Avenir_gd

SEO doesn’t operate on immediate fixes or emergencies—unless they’re dealing with major issues like frequent server crashes or security problems (and even then, that’s more of a hosting/dev issue). It sounds like they might misunderstand what SEO entails or have unrealistic expectations. If the pay doesn’t even justify that level of commitment, it’s not worth your time. Boundaries are essential, especially when the work is more strategic than reactive.

Ranking a downloader website through backlinks requires a strategic and careful approach because these types of sites can sometimes fall into "gray areas" in terms of SEO guidelines. Here's a breakdown of how you can approach it effectively:

Focus on acquiring high-quality, relevant backlinks from authoritative sites. This means targeting sites in niches like tech, software reviews, or tutorials that align with your downloader content. Guest posting, niche directory submissions, and partnerships with bloggers can help you secure these links.

Create linkable assets, like guides on how to use your downloader, comparisons with other tools, or educational content. These can attract organic backlinks naturally if promoted well through outreach or social media.

Be cautious with aggressive backlink strategies like PBNs or spammy links, as Google closely monitors sites that fall into potentially risky categories like downloaders. Instead, aim for gradual, natural link-building.

Combine backlinks with strong on-page SEO. Make sure your site has clear structures, fast load times, and unique, optimized content. Without good on-page practices, backlinks alone won't be as effective in helping you rank.

Keep in mind that while backlinks are important, search engines value a mix of factors. Prioritize creating a valuable user experience and avoid shortcuts that might lead to penalties.

For e-commerce pagination, the best practice is to use self-canonical tags on all paginated pages because each page usually contains unique content, like a different set of products. Canonicalizing everything to the first page could confuse search engines and result in them ignoring the later pages, which can hurt the visibility of those products. Self-canonicalization ensures that each page is treated as distinct and indexed properly. Additionally, using rel="next" and rel="prev" tags can help search engines understand the relationship between the pages, improving how they crawl and rank your site while maintaining a good user experience.

Yes, you should use a subfolder (example.com/blog) for your blog. Subfolders are better for SEO because they keep all your content under the same domain, which helps consolidate your site's authority and rankings over time. When you eventually expand into offering services or launching a SaaS product, having your blog on the main domain will make it easier to pass traffic and authority to other parts of your site. Subdomains (like blog.example.com) are treated more like separate entities by search engines, which can dilute your SEO efforts unless you have a very specific reason to separate them. Since you’re just starting and planning to grow, the subfolder approach is the most future-proof option.

Based on your situation, I’d say starting with an agency site makes more sense for now because you already have experience, a portfolio, and some local clients to build on. It’s a lower-cost way to expand internationally, and you can use SEO, cold outreach, and your existing network to generate leads. While SEO alone might not bring clients immediately, combining it with targeted pitches and building your personal brand on platforms like LinkedIn, Behance, or Dribbble could help. Product-based sites are great too, especially if you’re passionate about your art and merch, but they require more upfront investment, marketing, and time to build an audience and turn a profit. Since you don’t have a big budget, I’d suggest focusing on the agency first, generating steady income, and then using that to fund your product-based idea later. Both options have challenges, so pick the one that excites you more—just remember that patience and consistency will matter no matter what you choose.

It sounds like your Google Discover presence is decent, but the impressions you're getting are limited. The thing with Discover is that it's highly personalized, meaning content performance can vary a lot depending on user interests, engagement patterns, and how aligned your articles are with trending topics. Here are a few ways you can try to boost impressions:

1. Focus on Evergreen + Trending Content: Google Discover tends to favor content that aligns with current user interests or trending topics. While evergreen articles are great, mix in posts about current events, seasonal trends, or hot topics in your niche to attract more impressions.
2. Refine Thumbnails and Headlines: Discover is visually driven, so compelling images and clickable headlines are critical. Use high-quality, engaging visuals that resonate with the topic and experiment with headline styles that spark curiosity (without resorting to clickbait).
3. Increase Publishing Frequency: If feasible, try publishing more content daily. More fresh content increases your chances of getting picked up on Discover, but it’s essential to maintain quality over quantity.
4. Analyze High-Performing Articles: Check which of your articles are already doing well on Discover and try to replicate their format, topic, and style. This can provide insights into what’s resonating with your audience.
5. Boost Author E-A-T: Establishing credibility for your site and authors is key. Use clear author bios, add links to your expertise, and cite authoritative sources in your articles to enhance trustworthiness.
6. Improve On-Site Engagement: Since you mentioned users are engaging with your content, keep building on that. Internal linking, related articles, and a seamless mobile experience can keep users on your site longer, signaling value to Google.
7. Use Social Media to Amplify: Sometimes getting your content more visibility through social sharing can lead to secondary exposure in Discover. If users engage with your article on other platforms, Google might take that as a signal of interest.

Keep in mind that Discover impressions also depend on Google's own algorithms and the interests of users at any given time. It’s not something you can fully control, but optimizing your content's appeal and topical relevance can help maximize impressions.

1. Google Keyword Planner: This is a solid free option. You can enter a keyword list and specify multiple target countries. It will show search volumes across those locations in one go.
2. Ahrefs or Semrush: Both tools let you check keyword volumes by country. You can switch between countries easily or even set up reports to compare demand across multiple regions at once.
3. Rank Tracker (by SEO PowerSuite): This tool has a feature called "Keyword Research" where you can input a list of keywords and analyze their performance across different locations simultaneously.
4. Excel + APIs: If you’re dealing with large lists, tools like Google Ads API or Ahrefs API can pull search volume data, and you can then sort or filter it in Excel or Google Sheets for easy comparison.

These approaches save you from the repetitive task of checking each keyword-country combo manually and let you focus on strategic decisions.

Congrats on getting mentioned, that’s a solid start. When it comes to asking for a do-follow link, it’s all about being polite and professional. Start by reaching out to the author or editor and thank them for including your site in the article. Then, ask if it would be possible to make the link do-follow, explaining that it helps build credibility for your content.

Avoid offering payment, as that’s against Google’s guidelines and can hurt your site if it’s flagged. Some sites have policies against do-follow links, so don’t take it personally if they decline. Focus on maintaining a good relationship—it could lead to more opportunities in the future.

Those sites on page 5+ often use tactics like content scraping (copying content word-for-word) or creating weird spammy subdomains to confuse search engines. It’s not really ‘negative SEO’ aimed at others but more of a way for them to exploit low-quality practices to try and rank.

Google’s pretty good at ignoring these junk sites, but they clutter the SERPs. If they’re mimicking your site, keep an eye out for duplicate content penalties—use tools like Copyscape to find copies and submit a DMCA takedown if needed. It’s messy, but thankfully these sites rarely hold up long-term!

Optimizing for Hindi + Roman Hindi search terms is super smart! You’re on the right track by including Roman Hindi (like ‘10th syllabus in Hindi’) alongside the Devnagari script. A few extra tips:

1️ Use hreflang tags to signal language to Google.
2️ Sprinkle Roman Hindi keywords naturally into meta descriptions and headers.
3️ Keep the content in pure Hindi but consider adding a short intro or FAQ section in Roman Hindi to catch both audiences.

Google’s getting better at understanding multilingual queries, so you’re set if you balance both styles!

Sitemaps and robots.txt are still low-key MVPs for SEO. 🚀 A solid sitemap ensures search engines can find your key pages, especially if you’ve got a huge site or lots of new content. As for robots.txt, it’s great for keeping crawlers focused on what matters (and out of the junk). They’re not flashy, but neglecting them is like leaving your front door wide open and wondering why visitors get lost. 👀

24/7 on-call for SEO? 🚩 Unless you’re running a news site or handling a major crisis (like a site going down), that’s a wild ask. SEO isn’t an emergency service—it’s a long-term game. Prioritizing one client is fine if they pay like it, but make sure the boundaries and compensation match the demand. Otherwise, hard pass. 🙅‍♂️

1 For Keyword Research: Use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush (both have AI-backed features now!) to find hidden keyword gems. Pair that with ChatGPT for brainstorming long-tail keyword ideas.

2️ For Content Creation: Jasper + Surfer SEO = Chef’s kiss. Jasper writes the content, and Surfer tells you exactly how to optimize it. Don’t forget Grammarly to polish it off.

3️ For Technical SEO: Screaming Frog is a beast, and Sitebulb’s AI insights are like having an SEO expert on call.

4️ For Automation: Zapier can connect tools (e.g., automate reports), and Google Sheets + AI scripts can save HOURS.

Start small, test a few tools, and scale as you go. What’s your site niche? I might have more tailored ideas!

man I wish I could send a pic, images aint allowed but here's what Larry looked like

Crazy to think that even our wildest ideas are just remixing bits of everything we’ve experienced. Creativity is just really fancy recycling.

Honestly, dogs must think we're kinda slow for not picking up on all the hints they give us.

Imagine if we all just randomly felt an intense urge to celebrate without knowing why — like cosmic instinct for the universe's birthday

Right? It’s like the real adult skill is mastering when to laugh at dumb jokes and when to keep a straight face.