Up Beat - Up Ranks

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 209k

A report on positioning since the last Matrica spin.

We are now number 3 page 1 Google.co.uk for Free Classifieds, thats an improvement of 4 places.   Free UK Classifieds is up one space to position 6 on .co.uk.

On Google.com our lesser keyword Free UK Classifieds is at number 7, a jump of 1 placement on page 1.  The huge jump, granted its easier when your on the lower pages, is for Free Classifieds on page 11 to page 4.  In fact the jump was so large that it took me ages to find it.

YapYapOK  is now placing at 38 on Google.com for our main keyword, Free Classifieds. Google searches for this are currently running at over 300,000 every month.  Traffic for a page one placement would be huge.

Once we have a page one position we will let the site brand itself to get more population.   SEO will be more maintenance to stop the huge drops that occur during large campaigns with lots of linking.  After that we will work on Free Ads as a keyword with over a massive 670k searches each month.

Free Classifieds sites do not rely on just the site description keyword to place well.  They also place for the adverts placed in them, particulary if the pages are well optimised, such as url titles.

I am currently having 10 edu links built.  According to consensus a PR0 one is equal to a PR10 .com link.  It will be interesting to see if this produces an even higher SERP.  I have read this before but the maths still didnt add up.  Ie 10 x 10 is still only 100, thats not a great campaign.  I think for these to be so well utilised by the SEO pros they must be more important than that!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - upbeat and up ranks

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The difference between try and triumph is a little umph

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 208k ( todays only seo)

My son learnt to swim when he was 4 years old.  Despite taking him regularly and a once a week session with the school, he was not progressing at all.  We lived on the Devon coast, spent many evenings and weekends paddling or fishing or swimming.  We also had a small boat which we used for fishing and lobster potting.

The importance of Henry being able to swim was paramount.  I could not even get him to put his bare feet on the waves.  When he was 4 we went on a family holiday to Dubai.  There was a large circular pool about 20m across.  For the first time Henry decided to use the pool with me propping him up whilst wearing armbands.   For 2 days I tried to deflate the armbands but he sensed even the smallest decrease in floatation and insisted we blew them up again.  His desire to swim was zero.

Prior to coming away, childrens tv had been awash with adverts for some modeling clay called Floam.  Henry wanted Floam so badly that he begged me to buy it for his birthday another month away.

After an exasperating 2 days I had an idea.  I told Henry that if he could swim a width of the pool by the end of our 10 day holiday, then I would buy him all 6 colours of Floam.

He did not get out of that pool for 6 hours, he sat on the sunken internal bar stools and continued to dive and kick over and over again with a determination that surprised everyone who watched.  No one including me or his father was allowed near him whilst he continued jumping into the pool.  He swam the width of the pool that day, the goal not to swim, but for Floam.  The Floam cost me £24.99 and was the cheapest swimming lesson ever.  Floam taught my son to swim.

So why after all these years did I bring it up.  Well as much as he did not want to swim, he did not want to ride a bike.  Several bikes, several years and the patience of parents and grandparents in shreds, we had not progressed at all.  Again, Henry did not want to ride a bike.  His desire was zero and it got to be that he worked himself into such a state that we abandoned it.

He is now 9 and it seemed the only one in his class who could not ride a bike.  He could not understand why we had not pushed him harder since now he was feeling a little stupid.  Truth be-known, I am over protective and actually felt that it was fine that he couldn't ride, one less potentially dangerous activity for him to take part in.

2 days ago my husband borrowed a bike from a friend to see if we could try again.  Henry showed the same determination and commitment that he had when he learnt to swim, again he would not be supported.  The only help he asked for asking us to ride it so that he could see the technique himself.  He decided that he was going to learn to ride a bike himself that day.  It took no time at all and he did it.

It makes me so proud to see his focus and effort rewarded by achievement.  It is humbling to know that my young child can teach me a thing or two about what is possible when you set your mind on something!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

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The Importance Of Domain

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 206k

I know I was not going to do more SEO, but a recent conversation regarding domain names came up and it was a topic I had not discussed previously.

A friend was saying that companies in Spain were using .es in domian names rather than .com and suggested that maybe there was more confidence in the Spanish name.

My take was that .com was highly competitive and if they wanted to SERP well in Spain then it made sense that they utilised this as part of the domain as the .com was so well saturated and competition would be less with a minority domain in the country where they are trying to market.  Equally it is harder to SERP well in .com with a local domain.

For example  YapYapOK is a UK domain and ranks on page 1 for Free Classifieds on Google.co.uk.  It does not on Google.com since competition is not only far higher but since .co.uk is part of the domain name.  

We rank on  Google.com page 1 for Free UK Classifieds despite this not being our main anchor or indeed the beginning of our meta data.  This is because Free Classifieds is our main anchor, main meta data and .co.uk is part of the domain name.

It would have been an advantage to be a .com to get to the top Google.om SERP but may have been a mistake for a more local, target market and SERP success in the UK may have been compromised since this would have taken much longer.

Additionally it is an advantage to have the domain name and the site content the same.   FreeClassifieds.com is easy for Google to SERP, it is actually SERP 1, it just belongs to someone else.

Since YapYapOK was originally targeted at the UK we registered the UK domain.  We also bought the local and the .coms for when we roll out elsewhere.

Unless your looking for a global placement, then it makes sense to register a local domain.  You can always register .com too.  That way you can SERP higher locally and spend time getting the .com version well ranked over time.

IMHO

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - still SERPing

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What happened to Sundays?

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 211k

Woke up late with a million things to do.

My son has a day of endurance with a golf tournament followed by 2 hours of tennis.

That meant packing lunches for both him and his dad as well as making sure that he had his tennis clothes to change into en-route from golf. He is normally fed at the tournaments but tennis straight after has put pay to that.  He is a bit disappointed that he cant stay for the presentation as he remains convinced that this is the one he will win, despite not winning yet.

He has only played in 3 tournaments and only played a game less than 5 times.  Despite this he has a clear talent for the game, so much so that they bought the tournament forward so that he could attend.  Whilst I would love to encourage this more, our pockets are just not deep enough.  Tennis remains his true passion and one at which he excels, the costs of this are more than we can bear but failing him is not an option.

So I am left here today to think positive thoughts and to make sure he has a good dinner when he gets home.  I have some SEO to do, mainly content update and directory submissions.

School tomorrow means that I will have to do the ironing.  I am wondering what happened to those long lazy Sundays where we got up late, because we could.  We would go on long coast walks, in the rain and find ourselves in an old country pub for a relaxed lunch whilst the fire crackled and the rain fell.  

Evening would be spent with the papers and a bottle of wine ready to face what ever the week would bring us!

I miss Sundays.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - working 7 days a week to get all free ads noticed!!!

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A Change Of Topic

YapYapOK UK Free Classifieds 215k

Now that the SEO seems to be fairly well organised, I am considering changing the topic of the blog.  After all it has become more of a day by day report on services I have utilised that day rather than the trial and error SEO report that I once did.

Since we are not yet in SERP 3 for keywords or in the top 100k for Alexa then it would be foolish to assume that w have it all right.  So From here I will do a summary as and when appropriate on any new methods that I may have implemented and a report on where we position.

For the sake of SEO & anchor text  i will continue my Free Classifieds blog, I just need to decide what to write about........

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - more than just a Free Ads site

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SEO Maintenance

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 215k

Getting to page 1 Google is paramount for dream keywords.  We still have 1 keyword that we are working on that needs to propel itself on Google.com but once we have achieved this we will be working on our next keyword.

Even now this is much easier.  For a start we know what we are doing.  Secondly maintaining position is much easier than trying to climb. Having said that any kind of link campaign will usually set you back in SERP for a few days whilst Google "works" out the legitamacy of it.

Now our SEO will involve regular directory & article submissions as well Social bookmarks.  Twitter occurs on auto pilot via Tweet Adder as well as auto posting when Free Classifieds are saved on the YapYapOK web site.

Another automatic SEO feature is the Facebook integration which creates links to Facebook through the comments facility.  Both Twitter & Facebook are great for SEO, creating links as well as as being a completely hands free method of website optimisation.

So for the most part we have it covered and time will be also help gain the trust of the search engines as well as regular content updates.   

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - the classier Free Ads.

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Bouncing

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 211k

Very happy to report that the YapYapOK developer Helga is back online and back at work.  Sadly we are no longer working side by side but she is on Skype and its good to have her back.

Our SERP is behaving very oddly just now.  We are back again on page 1 of Google UK and .com for  Free UK Classifieds.  We have even climbed a place.  This is a little odd since this is not the one we use as anchor text or is it the first one in our meta title.  Free Classifieds has dropped 2 places but still on page 1 UK but now down to page 11 on Google.com

I genuinely believe this is down to page speed, after all visitor numbers are up, backlinks are up and bounce rate is down.  Until its sorted out we are going backwards.  Both in rank as well as SERP.  I actually have paid someone to sort this out.  The problem is that whilst he claimed to get this down to a few seconds, it has not made any difference to the site at all.  It does not help that my technological know how is non existant.

So today I will be treading water in the hope that we can at least maintain position until this is sorted out.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds  - a little frustrated, as you can probably tell!

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Branded

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 211k

We are very excited as it seems that my new friend Adam has discovered the source of the slow load speed.  We are expecting to see an increase in our Alexa rankings soon as our site traffic has actually increased  so it can only be our speed which is detrimental.

The same goes for our SERP which is currently up and down like the proverbial whores knickers.  Again after our once very stable SERP, it can only be as a consequence of our site speed.  I have to be careful not to over do the backlinks on Fiverr although the temptation to do so is immense.

Yesterday was competition day, whilst ads were slow, visitor numbers increased with the domain being used as the referral, a clear indication that this was ad generated traffic. You magazine has a massive readership, presumed at 5.2 million.  I think that is grossly over estimated as this is the readership for the main paper.  To assume the readership of the supplement is as high, is perhaps optimistic to arrogant from the reps.

I have to admit that I am a fan of the You magazine and in particular Liz Jones diary which is very close to the gallery pages where the ads appear.  If we assume 10% of this readership may have seen the ad then we are still looking at over 50,000 exposed to the YapYapOK brand name.  You mag has a shelf life of several days so hopefully the traffic and ads will increase over the next week.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - getting branded!

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Branded

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 211k

We are very excited as it seems that my new friend Adam has discovered the source of the slow load speed.  We are expecting to see an increase in our Alexa rankings soon as our site traffic has actually increased  so it can only be our speed which is detrimental.

The same goes for our SERP which is currently up and down like the proverbial whores knickers.  Again after our once very stable SERP, it can only be as a consequence of our site speed.  I have to be careful not to over do the backlinks on Fiverr although the temptation to do so is immense.

Yesterday was competition day, whilst ads were slow, visitor numbers increased with the domain being used as the referral, a clear indication that this was ad generated traffic. You magazine has a massive readership, presumed at 5.2 million.  I think that is grossly over estimated as this is the readership for the main paper.  To assume the readership of the supplement is as high, is perhaps optimistic to arrogant from the reps.

I have to admit that I am a fan of the You magazine and in particular Liz Jones diary which is very close to the gallery pages where the ads appear.  If we assume 10% of this readership may have seen the ad then we are still looking at over 50,000 exposed to the YapYapOK brand name.  You mag has a shelf life of several days so hopefully the traffic and ads will increase over the next week.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - getting branded!

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SERPing UK & .com

YapYapOK Free Classifieds  206k

But we are back in favour with Google and returned to our page one position.

Free Classifieds is number 8 on Google uk

Free UK Classifieds is position 6 on Google UK

Free Classifieds is position 77 on Google.com - yes I knos we still ave 68 places to climb but we are getting there

Free UK Classifieds is position 7 on Google.com

So 3 page 1 spots and 1 page 7.  Not bad.  With this we have seen an increase in traffic already.  Clearly we need to get our speed up but its not as desperate as it was.  Google was just indexing all the links and held us back for longer than it had done previously.  I have another article to submit to Matrica on Fiverr.  Its ready to go but I shall leave it 2 more weeks before submission so that I don't irritate Google into low SERP for so long.  I think in future I shall organize a fortnight break between directory and multi spun article submission.  

So just in time for the competition our SERP is up, our visitors are up, our Alexa needs some work but that will come with site speed optimisation.

Another spot of good news is that we are finally listed in DMOZ.  Only took about 10 months!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - serping

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Rocking!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 206 k - site speed only

Tomorrow is competition day so we are all geared up again to see what will happen.

We are still lower in SERP as a consequence of site speed, page 3 for both competitive search terms.  No amount of SEO is working since Google implemented penalties to enhance the users experience.  I am currently stuck in a rock and a hard place.   Unbelievably whilst I have been in touch with several companies specializing in this and not one has got in touch.  I expect that these companies have their work cut out since many of us are now in the same boat.  On top of this it is now the weekend so i will expect an influx of replies this week.

Its one thing to ID SEO techniques and implement them.  Its actually not at all difficult, just time consuming.  The problem is with speed issues is that it requires some server knowledge of which I have none.  I am also a little cagey about handing this out as we have a very complex site in a maze of stunningly arranged files which I am vaguely familiar as to the order but hopeless without my developer.  

Therefore I can only outsource this to consumate professionals who really know what they are doing.  It is not an advantage to try and do this without my developer  whilst the competition is advertised in the national press.  So I need to exercise some patience, not my strongest point.

On a positive note, YapYapOK Free Classifieds is enjoying increased positive feed back, not only from advertisers but also from the industry.  Its an ode to a great development team with progressive ideas at the forefront of web technology.  Its humbling to have such talent.  In fact according to one pro, who fed back "Your site rocks, just sort out the load speed and it will be amazing".

Great feed back, and one of very many!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds speeding up the SERP - well hopefully soon!

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Site Speed

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

Its been a frenetic couple of days but I have now got to the bottom of our dropped SERP.  We have lost our page rank due to site speed.  I have run some analysis on this and bizarrely one of the biggest contenders in our site reduction is the Alexa code which is costing us a massive 4 seconds.  The discussion over if Google should penalize is irrelevant since it does.  Many argue that relevancy is far more important than speed, Google defend this by saying that faster speed provides a better web experience for users.

So comply or die is the message here.

You can use this program to run a speed test against any website  http://www.webpagetest.org

Identifying the problem is great but it is not something that I can rectify.  This causes some panic as I have spent hours daily for months to get us to page 1 only to have been penalized by something I cannot remedy.  Since me developer extraordinaire is currently "holidaying" I am at a loss as to what to do.

Instinctively I want this fixed ASAP.  Its affecting Alexa, SERP and crucially visitor numbers. So now I need to find someone trustworthy and cheap who will pull out all the stops for little money, suggestions welcome!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - ironing out the glitches!

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Cheating with articles

YapYapOK Free Classifieds

Article writing is one of those necessary parts of SEO which can be a little dull.

The problem is that nearly always they are an exercise in PR.  For us its first explaining the whys of Free Classifieds, how to advertise, why YapYapOK.  After that you really need to use your imagination.  Obviously you can spin an article, to do it yourself is seriously dull, to employ software- dull and frustrating due to all the errors.

So yesterday having written yet another 600 word plus article on the benefits of Free Classifieds, I changed my mind about the software.  I decided that having invested the time and energy in the piece, I could send it to Matrica on Fiverr, she can spin it 400 times and submit for me.

I never need to look at the spun versions and the errors can exist with out my ever having seen them.

My double anchors on each article create a potential 800 back links.  Not bad for a days work!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds- a more efficient Free Ads!

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Strike While The Iron Is Hot!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 203k

Google is busy indexing more Free Classifieds links so our SERP is currently temporarily down.  Its likely to go up again within the next day or 2 so I await with baited breath to see where we will place.

My SEO today will be in the form of articles, I will spin one on the Simply Free Article Spinner and submit all over my web 2.0 sites.  Additionally, time allowing, I aim to write a Squidcast promoting the Free Classifieds posting competition which is to be published in You magazine this Sunday.

My developer is currently away so site speed optimisation will have to wait until reasonably achievable.

I will mean while get a quote from another company to see if they can help, the developer is a little tetchy regarding access to her code.  Rightly so, her organisation of files etc is beautifully managed and to allow someone else in to start putting there own variation is probably more than either of us can bear.

Since the internet has been unreliable over the past few days, I have a back log of work to get through.  I must update my content before it gets old, this has to take priority over all else.

So before my internet goes AGAIN, I need to work

YapYapOK Free UK Classifieds - the busy free ads site!

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Still SERPing!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 203k

Our Alexa is still on the down and it can only be due to site speed.  Visitor numbers, page views, ad postings are all up.  The other thing that is up since my last post on Sunday is SERP.  Whilst we figure well with Free UK Classifieds on both Google UK and Google.com.  Free Classifieds has only positioned well in Google.co.uk.

So I am delighted to announce that it is now another 8 places ahead of its position on Sunday - up to 74.  that means we only need to climb 64 places to be on page 1.  Its a lot and I am sure that getting to the top front 3 pages will be achievable quite quickly, ie another 34 spaces.  The last few will be a push. Considering that we have moved over 50 places in less than a week we are clearly satisfying Google tick list in SEO.

To put this in some ind of perspective, to enter Free Classifieds into Google.com will yield  226 million search results.  To place at position 74 is a massive success.  However it is also irrelevent in placement as far as visitors since few look beyond page 1.  This is why only a few websites really make it, particularly in such a highly competitive industry.  To have a unique industry where placement is easier for dream keywords.  The problem with unique is that fewer people browse for them.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - Competing for SERP with the big boys.

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Nearly There

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 201k

Today I will be mainly eating dust, whoops spinning articles.

I am dedicating my day to Simply Free Article Spinner.  If I can remember I will also write a Squidcast to promote the You magazine advert appearing this Sunday in the Mail On Sunday Free Supplement.  Did you know that You mag gets more readership than any other paid woman's mag in the UK?

According to stats its a whopping 5.2 million.  Clearly the number of readers who buy the paper will not all read the supplement but apparently its a good majority.  It fills us with some apprehension not knowing what the response will be.  The majority of Free Classifieds that have been posted this week are for masseurs, we really need to populate the property, cars and jobs pages, hence the competition in the press.

On a very positive note, I did an Alexa comparison between 2 very well established Free Classifieds sites. Both ranked at less than 3000 in the UK.  Whilst our Alexa was far higher, our page views compared significantly better, our bounce rate was lower and whilst our traffic was lower, it was not as much difference as I had expected.   What interested me most was the visitor pages.  I am certain that it is because our navigation is so easy, so more people will stay on the site to browse.  Also aesthetically, our site was inoffensive whilst at least one of the others was difficult to view due the busy layout, harsh colours and text.  This clearly illustrates that we need to speed up the site to improve the Alexa and to get the site populated to improve the visitors, its the last 2 pieces of the jigsaw to ensure success.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds more than just a Free Ads website

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SERPing up

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 201k

Our SERP is up.  We are now position 6 on Google.com for Free UK Classifieds, up one place, position 72 on Google.com for Free Classifieds, that's up over 40 places in a week.  On Google.co.uk we are on position 7 for Free UK Classifieds and position 8 for Free Classifieds, up one place.

That may not seem so much until you take into account just how competitive theses keywords are.  Additionally the sites that we are competing with for position are well established websites.   Pheonix on Fiverr, I must assume did his thing and submitted, despite losing the data to prove it.  He did provide snapshots in a zipped file which I was only able to open yesterday which at least illustrates a couple of hundred links.

So I will continue to buy backlinks at least every 6 weeks and to pay for Matrika to submit 300 spun articles every 6 weeks.  This will hopefully push us up one place at a time which suggest that in 18 weeks we could be in the top 3 places on Google.co.uk.  I expect better movement for our page 8 status on Google.com since its easier to climb at this placement. 

I have discovered a great free article spinner called " Simple Free Article Spinner".  The advantage that this has over others is that you get to choose the alternative text, some remains so you can see that it always makes sense.  Its a little time consuming but spending 20 minutes choosing viable alternatives means that you can spin this over and over each time giving an alternative article.  The others need so much grammatical changes that each one takes at least 10 minutes to change, one at a time.

I did have to watch the demo video, I recommend that.  Its easy to follow and well worth the 15 minutes to save the frustration of trying to larn it your self.  Paticularly for me who has never used such a program before.

Tomorrow I shall be concentrating on article spin and web 2.0 submissions using the sites I set up for my redundant link wheel.  I will use my one keyword with inbound links going to our Free Classifieds site.

Today I shall recharge my dwindling batteries, loosely speaking, my son has 2 friends over so the house will be in chaos, I shall be tied to the kitchen trying to satisfy their never ending hunger and get everything ready for school tomorrow.  A womans work......

YapYapOK Free Classifieds now higher SERP and getting more views than ever!

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Avoiding the Sandbox

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 201k

I have been revewing the stats of the site and we are up by over 30%, therefore the Alexa rank must be to do with the site speed.  The problem I have just now is understanding why.

What amazes me is that Alexa rank has a baring on ad revenue.  As a business i would not care at all how long a site took to load.  If they were getting high visit numbers that would be my primary concern.  After all viewers are happy to wait for the site to load it must be worth waiting for.  

Alexa also suggests that this slow load will likely affect your position in the search engine ranking, clearly not the case here.  So if Google has not penalised us, why would Alexa?
Our SERP has slightly dropped, not as much as I had expected and I am hoping that it is as a result of the recent directory submission service.  We are down 3 places on Free UK Classifieds and 3 places on Free Classifieds.  In general we slip over 10 places during link indexing, so I still am unsure if Pheonix on Fiverr carried out the submissions or not.  If we climb bac over the next day or so then I will have to assume he has and right the work off.  I will not be able to review his work as I cannot give a recommend when he has lost the proof of his submissions.  It would not be an honest evaluation.

I am trawling through the web 2.0 sites that I set up for my link wheels.  Whilst I disabled the "manipulated" links which saw the YapYapOk Free Classifieds site sandboxed I can still post no end of Free Classifieds in all of them whenever I choose.

The thing that most troubles me is that I saw a clear sandbox when Google dropped the site.  This happened twice.  The first time we implemented more than one SEO technique.  After I de-linked and changed the meta data we climbed back.  So when I relinked the wheel and was sand boxed within days it was clear that these "false" links were to blame.  This is fair enough, I was never really happy with the idea of linking non Free Classifieds sites with this keyword. 

So, the thing that bothers me, is how easy it would be to get a site sandboxed.  Forget hacking, sandboxing is very damaging to a website.  Not appearing in a reasonable SERP means that you can kiss goodbye your visitor numbers, your profits, your business.  I am sure that Google will catch up with this and disregard these links making it a pointless waste of time rather than a capital offense. 

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - so much more than just a Free ads website!

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A road to a friend’s house is never long.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 200k

SERP No 6 & 8

The YapYapOK free classifieds site has gained some momentum and is getting adverts daily from all over the globe.  The cumulative hit rate is up by 23% in the last 3 months so we have no idea what is happening with Alexa.  Apart from the adverts, the number of new registrations are becoming difficult to count manually.

Yesterday we said goodbye to Helga our developer as she has left for pastures new.  She remains as developer on the YapYapOK Free Classifieds site, but my twice weekly meetings working on the development together are no longer possible.   We have become very close in the past year, I will miss the chats, the accomplishments & the camaraderie.  If your reading this, good luck, speak later & we will miss you dearly.

Its put my normally disciplined work flow out of sync & I am not sure what to tackle next.  So forgive my SEO less blog.  I will reassess the immediate SEO necessities & hopefully report back tomorrow.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - an altogether more classier free ads! 

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A Quick Quickie

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 197k 

We have had some great feedback regarding the look of the new site.  We have also had some feedback, unprompted regarding our Alexa rank.  I assumed that the drop in rank may have been to a change in the algorithm.  Someone pointed out yesterday that the load speed was taking 4 seconds longer than previously.   He pointed out that it was likely to be the reason for the change in rank.  

I have been less worried about Alexa and more concerned about SERP. If your SERP is good then you will get the traffic which should see your Alexa improve anyway.  So far all I can ascertain is that a healthy Alexa rank increases the ad revenue.  Apart from that it does not seem to me to have any other real purpose.

I have not seen any evidence that the link service I used on Fiverr was done.  No temporary drop in SERP or even improvement.  Consequently  I am cynical that this was done at all.  Needless to say that I wont be using this service again.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - more than just a free ads site

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Socially well integrated

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 197k 

Competition will now be on the 19th September, Whew.  We haven't submitted any inappropriate material, what I feared most.  

Helga, developer extraordinaire has also finished implementing Facebook comments on each classifieds.  We cannot understand why it is so complex, considering how easy the "Like" button plus comments were - but it was.  No longer socially inept, we are integrated with 2 of the largest soail networking programs, Twitter & Facebook.

I have again used Fiverr for some more directory submission and social book marking.  The only thing with this one is that I normally get proof of the service on a list or spredsheet with all urls.  This is the first time that I have not received one, apparently the had problems.  Clearly I will give the benefit of the doubt but how can I give good feedback.    

We are still at SERP 9 for Free Classifieds and at position 6 for Free UK Classifieds. Maybe this will push us higher, I await the drop first.  If the drop does occur than I will have a fair idea that the submissions went ahead.  I hate to be a cynic, but having been at the end of roque traders and card fraud, not to mention hack attempts, I cannot help but be cautious.  The only difference with this of course is the price.  Hence I wont create a stir if the gig did not occur.  

I still highly recommend Fiverr and most of the gigs I have used.  There are definitely several I will use over and over again and they represent incredible value.

Anyway I am to YapYapOK to post some comments, love this function and great for SEO!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds, now integrated with Facebook & Twitter to maximise exposure ad Free Ads

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Wot No Ad!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds Alexa 196k Free UK Classifieds 26k

Back to page 1, our SERP is better but only by one placement with Free UK Classifieds, its now occupying position 6 in Google UK and 7 in Google.com.  Free Classifieds has not climbed in Google UK, still at number 9.  We are now however on page 11 of Google.com for the first time.  We were definitely not on the first 25 pages a week ago so this is a massive leap forward.

Big disappointments yesterday with respect to the competition.  The advert which we were all so excited about did not appear.  We worked so hard for the competition insertion as well as the social marketing for it.  We have now published the competition code on the YapYapOK Free Classifieds Facebook page for any early birds wanting to enter.   The problem with weekend advertising is that there is nowhere to vent or get explanations.  Consequently we were in black moods all day with imaginations getting lost on the impact that this would have.  Not least on the budgets.

I have written to the company asking why we were not included and await a reply.

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - more than just a free ads site

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Mail On Sunday Competition day

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 193k  Free UK Classifieds 25k

Today is the day of the You magazine Post A Free Ad - Win an iPad competition.

There is no way of gauging the possible traffic that may results with a publication of such high readership.  We have pre-prepared and rebooted the server in anticipation.

Realistically I am expecting the traffic to flow gradually during the week.  Today is Sunday and a day of relaxation & reading the papers.

Google has clearly spotted the new directory submissions and article links currently happening in my SEO.  The signs are there as they were the last time.  Fortunately we have not been sandboxed but have been given a lower SERP.  This happened the last time I had a large link campaign and it was a temporary placement.  If we follow suit then we should theoretically at least feature further up the SERP than before.

The last time this happened we jumped 12 places from our preexisting placement.  We don't have 12 places to jump and competition on page 1 is immense.  It would be fantastic to feature within the top 3 but maybe a little optimistic.

So this week is met with high expectations.  The Free Classifieds ad posting competition and the resulting population explosion and a higher SERP.

The suspense is killing me!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - more than just a free ads

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Facebook Arrggh

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 193k Free UK Classifieds 25k

We had some issues with the Facebook comments yesterday so had to roll back to the previous version.  It worked perfectly well on the local host but not when it was loaded to the server.  Its a little odd as the code for the Like button was so easy to implement and there we had comments enabled.  The code for comments was a whole new ball game even though the functionality is so similar.

It would have been nice to have this up and running in time for the start of the YapYapOK Free Classifieds competition, "Post a Free Ad - Win an iPad", starting on Sunday the 5th September but that is unlikely now.

So the competition starts tomorrow, the ad appears in You mag, we have no idea how this is going to go.  The readership of You is huge with the main paper being at 5.1 million. Our fingers are crossed and we cant wait to see the impact this has on the YapYapOK website rankings.

I was considering using Fiverr for some more backlinks but I have just had an article spun 400 times.  Each one has 2 links so I don't want to push my luck and get sand boxed again.  

YapYapOK Free Classifieds -working hard to get all Free Ads noticed!

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SEO do SEO dont

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 189k   Free UK Classifieds 24k

Off for some development work today.  Facebook comments on the base of every free classifieds will create better SEO as every link is posted on the users wall.  This is also a valuable feedback facility between traders so will enhance the YapYapOK features.

I have reordered from Matrica on Fiverr to spin an article and submit to directories.  The last time I ordered from her I gained in SERP.  I expect to ustilise this service every 4 - 6 weeks.  Matrica does more than expected, and even communicates freely with me to teach me new SEO techniques.  The last email was regarding link wheels and their format.  I am steering away from those, since despites a open wheel I  was Sandboxed until I de linked my wheel.

I shall look to see the results of my SERP soon, although it can take a little while for Google to index them.  

I tried to use some directory software yesterday.  Its quite expensive but there was a free 30 day trial so I thought I'd have a go.  The software was IBS.   I had to use my old PC since the software was not Mac compatible.  

I spent a little while going through the software but whilst it analysed my main keywords for Google Page 1 status  ( which I kinda knew).  I was unable to submit my site to any directories unless I paid the full version.  All the analytic programs are freely available on the web so I could not see why they bothered to give a free trial at all. 

I have got to the point that I will not buy any software which does not provide a usable format in trial form.  They could just reduce the number of submissions per day until a maximum was reached, like Tweet Adder.  I will also not provide credit card details for trial versions that when not cancelled automatically make you a member.

The one con I did fall for was with Airarena.  They promise a trial at 5 dollars.  They guaranteed results of the web marketing system.  I thought what the heck.  Nothing to lose. So I signed up.

The problem is that they take money every month for not the 50 dollars stated but for 70 pounds.  They do not acknowledge emails and when I tried to log back in to cancel my subscription I was not recognised as a customer.  Despite this Airarena PTY Ltd took out the fee the next month.

I had to cancel my card and report them to the Australian internet fraud squad.  They are labelled as as a scam - with other forums reporting similar issues.  This must have beem the one company I did not research before I paid in.  But the 5 dollar fee is what tricked me.

I also found the blog for this company.  It has not been used for a while and comments were disabled, hmmm!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds more than just a Free UK Classifieds site

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Facebook Like It - Love It!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds 189k Free Uk Classifieds 24k

You may have noticed that I no longer obsess the Alexa, I obsess SERP.  We have climbed to 6th place for Free UK Classifieds on Google.co.uk and 9th on Google.com.  Our other keyword Free Classifieds is still at position 9 on Google UK.

We have integrated the Facebook like button on the website so now you can like and post comments to your wall.  Hopefully we will have Facebook comments at the bottom of each advert so that buyers can feedback to sellers creating a more transparent trading environment.  Apart for the obvious advantage to buyers and honest sellers it is great for SEO.  Comments are posted on Facebook profiles with a valuable back link for a prime site.

The task after is to integrate Facebook login which will be a little more complex as we will still require additional info upon registration.  Also I cannot imagine how the developer is going to work with the confirmation email.  Fortunately I am the proud owner of a stupid gene which sees I get away with an awful lot!

YapYapOK Free Classifieds - the classiest free ads, now with Facebook!

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