Okay, for a forum that I haven't spend much money promoting yet, we're doing okay. In searches for: The SENIORSonly CLUB comes up number two, three and four on the first page of Google results, number one and three on the first page of Bing, and number one and five on the first page of Yahoo. True enough, not very many people are going to be searching on that particular search term but this forum is very new, and that's a good start, since it shows that the forum is being indexed. A more likely, and competitive, search would be: On that one, we don't show up at all in the first couple of pages of results from Google or Yahoo, but we're number five on the second page of Bing. Another more likely search phrase is: For that one, we don't show up on either the first or second page for either Google, Bing, or Yahoo. But we will.
For a new site, I think that is pretty good, Ken! I can only speak for myself, but in my short time here, I really am enjoying being active here. Some of the "Senior" sites I have checked out are pretty much dealing with "Rusty Years" rather than enjoying our time left here! Keep up the great work!
You're doing a great job on the forum. I'm not a forum expert, but the conversations seem interesting and informative. Baby Boomers seem to have a different mind set than most of the previous generations and seem more interested in keeping up with what's current than sticking to the past.
I like a mixture of both. I very much value the past, and am quite certain that we'd be better off if we could bring back some of the values that we, as a society, have left behind. Yet, I earn my living online and, while I don't buy every new thing that comes along, I am often tempted to.
I wouldn't be worried about not showing up on the first few pages on the other searches. I'm sure everyone here is having a blast, and I think that popularity will come to this forum too, in time.
Okay @Ken, I think I have a fairly good question for you following a brief example of why I have the question in the first place. I am in another discussion group and asked a basic question I and probably others might be interested in. The answer I got was pretty much a short, "look it up on the internet." So, I thought about it and I did what was suggested. When I put in the necessary wording the search engines took me to a site very similar in nature to the one I had joined. There were at least 6 hits on the same site and none for the one I am a member of. That made me think a little. What was it about the competing site that made it so available to the search engines versus the one I joined? Dunno! Now the question. What can Any poster do special that would make the search engines point to you more readily than another site? I looked at the site I belong to and to me it wasn't that much difference than the competition, but, that being said, there Must be something different going on. What gives? What can I do to help improve your site as well as the couple of other sites I work with?
It could be because the members of that group actually answered questions, and did so using more words. Seriously, the search engines spider textual content, so if a question is asked and then answered in some detail, there is a good chance that when someone asks that question in a search field, the search engine will send them to the site where that question was answered. That's the way it's supposed to work, anyhow. In reality, there are other things that come into play. Each of the search engines have established algorithms that are intended to automatically determine which page on the Internet has the most useful content that relates to a search. Among the things that they look for are hints that one site might be more of an authority than another. One of the ways that they determine that is by how many other sites link to that one, as well as the authority that these sites have. In other words, if you have a lot of links from sites that the search engine considers to be unimportant, that won't count as much as fewer links from sites that it considers to be important. So if I have a web page about cancer and the American Cancer Society links to me, that will make more of a differences than if two of my cousins link to my site from their homepages. Since the search engines are doing all of this automatically, in that there are no real people making these determinations, there are things that can be done to trick the search engines into thinking that your site is more important or authoritative than it really is. Some people will pay someone to hack into authority sites, like government or university sites, in order to place links on these pages in places where they are not apt to be noticed by anyone but the search engines. Of course, if someone (like one of your competitors) finds that out and reports it to Google, a real person will look at it and your site could be permanently removed from the search engine's index, so there are dangers involved there. That sort of search engine optimization is known as "black hat," and like the people who (figuratively) wear the black hats in real life, they are often very successful but there is a constant danger of a penalty being involved. On the other hand, "white hat" search engine optimization involves doing everything you can to make your page as authoritative as you can so that these important sites will link to it. Since they have to see it before they can decide to link to it, people might submit their sites to web directories or refer to it in blog posts, and that sort of thing, in order to get it indexed more quickly, and that's still above board.
So Ken, without the cloak and dagger stuff, the main thing is to make queries as descriptive as possible and the answers the same way. Then, why do some sites (I just quit one 3 months ago) allow so many people to just post links with one liners or less? That only helps the link doesn't it, or does it in some minor way help wherever the link was posted? On the one I unsubscibed to, it seemed like there were numerous sponsors, but very little conversation being done with the exception of about 3 or 4 of us and the rest were posting links back and forth with a simple query and a thanks. Personally, I like to hear (read) what someone has to say about a subject. It tells me a lot about a person and the accuracy that they portray. If I wanted a link to something I think I am smart enough to find the link myself, but if it helps the forum I can do that along with a decent blurb.
Unless they are just trying to get their post count up, I don't know. Of course, it's important to have fun too, and sometimes that doesn't involve a lot of words. But yes, unless a link to an article off-site prompts a lot of discussion about that article, it helps the other site, not the forum that's mentioning it. Of course, if there is a news item or something that someone wants to discuss, it is only appropriate to post a link to it. I value the things that forum members have to say most, though.
I wouldn't normally search out a 'seniors only' type forum, unless I was looking for information for my Mom, but the fact that this one is 50+ is what caught my attention. I have friends of all ages, so usually don't tend to limit myself to my age group and above, but I've really enjoyed spending time here, and I like that others here share my interests, feel the same way about at least some topics, and can read and write effectively and eloquently.
So many of the forums that I have looked at, or participated in, have been dominated by very young people, so I thought it might be nice to have a forum where older people could talk about whatever interested them, as opposed to some of the other senior forums that concentrate on things like retirement and medical problems.
Yes, I agree about the domination by very young people, and also some some have lots of low quality posts to sort through, which is a turn off. This seems to be a good crowd, with lots of variety and knowledge, which I definitely appreciate.
That's me! I love technology (what I understand of it), but at least part of who I am is so rooted in the distant past, way before my OWN time, even. Maybe being multi-faceted beings keeps our generation interesting, or maybe scary. Either one is good!
For searches on... Google: Results #1,2,3,4,5, and 6 on page one. Bing: Results #1 and 2 on page one. Yahoo: Results #1, 2, and 3 on page one. Google: Not in first twenty results. Bing: Result #12, which is on page two. Yahoo: Result #8, on page one. Google: Result #11, which is the first one on page two. Bing: Result #16, which is on page two. Yahoo: Result #7, on page one.
I'll try this again. Sometimes this laptop does some really aggravating things. It has to be the laptop's fault... not mine!!! The "50+" gives the board an interesting caveat. Many of us "geezers" could well have children in the 50+ category. We could have a "family forum" here!! That's not all bad. We grew up with typewriters, slide rules, party line telephones, drive-in movies, etc. We now live in a world of tablets, smartphones, Netflix, Redbox, DVR's, etc., etc., etc. The ability to converse on a daily basis with these "50+ youngsters" is not only exhilarating, but needed. We need to be able to converse intelligently with those our kids age, in a means technically "acceptable" in today's society. Our kids have always threatened that if we weren't kind to them, they were the ones who would be choosing our nursing home!!! If I am at least literate in today's technology... or tomorrow's... maybe I can be just a little smarter when sitting around conversing with the rest of the old coots at the "home". I've been here only a short time. It is obvious that Ken has started a discussion board blessed with a membership of really GREAT, "neat" folk. It appears the "Club" is not just a community, but a family.