@Arun

Why don't you come up with your own guidelines on SEO even if moderators,administrators and others are not around to respond to this subject!

Ceeem,
I think Arun had already shared one tip.Now he may introduce more if we take interest.

Arun, first of all thank you very much for a wonderful discussion you have started, and sorry for entering here lately. Wondering people are busy creating new thread tsunami? I was really missed this thread.

Let me clear few points before jumping into the real discussion. SEO is something which cannot be defined or discussed with definite number of statements. It has to be everywhere. Right from this thread till the article url. The words, the url, the members, the site everything comes into play when seo is considered.

I found most of the times Google loves putting websites with good number of unique visitors on top even though some sites are optimized (as they feel) for SEO. So what I found in my research a few months ago that the pages that have a very good content and have a good number of visitors attracted the first page on Google.

Second, the site itself. When I started building this site, my basic goal is to build a platform where people start interacting on a common place. let it be forum, let it be qna or something else. There were nothing else considered. But once I completed building the right platform, I started working on improving the page seo (as most people advised) and started investing my time optimizing with hell lot of things like titles, meta tags, keywords and i left everything to you :)

But ultimately, the final truth I came to know is I wasted my time in doing all these instead of making much better platform which improve user interaction and performance of the website.

So that makes me to do a lot of work again and I hope I am going in right direction (making something big in terms of site performance and features)

Anyway, I'll come back again on seo, your point is very well valid. As I said earlier content is the KING. So a sticky topic with a healthy discussion would obviously produce that.

I don't want to comment again on same thing (revenue) which I talked a lot. The simple answer is the type of traffic - Indian against US.

Hope I have clarified few things :) .

And why shouldn't we have this thread as sticky :) ?

Thanks Maverick for your elaborate treatment of the subject. My views on SEO are that there could not be a static set group of key-words the extensive use of which would ensure and attract traffic. The field - to my amateurish knowledge and limited experience - is very dynamic. I may be considered a 'babe' in the world of SEO! But one thing is unmistakably clear. As every moment is throwing up new key-words, selection of them and their contextual uses in articles and forum replies can be considered.If US-centric issues and topics are targeted one must be prepared to undertake research-based work - not mere repetition of content published elsewhere to impress and retain a section of US users and visitors.

Arun, first of all thank you very much for a wonderful discussion you have started, and sorry for entering here lately. Wondering people are busy creating new thread tsunami? I was really missed this thread.

Let me clear few points before jumping into the real discussion. SEO is something which cannot be defined or discussed with definite number of statements. It has to be everywhere. Right from this thread till the article url. The words, the url, the members, the site everything comes into play when seo is considered.

I found most of the times Google loves putting websites with good number of unique visitors on top even though some sites are optimized (as they feel) for SEO. So what I found in my research a few months ago that the pages that have a very good content and have a good number of visitors attracted the first page on Google.

Second, the site itself. When I started building this site, my basic goal is to build a platform where people start interacting on a common place. let it be forum, let it be qna or something else. There were nothing else considered. But once I completed building the right platform, I started working on improving the page seo (as most people advised) and started investing my time optimizing with hell lot of things like titles, meta tags, keywords and i left everything to you :)

But ultimately, the final truth I came to know is I wasted my time in doing all these instead of making much better platform which improve user interaction and performance of the website.

So that makes me to do a lot of work again and I hope I am going in right direction (making something big in terms of site performance and features)

Anyway, I'll come back again on seo, your point is very well valid. As I said earlier content is the KING. So a sticky topic with a healthy discussion would obviously produce that.

I don't want to comment again on same thing (revenue) which I talked a lot. The simple answer is the type of traffic - Indian against US.

Hope I have clarified few things :) .

Gosh, I already lost my 200 words reply by accidentally closing the window. Anyways I will attempt to rewrite again what I meant in my lost reply.

To start with, Maverick I am really glad that you replied and no need to be sorry, your reply more than makes up for it. Also, as an admin of a UGC (User Generated Site) I can understand that there are many things that you have to look into.

And yea, I totally agree with your view on SEO as I am also of the same school of thought. SEO is always evolving to improve reader experience and hence it is rightly said that "CONTENT IS KING" as in the end that what the readers want - quality information and effective solution to their problem.

And before we discuss further on SEO I would like to say two things. Firstly, hats off to you for providing this platform to indian writers. Now, I understand that how few options indian authors have when it comes to making money from their writing. So I appreciate that.

Secondly, I would like to apologize for coming out as too critical and heavy in the past. I should have been more constructive and solution oriented in my approach.

So to start with how can we improve the site, I have a few suggestions which I would I like to put forth.

Here are my suggestions:

1. Impose a minimum word count of 300 words. Google loves content and also more text attracts related long tail search engine traffic. Also, from user perspective, I think it is fairly difficult if not impossible to give an effective solution to a problem in less than 300 words.

2. Introduce more affiliate options like amazon, ebay and third party affiliates. You can introduce them under your name and share the revenue as you do with adsense money.

3. Improve page speed. Though I think it is fairly fast but still if there is a scope to improve it, do it. Google with its latest algorithm update is favoring site which loads fast.

4. Creating sub-domains for relative category. Especially health and finance. I would like to cite the example of about.com here. About.com has created sub-domains for various category and if you search for any health or finance related query than about.com is more likely to comeup whan any UGC sites. Though personally I dont think sub-domains create much of a difference in other categories. The idea behind finance and health is that google wants experts to give advice related to health and finance and so it slightly favors these categories sub-domains.

5. Can we get rid of adsense from forums. I say this because of the concern that your whole adsense account may be smartpriced(Meaning low paying clicks value). One gets smart priced if there are more and more visitors and they are not converting.
According to google, for big sites a CTR of 1% is normal and healthy. So if boddunans CTR is less than that I would suggest turning adsense ads off from forums for 1 months and see if it makes any impact on clicks value. Also,if forums play a substantial part in revenue than try setting up a custom url for that channel. So that only that channel gets smart priced and not the whole site.

6. As you are the only person with analytics information, you know which articles and keywords are generating revenue. So it will be a good idea to have a series of articles related to those article/keywords and increase revenue. You can also do your own keyword research and ask members to submit articles on those topics.

Anyways I am going to end my essay here. Have to rush. Maverick, I would love to listen your opinions on this. Thanks again.

And why shouldn't we have this thread as sticky :) ?

Why not and I see you have already made it sticky. Makes me feel nice!!

@Arun

Why don't you come up with your own guidelines on SEO even if moderators,administrators and others are not around to respond to this subject!

Well as Maverick already mentioned, SEO is ever evolving so there would never be any specific guidelines and also Maverick has covered the basic ones. Anyways since you have asked, I would like to put forth a few pointers:

1. Optimum article length 600-800 words (Quality ofcourse)

2. Keyword in title is very important, then keyword in url but keyword in url has less weightage than keyword in title. Normally I prefer short and memorable url(personal preference only).

Also, I would advise to keep the url generic and evergreen. For example, if I want to write a article on "Valentine Day Gifts For Men", I would keep my url either of the two:

1.www.boddunan.com/article/valentine-day-gifts-for-men

2.www.boddunan.com/article/gifts-for-men

Personally I would go with the second one as that would help me earn from my article all the year. I can just change title and I am good to go. Like 2 months before valentine I can change the title from "Gifts For Men" To "Valentine Day Gifts For Men" or even Valentine Day Gifts For Men 2011". And for the next year I can have the title as Valentine Day Gifts For Men 2012.

Now If I had words like valentine and 2011 which are seasonal and soon fading, I would not be able to earn from my article year round. (Though it is possible but too complex and tough, wont go into details of that)

3. Gain quality backlinks with anchor text to your keyword you want the article to rank for.

4. Have your keywords at the start of the article, preferably in the first 100 words, atleast once in the body and once near the end. Don't go keyword stuffing, it is an outdated SEO practice.

5. Exhaust a niche. Write a series of article on the same topic. For example, if you want to write on make money online niche, then write on things like make money online blogging,make money online taking surveys, make money online freelancing, make money online with affiliate marketing and so on. Cover everything possible on the subject. This will make you an expert in your niche and you will develop reader loyalty. They will come back to you for more and also google will brand you an authority on that topic.


There are more, but I am sleep deprived at the moment and I have already written so much of saga today. And also, most of the SEO would have to be applied by Maverick who is knowledgeable on the topic too. I am sure he will do the needful. Will keep you and everyone updated too.

Its really good suggestions, arun has given. Hope the higher members will look into it.

Arun, first of all thank you. You have mentioned very good points, not just about SEO but more of how we can improve user interactions. Kudos.

Here are my answers.

[quote]1. Impose a minimum word count of 300 words. Google loves content and also more text attracts related long tail search engine traffic. Also, from user perspective, I think it is fairly difficult if not impossible to give an effective solution to a problem in less than 300 words.[/quote]
Absolutely great view. I know google loves the good and depth content not just a single para. But to consider the newbies who prefer writing short articles, I did not impose such restriction. However, having over 10,000 articles and about 1000 product reviews, it is the time to focus on more quality content, although at the cost of more reward (not a problem :) ). You can see announcement shortly.

[quote]2. Introduce more affiliate options like amazon, ebay and third party affiliates. You can introduce them under your name and share the revenue as you do with adsense money.[/quote]
My 2 cents on not preferring, but nothing we loose from trying out. This kind of things (google is something exception) just add to the clutter and does not provide value to the users. Anyway, let us try it and if it is success and useful to users, happy. Before that, I need to look into the possibilities.

[quote]3. Improve page speed. Though I think it is fairly fast but still if there is a scope to improve it, do it. Google with its latest algorithm update is favoring site which loads fast.[/quote]
Of course, as I stated earlier, this is my first agenda.

[quote]4. Creating sub-domains for relative category. Especially health and finance. I would like to cite the example of about.com here. About.com has created sub-domains for various category and if you search for any health or finance related query than about.com is more likely to comeup whan any UGC sites. Though personally I dont think sub-domains create much of a difference in other categories. The idea behind finance and health is that google wants experts to give advice related to health and finance and so it slightly favors these categories sub-domains.[/quote]
I do not prefer having multiple subdomains for each category. It would just add complexity in site maintenance plus adds split in overall site traffic, not good for future (w.r.t. adsense revenue sharing)

[quote]5. Can we get rid of adsense from forums. I say this because of the concern that your whole adsense account may be smartpriced(Meaning low paying clicks value). One gets smart priced if there are more and more visitors and they are not converting.
According to google, for big sites a CTR of 1% is normal and healthy. So if boddunans CTR is less than that I would suggest turning adsense ads off from forums for 1 months and see if it makes any impact on clicks value. Also,if forums play a substantial part in revenue than try setting up a custom url for that channel. So that only that channel gets smart priced and not the whole site.[/quote]
Although google does not allow me to post detailed earning information, I could say 80% of the revenue is from the articles (and you should have expected the cause - US traffic). So turning off the ads on forums does not cause much harm. We can try that too.

[quote]6. As you are the only person with analytics information, you know which articles and keywords are generating revenue. So it will be a good idea to have a series of articles related to those article/keywords and increase revenue. You can also do your own keyword research and ask members to submit articles on those topics.[/quote]
Optimizing for keywords is a bad idea, we have a very good set of categories which themselves add to the keyword optimization. All we need is a right set of articles with good content.

And once again thank you for the suggestions.