#this might be completely unparseable

[itswavelengths]

Good Sudoku is a Roguelike

Along with the rest of the US in the early 2000s, I found myself getting extremely into Sudoku for a short while in middle school. I was never even remotely good, but ripping through the first 10-20 puzzles in a given book or app — generally labelled "Beginner" — made me feel okay about myself. As far as I knew at the time there was an extremely simple ruleset to the game: Place the numbers one through nine in columns, rows, and houses with none of those numbers repeating in any of said columns, rows, and houses. Armed with literally only this information I would often find myself wildly frustrated the moment more intricate solving techniques became necessary to progress. I simply didn’t know such techniques existed as none of the resources I used to play Sudoku had any interest in teaching the skillset required to move past the most basic set of puzzles. And so I'd bounce.

Enter accomplished game designer, artist, and talk-giver Zach Gage, a guy whose new project announcements cause me to drop everything I'm doing to check out immediately. In collaboration with Jack Schlesinger, the two have created what is without question the most streamlined Sudoku experience available for iPhones (and iPads!): Good Sudoku. A lot has been said about what makes the app so special, but to quote the official website:

Good Sudoku turns your iOS device into an AI powered Sudoku genius whose only mission is to help you learn and love this classic game.

This "AI powered Sudoku genius" accomplishes its godquest via a series of tools that not only remove the inherent friction of the game itself, but aim to teach the player high-level techniques used to solve more difficult puzzles further down the line. One such tool is called "Auto Note," which with one tap fills each blank space on the grid with notations indicating every possible answer. Gone is the tedium of starting each puzzle going square by square, using a finicky note-taking tool to get to a point where you can maybe begin to fill some spaces. Auto-note has you covered, my guy. Another tool — “Focus Mode” — allows the player to tap on any of the nine numbers to highlight every spot within the gamespace that number might fit. These two tools in conjunction with one another remove so much of the busywork involved with playing sudoku, I started to question if it should be considered cheating. It's not cheating though, because instead of just straight-up giving you the answers, they allow you to see patterns with more immediacy which means more time spent solving and less time staring blankly into the grid-void.

Those tools by themselves in conjunction with the app's beautiful aesthetic would have probably been enough to get me on board with Good Sudoku, but where Gage and Schlesinger (a good band name) have really outdone themselves is their incredible Hint system. Throughout your experience, the AI is quietly solving each puzzle in the background based on the answers you've managed to fill in. Every time you enter a new piece of information, the AI updates its path to victory. With the tap of a “Hint” button the player can see what the AI has determined to be the most logical next step in that path based on all of the current variables. In most Sudoku apps, one such button would fill the next answer... and that's it. On to the next one. Good Sudoku changes the game (in every sense) by showing you exactly how the AI was able to find that next piece of information, complete with a helpful tooltip explaining the strategy and walking you through the steps required to get there. By surfacing the processes involved, the app teaches players these techniques through repetition. You might not know what a "Locked Candidate" is now, but you absolutely will after seeing one for the tenth time. Through extended play, the game transforms from an unparsable grid of numbers and blank spaces to an exercise in pattern recognition. As these strategies slowly burn themselves into your head, you become a better Sudoku player. It rules.

After playing daily for about a week after its release, I've noticed Good Sudoku activating the same brain-space as roguelikes in the vein of Spelunky or The Binding of Isaac. These are games meant to be played hundreds of times, and for thousands of hours. After years of playing Spelunky I immediately go into auto-pilot when starting a new run because I've seen so many permutations of the level generation I can't help but feel as though surprise is unlikely. But that comfort with such a hostile environment has come from thousands of runs. I've died in Spelunky more times than I can count, and each death brings with it a small lesson for survival in future attempts. At this point, my head is crammed so full of strategies and techniques and possibilities that I feel more equipped than ever to survive the next run. I mean I probably won't… but it's nice to feel confident sometimes!!

It's in this way Good Sudoku has, oddly enough, turned the base game of Sudoku into something actually resembling a roguelike. Each tap of the Hint button reinforces the toolset I'll need to make it through the next attempt down the line. Sure I'm not getting impaled by spikes, but at least I'll be able to spot a Split Naked Pair or a Hidden Triple or something. What Gage and Schlesinger have accomplished here is extraordinary in its execution mainly due to its subtlety: Although the pitch is "to help you learn and love this classic game," so few apps actually accomplish this in a way that feels so lightweight, you'd be forgiven for not even noticing when you've started to solve Expert puzzles without hints for the first time.

Good Sudoku calls itself a sudoku that loves you, and for once in my life, I agree. It was built to care about me, about my mental load, about my time in a way no virtual agent every possibly could. Good Sudoku has more humanity in it than GPT-3. via @jag_pag

Good Sudoku is free, with a $4 in-app-purchase. I don't actually know what happens when you pay the four bucks because I did it immediately. Support cool stuff if you can!

You should download it, and probably everything else Zach has made. Alright ttyl!

⏆

[thepringlesofblood]

out of context spoilers for neverafter episode 7

[sidewalk-scrawls]

I don't go here but thoughts on Izzy Hands

Okay, first off, it is very funny that you sent me this ask in particular because when I added the tags saying I might end up writing an essay for the right prompt, “Izzy Hands” is one of the prompts I was thinking of. But I think I can do this, I think I can be (kind of) succinct by focusing on the points where I disagree with general fandom. (At time of posting, I'm sitting around like 1000 words so like. Lol. LISTEN this could've been 700 pages long, this is still RELATIVELY short)

I’m going to go ahead and assume you’ve picked up enough through osmosis to recognize the main characters because I have not shut up for multiple months, and neither has a good chunk of this site lol.  So here we go!

I think a lot of the OFMD fandom disagrees on what Izzy’s primary character motivation is -- A lot of people tend to think it’s internalized homophobia and/or toxic masculinity. At this point in my viewing, I personally think it’s neither. I never really thought it was internalized homophobia, and while I still think he has *some* traits that could be tied to toxic masculinity (more on that later), I think he demonstrates a lot less of it than I initially assumed.

So what is Izzy’s main motivation? In my personal opinion, it’s a combination of jealousy and fear. The jealousy, I think, is pretty obvious -- Ed gives affection to Stede that he used to give Izzy, and Izzy obviously wants that back. I talk a bit more about the mutual toxicity of the Ed/Izzy relationship in this post, but I won’t dig into it too much here.

I think a lot of what people view as internalized homophobia also fits into this jealousy category. Izzy is obviously an asshole in a lot of ways that could be read as homophobic -- the “oh daddy” scene where he mocks Lucius and Pete after walking in on them having sex, as well as all the times when he disparagingly refers to Stede as Ed’s “boyfriend.”

And yeah, those moments are dick moves, but I don’t really read them as internalized homophobia -- Rather, I think his anger at Lucius and Pete is because they have an actual relationship, whereas he just has to pine after Ed, who doesn’t see it (see, we’ve spiraled back to jealousy!). And all the “boyfriend” scenes, well… quite frankly that feels more like an angry comment that Stede is Ed’s boyfriend. Not that Ed has one. (I think Izzy would be angry and jealous over pretty much any partner Ed had that wasn’t him, but like… Stede???? He cannot stand Stede). So yeah, I don’t think Izzy is homophobic! I think he’s jealous.

The fear, though, is a bit different. This is the piece of the puzzle that I think people usually wrap up as toxic masculinity, and I see why (I did on first watch!). But I genuinely don’t think that’s what it is. Izzy *is* violent, and he’s very much an asshole -- He puts an awful lot of energy into trying to get people to do what he wants them to do! He’s not good at it, but he certainly pushes far past the point where he should -- He’s the sort of person who tries to get the response he wants through brute force and constant nagging.

So sure, this behavior is bad. But when trying to tie it into toxic masculinity, the question is really, why does Izzy act like this? Toxic masculinity usually corresponds to acting masculine in the way that society expects you to, even if it’s harmful, and honestly? I don’t think Izzy gives a fuck about societal norms. There are plenty of times when he could’ve called out members of the crew for being “weak,” but he never really does.

What I think Izzy does care about is staying alive. And as for how this relates back to Stede -- well, Izzy (and the crew) doing what Stede asks and being less competent is a great way to get killed in the normal pirate world (i.e., the world outside of Stede’s influence). So I don’t think this aspect of Izzy’s character is toxic masculinity -- I think it’s survival instinct.  And that survival instinct is built on his inability to adapt to the situation rather than anything to do with masculinity itself.

Personally, I have a lot more sympathy for Izzy since my first watch -- When you evaluate his actions within the environment before Stede arrived (i.e., the grittier pirate world), the genre swap is absolutely a good chunk of his problem. In Black Sails, he’d be doing *great.* The issue is that the world he was in prior to the show is no longer the world that he’s in, and he can’t adapt to it!

ANYWAY, that’s an overview of my opinions on Izzy. I could also go more into the wealth disparity here (Stede bought the world to play pirate and that was never an option for Izzy), as well as why Steddyhands (Stede/Ed/Izzy) is my current ship of choice for Izzy, but both of those are entirely different posts and this response is already ridiculously long, so I’m ending this here unless people ask lol

[miceenscene]

Fealty

female shepard/garrus vakarian | pwp | roleplay

wc: 8.9k

summary: Garrus & Shepard find some escapism in the midst of a war. | This is the product of listening to Rimsky’s Scheherazade too many times whilst pondering the inherent eroticism of blood oaths.

warnings: none, just sexy times galore

an: in this house, service switch Garrus hours are 24/7

ao3 | Masterlist

The Incident was an accident.

The Incident was an accident, and Garrus swore he would maintain that story to his dying day. It was not his fault that when Shepard really got him going sometimes odd things came out of his mouth. If anything, it was Shepard’s fault. Her and her flexible, strong, smooth body did unspeakable things to him that he really couldn’t rationally explain outside of the moment.

The night of The Incident, they’d started in the elevator, cautious at first then building as it became clear no one would interrupt them, then shedding armor carelessly in the hallway just outside her quarters. They’d made it to the desk at least for the first round. Then half a round against the fishtank, till finally she had him pinned down on the bed. His hands gripped her waist, following her rhythms eagerly, as she found her pleasure on top of him. She was warm and clenching around him as his head swam with Shepard.

There was a phenomenon that Garrus had long since noticed, beginning really from the first time they ‘blew off steam’. In the run up to Shepard’s peaks, he found himself… needing, craving, desperate to give her what she desired. Probably some combination of turian martial instinct–she was still the commander of the ship he served on, even if she claimed she wasn’t his commander anymore–and plain attraction to the woman herself. As well as his own perfectionist tendencies. If he was going to do a job, he wanted to do it The Best… and apparently that also applied to giving Shepard orgasms.

And it was somewhere in the middle of this phenomenon that it happened. The Incident. Shepard was close, close enough for them both to taste it. And she gave him an order, deeper more right there. And, as he happily obeyed, it just came out of his mouth in a soul-deep rumbling groan.

“Yes, your majesty.”

There was half a second before they both heard what he’d just said. Then it clicked. Glass shattered in the forefront of Garrus’ mind as a thousand warning lights suddenly started flashing.

Meanwhile, Shepard paused, teetering on her edge, and looked down at him. Her face was flushed, chest heaving with exertion, eyes over-bright. “What did you–”

It was a dirty move, but to distract her, Garrus pressed his thumb to her clit and canted his hips just so, shoving her into bliss with a loud exclamation. She pulled him down with her, both of them shuddering and swearing in each other’s arms.

His afterglow, however, was undercut with a strong tint of embarrassment. Luckily, nothing seemed to have bothered Shepard, who melted on top of him with her head resting on his chest. He trailed a few talons between her shoulder blades, making her hum and relax even more. Maybe she’d drift straight off to sleep, and in the morning his stupid mouth would be back under control.

But she shifted to the side into the waiting crook of his arm and molded around him in the usual, seemingly physically impossible for how perfect it was, way. “I should go clean up,” she sighed after another few minutes of quiet, stretching leisurely.

He hummed an agreement, relaxing now that it seemed his little outburst had been forgotten. “I’ll take care of the sheets,” he replied, nuzzling a kiss to the top of her head.

“Thank you,” she murmured, returning the kiss to the front of his carapace. With a soft smile, she got up. His hand traced the line down from her shoulder to her wrist to the tips of her fingers before she was out of reach. He admired the languid lines of her figure as she retreated, the bathroom door hissing shut behind her.

That was a close one.

Though he really should have known that his dodging skills were not that great. Or rather, Shepard’s ability to lay in wait should never be underestimated. Reckoning came a few evenings later. They were back in Shepard’s quarters again, but this time both reading through reports on her couch. Shepard liked to lean back against him and wrap his arm across her torso. Garrus liked it too because it was easy to lean over and stroke his mandible over her silky hair occasionally.

They’d been diligent for nearly three hours now, wading through the mounting horrors of war, but Garrus felt his eyes start to glaze over as he opened the next report from the Hierarchy. He blinked a few times to bring himself back into focus, only for it to happen less than two minutes later. Alright, perhaps it was time to call it a day.

His focus shifted to Shepard, a few tempting ideas popping up in the back of his mind. He brushed her hair to one shoulder so he could nuzzle a kiss to the other side of her neck. She hummed and her hand brushed the side of his face, but he didn’t have her full attention yet. That would have to change. He trailed the tip of his tongue up the side of her neck, up to her ear and over the shell of it, making the muscles in her core clench.

“Done already?” she asked, her voice just slightly airy.

“Done for tonight,” he rumbled. His hand covered hers on the datapad, updated casualty estimates from Earth. The numbers just never stopped growing. “You should be too.” She let him take the pad from her, setting it down on the coffee table, before laying back with her head in his lap.

“Perhaps you have a point.” Mentally setting aside the unfixable, she gave him a tired smile. “Did you want to go to bed? ...Orrr?”

“I’m a turian, Shepard. I’m pretty much always up for ‘orrr’.”

She laughed quietly and sat up to straddle his lap, arms resting on his shoulders and making his subvocals start to rumble at her proximity.

“How about you?” he asked, returning to his earlier work on her neck and sliding his hands across her waist. “Are you up for ‘orrr’?”

She hummed and leaned into his ministrations. “That depends.”

He really should have seen the trap, but he was too focused on trailing talon tips up the shallow valley of Shepard’s spine to see it at the time. “On?”

“Are you going to call me ‘your majesty’ again?”

Crap.

He froze, hands under her shirt, mouth open on her neck. “You heard that?”

“Yes, Garrus. I do tend to hear what you proclaim when you’re inside me.” She pulled back, making him look at her. “You mind explaining that one to me?”

He shook his head. “It’s nothing, forget it.” And he tried to duck back in to distract her again, but she moved back once more.

“It’s not nothing. I saw your face as you said it…” There was a teasing light in her eyes, coupled with a similar smirk across her lips. “Oh, come on. Remember I was the one who pitched that whole ‘let’s pretend we’re having a first date’ thing?”

“There’s a difference between faking the date we never got and… this.”

“I don’t mind taking things a step away from reality… seems almost a necessity these days.” Her eyes half-turned towards where the datapad still lay.

That was a solid point. But some deep shameful part of him clenched at owning up to this particular non-reality. Her teasing look dimmed as he didn’t budge a metaphorical inch. Thank the spirits, it seemed like she might let this go. But he was caught off-guard when she cupped his face in her hands.

“There is nothing you could tell me about yourself that would make me love you less. You know that right?”

He flinched from how deeply she struck. Consciously, yes. He trusted her when she said she loved him. The subconscious application was… tricky at times to prove that it had been completely accepted. Not all the time, just rare instances. Like right now.

He nodded. “I know.”

“Okay. Good.” She tipped her forehead to rest it against his. He was the luckiest damn turian in the entire galaxy. And he loved her just as much; he hoped she knew even though he hadn’t said it just yet.

She smiled softly as she sat back. “You don’t have to tell me the explanation if you don’t want to. But…” She shrugged and moved off his lap, sitting on the couch next to him and picking back up her datapad. “If you did, maybe I could… play along.”

The last two words came out just a touch rougher around the edges, sending a fizzing thrill to his gut and calling his bluff all at the same time. Just like she’d no-doubt intended. A whole new host of tempting ideas popped up in the back of his mind, their sum total enticing enough to overwhelm the shame.

He was actually going to do this.

“How… much do you know about turian history?” he asked slowly, picking up his own datapad in a feigned casual manner to have something to look at.

“Very little.”

“Well, it’s not as much turian history as… turian historical fiction.” He sucked in a breath for the strength to power through to the end of the explanation. “A… scandalous novel I read as a young recruit. Set during the unification wars, about a warlord and… her right-hand warrior.”

He could feel her gaze land on him, but he maintained focus on the words-turned-unparsable-shapes of his datapad. Embarrassment singed the back of his neck as silence filled the room. His first instinct was right; this was a silly fantasy, best kept to himself and not shared with someone whose respect he craved like Shepard’s.

He heard her shift and then her hand was under his chin, tilting his head to look up at her. His breath caught in his upper chest when he met her eyes. She’d stood, making her taller than he was from where he was sitting. Her posture was taught, like on the battlefield, yet somehow tempting at the same time. Strength and power radiated from her. A smile hinted in her eyes, but her mouth was set into a stoic line.

“Do you want me to be your queen, Garrus?” she asked in a low voice that shifted like sand under a desert wind.

“Yes.”

One dune after another, the horizon seemed as far now at dusk as it had been at dawn. Always dancing and shifting, no matter how steadfastly the General moved towards it. The glaring suns had beat unrelenting against his helmet all day, scorching his armor and the sand beneath him. But as they slipped beneath the horizon, he finally caught sight of his destination in the far distance. A camp of tents lay in the shadow of the mesa, spotted with torchlight and waving flags of red and black.

A small flurry of alarm kicked up at his approach to the camp, then stilled as he was recognized by the watch. His men greeted him warmly, but the General didn’t slow. He headed straight for the largest tent at the dead middle of the camp, trimmed in gold with two guards at the entrance. Momentum pulled him inside the tent where he finally stopped, removing his helmet and falling to one knee on the sumptuous rug across the floor.

It was scent that whispered of her arrival, more than sound or sight. Cool jasmine with the slight tang of tempered steel drifted towards him, surrounded him, familiar and intoxicating. Then the soft drag of a silk robe across carpet met his ears, followed by her voice, low and calm as a viper.

“You have returned, General Vakarian.”

“Yes, my Queen,” he answered.

“Rise and report.”

He stood and breath caught in his chest as he finally saw her, his Queen. Every time he saw her, it was first her eyes that captivated him, green as a forest and piercing as a dagger. Her waist-length crimson hair was loose, brushed to gleaming over one shoulder, and she was wrapped in a deep blue robe. She appeared unarmed, perhaps even vulnerable to the untrained eye. But he knew her better than that. She was dangerous, yet all the more beguiling for it.

At his prolonged silence, she lifted a single brow and turned to a small table at the opposite side of the tent that bore a pitcher and a few silver goblets. The General opened the bag he’d carried for days now and placed a sealed scroll on the wide table in the center of the room on which a large map was unfurled.

“As you requested, Lord Tulius has been removed. His head decorates the gates to his city.”

She didn’t pause her calm movements, pouring two goblets before turning back to face him. “And?”

“The new Lord has sworn five hundred soldiers when we ride on Gerou next month.”

She neared, jasmine and steel surrounding him once more, but she did not offer the second goblet. “And?”

“And Ardaraka will also be joining with one hundred archers and sending tribute.”

Her mouth remained steady, but an approving light shone in her eyes as she held out the goblet to him. The wordless approval rested on his brow brighter than any crown. He took the goblet carefully, gloved fingers brushing hers for a moment. Never looking away from the other, they both sipped the wine. Spices blossomed on his palette, heady and strong.

“Your work is always exemplary, General,” she said, stepping around him. Her shoulder just brushed his as she passed, burning him through his armor. “But this is to be commended.” She rounded the table and took another thoughtful sip as she sat down in the chair at the head. “Such efforts should not go unrewarded. Tell me what prize you would accept, and it shall be granted to you.”

She was a woman of her word. Up to half her kingdom could be granted to him if he but asked for it. As it was–

“There is only one prize that I desire.”

Her eyes locked to his, gaze as scorching as the suns and twice as rich. Then she set her cup down and relaxed back in the chair, a smile finally playing on her lips.

“Come and claim it then.”

Wasting no precious time, the General shed his gloves and rounded the table to stand before his Queen, eyes boring into hers, smoldering hot enough to catch flame. She offered up her hand, which he took in his, smoothing a thumb over her battle-calloused fingers before pressing a kiss to the knuckles.

“I swear to guard my Queen from harm and, with either my life or my death, ensure her continued dominion,” he whispered, repeating part of the oath he’d taken so many years ago. The solemn vow was carved on his spirit, the ethos of his life from that day onward. He turned her hand over and kissed her palm, then her wrist, feeling her steady pulse on his mouth plates. “Until my Queen releases me, death takes me, or the world ends.”

When he looked back to her face, her lips were slightly opened, eyes wide and utterly enraptured. Deep satisfaction suffused through him at the sight. Glimpses of the woman behind the crown were rare, and he coveted them jealously. For as assuredly he would follow her into death, some naive part of him longed to share her life even more. The awed warmth of her gaze kindled something deep inside him, something precious and pure. Something to be thought of only in the most private of moments and not yet voiced. Perhaps never to be spoken, only shown.

He knelt before her, basking in her rapt attention. With great care, he reached for her ankle, palm sliding up the smooth skin of her calf before stopping at her knee, which he lifted and placed on his shoulder as he moved in closer–submerging himself in jasmine and steel. Pulling her robe open, he found her completely bare underneath save for an encrusted dagger that was wrapped in a holster about her thigh.

He’d given the dagger to her not long after he came into her service. The reminder of how close she kept it on her person still sent a low shudder down his spine. Never unarmed that was his Queen, he mused, subvocals starting to purr. He traced the leather strap first with his fingers, then his mouth plates before drifting upwards and pulling her closer.

This near, her clearest scent filled his lungs–rich as earth, complex and mouth-wateringly bitter. Her thighs resting on his shoulders and his hands on her hips, he stared up at her in both wonder and desire. Her usual stoic front was holding strong for the moment, but he could see something stirring beneath her surface. He held there, waiting for the final permission. She granted it in a silent nod.

Not looking away, he kissed her center, making her eyes flutter shut momentarily. But she quickly regained her composure. It was always a battle with her, a testing of wills–he wouldn’t have it any other way. Determined, he delved deeper, still holding her eyes for as long as he could. Her hand rested at the back of his head, fingers just brushing his most sensitive area as he found hers. The sinews in her neck clenched as he circled and lapped, pushing and teasing her till she yielded for him. It came as his tongue slipped inside her warmth. Her eyes shut, mouth dropped half-open, and her hand on his head clenched, nails biting at his skin. A half-strangled gasp met his ears, sweeter than symphonies, rousing his own desire with its call.

Now it wasn’t a battle, but a crusade. Or perhaps a gauntlet, a test of his mastery of her pleasure. He never wanted to just satisfy her, to just sate her. He wanted to ruin her. To make every other partner pale in comparison. None could eclipse her in his eyes. It felt an honest, if perhaps hopeless, endeavor to strive for the same honor from her.

He pulled away from her, earning a low whimper of protest from his Queen that kicked his subvocals rumbling even lower. But he didn’t move far. His thumb circled over her center, drawing her attention, till he nipped the sensitive inner skin of her thigh. Her hips bucked at change in sensation, muscles rippling under his palms. He apologized with a swipe of his tongue, though he knew it would leave a mark. A reminder of his presence just for her.

Her other hand gripped his shoulder, a burning beacon that she was close to her end. He could retreat now, suffer her temporary wrath, for another valiant run for glory. Some nights, she let him indulge himself, bringing her closer and closer to her edge without letting her fall over. But her hand on the back of his head pulled him back to her center. No, she was not to be toyed with tonight. So he gladly surrendered to her will. Not replacing his finger, he dipped his tongue back inside her.

It took only two coordinated strokes before she fell, shuddering and clenching and gasping. She pulled him so close, curling over him as if to blur the boundaries between his being and hers. Tension shattered through her core, her limbs, stacking to insurmountable heights. Till, like a candle flame, it vanished, leaving only boneless, radiating warmth in its absence.

His Queen dropped against the back of the chair, hands relaxing their grip on him but not moving away. Her chest rose and fell as she struggled to rewrite her composure. Though before she completely succeeded, a blissful smile spread across her lips. He wished he could save it somehow, tuck it away in a cedar box at the bottom of his armory, where it would be safe and cherished as long as he drew breath.

She swallowed and let out a low hum of contentment that settled in the back of his skull. “Commendable, General,” she said, her voice smoky as torch light. “As always.”

“It is my honor, your majesty.”

“Yes, it is.” The corners of her lips tugged in amusement but didn’t spread wide again.

His subvocals rolled with his unquenched thirst, perhaps she could feel them from where his palms slid down her hips. He pulled her silk robe back into place before retreating reluctantly, standing and stepping back from her throne. She offered her hand again, which he happily took and helped her stand.

“Such… valiant effort on behalf of my realm deserves more than one reward, don’t you agree?”

He tipped his head in deference, deep parts of him agreeing with her far more vehemently. “If you wish to honor me more, who am I to deny you?”

She stepped towards him, close but not touching. Jasmine and steel surrounded him again, sending his core muscles clenching. Her chin lifted, tilting her face as if she wished to kiss him. Like a comet, he was pulled helplessly into her orbit. But she did not meet him. She, instead, hovered a hair’s breadth apart. His control shuddered as he held there with his hands clasped behind his back, knuckles paling for the effort.

After several tense seconds, her gaze met his, curiosity and something like satisfaction in her eyes. “You would deny me nothing, would you?”

“Nothing,” he repeated in a fervent whisper. His plates were starting to itch from how close yet far she was. But he refused to move till she gave him leave.

She pulled away yet rewarded his restraint with the backs of her fingers stroking along his scarred mandible. Though he couldn’t help but lean into the touch, brushing a kiss to her knuckles as her hand dropped away. He was only mortal.

“Come.” She offered her hand and led him away from the table. There was a curtained doorway that divided the war room from her sleeping quarters of the tent. She pulled back the thick fabric and stepped inside, inviting him into her most private space.

The room was not overly large, nothing like her chambers back in her fortress. Her armor, spear, and shield were displayed proudly next to the entrance. There was a space for bathing and dressing. A smaller table for her own use tucked in the corner. But the room was dominated by the large bed in the center. Not four postered and curtained like in her ancient estate by the sea, a bedroll made for travel but still strewn with cushions and luxurious enough for royalty. The scent of her hovered in the room like incense. A few candles in the corners were the only source of light, casting soft shadows around the edges of her figure.

Once inside, she didn’t let go of his hand. Instead, her nimble fingers travelled up his arm, removing vambraces and pauldrons with practiced ease. She untied his cuirass from around his carapace, fingertips brushing against his sides, before setting it carefully aside with the other pieces. When strapped with his armor and weapons, he hardly noticed the weight of them anymore. But as she pulled off each piece, breath came easier to him, though he wasn’t sure if it was relief or anticipation that filled his lungs so readily. Every plate of steel gone felt like a skin removed, stripping away the mantle of General to leave behind just him for her.

She went to remove his greaves, moving to kneel before him, when he reflexively stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She shouldn’t– But her eyes snapped up to him, sharp and flinty.

Would you deny me this?

No, he would not. So he pulled his hand back, humbled by the rare view and trying to deny how the unique angle stirred up memories filled with desire.

She pulled off the last of his armor and then rose, her half-smile distracting him from her hand till it dragged up his completely spread plates over his pants. That made him flinch and suck in a sharp breath, sparks leapt onto the crumbling tower of his composure.

“Too much?” she asked in a low voice. His eyes opened to find her looking at him intensely, brows flickering just towards each other.

He shook his head. “Never.”

She repeated the action, but he was ready for her this time. The gentle pressure emanated out through his whole person, making his subvocals sputter and stop for a moment. He was absolutely weeping in his sheath, but she stopped before it became too much.

With just one hand at his waist, the sensation muted from his underclothes but knee-buckling all the same, she urged him to sit on the foot of her bed. He was closer to her face this way, giving him a chance to admire the sharp line of her jaw, how her eyes were inky black haloed with thin green. She was breathtaking on the field and away.

Breaking all contact with him, she edged into the space between his knees, commanding his complete attention without a word. Not letting him look away, she loosened the tie of her robe. It slipped off her shoulders and pooled on the ground, leaving her only in her dagger. He found an anchor in the silk sheets beneath him, talons gripping the fabric for dear life. Her eyes proclaimed proudly that she knew exactly what the sight of all of her was doing to him. His gaze greedily swept over her figure, like a bandit discovering a pirate’s hoard, taking in the exotic curves and admiring the few pale scars. The need to put his hands on her and pull her close scalded his palms. He longed to kiss every freckle that dotted her skin, to hear her gasp his name as he buried himself inside her. She let him admire for a few breathless moments, but twisted the dagger when she lifted her holstered leg to rest her foot on his knee.

“Would you help me, General?” she asked calmly, as if asking for him to bring her the weather reports.

He swallowed, hard. Then again. No, growling subvocals would not allow words she could understand now. So he instead simply obeyed, unwinding the leather strap before pulling it through the buckle. His hands only trembled slightly, but stilled as the steadying weight of the dagger dropped into his palm. He offered it to her, pride shoring him up as he persevered under her visual onslaught.

She took it from him and turned away, long hair tossing over her shoulder and brushing against his face for just a moment. “Would you want some Aephusian Ale?” she asked, sashaying away with a pronounced hip swing that he could not ignore. “I know how much you enjoy it.”

“Of course,” he rumbled, dropping his gaze away from her to gain his bearings more. A few deep breaths cleared his head enough for her return, proffering a dark glass bottle. His attention could not be afforded anywhere but on her as he took a sip, not quite paying attention till the taste registered.

Garrus blinked. “This… this is actually Aephusian Ale,” he said, looking down at the bottle in his hand. It tasted exactly like the drink in the book. Spirits, where had Shepard found this?

“Of course it is,” his Queen said in a low voice, pulling him back in as she stepped closer. “You think I don’t know my best General’s favorite drink?”

He smiled softly up at her. “I am humbled by your attentions,” the General replied.

She moved even closer, nearly touching him now. He could feel the warmth radiating lowly off her skin. It grew stronger as she leaned towards him, head angling once again for a kiss. And like before, she stopped a grain of sand away, though this time a strangled whine snuck up the back of his throat before he quickly cut it off.

A gloating look floated through her eyes. “Your orders are to retreat, General.”

Unsure precisely what she meant, he frowned slightly up at her. She waved her hand and it clicked. It wasn’t graceful, but he moved backwards across the bed, only stopping when the back of his carapace met the cushions already set up to support him. As if to make up for his lack of coordination, his Queen prowled towards him, a hungry look simmering in her eye. Feeling trapped in the very best way, he set aside the ale.

She crawled all the way up to straddle his lap, dropping herself the last inch and expelling a soft groan from his gut at the sudden contact. But it transformed in a low growl as she rocked her hips, rubbing her sodden center over his sheath. His swollen cock begged to be released, trapped by her and his pants, and her steady, eddying pressure was delicious torture. But she was nefarious and brutal, his Queen, and she reminded him of that as her arms wound around his shoulders, fingers trailing up his neck to the skin under his fringe. He could have borne the burden without complaint had she not also dipped her head and finally pressed that craved kiss not to his mouth but to his vulnerable throat.

That finally broke him.

“Please,” he bit out, head dropped back in utter submission. “Please, your majesty.”

She kissed his neck once, twice more, and then bit down. It wasn’t enough to leave a mark through his skin, but his whole body jerked, jostling her and halting her slow grinding. Without any rush, she lifted herself up off his lap to meet his eyes, a palm smoothing down his fringe.

“Yes, General? Is there something you desire?” she asked in that same calm voice.

“You.” His subvocals were shredded with clawing need. “Always you.”

Hands cradling his face, she tilted his head forward enough to press her brow to his in a turian kiss. The simple yet profound gesture blew right through simple carnal desire, landing square in the deep unspeakable truth at his very core. Eyes shut, he pressed up against her as fervently as the angle would allow, letting his subvocals sing with the words he didn’t dare to utter.

She pulled back for a moment, soothing fingers brushing along his mandibles, then leaned back in, lips so close to his mouth. But this time, she whispered, “Kiss me.”

And he did, surging forward to claim her mouth with his. After so much build-up and denial, it rapidly deepened to something needy and demanding. Technique and skill were completely abandoned in favor of pure sensation. He needed her tongue tangled with his, her breath in his lungs. Oh, though it was so blissfully wonderful to taste her again, it was not enough. Nothing less than all of her would suffice.

“Please, my Queen,” he rumbled, tracing his mandible along the smooth line of her jaw. “I need you. Please.”

She kissed him once more, rising up on her knees to break the pressure on his waist and tilt his head back as far as it would go. Her hand rested on his throat, fingertips tracing small circles on either side and pulling uncontrollable shudders from him with every small movement.

“I’m already yours. Take me,” she whispered with a slight smile.

She obviously had not been prepared for his attack as she let out a small cry when he flipped their positions, tossing her back on the bed with as much care as he could muster. It turned into a breathless chuckle as he pulled away just long enough to wrench his trousers off. A deep groan left him as he was finally freed from his sheath, relief sparkling down his spine and numbing the back of his skull.

“Can always count on you to be ready for battle,” she mused.

He had plans to remove his shirt too and possibly say something witty back. But all thoughts were driven from his head as he caught a glimpse of his Queen completely splayed on the bed, dark eyes taking in his figure, her hand sliding down her stomach with obvious intent. He caught it before it reached its destination, pressing another quick kiss to her pulse. She groaned softly at being interrupted.

“I would deny you nothing, your Majesty. But it is my honor to be the only one to please you this evening,” he purred, nipping a kiss to her collarbone.

“Then what are you waiting for?” She sounded annoyed, though there was a telling glimmer in her eyes that spoke otherwise. He lifted one of her legs into the crook of his elbow and leaned forward, just enjoying the low whimpers she made as he rocked through her heat.

“Absolutely nothing.” And he kissed her again as he finally joined with his Queen. Twin groans floated through the air of the tent as he immediately set a deep and thorough pace. Her clenching heat around him demanded his full attention, everything else but her disappeared from his mind. Her tongue tangled with his, and her fingers trailed down his fringe.

He kissed every inch of her skin that he could reach, running his tongue along her throat, nuzzling mandibles across her shoulders. She returned the favor with her own kisses up his neck, though his steady rhythm stuttered when she bit him again. Spirits, she knew him too well. Though he knew her just the same, and so he left his own nips along her collarbones, the base of her neck, anywhere that could be hidden by her armor. The evidence of their love was just for their knowledge.

Her low swears and strangled groans were the sweetest tune he’d ever heard. But he wanted the full symphony. An honest-to-the-gods whimper escaped her throat when he stilled and pulled back. Oh. He’d proudly wear that as a medal of honor on his breast if she could mint it.

“I’m not leaving,” he promised breathlessly. He lifted her hips and slid a cushion underneath, changing the angle of their meeting. “Still good?”

She clenched her inner muscles around him with a smirk.

“Fuck,” he groaned in answer to his own question.

“You have not yet been relieved of duty, Gen–” The end of her word changed into a deep moan as he rocked once, testing the new arrangement on his knees. Holding her open with his grip on her leg, he moved again, enjoying thoroughly watching the collision ripple through her body and hearing the echoes in her voice. Her hands stretched out for him but failed to reach their mark as he pressed the pad of his thumb to her clit, circling in the pattern he knew she liked best. She went fully lax, granting him full command over her pleasure.

“Look at me,” he pleaded, more subvocal than voice. But she obeyed. She demanded his continual gaze with hers, and neither looked away as he drove them steadily to their peak. Her acquiescence to his strategy started to crumble, however, as they drew close. A hand found purchase on his hip, pulling him closer, deeper, More. He eagerly surrendered what advantages distance allowed him in movement for the feeling of tucking his face against her neck.

Her cries abruptly spiked in pitch, and he just managed to catch her mouth with his for one last kiss before she reached bliss. Her body shuddering in his arms, and her slick heat clenching around him finished him off. Gratification shot down his spine, white hot and addictingly pure. He held tight to her, muscles locking as he convulsed once, twice, three times. Then every bit of tension in his body evaporated, all thought reducing to a rich blissfulness, thick enough to float away in.

A five-fingered hand rested on the back of his neck, stroking slowly up and down. Reflexes drunk-slow, he opened his eyes to find his Queen half-beneath him, looking nearly as relaxed as he felt. She caught his eye and a slow smile spread across her face, growing so fond it bubbled up into a low affectionate laugh. He pressed his brow to hers, a hand slipping into her hair, and laughed with her.

The air between them was saturated with the Unspoken. But it could barely be anymore blatantly stated than in his every small kiss upon her cheek. Every adjustment of limbs so they fit together even neater than before. Every slowing breath they shared as more one than two.

Her hand insinuated itself between his tunic and the small of his back, stroking his spine before tugging on the shirt.

“Remove this,” she murmured, eyes half open. “Your Queen demands it.”

“I don’t want to harm you,” he replied lowly, a hand smoothing over her bare hip.

“Do you think I’m as fragile as that?”

He shook his head. “Not fragile… precious.”

That wide eyed, awed look returned to her face, so wholly honest it took his breath away for a moment. Then she moved, crawling over him and kissing him once before pulling him up to sitting. She removed his tunic and then wrapped him in a long hug. The steady presence of her skin on his was centering in a way he couldn’t quite describe. The world, the galaxy fell into balanced order every time.

He hummed as she kissed his neck, slowly, luxuriously. Desire stirring slightly with the delicate attentions. She made her way leisurely up the length, pressing a final kiss to the side of his head then whispering, “You are so precious to me.”

His breath caught in his chest, but she didn’t pull away. More kisses made their way down his mandible then meeting his mouth in gentle caresses. She cradled his head in her arms, a hand brushing down his fringe.

“I don’t know where I’d be without you.” The look in her eyes was so fervently honest, he couldn’t do anything but stare up at her. The lines between Shepard and his Queen blurring till he wasn’t sure which one continued speaking. “I owe you my life more times over than I can ever repay. I never want to know what life is like without you at my side.”

His hands slid up her spine to pull her down for another kiss, adamant and just shy of bruising. “You’ll never have to know,” he swore to her, brow pressed to hers. “Not while it’s in my power. You’ll never know.”

She nodded and kissed him again, her breath shaking for reasons unrelated to the need in his touch. Her hands roved his body, finger tips slipping between plates, palms over his waist, while her mouth stayed steady on his. But there was no teasing in her touch this time, just devotion so pure it humbled him to receive it.

“Let me show you,” she whispered before kissing him deeply. “Please.”

He nodded, and her kisses drifted down his neck, across his cowl and down his carapace. Every muscle in his body clenched as he finally realized her intention. She stopped and looked up at him, but he was already nodding when her gaze met his. It turned warm and fond, and she settled on her stomach between his legs, pressing a chaste kiss to his hip.

He hadn’t reemerged from his sheath yet, though his plates were still fully relaxed. However, as she started drawing slow designs with her fingertips across his waist, he could already feel the efficacy in her small gestures. The sight of her was transfixing, hypnotic. Every puff of warm breath across his most sensitive skin electrified him.

As she kissed him, an unstoppable moan dropped from his mouth. She smiled up at him and kept at her work, persistent and skilled. Every time after, he swore to himself that he’d exaggerated in his memory how good her mouth felt on him. And every time, she proved him wrong. It took no time at all till he slid out and directly into her waiting mouth. It was so perfect, it seared.

“Shepard,” he moaned, talons gripping the bed underneath him for dear life. She pulled back, giving him a break from the onslaught.

“Too much?” she asked. He looked down and nearly moaned again, shuddering instead. A slight blush had formed over her cheeks, and her hand was resting loosely at his base.

“You have ruined me… for anyone but you… my Queen,” he said in reply.

She smirked. “Good.” You’re mine. And she approached again less directly, slight kisses, gentle passes with her tongue. He willfully surrendered to her, focusing on her touch, her presence.

It always felt an honor to receive such… attention from one such as her. But right now, it felt more a gesture of trust. She could trust him to give her only what she desired. And whole-heartedly, he felt the very same. Her moaning while his length buried as deep as she could take him nearly brought him to his metaphorical knees. He’d follow her anywhere, even to his own blissful end, which she seemed very determined to deliver him to. But perhaps–

He rested a hand on her shoulder, whining at both the sight and feel of her soft mouth sliding up his length. It made his thoughts scatter like sand under a gale wind.

“Together,” he managed, swallowing hard to try and control his roiling subvocals. “I want… together. Please?”

She smiled and kissed his tip, sending one last jolt through his system, before retreating. “Since you asked so nicely.”

He had to literally shake sense back into his head before he could move from where she’d left him. “Come here,” he said, shifting up to his knees and stumbling forward for the effort.

“You alright?” Her voice bobbed in amusement.

“Like I said, you ruined me.” He took her hand and pulled her close, kissing her once, then again for good measure. Then he moved behind her, pulling her back to his front.

“Oh,” she said slowly as he rocked between her thighs. His subvocals sang in agreement. She smelled so good–salt and jasmine and them. She was so warm already. The thought that pleasuring him ignited her in the best way burned up the last of his patience.

He pulled her hair aside and nibbled a kiss to her neck. “I want you,” he breathed against her ear.

“Please,” she whispered back. She guided him inside her, both of them letting out a long slow breath at their joining. His hands roved her body, smoothing across hips and circling her breasts, as he encouraged her to sit back into his lap. They weren’t joined as deeply as before, but this angle always brushed against her most sensitive places with the slightest of movement. An advantage he exploited to immediate benefits.

Rocking together felt more natural than breathing. Her hands intertwined with his, pressing one down between her legs and the other to her breast. He gave her the pressure she desired gladly and continued whispering a low growl in her ear.

“You don’t understand how thoroughly you have ruined me for anyone that isn’t you. I couldn’t want my own kind anymore even if I tried.”

She answered with a wordless cry, her spine undulating in a way that should have been physically impossible and was so alluringly easy for her. Still he kept up the rhythm, subvocals purring at how perfect she felt against him, around him.

“How could anyone measure up after I’ve had you? My Queen… my Commander.”

She shuddered and moaned, a hand reaching back to grip his neck. “Your voice–Gar–General–”

“That’s it, my Queen. Focus on me and let go.” He let loose a subvocal rumble loud enough that she had to hear it. Her answering cry echoed around the tent.

They hadn’t been particularly quiet up to this point, and their involvement was a poorly kept secret. Still, the thought of any guard just outside hearing her right now, knowing what she sounded like in rapture. He caught her mouth with his, swallowing her cry and turning it to whimpers.

“No one but me gets to hear you like this tonight.”

“Yes, Garrus.”

The sound of his real name pleaded so desperately shot straight to his core, immediately imploding. He pressed his brow to hers and circled his fingers on her clit, making her kiss him again to moan in response.

“Garrus–General. General, please. I–”

“I’m here. I’ll always be right here,” he vowed solemnly, meaning it as truly as the Unspoken.

She sobbed, the hand on his neck sliding up to scrape dull nails across the skin under his fringe. He throbbed inside her, his own release having snuck up on him in his focus on her.

“With me?” she asked, her voice tight and desperate.

“Always.”

And with a kiss they fell over the edge together.

It was several minutes later that Garrus opened his eyes to a world made entirely of red hair. The two of them had simply slipped sideways on the bed, still intertwined with each other. Shepard before him was breathing steadily, slowly.

He pressed a kiss to the back of her head. “You alright?”

She nodded. “I need a quick break though,” she said, her words slurring slightly.

“Me too.” He pulled away enough to turn her onto her back and stretched out next to her. For a few minutes, he just admired her face, fingers combing through her hair till it laid flat on the bed.

“How did you make it so much longer?” he asked quietly.

She reached up into her hair and something snapped, then a section of the long hair came out.

“That’s… not yours?” he asked, more than a little bewildered.

“Well, it’s mine in that I own it. But I didn’t grow this hair, no.” She repeated the process a few more times, removing all the pieces from her scalp till just her usual shoulder length hair remained.

“That’s… disturbing.”

“I wanted to be authentic,” she replied with a shrug. “You liked it till you knew.”

He grunted, not wanting to agree, and reached for his long-abandoned bottle. “Speaking of authentic, how did you find actual Aephusian Ale in the middle of a war?”

She turned to her stomach and grinned. “You can find many things when you’re as powerful a queen as I am.”

He laughed and took a sip, savoring the unique flavors of the brew. “Do you want your mead? It’s back on the desk.”

“Yeah, I’ll get it.” She rolled away and hopped up the stairs to her office. He couldn’t help but admire how her curves were highlighted in the low glow from the fishtank and the one candle they’d dared on the coffee table. A slow smile spread across her face when she noticed him staring on her return.

“See something you like?” she purred, kneeling down next to him.

He wrapped an arm around her waist. “I see many things I like.”

She chuckled and sipped her drink, a hand idly stroking along his fringe. A turian could die happy like this, he thought, drinking his ale.

“Anything I can do different?” she asked after a minute. “Should the Queen be more aloof?”

He looked up at her and shook his head. “You’re perfect.”

Her slow smile returned. “You make a damn fine General, Vakarian.”

He chuckled. “Anything for my Queen.” Her smile changed to something more coy, nearly shy. Then he realized– “You like being my Queen, don’t you?”

A pink tint spread across the tops of her cheeks as she refused to look at him, taking another long sip instead. He set his ale down on the floor and sat up to nuzzle a kiss to her neck.

“It’s not so strange, is it?” She let him take her cup away as she continued speaking. “To like having the man you love promise devotion and loyalty… even if it’s just a story?”

He held her hands in his and pressed his forehead to hers, subvocals humming the Unspoken once more. “It’s not all a story,” he whispered. Her eyes opened to meet his. “You know that already, right?”

“Yes. I do.”

“Good.” Not looking away, he pushed her back on the bed and laid down at her side. They found the fit between themselves, arms wrapped around each other. He rested his brow against hers again, eyes shut. “I swear to guard my Commander from harm… and, with either my life or my death, ensure the success of her mission,” he promised in a low voice.

“I love you too,” she whispered back.

When he opened his eyes, they were back in the tent. Jasmine and tempered steel drifted on the soft desert wind. But it was Shepard–his Shepard–who laid in the bed with him. All the tragedies and horrors of their real lives left behind, even if only for a few minutes. Her warm regard shone out through her eyes, not held back but freely offered.

They pulled closer still. Her arms slipped up around his neck, and he lifted her leg over his waist. He kissed her like that for a long while, brushing mandibles over her cheeks to match her movements best he could. No words spoken, but none needed. Just the tempo of her breath told him everything he needed to know.

Slowly yet steadily, they came together. He held her eyes as long as he could, watching every slight expression in her eyes. They were so different, the two of them. And yet he never felt more understood, more Known, than he did when he was with her. She pressed his brow to hers, mouth moving with unspoken words that he felt deeper than his bones. They were unhurried, confident in their destination yet nearly satisfied to never arrive. Following the other in a dance they knew and loved so well at this point. A dance that Garrus quietly hoped would continue for the rest of their long, long lives till they could be buried in each other’s gaze.

Shepard pulled closer still at the end, tucking her face against his neck and tensing before a long shudder ran through her core. A quiet echo of response answered from his center, filling any remaining air between them with a gentle warmth.

They were both quiet for several minutes, still wrapped completely around the other. If he had just a touch less self-control, Garrus might have been content to drift off to sleep just like that. But the evening, while thoroughly enjoyable, had made a bit of a mess.

“We should clean up,” he said quietly, without moving.

“Yes,” came the eventual reply from the area below his chin.

“...We have to move to do that.”

“You move. I’m too fucked to move.”

That made him chuckle and he pulled away, rolling up to standing next to the bed. Shepard groaned and made a weak attempt to pull him back, hand flopping against the bed.

“Well if you can’t walk, let me carry you then, your magnificence, to the royal baths.”

She laughed as he lifted her from the bed and whisked her off to the bathroom. They both grunted as the bright light flipped on when they entered. But the steaming water from the shower soon soothed any sting.

Shepard eventually got down, but still stayed within his arms, very content to let him wash her hair and rub sore muscles. He felt much the same as she returned the favor, cleaning him with a dedicated care that quieted his mind.

“Is there anything like this?” she mused as she shut the water off.

Garrus reached for a towel. “Hm?”

“In the book. Do the General and Queen do anything like this?”

“Oh.” He wrapped the towel around her shoulders as he thought. “There is a scene in a hot spring that’s pretty famous.”

She smiled and wrung out her hair. “Mm. I like hot springs.”

“Me too.”

They fell into the quiet routine of sleep, the late hour finally catching up to both of them. Shepard didn’t speak again till she eased into the bed next to him, under freshly changed sheets.

“So what happens?” she asked as he looped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. “In the book, how does it end?”

He stared at her for a long moment and then answered honestly, grimly. “She sacrifices herself for the good of her people. And though he carries on, he never loves another. How could he?”

Her warm expression dimmed. “That’s… disappointing.”

“That’s turian romance.”

She shook her head and adjusted her fit in his arms, tucking an ankle into his spur. “Let’s change it. She… goes to sacrifice herself for the good of the people. But… he gets there in the nick of time, like always. And together… they win. Go on to have many more adventures and found the new turian empire.”

He smiled and threaded a hand into her hair, eyes drifting shut. “Much better.”

taglist: @me-fish ; @seleenermparis-blog ; @kelenloth ; @ferociousqueak

[apparitionism]

Why 2

To @mysensitiveside , I promise I’m working on completing your gift with all due speed and conviction, and to prove it, here is another small piece of the tale. I’m getting closer to the end (in increments), close and closer. And, speaking of close and closer, you’ll find that Myka and Helena are too... this picks up right where part 1 of this AU tale left off, with Myka hoping in a park.

Why 2

Myka scanned the park. She told herself—and yet tried not to tell herself—that if she had to walk alone this week, that would be a definitive sign. Clarity: they weren’t coming back.

“You aren’t a walker,” she said aloud. You weren’t a walker, hope reprimanded.

Could she resign herself to continuing to perform this signifying ritual?

As she began walking, the answer became clear... yes. She could, and she would, and walking wasn’t much, as far as rituals went, but it beat going home at midday for a solitary sandwich. No one was going to appear in her apartment, regardless of how much faith she manifested. In a park, though, anything could happen.

Anything could happen... but nothing did happen, not that day, other than an extremely unsociable walk.

Nothing happened the next week either, other than her developing an annoying in-the-moment habit of counting her steps in her head. It distorted the time, focusing it, bending. How long did one hundred feel? One thousand? How long did each of these interminable waiting weeks feel?

Myka seriously considered not going the next weekend, hope aside. Wintry, overcast mid-February Saturdays were made for staying indoors, weren’t they? Staying indoors and getting reacquainted with your not-a-walker self.

Still: hope.

She couldn’t, in the end, reckon with reverting to that self. Doing so seemed not just unhopeful, but cowardly. So she went to the park—unfortunately forgetting her gloves, but she leaned into the cold: perversely welcoming it, marking and measuring the slow leach of feeling from her hands. If I’m going to do this, I’m going to DO THIS. She walked for longer than she ever had, freezing, freezing, as if she were a medieval monk who knew in his soul-bones that the only sure path to rewards in heaven was suffering on earth and he was by God and everything else going to make that torment happen.

And maybe it was because of the cold, or her willingness to endure it, or her having at last given up any idea of giving up... but she saw first a figure that resolved, as it approached, into a woman in a long, dark coat, one that rhymed with long-dark hair. Then Myka’s eyes dropped to behold a trotting, fuzzed blur of canine, and she wanted to bark, bark and bark and bark and bark, but instead she walked, with steps as measured as she could manage, toward them.

As they neared, Myka couldn’t bring herself to look directly at Helena, lest she betray something inappropriate—something Helena might experience as dangerous—so she knelt in front of the dog who was not Leuko, but Monty. She’d been schooling herself, as far as she was able, to ensure that if she ever got the chance again, she would call him by his real name. And she did say then, out loud, “Monty.” She was now grateful for having forgotten her gloves, for being able to warm her hands against and within his coat. He snugged his body up against her bent legs, and Myka was reborn. If this was the extent of the reward she received, as a result of her ritual walks? Not enough... but enough.

From above: “You haven’t called him that before,” said the softer, now-familiar version of the voice that had rung out so loud, so many weeks ago. Myka didn’t know what to say, other than “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry as well” were the next words out of Helena’s mouth.

“For?” Myka asked, still not looking up.

She was terrified that Helena would say, very politely, that she was sorry to report that this was the end, that the walks would really truly be over, that she couldn’t continue to do this pointless, purposeless thing. Because what if hope was, after all, a zero-sum game? Helena had got her Monty back; her hope had been rewarded. Someone else’s hope would then need to be frustrated. Zero-sum.

“Let’s walk,” Helena said.

They did. Slowly, though—even not-Leuko-but-Monty now seemed subdued, in the cold fold of this day. Quietly but insistently, Myka’s fingers began to numb again.

“I haven’t told you what happened with Sam,” Helena said at last. Slow. As if she too were measuring, marking.

“You shouldn’t have to,” Myka said.

“I don’t want to.”

“Then don’t. Let’s just walk. Or I could tell you about leukotrienes. They’re inflammatory communicators, and the most important thing to know is—”

“But I need to.”

“Okay,” Myka said, bracing herself.

“Because these past Saturdays. I’ve been rethinking.”

Would she sound as inscrutable if she didn’t have an English accent? “You have?” Myka asked, but she couldn’t bring herself to add “Rethinking what?”

“You named Monty for a peptide. I found that... moving.”

That didn’t seem like rethinking. “You shouldn’t,” Myka said. “It’s just a peptide. I liked the way it sounded.” She shrugged. “It should have been a pretty peptide.”

Helena tilted her head in a way Myka hadn’t been privileged to observe before. “Are there pretty peptides?”

“That depends on whom you ask,” Myka told her, because it was the truth.

“I suppose the same could be said about what happened.”

“No,” Myka said, involuntarily. Because that could not be the truth.

“If you were to ask him,” Helena said, as cold as the day, “he would most likely say I was insufficiently responsive to his advances.”

“I would rather ask you.”

“I failed to protect Monty from the consequences of my being perceived as insufficiently responsive to his advances.” Still cold. Away from what had happened, but also away from the here and now.

Trying to bring her to now, to give at least a little warmth, Myka said, “If I’d known, I would have stolen him from Sam. And brought him that minute back to you.”

“I know. I genuinely do know.” A thaw, of sorts. “Monty does too.”

Myka looked at not-Leuko-but-Monty. Even on this heavy day, the sight lightened her. The photo of him on her phone, which she had resisted making her home screen but had pulled up a vast number of times, did him insufficient justice. “The only thing I genuinely know is that he’s so pretty. Abigail said it, when she first saw a picture of him, and I know you know, and of course there’s Elizabeth Taylor, but he really is just so pretty.”

They walked, step after cold step along the path. Then: “So are you,” Helena said.

Did she mean it? That was... well, “disconcerting” was too weak a word. “No, no,” Myka strained to clarify, “that’s what I’ve been thinking about you.” That was not what she’d intended to say. Fix it, fix it. “I mean, you and he are more suited.” That was better. “More than he and I ever were. Ever could have been.” Straining to prove that she knew what was real: that not-Leuko-but-Monty did belong, completely, with Helena. And that neither of them should ever have had to suffer the loss of the other.

Helena said, “I’d like to imagine I’m even more suited to Elizabeth Taylor.” It was sweet, even playful, and Myka ached, even as Elizabeth Taylor’s brother turned a “really?” gaze on Helena. “Don’t start,” she told him, then said to Myka, “but you’re changing the subject.”

“Am I?” But of course she was, because what Helena said made no sense. In a new, even more unparseable way than usual, it made no sense.

Helena took pity on her, as far as subject changes went. “I told you I was sorry,” she said.

“What are you sorry for?” Because now, certainly: never and nothing. Myka would not burden Helena. Obligation, trouble—no, no, no.

“For taking time without explanation. It was inconsiderate. But I wanted to make sure I wasn’t confused. About... anything.”

At that, Myka laughed. “Why would you ever apologize for not wanting to be confused? My entire life I’ve been trying to get clarity on just about everything. And of course speaking of not being clear, I thought your dog was mine, which had to be the most—”

But then, astonishingly, she was being kissed, cold lips to cold lips. A touch, a press, a dreamy linger.

Had she known that such a thing would be perfection? Possibly, in her secret heart, but now here it was—outside that secret—in the world and real, soft, pretty; softer and prettier even than Leuko, or Monty, or whatever his name was in her head now, because nothing was making any sense at all, and “I’m sorry,” she now felt she ought to tell him, but it was true, the soft, the pretty, the unprecedented: Helena was kissing her, and she was kissing back, warm against the cold, warm because of the cold, warm never mind the cold, because this was at last what Myka had never imagined understanding as something that could banish forever any cold.

As they broke apart, Myka held her breath—that kiss had unrolled for her the full map of her wants, but how had Helena meant it? Had Myka made a mistake by responding? It might have been an “are you like Sam” test, and if she had failed...

Helena held her eyes closed for a moment, prolonging Myka’s agony. Then she opened her eyes. She smiled and said, “The first night of the Westminster Kennel Club dog show is three days from now. Would you like to watch it with me?”

How many times could Myka be reborn in the space of one walk? “Yes,” she said, immediately.

“I can’t promise you Shelley Winters.”

Was that supposed to have changed her answer? Myka, still in the dazzle of the kiss, said, “I don’t even know what the whatever you called it dog show is.” She suspected she would live from now on the dazzle of that kiss.

“The things you will learn,” Helena said. “Isn’t that right, Monty?”

He was sitting, waiting. And then, with a look back and up at both of them, he pulled strongly against the leash, conveying that whatever their putatively compelling interaction had been, it had caused them to neglect their obligation to attend to him in a correct manner.

The rest of the walk was a joy, during which they did so attend—although, admittedly, Myka did that while shooting different, newly attentive glances in Helena’s direction. And while catching Helena’s eyes darting toward her in what seemed, so miraculously, to be the same way.

TBC

[nyfacurrent]

Business of Art | Literary Submissions 101

Top tips for getting your work seen by editors and publishers.

When it comes to getting your work published, writing is only half of the job. Submitting your work to publications is also a big part of being a writer, and it requires some strategizing. Not sure where to begin? We compiled a series of tips from previous NYFA Current articles, plus updated best practices, and some very helpful advice from former #ArtistHotline guest chat participants Elisa Gabbert and Lincoln Michel. So take a deep breath, gather your courage, and take note of the tips below before starting to submit your work!

Step 1 - Doing the Research

It might sound obvious, but we will say it one more time for the people in the back: you must read and familiarize yourself with the publications you’re considering sending your work to. What kind of work do they typically publish? Do any of their published works stand out to you? Who is their audience? When do they usually have open calls? 

If you’re not sure how to begin this research, a good place to start is by following the steps of your main inspirations. Where have they published before? Have they written about their process anywhere? Do they talk about it in interviews? Interact with them on social media, but don’t expect them to take you by the hand and answer all of your questions, especially if unsolicited. Every now and then writers will feel like engaging on Instagram or Twitter, either creating threads or soliciting questions. Take advantage of these moments, but don’t be invasive. You can also follow hashtags like #pubtip and #querytip, used by writers, agents, and editors to share snippets of advice for aspiring writers. Another great way to understand where your heroes currently are and how they got there, is by reading the “Thank Yous” and “Acknowledgments” in their publications. 

Step 2 - Getting Organized

Step number one means you’ll collect a lot of information, which can quickly become unparsable. Before that happens, we suggest preparing a spreadsheet where you can organize all the publications you believe are a good match. Here’s a sample spreadsheet with some basic information you should have on hand for tracking your submissions. You might have to submit several times before getting a yes (and that’s totally normal), so make sure to track your “yes” and “no” responses and feedback received (if any) for future applications.

Feeling overwhelmed? Prioritize your submissions. What is your dream venue? If it’s a super-selective place, they’ll probably require a more extensive publication history. Focus on building this history first, perhaps applying to smaller names in the industry, and then aiming for the powerhouses. The most important thing here is to make sure this process doesn’t compromise your writing time. Here are a few tips on how to balance your time between submitting work and making it. 

Step 3 - Selecting Materials

Your “favorite-ever-thing-you-have-ever-written” is probably great, but it still might not be the best fit for a particular open call. When choosing what materials to send out, ask yourself the following question: does this work fit seamlessly with the other stories, essays, or poems this platform typically publishes? Choose objectively.

Along with your writing, open calls may ask for other supporting materials. The main one, and arguably, the most feared, is the cover letter. According to Lincoln Michel, writers don’t need to worry so much about them, focusing on keeping them short, direct, and simple. It's still important to know who you’re writing to, though. Show you did your research by matching the style of the publishing venue, Elisa Gabbert advises. CVs, references, and bios are other common files requested. Learn how to prepare them with these older, but golden tips from BinderCon. In terms of design, err on the side of cleanliness. Stick to the basics unless formatting is a big part of your text (for example, if you’re writing concrete poetry). 

Last but not least, follow the guidelines! Remember, one very important thing must happen before an editor even gets to read your submission: you must make it out of the slush pile. Due to competitiveness or likely lack of time on the side of jurors, you might receive a rejection simply because you did not follow simple rules like sticking to the word count or labeling your files correctly. 

Step 4 - Dealing with the Nos

Rejection is normal and does not necessarily mean your work is not good enough. Maybe your manuscript got lost in the slush pile—it happens to the best of us—or maybe it was not a good fit for the platform at that particular moment. 

Use rejections as a teachable moment. Ask for feedback if possible, but don’t be offended if editors are not able to answer. If you do get a response, don’t feel pressured to internalize all critiques or to revamp your work completely. Know your writing and your value as a writer so you can process useful commentary and disregard the rest. Follow the advice of Gabbert and develop a network of trusted peers (folks in the industry, friends) that can be your beta-readers and be ready to accept and learn from honest criticism. 

- Luiza Teixeira-Vesey, Designer/Marketing Officer

This article draws inspiration from #ArtistHotline, an initiative dedicated to creating an ongoing online conversation around the professional side of artistic practice. Our goal is to help artists discover the resources needed, online and off, to develop sustainable careers. You can follow NYFA at @nyfacurrent​ on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Find Elisa Gabbert and Lincoln Michel tweeting at @egabbert and @TheLincoln.

Have an arts career question? You can contact NYFA staff directly by emailing source@nyfa.org.

Image: Gil Avineri (Fellow in Printmaking/Drawing/Book Arts Fellow ’14); Ghastly Spread Between; 2009; color pencil, ink, acrylic, photo,collage on paper

[redshiftsinger]

Also in this modern day of shitty autocorrect, who among us has not typed something completely correctly only to have autocorrect fucking change it on them?

Mine loves to swap my its for it's ("proper grammar": "its" is when something belongs to the "it" you're referring to, eg, the baby put a toy in its mouth. "It's" is the contraction form of "it is", eg, it's in the baby's mouth. Is this confusing to people who learned that you use an apostrophe and s to indicate possessives in English, because it's the ONE STUPID EXCEPTION where you do a possessive without an apostrophe? YES IT ABSOLUTELY IS FUCKING CONFUSING. English is three pidgins in a trenchcoat, I'm sorry).

It also chronically thinks I'm trying to talk about orioles every time I even SLIGHTLY misspell "people". Autocorrect is dumb as rocks and it makes things worse half the time.

Getting weird at typos or "improper grammar" when it might in fact be an autocorrect artifact is simply unnecessary and rude as fuck, even aside from the ways in which it's racist, classist, and ableist.

And I'm saying this as a former obnoxious commafucker, reformed to no longer be a smug twerp about it to others but still very much both knowing the Official Rules and being annoyed with myself when I fuck 'em up if it's not deliberate for Internet Syntax reasons: grow the hell up. If you understood the meaning, then communication has occurred, which is the point of language. If you didn't understand the meaning because errors rendered the message unparseable, you can ask nicely for clarification. Being a pedant makes no one like you.

So, to make a non-antagonistic post.

The idea that proper spelling and needing to have perfect grammar is a prerequisite to having a point or argument or is somehow inherintly better is ableist

The point of language is communication of thoughts and ideas. If there is confusion, ask for clarification. If there is no confusion, great you got it!

Its really that simple

[the-grendel-khan]

More Census data and density.

Continuing to dive into the Census data, I've extended the dataset to go back to 1990, and I've gotten two reasonably good visualizations.

This is a histogram of population. Think of the shaded mass as the actual people; there will be more shaded area as there are more people; they're arranged at different parts of the chart. It's very clear that very dense (over ten thousand a square mile) places didn't grow at all in those twenty years, nor did the countryside empty out. Rather, new people all went to the same moderately-dense set of places. (The purple parts grew from 1990-2000; the red ones grew from 2000-2010.)

This is an empirical cumulative distribution function, essentially the integral of the histogram. (You can get the derivative of this, essentially an empirical density function, substituting geom_density for stat_ecdf.) 1990 is green, 2000 blue, 2010 red, as noted. The vertical lines are, respectively, the second, tenth, twenty-fifth, fiftieth, seventy-fifth and ninetieth percentiles for density, reproduced in awful ASCII table form here because Tumblr's Markdown support is apparently awful:

. | 2% | 10% | 25% | 50% | 75% | 90% -----|------|------|-----|------|------|------- 1990 | 10.6 | 46.9 | 262 | 1998 | 5344 | 11239 2000 | 11.9 | 53.6 | 289 | 2060 | 5368 | 11199 2010 | 12.6 | 62.4 | 364 | 2120 | 5182 | 10591

The result: there's been a move toward the middle. We're much less rural, and we're slightly less super-urban as well. Note that the demand for dense walkability is quite strong, especially as reflected in housing prices.

Following the cut: as much information as I'd need to reconstruct this from scratch myself.

Getting the 2000 and 2010 data in comparable form was pretty straightforward. The 2010 data is in a file called DEC_10_SF1_GCTPH1.CY07.csv, available here.

Luckily, it's possible to attach multiple datasets to a single plot; ggplot2 is very flexible in that way. The field names are a bit different, too. So, here's the two-census plot:

ggplot(NULL) + geom_histogram( data = populated, aes(HC08, weight = HC01), fill = 'blue', binwidth = 0.02, alpha = 0.5 ) + geom_histogram( data = populated10, aes(SUBHD0401, weight = HD01), fill = "red", binwidth = 0.02, alpha = 0.5 ) + scale_x_log10( "Density (persons/square mile)", labels = scales::comma, breaks = c(1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000) ) + scale_y_continuous(name = "Population") + theme_economist() + theme(axis.text.y = element_blank()) + ggtitle("United States Population by Density, 2000-2010")

Is it possible to get the 1990 data? The complete partitioning of the United States into Census tracts was only completed in 2000; in 1990, all counties were partitioned into tracts or "block numbering areas" which seem comparable; before that, breaking down data below the city level was pretty much ad-hoc.

The selected data page for the 1990 census includes, as its last item, "State by state files from Tables 1 and 19 of the 1990 Census of Population and Housing: Population and Housing Characteristics for Census Tracts and Block Numbering Areas (CPH-3) report." The link is dead, but the Wayback Machine points to the right place! There are fifty-three PDF files, each of which looks like a simple table, printed out. (Luckily, no OCR is necessary here. Whew!) poppler-utils has a simple utility to convert PDF to text.

All lines with actual data in them have a five-digit county code somewhere in the line. Note that there are spaces in some county names, but it looks like the fields are all delimited by at least two spaces. So...

$ pdftotext -layout AL.pdf - |grep "[[:digit:]]\{5\}"|sed 's/\s\{2,\}/,/g'|head -1 01001,Autauga,201,1773,3.78,184,9.9

We also need to add one more row at the top, for the headers (tract numbers look like 123.02; BNA IDs look to be four-digit codes above nine thousand):

StCou,CountyName,TractBNA,Population,Area,PovertyCount,PovertyPercent

(I'm not looking for data about poverty, but this is what I could find.) Note that because of space-parsing issues, I had to collapse spaces between numbers, between letters and numbers, but not between letters, hence the Perl. (Not sure why the repeat of the last bit is required.)

$ echo 'StCou,CountyName,TractBNA,Population,Area,PovertyCount,PovertyPercent' > Census1990.csv $ for x in *.pdf; do pdftotext -layout $x - \ | grep "[[:digit:]]\{5\}" \ | perl -pe 's/([a-z.])\s+([0-9])/\1,\2/g; s/([0-9])\s+([A-Za-z])/\1,\2/g; s/([0-9])\s+([0-9])/\1,\2/g; s/([0-9])\s+([0-9])/\1,\2/g' >> Census1990.csv; done

At this point, there are twenty-four unparseable rows, which I guess I'm going to have to deal with. And note that the numbers don't quite add up; the total population is 252M, when it should be 249M; the area is 3.6M square miles, where it should be 3.8M.

> sum(census90$Population, na.rm=T) [1] 252191384 > sum(census90$Area, na.rm=T) [1] 3564912

Tidy the data:

census90[census90$Area == 0,]$Area = 0.01 populated90 <- na.omit(census90[census90$Population > 0,]) populated90$Density = populated90$Population / populated90$Area

And here's the full code for the histogram:

ggplot(NULL) + geom_histogram( data = populated90, aes(Density, weight = Population), fill = 'dark green', binwidth = 0.02, alpha = 0.8 ) + geom_histogram( data = populated, aes(HC08, weight = HC01), fill = 'blue', binwidth = 0.02, alpha = 0.33 ) + geom_histogram( data = populated10, aes(SUBHD0401, weight = HD01), fill = "red", binwidth = 0.02, alpha = 0.33 ) + scale_x_log10( "Density (persons/square mile)", labels = scales::comma, limits = c(0.1, NA), breaks = c(1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000) ) + scale_y_continuous(name = "Population") + theme_economist() + theme(axis.text.y = element_blank()) + ggtitle("United States Population by Density, 1990-2010")

For the empirical CDFs, replace geom_histogram with stat_ecdf, which is easy enough. But seeing how the percentiles move is less simple. The quantile function does the right thing for plain data, but this is weighted--not all census blocks contain the same number of people. (We'd just get the nth percentile of census blocks, not of people.) Luckily, there's a wtd.quantile function in the reldist package that does the right thing. Sanity-checked:

> library(reldist) > wtd.quantile(populated90$Density, weight=populated90$Population, q=0.5) 50% 1998.271 > sum(populated90[populated90$Density < 1998,]$Population) / sum(populated90$Population) [1] 0.499948

Compare to the naive approach, biased low because of a large number of low-population rural tracts:

> quantile(populated90$Density, probs=0.5) 50% 1854.299 > sum(populated90[populated90$Density < 1854,]$Population) / sum(populated90$Population) [1] 0.4851802

I could not get a key to show up on the graph itself, likely because the main ggplot call is empty, but even adding a year variable to each of the tables didn't quite seem to work.

probs = c(0.02, 0.10,0.25,0.5,0.75,0.9) ggplot(NULL) + stat_ecdf( data = populated90, aes(Density, weight = Population), color = 'dark green', ) + stat_ecdf( data = populated, aes(HC08, weight = HC01), color = 'blue', ) + stat_ecdf( data = populated10, aes(SUBHD0401, weight = HD01), color = "red", ) + geom_vline( aes(xintercept=wtd.quantile( populated90$Density, weight=populated90$Population, q=probs)), color="dark green", linetype="dashed", ) + geom_vline( aes(xintercept=wtd.quantile( populated$HC08, weight=populated$HC01, q=probs)), color="blue", linetype="dashed", ) + geom_vline( aes(xintercept=wtd.quantile( populated10$SUBHD0401, weight=populated10$HD01, q=probs)), color="red", linetype="dashed", ) + scale_x_log10( "Density (persons/square mile)", labels = scales::comma, limits = c(0.1, NA), breaks = c(1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000, 100000) ) + scale_y_continuous(name = "GREEN=1990, BLUE=2000, RED=2010") + theme_economist() + theme(axis.text.y = element_blank()) + ggtitle("United States Population by Density, 1990-2010")

For more thorough information, the National Historic Geographic Information System contains tract-level data going back as far as tracts existed, but so far as I can tell, you have to do some magic with shapefiles to get the area of each tract. It might be worth trying to dive into at some point.

For similar work done elsewhere, see here; this compares the per-state density with per-county density. (Fun quote: "It would be even better to do this for smaller areas, such as census tracts, but we were too lazy to chase down the data." Ha. This seems analogous to the coastline paradox, though at least humans are discrete rather than continuous.) Possible future work: examine how density varies at the state, county and tract levels, for each state.

[ghostphilia]

DP x Fallout Crossover: Ch 2

Chapter 1 here

Nora Taylor used to practice law before all this. She hadn’t been in the game in a while, but she was going to come back after Shaun’s birth. She was going to defend the rights of the people in a country that kept trampling them by selling the individual to corporations and using war as an excuse. She was going to make a change in society, and she was going to protect the weak, and she was going to raise a beautiful, smart, young boy with Nate, the love of her life. Yeah right.

She couldn’t help but let a loud laugh course through her whole body as she went through her thoughts, standing at the edge of the glowing sea. Nick Valentine was beside her, silent and eyeing her thoroughly, but not looking an inch more surprised than usual. He was used to Nora’s chagrin. He wasn’t quite as human as everyone else around him, but he would have eaten his mangled Stetson hat if he didn’t know Nora like the back of his trench coat by now. The lass had increasingly become more and more haunting since the day she had first stepped foot in his office with an impossible request. He couldn’t even fathom what kind of mental process one had to go through to shift from loving mother in a (relatively) tender world to one of the most ruthless, dangerous wastelanders currently in the commonwealth, but for Nora to make the cut, something had to have broken up or fizzled out in the central processing unit. Not that it didn’t make her any less good of a friend, or human being, no. Just a little trigger-happy and with the occasional psychotic outburst.

 Nora knew what nick was thinking whenever he gave her the long looks. She chuckled, seemingly unparsed by her own inner misery.

 “Ready to get out there again Nick? Haven’t set foot in this place in a while, didn’t really have much of an excuse to visit since our friend Virgil went all human again, I forgot how charming it was.” She chuckled again, hysterically. Nick kept being silent, near her, waiting her to calm down. She exhaled, and ran a hand through dirty, short red hair “All right all right, sorry for the little show there, it’s just been, what, one year? Wow.” She exhaled, composing herself inside her rad-resistant power armour. Nick nodded, making a small underhanded but affectionate comment about loosing screws. She didn’t need to specify. It had been one year since the both of them had traveled all the way into the glowing sea to find Virgil, a super mutant scientist. In a few weeks time, it would have been one year since she destroyed the institute, and murdered her own son.

 They were off to the glowing sea on a mission from the minutemen, a now growing force for good within the commonwealth. Nora hadn’t taken the position of leadership Preston had offered her, but she still helped out from time to time, made sure the group didn’t mess around again like before. She trusted Preston, but the guy was still way too emotional to handle things on his own.

 There had been a suddenly huge afflux of children of atom pilgrims, coming from all sides or the commonwealth and beyond, converging into the place of worship Nora understood as ground zero, Atom’s Crater. Most of them were harmless, but many had disrupted commonwealth settlements by acting violent towards non-believers, or bringing in radiation. Some brought with them chained glowing ones as offerings and items of worship, and more than a few times those ghouls had gotten loose, ending up in a bloodbath and a lot of radiation poisoning. Nora had dealt with the children before, and had found them mostly harmless, but these numbers had started to make her worried. The crazy worshippers might be weak from radiation sickness half the time, and hallucinating the other half, but now they were crazy and with an army, one that was hard to fight, since it was located in a place most people would be mad to even try to approach.

 She had popped her helmet on and moved forwards. They had traded a few essential quips as they moved inside the green storm. At the end of a day’s walk, something would shut both of their mouths entirely.

 The crater of Atom wasn’t just a crater any longer. It was a small town. She couldn’t even fathom where the children were able to scavenge that many supplies within a radioactive desert, but there it was… If these people hadn’t multiple times proved to be completely insane, she would have even felt some sort of awe, or innate respect, for what they were able to accomplish.

 Two men had stopped them in front of some sort of gates. They had erected a wall around the town borders, which Nora assumed wasn’t to protect from fellow men, since the only people roaming the glowing sea were the children themselves. Deathclaws, on the other hand, might’ve been increasingly attracted by the growing populace.

 “Hail Atom, travelers. You come to worship his holy vessel?”

 Nick and Nora had given each other a quick comedic glance.

 “We’ve come to meet with your leader, Mother Isolde. They know me, We’ve met a year ago. Although… she’s never really said anything about a holy vessel? What, has she been up somebody’s pants lately? Cause if so good for her.” Nora added commented in a half sarcastic tone. The guard dislodged him mandible, looking personally affronted.

 “Would you dare speak heresy against the mother and holy vessel? Atoms fury will rain upon all that..”

 He was stopped by Nick Valentine’s loud, raspy groan.

 “Remind me of why I travel with you again?”  He said, his voice grouchier than usual as he stepped up in front of Nora, trying to hide her as much as possible

 “Look Buddy, you’ve got to forgive my partner here, she talks a big mouth but could probably use a bit of atoms wisdom.” He put extra stress on the last part, turning around to glare at her. “You see, me and my partner here don’t mean you guys and your god no harm. We are just here to trade a few words with the good mother, representing the minutemen. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this many children out in the commonwealth, and since we are neighbours and all I think we oughta figure out a way to help each other, don’t you?”

 “As far as I’m concerned heretics like you should be banned from the holy site.” The guard hissed. “But we shall see what Mother has to say.” He nudged his head towards his radiation blaster, then motioned at the duo to follow him through the gates.

 Not everyone in the village looked like the usual children of atom worshipper. Some seemed to be new, and had just begun loosing their hair. Some were actual children, which made Nora’s stomach turn in disgust. Children had no way of making a crazy religious choice for themselves. Were these guys recruiting orphans and sending them to their deaths?

 “I’ve seen some of these people before, in the commonwealth. Pretty bold move to choose to leave everything behind for this.” Nick had commented off handedly as they approached the center of the crater, giving nora the quick glance that usually meant he suspected something rotten. Nora couldn’t be more inclined to agree. These ‘new people’ seemed to be there of their own will, but why such a sudden conversion to such a crazy religion. This village had walls now. They might have kept bad things out, but they could also hold things in. Did it have to do with something this.. vessel.. the guard was talking about.

 “Atom’s will is great, and he has blessed us with a grand gift. Even the stubborn nonbelievers can now see into his glory. Look for yourself.” The guard added smugly, as they approached the central crater.

 Surrounded by dozens of men and women in prayer, was a pool of radioactive water Nora was familiar with. What she wasn’t familiar with was the pedestal of glowing trinkets at its center, upholding something that was objectively just plain weird.

 It was the most vivid blue crystal she had ever seen. She would almost have confused it for ice if not for the fact that she hadn’t seen actual ice ever since she’d gotten out of her cryo-pod and that, well, the crystal seemed to be glowing. The most stunning thing though, was not the glow in the ice itself, but the bright, ethereal white light, outlining a human figure, trapped inside the crystalline obelisk.

 “Behold, foreigners, Atoms holy corpse. That is the vessel all here come to worship.” The guard phrased slowly, stopping in his step reverently. “You will be quiet and wait now, for Mother Isolde is about to give a sermon. We will meet her as she is finished.”

 Nora remembered Isolde. She had looked humble, crazy of course, but reasonable enough. That was not the way she looked now, as she walked out of a balcony, above ‘the relic’. What she looked now, was possessed. It was as if something within that glowing crystal had caused her to snap, well, snap more than she had already snapped before. Nora had been on the brink of loosing it a few times herself, and quite frankly, seeing Isolde’s face like that was driving it home a little too much.

 As she had reached the edge of the balcony, she had raised her hands to the sky, her long green robes flowing across her arms like wings. The whole town had quieted down, leaving only the sound of a few chants lost in the radioactive wind.

 “Six months ago, dear children, a few of our devoted found the Holy Vessel within the glowing pools of the west”

  “Six Months ago, we were lost in his glow, dear children, we were asking for his love. We were battling the non-believers, suffering to prove our faith. But we were unseen, unconnected, unloved. Yet fret not, for Atom is great, and his love infinite. For now, Atom has found us!”

 She paused, looking towards the sky, and lowering her arms onto the crowd.

 “Six months ago, I have gazed into Atom’s endless green eyes. Atom himself showed me a vision, through his body. He has given us a great gift, and bestowed upon us a great duty. For he will descend upon the earth, and he shall descend within this vessel. Dear children Atom wishes to live among us. Together, he wills to guide us through Division. Thus we must worship him, until he is resurrected. We must worship him and sacrifice for him, so that he may walk amongst us.”

 At this point, Isolde was visibly shaking.

 “He has spoken to me. He feeds on our feelings, asks for our pain, and we must answer to him. Each day we must. None will be like us in history. We are Atom’s chosen! We shall worship him, we shall save him, and he will save us!”

 And with that, she lifted some form of staff into the air, and the crowd exploded in a huge roar.

 “Tomorrow, we begin the ritual of awakening. Bless you All! May Atom be with you!” She erupted madly, retreating away from the balcony. The crowd remained in unrest, chanting furiously and making noise. The guard escorting Nora and Nick grabbed both of their arms to make sure they would not escape in the chaos, and led them towards the main hub. After waiting for a small time in a separate room, Nora was asked to step out of her power armour. Radiation levels seemed to be lower in the crater, and she didn’t want to start shooting just yet, so she begrudgingly accepted after popping a few pills of Rad-X. They were lead into the Mother’s residence. She awaited them while sitting. Meditating.

 “Welcome, wanderers” She smiled, politely facing them. “I see we have met before, you vanquished the heretic for us, way back. Brother Adam here tells me you have come to bargain for the Minutemen. How lucky for you to be here again, at such a great time of our lord’s awakening.”

 “Well that’s a way of putting it” Nick mumbled in the back.

 Nora stared down at Isolde. “Lady I have about a million questions more at this point that have absolutely nothing to do with what Preston asked me to do, but yes, let’s just say I’ve come to bargain.” She crouched down in front of her, relaxing, completely ignoring the tension in the room.

 “I see you’ve been stacking up quite a community here. Odd place to be at but hey, you guys seem to immune to this stuff, so good for you. Us ‘normal’…” She wiggled her fingers as if to say she was not normal at all “…people in the commonwealth though… well, let’s just say some of us don’t like all this radiation flying around? Some of your caravans have been harming our settlements, and well, we don’t really want to start preparing defenses against them if we can help it. We’d rather come to some form of agreement with your pilgrims, you feel? They stay away from our territories, and we make sure the roads to the glowing sea are safe to travel.  We could also exchange trades while we are at it. That’s just one of a few ideas.” She smirked.

 Isolde, oddly enough, seemed to be matching Nora’s smirk. Except for the mad glint in one of her eyes.

 “These seem all excellent ideas my child, but I am afraid they will have to wait. Tomorrow is a great day for our community, and none can tell what shall come after it, except for Atom himself”

 “Yeah, about that, what the fucking hell.. mmhph..”

 “I suppose what my partner is trying to say here.” Nick interceded again, at this point just plain used to it. “Is that we were surprised at how much your community has grown. We’ve also managed to see the relic, and hear your speech, and were wondering more about it.”

 “Ah, so Atoms glow has drawn you in. Not to worry, all can take his path to division, even those lacking human flesh.” She eyed him and smiled, ignoring Nick’s pronounced frown. “There is not much more I can say that my speech has not already revealed. All questions will be answered tomorrow. Atom has spoken to me, through his eyes I’ve seen what to do to bring him into this world, and I have chosen to serve him. He is close to resurrection, and tomorrow, he will walk amongst us.”

 Nora shifted on her feet. She didn’t like this. There was no way the children would resurrect their god, but whatever was going to happen, it couldn’t be pretty, and, well, if she could help it she didn’t wanna be anywhere around it.

 Except for…

 The children she had seen, among the crowd… Could she abandon them? It would be that easy now, after what she’d done, wouldn’t it?

 “Of course you’re welcome to stay for the ritual. We may continue our discussion after. Our brothers will prepare your loungings. You must leave me know, I have much to meditate on”

 A few reveries later, and a few question that Isolde kept outright dodging, they were brought to a separate room and left alone, asked to wait as the guard would bring back Nora’s power armour.

 They had been silent with each other, waiting for one to break the ice.

 “Nick..” Nora mumbled under her breath

 “Oh thank the railroad, I thought you were just gonna let me do the talking.” He whispered back.

 “You’ve been great at it so far, constantly interrupting me and everything”

 “You’re a real piece of work you know? I don’t know if you noticed here boss, but these people are straight up insane, and now they seem to think their god will walk on earth. I don’t like lying just as much as you, but I can omit a few personal opinions if it gets my gears still grinding underneath my trenchcoat.”

 “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. You know what we have to do, right?”

 “My best guess at this point is that you first chose to run away with your tail between your legs, figuring that these people would accidentally blow themselves up, and then saw the obviously kidnapped children and took a 180 degree angle turn.”

 “You know me so well.”

 “So are we rescuing the children and the new recruits? Do we even know if they are here by force?”

 “Well, we could always talk to them and find out. Maybe they know what this ritual even is in the first place. Also, what did you think of that.. thing. That was just weird right?”

 “Don’t tell me you believe in that pigeon’s milk. It’s probably some rad infused crystal that happened to look like there’s a fella inside it. There’s lotsa weird stuff like that happening in the world.”

 “…You’re probably right. Probably also what drove the Mother insane. Gosh Nick this is a mess.”

 “You’re telling me, you got my work cut out for me. By the way, we should watch out while we are out in the crater. If some of these people were actually kidnapped, the dear Mother might definitely have sent some goons to babysit us. They could strike at any m…”

 Nick’s voice fizzled out, his golden eyes turning off. A small electrical device had been lodged in his back, seemingly shorting out his power. Nora turned as fast as she could, but a long sharp needle stabbed her near her neck juncture, and things gradually.. gradually turned to black.

[krisggordon]

Schema Markup for SEO → The Complete Guide

If you want to become a good SEO, you need to have a holistic view on all SEO related topics and there are some technical elements that you must understand, even if they’re not quite easy to digest. One of these topics is schema markup.

  Schema markup and structured data had a role in SEO for years now and it seems that major search engines recommend them. But what exactly is schema markup? And, more importantly, how does it impact the SEO process?

  After reading this article, you’ll know exactly: what schema markup is, how it affects SEO & search engines, how to correctly implement it on websites and how it can help you get better rankings.

  What Is Schema Markup

What Is Structured Data

What Is the Difference Between Schema Markup, Microdata and Structured Data

What Are Schema Markup & Structured Data in SEO

How Does Schema Markup Impact SEO & Search Engines

Schema Markup Types Supported by Google

How To Implement Structured Data Markup On Your Website

Structured Data Vocabularies

Schema Encoding Types & Examples

Why Doesn’t My Website Display a Rich Snippet?

What is Unparsable Structured Data?

Structured Markup Penalties

Structured Data Myths

  1. What Is Schema Markup

  Schema markup is a code (semantic vocabulary) that you put on your website, with the purpose of helping the search engines return more informative results for users. Schema markup allows you to create enhanced descriptions that appear in search results, just like in the screenshot below.

    Due to its standardized semantic vocabulary, schema markup added to your site’s HTML helps the major search engines understand your page’s information better and return richer, more informative results.

  Schema markup has the advantage to be easily stored, retrieved, displayed and analyzed. In a nutshell, when Google doesn’t know if your information is about an artist or a concert of the artist, you can make things clear using structured data markup.

  2. What Is Structured Data

  Structured data (or linked data) is a way of organizing information for better accessibility. It might be hard to understand for some because of its relation to coding. However, in simple terms, it’s also called metadata or information behind the information.

  It’s similar to a database, in which terms are stored in relation to other terms. Think of it as an Excel Spreadsheet, where you have the head of the columns as the terms and under them come their values. Together, this data forms a structure which defines something.

    For example, you can have a product in your store. The structured data could contain a list of terms and their values. The product can be “Lenovo IdeaPad 510” and it could have a list of the following items/terms, with their values:

  Name > Lenovo IdeaPad S145

Rating > 4.2

Review Users > 925

Price > $239.99

Stock > In Stock

    3 The difference between Schema, Microdata, and Structured Data

  To make things easier, let’s shortly recap what these terms mean and what the differences between them are:

  Structured Data is a general term that represents binding items to values to better structure information. It can be related to SEO as much as to anything else which contains information.

Microdata is a format and it represents the way the data is structured… in a ‘visual manner’, let’s say. In simple terms, think of it as text vs audio or video. You can say the same thing in both, but it will appeal to different people. You can have the same data structured in Microdata format or in JSON-LD format, for example.

Schema is a vocabulary that defines the terms and values. There are other vocabularies such as Dublin Core. In simple terms, think of them as languages. The good thing with Schema.org is that it has been accepted by very many platforms, making it the best option for multiple scenarios. That’s why many people use Schema Markup as a synonym for implementing Structured Data.

  Here are some takeaways:

  You can have data structured in multiple formats, such as microdata of JSON-LD.

You can define terms using multiple vocabularies such as Schema.org or Dublin Core.

You can use either vocabularies with either of the formats, resulting in your markup.

When people refer to Schema Markup, they generally refer to everything related to structured data, but using the Schema.org vocabulary.

      4. What Are Schema Markup & Structured Data in SEO?

  When it comes to SEO, structured data represents some markup that is implemented on a website which search engines like Google can use in order to display information better. SEOs very often refer to structured data as Schema Markup because it’s one of the most popular markups used to structure data. We’ll talk about it soon.

  Using that markup, Search Engines can display what are known as “rich search results” or “rich snippets”. They are called “rich results” because they contain more elements than regular results, making them stand out.

  The rich snippet/rich result for the example above looks really good when Google picks up the metadata and displays it properly.

    The code is a little bit uglier than that and looks something like this:

    It might look complicated, but if you read it, it makes sense. You can see things like “@type”:”AggregateRating” with the values and the review count, and then the “@type”Offer” with the price and availability. The code above is in the JSON-LD format, which is one of the more complicated ones to understand. We’ll talk about formats and which ones to use soon, so keep reading.

  You can also use structured data to enrich a recipe search result. It can also have ratings but, instead of displaying the price, it displays how long it takes to make the dish, which is always useful when seeking for a recipe.

    These are just basic rich snippets, which affect the regular results you see in Google’s organic search results. However, Google supports a number of different types or rich snippets, some of them which I will present soon. But first, let’s talk about vocabularies and data markup.

  5. How Does Schema Markup Affect SEO & Search Engines

To put it simply, structured data is not a ranking factor / signal. But if you’ve been doing SEO for a while, you know I’m lying and it’s not actually that simple.

  You see, that’s the general consensus, or at least what Google officials tell us. I reality, opinions vary. Some say that it does affect rankings and some say it doesn’t. One thing we know for sure is that we cannot 100% trust what Google says. It’s not that they’re not transparent, but they have to keep the algorithm secret.

  But let’s see punctually how schema markup impacts SEO:

  CTR (Click Through Rate)

  Structured Data might not be a ranking signal, but it sure can help with rankings, at least indirectly. You see, any modification to your search result will have an impact on your CTR (click through rate). A negative one will drop your CTR and a positive one will boost it.

  With a higher CTR, your rankings will actually be higher.

  If more people click on your search engine result, this sends Google a signal that they want to read your content.

  To honor that demand, Google might will rank your article higher so that more people will see it. This happens constantly, so don’t expect your article to stay there. Tomorrow, a competitor might change their title and their CTR might be higher than yours. Google will notice that.

    Structured data can help you with CTR because rich results catch the eye easier than regular search results. Sure, those snippets usually display the information directly on Google’s landing page, but some of that organic traffic will still forward to your website.

  This might sound counter-intuitive but, with all the rich snippets in the search results, you might end up having a lower CTR and less organic traffic going to your website.

  Why? Because a user can find the answer directly in the search results and they don’t need to click.

  For example, most nutrition websites have structured data implemented, which means most of them get rich snippets. If you’re in the top 3 results and all the results display the recipe duration, if your duration is the highest, users might decide to not click your search engine result and go for a faster recipe instead.

  So, while you can get higher CTR if your rich result stands out (not everyone has rich snippets), it can also lower your CTR if everyone has rich snippets and the client browses based on that info.

  Priority

  You shouldn’t prioritize the addition of structured data on your website unless you’ve finished dealing with other, more important issues, such as keyword research, content optimization and other OnPage SEO factors.

  Why? Because Google said it understands the content and the information required to display rich snippets without structured data, although it’s recommended that you use it.

  Google can understand your content to display it in rich snippets even without the addition of structured data. However, it’s safer if you do use the markup.

  So, for example, if you have some HTML with 5 stars and the text “Rating: 4.7 – 24 Reviewers”, Google might figure that out on its own and display a Review rich snippet even without structured data.

  However, if you want to have a higher chance of the reviews being displayed, then add the SEO structured data so that Google understands the content perfectly.

  But remember, prioritize! Keyword research, title and content optimization, website speed and quality backlinks are much more effective in ranking you higher. So if you don’t have those in place, you can postpone the structured data markup.

  Personally, I don’t see how structured data can make search engines smarter. If Google wants its algorithms to better understand content more like a human, structured data makes it a disservice. The truth is that Google doesn’t want to rely on structured data in the future.

  You should prioritize other things such as good crawling and indexation, keyword research and title/content optimization before going for structured data (the SEO Tools from cognitiveSEO can help you with that).

  Schema markup isn’t (probably) the future of Search Engine Optimization & Digital Marketing but, for now, once you have finished other, more important search engine optimization tasks, you can make good use of it. Some studies even show that implementing structured data on your website can boost CTR up to 30%.

    6. Schema Markup Types Supported by Google

  You might be wondering what important types of schema markup are there? Well, there’s pretty much a markup for anything you can probably imagine.

  However, there are only a limited number of rich snippet types that Google has developed and improved over the years, each unique in its own way.

  Organization Schema Markup

  The Organization Schema markup isn’t a rich snippet on it’s own but it is a very important part of it because it is found in almost all the snippets. It represents the author of the content so it can also be a single person, such as an author, for example.

This is good for making sure the content is associated with the proper brand / name.

  Breadcrumbs Markup

  The Breadcrumbs Schema Markup is crucial for representing website structure. The structure of the site is represented 

However, you can also point that out.

We know that Google constantly adjusts how the search results display.

Review, Product & Offer Schema Markup

  The most popular markup out there is probably the review & product one. I’ve presented it in the beginning of the article. There are multiple items that can be added to the product rich snippet, from the product name and price to details, such as the lowest price and highest price, or offer expiry dates.

Recipe Schema Markup

  I’ve also shown an example of the recipe snippet above. You can specify things such as ingredients and how much time the recipe takes.

FAQ Schema Markup

  The FAQ Schema Markup lists answers to the related questions around your topic / page in a drop down format. Neil Patel used this FAQ schema technique to greatly improve his search engine traffic. However, it seems like this can be abused and Google might fix it.

  How to Schema Markup

  Similar to the FAQ Schema Markup. A drop down type snippet with step by step answers.

  Q&A Schema Markup

  The Q&A Schema Markup is specially designed for websites like Quora or Yahoo Answers. It can also  be applied in other scenarios, of course. Google recommends linking to individual answers (via anchors, for  example) to provide the best user experience. 

  Article Schema Markup (related to AMP)

  A carousel in which your article can be displayed at the top of the page that can be swiped, above ads and organic search results. Visible only on mobile devices.

  Video Schema Markup

  A visual snippet which displays the thumbnail of a video next the the title and description. It is very useful for organic video marketing.

  Event Schema Markup

  A visual snippet where the date is very visible and with quick access to Google Calendar bookings.

Local Business Schema Markup

  If you have a local business or are doing local SEO for a client, then you might want to add local business schema markup to the website. The markup itself is formed out of multiple data items, such as Organization, Description, Logo, Address, Phone and even Reviews.

You can check a list created by Schemaapp.com of how to properly add schema markup for local businesses in this Google Sheet.

  Other Types of Schema Markup

  A list of full rich snippets that Google supports can be viewed here (browse them from the menu).

Also, note that different different search engines such as Yandex and Yahoo! (Bing) might also use other types of structured data or schema markup on their platforms.

However, we do know that both Yandex and Bing accept and recommend schema.org, so it’s a good idea to only implement this one, unless other 3rd party apps that you use require other types of markup.

    7. How To Add Schema Markup On Your Website (The Right Way)

  If you’re interested in schema markup, you’re probably also wondering how to use Google structured data on your website.

  If you want to use structured data markup on your website so that Google can pick it up, you’ll either have to code it or make use of some plugins / extensions that will add the structured data for you.

  The thing is, you have to implement it correctly, otherwise it might do more good than harm.

  If you implement structured data wrong, your rich snippets might display the wrong information, they might not display it at all and you might even get penalized for it.

  Here’s how you can implement structured data correctly on your website, on different platforms:

  How to add schema markup in WordPress & Blogs 

  As you know, adding things on WordPress is generally very easy because there’s a ton of plugins you can choose from and, best of all, most of them are free. Implementing Schema Markup doesn’t make an exception.

  To add Schema Markup to your WordPress blog, check out the structured data & schema markup plugins in the WP repository. Choose the one with the features you need and with good reviews. The SEO plugin also adds basic structured data functionality to most of your pages, so make sure you don’t have duplicate codes.

  Note that these plugins implement basic structured data for your articles & pages. You might want to look for something specific if you have a recipes website, for example. If you have an eCommerce store on WordPress, the WooCommerce plugin already implements products structured data for you.

  How to add schema markup in Magento & eCommerce

  As for WordPress websites, most eCommerce platforms such as Magento, OpenCart or Prestashop will come with structured data already integrated.

  If you’re not sure that your site has the proper structured data, use the structured data Google Structured Data Testing Tool. You should see something like this:

    If there’s no Product section, it means your implementation is missing. There are always plugins and extensions so do a Google search and find what suits your platform.

  Make sure to fix the warnings too, although they won’t stand in the way of your rich snippets displaying.

  Local SEO structured data

  If you have a local business, structured data can really help your local SEO. You can mark up your NAP (name, address, phone) so that search engines can better understand that information.

  This plugin for WordPress seems to support structured data for Local Businesses.

  Custom schema markup implementation

  Sometimes, adding markup to your website can be more difficult. If you have a custom platform, you don’t have a plugin to simply… plug in.

  Step 1: Find out the type of page you have and which type of schema markup fits it best. For example, informational pages go well with FAQ or How to schema markup. Products on eCommerce sites, on the other hand, go well with the Product schema markup.

  Note that it’s important not to try to trick Google into making your result more appealing if it doesn’t make sense. So only pick what Google recommends from the types of rich snippets it supports.

  Step 2: Generate the schema markup. Generating JSON LD structured data is pretty easy. You can use an online schema markup generator such as this one to easily generate your code.

  However, you’ll have to manually add it in your head section. Which means this would be a static implementation.

  If you have thousands of pages, that might not be easy. You’re better off developing a dynamic system with a programmer, where the platform automatically picks up the information from the database and complies it into a JSON format to display it in the HTML for each product/page.

  So although the template for the Product Schema Markup in the JSON-LD format stays the same the values such as Price, Currency, Product name or Rating might change from page to page and website to website.

  Sometimes, you can also manually add schema into your HTML with Microdata. However, it’s best if you use the JSON-LD format, as suggested by Google. 

  Step 3: Validate everything.

  If you’re planning on adding markup manually, make sure to validate your code with the Google Structured Data Testing Tool.

      8. Structured Data Vocabularies

  For structured data, you need two things: a list of item names and a way to display them. So we have vocabularies and formats which, together, result in markup.

  The list of items is called vocabulary. You can think of it as languages. Different words can mean different things in different languages and not everybody speaks every language.

  There are multiple types of schema and vocabularies available:

  Schema.org

  Schema.org is the most popular vocabulary for structured data. Why? Well, because it has been accepted by major search engines and companies, such as Yahoo, Bing, Google, etc. It’s sort of an… international language, like English.

  As I said above, because Schema Markup is so popular, SEOs often refer to structured data directly as Schema Markup. You could have structured data implemented on your website without Schema Markup, by using another vocabulary. However, you will use Schema Markup of your own free will 🙂 Got it?

  The Schema.org Markup supports a very big variety of items and elements. You can view the entire list of supported items on http://schema.org. We’ll soon discuss which ones are the most important schema markup elements, which Google actually uses in the search engine results.

  Open Graph

  You might be familiar with Open Graph. It’s not used for search engines, but social media platforms, such as Facebook, use it to display titles and images.

    They are useful for SEO & Facebook Marketing because you can separate the regular <title> tag used for search engines from the Facebook title. This way, you can keep the keywords in the <title>, which is important for SEO, and you can also have a catchy headline for social media, which is important for clicks & engagement.

  Dublin Core

  Dublin Core is another vocabulary, similar to schema.org but much more limited. It’s probably the second most popular one. Unless you have solid motives to use Dublin Core, such as a 3rd party app your site is hooked to uses it, use schema.org vocabulary instead.

  9. Schema Encoding Types & Examples

  First let’s take a look at how the information for the address of an organization would look without any structured data, in plain HTML code:

  The following information was taken from http://schema.org/address. You can view examples for most of the schema.org vocabulary properties there (some of them are still marked as “To Do”).

  Address Structured Data Plain HTML code (source: schema.org)

  JSON-LD

  JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a method of encoding and presenting structured data information using JSON. This is recommended by the W3C, which means it is standardized.

  Here’s an example of how the above information would be displayed using JSON. Google also recommends using JSON LD for displaying structured data on your website. Again, it looks complicated but you won’t have to write it yourself, as it can be generated with tools we’ll soon talk about.

  Address Structured Data in JSON LD Format (source: schema.org)

  Microdata

  With Microdata you can specify the structured data information within the HTML code itself, using HTML tag attributes. This makes it easier for many people to understand. However, while this is easy to add manually on a case by case basis, it’s difficult to scale and automatize when required for bigger websites (such as eCommerce ones).

  Address Structured Data in Microdata Format (source: schema.org)

  With JSON LD, you’ll have a lot of standardized plugins for different purposes on most platforms. However, if the element you’re trying to specify isn’t included in the plugin and thus doesn’t display in the outputted JSON LD code, you can add it easily in the HTML using Microdata.

  RDFa

  RDFa is similar to Microdata, which means it’s also added through HTML tag attributes. The difference is that RDFa is older and more complex. It has other uses outside of the HTML realm and this means integration with other apps/platforms/servers is easier if they use the technology.

  Address Structured Data in RDFa Format (source: schema.org)

  Whether you want to go with RDFa or Microdata is your choice, they’ll both do just fine. However, do it as an alternative. Using JSON-LD is the recommended way to go.

  Notice how all the formats above, although different, use the Schema.org data markup vocabulary.

    10. Why Doesn’t My Website Display a Rich Snippet?

  So you’ve finished implementing structured data on your website, but the rich snippets don’t show up in search. What do you do?

  Implementing structured data on your website correctly doesn’t guarantee rich snippets.

  Unfortunately, Google picks up only what it wants. If it’s your Homepage you’re worrying about, worry no more! Google doesn’t display rich snippets for Homepages.

�� First, make sure that your code is implemented correctly by testing it. You can do this using the following tools from Google:

  Google Structured Data Testing Tool: This is the most popular tool for testing out JSON LD markup and structured data.

      Rich Snippet Validator: This is still in beta, but it’s useful. You can find it here.

    10.1 What is Unparsable Structured Data?

  Unparsable structured data is data markup on your website that could not be properly parsed (or understood) by Google. This, most likely, means that you have not implemented things correctly on your site.

  In programming, parsing is the separation of a cluster of strings into separate ones. In other terms, the strings could not be correctly read or understood, which indicates an error in how the strings were presented.

  These errors shows either in the Google validator as an error, or in the Google Search Console, under Enhancements > Unparsable Structured Data.

    Compared to the other validators above, it’s very useful because it will highlight errors for multiple pages at once, although it doesn’t highlight all the details of the issue.

    Make sure you use Google’s SEO Tools to your advantage when implementing schema markup and structured data on your website.

    10.2 Structured Markup Penalties

  If you implement structured data wrong, you probably won’t get penalized. However, if you try to cheat, Google might apply a structured markup penalty on your website.

  For example, if you just want the star ratings and number of reviewers, you can simply add them manually to your page. Your product could be 3 stars, but you might want to display 5 stars in the search engines. You could also add a smaller structured data price, while on the website, the real price is higher.

  That’s not fair and the Google algorithm updates might punish you! 

    If you get a similar message in your Search Console or your organic traffic to all the pages with structured markup has suddenly dropped, make sure to read this article about structured markup penalties to find out how to fix things.

  11. Common Schema Markup Myths

  There are a few myths that go around regarding rich snippets and structured data. Most of them are simply implementation mistakes and misconceptions.

  However, even though we’ve already talked about this and covered these topics above, it’s a good idea

  1. Schema markup guarantees rich snippets: They don’t. Google will pick whatever it wants regardless of whether you have structured data on your website or not. That’s why it’s a good idea to implement other, more important things first instead of focusing on structured data.

  2. Schema markup is a ranking factor: It’s not. At least, that’s what the Google officials have stated over and over again. However, CTR is a ranking factor and since Structured Data can affect the CTR, your rankings might improve. But Google won’t care if you simply implement markup on your website.

  3. You need schema for answer boxes: You don’t. Answer boxes and structured data might have something in common since Google has recently implemented the Q&A markup but that doesn’t mean you can’t get an answer box without structured data.

  Conclusion

  Since major search engines recommend adding structured data, go ahead and add it, especially if you have an eCommerce website. Make sure to implement it correctly and validate it with the above-mentioned tools. However, you should prioritize other important SEO tasks first.

  What’s your experience with structured markup? Do you use it in your SEO & digital marketing strategy? Does it help with your clickthrough rates? Let us know in the comments section below.

  The post Schema Markup for SEO → The Complete Guide appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

from Marketing https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/23465/schema-markup/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[max1461]

Thinking about this in light of people who talk about "a post breaking containment". Someone will make a post that is not phrased in a maximally airtight way, that has some degree of exaggeration or loose phrasing, or which makes assumptions about the interlocutor's prior beliefs that are not likely to be true outside of some specific social circle, whatever. And then this post will "break containment", i.e. it will attain a larger audience than was intended, and because it was not tailored for this audience in the aforementioned ways it will be widely misinterpreted. And then people will talk about this, lament that the post has broken containment, and so on. Sometimes someone else in the poster's circle will say (in response to outside critiques) "look, I can't defend the content of this post as such, but you must understand—it just broke containment. Please forgive my friend here, it happens to the best of us". Or something to that effect.

And look, this is like, an accurate description of what happens. And I get taking this stance. But sometimes I look at these cases and I feel frustrated that no one is taking a stance one or two levels down on the discourse hierarchy. Like, there's the object level position "no, my friend was correct, actually, you just misinterpreted their post because they phrased it somewhat loosely", and then there's the one-meta-level-down position "this post was phrased loosely, but loose phrasing is common and not inherently bad, so rather than critiquing the post based on your naive and overly literal interpretation you should do some investigative work to figure out what OP probably meant first and then respond to that". Everybody just jumps to the meta(+2)-level "hey now, we've all had a post break containment before..." before stating either of these other two, very important things!

Does this post make any sense? I feel like this might be completely unparsable.

Contemplating a lot of things today.

[philipfloyd]

Schema Markup for SEO → The Complete Guide

If you want to become a good SEO, you need to have a holistic view on all SEO related topics and there are some technical elements that you must understand, even if they’re not quite easy to digest. One of these topics is schema markup.

  Schema markup and structured data had a role in SEO for years now and it seems that major search engines recommend them. But what exactly is schema markup? And, more importantly, how does it impact the SEO process?

  After reading this article, you’ll know exactly: what schema markup is, how it affects SEO & search engines, how to correctly implement it on websites and how it can help you get better rankings.

  What Is Schema Markup

What Is Structured Data

What Is the Difference Between Schema Markup, Microdata and Structured Data

What Are Schema Markup & Structured Data in SEO

How Does Schema Markup Impact SEO & Search Engines

Schema Markup Types Supported by Google

How To Implement Structured Data Markup On Your Website

Structured Data Vocabularies

Schema Encoding Types & Examples

Why Doesn’t My Website Display a Rich Snippet?

What is Unparsable Structured Data?

Structured Markup Penalties

Structured Data Myths

  1. What Is Schema Markup

  Schema markup is a code (semantic vocabulary) that you put on your website, with the purpose of helping the search engines return more informative results for users. Schema markup allows you to create enhanced descriptions that appear in search results, just like in the screenshot below.

    Due to its standardized semantic vocabulary, schema markup added to your site’s HTML helps the major search engines understand your page’s information better and return richer, more informative results.

  Schema markup has the advantage to be easily stored, retrieved, displayed and analyzed. In a nutshell, when Google doesn’t know if your information is about an artist or a concert of the artist, you can make things clear using structured data markup.

  2. What Is Structured Data

  Structured data (or linked data) is a way of organizing information for better accessibility. It might be hard to understand for some because of its relation to coding. However, in simple terms, it’s also called metadata or information behind the information.

  It’s similar to a database, in which terms are stored in relation to other terms. Think of it as an Excel Spreadsheet, where you have the head of the columns as the terms and under them come their values. Together, this data forms a structure which defines something.

    For example, you can have a product in your store. The structured data could contain a list of terms and their values. The product can be “Lenovo IdeaPad 510” and it could have a list of the following items/terms, with their values:

  Name > Lenovo IdeaPad S145

Rating > 4.2

Review Users > 925

Price > $239.99

Stock > In Stock

    3 The difference between Schema, Microdata, and Structured Data

  To make things easier, let’s shortly recap what these terms mean and what the differences between them are:

  Structured Data is a general term that represents binding items to values to better structure information. It can be related to SEO as much as to anything else which contains information.

Microdata is a format and it represents the way the data is structured… in a ‘visual manner’, let’s say. In simple terms, think of it as text vs audio or video. You can say the same thing in both, but it will appeal to different people. You can have the same data structured in Microdata format or in JSON-LD format, for example.

Schema is a vocabulary that defines the terms and values. There are other vocabularies such as Dublin Core. In simple terms, think of them as languages. The good thing with Schema.org is that it has been accepted by very many platforms, making it the best option for multiple scenarios. That’s why many people use Schema Markup as a synonym for implementing Structured Data.

  Here are some takeaways:

  You can have data structured in multiple formats, such as microdata of JSON-LD.

You can define terms using multiple vocabularies such as Schema.org or Dublin Core.

You can use either vocabularies with either of the formats, resulting in your markup.

When people refer to Schema Markup, they generally refer to everything related to structured data, but using the Schema.org vocabulary.

      4. What Are Schema Markup & Structured Data in SEO?

  When it comes to SEO, structured data represents some markup that is implemented on a website which search engines like Google can use in order to display information better. SEOs very often refer to structured data as Schema Markup because it’s one of the most popular markups used to structure data. We’ll talk about it soon.

  Using that markup, Search Engines can display what are known as “rich search results” or “rich snippets”. They are called “rich results” because they contain more elements than regular results, making them stand out.

  The rich snippet/rich result for the example above looks really good when Google picks up the metadata and displays it properly.

    The code is a little bit uglier than that and looks something like this:

    It might look complicated, but if you read it, it makes sense. You can see things like “@type”:”AggregateRating” with the values and the review count, and then the “@type”Offer” with the price and availability. The code above is in the JSON-LD format, which is one of the more complicated ones to understand. We’ll talk about formats and which ones to use soon, so keep reading.

  You can also use structured data to enrich a recipe search result. It can also have ratings but, instead of displaying the price, it displays how long it takes to make the dish, which is always useful when seeking for a recipe.

    These are just basic rich snippets, which affect the regular results you see in Google’s organic search results. However, Google supports a number of different types or rich snippets, some of them which I will present soon. But first, let’s talk about vocabularies and data markup.

  5. How Does Schema Markup Affect SEO & Search Engines

To put it simply, structured data is not a ranking factor / signal. But if you’ve been doing SEO for a while, you know I’m lying and it’s not actually that simple.

  You see, that’s the general consensus, or at least what Google officials tell us. I reality, opinions vary. Some say that it does affect rankings and some say it doesn’t. One thing we know for sure is that we cannot 100% trust what Google says. It’s not that they’re not transparent, but they have to keep the algorithm secret.

  But let’s see punctually how schema markup impacts SEO:

  CTR (Click Through Rate)

  Structured Data might not be a ranking signal, but it sure can help with rankings, at least indirectly. You see, any modification to your search result will have an impact on your CTR (click through rate). A negative one will drop your CTR and a positive one will boost it.

  With a higher CTR, your rankings will actually be higher.

  If more people click on your search engine result, this sends Google a signal that they want to read your content.

  To honor that demand, Google might will rank your article higher so that more people will see it. This happens constantly, so don’t expect your article to stay there. Tomorrow, a competitor might change their title and their CTR might be higher than yours. Google will notice that.

    Structured data can help you with CTR because rich results catch the eye easier than regular search results. Sure, those snippets usually display the information directly on Google’s landing page, but some of that organic traffic will still forward to your website.

  This might sound counter-intuitive but, with all the rich snippets in the search results, you might end up having a lower CTR and less organic traffic going to your website.

  Why? Because a user can find the answer directly in the search results and they don’t need to click.

  For example, most nutrition websites have structured data implemented, which means most of them get rich snippets. If you’re in the top 3 results and all the results display the recipe duration, if your duration is the highest, users might decide to not click your search engine result and go for a faster recipe instead.

  So, while you can get higher CTR if your rich result stands out (not everyone has rich snippets), it can also lower your CTR if everyone has rich snippets and the client browses based on that info.

  Priority

  You shouldn’t prioritize the addition of structured data on your website unless you’ve finished dealing with other, more important issues, such as keyword research, content optimization and other OnPage SEO factors.

  Why? Because Google said it understands the content and the information required to display rich snippets without structured data, although it’s recommended that you use it.

  Google can understand your content to display it in rich snippets even without the addition of structured data. However, it’s safer if you do use the markup.

  So, for example, if you have some HTML with 5 stars and the text “Rating: 4.7 – 24 Reviewers”, Google might figure that out on its own and display a Review rich snippet even without structured data.

  However, if you want to have a higher chance of the reviews being displayed, then add the SEO structured data so that Google understands the content perfectly.

  But remember, prioritize! Keyword research, title and content optimization, website speed and quality backlinks are much more effective in ranking you higher. So if you don’t have those in place, you can postpone the structured data markup.

  Personally, I don’t see how structured data can make search engines smarter. If Google wants its algorithms to better understand content more like a human, structured data makes it a disservice. The truth is that Google doesn’t want to rely on structured data in the future.

  You should prioritize other things such as good crawling and indexation, keyword research and title/content optimization before going for structured data (the SEO Tools from cognitiveSEO can help you with that).

  Schema markup isn’t (probably) the future of Search Engine Optimization & Digital Marketing but, for now, once you have finished other, more important search engine optimization tasks, you can make good use of it. Some studies even show that implementing structured data on your website can boost CTR up to 30%.

    6. Schema Markup Types Supported by Google

  You might be wondering what important types of schema markup are there? Well, there’s pretty much a markup for anything you can probably imagine.

  However, there are only a limited number of rich snippet types that Google has developed and improved over the years, each unique in its own way.

  Organization Schema Markup

  The Organization Schema markup isn’t a rich snippet on it’s own but it is a very important part of it because it is found in almost all the snippets. It represents the author of the content so it can also be a single person, such as an author, for example.

This is good for making sure the content is associated with the proper brand / name.

  Breadcrumbs Markup

  The Breadcrumbs Schema Markup is crucial for representing website structure. The structure of the site is represented 

However, you can also point that out.

We know that Google constantly adjusts how the search results display.

Review, Product & Offer Schema Markup

  The most popular markup out there is probably the review & product one. I’ve presented it in the beginning of the article. There are multiple items that can be added to the product rich snippet, from the product name and price to details, such as the lowest price and highest price, or offer expiry dates.

Recipe Schema Markup

  I’ve also shown an example of the recipe snippet above. You can specify things such as ingredients and how much time the recipe takes.

FAQ Schema Markup

  The FAQ Schema Markup lists answers to the related questions around your topic / page in a drop down format. Neil Patel used this FAQ schema technique to greatly improve his search engine traffic. However, it seems like this can be abused and Google might fix it.

  How to Schema Markup

  Similar to the FAQ Schema Markup. A drop down type snippet with step by step answers.

  Q&A Schema Markup

  The Q&A Schema Markup is specially designed for websites like Quora or Yahoo Answers. It can also  be applied in other scenarios, of course. Google recommends linking to individual answers (via anchors, for  example) to provide the best user experience. 

  Article Schema Markup (related to AMP)

  A carousel in which your article can be displayed at the top of the page that can be swiped, above ads and organic search results. Visible only on mobile devices.

  Video Schema Markup

  A visual snippet which displays the thumbnail of a video next the the title and description. It is very useful for organic video marketing.

  Event Schema Markup

  A visual snippet where the date is very visible and with quick access to Google Calendar bookings.

Local Business Schema Markup

  If you have a local business or are doing local SEO for a client, then you might want to add local business schema markup to the website. The markup itself is formed out of multiple data items, such as Organization, Description, Logo, Address, Phone and even Reviews.

You can check a list created by Schemaapp.com of how to properly add schema markup for local businesses in this Google Sheet.

  Other Types of Schema Markup

  A list of full rich snippets that Google supports can be viewed here (browse them from the menu).

Also, note that different different search engines such as Yandex and Yahoo! (Bing) might also use other types of structured data or schema markup on their platforms.

However, we do know that both Yandex and Bing accept and recommend schema.org, so it’s a good idea to only implement this one, unless other 3rd party apps that you use require other types of markup.

    7. How To Add Schema Markup On Your Website (The Right Way)

  If you’re interested in schema markup, you’re probably also wondering how to use Google structured data on your website.

  If you want to use structured data markup on your website so that Google can pick it up, you’ll either have to code it or make use of some plugins / extensions that will add the structured data for you.

  The thing is, you have to implement it correctly, otherwise it might do more good than harm.

  If you implement structured data wrong, your rich snippets might display the wrong information, they might not display it at all and you might even get penalized for it.

  Here’s how you can implement structured data correctly on your website, on different platforms:

  How to add schema markup in WordPress & Blogs 

  As you know, adding things on WordPress is generally very easy because there’s a ton of plugins you can choose from and, best of all, most of them are free. Implementing Schema Markup doesn’t make an exception.

  To add Schema Markup to your WordPress blog, check out the structured data & schema markup plugins in the WP repository. Choose the one with the features you need and with good reviews. The SEO plugin also adds basic structured data functionality to most of your pages, so make sure you don’t have duplicate codes.

  Note that these plugins implement basic structured data for your articles & pages. You might want to look for something specific if you have a recipes website, for example. If you have an eCommerce store on WordPress, the WooCommerce plugin already implements products structured data for you.

  How to add schema markup in Magento & eCommerce

  As for WordPress websites, most eCommerce platforms such as Magento, OpenCart or Prestashop will come with structured data already integrated.

  If you’re not sure that your site has the proper structured data, use the structured data Google Structured Data Testing Tool. You should see something like this:

    If there’s no Product section, it means your implementation is missing. There are always plugins and extensions so do a Google search and find what suits your platform.

  Make sure to fix the warnings too, although they won’t stand in the way of your rich snippets displaying.

  Local SEO structured data

  If you have a local business, structured data can really help your local SEO. You can mark up your NAP (name, address, phone) so that search engines can better understand that information.

  This plugin for WordPress seems to support structured data for Local Businesses.

  Custom schema markup implementation

  Sometimes, adding markup to your website can be more difficult. If you have a custom platform, you don’t have a plugin to simply… plug in.

  Step 1: Find out the type of page you have and which type of schema markup fits it best. For example, informational pages go well with FAQ or How to schema markup. Products on eCommerce sites, on the other hand, go well with the Product schema markup.

  Note that it’s important not to try to trick Google into making your result more appealing if it doesn’t make sense. So only pick what Google recommends from the types of rich snippets it supports.

  Step 2: Generate the schema markup. Generating JSON LD structured data is pretty easy. You can use an online schema markup generator such as this one to easily generate your code.

  However, you’ll have to manually add it in your head section. Which means this would be a static implementation.

  If you have thousands of pages, that might not be easy. You’re better off developing a dynamic system with a programmer, where the platform automatically picks up the information from the database and complies it into a JSON format to display it in the HTML for each product/page.

  So although the template for the Product Schema Markup in the JSON-LD format stays the same the values such as Price, Currency, Product name or Rating might change from page to page and website to website.

  Sometimes, you can also manually add schema into your HTML with Microdata. However, it’s best if you use the JSON-LD format, as suggested by Google. 

  Step 3: Validate everything.

  If you’re planning on adding markup manually, make sure to validate your code with the Google Structured Data Testing Tool.

      8. Structured Data Vocabularies

  For structured data, you need two things: a list of item names and a way to display them. So we have vocabularies and formats which, together, result in markup.

  The list of items is called vocabulary. You can think of it as languages. Different words can mean different things in different languages and not everybody speaks every language.

  There are multiple types of schema and vocabularies available:

  Schema.org

  Schema.org is the most popular vocabulary for structured data. Why? Well, because it has been accepted by major search engines and companies, such as Yahoo, Bing, Google, etc. It’s sort of an… international language, like English.

  As I said above, because Schema Markup is so popular, SEOs often refer to structured data directly as Schema Markup. You could have structured data implemented on your website without Schema Markup, by using another vocabulary. However, you will use Schema Markup of your own free will 🙂 Got it?

  The Schema.org Markup supports a very big variety of items and elements. You can view the entire list of supported items on http://schema.org. We’ll soon discuss which ones are the most important schema markup elements, which Google actually uses in the search engine results.

  Open Graph

  You might be familiar with Open Graph. It’s not used for search engines, but social media platforms, such as Facebook, use it to display titles and images.

    They are useful for SEO & Facebook Marketing because you can separate the regular <title> tag used for search engines from the Facebook title. This way, you can keep the keywords in the <title>, which is important for SEO, and you can also have a catchy headline for social media, which is important for clicks & engagement.

  Dublin Core

  Dublin Core is another vocabulary, similar to schema.org but much more limited. It’s probably the second most popular one. Unless you have solid motives to use Dublin Core, such as a 3rd party app your site is hooked to uses it, use schema.org vocabulary instead.

  9. Schema Encoding Types & Examples

  First let’s take a look at how the information for the address of an organization would look without any structured data, in plain HTML code:

  The following information was taken from http://schema.org/address. You can view examples for most of the schema.org vocabulary properties there (some of them are still marked as “To Do”).

  Address Structured Data Plain HTML code (source: schema.org)

  JSON-LD

  JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a method of encoding and presenting structured data information using JSON. This is recommended by the W3C, which means it is standardized.

  Here’s an example of how the above information would be displayed using JSON. Google also recommends using JSON LD for displaying structured data on your website. Again, it looks complicated but you won’t have to write it yourself, as it can be generated with tools we’ll soon talk about.

  Address Structured Data in JSON LD Format (source: schema.org)

  Microdata

  With Microdata you can specify the structured data information within the HTML code itself, using HTML tag attributes. This makes it easier for many people to understand. However, while this is easy to add manually on a case by case basis, it’s difficult to scale and automatize when required for bigger websites (such as eCommerce ones).

  Address Structured Data in Microdata Format (source: schema.org)

  With JSON LD, you’ll have a lot of standardized plugins for different purposes on most platforms. However, if the element you’re trying to specify isn’t included in the plugin and thus doesn’t display in the outputted JSON LD code, you can add it easily in the HTML using Microdata.

  RDFa

  RDFa is similar to Microdata, which means it’s also added through HTML tag attributes. The difference is that RDFa is older and more complex. It has other uses outside of the HTML realm and this means integration with other apps/platforms/servers is easier if they use the technology.

  Address Structured Data in RDFa Format (source: schema.org)

  Whether you want to go with RDFa or Microdata is your choice, they’ll both do just fine. However, do it as an alternative. Using JSON-LD is the recommended way to go.

  Notice how all the formats above, although different, use the Schema.org data markup vocabulary.

    10. Why Doesn’t My Website Display a Rich Snippet?

  So you’ve finished implementing structured data on your website, but the rich snippets don’t show up in search. What do you do?

  Implementing structured data on your website correctly doesn’t guarantee rich snippets.

  Unfortunately, Google picks up only what it wants. If it’s your Homepage you’re worrying about, worry no more! Google doesn’t display rich snippets for Homepages.

  First, make sure that your code is implemented correctly by testing it. You can do this using the following tools from Google:

  Google Structured Data Testing Tool: This is the most popular tool for testing out JSON LD markup and structured data.

      Rich Snippet Validator: This is still in beta, but it’s useful. You can find it here.

    10.1 What is Unparsable Structured Data?

  Unparsable structured data is data markup on your website that could not be properly parsed (or understood) by Google. This, most likely, means that you have not implemented things correctly on your site.

  In programming, parsing is the separation of a cluster of strings into separate ones. In other terms, the strings could not be correctly read or understood, which indicates an error in how the strings were presented.

  These errors shows either in the Google validator as an error, or in the Google Search Console, under Enhancements > Unparsable Structured Data.

    Compared to the other validators above, it’s very useful because it will highlight errors for multiple pages at once, although it doesn’t highlight all the details of the issue.

    Make sure you use Google’s SEO Tools to your advantage when implementing schema markup and structured data on your website.

    10.2 Structured Markup Penalties

  If you implement structured data wrong, you probably won’t get penalized. However, if you try to cheat, Google might apply a structured markup penalty on your website.

  For example, if you just want the star ratings and number of reviewers, you can simply add them manually to your page. Your product could be 3 stars, but you might want to display 5 stars in the search engines. You could also add a smaller structured data price, while on the website, the real price is higher.

  That’s not fair and the Google algorithm updates might punish you! 

    If you get a similar message in your Search Console or your organic traffic to all the pages with structured markup has suddenly dropped, make sure to read this article about structured markup penalties to find out how to fix things.

  11. Common Schema Markup Myths

  There are a few myths that go around regarding rich snippets and structured data. Most of them are simply implementation mistakes and misconceptions.

  However, even though we’ve already talked about this and covered these topics above, it’s a good idea

  1. Schema markup guarantees rich snippets: They don’t. Google will pick whatever it wants regardless of whether you have structured data on your website or not. That’s why it’s a good idea to implement other, more important things first instead of focusing on structured data.

  2. Schema markup is a ranking factor: It’s not. At least, that’s what the Google officials have stated over and over again. However, CTR is a ranking factor and since Structured Data can affect the CTR, your rankings might improve. But Google won’t care if you simply implement markup on your website.

  3. You need schema for answer boxes: You don’t. Answer boxes and structured data might have something in common since Google has recently implemented the Q&A markup but that doesn’t mean you can’t get an answer box without structured data.

  Conclusion

  Since major search engines recommend adding structured data, go ahead and add it, especially if you have an eCommerce website. Make sure to implement it correctly and validate it with the above-mentioned tools. However, you should prioritize other important SEO tasks first.

  What’s your experience with structured markup? Do you use it in your SEO & digital marketing strategy? Does it help with your clickthrough rates? Let us know in the comments section below.

  The post Schema Markup for SEO → The Complete Guide appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

from Marketing https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/23465/schema-markup/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[wjwilliams29]

Schema Markup for SEO → The Complete Guide

If you want to become a good SEO, you need to have a holistic view on all SEO related topics and there are some technical elements that you must understand, even if they’re not quite easy to digest. One of these topics is schema markup.

  Schema markup and structured data had a role in SEO for years now and it seems that major search engines recommend them. But what exactly is schema markup? And, more importantly, how does it impact the SEO process?

  After reading this article, you’ll know exactly: what schema markup is, how it affects SEO & search engines, how to correctly implement it on websites and how it can help you get better rankings.

  What Is Schema Markup

What Is Structured Data

What Is the Difference Between Schema Markup, Microdata and Structured Data

What Are Schema Markup & Structured Data in SEO

How Does Schema Markup Impact SEO & Search Engines

Schema Markup Types Supported by Google

How To Implement Structured Data Markup On Your Website

Structured Data Vocabularies

Schema Encoding Types & Examples

Why Doesn’t My Website Display a Rich Snippet?

What is Unparsable Structured Data?

Structured Markup Penalties

Structured Data Myths

  1. What Is Schema Markup

  Schema markup is a code (semantic vocabulary) that you put on your website, with the purpose of helping the search engines return more informative results for users. Schema markup allows you to create enhanced descriptions that appear in search results, just like in the screenshot below.

    Due to its standardized semantic vocabulary, schema markup added to your site’s HTML helps the major search engines understand your page’s information better and return richer, more informative results.

  Schema markup has the advantage to be easily stored, retrieved, displayed and analyzed. In a nutshell, when Google doesn’t know if your information is about an artist or a concert of the artist, you can make things clear using structured data markup.

  2. What Is Structured Data

  Structured data (or linked data) is a way of organizing information for better accessibility. It might be hard to understand for some because of its relation to coding. However, in simple terms, it’s also called metadata or information behind the information.

  It’s similar to a database, in which terms are stored in relation to other terms. Think of it as an Excel Spreadsheet, where you have the head of the columns as the terms and under them come their values. Together, this data forms a structure which defines something.

    For example, you can have a product in your store. The structured data could contain a list of terms and their values. The product can be “Lenovo IdeaPad 510” and it could have a list of the following items/terms, with their values:

  Name > Lenovo IdeaPad S145

Rating > 4.2

Review Users > 925

Price > $239.99

Stock > In Stock

    3 The difference between Schema, Microdata, and Structured Data

  To make things easier, let’s shortly recap what these terms mean and what the differences between them are:

  Structured Data is a general term that represents binding items to values to better structure information. It can be related to SEO as much as to anything else which contains information.

Microdata is a format and it represents the way the data is structured… in a ‘visual manner’, let’s say. In simple terms, think of it as text vs audio or video. You can say the same thing in both, but it will appeal to different people. You can have the same data structured in Microdata format or in JSON-LD format, for example.

Schema is a vocabulary that defines the terms and values. There are other vocabularies such as Dublin Core. In simple terms, think of them as languages. The good thing with Schema.org is that it has been accepted by very many platforms, making it the best option for multiple scenarios. That’s why many people use Schema Markup as a synonym for implementing Structured Data.

  Here are some takeaways:

  You can have data structured in multiple formats, such as microdata of JSON-LD.

You can define terms using multiple vocabularies such as Schema.org or Dublin Core.

You can use either vocabularies with either of the formats, resulting in your markup.

When people refer to Schema Markup, they generally refer to everything related to structured data, but using the Schema.org vocabulary.

      4. What Are Schema Markup & Structured Data in SEO?

  When it comes to SEO, structured data represents some markup that is implemented on a website which search engines like Google can use in order to display information better. SEOs very often refer to structured data as Schema Markup because it’s one of the most popular markups used to structure data. We’ll talk about it soon.

  Using that markup, Search Engines can display what are known as “rich search results” or “rich snippets”. They are called “rich results” because they contain more elements than regular results, making them stand out.

  The rich snippet/rich result for the example above looks really good when Google picks up the metadata and displays it properly.

    The code is a little bit uglier than that and looks something like this:

    It might look complicated, but if you read it, it makes sense. You can see things like “@type”:”AggregateRating” with the values and the review count, and then the “@type”Offer” with the price and availability. The code above is in the JSON-LD format, which is one of the more complicated ones to understand. We’ll talk about formats and which ones to use soon, so keep reading.

  You can also use structured data to enrich a recipe search result. It can also have ratings but, instead of displaying the price, it displays how long it takes to make the dish, which is always useful when seeking for a recipe.

    These are just basic rich snippets, which affect the regular results you see in Google’s organic search results. However, Google supports a number of different types or rich snippets, some of them which I will present soon. But first, let’s talk about vocabularies and data markup.

  5. How Does Schema Markup Affect SEO & Search Engines

To put it simply, structured data is not a ranking factor / signal. But if you’ve been doing SEO for a while, you know I’m lying and it’s not actually that simple.

  You see, that’s the general consensus, or at least what Google officials tell us. I reality, opinions vary. Some say that it does affect rankings and some say it doesn’t. One thing we know for sure is that we cannot 100% trust what Google says. It’s not that they’re not transparent, but they have to keep the algorithm secret.

  But let’s see punctually how schema markup impacts SEO:

  CTR (Click Through Rate)

  Structured Data might not be a ranking signal, but it sure can help with rankings, at least indirectly. You see, any modification to your search result will have an impact on your CTR (click through rate). A negative one will drop your CTR and a positive one will boost it.

  With a higher CTR, your rankings will actually be higher.

  If more people click on your search engine result, this sends Google a signal that they want to read your content.

  To honor that demand, Google might will rank your article higher so that more people will see it. This happens constantly, so don’t expect your article to stay there. Tomorrow, a competitor might change their title and their CTR might be higher than yours. Google will notice that.

    Structured data can help you with CTR because rich results catch the eye easier than regular search results. Sure, those snippets usually display the information directly on Google’s landing page, but some of that organic traffic will still forward to your website.

  This might sound counter-intuitive but, with all the rich snippets in the search results, you might end up having a lower CTR and less organic traffic going to your website.

  Why? Because a user can find the answer directly in the search results and they don’t need to click.

  For example, most nutrition websites have structured data implemented, which means most of them get rich snippets. If you’re in the top 3 results and all the results display the recipe duration, if your duration is the highest, users might decide to not click your search engine result and go for a faster recipe instead.

  So, while you can get higher CTR if your rich result stands out (not everyone has rich snippets), it can also lower your CTR if everyone has rich snippets and the client browses based on that info.

  Priority

  You shouldn’t prioritize the addition of structured data on your website unless you’ve finished dealing with other, more important issues, such as keyword research, content optimization and other OnPage SEO factors.

  Why? Because Google said it understands the content and the information required to display rich snippets without structured data, although it’s recommended that you use it.

  Google can understand your content to display it in rich snippets even without the addition of structured data. However, it’s safer if you do use the markup.

  So, for example, if you have some HTML with 5 stars and the text “Rating: 4.7 – 24 Reviewers”, Google might figure that out on its own and display a Review rich snippet even without structured data.

  However, if you want to have a higher chance of the reviews being displayed, then add the SEO structured data so that Google understands the content perfectly.

  But remember, prioritize! Keyword research, title and content optimization, website speed and quality backlinks are much more effective in ranking you higher. So if you don’t have those in place, you can postpone the structured data markup.

  Personally, I don’t see how structured data can make search engines smarter. If Google wants its algorithms to better understand content more like a human, structured data makes it a disservice. The truth is that Google doesn’t want to rely on structured data in the future.

  You should prioritize other things such as good crawling and indexation, keyword research and title/content optimization before going for structured data (the SEO Tools from cognitiveSEO can help you with that).

  Schema markup isn’t (probably) the future of Search Engine Optimization & Digital Marketing but, for now, once you have finished other, more important search engine optimization tasks, you can make good use of it. Some studies even show that implementing structured data on your website can boost CTR up to 30%.

    6. Schema Markup Types Supported by Google

  You might be wondering what important types of schema markup are there? Well, there’s pretty much a markup for anything you can probably imagine.

  However, there are only a limited number of rich snippet types that Google has developed and improved over the years, each unique in its own way.

  Organization Schema Markup

  The Organization Schema markup isn’t a rich snippet on it’s own but it is a very important part of it because it is found in almost all the snippets. It represents the author of the content so it can also be a single person, such as an author, for example.

This is good for making sure the content is associated with the proper brand / name.

  Breadcrumbs Markup

  The Breadcrumbs Schema Markup is crucial for representing website structure. The structure of the site is represented 

However, you can also point that out.

We know that Google constantly adjusts how the search results display.

Review, Product & Offer Schema Markup

  The most popular markup out there is probably the review & product one. I’ve presented it in the beginning of the article. There are multiple items that can be added to the product rich snippet, from the product name and price to details, such as the lowest price and highest price, or offer expiry dates.

Recipe Schema Markup

  I’ve also shown an example of the recipe snippet above. You can specify things such as ingredients and how much time the recipe takes.

FAQ Schema Markup

  The FAQ Schema Markup lists answers to the related questions around your topic / page in a drop down format. Neil Patel used this FAQ schema technique to greatly improve his search engine traffic. However, it seems like this can be abused and Google might fix it.

  How to Schema Markup

  Similar to the FAQ Schema Markup. A drop down type snippet with step by step answers.

  Q&A Schema Markup

  The Q&A Schema Markup is specially designed for websites like Quora or Yahoo Answers. It can also  be applied in other scenarios, of course. Google recommends linking to individual answers (via anchors, for  example) to provide the best user experience. 

  Article Schema Markup (related to AMP)

  A carousel in which your article can be displayed at the top of the page that can be swiped, above ads and organic search results. Visible only on mobile devices.

  Video Schema Markup

  A visual snippet which displays the thumbnail of a video next the the title and description. It is very useful for organic video marketing.

  Event Schema Markup

  A visual snippet where the date is very visible and with quick access to Google Calendar bookings.

Local Business Schema Markup

  If you have a local business or are doing local SEO for a client, then you might want to add local business schema markup to the website. The markup itself is formed out of multiple data items, such as Organization, Description, Logo, Address, Phone and even Reviews.

You can check a list created by Schemaapp.com of how to properly add schema markup for local businesses in this Google Sheet.

  Other Types of Schema Markup

  A list of full rich snippets that Google supports can be viewed here (browse them from the menu).

Also, note that different different search engines such as Yandex and Yahoo! (Bing) might also use other types of structured data or schema markup on their platforms.

However, we do know that both Yandex and Bing accept and recommend schema.org, so it’s a good idea to only implement this one, unless other 3rd party apps that you use require other types of markup.

    7. How To Add Schema Markup On Your Website (The Right Way)

  If you’re interested in schema markup, you’re probably also wondering how to use Google structured data on your website.

  If you want to use structured data markup on your website so that Google can pick it up, you’ll either have to code it or make use of some plugins / extensions that will add the structured data for you.

  The thing is, you have to implement it correctly, otherwise it might do more good than harm.

  If you implement structured data wrong, your rich snippets might display the wrong information, they might not display it at all and you might even get penalized for it.

  Here’s how you can implement structured data correctly on your website, on different platforms:

  How to add schema markup in WordPress & Blogs 

  As you know, adding things on WordPress is generally very easy because there’s a ton of plugins you can choose from and, best of all, most of them are free. Implementing Schema Markup doesn’t make an exception.

  To add Schema Markup to your WordPress blog, check out the structured data & schema markup plugins in the WP repository. Choose the one with the features you need and with good reviews. The SEO plugin also adds basic structured data functionality to most of your pages, so make sure you don’t have duplicate codes.

  Note that these plugins implement basic structured data for your articles & pages. You might want to look for something specific if you have a recipes website, for example. If you have an eCommerce store on WordPress, the WooCommerce plugin already implements products structured data for you.

  How to add schema markup in Magento & eCommerce

  As for WordPress websites, most eCommerce platforms such as Magento, OpenCart or Prestashop will come with structured data already integrated.

  If you’re not sure that your site has the proper structured data, use the structured data Google Structured Data Testing Tool. You should see something like this:

    If there’s no Product section, it means your implementation is missing. There are always plugins and extensions so do a Google search and find what suits your platform.

  Make sure to fix the warnings too, although they won’t stand in the way of your rich snippets displaying.

  Local SEO structured data

  If you have a local business, structured data can really help your local SEO. You can mark up your NAP (name, address, phone) so that search engines can better understand that information.

  This plugin for WordPress seems to support structured data for Local Businesses.

  Custom schema markup implementation

  Sometimes, adding markup to your website can be more difficult. If you have a custom platform, you don’t have a plugin to simply… plug in.

  Step 1: Find out the type of page you have and which type of schema markup fits it best. For example, informational pages go well with FAQ or How to schema markup. Products on eCommerce sites, on the other hand, go well with the Product schema markup.

  Note that it’s important not to try to trick Google into making your result more appealing if it doesn’t make sense. So only pick what Google recommends from the types of rich snippets it supports.

  Step 2: Generate the schema markup. Generating JSON LD structured data is pretty easy. You can use an online schema markup generator such as this one to easily generate your code.

  However, you’ll have to manually add it in your head section. Which means this would be a static implementation.

  If you have thousands of pages, that might not be easy. You’re better off developing a dynamic system with a programmer, where the platform automatically picks up the information from the database and complies it into a JSON format to display it in the HTML for each product/page.

  So although the template for the Product Schema Markup in the JSON-LD format stays the same the values such as Price, Currency, Product name or Rating might change from page to page and website to website.

  Sometimes, you can also manually add schema into your HTML with Microdata. However, it’s best if you use the JSON-LD format, as suggested by Google. 

  Step 3: Validate everything.

  If you’re planning on adding markup manually, make sure to validate your code with the Google Structured Data Testing Tool.

      8. Structured Data Vocabularies

  For structured data, you need two things: a list of item names and a way to display them. So we have vocabularies and formats which, together, result in markup.

  The list of items is called vocabulary. You can think of it as languages. Different words can mean different things in different languages and not everybody speaks every language.

  There are multiple types of schema and vocabularies available:

  Schema.org

  Schema.org is the most popular vocabulary for structured data. Why? Well, because it has been accepted by major search engines and companies, such as Yahoo, Bing, Google, etc. It’s sort of an… international language, like English.

  As I said above, because Schema Markup is so popular, SEOs often refer to structured data directly as Schema Markup. You could have structured data implemented on your website without Schema Markup, by using another vocabulary. However, you will use Schema Markup of your own free will 🙂 Got it?

  The Schema.org Markup supports a very big variety of items and elements. You can view the entire list of supported items on http://schema.org. We’ll soon discuss which ones are the most important schema markup elements, which Google actually uses in the search engine results.

  Open Graph

  You might be familiar with Open Graph. It’s not used for search engines, but social media platforms, such as Facebook, use it to display titles and images.

    They are useful for SEO & Facebook Marketing because you can separate the regular <title> tag used for search engines from the Facebook title. This way, you can keep the keywords in the <title>, which is important for SEO, and you can also have a catchy headline for social media, which is important for clicks & engagement.

  Dublin Core

  Dublin Core is another vocabulary, similar to schema.org but much more limited. It’s probably the second most popular one. Unless you have solid motives to use Dublin Core, such as a 3rd party app your site is hooked to uses it, use schema.org vocabulary instead.

  9. Schema Encoding Types & Examples

  First let’s take a look at how the information for the address of an organization would look without any structured data, in plain HTML code:

  The following information was taken from http://schema.org/address. You can view examples for most of the schema.org vocabulary properties there (some of them are still marked as “To Do”).

  Address Structured Data Plain HTML code (source: schema.org)

  JSON-LD

  JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) is a method of encoding and presenting structured data information using JSON. This is recommended by the W3C, which means it is standardized.

  Here’s an example of how the above information would be displayed using JSON. Google also recommends using JSON LD for displaying structured data on your website. Again, it looks complicated but you won’t have to write it yourself, as it can be generated with tools we’ll soon talk about.

  Address Structured Data in JSON LD Format (source: schema.org)

  Microdata

  With Microdata you can specify the structured data information within the HTML code itself, using HTML tag attributes. This makes it easier for many people to understand. However, while this is easy to add manually on a case by case basis, it’s difficult to scale and automatize when required for bigger websites (such as eCommerce ones).

  Address Structured Data in Microdata Format (source: schema.org)

  With JSON LD, you’ll have a lot of standardized plugins for different purposes on most platforms. However, if the element you’re trying to specify isn’t included in the plugin and thus doesn’t display in the outputted JSON LD code, you can add it easily in the HTML using Microdata.

  RDFa

  RDFa is similar to Microdata, which means it’s also added through HTML tag attributes. The difference is that RDFa is older and more complex. It has other uses outside of the HTML realm and this means integration with other apps/platforms/servers is easier if they use the technology.

  Address Structured Data in RDFa Format (source: schema.org)

  Whether you want to go with RDFa or Microdata is your choice, they’ll both do just fine. However, do it as an alternative. Using JSON-LD is the recommended way to go.

  Notice how all the formats above, although different, use the Schema.org data markup vocabulary.

    10. Why Doesn’t My Website Display a Rich Snippet?

  So you’ve finished implementing structured data on your website, but the rich snippets don’t show up in search. What do you do?

  Implementing structured data on your website correctly doesn’t guarantee rich snippets.

  Unfortunately, Google picks up only what it wants. If it’s your Homepage you’re worrying about, worry no more! Google doesn’t display rich snippets for Homepages.

  First, make sure that your code is implemented correctly by testing it. You can do this using the following tools from Google:

  Google Structured Data Testing Tool: This is the most popular tool for testing out JSON LD markup and structured data.

      Rich Snippet Validator: This is still in beta, but it’s useful. You can find it here.

    10.1 What is Unparsable Structured Data?

  Unparsable structured data is data markup on your website that could not be properly parsed (or understood) by Google. This, most likely, means that you have not implemented things correctly on your site.

  In programming, parsing is the separation of a cluster of strings into separate ones. In other terms, the strings could not be correctly read or understood, which indicates an error in how the strings were presented.

  These errors shows either in the Google validator as an error, or in the Google Search Console, under Enhancements > Unparsable Structured Data.

    Compared to the other validators above, it’s very useful because it will highlight errors for multiple pages at once, although it doesn’t highlight all the details of the issue.

    Make sure you use Google’s SEO Tools to your advantage when implementing schema markup and structured data on your website.

    10.2 Structured Markup Penalties

  If you implement structured data wrong, you probably won’t get penalized. However, if you try to cheat, Google might apply a structured markup penalty on your website.

  For example, if you just want the star ratings and number of reviewers, you can simply add them manually to your page. Your product could be 3 stars, but you might want to display 5 stars in the search engines. You could also add a smaller structured data price, while on the website, the real price is higher.

  That’s not fair and the Google algorithm updates might punish you! 

    If you get a similar message in your Search Console or your organic traffic to all the pages with structured markup has suddenly dropped, make sure to read this article about structured markup penalties to find out how to fix things.

  11. Common Schema Markup Myths

  There are a few myths that go around regarding rich snippets and structured data. Most of them are simply implementation mistakes and misconceptions.

  However, even though we’ve already talked about this and covered these topics above, it’s a good idea

  1. Schema markup guarantees rich snippets: They don’t. Google will pick whatever it wants regardless of whether you have structured data on your website or not. That’s why it’s a good idea to implement other, more important things first instead of focusing on structured data.

  2. Schema markup is a ranking factor: It’s not. At least, that’s what the Google officials have stated over and over again. However, CTR is a ranking factor and since Structured Data can affect the CTR, your rankings might improve. But Google won’t care if you simply implement markup on your website.

  3. You need schema for answer boxes: You don’t. Answer boxes and structured data might have something in common since Google has recently implemented the Q&A markup but that doesn’t mean you can’t get an answer box without structured data.

  Conclusion

  Since major search engines recommend adding structured data, go ahead and add it, especially if you have an eCommerce website. Make sure to implement it correctly and validate it with the above-mentioned tools. However, you should prioritize other important SEO tasks first.

  What’s your experience with structured markup? Do you use it in your SEO & digital marketing strategy? Does it help with your clickthrough rates? Let us know in the comments section below.

  The post Schema Markup for SEO → The Complete Guide appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

[isearchgoood]

Monitoring structured data with Search Console

In our previous post in the structured data series, we discussed what structured data is and why you should add it to your site. We are committed to structured data and continue to enhance related Search features and improve our tools - that’s why we have been creating solutions to help webmasters and developers implement and diagnose structured data. This post focuses on what you can do with Search Console to monitor and make the most out of structured data for your site. In addition, we have some new features that will help you even more. Below are the new additions, read on to learn more about them.

Unparsable structured data is a new report that aggregates structured data syntax errors.

New enhancement reports for Sitelinks searchbox and Logo.

Monitoring overall structured data performance

Every time Search Console detects a new issue related to structured data on a website, we send an email to account owners - but if an existing issue gets worse, it won’t trigger an email, so it is still important for you to check your account sporadically. This is not something you need to do every day, but we recommend you check it once in a while to make sure everything is working as intended. If your website development has defined cycles, it might be a good practice to log in to Search Console after changes are made to the website to monitor your performance. If you’d like to have an overall idea of all the errors for a specific structured data feature in your site, you can navigate to the Enhancements menu in the left sidebar and click  a feature. You'll find a summary of all errors and warnings, as well as the valid items. As mentioned above, we added a new set of reports to help you understand more types of structured data on your site: Sitelinks searchbox and Logo. They are joining the existing set of reports on Recipe, Event, Job Posting and others. You can read more about the reports in the Search Console Help Center. Here's an example of an Enhancement report, note that you can only see enhancements that have been detected in your pages. The report helps you with the following actions:

Review the trends of errors, warnings and valid items: To view each status issue separately, click the colored boxes above the bar chart.

Review warnings and errors per page: To see examples of pages which are currently affected by the issues, click a specific row below the bar chart.

Image: Enhancements report

We are also happy to launch the Unparsable Structured Data report, which aggregates parsing issues such as structured data syntax errors that prevented Google from identifying the feature type. That is the reason these issues are aggregated here instead of the intended specific feature report. Check this report to see if Google was unable to parse any of the structured data you tried to add to your site. Parsing issues could point you to lost opportunities for rich results for your site. Below is a screenshot showing how the report looks like. You can access the report directly and read more about the report in our help center.

Image: Unparsable Structured Data report

Testing structured data on a URL level

To make sure your pages were processed correctly and are eligible for rich results or as a way to diagnose why some rich result are not surfacing for a specific URL, you can use the URL Inspection tool. This tool helps you understand areas of improvement at a URL level and helps you get an idea on where to focus. When you paste a URL into the search box at the top of Search Console, you can find what’s working properly and warnings or errors related to your structured data in the enhancements section, as seen below for Recipes.

Image: URL Inspection tool

In the screenshot above, there is an error related to Recipes. If you click Recipes, information about the error displays, and you can click the little chart icon to the right of the error to learn more about it. Once you understand and fix the error, you can click Validate Fix (see screenshot below) so Google can start validating whether the issue is indeed fixed. When you click the Validate Fix button, Google runs several instantaneous tests. If your pages don’t pass this test, Search Console provides you with an immediate notification. Otherwise, Search Console reprocesses the rest of the affected pages.

Image: Structured data error detail

We would love to hear your feedback on how Search Console has helped you and how it can help you even more with structured data. Send us feedback through Twitter or the Webmaster forum. Posted by Daniel Waisberg, Search Advocate & Na'ama Zohary, Search Console team 

from Google Webmaster Central Blog http://bit.ly/2IUkhGj If you like this post please don't forget to share it. Source Of this Content is http://bit.ly/1uWlqOh More Posts You Will Like. Search Engine Optimization Techniques Video Tutorial 2018 Seo Tutorial For Beginners Step By Step Video 2018 Seo Tutorial Video In Hindi 2018 Complete Seo Tutorial 2018 Seo Tutorial Youtube 2018 Seo Tutorial For Beginners Pdf 2018 Seo Tutorial For Beginners Youtube 2018 Seo Tutorial W3school 2018 Seo Tutorial Step By 2018 via Blogger http://bit.ly/2JcrC3k #blogger #bloggingtips #bloggerlife #bloggersgetsocial #ontheblog #writersofinstagram #writingprompt #instapoetry #writerscommunity #writersofig #writersblock #writerlife #writtenword #instawriters #spilledink #wordgasm #creativewriting #poetsofinstagram #blackoutpoetry #poetsofig

[irlpinkiepie]

semi-conscious stream of thought ramble because that's where i'm at emotionally:

- so like obviously i am beyond attached to my current brand, it's such a good encapsulation of me personally as bright and pink and sunny and also very kinnie, and i don't really want to get rid of it

- but also i feel like there is more to me than just pinkie? in both a metaphorical and also a literal sense but like, it feels kinda limiting to be Always Pinkie All The Time (again in both senses) and i kinda wanna not be pigeonholed into one particular mode of online expression by my brand

- and i know that i've changed my url before, so it's not like i can't reestablish myself? but all my previous url changes were years ago and also all very fandom/fictionkin motivated; i could easily switch to just another url for my current interests (i do have a canon tma url hoarded but it's not a very good one) but that just pigeonholes me in a slightly different direction and doesn't actually solve the problem

- not that there's really a way to come up with any mode of presentation that doesn't in some way limit your self-expression but. i dunno it feels like there has to be an answer Somewhere and i cannot think of what that might be

- and on kind of a similar note i've toyed with the idea of just remaking for... a couple years now? i dunno there's nearly seven years on this blog and i do kinda wanna just archive this and start fresh

- but also the thought of remaking sounds like a lot of tedious busywork making a new theme and refollowing everyone and also i'd have to either remake my blocklist or just resign myself to stumbling across someone i would really rather forget about (hi ******) so i'm probably not gonna do that? but i Could

- but like i dunno really the problem is that all my previous urls have been fandom related and it turns out that's really good at defining and communicating a presence, but i don't know that i have much of a presence beyond that? certainly not really on tumblr where half my blog is kin art and the other half is love my gf memes, but i've gone as pinkie and tied all my social media together for long enough that it feels hard to think of myself as anything other than pinkie

- like what other url would i even use??? trixiesonata is the obvious one, 'cause it's the brand i make music with, but also it's a brand that's been inactive for over a year and also tying myself to an original character design when i am not at all interested in creating visual art seems ill-advised, and beyond that like? the only other url i've actually used for things that isn't fandom related is sapphiric-bliss, which is just completely unparsable (the number of times people have read it as "sapphic" is astounding)

- i dunno i'm probably not gonna change my url anytime soon (i'd be tempted if i were actually working on music but right now all my creative focus is going into trying to write more of this bnha fic that's been abandoned for years so) but this has been bugging me for quite a while honestly and i still don't know that i have any kind of solution to the central problem of "how do i define myself in an online context when defining myself in any context is difficult"

what if i..... changed my url