Seo

[sumyunggai]

This place seems to have very bad Google Juice. Any theories?

 

[atlantis]

There is only 4 months that the forum has been created Sumyunggai. Even though 20.000 posts have been submitted, quite a few with a pretty valuable content it is still very low.
On the other hand, if I google "expat forum indonesia" I find our forum on the first page, fifth proposal by Google. If I google "Information for expat in Indonesia" we also make it to the first page, 8th choice...etc. This is far from being bad considering how new we are.

Anyway, for technical aspects Dafluff and El_Goretto are far more knowledgeable than I am. I guess they will chime in.

 

[El_Goretto]

This place seems to have very bad Google Juice. Any theories?

We welcome any suggestion on this topic

 

[fastpitch17]

This place seems to have very bad Google Juice. Any theories?

You gotta craw before you walk, walk before you run. Go to fast too early you fall down. Stability is more important then speed. Unless you like to fall down a lot.

 

[sumyunggai]

There is only 4 months that the forum has been created Sumyunggai. Even though 20.000 posts have been submitted, quite a few with a pretty valuable content it is still very low.
On the other hand, if I google "expat forum indonesia" I find our forum on the first page, fifth proposal by Google. If I google "Information for expat in Indonesia" we also make it to the first page, 8th choice...etc. This is far from being bad considering how new we are.

Anyway, for technical aspects Dafluff and El_Goretto are far more knowledgeable than I am. I guess they will chime in.

You kinda need to be in first place though. Eighth or fifth isn't worth too much in terms of % of clicks. especially as it is behind a load of dross. Also the 'long tail' stuff such as 'kitas online' invariably comes behind a bunch of other sites.

Google doesn't seem to find the site authoritative.

 

[Puspawarna]

Well we would like to improve the SEO, but realistically it will take time. As a practical matter, though, is there any impact on your enjoyment of the forum, as a member, because we're not the first hit on Google?

As I understand it (and my understanding is imperfect), a for-profit operation (like Living In Indonesia) does need to worry even in the short term about hits and Google ranking, as it would be hard to get advertisers otherwise. Since we are not a for-profit venture, we have a little more breathing space as we try to climb higher.

 

[dafluff]

Google doesn't seem to find the site authoritative.

And it wont for a long time. Google's algorithm places a lot of weight on content as well as age of the website, two metrics that we will slowly improve on automatically as time progresses. Furthermore, it ranks "forum" type websites even lower.

There used to be a lot of gimmicks that you can do to improve SEO rankings, but Google has cracked down on most of them as they improve their algorithm.

We should also consider how we get our user base: The best way to rank up on Google is when someone searches for something then clicks on our link and stays on the site for a while (the desirable "long click"). However most of our users did not find us through a Google search.

Finally, as of now, we have spent exactly 0 dollars on advertising, which will hopefully change in the near future as we add more content.

 

[sumyunggai]

Well we would like to improve the SEO, but realistically it will take time. As a practical matter, though, is there any impact on your enjoyment of the forum, as a member, because we're not the first hit on Google?

Well there was a time when I couldn't find it, despite knowing it existed. That seemed fairly problematic.

I think the lack of organic (search engine) driven growth is also problematic if you want to avoid an echo chamber or old boys' club.

Also with things like the aforementioned 'long tail' it's probably better if things show up on Google so that you get new datapoints and what not.

 

[fastpitch17]

I searched my handle and came up second on Google for this site.

I searched sumyunggai and I didn't see you on the first page but first was interesting.
[h=3]Urban Dictionary: cream of Sum Yung Gai[/h]www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term...

cream of Sum Yung Gai. Semen from a young Asian (especially Chinese) man. Flavor somewhat enhanced by MSG.

 

[El_Goretto]

Well there was a time when I couldn't find it, despite knowing it existed. That seemed fairly problematic.

I think the lack of organic (search engine) driven growth is also problematic if you want to avoid an echo chamber or old boys' club.

Also with things like the aforementioned 'long tail' it's probably better if things show up on Google so that you get new datapoints and what not.

We aren't going to compete with LIIF overnight. They've been around for a long time, much longer than us.

But in terms of growth right now? We beat LIIF hands down: we are gaining threads and posts faster and of much higher quality.

In terms of organic growth, organic search accounts for about 16% of our total traffic and it's growing. Last week was our best week on record.

We still have a few (big) aces up our sleeves though

That said, what could definitely help is to spread the word:

Share interesting threads on Facebook with the share button, same with the forum in general, or the companion website (by sharing the whole website or articles you like).

And not just on Facebook: anywhere you think it could be of interest such as other expat forums/communities. But not spammy but in a helpful manner: for instance, someone asks a question and you can answer with a relevant article from the companion website or a thread/post from the forum.

 

[sumyunggai]

I searched my handle and came up second on Google for this site.

I searched sumyunggai and I didn't see you on the first page but first was interesting.
Urban Dictionary: cream of Sum Yung Gai

www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term...


cream of Sum Yung Gai. Semen from a young Asian (especially Chinese) man. Flavor somewhat enhanced by MSG.

I am not really sure why you are sharing this.

Anyway, you obviously don't watch enough movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DivHqBN89g

 

[William King]

We should also consider how we get our user base: The best way to rank up on Google is when someone searches for something then clicks on our link and stays on the site for a while (the desirable "long click"). However most of our users did not find us through a Google search.

There's an idea. I usually have this site bookmarked, perhaps I should not. Each time I wish to access it, I access it via a google search... would that help ?

 

[El_Goretto]

No it wouldn't because Google will recognize you as the same user and will catch up to it.

But thank you for the thought!

 

[sumyunggai]

There's an idea. I usually have this site bookmarked, perhaps I should not. Each time I wish to access it, I access it via a google search... would that help ?

I don't think one individual can really change rankings significantly.

The point here is that if the content found via Google is relevant (people do not immediately click back after clicking on it), then in the future those results may be given higher priority in Google. So you can potentially stuff something full of keywords but be in fact nonsense, and have it appear high in Google, but if people click on it they will quickly sus that it's garbage, and go back. Another site less stuffed with keywords but more interesting to the user, will not suffer the same penalty.

To the extent that the results that DO appear in Google from this site are of high-quality then it will help the site in the long-term.

 

[dafluff]

I don't think one individual can really change rankings significantly.

The point here is that if the content found via Google is relevant (people do not immediately click back after clicking on it), then in the future those results may be given higher priority in Google. So you can potentially stuff something full of keywords but be in fact nonsense, and have it appear high in Google, but if people click on it they will quickly sus that it's garbage, and go back. Another site less stuffed with keywords but more interesting to the user, will not suffer the same penalty.

To the extent that the results that DO appear in Google from this site are of high-quality then it will help the site in the long-term.

Exactly....this is a slow process. Google has plugged basically all the "SEO tricks" people used to use.

 

[William King]

No it wouldn't because Google will recognize you as the same user and will catch up to it.

But thank you for the thought!

But if we all do it ?

 

[fastpitch17]

One of the best ways to score higher in Google is to have sites that link back to here. The more that have a link that directs people to this sight the more important it looks to Google. If you have your own web site or blog, put a link back to this site. If you post on other Forums on anywhere on line, add a link to your signature. Every time someone adds a link there is a very good chance it will be seen by the google spiders.

 

[dafluff]

One of the best ways to score higher in Google is to have sites that link back to here. The more that have a link that directs people to this sight the more important it looks to Google. If you have your own web site or blog, put a link back to this site. If you post on other Forums on anywhere on line, add a link to your signature. Every time someone adds a link there is a very good chance it will be seen by the google spiders.

This helps a bit, but Google weights heavily on links from "reputable" sites. So if you put a link in your signature everywhere, it would just appear that we are spammers. Plus you may run foul against other boards TOS, so please don't risk your account! (Although, of course the thought is appreciated).

But if you are a reporter at CNN and want to include a link to us in an article of yours on CNN.com, that would boost Google rankings a lot!

 

[ManggaDua]

How I found this forum, January 2017

I'd posted a couple of questions on LIIF recently after a long time away - at the time I wasn't aware of this forum's existence.

Moderator Marcus there had kindly provided advice on one, but the other went unanswered. Since they were Bandung specific, I'd been hoping other Bandung locals would weigh in. But it became clear that people aren't logging in there as frequently when I clicked around a bit. And clearly several heavy contributors had been banned. It wasn't looking good for that forum.

Then I came across @Bad_azz's post in LIIF of a few months ago suggesting to Marcus that he might like to join 'other forums'. She wasn't specific, but it occurred to me that maybe someone had set something new up! And sure enough when I google searched 'indonesia expat forum', forum.expatindo.org showed up seventh result on the first page.

So that's the story of how I found this place, after previously missing it in my occasional searches.

Seventh is good for a new site, and as previously pointed out in this thread it should bubble upwards in the search results as it is considered more authoritative - for example by other sites linking here.

 

[waarmstrong]

There goes the neighborhood.