two words as you couldn’t help give a little squeal and snuggle up to him when he did it! He sung the song! Two words but still! You were happily nuzzling your now flustered Tokoyami as he trembled a little more and tried not to glare at how comfortable Dark Shadow looked just resting on you like that.

As comfortable as you looked petting the shadow, and having Taromaru resting happily at the edge of the bed, for some reason you still couldn’t bring yourself to fall asleep and Tokoyami knew. “What’s the matter?” He was aware that you were very sleep-deprived and he had no doubts it’s because you couldn’t sleep, however there was always an underlying reason to it and he felt the need to try and help you with that.

Sighing, you rested your head on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, hand still stroking the top of Dark Shadow’s head as he purred. “Can I ask you a bit of a personal question?”

“Of course you can.”

That question made him a little bit nervous, but the raven nonetheless would hear you out. “Do you ever just wish time would stop? So you can just have a goddamn break? I swear… every second passes and it feels like I’m just slowly getting more and more ancient… and then I think too hard on it and begin to wonder just what the point is and why I’m even here. I mean… you know… I’ve always had a lot of self-doubt, and people who liked to make me feel low… sometimes I think I am low, and then I think about just where I am in life and contemplate if it’s good enough. You know me I’m an overthinker and once I think about that I can’t stop…” You admitted, and you didn’t see the thought swirling in your boyfriend’s eyes.

He understood your words, even if they were a tad bit depressing, he knew and understood that. In fact, he wasn’t ashamed to say that he’s had thoughts like that too whenever he in particular felt like he wasn’t very successful in a particular endeavor, or when the things he hoped for weren’t here yet even when he desperately wished for them to come sooner so he wouldn’t have to wait anymore.

Along with the occasional existential crisis Tokoyami, like many an edgy teenager, felt on a somewhat daily basis whenever he felt any of those things. Why was he even here? He didn’t know why, but then again, being with you reminded him that maybe he was here for a reason.

“That’s a hard question to answer.” He replied truthfully and you chuckled with a small nod, “But everything happens for a reason, isn’t that what you like to say? I believe it’s true. Everything does happen for a reason.” Tokoyami remembered you always saying that everything had to happen for a reason, and he found himself starting to believe that. There had to be a reason, he knew there had to.

“You found Taromaru for a reason. You and I started dating for a reason…” He trailed off that last part a little awkwardly as you giggled a little bit, “Because I couldn’t resist you, you’re just so handsome and sweet~.” You grinned a little as you could see Tokoyami’s feathers starting to preen as he started to get flustered. That reason he didn’t understand, but didn’t argue with it because it made him feel good.

“S-See? There’s a reason for everything. There’s a reason why we are here, there’s a reason why I’m here at UA. I understand what you’re feeling. I too have had people tell me before that I wouldn’t qualify as a decent hero because of my dark quirk.” You couldn’t help but frown when you thought about it. Tokoyami didn’t necessarily have the easiest childhood and you knew it because he had told you about it in private so you felt so bad that your dear raven had to go through all of that.

“I’m… sorry Fumi. I’m sorry that they made you feel that way.” And you couldn’t help but apologize to him, but he didn’t really seem all that saddened thinking about it.

“There’s no need to be sorry. If I was never told those words, I never would have realized that I want to be a reliable hero and let people know that they don’t need to fear the dark. I never would have worked hard enough to make it into UA, I never would have met our classmates, and I never would have met you.” The raven continued with a thoughtful gaze that he gave to you. He would always be honest with you, and so he felt just a little less flustered as he confessed that he felt that this the reason he was here, because he was meant to meet you. That you and he were meant to meet.

You could feel your face turning hot at such a humane confession and how surprisingly optimistic your boyfriend sounded about everything. Wow, you had never thought about it like that. Now you were starting to believe that maybe that was true, that you were meant to meet your Tokoyami and be with him because of how everything you’ve been through led to being with him.

With flushed cheeks you tried not to snicker and smile but you couldn’t help it, “God… Fumi… people always say Todoroki’s the heartthrob… but I think it’s you… way to make a gal feel special…” You sounded very touched as you had to lean in to kiss him on the beak as he perked up and grew even more flustered. 

A contrast to how calm he had looked as you giggled when his feathers floofed up a bit. “I think… you’re right… that has to be the reason… makes everything… all the bullshit… worth it. I’ve got my reason right here.” You warmly said as she had to cuddle up closer to him and Tokoyami felt a little bit warmer having you so close to him.

“Me too.” Was all he could bring himself to say as you sighed in content, “Sing with me Fumi~.” You weren’t quite tired yet, but a nice little song would definitely do the trick and Tokoyami didn’t complain as he let you start humming.

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yu6W0rss2o)

“Whether near or far, I am always yours… Any change in time we are young again…”

The raven held you in his arms as he sang this song for you, it was his song to you. He never wanted you to feel like you weren’t worthy of love, no matter how fast time moves, he would always be yours.

“Lay us down… We're in love... Lay us down... We're in love…”

It took all your willpower not to tear up as you thought about Brendon and your sweet boyfriend as you gladly sung and harmonized with him. God you loved Panic! At The Disco, their songs moved your heart, but when Tokoyami sang their songs, it moved your heart just a little bit more.

“In these coming years many things will change, but the way I feel will remain the same…”

He wasn’t Brendon Urie, Tokoyami knew he would never be Brendon, that man was a God, but he could at least try to be your Brendon. And you were his Sara. The one he always wanted to see smile, and he would make sure that he could be the one to make you smile. And for once he didn’t have any caveats when Dark Shadow remained cuddled up at your side and purring into you affectionately. 

“Lay us down… We're in love... Lay us down... We're in love…”

You were smiling the entire time as your eyes slowly started to close as you rested your head on his shoulder and hugged his arm, and Taromaru was cuddled up at your legs. “Good night Fumi~.” You whispered your soft good nights to him when he finished the song you loved and Tokoyami sighed as he gave you a little smile when you looked at peace beside him.

“Good night (Y/N).” He whispered to you gently before his eyes started to close and for once in a while, he was able to fall into a peaceful sleep because he was lied down right next to you. Still very much in love with you, and you were still in love with him.

Lay us down… we’re in love…

[all-things-lgbtqia]

Why the Nickelodeon Pride Tweet isn’t as Confusing as Everyone Says it is

On June 13, Nickelodeon released the above Tweet featuring rainbow patterns on three Nickelodeon characters: Schwoz Schwartz from Henry Danger, Korra from The Legend of Korra, and, our subject for today’s discussion, SpongeBob from SpongeBob SquarePants. The caption reads, “Celebrating #Pride with the LGBTQ+ community and their allies this month and every month”. This entire Tweet seems to have confused many a media outlet, and even if you know the truth about SpongeBob’s LGBTQIA+ status, you can’t blame the uneducated for being confused. Let’s clear up that confusion, shall we?

First of all, I really feel like the wording on this Tweet was a mistake. Don’t get me wrong, I love my allies, but pride month is about celebrating the LGBTQIA+ community, not our allies. This is kind of like wishing someone and their entire family a happy birthday. Plus, this wording has been the culprit in tripping a lot of people up. One of the ways people have interpreted this post is that SpongeBob is actually an LGBTQIA+ ally, and although I have no doubt SpongeBob would be supportive of his friends if they came out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc., I really don’t think that’s Nick’s point. Plus if only three of the characters in their entire pantheon would be considered allies, that would look really bad.

So let’s take a closer look at these characters. That will really clarify the use of all the rainbows. Korra is, of course, bisexual, and this reveal at the very end of the series really [pleasantly] shocked a lot of people. Even though the last episodes premiered online, the creators could only get away with so much if their two female leads kissed onscreen, and although a lot of people see it as a copout today, it’s important to remember that this was the best they could do at the time. LGBTQIA+ representation has, for a long time in media (especially for children), been about pushing that line more and more to increase what creators could get away with. Korra is the first Nickelodeon character to be confirmed on-screen to be LGBTIA+, and we shouldn’t take credit away because her coming out is no longer up to our standards. Schwoz I had to look up, because even though his actor, Michael D. Cohen, was assigned female at birth and underwent surgeries and hormone therapy to appear more masculine (I have to say that in interviews, Cohen has stated that he does not identify as transgender, which is why I don’t say he’s transgender here, but that he did have a transgender experience; although said experience fits the definition of “transgender”, it would be wrong of me to put that label on someone who does not want it), that doesn’t mean the character himself was also assigned female at birth. I went to the character’s Wiki page and found that all his love interests were women, so I scrolled down to trivia and found that Schwoz “will be transgender in the future, according to future Ray...”. This happens in the episode “Ox Pox”, whose synopsis can be viewed here. What is important to note is that the episode premiered in 2016 whereas Cohen came out in 2019, so this likely wasn’t a jab at his identity (or at the very least I am hoping it wasn’t). Finally, the sponge himself, SpongeBob SquarePants, is asexual.

SpongeBob Squarepants is asexual.

SpongeBob’s sexuality has been up for debate for years. We live in a society where any male character that doesn’t immediately express outward affection towards a female character, he must be gay. When asked about this in a 2002 interview with The Wall Street Journal, creator Steven Hillenburg said that he believed the characters, especially SpongeBob, to be asexual. For a children’s show, that makes sense (after all, it would be really inappropriate for sexual desire to be expressed on a kids’ show). Because the article is effectively behind a paywall, you can read an article from People that says basically the same thing here. The show actually has a bit of proof of this. If we look throughout the show’s run, we can find a lot of characters end up in romantic relationships or with romantic feelings for another character, but SpongeBob doesn’t have feelings for anyone other than a Krabby patty in an episode we’d all rather pretend doesn’t exist (but click the link if you’ve somehow forgotten and are curious, I guess). Mr. Krabs, of course, develops feelings for and even enters into a romantic relationship with Mrs. Puff, Patrick develops a crush on Princess Mindy in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Squidward goes on a date with a lady octopus (and SpongeBob even helps him practice), Plankton is married to his computer wife Karen, Pearl is a teenage girl and frequently fawns over various boys, and even SpongeBob’s pet snail Gary is seen crushing on other snails. It seems that Sandy and SpongeBob are the only main characters that don’t end up with love interests at any point in the show. Even if we want to pretend that “To Love a Patty” exists and totally wasn’t a shared fever dream, it’s important to note that asexual people are completely capable of falling in love and sustaining romantic relationships; they just don’t experience a sex drive the same way non-asexual people do. From what I’ve noticed from personal experience, asexual people also tend to care very dearly for their friends, which is apparent in plenty of pre-first movie episodes as well as post-Hillenburg’s return episodes. In fact, the Valentine’s Day episode is all about SpongeBob giving all his friends Valentines, and saving the best one for his best friend Patrick. All the evidence we need is in the show.

So, why the rainbow flag?

The rainbow flag represents all LGBTQIA+ identities

The original rainbow flag was lovingly dyed and stitched together by a large group of people, including lesbians (including lesbian transgender women, and don’t you forget it!), gay men, transgender and non-binary people, and yes, even asexuals. It was meant as a symbol for us all. It represents all non-hetero and non-cisgender identities. The flags that followed exist in part to help express all the unique identities that fall under the rainbow. Think of it like the United States flag. The Star-Spangled Banner represents all of the country of the United States, but every state within has its own flag. Just because I’m from New Jersey doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to fly the US flag on Independence Day. Or any day of the year because we Americans sure do like our flag. And just because Schwoz is transgender, Korra is bisexual, and SpongeBob is asexual, doesn’t mean they’re not allowed to use the rainbow flag. So no, SpongeBob isn’t a straight ally, and he isn’t gay, either; SpongeBob is asexual, and we’re proud to call him a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

[williamsockner]

LGBT+ Identity in the Time of Mindless Self Indulgence

Mindless Self Indulgence isn’t an act that could have flourished at any other time. The emo/pop punk wave was gathering steam; hip hop was still a novelty one could distinguish themselves from the flock by cribbing. “Random” Invader Zim-style humor was in the decline, while “edgy” no-limits humor was skyrocketing. Nerds hadn’t become the dominant force they are today, but due to the internet and the rise in manga and anime sales in the United States, they were able to access nerdy content much more easily. Youtube was taking off, music piracy was booming, and reliance on both radio and local record-store gatekeepers was at a low for young music fans.

Perhaps most critically, our national understanding of politics and identity at the time, particularly LGBT+ identities, was in a different stage of development than it is today. “Punching up” vs. “punching down” was not a concept that most people considered in their comedy. “It’s just a joke” was more widely accepted as an excuse for transgressive entertainment than it is today. “I’m an equal opportunity hater” was a common refrain.

Early in their career, the band released multiple tracks where Jimmy Urine, a man who was certainly not black, used the n-word. The “Pantyshot” cassingle was a treasured possession among MSI fans, featuring an early song that supposedly lost them a record deal due to being about lusting over a 5 year-old. Little Jimmy Urine sold kisses for a dollar to fans after shows, including to the teenagers. As a whole, the band made punchlines of racial and sexual slurs, rape and child abuse, school shootings, prostitution, drug use, incest, and just about every other taboo under the sun.

The understanding was that none of it was real and that none of it had any real consequences. Calling someone a faggot didn’t matter if we were all in on the joke, that homophobia was stupid. Words were just words. The identity of the speaker didn’t matter so long as their ideology was clear. It was something of an inversion of the way we publicly navigate comedy now, in that their identity determines where on the ladder they are to punch up or down, and the contents of their ideology is of minimal consequence compared to the text of their words. The context of a joke is not a matter of what the audience believes, but of the many complexities of hierarchy that society as a whole believes.

“Who cares?” asks 2008. “It’s just words.”

“How could it not matter?” answers 2018. “Words create culture.”

So LGBT+ identity in the era of Mindless Self Indulgence.

Describing the difference between 2005 and 2018 to young queer people is a source of anxiety for me, because I feel like the old woman talking about how she walked uphill both ways to the library if she wanted to read a book. It’s difficult, however, to put in perspective how quickly the culture around LGBT+ identities has changed. As dangerous as it is for queer kids today, they have much freer access to information about their resources and history than we did, and far greater representation in all forms of media.

When I was a teenager, I was the first person openly LGBT at my school, and my only point of reference for LGBT identities were Rosie O’Donnell and Elton John. There was no “Born This Way” yet, no Halsey and Hayley Kiyoko and Ellen Page, no Troye Sivan and Adam Lambert and Frank Ocean, no Miley Cyrus, no Laverne Cox. There were no empowerment ballads.

Which was fine, because I didn’t want empowerment ballads anyway. I felt disgusting. In reckoning with my LGBT+ identity, I felt small, broken, repulsive, confused, discarded and doomed. I was sickened in my own skin and filled with self-loathing because of my sexual orientation. Sometimes I still am. When I was 15, I drew a map of my heart, and in between the “fields of sexual insecurity” and “possibly irreparable damage” I had written “guilt!” several times and underlined it.

“You’re beautiful” didn’t only feel false, it felt invalidating. I was fiercely defensive of my self-hatred. I was working so hard at it, spending so much time and energy convincing myself I deserved the beating I was giving myself. To this day the barriers I’ve put up against generic bromides persist, and songs like “Scars to Your Beautiful” or “Roar” make me cringe. Maybe someone gets something out of them, but I can only think of the teenagers like me who used that sort of sentiment as fuel for their own self-abuse. I remember once bursting into tears at a “Jesus Loves You” sticker because it served as proof that the whole world was playing a joke on me, telling me that someone so unlovable should have some hope.

It was impossible to internalize that queerness was not dirty, unnatural and loathsome. Any attempt to break that association was drown out by the rest of the messaging we were receiving and our own tried-and-true mental gymnastics. Reassurance could not reach us at the bottom of the well.

At the time, I was obsessed with Mindless Self Indulgence with the kind of all-consuming adoration that only teenagers can possess. I aped frontman Little Jimmy Urine’s fashion, writing slogans across my coats with white tape. “What Do They Know” and “Cocaine and Toupees” were my ringtones, much to my mother’s chagrin. I had catalogues of bootlegs, lovingly sorted and pressed to CD. Mindless Self Indulgence populated my artwork, both in classroom doodles and in art pieces for my portfolio that I labored on for weeks. They were the subject of my college application essay. I met my first love on an MSI forum (which I moderated) and lost a few romantic relationships over my inability to talk about anything else. I owned every shirt. When I was hired on at Barnes & Noble’s music section, I would nominate Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy for the staff recommendation shelf every single week, and whenever it inevitably got recalled to the warehouse for lack of sales, I’d order it right back.

Sometimes my friends and I would go to the mall parking lot at night and blast Mindless Self Indulgence from my car, dancing around the empty lot with our striped stockings, fingerless gloves and Hot Topic trip pants.

This band kept me from killing myself.

“I’m filthy, disgusting, horrible, irredeemable,” we’d say. “People tell us we’re beautiful and we know they’re lying. I’m a freak.”

“Yeah, you’re fucking ugly,” the music said. “So what? So’s everything else. Have some fun with it.”

Despite the fact that Jimmy Urine has never publicly labeled himself with an LGBT identity, we young LGBT MSI fans claimed him as our own. We enshrined the article where he described being sexually attracted to anyone regardless of gender. We imitated and revered his gender fuckery onstage, the skirts, the pink suits and tutus, the eyeliner, his yelping falsetto leaping up from the masculine shouting, the way he danced. We pored over lyrics - that we transcribed ourselves in many cases, through multiple listens and endless debate - for those nuggets of same-sex attraction and gender ambiguity.

“I make a good girl but I make a terrible boy,” went one song. “These things in my pants that we’re all waiting for, I never really knew what that thing down there was used for,” went another. And the most sacred text of all was “Faggot”, off Frankenstein Girls Will Seem Strangely Sexy, the most beloved record of the vast majority of hardcore MSI fans.

“I played that shit straight / blowing suckas to the side hopin' I get laid / now everybody knows / no way in hell I can ever live it down”.

Shit was a revelation.

Kitty, the drummer of Mindless Self Indulgence, once said of the band’s LGBT fans that listening to MSI’s music was like vomiting: it hurts at the time, but then you feel better. You got it out. And the band always cultivated their relationship with their LGBT fans. Gay marriage was one of the few political issues they openly took a stance on, in a time when states like my own were amending constitutions to protect themselves from Massachusetts’ same-sex marriages.

Thus, we had a place where we felt simultaneously seen and valued by the band, and unseen amongst the chaos surrounding us. The irreverent humor of the band created a safe space where homosexuality could be disgusting, but so was everything else. There was no shame at an MSI concert. You were listening to a man famed for drinking his own urine sing about whipping his meat out, who cared if you liked to kiss girls? That’s old news. We’re all freaks down here at the bottom of the well.

I’m 28 now, and I don’t know if the kids these days have an equivalent band. I don’t know if there’s a market for it anymore; I’m sure there will always be queer kids who have internalized the awful message that they are inherently unlovable, but I’m not sure if they can’t find more accessible and more inherently positive panaceas. I see mutations of the same style of humor in Willam from RuPaul’s Drag Race and in some of the undercurrents of Tumblr’s teen humor. “We’re goblins, trash, garbage babies.”

“Yeah,” my inner child says. “I fucking feel that.”

The paradigm of humor has changed since 2008, at least in my circles, and the reasons for that are manifold, political, social, capitalistic. In many ways, it’s been a good thing: bigotry can be exposed rather than cloaked in excuses. A basic understanding of social inequality is presumed of most audiences. People are responsible for the impact of their words, not the intent. “Equal opportunity hater” is seem for what it is: intellectually lazy and blinkered, the refuge of white guys who don’t want to own up to the fact that some jokes aren’t funny.

But I’ll always have a place in my heart for comedy that meets people where they’re at. Where we’re at isn’t always beautiful or acceptable or healthy, but sometimes it’s the place where we need the laugh most.

[glitterdustcyclops]

Steven Universe is the Best Show, Fite Me

In honor of the finale yesterday and because I’m still emotionally compromised and need space to process my deep, unending well of FEEEELINGS, here, have an essay I blurted out late at night a few months ago about how much Steven Universe means to me, now cleaned up with proper grammar & capitalization and shit.

Basically, to summarize: Steven Universe is a thesis statement on my entire philosophy; unironically, unequivocally one of the most important pieces of media that I've ever consumed in my entire twenty five years on this earth. This show speaks to the depths of my soul. I love it endlessly. It’s so quietly revolutionary, kind and positive and gentle and queer, a show all about how people can be redeemed by empathy. Maybe not always, but at least sometimes, and that it’s so important to try. And on top of all that, it’s just so dang pretty to look at, every background and scene a lovingly rendered pastel dreamscape, full of glitter and wonder and joy. 

Ever since I watched that first leaked pilot, I was in. I knew right from that moment, that this thing was going to be my thing, that whatever happened next I was so completely along for the ride. And of course the show has evolved so much since those very early days, but I’m glad to know that I haven’t been proven wrong yet. Sometimes it feels like this show is tailor-made just for me, and I’m completely amazed that it exists at all.

There’s this interview with Rebecca back in the early days, talking about her goals with Steven Universe and what she wanted the show to be. If I remember correctly, she basically said that she wanted watching it to feel like getting to spend time with people you love. The emotional core of this show is the relationship between an older sister and her younger brother (and like, I still can’t get over the fact that Steven is based on Rebecca’s younger brother Steven, and he works on the show with her that is just so cute!!!!), and you can really feel that kind of connection when you watch it. It’s just baked into the bones of the show. 

Steven Universe has also been there for me through some majorly hard times in my life, and it feels like a welcoming, safe space where I can relax and breathe and just...be. Beach City is a place where you can have fun adventures and save the world and still laugh. Where even though sometimes things get scary and hard, or you’re unsure of yourself and whether what you’re doing is the right thing, where even when you make mistakes and hurt people that you love, that and at the end of the day, you will always have support, that you can do better and be better, and that there is always hope and joy in the world.

There’s just so much I wanna talk about when it comes to Steven Universe; how important it is for queer representation (that incredibly beautiful gay wedding for example); how amazingly feminist it is, featuring a boy hero who learns from and is surrounded by and idolizes the women in his life and how his powers come from his kindness, his empathy, his love; how “Here Comes a Thought” has legitimately soothed me through more panic attacks than I can count; the incredibly creative character designs and the amazing diversity of body types on display; the amazing soundtrack; the Cool Kids and just how fucking nice they are to Steven and how incredibly revolutionary it is seeing older teenagers written that way on a show aimed at young kids; how it makes me feel almost hopeful about the future to think about the generation that’s being raised on this show and how every aspect of it just means such a deeply absurd amount to me.

The world is often scary and dark and hard, especially now, especially for we folks on the margins, the degenerates and outcasts and other misfits. I don’t think it can be overstated how deeply emotionally vital it is that something like Steven Universe exists in such a world. Every time I watch it I feel validated in this bone-deep way I never knew I craved, in a way that basically everything I watched and read as a kid never quite could. How sad is that? That I had to go two whole decades before I found a piece of media that made me feel okay about being who I was? I can’t go back in time and fix things for that younger version of me, who felt so out of place, but it’s almost enough that I have this now, for adult me, who still deeply needs it: a place where I feel seen and loved and safe.

So yeah, when it comes to Steven Universe, I can’t pretend to be objective or rational. I won’t ever be, and I don’t care. This show, it is the best show, I will hear no other arguments. And I am just so amazed and grateful that I got to exist in the same universe (no I’m not apologizing for that) that Steven did, even just for a time. Steven Universe is my whole heart in cartoon form and if “Change Your Mind” is indeed the finale, then I’m so grateful to see it come to such a satisfying conclusion. Thank you, Rebecca Sugar, and thank you Crewniverse, for all the amazing work you’ve done for almost six years now. I’m glad I got to know Beach City and the people who live there, and I know I’ll be coming back for a long time.

[callmenataston-blog]

A: Adore you

Hi, this is Nataston from AO3, this was my first writing on jeongcheol and I have fallen deeper in love with them ever since.

Please send help...or...maybe not. If anything, please just feed me with some inspiration, a quote, a little scene, a photo, anything really. I realised I have a certain way of portraying these two so I’m really trying to break out of it.

Regardless, thanks for reading!!

P.s: I only write top!cheol and bottom!Han, but feel free to convince me otherwise😉

Rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes, the blonde haired male finds himself staring up at the peaceful sleeping face of his Husband.

What a sight for sore eyes he thinks to himself as he takes in the defined features his partner was blessed with. The tall nose bridge that gives his lover an air of royalty, the high cheekbones and smooth fair skin, ruby red lips asking to be kissed, inky dark lashes framing the soulful puppy eyes that are at rest and the prominent jaw line that jeonghan was partial to sneaking a kiss or two.

Giving in to his desires, The blonde moves closer to peck on the side of Seungcheol‘s face where a cute dimple shall appear with every gummy smile he makes. Once the deed was done, Jeonghan settles back into the pillow with a soft smile tugging on his lips, eyes never leaving the love of his life in his most comfortable state.

Don’t get him wrong, no. Jeonghan has never been a mushy lover. His compliments were few and far between, not to mention, extremely hard to come by. To put it very simply he enjoys annoying people with his halfhearted narcissism far more than letting them know how much he appreciates their face.

However, with that being said, he has been a model for the past ten years and he does have a good pair of eyes so it is safe to say that he can definitely appreciate beauty. Especially if he wakes up to the human representation of it whenever he closes his eyes for a short rest, gets to touch and be touched by those loving hands, when he hears that beautiful deep rumble, the growls and moans and- you get the idea.

Raising his head once again, he shifts to a more comfortable position by nudging towards the warmth of his Husband. Jeonghan takes extra care not to jostle the other awake with his ministrations as he lays his head on a fresh hicky, close to the center of his broad chest and right above his heart. Perhaps it was his sadistic nature that fueled him to bite at that sensitive spot, but it certainly satisfies the little possessive bitch in him that wants to flaunt to anyone who has laid eyes on his lover to BACK THE FUCK OF HOE, this hunk is taken as fuck and he is so obsessed with me that he is willing to tolerate this pain for a few days because I decided to be an asshole and mark him there.

Bringing himself back from his imaginary fight with the hoard of humans thirsting for his husband, Jeonghan lets the steady heartbeat beneath his ears slowly lull him back to sleep. Absentmindedly, the blonde shifts his gaze up and notices that the sun is setting as the warm glow from outside radiates through the pristine white curtains of their bedroom. Taking in the serene atmosphere and the gentle chirping of the birds outside their balcony, Jeonghan heaves out a small sigh of relief.

It has been a long time since they’ve had this sort of peace and quiet between the two of them without a pair of tiny limbs demanding food, water or love and attention. Of course Jeonghan adores his baby Chan, heck, he was the one who desperately cried and begged Seungcheol to agree to the adoption after they visited a children’s home that one fateful weekend. But sometimes, just sometimes that ball of sunshine in his terrible twos will somehow manage to wear him out and make him aggressively miss the times where he was able to spend the days enjoying the comfortable silence in their house and occasional surprise sex whenever Seungcheol decides to pounce on him. And this, is when his sweet Husband steps into the scene to help him sort things out.

With his thumb tracing comforting circles around the taut abdomen below his head, Jeong Han thinks about the sleepy male. Despite his busy schedule as producer and lead rapper of his recording company, Seungcheol ensures that Jeong Han knows their family lies right on top of his long list of priorities, often working from home and caring for Chan just to fit into the blonde model’s crazy working hours during fashion weeks and seasonal showcases. On days when his schedule is fully free for weeks on end due to yet another successful release of albums and songs, Seungcheol would even take the family on month long trips in their private jet, fully utilising that pilot certificate he got when he was “young dumb and wooing his Husband” (words quoted from their close friend, Ji Hoon).

Even though the elder can be fierce and extremely strict on the idols and staff members working for him in his company, occasionally even making a few of them cry from the sheer intensity of his words, once he is back at home, he transitions into the most patient and loving Husband and Father Jeonghan has ever seen.

No matter how tiring or how bad work was, he never fails to smile lovingly at Chan through his endless baby mumbles, giving in to his requests for piggy backs and huggies despite his sore body. But being the good Father that he is, he never ever spoils their Son. On days when Chan refuses to cooperate with Jeonghan and is causing the model far too much stress and unhappiness, Seungcheol will be the one to do the necessary scolding and ensure that their child understands where he is coming from with a stern expression and serious tone of voice — never screaming, never using violence. Chan in response would initially make a fuss over his Daddy’s lack of tender smiles, perhaps cry a few pitiful tears before fully realising his mistakes and appropriately apologising to Jeonghan in muffled “sorry”s and “I love you Papa”, crying even more when his gentle Papa bends down to scoop him into his embrace and give his chubby cheeks wet kisses to tell him that he is forgiven.

Whoever witnessed Seungcheol disciplining Chan would all end up being impressed, even Jeonghan’s Mother who was once a child psychologist.

But, that calm and authoritative demeanour is only available when handling Chan’s bad days. During the days when Jeong Han is acting up and being extra overbearing, Seungcheol downright spoils him and gives in to his every whim no matter the costs. He went as far as to stop a collaboration with an up and rising female idol on one occasion just because Jeong Han has a “bad feeling” about the lady. In his rightful defence, the said female ended up having an affair with another married producer. So Jeonghan allows himself a proud huff as he DEFINITELY made the right call back then (to threaten Seungcheol with “no sex for a week if you don’t fuck me until I’m spent NOW” ten minutes before Seungcheol leaves the house for his scheduled meeting with the idol to discuss their plans).

Despite having been the most sought after male model in the industry for the past decade since his debut at eighteen, Jeonghan is still young and his episodes of insecurity and uncertainty in himself would have been dangerous if not for the overwhelming love and positivity Seungcheol has brought him. A gentle smile makes it way onto Jeonghan’s lips as he thinks of the dorky and ridiculous things his lover did when they were younger just to make him smile or feel a little better.

Ever since they met at a party held by some irrelevant rich kid eight years ago, Seungcheol was hooked on that beautiful gaze and charming laughter of the androgynous teen model. His persistent wooing, handsome good looks, and thoughtful personality eventually got him the man of his dreams after a solid three months of daily letters and flowers.

The reveal of their relationship was once the talk of the town and the never ending lavish gifts from Seungcheol spurred gossips of Jeonghan being a sugar baby at one point in time (which wasn’t that far away from the truth now that he thinks about it..well, they did get one of his kinks right). However, their relationship and tight bond would only be known amongst their closest friend group who witnessed their domesticity since day one and respected the pure support and adoration they have for each another.

Wonwoo, one of Jeonghan’s best friend and fellow model once compared them to an old married couple as they were having their model’s night in at home doing skincare and Seungcheol came to greet him wordlessly with a loving kiss in his hair. His casual manner of placing Jeonghan’s favourite Riesling on the table before leaving the house for them to enjoy their little spa time was a clear indicator to him that this man is a keeper.

And that was just during the first year of their relationship and only one month into cohabitation, now, seven years later, they are legitimately the old married couple of the gang, complete with an adorable child who became more popular than either one in their group of celebrities.

Sieving through all his memories with his love, Jeonghan frowns a little as he belatedly realised that his Husband was always the one who apologised first in the small arguments they’ve ever had, only ever being extremely upset when Jeong Han steps out of the line in which the blonde would then swallow his pride to say his sorrys. Am I really that spoiled?

In terms of their bedroom activities, no matter how rough he can be, Seungcheol was always soft and gentle in his aftercare for his lover, cleaning him up, massaging his body, carrying him around their penthouse when his legs are too sore or his back aches too much because “who’s fault is it that I can’t ever walk in peace, hmm?”

The low growl of “mine” and the rumbling of the chest beneath his ears caught Jeonghan off guard and that was when he realised that he had said his thoughts out loud again, a habit he has only around his Cheol.

Wrapping a possessive arm around the lithe body of the male on top of his chest was second nature to Seungcheol by now, so he does so without hesitation, forgetting for a moment that he might have overdone it last night as Jeonghan lets out a small noise of discomfort.

“Shit! Sorry baby, did I hurt you?” scrambling upright with Jeonghan, the raven haired rapper gently holds his Husband away from him, careful to not cause more pain to the blonde’s sore body.

With a deep pout on his face, the younger whines and makes grabby hand motions at the 30% awake and 100% panicking male, refusing to stay away from his own personal human furnace. “Come back. I’m not hurt, your arms just held on to my waist a little too tightly, there are still marks from our last round...”.

Looking down at where his hand was resting, Seungcheol finds himself eyeing a slightly reddish handprint mark that was left on the pale skin of his lover when he tried to fuck into him from behind while holding onto the skin on the side of his body with an iron grip a few hours ago.

Unsurprisingly, the elder abides to the younger’s wishes and Seungcheol lets jeonghan pull him back down onto the bed and cuddle into his chest, hearing him hum happily to himself. Craning his neck, Seungcheol takes one last look at the marks on his lover’s delectable body and after making sure that he isn’t applying too much pressure on anywhere that might hurt Jeonghan, the rapper settles back down, fully awake with the happily naked beauty in his arms.

Both sporting a slight smile and peaceful gaze, the couple laid in bed for a while, staring up at each other through the mirror on their ceiling which was yet another show of Jeonghan’s powers over the elder as it took the model only one sentence for the elder to install this huge ass mirror in their million dollar bedroom. ( Want to see your back muscles when you thrust into me, please?)

Adjusting his posture, Jeonghan giggles lightly as he playfully wriggle his body against the solid form of his Husband, turning sideways to hang a slender leg over the elder’s which caused the blanket to reveal more of his arched back and perky butt, giving Seungcheol a good view of the hand prints and bite marks littered over the exposed skin.

With a roll of his eyes and a slight quirk on his lips, Seungcheol kisses his Husband’s hair in thanks for the show and then drags more blanket to cover the body next to his, knowing fully that this pampered man has the cold tolerance of their child yet never wants to turn down the air conditioning in their room because “It is comfier when the room is cooler, Cheol.”

Breaking the serenity, Jeonghan whispers his words out like a secret after that long period of reflection, “I’ve been thinking about how much you love me”

Quirking his brows up in response, Seungcheol entertains his pretty Husband upon hearing those words in that sweet seductive voice of his angel “Oh really? So what’s the result of your thoughts?”

“You spoil me a lot”

“I do”

A moment of silence later and another quieter mumble of words came tumbling out of the blonde model.

“And I adore you too”

Trying and failing at keeping his face straight, Seungcheol smiles wide and bright at his blushing love who was attempting to hide his face in his chest and under the blankets. Hands moving to affectionately pet his lover’s soft blonde hair

“I know” he replies, voice full of love.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/12820623/chapters/29268981

[epackingvietnam]

Fast & Featured: How Entities Can Help You Conquer Snippets in Less Than 4 Minutes

Posted by larissa-lacerda

From the moment I started working with SEO, I was faced with countless optimization tactics. After heading down numerous rabbit holes, I came to see how important it is to identify your low hanging fruit: the opportunities to generate great results with less effort.

The first time I saw notable results in my work was in the optimizations I put into practice to reach featured snippets. The thrill of jumping to the top of the page was so great that it soon became my passion.

But not everything in SEO is so simple (or stable). Soon, methods that had previously brought results were no longer working. With the competition growing increasingly competent and challenging, great results were becoming less frequent.

If, like me, you’ve reached that point — don't worry! I’ll show you how I overcame this with a method that I lovingly refer to as “Fast & Featured”.

What are SEO entities?

I started with an unpretentious study of entities. I hadn’t read much on the topic, but what caught my attention was the understanding entities can offer into how search algorithms work.

Google’s definition is: “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”But this definition is very broad, leading to even greater confusion. I wanted a clearer understanding of what entities are all about, so I crafted my own definition that I’ll share with you today.

Basically, an entity in SEO is everything definable, unique, and not limited to a specific shape, spelling, or image (e.g. mom, mother, mummy, and a picture of a mother all relate to the same entity).

I really like to make an association with the following image, famous in the study of semiotics, which illustrates entities very well:

"One and Three Chairs", 1965, by Joseph Kosuth. Gautier Poupeau, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here, we have three chairs: the physical chair, the representation of a chair, and the dictionary definition of what a chair is. All three refer to a single entity: the chair.

What matters here is the essence, the content, and what lies behind it.

In the same way, this is how algorithms understand elements that exist on the web, overcoming restrictions of language, form, or representation — which results in huge improvements in the accuracy of the SERP results.

So, what if I use this concept to understand which entities are most important in searches with featured snippets? With this knowledge, I’d have an in-depth understanding of what the ideal answers are, not just the ones I, totally biased, considered good.

It may seem a simple concept, but it's like telling your SEO to focus on basic practices or understand the user's intention. No matter how much you talk about it or how obvious it seems, people will still be reluctant to do it. The tendency is to look for more complicated or advanced hacks — but that’s not what we want here.

Our goal is to show how to associate a basic concept with a previously understood practice, making each step very clear, logical, and uncomplicated.

Let's get down to the method!

How to use the Fast & Featured method

As mentioned, this method was developed to make achieving featured snippets more intelligent and strategic, so each of these seven steps is essential to increase your probability of success.

1. Understand context and objectives

As with any strategy, whether SEO, marketing, or across other areas, we must first understand the current context — what we have at the moment (and how it serves us) — to then determine our objectives, where we intend to catch up.

As a result, the first step is to compile a list of searches for keywords that you rank in the top ten positions for, and note which already have featured snippets. For even greater chances, filter for just the top three positions as well, since that’s where Google selects the featured snippet 70% of the time.

There are several methods for this, with the main difference being speed. I will share three approaches, to cover the range of demands that different teams may have.

Moz Keyword Explorer

In a very intuitive way, Moz's Keyword Explorer has an easy approach to help you out with this stage of creating your list of opportunities.

To do this, simply access the keywords you rank for and filter positions 1-10.

Then, create your own list and then select the “Featured Snippet” option under “SERP feature”.

Source: Moz

Now you have a complete list of opportunities!

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Ahrefs WebMaster Tools (the free version of Ahrefs) can also be used to create your list of opportunities.

The process is largely similar, simply access the “Organic keywords” feature, click on “SERP features” (under “Include”) and select “Featured snippet”.

After doing this, the tool will present a series of results, including snippets that you have already achieved. You can follow up on each result separately or export the complete list.

To clean your data, leaving only the opportunities, exclude all keywords that are in first place — those already considered featured snippets by the tool — after all, you hear less about position zero nowadays.

Google Search Console

This technique was used when free tools were not yet available and a user simply needed a way to generate this list.

If this is not your case — and you’re not curious to find out more — feel free to skip ahead.

To find opportunities where there is less competition and greater focus on long tails, it’s necessary to access the "Performance" report, go to "Search results" and filter by "Queries" using expressions such as "what is", "concept", "definition" , “how to” among others.

As it’s not possible to identify the SERP features this way, it’s not as accurate, but is worth mentioning.

2. Start a SERP analysis

Now that you’ve managed to create a respectable list, select your priorities. Again, keywords with higher positions and more traffic coverage are ideal.

Start by accessing the SERP and identifying the following aspects:

What type of snippet is it?

Are there other definitions highlighted on the page? (This could include definitions under a “knowledge panel” or “people also ask”.)

This information will help you understand what Google interprets as the ideal answer, giving you more information than just what the featured snippet contains. This way, you will know if the snippet is a paragraph or shorter, or what the user hopes to find when searching for that term.

For the keyword “interactive ebook”, we find a paragraph snippet. Below, the SERP presents PAAs on how to make interactive ebooks and the difference between digital books and ebooks.

Hang on to this info, as we’ll need it in step 4.

3. Look at competitor content

In addition to the previous questions related to the SERP, the time has come to meet the current winner and understand what sets it apart from the rest. Identify:

Who has the current snippet?

Where is it located on the page? (first paragraph, summary, middle of the text)

How is the concept in question currently defined?

How objective is it?

Look for answers to these questions and, especially for the last two, try to set aside your current definition or how you would approach it differently, in order to be as impartial as possible in your analysis — however difficult it may be at times.

In the example I presented, the competitor is Visme, the snippet was taken from the beginning of the second title, the definition is very objective, succinct, and logical, and takes advantage of the formats that make up an interactive ebook.

4. Use a comparative analysis

I consider this next step to be the most important. I suggest that you write down the information somewhere. I usually use an online text counter, but feel free to do it on a spreadsheet or another platform.

Whatever tool you use, first record the result of the snippet. Then, add another definition, if found on the SERP (could be a Google dictionary or Wikipedia definition), then finally add your current definition.

Now, the time has come to apply the concept of entities. We will focus on the first two definitions from the beginning of this post.

Below, list the entities you found and how many times they appear in the text — which helps to indicate their relevance in context.

To get the hang of this when starting, you can use Google's own NLP API demo tool or another tool, such as TextRazor, to help you identify it:

5. Identify entities

After you identify the entities and their level of relevance for the definitions you found (the snippet itself and another highlighted definition), see which entities are most repeated on both lists (if the SERP presents more than one definition) and the relationships established between them.

Once you do that, you have the set of entities considered the most important for that Google search and can then avoid relying on “I prefer this” or “I think this word is better”, because it will be based on what the search engine understands to be the best.

Then, just like a puzzle, assemble these entities with your own text in an objective and easy to understand way.

Ideally, your definition should be slightly shorter than the current one, making it as unbiased as possible — very important, especially for voice searches.

Take a look at this example:

In blue are the entities I decided to use on my new definition. You can also note that this paragraph is a lot shorter than the previous one.

Finally, insert your updated paragraph into your text, making sure it fits with the rest of the text, and avoiding any breaks in the flow of the text that could throw off your reader.

6. Re-index your page

After making these changes, the next step is to request that your page be re-indexed through Google Search Console.

This action wasn’t possible until a few weeks ago, but Google announced on December 22, 2020 that “Request Indexing” is back to their tool.

The re-indexing part is not an indispensable step, but it is ideal to streamline the process and verify whether it was possible to achieve the snippet or not more quickly.

To illustrate the results my team and I were able to make, here are some snippets won using this strategy:

And the one that made me proudest (it is in Portuguese, my native language): Before:

After four minutes:

Besides conquering it incredibly fast, this exact snippet made me realize I had created an effective strategy and I needed to share it with the SEO community.

7. Don’t give up

Something went wrong? Check if your content as a whole relates to what is presented in the snippet text, and make the necessary adjustments or consider re-analyzing the entities to see if something important was left out.

For some tests I’ve carried out, simply shortening the definition by two words was enough for Google to accept my definition and not a competitor's.

In addition, there are cases of reaching the snippet, but then quickly losing it. While this can be very frustrating, it’s a sign that you are on the right track. Several factors can influence this, such as your text not being attractive enough or sounding confusing.

When this happens, keep trying and update your definition from time to time (at two-week intervals), to continue increasing the chance that you show up on the snippet.

Final tips

Here are a few final thoughts. If you have other advice, let me know in the comments!

Test the use of abstracts in WordPress (that bold section that appears at the beginning of the text).

Try to work concepts into your text objectively, preferably using the composition “what is + the keyword” in the given intertitle. This doesn’t mean that your copy should lack variety and personality, but look for ways to adapt this formula your own way to attract people with your style, while also being accessible to a wide audience.

Intertitles of lists should be more obvious as well: "What are the best channels on Youtube" — something simple and without being too distracting.

See how reaching snippets can be simple (and fast) when using a clear method?

It may feel great to achieve a position without much effort or even when we don't know what we did, but it's much better when we know exactly what it takes — without mistakes or crazy tricks.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

#túi_giấy_epacking_việt_nam #túi_giấy_epacking #in_túi_giấy_giá_rẻ #in_túi_giấy #epackingvietnam #tuigiayepacking

[bfxenon]

Fast & Featured: How Entities Can Help You Conquer Snippets in Less Than 4 Minutes

Posted by larissa-lacerda

From the moment I started working with SEO, I was faced with countless optimization tactics. After heading down numerous rabbit holes, I came to see how important it is to identify your low hanging fruit: the opportunities to generate great results with less effort.

The first time I saw notable results in my work was in the optimizations I put into practice to reach featured snippets. The thrill of jumping to the top of the page was so great that it soon became my passion.

But not everything in SEO is so simple (or stable). Soon, methods that had previously brought results were no longer working. With the competition growing increasingly competent and challenging, great results were becoming less frequent.

If, like me, you’ve reached that point — don't worry! I’ll show you how I overcame this with a method that I lovingly refer to as “Fast & Featured”.

What are SEO entities?

I started with an unpretentious study of entities. I hadn’t read much on the topic, but what caught my attention was the understanding entities can offer into how search algorithms work.

Google’s definition is: “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”But this definition is very broad, leading to even greater confusion. I wanted a clearer understanding of what entities are all about, so I crafted my own definition that I’ll share with you today.

Basically, an entity in SEO is everything definable, unique, and not limited to a specific shape, spelling, or image (e.g. mom, mother, mummy, and a picture of a mother all relate to the same entity).

I really like to make an association with the following image, famous in the study of semiotics, which illustrates entities very well:

"One and Three Chairs", 1965, by Joseph Kosuth. Gautier Poupeau, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here, we have three chairs: the physical chair, the representation of a chair, and the dictionary definition of what a chair is. All three refer to a single entity: the chair.

What matters here is the essence, the content, and what lies behind it.

In the same way, this is how algorithms understand elements that exist on the web, overcoming restrictions of language, form, or representation — which results in huge improvements in the accuracy of the SERP results.

So, what if I use this concept to understand which entities are most important in searches with featured snippets? With this knowledge, I’d have an in-depth understanding of what the ideal answers are, not just the ones I, totally biased, considered good.

It may seem a simple concept, but it's like telling your SEO to focus on basic practices or understand the user's intention. No matter how much you talk about it or how obvious it seems, people will still be reluctant to do it. The tendency is to look for more complicated or advanced hacks — but that’s not what we want here.

Our goal is to show how to associate a basic concept with a previously understood practice, making each step very clear, logical, and uncomplicated.

Let's get down to the method!

How to use the Fast & Featured method

As mentioned, this method was developed to make achieving featured snippets more intelligent and strategic, so each of these seven steps is essential to increase your probability of success.

1. Understand context and objectives

As with any strategy, whether SEO, marketing, or across other areas, we must first understand the current context — what we have at the moment (and how it serves us) — to then determine our objectives, where we intend to catch up.

As a result, the first step is to compile a list of searches for keywords that you rank in the top ten positions for, and note which already have featured snippets. For even greater chances, filter for just the top three positions as well, since that’s where Google selects the featured snippet 70% of the time.

There are several methods for this, with the main difference being speed. I will share three approaches, to cover the range of demands that different teams may have.

Moz Keyword Explorer

In a very intuitive way, Moz's Keyword Explorer has an easy approach to help you out with this stage of creating your list of opportunities.

To do this, simply access the keywords you rank for and filter positions 1-10.

Then, create your own list and then select the “Featured Snippet” option under “SERP feature”.

Source: Moz

Now you have a complete list of opportunities!

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Ahrefs WebMaster Tools (the free version of Ahrefs) can also be used to create your list of opportunities.

The process is largely similar, simply access the “Organic keywords” feature, click on “SERP features” (under “Include”) and select “Featured snippet”.

After doing this, the tool will present a series of results, including snippets that you have already achieved. You can follow up on each result separately or export the complete list.

To clean your data, leaving only the opportunities, exclude all keywords that are in first place — those already considered featured snippets by the tool — after all, you hear less about position zero nowadays.

Google Search Console

This technique was used when free tools were not yet available and a user simply needed a way to generate this list.

If this is not your case — and you’re not curious to find out more — feel free to skip ahead.

To find opportunities where there is less competition and greater focus on long tails, it’s necessary to access the "Performance" report, go to "Search results" and filter by "Queries" using expressions such as "what is", "concept", "definition" , “how to” among others.

As it’s not possible to identify the SERP features this way, it’s not as accurate, but is worth mentioning.

2. Start a SERP analysis

Now that you’ve managed to create a respectable list, select your priorities. Again, keywords with higher positions and more traffic coverage are ideal.

Start by accessing the SERP and identifying the following aspects:

What type of snippet is it?

Are there other definitions highlighted on the page? (This could include definitions under a “knowledge panel” or “people also ask”.)

This information will help you understand what Google interprets as the ideal answer, giving you more information than just what the featured snippet contains. This way, you will know if the snippet is a paragraph or shorter, or what the user hopes to find when searching for that term.

For the keyword “interactive ebook”, we find a paragraph snippet. Below, the SERP presents PAAs on how to make interactive ebooks and the difference between digital books and ebooks.

Hang on to this info, as we’ll need it in step 4.

3. Look at competitor content

In addition to the previous questions related to the SERP, the time has come to meet the current winner and understand what sets it apart from the rest. Identify:

Who has the current snippet?

Where is it located on the page? (first paragraph, summary, middle of the text)

How is the concept in question currently defined?

How objective is it?

Look for answers to these questions and, especially for the last two, try to set aside your current definition or how you would approach it differently, in order to be as impartial as possible in your analysis — however difficult it may be at times.

In the example I presented, the competitor is Visme, the snippet was taken from the beginning of the second title, the definition is very objective, succinct, and logical, and takes advantage of the formats that make up an interactive ebook.

4. Use a comparative analysis

I consider this next step to be the most important. I suggest that you write down the information somewhere. I usually use an online text counter, but feel free to do it on a spreadsheet or another platform.

Whatever tool you use, first record the result of the snippet. Then, add another definition, if found on the SERP (could be a Google dictionary or Wikipedia definition), then finally add your current definition.

Now, the time has come to apply the concept of entities. We will focus on the first two definitions from the beginning of this post.

Below, list the entities you found and how many times they appear in the text — which helps to indicate their relevance in context.

To get the hang of this when starting, you can use Google's own NLP API demo tool or another tool, such as TextRazor, to help you identify it:

5. Identify entities

After you identify the entities and their level of relevance for the definitions you found (the snippet itself and another highlighted definition), see which entities are most repeated on both lists (if the SERP presents more than one definition) and the relationships established between them.

Once you do that, you have the set of entities considered the most important for that Google search and can then avoid relying on “I prefer this” or “I think this word is better”, because it will be based on what the search engine understands to be the best.

Then, just like a puzzle, assemble these entities with your own text in an objective and easy to understand way.

Ideally, your definition should be slightly shorter than the current one, making it as unbiased as possible — very important, especially for voice searches.

Take a look at this example:

In blue are the entities I decided to use on my new definition. You can also note that this paragraph is a lot shorter than the previous one.

Finally, insert your updated paragraph into your text, making sure it fits with the rest of the text, and avoiding any breaks in the flow of the text that could throw off your reader.

6. Re-index your page

After making these changes, the next step is to request that your page be re-indexed through Google Search Console.

This action wasn’t possible until a few weeks ago, but Google announced on December 22, 2020 that “Request Indexing” is back to their tool.

The re-indexing part is not an indispensable step, but it is ideal to streamline the process and verify whether it was possible to achieve the snippet or not more quickly.

To illustrate the results my team and I were able to make, here are some snippets won using this strategy:

And the one that made me proudest (it is in Portuguese, my native language): Before:

After four minutes:

Besides conquering it incredibly fast, this exact snippet made me realize I had created an effective strategy and I needed to share it with the SEO community.

7. Don’t give up

Something went wrong? Check if your content as a whole relates to what is presented in the snippet text, and make the necessary adjustments or consider re-analyzing the entities to see if something important was left out.

For some tests I’ve carried out, simply shortening the definition by two words was enough for Google to accept my definition and not a competitor's.

In addition, there are cases of reaching the snippet, but then quickly losing it. While this can be very frustrating, it’s a sign that you are on the right track. Several factors can influence this, such as your text not being attractive enough or sounding confusing.

When this happens, keep trying and update your definition from time to time (at two-week intervals), to continue increasing the chance that you show up on the snippet.

Final tips

Here are a few final thoughts. If you have other advice, let me know in the comments!

Test the use of abstracts in WordPress (that bold section that appears at the beginning of the text).

Try to work concepts into your text objectively, preferably using the composition “what is + the keyword” in the given intertitle. This doesn’t mean that your copy should lack variety and personality, but look for ways to adapt this formula your own way to attract people with your style, while also being accessible to a wide audience.

Intertitles of lists should be more obvious as well: "What are the best channels on Youtube" — something simple and without being too distracting.

See how reaching snippets can be simple (and fast) when using a clear method?

It may feel great to achieve a position without much effort or even when we don't know what we did, but it's much better when we know exactly what it takes — without mistakes or crazy tricks.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[nutrifami]

Fast & Featured: How Entities Can Help You Conquer Snippets in Less Than 4 Minutes

Posted by larissa-lacerda

From the moment I started working with SEO, I was faced with countless optimization tactics. After heading down numerous rabbit holes, I came to see how important it is to identify your low hanging fruit: the opportunities to generate great results with less effort.

The first time I saw notable results in my work was in the optimizations I put into practice to reach featured snippets. The thrill of jumping to the top of the page was so great that it soon became my passion.

But not everything in SEO is so simple (or stable). Soon, methods that had previously brought results were no longer working. With the competition growing increasingly competent and challenging, great results were becoming less frequent.

If, like me, you’ve reached that point — don't worry! I’ll show you how I overcame this with a method that I lovingly refer to as “Fast & Featured”.

What are SEO entities?

I started with an unpretentious study of entities. I hadn’t read much on the topic, but what caught my attention was the understanding entities can offer into how search algorithms work.

Google’s definition is: “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”But this definition is very broad, leading to even greater confusion. I wanted a clearer understanding of what entities are all about, so I crafted my own definition that I’ll share with you today.

Basically, an entity in SEO is everything definable, unique, and not limited to a specific shape, spelling, or image (e.g. mom, mother, mummy, and a picture of a mother all relate to the same entity).

I really like to make an association with the following image, famous in the study of semiotics, which illustrates entities very well:

"One and Three Chairs", 1965, by Joseph Kosuth. Gautier Poupeau, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here, we have three chairs: the physical chair, the representation of a chair, and the dictionary definition of what a chair is. All three refer to a single entity: the chair.

What matters here is the essence, the content, and what lies behind it.

In the same way, this is how algorithms understand elements that exist on the web, overcoming restrictions of language, form, or representation — which results in huge improvements in the accuracy of the SERP results.

So, what if I use this concept to understand which entities are most important in searches with featured snippets? With this knowledge, I’d have an in-depth understanding of what the ideal answers are, not just the ones I, totally biased, considered good.

It may seem a simple concept, but it's like telling your SEO to focus on basic practices or understand the user's intention. No matter how much you talk about it or how obvious it seems, people will still be reluctant to do it. The tendency is to look for more complicated or advanced hacks — but that’s not what we want here.

Our goal is to show how to associate a basic concept with a previously understood practice, making each step very clear, logical, and uncomplicated.

Let's get down to the method!

How to use the Fast & Featured method

As mentioned, this method was developed to make achieving featured snippets more intelligent and strategic, so each of these seven steps is essential to increase your probability of success.

1. Understand context and objectives

As with any strategy, whether SEO, marketing, or across other areas, we must first understand the current context — what we have at the moment (and how it serves us) — to then determine our objectives, where we intend to catch up.

As a result, the first step is to compile a list of searches for keywords that you rank in the top ten positions for, and note which already have featured snippets. For even greater chances, filter for just the top three positions as well, since that’s where Google selects the featured snippet 70% of the time.

There are several methods for this, with the main difference being speed. I will share three approaches, to cover the range of demands that different teams may have.

Moz Keyword Explorer

In a very intuitive way, Moz's Keyword Explorer has an easy approach to help you out with this stage of creating your list of opportunities.

To do this, simply access the keywords you rank for and filter positions 1-10.

Then, create your own list and then select the “Featured Snippet” option under “SERP feature”.

Source: Moz

Now you have a complete list of opportunities!

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Ahrefs WebMaster Tools (the free version of Ahrefs) can also be used to create your list of opportunities.

The process is largely similar, simply access the “Organic keywords” feature, click on “SERP features” (under “Include”) and select “Featured snippet”.

After doing this, the tool will present a series of results, including snippets that you have already achieved. You can follow up on each result separately or export the complete list.

To clean your data, leaving only the opportunities, exclude all keywords that are in first place — those already considered featured snippets by the tool — after all, you hear less about position zero nowadays.

Google Search Console

This technique was used when free tools were not yet available and a user simply needed a way to generate this list.

If this is not your case — and you’re not curious to find out more — feel free to skip ahead.

To find opportunities where there is less competition and greater focus on long tails, it’s necessary to access the "Performance" report, go to "Search results" and filter by "Queries" using expressions such as "what is", "concept", "definition" , “how to” among others.

As it’s not possible to identify the SERP features this way, it’s not as accurate, but is worth mentioning.

2. Start a SERP analysis

Now that you’ve managed to create a respectable list, select your priorities. Again, keywords with higher positions and more traffic coverage are ideal.

Start by accessing the SERP and identifying the following aspects:

What type of snippet is it?

Are there other definitions highlighted on the page? (This could include definitions under a “knowledge panel” or “people also ask”.)

This information will help you understand what Google interprets as the ideal answer, giving you more information than just what the featured snippet contains. This way, you will know if the snippet is a paragraph or shorter, or what the user hopes to find when searching for that term.

For the keyword “interactive ebook”, we find a paragraph snippet. Below, the SERP presents PAAs on how to make interactive ebooks and the difference between digital books and ebooks.

Hang on to this info, as we’ll need it in step 4.

3. Look at competitor content

In addition to the previous questions related to the SERP, the time has come to meet the current winner and understand what sets it apart from the rest. Identify:

Who has the current snippet?

Where is it located on the page? (first paragraph, summary, middle of the text)

How is the concept in question currently defined?

How objective is it?

Look for answers to these questions and, especially for the last two, try to set aside your current definition or how you would approach it differently, in order to be as impartial as possible in your analysis — however difficult it may be at times.

In the example I presented, the competitor is Visme, the snippet was taken from the beginning of the second title, the definition is very objective, succinct, and logical, and takes advantage of the formats that make up an interactive ebook.

4. Use a comparative analysis

I consider this next step to be the most important. I suggest that you write down the information somewhere. I usually use an online text counter, but feel free to do it on a spreadsheet or another platform.

Whatever tool you use, first record the result of the snippet. Then, add another definition, if found on the SERP (could be a Google dictionary or Wikipedia definition), then finally add your current definition.

Now, the time has come to apply the concept of entities. We will focus on the first two definitions from the beginning of this post.

Below, list the entities you found and how many times they appear in the text — which helps to indicate their relevance in context.

To get the hang of this when starting, you can use Google's own NLP API demo tool or another tool, such as TextRazor, to help you identify it:

5. Identify entities

After you identify the entities and their level of relevance for the definitions you found (the snippet itself and another highlighted definition), see which entities are most repeated on both lists (if the SERP presents more than one definition) and the relationships established between them.

Once you do that, you have the set of entities considered the most important for that Google search and can then avoid relying on “I prefer this” or “I think this word is better”, because it will be based on what the search engine understands to be the best.

Then, just like a puzzle, assemble these entities with your own text in an objective and easy to understand way.

Ideally, your definition should be slightly shorter than the current one, making it as unbiased as possible — very important, especially for voice searches.

Take a look at this example:

In blue are the entities I decided to use on my new definition. You can also note that this paragraph is a lot shorter than the previous one.

Finally, insert your updated paragraph into your text, making sure it fits with the rest of the text, and avoiding any breaks in the flow of the text that could throw off your reader.

6. Re-index your page

After making these changes, the next step is to request that your page be re-indexed through Google Search Console.

This action wasn’t possible until a few weeks ago, but Google announced on December 22, 2020 that “Request Indexing” is back to their tool.

The re-indexing part is not an indispensable step, but it is ideal to streamline the process and verify whether it was possible to achieve the snippet or not more quickly.

To illustrate the results my team and I were able to make, here are some snippets won using this strategy:

And the one that made me proudest (it is in Portuguese, my native language): Before:

After four minutes:

Besides conquering it incredibly fast, this exact snippet made me realize I had created an effective strategy and I needed to share it with the SEO community.

7. Don’t give up

Something went wrong? Check if your content as a whole relates to what is presented in the snippet text, and make the necessary adjustments or consider re-analyzing the entities to see if something important was left out.

For some tests I’ve carried out, simply shortening the definition by two words was enough for Google to accept my definition and not a competitor's.

In addition, there are cases of reaching the snippet, but then quickly losing it. While this can be very frustrating, it’s a sign that you are on the right track. Several factors can influence this, such as your text not being attractive enough or sounding confusing.

When this happens, keep trying and update your definition from time to time (at two-week intervals), to continue increasing the chance that you show up on the snippet.

Final tips

Here are a few final thoughts. If you have other advice, let me know in the comments!

Test the use of abstracts in WordPress (that bold section that appears at the beginning of the text).

Try to work concepts into your text objectively, preferably using the composition “what is + the keyword” in the given intertitle. This doesn’t mean that your copy should lack variety and personality, but look for ways to adapt this formula your own way to attract people with your style, while also being accessible to a wide audience.

Intertitles of lists should be more obvious as well: "What are the best channels on Youtube" — something simple and without being too distracting.

See how reaching snippets can be simple (and fast) when using a clear method?

It may feel great to achieve a position without much effort or even when we don't know what we did, but it's much better when we know exactly what it takes — without mistakes or crazy tricks.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[xaydungtruonggia]

Fast & Featured: How Entities Can Help You Conquer Snippets in Less Than 4 Minutes

Posted by larissa-lacerda

From the moment I started working with SEO, I was faced with countless optimization tactics. After heading down numerous rabbit holes, I came to see how important it is to identify your low hanging fruit: the opportunities to generate great results with less effort.

The first time I saw notable results in my work was in the optimizations I put into practice to reach featured snippets. The thrill of jumping to the top of the page was so great that it soon became my passion.

But not everything in SEO is so simple (or stable). Soon, methods that had previously brought results were no longer working. With the competition growing increasingly competent and challenging, great results were becoming less frequent.

If, like me, you’ve reached that point — don't worry! I’ll show you how I overcame this with a method that I lovingly refer to as “Fast & Featured”.

What are SEO entities?

I started with an unpretentious study of entities. I hadn’t read much on the topic, but what caught my attention was the understanding entities can offer into how search algorithms work.

Google’s definition is: “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”But this definition is very broad, leading to even greater confusion. I wanted a clearer understanding of what entities are all about, so I crafted my own definition that I’ll share with you today.

Basically, an entity in SEO is everything definable, unique, and not limited to a specific shape, spelling, or image (e.g. mom, mother, mummy, and a picture of a mother all relate to the same entity).

I really like to make an association with the following image, famous in the study of semiotics, which illustrates entities very well:

"One and Three Chairs", 1965, by Joseph Kosuth. Gautier Poupeau, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here, we have three chairs: the physical chair, the representation of a chair, and the dictionary definition of what a chair is. All three refer to a single entity: the chair.

What matters here is the essence, the content, and what lies behind it.

In the same way, this is how algorithms understand elements that exist on the web, overcoming restrictions of language, form, or representation — which results in huge improvements in the accuracy of the SERP results.

So, what if I use this concept to understand which entities are most important in searches with featured snippets? With this knowledge, I’d have an in-depth understanding of what the ideal answers are, not just the ones I, totally biased, considered good.

It may seem a simple concept, but it's like telling your SEO to focus on basic practices or understand the user's intention. No matter how much you talk about it or how obvious it seems, people will still be reluctant to do it. The tendency is to look for more complicated or advanced hacks — but that’s not what we want here.

Our goal is to show how to associate a basic concept with a previously understood practice, making each step very clear, logical, and uncomplicated.

Let's get down to the method!

How to use the Fast & Featured method

As mentioned, this method was developed to make achieving featured snippets more intelligent and strategic, so each of these seven steps is essential to increase your probability of success.

1. Understand context and objectives

As with any strategy, whether SEO, marketing, or across other areas, we must first understand the current context — what we have at the moment (and how it serves us) — to then determine our objectives, where we intend to catch up.

As a result, the first step is to compile a list of searches for keywords that you rank in the top ten positions for, and note which already have featured snippets. For even greater chances, filter for just the top three positions as well, since that’s where Google selects the featured snippet 70% of the time.

There are several methods for this, with the main difference being speed. I will share three approaches, to cover the range of demands that different teams may have.

Moz Keyword Explorer

In a very intuitive way, Moz's Keyword Explorer has an easy approach to help you out with this stage of creating your list of opportunities.

To do this, simply access the keywords you rank for and filter positions 1-10.

Then, create your own list and then select the “Featured Snippet” option under “SERP feature”.

Source: Moz

Now you have a complete list of opportunities!

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Ahrefs WebMaster Tools (the free version of Ahrefs) can also be used to create your list of opportunities.

The process is largely similar, simply access the “Organic keywords” feature, click on “SERP features” (under “Include”) and select “Featured snippet”.

After doing this, the tool will present a series of results, including snippets that you have already achieved. You can follow up on each result separately or export the complete list.

To clean your data, leaving only the opportunities, exclude all keywords that are in first place — those already considered featured snippets by the tool — after all, you hear less about position zero nowadays.

Google Search Console

This technique was used when free tools were not yet available and a user simply needed a way to generate this list.

If this is not your case — and you’re not curious to find out more — feel free to skip ahead.

To find opportunities where there is less competition and greater focus on long tails, it’s necessary to access the "Performance" report, go to "Search results" and filter by "Queries" using expressions such as "what is", "concept", "definition" , “how to” among others.

As it’s not possible to identify the SERP features this way, it’s not as accurate, but is worth mentioning.

2. Start a SERP analysis

Now that you’ve managed to create a respectable list, select your priorities. Again, keywords with higher positions and more traffic coverage are ideal.

Start by accessing the SERP and identifying the following aspects:

What type of snippet is it?

Are there other definitions highlighted on the page? (This could include definitions under a “knowledge panel” or “people also ask”.)

This information will help you understand what Google interprets as the ideal answer, giving you more information than just what the featured snippet contains. This way, you will know if the snippet is a paragraph or shorter, or what the user hopes to find when searching for that term.

For the keyword “interactive ebook”, we find a paragraph snippet. Below, the SERP presents PAAs on how to make interactive ebooks and the difference between digital books and ebooks.

Hang on to this info, as we’ll need it in step 4.

3. Look at competitor content

In addition to the previous questions related to the SERP, the time has come to meet the current winner and understand what sets it apart from the rest. Identify:

Who has the current snippet?

Where is it located on the page? (first paragraph, summary, middle of the text)

How is the concept in question currently defined?

How objective is it?

Look for answers to these questions and, especially for the last two, try to set aside your current definition or how you would approach it differently, in order to be as impartial as possible in your analysis — however difficult it may be at times.

In the example I presented, the competitor is Visme, the snippet was taken from the beginning of the second title, the definition is very objective, succinct, and logical, and takes advantage of the formats that make up an interactive ebook.

4. Use a comparative analysis

I consider this next step to be the most important. I suggest that you write down the information somewhere. I usually use an online text counter, but feel free to do it on a spreadsheet or another platform.

Whatever tool you use, first record the result of the snippet. Then, add another definition, if found on the SERP (could be a Google dictionary or Wikipedia definition), then finally add your current definition.

Now, the time has come to apply the concept of entities. We will focus on the first two definitions from the beginning of this post.

Below, list the entities you found and how many times they appear in the text — which helps to indicate their relevance in context.

To get the hang of this when starting, you can use Google's own NLP API demo tool or another tool, such as TextRazor, to help you identify it:

5. Identify entities

After you identify the entities and their level of relevance for the definitions you found (the snippet itself and another highlighted definition), see which entities are most repeated on both lists (if the SERP presents more than one definition) and the relationships established between them.

Once you do that, you have the set of entities considered the most important for that Google search and can then avoid relying on “I prefer this” or “I think this word is better”, because it will be based on what the search engine understands to be the best.

Then, just like a puzzle, assemble these entities with your own text in an objective and easy to understand way.

Ideally, your definition should be slightly shorter than the current one, making it as unbiased as possible — very important, especially for voice searches.

Take a look at this example:

In blue are the entities I decided to use on my new definition. You can also note that this paragraph is a lot shorter than the previous one.

Finally, insert your updated paragraph into your text, making sure it fits with the rest of the text, and avoiding any breaks in the flow of the text that could throw off your reader.

6. Re-index your page

After making these changes, the next step is to request that your page be re-indexed through Google Search Console.

This action wasn’t possible until a few weeks ago, but Google announced on December 22, 2020 that “Request Indexing” is back to their tool.

The re-indexing part is not an indispensable step, but it is ideal to streamline the process and verify whether it was possible to achieve the snippet or not more quickly.

To illustrate the results my team and I were able to make, here are some snippets won using this strategy:

And the one that made me proudest (it is in Portuguese, my native language): Before:

After four minutes:

Besides conquering it incredibly fast, this exact snippet made me realize I had created an effective strategy and I needed to share it with the SEO community.

7. Don’t give up

Something went wrong? Check if your content as a whole relates to what is presented in the snippet text, and make the necessary adjustments or consider re-analyzing the entities to see if something important was left out.

For some tests I’ve carried out, simply shortening the definition by two words was enough for Google to accept my definition and not a competitor's.

In addition, there are cases of reaching the snippet, but then quickly losing it. While this can be very frustrating, it’s a sign that you are on the right track. Several factors can influence this, such as your text not being attractive enough or sounding confusing.

When this happens, keep trying and update your definition from time to time (at two-week intervals), to continue increasing the chance that you show up on the snippet.

Final tips

Here are a few final thoughts. If you have other advice, let me know in the comments!

Test the use of abstracts in WordPress (that bold section that appears at the beginning of the text).

Try to work concepts into your text objectively, preferably using the composition “what is + the keyword” in the given intertitle. This doesn’t mean that your copy should lack variety and personality, but look for ways to adapt this formula your own way to attract people with your style, while also being accessible to a wide audience.

Intertitles of lists should be more obvious as well: "What are the best channels on Youtube" — something simple and without being too distracting.

See how reaching snippets can be simple (and fast) when using a clear method?

It may feel great to achieve a position without much effort or even when we don't know what we did, but it's much better when we know exactly what it takes — without mistakes or crazy tricks.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[camerasieunhovn]

Fast & Featured: How Entities Can Help You Conquer Snippets in Less Than 4 Minutes

Posted by larissa-lacerda

From the moment I started working with SEO, I was faced with countless optimization tactics. After heading down numerous rabbit holes, I came to see how important it is to identify your low hanging fruit: the opportunities to generate great results with less effort.

The first time I saw notable results in my work was in the optimizations I put into practice to reach featured snippets. The thrill of jumping to the top of the page was so great that it soon became my passion.

But not everything in SEO is so simple (or stable). Soon, methods that had previously brought results were no longer working. With the competition growing increasingly competent and challenging, great results were becoming less frequent.

If, like me, you’ve reached that point — don't worry! I’ll show you how I overcame this with a method that I lovingly refer to as “Fast & Featured”.

What are SEO entities?

I started with an unpretentious study of entities. I hadn’t read much on the topic, but what caught my attention was the understanding entities can offer into how search algorithms work.

Google’s definition is: “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”But this definition is very broad, leading to even greater confusion. I wanted a clearer understanding of what entities are all about, so I crafted my own definition that I’ll share with you today.

Basically, an entity in SEO is everything definable, unique, and not limited to a specific shape, spelling, or image (e.g. mom, mother, mummy, and a picture of a mother all relate to the same entity).

I really like to make an association with the following image, famous in the study of semiotics, which illustrates entities very well:

"One and Three Chairs", 1965, by Joseph Kosuth. Gautier Poupeau, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here, we have three chairs: the physical chair, the representation of a chair, and the dictionary definition of what a chair is. All three refer to a single entity: the chair.

What matters here is the essence, the content, and what lies behind it.

In the same way, this is how algorithms understand elements that exist on the web, overcoming restrictions of language, form, or representation — which results in huge improvements in the accuracy of the SERP results.

So, what if I use this concept to understand which entities are most important in searches with featured snippets? With this knowledge, I’d have an in-depth understanding of what the ideal answers are, not just the ones I, totally biased, considered good.

It may seem a simple concept, but it's like telling your SEO to focus on basic practices or understand the user's intention. No matter how much you talk about it or how obvious it seems, people will still be reluctant to do it. The tendency is to look for more complicated or advanced hacks — but that’s not what we want here.

Our goal is to show how to associate a basic concept with a previously understood practice, making each step very clear, logical, and uncomplicated.

Let's get down to the method!

How to use the Fast & Featured method

As mentioned, this method was developed to make achieving featured snippets more intelligent and strategic, so each of these seven steps is essential to increase your probability of success.

1. Understand context and objectives

As with any strategy, whether SEO, marketing, or across other areas, we must first understand the current context — what we have at the moment (and how it serves us) — to then determine our objectives, where we intend to catch up.

As a result, the first step is to compile a list of searches for keywords that you rank in the top ten positions for, and note which already have featured snippets. For even greater chances, filter for just the top three positions as well, since that’s where Google selects the featured snippet 70% of the time.

There are several methods for this, with the main difference being speed. I will share three approaches, to cover the range of demands that different teams may have.

Moz Keyword Explorer

In a very intuitive way, Moz's Keyword Explorer has an easy approach to help you out with this stage of creating your list of opportunities.

To do this, simply access the keywords you rank for and filter positions 1-10.

Then, create your own list and then select the “Featured Snippet” option under “SERP feature”.

Source: Moz

Now you have a complete list of opportunities!

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Ahrefs WebMaster Tools (the free version of Ahrefs) can also be used to create your list of opportunities.

The process is largely similar, simply access the “Organic keywords” feature, click on “SERP features” (under “Include”) and select “Featured snippet”.

After doing this, the tool will present a series of results, including snippets that you have already achieved. You can follow up on each result separately or export the complete list.

To clean your data, leaving only the opportunities, exclude all keywords that are in first place — those already considered featured snippets by the tool — after all, you hear less about position zero nowadays.

Google Search Console

This technique was used when free tools were not yet available and a user simply needed a way to generate this list.

If this is not your case — and you’re not curious to find out more — feel free to skip ahead.

To find opportunities where there is less competition and greater focus on long tails, it’s necessary to access the "Performance" report, go to "Search results" and filter by "Queries" using expressions such as "what is", "concept", "definition" , “how to” among others.

As it’s not possible to identify the SERP features this way, it’s not as accurate, but is worth mentioning.

2. Start a SERP analysis

Now that you’ve managed to create a respectable list, select your priorities. Again, keywords with higher positions and more traffic coverage are ideal.

Start by accessing the SERP and identifying the following aspects:

What type of snippet is it?

Are there other definitions highlighted on the page? (This could include definitions under a “knowledge panel” or “people also ask”.)

This information will help you understand what Google interprets as the ideal answer, giving you more information than just what the featured snippet contains. This way, you will know if the snippet is a paragraph or shorter, or what the user hopes to find when searching for that term.

For the keyword “interactive ebook”, we find a paragraph snippet. Below, the SERP presents PAAs on how to make interactive ebooks and the difference between digital books and ebooks.

Hang on to this info, as we’ll need it in step 4.

3. Look at competitor content

In addition to the previous questions related to the SERP, the time has come to meet the current winner and understand what sets it apart from the rest. Identify:

Who has the current snippet?

Where is it located on the page? (first paragraph, summary, middle of the text)

How is the concept in question currently defined?

How objective is it?

Look for answers to these questions and, especially for the last two, try to set aside your current definition or how you would approach it differently, in order to be as impartial as possible in your analysis — however difficult it may be at times.

In the example I presented, the competitor is Visme, the snippet was taken from the beginning of the second title, the definition is very objective, succinct, and logical, and takes advantage of the formats that make up an interactive ebook.

4. Use a comparative analysis

I consider this next step to be the most important. I suggest that you write down the information somewhere. I usually use an online text counter, but feel free to do it on a spreadsheet or another platform.

Whatever tool you use, first record the result of the snippet. Then, add another definition, if found on the SERP (could be a Google dictionary or Wikipedia definition), then finally add your current definition.

Now, the time has come to apply the concept of entities. We will focus on the first two definitions from the beginning of this post.

Below, list the entities you found and how many times they appear in the text — which helps to indicate their relevance in context.

To get the hang of this when starting, you can use Google's own NLP API demo tool or another tool, such as TextRazor, to help you identify it:

5. Identify entities

After you identify the entities and their level of relevance for the definitions you found (the snippet itself and another highlighted definition), see which entities are most repeated on both lists (if the SERP presents more than one definition) and the relationships established between them.

Once you do that, you have the set of entities considered the most important for that Google search and can then avoid relying on “I prefer this” or “I think this word is better”, because it will be based on what the search engine understands to be the best.

Then, just like a puzzle, assemble these entities with your own text in an objective and easy to understand way.

Ideally, your definition should be slightly shorter than the current one, making it as unbiased as possible — very important, especially for voice searches.

Take a look at this example:

In blue are the entities I decided to use on my new definition. You can also note that this paragraph is a lot shorter than the previous one.

Finally, insert your updated paragraph into your text, making sure it fits with the rest of the text, and avoiding any breaks in the flow of the text that could throw off your reader.

6. Re-index your page

After making these changes, the next step is to request that your page be re-indexed through Google Search Console.

This action wasn’t possible until a few weeks ago, but Google announced on December 22, 2020 that “Request Indexing” is back to their tool.

The re-indexing part is not an indispensable step, but it is ideal to streamline the process and verify whether it was possible to achieve the snippet or not more quickly.

To illustrate the results my team and I were able to make, here are some snippets won using this strategy:

And the one that made me proudest (it is in Portuguese, my native language): Before:

After four minutes:

Besides conquering it incredibly fast, this exact snippet made me realize I had created an effective strategy and I needed to share it with the SEO community.

7. Don’t give up

Something went wrong? Check if your content as a whole relates to what is presented in the snippet text, and make the necessary adjustments or consider re-analyzing the entities to see if something important was left out.

For some tests I’ve carried out, simply shortening the definition by two words was enough for Google to accept my definition and not a competitor's.

In addition, there are cases of reaching the snippet, but then quickly losing it. While this can be very frustrating, it’s a sign that you are on the right track. Several factors can influence this, such as your text not being attractive enough or sounding confusing.

When this happens, keep trying and update your definition from time to time (at two-week intervals), to continue increasing the chance that you show up on the snippet.

Final tips

Here are a few final thoughts. If you have other advice, let me know in the comments!

Test the use of abstracts in WordPress (that bold section that appears at the beginning of the text).

Try to work concepts into your text objectively, preferably using the composition “what is + the keyword” in the given intertitle. This doesn’t mean that your copy should lack variety and personality, but look for ways to adapt this formula your own way to attract people with your style, while also being accessible to a wide audience.

Intertitles of lists should be more obvious as well: "What are the best channels on Youtube" — something simple and without being too distracting.

See how reaching snippets can be simple (and fast) when using a clear method?

It may feel great to achieve a position without much effort or even when we don't know what we did, but it's much better when we know exactly what it takes — without mistakes or crazy tricks.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[ductrungnguyen87]

Fast & Featured: How Entities Can Help You Conquer Snippets in Less Than 4 Minutes

Posted by larissa-lacerda

From the moment I started working with SEO, I was faced with countless optimization tactics. After heading down numerous rabbit holes, I came to see how important it is to identify your low hanging fruit: the opportunities to generate great results with less effort.

The first time I saw notable results in my work was in the optimizations I put into practice to reach featured snippets. The thrill of jumping to the top of the page was so great that it soon became my passion.

But not everything in SEO is so simple (or stable). Soon, methods that had previously brought results were no longer working. With the competition growing increasingly competent and challenging, great results were becoming less frequent.

If, like me, you’ve reached that point — don't worry! I’ll show you how I overcame this with a method that I lovingly refer to as “Fast & Featured”.

What are SEO entities?

I started with an unpretentious study of entities. I hadn’t read much on the topic, but what caught my attention was the understanding entities can offer into how search algorithms work.

Google’s definition is: “A thing or concept that is singular, unique, well-defined and distinguishable.”But this definition is very broad, leading to even greater confusion. I wanted a clearer understanding of what entities are all about, so I crafted my own definition that I’ll share with you today.

Basically, an entity in SEO is everything definable, unique, and not limited to a specific shape, spelling, or image (e.g. mom, mother, mummy, and a picture of a mother all relate to the same entity).

I really like to make an association with the following image, famous in the study of semiotics, which illustrates entities very well:

"One and Three Chairs", 1965, by Joseph Kosuth. Gautier Poupeau, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here, we have three chairs: the physical chair, the representation of a chair, and the dictionary definition of what a chair is. All three refer to a single entity: the chair.

What matters here is the essence, the content, and what lies behind it.

In the same way, this is how algorithms understand elements that exist on the web, overcoming restrictions of language, form, or representation — which results in huge improvements in the accuracy of the SERP results.

So, what if I use this concept to understand which entities are most important in searches with featured snippets? With this knowledge, I’d have an in-depth understanding of what the ideal answers are, not just the ones I, totally biased, considered good.

It may seem a simple concept, but it's like telling your SEO to focus on basic practices or understand the user's intention. No matter how much you talk about it or how obvious it seems, people will still be reluctant to do it. The tendency is to look for more complicated or advanced hacks — but that’s not what we want here.

Our goal is to show how to associate a basic concept with a previously understood practice, making each step very clear, logical, and uncomplicated.

Let's get down to the method!

How to use the Fast & Featured method

As mentioned, this method was developed to make achieving featured snippets more intelligent and strategic, so each of these seven steps is essential to increase your probability of success.

1. Understand context and objectives

As with any strategy, whether SEO, marketing, or across other areas, we must first understand the current context — what we have at the moment (and how it serves us) — to then determine our objectives, where we intend to catch up.

As a result, the first step is to compile a list of searches for keywords that you rank in the top ten positions for, and note which already have featured snippets. For even greater chances, filter for just the top three positions as well, since that’s where Google selects the featured snippet 70% of the time.

There are several methods for this, with the main difference being speed. I will share three approaches, to cover the range of demands that different teams may have.

Moz Keyword Explorer

In a very intuitive way, Moz's Keyword Explorer has an easy approach to help you out with this stage of creating your list of opportunities.

To do this, simply access the keywords you rank for and filter positions 1-10.

Then, create your own list and then select the “Featured Snippet” option under “SERP feature”.

Source: Moz

Now you have a complete list of opportunities!

Ahrefs Webmaster Tools

Ahrefs WebMaster Tools (the free version of Ahrefs) can also be used to create your list of opportunities.

The process is largely similar, simply access the “Organic keywords” feature, click on “SERP features” (under “Include”) and select “Featured snippet”.

After doing this, the tool will present a series of results, including snippets that you have already achieved. You can follow up on each result separately or export the complete list.

To clean your data, leaving only the opportunities, exclude all keywords that are in first place — those already considered featured snippets by the tool — after all, you hear less about position zero nowadays.

Google Search Console

This technique was used when free tools were not yet available and a user simply needed a way to generate this list.

If this is not your case — and you’re not curious to find out more — feel free to skip ahead.

To find opportunities where there is less competition and greater focus on long tails, it’s necessary to access the "Performance" report, go to "Search results" and filter by "Queries" using expressions such as "what is", "concept", "definition" , “how to” among others.

As it’s not possible to identify the SERP features this way, it’s not as accurate, but is worth mentioning.

2. Start a SERP analysis

Now that you’ve managed to create a respectable list, select your priorities. Again, keywords with higher positions and more traffic coverage are ideal.

Start by accessing the SERP and identifying the following aspects:

What type of snippet is it?

Are there other definitions highlighted on the page? (This could include definitions under a “knowledge panel” or “people also ask”.)

This information will help you understand what Google interprets as the ideal answer, giving you more information than just what the featured snippet contains. This way, you will know if the snippet is a paragraph or shorter, or what the user hopes to find when searching for that term.

For the keyword “interactive ebook”, we find a paragraph snippet. Below, the SERP presents PAAs on how to make interactive ebooks and the difference between digital books and ebooks.

Hang on to this info, as we’ll need it in step 4.

3. Look at competitor content

In addition to the previous questions related to the SERP, the time has come to meet the current winner and understand what sets it apart from the rest. Identify:

Who has the current snippet?

Where is it located on the page? (first paragraph, summary, middle of the text)

How is the concept in question currently defined?

How objective is it?

Look for answers to these questions and, especially for the last two, try to set aside your current definition or how you would approach it differently, in order to be as impartial as possible in your analysis — however difficult it may be at times.

In the example I presented, the competitor is Visme, the snippet was taken from the beginning of the second title, the definition is very objective, succinct, and logical, and takes advantage of the formats that make up an interactive ebook.

4. Use a comparative analysis

I consider this next step to be the most important. I suggest that you write down the information somewhere. I usually use an online text counter, but feel free to do it on a spreadsheet or another platform.

Whatever tool you use, first record the result of the snippet. Then, add another definition, if found on the SERP (could be a Google dictionary or Wikipedia definition), then finally add your current definition.

Now, the time has come to apply the concept of entities. We will focus on the first two definitions from the beginning of this post.

Below, list the entities you found and how many times they appear in the text — which helps to indicate their relevance in context.

To get the hang of this when starting, you can use Google's own NLP API demo tool or another tool, such as TextRazor, to help you identify it:

5. Identify entities

After you identify the entities and their level of relevance for the definitions you found (the snippet itself and another highlighted definition), see which entities are most repeated on both lists (if the SERP presents more than one definition) and the relationships established between them.

Once you do that, you have the set of entities considered the most important for that Google search and can then avoid relying on “I prefer this” or “I think this word is better”, because it will be based on what the search engine understands to be the best.

Then, just like a puzzle, assemble these entities with your own text in an objective and easy to understand way.

Ideally, your definition should be slightly shorter than the current one, making it as unbiased as possible — very important, especially for voice searches.

Take a look at this example:

In blue are the entities I decided to use on my new definition. You can also note that this paragraph is a lot shorter than the previous one.

Finally, insert your updated paragraph into your text, making sure it fits with the rest of the text, and avoiding any breaks in the flow of the text that could throw off your reader.

6. Re-index your page

After making these changes, the next step is to request that your page be re-indexed through Google Search Console.

This action wasn’t possible until a few weeks ago, but Google announced on December 22, 2020 that “Request Indexing” is back to their tool.

The re-indexing part is not an indispensable step, but it is ideal to streamline the process and verify whether it was possible to achieve the snippet or not more quickly.

To illustrate the results my team and I were able to make, here are some snippets won using this strategy:

And the one that made me proudest (it is in Portuguese, my native language): Before:

After four minutes:

Besides conquering it incredibly fast, this exact snippet made me realize I had created an effective strategy and I needed to share it with the SEO community.

7. Don’t give up

Something went wrong? Check if your content as a whole relates to what is presented in the snippet text, and make the necessary adjustments or consider re-analyzing the entities to see if something important was left out.

For some tests I’ve carried out, simply shortening the definition by two words was enough for Google to accept my definition and not a competitor's.

In addition, there are cases of reaching the snippet, but then quickly losing it. While this can be very frustrating, it’s a sign that you are on the right track. Several factors can influence this, such as your text not being attractive enough or sounding confusing.

When this happens, keep trying and update your definition from time to time (at two-week intervals), to continue increasing the chance that you show up on the snippet.

Final tips

Here are a few final thoughts. If you have other advice, let me know in the comments!

Test the use of abstracts in WordPress (that bold section that appears at the beginning of the text).

Try to work concepts into your text objectively, preferably using the composition “what is + the keyword” in the given intertitle. This doesn’t mean that your copy should lack variety and personality, but look for ways to adapt this formula your own way to attract people with your style, while also being accessible to a wide audience.

Intertitles of lists should be more obvious as well: "What are the best channels on Youtube" — something simple and without being too distracting.

See how reaching snippets can be simple (and fast) when using a clear method?

It may feel great to achieve a position without much effort or even when we don't know what we did, but it's much better when we know exactly what it takes — without mistakes or crazy tricks.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!