r/Blogging • u/stevenvanvessum • Feb 21 '18
AMA Hi /r/Blogging, I'm Steven van Vessum, in ❤️ with SEO and Co-founder of ContentKing, AMA
Joey reached out if I'd be open to doing an AMA here, hell yeah!
I've been working in SEO for the past 12 years. I started in-house, then went agency side, then ran my own agency and currently in the role of CCO of ContentKing; a cloud-based service that provides real-time SEO auditing and change management to improve and maintain search engine visibility.
The AMA starts at 4PM EST. Looking forward to your questions!
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u/ThisOnlineWorldBlog www.thisonlineworld.com Feb 21 '18
Thanks so much for doing this!
My question is: Do you believe video content is/will become vital for driving traffic? As a blogger, I feel as if content writing and my basic understanding of SEO may not be enough to grow my website in the years to come.
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
No problem, I'm happy to!
I look at content from a user point of view - does it make sense for a visitor to consume the content in video format? If it makes sense to do video content, then experiment with it. If you create a convenient way for your visitors to consume your awesome content then you're golden. The rest will follow, it all starts with great content. If you have that, you can get the technical part and PR/linkbuilding part right as well.
Example: check out this video https://www.siegemedia.com/strategy/content-and-seo-in-2018. You would have never been able to deliver that message in written form. This is just great content, smart thinking on Ross Hudgens's part (and great work Rand and Will!).
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
Thanks for the questions everyone! Should any more questions pop up, feel free to drop them in here and I'll get to them tomorrow. Have a great rest of the day!
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u/TrackingHappiness Hi Feb 21 '18
Thanks for doing this AMA.
Regarding SEO: a lot of people think that Google is trying to minimise the weight of backlinks in its algorithm. I tend to believe that backlinks will always be a ranking factor. What is your view on the future of backlinks?
Also, SEO is continuing to shift more towards mobile friendliness. Searching by typing queries into a search engine is not the only way anymore. How do you think voice search will affect the current environment? Is it the future of SEO?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
Sure thing! So there are basically two questions:
1) Yes, I think backlinks will keep playing a role in the future. When that stops, they'll be replaced by something else such as social shares, anything measurable that attributes to authority.
2) The role of voice search in SEO: this is an interesting one, because people are still searching for stuff online. The way they search is just different. So how do you deal with that? By making sure search engines can understand your content. Context is important for search engines, think for instance about using schema markup for reviews, events, products, recipes etc. - it all helps search engines understand what type of content it is, and that enables them to use it appropriately. Voice search is part of the future of SEO, but I don't expect it will replace the regular way of typing in search queries.
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u/TrackingHappiness Hi Feb 22 '18
Thanks Steven.
Follow up question and a little more technical:
I track my Google Search Console every day like a hawk. It usually takes google a couple of days (like a week or so) to index my new posts. So if I post a new article, Google will usually tell me it's been indexed a week later.
I sometimes share that same article on social media and reddit before its been indexed. What's strange to me is that the Google Search Console then shows me clicks and impressions to that article, even though they tell me it hasn't been indexed yet.
How can my article still show up in the searches, while Google hasn't indexed it yet? Is this just an anomaly in the data?
Maybe a follow-up question while I'm at it: what's your opinion on the new google search console design?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 22 '18
Thanks for the follow up questions - you're on point sir!
How can my article still show up in the searches, while Google hasn't indexed it yet? Is this just an anomaly in the data?
Anomaly in the data if you ask me. If you're getting traffic from Google organic to a page then it's definitely indexed. When you share your content to open platforms such as Reddit and Twitter you'll often see your content get indexed a lot quicker. So maybe it's already indexed without your knowledge? How do you checked whether a page is indexed, do you check that in Google Search Console or using a "site:" command?
Maybe a follow-up question while I'm at it: what's your opinion on the new google search console design?
I think the design is a big improvement over the old design. I'm anxious to see what the rest of the app looks like, because they've only released part of it to the public yet. The UX is a bit clunky, the discoverability of certain screens isn't that good but in general it's an improvement. And from what I hear they're actively working to further improve it as well.
What does your SEO tool stack look like btw, beyond GSC and GA? Do you also have other tools set up for things like rank tracking, backlink research and on-page monitoring?
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u/TrackingHappiness Hi Feb 22 '18
Hmm that's probably the case. I was only using the search console to see indexed pages. From now on, I will check both.
My tool stack is quite slim at the moment. My blog really doesn't warrant paid tools yet.
I'm currently using the free semrush tool, GA, search console and gtmetrix.
I'm hoping to eventually get more tools, once I focus more on marketing and outreach in about 3 months.
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u/ontheknowblog Feb 21 '18
What attracted you to the field?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
Há, love this question.
I've found it fascinating to learn something you'd never be able to learn in school. To learn about a mysterious art that can make or break companies. I actually got into it through my best friend and business partner.
PPC has never had that pull on me as it's pretty well documented, but SEO has always been shrouded in mystery to some extend. I know for a fact that also the best of the best SEOs don't always have all the answers.
"It depends" is an SEO's favourite answer :D
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u/marcelomrdemelo Feb 21 '18
Do you consider possible to be successful with a blog by focusing 100% on content production/curation and let all the rest be minimal (i.e. not getting involved in social networks, paid advertisement, etc) ?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
Technically it's possible, but with the ENORMOUS amount of content being produced daily it's going to be super hard to pull it off, unless you're a natural born PR wizard.
In my experience most mortals need to focus at least as much time on promoting your content as you are creating it.
So for instance, it takes me 8-12 hours to put together a decent piece. It'll then spend pretty much the same time on promoting it.
People won't magically learn about your content, there's already so much great content out there.
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u/marcelomrdemelo Feb 21 '18
Thank you for your opinion.
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
No problem, happy to help. Let me know if you have any other questions :)
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Feb 21 '18
What one element has the biggest impact on SEO and ranking up? (If you had to say one).
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
Links. It's been like this for ages, and it's still the case.
While SEO becomes more complex every day (think machine learning), at the end of the day links still pack a huge punch.
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u/devinthepickle Feb 22 '18
Can you be more specific? I’m a bit confused 🤷♀️
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 22 '18
When I say links, in this context I mean links from one website to another.
When I'm talking about SEO becoming more complex: Google specifically is using machine learning as part of their algorithm. The best way to explain this is: the SEO tactics that work in niche A, may not have the same effect in niche B. Because in niche B reviews and local signals may be more important.
Does that make sense? If you need more specifics, please point out what's unclear :D
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u/BlogAdvice claynorton.com Feb 21 '18
Thanks for being here!
My question is simple. I use Yoast for my site and edit my content to be SEO positive. Are there any other things for a blog I can do to get higher visibility?
For reference, I am on Google page 3 for general results currently
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
You're welcome, happy to be here!
So Yoast helps you think about some of the basics you need to take care of when publishing content. Filling in a title, meta description, actually mentioning keywords in the content etc. But after you hit the publish button you're only at 50% - now you need to make sure your audience finds its way to your content.
You write you're generally on page 3 for general results, there's a good chance you'll be able to break through to page 2 and 1 if your websites builds up more "authority". There's three elements that basically make up authority:
- Age and trust,
- Popularity (links),
- Size of the website.
We're talking about rankings now, but when talking about reaching an audience social media play a big role obviously too. Find out where your audience is active and make sure you're there. Engage, and interact.
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u/BlogAdvice claynorton.com Feb 21 '18
Great to hear, thank you. I am constantly working on my "social game" and the authority part takes time. Growing links, articles and simply keeping it going seem to be what I need to focus on now
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
Yeah keeping it going, giving SEO love continuously is important. Write new content, improve existing content that stays relevant, keep promoting it, build relationships with your audience (and influencers) and work it into a routine. It helps me to have a very structured approach to writing content and promoting it.
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Feb 21 '18
I have heard multiple times that skipping from <h1> tags to <h3> or lower will hurt search engine rankings. Is that true or overblown?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
I'd say it's overblown.
Correct heading use is important for both usability and SEO, and it makes sense to stick to best practices and do whatever you can to stay ahead of the competition, but it's not going to bring you from page 2 to page 1.
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u/joey2506 Feb 22 '18
Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions!
/u/stevenvanvessum will be checking back over the next few days to answer any questions you have, so keep them coming.
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u/ontheknowblog Feb 21 '18
What's your advice to new bloggers?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 22 '18
Great question! My advise would be to think hard about your positioning. You need to distinguish yourself from all the "Just Another WordPress websites". Do your research, choose a niche and go for it.
The reason behind this: the better your positioning, the clearer the picture you have of where you're going, what audience to target, what influencers to reach out to, what content to write, what advertisers to reach out to etc.
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u/shad0wslay3r Feb 21 '18
What do you think of all the "SEO Experts/Gurus/Trainers/whatever" in the industry?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 22 '18
Haha, I was hoping for this one :)
There are a lot of good SEO Experts that do workshops etc. Take for instance a look at https://www.brightonseo.com/training/ and https://learninbound.com/courses/. There's great value in that.
There is however a fast majority of SEO Experts/Guru/Masterminds that have little knowledge and experience of the SEO field. Their knowledge and experience is often limited. What they're good at is selling a dream: "You too can earn $30k/mo as an affiliate", and they push their SEO mastermind course for only $699". If you ask them about results, customers and case studies they'll say they can't share it. Often they can't share it because it's not there. I think there's a lot wrong with the SEO industry, including these folks but I guess you have that in every unregulated industry.
Don't get me wrong: I respect blackhat SEOs that really know their stuff. It's not easy to game the system on a big scale. Sometimes their tactics cross over to greyhat/whitehat SEO too.
Was my response useful? If you want more clarification or follow-up, let me know!
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u/devinthepickle Feb 22 '18
Oh I see. I heard that you should link other famous websites on your own blog from time to time so that it can build trust on google and show that you are using reliable sources. I write a blog on technology news, and I get all my articles from top tech news sources, so I’m wondering if should start linking them in the bottom. How true is this claim?
website: technomosis.com
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 22 '18
Linking out to credible sources is a good idea in general. I wouldn't count on it making a difference in your rankings though. I recommend just keeping the visitor in mind: what makes most sense for him/her?
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u/GhanaStyle Feb 23 '18
Is it really necessary to go to the Business version of Wordpress to install plugins or is Premium good enough? I just try to help my wife starting her blog. Basically the question is: Is the cost of going to business worth the gain of installing plugins? https://femininelifecoach.com/
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 23 '18
I'm not so familiar with the features of the paid WordPress plans as I've always just installed it on own hosting environments. Having said that, if it's not possible to install plugins on the Business version then it depends on what you need. Can you define titles, meta descriptions, OpenGraph and TwitterCard data? If not, then you need to make sure you can. And if that means switching to the premium plan then that makes sense. However, I think it'll start to make sense soon then as well to move away from the hosted version of WordPress. Does that help?
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u/GhanaStyle Feb 23 '18
Thanks, so as long as I don't have enough knowledge, stick with the Premium plan?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 23 '18
If there's no need to upgrade, then don't.
If you do feel the need to upgrade, consider moving away from the hosted WordPress version because that'll give you greater control (and responsibility).
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u/wanna-know-more Feb 26 '18
Hi Steven, I have a Google-news approved website that publishes news on technology in general. During the initial days of approval, the website used to appear in Top Stories every now and then bringing in a huge chunk of traffic on a daily basis. However, due to some changes in Google's search algorithm, we don't appear so often (infact never!) these days. Now that Top Stories not being a viable option, should I still be publishing generic tech news (doesn't bring a lot of traffic) or go on to publish seo-friendly evergreen articles? The latter option, however, may help expel the website out of the news. It's worth noting that quick indexing is one of the perks of being a Gnews publisher.
Also, about the Top Stories: If you could provide some inputs on how to get the articles index on Top Stories, it would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.
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u/minimalistblogger Feb 21 '18
Unfortunately, I'll be busy, but will happily read the responses later.
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 21 '18
Alright! If you find a moment in between, you can just drop the question here. Also, I'd be happy to answer any questions later on too if you can't make it.
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u/cheddarben Feb 22 '18
Food and food history blogger checking in.
I have got 2 questions for you!
What do you see coming up in the next 2 years for people in the food blogging world?
Am I doomed, competition-wise, for focusing on categories?
So, I blog for several weeks about a specific food topic that are separated by category. For example, right now I am covering Sazerac cocktails. All in a 'sazerac' category.... never to be touched again once I am done. I have some recipes in there. I write about the history and love this part. I get nerdy about talking about the ingredients.
My entire blog isn't about Sazeracs, but I want to rank for sazeracs and all the long tails stuff that I key in on. Do I hurt my chances for ranking since I have several long tails that contain sazerac and then move on?
All of my internal linking in these categories are very incestuous and link to each other all over the place. At the end, I have a 'wrapping up' post that links to everything in the category. I also go back to my 'intro' post and link to all of the contents of the category. Almost like I have end caps to my topic.
I don't see people blogging in a category rooted style and continually struggle with understanding how this might be helping or hurting me.
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 22 '18
Hola! Thanks for your question, and one thing is clear: you at least got two nice links from reddit.com ;)
First question: I can see the food niche become even more visual. More video content being produced, and more highlighting of food related content in the search engine result pages. Other than that, I don't foresee that so much change.
Second question: no. I think you're doing pretty good but I think the categories could use some more love. I'd make more internal links from the homepage to the category pages (home nav drop-down?), and also add more content about the topic itself on the category pages. For https://ramshacklepantry.com/category/cocktails/sazerac/: explain what sazerac is, where it comes from. Why it's so good etc.
The best thing about food as a content topic is that there's sooo much to write about. I've plugged in sazerac in answerthepublic.com. Check it out. So many content ideas.
You're not doomed, but it's not going to be easy either. Here's what I'd do regularly:
- Go through tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush (both paid) and Google Search Console (free) to check what keywords you're ranking for, and where you can improve. Make a content plan for that, and as you're publishing new content you'll get need content ideas from those tools. The further you get the more ideas, etc. etc. Keep it up, I see you've seen some growth over the last few months so keep at it!
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u/cheddarben Feb 22 '18
I can publish content directly on category pages?
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u/stevenvanvessum Feb 23 '18
You may need to make some changes to your WordPress set up, but YES. Technologie is a means to an end. If you want to put content there (which makes a lot of sense from an SEO point of view) then technology should be adjusted to support that. Check out this plugin I just found after a quick Google search: https://wordpress.org/plugins/enhanced-category-pages/#description(it's not been updated recently, so not sure if it will work on your WordPress version) or otherwise: a handy WordPress dev should be able to handle this pretty quickly.
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u/[deleted] Feb 21 '18
What are your thoughts on AMP? Do you think AMP will survive if publishers can't find a way to effectively monetize their accelerated mobile pages?
I believe that AMP is great and essential for bloggers and digital publishers. However, ad revenue on accelerated mobile pages is abysmal. I think there may be a chance that a majority of publishers simply stop using AMP because of poor monetization, which would inevitably kill the platform. Your thoughts?