Newbie Question(s) so dumb, you're afraid to even ask!

[bernard]

I noticed the plugin I'm using to serve up the proper size image on mobile doesn't apply to a "featured image" and it's slowing down the page load. If I omit the featured image and insert it at the top of the page, it looks the same to a user, but it loads a lot faster.

Are there any negatives to skipping the featured image photo?

The featured image is used in archives and in post lists and that kind of thing.

One method can be to exclude the featured image with a "display:none" and use the method you mention. In any case, you'd need some customization.

Have you tried contacting the plugin owners instead?

 

[NSG]

Thanks bernard. You're right, removing the featured image did impact the archives, etc.

For whatever reason, I can't let this speed thing go and it's distracting me from doing things that matter more. So I reverted back to a plain install of the theme I'm using with no plugins and added them one by one to see at which point the speed tanks. The only issue seems to be the LCP, and it's only after I add google analytics to the page, using this code:

<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
<script async src="https // www. googletagmanager .com/gtag/js?id=XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'XXXXXXXXX');
</script>

Is delaying firing the code an option? Is there a better way to implement this? Is there any way to stop google analytics from tanking the LCP? Perhaps an alternative tracker or something I'm missing?

 

[bernard]

What's the actual risk of using images from Reddit and reposting on your own SoMe?

 

[bernard]

Thanks bernard. You're right, removing the featured image did impact the archives, etc.

For whatever reason, I can't let this speed thing go and it's distracting me from doing things that matter more. So I reverted back to a plain install of the theme I'm using with no plugins and added them one by one to see at which point the speed tanks. The only issue seems to be the LCP, and it's only after I add google analytics to the page, using this code:

<!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
<script async src="https // www. googletagmanager .com/gtag/js?id=XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
gtag('js', new Date());
gtag('config', 'XXXXXXXXX');
</script>

Is delaying firing the code an option? Is there a better way to implement this? Is there any way to stop google analytics from tanking the LCP? Perhaps an alternative tracker or something I'm missing?

I don't think there's any way around GA because it needs to load first to make sure it gets all the info on bounces, quick clicks etc.

I also doubt Google would penalise their own product.

About these featured images, have you done all the image compression possible and using WebP files and so on?

I doubt it would destroy page speed if so.

Also, it should be fairly simple to serve a smaller image on mobile. I'm pretty sure that Wordpress stores different sizes of images by default.

What you need to do is code something in your theme, that outputs two different featured images in different sizes with two different classes:

featured_full
featured_mobile

Then use the @media conditional in your css to "display:none" then one that needs to be hidden depending on screen size.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media

Would be a couple of lines code at most.

 

[NSG]

I also doubt Google would penalise their own product.

It seems like they do. Just for fun, I created a new post that was blank except for the post heading. Without google analytics, LCP = 1.8, Page speed 99. With google analytics code, LCP 3.0, Page speed 89.

I am using image compression and WebP files (that actually helped the speed a lot). Thanks for the info on how to output different feature photos on mobile vs desktop.

I've given up on google analytics and switched to a different tracking software. The LCP issue went away, which should fix the core web vitals issue.

Thanks for your help!

 

[hiruma]

I'm planning to target a big keyword in my niche that no one targets. It's basically a "x for sale in y" type of keyword. Is it a good idea to start a classified ads section on my blog to target these keywords?

 

[bernard]

Is it a good idea to start a classified ads section on my blog to target these keywords?

I would think not.

It's going to get spammed to high heavens and you'd need a procedure to remove the old classifieds, which is probably the real issue.

Instead you could consider writing a guide for how to buy these x for sale in y products, used, new, refurbished, whatever. Make it like a small directory page, really get around it.

Some suggestions:

For sale
For rent
DIY
Alternatives to X
Price in Y vs Price in Z
Cheapest place to buy X
etc

 

[Jesse]

Is it a reasonable business model to buy a website from somewhere like Flippa that's being monetized via AdSense, apply to better-paying ads programs, get a better profit/month with the same traffic and then resell the site at a profit (or hold)?

I don't really know much about this, which is why I'm asking, but I'm curious what I'm missing here.

 

[bernard]

Is it a reasonable business model to buy a website from somewhere like Flippa that's being monetized via AdSense, apply to better-paying ads programs, get a better profit/month with the same traffic and then resell the site at a profit (or hold)?

I don't really know much about this, which is why I'm asking, but I'm curious what I'm missing here.

That is certainly a great business model, which is probably why these sites are going to go for very high multiples as others understand that its a great business model too.

 

[GreenDust]

Here is a question I would love to learn the answer to. Back in 2010 I made a few dollars building doorway sites. Then some personal events took place in my life and I had to be out of it. I recently got nostalgic and want to get back in it but I feel the days of doorway sites have become a past. I wonder if anyone still making money or rank anything using doorways?

If I may, another question... I have a local site for my offline business. It is proxied through cloudflare. I set cloudflare to block all geo except USA. Is there a downfall to that strategy? I have 0 value in visitors or bots from China or Russia or any other European or Asian country.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I wonder if anyone still making money or rank anything using doorways?

I quit doing this many years back. Moving towards 10 years now, actually. You can get indexed and get some traffic but most of it, and I mean upwards to even 90% of the traffic, will just be bots. Monetizing it is always an interesting adventure too because you'll get stuck with Adsense-type stuff. I used to pay-per-call from mine and rack up $65 dollar and $350 dollar calls daily from the few actual humans finding their way to my addiction and mental health doorway pages.

And then it got nearly impossible to rank once Google started the beginnings of what became YMYL. Doing it in other niches just doesn't seem worth that much effort to me, without really slamming the spam out there. I'd just rather run a real operation than be a spammer.

Google is also well aware of doorway pages and have been for at least 15 years if not more. If you start ranking for decent volume terms, they're going to find you. That's the other issue. You have to increase the volume of pages to make up for the lack of volume of human searches. I wouldn't bother doing this.

I set cloudflare to block all geo except USA. Is there a downfall to that strategy?

A part of me was expecting to say yes, but the more I sit here and think about it, it's probably fine. You'll avoid a lot of hack attempts and port scanning and scraping and all that crap. You don't really stand to gain any real backlinks or media exposure from visitors outside of the nation either.

 

[WinMore]

About these featured images, have you done all the image compression possible and using WebP files and so on?

I'm still compressing PNG and jpeg. Is Webp worth it by now? I have no idea.

I also doubt Google would penalise their own product.

I'm confident that they do. I agree it's kinda weird. Anyway, that's why I don't load their fonts.
I prefer loading as little as possible from other websites anyway.

 

[GreenDust]

Where is the "like" button so I can rate other's posts?

 

[Potatoe]

Where is the "like" button so I can rate other's posts?

It will show up for you shortly, you need to get a couple more likes on your own posts before it activates. This will happen naturally.

I'd imagine that it's like this to help prevent people from being able to make bot/spam accounts to like their other bot/spam accounts, and so on.

 

[Lowrider]

I have a lot of keywords where my competitors are ranking without links. They build their authority either from other pages or homepage links. Should I build links to specific posts anyway, even if you know that the page in position 1 is ranking without any links? e.g. my DR is 13 and their DR is 60

 

[Jesse]

I've been reading the Digital Strategy Crash Course, and am currently on "Day 6" on keyword research here: https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/day-6-keyword-research.1328/

For context, I'm building a site to get traffic with SEO and monetize via ads.

I see a lot of low-competition keywords that don't have a lot of commercial intent (and low CPC numbers) and a number of medium-competition keywords that have a fair amount of commercial intent (and higher CPC numbers), which makes sense.

If I target both on the same pages, does that (in theory) drive up my ad earnings based on the theory that the cost per click of each click would be higher on average because it would be pulling from more commercial keywords a higher percentage of the time?

I guess what I'm asking is whether it's important to mention or frame things in terms of commercial intent (wrt keyword selection in particular but also in general) even when it's on a topic that would be more informational. As I type this out, I just now feel like it's obvious that you should, but I'll post the question anyway.

Additionally, I'm thinking that if I build authority and get something going, I'll have chances to rank for higher competition keywords that would already be baked into my content, but I may be mistaken about some aspect of how this works.

 

[Ryuzaki]

I have a lot of keywords where my competitors are ranking without links. They build their authority either from other pages or homepage links. Should I build links to specific posts anyway, even if you know that the page in position 1 is ranking without any links? e.g. my DR is 13 and their DR is 60

If you have an opportunity to get a link you should take it. Otherwise, there's probably better ROI opportunities. You can't rank better than #1. So if you're building or buying a link and have control over where it aims, you might as well choose a page that has a chance for improvement.

If I target both on the same pages [...] or frame things in terms of commercial intent [...] even when it's on a topic that would be more informational.

You're right that the rest of the conversation is theoretical, because you can't really rank commercial content for informational queries and vice versa. People used to do that and Google would toss out penalties. Also, Google has a much greater handle on "intent" meaning the intent of one query is commercial and the intent of another is informational. If you send mixed signals on your own page, then you aren't serving the intent of either query well enough to rank. You're shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[GreenDust]

Folks I have a question. I found a typo link on my competitor's website and bought that typo domain. What is the best way to utilize ? Should I 301 it to my own domain or should I build a mini site on that domain? It's a local home improvement service niche. Kind of ultimate top of getting backlink from direct competitors right back to my website... yeah!
Any ideas are greatly appreciated!

 

[Napkin on Floor]

I'm using google keywords to look up CPC per keyword but it gives a range of price (low and high). Is there a calculation to forecast the return of a keyword based on the traffic using low and high? Is the low and high an equal average or do I need a paid tool to find out what the average CPC is? Or does this not really matter?

 

[sirloinsteak]

My site is currently seeing a decent increase in traffic (for me) from 500 sessions a day to over 800 for the past two days. I am trying to determine the source. My Google Analytics tells me that the source of my increased traffic is hs_email/email.

The catch is, I don't send emails. It seems possible that someone may have shared my page (it is a reference chart) with their email list. Is there any way to track down where the traffic may be coming from?

Not sure what I would do with the info but I am very curious.

 

[Boy]

My Google Analytics tells me that the source of my increased traffic is hs_email/email.

hs_email is the default campaign in HubSpot. Someone's giving you the homie hook-up.

Is there any way to track down where the traffic may be coming from?

I don't believe so. If the email sender were wise, they would have set UTM parameters for some possible reciprocal love.

 

[sirloinsteak]

Thanks for the info. I ended up figuring it out luckily.

It was one of the two big competitors in my niche, although I can't imagine they see me in the same way which is good because I'm coming for them.

They sent out a link to my post in their newsletter. Fortunately I had signed up for my competitors email lists to see how they were running their campaigns. I don't read all of their emails but I check them from time to time. I was glad to be able to solve this mystery because of it.

 

[Napkin on Floor]

I'm using google keywords to look up CPC per keyword but it gives a range of price (low and high). Is there a calculation to forecast the return of a keyword based on the traffic using low and high? Is the low and high an equal average or do I need a paid tool to find out what the average CPC is? Or does this not really matter?

Found the answer to my question on Sutras lab thread. Was really well discussed and I see I have been using this tool incorrectly. Thank you people of the past!

 

[Jesse]

I'm making a template/checklist for my authority site posts this week, and I want to make sure my understanding of the usage of alt attribute text is correct:

• Grammatically complete sentences are not important, but punctuation is because of how screen readers pause and behave in general.
• Purely decorative images should not use alt attribute text.
• Including targeted keywords and LSI terms some moderate percentage of the time is correct.

Anything major I'm missing here?

 

[Ryuzaki]

Purely decorative images should not use alt attribute text.

I'd agree with everything you say but the above. Every image should have an alt text that describes the image to some degree, if you care about accessibility. It's also just a chance to add more content and dial in the relevancy. Waste no opportunity!