allen@governmentality's dashboard

allen@governmentality replied on October 14, 2009 13:59 to the question "The State of TypePad SEO" in Six Apart:

Anything on this? It's been a few weeks....

allen@governmentality replied on September 30, 2009 04:40 to the question "The State of TypePad SEO" in Six Apart:

Hi Ginevra-

Thanks for the reminder of webinar. I meant to attend it at the time, but had a schedule conflict and forgot about it since then.

I'm totally fine with the information changes because that means you all are continuing to develop TypePad, which makes me happy to say the least.

The webinar was a helpful reminder of a number of key points, but I'm not sure they answered my specific questions. I think Andy answered a number of important *general* SEO questions, but not ones that are specific to TypePad--especially the one that is on most of our minds: what does the Keyword field on the compose screen do? It was mentioned at the end of the webinar as a forthcoming feature, but that's it. It gives me some satisfaction that you have had positive results and am willing to try based on that, but would be happier if I knew how to prioritize that task.

As if this wasn't difficult enough, I'd like to add a couple of other questions:

-since there is a limitation to how many meta keywords we can enter, is there a good strategy for how broad or specific (or combination of both) we should get with those meta keywords?

-are there guidelines for bolding of text to draw search engine attention?

Can we ask Andy or whoever else might make sense to weigh in on the original questions and the ones I raise in this post? I'm certain you are all more than busy, but I bet there are tons of TypePad users who want to know this.

With much appreciation,

Allen

allen@governmentality replied on September 28, 2009 13:21 to the question "how do i get m blog on google search?" in Six Apart:

rebecca, we're trying to help you, but you've got to take your time and be as specific as possible with as much info as possible. when you say "it" in your one line response, i have no idea what you're talking about. what gives you an error code? i don't know which form you're talking about.

when you said before that it was the "same thing," it wasn't useful because never said what that was in first place.

the key to making this kind of forum work is that in order for people to take their time to help, the person needing the help should do the same thing. so, next time, take your time with the question. be specific and eliminate pronouns as much as possible.

i'm sorry, but i've lost patience on this one. good luck to you--maybe somebody else will pick this up.

allen@governmentality replied on September 28, 2009 00:22 to the question "how do i get m blog on google search?" in Six Apart:

when you say the same thing happens, what happens, exactly?

allen@governmentality asked a question in Six Apart on September 27, 2009 14:30:

The State of TypePad SEO

Hey all--Could we get a sort of state of TypePad SEO? I read a number of articles in the Knowledge Base, but I think there was a lot of conflicting info from one article to another. I'm somewhat under the impression that the conflicting info is due to upgrades making the other articles out of date, but it's not completely clear to me what the upgrades do.

Specifically, I'd like to know how best to use the Keywords field on the compose screen. Some of the conflicting info left me wondering whether this field is only useful internally or whether it is actually used for search engine optimization. Could I get a more definitive answer on this?

Second, since we can determine our own URLs and fill them with appropriate keywords, how much is too much?

Third, how often is too often to change my meta Keywords? I write on current news and politics and am often inclined to change them to suit what's happening at the moment. Is that a good idea or a bad idea?

Fourth, I'm under the impression that I'm doing some really good things with SEO (although I don't know exactly what they are) because I will often show up in the top 10 or top 5 for many Google searches on timely subjects--even above some of the really big publications like HuffPo--but then I lose my status. And it's not just because I published before they did. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to help eliminate this and keep my spot more often?

Ok--that's all for now I think.

Thanks!

Allen

allen@governmentality replied on September 27, 2009 13:52 to the question "New compose editor won't paste text correctly" in Six Apart:

On the few occasions that I have this problem, I have just been able to highlight the problematic text and click the "remove formatting" button (located next to the strike-through button) and everything is fine.

Hopefully that'll work for you too.

Allen
www.governmentalityblog.com

allen@governmentality replied on September 27, 2009 01:57 to the question "how do i get m blog on google search?" in Six Apart:

Hi Rebecca-

Just fill this out:

http://www.google.com/addurl/

Best wishes

Allen
www.governmentalityblog.com

allen@governmentality replied on July 08, 2009 16:28 to the question "blog footer advertising" in Six Apart:

Hi Zalary-

Thanks! I think I was looking at some very early info when Adify was only supporting a few size options. I've gotten myself all set up now.

Thanks again!

Allen

allen@governmentality marked one of zalary's replies in Six Apart as useful. zalary replied to the question "blog footer advertising".

allen@governmentality asked a question in Six Apart on July 01, 2009 18:09:

blog footer advertising

Now that we have the blog footer, can we get Adify to make a banner ad available for it?

allen@governmentality replied on June 26, 2009 16:35 to the idea "How can I edit comments with TypePad Connect?" in Six Apart:

Anything, guys?

I've now had to delete many reader responses because I can't edit the content. It's pretty difficult to build community this way.

allen@governmentality replied on June 26, 2009 16:33 to the idea "Blog banner and navigation bar like blog footer" in Six Apart:

anything, guys?

allen@governmentality replied on June 22, 2009 01:50 to the idea "Blog banner and navigation bar like blog footer" in Six Apart:

When I saw the Advanced option on the Blog Footer, I had hoped it would be an easy option to add to the Navigation Bar since (at least at this point) it's the exact same form we fill.

At a minimum, it would be nice to get the search bar out of my sidebar to make it cleaner.

Can we get this sometime soon?

Thanks,

Allen

allen@governmentality started following the idea "Blog banner and navigation bar like blog footer" in Six Apart.

allen@governmentality replied on March 26, 2009 00:50 to the question "Adify ad on top banner? Not Custom template." in Six Apart:

During a webinar earlier this year, we were told this is currently only possible with advanced templates and that they were working to make it available for other levels, but that it was a low priority for them. No eta was offered.

allen@governmentality marked one of Colleen's replies in Six Apart as useful. Colleen replied to the idea "How can I edit comments with TypePad Connect?".

A comment on the idea "How can I edit comments with TypePad Connect?" in Six Apart:

Ok--good news on that. Thanks Colleen! – allen@governmentality, on March 19, 2009 21:50

A comment on the idea "How can I edit comments with TypePad Connect?" in Six Apart:

I definitely faced that problem, too. I wound up re-writing the comment for the reader without the sensitive info. – allen@governmentality, on March 19, 2009 21:49

allen@governmentality shared an idea in Six Apart on March 19, 2009 03:22:

How can I edit comments with TypePad Connect?

In the old TypePad comments, I could edit a reader's comment. But with upgrading to TypePad Connect, that option is no longer available. Editing capability was really helpful for the instances where obscenities got out of control, as well as a few other occasions.

I don't like to censor readers, but every now and then this was a really useful tool. Can we get this back?

allen@governmentality asked a question in Six Apart on March 08, 2009 16:43:

Blog directories and Six Apart/TypePad SEO

After doing a redesign, it's time to do some spring cleaning at my blog (www.governmentalityblog.com) and am looking to get rid of a number of badges I've collected--particularly the blog directories I've joined. I don't get many hits from them, so I'm not worried about direct traffic.

BUT! As of yet, I don't have many inbound links and I do show up relatively high on a number of Google searches for relevant topics. Will I jeopardize that if I'm out of these blog directories? In other words, does anybody know if I'll lose my standing in Google because these blog directories provide the much needed inbound links?

Or does the Six Apart/TypePad SEO supersede that?