Episode 48 – THIS IS THE LAST TOC OF THE DECADE

Theory of Content

What’s new in SEO?

Google is using the carousel in more ways to organize stories relevant to the query. While it’s only being used for news right now, this definitely could have implications for how search results will appear in the future for other kinds of queries, like “how to cook salmon” – think baked, roasted, grilled, etc showing up in different carousels, or “how to stain a wood floor” with different stain types.

• Smarter organization of top stories in Search

Pretty interesting stuff!

I think one theme we can probably agree on for 2019 is Searcher Intent. Google has focused on it big time, from new Schema (How-To), new Rich Snippet styles, and more and more carousel-style results. Think about that as you write content.

• Genius sues Google over allegedly stolen song lyrics

Facebag:

Adrienne Urban | wholenewmom.com

I would love to know if you all have addressed, or are willing to address, a site (mine!) that appears to have been hit hard by the YMYL update (and more since then). I know there are things that I should do, but I have done some of these and now I’m stumped on my next, and possibly biggest step(s).

I’m mostly stumped on whether to delete the healthy living posts and which ones to delete–or whether to try to update them to make them more what Google is looking for–or what to do.

It’s so terribly hard to move forward when you don’t know what you are being hit for.

Additionally, I have 2 CBD posts on my site, so that is possibly a more pressing issue. In light of the new confusion about legality, is it best for me to totally remove them or no index them? One of them is totally informational and the other is about our experience. I do have affiliate links in the latter but I’m fine removing them if need be.

I also could use some help on recipe keyword terms. I tend to write recipes that appeal to multiple special diets, but I worry that I’m shooting myself in the foot by not niching down there. Of course keto and vegan are all the rage, but I am neither. I’m kind of a keto-ish vegan-ish paleo-ish site. I guess basically I’m wondering if I’m really mucking myself up by being someone who is a “balanced clean eating blog” or if it’s fine being who I am and not worrying about it.

Thank you so much and really glad to be here!

Kimberly Vargo | berlyskitchen.com

I just recently began listening to the Theory of Content podcasts, so if the answer to my question has been answered, feel free to point me in the right direction.

I’ve been looking through our posts on Search Console to see which ones need updating and which are ok. About 20-25% either get no clicks, very few to no impressions, or a combination of the two.

Some of these are posts that we’ve already re-written, optimized, and republished. I would think maybe it’s us, and that we need to polish up our writing, link building, keywords, etc. However, other posts written the same way, do rank. I’m at a loss and unsure how to fix these posts. It’s like Google isn’t seeing them at all. Any ideas?

Additional notes from comments threads:

Jody L Halsted | campingtipsforeveryone.com

Listening to the newest episode and can’t wait to see Joshua’s article on finding those longer tail keywords!

I am always – ALWAYS!- recommending your podcast. In this world of panic every time Google makes a change your podcast is an incredible ‘center of gravity and stability’ for bloggers.

Now that I’ve buttered you up… I do have a question.

I have an old site that dates back to 2004 and has loads of old, non-optimized content on it. Like thousands of posts.

I actually quit writing on the site for a few years as I decided to go more niche in 2011 and started a new site.

Then started another niche site 2 years ago.

I’ve decided to start writing off those niche topics again and I can’t decide if I want to revitalize the first site -FamilyRambling.com – which still has some pretty strong posts that get decent traffic, or if I want to write on my ‘author site’ which just kind of sits and holds my name URL – JodyHalsted.com

I think my main questions is this:

If I republish the articles that do well and I want to move forward with my author site, should I redirect the articles from the old site to the new, and add the canonical link from old article to new, and will that slowly transfer the domain authority from one site to the other?

The old site needs so much work and so much of it is outdated that it seems less hassle to just start migrating things over and let the old site die as slow death as I do. (Google hates it as I was doing sponsored posts back in 2007 before nofollow was a thing.So. Much. Work.)

I would love any insight you might have on this, Amber Bracegirdle & Joshua Unseth – as well as if I am actually asking the wrong question.

The post Episode 48 – THIS IS THE LAST TOC OF THE DECADE appeared first on Theory of Content.