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loudsuitlover · 4 years

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Doctor Harry XXI. Si te vas

BLUE’S POV

The three of them were in my bed when I woke up. Marie and Ollie were under the duvet with me but Jason was on my other side like a kitten sleeping with their human. I don’t remember picking them both up but we must have had or maybe they came here on their own. Whatever the way, I couldn’t ask for better friends.

There’s no new messages in my phone so I text Coco to know her whereabouts and lie awake waiting for them to wake up. The fact that the three of them are here, like walls supporting the ceiling, makes it clear that what happened last night wasn’t a bad dream.

Harry was high. He was so high he couldn’t even talk to me. I remember the way he acted now and God, it was so clear I feel stupid for not realizing it sooner. His bloodshot eyes, his calmness, the way he got mad in a second and then back to the calm, the way he seemed to be disconnected to everything that was happening, how he seemed not to care at all.

I wonder what he thinks about me now. I wonder whether he cares at all. Somehow, I still don’t want him to think I’m being judgemental even though maybe I am. I’ve had this discussion plenty of times with plenty of Med students- about weed, yes or no, is it bad or is it less bad than they say?- For no one with biological knowledge dares to say it’s good. Fruit is good, walking is good- weed is not.

And yet it’s probably less harmful than it feels to me but it’s just… Last night I learnt he was the one driving and with that, the entire accident and the months that followed came back; and if that wasn’t enough he was high, just like Dylan was; and I wonder why Harry’s here and Dylan isn’t, why some people get another chance- and still smoke weed- and why some others just can’t live to change it.

I’ve never really believed in destiny. I don’t think our lives are written and we’re just players in a big board, thinking we’re free and taking decisions that were already going to happen anyway but sometimes, I do believe that there might just be this person, this person in the world that’s for you, the one who’s going to walk by your side for the rest of your life. I used to think that feeling of belonging with someone didn’t happen twice so I always thought I had it with Dylan and I will never have it with anyone else and somehow I liked that and I lived by that. But then I met Harry and for a second I thought I might have been wrong all this time and now the fact that his story could be superimposed to Dylan’s and it would connect... I feel like if this was a sci-fic movie and we have these parallel worlds and these alternative universes, Harry might as well be Dylan, in another body and with another face and another scent and that’s what I don’t want.

I loved Dylan. I loved him as much as a person can love another human being and I don’t think there’s ever been purer love but he also broke my heart to the point where I thought I was dying too. And he did because he changed and then because he died so I lost him twice all along and I just can’t go through that again.

“Morning, pixie.” Marie gives me a sleepy smile that I return. “How did you sleep?”

“Surprisingly good. I don’t remember getting here but I haven’t woken up until just now.”

“It makes sense that you were tired considering how drunk you were last night.” Jason’s voice is muffled against the duvet but I can still hear him.

I hit the back of his head with a pillow and he grunts.

“I don’t think you can call her out on that, pal.” Marie defends me.

“It wasn’t that bad.” Jason complains.

“Until you stood up on that table and take off your shirt and started yelling titties out, free the gay! you mean.” Ollie adds.

Marie and I laugh at the look Jason gives her. His eyes are widened, and his lips are set on a thin line. Before he can ask her whether that’s true, which I hope it is for the sake of humour, someone knocks on the door.

“Pasa.” I tell her. “But please be clothed. We have guests.”

Coco is grinning from ear to ear when she appears on the doorway.

“Oh, hi!” She chirps excitedly. “You guys slept like that?”

We all nod and she laughs. Olivia sits up and pushes Marie to do the same so my sister has a spot next to them. She’s wearing party clothes, which gives away that she didn’t spend the night home.

“So” Olivia wriggles her dark blond eyebrows “Guido Matteoti, hey?”

My sister smiles despite pursed lips and that’s all I need to know Chicco is history. Yes, Guido! I sit up too and Jason rests his cheek on his fist so Coco knows she has our undivided attention. Her cheeks tinge pink.

“He’s very sweet.” She starts. “I mean we’ve only been in a couple of dates but-”

“But you didn’t sleep home last night.” I raise my eyebrows and she shakes her head with a smile.

“And nothing happened.” She adds. “We just cuddled.”

The four of us look at her and from the corner of my eye I can see Marie melting while Olivia’s face seems like a puzzle missing a piece and Jason just blinks.

“He’s… I’ve never had this, you know? It’s like I tell him something mindlessly… Like something that isn’t really even important and he remembers it.” She smiles. “I mean last night he said something about Nana’s cameo and he had to tell me when I have told him about it because even me myself couldn’t remember.” She surprises. “And… He is interested in what I think and what I want and… I mean some guys have made me feel pretty, but he makes me feel interesting and that’s just so much better.”

“See?” Marie tilts her neck to give me a look and I smile. “It’s possible.”

“Do you like him though?” Olivia presses. “I mean him, as a person, not the way he makes you feel.”

Coco stares at her like a deer caught in headlights before she tilts her neck like a dog thinking. I’m taken aback too by Ollie’s deep understanding of the situation. She’s been so disassociated with the love department that it feels strange to have her understanding this so deeply.

“Yes, I do.” Coco blushes. “He’s smart and funny and caring and kind. And so handsome.” Her eyes open wide and Olivia laughs.

“Can we see him?”

“Yeah, show us the regulation photo, girl.” Jason adds.

My sister chuckles before she gets on her phone and shows us his Instagram. I have seen him before so I let my friends be as nosy as they want. Coco’s eyes meet mine and she frowns concerned.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

And like that I’m crying again. My sister jumps over my friends and takes a seat next to me, wrapping her small arms around my body and reminding me of home. Marie tells her what happened and Ollie and Jason curse under their breath. They did that last night too, I remember now.

“I’m good, I’m good.” I wipe my tears and sit back straight. “I’ll get over it.”

Coco sighs next to me and Jason gives me a smile.

“Unpopular opinion” Olivia says “I think we’re being too hard on him.”

Us three give her a death glare and she raises her hands on the air proving her innocence.

“Let’s go get started with breakfast, Ollie.” Coco says before war starts on my mattress.

“Yes, I need to tell you some things too.”

“Me too.” Jason smiles. “Spoiler alert: David is a dick.”

“Tell me something I don’t know…”

The three of them walk outside the room and we hear the beginning of the conversation with Jack’s name being thrown around among very colourful insults.

“What are you doing for Christmas?” I ask Marie.

“I’m visiting my mum.” She shrugs. “And her new boyfriend.”

“Nice.” I chuckle.

“You?”

“I think I’m gonna go spend some days with my dad. I need to get away from here.”

“And your mum?”

“Mum’ll go to Spain, I guess. It’s been a while since I don’t visit Dad.” I feel Marie nodding next to me. “I’m gonna hop on the shower.”

“Okay.”

“You can shower in Coco’s bathroom if you’d like.”

“Do I stink or what?” Marie laughs.

I give her a silent smile and make my way inside my bathroom. I don’t have much time because Coco, Ollie and Jason are not precisely the best chefs so I’m sure by getting started with breakfast they mean adding milk to cereal.

I let the hot water run down my body relaxing every muscle I hadn’t realized was tensed. Thinking about going back home is never been as easy as it is now. It’s always painful to go back to Capitol because it screams Dylan all over the place but it’s been a while since I don’t see Dad or Rio and I’m in the mood for a family Christmas.

When I make my way towards the kitchen, I hear them all talking about Harry and me but it doesn’t bother me because it doesn’t surprise me. I know they’re on my side anyway, even Ollie.

I announce my plans to everyone during brekafast and Coco and Jason decide to tag along to Capitol for Christmas too. Coco was the expected guest but I’m glad Jason wants to join too. It’ll be good to have a friend around when I start missing Dylan like the first day after his accident. Jason says he needs a change of scene and to stay away from David and I’d rather have him with me than getting back together with the devil.

We pack our stuff after breakfast and plan a videocall all together in a few days before Marie and Ollie leave to pack their own things. Olivia’s going to France to meet up with her family too but she seems to be very invested in my relationship with Harry or my lack of it.

Coco drives to Capitol, all the way without stopping once, and I feel safe when she’s behind the wheel. I’ve never understood how men can say women are bad drivers when women seem to be better at everything. Okay, that’s sexist too, but the fact that we’re asked to do double to earn the same amount explains why that could be true.

It's the first time Jason comes to Capitol despite our four years of friendship. When Dylan was alive, it was usually him go would come visit and during holidays J was usually with his family so I would go to Capitol alone. I hope the idea he has of me doesn’t change when he sees my house. I guess it won’t, because I know his parents have an equally big mansion but still…

The dark grey fence opens for my sister’s car after she sets the code and my sister’s Mercedes drives inside our sumptuous property. She drives around the fountain at the entrance and the set of pine trees on both sides of our private road brings back memories of my childhood underneath them.

The house looks more like a palace than I even remembered. I don’t quite know how many hectares of land my father owns but I know the entire house have glass walls looking at the back because there was no need to hide from nothing at all; there’s just a pine forest and snowy mountains behind it. I reckon if Jason was still a kid, I could tell him my dad’s a vampire and he’d probably believe it.

Dad’s waiting at the door with a big smile and his thick winter coat when we get off the car. My sister runs to hug him as Jason and I get the bags out of the boot. Then it’s my turn. My dad wraps his warm, big arms around me and presses my body against his bigger one.

“Oh, my lovely girls! How’s my favourite doctor?”

“Hi, dad, it’s nice to see you.”

“It’s very nice to see you too, Blueberry. I made soup and lamb for dinner.” He smiles.

“Thank you.”

“And garlic bread?” Coco asks. “Can we make garlic bread?”

“Already in the oven.” My dad winks at her and like that my sister is back to being. “Hello, Jason.” My dad shakes his hand. “I’m glad you could join us this year.”

“Thank you for having me, Peter.”

“No need to thank us. It’s our pleasure. Well, why don’t you show Jason around, Berry? Coco and I will get the mulled wine ready.”

“Yes! Mulled wine! This is paradise, dad. Where’s Rio?”

“He’s at the gym.” My dad explains. “Says he needs to make room for the lamb.”

The three of us laugh before my dad and Coco disappear down the hall towards the kitchen and Coco’s cheerful voice gets lower and lower until we can barely hear her. I show Jason around the entire house, the halls, the living room, the dining room, my dad’s studio...

We climb the stairs. I get ready to open the door to my old room. I take a deep breath and keep telling him some stories about the house, like about that time Coco fell down the stairs when she was about six and everyone was so worried and then she just yelled I’m okay! from the bottom.

Entering my room, I set my eyes on my empty desk. It looks like the room of someone who’s not there anymore and in a way I guess that’s what it is. This is the room of the girl I used to be but there’s little of her now.

I remember it used to be a mess. I have lots of books and even now they’re all organized in the shelves like a library now, they used to be all over the room and all my records, now also carefully placed on the shelf, used to be all around too. It gives me chills to see the room like this but I guess it would be harder if it still looked just like it used to. I would notice Dylan’s absence more.

“Berry, eh?” Jason teases.

I roll my eyes. My dad always calls me with the most ridiculous nicknames ever. I’m going to defend myself but my breath catches on my throat when I see the bed. I remember every night I spent there with him and I know it would never come back. I storm out of the room.

Jason’s quiet for the biggest part of the rest of the tour until he leaves his bags on his bed in the guest room. My mum decorated this room with warm colours because she says they help make the guest feel cosy and at home. I guess it depends on the guest for someone whose house was cold colour themed would hardly feel at home in a terra coloured room but if Mum says that’s the way it is, then that must be the way it is. She’s the painter after all.

“I just have a question” he says “why did you never tell us you’re the princess of Genovia?”

I laugh and sit down on the cushion bench on the feet of his bed.

“I mean, this is the guest room and it’s bigger than the girls’ apartment in Grad.”

“It’s not.” I shake my head. “The living room might be.” I joke and he laughs. “I usually sleep here when I come home though. I was in my room when Dylan had the accident and sometimes it just gets suffocating in there.” I explain.

Jason stays quiet and I enjoy his silence for sometimes there’s little one can say.

We were on the phone. We were fighting. He had come visit me that weekend and it had been the best weekend we had had in months. The last part of our relationship was as messy as it could get; we would fight all the time. I would fight him about the weed and about how he was... Losing himself all the time. And he would tell me I had changed a lot and that everything in my life was perfect except from him and he would invite me to just break up with him and have a doctor boyfriend if I was so disappointed on him. I heard the crash. And then he died.

“You can come sleep here if that happens.” Jason smiles. “Or we can swap rooms.”

I shake my head. I want to at least try. It’s been almost four years now and as tough as that memory is, I also have memories I treasured with my life. I remember Mum signing to me when I was little, Dad telling stories to Coco and me, Coco climbing in my bed when she was little and had nightmares. And I remember Dylan, I remember him trying to teach me how to play the guitar, me teaching him to braid my hair and I remember kissing him and him telling me he loved me.

“Have you talked to David?” I need to stop thinking about that.

“After breaking up with him, you mean?”

I nod and he shakes his head.

“I blocked his number and blocked him on every social media. Also deleted the apps at the risk of him creating a fake profile so as to be able to talk to me. I know it’s crazy but-”

“So is he.” I interrupt him, probably finishing his sentence and he chuckles.

“That’s right.”

I snort a chuckle and look down at my hands over the cushion. I’m sure this week I’m going to be out of it a lot of the times but I think Jason needs some time to himself too so it’s good our two sad asses are here together.

“You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod.

“Have you talked to him?”

My heart stops. For a second, I think he’s talking about someone who’s dead but then I shake my head. I did tell Harry not to contact me again and as strange as it seems knowing him, he might be respecting that. I don’t know if I really want him to though but I know it’s what’s best.

“Should we go downstairs have some of that mulled wine?”

“Yes, please.”

Dad and Coco are sitting in front of the chimney with a glass of mulled wine each when we join them. She’s telling him about Guido now. I feel bad for mum but she can’t keep a secret to save her life so it makes sense she wouldn’t tell her yet.

“Hi, guys.” My dad greets. “Do you like your room, Jason? Are you comfortable?”

“Yes, sir, thank you. It’s incredible.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Please, take a seat and help yourself with some wine.”

“Thank you.”

“So how are you, Dad?” I ask.

“Can’t complain.” He smiles. “Rio’s doing great at the bank and we’re happy and my daughters are home for Christmas. Couldn’t ask for anything else.”

I smile at the sweet man who raised me.

“How are you, Berry?”

“I’m…” Should I tell him? “I’m good.”

He smiles but I know it’s his way of silently saying we both know that’s not true so I smile back and it’s my silent way of letting him know I don’t particularly want to talk about it.

“Have you seen the Meyers?”

My dad’s light hazel eyes set on mine. I know he’s taken aback by my serenity. I think I want to have a cup of tea with Dylan’s parents but it’d be great to have some background before I contact them.

“They passed by the bank in the morning, wished Merry Christmas like usual. Amalia cut her hair. It looks good on her.”

“I think I’m gonna text them. See if they’d like to have a cup of tea.”

“I think they’d love to.” He smiles. “I’m proud of you, Blue.”

I nod and give him a little smile and we all hear the door opening and my brother’s feet shuffling inside the hall. He drops his gym bag on the floor and Jason gets more excited than any of us. He’s got Rio’s fever.

“It smells like women in here.” Rio jokes.

“It smells like mulled wine, dofus.” Coco explains and he grins.

“Long time no see, Coconut.”

“She’s been busy with her boyfriend.”

“DAD!” She panics. “That’s exactly what I meant!”

My dad just laughs and then Rio’s interrogation begins. He asks for pictures, age, family name, degree and every little thing in between and Coco answers but cries for help at least five times.

I help my dad set the table while he finishes up with dinner and then the five of us sit around the table and enjoy dinner among shared stories of Rio’s adventure on the bank and the rumours he’s heard. Harry would like this nosy conversation too. But why am I thinking about him? He’s a junkie and a liar.

My dad tells us a messy love story between two of his associates and Rio adds the juicy comments every now and then. Coco and Jason are really invested but I know my dad is just filling in the conversation so I don’t have to participate. Much like me, he’s never been interested in other people’s business. As a matter of fact, he’s been in charge of the Anderson Bank for over thirty years and has never had trouble with any employee. He only learnt about relationships when he got invited to his employees’ weddings.

I look up to my father. He’s had everything handed to him on a silver platter but he’s able to admit it. He knows half the things he has, he doesn’t even deserve. For years I thought the right thing to do was getting rid of all of that but growing up I learnt, it’s a lot more useful to be a part of the system and make a change from within.

Harry: Where are you?

I turn my phone upside down and look at my dad, pretending to listen. We usually disagree on pretty much everything but he still talks to me about politics and economy and all that and I like the way he disagrees with me. He gets frustrated because he treats me like an equal.

Where are you?

My dad used to say I could do anything I wanted. He told my entire family I’d make a great cook when I was about sixteen just because I had taken upon creative cuisine and cupcakes with fondant and heart shapes.

What does he care where I am?

And then when I was seventeen, I started playing volleyball and he told everyone I’d be the national champion.

Why does he think it’s okay to text me at dinner time and ask my whereabouts?

And then… Then… Ugh, I can’t get the text out of my head.

“Blue, is everything alright?”

I look up at my brother’s concerned eyes and only then I realize I’ve been torturing the dead lamb on my plate. I clear my throat.

“Yes, I just have a virus or something on my phone.” I give him a tight smile.

“Alright.” He chuckles.

Jason types on his phone and gives me a look so I grab mine to see his text. There are messages from Harry.

Jason: What’s wrong?

Indie: Harry texted me.

Harry: Come on, Blue, it’s me.

Harry: Open the door.

“Who wants dessert?”

“Let it be chocolate coulant, let it be chocolate coulant.” Coco prays with closed eyes.

My dad laughs and makes his way to the kitchen with as many plates as he could get and Jason follows suit helping pick up stuff from the table. Rio hisses for me to look at him.

“Is the virus that guy you were seeing?”

“How do you even know about that?” I narrow my eyes at him threateningly so he would confess nothing but the truth.

“Mum and I talk, you know.” He shrugs.

I roll my eyes but his hand rests atop of mine on the table.

“If you want his legs broken, just say the word.”

“Rio!” I chuckle and he smiles.

“I’m just saying.”

After dinner, Jason and I sit on the balcony despite the cold. We brought a little mulled wine and got blankets from the wardrobe before we sat down on my favourite part of the house. I have two armchairs and a small table in between on my balcony and the view is magnificent. You can see the mountains behind a huge, now snow-covered, forest of pines.

“Did you text him back?”

I shake my head.

“And do you want to?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want to.” I sigh.

“I think it does.”

I tilt my neck to give him a warning glare.

“Olivia and I have talked.”

“About me?” I frown. “And why do you think I care about that?”

“I agree with her.” He confesses.

I have a long sip of my wine to busy my tongue and not curse at him.

“For all we know, it must have been the first time he smoked weed. I mean, think about it, he was really affected wasn’t he? And he told you several times he didn’t want to talk in that moment. He didn’t want to discuss it with you while he was high, Indie. I think that means he cares.”

“I think that means he was that high he couldn’t even think properly.”

“And yet he was lucid enough to know that was not how he wanted to be when he talked to you about that.”

“Why are you defending him?”

“I’m not defending him. I just think you’re overreacting, which is normal, I mean. We all know why you took it like that but he doesn’t, does he?”

I sigh and look ahead at the mountain.

“I mean… You’re getting mad at him because he didn’t tell you about that but there’s a lot of things you didn’t tell him about, either. Can you get mad at someone for keeping secrets from you while keeping secrets yourself?”

“I don’t do drugs, Jason. It’s not the same.”

Jason sighs.

“Before it happened, you were… Happy. I haven’t seen you that happy since Dylan passed” he whispers that part, afraid to bring upon us the weight of those words “and it’s all on Harry.” He shrugs. “So I think he deserves to at least be listened to. I mean you don’t even know why he was high.”

“Because he smoked weed, Jason, there’s just one explanation.”

“I mean why he smoked.” He chuckles. “Haven’t you thought about that?”

No, I haven’t.

“It was a family reunion, J. You weren’t there but it was cousins and aunts and his mum for the love of God. Who gets high with his family there? It was his older sister’s birthday.”

“That’s right. The same sister who was on the car the night he crushed it. Now, I don’t know why he crushed the car or how the accident was but neither do you and don’t you think it must be hard? Whatever the reason was, to be at your sister’s birthday, someone who’s on a wheelchair somehow because of you?”

My anger drops a knot. Or two.

“You said he doesn’t drink, right?”

I nod.

“And he… He has trouble sleeping.” I add.

He’s tortured about his sister’s accident and now I understand it a lot more. He lied to me that one time too, when he explained to me why he felt so terrible about it. He doesn’t feel guilty because he didn’t help during her recovery. He feels guilty because he thinks it’s his fault and for all I know it might be.

“He should have told me sooner.”

“That’s true.” Jason agrees. “I’m not saying you shouldn’t be mad. You have every right to be. Just… Don’t pretend like you don’t care about him.”

I feel my bottom lip quivering, but this is just Jason. It’s okay to cry in front of Jason.

“I… I don’t want to do it again, J; to think I can fix him because I can’t. I’ve been there before and I don’t want that again. He…”

Warm arms wrap around me so I rest my head on his shoulder.

“He’s not Dylan, Indie. He wasn’t driving that night.”

I think I fell asleep after that because I wake up on Jason’s bed and see him peacefully sleeping beside me. I’m happy he’s here and I’m happy he’s finally free from fucking David Dick. He didn’t deserve the way he treated him, no one does. I have five missed calls and new texts from Harry. He really isn’t given up, is he?

Harry: I know you’re with your dad. I’m glad you’re okay and with your family.

Harry: I’m truly sorry, Indie.

I don’t like it that he calls me Indie. It feels like we’ve gone backwards but then again I guess we have. I don’t answer him because I still need to think. I’m not sure what I want even and I know if I see him or even hear his voice he’ll get in my head and I’ll say yes to anything he has to say because that’s how much of a fool I am.

I think I’ll go to the lake today, show Jason our rope and where we go in the summer. I get up from the bed carefully so as not to wake the Sleeping Beauty and make my way downstairs. Dad’s having a cup of coffee reading his newspaper in the kitchen and the image is so familiar I feel like nothing has ever happened. I wrap my arms around his chest from behind and know he’s smiling.

“Morning, Blue.”

“Morning, Dad. How did you sleep?”

He looks me in the eyes. I frown and suddenly feel the air falling on top of our shoulders. It’s like without saying a word, he set the mood for something terrible. I rest my hand on his shoulder.

“What is it, Dad?”

“I don’t want to scare you” and that’s how you scare someone “but… I’ve been feeling a little weird these past few weeks. I’ve been more tired than usual, more… Anxious, I guess I’d say and my chest started hurting just after walking to the bank every day so I went to the doctor and they did this bunch of tests, you know and it was all good except from an X-ray from my chest.”

“What is it?”

“They found a nodule next to my heart.” He swallows. “Now they don’t know yet whether it is on the lungs or the heart or the aorta or even the thyroid so they have to do some more tests but… They said it could be a tumour, Berry.”

His words are a direct punch in the guts but I know what he needs right now is not me crumbling so I do what I can to give him a smile.

“Well, it could just be. There’s a hundred other things that could be and even if it was a tumour, it might be a benign one and even if it was bad, the diagnose might be in time to fix it if they didn’t treat it like something urgent.”

“Thank you.” My dad smiles. “I know how hard it is for you not to say what your doctor’s mind is thinking.”

“This is my doctor’s mind speaking actually.” I tell him. “My daughter’s mind is running wild but doctor Anderson is calming Blue down.”

He smiles again and gets up from his chair and starts making French toasts for everyone. He shows me the x-ray and I pretend I don’t get scared shitless when I see it. The lump is as big as a peach and is right next to his heart. Now I don’t know what that is but it can’t be good.

Harry: Indie, I’m trying to give you space but I suck at this and I think the more space I give you, the harder it’s gonna be for you to listen to me.

Harry: I miss you.

Harry: And I’m very sorry.

“Who’s that?” My dad smirks. “Is that your boyfriend?”

How can he even care about it after what he just told me? His nosiness surprises me so I just stare at him as if the devil had possesed him.

“Yeah, Blue, is that your boyfriend?” Jason smirks too.

I give him a death glare.

“Good morning, Jason.” My dad tells him.

“Good morning, Peter. So, what is it? Is he your boyfriend?”

“Don’t make dumb questions, Jason.”

“There are no dumb questions, honey.” My dad teases.

“Just dumb people, I guess.”

Jason just laughs and starts setting the table for breakfast as if he has been here before.

“Are you mad at a boy, honey?” My dad presses.

“If it was just at the boy, Peter, it wouldn’t be so bad.” I death glare at Jason again but it seems like he wants war today. “She’s mad at the world. She always is.”

“What was that?” I frown.

“Nothing.” Jason shrugs and gets the empty plates on the table. “I just want you to talk to him, I’m sure you’ll feel better.”

“So there is a he! I knew it.”

“Dad, stop.”

My phone screen illuminates and both Jason and I see Harry’s name. I defy him with my glare but he shakes his head. He’s not Ollie. Olivia would have picked up.

“He doesn’t give up.” My dad adds.

I can’t believe him. I grab my phone keen to set an end to this.

Indie: I’m with my family. I’ll talk to you if I want to.

Harry: Please want to.

Harry: Thank you for answering.

Oh, no, he’s going to act all kind and innocent now. I hate it. He’s not like this. He’s smug and irritating, he isn’t sweet and delicate.

After breakfast, Jason agrees to go for a run with Rio. I almost go along because Jason never runs, he just said he did to impress Rio, so I bet that has to be funny but I have something else in mind.

Coco and Dad stay home to set the Christmas tree and I go to the lake with an old copy of To Kill a Mockingbird and my laptop. I re-read the book I’ve read at least five times and promise to myself I won’t google my dad’s x-ray, I know that’s probably the silliest thing to do but... I send an email to professor Gibbins. I trust him and would like to know what he thinks. A second opinion is a thing.

He sends me his phone number and tells me to call him and that scares me to death.

“Hello, Indigo.”

“Hi, doctor Gibbins.”

“Call me Danny, dude.” He laughs.

I swallow but appreciate the easing. I wonder if he’s using one of the techniques we learn in Comunication with me but don’t waste more time before I tell him what my dad told me in the morning. He sighs.

“Well, I’m seeing the radiography as we speak and I mean it could be anything.”

“Yeah but it doesn’t look good, does it?”

“He needs a surgery.”

Harry’s voice freezes my blood. I wasn’t expecting to hear his accent so soon, much less to say that.

“Am I on speaker mode?”

“Mmm… Yes, I’m sorry. I’m at work and Harry was here. I thought two doctors were better than one.”

He’s probably right. Plus, Harry is the smartest person I know and I’m actually glad he asked him because as mad as I am at him I would love to know his opinion on this. He’s brilliant. I have no doubt of that.

“Does he have high blood pressure, Indie?” Harry asks me.

“Yes.” I frown.

“And did he feel a pain in the chest recently?”

“Yes!”

There he is playing his magic.

“I think it’s an aortic dissection. Look at it, it’s an A type.”

That last part wasn’t for me but for Danny. Why is he so smart? Why does everything he says seem so interesting and impossibly right to me? And why does he always make me feel safer and better? Why can’t he be normal, just like any other guy? And why did he have to ruin everything like that?

“If you need anything else, I can help you too.” Harry says very softly, as if he was afraid I was going to hang up.

“I know, and still I called Danny, didn’t I?” I sigh. “What do you think, Danny?”

“I think he’s right.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

I hang up without saying goodbye and hold my tears in before opening my book again.

"First of all," he said, "if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it."

#harry styles imagine #harry styles imagines #harry styles one shot #harry styles blurb #harry styles love #harry styles and reader #harry styles fic #harry styles au #harry styles angst #harry styles fluff

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letstakecareofyourmoney · 4 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 301

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 301 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

We’re live. Ah, what’s up, everybody? Welcome to Episode 301 of Hump Day Hangouts, where we teach you some kung fu moves to get your rankings up there into other websites out there in the search engine. But that’s great. Welcome to Hump Day Hangouts. Today is the 19th of August and this is your weekly meeting for anything SEO and good stuff and marketing and everything that has to do with that related so welcome to that before we dive into some of the good stuff that we have for today, just gonna go through the list of the awesome people that we have here. Nicole, what’s up Marco? How are you doing, man?

You see it. Now let me tell you about it.

That’s how it makes Groundhog Day. This is my life. I can’t help it. And as I always say, don’t hate the player. Hate the game, as I like this place.

Again, that’s it. If you don’t play the game as you should, then maybe you should start looking in the right place. When you’re starting out in the right place Hump Day Hangout, so here we go. But you go get some.

Let’s go. What’s up, Chris? How are you doing, man? Yeah, like I’m looking jealous over the marketplace. I don’t know. Like we had rained the last day. So like, not too excited to your brother. Well, everything else is good. And actually, I’m a little bit excited, but I cannot talk too much about it. Because I’ve been working on something for POFU.

But I think you mentioned a couple of things about that later. Yeah, for sure. For sure. What’s up, Bradley? How are you doing, man? Good. I’m good. I’m just trying to do what Adam usually does and drop these links on to the chatbox, but other than I’m good, glad to be here. Yeah, by the way, we’re missing a core, a core member of

The team in fact we’re not able to function we’re just basically barely scraping by which is because he’s like out there running the woods doing his stuff. So what’s up, Adam? So what’s up everybody? Welcome to Episode 301.

And we’re going to be diving into question soon but before we go there a couple of things number one people live is coming in hot, he’s going to be awesome. I’m really excited about getting that well on our way is going to be our third installment or the third slot live event although this one’s not going to be in person now which guy that said this is not live so he’s supposed to live online but if you want to go and get your virtual ticket, your POFU Live ticket to be attending to POFU Live, go to pofulive.com. It’s an event that we put every single year for the past three years, and it’s been pretty awesome. People are getting a lot of stuff usually stuff that we don’t share anywhere else. Just info for live. So go there.

Go grab your ticket, we’re going to be doing some fun stuff for VIP ticket holders and all of that good stuff. So go to pofulive.com. And I also believe that we have some sell happening right now. And mgyb. And we guys, yeah, and it’s in celebration of national potato day. Hey, go there.

So I dropped the coupon code in the chatbox below. But it’s if you go to mgyb.co is 25% off of our ys drive stacks for the next I guess three days and the coupon code is potato, my rankings all one word, potato, my rankings, all one word as the coupon code gets you 25% off of our ys drive stacks. There you go. You’re gonna use me, excuse me the SEO shield, which includes a drive stack but it’s the SEO shield orders. That’s what it’s for. There you go. Awesome. And by the way, Michael does

People need to buy right away as they can buy right now. And they need to submit the order right now how How’s that? How’s that working? They have a window so that they can submit basically, you know if somebody is watching this tomorrow, and they want to take advantage of the offer, but they don’t probably didn’t have data of their clients right away, what do you suggest?

Well, we understand that we understand that people can sometimes get the information right away. We understand that people need time, right? For whatever reason it is, or maybe they just want to take advantage of the coupons. Well, that’s fine. They can go ahead, buy, and then submit the information later. Now the problem is if you wait too long if you wait past 30 days, what we’re going to do is we’re simply going to refund you because we can’t let it sit there 5678 months until whatever it is that you decide to do.

So get it, hold on to it go ahead and take advantage of the offer. So that the coupon doesn’t expire, right because once it does, we can’t give you the offer.

Then get gather the information. That’s fine. Don’t wait more than 30 days because then we will refund you no question. It gets done on our we know that if you don’t submit your information within 30 days, you’re likely not to do it. And we’ll have to refund you anyway. So we might as well get rid of the problem to start with. Gotcha. So people can buy today get get get an advantage, take advantage of the coupon. And then you said, you know, submit the details over the next 30 days, basically. That’s awesome. All right. Cool. So and by the way, if you have more SEO needs, if you have more delivery needs, you know, because you shouldn’t be doing the grunt work, let us do it for you go to mgyb.co we have that sale going on. But there’s a lot of good stuff there. A lot of stuff that allegedly doesn’t work. But you know, the proof is in the pudding. We have a bunch of case studies there and more coming. So that’s going to be pretty awesome as well.

Yep. Anything that you guys want to add on? Let’s do this. Let’s do it. Actually, we ran over last week by like, almost 10 minutes because I just lost track of time. So you guys are gonna crack the whip on me today. I tight I’ve got an appointment actually have to get to so. Alright, uh, let me grab the screen.

All right, sweet.

Do you guys see my screen? Okay. Yeah. All right, we’re gonna start with

Is It Safe To Convert Gsites To Its New Format?

Igor. Hey Brad. The NSM team just got an email about Google changing the old g sites. Is it safe to follow to convert them to the new g site? I have been? I’ve done about a dozen myself this week. Seriously, I haven’t even had VA is doing it. I’ve just because I’ve been tightening up projects and stuff. And so I’ve just gone in and click the button and made sure everything came out. Okay, Mark, I know you had some comments about that. We chatted about this yesterday. Yeah, Google has been really nice about it. They giving us everything we need. They’re just moving everything over for us all you have to just click yes it. I mean, how good is that doesn’t get any better than that. Now, you will

Hang on a second, well people do have to be careful about is that it doesn’t turn into a 302. So please monitor your URLs, right use a redirect checker every once in a while to see what it is that Google is doing it because they get sneaky. Remember what they did with geo GL? Yeah, it was a 301. Then without any warning, it turned into a 302. Then they offer Firebase, which was a three or two that you had to turn into a 301. gotta be really careful. Google is really sneaky, right? Do they change other URLs from 301 to three or two from

what do you call it? From a meta refresh, to attend meta refresh, where then it’s useless. So the only thing that I tell people is you got to be really careful. Keep track of your URLs, keep checking them from time to time. And of course, don’t you do it your time should be way more valuable than to be inserting the URLs into a checker to see if it’s a 301 or three or two, you should have a VA, doing all this menial work so you can concentrate on your business, growing your business, making more money.

That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

Yeah, what I was gonna say was a couple of things, one you brought up. Gotta be careful with Google because they’re tricky about how they’ll change stuff and make them three Oh, twos without even knowing. Yep, for example, what the old g sites I don’t know, I haven’t even checked it on the new one yet. With you know, once it’s been converted to the new ones, but I can’t imagine it would have changed. But if you left the trailing slash off of the end of the URL, then if you checked it in a redirect checker, it would throw to you the final URL with the trailing slash at the end of it. So like, if you’re looking at a home page of the G site, and you were building links to the URL without the trailing slash, then you were actually getting a 302 redirect to the home page, which I thought was crazy.

But second of all, the new g sites are a lot like page builders are now so they’re like, you know, modular and like kind of like a block editor. And there it just is a lot more intuitive than the old funky g sites. And I don’t know why I’ve wanted them for so long because it’s actually a pretty good editor now and it’s a good interface. So,

How Many Videos Are Needed For A YouTube Silo To Be Effective?

okay, let’s see, I got lost my track where I was let me try this again must have been from last week. Okay, so the next question was from when building YouTube silos? How many videos should be in a silo to be impactful to move the needle? I know it depends on the competition. But what should you start with five 750? And should we focus on building more in the silo or more silos? And if more silos, how many in the silo?

I got a little bit of a headache from that question.

It just depends on it depends on you know, how competitive the keyword is that you’re trying to rank for. So whatever your top-level keyword is the top of silo keyword that you’re trying to rank for. That’s really going to be what determines how much depth you should add to it, like how many videos essentially how many other keywords, variations, longer tail versions, that sort of thing, are you going to actually target within that particular silo? It’s just like doing it on your website, right? It’s the same principle. It’s the

How much is it going to take? I can’t tell you that because I don’t know what keyword is that you’re targeting. I don’t know what the competition looks like. It’s going to take as many as it takes. So really just it’s going to it’s very much like doing a silo on your website. That’s why we talk about theme mirroring, and all that kind of stuff because it’s, it’s all the same. Creating a YouTube silo is the exact same structure. And the mat, whether or not it ranks is going to depend on you know, a lot of factors, not just the silo structure itself, but having additional keywords in there more depth to that silo adds builds more relevancy, more topical relevancy, and there are more linking opportunities from within that silo as well. So it kind of helps to power up the entire silo, the whole playlist, if you’re adding more videos that are relevant. Does that make sense?

Anybody want to comment on that before I go to the second part of that, yeah, what you start with is more than one right? Absolutely.

And then it’s just how far you need to go to get to where you want to be. Period.

Yep. So how many are going to take as many as it takes? I was like a lot. We used to get questions all the time about syndication networks, how many posts Do you think it’s going to take for me to rank for whatever keyword now, we could always have the same answer as many as it takes to take. Yeah. So the next one is it should be focused on building more in the silo or more silos and more silos. Now, remember, guys, keep it simple. You know, you can take a top-level silo keyword, and you can create a bunch of subcategories from closely very closely related keywords that are, you know, longer tailed versions are the next level down, so to speak of that main keyword, but is it necessary to do so? That’s the point-like, again, I use this example more recently, uh, you know, I’m pretty much all I’m doing now is Tree Service stuff for SEO and, and lead generation and that kind of stuff. And for the longest time, I’ve always built a simple silo structure at least for several years.

I used to do complex silos. But I just got over doing that because most local, most local type businesses don’t need that. But and I don’t know that you’re targeting local, but I’m just using this as an example.

I used to always silo with the simple site for the last few years with simple silo structure for Tree Service stuff, Tree Service being the primary keyword. So essentially the homepage, but then the silo structure would be tree trimming would be one silo. Another one that would be tree removal. And then usually a third one, which would be additional services or arborist tree services, if it was a certified arborist on the, for the contractor that the site was for. And I saw I’d have three silos on the site, basically. But what I found was Google actually really considers tree trimming, Tree Removal tree cutting Tree Service, they’re all synonyms. So I could probably and I haven’t tested it just yet. I’ve got a couple of projects and I’m waiting on some infrastructure to be built and then I’m going to be testing that. But I could probably go with just one silo essentially tree services. And you because all that content is the same, however, I could create like, essentially subcategories, which would have been the silos of what I’ve already been what I’ve been doing right. So tree removal, tree trimming, perhaps arborist services, but if why overcomplicate things, why make the build more complex? Why make the content, you know, the interlinking between pieces of content, everything more complex than it needs to be, if I could just have a flat site with one silo tree services, and just have all the content, you know, properly structured and get the same results? Why would I go through all of that and so that my answer to you about the YouTube stuff is the same thing? I would rather focus on one silo and add more depth to it and have that whole silo be a lot more powerful than have a whole bunch of different silos with the month that is very, very specific or it’s kind of hard to get, you know, additional supporting it Now if you’ve got the main category with a bunch of different subcategories and it’s logical to do so. Then I would add additional you know, add create additional playlist and don’t forget, you can have one video and more than one playlist, so I mean, it

If you have a kind of like a parent category silo, the video can be in that playlist. But then you could also have like subcategory silos or playlists that want. You know, the video can also be in one of those, if that makes sense. So, but just don’t overcomplicate things is my point, especially when it comes to YouTube? It’s really unnecessary. Does anybody want to comment on that?

I totally agree.

Okay. Very good. And I think a lot of a lot of times we try, we try to be smart as SEOs and try to you know, well, if I get really creative with my silo structures, I can get better results and it just ends up being a lot of unnecessary work. So just keep that in mind.

How Do You Set Up A Sales Tax In A WooCommerce Site?

Jason says, Hey, guys, I’m working on an e-commerce site and I hearing rumors that I need to set up sales tax for every state in the U.S. if we sell something. Do you guys know how this would work with WooCommerce? I do not because I don’t do anything eCommerce related. Perhaps Marco might.

Do you know anything about WooCommerce being in taxes and stuff?

I don’t know, like, I don’t know how you either,

like I do, I have worked on WooCommerce websites, but that’s not the part of my job that I do.

The part of what I do on that is I get traffic, the owner is kind of like the one in charge of all that guy charges, taxes and I know, on the land, like each state has separate rules, right? for buying and selling land and how much is is due at the closing. But that all gets done, it gets taken out of the total when you close the deal. It’s like you never see it because it’s taken out. So like how much or whether each state is responsible, whether you’re responsible for collecting taxes, what you need to do is go and contact the tax attorney and have them tell you what it is that you’re responsible for, whether it’s each state, your state, what the rules are in each state because only a tax attorney would be the one to answer that question properly. I’m not a tax attorney. I’m not a tax expert by any means.

So try that. I can’t really help with that. Yeah, neither can I just don’t do any sort of e-commerce stuff. So I couldn’t help with that either. Sorry. Jason. Looks like Jason says he just joined the mastermind. That’s awesome. So he says that, by the way, welcome, Jason. He says I have five websites that I need to do this syndication networks with, I need to do two of them as soon as possible. Well, I’ll tell you what, as a mastermind member, you do get benefits, you know, so contact support, make about mgyb.co. So go to [email protected] after you’ve placed your orders, and, you know, mentioned that your new mastermind members and see if you can get two of them expedited, I don’t know that we typically do that but I know mastermind members do get benefits. So Marco’s, that’s something that we can do is try to get it pushed a little bit.

Ah, we have other mastermind members. Also order. So how can we push everything? Um, yeah, that’s why I was asking. I said if we can do something we’ll try to but I don’t know that we can but what do you think? I mean if it’s just syndication if it’s just a brand that networks you know, they get pushed out and they’ll get delivered as soon as they’re done that’s how Jason yeah absolutely order right away. But we are improving the system. We’re making everything better we’re making things better right we’re training our team we’re trying to make things more fluid speedier so it’s not as if we’re just sitting there and not make trying to make things better we are

are you go and I know you guys have been working hard on streamlining stuff and all that so it will get better Pablo says Hey guys, I’m still confused with correct structure for city pages post question. One from for now top of silo on my money site is a broad category without local modifiers. If I need to cover two or more counties, I need to make each county like a separate silo or county can go after a broad topic and link back to the main silo topic example. This is one of those questions site slash Miami or slight slash appraiser Miami based on this question, how would posting look like okay?

Should You Make A Separate Silo For County And Connect It To The Main Silo?

Pavlo, I can tell you this you know I cover how I do how I reconcile those odd issues that I’ve talked about this many times and I cover this extensively in the mastermind I can’t do it here. I can give you a very high overview like a conceptual overview of it, but I can’t get into the nitty-gritty because it’s something that I only cover in our mastermind, but I use tags for creating location-based silos in a WordPress website. Okay, so I use the category structure for my topical silos. But then I use tags in a very specific way to create my location-based silos so that there are no conflicts with URLs are trying to share location-based stuff categories across topical silos or vice versa topical silos across location-based categories. Does that make sense? I don’t know if that makes sense or not. But I think you’re talking about the oddities that occur with the URL conflicts that occur when you try to use the same subcategory across multiple categories because it’s going to automatically append like a dash two dash three for each time you duplicate that subcategory into another category. WordPress is gonna automatically append to it like a dash two dash three because it has to have another permalink. And if that’s what you’re talking about, I learned to three years ago, probably three years ago now to build silo structure for location-based silos using tags and it’s a specific hierarchy, the way that I stack those tags and everything else. That’s as far as I can tell you right now.

The other way to do it was if you were going to if because remember if you’re talking about complex silo structure, which you are in this case, right? Because you’ve got, you know, topical silos and then you want to go sub silo from that, right? So subcategories that you want to add additional content pages to or even posts at that level. Right that that can create some issues. That’s why I recommend if you, if you can get away with just doing a simple silo, then and using just the post name, permalink structure, then you can stack you know, you can cross things, subcategories and other categories and things where the URL isn’t going to be displayed and it shows as just domain comm slash the post slug at that level, and that’s okay. But again, so So I mean, if you can get away with that, then that’s the way that I would do it. But again, I can’t talk specific can’t show you the structure, how to do tag-based location silos or location silos using tags here on Hump Day Hangouts. I couldn’t talk about it the mastermind though, but if you understand tags and how to use tag pages in WordPress, you ought to be able to figure it out as my point. So you want to comment on that at all, more.

The only comment that I’m going to make is that there are things that we reserved for our paid groups only. And it’s not fair for us to give it away here in a free group. If people are paying for it, people are paying for all this information. So you people who are here free, although we try to answer as much as possible, you do have to understand is that there are some things that we can’t answer, but we can answer them in the paid groups. That’s just the way it is. It’s the way we’ve always done it. We have given people what nearly six years of free information, actionable information, people have built businesses from the information we give away for free. So imagine what we give away in the free groups.

Yeah, the paid group you mean, um, but yeah. So probably just to get back to your URL question here. See, what I was talking about here is if you take a look at how you’ve got URL one versus URL to my point is if you’ve got like appraiser is your is like one of your services and if appraiser I don’t know what your Real Estate or what, but let’s just say it real estate. And so one of your categories is an appraiser and maybe one of them is home inspections, right?

Or Yeah, something like that, right, let’s just say appraiser and inspectors, let’s just use that just to show two different service categories. If you were to try to duplicate Miami, originally, if you set it up as a subcategory, as an appraiser, then if you tried to create Miami subcategory in the inspectors’ category, or home inspector category, or home inspections, category, whatever, however you name it, then you would end up having that weird URL structure. That said, it doesn’t really matter if you’re using the post name permalink structure because you don’t see it unless you’re looking at source code anyways. So it’s not a big deal. But again, it creates some conflicts that I just don’t like to try to live with when I’m building the site. It’s not really clear to me that way. That’s why I like to use tags. I don’t know if that was specifically a question, but that’s the way I interpreted it. So next is he says based on this, how should what should posting look like?

For each county, it should be the same topic or keyword, but content should be rewritten, including local modifiers. Yeah, I mean, that’s what I do. That’s why I have my blogger actually create. When we’re doing keyword plus location-specific content, my blogger just creates or curates a blog post that is targeting something very closely related to that topic. It doesn’t always necessarily have to be 100% then but she has my I have one blogger that handles all of this stuff for me now because she’s really good at it. She will curate top you know, stories that are topically relevant as well as something about the local area that you know, for the location modifier that we’re targeting. And then there will be a paragraph at the bottom that has a strong call to action and it has you know, a strong mention of the product or service or the services that would pertain to what the theme of the post was about. So my point is like, for example, in the tree clients I have don’t do landscaping work. However, landscaping is closely related to Tree Service stuff. Right. And so because of that, a lot of times there will be blog posts that are written about Lance a yard or keeping their somebody’s resident, you know, homes, the landscape beautiful or whatever. And then there will be a paragraph at the bottom about, you know, tree services, tree trimming, tree pruning, whatever that will kind of tie that concept to the landscaping, right? And then we just optimize the SEO title for it. And then use the tag-based silos and all of that, and it’s it works really, really well, especially when you use the SEO shield and the G site and you learn how to push keyword relevancy through backlink profile to your G site. So that’s what I do.

And so all of the content is unique because all of the blog posts each blog post is unique because there’s new newly curated content from my blogger, which is why I like it because it’s all it’s not. You know, one of the problems that I’m sure you are aware of this Pablo is is when you only have you know, a few seconds services? How do you keep rewriting about that same service over and over and over again, right, it gets to be very difficult to do so. And that’s why I kind of got away from trying to do it that way. And I just let my blogger kind of run away with it and it creates over time, it might take a little bit more time to get the traction that I like. But once you do, you have this kind of broad width of topical relevancy to that to what your primary services are, if that makes sense. So that’s what I do if you don’t have that ability yet for, you know, for curating posts and that kind of stuff, then you can just rewrite stuff I’ve talked about having like one article written about tree removal, in my case, right. And then having that rewritten by five different, you know, as a rewrite project, as opposed to a new writing project, it’s a lot less expensive, and now I’ve got six versions of the original article. And so that’s something you could use if you’re going to be reproducing keyword plus location across multiple locations. Does that make sense? I don’t know if that was clear or not. Do you have any other tricks for that?

No. Okay.

All right. And the second part of that I can’t answer because that question went way too long. Anyway, so we’re going to move on if we have time, we’ll come back to it.

How Do You Boost A Blog Subdomain?

Bobby, Ricky Bobby says, we have a client that uses a subdomain for their blog, their main site gets decent traffic 50,000 per month. But the blog that is blogged out example gets less than 1000 per month. Okay, they are not going to change it to a subfolder anytime soon. I’ve recommended it obviously, any advice on what to do to boost the blog subdomain. They have a few dozen articles on there. And we were starting to work on the content consistency going forward. Now that we have our keyword research and recommendations thanks to mgyb.

My suggestion would be just to start using the subdomain a lot more right. Your syndication network should be attached to it. You should be blogging consistently. And that’s essentially what I was just talking about in my previous reply or response to Pavlo’s question.

About overtime, just that the blog will start to gain more traction. And you’ll see in Search Console, especially as you publish more content, your total impression number will start to go way, way up. Because you’ll start being recognized by Google for a lot more keyword combinations. So different types of search queries will give your site impressions. And that’s actually a really good content strategy to go in the Search Console, and identify keywords that are relevant, like search queries that triggered an impression for your blog, find those queries that are relevant, that aren’t ranking well yet, but are that are close, like, for example, maybe their position is, you know, somewhere between 11 and 20? Well, those are good keywords than to start optimizing for producing more content for linking back to the original piece of content, that kind of stuff to help try to boost those to page one so that you start getting more traffic. My point is, you know, adding more content to the blog is would be my first step. And then you could always do things like, you know, paid traffic to some of the posts, and then do remarketing so that you can always be bringing people back, which will probably get more visits to the blog, even repeat visits, which is really, really good for SEO also. So those would be my two recommendations from you.

Yeah, that’s the SEO shield, SEO Power shield. It’s all part of the system. So it’s not just getting the syndication properties. It’s not just logging. It’s not just syndicating your content. It’s powering up your shield is powering up your right your @ID. It’s powering up everything that has to do with your entity. It has to do with getting your schema out there. It has to do with whatever you need to do to make the content right. So link building comes into play so embeds come into play. More link building more embeds. Press releases, link building to press release a stack the press releases if you’re local, posting, stalking your posts link building into your posts, local images, guys.

We’ve created a whole entire system for you to do this. We just can’t give you the pieces here for free.

I mean, we got to go back to that. People. Yeah, you want the system. It’s in the paid groups. It’s in Semantic Mastery and the heavy hitter, join Semantic Mastery. And you get a really good price for joining heavy hitter. But I like we can’t give you everything we’d love to. But then there would be no Semantic Mastery, if we gave everything away for free, right, the people who have to sit and think and do all of these things have to be able to make some kind of living, right, some kind of money, get rewarded for all the effort that we put into doing all of this.

So having said that, it’s the system ads, ads work perfectly well. If you do them the way that we say do. Don’t just go out and run any kind of ads that may or may not work. Use the system that we’ve set up to make the ads work. Use the system which we’ve created the

We make everything available in mgyb.co. But if you get it without really understanding what it is that you’re doing, then you’re actually doing yourself more harm than good, because you’re leaving so much power on the table, so much power that you could be using.

And that’s a good point, you know, press releases. I’ve shown this in our Facebook group, the SEO tutorials semantic mastery Facebook group. Somebody was asking a question about press releases. Well, it was more of a comment about how they read some article on some blog about our press releases doesn’t work. And so they were just relaying that information. And there was started to the discussion, a thread. And one of the arguments that the person that posted the question or the statement really was stating was, well, you guys are all saying they work, but I want to see proof. Right. And so I just took a screenshot of Google Analytics of just one project that I’m working on, that shows referral traffic. And it showed press advantage, right, which is the press release releases that we primarily use. And it showed for a 30 day period, I think was 287 or 267 visits directly from press advantage. So don’t discredit that either, like again. And that’s all part of what we teach is like the same content strategy. So in your blog, that’s one of the best things one of the strategies that I use, consistently, almost exclusively now is we publish blog posts for clients. And as soon as a blog post is published, not always a one to one ratio, depending on what their budget is, but we will publish a press release to promote the blog post. So every time a new blog post gets published, we have a press release that links back to the blog post. So we’re driving traffic from press advantage domain as well as a lot of you know, other news-type sites when it does get traffic press advantage tends to drive the domain itself tends to drive quite a bit of traffic, but that sends traffic to that newly public blog posts plus it builds a bunch of links to that newly built, newly published blog post. So it’s really, really good for building up the SEO value of your blog as well as driving traffic to it, which is what your original question was, is how to get more traffic to the blog. So that’s another great part of this strategy that we teach. Yep. So it was a great question.

Is It Harder To Rank Gdocs Than A Gsite?

Babies up with a list of questions just broken up this time a little bit. So maybe you’re getting better. Hey, guys, if I want to rank some Google property only, say a G doc and a G site? Is it harder to rank g docs than a G site? I have. I mean, for I guess I haven’t really set up any specific tests for that. But I tend to just focus on the G site because it has a lot more functionality than a G doc. I don’t know if one is harder to rank than the other what say you, Marco

would rank better.

So let me see that again. If I want to write some Google property on these, the G site because it is going to get all the power from the embeds the duck might rank faster originally. I like at first, but then the G site for sure will take over. Yeah, no, yeah. But that’ll convert better, won’t it? The G site will convert the dot some of the dots will rank right away. But the Gsite over time, it’s so powerful. And you still get leads from that Virginia. Right? Yeah, he’s still occasionally. Yeah. So I mean, the proof is in the pudding.

Is It Faster To Rank Google Properties Than Building A Shield To A Non-Google Property?

Is it faster to rank Google properties than building a shield on a non-Google property? Of course, it is. It is. I mean, it’s crazy. Because you get well you can just here’s the thing, even if you’re ranked trying to rank a non-Google property like so you got a self-hosted website is your main money site. You can still do all the same things to the SEO shield. That and that you would if you made the Google site, your primary money website.

It doesn’t really matter that because that’s the whole point of the SEO show, right? It’s to create a shield around your money site. So all the things that you’re going to do to that g site, if the G site was your primary money site, which will rank very quickly, you can still do all of that to the G site as part of your SEO shield when you have a self-hosted money site. So a non-Google property money site, because you’re not going to actually touch your non-Google property money site. with anything other than the SEO shield, you’re doing all your nastiness out to the actual SEO shield. So my point is, why not have both unless it’s just you don’t want to go through the trouble of setting up a self-hosted website and all that other kind of stuff, which I understand that so for example, for some lead gen assets, there’s no reason for to set up WordPress stuff if you’re just doing like a single location, lead gen assets and you’re going to do a bunch of them. You can get away with 100% with just GMB assets and the SEO shield assets and you can use the G site as your primary money site and the GMB website the two of those countries if combined, and you’ll do incredibly well that way. So again, but if you’re going to be building a brand, there’s in my opinion is no reason not to create a money site because you can still rank the G site before the money site ever ranks and still get the benefit of it. But you’re building that brand back to a domain that you have more control over. That’s, that’s my take on it. What do you think?

You know, it’s still effective, Google will say no.

But we see all these lawsuits as we see all of these things where Google prefer Google, over anything else. And we’ve proven it’s not something that we’re just saying. And it’s not just us giving you theory and concepts and all of these ideas that are nothing. We’re giving you facts. We’re giving you something that we actually showed on a webinar, how Google trusts itself above anything else, and because it trusts itself over anything else, it passes PageRank to itself, and it ranks its properties over anybody else’s. We see this time.

And again. So it stands to reason that if you build up your Google ecosystem, it’s why we’re in there in the first place. The whole idea to start with was Dr. Gary and I said, Google prefers itself over anything else. And we went from there, we set up, let that’s the scientific method. You start out you have a hypothesis, it’s a sentence, then you say that you ask a question. Does Google really prefer itself and why? And then you go out to prove it. And we did. And not only did we prove it, but we also showed it live. It’s not as if we just go we don’t we don’t hide that we showed it. How it is that Google prefers itself over anything else. So guys, understanding this, why are you not taking all of that power? and using it use Google was my original concept and idea, use Google to rank in Google?

But at least to be said,

How Do You Determine What Link Buiding Campaign To Use And Determine The Competition?

there you go. Next question. Say you are getting into a new niche. How do you determine the link building? We should use it? What is low, medium, hard competition? Which tool? Do you determine the competition?

Well, I mean, for me, I use a number of different tools. So it really doesn’t matter as I use for bigger projects. Now I’m using a digital marketer toolbox which is network empires towards a bit expensive, but you can also use stuff like sem rush and things. But honestly, what I do just to be what I do is I figure out what I how much relevancy I need to create with you on page right first, that’s, that’s always what I do like to do, am I going to need a lot of content Am I going to need to have proper, you know, how much content do I think I’m going to need so I always start with on-page but once I figure out what my plan is what I think is going to meet or exceed or meet and exceed whatever the competitors are in a particular space, then I set out to build that as far as the link building and everything. I just go by with it.

Exactly what you know we always talk about here, which is I do a ton of content marketing from the site through the blog to a syndication network, total SEO shield built around everything, I do a lot of press releases, which always link back through the blog posts mainly back to the back to the site. So that’s where I get most of my link building done and besides link building to the directly to the SEO shield through MGYB. Now, for most projects that I’ll start with a big link building package, so you know, the competitive What is it the Nitro I guess we call it the Nitro kit or the Nitro pack, link building just to kind of seed everything right off the bat, but then I just get into a regular schedule of doing either embed or link building or embeds plus link building. And now and I usually go with just depending on how competitive it is most of the local stuff, I mean, isn’t super competitive. So I’ll usually go with the starter kit, link building package or embed, you know, embeds plus link building to the embeds and I’ll just do that on you know, monthly or sometimes even by me

Monthly schedule depending on whether, you know if I’m ranking really well or where I want to be, then I really there’s no reason to just keep hammering away at it except for maintenance link building, which is, you know like I said, might be once every six weeks or every two months, or something like that, but I just how many links are going to take as many as it takes, right?

So it’s just it’s about the initial setup and everything and waiting for that Google dance to stop, which sometimes goes on a lot longer. And I think that’s the entity established. Go and Marco can talk on this speak to this, but I think it’s Google trying to establish or understand the entity itself when you first set it up because I got a treat care project that I’ve been working on and sharing in the mastermind. That’s just taken a long, long time for me to establish the brand name, like, you know, really solid but I think I’m finally there and with that particular thing, but what I’m saying is once you start getting past that, and it took shit like 10 weeks, it’s been dancing a lot, but I’ve also been noticing really aggressive with the content marketing and link building through press releases and everything. So I think that’s kind of along the Google dance. My point is, once you get past the initial Google dance, then it’s a matter of just monitoring Can I continually content market or do content marketing, excuse me, so publishing content, but then it’s just a matter of link building and embed, to try to get the desired result that you want. I can’t tell you which levels to use, because I just told you my plan, which is just I come out swinging hard, you know, come out with a lot right up front, just to initially seed the whole ecosystem that I’ve built. And then from there, it’s just more of an ongoing the tortoise, the tortoise wins the race type thing where I just constantly publishing new content and constantly powering up the SEO shield in strategic locations to get the desired result. What do you say, Marco?

Ah, man, and

yeah, it’s an excellent question. But that’s, that’s the

How It is, isn’t it?

I’m not sure how much to add to that. Okay. Good enough. So we got another Marco on he says, Hey, I’ll ask Will you guys be offering a coupon on national pasta day? Maybe lots of people will be looking forward to that, too. If we did it for potato day, we’ll probably do for pasta day as well.

That’s another reason another excuse to send an email right?

out of that gate. Can you hang on a second? Because just to go back to that, on how to define the competition, or how do you know, I use Jeffrey Smith’s method. I look at competing pages. And his it’s pretty accurate. When you look that up in Google, right? When you Google it and you look at the results, that’s usually a pretty good indication of what you’re up against. So I mean, if you don’t have it, I suggest that you go for the ultimate SEO Bootcamp, the best on-page training that there is I don’t care who says what, I agree, he rocks it. He kills it.

And I’m doing a lot of AdWords or Google Ad stuff now to a lot actually. And that’s something else that I determine what my SEO competition is not always the case. But in the local niches that I’m in, it’s, it’s pretty accurate. If my cost per click for a particular keyword is quite high, like and it changes by location to right, then I know that that keyword is probably going to be a lot more competitive SEO wise as well. And I think that’s only logical. You know, and I don’t know that that’s universal across the board for all keywords. Some see, maybe cost per click is very, very high. But the SEO isn’t so competitive, I don’t know. I’m just saying like for Tree Service stuff, which is, again, primarily almost all that I’m doing now. If I’m in an area, like for example, I’ve got some lead gen stuff going on and like Oklahoma City, for example, for Tree Service stuff and then others, and Fairfax, Virginia, Fairfax, Virginia, I might pay $35 per click for tree removal near me, but I might only pay $12 in Oklahoma City. So my point is like the keywords it doesn’t necessarily mean that the SEO is going to be you know, three times harder in Fairfax, Virginia as it would Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, it just typically means that the higher the cost per click, what I found is the more people that are bidding on those keywords are also paying for SEO. So it typically means you’re dealing with more competition and I and again, I don’t know that that’s universal across the board, but I found that to be the case for the niches that I’m in

MGYB Support Question

Okay, next is Nigel what’s up. Nigel he says hey gents, you were the best I wanted to give you money but now I’m about to be potato paid. That said I need help to get an order in so I can over-deliver for a new client just need some guidance on getting this order correct. Let me know your best route to do this. Right. Okay, so he must be this is it down here. I’ll come back to Ricky’s comment here in a moment is literally timing is perfect with a discount. Thanks, Bradley. I will also be taking you up on the calendly booking we discussed weeks back, as I have been getting real referral interest from SEO for luxury real estate niche and believe the SEO shows 100%. But I feel that I need to use this first experience to document the onboarding process and get the solid testimonials from my referral client and then have them as an ambassador, which is already working for other services. Yeah, that’s fine. I do I made that offer to you, it still stands. So whenever if you’ve got the link, if not just pm me on Facebook, and I’ll give it to you again. Whatever guidance you can give me or who to speak will help. I also will send you a quick video explaining if that’s better. And just so you know, I did contact support first to ask and they told me to reply before I asked but didn’t hit reply or hear back excuse me email could have gone to spam or deemed such please let me know. Thanks, guys. Yeah, as I said, I don’t think we’re connected on Facebook. Just reach out to my pm.

And I’ll get something scheduled with you because I know we made that offer to a few months ago. Okay. And you’ve been around for a long time. So no problem. Thanks.

Ricky says not a question. But when people ask my boss, how many does it take to do X, he would say 10 to the 12th. That basically means 10 to the 12th power, which is a trillion. He used to tell us, it doesn’t matter how many it takes, when it works, you’ll know but be prepared to do as much as it takes. The only time that question is relevant is if you don’t believe in the strategy. If you know the strategy works, it doesn’t matter how many it takes. We’ll keep doing it until it works. that’s a great way that’s a much more extended version of as many as it takes, but I like it.

It’s pretty good. We should copy that somewhere.

Alright, so Marco says like I understand a little No, none of what you’re all talking about. But I think your free content can help and that your team seems pretty cool. Okay. Thanks, Marco. Appreciate that. Next, Ricky says to be clear, we won’t mind paying for the services.

What was he asking about? The National potato day, but I don’t know what it was.

Do you want I mean, we have training on the SEO shield, the SEO, the SEO shoulder the SEO power shield. I can’t remember the name of the website, Rob put that up for free. It doesn’t get any better than that you can join heavy hitter the free section, tons of resources in there man, tons of free resources for you guys. The free SEO group this you have tons of stuff feedback.

So you can go to a heavy hitter club slash SEO shield or just go to because he set up a redirect the SEO shield calm. And I’ll just put both of these on a notepad file so you can see them on screen.

The other one would be HTTP books, that’s too many.

And it was the SEO shield.com.

Okay, so if you got either one of those specifically Marco on who was asking the question, then you can download them or opt-in or whatever for SEO shield training, which will explain to you what it is why it works and not and you know where to get it and all that kind of stuff. Okay?

So those are our methods Oh, by the way, you can also go here I still didn’t get the damn solid training done because I had another project pop up in the past week that I had to attend to. But if you go to semantic mastery comm slash process, you can learn much more about these are the training videos that I did, specifically for the semantic mastery process, which is what the SEO shield is built around, and all the different components and why we do what we do doesn’t give you the how it gives you the way if you want to how I point you in the where to find out the how you know where to purchase the training products or join our mastermind, that kind of stuff to where you can get the how, or you can just go or we point you just to go get it done. It’s mgyb so that you can spend your time building your business and generating more revenue instead of doing the execution of these processes. That makes sense

So either any of these right here will help you to get a much better understanding of what it is that we’re talking about. Okay.

All right, we’re gonna keep moving.

Unknown Speaker 48:12 The blog subdomain site, should we do the shield that the blog? Should we do the shield to that blog subdomain or to the main domain? Well, depends on both right and the Brian period, right, which when you build that you build out the brand, the subdomain is a part of the brand. That’s right. But it’s separate that you can’t separate that. You just have to do it. Right. You have to connect one to the other. It’s right to get disconnected. Does that a disconnect? Is that a separation? Yeah, the parent. It has a bit has a child, the child has a subdomain that the child has a parent is the main domain.

Right? So again, your primary URL, in this case, I would make the root domain, but you would include the blog URL and the building right

Just like you would your syndication network properties, so that that’s also being included with all of your drive stack files that are being created your G site, everything you see your blog is going to be constantly linked to and you remember from your primary route, you’re going to have a link to your blog. So you’re going to be transferring power through that anyways, to back to your blog. But just remember, you’re probably my opinion, your primary domain, your root domain should be your primary asset for the SEO shield. But you include the blog subdomain URL in the additional URLs that you’re going to submit with the order like your syndication network properties, for example. Okay. So there you go.

How Would You Deal With A Competitor That Is Using A Location He Does Not Occupy?

Aaron says arrived late and needs some advice. One of my main competitors is using a location that he does not occupy the property sold last week and he was never located there. Is there something I should or could do about this? Thanks. Yeah, just out SEO and that’s what I would say. I mean, I know there are people that will tell you that Yeah, you can report that and all that kind of stuff. I don’t do that. I just think it’s better Karma I understand even if they’re spamming and they got you to know they’re winning just outperform them and that’s just I don’t do negative SEO I don’t report shit like that I just don’t do it. It’s up to you whether you want to you certainly can go that route I just don’t like to do it because you know what goes around comes around and I would hate for somebody to do that and I’ve had it done and I don’t like it so I wouldn’t want to do it to somebody else and that’s just my opinion. And your comment no you know you know I agree I out power That’s it. That’s it. That’s what we did with this guy. The new client that I took on exactly what we did. We just blasted him out of the waterman. Now we’re after first place for the keywords. He had the knowledge panel. No longer got the knowledge panel. That’s the type of thing you do. You don’t go negative. Just hit it harder.

Yeah.

Yeah, Austin says I’m gonna have a header club. If I join the mastermind. Is there a discount for either one? Yes. As far as well. Yeah.

If you’re in both there’s a discount, right Marco.

If you join the mastermind we will give you a steep discount for as long as you’re a mastermind member if you leave the mastermind then heavy hitter goes to regular price you can only have the discounted price and heavy hitter if you’re still in the mastermind.

There you go.

Austin dawn I’ve been trying to talk you into joining the mastermind for some time because I know you’re in the real estate industry as well. So

Jason says again Hi guys, I look forward to working with you all in the mastermind group I need to order the keywords in the shielded package as soon as possible and do it Jason quarter the damn thing and yeah if you got any questions Jason the mastermind you know you get a hell of a lot more access to us there’s no doubt and as we talked about I think I talked to you on the phone last week actually. Remember to use the question form and the mastermind you’ll know where it is because it’s in the mastermind. If not just post a question, I’ll send the link to you in the mastermind. But yeah, make sure you use that too because we’ll dig, you know, do deep dives and webinars for whatever it is that you want to discuss, have us look at as you know, analyze whatever it is you want to talk about. We do that stuff in the mastermind. So look forward to working with you as well. We’re almost out of time. We got a couple more.

What Value Do You See In A Set Of Twitter/Facebook Accounts That Retweets/Share Items Via IFTTT?

Next is Hey, fellas, what sort of value do you see and I set of Twitter Facebook accounts in the geographic area of my client that are used to be IFTTT to retweet share items coming from that client and probably other area businesses, so as not to look suspicious? Yeah, I mean, it may help. I don’t know, I just don’t go through all that trouble. It may.

I mean, I think social signals from real accounts where there’s a real activity that generates traffic, so click-throughs. Back to the target URL, not just these I don’t think just the sharing. I don’t know I haven’t done any testing on this. Like specific testing, social signals in several years now, many years now, probably five years. But traffic, referral traffic from social networks is very powerful for SEO. So if you had real people engaging with those profiles or pages or whatever it is that you’re trying to set up on social accounts, where there are real people engaging with that, even if it was automated on your end, but other people were engaging with the automated content, which can happen. And then they were actually clicking through and some of the posts that were being shared to those, you know, the links that were being shared and that kind of stuff that can have an absolute effect. There’s no question. I don’t know. And I may be wrong, but I don’t know that just social signals in and of themselves produce any results anymore towards SEO at all. But real active engaged accounts that those share URLs on those accounts will get clicks from real people. And that does help because it’s referral traffic. So I don’t know Do you have any different data than that, Marco?

No, no, I don’t.

So, it depends on what you’re doing then really, I mean, if you like, here’s an example where we were talking about David Nelson’s RSS masher technology, which can build these beautiful automated auto blog type sites that will start to generate real traffic because a lot of them are like new sites and we’ve got something that you know, we’re working with some somebody that we’re going to be bringing, perhaps bringing to you guys’ attention in the coming weeks or months. We’re starting to test with it now actually, but it’s something very similar. We’re RSS mashers that could complement it. But my point is creating like these traffic-generating sites that have relative route relevant content, either by topic or by location, that can be used to drive real traffic back to, you know, our own properties or own assets that we’re trying to rank or clients or whatever. And, you know, if you have built these sites that start to generate traffic and they start pushing clicks the nose that’s very valuable. So it’s the same thing with social media accounts, if you even if you automate it in some way, shape or form, as long as people are engaging with the content that is being generated by that profile or that page or that account, whatever, then I think there’s value to it. But it’s, you know, how much trouble going through to set all that up. That’s why I typically just don’t do it. Okay, okay. All right. So here’s the thing, Google said that it doesn’t take a look at social signals. Okay.

And this is where we have to separate the bullshit from us fact.

What are they really saying?

What they’re, it could be true that they don’t pay attention to the social signal itself, or a social signal, as whatever that concept could possibly mean. What Google pays attention to is a link because guess what, everything in Google the foundational principles in Google are links. Everything is built around makes the button cannot get the variables that it needs for the algorithms unless it travels. And traveling quotes unless it goes through a link from one server to another. That’s what’s happening. So let’s look at this the way that you’re supposed to look at it. Let’s look at this, as I always tell people, scientists, and what’s actually happening. Google is sending a signal from its server to another server through a link a hyperlink into an HTML hyperlink. It’s going through an IP, whatever it’s going through, it’s going to that server, and it’s looking for something specific. It could be that it’s going to as a social media property, whatever the hell it is, that is going to, it’s been coded to pick up this I call it a signal. Let’s call it donuts. It’s been coded to pick up donuts through those links. And it’s been coded to look at Brown donuts, white donuts, jelly, doughnuts, whatever chocolate-covered doughnuts, whatever you want to call it. All right.

And if it finds those, it brings them back and tells Google Hey, I thought, it fills in on the variables, hey, I found these. Now, let’s go back instead of donuts, let’s just call it, they looked at the LinkedIn, they saw a person, click on the link, the person clicked on the link that and they went to your website went to what Google’s Following this, they went to your website, and they filled out a contact form, you think that isn’t gonna trigger any part of Google at all? Do you think that’s not gonna matter?

Call it whatever you want, call it. Fuck Google, like I always say metadata will say they call it what you want. But Google is seeing that whole client transaction from beginning to end. And you really think that doesn’t make a difference when Google sees that transaction goes take place from beginning to end.

Looking at everything looking, especially on YouTube, and in Google ads, because we know that Google pays special attention to the people that they send you. Do you really believe that these don’t matter, call it what you want this I call it a social signal. call it anything you want. We know from our testing from everything we do from everything that we’ve been covering from all of our client work from all of our businesses, guys, you got to understand that we’re not just Semantic Mastery. Marco isn’t just mathematically I have businesses, I’ve other businesses that I run. I have clients that I work with, I have so many things that I’m into, I don’t know how I have time in the day to do them all. But this is Semantic Mastery, just a small part of what I do. But everything that we show in Semantic Mastery everything that we give, you have to hang out, heavy hitter club, the free SEO group, and Facebook, every bit of information that we share has been tested because I’m not gonna risk my businesses. I am not going to risk my client’s businesses. On theory. We go we set up the theory we formally the hypothesis, we ask the question, we go out and use the scientific method. It’s very simple. And then we print back the information that we said, we know that Google is tracking that person. Why in the world would there be a pixel? Otherwise?

Sweet?

Alright, so last is not really well, I guess it is a question, Aaron’s comes back is replying to his previous comment about a competitor, not trying to be whiny. But when people are deceptive, it makes it bad for all of us if a business doesn’t have a real address, shouldn’t they be sad? Yeah, no, I agree, Aaron. And here’s the thing. If you’re talking about a storefront type of business that is using a fake address, then I would, I mean, maybe I’m wrong here. But I would think that it would get reported by a pissed off customer who went to Google Maps to try to go to the storefront business, and they go to a building that’s empty if that makes sense. So I’ve always talked about if you’re going to do spam Google Maps listings that you should only be doing surface area just type or excuse me, surface area business type of Google Maps listings, because, you know, like a contractor, plumber that goes to other people’s, you know, to people’s homes or buildings, or offices or whatever to do plumbing work, they can hide their address. So nobody’s gonna is clicking driving directions. So I don’t know, Aaron, if it’s if you’re talking about a service area type of business where customers should be going to the location, then I would expect it to be terminated rather quickly because people cussed pissed off, customers would report it, unless it’s one of those odd situations where it can be a service area business, and a local business or storefront business. And then if that’s the case, where primarily that’s a store, if it’s a service area business, then that you know, might be able to get away with it. So I don’t know again, I just still don’t do it. I still don’t report other listings. I don’t negative SEO. I just don’t do it. Again. It’s a karma thing and I just don’t want to invite that into my life even though I’ve had it happen to me in the past I’ve never felt vengeful enough to want to do it to others that’s just my opinion so again you’re entitled to yours and I’m not knocking you for saying that you want to report it fucking report it then you know that’s, that’s on you buddy. And I’m not knocking you for it. I’m just telling you I wouldn’t want to do it myself. That’s all I’m saying. any follow up comments to that Marco? Karma is a bitch call it what you will. Anything that you do can and will come back to me and look, go, and power up your shit.

That’s my recommendation you do whatever the fuck you want. I mean, you’re a grown person. I can’t tell you what to do.

But I definitely would not report shit I would just go get rid of it out the power that’s what you do. Not negative never ever. I’ve never ever done I’ve come really close.

Some piss me off that much where I was gonna blast him and make him appear for like some porn term. But then I

You take a breath and say, okay, it’s okay. It’s okay. Let’s just move on and make money. Yeah, I agree that energy can be spent making money.

So, again, they’re good questions. But yeah, no, you could encourage a pissed off customer to report them. I don’t know. All right. Thanks, guys. We’ll see you all next week.

We appreciate everybody being here. And don’t forget the potato. My rankings are your coupon code for SEO shields for 25% off. It’s only I think for the next two or three days. So take advantage of we can see you guys all right later.

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 301 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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deebormzone · 4 years

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Smashbros: The Roster That Won’t Stop Ever

I’ve actually been playing more Smash Bros. lately. I love the game so much that I can play online with no rule preference and still have a good time. Items? Fine. Teams? Okay. Final Smash Meter? Sure. Final Destination? I’m down. All of the above? Cool. As long as it’s Smash, it’s good.

Actually, once I fought a Little Mac on Final Destination who would run and grab all the items. That was pretty lame.

The only thing better than playing the game is seeing new characters get revealed!

Actually, once they developed a DLC fighter in total secrecy and it turned out to be yet another Fire Emblem character. That was pretty lame.

But almost every other time, new Smash characters are great, and that last reveal included some interesting news: they would be developing another six fighters! (It also included Cuphead, which was great too.)

I thought for sure, when they announced “more DLC fighters in production”, it would be two or three more, and Sakurai said as much during his presentation (”I thought it would be a couple more fighters”). But no, the madmen are going in hard. I guess that Smash DLC earns them a ton of money, or at least views on Youtube.

Fighters Pass 2 “will be released by Dec. 2021″, meaning we’ll get about one character every four months. That’s a bit of a wait, so to amuse myself until then, I’ll be playing the prediction game.

This time around, I’m guessing all the DLC characters, including the order of their release. This way, even if I don’t get characters I especially like, at least I can still win at guessing.

#1: Dante

I predicted Dante would be the last Fighters Pass 1 character, and now I’m doubling down. They’re going to reveal a bombshell for the first addition to Fighters Pass 2 to trick people into pre-ordering, and I think Dante has the star power they need. Also, they just put Devil May Cry on Switch. C’mon.

My preference: yeah cool

#2: Doom Slayer

This is a bit dicey because I don’t think Doom is big in Japan, but he’s an extremely historic videogames man, and he’s about to release on Switch. Sadly they will not call him Doomguy.

If they don’t add him because of all the guns and non-Japaneseness, I’d predict Dragonborn instead, but Doom Eternal on Switch means my official prediction is Doom Slayer.

My preference: pretty great if they can do him right

#3: Crash Bandicoot

This guess is a bit dishonest, since nowadays the most prominent leakers are saying Crash is up next. It would be a bit weird, having one of Sony’s few characters in Smash, but the games are on Switch and Crash would fit into the world of Smash pretty easily (only one letter difference!?). Plus, he could be the token non-swordsman.

My preference: he’s okay I guess

#4: Toxtricity

Sakurai once said they always save a slot for a new Pokemon, and now that we know they’ll add an eighth character from a series with too many characters already and then charge extra for them, it seems very likely they’ll do so again.

I think this is the Pokemon that’s getting pushed the hardest lately. I suppose they could do a lot worse than electric/poison. Apparently it plays a guitar? Stupid name, though.

My preference: nah, don’t need it

#5: Lloyd Irving

Namco made the new smash and put their biggest character in it (Pac-Man, who is great). It feels like a representative from their long-running, extremely Japanese RPG series (Tales) would make sense here.

They have a few options, but I think they’d go with Lloyd. I get the feeling his game was one of the most popular, and it was a Gamecube exclusive at first. Plus, despite being an anime swordsman, he has two swords instead of one, so his attacks could be unique multi-hit moves. If so, I hope he makes fun of the other guys for not having enough sword.

Also, he was a Mii Fighter costume in Smash 4, now strangely absent.

My preference: great- if they get his original English VA

#6: Sephiroth

As we’ve seen, Nintendo sometimes has problems making a big finish, so they might not be powerful enough to do this. They’ve also had problems getting Square to play ball with Cloud “Two Tracks, No Spirits” Strife.

However, they got Square to add Hero, and a decent amount of Hero-related content. Plus, Square’s new game, “Final Fantasy 7”, is the biggest thing they’ve got, and it will stay that way as they release all three to four parts of it over the next six years. They’re going to want to milk it as hard as possible, and Smash Bros. is a powerful tug of the udder.

Sephiroth would make waves. He’s practically the main character of FF7. It might be tricky getting him to work in Smash, but Sakurai can do it for sure. Also I want to see him do Supernova a few more times.

My preference: lots of fun, I’ll take it

Those are my six character predictions. Now, in a couple of years, I can see how well I did in this extremely long, pointless guessing game.

And here’s a bonus round: Just for fun, I came up with “Fighters Pass 2 If I Got To Personally Pick Everyone In It.” It would look like this:

Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney)

Scorpion (Mortal Kombat)

The Knight (Hollow Knight)

Doopliss (Paper Mario)

The Prince (Katamari Damacy)

Chrono (Chrono Trigger)

Honestly, whoever gets added, I still trust the Smash Bros. crew to release a good Fighters Pass 2. The first one was very good, with four good characters out of five, and the second one has one extra character and a significantly smaller chance of Fire Emblem, so it should be a straight upgrade.

Just remember not to pre-order until we know at least the first character.

#smash ultimate #super smash bros #smash predictions #two years of this hell #I woke up early for that god damned fire emblem direct #I mean I'm over it I swear

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shinneth · 5 years

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Well in that case, let’s have 10-15 as well! It’s hard picking stuff that’s not already been revealed, you’ve done a hell of a job building the GA universe.

Hahaha, very good point! I have exploited the hell out of them. And I anticipate future exploitation will follow! And thankfully, these questions are much, much trickier to answer. So between this and the wrestling-watching commitments, this took me more than a day to compile~! But that’s a good thing since it was ultimately thought-provoking and I may or may not have stumbled upon a concept or two to utilize somewhere down the line.

10. What two songs, two books, and two luxury items do they take to a desert island?

(my literal-minded self is assuming this is one item each; it’s also the crueler of the two interpretations, which is fitting)

At first I thought I’d have to force my mindset away from GAverse since this kind of set-up wouldn’t naturally happen unless Steven and Peridot really wanted to challenge themselves... then the movie happened and now there’s actually a very convenient way this could happen without GA Peridot trivializing this!

(of course, I’m uncultured trash, so the music and books make this the most challenging bit...)

Peridot is bringing her goddamn tablet, of course. Even without wifi, she can at least continue logging events the old-fashioned way... and this is one damn scenario where a daily log would be useful. At least until the battery runs out on that. Though I wouldn’t put it past Peridot to find a way to create a stable power source for that sucker. Making a lifeline for her tech would be Peridot’s #1 priority that isn’t related to keeping Steven safe and sound. :P She could also manipulate the metal in it to access hard-to-reach resources, if at a limited capacity.

I see Steven bringing an instrument, namely that damned ukulele. Simple mind, simple needs, and of course he’ll just see this scenario as an opportunity to actually teach Peridot some proper music lessons.

Music and books are where it really gets tricky. For books, Peridot’s getting something practical. So of course she’ll bring Lord of the Flies and claim that’s her guidebook to survival on a desert island. Steven is more for sentiment and bring that Sailor Moon manga we’ve seen him keep around in his room. Sailor Moon (the manga especially) is full of romance, so that suits his priorities perfectly, lol.

Similar case can be said for music: Steven will opt for a nice, mood-setting romantic song while Peridot brings the most loudest and obnoxious music known to her. Because logically, music like that stands the greatest chance in drawing outside attention so they’ll be rescued!

Peridot might be more lax about the ordeal if there’s steady food and water for Steven to survive off of; otherwise I see her largely panicking about being stranded in an environment where resources Steven needs to live on are finite.

(I’ll admit, I got the idea of Peridot and Steven doing a duet of this song (which I bet would sound way better with their VAs) while in this situation...)

11. What do they hide from one another?

Now it’s GA Steven’s turn to trivialize the scenario! It’s officially nigh-on impossible for Peridot to hide one goddamned thing from Steven from GA3 onward... not that Peridot was ever that good at hiding shit from Steven to begin with.

In fact, a certain Post-GA story proved the only things Peridot truly can hide from Steven are secrets even she isn’t aware of, such as how exactly she first met Jasper and Lapis. The only reason Peridot was good at keeping that hidden from Steven was due to it being so traumatic that she made herself forget it in order to live with herself and move forward. So really, memories like that are the only things GA Peridot can hide from Steven at this point. There might still be a repressed memory or two, but overall she’s nearly out of stuff she could realistically withhold.

Outside GA, I feel like Homeworld has always been far more awful than it’s been made out to be, and Peridot would be the one who best knows just how awful life there can be. So if she’s hiding anything from Steven and has any prayer of keeping it that way long-term, it’s going to be the hell she used to have in her former life, or possibly the things she had to do to survive in said life. Of course she’ll still go out of her way to hide her insecurities and inferiority complex from Steven, but it’s practically a guarantee she won’t be able to keep that hidden for long.

Steven... is only slightly better about this. The fact that both suck at lying and maintaining a poker face, as brought up last time, really shoots him in the foot here. So I think I can answer for GA and regular headcanon in one go with him: anything related to Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz that Peridot hasn’t already learned about is probably gonna be stuff Steven keeps to himself about. He values Peridot so much as one of the only gems that has virtually no bias one way or the other about his mom, so the last thing Steven wants to do is fill Peridot’s head with the same “propaganda”, so to speak, that he and the rest of his friends have had drilled in their own heads for most of their lives.

Additionally more for GA, I think Steven possibly has more commentary about Peridot’s past life that he hasn’t already shared with her... but he’s going out of his way not to dredge up those old times. Especially when the Homeworld refugees will already be doing that for him on a daily basis (which logically would be why Steven would still be thinking about those times at all). After all the dirty laundry Steven has aired out in Peridot’s presence, I think he’d be keen on keeping anything still unsaid about their pasts/origins/heritage to himself solely for his girlfriend’s benefit. After all, Peridot being a uniquely fucked-up gem is still a pretty new concept that she’s still trying to adjust to. So Spinel’s gonna be a fun little addition to their lives in more ways than one!

12. What first changes when it starts getting serious?

Hm, tricky to answer for GA, since it feels like they’re already at the “serious” phase of the relationship in these Post-GA stories. Realistically, though, Steven and Peridot are gonna have their hands full being the Era 3 centerpieces and have very limited time for dating or other romantic shenanigans.

Plus, the workload stressed these two out to the point that within 3 or 4 months in, they already tried going all the way despite both of them knowing they were being morons for resorting to that this soon. And consequently, as my most recent story confirms, they fucked up not only their first time, but also their reputation among their circle of friends... which consequently gave the two even less time to be together.

Taking that into consideration, it’s probably safe to say Steven and Peridot won’t even have the time to officially keep their relationship a steady one until Era 3 stabilizes. That said, by the following year when Steven turns 17, they should officially be in the “serious” phase considering they’ll be ready to really go all the way. And the first change made when it gets serious is either going to be a demand to the Crystal Gems to give them daily private time - or even better - Steven and Peridot get their own shared bedroom. I actually like that one more.

Otherwise, GAverse aside, I think the change that signifies Steven and Peridot getting serious... hmm. I kinda like the concept that they independently get the idea to propose taking their relationship to the next level and surprise each other when they unknowingly spring that announcement at the same time, having made each other a trinket of some kind for each other to mark the occasion. Then like dorks, they’ll announce this to the rest of the Crystal Gems and they’ll be like “uh yeah we saw this coming a mile away, dumbasses, congrats”.

I also like the idea of Peridot being more self-conscious of her appearance when the relationship becomes more serious, which makes her a little obsessive and experimental with things like outfits, accessories... and god forbid, make-up. Of course, Steven won’t care about any of that... but that won’t make Peridot any less determined to look the part of a serious girlfriend!

13. When do they realize they should get together?

Definitely already a done deal in the GAverse as of Act III, Chapter 5. Had events played out differently, they would’ve officially been an item since the end of Act I. However, Steven coming back for Peridot even after she had given up hope of ever being rescued and being the one to fix her mind after White Diamond fucked it up royally - not to mention accepting her identity as Chartreuse, not giving a damn that she’s an abomination of scientific fuckery, or even that Peridot betrayed her friends (largely against her will, granted) - that makes for a more poignant moment when Steven tells Peridot that even after all the fuck-ups she’s made in Act III, that he still considers them boyfriend-girlfriend, and so should she.

So, thinking out of the box is trickier since we still have only a bare-bones grasp of what all’s happened in the time gap between seasons. Honestly, the most logical time for them to realize they should hook up should’ve been when Connie shunned Steven while Lapis abandoned Peridot. At the very least, any episode post-Raising the Barn should’ve been a golden opportunity for Steven and Peridot to realize how much they really love each other.

And since the movie was annoyingly heavy-handed with the Connvese teases with virtually no Stevidot interaction while season 6 as a whole is a still giant ? ... then it’s a matter of blindly grasping at straws to think when else they should hook up. We know they’re due for a bonding moment at some point in season 6, though. Hopefully it’s not about Lapis, but if it isn’t, I suspect it might have involve fusion... and I still like the headcanon of Peridot only being able to fuse with Steven due to being an Era 2. Not just an Era 2, but a type of gem that logically should never have a reason to fuse since peridots are not meant to fight. Their limb enhancers give them a means for self-defense, but that’s it. But some exclusivity with the fusion - plus Steven being the one to reassure Peridot that she’s not inadequate as a teammate (I imagine even in 2 years, she’s likely to be the weakest Crystal Gem).

14. When one has a cold, what does the other do?

Welp! I guess for gems I’ll have to think of some kind of equivalent (I guess chipped/cracked/destabilized/corrupted... ooooor what’s expected of Peridot to deal with once she’s got buns in her oven?), but for Steven having the cold...

Well, whether it’s GA Peridot or Not-GA Peridot, they’ll behave similarly but one will have a much wider range of capabilities than the other. Not that this really means much for GA Peri in this field, since she has no real comprehension of what a human illness is like and therefore can’t just will Steven’s illness away. In both cases, Peridot would first seek help from the likes of Pearl, Greg, or Connie. If Peridot’s left to deal with this solely on her own, however, she’ll probably give Steven a thorough interview of every single little symptom he has, then use Google-Fu to get instructions that she’ll follow to the goddamn letter.

Hopefully she doesn’t come across an instruction worded in a way that she’ll interpret it in some other way entirely because she doesn’t understand the phrasing, because that could lead to chaos easily.

In the meantime, she’d ask Steven like every other minute if he needs something unless he’s asleep. And since Peridot has no innate understanding of this phenomenon, she’ll relentlessly study Steven’s mannerisms, symptoms, and actions until she feels she’s achieved enlightenment. That, or Steven gets annoyed and tells her to cut it out... though she may argue she’s constantly staring at Steven like a creeper for educational purposes.

She won’t leave his side regardless, though, and since she’s not at risk of catching his cold, Peridot’s of course going to snuggle with him all the same and volunteer to be his supplementary cushioning.

If Peridot is ailing... depending on what it is, Steven will similarly ask Pearl and probably Garnet before doing anything on his own if they’re available to him. Google’s not gonna give him the info he needs, of course, so Steven’s got a bit of a tougher job in keeping Peri healthy. Then again, Steven’s a motherfucking healing saint, so whether he’s GAverse or not, Steven could easily trivialize this since he’s basically the show’s white mage. GA Steven will have the advantage of being able to read exactly how Peridot is feeling, so he won’t need to interrogate her to figure out the source of her pain/discomfort/illness.

Of course, neither Steven would just observe her like a weirdo (like his girlfriend would, basically); he’d be right there for hugs and cuddles and wouldn’t dare leave Peridot’s side unless he really needs to use the bathroom. But even then he’d feel so guilty leaving her alone for even a second, so he’d rush it.

Steven might even be corny enough to try chicken soup on Peridot. And of course if there’s buns in the oven, Steven will treat Preggerdot like absolute fucking royalty.

Bonus: Accurate video representation of how Steven and Peridot will interact when she’s in labor

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15. When they watch a film what do they choose and why? Who gets the final vote?

Something with good physical comedy; that way Peridot is more likely to get some entertainment out of it on a first viewing without having to ask Steven what the joke is while he explains it.

For some reason, I was thinking Liar Liar.

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Since Peridot and Steven are so painfully transparent when they try to lie, they’ll feel much better about themselves watching something like this!

As for final vote, I think Steven would be the gentleman and let Peridot have the final vote. Peridot would likely think at least on some occasions that the final vote should go to Steven since he knows movies in general way better than she does (and therefore would have better overall judgment in what to pick), but Steven would just insist that he’s letting Peridot choose because since he trusts her instincts, she should, too.

There’s always a coin toss if they end up in a stalemate. :P And this would apply both for regular canon and GAverse.

Much more challenging round this time! Love it! I’ll always invite more questions, though at this point I may need to find some more memes to reblog, fff... here’s the meme if anyone still wants to snag questions from it and ask me from here!

Feel free to pass this headcanon BS to your fellow Stevidot peoples! There’s no such thing as too much content for this blessed ship.

#steven universe #peridot #su peridot #stevidot #gem ascension #answered asks #nice anons #shipping #ship meme

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heartfeltheart · 4 years

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Alchemy: Tiny Steps

Chapters: 14/45 Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist/Harry Potter Rating: T Relationships: Edward/Winry, Lan Fan/Ling, and May/Alphonse. Primary Characters: Edward Elric, Severus Snape Additional Tags: Crossover, Teacher!Edward, BrOtp Edward/Severus. Sassy beyond measure. Pro!Snape Series: Part 2 of 9. Summary: Part two of the Alchemy Series. Politics. Either you love it, hate it or you live it. For Alchemy Teacher Edward Elric, he lives it, hates it and loves it when he gets the upper hand. Here is to another year of hell… D/C: I do not own Harry Potter or Fullmetal Alchemist. Discord: La Red(Mesh Mash of… stuff.): https://discord.gg/KYjmVAb Alchemy Series: https://discord.gg/DejEYNJ

Clang.

Clank.

Clunk!

"Too slow."

"Not enough strength."

"To much power."

"Almost there."

Susan Bones panted heavily as she faced off against the indomitable Major General Olivier Armstrong, sword in hand. Five minutes haven't even passed, she already is out of breath and any moment the young girl looks like she is about to keel over. This is the most fun she had in the longest time. None of her previous teachers had ever gone against her in such manner and gave her helpful criticism.

Here's to hoping Susan can still feel her arms by the end of the practice.

Sitting in the corner of the training room is Susan's aunt and guardian, Madam Amelia Bones. She quietly poured herself a cup of tea, non-magically. Something about not wanting to dilute her tea with magic. She also poured another cup of hot tea for Major Miles, whom is sitting on the other side of the small table that sat in between them. They were invited to watch the practice and it amuses them both for different reasons. Bones for reminiscing on how much Susan reminds her so much of her late brother, even down to her footwork. For Miles, the only time the Major General had ever been around children is her own and that's all. It's a refreshing sight.

With one last, clank, Armstrong easily pushed young Susan down to the ground before she put away her sword. She looked down at the young girl with a stern expression, Susan looked heavily bruised, breathing harshly and one of the biggest smiles she'd seen. "Again!"

-.-

"So much…fear. So much… chaos." Edward chanted out into the empty room, his eyes blank and body nearly lifeless. Sitting at the other side of the room is Roy, who is just as traumatized, mumbling to himself quietly. It's only been three days since the last meeting with the Ministry Officials, and many of them are still healing from their wounds. It was agreed that all meetings will be postponed until the last week of August or until the official nomination of Minister is announced.

"I am rethinking if my plans of leading Amestris." Roy stated in a blank voice, he twisted his head just enough to looked over at Edward.

Edward snorted, his previous trance all gone. He now causally sat in the chair and faced Roy with a placid expression. "Now, now. Don't quit while you are already ahead, Mustang. The Major General took care of majority of the work. We just have to finish it…"

"Here's to hoping she doesn't kill us before we can finish whatever we are doing in the first place." Roy deadpanned.

Edward paused for a moment and promptly shivered out of fright. Oh yes… everything will be for not if he gets killed. "At least she took out our main opponent and caused this place to rethink their opinion about us."

"Ah… yes… Opinion." A new voice chimed in tiredly.

Edward and Roy turned to see Alphonse walking into the room looking completely worn out. He had dark circles around his eyes, hair disheveled and looking like he is about to fall over at any moment. In Alphonse's hands is a clipboard that is overflowing with papers, letters and other random items. "Everyone that Major General Armstrong confronted against in the meeting are at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Fudge just experienced a third mental breakdown, Umbridge is dealing with a broken skull, fractured femur and a couple of torn up ribs, and everyone else have similar outcomes as them."

"What about that reporter?"

"Er…" Alphonse looked through the documents and pulled out a rather thick envelope. "Both wrist broken and dealing with hair loss. Ms. Skeeter is planning on taking us on in court."

"…Can she do that?" Roy asked with an eyebrow raised.

"We'll… unfortunately for her, Madam Bones allowed what occurred in that room to slide under the table due to an old law. Plus, Skeeter wasn't even allowed in the meeting that day and was only permitted under Fudge's watch. She was his responsibility." Alphonse read the letter tiredly. "Bad news, she might continue to slander our names."

"Does she really want to risk the anger of the Ice Queen herself?" Edward deadpanned.

"Well… when she was saying all of this, apparently she was still under the weather. It's up to interpretation at this point."

"...I wonder what's Winry is doing right now?"

-.-

'Think of the honeymoon. Think of the honeymoon.' Winry thought repeatedly in her mind as she fought of another shiver. Half a year at Briggs and that dream vacation is hers…Hers and Edwards. Yeah…theirs…

-.-

Severus peeked his head through the doorway he knew Edward is currently located at. He is carrying a bottle of finely ages firewhiskey and a couple of glasses. Hopefully he'll manage to pry some information from him and break him from his trance. By the looks of it, Edward had snapped out of his comatose like state. Edward sat in a front of the fireplace with his rough draft of his book. "Edward?"

"Hm?" Edward hummed out, his attention still on his book. "Vat?"

"Care of a drink?"

"It petter pe fireviskey." Edward stated, his accent back in full blast. His eyes narrowed on the bottle Severus is waving around in front of himself. "Kood. I'm in need of it."

Severus snorted, he handed Edward a glass before he sat down in a chair next to the Golden Blonde. "That bad?"

"I haffe zeen many zings in mein life. Zeeing zee Ice Gueen in aczion once more, prings pack mein nightmares." Edward flinched at the first memory of meeting the eldest child of the Armstrong Family. He extended his arm out with the glass in hand for Severus to sever him his drink. "I vould face off mein demons any day zan to effer face her head on."

"What did she do?"

"Sche uzed her svord... zen uzed ein ben... after preaking zee ben... sche schtarded kicking... Oh truth..." Edward gulped down his drink in one gulp, he shook his head at feeling the drink prickle his throat as it went down. "Zen... it vas offer. Zey vere all fordunate sche did not kill any of zem."

"You make it sound like you expected death?"

"Ja." Edward answered with a snort. "Hoveffer... from vat I haffe peen told, killing vould rezort to haffing zomeone takeoffer her Briggs Bears."

Edward extended his arm out again, signaling for Severus to refill his glass. Severus rolled his eyes as he filled the Alchemy Teacher's glass once more. At least he got some information on what occurred in that meeting room. Major General Armstrong was insulted, she took personal action and the end result are many taken to get medical attention. Nothing new. Nothing old. "I am surprised none of you were ordered to leave the country or have your minds obliterated."

"...Madam Bones found ein old law..."

"…Of course, she did."

-.-

"Are we going to allow them stay here?"

"I don't know. They should be kicked out! Their minds completely gone."

"Now, now. Let's be rational here. We have to look at it at both sides here. The woman was insulted and acted as such. Perhaps this is normal for them in their country."

"Ugh… that's rather savage."

"From what I've heard, that Armstrong woman wanted to duel them but they declined. Apparently, there's an old rule about this somewhere. By law, none of them did anything wrong."

"…Thinking about it… I think I've read about that law. It had to do when previously no one could come up with an agreement and well… there was a reason bodyguard were allowed now to be in certain meetings."

"What good did for Fudge and everyone else in his entourage."

"…I still say they all should stay. When are we ever going to get someone to teach Alchemy to our children? My son was one of the few that visited Amestris, what he saw over there… Alchemy surpasses Magic in many ways. Did you know Alchemy is highly known over there?"

"What?"

"How!?"

"Public knowledge?"

"Yes. Same goes for Xing. From what he told me, both Alchemy and Magic are similar yet vastly different."

"How are they different?"

"Dunno. All he talks about now is how much he needs to study to continue taking the class."

#Alchemy Series #Tiny Steps #FMA #FMAB #HP #HP/FMA #HP/FMAB #Crossover #AU #Fanfic

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sol1056 · 6 years

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three anons: what the hell was all that in S7

Picking out the three that are most to the point for this answer, but I’ve got another dozen or so that overlap. Not sure I’ll have time/energy to answer the rest individually, so hopefully this meta will be sufficient.

I mean it could be that they had different execs back then who were better at their jobs and kept Shiro around. No one disliked black paladin Shiro, even the DotU fans were ok with it, and the writing in s1-2 was mostly very good. Changing all that was a bad idea. I would have left on the spot if Shiro died or was benched, like now, I'm only around for closure. Maybe they were different execs with this decision & the EPs leaped at the chance. Well, we know who's also gonna be in trouble if that's the case.

With your theory on how storyboards were reused and characters shuffled around for cost cutting, might this not also partly explain the Adam flashback scene and how it was staged? I mean, they were originally supposed to be roommates and the scene was meant to appear in season 2 but got cut. What if they just reused the storyboard (or even animation, if it was already mostly done) the way it was and then just changed the dialogue? This could explain the lack of intimacy in the staging, too. Ezor and Zethrids interactions were more openly intimate maybe not (just) because they‘re villains who die immediately after, but because the decision to make them an item came before storyboarding was done, so the staging is more suggestive. I mean, if you think Shiro was mostly pasted in in the first half of s7, that might make sense.

If cost was the issue and they already had the black paladin Shiro version written, and got the greenlight to change it to Keith then things don't add up. Because they changed it once more! Which could have been avoided if they stuck to the Shiro one. And it goes without saying it would be better written to follow canon instead of the mess we got, like, I cant imagine this NOT discussed. So if it wouldn't be cost effective to change it again for Keith and it would be badly written, why did it happen?

Behind the cut: the most likely chronology of revisions, the clues in S7 as to its original form, and what this means for S8 and the Black Paladin position.

This is everything I’ve been able to figure out between interviews, podcasts, tweets, plus researching the industry and a few reality-checks with friends more familiar. As always, any mistakes are my own.

version 0: "five teenagers"

This would’ve been the first pitch after getting the green light, and probably only a loose synopsis, with just the pilot given a rough storyboard. A post-apocalyptic Earth conquered by the Galra, who are seeking Blue. The execs rejected JDS' mechanism for the discovery of Blue, in favor of simply having Keith ‘sense’ Blue. The execs also rejected the idea that Shiro would die only a few episodes in. This summary seems to be the basis of the "five teenagers" part of the teaser.

version A: "shiro kicks the bucket"

Timelines would've dictated moving onto an outline pretty quickly, detailed down to the episode level, including bits of dialogue, motifs, turning points or emotional beats. In this revision, Shiro dies/leaves at the end of S2 and does not return. This is the “originally we wanted him to kick the bucket” version, which the execs rejected.

version B: "shiro goes away for awhile"

If I'm interpreting the hints correctly, the "does Shiro die or not" question got tossed back and forth all the way into S1/S2 pre-production. Rather than rearrange everything, the easiest fix would've been to leave most of the story intact and write only a new ending where Shiro returns. The execs reject this rewrite, saying Shiro can’t be gone that long. This is the “we tried to just have him gone for awhile, but the execs said he had to come back sooner” version.

version C: "enter the clone"

Again, easiest fix is to insert Shiro/Kuron, remove Keith, and reverse that just before Shiro's return in version B. This impacts only the middle seasons (S3-S6); the clone compromise satisfies the execs. Kuron's characterization makes a lot more sense if it’s Keith, in visuals (ie Kuron leaning against the wall in Keith fashion), dialogue (fighting with Lance), and action (leaving without consulting the team). It's also why no one mentions Keith's absence. Because in the original version A, Keith was standing right there.

version D: "wtf is going on", aka Season 7

When JDS mentions having a full season written with Shiro as Black Paladin, it didn't make sense how they'd have a script and not use it. With @ptw30's visual detective work, I think I may've figured it out.

Technical notes: first scripts are all written for a season, then voices are recorded, and then the combined script+recording is used to storyboard. Production seasons are 26-episodes, independent of actual broadcast seasons; VA may be recording scenes across two 13-episode seasons completely out of order, since the recording schedule's going to be based on who's available, not chronology of the file numbers. The biggest staff changes are usually in April ('staffing season') when new shows get the greenlight and start sharking around to catch writers, designers, directors, etc.

In March of this year, S5 was released. At least some of the storyboarders were released in time for staffing season; in April, Hedrick moves to a new project. With S7/S8 being unchanged since version B, I suspect Hedrick delivered the scripts for S7 and S8 by winter of last year, at latest. Even that would be tight, since that's expecting animation to deliver 26 episodes in an 8-month timeframe. [edit: probably delivered much earlier, given the studio leaks show images we can recognize from S7/S8, so some amount of these seasons were in production by then.]

In June, S6 dropped, and a week later, Hamilton was announced as the new story editor via the Lets Voltron podcast. With the lead time required in production, there doesn't seem to be any reason to even need a story editor, at this point. All the pre-production work should be done.

In August, S7 dropped. Hedrick's editor credit is only for the first half of the season; Hamilton gets it for the second half. That means the last six episodes were written after Hedrick's departure. (May Chan's S2 script was reused in part, and she gains a belated co-writing script credit for that. Hedrick should've received the same; it's standard.)

Let's recap a few things we know (and a few we can intuit) about S7:

The season was already written with Shiro returning as Black Paladin, possibly also recorded and storyboarded.

S6 reversed the S4-S5 trend, lending strength to exec arguments that Shiro is necessary in the story.

After S6 dropped, the EPs said the wolf's name was a spoiler. See this post from @pwt30; tl;dr is that perhaps the EPs intended the wolf to be Shiro's spirit.

Despite Shiro's return, he's absent for the majority of the first half; when he is present, he barely speaks a half-dozen words, and none are plot-relevant. See @ptw30's post for more details.

There's a glaring incontinuity when Allura says the paladin armor protected the team, yet Shiro is frozen with the other non-paladins despite wearing armor.

Keith never offers for Shiro to pilot, nor mentions it, nor even seems to consider it an issue.

Not everything dovetails since I don't have the full picture, but here's my theory: S7 was originally outlined with Shiro's spirit in the wolf, rather than Black. I have no idea when/how JDS would've thought up the CA:WS parallels for his sole writing credit, but Shiro's "I died" and Lotor's psychotic breakdown are squeezed into S6E6, which was written by Josh Hamilton, Hedrick's later replacement. The only other Shiro-in-Black point is a few minutes at the end of S6's final episode. Shifting from Shiro-in-wolf to Shiro-in-Black really only affects one episode, with a bit of editing for another.

Anyway, S6 ends version C, and we segue to version B. For the first half of S7, the clone's body may have been in stasis while the team traveled through its various non-adventures. The episode we now know as S7E1 may have been the mid-point, with about six episodes of Shiro being unconcious. After watching the numbers drop from S3 to S6, the execs may've rejected another six episodes of where-is-Shiro and insisted he come back ASAP.

S7 only has two episodes that must be in order; the rest are pretty rearrangeable. All they had to do was insert Shiro into the background and record a few lines. (Several lines are pure voice-over, which also saves cost/time by not needing to animate moving mouth.) But the moved episode is only his memory/awakening, and the logical next episode would be Shiro's reconnection, and the rest of the season would roll from there. Without moving the entire second half of the season to the start, moving only his awakening episode would mean Shiro does nothing for 5-6 episodes and then abruptly reconnects.

In a recent interview, JDS said at first the execs weren't enthused until JDS talked up the new mecha they'd give Shiro to captain. Honestly, there's no way JDS got to be EP without giving a really good pitch, but there may've been another element to his argument: nostalgia. The EPs seem certain everyone suffers from their same nostalgia dementia, which if you do, then you probably have been waiting for any glimpse of that og!Keith. If Shiro returns at the start of S7, then Keith's time in Black has been limited to a few disastrous episodes in S3, and a single big battle in S6. The beginning of S7 is the only time we'd ever see the Voltron84 formation working as a unified team, and returning Shiro too soon would defeat the whole purpose of showing how the team has grown in his absence.

The solution seems to have been to remove Shiro's reconnection completely, and keep Keith in Black. That would mean re-recording Shiro's lines from the midpoint onward, and editing in Keith over Shiro. The savings would be that only half the seaon would have to be reworked, not all. The loose end of the space wolf --- an artifact of version B --- was left in place.

What I'm not sure of is whether the following are significant enough changes to warrant removing Hedrick's name and replacing it with Hamilton's. It could be, if supervising the revision process is enough to override the previous credits. I have no idea about that part of the industry, and it's the kind of edge case you're just not going to find a lot of blog posts about, so if you know, tell me. Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine.

Anyway, this would've meant Shiro was switched in for Allura, Allura was put back in a lion, and Keith was switched in for Shiro. This would explain why Shiro speaks as the leader of Voltron despite no longer being a paladin, and the uneasy sensations a lot of people got about the characterizations. It was most striking in the last three episodes: Shiro felt like Allura v2, while Keith felt like Shiro v2. And that further, the Altean-Earthian ship just 'lighting up' for Shiro --- and becoming that oversized white mecha --- may've meant as Allura's fourth (fifth?) deus ex machina.

I'd be willing to bet that mid-battle, Allura repeated her stunt from the end of S2, heading out to destroy Sendak's crystal by herself. She wouldn't need Sam to hack her brain, and then we'd also have a call back to when she got knocked down by the crystal-ball thing on Naxzela. If she was the one meant to go toe-to-toe with Sendak, that would explain the bizarre neutrality of Sendak's words --- he says nothing personal to Shiro, at all --- and the even more bizarre silence on Shiro's part. Allura's words wouldn't fit Shiro, so he's silent.

And lastly, it'd mean that the one leaping out of Black to cut down Sendak wouldn't have been Keith. It would've been Shiro.

Where would the story go from here?

If I look at the events of S7, the first half is terribly disjointed, really. If Shiro was supposed to wake at the midpoint, an episode (or two) is missing. One for him to reconnect with Black, and a second that would provide some minor conflict to settle him back into position. Those two episodes were likely replaced with the unexpected and frankly over-told two-parter of the Earth flashbacks.

Two problems with that, one technical, one structural.

First, the flashback two-parter has a lot of moving parts. Brand-new designs, characters, and backdrops. It's far too elaborate to be done in an ultra-compressed timeframe, not without several heart attacks and therapy bills on the part of the animation staff. (Plus, the US-based storyboarding team is already downsized, so fewer hands to do the work.)

Second, it doesn't make a lot of structural sense, especially against the big revelations in S6 of an existing Altean colony. Within the story, there's no reason to halt everything and travel across the universe to take however long to build a new castle, when the Altean colony question is far more pressing. Returning to earth also violates the structure, because it's really just a standard milieu: start on earth, head out to have adventures, and return home at the end.

But here, they're returning home and then possibly leaving again. That's just... a rather peculiar and imbalanced way to do it. It doesn't help that doing so means literally telling Romelle her people are just gonna have to rot, the paladins are certain they need the castle more. Why would you take one of the more compelling storylines you've come up with, only to background it again, and wreck the traditional bookending milieu structure at the same time? Especially if that means coming up with major set-pieces and brand-new designs in the space of several months, after a chunk of your core staff are already onto other things.

I think those two flashback episodes -- and the rewritten finale episodes --- may've been cribbed from S8. In other words, the second half of S7 was the original end of S8. That would mean repurposing already-created storyboards and animation artifacts, so there's a huge time savings there (not counting the need to re-record voices and edit the visuals to match the changed-around parts).

[note: if there’s anywhere you want to frontload introductions for the spin-off, it’d be in the final season, not the penultimate season. Here it feels like a big honking distraction, rather than an organic segue into the next iteration.]

That change necessitated that utterly bizarro mecha that appeared out of nowhere with the most ridiculously impeccable timing. There needed to be a reason to pull the team back out to space to deal with Haggar and/or the alt-Alteans and/or Lotor or whomever else it turns out to be.

So... where we go from here depends on when S8 gets released, because that’ll tell us how much they did (or did not) edit the episodes. Another clue will be whose name gets listed as head editor for an episode; if we see Hedrick’s name reappear at the top, we’ll know we’re dealing with episodes that are enough unrevised to qualify as being Hedrick-edited, that it’s a version B episode.

My expectation? They’ll move Shiro’s reconnection to the first part of S8, and add an episode or edit pieces of another, to blend it into what would’ve been the first half of S8 (probably with filler to mask the gap). Then add an episode to segue into the version B finale of S7, where we’d end with the original VLD lineup. With the time needed for animation, that’d be the easiest (if potentially awkward) way to repurpose as much as possible of existing artifacts.

If we don’t get S8 in the next 1-2 months, though, all bets are off, and there’s a much greater possibility that the entire final season is being redone from scratch. I’d expect Keith to stay in Black, in that case, but I’m always willing to be pleasantly surprised.

edited to add: see this followup for another detail that supports the reversed-seasons theory

#vld #voltron #analysis #story structure #television production #come for the sugar stay for the salt #sol thinks about stuff

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thisunofyork · 5 years

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If All Do Their Duty

This is the first chapter for my current manuscript. I hope you like it!

That England that was wont to conquer others,

Hath made a shameful conquest of itself

Chapter 1

The radio paused for a second, letting out just the slightest hint of static before a voice brought it to life.

“This is the BBC,” the radio announcer’s voice said in a stiff, English accent. “Today, terrorist leader and traitor Clement Attlee was hung in London for crimes against Britain and our allies.” Arthur frowned and looked up from the book, Idylls of the King, he’d been resting next to the register. This was a surprise, they hadn’t broadcasted a hanging in weeks. He didn’t know who this Clement Attlee man was—or had been, as the case may be, but he must have been important enough if Joyce and the BBC were broadcasting it. The radio droned on and Arthur’s eyes returned to the book he was leaning over. “On the continent, His Royal Highness and regent, the Duke of Windsor, arrived in Hungary to attend the coronation of their new king, His Apostolic Majesty Franz Joseph II. In the east, our allies continue to see gains. Marshal Von Brauchitsch assures us that—“

“Arthur, Arthur turn that off and come help me,” his father’s voice called out from the back. Arthur let out a disappointed sigh and closed the book. Before he made his way back he flipped the placard in the door from Open to Closed and turned the nob on the little radio. It would just be for a moment. “Come on Arthur, where are you?”

His father was starting to sound angry. Arthur hurried past meticulously organized shelves and through the back door. Once, the storeroom had been cramped with boxes of goods ready for the store. But now, with rationing even more intense then it was before, the backroom was almost empty. Only a few boxes were stacked in the corner despite the abundance of room. His father kept the backroom clean, ready for the day when it would be full again. Whenever that would be.

He found his father at the back door, his arms occupied by a carton of milk jugs.

“Take this, there’s more,” his father grunted. Frank Moore was a big man with a wide set face, dark eyes and a head that seemed to lose hair everyday. A far cry from the picture of him from 1918 that sat on their mantle piece. Even in that aging photograph, Arthur could always see the proud look on his father’s younger face and the Military Cross pinned to the breast of his uniform. His older brother Edmund had gotten his father’s size and muscle, while Arthur looked the image of his mother and sister; lean and sinewy, with grey eyes and an uncontrollable mop of dark hair.

His mother complained about how often she had to cut his hair and often threatened to shave his head and sell the hair to a wig maker. His father on the other hand, insisted that the Army would fix what he called Arthur’s unruly mopamong other things.

But with the way things were going, there was no chance of that happening anytime soon.

He grabbed the carton from his father’s arms and let out a groan as he felt the full weight. His father turned and grabbed another carton from the flatbed trolley.

“Who are these from?” Arthur asked, inspecting the bottles. They used to get milk from a farm up in Yorkshire until it had been turned into an airfield. His father handed him another carton.

“Mr. Keyes stopped by with these to repay us for your mother helping with their clothes,” his father explained, hefting a third and final carton onto the table. His mother was a talented seamstress and used to sell clothes to old Mr. Meyer for his store. But Mr. Meyer’s clothing store had been shut down and he’d disappeared over a year ago.

“Mum didn’t want them?” Arthur asked. It was a fair question, times were tight in Britain these days and they didn’t have the business they used to. His father scrunched his nose.

“The Keyes make awful milk,” his father revealed. “The army took most of their good cattle and they’re left with the shoddy ones.”

“And we’re going to sell it?” Arthur continued. His father that annoyed look he got whenever he and Arthur spoke more than a few words to each other.

“Times are tough and people want milk, even if it tastes a little off,” he replied with a shrug. Arthur stood there awkwardly while his father counted up the bottles and added them to the store’s inventory. The closest his father came to academics was maths, he was always careful with his inventory, especially with the war on. Arthur started to hear voices coming from the front of the store. I turned the radio off he thought. Right? But then the voices grew louder and he realized that he had forgotten to lock the front door. His father’s head shot up instantly and he wheeled on Arthur.

“You locked the door, right?” he asked with a serious look. Arthur felt the color drain from his face and he slowly shook his head. His father grimaced and strode past him, just barely knocking into his youngest son and into the storefront. Arthur turned and did his best to follow his father’s long strides. “Bugger me Arthur, how many times do I tell you to--“

But his father stopped dead in his tracks and Arthur had to lean around his father to see what had made him stop. Four German soldiers in grey uniforms stood in the front. All four of them wore dark helmets with Swastikas imprinted on the sides and rifles hung on their backs. One soldier stepped forward with a little smile.

“Pardon us, Herr shopkeeper, but my men and I are thirsty and your shop is the only one around,” the soldier explained with barely covered contempt. His father took in a deep breath. The German soldier turned and eyed the sign whose back read Open. “Ve know you are closed but…your door vas unlocked.” One of the other soldiers suppressed a snicker and the lead soldier’s smile grew larger.

“Thank Gott ve are here to protect your country. It might not be safe to leave your door unlocked like that,” the soldier suggested.

“Arthur, fetch four colas for these men,” his father said in a raspy voice. The lead soldier looked at him.

“Ah, your son?” the soldier asked. His father didn’t respond. “He’s quite a strapping boy, no? Perhaps one day he will be able to help our efforts on the continent. Ve all must do our duty to fight Bolshevism.” Arthur’s father didn’t say anything but waited while he went to the icebox and pulled out four Coca-Cola bottles. One by one, he cracked the little metal lids off of them and held them out for the Germans.

“Ah, Coke,” the soldier exclaimed. “One of my favorites, even if it is from such a decadent country like the United States.”

“We get ours bottled and shipped from London,” his father assured them. The soldier only nodded and handed Arthur’s father a small stack of Reichsmarks. They were about to leave entirely when the soldier that had led them turned towards Arthur and his father. “Ve thank you for the refreshment. And a word of caution, please be careful, there’s a dangerous criminal loose in the area.”

“We’ll report anything suspicious,” his father replied, his voice flat and unemotional. He was parroting what was written on all the posters that the occupation troops had put up. The soldier smiled and cocked his head in silent mockery.

“Danke.” And then the door closed behind them with a soft thud. The air felt electric and Arthur just stared at the door as if they’d turn right around and…well, he didn’t know what he was afraid they’d do. But what was anyone afraid of the Germans for? They’d been here for two years and as long as you kept in line they’d leave you alone.

His father maintained his stony silence for a moment, counting out the Reichsmarks that the soldiers had paid in. They could have just as easily demanded the drinks for free and left. Instead they’d made a point of buying it with Nazi-printed Reichsmarks. There must have easily been at least fifteen bills there for how little the drinks cost. But what could they do about it? The Reichsmarks had been artificially set to be more valuable than pound sterling.

After a second counting his father swore and shook his head.

“Pa…” Arthur said meekly. Franklyn Moore let out a long and low sigh and wheeled on Arthur.

“How many times have I told you Arthur, lock the bloody door!” he roared in his deep and booming voice. “I need your help keeping the store going while your brother’s still in France.”

“I…I’m sorry pa,” Arthur started. “I…I’m trying to do better. Edmund, he taught me how the shop works.”

“But I’m not seeing it from you Arthur--bloody hell, boy you’re 17,” his father growled. “Sooner or later they’ll come for you and send you off to a work camp or to a factory. And then where will we be? Without your brother we’re barely getting by as it is.” Arthur was not unused to his father’s quick temper or his high expectations. He’d raised both his sons that way. But whereas Arthur struggled, Edmund had flourished. Edmund had been first in his marks and beloved by everyone in the neighborhood. When Edmund volunteered for the army a few years back, his father had never been prouder. Sometimes Arthur wished he’d signed up then too, just for some recognition. But then the invasion came and they, along with most Britons lost contact with the military units left on the continent. A year had passed until they received a typed letter with Edmund’s signature on the bottom. It confirmed what the radio was saying and what had been written on German leaflets dropped over the UK. That under the terms of the armistice, Edmund and his unit was to remain prisoners of war in Germany for a year, protected and held to the standards outlined by the Geneva Convention. The letter said that soon he and his men would be demobilized and given the chance to return home.

Arthur still remembered the way that they’d read and reread that letter. He, his parents and his sister, all huddled around one piece of paper in the parlor. That was one of the few times he’d seen his father soften—even just a little bit. He’d placed his hand on Arthur’s shoulder and squeezed. In just one motion he’d said what they’d all thought in relief. He’s alive. It didn’t matter if every serviceman’s family had received the same letter; it gave them hope. Edmund Moore was alive, alive in some camp in Germany or Northern France and not dead in some field outside Dunkirk. Not every British family was that lucky. It was for that reason that the Moores tried their best to stay on the good side of the occupying Germans. His father, despite his patriotism, never once showed any sign of resistance. They all simply kept calm and carried on.

Arthur tried find the words to defend his actions, but he couldn’t find them. What was there to defend? The better question was how could he defend himself to a man who had already chosen his favorite son. Arthur just stayed silent and his father sighed and shook his head as he turned away.

“Right, how about you clean the store,” his father said. The store had been cleaned just the other day, but it wasn’t a suggestion. So Arthur silently agreed and grabbed the dustpan and broom. After a long and methodical sweep of the front room his father next ordered him to the storeroom. He was sweeping the back stoop by the time the sun was setting, his head hung low. I could just volunteer for the work battalions he thought. There were posters for them everywhere, big colorful posters depicting smiling British boys working the soil while equally smiling German soldiers marched behind them with grateful salutes. Written in bold English writing was WORK FOR GERMANY. WORK FOR A BRIGHTER TOMORROW.

Sure, it wasn’t the army—there was no British Army, but it was some kind responsibility. And it might even make his father see him as a man, and then he might notice Arthur or care about him. Notice you’re gone he thought. And how much work he has to do himself. That certainly wouldn’t make his father any happier. Between the shop and his mother’s sewing, the Moores were already working hard to stay afloat. And what would happen without him?

Arthur didn’t want to think about what would happen to his parents if they were lost to the streets. It wasn’t like the early days, there was no way to escape to Canada or America. The German fleet patrolled the North Sea, they talked about every sinking and every victory on the BBC. Arthur looked up when he heard footsteps on the cobblestones approaching. The alley ran behind a few homes and shops, with high fences to keep loiterers—or a German patrol away. A tall figure was running towards him, panting. Arthur squinted and then his eyes widened when the figure got closer.

“Edmund?” he exclaimed. His brother came to a stop right in front of him and Arthur saw that his normally tall, handsome and put-together brother was disheveled and out of breath. His clothes were dirty and his eyes darted about wildly as he clutched a long object wrapped in brown cloth. “We thought you were still in France, the letter they sent…”

“I was in France, but I’ve been back for a little while,” he exclaimed breathlessly. Arthur shook his head.

“Then why didn’t you come find us?” he pleaded. Edmund just stood there, struggling to breath. “You know dad’s inside, you should come in.” Edmund surprised his brother by shaking his head.

“Sorry Artie, but I don’t have much time,” he said through labored breaths. He shoved the bulky brown clothed object into Arthur’s hands, knocking his broom to the ground. Arthur was frozen in place, confused and Edmund grabbed his shoulders and looked his younger brother right in the face. “Don’t let them get this. Please little brother.” Arthur just nodded.

“I’ll come back for it and explain everything. I promise,” Edmund hissed. Arthur just nodded again and Edmund pulled him into a hug. “Stay safe little brother.”

With that his older brother ran off towards the end of the alley, peered around the corners and then disappeared. Arthur was left in stunned silence, with nothing but the sound of a few birds, a weathervane blowing in the wind and the distant hum of a truck.

“Come inside,” his father’s curt voice called from the open storeroom door. Arthur shook his head, trying to make sense of what just happened. He wasn’t in France so where was he? Edmund had said he’d been back for a little while, so why hadn’t he come back home? Arthur’s mind raced as he wondered what sort of trouble his brother could be in. Had Edmund broken out of a POW camp? Or perhaps he was part of the resistance, which might explain why he didn’t contact them after he returned home. The Moores hadn’t gotten involved in the anti-German resistance but there were plenty who had. It’d been the worst right after the invasion and since then had died down. Still, there were rumors of sporadic gunshots or the odd ambush. The Moores always feared the German’s retaliation for acts of resistance. In one town, they indiscriminately rounded up and executed upwards of 30 people. The BBC bragged about it later that night.

But the sun had set and his father was already angry enough with him. So he went inside, balancing the bulky odd package his brother had entrusted to him. Do I really want to know what it is?If his brother was in trouble—which it seemed like he might be, unfurling the mottled brown sheet would only cause Arthur trouble. Or worse, bring the Germans down on him and his family. Arthur decided to hide it and stowed the odd package in the corner of the storeroom behind some empty boxes.

“Coming.”

His father did one final count of all their items; double checked the numbers and then turned off the store’s lights. They didn’t have the business to justify staying open past five and on top of that there was a half six general curfew in place for the entire country. Arthur couldn’t stop thinking about seeing Edmund—standing there, disheveled and panting. He wanted so desperately to tell his father that Edmund was home. He’s here, he’s in Britain and he’s alive. The two might actually bond over the fact that Edmund was home. But he didn’t tell his father, mainly because then he’d have to explain that his older brother seemed to be in trouble, handed him a strange package and then ran off. And then they’d be wrapped up in trouble too.

His father flipped off the shop lights, leaving them at the mercy of the dim oil lamps lit along the high street. Arthur wondered if this is what his town had looked like in the last century. He had grown up in the modern age, so oil lamps lighting his hometown was an all-together foreign concept to him. Arthur’s hand hovered by the doorknob while his father straightened his coat. He didn’t know what but something seemed to be holding him back.

“Come on then Arthur,” his father groaned. He turned the knob and both men stepped outside into the darkened street. It was quiet, with only a few muffled sounds from houses nearby and the distant bark of someone’s dog. He used to hear Luftwaffe engines for the night patrols that flew out of nearby RAF Redhampton. But tonight it was quiet.

His father fished the keys out of his coat pocket and turned to lock the front door when the barking multiplied and grew louder, soon being joined by German voices yelling. His father’s head shot up.

“Pa.” But his father hushed him and looked around. Then they heard low thuds. Grenades? Arthur thought. But the way they were coming it was clear that they weren’t bombs, but footsteps. His father seemed to realize it too and his eyes grew wide. He wrenched back open the front door and all but shoved Arthur in first, following him and locking the door behind him. Both Moores crouched by the door as they saw a bulky German truck come to a stop along the high street. Soldiers were barking orders and they held their guns at the ready.

“Haven’t seen them like this since the invasion,” his father breathed. “Fucking hell, I wonder what they’re after?” Arthur felt his whole body go cold and his chest felt like it was in a vice grip. I know what they’re after. Then the thuds grew louder and closer. Arthur saw one German look down the street and then quickly move to the side when two thick, armored legs came into view. He couldn’t see where the long legs ended but the new arrival obviously sported some spotlights because then searchlights lit the street. The spotlights then parted and roamed beyond the high street.

“I didn’t know they had any of those bleeding things outside London,” his father whispered.

“What is it pa?” Arthur asked worried. But his father hushed him again. A German soldier was leaning back and shouting up the heavily armored legs at someone—or something, up there. Then the ground vibrated as a loud groan sounded as the legs thundered down the high street. More soldiers ran off but two remained behind, lighting cigarettes and taking positions around the street.

“Should we leave pa?” Arthur whispered. His father squinted at his wristwatch and shook his head.

“We’re past curfew,” his father stated. “And those Jerries don’t look to be in a forgiving mood.” Arthur turned back to stare out the window. Both of the soldiers that stood watch on the high street held their rifles at the ready. Arthur’s felt like his heart would beat out of his chest. Edmund must have gotten far away by now, right?

One of the soldiers seemed to respond to something down the street, turned to say something to his fellow guard and then ran off in the direction that the armored legs had gone. The remaining sentry looked around for a moment then ducked into the cab of the truck for a few minutes.

“Now?” Arthur asked. But his father shook his head. Arthur was going to say more until the soldier exited the cab and looked about nervously. Suddenly, gunshots sounded in the distance. The loud, metallic barking of rifle fire made Arthur flinch and he instinctively ducked. His mind went to Edmund immediately. They must be after him he thought. Even the German soldier earlier had mentioned that they were looking for someone. Arthur suppressed a little groan.

He should have told his father, his father could have found Edmund and then…then all three of them would be have been shot. Arthur and his father for harboring a fugitive and Edmund for whatever it was he was running from. Arthur tried to assure himself that Edmund was fine. He has to be he told himself. Edmund always overcame whatever life threw at him; it was why Arthur had looked up to him.

He heard more rifle shots and then his father ducked as they heard new gunshots, these like a sail ripping in half. Arthur’s heart was beating fast, not because he was scared of the gunshots, but because he was scared that Edmund was on the other side of them. Both Moores looked up when they heard the approach of a car. Most civilians didn’t drive anymore; those that still had cars either couldn’t afford the gas rations or didn’t want to attract attention from more desperate Britons. Others had lost their car during the invasion by German or British soldiers. Those left driving had the privilege of petrol and protection.

When it came into view, Arthur saw it was one of the boxy little cars the German officers preferred. It reminded him of a crude copy of the American jeeps that some of the Brits used to drive around before the invasion. Two men were in the car but only one exited. Arthur could just barely make out a tall, lean figure in a dark outfit. Lamplight reflected off of medals and buttons and Arthur could barely make out a Nazi armband against a dark uniform, the kind worn by senior officials. He’d only ever seen Germans in black uniforms when something was very wrong.

The tall Nazi shared a few words with the remaining sentry and then both men looked down the street.

“What’s happening now?” Arthur glanced at his father but he didn’t answer him. German soldiers trickled down the street back towards the truck. Then the ground began to shake again as those terribly long, armored legs approached. The floodlights switched on and created a pool of light in front of the tall and darkly clad figure. Two soldiers tossed a slumped over body into the light. He put a hand over his mouth to stifle a cry. EdmundArthur realized. Oh my god they’ve found him. Arthur was afraid his heart would climb out of his mouth. Could he and his father rescue Edmund? Not likely, not when he was surrounded by a platoon of German soldiers around him. Arthur also wasn’t keen on finding out what was at the top of those thick armored legs.

“The back door—that’s our only way out,” his father hissed. “They’re distracted.” But Arthur found himself rooted to the spot as he watched the tall, shadowed figure speak to Edmund. He could barely hear them but he saw Edmund hold his head up wearily and only say a few words before keeling over. The shadowed figure turned away from Edmund. Then a soldier pulled a pistol from his belt and a gunshot sounded. Arthur watched his brother’s body convulsed for second and then grow deathly still.

Arthur let out a yelp of surprise that would have been louder had his father not wrapped a hand around his son’s mouth. A few soldiers started looking around.

“We have to go,” his fathered said as he helped Arthur to his feet. “Out the back—now.” Arthur felt tears welling in his eyes as they ran through the storeroom; his mind not even going to the strange object his brother had left him. His father locked the back door of the storeroom and they hurried down the alleyway, the floodlights illuminating the high street in the distance.

They found Arthur’s mother and sister waiting up with tea when they arrived home.

“What happened?” his mother called to them once they’d gotten inside and locked the door behind them. “I was worried about you two, it’s after curfew.” He saw a deep frown on his mother Elizabeth’s small round face. Dark eyes set back in her round face glistened with worry.

“We heard gunshots,” his sister Viola said concerned. Viola Moore shared a lot of traits with her mother, save for the broad head and fine jawline of her father.

Arthur’s father explained what happened, he noticed that his father left out the Germans who came into the store this morning. He talked about the Nazi official that they barely glimpsed and mentioned the thick, armored legs.

“They brought one out here,” she gasped, her voice drifting briefly back into her native Welsh accent.

His father only nodded and continued. He spoke about the boy they saw killed. None of them had any idea it was Edmund. I have to tell them now he thought. They have to know, Arthur had to tell them. If not, they’ll spend the rest of their lives waiting for a son who’ll never come home.

When his father was finished his mother was silent for a moment. Then she turned to Arthur and his sister.

“Right, it’s already late. Scrub up as best you can and get some rest,” she ordered. Viola protested but Arthur just slinked off to his bedroom upstairs. It was a cramped bedroom, made even more cramped by the fact that Arthur had shared it with Edmund. He’d only

His bedroom was small but it had been his since Edmund joined the army. Now it’ll stay mine he thought glumly as his eye went to the twin-sized bed that laid parallel to his. Arthur’s mind replayed his brother’s last moments, him accosting Arthur in the alley and then…then being executed on the high street. He’s gone Arthur kept thinking as tears fell silently from his eyes and onto his blanket.

He didn’t know how late it was when he finally fell asleep, his mind drifting to that bulky package that Edmund had thrust into his arms.

#alternate history #Fantasy Writing #fantasy #www2 #britain #magic

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daynamartinez22 · 4 years

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Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 308

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Click on the video above to watch Episode 308 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Humpday Hangouts Episode 308. Sadly, I missed out last week. But I’m very happy to be here and I’m realizing that my camera has zoomed out you can see boxes and crap. So don’t pay attention to that pay attention to this. So let’s say hi to everybody and but then we’ll get into the questions. We got a couple quick announcements. So we’ll start in the southern hemisphere and work our way up. So Hernan, how are you doing? Are you talking about are you talking about? gun everybody? Good man. I’m rocking the mastermind t shirt today. I’m really excited to be here. super pumped about about POFU still, you know, I’m having the the aftershocks now but you know, in all reality, I’ve been talking to two people that attend the POFU Live and they they’re static, you know, tons of notes, tons of good stuff. So be on the lookout because the recordings are going to be out soon. So I’m excited about that.

Definitely, well, Marco, how about you, man? How you doing today? It looks like is it brighter, sunny, or what’s going on there? It’s ridiculous. Rod day. I keep telling all you people.

This is what I get 365 I’m not gonna say 24 seven, of course, because we get 1212 acts of daylight.

So other than that, other than a little variation, because we’re not actually on the equator, it’s 1212. It does vary a little bit. But what can I say I’m showing it. I’m going to show it for a year, I told you I would show it every Wednesday for you. Here you go. Come get the one way, the one real way to get to where you want to go is the pole full path. We had it a weekend before last POFU Live 2020 it was. It blew my mind because I wasn’t really expecting joining to go that deep. I actually thought he was gonna do his lucid process. But that’s what we had talked about, which is how he leads his his client all the way through what’s going to happen step by step so that they’re they’re entirely aware of the whole process. And it costs a whole lot of money. I mean, excuse me, because I know that he charges. If I’m low balling you join but 10 to 15 K, just for the process. So guys think about it just for that without even going into the monthly recurring or any of the SEO and just to take you through the process of what’s going to happen. And of course, the higher ticket the client, the more the lucid process is going to cost because there’s more that goes into play. So I thought that that was going to be it which would have been fantastic. show people how to get money from their clients before their clients. Fantastic. And then he comes with, well, what was left to the liver?

And that you know, I don’t know he hasn’t been hidden liver, but you feel you have to take a neat, it’s kind of a few seconds and on home man. That was so looking good. Why are people not getting this? What what’s good and people from our own mastermind who should have been there? We need to make it mandatory to attend. I’m serious is this how much money to think about, how much money are you going to make with just pieces of what he gave away? Just pieces up, you don’t have to implement the whole thing. I’m already hiring a VA guys, just so you know. And I’m starting her on that process, starting her on the journey so she can make me money. That’s how you’re supposed to do. And then let me start with I just keep going on and on.

From what we did on info for life. That’s not including ads, by her now. And how to get clients by Bradley, how to keep them in your front on the schema by Rob as the software that’s coming from Jeremy and everything else. All I did was touch sit. That’s it.

But the rest of these I think just came to this one right after the other one right after the other. It was awesome. The recordings, most of them will be made available. Hope you guys enjoyed them.

Outstanding. Yeah, knock it out on that hopefully live was great. And if you missed it, and but you want to be on the early access to the recordings, just head to POFULive.com. It’s going to redirect you. We got a little opt in form there so you can be on the first to know and there might even be a little bit of a special offer but that would head over there and get signed up if you’re interested in that. So with that said, Chris, how you doing today man? Looks like you got a new headset going on there still seem it’s doing good here. Just splitting out the noise here. It’s crazy at the moment but yeah. And yeah, surprisingly very super good. Wine harvest season is in full force. So anybody who is into most or store more like fresh new wine and stuff. That’s the season right.

Good stuff. Bradley, how you doing, man? Oh, I’m happy to be here. We have a little bit of a change start up for these Hump Day hangouts because YouTube now you can’t use the classic live stream functionality. So every every week, guys, we’re gonna have to start about two minutes early. So in case some of you jumped in, and we’re like, Well, wait a minute, like you guys are already three to three minutes in now you know why? So it’s just a slightly different setup in the beginning. So, just wanted to make you guys aware of that. But yeah, I second everything Marco said, we live was awesome. My head’s still spinning. From that, that the weekend really, and all the information that was conveyed, or, was that was shared, I guess, with all of us. So, and unfortunately, there is definitely some presentations that are going to be omitted from the recordings unless you except for those that were actually at the live event. But that does make it more exclusive. And gives you guys an incentive next year to make sure that you’re there live. So yeah, but other than that, happy to be here ready to answer some questions. Standing? Well, yeah, I just want to say again, pofulive.com, you can find out at the fastest way to get the recordings there. And we had several people join the mastermind via POFU Live so that was exciting to bring them in while they were starting or while we were all part of POFU Live. And so that was great. And if you’re interested in the mastermind, whether you know you’ve got a retail business, whether you’re doing SEO for yourself, maybe you’re doing it with an agency or you’re starting or growing your agency, you know, this might be the place for you to be if you’re looking to grow that not only to find out some of the details but to build a business and if that’s what you’re interested in, head over to mastermind.semanticmastery.com find out more there. So with that said, Guys, any more announcements before we dive into this, Yeah, what’s up, I don’t know how many people we want in but we currently have our deep keyword research open again MGYB.co.

And, guys, if you’re looking for market research, that’s the one that’s what I personally trained the VA on how to go get the keys, how to get it out of go get all that relevant, how to categorize how to set up the silos and of course, if you want to suggest silo, barking dogs.

If you guys want us to just assign more than welcome, we give you suggestions, we give you everything that we can to make sure that you successfully go out and if you’re on the email list, you’ve got an email about that there’s a special going on right now if you’re not on the email list where you’re watching this if you’re watching live head down below get on the email list if you’re watching on YouTube, if you’re watching the replay, click on one of the links in description head over to either mg y b.co or semantic mastery comm get on the email list. That’s where people get the best offers. So and if you’re watching live have got it right here. It’s mg y b.co slash store slash keyword dash research. And much easier than trying to remember that and spell it just click on the link I put below and go check that out.

Sweet so are we good?

Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s do it. I see we got a bunch of questions. So Oh, yeah. And last week we got we were shut down at 40 minutes. Because zoom just hiccuped. That’s what it was it was just a hiccup because the very next day I hosted my mastermind webinar and it and it went an hour and a half. So anyways, hopefully we don’t have that problem this week. I don’t think we will. So we should be good all the way until 5pm.

All right. Lots of questions.

How Does Semantic Mastery’s Syndication Networks Affected By IFTTT’s Recent Updates?

get right into it starting with Who’s it? Are your syndication networks still powered by IFTTT? Yes. How have the changes to their model affected what you do? Well, they haven’t changed affected anything yet, because the final change doesn’t go into effect until tonight, or tonight at midnight or tomorrow, tomorrow at 1201 or whatever. So today’s the last day.

But as from what I understand, and I actually had a call with an IFTTT representative, like a zoom call about this specifically, and it’s not gonna affect anything that we do, because we purchased a pro account so that we can create applets still and publish them so that we can do that. And mgib for syndication network orders as well as for syndication Academy, which by the way, that is in the process of being updated now, guys, we’re going to be relaunching that again, but updated, so just be on the lookout for that. But as far as you guys are concerned, and I see there’s a bunch of questions about that in here. And I understand. So we’re going to cover this again today. And it may change because once everything goes into effect tonight or whenever today’s being the last day under the old IFTTT system, then you know by next Wednesday, if any changes have occurred, that I’m incorrect about

We will know by next Wednesday, we can cover it again next Wednesday, but just very, very briefly, I’m going to walk you through how, from what I understand and from what the IFTTT representative told me, it’s not going to change anything, you just won’t be able to create more than three applets in your account. Period. That’s it, you can still turn on unlimited amount of applets. So even with the free account, but you can only create three applets Okay, so I logged into my IFTTT account here, I’m just going to show you if you go to the Explore tab, so click the Explore button when you’re logged in to IFTTT, and you just do a search. All of ours are very simply titled, and it’s been that way since I created them way back in 2012. But like for example, if I say RSS to WordPress, for example, and we just scroll down, you’ll start remember RSS to WordPress, RSS triggers always going to be an orange color. But you could just scroll through here and find some of them and any one of them that are made labeled. Robert are Mills. Now I know I said WordPress, so I might need to actually type out WordPress. But anything that says Robert r Mills, those are ones that I created applets that I created with the original Syndication Academy. Actually, it might have been version two, it probably was version two. But you can see this has been downloaded 19th or used, excuse me 19,300 times. And this is RSS to Twitter. And that’s Robert r Mills, you can see a stack of them here. You might have like I said, look for WordPress, or whatever. But just click into it. Add your, uh, you know, go to settings, which is over here covered up by the zoom thing.

And in fact, I’m not connected to Twitter. That’s why this but if I was connected to Twitter, then there’d be a settings button, you just click Settings, and then you can add your RSS feed in there. Does that make sense? Or Same thing with if we back up go to explore again and we say like YouTube, let’s just look at YouTube to Twitter and see if it comes up that way.

We just scroll down and like YouTube to Twitter right there. vernonia done. Yeah. Okay, so Bernie Dunn was from the second version of if syndication Academy, Robert r Mills was from the first version. Okay, so again, YouTube, like to Twitter, that’s one of them there, YouTube, the Digg Diigo.

Another one YouTube to OneNote. So you just got to find them guys, it’s very, very simple, just all the the applet titles or they originally they were called recipes, but then they switched to applets. They were all titled similarly, like this. And Robert r Mills, or Vernon II done, d u n, are the two sets of applets that I created, both in the original syndication Academy and in syndication Academy version two. And so any one of those should work, you just got to go select one of it, and then make sure your service is connected. So like Twitter, WordPress, all that, and then just go into settings and put in your own RSS feed. Or if it’s YouTube, make sure that your YouTube channels connected. And that should be it. That’s my understanding, okay, if any of those that are already created are available is there going to disable any of this, you’re going to be able to connect these that are available. I mean, I don’t understand what the problem is why people don’t understand what’s happening. It’s the creation, if you want to create your own, if you want to do your own connection, let’s say you come up with something different, and you want to create what used to be called a recipe, you’re not gonna be able to do that it has to exist already in there. If not, and you need to pay more than three, then you’re going to have to pay for it. That’s all. That’s the only thing as far as I understand. And I’ve also chatted with these people. That’s all that’s changed, there’s nothing different. And just in case, we did go ahead and get a protocol, so that our people can go in and work and create them. Because right with the new syndication Academy, we might come up with or we’re going to try to come up with new stuff, new outlets, new ways to get into all these different things, especially since our syndication Academy, VA is exploring a bunch of different new websites, and how we can go in and manipulate all of the different ones. So she has a list to go in and manipulate. And so we might be we might need to create them, but then those will be available to you also. Because once they’re created, they’re there to be connected. That’s right. I don’t understand why people are having such a problem with this. why there’s such misinformation out there, or misinformation because there was a webinar where they were saying just the opposite is gonna disappear. The sky is falling. They’re probably trying to show you some other bullshit. Don’t go for it. Just wait.

Yeah, you should make contingency plans. But we already if you’re getting that from us from MTV, we’ve already made the contingency plans. We’re already there, guys. That’s what that’s what we’re there for. That’s why you’re doing this. Because you’re having to make this thing keep on happening. And that’s what we’re going to do. And it’s really that simple. I don’t understand what the big issue is.

No, nothing really changed.

Yeah, I mean, I can see a lot in here that I created like YouTube, the Tumblr video pro post is Bradley Benner. Look at that another Vernon he done. Here’s contractor H O, which stands for Hangouts, YouTube to Facebook page. So I mean, there’s a bunch of them in here that I created that are already that I published, either through my own account or some of my, you know, persona accounts. And they’re all in here, guys. So all you got to do is just select them, and then add your, your details. That’s it. Okay.

All right. So we’ll cover it again next week. Because after the changes go through tonight, this being the last day, then if there’s anything that isn’t working correctly, we will know about it.

What’s The Difference Between The Pro And Plus Version Of SEO Ultimate?

Next, is there a pro and a plus version?

But they lead to the same checkout? Is there a difference SEO ultimate plus versus SEO ultimate pro? Yeah, go with SEO ultimate Pro, if they lead to the same checkout? It’s probably just because he hasn’t been supporting SEO ultimate plus, because he was SEO ultimate pro was in development. And that is the plugin that is supported now SEO ultimate pro? Um, do we have any way to contact support for him? specifically?

For Jeffrey, Marco, you muted. Sorry about we can talk to him directly, I can talk to him and let him know what’s going on. But maybe that’s just the way they want to know, just just, I mean, I can see why they would want to support just one. But trust me, it’s well worth it. And as a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, listen to this, if you go and get the ultimate SEO at the boot camp. Adam, can you drop that link? Because you usually get 10 licenses with with that. But if you go through through our link, you’re going to get 20 licenses. So if you have multiple websites that you need more than those 10 licenses, the way to get 20 included in that SEO ultimate boot camp five is to go through our link.

Yeah, no. Seo ultimate boot camp is freaking fabulous, guys. It’s one of the it’s probably the best on page course I’ve ever been through. So on page SEO course. So I would highly recommend you check out SEO ultimate or SEO boot camp. And you’ll get 20 license of that plugin, the pro SEO ultimate pro plugin. I tell people that the only reason why we’ve never created an on page SEO course, is because Jeff he already did it. That’s right. And if the best is already out there, why would we even try to go and mess with it? We just recommend his stuff. And you guys go there? Because he I mean, we’re not gonna do any better than he already did.

Yeah. And he’s been a guest speaker at POFU Live now because of the fact that he’s freaking out. He’s awesome.

He’s a badass man. Yeah, so I would highly recommend you check that out.

When Is The Availability Of The Auto Blog Plugin That Was Mentioned In POFU Live?

Next question about the auto blog creating plugin that you said was previewed on POFU? Do you have a link for us to subscribe when it’s available? No, it’s not a plugin. It’s a full on system. It is not a plugin. So it has like a login and all that stuff. It’s not a plugin. It’s not WordPress. I mean, trust me it’s it’s it’s it’s super powerful. But it’s not a plugin. It’s better way better than a plugin. But do we have any? I don’t think so. Cuz it’s in beta right now. So I don’t think we have anything anywhere to send up for that. But you guys maybe we should probably have a little opt in page that we can send people to for when Jeremy launches that. Yeah, probably my beer. I’ll be back in nine minutes.

Okay, sweet. And, Jeremy, if you’re listening, which you often do, I want my fucking logins. Yeah, me too, man. I’m waiting for my log. Don’t do this to me. Don’t do this to me. He’s teasing. He’s just got it. I don’t care if it’s only half assed ready. Just give it to me. I’ll make it work.

Yeah, guys, well, we’ll get an opt-in up or something for so that we can start getting people on kind of like a pre pre launch list or something for when it does. It’s in beta right now, guys, so it’s only like, you know, Marco and I and a few of the POFU Live attendees that have access to it. And we were still waiting for access, to be honest. But um, once as soon as we get it out of beta, you know, we’re going to be definitely promoting it, it would be a really good product. So we’ll let you guys know, hopefully we’ll have opt-in form next week for you.

Is It Too Risky To Use A Single Phone Number To Verify Multiple GMBs?

Okay, Connor is up next. For those starting an agency and dealing with multiple GMBs for clients and internal sites. What would you recommend for maintaining multiple phone numbers for verification? Is it too risky using a single phone number? Uh, well for verification, I don’t know because i don’t i don’t verify any my own GMB anymore other than unless it’s a client that we have a postcard mailed to their actual physical address or the last time I’ve actually verified any of my own it was using post-peel boxes with the street address option.

So I don’t know verifying by phone. I’ve just never done that. Um, my the call the call service that I use primarily for multiple lead gen assets as well as for just having a bunch of different phone numbers for like my real estate business, I use call rail. And I really like call rail. Um, so you know, call rail is great, there’s a lot of really cool features in it, it’s inexpensive. It’ll connect directly with Google Analytics, with Google Ads with all kinds of stuff. So you know, I highly recommend you check out call rail. As far as the numbers for verification purposes, I don’t know that the work and the only reason I say that is because every now and then if I have to provide a phone number to gain access to a Google account that I have, like, say, for example, somehow cash got cleared on the browser, for example, and I have to log back in and it triggers a phone verification, I know the call real numbers, most of those virtual phone numbers, extensions don’t, you know, applications don’t work anymore for verifying to get access to an account anymore. And I know that because I’ve tested a bunch of them. And they just they’re not working anymore, like call fire call rail burner burner app for your like mobile device, like a lot of those phones just aren’t working anymore, for trying to regain access to a locked Google account, like you just won’t read even receive the text anymore, or the phone call. If you opt for the phone call. It just won’t even go through. So I think Google knows that it’s a virtual number, and it just won’t push it through. So I don’t know about being able to verify gmv with those types of numbers, because it’s not a strategy or a method that I’ve ever that I’ve used. Perhaps one of you guys know, Marco, do you?

Ah, not anything that I care to give away? Not here. But for this question. I don’t know why he would want a single phone number. I mean, that’s so easy to pick off and so risky. Yeah. To verify everything with one single phone number. I don’t know why you’d be doing clients with a single phone number, they would have their own phone for verification. So I’m not really understanding that question. If you want to get a little bit more specific, I’ll gladly go into but if you if you deal with multiple phone numbers that you control, have the more ring through to a single number. Yes. With caller ID that’s that simplifies everything right. But then, you know, where the where the call is coming from? But if not, no, no, I wouldn’t use a single phone number for verification. Not anymore. I mean, it’s something that I would have done a few years ago, not now the way things are now. Yeah. And it’s my understanding that when every now and then I’ve, you know, in my entire career for about 10 years now doing local SEO, and god hundreds of GMB accounts No kidding. I’ve only gotten the phone verification option. Like I swear to God, I counted on two hands like like under 10 times in 10 years have I’ve been able to have I gotten the phone verification option, the ability to verify phone verified GMB and every time that it has occurred, it’s always been whatever the phone number was that was associated with that GMB already because it was like a published but unverified GMB, and so I was able to verify it through the phone number that was published in the GMB listing as long as I had access to it. So I don’t know how you would trigger a phone verification with where you input the phone number to verify it, because I’ve never I’ve never experienced that. So yeah, I totally agree. I would use multiple phone a unique phone number for each location. There’s no question. And I’m not sure how you’re gonna accomplish doing that anyways, because I haven’t seen phone verifications work in quite some time. So

Is There A Limit To The Number Of Links We Can Push To The Gsite Or Stack?

follow up question. Is there a limit to how many links we can push to the G site or stack? No.

Am I wrong in that, Marco? I haven’t found the limit. And let me see.

We did the original 1 million link test took him like a chap. We know someone in our s Academy who ran a million million GSA from from Fiverr. So think about that, and got great results. I ran a million recently, a couple of months ago to a client.

The last solutions that we’re just fixing to get 10 million. And I know Rob is currently running 10 million to another project. Yeah. GSA, by the way, GSA five years, but please, when you hear me say, yeah, five, GSA fibrogen said, Don’t do it. Don’t do that to yourself. Because it’s probably something that you care about. We push it to test the boundaries of what if, and if Listen to me, if it takes the 10 million that I’m going to throw at the test that I’m running on that solutions, then I’m going to try 100 million, and so on and so on, and I want to find the limit. I can do that because I don’t care. If it’s something that you care about. If it’s something that matters to you, whether it’s a client, something that’s making you money, something that you want to make money, it’s not something that you want to burn. So you don’t want to you don’t want to do this. Because you have to know what you do, you have to know what you’re doing, really have to know what you’re doing. If you go to fiber, you probably don’t know what you’re doing, or the person that’s going to be doing this doesn’t know what he or she is doing. So be really careful about trying to push the boundaries. Instead cut focus on quality, which is why we have a dedhia at MGYB. That’s why the link builder and the link indexer. The gates are done by dedhia. The one and only because he has been with us for years. And he knows exactly how to push power into the staff. And so quality, not quantity,

will I still rules or wins the game, which is why it’s tiered, then you can run links into those tiers for to help indexing. But when you starting out, just keep just keep shooting 70 510 k 15 k links into the different parts of your stack into the different tier-one never to the money site. Don’t do that.

Press Releases link building. Don’t forget in bedrooms, you guys are forgetting and bedrooms, don’t forget, go to Dahlia, he’s the master. He’s there for a reason. When you’re looking to test me looking to have some fun and seeing how much trouble you can get into with Google. That’s when you go order those 10 million and hundred million. Lincoln’s I think I can get 100 million links for 500 bucks. So that’s my, my next stop is 100 million guys, just so you know.

That will be a feat, for sure.

What Is Your Alternative Solution For Syndicating Websites That Don’t Have Native RSS Feed?

All right, moving on. Mohammed, what’s up, Muhamad? And he said, Hey, guys, what would you do if your clients website didn’t support A native or RSS feed like WordPress provides? How would you get one, I would install WordPress on a subdomain or a subdirectory subfolder of the domain. That’s what I would do. And I would use WordPress in either a subdomain or subdirectory of the root domain to run all of my content distribution. So essentially, that would be my content distribution engine. It would just be WordPress, and I would use it specifically for that reason. Anybody else? No, I totally agree. It says we’re no longer spamming post subdomains. There’s no reason why you can’t install it in a folder. That’s right, and get it get a little bit more power. That’s right.

That’s right. So if you have access to the host, where you can do that and create a subdirectory in root domain for forms, it could be, you know, public HTML, slash domain slash blog, right. And then you put it where install WordPress into that. I agree with Marco I used to always use subdomains for that kind of stuff. But we’ve been so long, so many years now, since the last time we really spammed like we’re doing spammy type stuff, to anything to get anywhere near the money site, because we use the SEO shield, that it’s really unnecessary to put it on a subdomain for that extra level of protection, you can put it in a subdirectory. Now if you’re sticking to our methods, because we you know, we really treat the money site very, we keep it very clean because of the SEO shield. So

Does AMP And PWA Have Advantages In Strengthening Entity And Authority Of Money Sites?

moving on. Question from Marco from Leonard, he says, Do you see any advantages in using AMP or PWA for money sites to further strengthen entity and authority? What is PWA? I’m not even sure because I haven’t even looked into it. But yeah, we use it. And especially it’s really good and WooCommerce on E inside e-commerce for products, because you can use ama with products. But I mean, I’ll have to look up TWA, because that’s what I really use that focus, I really thought that Google was going to take a look at a website’s speed as as a metric in and of itself, and that it would really be an important factor. Which is why we really started looking at apps since Google is caching the app paid and it’s delivering from a Google server. But then everything that we’ve seen says that once the person is on the website, like it doesn’t, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter, the PHP code becomes obsolete. Because what what Google is looking at is what that person does, on your website, saw a brand new website when you’re first starting to get in. When you first start starting to get ranked when you first starting to get people it might be really important. But what’s even more important is the signals, right? The art, the art of our activity, relevance, trust and authority. You’re going to have the relevance, you’re going to have the trust and authority, but what’s going to send you to the activity. And that person finds that link, whatever link is going to lead them into your website. Or if they come to you like directly, right? It’s through through the brand. What that person does on the website. When they land on that homepage or whatever page they land on. Do they finish what they came to look what they came looking for. What’s the ctr, what’s your conversion rate your car Oh, You should optimize for that you should optimize for the people taking the action that you want, whether it’s watching video, whether it’s filling the contact form, whether it’s giving you their phone number, whether it’s making that call, whatever it is, you want that person to do downloading something, maybe a PDF, when then you’re going to have to get it getting on your on your list. That’s the final signal that who’s looking for. And that’s worth way more than any page speed could it could ever be worth because Google is looking at the entire transaction looking for that finish, no finish, it doesn’t matter. That’s what that’s when you get hurt. That’s when when other factors come into play. And I’ve always told people the art of art, activity, relevance, trust and authority, Trumps anything up, you get that in place, and you get everything right. Nothing else matters.

That’s right.

How Do You Silo Structure A Multi-Location Lead Gen Site With Pages As Local Landing Page For Each Location?

Just one second. I’m following up to the question I saw earlier. All right. Next, okay, so he says, if not, what are some other ways we can improve mobile versions? Okay, I think you’ve already covered that. So the next question is kind of, it’s a whole bunch of questions in here talking about pretty advanced silo structure stuff. I’m not going to read all this because it’s a lot. So a to this question here about setting up a multilocation lead gen site, he’s talking about 20 different locations, essentially, and having a separate location page on each and he’s running into some silo, kind of, you know, issues with how to how to structure that correctly. So it’s kind of a more advanced question, I can talk about this. On a conceptual level, briefly, I’m going to point you to a resource where I go into how I structure lead gen sites, especially multi-location sites. Well, either one, it doesn’t matter whether they’re multi-location or not how I structure all local sites now for service area businesses. And what I do is I set up location silos using WordPress tags, right. So I have the topical or service categories, right, which is the topical categories on the on the site using traditional silo structure with categories, right, WordPress categories, subcategories, if you’re going to go with a complex silo, over a simple silo, I don’t recommend that I try to always stick with simple silos now. But categories are your topical silos. And then I use WordPress tags to create location-based silos. And I show exactly how to do that, or at least on a conceptual level, if you guys want. If you want the nitty-gritty and go deep dive into this stuff. That’s what the mastermind is for a heavy-hitter club. But this is a strategy that I specifically that I use, and I talk about that in the mastermind, and often And so again, you have to join the mastermind, if you want to get you know, hands-on essentially training for that. But here’s a resource that I put together several weeks ago, go to semanticmastery.com/process, it’s a process street process doc, I’m going to go to it now. And I’m going to show you where the training is for that. Where I teach, or I talk about in the website section right there. Okay, if you scroll through, I’ve got several training videos, 32 minutes, for the simple silo structure video, 14 and almost 15 minutes for the complex silo structure. And I talked about tag silos right here. And then I talked about theme mirroring here. Okay, and I’ve even got some examples here of what tag silos look like and how to structure them. So I would highly recommend that you go through this that auto-answer your questions about how to structure it correctly.

Something else that I do is just kind of answer your question, as far as talking about writing 20 different articles. Yeah, I understand writing 20 different articles about the same topic is difficult to do. And I get that. So the way that I do it is I create for on the topical silo page, right? So you know, let’s say Plumbing Repair, I don’t know if that’s even a proper silo page, whatever. But let’s just say plumbing services, right? Let’s say it was a plumbing services, a plumber site, and we were talking about plumbing services, and we got 20 different locations. Well, I would have like a 2000 or 2500 word article about plumbing services, that’s the top of silo for plumbing services, it’s a topical category to use it, you create a category page for that as well. And then I would have on that like super long-form copy that covers all of the different services and supporting keywords and everything else that plumbing services would put, you know, certain would cover right. And then from there, you can always link out to your individual location pages with like a table or something at the bottom, you know, somewhere on the page. And so from what I have my blogger do is create geo posts. So in other words ship, my blogger will go in and she’ll take all the so let’s say the 20 different locations, and then she’ll create posts where we target a specific keyword place that low one location right to the post is optimized for one of the supporting keywords, we might even start with plumbing services the top of silo keyword, right as and but the blog post itself will be optimized for, say Plumbing Services plus one of those locations. So, you know, plus city so to speak. And then that blog post becomes kind of like the landing page for that specific keyword plus city. And then from there, any supporting posts would go would link internally just to that, that post that would be placed within the plumbing services category. And you could set up tag silos to actually push relevancy in both topical relevancy but also location-based relevancy into the tag pages which are like, you know, index pages or blog role pages right there, archive pages, tag archive pages, and again, I cover all this in this training here. So I know it’s difficult to talk about conceptually without showing it to you guys with visual you know, AIDS and that kind of stuff. But that’s why I’ve got this here at the process, semanticmastery.com/process you can go in and review the training here. Yeah, follow up questions about that. You can certainly ask him Hump Day hangouts guys. But again, this is a way more advanced question. And something we would like to cover in a free setting. And that’s what that’s what the mastermind is for or heavy hitter club. So, for questions like that, where you want to get into the nitty-gritty and the How to and how to structure stuff like that, you’re going to have to come into one of our paid groups for that. But hopefully, guys, I’ve produced this whole process street process temp template here specifically to give you guys kind of a foundation to use to be able to structure you know, to figure out what to do and in what sequence or what order and I’ve covered everything in here okay? So again, anything for exact step by step how to you got to join in the heavy hitter club where the mastermind and that’s just the way that it is.

Anybody want to follow up on that. Oh, that’s perfect. Membership has its privileges. That’s correct.

How Do You Deal With The Three App Limit In IFTTT?

Tom’s question is another IFTTT question for you. I purchased your very first IFTTT training and it built several networks myself since then, however, with three custom applet limit, this covers syndication to the three blog properties, but not the drives, etc. And since IFTTT no longer allows shared links and finding applets set up to your specifications is proving frustrating. Just wondering if you have any links to known working applets Yeah, again, I just showed how to do that at the beginning, Tom. So just go back in IFTTT, go to the Explore tab.

So that’s at the very top, go to explore. It’s going to take you to this page just type in you know y y t to Twitter or RSS to Twitter or RSS to Tumblr. And just scroll through there and as I mentioned before, you’ll see vernonia done is one of the personas that I used for syndication Academy version two when I set up all the applets for that was Vernon he done the original or, or vice versa. And then the other one was Robert are Mel’s plus, you’ll find a lot of mine in here like Bradley Benner how to SEO contractor H O, which stood for Hangouts, like there’s just a number of them in here that were all titled similarly, and just go through and select one and and turn it on. And that’s that’s all you have to do. Okay. So like, again, YouTube, the Diigo right there, that is an applet that I created. Right. So and that’s vernonia done so you can make sure your services connected. Click Connect, once you click it, in fact, I’ll just turn it on now. And then it says right there, you can save it. And in this case, it’s a YouTube applet so it’s connected when I connected my YouTube channel to this account, but for RSS, you just you click on the app button and click the Settings button and it will give you the field where you can add your own RSS feed. Okay, that’s it very simple.

And again, guys after tonight, tomorrow, the IFTTT platform will be like under its new rules or whatever. So if there’s anything that isn’t working correctly, we will figure that out between now and next Wednesday. Okay, moving on, you can turn by the way pop time you can turn on as many applets as you want you can you’re limited to only creating three but as long as you use that explore tab you should be able to turn on as many as you need.

Can You Kitchen Sink Spam Immediately After Creating The SEO Shield?

Here’s bb with a lot of questions again. I wouldn’t expect anything less from BB it looks like we probably going to have enough time to get through these so we’ll go through

first question Can you can you kitchen sink spam right after you have created the shield? Yes. Marco, but why?

Hmm, you said yes I said But why? Yeah.

But why? Me You don’t need to but you could. So if you want to test like what Marco is doing you could one dot one do you kitchen sink spam right after you have created the shield, or do you wait to see the results, I guess, meaning 21 days? Well, no, because I don’t kitchen sink spam them anyways, just like Marco said, Why I don’t do that I buy links from MGYB from our dedhia, who’s our link building manager and I buy his packages which were developed specifically for our methods. And so it’s not kitchen sink spam. It’s, you know, web two dot o links, usually two layers of web two dot o links, contextual web 2.0 links. And then if I want to kitchen sink, spam anything, I will hit my second tier of web 2.0 contextual links with kitchen sink spam, but not directly to the SEO shield. Well, first so just to clarify, I don’t kitchen sink spam directly in the SEO shield at all ever. I just don’t do it. I don’t need to because I’ve got link building through dedhia, which is developed specifically for our methods. But second of all, I do I wait no, I don’t wait I usually as soon as I get the SEO shield fully delivered. And a lot of times I don’t even wait for the full SEO show to get delivered. So for example, when you order the SEO, SEO, you get the syndication networks gets gets delivered to you first. So I usually hit my syndication network profile URLs, as well as like the GMB assets. For example, in my first link building gig while I’m waiting for the additional two weeks or whatever for the SEO shield, so the drive stack g site and the idx page to be delivered to me. So I usually just hit my syndication network properties and perhaps like the GMB assets, like I just mentioned, immediately with link building packages, once I get the syndication network delivered, but then for the RYS stack the drive g site and the idx page, then usually when I get those delivered a few weeks later, then that’s when that’ll go into the second link building gig that I purchased for that project.

Any comments on that? Yeah, I’m still wondering why these questions because we’ve covered them multiple times. And we’ll be especially go ahead and set up your own GSA com, hit it with 100 million links, if you want. What’s the point? What’s the point that you’re trying to accomplish? Because without that this is all meaningless.

Right, there has to be a purpose. Or if I could just hit it with a dead end, and get results. That’s all I need. That’s all I need for that. Now, if I’m testing, or testing to see the limits of what Google or what what RYS drive stack will take what he said 40 Well, that’s where you go, we’ve gone a million, we’re going 10 million, that we’re going 100 million, and then I’ll probably go a billion.

But by the time I do that, I’m gonna be about six K, out of pocket. Now, here’s my point, I’m testing. And so I know that my return on investment is going to be there. Because then I can go and share the results and say, This is the test. And this this, this is what came up and you probably see this is going to be last Lucius network. But why?

Why would you go and spend five, six k, on on links, when you could probably spend a couple of hundred bucks in MGYB? Plus, what 10,20,30,40 bucks on link indexing, and get results for whatever it is that you’re doing. And you’re going to need the data anyway. And let me do the first round of link building, you run an embed gig, press releases, whatever, and then you don’t hammer it again, you don’t keep kitchen sink spamming again, you need the data. What did that original link building? Do? What What did that embed game? Do? What was the effect? Yeah, where is it sitting now? Is it making money? How much money is it making? Do I need to do more? Am I getting phone calls? If the what’s the point of what you’re doing?

If you’re not seeing the money from your investment, then you go and look. So I go in, I immediately go into Search Console. And I go into Analytics. And I’ll start looking at Okay, so this page and this keyword are really in tune. But I need to hit it I need to get the results that I want. I need to get a top three, for example.

I don’t. So I’ll go hit in top three, and then see if the return is there. Because if it isn’t, then my page is sick. Maybe people aren’t aren’t clicking on that. Click the call button when I need hacia or any other kind of heat map to see why people are going to that page and I’m not getting results. Link Building isn’t going to fix that. I could I could do a trillion links. And it’s not going to fix what sick on that page. I gotta go and find out what sick on that. Once I’ve determined that, then I’m going to see what the people are doing. So we’re all in time limits here, right, four weeks up, then I gotta see what people do. takes up takes two to three weeks.

To get a nice definition of a heat map, depending on how many people are coming to the page, you need that information without data, you’re just flying blind, you have to throw money up against the wall, you might as well just go in and gamble it away a bit on the horses, because you’re doing basically the same thing. You’re just throwing money at it. Yeah.

Yeah, and what I’ve experienced a lot, I haven’t seen it, and I’m just giving some insight as to some local, more recent projects of mine is that, you know, I started hitting everything with links that the SEO showed in strategically because I’ll build out like expansion or bias expansion stack for another location, for example. And I hit them with links, but it’s, I mean, you know, the link building gig is done within, you know, three weeks or so usually. And, but I usually don’t see the results from that link building gig for 60 days. It’s, it’s odd I it but I do see it’s like, without question, I see it, for example, there was a, I did a test with a specific SEO, what is the what is the version of the location shield, I’m sorry, that’s what it’s called the location shield. So I bought a location, shield, and MGYBfor a test that I was doing for a multi-location project. And so I had a separate g site created for specifically for one location, and that one location was orphaned from the rest of the project, because I wanted to test something specifically. So I had a separate g site created for it, which is what the location shield does, I’d rather use an RYS expansion stack for multi-location for the same brand. But that’s that’s another another discussion. But anyway, I did that specifically for a test. And so I hammered that one g site, which was optimized for specifically one location with us, I don’t know two, maybe three link building gigs over the course of about two months. And then I left it alone, I didn’t touch a damn thing. haven’t done anything to it since. And it’s been about 60 days. But now that son of a bitch.

Now, for the main brand term, that kind of orphaned g site is actually ranking for the main brand term, specifically, even though like I said, it wasn’t really connected the way that we teach to the rest of the entity, but I just hammered the shit out of it with links, and then I didn’t touch it. And it like literally, I didn’t really track it all that much. But all of a sudden, about 60 days later, now it is just it’s like unmovable on page one, four, for the brand search, which I thought was interesting. So there’s there’s no question that you’re going to see results from it. But sometimes it would drive stacks. I’ve noticed at least that’s just my experience, that it takes some time. And I don’t know why that is maybe it’s maybe Marco can shed some insight on that. But I think probably a lot of it has to do with the backlinks themselves that we’re hitting the SEO showed with take a long time to get indexed and found before they start providing any value. Do you have any insight into that Marco?

Well, we know that Google is taking longer to index links anyway. Right? Yeah, we know it’s taking quite a bit longer, which is why we say once you run that first game, that that tiered link building game, then it’s it is like a good strategy to hit that with some GSA strictly for indexing even after you’ve run that indexing game, which you know, they do get some good results anyway. But Google is going you have to remember that if even if you get really good indexing 20 50%, which means that 50% of the links are still out there for Google define. But since everything is attached to everything, once you get Google in there, right, crawling, everything is going to be finding new links, that you knew were already there that should have already been fumble, but weren’t found for whatever reason. So those will keep coming through those. Your IFTTT syndication network might take a minute for it for everything to index if everything does and sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer. Even when you associate everything through schema, it takes longer, or it might show it depends on how everything comes in, which is why I really like to have that schema in place. And to have that same as in place to have that entity loop in place and to run that branding campaign. Right from the start. I mean, that really helps like getting Google to recognize the brand. Know the associations create your own notes throughout the webpage. Rob spoke about during powerful life. We can, however, how all of those associations are at what actually trigger the bug. If if some some of that isn’t in place, then what’s going to happen is it’s just going to stretch out the time period. But as long as it’s all linked, Google recognizes them. It might be that they were crawled but not indexed. That happens also, and then it’ll be crawled again and get indexed. As all of these links coming through yet, it’ll kick it but then, as you said, once it finally happened, I mean look at so Virginia, the SEO Virginia example. It took five is for it to move out of first place. Yeah. And I haven’t been hitting that with links. That’s the whole point.

Yeah, I mean, I did one press release to push it back. And I thought it was going to take more than it took one to push it back. I did look at it just I don’t yesterday or two days ago. And it’s dropped again, a couple spots. But one press release pushed it back to number one for like, three months.

Will Multiple Articles From The Same Domain With Backlinks To Different Pages Give Any Value?

So that’s insane. Anyways, we’re going to move on baby. The next question was, will multiple articles from the same domain that have backlinks to different pages will give any value and the diminishing returns does not affect for backlinking to multiple different pages? No, it does. There’s there’s always a diminishing return. I don’t know what the threshold is, though. And it probably varies depending on the source.

In other words, where the backlinks are coming from, I would think a higher authority type of site would probably have a higher threshold before the number of links from that from the source to the target domain with a you know, have a diminishing return or stop stop being counted or being counted less. So I and I don’t know that to be true. But I’m assuming I imagine it’s logical that higher authority sites would have a higher threshold than lower authority sites. But there is absolutely a diminishing return. But again, the the threat there’s a threshold, I don’t know what that is, and the threshold varies. So uh, and you, you’ve asked this type of question every week now for several weeks in a row. What I want to know BB is what the hell are you doing, where you keep asking these questions about getting a ton of domain or a ton of backlinks from one single source, try to diversify some. And that’s again, the SEO shield gives you that ability using Google properties and some of the other entity assets that we set up to backlink directly to your money site. But then you can smash that with a bunch of links from a bunch of different sites using, you know, Getty is link building, which we recommend or like you said, kitchen sink spam. So then you’re getting diversification, I domain diversity, IP diversity, subnet, diversity, all of those things that you’re going to need in order to get you know, because again, you keep asking these questions about how many links can you get from one domain before it has a diminishing return? And I can’t give you a solid answer. Because I don’t know what that is. But I know there is without question, there’s a diminishing return at some point. And from each domain from each source, I believe it varies from each source Marga, do you want to comment on that? Well, the comment is, at some point, you’re gonna have to start testing. Because these are all test type questions where you’re going to have to go and do it yourself and see the results that you get. I mean, you keep asking this, and we’ve tried all sorts of different way. And we get all sorts of different results. And then what we end up with is what we offer you guys, which is SEO, link building, and bed runs, press releases, link building to the recipes, and better your UI frame, the press releases, hammer those, hammer everything, until you get the results one, not all at once. But as you know, however much it takes, or however little it takes, the process for us remains the same that like none of this is going to matter. Because we’re not going to use one website with a whole bunch of different articles with backlinks. On those pages. I mean, with 100 links on that page would be useless. All right, because of this link attribute, the way that the link is placed on every page, each one would have a different value is that as if your PR one and you have links, and then each one of them will have a PR one? No, that’s not how PageRank works.

And so I’m not I’m not sure what you’re asking. And and not only that interesting thing is that even niches within the same general category, let’s say will react differently.

So we know that the algorithm that like the different sections of the algorithm that treat different things differently, depending on what it is that you’re doing really interesting. But then again, that’s what the heavy hitter club is for. That’s what the semantic mastery mastermind is for. That’s the place where you go and ask these questions. And you either get access to this when we go and test it and bring back Yes.

Unknown Speaker 54:16 So the last question is, why is it better to do a backlink with a link shortener instead of a backlink to the money page or money site itself? Well, it’s I don’t know that it’s, it’s necessarily better. But the reason that we do that with MGYB, like the mgyb.co shortener for drive stacks is because it gives you two separate link targets for the same destination. But it gives you two separate link targets. So just add some diversification. And because we have been using the MGYB.co shortener for drive stack URLs and everything, we build it right into your SEO shields, guys and your drive stacks and all that. You’ll see like the Google Drive folders and file URLs that are you know, the actual share URLs and then there’s the MGYB.

I’d be shortened URLs in the next column over. And the reason we do that is because, you know, with all the link building that gets done to the SEO shields, and to the MGYB.co shortener links, and all that kind of stuff, it’s really powered that up and it’s crazy. But you’ll see mg b dot SEO, short URLs rank in Google Search over top, the Google URL, which is like, like, instead of, in lieu of the Google URL, the mgyb.co our URL will show up. And in Google search results, which just goes to show you how powerful that can be, but I don’t know that it’s any better. It’s just that you can siphon some authority from the link shortener service, which oftentimes has a high level of domain authority, which again, that’s a third party metric, that doesn’t really mean a whole lot. But a lot of times, they do have a lot of domain authority built into them, because people have used them, and it’s just had so much inbound link building done to those over time. Any comments on that? Yeah, of course, it’s better, because of the power that that we have in that short, it’s built into that shorten everything that do that we do happen. To do that short number, we were using Google properties for the most part, or as high, as you said, domain authority and page authority, domains, high trust, AI.

Whatever the vanity metric you want you wanna name is, we have a very powerful domain, on our end, we’re using it and it just provides a boost, it needs to get out of the Google URL, sure, would guess. When they took that away, we decided to create our own and accomplish the same thing, which is basically what we’ve done.

SEO Ultimate Pro Plugin Problem

So John’s up, he says, Hey, guys, just reposting my question from last week as the SEO ultimate Pro Plugin working okay for you. Yes, it’s working fine for me. Two weeks ago, the license stopped working and all the settings disappeared. My sites are now missing all the metadata schema settings, etc. Even testing on a fresh WordPress installs the same support ticket, excuse me support, tickets still go unanswered, even after two weeks, and I don’t know what to do. Okay, so can I recommend another plugin? No, because I use SEO ultimate Pro. And just, john, I tagged you down here. But have you have you tried contacting Jeffrey in the SEO ultimate pro Facebook group? Because I know he’s responsive in there. Um, and and again, like, you know, then I don’t know, maybe you don’t have I don’t know if you’ve got the newest update or version, it should auto prompt you to update in WordPress anyways. But there, there’s got to be an issue that I’m sure Jeffrey can resolve for you. So I’d recommend that you join the SEO ultimate pro Facebook group, and tag, you know, tag Jeffrey and Nancy, tell them exactly what you just put repost your question here to him directly in the Facebook group. Okay. And he should answer it for you. Yeah.

Okay, moving on. And yes, Jeffrey is okay. By the way. He was just a presenter, a guest speaker, or presenter at POFU Live two weeks ago. We can half ago, I guess. So yes, he’s okay. He’s doing well. I would contact him in there.

Okay, just a couple of comments here. And then we’re gonna wrap it up, which is good. I don’t think I missed anything. Did I know.

Unknown Speaker Okay, uh, you why or whatever it is. Hi, guys. From cookbook from Bulgaria, you rock. The reason for the delayed result is a patent from Google related to delayed results from such link building. It is 21 days in the patent. That’s interesting. I didn’t know there was a patent for the link building. I know there was one for the Google dance. It’s the Google does. And it’s actually 2020 days. But when I did the original blog post, I called it 21 days so that people wouldn’t like build on a 20th day. So people would go and build a build on the 20th day, which is the last day of the Google data when I wrote that. I wrote that in 2015. December 2015. I wrote about the Google nest, which is what he’s talking about, yes, it’s a delayed result. It’s just simply that it’ll dance. But what we were talking about is why you know why in sometimes things for long, simply be able to when you clear the Google dance, which is at the 21 day point, you might still see dance, but that’s because there’s links that Google is still finding, which will trigger the deaths, right? Well, my it’s a definitive has already been brought. It shouldn’t be triggered the dance. So there’s a whole lot of factors in place, not not just the Google dance path.

Yeah, and I’ve noticed like using sem rush for rank tracking, for stuff that I’m doing on just on organic ranking basis, instead of local for local, I use bright local to, you know, for rank tracking for GMB’s and stuff, but for just organic ranking. You know, I use sem rush often and it’s interesting, but the Google dance is very, very real. I know you all know that. But it’s, it’s it’s interesting when you’re, if I go in and I like let’s for a week, I go on sem rush every day and look at a particular project I’ll see, like location pages that were somewhat newly published on that site that will like one day, they’ll be, you know, on page two, like position, you know, 15, or whatever, next day, they’re gone. They’re not in the SERPs at all. Then the next day have come back and it’s position 25, then the next day, it’s gone. Then the next day, it’s position nine. And it’s really interesting to watch. Like, I knew that Google dance was there before, but I don’t typically SERP watch, but I’ve started using sem rush a lot more. And so I’ll go in there often and just kind of look at the, you know, the keyword rank reporting. And I’ll see that that you know, it’s a very volatile dance, because it jumps sometimes it’ll drop 30 positions, other times, it’ll disappear from the index altogether, then it comes back 24 hours later, in a better position than it was previously. Like, it’s just really interesting to see how much dancing it really is occurring with Google Now. And I think it’s become more pronounced in recent years than it has than it was previously. So any follow up comments on that Martin’s gonna wrap it up? No, no, I mean, if the desk is real, it’s been real since Google publishes the patent. Our post was put post about two months after Google published that that particular path.

Alright, fellas, well, thanks, everybody for being here. Thanks, guys for joining and we will see you guys next week. At the free hang up let’s put that on the page. When I posted in slack we got a funnel if people want to opt in to find out when Jeremy’s tools available. Let me grab that URL.

And I’m gonna jump back to the main page and post that and so this is for Jeremy’s

What are we calling this? I know he’s got a name for it. I forgot the name, but we’ll just call it you want to really at scale leverage syndicated content on autopilot. This is going to be a pretty awesome tool. I think. I don’t know if you guys want to describe it more than that. syndicated auto blog app.

Print, I’m going to call it the pre launch. Or launch I scrolled per launch. So I know you guys can’t see me. But anyways, yeah, I’ll have this on the page in just a minute, guys. We’ll see you all next week. All right, guys, everybody. Bye, everybody.

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 308 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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localwebmgmt · 4 years

Text

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 308

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 308 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

Definitely, well, Marco, how about you, man? How you doing today? It looks like is it brighter, sunny, or what’s going on there? It’s ridiculous. Rod day. I keep telling all you people.

This is what I get 365 I’m not gonna say 24 seven, of course, because we get 1212 acts of daylight.

But the rest of these I think just came to this one right after the other one right after the other. It was awesome. The recordings, most of them will be made available. Hope you guys enjoyed them.

Sweet so are we good?

All right. Lots of questions.

How Does Semantic Mastery’s Syndication Networks Affected By IFTTT’s Recent Updates?

No, nothing really changed.

What’s The Difference Between The Pro And Plus Version Of SEO Ultimate?

Next, is there a pro and a plus version?

Yeah. And he’s been a guest speaker at POFU Live now because of the fact that he’s freaking out. He’s awesome.

He’s a badass man. Yeah, so I would highly recommend you check that out.

When Is The Availability Of The Auto Blog Plugin That Was Mentioned In POFU Live?

Is It Too Risky To Use A Single Phone Number To Verify Multiple GMBs?

Is There A Limit To The Number Of Links We Can Push To The Gsite Or Stack?

follow up question. Is there a limit to how many links we can push to the G site or stack? No.

Am I wrong in that, Marco? I haven’t found the limit. And let me see.

That will be a feat, for sure.

What Is Your Alternative Solution For Syndicating Websites That Don’t Have Native RSS Feed?

Does AMP And PWA Have Advantages In Strengthening Entity And Authority Of Money Sites?

That’s right.

How Do You Silo Structure A Multi-Location Lead Gen Site With Pages As Local Landing Page For Each Location?

Anybody want to follow up on that. Oh, that’s perfect. Membership has its privileges. That’s correct.

How Do You Deal With The Three App Limit In IFTTT?

Can You Kitchen Sink Spam Immediately After Creating The SEO Shield?

Here’s bb with a lot of questions again. I wouldn’t expect anything less from BB it looks like we probably going to have enough time to get through these so we’ll go through

first question Can you can you kitchen sink spam right after you have created the shield? Yes. Marco, but why?

Hmm, you said yes I said But why? Yeah.

Will Multiple Articles From The Same Domain With Backlinks To Different Pages Give Any Value?

And so I’m not I’m not sure what you’re asking. And and not only that interesting thing is that even niches within the same general category, let’s say will react differently.

SEO Ultimate Pro Plugin Problem

Okay, just a couple of comments here. And then we’re gonna wrap it up, which is good. I don’t think I missed anything. Did I know.

And I’m gonna jump back to the main page and post that and so this is for Jeremy’s

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 308 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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youngwinnertragedy · 4 years

Text

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 301

youtube

Click on the video above to watch Episode 301 of the Semantic Mastery Hump Day Hangouts.

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

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

Announcement

You see it. Now let me tell you about it.

That’s how it makes Groundhog Day. This is my life. I can’t help it. And as I always say, don’t hate the player. Hate the game, as I like this place.

So get it, hold on to it go ahead and take advantage of the offer. So that the coupon doesn’t expire, right because once it does, we can’t give you the offer.

All right, sweet.

Do you guys see my screen? Okay. Yeah. All right, we’re gonna start with

Is It Safe To Convert Gsites To Its New Format?

That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

How Many Videos Are Needed For A YouTube Silo To Be Effective?

I got a little bit of a headache from that question.

Anybody want to comment on that before I go to the second part of that, yeah, what you start with is more than one right? Absolutely.

And then it’s just how far you need to go to get to where you want to be. Period.

I totally agree.

How Do You Set Up A Sales Tax In A WooCommerce Site?

Do you know anything about WooCommerce being in taxes and stuff?

I don’t know, like, I don’t know how you either,

like I do, I have worked on WooCommerce websites, but that’s not the part of my job that I do.

Should You Make A Separate Silo For County And Connect It To The Main Silo?

No. Okay.

All right. And the second part of that I can’t answer because that question went way too long. Anyway, so we’re going to move on if we have time, we’ll come back to it.

How Do You Boost A Blog Subdomain?

We’ve created a whole entire system for you to do this. We just can’t give you the pieces here for free.

Is It Harder To Rank Gdocs Than A Gsite?

would rank better.

Is It Faster To Rank Google Properties Than Building A Shield To A Non-Google Property?

You know, it’s still effective, Google will say no.

But at least to be said,

How Do You Determine What Link Buiding Campaign To Use And Determine The Competition?

Ah, man, and

yeah, it’s an excellent question. But that’s, that’s the

How It is, isn’t it?

That’s another reason another excuse to send an email right?

MGYB Support Question

And I’ll get something scheduled with you because I know we made that offer to a few months ago. Okay. And you’ve been around for a long time. So no problem. Thanks.

It’s pretty good. We should copy that somewhere.

What was he asking about? The National potato day, but I don’t know what it was.

The other one would be HTTP books, that’s too many.

And it was the SEO shield.com.

So either any of these right here will help you to get a much better understanding of what it is that we’re talking about. Okay.

All right, we’re gonna keep moving.

Right? So again, your primary URL, in this case, I would make the root domain, but you would include the blog URL and the building right

How Would You Deal With A Competitor That Is Using A Location He Does Not Occupy?

Yeah.

Yeah, Austin says I’m gonna have a header club. If I join the mastermind. Is there a discount for either one? Yes. As far as well. Yeah.

If you’re in both there’s a discount, right Marco.

There you go.

Austin dawn I’ve been trying to talk you into joining the mastermind for some time because I know you’re in the real estate industry as well. So

What Value Do You See In A Set Of Twitter/Facebook Accounts That Retweets/Share Items Via IFTTT?

No, no, I don’t.

And this is where we have to separate the bullshit from us fact.

What are they really saying?

Sweet?

That’s my recommendation you do whatever the fuck you want. I mean, you’re a grown person. I can’t tell you what to do.

But I definitely would not report shit I would just go get rid of it out the power that’s what you do. Not negative never ever. I’ve never ever done I’ve come really close.

Some piss me off that much where I was gonna blast him and make him appear for like some porn term. But then I

You take a breath and say, okay, it’s okay. It’s okay. Let’s just move on and make money. Yeah, I agree that energy can be spent making money.

So, again, they’re good questions. But yeah, no, you could encourage a pissed off customer to report them. I don’t know. All right. Thanks, guys. We’ll see you all next week.

Weekly SEO Q&A – Hump Day Hangouts – Episode 301 published first on your-t1-blog-url

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