Wave Issue 29

First...

Ooooh, That's Pretty...

Ever have the shiny, new object syndrome?

I get it all the time, especially when I build new sites, or I find a new SEO tool, or even when I find that there's a new feature in a tool I'm already using, or when I see a new site up for sale.

I've found myself needing to re-focus and re-prioritize tasks.

I'm behind on editing and publishing content from the writers, because I was wasting time in some less-essential areas.

I've cut down my social media time (Facebook, Twitter, Discord) to about 10 minutes a day. Except when I'm on the road. Then I'll use that time to catch up discussions.

I try to focus on one site per day or two. There are things to do for all the sites, so I'll go through the tasks I can in one day for a site based on priority. If there's a larger task I know won't be done in one day, I'll go a couple of days on that site.

What do you do when you find yourself chasing that shiny, new object?

SEO

The Best SEO Hacks To Make Money in 2021 With Kyle Roof - YouTube

Chase Reiner interviews Kyle Roof. Whenever Kyle talks, there are always knowledge bombs and there are plenty here. Kyle talks about:

Why he's not worried about his job, even as AI content generators grow.
White Hat vs Black Hat SEO techniques.
Page Optimizer Pro (POP) and his algorithm on top of an algorithm
Google can't read, but you still want to have good copy to convert. Make sure to outline!
What people are wasting time on
and so much more!

So many of these things are important to hear.

Google Advanced Search Operators for Competitive Content Research

Dr. Pete of Moz gives 8 specific use cases when using Google's advanced search operators to help with competitive content research.

What's nice about this list vs. others who just list the operators is there's a use case that goes with each of them.

I like this one for when you're creating listicles and want to know your competition in a certain number range: intitle:"top 11..15" long tail seo

That will find you all the articles with "Top 11 [to] 15" ranking for the keyword "long tail seo".

Google Confirms Your Site Can Be Indexed But Not In All Data Centers

Someone asked John Mueller on Twitter about why a URL is indexed in Google Search Console, but it's not in the SERPs with the "site:" search operator.

John replies back with two reasons that could be happening:

it's indexed, just not in all datacenters (so your results can vary); that can happen, it's not super-common, and not a sign of an issue.

we're not convinced of the page. My guess is having fewer pages on your site would make it easier to value them.

Has that ever happened to you? I've seen it a couple times before.

That 2nd point is an interesting comment, especially for those of who pump articles out really fast and focus more on quantity.

How To Do An In-Depth Technical SEO Audit (+ Free Checklist)

One of the more complete Technical SEO Audits out there. There's a Google Sheets Template that you'll want to have too as a Checklist of things to check. It's good to do audits once in a while.

Tools and Resources

Depositphotos Deal Ending Soon

Depositphotos, $39 for 100 stock photos/vectors - If you're using the same free stock photos that everyone else is using, Depositphotos is offering a cheap way to stand out with your images. The 100 credits you get with this deal also don't expire, so you can take your time using them. I always buy a few hundred to cover all my sites.
Link Whisper, $15 Off, Coupon Code: YOYAO - The $20 Off is over, but the Link Whisper team is extending the Coupon Code and giving us $15 Off for future use!

Find The Best SEO Tools | SEO Toolbelt

Sam Underwood Just launched as a one-stop collection of all the SEO tools out there. If you're looking for a tool out there to fit your needs, check here first.

They're sortable by use categories, platforms, and price.

Content

9 Journalism Tactics that Work for SEO Content Writing

Engagement is a top priority in journalism. The same can be said for SEO content.

Here are 9 journalism tactics to improve your content and engage readers:

The Inverted Pyramid
Answer the 5Ws + 1H (remember English class?)
Engaging Headline
Engaging Lede
Show, Don't Tell
Active Voice
Simple Language for Clarity
Hybrid Paragraphs That Control Pace
Credibility

How to Monetize Your Web Story - Google Web Creators

In this episode of Google Web Creators Storytime, Paul explains the various ways to monetize your web story:

Brand Deals
Affiliate Links
Integrate Display Ads

The Google Web Creators channel is all about Web Stories. If you're creating web stories, definitely check out the channel.

Link Building

When & How to Disavow Backlinks in 2021 - Moz

Ever wonder when you should Disavow Backlinks? This article from Moz has a nice decision tree that'll help you decide what you should do.

I've disavowed links myself for the Site 3 case study, because of all the spammy links that I was getting from the 301 redirect of the expired domain.

The site also wasn't moving much in Q1 and pretty much plateaued, so I then took the next step of just cutting off the 301 redirect. The site wasn't earning much money, so there wasn't much to lose. It does appear to have helped though. I'll talk about the results in my next income report.

Education

How to remove Google Fonts from your WordPress site

Nice article from Ezoic on how to remove Google Fonts. If you use GeneratePress, they even include a GP Child Theme that was "designed to remove bloat and excess baggage."

How to Protect your Website from Hackers - 5 Tips for Wordpress Users

If you're on the passive income journey with niche sites, you want to make sure you're protecting your websites as much as possible. They're your money makers, so be sure to secure your sites.

Chris at Niche Safari gives his Top 5 tips to protect your affiliate sites from hackers.

One tip with the WPS Hide Login plugin. I use it too in combination with Wordfence. if you ever have any 404 issues with your customized Login URL, try opening it in an incognito window. There's a known conflict with the latest WordPress updates and WPS Hide Login. The 404 issue also comes and goes. I haven't been able to replicate how to make it work 100% of the time.

In the WordPress forums for the plugin, early on, WPS said to try refreshing permalinks, but that didn't work for me. Or it's a plugin conflict, but I've tested no other plugins and no dice. The WPS team will mostly ignore 404 issues threads now, because they have no answer.

Do I still use it? Yep. It's a simple plugin and 900K+ people use it. I'm taking the chance that it's still secure.

5 Best High Ticket Affiliate Programs in 2021

Matt Diggity discusses High Ticket Affiliate Programs. Sure beats Amazon's commissions, but high commissions also don't come easy. They're in some of the most competitive niches.

I think online courses are an area where it's possible to find opportunities in a variety of niches. See what online courses are out there for your niche. If those courses don't have an affiliate program and you think you can bring them students, reach out to the creators and work out a plan.

News

$100M YouTube Shorts Fund

YouTube will be giving out $100M in 2021-2022. To be eligible, all you need to do is create Shorts.

Oh, and get the most engagement and views.

Go start recording!

An update on John's blog 🥖 John Mueller's randoms

John Mueller is relaunching his blog. If you're more technically-inclined, this might be interesting to you.

He has some interesting posts up there already talking about custom keyboards, fake bots, nofollow, and even a bookmarklet on how to have a wider Spotify volume slider.

If it wasn't for his blog, I wouldn't have even known that Google has a Free static hosting service called Firebase. It gives you up to 10 GB of storage and 360 MB/day of bandwidth, so it's not a lot for high traffic sites.

But it's static hosting, so you won't be able to host a WordPress site on it. I found this hack, but it still needs you to host WordPress on a subdomain and the static files on the root domain.

Google I/O 2021

Google I/O is back, online and free for everyone! Register now to get the most of the virtual experience and claim your Google Developer profile badge.

I/O connects developers from around the world for thoughtful discussions, hands-on learning with Google experts, and a first look at our latest developer products. As a registered attendee you’ll get personalized content recommendations, the opportunity to reserve limited spots for interactive Workshops and Ask Me Anythings, and more.

See all of their programs here.

Event details:

When: May 18-20, 2021
Where: Virtually at events.google.com/io
Price: Free for everyone, everywhere