#posting this at the speed of light before i lose signal on the train

[beepbeepdespair]

[persefoneshalott]

continuation to this post about Grantaire and Nocturnal amaral album, in the album order

TAKE ME FAR AWAY (LLÉVAME MUY LEJOS)

If my life is going downhill and I can’t stop it. If days pass you by at full speed. If it seems like I’m looking for something that can’t be found. If I believe I’m going back and I don’t get anywhere. If this is the path we should take.

Lift me up to breathe the liquid oxygen in your lips I want to sleep to wake up in a parallel universe a refuge in another dimension.

If we’re fighting alone and we can’t win If everything was clear before the beginning If this is the path we choose to walk If this was your will

...... SOMETIMES YOU WIN, SOMETIMES YOU LOSE (UNAS VECES SE GANA Y OTRAS SE PIERDE) I've hung on in the exit line Until I hear that shot that marks a signal But the panic of failure holds me back, Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

I've looked into the depths of your eyes, With dilated pupils, like a tunnel without end.

..... WHAT KEEPS US UNITED (LO QUE NOS MANTIENE UNIDOS)

I give in to your way of saying no to the current that took us away United, incandiscent like torches who set on fire everything they touch United in the contradiction like the sting to its poison

We were like a molotov cocktail gunpowder burned by time The last endangered species that's what we are and will be

As if I understood what we are or will be what keeps us united and increasingly more defenseless increasingly more dry increasingly going further until we melt like icebergs

Every day I die then I resurrect from the dead and I'm unstoppable

...... THE FOG (LA NIEBLA)

I don't want to sleep I want to stay awake If you could see me Navigating through the fog

I don't want to look back To turn around If only you could light my way through the fog

.......... LABYRINTHS (LABERINTOS)

Where is love and its destruction? Where is euphoria? Where is depression? Where is the country of our senses, Of every beat, of every breath?

Where is addiction born? In the labyrinths of our imagination.

Half dazzled, half visionaries Under the banner of now or never, There's no answer to your questions, Only a vast sea of doubts Where does it howl, the animal that keeps alive, What we once were? Where is real love? In the labyrinths of our imagination. In the labyrinths of our imagination.

If we're asleep or if we're sedated, If we're the living dead or only slave And there's no answer to your questions, Only a turbulent sea of doubts.

............. SCRAP (CHATARRA)

Last night Written on my face Free me from this hangover

Why else did you come? If there's nothing here Only emptiness and scrap

Tell me why the streets Are deserted, I can't see anyone Tell me why my legs Won't support me, if you know

Tell me why my mind Is divided in two halves Tell me why my life Has stopped at this moment

Everything is lost You were whispering to me At six in the morning

........ IN THE WRONG TIME (EN EL TIEMPO EQUIVOCADO) And you going in desperation And you going in a rush We're just like caged animals We're the same, only anxiety/yearning moves us

We've grown up with clenched fists We're the masters of an imaginary country

I'm asleep with my eyelids sealed you're hanging like Christ upside down They want to see us domesticated, trained, anaesthetised

............. NIGHT OF KNIVES (NOCHE DE CUCHILLOS)

I don't know you, but you're coming to find me, An army of shadows in the Night of Knives. I know that you're coming to find me You don't want to leave me alive And what did I do? I only wanted to be myself. You're armed to the teeth While I'm not yet dressed. If you want to be a soldier I prefer to be a kid.

Accepting I'm your prey and Emigrating to another planet Where you won't mark my door Where the people's soul Won't go out with time And there won't be a moral At the end of every tail And there'll be things More important than money. Where I won't be strange Just because I'm different To you

[reidyoulikeabook]

Champagne Problems

#Request: could you write something based on ‘champagne problems’? creative license is yours and go ham however you see fit but i was thinking reader breaks things off between her and spencer seemingly without warning etc etc

Summary: You and Spencer had been together for almost 2 years. So when he asks you to marry him, that’s got to be a no-brainer, right?

Warnings: Angst, a lot of angst. Minor mentions of threat, blackmail, violence and drugs.

Word count: 2k

A/N: Writing this hurt my feelings. Badly. Just the idea of sad Spencer destroys me. That having been said, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy writing it. Anyway, as always, requests are open!

--------

Spencer hasn’t moved off the couch in at least 8 hours. He hadn’t slept. Not since you’d left.

He’d been agonising over the proposal for months. He’d consulted Morgan, who’d said, “Pretty boy, you could ask her over coffee on the jet and she’d say yes. Don’t worry so much about making it perfect.”

Garcia, who’d squealed, bouncing in her seat at the thought of another BAU wedding, “Oh my gosh! You have to make it beautiful! Amazing! You two are finally gonna get married! Is she pregnant? Not that she has to be just, my god, this team has a reputation for shotgun weddings.”

He’d briefly considered asking Rossi, who had surely proposed enough times by now for him to be classified as an engagement expert. Hotch would probably have had some sage advice, and Emily well...he wasn’t exactly sure what her advice would have been, actually. He might have wound up asking them if what J.J had said to him hadn’t been so helpful.

“Do whatever feels most authentic to you. Neither of you are fans of a big show, you’re not ‘fly a blimp over Quantico’ people. Just, do something that feels right.”

So he’d done that. Spencer loved the solace of your apartment. It’s where you spent the vast majority of your date nights: ordering in fancy takeout, watching shows, sometimes just sitting and reading together in the bay window. If Spencer had a glass or two of wine, he could sometimes be coaxed into dancing.

What felt right to him was this: the apartment bathed in the glow of the fairylights he’d put up earlier, supported by the gentle golden light of the colour changing lightbulb he’d purchased especially. The record player prepared with your favourite album. A chilled bottle of wine resting on the table, next to a bouquet of fresh flowers contained in a crystal vase he’d had to demolish half the spare bedroom to find.

He was more than a little nervous, as he posted himself up at the dining room table to await your arrival. He couldn’t stop the train of thoughts: what if she says no? What if she doesn’t want me?

The only thing that helped stifle his nerves was thinking of how the others had reacted when he’d told them. What Morgan had said. Then he trails his mind back, to all the times he’d felt so insecure, so unworthy of your love. You’d never failed to remind him that he was the best thing to happen to you. That every insecurity he had was actually just a quirk about him that you loved. Your love poured into him, filling a lifetime of holes made by other peoples criticiques and mockery. He took a deep breath. He would be okay. This would be okay. You loved him. God knows you’d told him that enough times.

***

“What’s all this?” You ask, coming through the door and shrugging the laptop case off your shoulders.

“I just thought, since our anniversary is coming up and we could get called out on a case...I thought we could celebrate early. On a night we know we have off.”

“That’s really thoughtful,” You say with a smile, “I can’t believe you did all this Spence.”

He stands, crossing the room to help you take your jacket off, “You deserve something special.”

“Good job you’re something special then,” You say, allowing him to lift the jacket off your shoulders, leaning in to peck his cheek as he does it.

Moving away from you to hang your jacket on the coat hanger, he feels the anxiety start to climb again. He’s imagined the scenario a million times in his head, played it out. He knew he’d be nervous. But nothing, no run-through in his mind could have prepared him for the anxiety he feels as you take your seat at the table.

“Shall I open this?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Spence you got the fancy one,” You say, a question in your voice that he pretends not to hear.

“Well it is for our anniversary, can’t buy the five dollar bottle to celebrate two years together,” He says, taking his seat opposite you.

“Two years huh?”

“Yep. Well, currently one year, eleven months and fifteen days, if you take a month to mean thirty days.”

“That’s gone pretty fast.”

“Actually it’s pretty widely agreed by psychologists that as we get older our subjective perception of time speeds up. There’s no real consensus on what exactly the cause is but it’s thought that it might have something to do with the expansion of our neuron network and the greater distance signals have to travel which slows down our processing time.”

You laugh, “Well that’s a very scientific way to tell me we’re getting old.”

“You’re not even thirty.”

“Not far off.”

“Well I’m sure I’ll think you’re just as beautiful at thirty, and fourty, and fifty, and-”

You cut him off, laughing again, “Is there a scientific theory to support that or are you just spitballing here?”

“This is all me.”

Something about the way he says that sounds so vulnerable that it makes your heart ache.

Spencer’s a little nervous, but not anything close to massively alerting you. You decide to chalk it down to just Spencer being Spencer, mostly out of not wanting to dwell on it too much. The evening passes in exchange of old memories, light teasing as you recall how long it’d taken him to summon the courage to kiss you for the first time.

He’s trying to work out when. When you head to the bathroom, he decides it has to be when you come back. Before he loses his nerve. He swallows another sip of wine for courage, smiling at the thought that he’ll get to introduce you as his fiance at work tomorrow.

Entering the room, you spy how he’s smiling to himself. You have half a mind to ask him what he’s thinking about, but he interrupts you before you can.

“Wanna dance?” He asks, having wandered to where the record player sits, covered in a thin layer of dust.

“Yeah. Dancing sounds good.”

Flicking the needle down, that familiar song starts playing.

You make your way over to where he stands on your living room rug. He puts one arm around your waist, keeping your other hand in his. You move in time to the music, letting him twirl you around with ease.

“I have something to ask you,” he murmurs, spinning you again so you come flying to rest against his chest.

Your head rests just under his chin, and the dance slows down to a gentle sway.

Your heart is pounding.

“Yeah?”

“I-I had this whole speech planned,” he says, softly, "But I think...I think I just want to ask you now. I think you know how I feel about you. How much I love you. So I wanted to ask you, if you want to marry me.”

You drop his hand. Stepping back, you scan his face. Seeing the panic, the questionning, the confusion.

“Spencer I-I can’t. I can’t do that.”

Confusion flickers across his features, eyebrows furrowing, lips pressing against one another. He tries to keep the tears from filling his eyes but he can’t. They glint with all the hurt. With his worst nightmare realised. You’re just stood there, statue-still. Staring at him with something he can’t figure out. Horror? Shock? How could it be either of those things. His chest heaves, he flounders. Even when he imagined this, he never planned what he’d say next. What he’d really do if you said no. It dawns on him then. He never really believed it would happen.

“W-Why?” He finally chokes, taking a step towards you only to promptly feel another kick to the gut as you, in turn, retreat.

“I just...” You trail off, mouth opening and closing, “I just. I just can’t.”

He doesn’t get the chance to puzzle out what the look on your face is. It’s imperceptible. Before he can think of anything else to say, before he can even begin to comprehend the way his world just shattered, you’re gone.

He thinks he hears a quiet, “I’m sorry,” as you scuttle out of the apartment door and disappear.

***

At some point, he makes it to the couch. It goes dark around him, the batteries in the fairy lights die at some point. So he sits illuminated in only the light of the lamp.

Eidetic memory allows his brain to become a theatre. Showing only one film: The Time You Said No. Dropped his hand. Stepped back, as if you were wounded, injured. The confusion in your voice. How it shook, broke, when you said ‘I-I can’t.’ How you just left. How you promised you’d never leave and here you were, slipping out the apartment door without a second look. He’s not even analysing. He just sits, replaying the night in his head. Hot tears slipping down his cheeks everytime he gets to the part where you leave. He doesn’t wipe them. Just starts again.

***

He’s vaguely aware of a phone ringing beside him. Picking it up, he sees it’s 7:52am, which means he’s going to be late for work. There are several missed calls. He would check to see who they’re from but he doesn’t really care.

Will you be at work?

The thought almost makes him want to go. It dawns on him then that he has absolutely no idea where you are, and somehow that’s worse than knowing you left. He scrambles for the phone, picking it up and dialling your number. It rings, from inside your jacket. The jacket you left on the back of the chair.

If he goes into work and you’re not there...he bristles at the thought. Nausea rises in him, his forehead starting to feel clammy with a light sheen of sweat as he processes: he has no idea where you are. For the first time in two years, he has no idea where you are and no way to find out.

Then it hits him. This might just be his life now. He has to run to the bathroom and vomit.

***

You’ve fucked it up. You’ve fucked it up and you know it the moment you get out of your apartment building and into the freezing cold air. There’s no way to explain it.

You’d received an email this afternoon. It was footage of Elle. You’d been home late because you’d had to go to Hotch, who’d spent the afternoon nervously pacing. Various agents, increasing in status each time, had flooded the office.

There was no way of knowing, right now, who’d sent the email. Or what they could see. What they had access to. How could you accept a proposal from Spencer when you knew that doing so could put him in jepoardy? What if they had something on him?

The entire team had looked the other way while you’d helped him to wrangle the dilaudid addiction and get himself back on his feet. That time pained you to think about. But there were so many things that a person could get their hands on. How could you say yes to taking your relationship further when everything was so off-balance right now?

You should have told him. No matter about Hotch or Strauss swearing you to secrecy. You should have told him. Shame rises, deep in your gut, at the monumental fuck-up you’d just made. If it hadn’t been this afternoon, if you hadn’t been on edge already, if you’d had the time to think about things. You would have responded differently. If you’d just had some more time.

But you’re here now. Wondering, how exactly you could explain that you’d done this because you were worried someone might hurt him.

How can you say you were protecting him, when in doing so you destroyed him?

---

Taglist: @sassiest-politician @takeyourleap-of-faith

(as usual, if you’d like to be added to/removed from the taglist just let me know!)

[crescentsteel]

Run

plot: Zombie run with Eita Semi genre: fluff, crack wc: 2k A/N: 

- Thanks again @newfriendjen​ and @kaitycole​ for the betaread and the encouragement to post this. Also to @hidden-otaku-stuff for big brain ideas. I luv yall so much u hav no idea

- We also have a spoofy halloween collab at @babythotshq​

The usual chilly Autumn breeze is not present tonight among the crowd you are standing with. The sun has already set hours ago and darkness has completely enveloped the usually deserted area. The only source of light in the place is that one large orange fluorescence which only covered a certain spot. Tall trees are looming over the few empty, abandoned houses with only a narrow concrete path that accommodated the amount of people here tonight. 

It was downright eerie, if not for the excitement buzzing in the air at the event that is about to take place. You’re so darn excited that your fingers are curling up. You clasp them together to contain the anticipation pumping in your whole body.

“Are you sure about this, y/n?”

Your gray-haired boyfriend wore a smile to hide his worry, but you see through it anyway. It doesn’t affect you though. The fact that he went with you to attend this event is enough to make you silly happy.

You cling to his arm cheerfully. “Of course! This is gonna be so fun. I can feel it already.” You go in front of him and embrace him, burying your face on his chest. You squeal giddily from the promise of the thrill you will experience with him tonight.

Semi looks at people around you with a mild pink tint on his face. Compared to you, he’s a bit more reserved in showing affection, especially publicly. But he doesn't have the heart to push you away while you happily embrace him. He puts his hands on your shoulders as his way of reciprocating. 

You look up to him with bright eyes beaming with zeal. It mellowed him up. He forgets about his surroundings and just admires how pretty you look like this. 

“Thanks for coming with me,” you say with the most adorable smile. He cups your cheek  and rubs it with his thumb.

“Just don’t hurt yourself later, okay?” 

A loud siren drowns out the murmuring of the crowd. It was disturbing to say the least. He looks around to see where it came from. He knows that aside from the people here, there’s literally no one else around. This place is as abandoned as it gets.

You pull away from him.

“It’s gonna start soon. Let’s go.” You drag him to the starting line where they’re giving out instructions. Present there are a few staff distributing your kits which consists of a flashlight, a belt with three red bands, and white paper that has (3) on it. Behind the saff is a black gate that’s closed shut. He attempts to look beyond it just to get a glimpse of what will take place, but he fails to see anything at a significant distance from the lack of light. 

Earlier, there was enough space for everybody. Now that everyone’s gathered and restless from the anticipation, it’s getting a bit too cramped for his taste. You aren’t fazed though. You looked more excited actually. 

“Have you done this before?” 

You frown at him. “Didn’t I tell you? I do this every year.”

That took him by surprise. For someone doing this annually, you’re way too pumped up.

“Why are you so excited then?”

“Cause you’re with me, of course.”

He can never understand how you say whatever’s in your head without any hesitation. Yet, he finds it so endearing because it’s something he’s unable to do. As much as he loves you, his thoughts just don’t come out as they are in his thoughts. It’s usually filtered out to reduce whatever lovey dovey cheesiness his words might have. Sometimes he feels bad about it because he can’t be as candid as you are. You never complained though.  

He clears his throat to rub off the fluster he’s holding in.

“So tell me if I got this right. These 3 red strips are our lives?” He softly tugs the bands hanging on your waist. They’re flimsy and he can tell that a soft pull can easily remove them.

“Mmhmm. Lose them all and you’re out.”

“And we can’t touch the ‘zombies’?”

“Yep.. We just outrun or avoid them.”

“For how long?”

Your eyes dart to the side then up, evidently thinking of the answer to his question. 

“Hmm, they won’t be onto us all the time. But the track is 6 kilometers long.”

6 kilometers? He didn’t think this whole thing would cover that much distance. Not that he can’t handle it. It should be nothing compared to Coach Washijo’s training. But you, he wasn’t aware that you can cover that gap. You’re not exactly the type to be into any strenuous physical activity. The only time is when …

“What’s wrong, Eita? Your face is flushed.”

When you put a hand on his neck to gauge his temperature, he grabs your wrist in a flash and puts it down. 

“It’s nothing. Don’t mind it.”

Your once exuberant demeanor dwindled down to a despondent one.

“Are you mad because I dragged you into this?”

Oh shit. He didn’t mean to sound harsh. He just didn’t want to let you know that his mind took a sudden lewd turn. 

“Heeey,” he says softly while squeezing your hands. “I swear it’s not that. There’s just a lot of people so it feels hot.”

“Are you uncomfortable?” the same anxious look still spread on your face. 

He pinches your cheeks upward to form a goofy smile on your troubled face. “Don’t worry about me, y/n. We’re going to outrun these zombies like shit, okay?” Your lovely smile comes back as you nod.

The same siren rings again, signalling the gates to open. The orange light powers down, which is replaced by flickering, dim lamp posts beyond the gate. It reveals a concrete path. It’s supposed to be the only path, but there were signs that say (1) (2) (3). (2) was the concrete path in the middle while the (1) and (3) led to the left and the right which are soiled grounds.

The number you drew from the staff was three so you went right. There were less people now since the crowd had been divided into three. He wasn’t expecting much, but he didn’t expect anything. There were no zombies, just the attendees that were grouped with you two. If it weren’t for the signs where to go, he’d have no idea how to proceed. 

There were no fixed lights, only the flashlights that were handed to everyone. Even with a group of people, footsteps and the rustling of the leaves were the only sounds he could hear. No one talked. Minutes of walking forward in silence went by and still, nothing. Yet, he’s getting creeped out. He can’t shake the feeling that he’s being watched. He let his eyes wander at the darkness lurking in the seams of the forest-like area. 

The fragile tension in the air broke when someone screamed. It came from behind. All those who were near you turned their heads back to see what it was, including him. But he doesn’t see the source of commotion when the people suddenly sprints to his direction. 

He knew that it was the zombies, but he just stood there because he wanted to see them in action. When they come into view, he regrets dawdling around. They aren’t like the zombies you’d see in theme parks for fun. If he didn’t know that this was just a halloween event, he’d be convinced that they’re real. To make it worse, they’re not the limping, sluggish zombies - they are out to get people.  

‘The fuck are they supposed to be - track runner zombies?’ he said in his head.

He was too absorbed in the scenery that he only snapped out of it when he heard snarling and huffing too close to him already. 

He pivots a complete 180-degree on his heels and dashes away. He might have reacted late but his athleticism will make up for it. He didn't look back and focused his energy on his legs. He thought that the zombies only came from behind. Apparently, they also came from the side of the pathway. Everything seems straight out of a horror movie. Shriek and snarls filled the forest air. It’s like Wrong Turn but with zombies. 

So what if it’s not real? It’s too creepy. No way he’s letting any of those zombies near him. 

He sees a sign that says ‘200 meters from the end’ when he feels something’s not right. Something’s missing. 

He forgot about you! Fuuuck. He stops dead on his tracks and looks around while panting. Maybe you’ve caught up to him. But he highly doubts it. He was running at full speed. And just like he thought, he couldn’t see you anywhere near him. He panicked when the zombies came that you completely slipped from his mind.

 ‘Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m an idiot.’ 

He lets out a grunt knowing that there’s no other choice but to go back and look for you. You might be a regular attendee, but that didn’t ensure your safety. 

Zombies were sparing him second glances because he’s the only one who’s heading back to where they came from. 

Going back meant facing the zombies head on while not getting caught. Running away was easy. Avoiding the zombies head on while looking for you simultaneously right after sprinting with all his might was not. He’s already tired.

With two zombies growling in front of him as they blocked his path, he just gave up. “I’m just looking for my girlfriend, okay? Can’t you just let me through?” He took his “lives” and dangled it in front of them. “You can have these. Have you seen someone wearing a pink sweater and gray pants?” The two zombies stood straight and looked at each other. 

“I think we passed by someone wearing pink.” Zombie A said. “Not really sure if that’s her though.” Zombie B added. He hands them his lives for the information they gave him. Now that he doesn’t have any, the zombies won’t bother chasing him anymore.

The two went on running after other attendees. After they got out of the way, he sees you right there jogging towards him. 

“Eitaaaa.” You half-shouted. When you reached each other, you slouched with your hands on your knees while panting.  “Why did you,” more panting, “leave me?”

“Uhh.” He scratched his head trying to find an excuse. “I thought you were with me the whole time.” He smiles apologetically at you. You stand straight and look at him with sulking eyes. “But you ran so fast! I thought we were gonna outrun them together.” You raised your voice at ‘together.’

“Well, we can outrun them now.” He says in an attempt to console you.

You pout as you softly speak, “I lost my lives already. I was distracted trying to find you.” He was going to apologize but a zombie suddenly appeared behind you without you noticing. He grabs you to his side. “Dude. We don’t have lives anymore.”

The zombie looks at both your empty waistbands then runs away.

“Wait. How come you don’t have any left? You were so fast.” 

He felt bad about lying previously so he admits what really happened. He was expecting you to sulk even more but you put your arms around him and smirk. “Hehe. Did you really get that scared?” 

He pats your head lovingly and indulges your amusement of having him spooked. “Yes, I did. Let’s try again next year?” Your eyes become wide as saucers before they sparkle with excitement. “You want to do it again?!”

He smiles.“Yeah, why not?” He has to admit that the run got him going. Looking back at what happened, it was actually thrilling. If only he didn’t ‘accidentally’ lose you, he ‘s confident that you two could have finished the whole marathon. 

“Yes!!” You pressed yourself to him and held on to him completely. Everyone seems to be busy in the chase anyways so he envelops his arms around your waist and returns the hug this time. Two seconds passed and he realized how ludicrous you two looked, snuggling in the middle a marathon with zombies. 

As of reading his mind, you pull away first and meet his gaze with your distinct warm smile. “Let’s go home?” 

He grabs your hand and holds it. “Yeah.”

Amidst the zombies and people running around in the moonlit forest, you two walk to the end of the pathway with your fingers intertwined. 

[sylvie-writes]

Exhausting yet Fun

Request: hey it’s my birthday on the 5th and I was wondering if I could request a fic/hc about Steve? Maybe there was a surprise party that the team put together for the reader and there were games and all that. Don’t feel pressured to do this though, I completely understand. Thank you anyways! @marvelfanatic16

Hiya hon! I really wanted to write this for you, so here’s my early present to you hehe! Happy Early Birthday!!! (I would’ve queued this but why not post it now?) 

So sorry if this is bad and/or not what you wanted. I’m preparing for school soon and my brain is already in shambles. I just really wanted to give you this!

The title tho..

“Babe, wake up.” Steve gently shook your shoulder, whispering in an attempt to wake you up. 

This morning you and Sam went for a run after you lost a bet the other day. 

“So if the team likes my mac n cheese better, you and I are gonna go running.” 

“Keep dreaming, Sammy.” You patted Sam’s shoulder, confidently walking away with a hot pot of mac n cheese, your grandmother’s recipe. There was absolutely no way you would lose. 

“Sam, is that bacon!” - Bucky

“Oh my god, this tastes like liquid gold with pieces of heavenly bacon.” - Tony

“Don’t break up with me darling, but the bacon is killerrrr.” - Steve

Famous last words- “There was absolutely no way you would lose.” 

Needless to say, you and Sam had shaken on that deal, there was no turning back. 

So this morning from 3am to 6am Sam had you running, jogging, sprinting. Whatever you’d like to call it, bottom line, it was painful. 

To make matters worse it was your birthday and no one had said a single word yet. 

It’s not like you were trying to be vain or anything, but one day out of the year, it’s nice to feel loved!

As soon as torture time was over, you hopped in a car and headed back to the compound. 

Maybe it should’ve been an ambulance

Sam dropped you off at the front before driving off once again. Where was he going at 6:30 in the morning?

You had no clue and if you weren’t exhausted you would’ve bugged him about it.

Moopping to the bathroom, you started a hot shower, grabbing epsom salt for your jelly-like legs. 

It’s not that you were physically inactive, no, it was the fact that Sam has suddenly started to run faster, almost catching up to Steve and Bucky’s speed. Come to find out they’ve been training him.   

At 7:45 am, now clean and fresh, yet still tired, you crawled back into bed. Steve’s light snores signaling he was still out like a log. Or so you thought.

Turning on your side, your back to Steve, you shut your eyes, until you felt warm hands on your shoulder.

Just as you were about to turn, Steve shushed you. 

“Shhh, just go to sleep, doll.” 

His sleepy morning voice was groggy but adorable. You could tell he was just as sleepy yet he still continued to lightly massage your shoulders, sending you to sleep. 

Now, it was 1 pm and Steve was trying to wake you.

It was a plan.

Last night, the mac n cheese.

Everyone had come together to conspire a plan for your birthday. They all knew you were never one to back down from a challenge. So when opportunity presented itself, they gladly took it.

In reality, your mac n cheese would’ve won had not everyone decided to let Sam win, now enabling them to have time to plan for your surprise party. 

While Sam took you on the longest route in hopes of tiring you out, the team rested, knowing very well you’d sleep for hours into the afternoon.

When Sam had dropped you off, little did you know that he was going to get your party decorations and cake.

Andddd while you were sleeping, Steve and the rest of the team decorated the compound. 

Your eyes slowly fluttered open as you turned on your back to see a showered and dressed Steve sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Can I help you, sir?” 

Steve chuckled and then grabbed your hands, tenderly helping you out of the bed, holding you upright as you were still trying to wake up. 

Reaching behind you, he grabbed a fresh cup of coffee, which you happily took, the warmth of the steam hitting your face, a bliss feeling. 

“To answer your question, when you're ready, get dressed and meet me in my office.”

A kiss on your cheek and he was gone, and out the door.

Slightly confused, you finished your coffee and left to go get ready. 

At 1:43 pm exactly, you walked out of the bedroom and towards the elevator, taking the route to Steve’s office which was two floors above you. 

Once again, little did you know, Steve really just wanted you to deliberately miss the kitchen and common room, where the rest of the team resided with all the decorations and games. 

It was an annual thing with the team to have a game nice once or twice every month. You all played games from Uno, Battleship, Apples to Apples. 

You name it, you played it.

Well, an all time favorite was monopoly, where you all would get on teams and see who’d have the most property and money at the end. A game Tony was terrible at playing. 

Soooo they had it for your birthday! 

Board games with the team were absolutely hilarious. 

You’d all play mario kart but last time that happened, this got a little out of hand, literally. *ahem Natasha* 

She may or may not have tried to rip off Bucky's metal arm…

You opened the door to Steve’s office and he immediately jumped up from his desk, totally not fiddling with something in his hand. 

He shoved the thing in his pocket and nervously chuckled walking up to you. 

“You look gorgeous as always.” He held out his arm and you looped yours within, curious as to why you were leaving the office when you had just shown up.

In the elevator, you could tell Steve was nervous, his foot slightly tapping.

“Are you okay, Grant?” 

Grant- a term of endearment you’d always use for Steve. 

Unlocking his eyes from the floor, he looked at you and smiled, like he was relieved. 

“Definitely.” Steve pecked your lips and escorted you out of the elevator as the door opened up.

Upon entering, you rounded the corner and to the common room, in which the lights were off. 

You almost went to turn on the lights when they shot on and the team popped up from their hiding places. 

Startled, you jumped onto Steve as he and the team laughed, you joining in on the laughter. 

“Happy Birthday, (y/n)!!!!” 

You walked forward and smiled gleefully, your cheeks were hurting from smiling so much but it was impossible not to. 

“Guys-you didn’t have to do all this for me.” Your hand covered your mouth as you took in all of their lovely work. Wanda came up and hugged you, the other team members coming up to do the same.

“Of course we did! We love you, (y/n).” 

At Wanda’s statement you just hugged her tightly and let out happy tears.

This team- well your family! They have shown you so much love, how could you not cry? It was a nice feeling to feel loved and appreciated. 

Soon after all the salutations, Steve put his hand on the small of your back leading you to the kitchen, where the lights were also off. 

The team followed suit, Tony telling F.R.I.D.A.Y to turn on the lights. 

The relaxing ambiance of yellow lights, shown on a beautiful birthday cake. 

One Sam had gone to pick up from your favorite bakery, which when you later found out and hugged him to death. 

Too caught up in the cake you hadn’t even noticed Steve until he spoke up, the team all standing around with their phones, you looked at them and then down at your boyfriend, on his knee. 

Steve’s hand was shaking as he held out a box, and you just wanted to soothe his nerves. 

He was so adorable you just smiled sweetly at him as if telling him to proceed. 

“Doll, (y/n), I love you so much, you’ve been here for me, you are loyal, loving, and funny. My best friend, and I don’t know what I’d ever do without you. Will you do me the honor of making me the happiest man alive by marrying me?” 

His little speech was just the cutest and you vigorously shook your head. The ring slipped perfectly on your finger.

Steve stood up and you flung your arms around his neck as he swung you in a circle.

Setting you down, Steve then leaned in for a kiss, the team cheering you on.

The excitement of the proposal was the main topic over the delicious cake, the team already preparing for your wedding.

After cake, Tony giddily whipped out Monopoly, already predicting his win, the total opposite of what actually happened. 

Let’s just say that Tony can never. ever. be the banker again. 

To end your lovely birthday, you and the team sat around on the couch, watching a comedy Bucky had found. 

Joyful laughter filled the room as you looked down at your ring, smiling. Sighing blissfully then leaning into Steve’s arm. 

This indeed had been the best birthday, the team succeeding in their mission. 

These people were definitely your family and this man beside you, your husband to-be. 

[writeroutoftime]

la la land - chapter one

pairing: steve rogers x reader 

summary: as a struggling actress in the big city, you aren’t sure how you are going to get your big break. similarly, starving artist, steve rogers, doesn’t know how to move on after a deal gone wrong. what happens when the two of you meet and learn more about yourselves, love, and the power of dreams than you ever thought possible? 

warnings: none 

word: 2058

a/n: oh my goodness, I am so excited to final be posting this story!! yes, I know you’re probably think - another series rita, really? but yes, another series!! so, this was actually for @marvelcapsicle​‘s writing challenge, and not only is it overdue, but beth has actually decided to step away from tumblr. however, I still wanted to write this story, and I hope you are excited to read it. the story will follow the general plot of la la land, but I will take some liberties here and there. anyway, please enjoy the first chapter and have a fabulous day! 

There are some lines of dialogue taken from the La La Land script and some song lyrics that inspire dialogue. I do not own anything from La La Land or Marvel, this is purely for creative enjoyment.

oOoOo

New York City. The big apple. The city that never sleeps. A city full of dreamers and a mesh of everything imaginable. Thousands flock to New York every year in hopes of achieving the impossible, pinning down that dream that makes their life worthwhile. It doesn’t matter if they are destined to be starving artists, each day brings a new sun and new opportunities, and no one can tell those dreamers otherwise.

The subway car rattled and whistled as you held onto the standing rail for support, your other hand gripped a rumpled sheet of paper. Eyes closed, you mouthed the words that had been memorized for days, playing the scene over and over in your mind. To any observe you looked ludicrous, but the only thought you could care about was getting that one line right.

“Damn it.” you mumbled when you looked down at your script to see that you had flipped two sentences.

Completely engrossed in your own world, you didn’t notice that the subway train had stopped, nor the tall man that stood before you impatiently tapping his foot and glaring daggers at you. With a scoff, you stepped by so that he was able to squeeze through the doors right before they closed with a ‘whoosh,’ though you didn’t miss the subtle finger he gave you. Some people were just assholes.

However, the man was pushed out of your mind a moment later when you realized, as the train began to move again, that you had missed your stop. Panic consumed you and one glance at your phone told you that you were already pushing making it to your audition on time. Jittery for the next few minutes, you ran out of the subway car as soon as the doors opened at the next stop and bolted up the stairs onto the busy, New York sidewalks.

Dodging against the flow of pedestrian, left and right, you saw that you only had minutes to make it to the theater on time. With your mind focused on the destination, you didn’t see the woman with a tray of iced coffees headed your way until they were spilled down the front of your white shirt. There wasn’t anything that could be done, and you ran away shouting an apology over your shoulder, speeding up when you saw the theater in sight.

Slightly sweaty, out of breath, and with a stained shirt, you shrugged the cardigan you had shoved into your purse on and handed your headshot and resume to the assistant collecting them in the lobby. He gave you an unimpressed looked at your tardiness, but still lead you back to the waiting room where other actresses sat for their turn to impress the higher-ups.

When you walked in the room there was a table full of producers and directors absorbed in their phones, fingers flurrying across their screens, not even given you a second glance. Once you cleared your throat, one of them looked up and nudged the others around her to signal that there was another ‘wannabe’ actress in the room. With a deep breath, you started the scene you had been practicing for days.

“And I swear to God, she was wrecked. It was pure lunacy. Oh God, I know…” you began the scene you knew by heart, phone up to your ear in faux conversation. “No, no, Turner’s fine. So, you- are you waiting ‘til Denver to tell her?” you recited, your smile tightening up as you let your character’s emotions begin to take over, though the fear that ran through you was 100 percent yours. “No, you’re right. I understand.” you said, tears shining in your eyes. “No, I’m happy for you, I just-“

“One second.” you were suddenly interrupted by one of the casting directors as he motioned for another figure to join the room.

As you stood vulnerable before these strangers, they had the audacity to treat you like a movie they could simply press pause on when it was time to place their dinner order. Holding your fake, and soon to be very real tears, you watched as the exchange took place before someone noticed you were still there.

“Uh, thank you.” the one director interrupted. “We’ve heard enough.” she told you and gestured for the door.

“Um, o-okay.” you mumbled with an incredulous look and tried to exit with what little pride you could muster. Out in the waiting room, you saw a handful of other women that looked exactly like you, and you sighed as you shrugged off your jacket, not caring if everyone saw your coffee stained top. No matter how much you practiced or how confident you felt, there was always another actress ready to one-up you, or an assistant ready to interrupt your audition.

Another subway ride later and you made it back to your apartment, kicking off your shoes before you flopped dramatically onto your bed. It had been such a long day between waitressing and another failed audition, that in that moment the only thing that sounded appealing was a hot shower. However, once you stepped out of the shower, it wasn’t long before your roommates barged into the bathroom door, disrupting your pity party.

“Where’s the sauna?” Nat asked with a laugh as she opened the door to the steamed-up bathroom.

“I was trying to give you a dramatic entrance.” you told her over your shoulder on the way back to your room.

On the way there, you ran into Wanda who gave you a hopeful smile. “How’d the audition go, y/n?” The grimace you gave her was all she and Natasha needed to know as they shared a look. “Well you are coming to the party tonight, right?” Wanda asked as you closed your bedroom door.

“I’m not going.” you called out, wincing slightly at their shrieks of protest.

The two rushed to your door and pounded furiously until you emerged, now donned in sweats and a sleep shirt, ready to spend the night with your latest Netflix binge. That was, until Natasha and Wanda cornered you in your own room, grilling you about the party.

“Come on it’s going to be so much fun. A party thrown by Tony Stark and we’re invited!  Besides, when else are we going to see New York’s finest all in one room?” Wanda teased as Natasha looked through your wardrobe.

“I don’t want to go.” you repeated. “It’s just gonna be full of social climbers and I don’t feel like ass kissing all night.”

“But you have the perfect dress.” Nat teased as she pulled out a dress that had sat in the back of your closet for months, never having the right time to where it. “You’ve got the invitation.” she told you.

“You’ve got the right address.” Wanda chimed in, and the two pulled you up from the bed, the dress pressed up against your frame.

“Come on, y/n. Someone in the crowd could be the one you need to know. What do you have to lose?” Nat pressed. “Directors and producers galore, looking for you to star in their next show.” she said as she framed the scene dramatically.

“I think I’ll stay behind.” you told them with a shrug and pushed your roommates out so they could get ready.  

Only a few minutes later you heard Nat and Wanda call out a goodbye quickly followed by the door closing behind them. As the silence of your apartment surrounded you, the thoughts began to swirl in your head. Yes, the audition today didn’t go as planned, but when had that stopped you in the past. Maybe the perfect part was waiting for you at that party. With a new sense of determination, you threw the dress and some heels on and rushed to catch up with your friends.

Nat and Wanda heard the clack of heels behind them and stopped to watch you approach. “Get it, girl!” Nat cheered as they gave you a moment to show off your dress before the three of you linked arms and pranced towards Tony Stark’s apartment complex.

Travelling through the city surrounded you with bright lights, neon signs, and an atmosphere that made anything feel possible. The party was in full swing when the three of you stepped out of the elevator, and you weren’t sure where to look first between the decadent decorations and glamorous people. Wanda quickly dragged you to the bar to grab a drink, but it wasn’t long until you found yourself separated.

While you tried to keep an optimistic attitude, the longer you were around these people, the faster the walls of silver and gold that had been built up in your mind began to deteriorate.  Instead of New York’s finest in the room, you saw sleazy, cheating elites, and when you wouldn’t give them what they wanted, they were quick to move on to their next, potential victim.

Finding the bathroom, you stepped away from the noise and chaos and reveled in the cooler, silent air for a few minutes. Clenching the porcelain sink, you stared in the mirror and wondered what you were doing there? Did you really expect to just be offered at a part by going to a party? You scoffed at the notion, knowing that out in the party, there were so many that shined brighter than you, and you were just another crowd chaser.

When would this end, and could you truly find what you were looking for in New York City? As a young girl, the city seemed so magical and full of hope. It was like a flame and you were the foolish moth who had packed up from the only home you’d ever known and tried to create a whole new life. But, just maybe, this wasn’t the city for you, maybe the flame had burned you too many times. There just had to be a place where you’d find you who were going to be.

It wasn’t long until you tried to find Wanda and Natasha to let them know you were going to leave. While they offered to leave with you, you knew they were enjoying themselves and didn’t want to ruin that. Instead, you grabbed your phone to call an Uber, but groaned when you saw no available drivers were near you for at least another twenty minutes. Deciding the subway would be quicker, and cheaper, you began to walk towards the closest station.

On your way there, you noticed a class or gathering of some sort going on under some tents in the park off to your side, but it was the art that lined the entrance to the class that caught your attention. The sign advertised one of those classes where people paid to paint along with the instructor to feel like an artist for the night. However, the examples displayed held so much more depth and detail than your typical skyline of New York. Whoever had painted these was wasting their time with these classes and deserved to be in a museum. Each one looked like it had taken ages and it was in a style you weren’t really familiar with, but one that sparked something warm and inviting within you.

Glancing up, you watched a tall, blonde man, hunched over his easel as he was sucked into the moment and threw colors across the canvas. While you couldn’t see the picture, you guessed it was just as wonderful as the others, and the way his eyes were slanted in concentration made you smile. Even when a man, who you assumed to be his boss for the evening, approached the artist and began to scold him, you couldn’t look away. When you looked at his art, you felt something, and you needed to let him know.  

The two of you locked eyes from across the way, and you felt your body bring you closer to him. As soon as he was in earshot, you were ready to sing his praise. “I just saw your art, and I-“ you began before he bumped into your shoulder as he walked away.

There was a moment of confusion in your mind as you stood there and stared where the man had just so rudely brushed by you, until you scoffed and continued towards the subway.

[365days365movies]

January 4, 2021: First Blood (1982) (Part II)

Quick Recap before we go on. Oh, and SPOILERS right up top!

John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is a Vietnam vet wandering through Washington State, until coming upon the town of Hope, run by the Sheriff Will Teasle (Brian Dennehy).

Sheriff Will Teasle is an absolute dick who arrests Rambo for no real reason; just for being a “drifter.” His police force, which includes the sadistic Galt (Jack Starrett) and sympathetic Mitch (David Caruso, AKA Horatio Caine from CSI: Miami), beats John Rambo, and post-2020 me is UNCOMFORTABLE!!!!!!!

Rambo has Vietnam flashbacks (like you do) and escapes the prison, pursued by the obsessive and dickish Sheriff and his equally dickish men (except for Horatio, maybe).

Galt tries to shoot Rambo, and karma bitch-slaps him RIGHT in the face, holy shit. He dies, and Rambo is blamed and shot at, escaping into the forest.

OK?

OK. On with the recap!

At this point, all of Rambo’s actions are in self-defense. In truth, it’s been self-defense since the beginning. However, he does kill two dogs, so...yeah, can’t really justify that. That sucks. The dog’s handler gets shot by Rambo, who now has a gun, and we also see that Galt’s certified sociopathy has leaked into everybody else but Horatio upon his death, including the dog guy, who tells his dogs to straight up kill Rambo. But, as previously stated...that’s not what happens.

At this point, I should introduce the amemedala.

The amemedala is a portion of the mesencephalon (or midbrain) discovered in the brains of millennials and younger individuals, recently discovered, named, and made up by yours truly. This area, attached to the thalamus, acts as a relay center between the cerebrum and the various sensory receptors of the body, similar to the function of the thalamus. However, while the thalamus governs the broad relay of senses to the appropriate areas of the brain for analysis, the amemedala relays appropriate sensory signals to the frontal lobes, where catalogs of shared sociological trends, or memes, are housed. This relay and association generates connections between extrenal stimuli, and entries in the meme catalog of the frontal lobes. While this is technically an autonomic process, it can be suppressed with enough willpower.

Why am I ringing this up in the middle of First Blood? Because EVERY. SINGLE. CELL of my brain is working to suppress the amemedala right now. Why? BECAUSE OF THE LORAX, AND FOR WHOM HE SPEAKS.

Is it an outdated meme? Very much so. BUT I CANNOT GET IT OUT OF MY GODDAMN HEAD AS I WATCH THIS MOVIE.

OK. That is now out of my system. Anyway, Rambo continues to speak for the trees, which is understandably starting to spook the smalltown cops. This leads to the VERY surprising moment where a camouflaged Rambo appears OUT OF NOWHERE and stabs Horatio in the goddamn leg! Like, wow, he was invisible! I had to rewind the film to see where he was. This is tense...and awesome, not gonna lie. This is awesome.

And then, he gets another cop by JUMPING FROM A TREE. Well, a tree stump, BUT STILL. After he takes him out, he stands in plain sight in front of an approaching cop. That cop, subscribing once again to the shoot-first-ask-questions-later policy, fires. And I SWEAR, Rambo is FASTER THAN THOSE SPEEDING BULLETS, as he dodges out of the way, and the bullets HIT THE COP HE JUST TOOK OUT!

And then, when I didn’t think this could get any more intense, that cop triggers a booby trap, and A STICK WITH WOODEN SPIKES GOES THROUGH THIS MAN’S LEGS, AND HE’S SPEARED LIKE A KEBAB OH MY GOD

The asshole sheriff runs to the NEW set of panicked screams, and his compatriot is just Batman-ed away by Rambo. It’s just the sheriff, now. The storm is building, and the forest is getting darker. The sheriff frees leg-spike cop, and goes to find the other cop, who’s been PINNED TO A TREE LIKE A BUTTERFLY IN A DISPLAY CASE. See, look!

HOLY SHIT IT’S RAMBO WITH A KNIFE IN THE FOREST. He pins the sheriff up to a tree, then with some legitimately badass lines, threatens with the sheriff with “a war [he] wouldn’t believe,” and telling him to make like Elsa and…

I love this sequence. It is the most intense, crazy, holy shit sequence I’ve seen so far this month. Wow. I understand why people talk about this movie. Man, that was a hell of a ride! Good movie, though. All right, so, time for the final sco-

Oh. Oh, my God. I’m only HALFWAY INTO THE MOVIE?

...Wow. OK, then.

We now meet Colonel Sam Trautman, Rambo’s commander in the Green Berets. He’s come to “get his boy.” He says that he came to rescue the Sheriff’s dumb ass from Rambo, rather than the other way around. And the Sheriff is...an idiot. He’s an ass, he’s a maniac, and he’s a stubborn idiot. Even after learning that Rambo is the best, he’s unwilling to back down, the dummkopf.

Rambo kills a wild boar in the woods, which makes no sense for Washington State, but whatever, sure. Anyway, they try to get the colonel to lure Rambo out, even though that’s obviously gonna make his PTSD, just...SO much worse. Especially as he starts using Vietnam parlance in contacting him. Not gonna end well, guys. But it’s then that we learn that Rambo is now the last surviving member of his unit, contributing to his trauma. Rambo’s also been trying to get in contact with the Colonel, winding up here because he has no place to go. He says that there are no friendly civilians, and the trouble’s been caused by that “king-shit” cop. I will be using this term from now on.

Wow. Damn. Hell of a reason for that title. And I think I love this movie. Seriously, I’m having a good time.

King-Shit Cop keeps going ahead with his absolute idiocy, despite all warnings to the contrary. So, a bunch of troops now converge upon Rambo’s place, but he naturally opens fire on them, without killing a single person. In fact, he hasn’t killed anyone this whole movie, and they make a point of saying that he’s been holding back the whole time. So, they decide to use the next, most logical course of action. They FIRE A ROCKET AT HIM.

Afterwards, the Colonel and King Shit Cop catch up at a bar, where the latter exposes his full sociopathy, commenting that he just wanted to kill Rambo. This is opposed to the Colonel, who doesn’t really know what he’d do if Rambo survived.

Which, of course, he did. C’mon, you think a little military-grade propelled explosive is gonna kill John Rambo? Nah. He’s the best there ever was, and he’s gonna prove it now. He jumps into a military vehicle holding an M-60, and hijacks it. Doesn’t take long for the news to break that Rambo’s still kicking, and he’s quickly intercepted by King Shit Cop, who JUST. DOESN’T. KNOW. WHEN. TO QUIT. And I’d admire his tenacity if he wasn’t SUCH AN ASSHOLE.

The cops try to run Rambo and the truck of the road, and he plays the UNO Reverse Card on them instead. And I’m pretty sure at this point…

...that old Johnny boy’s just killed some cops. So, yeah, now there’s a bigger problem. He powers through the State Police blockade like it was a banner blocking a football team, stops at a gas station, grabs the gun from the car, and LIGHTS ALL OF THAT SHIT ON FIRE! Destroying the livelihood of an individual who had nothing to do with this.

Yeah, Rambo’s starting to turn from innocent acting in self-defense to public menace REAL quick. And yeah, it’s King Shit Cop’s fault entirely...but, yeah, Johnny needs some help, because he’s losing the train at this point. But, not to be outdone, King Shit Cop is also beginning to lose it, and it’s definitely beginning to seem like only one of them is going to come out of this alive. And the Colonel tries to give him an out, but King Shit Cop’s prepared to go down with the ship that he blew a hole in in the first place. Like an asshole.

But here we go, the finale. John Rambo vs. King Shit Cop (whose name, by the way, is Will Teasle. I just like Rambo’s name for him better). KSC’s on the roof, Rambo’s on the street. Rambo causes more property damage, possibly because banks also give him PTSD (I joke, but PTSD is no laughing matter, John clearly needs help), and then finds his way to a store that has just all of the ammo a psychologically-damaged Vietnam War veteran on a revenge quest could ever need.

And then he BLOWS. THAT. SHIT. UP.

And he does this...ALL of this...just to lure KSC out of hiding. This man DESTROYS A TOWN because this idiot, sociopathic, unhinged, King Shit Cop, won’t just STAND. THE FUCK. DOWN ALREADY.

Rambo enters the police station, where KSC is on the roof. And, like the Colonel and the rest of us guessed, KSC gets shot in the process. And as Rambo stands over KSC, the Colonel finally shows up and does what literally everybody else should have done.

Talk. He just...talks to Rambo. He talks to this mentally ill man, and that mentally ill man responds, espousing his pure anger at the war, the public, protesters, work, the country, the town, himself...everyone. And goddamn, is that shit palpable.

This man can no longer fit in the world that he was forced to leave, and forced to return to. This poor, poor, poor man. It hurts. And it sucks. And he pours his heart out to the Colonel, and to us, and...you feel it. You feel his trauma, you feel his pain. You feel the aftermath of war. And it’s been seven years at this point for the Colonel, but no time for John. Not Rambo. John. And it’s just...never over.

Damn. Goddamn.

This...this is one hell of a good movie. And not just a good action movie, either. A damn good movie.

And that’s it. That’s First Blood.

[immortalbeigewizard]

The Big RWBY explainer:

OK So I’m going to try to take the lore and worldbuilding in RWBY and make it more clear because the writers in the beginning weren’t great at explaining the technical fantasy stuff in RWBY and I’m going to try to make a concise post that doesn’t spoil much. Although I’ll say right now spoiler warning for World of Remnant and some things in RWBY volumes 1&2.

Table of Contents:

1Geography, Kingdoms, the world, and political climate

2 history, faunus, and the mundane magic-y bits

3 grimm and huntsmen

4 meta stuff

1 The world:

So the land of RWBY is called the World of Remnant, that the “earth” that RWBY is in. 

It contains 4 “kingdoms” along with settlements outside of those kingdoms. I use kingdom in quotes bc kingdom is a bit of a misnomer because they’re more like city-states and don’t occupy too much land on their respective continents.  Each kingdom is on a different continent. 

One more thing: yes the moon is shattered (It wasn’t in the Red trailer because I think they added it later, but it is shattered) (they explain why later, but I’m not going to)

The Kingdom of Vale:

This kingdom contains the huntsman schools 

Signal: which is like a school for younger kids, we know that Yang graduated from Signal to go to Beacon

Beacon: the main school where the show takes place, the first year students start (usually) at age 17 (however they haven’t said how many years of school a huntsman has to go through until they graduate). It is located decently close to the city of Vale ( the only surviving city of the kingdom).

The city of Vale has a kind of contemporary/fantasy America feel to it (more in that it doesn’t scream any other culture than that it is trying to be American). 

The Kingdom of Mistral:

This kingdom has the huntsman school Haven which is a school that functions like Beacon and Sanctum which functions like Signal.

Mistral is on the largest continent and is said to frequently have bandit problems. They have a very east Asian feel to the kingdom in its architecture, clothes, and food. 

This kingdom has 2 cities Mistral and Argus. Haven is in Mistral (the city) and Sanctum is in Argus. 

Mistral has a bit of a tense relationship with the next kingdom, Atlas because of the complicated agreement with Argus. (If i say anymore it's a vol 6 spoiler so I’ll stop here).

The Kingdom of Atlas: 

The kingdom of Atlas has 2 cities, Atlas and Mantle. This is the only kingdom that has a military ( the other 3 don’t) and it also has its huntsman academies function as military academies. It’s very European in design, imperial European . This kingdom is on the tipping point of starting a war, and has peace on a razor’s edge. They have 1 known huntsman academy in Atlas.

Atlas used to be called the kingdom of Mantle, because Mantle used to be its capital ( look in the history section for an explanation).

The Kingdom of Vacuo:

This is the only kingdom that hasn’t shown up in the show yet, but it’s in the books. It’s a desert that has mostly migrating settlements. It’s government is a bit of a sham and the huntsman academy, Shade, is really in charge of keeping the peace. Atlas extracted many resources from Vacuo in the past in order to build its own kingdom, turning a lush jungle into a desert. More of a dangerous and unsafe place than Vale.

Other non kingdom places of note:

Vytal: An island off the coast of Vale, the treaty to end the Great War (see below) was signed here, and every 2 years the Vytal Festival takes place, a festival where cultures come together. Also students from the 4 elite huntsman schools (Beacon, Haven, Atlas,Shade) come together for a fun tournament. 

Menagerie: The island was given to the faunus (see below) as a sort of homeland for their contributions during The Great War, however many faunus see this as a slap in the face because the land is 2/3rds desert, leading to overcrowding in the inhabitable areas. 

Patch: A small island off the coast of Vale that Ruby and Yang live on. It is also where Signal is.

2 The History:

So this is going to talk about the history that the average citizen of Remnant would know and not the cool protagonist knowledge that team RWBY gets later.

The Great War: 

About 80 years before the start of the show the most memorable war apparently in the history of Remnant took place. The war starts like this: Political tensions were high, Vale and Vacuo were getting uncomfortable about Mantle and Mistral’s closeness, until one day Mantle decided to ban artistic expression and self expression. Mistral followed along as to not lose this alliance. Vale already wasn’t happy about how Mantle and Mistral treated their citizens, slavery included in that. But it wasn't until settlers from Mistral started fighting settlers from Vale on an unoccupied island that an actual war began. The TL;DR is that Mantle's ago was wounded so they still had a military, the other 3 kingdoms disbanded their militaries and set up huntsman academies, the in- canon reason everyone has a color name is because of the war (more on that in the meta section), this is the reason the Vytal festival exists, there is peace, they banned slavery, and the faunus rights movement starts soon after the war.

The Faunus: 

The faunus are a fantasy race of people that have an animal characteristic, like ears, tails, teeth, antlers, w/e

So the faunus are discriminated heavily (At least in the past, the only place in show present where there is still blatant discrimination would be Atlas/Mantle). The most common type of faunus would be mammal faunus (ex. cats, dogs, deer,) Some faunus are able to hide themselves in order to blend in with humans. The only faunus rights group mentioned in the show is the White Fang. They started off doing non violent actions like boycotts, but when their leader stepped down they became increasingly more violent. (This is actually explained decently well in the show so I’m going to leave it here because I’m trying to give the least amount of spoilers)

Aura:

Aura is a projection of one's soul. It sort of acts like a protective bubble, and functions like HP in a video game, you can’t get permanently injured (cuts, dismemberment ,die) if you have your aura up (the exception is in the white trailer because I don’t think they solidified this rule yet for the trailer). Your aura color is unique to the individual (or at least our main cast) and that is, essentially, your soul’s color. Not everyone has activated their aura (civilians and background characters) but if you have you may be able to access your Semblance.

Semblance:

It’s like your own personal superpower. Think like the X-men. Anyone can have any type of Semblance, but there are a few common varieties. Such as augmenters, cloners, and emitters, or absorbers. (these are all names I’ve come up with, but they kinda help make sense because RWBY has a lot of characters so you can’t remember everyones’ Semblances). Augmenters would be Semblances that change how much your body can do, like a speed enhancing Semblance. Cloners would be a Semblance that allows you to make copies of yourself ( or others). Emitters would be a Semblance that allows you to change the physical space, or someone's perception of physical space (ex. An illusion Semblance or a Magneto-style Semblance). And an absorber would be a Semblance that allowed you to absorb some kind of energy and redirect or use it in some way (like if there was a Semblance that allowed you to absorb damage and shoot it back at the person who fired). Again these are labels that I use and aren’t official, they just make it easier for me to remember because these are the most common types. (a quick clarification because I wasn’t sure if I said this already, but faunus have souls, they are able to produce an aura, and they can have a semblance, they are people. Aura = soul = people)

Dust:

So Aura and Semblances aren’t the only magic-y thing common in Remnant. The last thing on our list is Dust. Dust are magic crystals that contain elemental abilities( like how in the White trailer Weiss is able to strike the ground and summon ice). In RWBY these are most commonly seen as bright crystals and powder, but also are incorporated into the bullets the characters use (Any time a character shoots not a grenade or rocket launcher and there’s an explosion they were likely using combustion dust). This is most easily seen with Weiss because of how she uses dust. Dust can also be manipulated to make forms not found in nature (like fire or ice) into something like hard light dust (or it can make a force field). Dust can also be used in tandem with semblances (for example if there’s a cloner they may be able to make an exploding clone). It is also used for non combative reasons, such as running cars, trains, planes. Dust functions as the main source of power on Remnant everything from homes being heated with fire dust to machines being powered by electricity Dust. (The reason I refer to Aura, Semblances, and Dust as “magic-y” is because RWBY is very specific in saything they aren’t magic).

4 Grimm and Huntsman:

Grimm:

So, grimm are monsters made of darkness and shadow. They are basically just mindless hordes. They don’t eat, they aren’t animals, and they don’t really do much beyond wander around looking for humans (and faunus) to kill. They are drawn to negative human emotions, like fear, anger , and sadness. (that’s why Mistral and Mantle wanted to take away people’s expression, so they wouldn’t accidentally attract grimm(still not right tho)). Grimm are hunted and killed by Huntsman and Huntresses, people trained and taught how to fight and that’s their job. But the people of Remnant don’t know much about the origins or biology of grimm (I honestly think it's kinda like a virus thing where they aren’t alive but really look it and all they do is kill living things) Because they disappear after “death”. 

Huntsman and huntresses:

So, as I’ve kinda halfway explained throughout this thing; Huntsman and Huntresses are people who chose to (it's a trained profession) go out there and fight grimm, along with bandits and murderers or whatever (basically Remnant’s superheroes). They are trained at Huntsman academies, (listed above; Beacon, Haven, Atlas’, and Shade). They use their Aura and (usually) have access to a Semblance. Use Dust (usually) and are all around good people fighting for what's right (generally). 

5 Meta Stuff:

Alright this is where I put all of the stuff that isn’t canon to the world of Remnant, but is important to understand the story.

So, there are a few fairy tales that exist in Remnant that will come up in the story (You can easily find these online, RT published a book of them) One of them is a story about the gods of Remnant (the story itself doesn’t matter for my point) there are 2 of them and they are called The Brothers’ Grimm (Like the fairy tale writers) this is because every (important) character is an allusion to a fairy tale, mythological, or legendary figure.

For example, Ruby is Little Red Riding Hood. Some of them are obvious (ex Ruby) and some are not.

(I’ve noticed that there’s kind of a pattern; There’s characters who are just aesthetic allusions (ex Ruby) characters who are story allusions (spoiler Penny is Pinnochio), or characters who are both (Weiss and Blake), characters who have their own allusion, but pick up another due to their relationship with another character (Qrow and Raven), and characters who don’t look like they have an allusion, but theirs is revealed as a plot twist (I’m not giving an example here).

There’s stuff I’ve leaving out here that CRWBY doesn’t explain well right out of the gate, but this stuff is necessary in order to clearly understand at least volumes 1-2.

[odaofiga]

My slbp OC, Ai Oda, brought to life by @jane-runs-fast I am incredibly grateful! Not only did she bring this glorious creation to life, but her avid interest in the character's story encouraged me to finally transfer my thoughts to script and share it. Hope this brief chapter lives up to the hype.

Genre: Fluff, AU Characters: Katsuie, Inuchiyo, Hideyoshi, Mitsuhide, Nobunaga Word Count: 1,631

Author’s Note: This is my first time attempting a fanfic, so any feedback is appreciated, especially criticism. I’m a big girl, I promise you won’t offend me. After discovering the extensive slbp fandom, I have to admit I don’t know nearly as much about the characters as I thought I did...

an Oda of Iga

Chapter 1, Part 1

The eighth month had finally fallen upon Mino and brought with it the fiery colors of fall. Between the browning rice fields in the valley below and the red-dyed maples on the slopes to either side, Mt. Inaba seemed to blaze in the evening light. Like fire. Ai had never placed much value on symbolism, even she had to admit the view seemed to be an extension of thought rather than scenery. Leaning against a veranda post, her vantage provided an ample view of the distant horizon, and the jagged shadow the Yoro Mountains cast upon it. Mt. Hiei lay somewhere beyond that, out of view, along with all the resident monks of Enryakuji…who didn’t yet know their fate has already been decided.

“Don’t turn yer back, Toshiie!”

A loud crack of wood on flesh followed the bark of words and, blinking away her ominous thoughts, Ai turned a curious eye toward the sound. The clatter of practice swords was hardly an unusual one, sparring in the grounds was as sure as sunset this time of day, but the addition of Lord Katsuie’s thunderous voice was an uncommon one. The old retainer usually left instruction to younger men.

Nevertheless, there he stood on form in the center of the field, torso bare and drenched in sweat. His sword was matched with Toshiie’s, who by comparison still looked dry-skinned and spry. The bought was a fierce one but despite the old man’s masterful movements and excellent advice, it was clear fatigue was losing the battle for him. With more speed than Katsuie could match, Toshiie drove past his guard. But poor aim left his strike merely grazing off his instructor’s ribs, a mistake Katsuii promptly punished him for. With a practiced parry, he met Toshiie’s retreating arm with a cracking blow that sent his weapon sailing away.

“Damn!”

“You lost your sword, puppy. Need a hand?” Hideyoshi’s teasing response was as swift as Toshiie frustration.

“Shut it you.” He panted, moving to retrieve his lost weapon. “And stop calling me that!”

“Good energy, Toshiie, but mind your footwork,” Katsuie said, with a rich chuckle that revealed his fondness for the pair. He was trying valiantly to disguise the exhaustion in his heavy breaths as he began pulling his kimono back in place. Maede seemed not to notice his desire to leave, and planted himself readily in front of the old retainer again.

“Come on, old man. One more time.”

Even from afar, Ai could tell there was no change in his sloppy stance. Katsuie noticed too, his vague scowl focused on his young feet. But, however sound his advice might be, Katsuie was in no fit state to enforce the lesson. Another match now might be enough to give Toshiie the win he was hoping for, and any credit for Katsuie’s instruction would be forgotten with it. His chest half covered and the practice sword still in his hand, his gaze fell upon Ai nearby, and the corner of his mouth twitched. Whatever his plan might have been otherwise, the sight of her seemed to change his mind. And with a wily smirk, he called out before she could do more than narrow her eyes.

“AKUMA.”

That one resounding name prompted a response similar to a scream in a quiet shrine. Every eye in the garden jerked immediately to Katsuie and then to the shadowed corner of the veranda where Ai stood. The response was understandable. Not only did Katsuie’s given name for her literally meant demon, but the mempo mask that stretched from ear to ear did nothing to dissuade the idea. The metal was wrought into the snarling jaws of a beast and as red as a freshly opened wound. Chipped and scarred by years of use; it was heinous down to the last bared fang and ‘Akuma’ was never seen without it...which was precisely why so few of the retainer’s knew that it was a woman, and not a man, that starred back at them now.

Akuma had been a general in Oda’s army longer than most, had shed blood in Oda’s name while Hideyoshi still cleaned his shoes, and his reputation was well-earned. His was the first hand to rise for vanguard and rearguard alike and he never failed to return. He had spoiled more attempts on the liege's life than could be counted on one hand and, though he was absent from the castle as often as the sun, his loyalty was unquestioned, mask and all. He trained alone, spoke to few, and was known to have the ear of Lord Nobunaga himself. Only the most senior retainers spoke to him freely.

“Come help me educate this pup.”

Ai moved her gaze meaningfully to Meade. Descending into the grounds, she intentionally let out a long, breath of hot air which billowed in the cool autumn air, escaping through the fanged gaps in the mask like smoke from a dragon’s maw. It had the desired effect. While Hideyoshi and Katsuie both wore knowing smiles, Toshiie looked ill-at-ease as she approached. Practice sword in hand, Ai stopped in Lord Katsuie’s vacated spot and faced him, waiting. Toshiie didn’t seem nearly as eager to engage ‘Akuma’ as he had been for Lord Katsuie, but he raised his practice weapon all the same. Then, with a quick, calculating scan, he lunged.

Ai assumed a defensive posture and deflected it, and the next, and the next. But he was ready with a counter for each, relentlessly pushing forward to close the gained space. She made only cursory retaliations, her attention devoted to evaluation instead. He was aggressive, forceful...and predictable. Every movements betrayed him. The twitch of a shoulder before the swing, feet turned into every step; it was subtle, but enough to allow Ai to stay one move ahead was relative ease. It became easier still when frustration pinched his brow, his strikes less controlled.

As Toshiie’s next swipe fell hard toward her shoulder, Ai caught it with the angled edge of her own, forcing his momentum in a high arch instead. She sidestepped, suddenly at his shoulder in a single motion. Before he could do more than widen his eyes, her free hand seized his wrist, pinning it as her foot kicked precisely into the back of his knee. His leg gave out, but as he fell forward, applied pressure from her elbow locked his arm and shoulder out, and bent him back. Ai’s wooden sword tip was at his neck before his knee hit the ground, braced against the taught line of his own arm. She touched with just enough pressure to draw his wide eyes up to meet hers, then released.

Hideyoshi’s low whistle broke the silence. “Again,” she said firmly, keeping her voice the characteristic growl of Akuma’s as she offered her opponent a hand up. His large hand in hers, Toshiie found his feet again, though he seemed too distracted to notice the considerable different in their hand sizes, or the relevance of it. With an experimental twist to his wrist and the briefest glimpse of a sulk, he readied himself again. He looked rigid with determination.

“Keep your shoulders loose and your feet straight. You’ll only be easier to read if you’re tense.”

Familiar footfalls sounded lightly nearby, and, signaling a pause with the drop of her guard, Ai turned her attention toward the empty passage moments before Mitsuhide appeared. Straight-backed and formal as always, he walked with clear purpose. His gaze stole meaningfully toward the rooftop and shadows, as if searching for something, or someone. And he found her and, wasting no time said, “...Akuma. Lord Nobunaga wishes to speak with us.”

It took a moment for Ai to nod in response, gauging his curt words for their apparent urgency first. The request wasn't an unusual one, but the timing was. They had spoken at length with Nobunaga only hours before. If he was calling them now...something must have changed.

“Very well.” Ai turned her attention back to the waiting retainers, whose collective eyes had become weighty on her back. Handing the sword back off to Lord Katsuie, her gaze lingered on her opponent before nodding in farewell. “Until our next match, Toshiie.”

Seemingly taken aback by being addressed by name, he gave a shallow bow and sputtered through a formal, “Thank you.”

Back already half turned, she flashed a raised eyebrow at her former mentor and mounted the veranda steps. She made immediately for the inner chambers and Mitsuhide fell in beside her, retracing his steps down the corridor he’d just come. A charged silence fell between them, punctuated by their harried footfalls. Polite banter would have normally filled their walks, but ever since Nobunaga had shared his designs on Mt. Hiei with them that morning, the chief retainer had been unusually quiet.

“Is this about Enryakuji…?” She asked, prompting the reaction she’d expected to find. Sure enough, a disquiet darkened his eyes at the name for but a moment, gone as quickly as it appeared. His confident air returned in earnest as he responded.

“...No. A letter was intercepted, en-route to Kai.”

Silence fell again and lasted until they rounded the final corner and stopped before Lord Nobunaga’s door. Mitsuhide announced their arrival, and without waiting for a reply, slid open the door. A crease in his brow and a fold of paper in his hand, Lord Nobunaga sat in a halo of lamp light inside. His eyes were sharp and expectant as they darted to the retainers in his doorway. With a bow that Mitsuhide mirrored at her side, Ai lowered her gaze to the tatami mats before meeting Nobunaga’s eyes, eyes that so perfectly matched her own.

“...you called for me, brother?”

[bucksomecontent-blog]

That’s How I Wanna Go 2/?

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Series Summary: In a world of soulmates and marks on skin, every love story is epic and magical and just perfect. Supposedly. Your story ends up being more complicated than you were promised… So you decide to take things into your own hands. Cue car chases in Europe, run-ins with Shady Government Agencies™, oodles of superheroes who are honestly more trouble than they’re worth, a healthy dose of intrigue, an unhealthy dose of alcohol, and maybe some (okay, really a lot of) bad decisions. All with your trusty pack of sharpies and the mysterious man you write to on your skin.

Series Warnings: Some violence, strong language, alcohol, romance, but nothing too explicit. 

Chapter warnings: Bad writing! I haven’t edited this and am posting at 3am but I’m an impatient bean and wanna post it now. Lemme know of any mistakes

Word Count: 1202 (shorter chapters=more frequent updates ;-) )

Notes: Okay so there’s not much direct Bucky yet I admit, but all this reader stuff is setting the groundwork :)

One | Two | Three | Four(coming soon)

His notebook collection hadn’t been added to in a few years now, but it wasn’t the sudden return of a memory that had spurred him to order the soft Moleskine. It was a new project entirely. These books had helped him find himself again, and he hoped that they could now help him find you. Ever so carefully, he wrote down what he knew.

“Afternoon, babycakes!” Reema chirped from behind the till as you got into work. “Can’t thank you enough for putting me on the 7am shift, you know I was worried about being TOO awake and well rested today, but waking up at the arse crack of the morning really helped me out!”

You huffed out a laugh. “Shouldn’t you be, oh I don’t know, doing your job instead of whinging at me?”

“Oh yeah, sorry, I’ll just see to all these customers…” she said, gesturing to the deserted shop floor before letting out a terribly fake shocked gasp that would put a 40s actress to shame. “Oh, wait!”

You really loved Reema. She was a breath of fresh air in this place, and you had been sad at the prospect of not working with her anymore. ‘At least that’s not an issue anymore,’ you thought wryly.

“Yeah yeah, at least pretend to be earning your pay check, babe. Fiddle with the receipt machine or something.” You were impressed with yourself at how normally you were acting. Go you.

“Not my fault nobody comes into this place,” the younger girl retorted, but when she looked more closely at your too bright eyes and reddened nose, her expression softened. “Oh, Y/N/N…” Okay, maybe you weren’t delivering a stellar ‘I’m fine!’ performance after all. She came around to hug you tight, her warm, sweet perfume anchoring you to the moment instead of your spiralling thoughts. “What went wrong, lovely? There’s no way you weren’t perfect for that job!”

You open your mouth to wave it off, but couldn’t speak past the lump in your throat. ‘Damnit, Y/N, pull yourself together.’ Closing your eyes and breathing deeply, you waited for the swell of emotion to pass and the prickle behind your eyes to stop. “I… Uhm, I’ll explain when we get home. It’s just a bit… uh, just not right now.” Your voice wobbled traitorously, but didn’t break.

Your friend eyed you worriedly, but thankfully left it alone after extracting a promise to talk that evening. She started amicably chatting about a rude customer from earlier getting his comeuppance, allowing you some mental space while distracting you from your morning. Thank God for that girl, she knew exactly what you needed. After a few laugh out loud stories about her boyfriend’s shenanigans, you felt almost normal again. After letting her off half an hour early, you busied yourself around the store for the rest of your shift, determined not to think about anything but sales and stock.

The tube journey home that evening had you gnawing on your lip and cracking your knuckles repeatedly. Packed like a sardine on the central line, you didn’t have enough space to roll up your sleeve and examine the message you had felt appear on your right arm. Just as you were resisting the urge to break your finger when one joint wouldn’t pop satisfactorily, a flood of people pushed off the train at once, and you suddenly had enough space to breathe. And to check your arm.

How did it go?

The lady standing across from you shuffled back at your foul expression. Grabbing a pen from your pocket, you scribbled back on the same arm, not bothering to go through the huzzah of rolling up your other sleeve to write with your dominant hand.

What the hell’s the matter with you? My last message was a pretty clear “fuck off”

There was a last message?

Your brow crinkled, but before you could reply another line appeared.

Oh God, I didn’t even think. If you send something on your left arm I can’t get it. There was a brief pause. I lost mine a while back.

As the train emptied further, you managed to snag a seat while taking in this development. You wanted to stay angry at them but you’d look like an arsehole right now. Fuck. You slowly replied with a useless Oh.

There was no response: the ball was still in your court. Scrubbing your hand over your face, you were completely at a loss at how to proceed- did they get any of your messages? You were mostly right handed, had you always written to them on your left arm where they didn’t see it? Did they think you weren’t interested? No, that’s not it. You had memories of writing poems down your thighs, and you’d definitely put in some practice somewhere down the line of writing with your left hand. So what changed? Why didn’t they reply then? How did they lose their arm? Also, how did they even know about the interview in the first place? 

Nervous habit found you taking out your phone and flicking through your notifications to distract part of your brain. Reema had snapchatted you when you finished work, and you thanked TFL for the wifi at tube stations giving you something to think about that wasn’t 50 questions without answers.

<(Image: Selfie of Reema smiling cheesily, her face filling the frame) ‘Hey bubacious lady hope work was ok <3’

>(Image: Grotty floor of tube train) ‘Thank you girlie, let’s just say I’ll be needing some seriously greasy takeaway to get me over my day. Can’t wait to vent lmao prepare yourself’

<(Image: A-okay finger sign held over Reema’s grinning face. In the background a man is walking into the room) ‘I’m ready!’

>(Image: Selfie showing up your nose and wide eyes. The unimpressed expression of man sitting next to you is visible.) ‘Omg I didn’t know Peter was coming over sorry aha we can talk another time if you’re busy’

<(Image: Selfie of Reema’s confused expression) ‘Wdym? He’s not coming tonight it’s just me lol’

You frowned and wracked your brains. You doubted it had been a trick of the light. Your heartbeat began to quicken slightly, but you always over reacted to things like this and tried to calm it down. You switched to text mode and hammered out a reply for speed’s sake.

> ‘dude I saw someone in your pic don’t screw about you know how I worry aha if he is over it’s fine dw’

Message left unopened.

>hey are you ok??? Answer me please

Still nothing.

>! Failed to send ! shit what’s happened??

>! Failed to send ! REEM READ YOUR BLOODY MESSAGES

The roaring of the underground was just white noise as you cursed and waited for the train to screech to a halt at the next station. You exited snapchat and went directly to phone her, lurching up from your seat to get off as you searched for good signal. Racing up the escalator, you whispered “fuck” under your breath until signal arrived as you came out onto the surface of wherever the hell you’d gotten off at. The dialling noise rang in your ear, blocking out the ringing of bikes and squeals of red buses.

“The number you have dialled is currently unavailable. Please try again later.”

One | Two | Three | Four(coming soon)

[raquel08]

14 Important SEO Tips Every Marketer Needs to Know

Digital marketing is the most powerful form of online marketing in the current era. According to a 2020 statistician.com report of over 4.66 billion internet users, there is no doubt that businesses have a very high probability of generating revenue through online marketing. Thus, search engine optimization is becoming a vehicle to capitalize on this opportunity, as most of the world’s online traffic is generated through search engines. More importantly, Google is the current global leader in search engines, followed by Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu. In light of this information,

The fact that Google likes to update its algorithms is not surprising. They can potentially make 500 improvements over a year. Search engine optimization (SEO) involves designing content so that it appears quite frequently in search results. If you need too many settings, you can forget everything. For example, targeting options to improve organic ranking are no longer present in search engines, although it is an essential element of your strategy to choose the right keywords.

When it comes to finding your customers on the web, you should use SEO to hang on search engines. There are hundreds of ranking signs that help define search results. These include link structure, keywords, and time on site, to name just a few.

If you follow best practices and create quality content, you will be rewarded. If you don’t, expect Google to face the wrath.

Some marketers penalize poor search results as Google mourns low-quality content. Keep that in mind when you start wondering whether to use Black Hat SEO techniques. Therefore, if you want to use an SEO strategy in your marketing campaign, be sure to follow the rules.

Here are some of the most effective search engine optimization tips that will increase website traffic and give your website visitors a better experience.

1. Remove the site that is losing momentum.

Page speed is an essential element in SEO. A slow page will affect the customer and gradually drive people away from buying your service. Page speed is essential for both consumers and search engines. The need for speed seems to be increasing as companies become more aware of attracting leads that target sales through search engine optimization.

2. Configure Google Search Console (GSC).

Google Search Console is an Internet search query tool that helps you track and improve your site’s success. It offers free offers from those who want to participate. This gating is easy to show in the start section.

By placing a meta tag in the same HTML code of your web page, exporting a document to a database, or setting up a Google Analytics or Google Tag Administrator, you confirm that you are an operator or domain administrator. Suggest this strategy several times to gather some information, and you have several options.

3. Link to many other domains with similar information.

Bandhan provides custom traffic that makes the platform a more robust and responsive resource. If people have some reliable contacts, they will develop a positive attitude towards their niche.

4. Compile specific and relevant metadata for each site.

A well-written meta resume is one of the essential SEO techniques that most people ignore. A meta summary is the first segment that users view on Google’s website for visitors to view. This can make it harder for people to get conflicting meta explanations. However, even if they are not automatically followed, you cannot provide an ideal user experience.

5. Use social cues to build momentum.

Social media is an essential component of an SEO strategy, even though it is necessary to generate a crawling signal. If you are trying to have more non-verbal participation, then the laws have not changed. It is a synopsis.

Create valuable content on social media channels to share.

Add share buttons and also give them access.

Run a social media campaign to get more likes.

Mention and link to articles to average and warn social media users or influencers.

6. Constantly create and publish original content to increase your ranking.

Thanks to something that counts as a “refresh variable,” it is more relevant than expected. One of the variables affecting this renewed rating is the search engine results for that particular website, along with specific information. Publishing unique content daily will help you increase your customers, which will bring visitors to your network continuously.

7. Clear titles are important

Headlines are locations by which posts are directed to viewers. They should indicate how important a section or article is. Instead, users will not understand what is expected. Readers like to scan the content, understand what’s at stake, and choose which parts of the content they are starting to read. Heading makes it easy for users to understand and navigate the content. They are also crucial for a consistent user experience and as a connector for page navigation, including but not limited to SEO scores.

8. Monthly SEO Inspection

The SEO company also runs quarterly reviews on your site. It syncs automatically, for example, to see if your page is still active if your anti-malware protection is sufficient, and to keep web page load times longer.

9. Make your site more mobile-friendly.

The idea that you could meet a wider audience was one of the significant benefits of creating a mobile-friendly web page. Networking is possible through sensitive websites, which means that online people are much more willing to post on social media. A responsive web page is a convenient way to improve search engine performance.

10. More relevant pictures, more traffic.

Images are an essential part of the perception of a website. This is important for SEO because Google optimization is specifically UI performance metrics such as conversion rates and the length of information that users spend on a website page. However, photos can also be customized for more specialized SEO support.

11. Update your site regularly

Have you ever visited a website that has not been updated for ten years? Are you staying longer? If you are like most Internet users, the answer is no.

Be active on your website and update your feed regularly. It is almost impossible to see the passive domain ranking increase.

Feel free to update your content. You will see hat-tipped articles all the time that will say “update for 2020” or something similar. You can see how a marketing company transformed the post into evergreen content with a simple update in the screenshot above.

This is why it is so important to analyze your content to find out what is not working. You can update content that is not ranked in search results.

12. Follow Google’s guidelines for website optimization.

Google is continually updating its best practices, so stay tuned. Most changes are minor, but you still need to keep up with the latest developments.

If Google is doing some minor work, such as devaluing URLs with specific keywords, this is something you should know when creating content (I doubt it will. Don’t panic, this is just an example).

So keep up to date with the latest happenings!

13. Monitor the speed of your website

You also need to monitor the speed of your site. Make sure it is fast and responsive. We know that you’ve probably heard this before, but it matters, especially in the mobile world.

You should regularly check the functionality of your site. If you have noticed a drop in your website loading speed, then it is time to find out why. Use tools such as SEMrush Site Audit to analyze load times and find bottlenecks in the process.

You will get a breakdown of the speed and performance of your site. It should look like this: If everything is in order, everything is ready. If you see low load times and low-performance ratings, this is a sure sign that there is something wrong with your site. Check your website’s speed regularly, especially after significant updates.

14. Apply the EAT concept

For SEO, E.A.T stands for Expertise, Authority, and trust. These factors are also mentioned in the Google Guidelines for Search Quality Evaluators.

Google has mentioned that they use third-party search quality evaluators scattered around the world and are well trained to provide feedback to understand what makes the search more useful. You will be entitled to the “overall page quality rating” in sub-part 3.2 of the General Guidelines in Section 3.0. Here are some suggestions for using this concept:

Document with a professional approach to your industry, market, profession, or niche

Get a link to the official domain

Hire experts of an SEO company in Broomfield, CO and provide content with relevant and proven facts.

Keep content up to date

Get feedback

Flash your confidential credential

Get Wikipedia page

Showcase Work showcases your Google experience.

[epackingvietnam]

The Best-Laid Plans: Can We Predict Anything About 2021?

Posted by Dr-Pete

I've deleted this introduction twice. To say that no one could've predicted how 2020 unfolded seems trite since we're not even a month into 2021, and this new year has already unraveled. Our challenges in the past year, across the globe, have gone far beyond marketing, and I doubt any of us ended the year the way we expected. This graph from Google Trends tells the story better than I can:

The pandemic fundamentally rewrote the global economy in a way none of us has ever experienced, and yet we have to find a path forward. How do we even begin to chart a course in 2021?

What do we know?

Let's start small. Within our search marketing realm, is there anything we can predict with relative certainty in 2021? Below are some of the major announcements Google has made and trends that are likely to continue. While the timelines on some of these are unclear (and all are subject to change), these shifts in our small world are very likely.

Mobile-only indexing (March)

Mobile-first indexing has been in progress for a while, and most sites rolled over in 2020 or earlier. Google had originally announced that the index would fully default to mobile-first by September 2020, but pushed that timeline back in July (ostensibly due to the pandemic) to March 2021.

If you haven't made the switch to a mobile-friendly site at this point, there's not much time left to waste. Keep in mind that "mobile-first" isn't just about speed and user experience, but making sure that your mobile site is as crawlable as your desktop. If Google can't reach critical pages via your mobile design and internal links, then those pages are likely to drop out of the index. A page that isn't indexed is a page that doesn't rank.

Core Web Vitals (May)

While this date may change, Google has announced that Core Web Vitals will become a ranking factor in 2021. Here's a bit more detail from the official announcement ...

Page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.

Many of these page experience signals already impact ranking to some degree, according to Google, so the important part really boils down to Core Web Vitals. You can get more of the details in this Whiteboard Friday from Cyrus, but the short version is that this is currently a set of three metrics (with unfortunately techie names): (1) Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) LCP measures how quickly the largest, visible block of your page loads. It is one view into perceived load-time and tries to filter out background libraries and other off-page objects.

(2) First Input Delay (FID) FID measures how much time it takes before a user can interact with your page. "Interact" here means the most fundamental aspects of interaction, like clicking an on-page link.

(3) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) CLS measures changes to your page layout, such as ads that appear or move after the initial page-load. I suspect the update will apply mostly to abusive or disruptive layout shifts. While these metrics are a narrow slice of the user experience, the good news is that Google has defined all of them in a fair amount of detail and allows you to track this data with tools like Google Lighthouse. So, we're in a unique position of being be able to prepare for the May algorithm update.

That said, I think you should improve site speed and user experience because it's a net-positive overall, not because of a pending 2021 update. If past history — including the HTTPS update and mobile-friendly update — is any indicator, Google's hope is to use the pre-announcement to push people to make changes now. I strongly suspect that Core Web Vitals will be a very minor ranking factor in the initial update, ramping up over a period of many months.

Passage indexing/ranking (TBD)

In October 2020, Google announced that they were "... now able to not just index web pages, but individual passages from the pages." They later clarified that this wasn't so much passage indexing as passage ranking, and the timeline wasn't initially clear. Danny Sullivan later clarified that this change did not roll out in 2020, but Google's language suggests that passage ranking is likely to roll out as soon as it's tested and ready.

While there's nothing specific you can do to harness passage ranking, according to Google, I think this change is not only an indicator of ML/AI progress but a recognition that you can have valuable, long-form content that addresses multiple topics. The rise of answers in SERPs (especially Featured Snippets and People Also Ask boxes) had a side-effect of causing people to think in terms of more focused, question-and-answer style content. While that's not entirely bad, I suspect it's generally driven people away from broader content to shorter, narrower content.

Even in 2020, there are many examples of rich, long-form content that ranks for multiple Featured/Snippets, but I expect passage ranking will re-balance this equation even more and give us increased freedom to create content in the best format for the topic at hand, without worrying too much about being laser-targeted on a single topic.

Core algorithm updates (TBD)

It's safe to say we can expect more core algorithm updates in 2021. There were three named "Core" updates in 2020 (January, May, and December), but the frequency and timing has been inconsistent. While there are patterns across the updates, thematically, each update seems to contain both new elements and some adjustments to old elements, and my own analysis suggests that the patterns (the same sites winning and losing, for example) aren't as prominent as we imagine. We can assume that Google's Core Updates will reflect the philosophy of their quality guidelines over time, but I don't think we can predict the timing or substance of any particular core update.

Googlebot crawling HTTP/2 (2022+)

Last fall, Google revealed that Googlebot would begin crawling HTTP/2 sites in November of 2020. It's not clear how much HTTP/2 crawling is currently happening, and Google said they would not penalize sites that don't support HTTP/2 and would even allow opt-out (for now). Unlike making a site secure (HTTPS) or mobile-friendly, HTTP/2 is not widely available to everyone and may depend on your infrastructure or hosting provider.

While I think we should pay attention to this development, don't make the switch to HTTP/2 in 2021 just for Google's sake. If it makes sense for the speed and performance of your site, great, but I suspect Google will be testing HTTP/2 and turning up the volume on it's impact slowly over the next few months. At some point, we might see a HTTPS-style announcement of a coming ranking impact, but if that happens, I wouldn't expect it until 2022 or later.

When will this end?

While COVID-19 may not seem like a marketing topic, the global economic impact is painfully clear at this point Any plans we make for 2021 have to consider the COVID-19 timeline, or they're a fantasy. When can we expect the pandemic to end and businesses to reopen on a national and global scale? Let me start by saying that I'm not a medical doctor — I'm a research psychologist by training. I don't have a crystal ball, but I know how to read primary sources and piece them together. What follows is my best read of the current facts and the 2021 timeline. I will try to avoid my own personal biases, but note that my read on the situation is heavily US-biased. I will generally avoid worst-case scenarios, like a major mutation of the virus, and stick to a median scenario.

Where are we at right now?

As I'm writing this sentence, over 4,000 people died just yesterday of COVID-19 in the US and over 14,000 globally. As a data scientist, I can tell you that every data point requires context, but when we cherry-pick the context, we deceive ourselves. What data science doesn't tell us is that everyone one of these data points is a human life, and that matters.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of viable vaccines, including (here in the US and in the UK) the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. These vaccines have been approved in some countries, have demonstrated promising results, and are in production. Here in the US, we're currently behind the timeline on distribution, with the CDC reporting about 10 million people vaccinated as of mid-January (initial goal was 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020). In terms of the timeline, it's important to note that, for maximum effectiveness, the major vaccines require two doses, separated by about 3-4 weeks (this may vary with the vaccine and change as research continues).

Is it getting better or worse?

I don't want to get mired in the data, but the winter holidays and travel are already showing a negative impact here in the US, and New Year's Eve may complicate problems. While overall death rates have improved due to better treatment options and knowledge of the disease, many states and countries are at or near peak case rates and peak daily deaths. This situation is very likely to get worse before it gets better.

When might we reopen?

I'm assuming, for better or worse, that reopening does not imply full "herd immunity" or a zero case-rate. We're talking about a critical mass of vaccinations and a significant flattening of the curve. It's hard to find a source outside of political debates here in the US, but a recent symposium sponsored by Harvard and the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that — if we can adequately ramp up vaccine distribution in the second quarter of 2021 — we could see measurable positive impact by the end of our summer (or early-to-mid third quarter) here in the US.

Any prediction right now requires a lot of assumptions and there may be massive regional differences in this timeline, but the key point is that the availability of the vaccine, while certainly cause for optimism, is not a magic wand. Manufacturing, distribution, and the need for a second dose all mean that we're realistically still looking at a few months for medical advances to have widespread impact.

What can we do now?

First, let me say that there is absolutely no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many local businesses were decimated, while e-commerce grew 32% year-over-year in 2020. If you're a local restaurant that managed to stay afloat, you may see a rapid return of customers in the summer or fall. If you're a major online retailer, you could actually see a reduction in sales as brick-and-mortar stores become viable again (although probably not to 2019 levels).

If your e-commerce business was lucky enough to see gains in 2020, Miracle Inameti-Archibong has some great advice for you. To inadequately summarize — don't take any of this for granted. This is a time to learn from your new customers, re-invest in your marketing, and show goodwill toward the people who are shopping online more because of the difficulties they're facing.

If you're stuck waiting to reopen, consider the lead time SEO campaigns require to have an impact. In a recent Whiteboard Friday, I made the case that SEO isn't an on/off switch. Consider the oversimplified diagram below. Paid search is a bit like the dotted gray line — you flip the switch on, and the leads starting flowing. The trade-off is that when you flip the switch off, the leads dry up almost immediately.

Organic SEO has a ramp-up. It's more like the blue curve above. The benefit of organic is that the leads keep coming when you stop investing, but it also means that the leads will take time to rebuild when you start to reinvest. This timeline depends on a lot of variables, but an organic campaign can often take 2-3 months or more to get off the ground. If you want to hit the ground running as reopening kicks in, you're going to need to start re-investing ahead of that timeline. I acknowledge that that might not be easy, and it doesn't have to be all or none.

In a recent interview, Mary Ellen Coe (head of Google Marketing Solutions) cited a 20,000% increase during the pandemic in searches from consumers looking to support local businesses. There's a tremendous appetite for reopening and a surge of goodwill for local businesses. If you're a local business, even if you're temporarily closed, it's important to let people know that you're still around and to keep them up-to-date on your reopening plans as they evolve.

I don't expect that the new normal will look much like the old normal, and I'm mindful that many businesses didn't survive to see 2021. We can't predict the future, but we can't afford to wait for months and do nothing, either, so I hope this at least gives you some idea of what to expect in the coming year and how we might prepare for it.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

#túi_giấy_epacking_việt_nam #túi_giấy_epacking #in_túi_giấy_giá_rẻ #in_túi_giấy #epackingvietnam #tuigiayepacking

[bfxenon]

The Best-Laid Plans: Can We Predict Anything About 2021?

Posted by Dr-Pete

I've deleted this introduction twice. To say that no one could've predicted how 2020 unfolded seems trite since we're not even a month into 2021, and this new year has already unraveled. Our challenges in the past year, across the globe, have gone far beyond marketing, and I doubt any of us ended the year the way we expected. This graph from Google Trends tells the story better than I can:

The pandemic fundamentally rewrote the global economy in a way none of us has ever experienced, and yet we have to find a path forward. How do we even begin to chart a course in 2021?

What do we know?

Let's start small. Within our search marketing realm, is there anything we can predict with relative certainty in 2021? Below are some of the major announcements Google has made and trends that are likely to continue. While the timelines on some of these are unclear (and all are subject to change), these shifts in our small world are very likely.

Mobile-only indexing (March)

Mobile-first indexing has been in progress for a while, and most sites rolled over in 2020 or earlier. Google had originally announced that the index would fully default to mobile-first by September 2020, but pushed that timeline back in July (ostensibly due to the pandemic) to March 2021.

If you haven't made the switch to a mobile-friendly site at this point, there's not much time left to waste. Keep in mind that "mobile-first" isn't just about speed and user experience, but making sure that your mobile site is as crawlable as your desktop. If Google can't reach critical pages via your mobile design and internal links, then those pages are likely to drop out of the index. A page that isn't indexed is a page that doesn't rank.

Core Web Vitals (May)

While this date may change, Google has announced that Core Web Vitals will become a ranking factor in 2021. Here's a bit more detail from the official announcement ...

Page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.

Many of these page experience signals already impact ranking to some degree, according to Google, so the important part really boils down to Core Web Vitals. You can get more of the details in this Whiteboard Friday from Cyrus, but the short version is that this is currently a set of three metrics (with unfortunately techie names): (1) Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) LCP measures how quickly the largest, visible block of your page loads. It is one view into perceived load-time and tries to filter out background libraries and other off-page objects.

(2) First Input Delay (FID) FID measures how much time it takes before a user can interact with your page. "Interact" here means the most fundamental aspects of interaction, like clicking an on-page link.

(3) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) CLS measures changes to your page layout, such as ads that appear or move after the initial page-load. I suspect the update will apply mostly to abusive or disruptive layout shifts. While these metrics are a narrow slice of the user experience, the good news is that Google has defined all of them in a fair amount of detail and allows you to track this data with tools like Google Lighthouse. So, we're in a unique position of being be able to prepare for the May algorithm update.

That said, I think you should improve site speed and user experience because it's a net-positive overall, not because of a pending 2021 update. If past history — including the HTTPS update and mobile-friendly update — is any indicator, Google's hope is to use the pre-announcement to push people to make changes now. I strongly suspect that Core Web Vitals will be a very minor ranking factor in the initial update, ramping up over a period of many months.

Passage indexing/ranking (TBD)

In October 2020, Google announced that they were "... now able to not just index web pages, but individual passages from the pages." They later clarified that this wasn't so much passage indexing as passage ranking, and the timeline wasn't initially clear. Danny Sullivan later clarified that this change did not roll out in 2020, but Google's language suggests that passage ranking is likely to roll out as soon as it's tested and ready.

While there's nothing specific you can do to harness passage ranking, according to Google, I think this change is not only an indicator of ML/AI progress but a recognition that you can have valuable, long-form content that addresses multiple topics. The rise of answers in SERPs (especially Featured Snippets and People Also Ask boxes) had a side-effect of causing people to think in terms of more focused, question-and-answer style content. While that's not entirely bad, I suspect it's generally driven people away from broader content to shorter, narrower content.

Even in 2020, there are many examples of rich, long-form content that ranks for multiple Featured/Snippets, but I expect passage ranking will re-balance this equation even more and give us increased freedom to create content in the best format for the topic at hand, without worrying too much about being laser-targeted on a single topic.

Core algorithm updates (TBD)

It's safe to say we can expect more core algorithm updates in 2021. There were three named "Core" updates in 2020 (January, May, and December), but the frequency and timing has been inconsistent. While there are patterns across the updates, thematically, each update seems to contain both new elements and some adjustments to old elements, and my own analysis suggests that the patterns (the same sites winning and losing, for example) aren't as prominent as we imagine. We can assume that Google's Core Updates will reflect the philosophy of their quality guidelines over time, but I don't think we can predict the timing or substance of any particular core update.

Googlebot crawling HTTP/2 (2022+)

Last fall, Google revealed that Googlebot would begin crawling HTTP/2 sites in November of 2020. It's not clear how much HTTP/2 crawling is currently happening, and Google said they would not penalize sites that don't support HTTP/2 and would even allow opt-out (for now). Unlike making a site secure (HTTPS) or mobile-friendly, HTTP/2 is not widely available to everyone and may depend on your infrastructure or hosting provider.

While I think we should pay attention to this development, don't make the switch to HTTP/2 in 2021 just for Google's sake. If it makes sense for the speed and performance of your site, great, but I suspect Google will be testing HTTP/2 and turning up the volume on it's impact slowly over the next few months. At some point, we might see a HTTPS-style announcement of a coming ranking impact, but if that happens, I wouldn't expect it until 2022 or later.

When will this end?

While COVID-19 may not seem like a marketing topic, the global economic impact is painfully clear at this point Any plans we make for 2021 have to consider the COVID-19 timeline, or they're a fantasy. When can we expect the pandemic to end and businesses to reopen on a national and global scale? Let me start by saying that I'm not a medical doctor — I'm a research psychologist by training. I don't have a crystal ball, but I know how to read primary sources and piece them together. What follows is my best read of the current facts and the 2021 timeline. I will try to avoid my own personal biases, but note that my read on the situation is heavily US-biased. I will generally avoid worst-case scenarios, like a major mutation of the virus, and stick to a median scenario.

Where are we at right now?

As I'm writing this sentence, over 4,000 people died just yesterday of COVID-19 in the US and over 14,000 globally. As a data scientist, I can tell you that every data point requires context, but when we cherry-pick the context, we deceive ourselves. What data science doesn't tell us is that everyone one of these data points is a human life, and that matters.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of viable vaccines, including (here in the US and in the UK) the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. These vaccines have been approved in some countries, have demonstrated promising results, and are in production. Here in the US, we're currently behind the timeline on distribution, with the CDC reporting about 10 million people vaccinated as of mid-January (initial goal was 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020). In terms of the timeline, it's important to note that, for maximum effectiveness, the major vaccines require two doses, separated by about 3-4 weeks (this may vary with the vaccine and change as research continues).

Is it getting better or worse?

I don't want to get mired in the data, but the winter holidays and travel are already showing a negative impact here in the US, and New Year's Eve may complicate problems. While overall death rates have improved due to better treatment options and knowledge of the disease, many states and countries are at or near peak case rates and peak daily deaths. This situation is very likely to get worse before it gets better.

When might we reopen?

I'm assuming, for better or worse, that reopening does not imply full "herd immunity" or a zero case-rate. We're talking about a critical mass of vaccinations and a significant flattening of the curve. It's hard to find a source outside of political debates here in the US, but a recent symposium sponsored by Harvard and the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that — if we can adequately ramp up vaccine distribution in the second quarter of 2021 — we could see measurable positive impact by the end of our summer (or early-to-mid third quarter) here in the US.

Any prediction right now requires a lot of assumptions and there may be massive regional differences in this timeline, but the key point is that the availability of the vaccine, while certainly cause for optimism, is not a magic wand. Manufacturing, distribution, and the need for a second dose all mean that we're realistically still looking at a few months for medical advances to have widespread impact.

What can we do now?

First, let me say that there is absolutely no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many local businesses were decimated, while e-commerce grew 32% year-over-year in 2020. If you're a local restaurant that managed to stay afloat, you may see a rapid return of customers in the summer or fall. If you're a major online retailer, you could actually see a reduction in sales as brick-and-mortar stores become viable again (although probably not to 2019 levels).

If your e-commerce business was lucky enough to see gains in 2020, Miracle Inameti-Archibong has some great advice for you. To inadequately summarize — don't take any of this for granted. This is a time to learn from your new customers, re-invest in your marketing, and show goodwill toward the people who are shopping online more because of the difficulties they're facing.

If you're stuck waiting to reopen, consider the lead time SEO campaigns require to have an impact. In a recent Whiteboard Friday, I made the case that SEO isn't an on/off switch. Consider the oversimplified diagram below. Paid search is a bit like the dotted gray line — you flip the switch on, and the leads starting flowing. The trade-off is that when you flip the switch off, the leads dry up almost immediately.

Organic SEO has a ramp-up. It's more like the blue curve above. The benefit of organic is that the leads keep coming when you stop investing, but it also means that the leads will take time to rebuild when you start to reinvest. This timeline depends on a lot of variables, but an organic campaign can often take 2-3 months or more to get off the ground. If you want to hit the ground running as reopening kicks in, you're going to need to start re-investing ahead of that timeline. I acknowledge that that might not be easy, and it doesn't have to be all or none.

In a recent interview, Mary Ellen Coe (head of Google Marketing Solutions) cited a 20,000% increase during the pandemic in searches from consumers looking to support local businesses. There's a tremendous appetite for reopening and a surge of goodwill for local businesses. If you're a local business, even if you're temporarily closed, it's important to let people know that you're still around and to keep them up-to-date on your reopening plans as they evolve.

I don't expect that the new normal will look much like the old normal, and I'm mindful that many businesses didn't survive to see 2021. We can't predict the future, but we can't afford to wait for months and do nothing, either, so I hope this at least gives you some idea of what to expect in the coming year and how we might prepare for it.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[nutrifami]

The Best-Laid Plans: Can We Predict Anything About 2021?

Posted by Dr-Pete

I've deleted this introduction twice. To say that no one could've predicted how 2020 unfolded seems trite since we're not even a month into 2021, and this new year has already unraveled. Our challenges in the past year, across the globe, have gone far beyond marketing, and I doubt any of us ended the year the way we expected. This graph from Google Trends tells the story better than I can:

The pandemic fundamentally rewrote the global economy in a way none of us has ever experienced, and yet we have to find a path forward. How do we even begin to chart a course in 2021?

What do we know?

Let's start small. Within our search marketing realm, is there anything we can predict with relative certainty in 2021? Below are some of the major announcements Google has made and trends that are likely to continue. While the timelines on some of these are unclear (and all are subject to change), these shifts in our small world are very likely.

Mobile-only indexing (March)

Mobile-first indexing has been in progress for a while, and most sites rolled over in 2020 or earlier. Google had originally announced that the index would fully default to mobile-first by September 2020, but pushed that timeline back in July (ostensibly due to the pandemic) to March 2021.

If you haven't made the switch to a mobile-friendly site at this point, there's not much time left to waste. Keep in mind that "mobile-first" isn't just about speed and user experience, but making sure that your mobile site is as crawlable as your desktop. If Google can't reach critical pages via your mobile design and internal links, then those pages are likely to drop out of the index. A page that isn't indexed is a page that doesn't rank.

Core Web Vitals (May)

While this date may change, Google has announced that Core Web Vitals will become a ranking factor in 2021. Here's a bit more detail from the official announcement ...

Page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.

Many of these page experience signals already impact ranking to some degree, according to Google, so the important part really boils down to Core Web Vitals. You can get more of the details in this Whiteboard Friday from Cyrus, but the short version is that this is currently a set of three metrics (with unfortunately techie names): (1) Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) LCP measures how quickly the largest, visible block of your page loads. It is one view into perceived load-time and tries to filter out background libraries and other off-page objects.

(2) First Input Delay (FID) FID measures how much time it takes before a user can interact with your page. "Interact" here means the most fundamental aspects of interaction, like clicking an on-page link.

(3) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) CLS measures changes to your page layout, such as ads that appear or move after the initial page-load. I suspect the update will apply mostly to abusive or disruptive layout shifts. While these metrics are a narrow slice of the user experience, the good news is that Google has defined all of them in a fair amount of detail and allows you to track this data with tools like Google Lighthouse. So, we're in a unique position of being be able to prepare for the May algorithm update.

That said, I think you should improve site speed and user experience because it's a net-positive overall, not because of a pending 2021 update. If past history — including the HTTPS update and mobile-friendly update — is any indicator, Google's hope is to use the pre-announcement to push people to make changes now. I strongly suspect that Core Web Vitals will be a very minor ranking factor in the initial update, ramping up over a period of many months.

Passage indexing/ranking (TBD)

In October 2020, Google announced that they were "... now able to not just index web pages, but individual passages from the pages." They later clarified that this wasn't so much passage indexing as passage ranking, and the timeline wasn't initially clear. Danny Sullivan later clarified that this change did not roll out in 2020, but Google's language suggests that passage ranking is likely to roll out as soon as it's tested and ready.

While there's nothing specific you can do to harness passage ranking, according to Google, I think this change is not only an indicator of ML/AI progress but a recognition that you can have valuable, long-form content that addresses multiple topics. The rise of answers in SERPs (especially Featured Snippets and People Also Ask boxes) had a side-effect of causing people to think in terms of more focused, question-and-answer style content. While that's not entirely bad, I suspect it's generally driven people away from broader content to shorter, narrower content.

Even in 2020, there are many examples of rich, long-form content that ranks for multiple Featured/Snippets, but I expect passage ranking will re-balance this equation even more and give us increased freedom to create content in the best format for the topic at hand, without worrying too much about being laser-targeted on a single topic.

Core algorithm updates (TBD)

It's safe to say we can expect more core algorithm updates in 2021. There were three named "Core" updates in 2020 (January, May, and December), but the frequency and timing has been inconsistent. While there are patterns across the updates, thematically, each update seems to contain both new elements and some adjustments to old elements, and my own analysis suggests that the patterns (the same sites winning and losing, for example) aren't as prominent as we imagine. We can assume that Google's Core Updates will reflect the philosophy of their quality guidelines over time, but I don't think we can predict the timing or substance of any particular core update.

Googlebot crawling HTTP/2 (2022+)

Last fall, Google revealed that Googlebot would begin crawling HTTP/2 sites in November of 2020. It's not clear how much HTTP/2 crawling is currently happening, and Google said they would not penalize sites that don't support HTTP/2 and would even allow opt-out (for now). Unlike making a site secure (HTTPS) or mobile-friendly, HTTP/2 is not widely available to everyone and may depend on your infrastructure or hosting provider.

While I think we should pay attention to this development, don't make the switch to HTTP/2 in 2021 just for Google's sake. If it makes sense for the speed and performance of your site, great, but I suspect Google will be testing HTTP/2 and turning up the volume on it's impact slowly over the next few months. At some point, we might see a HTTPS-style announcement of a coming ranking impact, but if that happens, I wouldn't expect it until 2022 or later.

When will this end?

While COVID-19 may not seem like a marketing topic, the global economic impact is painfully clear at this point Any plans we make for 2021 have to consider the COVID-19 timeline, or they're a fantasy. When can we expect the pandemic to end and businesses to reopen on a national and global scale? Let me start by saying that I'm not a medical doctor — I'm a research psychologist by training. I don't have a crystal ball, but I know how to read primary sources and piece them together. What follows is my best read of the current facts and the 2021 timeline. I will try to avoid my own personal biases, but note that my read on the situation is heavily US-biased. I will generally avoid worst-case scenarios, like a major mutation of the virus, and stick to a median scenario.

Where are we at right now?

As I'm writing this sentence, over 4,000 people died just yesterday of COVID-19 in the US and over 14,000 globally. As a data scientist, I can tell you that every data point requires context, but when we cherry-pick the context, we deceive ourselves. What data science doesn't tell us is that everyone one of these data points is a human life, and that matters.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of viable vaccines, including (here in the US and in the UK) the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. These vaccines have been approved in some countries, have demonstrated promising results, and are in production. Here in the US, we're currently behind the timeline on distribution, with the CDC reporting about 10 million people vaccinated as of mid-January (initial goal was 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020). In terms of the timeline, it's important to note that, for maximum effectiveness, the major vaccines require two doses, separated by about 3-4 weeks (this may vary with the vaccine and change as research continues).

Is it getting better or worse?

I don't want to get mired in the data, but the winter holidays and travel are already showing a negative impact here in the US, and New Year's Eve may complicate problems. While overall death rates have improved due to better treatment options and knowledge of the disease, many states and countries are at or near peak case rates and peak daily deaths. This situation is very likely to get worse before it gets better.

When might we reopen?

I'm assuming, for better or worse, that reopening does not imply full "herd immunity" or a zero case-rate. We're talking about a critical mass of vaccinations and a significant flattening of the curve. It's hard to find a source outside of political debates here in the US, but a recent symposium sponsored by Harvard and the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that — if we can adequately ramp up vaccine distribution in the second quarter of 2021 — we could see measurable positive impact by the end of our summer (or early-to-mid third quarter) here in the US.

Any prediction right now requires a lot of assumptions and there may be massive regional differences in this timeline, but the key point is that the availability of the vaccine, while certainly cause for optimism, is not a magic wand. Manufacturing, distribution, and the need for a second dose all mean that we're realistically still looking at a few months for medical advances to have widespread impact.

What can we do now?

First, let me say that there is absolutely no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many local businesses were decimated, while e-commerce grew 32% year-over-year in 2020. If you're a local restaurant that managed to stay afloat, you may see a rapid return of customers in the summer or fall. If you're a major online retailer, you could actually see a reduction in sales as brick-and-mortar stores become viable again (although probably not to 2019 levels).

If your e-commerce business was lucky enough to see gains in 2020, Miracle Inameti-Archibong has some great advice for you. To inadequately summarize — don't take any of this for granted. This is a time to learn from your new customers, re-invest in your marketing, and show goodwill toward the people who are shopping online more because of the difficulties they're facing.

If you're stuck waiting to reopen, consider the lead time SEO campaigns require to have an impact. In a recent Whiteboard Friday, I made the case that SEO isn't an on/off switch. Consider the oversimplified diagram below. Paid search is a bit like the dotted gray line — you flip the switch on, and the leads starting flowing. The trade-off is that when you flip the switch off, the leads dry up almost immediately.

Organic SEO has a ramp-up. It's more like the blue curve above. The benefit of organic is that the leads keep coming when you stop investing, but it also means that the leads will take time to rebuild when you start to reinvest. This timeline depends on a lot of variables, but an organic campaign can often take 2-3 months or more to get off the ground. If you want to hit the ground running as reopening kicks in, you're going to need to start re-investing ahead of that timeline. I acknowledge that that might not be easy, and it doesn't have to be all or none.

In a recent interview, Mary Ellen Coe (head of Google Marketing Solutions) cited a 20,000% increase during the pandemic in searches from consumers looking to support local businesses. There's a tremendous appetite for reopening and a surge of goodwill for local businesses. If you're a local business, even if you're temporarily closed, it's important to let people know that you're still around and to keep them up-to-date on your reopening plans as they evolve.

I don't expect that the new normal will look much like the old normal, and I'm mindful that many businesses didn't survive to see 2021. We can't predict the future, but we can't afford to wait for months and do nothing, either, so I hope this at least gives you some idea of what to expect in the coming year and how we might prepare for it.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[xaydungtruonggia]

The Best-Laid Plans: Can We Predict Anything About 2021?

Posted by Dr-Pete

I've deleted this introduction twice. To say that no one could've predicted how 2020 unfolded seems trite since we're not even a month into 2021, and this new year has already unraveled. Our challenges in the past year, across the globe, have gone far beyond marketing, and I doubt any of us ended the year the way we expected. This graph from Google Trends tells the story better than I can:

The pandemic fundamentally rewrote the global economy in a way none of us has ever experienced, and yet we have to find a path forward. How do we even begin to chart a course in 2021?

What do we know?

Let's start small. Within our search marketing realm, is there anything we can predict with relative certainty in 2021? Below are some of the major announcements Google has made and trends that are likely to continue. While the timelines on some of these are unclear (and all are subject to change), these shifts in our small world are very likely.

Mobile-only indexing (March)

Mobile-first indexing has been in progress for a while, and most sites rolled over in 2020 or earlier. Google had originally announced that the index would fully default to mobile-first by September 2020, but pushed that timeline back in July (ostensibly due to the pandemic) to March 2021.

If you haven't made the switch to a mobile-friendly site at this point, there's not much time left to waste. Keep in mind that "mobile-first" isn't just about speed and user experience, but making sure that your mobile site is as crawlable as your desktop. If Google can't reach critical pages via your mobile design and internal links, then those pages are likely to drop out of the index. A page that isn't indexed is a page that doesn't rank.

Core Web Vitals (May)

While this date may change, Google has announced that Core Web Vitals will become a ranking factor in 2021. Here's a bit more detail from the official announcement ...

Page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.

Many of these page experience signals already impact ranking to some degree, according to Google, so the important part really boils down to Core Web Vitals. You can get more of the details in this Whiteboard Friday from Cyrus, but the short version is that this is currently a set of three metrics (with unfortunately techie names): (1) Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) LCP measures how quickly the largest, visible block of your page loads. It is one view into perceived load-time and tries to filter out background libraries and other off-page objects.

(2) First Input Delay (FID) FID measures how much time it takes before a user can interact with your page. "Interact" here means the most fundamental aspects of interaction, like clicking an on-page link.

(3) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) CLS measures changes to your page layout, such as ads that appear or move after the initial page-load. I suspect the update will apply mostly to abusive or disruptive layout shifts. While these metrics are a narrow slice of the user experience, the good news is that Google has defined all of them in a fair amount of detail and allows you to track this data with tools like Google Lighthouse. So, we're in a unique position of being be able to prepare for the May algorithm update.

That said, I think you should improve site speed and user experience because it's a net-positive overall, not because of a pending 2021 update. If past history — including the HTTPS update and mobile-friendly update — is any indicator, Google's hope is to use the pre-announcement to push people to make changes now. I strongly suspect that Core Web Vitals will be a very minor ranking factor in the initial update, ramping up over a period of many months.

Passage indexing/ranking (TBD)

In October 2020, Google announced that they were "... now able to not just index web pages, but individual passages from the pages." They later clarified that this wasn't so much passage indexing as passage ranking, and the timeline wasn't initially clear. Danny Sullivan later clarified that this change did not roll out in 2020, but Google's language suggests that passage ranking is likely to roll out as soon as it's tested and ready.

While there's nothing specific you can do to harness passage ranking, according to Google, I think this change is not only an indicator of ML/AI progress but a recognition that you can have valuable, long-form content that addresses multiple topics. The rise of answers in SERPs (especially Featured Snippets and People Also Ask boxes) had a side-effect of causing people to think in terms of more focused, question-and-answer style content. While that's not entirely bad, I suspect it's generally driven people away from broader content to shorter, narrower content.

Even in 2020, there are many examples of rich, long-form content that ranks for multiple Featured/Snippets, but I expect passage ranking will re-balance this equation even more and give us increased freedom to create content in the best format for the topic at hand, without worrying too much about being laser-targeted on a single topic.

Core algorithm updates (TBD)

It's safe to say we can expect more core algorithm updates in 2021. There were three named "Core" updates in 2020 (January, May, and December), but the frequency and timing has been inconsistent. While there are patterns across the updates, thematically, each update seems to contain both new elements and some adjustments to old elements, and my own analysis suggests that the patterns (the same sites winning and losing, for example) aren't as prominent as we imagine. We can assume that Google's Core Updates will reflect the philosophy of their quality guidelines over time, but I don't think we can predict the timing or substance of any particular core update.

Googlebot crawling HTTP/2 (2022+)

Last fall, Google revealed that Googlebot would begin crawling HTTP/2 sites in November of 2020. It's not clear how much HTTP/2 crawling is currently happening, and Google said they would not penalize sites that don't support HTTP/2 and would even allow opt-out (for now). Unlike making a site secure (HTTPS) or mobile-friendly, HTTP/2 is not widely available to everyone and may depend on your infrastructure or hosting provider.

While I think we should pay attention to this development, don't make the switch to HTTP/2 in 2021 just for Google's sake. If it makes sense for the speed and performance of your site, great, but I suspect Google will be testing HTTP/2 and turning up the volume on it's impact slowly over the next few months. At some point, we might see a HTTPS-style announcement of a coming ranking impact, but if that happens, I wouldn't expect it until 2022 or later.

When will this end?

While COVID-19 may not seem like a marketing topic, the global economic impact is painfully clear at this point Any plans we make for 2021 have to consider the COVID-19 timeline, or they're a fantasy. When can we expect the pandemic to end and businesses to reopen on a national and global scale? Let me start by saying that I'm not a medical doctor — I'm a research psychologist by training. I don't have a crystal ball, but I know how to read primary sources and piece them together. What follows is my best read of the current facts and the 2021 timeline. I will try to avoid my own personal biases, but note that my read on the situation is heavily US-biased. I will generally avoid worst-case scenarios, like a major mutation of the virus, and stick to a median scenario.

Where are we at right now?

As I'm writing this sentence, over 4,000 people died just yesterday of COVID-19 in the US and over 14,000 globally. As a data scientist, I can tell you that every data point requires context, but when we cherry-pick the context, we deceive ourselves. What data science doesn't tell us is that everyone one of these data points is a human life, and that matters.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of viable vaccines, including (here in the US and in the UK) the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. These vaccines have been approved in some countries, have demonstrated promising results, and are in production. Here in the US, we're currently behind the timeline on distribution, with the CDC reporting about 10 million people vaccinated as of mid-January (initial goal was 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020). In terms of the timeline, it's important to note that, for maximum effectiveness, the major vaccines require two doses, separated by about 3-4 weeks (this may vary with the vaccine and change as research continues).

Is it getting better or worse?

I don't want to get mired in the data, but the winter holidays and travel are already showing a negative impact here in the US, and New Year's Eve may complicate problems. While overall death rates have improved due to better treatment options and knowledge of the disease, many states and countries are at or near peak case rates and peak daily deaths. This situation is very likely to get worse before it gets better.

When might we reopen?

I'm assuming, for better or worse, that reopening does not imply full "herd immunity" or a zero case-rate. We're talking about a critical mass of vaccinations and a significant flattening of the curve. It's hard to find a source outside of political debates here in the US, but a recent symposium sponsored by Harvard and the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that — if we can adequately ramp up vaccine distribution in the second quarter of 2021 — we could see measurable positive impact by the end of our summer (or early-to-mid third quarter) here in the US.

Any prediction right now requires a lot of assumptions and there may be massive regional differences in this timeline, but the key point is that the availability of the vaccine, while certainly cause for optimism, is not a magic wand. Manufacturing, distribution, and the need for a second dose all mean that we're realistically still looking at a few months for medical advances to have widespread impact.

What can we do now?

First, let me say that there is absolutely no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many local businesses were decimated, while e-commerce grew 32% year-over-year in 2020. If you're a local restaurant that managed to stay afloat, you may see a rapid return of customers in the summer or fall. If you're a major online retailer, you could actually see a reduction in sales as brick-and-mortar stores become viable again (although probably not to 2019 levels).

If your e-commerce business was lucky enough to see gains in 2020, Miracle Inameti-Archibong has some great advice for you. To inadequately summarize — don't take any of this for granted. This is a time to learn from your new customers, re-invest in your marketing, and show goodwill toward the people who are shopping online more because of the difficulties they're facing.

If you're stuck waiting to reopen, consider the lead time SEO campaigns require to have an impact. In a recent Whiteboard Friday, I made the case that SEO isn't an on/off switch. Consider the oversimplified diagram below. Paid search is a bit like the dotted gray line — you flip the switch on, and the leads starting flowing. The trade-off is that when you flip the switch off, the leads dry up almost immediately.

Organic SEO has a ramp-up. It's more like the blue curve above. The benefit of organic is that the leads keep coming when you stop investing, but it also means that the leads will take time to rebuild when you start to reinvest. This timeline depends on a lot of variables, but an organic campaign can often take 2-3 months or more to get off the ground. If you want to hit the ground running as reopening kicks in, you're going to need to start re-investing ahead of that timeline. I acknowledge that that might not be easy, and it doesn't have to be all or none.

In a recent interview, Mary Ellen Coe (head of Google Marketing Solutions) cited a 20,000% increase during the pandemic in searches from consumers looking to support local businesses. There's a tremendous appetite for reopening and a surge of goodwill for local businesses. If you're a local business, even if you're temporarily closed, it's important to let people know that you're still around and to keep them up-to-date on your reopening plans as they evolve.

I don't expect that the new normal will look much like the old normal, and I'm mindful that many businesses didn't survive to see 2021. We can't predict the future, but we can't afford to wait for months and do nothing, either, so I hope this at least gives you some idea of what to expect in the coming year and how we might prepare for it.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!

[ductrungnguyen87]

The Best-Laid Plans: Can We Predict Anything About 2021?

Posted by Dr-Pete

I've deleted this introduction twice. To say that no one could've predicted how 2020 unfolded seems trite since we're not even a month into 2021, and this new year has already unraveled. Our challenges in the past year, across the globe, have gone far beyond marketing, and I doubt any of us ended the year the way we expected. This graph from Google Trends tells the story better than I can:

The pandemic fundamentally rewrote the global economy in a way none of us has ever experienced, and yet we have to find a path forward. How do we even begin to chart a course in 2021?

What do we know?

Let's start small. Within our search marketing realm, is there anything we can predict with relative certainty in 2021? Below are some of the major announcements Google has made and trends that are likely to continue. While the timelines on some of these are unclear (and all are subject to change), these shifts in our small world are very likely.

Mobile-only indexing (March)

Mobile-first indexing has been in progress for a while, and most sites rolled over in 2020 or earlier. Google had originally announced that the index would fully default to mobile-first by September 2020, but pushed that timeline back in July (ostensibly due to the pandemic) to March 2021.

If you haven't made the switch to a mobile-friendly site at this point, there's not much time left to waste. Keep in mind that "mobile-first" isn't just about speed and user experience, but making sure that your mobile site is as crawlable as your desktop. If Google can't reach critical pages via your mobile design and internal links, then those pages are likely to drop out of the index. A page that isn't indexed is a page that doesn't rank.

Core Web Vitals (May)

While this date may change, Google has announced that Core Web Vitals will become a ranking factor in 2021. Here's a bit more detail from the official announcement ...

Page experience signals in ranking will roll out in May 2021. The new page experience signals combine Core Web Vitals with our existing search signals including mobile-friendliness, safe-browsing, HTTPS-security, and intrusive interstitial guidelines.

Many of these page experience signals already impact ranking to some degree, according to Google, so the important part really boils down to Core Web Vitals. You can get more of the details in this Whiteboard Friday from Cyrus, but the short version is that this is currently a set of three metrics (with unfortunately techie names): (1) Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) LCP measures how quickly the largest, visible block of your page loads. It is one view into perceived load-time and tries to filter out background libraries and other off-page objects.

(2) First Input Delay (FID) FID measures how much time it takes before a user can interact with your page. "Interact" here means the most fundamental aspects of interaction, like clicking an on-page link.

(3) Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) CLS measures changes to your page layout, such as ads that appear or move after the initial page-load. I suspect the update will apply mostly to abusive or disruptive layout shifts. While these metrics are a narrow slice of the user experience, the good news is that Google has defined all of them in a fair amount of detail and allows you to track this data with tools like Google Lighthouse. So, we're in a unique position of being be able to prepare for the May algorithm update.

That said, I think you should improve site speed and user experience because it's a net-positive overall, not because of a pending 2021 update. If past history — including the HTTPS update and mobile-friendly update — is any indicator, Google's hope is to use the pre-announcement to push people to make changes now. I strongly suspect that Core Web Vitals will be a very minor ranking factor in the initial update, ramping up over a period of many months.

Passage indexing/ranking (TBD)

In October 2020, Google announced that they were "... now able to not just index web pages, but individual passages from the pages." They later clarified that this wasn't so much passage indexing as passage ranking, and the timeline wasn't initially clear. Danny Sullivan later clarified that this change did not roll out in 2020, but Google's language suggests that passage ranking is likely to roll out as soon as it's tested and ready.

While there's nothing specific you can do to harness passage ranking, according to Google, I think this change is not only an indicator of ML/AI progress but a recognition that you can have valuable, long-form content that addresses multiple topics. The rise of answers in SERPs (especially Featured Snippets and People Also Ask boxes) had a side-effect of causing people to think in terms of more focused, question-and-answer style content. While that's not entirely bad, I suspect it's generally driven people away from broader content to shorter, narrower content.

Even in 2020, there are many examples of rich, long-form content that ranks for multiple Featured/Snippets, but I expect passage ranking will re-balance this equation even more and give us increased freedom to create content in the best format for the topic at hand, without worrying too much about being laser-targeted on a single topic.

Core algorithm updates (TBD)

It's safe to say we can expect more core algorithm updates in 2021. There were three named "Core" updates in 2020 (January, May, and December), but the frequency and timing has been inconsistent. While there are patterns across the updates, thematically, each update seems to contain both new elements and some adjustments to old elements, and my own analysis suggests that the patterns (the same sites winning and losing, for example) aren't as prominent as we imagine. We can assume that Google's Core Updates will reflect the philosophy of their quality guidelines over time, but I don't think we can predict the timing or substance of any particular core update.

Googlebot crawling HTTP/2 (2022+)

Last fall, Google revealed that Googlebot would begin crawling HTTP/2 sites in November of 2020. It's not clear how much HTTP/2 crawling is currently happening, and Google said they would not penalize sites that don't support HTTP/2 and would even allow opt-out (for now). Unlike making a site secure (HTTPS) or mobile-friendly, HTTP/2 is not widely available to everyone and may depend on your infrastructure or hosting provider.

While I think we should pay attention to this development, don't make the switch to HTTP/2 in 2021 just for Google's sake. If it makes sense for the speed and performance of your site, great, but I suspect Google will be testing HTTP/2 and turning up the volume on it's impact slowly over the next few months. At some point, we might see a HTTPS-style announcement of a coming ranking impact, but if that happens, I wouldn't expect it until 2022 or later.

When will this end?

While COVID-19 may not seem like a marketing topic, the global economic impact is painfully clear at this point Any plans we make for 2021 have to consider the COVID-19 timeline, or they're a fantasy. When can we expect the pandemic to end and businesses to reopen on a national and global scale? Let me start by saying that I'm not a medical doctor — I'm a research psychologist by training. I don't have a crystal ball, but I know how to read primary sources and piece them together. What follows is my best read of the current facts and the 2021 timeline. I will try to avoid my own personal biases, but note that my read on the situation is heavily US-biased. I will generally avoid worst-case scenarios, like a major mutation of the virus, and stick to a median scenario.

Where are we at right now?

As I'm writing this sentence, over 4,000 people died just yesterday of COVID-19 in the US and over 14,000 globally. As a data scientist, I can tell you that every data point requires context, but when we cherry-pick the context, we deceive ourselves. What data science doesn't tell us is that everyone one of these data points is a human life, and that matters.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel, in the form of viable vaccines, including (here in the US and in the UK) the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines. These vaccines have been approved in some countries, have demonstrated promising results, and are in production. Here in the US, we're currently behind the timeline on distribution, with the CDC reporting about 10 million people vaccinated as of mid-January (initial goal was 20 million vaccinated by the end of 2020). In terms of the timeline, it's important to note that, for maximum effectiveness, the major vaccines require two doses, separated by about 3-4 weeks (this may vary with the vaccine and change as research continues).

Is it getting better or worse?

I don't want to get mired in the data, but the winter holidays and travel are already showing a negative impact here in the US, and New Year's Eve may complicate problems. While overall death rates have improved due to better treatment options and knowledge of the disease, many states and countries are at or near peak case rates and peak daily deaths. This situation is very likely to get worse before it gets better.

When might we reopen?

I'm assuming, for better or worse, that reopening does not imply full "herd immunity" or a zero case-rate. We're talking about a critical mass of vaccinations and a significant flattening of the curve. It's hard to find a source outside of political debates here in the US, but a recent symposium sponsored by Harvard and the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that — if we can adequately ramp up vaccine distribution in the second quarter of 2021 — we could see measurable positive impact by the end of our summer (or early-to-mid third quarter) here in the US.

Any prediction right now requires a lot of assumptions and there may be massive regional differences in this timeline, but the key point is that the availability of the vaccine, while certainly cause for optimism, is not a magic wand. Manufacturing, distribution, and the need for a second dose all mean that we're realistically still looking at a few months for medical advances to have widespread impact.

What can we do now?

First, let me say that there is absolutely no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Many local businesses were decimated, while e-commerce grew 32% year-over-year in 2020. If you're a local restaurant that managed to stay afloat, you may see a rapid return of customers in the summer or fall. If you're a major online retailer, you could actually see a reduction in sales as brick-and-mortar stores become viable again (although probably not to 2019 levels).

If your e-commerce business was lucky enough to see gains in 2020, Miracle Inameti-Archibong has some great advice for you. To inadequately summarize — don't take any of this for granted. This is a time to learn from your new customers, re-invest in your marketing, and show goodwill toward the people who are shopping online more because of the difficulties they're facing.

If you're stuck waiting to reopen, consider the lead time SEO campaigns require to have an impact. In a recent Whiteboard Friday, I made the case that SEO isn't an on/off switch. Consider the oversimplified diagram below. Paid search is a bit like the dotted gray line — you flip the switch on, and the leads starting flowing. The trade-off is that when you flip the switch off, the leads dry up almost immediately.

Organic SEO has a ramp-up. It's more like the blue curve above. The benefit of organic is that the leads keep coming when you stop investing, but it also means that the leads will take time to rebuild when you start to reinvest. This timeline depends on a lot of variables, but an organic campaign can often take 2-3 months or more to get off the ground. If you want to hit the ground running as reopening kicks in, you're going to need to start re-investing ahead of that timeline. I acknowledge that that might not be easy, and it doesn't have to be all or none.

In a recent interview, Mary Ellen Coe (head of Google Marketing Solutions) cited a 20,000% increase during the pandemic in searches from consumers looking to support local businesses. There's a tremendous appetite for reopening and a surge of goodwill for local businesses. If you're a local business, even if you're temporarily closed, it's important to let people know that you're still around and to keep them up-to-date on your reopening plans as they evolve.

I don't expect that the new normal will look much like the old normal, and I'm mindful that many businesses didn't survive to see 2021. We can't predict the future, but we can't afford to wait for months and do nothing, either, so I hope this at least gives you some idea of what to expect in the coming year and how we might prepare for it.

Sign up for The Moz Top 10, a semimonthly mailer updating you on the top ten hottest pieces of SEO news, tips, and rad links uncovered by the Moz team. Think of it as your exclusive digest of stuff you don't have time to hunt down but want to read!