#that text post is from 2014! the good ol' days

[louisferrignojr]

in my defence, i was enabled.

credit

[fortruthseekers]

REFRESHER ON MY INSIDER SOURCES: BTW, this is Purv aka @p-redux. This is my original Tumblr blog I’ve revived to archive past source info.

In 2014, I first posted my insider source info. I didn’t have a Tumblr blog, so I posted everything on my old Twitter account, all the details the sources gave me then. The fandom, especially shippers, went into an uproar because my source info sunk the ship. The SamCait ship had barely started sailing and I sunk it before it had made it out into open sea. Shippers have never forgiven me for that. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. 

Throughout the years, I’ve reiterated my source info, but summarized it because most people had already heard it, and I didn’t see a need to keep rehashing it. The more time past, the more it became clear Sam and Cait weren’t a couple, and that the info I had shared with the fandom AHEAD of time was true. Cait was seen with Tony a lot. And Sam was seen with different girlfriends or dates. But since I’m turning this account @fortruthseekers into an archive account, I’m going to post the original source DETAILS again, for newbies. This post is going to be LONG, very long, because I go into detail. Read it if you need a refresher on what I said previously about sources, or if you’ve never read the source details before. Click on Keep Reading to find the rest.

Okay, so about sources. REAL sources. I live in Los Angeles and used to be in the industry many years ago. As a result, I still know people in the industry. And just by living in L.A., you meet people who know celebs. In 2014, I got who I call “my original industry source” through a friend who knew I was watching Outlander. And she thought it would be cool for me to talk to this industry person who had Outlander connections. My friend put me in touch with her so we could talk about our common interest. Initially, me talking to the source was just to schmooze about insider info, I wasn’t planning to make it public or create a celebrity insider info account. But I was surprised about how much she knew. At the time many people, including myself, thought Sam and Cait were most likely a couple, when the source told me she knew for sure they weren’t, I was floored. Then after she told me all the details of her interactions with Sam, Cait, and some of the Outlander cast, and the fact that she was friends with one of Cait’s besties, I knew I’d hit a huge source of info. 

At first, the source didn’t want me to make the info public, she didn’t want to get in trouble, but she thought it was important that people knew the truth about whether or not Sam and Cait were a couple. She figured if they knew, then people wouldn’t get their hopes up and be disappointed when Sam and Cait became more famous, and would inevitably be seen with other people. As I said, that original industry source is good friends with one of Cait’s female best friends. And because she’s in the industry, she also had a connection to Sam through his talent agency. So, she had insider info on BOTH Cait and Sam. Jackpot.

Because I knew her full identity and knew I was talking to the real person on her real and blue check verified Twitter account, and my friend had introduced me to her, I could trust that her info was legit. She is also Instagram blue check verified and has made a name for herself in the industry. People would be shocked if they knew who she was. SHE is the one who told me 100% Sam and Cait were not dating and that 100% Sam is not gay.  At first, she didn’t want me to post things publicly, but I begged and she finally relented, as long I would swear I would keep her identity private and would leave out some identifying details. 

So, in 2014, I went public with all the details she told me. And through the years, EVERYTHING she told me turned out to be true. I didn’t have a Tumblr blog at the time, so all my source info was posted on my old Twitter account. I posted every detail of what she told me and I also posted some of her DMs with permission, and name blacked out. Unfortunately, all that is gone because I deleted my old Twitter account a long time ago. 

The main points were: Sam and Cait weren’t a couple and never have been. When I said to her that I knew actors were different than regular people, but that when I saw Sam and Cait talking about watching the wedding scene together, while drinking a bottle of wine, that there was no way they didn’t hook up at some point. She said she’s been around a lot of actors and said Sam and Cait are both natural flirts and very touchy-feely people, and she didn’t see anything out of of the ordinary in their interactions–she reminded me their behavior is the norm when promoting a show. 

She also said Sam isn’t gay per people she’s talked to who know him. She knew the director of Batman Live, the live show Sam starred in years ago. The director was a gay man, and when she asked him if Sam was gay, since he seemed too good to be true and was so good-looking, he said no. And he said he and other crew who were hoping Sam was gay were disappointed that he was straight. The director told her that the reason Sam didn’t seem to have much of a dating history, was because he had always been focused on his career and on working out. And that because he was traveling with the show, there wasn’t time for a committed relationship. Later, we found out that Sam had indeed been dating a woman named Katie Rebekah, but they broke up because she moved from London to Australia, and Sam started to tour with Batman Live. That’s the info I got in 2014. If Sam was gay, the gay director would have told my source and squeed about it.

This source used to work between New York and Los Angeles. She was in New York for one of her TV shows during the July 2014 premiere of Outlander and hung out with Cait and Cait’s bestie, as well as some of the other OL cast and crew. She also had some business meetings with Sam in NY. She confirmed Sam brought Amy Shiels as his “plus one” to the premiere and even skipped out on an unplanned event the cast was invited to because he “had a date.” When they saw him the next day and asked him how his date went, source said Sam replied “It was great!” Even though this source got info from Cait’s bestie…the bestie kept quiet about Cait and Tony, and simply said that Cait and Sam weren’t a couple….I found out about Tony from someone else...more on that later. 

This source did share some info about what Cait thought about Sam. She said that Cait cared about Sam as a costar and friend, and they got along very well.  But Cait said Sam was not her type, that Cait didn’t date actors, and that Cait referred to Sam as “a bro,” and that Cait was not into guys who spent so much time in the gym. She said Cait genuinely liked Sam as a person, but there was not more to it. And that Sam was just a big flirt, and that they were both trying to promote Outlander as much as possible because they knew it was their big break. 

This is also the source who told me that Cait’s friend, the one the source is friends with, didn’t particularly care for Sam. To be very clear: I don’t feel this way about Sam, Cait doesn’t feel this way about Sam, and my source doesn’t feel this way about Sam. In fact, my source said Sam “was lovely” to her and “a sweetheart.” But one of Cait’s besties, just ONE FRIEND–not plural, the friend said that she thought Sam “could be self-absorbed,” and “douchy.” ONE of Cait’s friends said this. No one else said this. And that was way back in 2014. I’m sure Sam has matured since then, as people tend to do as they get older. BTW Cait has a lot of close friends, some of which aren’t well known to fans. Reiterating: Cait doesn’t feel that way about Sam, the source didn’t feel this way about Sam, and I, Purv, don’t feel this way about Sam, nor have I said anything like that about Sam. 

Back to Sam being a natural flirt, remember, even Cait said “he could flirt with a lamppost.” Well, my source said that the times she saw Sam at business meetings, he was always very nice to her and would greet her with a big bear hug, tight enough that she could feel how hard his chest was. He would look down at her, right into her yes, hold her gaze, and smile big at her. And this was a woman he was not interested in romantically. He was just being friendly and sweet. Imagine how high the charm wattage is turned up for a woman he IS interested in. No wonder that Samshine has been hard to resist. This is also the source who said that Sam would always say goodbye to her by saying his now ubiquitous “Let’s get together for a wee dram when you’re in Scotland.” Of course, that “wee dram” never happened. I think that’s just Sam’s people pleasing qualities coming out, never wants to disappoint anyone. The source also said whenever he would text or e-mail her for business related stuff, he was always super enthusiastic and used a lot of exclamation points !!!!!!

Anyway, my original industry source “broke up” with me years ago because she didn’t want to chance anyone finding out who she was, as Outlander got bigger, and as she got bigger in the industry. I still sometimes look at her Twitter and IG all nostalgic, remembering when it all started...ah, memories...

My second major source was my Tony family source. My Tony source is someone from Glasgow who was friends with someone I’d known for awhile. My friend put me in contact with her. The Tony source approached me to tell me that she was shocked to find out a relative of hers (later found out it was her brother) had revealed “the lead actress from that new show Outlander is dating Tony McGill.” She was shocked because she and her family have known Tony and his family for years, all of them growing up in and around Glasgow. Her brother went to school with Tony and his brother, Joe. She then told me the whole backstory of Cait and Tony. She wanted me to keep the info to myself and she had no motivation or intention of making it public. But she finally agreed, after I gave my word that I would protect her identity and I have. 

What she shared with me in late 2014 is that her brother found out their friend, Tony was dating Caitriona Balfe. At the time she said they’d been dating for about 9-10 months, that’s why I always put the start of their relationship around March 2014. She was told that by December 2014, the relationship was “dead serious” between them and that Cait had spent Christmas 2014 in London with Tony and his dad. And then Tony had flown to Ireland with Cait to spend New Year’s Eve and New Year’s with her family and friends (we’ve all seen the pic and video on Donal Brophy’s IG). My source said that Cait and Tony had been friends for 9 years or so at the time (again, this was told to me in 2014) and had met years ago when Tony rented out a room to one of Cait’s friends. They hooked up briefly back then and then remained friends, until it turned romantic again around March 2014. The source said that she and her family knew Tony and his family from back in the day, and she told me what school Tony went to in Glasgow (something I haven’t and won’t make public). She said that Tony had moved from Glasgow years ago and had been living in London for awhile (again, this was told to me in 2014). Also, that he and his brother owned a bar/live music place in London, The Library in Islington (they later opened a second one, The Reading Room, which Cait posted from on IG) and a music production company. And that prior to that, Tony was the band manager for some Scottish bands, most notable, The Fratellis. She described Tony as “fun, clever and hysterically funny.” 

The Tony source came into the picture after I had my Twitter account up, where I was posting insider info given by my first source. I had already posted that Sam and Cait weren’t dating. This second source is the one that filled in the missing puzzle piece I didn’t know was missing and told me she knew WHO Cait was dating. I would have NEVER known the name Tony McGill associated with Cait if not for this source. He was on no one’s radar. And he wasn’t on social media. This source told me details only an insider would know. And I also had her full identity, so I knew she was legit as well. Then ‘lo and behold Tony started showing up places with Cait. There is NO way I would have known about Tony without this inside family source. No way. Of course after my source told me about him, I did look him up online and there was hardly any information about him. Never in a million years would I have linked Tony McGill with Cait on my own. And I mentioned Tony McGill way before he started showing up places with Cait. How could it be that I said sources told me Tony McGill is dating Cait, and then a man identified as Tony McGill is seen out and about with Cait? The only way I knew about Tony is because the source told me. 

Back in the day, when Cait and Tony weren’t yet living together yet, people wondered how they made their relationship work given the sometimes long distances? Well, when they first started dating around March 2014, Cait was filming Outlander Season 1, so Tony would go to Glasgow or Cait would go to London on weekends. Then when Season 1 wrapped and Cait went back to L.A. (where she had been living) in late Sept. 2014, Tony went to L.A. to visit her in October 2014 (both their birthdays are in October, Cait Oct. 4 and Tony Oct. 12, not Oct. 14 like some have said. Libra/Libra bond!). The Fratellis were also in L.A. Oct. 2014 and Tony helped them out with some business stuff, even though he was no longer managing them then. Then, as I’ve already stated, Cait and Tony spent time together Dec. 2014 and January 2015 for the holidays. Then Valentine’s Feb. 2015, Cait flew to London for the opening of Tony’s 2nd bar, The Reading Room. She posted a pic on IG. Then in April 2015, Tony flew to NY to join Cait for the premiere of the second half of Season 1. Eyewitness sources saw him sitting with Cait’s friends at the screening and then with Cait and her friends inside the after party. There was one PUBLIC pic on Twitter of Cait, Tony and Sam. And I and others have been shown private pics of Tony there. Many of us have seen them but we couldn’t make them public because they show the location where they were taken, thus identifying the source who took them, and she would get in trouble with her boss. After that, in May 2015, Cait went back to Glasgow to begin shooting OL Season 2, and this time, she brought her cat, Eddie with her. Per more than one source, Tony pretty much lived in Glasgow after that with Cait. One person who went to Tony’s bars in Glasgow and then reached out to me, said that she had asked about Tony and was told “he doesn’t come around much anymore because he moved back to Scotland.” They then moved into their new place in Glasgow, move out of that one and into a new one in Glasgow, and also have a place in London, and are now married and had their first son. THAT’s how Tony and Cait made it work.

My Tony source also parted ways with me, also due to fear of being found out. She didn’t formally break up with me, the way the original industry source did, she simply ghosted me. But I also see her pop up on Twitter or IG sometimes and get all wistful. Oh well...

After I posted the insider info from BOTH these sources, then people started to contact me with source info. They knew I was Anon and would keep them Anon--win/win. People who went to Hollywood parties, or premieres, or meet and greets, people who saw celebs at the market, or baseball games, or the beach, or at the gym, or walking down the street, or just happened to be at the right place at the right time, started sending me info. From all over the world, wherever Sam and Cait were. And if I could confirm it to be true, I would post it. If I couldn’t completely guarantee it, then I’d say it was speculation. And that’s what I still do. Granted, back in the day, I was somewhat naive, and did get burned and betrayed a few times. I admitted when that happened. I’m much more careful now. But for the most part, the MAJORITY of the info I’ve posted has been ACCURATE. People who have been here for years can corroborate that. I don’t post everything that is shared with me though. And because my sources are actual real humans, they can’t know everything or be everywhere…I don’t always get minute by minute info, that doesn’t mean I don’t have real sources.

As for me also being the first to let the fandom know that Sam was dating Abbie Salt in 2015...I had a couple of Abbie sources. One of them turned out to be super sketchy and once I figured that out, we parted ways. My Abbie sources approached me after I had already established my account as an insider info sharing account. The motivation was to debunk that Cody and Sam were still seeing each other since they no longer were, and Abbie had started seeing Sam. 

BTW: as an aside...I was also the one that, through an eyewitness source, told the fandom that Sam and Cody Kennedy had gone to the Matthew Morrison Halloween party in October 2014, and the source had seen them kissing while waiting for the valet to bring their car around. You don’t know the LENGTHS that Extreme Shippers went to to disprove my source. They even Google Earthed the driveway from the street to the valet and measured it trying to prove that my source could not have seen where Sam and Cody were waiting for their car. Hahahah omg. Except, my source wasn’t on the street, she was right next to them. After all the bullshit from ES, it’s a wonder I’m still here, but here I am...the strongest bitch you’ll ever meet. But I digress...

Anyhoo, back to Sam and Abbie. I had no idea Abbie Salt existed or that she had dated Sam before and was friends with him…until my Abbie source contacted me to tell me that Sam was no longer dating Cody Kennedy and had resumed dating Abbie Salt. Abbie met Sam years ago when her sister, actress, Charlotte Salt starred with Sam in “A Princess For Christmas,” they dated briefly then, and then rekindled their romance in early 2015. Cody Kennedy’s mom later confirmed this by posting publicly in response to a fan Sam and Cody had broken up because “Sam went back to his old girlfriend in London.” Abbie lives in London. Again…I was surprised because I had no idea…but all the info checked out and then whadda you know, Abbie started showing up in Glasgow…in Sam’s flat (IG pics since deleted)…in L.A. in February 2015 at the London hotel, West Hollywood seen and photographed by an eyewitness for Oscars Week parties (the pic is of Sam and the fan, taken by Abbie, fan said Abbie was super sweet)... n NY when he was there for the OL premiere April 2015 (she posted on her IG, since deleted the pics), in Miami when he was there (eyewitness and Miami source proof that they were in Miami together, and NO that was not me, it was a source) and in Barbados together (Barbados source confirmation, and NO that was not me, it was a source, and pics from Abbie and Sam Tweeted he had been in Barbados). After that, Abbie was in Glasgow and Sam in London, where Abbie lives, on several occasions…not to mention she was photographed as his date in Monte Carlo for the TV Film Festival. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the Abbie Salt sources told me about AHEAD of time, then started to spend all that time with Sam. I didn’t even know Abbie existed, how would I have ever known anything about her without sources?

I also told the fandom about Mackenzie Mauzy and Sam dating via a source who saw them in person, holding hands and leaving together at a Guns N Roses concert in Los Angeles April 1, 2016. A friend of someone I know in L.A. was there and recognized Sam. He told my friend that he’d seen “that Outlander dude, Sam Heughan holding hands with a blonde, leaving the Guns N Roses concert.” At first, I thought it may have been Cody Kennedy, but afterwards, sources came forth to confirm it was Mackenzie Mauzy. Later on, I was contacted by a different Mackenzie source and given more info, which I posted. That Mackenzie source ghosted me too because Mackenzie was probably asking questions as to who was doling out info.  Also, by sheer providence, a fan was in the stands at the Dodgers baseball game in June 2016 and sent me a video of Sam and Mackenzie at the game together. Another source sent me the video of Sam and Mackenzie leaving their hotel together at San Diego Comic Con. I’ll repost all that in the archives. And someone I’ve known for years on Tumblr and trust completely came forward to share that she found out Sam and Mackenzie had broken up from one of Mackenzie’s relatives who live near her. Again, that was also by chance. Life can indeed be stranger than fiction. The relative told her Mackenzie wanted to get married and have kids and Sam wasn’t ready for that yet, so they broke up. That source came forth and identified herself on Tumblr, so that also proves my source info was legit. 

In summary: I was the FIRST to let the fandom know Cait and Sam weren’t dating, Cait was dating Tony, and Sam was dating Abbie, and Sam was dating Mackenzie BEFORE anyone else knew. You can’t do ALL of that simply by scouring social media posts as haters would have you think. It’s just not possible. And reasonable people understand that.

Before Covid-19 hit, people who were attending industry events would contact me and say “Hey Purv, I’m going to the PCA, or the TCA, or the GoldenGlobes, or the Outlander Season premiere and after party, I’ll give you the scoop!” I’d say “Cool, thanks! Send pics or video and let me know what and who you see.” That’s it. No social media searches or data mining needed. There is no conspiracy involved. No one is “feeding” me info from Sam or Cait’s camps or non-shipper or shipper sides to propagate a certain “narrative.” It’s just different people, who are at the right place at the right time, or are privy to certain insider info, sharing it with me because they know I post info for fans who are into that. As I’ve said ad infinitum, I am quite simply THE MESSENGER.

Any questions, send me an Ask or a Direct Message on my MAIN account @p-redux  Thanks!

[throwmyheartawayagain]

I Wan’na Be Like You

This is my entry for @this-kitten-is-smitten​ ‘s 200 Drabble Challenge. Clearly, I don’t know the meaning of “drabble” since this exceed 2k words. Oh well. I hope you like this Kate! 

Any and all mistakes are mine. My fics are not to be saved or posted on any other sites without my written permission- that’s just fucking rude. Thanks!

Title: I Wan’na Be Like You

Characters: MCU Sebastian Stan, Cora(OFC), Oliver/Ollie (OMC)

Pairing: MCU Sebastian Stan/Cora

Prompt: I Wan’na Be Like You from Disney's The Jungle Book 

Warnings: Fluff, swearing

Word Count: 2,077

“Ghostbusters, whadya want?”

“Are you always going to answer your phone like that?”

“Yes, I am, Mr. Stan,” she laughed. “Especially when you are calling.”

“What am I going to do with you, lubirea mea?” Sebastian chuckled.

“Dunno, you’re the one that married me.”

“I see, well, I only asked you to marry me. You agreed to it.”

Cora laughed. “Is that how it is?”

“That’s how it is.” There was a beat of silence until Sebastian whispered, “Oh, fuck. Not again.”

“What’s going on?” Cora asked. She knew Sebastian was back in New York City, having arrived earlier that morning, but he had a meeting with his manager, and an interview for a magazine after that.

“Hold on.”

She could hear some excited chatter from Sebastian’s end of the call. “Sweetheart?”

“Look, I’m not Bucky Barnes or the Winter Soldier, so there’s no need to call the police.”

“See, I told you he doesn’t have a real metal arm. It’s all a marketing ploy for the Avengers!” someone exclaimed.

Cora giggled at her husband’s current misfortune. Ever since 2014 when the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers crashed into the Potomac River and Bucky Barnes escaped the clutches of H.Y.D.R.A., Sebastian has been mistaken for the former Winter Soldier on a weekly basis. The first couple of times it happened, the police were called and Sebastian was taken to Avengers Tower in Manhattan. Each time after the first, Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson greeted Sebastian with huge smiles and big laughs as soon as he was brought in through the lobby doors. 

After the nth time in one week, Steve finally had Stark create a special identification card for Sebastian that verified he was actually Sebastian Stan, the actor, and not James Buchanan Barnes. 

Four years later, he was still being mistaken as Bucky Barnes. During that time, Sebastian and Cora struck up an odd friendship with Steve, Sam and eventually the real Bucky Barnes, even inviting all three to their wedding.

“Sorry about that, baby,” Sebastian apologized, then grumbled, “that is never going to stop.”

“It’s alright. How’d the interview go this morning?” Cora asked.

“Interview went well, I was asked about you, Ollie, and Nacho.”

Cora’s giggle was music to Sebastian’s ears. “Nacho, is that really what you’re calling our unborn child?” she continued to giggle.

“Well, that’s better than ‘It;’ or ‘The Unborn,’” he reasoned. “Besides, what else would you call the baby?”

“Devil Spawn.”

“Cora, no.”

“Cora, yes! If you had this thing growing inside you and using your internal organs as their very own personal punching and kicking bags, then you would call them ‘Devil Spawn,’ too.”

“I guess you got me there,” he laughed. “Have you heard from my mom about Ollie?”

“Nothing since the picture she sent of him by the board with the arm span of the primates. I’m sure they’re having lunch at the zoo right now.” 

Sebastian sighed, “I know I shouldn’t be worried and it’s not like she’s going to lose him anywhere, but sometimes I can’t help thinking that some crazy person would do something to Ollie or my mom. There’s even a chance someone obsessed with Barnes could do something, too. You three, soon to be four, are my entire world.”

“Nothing has happened so far to us, sweetheart,” Cora started. “I know how much you worry and how much you do to keep us safe.”

“I love you, too.” 

“Oh, shit,” she moaned, then mumbled, “Devil Spawn.”

“Are you okay, baby?” Sebastian asked full of worry.

After a few grunts and groans, Cora stood up. “Yeah, just got a big kick to the bladder and now I have to pee. Any idea if you’ll be home tonight?”

“Bietul meu bebeluș. Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Seb, I swear to god if you ask me that again, I will steal Bucky’s arm and shove it so far up your ass.”

A hearty laugh was heard, and followed by, “I don’t think Bucky would let you have his arm, even as fond of you he is,” Sebastian laughed. “I guess I should let you go so you can pee. I’m hoping to be back home early this evening.”

“Okay, I will see you then. I love you,” Cora said.

“I’ll send a text when I’m on my way home. I love you too,” he said before disconnecting the call.

Just as Cora was finishing in the bathroom, Georgetta had let Ollie and herself into the apartment. “Hello? Anyone home?”

“Mama!” Ollie called out.

“Be right there!” Cora answered while drying her hands.

A couple of hours later, Cora was curled up on the couch reading a book when she heard the tell tale pitter patter of Ollie’s feet coming down the hallway after his nap. “Mama?”

“Hey, Bubby, did you have a good nap?” she asked her three-year-old while placing a bookmark in her book before closing it to set on the side table.

“Yeah,” Ollie responded as he climbed on the couch and curled into her side.

“Did you have fun at the zoo with Grandma?”

Ollie nodded his head before his eyes lit up and he excitedly talked about seeing the primates. “Mama! King Louie was there!”

“Oh yeah? Who else did you see?”

“Bears, no Baloo. I saw Simba, and Khan, and owls, and penwins, and famingos,” Ollie beamed at her.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to see Baloo, I’m sure he’s still in the jungle with Bagheera and Colonel Hathi,” Cora smiled as she brushed Ollie’s unruly hair out of his eyes. “Do you know what tonight is?”

Ollie shook his little head and said, “No.”

“Daddy comes home!” Cora leaned over and scooped her little boy into her arms and tickled his sides as he squealed and giggled in delight. Of all the sounds that Ollie made, she wished she could bottle his laugh to keep forever.

“Yay! Daddy!”

After Cora stopped tickling Ollie, she held him close with her arms under him to support his bum that was perched against her pregnant belly. He rested his head on her clavicle and pressed his face into her skin. “I miss daddy,” Ollie said as he wrapped his little arms around Cora as best as he could.

“I know, Bubby, I miss him too. But you know what? You have been so good for me while he’s gone and I’m so proud of you! I know daddy’s proud of you too.” She pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. “He’s coming home and you’ll be able to tell him about your day when you see him. You can tell him what you and Grandma saw at the zoo.”

“Okay,” he mumbled into her skin.

“How about we get a snack and you can pick out a movie to watch until dinner?”

Ollie nodded his head, rolled off of Cora, fell off the couch onto the floor and jumped up like nothing was wrong. Instead he was giggling. “You are my silly little monkey.” Cora shook her head as she scooted forward to the edge of the couch cushion to get up.

“Not a monkey, mama, I’m a rang-o-tang, like King Louie!” he huffed.

“Oh, I am so sorry, your highness, King Louie!” Cora bowed with a laugh. “What kind of snack would the VIP of the Jungle like?”

“Cheese and crackers!”

After eating their snack, Cora and Ollie were back on the couch watching Ollie’s favorite movie. Baloo and Mowgli just finished singing about the Bare Necessities and were floating down the river. Cora’s phone dinged, alerting her of a text and when she looked who it was, she smiled and responded right away.

Once the monkeys appeared and kidnapped Mowgli, Ollie scooted away from Cora as he got wiggly, knowing what was coming up.

“Hey, Mowgli, how about you flickin’ that ol’ mean fly off your papa bear’s nose?” Baloo said in the movie. The monkey sitting on the sloth bear’s tummy whacks him on the nose with a stick. “OUCH!”

Ollie burst out in the brightest giggles and Cora loved every minute of it. While Mowgli was being carried away by the monkeys, then Baloo talking to Bagheera, Cora heard the door open to the apartment and shut quietly. 

Sebastian was home.

Sebastian was finally home after weeks away filming, and instead of kissing his wife hello first, he set his stuff down and crawled from the kitchen to hide behind the sofa. Cora looked over and saw him creeping into the family room and raised an eyebrow at her ridiculous husband. He smiled wide as he put his finger up to his lips telling her to be quiet. She shook her head as she looked over at Ollie.

The little boy was enthralled in the movie, even after watching it about a bazillion times. Sebastian and Cora damn near have that movie memorized line for line, but they would always sit down and watch it if that’s what Ollie wanted. That little turkey had his parents wrapped around his finger, whether he knew it or not. 

In the movie, Louie had just finished squeezing two bananas out of their peels and right into Mowgli’s mouth, and was making a deal with the man cub. “Well, then,” Louie started before he jumped off his throne and scrambled to Mowgli’s left. “I’ll lay it on the line for you. A-baba-beep-boop Boop-ee-doop.”

As Louie slapped the floor of the ancient ruins, Sebastian placed his hands on the back of the couch while getting himself ready. Jumping up from his position behind the couch, Sebastian sang along with Louie in the movie.

“Now I’m the king of the swingers, oh, the jungle VIP, I’ve reached the top and had to stop, and that’s what’s botherin’ me!”

As soon as Sebastian made himself known, Ollie turned around and laughed at his dad. “Daddy!” he squealed.

Sebastian kept singing with a huge smile on his handsome face. He was dancing his way around the couch to be in front of his little family. “I wanna be a man, Man Cub, and stroll right into town, and be just like the other men, I’m tired of monkeyin’ around.”

He held his hand out to Ollie, who launched himself right into his dad’s arms. Sebastian danced around with Ollie, spinning around and dipping his giggling son while Louie started the next part. Soon Sebastian joined in when there were words again in the song.

“I wanna be like you-hoo-hoo, I wanna walk like you, talk like you too-oo-o! You’ll see it’s true, shoo-be-dee-doo, an ape like me-e-e, can learn to be human too-oo-oo!”

Sebastian set Ollie down on the floor as Cora stood up from the couch. All three pranced around the couch making trumpet noises until the monkey started whistling in the movie. Sebastian scooped Ollie, who has not stopped squealing and giggling from all the excitement since Sebastian popped up from behind the couch, up in his arms and pulled Cora close so all three were dancing together as the music played on.

Now it was Cora’s turn to quote lines from the movie as it played on. “Gee, Cousin Louie, you’re doin’ real good.”

“Now here’s your part of the deal, cuz,” Sebastian quoted along. “Lay the secret on me of man’s red fire.”

“But I don’t know how to make fire,” Cora said with Mowgli.

Sebastian winked as he held onto Ollie as he stepped away from his wife. “Now, don’t try to kid me, Man Cub, I made a deal with you. What I desire is man’s red fire to make my dream come true.” Sebastian had a good hold on Ollie as he swung him around and held him upside down, as Louie was doing to Mowgli in the movie and Ollie lost it. The little boy was laughing so hard, it was that true deep from the belly laugh.

Righting his son, Sebastian set him on the couch and continued to sing with Louie. “Now gimme the secret, Man Cub, come on, clue me what to do. Give me the power of man’s red flower, so I can be like you.”

Sebastian sat on the couch and Ollie scrambled into his father’s lap facing him.

“Daddy,” the little boy said as he grabbed Sebastian’s face with his little pudgy hands. “Daddy, someday I wanna be just like you.”

[auburnfamilynews]

Alright, the fun is over. Now we are getting into the heavy stuff. Sure, last week was rough, what with Auburn holding off scoring a touchdown till inside the final minute of play to do away with UCF, but now begins the games I am dreading to re-watch. This week begins, THE GAUNTLET: The Worst Six Auburn Wins of All the Times. I sent text to a few friends of the game for this week to get their reaction…they didn’t disappoint.

So, we are going to do this together, sorta…just remember, you don’t have to watch the whole game and be happy about that.

THE PREGAME

This was supposed to be the get right game for Auburn. The Tigers had just come off a closer than it should have been win over Louisville in Atlanta the week before and had cause a little bit of uncomfortable times on the Plains with quarterback Jeremy Johnson, who threw 3 interceptions but the defense came alive when they needed it, along with an 82 yard fumble recovery for a TD…

And that was literally the high point of the season, though we didn’t know it at the time. Needless to say, the home faithful were looking for a bounce back opportunity against a solid, but inferior (at least in some fans eyes) Jacksonville St Gamecocks.

Speaking of the Gamecocks, they came in to the contest ranked 6th in FCS (1-AA for us old folks) and were coming off a huge road win against the #7th ranked Mocs of Chattanooga. Remember the offense that Gus use to run up till 2014, yeah, that’s what Jax State ran although they threw it just a bit better. Led by quarterback Eli Jenkins, the passing attack was aided by weapons Josh Barge and Ruben Gonzalez who were Jenkins safety blankets. Sprinkle in a salty defense against a sputtering Auburn offense and…well we know where this is going. So *gulp* let’s get to it. The 2015 Jacksonville State Gamecocks against the Auburn Tigers.

THE GAME

We get to break in a new crew to the countdown and I am actually completely fine with this.

Oh if only we had the ol’ Dave Dave and Dave lineup for this just under Jefferson Pilot worthy game.

Thank God it’s not Quin…Dawn is much better. And a golf clap to her for searching out Gus at the half of this piece of Lemberger to get the interview (nothing is interesting in it but I wouldn’t get that close to a computer mainframe running hot after only shoving out 6 points against an FCS team, no matter how good they are)

As for the game, Auburn takes the opening kick from the 35 and is able to hit for 2 quick first downs and it seems like things have gotten righted in the week since Atlanta, but a big 3rd down and 6 looms.

Well, there was pressure…kinda?

The punt would pin Jax State back to their own 9 and it wouldn’t take long for the Gamecocks to march down the field and show exactly what kind of day this would be.

Ugh. Fortunately, Casanova Mckinzey bowed up with back to back big tackles for loss and force a longer than it should have been field goal try.

JUUUUST a bit outside. So, even though it hasn’t been pretty, the Voltron that is Auburn is unhurt…so far.

Auburn would take it from the 22 and march down the field on 15 plays to get to the Jax St 10 yard line before the drive would stall out but, not to worry, the MVP is here for a field goal try.

As automatic as it gets and Auburn breaks out on top 3-0.

This is where I would have the VO of Mike Hubbard from when I was a kid, “The lead however, was short lived.”

The Gamecocks would take it from the 25 and go 12 plays with some frustratingly familiar runs that let Auburn fans know what it felt like for the opponents over the last 2 years.

Sure, it’s a 1 yard gain but it should have been a 5 yard loss if Houdini back there gets taken down and doesn’t spin away.

Jenkins would hit Barge for a huge 20 yard pickup before the Auburn defense would hold again in the redzone and Jacksonville State would again send their kicker out to try and tie it up.

On the ensuing drive, Auburn would take it from the 25 and pop off 10 plays to go 43 yards before once again calling on the MVP to go ahead once again.

*Starts to twich* Ugh…just had an 2016 LSU flashback with all these Field Goals.

Also, Dave, buddy, that was right down the middle. Don’t you dare besmirch the good name of the MVP like that! Sneak it in BAH!

So Auburn once again is on top with a commanding 6-3 lead. That however, wouldn’t last long.

Jacksonville State would take it from the 25 and 9 plays later, this happened.

Good rush, back foot throw…yeah, that always equals a touchdown right?

They would review it and he did catch it so there’s that. It’s 10-6 and at this point, Jax State has 204 yards of offense to Auburn’s 134…ugh.

Auburn would get it from their on 35 and get a first down before it got real uncomfortable again.

Jax State from the 34 now, looking to put Auburn in their rear view but the defense would hold the Gamecocks to 3 plays and a yard, setting up another FG attempt.

Auburn would look to capitalize from their own 33 but would go 3 and out. While Jax State would get it at their own 8 and get it to the 43 before the half would end, mercifully. But don’t tell Gus that…

THAT’S THE FACE OF AN ALPHA WOLF THAT KNOWS EXACTLY HOW THIS BAD BOY IS GOING DOWN TONIGHT LADIES!

To his credit, Gus looked like he knew exactly what he was doing, as Jax State would get the ball first at the 25 and the Gamecocks would make their first big mistake

NOW THAT’S A QUICK WHISTLE! Sure, the wide out would have continued on his route but…he didn’t so wow. Jax State would end up punting anyway and Auburn would get it from the 20. After getting it to midfield, Auburn started to look good.

Oh please, after that quick whistle, a measly holding call is the least of the refs worries! So the Tigers grab the lead again, 13-10.

The Gamecocks though would get it from their own 32 and once again make their way in to Auburn territory and look to snatch the lead back.

Can you hear the collective groan from the crowd when the ball gets launched to the endzone? I know I could and I made the same sound to be quite honest.

So Auburn takes a 12 yard loss from the original line of scrimmage but they have the ball. Meanwhile the offense starts to show signs of life after the TD pass.

See, I do show Auburn doing good things! 3 plays later Auburn would punt and Jax St would take it from their own 17 as we start the 4th quarter.

A good number of quick hitters and some nice zone read action get them down, once again, into field goal range.

And we are back where we started at 13-13.

With the offense needing all the help they can get, it was time for the special teams to step up.

But the offense, ever the courteous ones, didn’t want Jacksonville State to be without a gift and would make good on that just 2 plays later

Such a thoughtful boy. And Jacksonville State was much obliged to said gift and would inch down the field…in 11…long…inch by inch….plays, to get a 1st and goal opportunity.

Now it’s starting to feel awkward in here as Auburn takes the ball from their 16 with 5:37 left.

Auburn surges in 7 plays to get it down to the Jack State 20 before, play 8.

AAAND that has to be it. I, in fact, remember watching this game at a BWW. After that play, I tabbed out, got in my car and listened to Rod the rest of the way home.

The Gamecocks take it from their own 7 yard line and go 3 plays and a yard again before punting.

And that, Mr. Tuttle, is how you blow a game to a bad offense.

Auburn would get it from the Jax St 31 and 5 plays later

Talk about a god send. Don’t get me wrong, last week against Central Florida was something but this, this should have never happened to be honest. So we are tied at 20 with :39 seconds left.

Jax State would run out the clock and overtime it is.

Auburn would get the ball first and remember that they had Roc Thomas and Peyton Barber until finally

So its Auburn 27-20 and the Gamecocks have the ball. JSU would get bailed out by a somewhat questionable PI against Carlton Davis and would have the ball near the 10 for 3rd down. I have the last 2 plays cause, why not.

Your final….finally, 27-20 Auburn.

THE AFTERGLOW

So following this game, Jacksonville State would go on a run. They were ranked #5 in the FCS poll but were ranked #1 following the loss. They wouldn’t loose again for the rest of the season and made it to the FCS National Championship game against North Dakota State where they got routed by the Bison 37-10 and finish the season #2 in the country.

Auburn, well Auburn didn’t do that well. The Tigers would finish the regular season 6-6 with an impressive road win over Texas A&M (that I still don’t know where that came from) to get bowl eligible and took down the Memphis Tigers in Birmingham.

That’s it for this look back at the best of the worst Auburn wins that I have video of, which is a lot so its probably a solid list. Join us next week as we begin the top 5…I need more bourbon…

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/4/20/21227166/aft2020-6-2015-vs-jacksonville-state

[igotopinions]

Books I Read in 2019

* = Re-read Check out past years: 2012, 2013 (skipped), 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Follow me on Goodreads to get these reviews as they happen. 1) The Right To Be Cold: One Woman's Story of Protecting Her Culture, the Arctic and the Whole Planet by Sheila Watt-Cloutier 2) Nollywood: The Making of a Film Empire by Emily Witt 3) The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi 4) My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Reads like a more mature Chuck Palahniuk. 5) Of Dice and Men by ME I won't be a dink and give myself a star rating or glowing review, but I gotta get that credit for my annual reading challenge! I'll also say it's a richly rewarding experience to, after all the work of writing & editing & publishing & promoting, to re-read something you wrote and still feel all the strong, positive feelings it gave as you figured out the first draft. 6) Lagos Noir, edited by Chris Abani 7) The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair 8) The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi A really fun, cleverly written coming-of-age story with just the right period touches to it. I gobbled this thing down in a couple of days, having no problem seeing why Zadie Smith spoke highly of it in her latest book of essays. 9) Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice 10) America: The Farewell Tour  by Chris Hedges   TL:DR This book is not toilet paper, but it sure is shit-adjacent. It gave me strong feelings, which you can read on Goodreads. 11) The Anatomical Venus: Wax, God, Death & the Ecstatic by Joanna Ebenstein Great introduction to the subject with fantastic photos & illustrations. My only frustration was the layout, which frequently breaks up the main text mid-sentence for two or even four pages of images with details captions to read or full page quotes, so it takes a bit more effort to read linearly. 12) The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany I found this through the ol' Appendix N reading list and it's not hard to see how this influenced D&D in many ways, but it has value well beyond that novelty. This is a wonderful fantasy tale in the vein of classic fairy tales, a welcome break from the kind of epics we mostly associate with the genre these days. By the final run up to the ending I was really immersed in what I was reading and I know I'll be looking up more of his books. 13) The Worst Is Yet to Come: A Post-Capitalist Survival Guide by Peter Fleming *14) A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.   The first third remains perfect. The middle third is better than I remember, which is to say very good indeed, despite the feeling of inevitability running through it. The final third remains a pretty obvious punchline stretched out over too many pages, something basically predicted by the ending of the middle story. But! Ah! That first third! 15) The Gods of Pegana by Edward John Moreton Dunsany In theory this was an influence on Lovecraft's Dreamlands cycle books. 16) Era of Ignition: Coming of Age in a Time of Rage and Revolution by Amber Tamblyn 17) Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa 18) 1985 by Anthony Burgess 19) Infinite Detail by Tim Maughan 20) Seasonal Associate by Heike Geissler,  Kevin Vennemann (Afterword), Katy Derbyshire (Translation) 21) Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport 22) How To Write Adventure Modules That Don't Suck Edited by Jobe Bittman 23) The Immortal of World's End by Lin Carter 24) This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace 25) My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite *26) Idoru by Oliver Brackenbury 27) Conan by Robert E. Howard,  L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter 28) Heroes in the Wind: From Kull to Conan by Robert E. Howard 29) The Postman by David Brin Yes, this is that “The Postman”, the one which was adapted into a universally reviled Kevin Costner film in the mid-to-late nineties. It is, however, significantly different and far more enjoyable. It is an extremely White Straight Guy book with some curious ideas about gender in the back end, a "Rah rah, America!" through-line, and an obsession with describing horses as "steaming". It is also a well-crafted, clear, concise, quickly-moving story that avoids several obvious turns most authors would have plowed right into, and overall serves as a great exploration of the power of lies & myths. Plus, yeah, it is kind of heartwarming to imagine the concept of snail mail & the people who deliver it serving to re-unite us in the post-apocalypse. Unlike the movie, I'd honestly recommend this. Heck, I'm thinking I'll start exploring the rest of his catalog. 30) Beastie Boys Book by Michael Diamond  & Adam Horowitz If you're a fan, then you'll like this. If not? I dunno man! The whole thing feels like hearing stories from your favourite old high school buddies when they're at their most honest and interesting. Great stuff. 31) Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen by Brian Raftery 32) Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master by Michael Shea 33) Conan of Cimmeria by Robert E. Howard,  L. Sprague De Camp, and Lin Carter. As tends to be the case, the pure Howard stories are best. Carter and De Camp are mostly interested in arranging Howard's work into a larger, more coherent universe...which is fine, I guess, but it has a way of making Conan feel less a legend striding in and out of fantastic situations, more a man - a strong, interesting man, sure, yet still just a man. *34) The Hunter by Richard Stark *35) Beast by Paul Kingsnorth 36) The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline 37) It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office by Dale Beran 38) Planetes, Vol. 1-4 by Makoto Yukimura 39) The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan 40) Reawakening Our Ancestors' Lines: Revitalizing Inuit Traditional Tattooing by Angela Hovak Johnston 41) Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq 42) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott Part life-as-a-writer therapy, part craft, this leans more toward the latter than Stephen King's ON WRITING and that's plenty fine.  A nice, light read that holds value for writers at all stages of their career, I reckon. 43) Conan The Freebooter by Robert E. Howard, L. Sprague de Camp As tends to be the case with these collections, the pure Howard stories are best. That said, Lin Carter carries himself much better here than in some of the earlier volumes. There are no magical abstractions of good and evil arm-wrestling each other while Conan just stares at them... 44) The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie 45) The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by H.P. Lovecraft Pretty good stuff but, as was pointed out on the excellent Appendix N Podcast, this story would have been really something had it been edited down a bit. RACISM METER: Honestly, pretty okay, which is saying something for Lovecraft! No cats with awful names or race theory or any of that. Just a good wholesome story of madness and history. 46) Difficult Men: Behind the Scenes of a Creative Revolution: From The Sopranos and The Wire to Mad Men and Breaking Bad by Brett Martin 47) Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber 48) The Enchantress of World's End by Lin Carter 49) The Barbarian of World's End by Lin Carter These are not terribly good books....but I keep reading them for the goofy ideas and setting. Averaging 180 pages, they're not a big investment so hey why not? 50) The Giant of World’s End by Lin Carter The first is the best. I think because it was written as a complete story, not the literary equivalent of another episode of a Saturday morning cartoon, as the other World's End books read. As with the rest of the series it is enjoyed more on the merits of the wacky ideas than the quality of prose, including a part near the end who may well have been a source of inspiration for the Emperor of Mankind in the Warhammer 40K universe. Its main drawback is the classic scifi/fantasy failing of providing multiple asides to historical background meant to add depth to the world but which is ultimately meaningless to the reader as it has little if anything to do with the story - nevermind the characters! Heck, it's only 140 pages. It's fun. The ending actually got to me a little. It's a good place to pluck out ideas for tabletop roleplaying, if you're into that. Yup! 51) Wonder Tales: The Book of Wonder and Tales of Wonder by Lord Dunsany 52) Outcast of Redwall by Brian Jacques It's a fun little story, clearly intended for younger audiences, and I've no regrets having bought it second hand. BUT You could have clipped off nearly a hundred pages if the author didn't feel compelled to give you a highly detailed account of every single meal - including many feasts - had by characters big and small. Holy mother of God do you come out of this knowing a lot about the diets of the various woodland creatures, with their meadowberry pies and etc. 53) Björk's Homogenic by Emily MacKay 54) DCC RPG Annual Vol 1 by Steve Bean, Julian Bernick, Daniel Bishop, Jobe Bittman, Tim Callahan, Colin Chapman, Michael Curtis, Edgar Johnson, Brendan LaSalle, Stephen Newton, Terry Olson, and Harley Stroh 55) Conan the Avenger by Robert Howrd & L Sprague De Camp This is one of the better collections. Only the third story is a reconstruction from one of Howard's outlines, the rest are undiluted and glorious.That said, the back two stories are a bit cringey re: race, *especially* the reconstruction I mentioned. I'd say I don't know who looks at a Howard story and thinks "Ah, this needs more complex racial hierarchy nonsense!" but I do and that man's name is L. Sprague De Camp, apparently!The important thing is now I'm all caught up for the next episode of The Appendix N podcast, which I heartily recommend. 56) Medallion Status: True Stories from Secret Rooms by John Hodgman 57) Grand Union: Stories by Zadie Smith 58) The Singing Citadel by Michael Moorcock 59) White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo 60) The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson *61) Virtual Light by William Gibson 62) The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance *63) Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Ursula K. Le Guin (Foreword), Olena Bormashenko (Translator) *64) Bill, the Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison A fun little dunk on Heinlein and his ilk. Very slapstick. 65) Gonzo by Hunter S. Thompson *66) McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh

STATS Non-Fiction: 23 Fiction: 42 Poetry Collections:0 Comic Trades: 0 Wrote Myself: 1

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  How Important Are Tags for SEO? 

If you want to improve the visibility of your website, increase traffic and boost your brand’s revenue, you need to run a strong SEO campaign.

While building backlinks, developing your social media presence, and other off-site practices are great for boosting your site’s rankings, on-page optimization is still incredibly important.

Arguably, one of the most crucial aspects of on-page SEO is tags. Whether it’s title tags, header tags, meta tags or blog post tags, they have been demonstrated to increase traffic and boost engagement.

However, are they still as important and effective now as they have been in the past? In this article, we’ll take a look at the role of tags of every type, and explore their impact on SEO.

A Brief History of Tags

Tags are generally used to classify content in a way that is useful for the reader and easy for search engines to understand, which potentially makes them incredibly important for both SEO and usability.

However, over the years, the way we use tags and their relative impact on rankings has changed. The key question is: are tags as important now as they once were?

Meta tags have lost their power in a big way on rankings over the past several years and, as a natural result, the number of websites using them has vastly diminished. We’re going to discard those as being dead in the water in terms of SEO benefits.

However, is the same true for title tags, header tags, and blog post tags–are they as important for SEO now as they once were?

Let’s take a look at each in order to answer that key question.

Title Tags

As you probably know, title tags are used by search engines (in part) to determine a page’s topic, and are also displayed in SERPs.

A good title tag will demonstrate what the user can expect from the page beforethey actually click. In this way, they are a strong determiner of click-through rates. But how do they affect your site’s SEO?

How Important Are Title Tags for SEO?

For many years, title tags have been considered one of the most important factors of on-page SEO. In fact, in the past, title tags were seen by many as only second to good ol’ fashioned keyword stuffing in terms of importance. But are they as important now?

According to research from Backlinko.com, Google’s shift toward semantic search could affect the relative importance of the title tag. The researchers found that a keyword-optimized title tag was associated with a better ranking, but that the correlation was smaller than it once was.

Findings suggest that Google no longer requires your title tag to include an exact keyword in order to interpret a page’s subject matter. For example, if you type “how to start a business” into Google, only six out of the ten top pages include an exact match keyword in their title tag.

That said, search engines will still compare your title tag to other content on your page, to ensure keyword consistency when indexing and ranking web pages, still making them an essential part of SEO.

In other words, title tags are still an important part of on-site SEO, but they are far from the be-all and end-all.

Header Tags

For the purposes of this article, header tags refers to the HTML markup used to distinguish headings and subheadings within your content from other types of text (e.g. paragraph text). They run from h1–h6, historically in a sense of ‘importance’.

The usage of header tags these days is the source of some debate. Before the advent and growing popularity of HTML5, it was typical to include just one h1 tag within your content, and the contents of that tag were seen to be pretty influential in terms of on-site SEO.

However, these days, it is possible to utilize multiple h1 tags on a per-section basis, thus arguably lessening the importance of the hierarchy of header tags and encouraging search engines to be less simplistic in their analysis of any given page.

How Important Are Header Tags for SEO?

Searchmetrics’ 2015 Ranking Factors reported that two in every five webpages in SERPs didn’t utilize h1 tags at all. Was this simply a sign of lazy web design, or a reflection of the relative unimportance of header tags?

On the contrary, the amount of pages using h1 tags has increased compared to 2014. In the top 30, this ratio has increased by 4%. On that basis alone, it would seem that the web designers of today consider header tags to be more important than they did previously.

Furthermore, several case studies have highlighted the importance of using header tags effectively. For example, SearchEccentric worked with Motor Cars Ltd. in overhauling their header tags to be more SEO-friendly. Rankings leapt accordingly, with one keyword in particular jumping from 320 in the SERPs to the top spot.

In terms of on-site SEO, header tags are certainly here to stay–it has been demonstrated that careful optimization can lead to major ranking increases.

Blog Post Tags

Most blogging platforms–like WordPress–provide you with the ability to add contextual tags to your posts. We refer to these as “blog post tags” in this article, in order to differentiate them from other types of tags.

Blog post tags are part of your site’s taxonomy. WordPress and other blogging platforms utilize taxonomies to classify and better organize information. They provide visitors with a list of posts grouped by generally more specific topics than the categories. If you think of your site as a book, with categories as your website’s table of contents and tags as your index, you won’t go too far wrong.

For example, if you run a fitness blog, you might have categories like “Diet”, “Workouts”, and “Fitness Tips”. Those three are broad terms that you would use to categorize posts. When you write a post and put it in the workout category, you might enter tags like, “pushups”, “squats” and “lunges”, if the post features them.

These tags can be valuable to your site’s visitors and to search engines. For visitors, it improves the usability of your website in terms of being able to identify posts that cover specific topics. For search engines, it makes interpreting the page’s content easier and can ultimately aid your site in ranking better.

How Important Are Blog Post Tags for SEO?

Blog post tags do not necessarily improve search engine rankings in and of themselves, but, while they might not be directly influential, they can improve SEO indirectly.

For starters, though most search engines don’t rank category and tag pages highly in the SERPs, high-quality tagging makes it easier for Google to see what your website is all about.

For example, if you run a food blog that often focuses on vegan desserts, and you have a tag page for vegan desserts that links to many different pages and has various posts linking back to it, it sends a strong signal to search engines that vegan desserts are big part of your site.

Furthermore, while tag and category pages aren’t necessarily ranked highly, they are still ranked—meaning they are a viable traffic source. Blog post tags not only provide you with another source of traffic, they also improve user experience.

Using tags meticulously in posts makes it easier for visitors to find what they’re looking for on your site. Blog post tags can lower your bounce rate and increase time on site–both behavioral factors that Google take into account–as they make websites easier to navigate (when utilized effectively). They provide the user with a convenient way to access relevant content and, if the user easily finds what they are looking for, they’re much more likely to stay on your site.

Google’s focus on user intent and perceived quality of experience is only set to increase in the future; as of now, they have evaluators manually trawling SERPs and ‘grading’ websites based upon subject markers of ‘quality’. Those who don’t think providing a good user experience matters to SEO are quickly falling behind the times.

Our point is this: If you can provide a high-quality user experience that compels visitors to visit multiple pages and stay on your site for long periods of time, you can expect to benefit in terms of SEO. Effective tagging can represent one piece of the puzzle in terms of improving the user experience, and ultimately benefit your rankings, even if not directly.

Don’t Miss out–Up Your SEO Game With Tags

To get the most out of your SEO strategy, you need to use tags. Optimizing your content with relevant and useful tags will improve the visitor experience and boost your rankings.

Now it’s over to you. What’s your opinion on the use of title, header, and blog post tags for SEO purposes? Let us know in the comments section below!

[maarlathvhenan]

You should do all of those questions

oh jees okay

1) Post a picture of you

This is the most recent I have of myself taken last night with my bestie Megan while we were getting schwifty

2) Would you date an 18-year-old at the age you are now?

Oh yeah fersure

3) Do you prefer to be friends with girls or boys? 

Doesn’t matter much to me. If you’re a cool dude, you’re a cool dude.

4) Would you ever smile at a stranger?

It’s part of my job to smile at strangers.

5) Can you commit to one person?

If I find the right one fersure. 

6) How do you look right now?

Like this

7) What exactly are you wearing right now?

My lil brother’s hoodie, my Reaper t shirt, my “SICK JUNK” jeans and my I C O N I C boots

8) How often do you listen to music?

Every chance I get

9) Do you wear jeans or sweat more?

Jeans for sure

10) Do you think your life will change dramatically before 2015?

I don’t think it did because it is now 2017 almost 2018

11) Are you a social or an antisocial person? 

Mostly antisocial tbh

12) If the person you like says they like someone else, what would you say? 

I would be immensely saddened and I don’t know what I would say. My feelings get so intense while they brew for while so I’d probs be pretty heartbroken. Especially now. If I found out they guy I liked liked someone else, I would be really torn up about it.

13) Are you good at hiding your feelings?

Most of them. Any romantic feelings, absolutely not. Everything else? Yes absolutely.

14) Can you drive stick shift?

No, but I know someone who is a god at it.

15) Do you care if people talk badly about you?

Absolutely not.

16) Are you going out of town soon?

Not that I know of.

17) When was the last time you cried? 

Good question. I don’t remember, but it was fairly recent.

18) Have you ever liked someone you didn’t expect to? 

The dude I like now is someone I used to hate a few years. Now, I keep thinking about him whether I want to or not.

19) If you could change your eye colour, would you?

Absolutely not. My eyes are my best asset boi.

20) Name something you have to do tomorrow?

Buy a battery, oil, coolant, and an air filter for my car and ya know put it together and shit.

21) Name something you dislike about the day you’re having

I’m not with my friends rn.

22) Have you ever liked one of your best friends from the opposite sex?

Remember that dude I said I used to hate? Yeah, him.

23) Are you nice to everyone?

Simply put, no.

24) What are you sitting on right now?

My office chair that isn’t in an office because we don’t have one of those

25) Do you think you could last in a relationship for 6 months and not cheat? 

Uhh, yeah?? What kind of scummy question is that?

26) Have you ever wanted someone you couldn’t have?

JC Chasez and Joey Fatone as of late.

27) Who was the last person you talked to before you went to bed last night?

Probs Garett or Megan

28) Do you get a lot of colds?

Nah, not really. I get a lot of headaches.

29) Have your pants ever fallen down in public? 

No, but they’ve ripped during school before.

30) Does anyone hate you?

I sure hope so.

31) Do you have someone of the opposite sex you can tell everything to?

Not yet.

32) Do you like watching scary movies?

YES MAH BOI SCARY MOVIES ARE MY SHIT

33) Are you a jealous person?

Probably. Yes. Yes indeed.

34) If you had to delete one year of your life completely, which would it be?

Probably anywhere between 2012-2014

35) Did you have a dream last night?

I don’t quite remember. I was not in the right mind state.

36) Is there anyone you can tell EVERYTHING to?

@maroonedkashmir

37) Do you think you’ll be married in five years?

Maybe. Hopefully.

38) Do you think someone has feelings for you?

I sure hope so or things would probs be a little awkward.

39) Do you think someone is thinking about you right now?

I hope so, but probably not.

40) Did you have a good day yesterday? 

Mostly. It was a great night.

41) Think back to two months ago; were you in a relationship?

BOI I haven’t been in a relationship for about 5 years. 

42) Is you life like it was two years ago?

Not entirely, no. There are differences, that’s for damn sure. But mostly some things have stayed stagnant.

43) If the person you wish to be with were with you, what would you be doing right now? 

Hopefully napping and cuddling or something idfk

44) What’s the best part about school?

Nothing. School’s for chumps.

45) Do you have any pictures on your Facebook?

Yeah no shit

46) Do you ever pass notes to your friends in school?

I used to when I went to school.

47) Do you replay things that have happened in your head?

Of course.

48) Were you single over the last summer? 

I’ve been single over the past 5 summers.

49) What are you supposed to be doing right now?

Nothing, honestly. It’s my day off so I’m fuckin chillin.

50) Don’t tell me lies, is the last person you texted attractive?

Yeah, I have a fat ole crush on him. Of course he’s attractive. He’s cute af. 

[artificialskyway-archived]

92 Statements Tag

tagged by @i-mweakforchangkyun + @mikapeanut thank you, bbys! <3

Sorry that there aren’t 92 djsbkjrg BUT CLOSE ENOUGH.

Rules: You must answer these 92 statements and tag 20 (or however many you’d like) people!

The Last :

1. Drink: M: fruit punch Kool-Aid! R: waterrrr

2. Phone Call: M: my dad R: my mama

3. Text Message: M: Admin R lol R: my homegirl, K

4. Song You Listened To:  M: “Mystery Lover” by Taemin R: reflecting light x sam phillips

5. Time You Cried:  M: sunday i think? R: two days ago, tbh - i’m a big baby

6. Dated Someone Twice:  M: ugh dont remind me lol i think back in 2014? single ever since R: three times bc i was a dummyhead. lol 2010-2015

7. Kissed Someone And Regretted It:  M: nope R: oh yes, definitely. 

8. Been Cheated On:  M: not sure but at the same time im pretty sure R: twice, a few years back.

9. Lost Someone Special:  M: unfortunately R: mhm, in 2012.

10. Been Depressed: M: still dealing with my demons R: it comes and goes

11. Gotten Drunk And Thrown Up:  M: never R: thankfully the last time it was that bad was a year ago.

List 3 Favourite Colours (12-14):

M: grey, maroon, and black R: mint-green, black, + white

In The Last Year Have You:

15. Made New Friends:  M: yes! our lovely L.P. anon and many more! R: i definitely have! all thanks to kpop lol. 

16. Fallen Out Of Love: M: nope R: no

17. Laughed Until You Cried:  M: yes! lol R: oh most definitely! just happened yesterday; my best friend and i ended up on the floor in the middle of a payless shoe store laughing our asses off ‘til we cried. 

18. Found Out Someone Was Talking About You:  M: nope R: i dont remember? 

19. Met Someone Who Changed You: M: not really tbh R: in a way, yes. 

20. Found Out Who Your Friends Are:  M: yep R: mhm

21.Kissed Someone On Your Facebook List: M: lmao cx i dont even use fb anymore R: nope

General:

22. How Many Of Your Facebook Friends Do You Know IRL: M: one R: all of them lol. 

23. Do You Have Any Pets: M: yes! 2 dogs, 2 cats, and a hamster! R: two pups <3

24. Do You Want To Change Your Name: M: definitely..i would just shorten it to Moni lol R: i used to. but now it’s growing on me.

25: What Did You Do For Your Last Birthday: M: uh...tbh i dont remember, I have terrible memory R: spent it in washington with my fam.

26: What Time Did You Wake Up: M: 7:44 am R: 6:00am rip

27: What Were You Doing Last Night: M: sleeping...i went to bed at 7 pm R: hangin’ with my best friend

28. Name Something You Can’t Wait For: M: Paramore’s concert! R: my high school best friend’s wedding + going back to work (i miss my kiddos) + the paramore concert!

29. When Was The Last Time You Saw Your Mum: M: shit...i think october 2014?..long story R: last night

30. What Are You Listening To Right Now: M: EXO-M’s “MAMA”!! R: 4-ever x NB Ridaz ;; <3 (i’m feelin’ hella nostalgic today)

31. Have You Ever Talked To A Person Named Tom: M: nope R: thomas ? yes lol he didn’t like being called tom. 

32. Something That Gets On Your Nerves: M: lies R: those drivers that pull out into your lane and insist on driving 20 miles under the speed of traffic, like bruh pls stop that. 

33. Most Visited Website: M: tumblr and youtube R: ^^^ same, same.

34-36 were missing!

37. Hair Colour: M: brown-black R: dark brown

38. Long Or Short Hair: M: long R: long-ish

39. Do You Have A Crush On Someone: M: not atm R: nahh.

40. What Do You Like About Yourself: M: my intelligence..maybe my legs if we’re talking about physical R: my music taste, lmao and that’s it. 

41. Piercings: M: none R: zero.

42. Blood Type: M: no idea tbh lol R: i should know, but i don’t know. 

43. Nickname: M: moni..my dad calls me moosh R: ronnie, rons, ronron, bibi, i have a lot. 

44. Relationship Status: M: single asf (but happy) R: single

45. Zodiac: M: gemini R: gemini

46. Pronouns: M: she/ her R: she/her

47. Favourite TV Show: M: hm...gotta go with Leverage and Psych at a tie R: psych -- the #1 show of all time. 

48. Tattoos: M: none R: none, yet!

49. Right Or Left Handed: M: right-handed R: right

50. Surgery: M: none R: none

51. Piercings: M: R: already asked, lol. but y’know what??.these surveys remind of the good ‘ol myspace days where we would do these and post them to our bulletin, anyone know what i’m talkin’ about?? nostalgia is hittin’ hard. 

52. Sports: M: does dance count? probably not but oh well R: i used to play volleyball + hockey (not in a legit team but a bunch of us played for years in school together)

53. Vacation: M: just came back from one! R: currently, i want to go back to hawaii

54. Pair Of Trainers: M: uh...dont know what those are R: i got converse..

55. Eating: M: i ate a bunch of hot cheetos earlier? R: pizzaaaa

56. Drinking: M: i’m drinking water atm..i dont drink alcohol lol R: water

57. I’m About To: M: probably pee if im being honest..sorry for the tmi XD R: hug my dog rn bc she is lookin hella cute i need to hug her, brb.

58. Waiting For: M: nothing lol R: my best friend to come pick me up

60. Want: M: atm?...cuddles R: to dye my hair

61. Get Married: M: i hope to one day R: some day

62. Career: M: i hope to be a translator R: a children’s counselor

Which Is Better:

63. Hugs Or Kisses: M: hugs..but really..why not both? R: hugsssss

64. Lips Or Eyes: M: eyes R: lips

65. Shorter Or Taller: M: taller cuz im short asf R: taller

66. Older Or Younger: M: older R: older

67. Nice Arms Or Nice Stomach: M: arms! R: it doesn’t really matter, lol, i’ll choose arms tho

68. Hookup Or Relationship: M: relationship R: relationship

69. Troublemaker Or Hesitant: M: hesitant R: hesitant, with some impulsive tendencies

Have You Ever:

70. Kissed A Stranger: M: nope R: nah

71. Drank Hard Liquor: M: yep R: oh yes

72. Lost Glasses Or Contacts: M: oh  yea R: yep yep

73. Turned Someone Down: M: yep R: yeah

74. Sex On The First Date:  M: nope..never been on a date R: nah

75. Broken Someone’s Heart:  M:.....yes R: yup

76. Had Your Own Heart Broken:  M: oh yea R: yup

77. Been Arrested: M: nerp R: no

78. Cried When Someone Died:  M: definitely R: of course

79. Fallen For A Friend: M: ??? R: nope

Do You Believe In:

80. Yourself: M: sometimes..depends on what im doing R: i believe that i can find some hella good music to listen to

81. Miracles: M: yes R: yep

82. Love At First Sight: M: no R: i’m always on the fence on this; so, yes + no

83. Santa Claus: M: lol no R: bruh of course. 

84. Kiss On The First Date: M: sure if it feels right R: it depends

85. Angels: M: yes R: yep

Others:

86. Current Best Friends Name: M: Veronica :D R: kaitlynn; moni, elle, carina

87. Eye Colour: M: brown R: poop brown

88. Favourite Movie: M: V for Vendetta R: currently, kill bill!

We tag: @junyixinqs @got7doubleb @chambaeq @moedits @alicat-doodles @daddymarktuan . . anyone that sees this!

[nicomrade]

i was tagged by @the-space-enby! thank you 4 taggin me bub!

In general:

Real name: lmao im not 100% confy
 w/ my birth name anymore so ye. yall should really really call me moki tho

Nicknames: except for the shit based on my birth name/moki i am sometimes known as, birb 


Sexuality: pan/aro ayyyyyy


Preferred pronouns: they/them baby. he/him is acceptable if you dont have cool neutral pronouns like english does tho no prob friendo i dont mind


Are you a morning person?: i have to be up in the morning or else im gonna have a shit day but morning is for doin nothin on the interwebs and eating your noon at 11am. im actually super productive at 12pm/1pm so ill say not at all a morning person? like early afternoon? also night is super great if im hyperfocusing on something or else its just the time when im being Sad


When swimming, do you prefer to do it in the ocean, or in a lake?: pool all the way baby. i swam in a lake once (1) and i remember it being cold so if its Hot why not but ayyy those good ol man-made pools full of piss are the way to go

On tumblr:

Anyone you would like to meet in real life?: mmm @vava-chan-take-over-the-world ??? we gotta meet up next time you come to europe bub


Anyone you have met in real life?: like the irl friends i bullied into getting a tumblr ye but that doesnt count

When did you first join? How old is your current account?: im too lazy to check but my meme memory should be enough here. i joined few months before that “i crave that mineral” meme so fall 2014 i believe


Any peeves?: people using the wrong aro flag :( i dont wanna call them out or make an actual post about it cause if youre aro and use the yellow or the orange one then go you!!!! do your thing!!!! and like some artists put time & effort into art themed after the wrong one and i dont wanna be that guy so i shut up but please!!!!!!!! please try using the green/green/white/grey/black one?

Unpopular opinion: not only bigots but bigots-sympathizers should get punched in their ugly, bigoted faces. if youre helping the spread of hateful ideologies because its “freedom of speech” or “looking at all the point of views!!” then im going to personally break your knees regardless of what you actually believe in.

Feelings:

Do you easily get jealous?: not really jealous?? but like, left out & unloved. its mostly when friends seem to be closer to each other than to me but like whenever im third wheeling my current girl crush i die a little more inside


Do you easily get angry?: i think im p chill? like im the one messing with others and making them angry without meaning to usually. but when im in A Mood and i Need to be Alone im gonna snap and want to kill whoever’s in my space while im lowkey freaking out 


Are you easy to cheer up?: depends??????? on what i need???? some times any of my friend can cause i need to think of something else but othertime its, you say the wrong thing im gonna block you, steal your cat and when you eventually find out ill be like “do u hear that too kitty? it sounds like this place’s haunted or something i keep hearing a voice but i cant see where its coming from”


Are you good at hiding your emotions?: i wrote a book called “how to make your friends think youre mentally doing great when youre actually in the middle of a 3 months long mental breakdown” so i’d say, via text hell yes, in person i think my mood shifts are pretty obvious

What’s the very best way to cheer you up?: invite me to your house, come to mine even tho i said no, take advantage of my surprise and knock me the fuck out, put me in my bed and go home. ill wake up thinking it was one of my fucked up dreams and feeling better cause Night Time is Hell Time but Noon Time is I’ll See How This Day’s Going Time (ISHTDG Time)

Relationships:

Are you currently in a relationship?: nah

Do you currently have a crush on someone?: i think i still have that crush on that dude from my class though the year’s finished and my girl crush i mentionned earlier. im aro tho so the meaning of crush varies


If yes, might that someone be reading this?: lmao neither have a tumblr i hope not

Do you kiss on the first date?: my aro ass says whats a date but my touch starved ass says i’ll kiss on the minus 2nd date???

Do you prefer going out, or staying home, when it comes to dates?: whats a date lol

Things:

Favorite drink: its the unhealthiest of all its coke ayyyyyy 

Favorite food: lasagnas?? strawberry pie???? fucking pineapple pizza???

Most calming place?: i dont give a fuck about the place whats important is: are there any people around? nobodys there?: chill af, anyones there?:.im already sensory overloading m8

Most stressful place?:  anything that reminds me of a Bad Time


Most prized possession?: im a man of many loves dont make me choose. im a bad commie being attached to material stuff but thats the way i am & marx can kinkshame me anytime

i tag like @fullmoondagger if he wants to & @creepycreampuff if they dont mind also

[thank-your-lucky-stars]

I’ve been feeling a bit reflective about my old fandom since yesterday, after watching a compilation video of all the times The Monkees broke the fourth wall. I also realised it’s roughly three years since I hosted the first Monkees Awards! So many people took part back then. Oh how things change!

This post gets kinda long, and I chat about the differences between my old fandom, and my current fandom, and what I’ve learnt from my experiences. I’m shoving it under a read more so not to flood your dash’s!!!! 

It’s so sad how things work out. It’s so sad the way that a fandom that was happy and active when I joined in 2012 just fizzled out to nothing a few years later. I know it had been on the decline for a little while, but the fact that it finally died in 2016 - the Monkees 50th anniversary year - is honestly so so sad to me. I just find it a real shame.

There were some good people in that fandom. Some smart, funny and fun people. It’s sad that many people got too scared to post, and we all know why that was. It made the most active blogs who posted the most content - like myself at the time - not want to post anymore, as we’d go into the tag and it would be.....dead. There would be nothing there. Nothing to inspire us to create, and I know I’d wonder if anyone would care if I did post. There didn’t seem to be the audience anymore. 

There were people I really thought were friends. If not proper hardcore friends, then mates at least. There are a handful of Monkees fans/blog that still follow me. Most of them unfollowed me, which I can understand - especially now I post so much of something else. It’s still a shame though. I lost one of the first Monkees blogs that ever followed me/that I ever followed the other day, but at least she messaged me first and explained, which I really appreciated. It was a nice gesture, to say there was no hard feelings, she still wanted to stay in touch, but she was just cleaning up her dash. Which again, I totally get. Especially when I’m posting 8848429 Robron posts a day (which....I don’t every day, but when something exciting/major is happening, then yeah I can post a LOT, which I understand can be annoying to non-fans). But still, it was so kind of her to at least tell me she was going to unfollow me, especially as she’d been a constant presence on my dash for the best part of five years. I doubt I’ll ever hear from her again, but that’s okay. I still follow her all the same.

Not everyone has been that kind though. People that I’d had long, long conversations with over the course of years, people that I’d chatted to about personal stuff as well as fandom stuff just....disappeared. Either unfollowed or simply stopped talking to me all together. In one very specific case, with someone I used to talk to quite a lot, I said “I don't want it to get so you only speak to me about terrible people and nothing else.” to which the person said that would never be the case. I saw that as a test, an opportunity for me to see if that person would ever actually talk to me about anything else, so I left the door open, wondering if they would ever get in touch with me, ask me how I was doing, or anything like that. 

It’s been almost six months, and they never spoke to me again.

But I know that’s just the way it goes for some people. I know they want their fandom friends and if you take the fandom away then they don’t want to know. And I mean.....I get it. I honestly do. But it can be eye-opening. I feel like I have learnt a lot, and I’ve definitely learnt to protect myself, to not invest myself as heavily anymore. Which is....hard for me. It goes against my natural instincts.

It’s especially hard, coming into a fandom where everyone is so so kind and sympathetic and caring and open and just....nice. I was burnt a LOT in my last fandom, and used a lot too. People who would come to me, spilling all of their problems, and I would spend hours talking to them, trying to help them. But once they’d got my advice, my sympathy, they didn’t want to know. And when the tables were turned, and I was the one struggling, I’d hear nothing from them.

But that was my fault. It was something I spoke about a lot at the time and I won’t go into it again. But it taught me a hell of a lot!! I can never not help people or be there if they need it, but I’ve definitely learnt the signs between people that genuinely care, and genuinely need help, and people who just.....like attention, people who will take take take but won’t give. I can read it a lot better now. But at the same time, I also know not to invest too much of myself into these people. I can offer advice and support but I don’t necessarily have to offer me.

I haven’t encountered anyone like that in this fandom so far, which is amazing. But I still have the valuable lessons from my old fandom (and my first ever fandom, the MCR fandom tbh) that I can carry with me! 

But I mean, I’m not going to say it was all bad, or all people were selfish or awful or anything, because by god they weren’t! And even the people that were self-involved.....I know it wasn’t their fault. It doesn’t make them bad people. I don’t hate them or even dislike them, not at all. Some people are just like that, and maybe it was my fault, maybe I just put myself out there like I was a doormat or something. I don’t know. I accept my part of the responsibility. Sometimes I try too hard.

But there were great people too, and great times. There were some funny conversations and memes and some really insightful posts and I learnt a hell of a lot. It was such a different experience, being in a fandom where the band’s/TV show’s heyday was 20 years before I was ever born. It was weird to just celebrate the past and not really have any care for the future. A totally different ball-game to being in a fandom like I’m in now, where every day there seems to be something new, something to look forward to (or dread!) and there are obviously a hell of a lot more people about now.

But I did like how....chilled it was. There was still the odd drama, but for the most part it was fine. It was pretty easy. And I had a lot of respect for the women who compiled so much information, who run fansites for years and made the Monkees seem hip to teenagers in the 90s-2000s instead of having kids see them as some lame old band from the 60s. I love that it was a fandom run by women. 

And I’m proud of the place I managed to carve for myself amongst the fandom, especially considering I was a fan post-Davy Jones’ death. I was a newer fan, but I was still welcomed and I still found my place. I had a lot of fun putting together all the posts I did, finding pictures, making screen-captures of my favourite scenes, writing my reviews of the albums and the episodes, and especially hosting the Monkees Awards from 2014-2016. That first year especially was amazing, because so many people took part!! Considering it was such a small fandom, I would say half of all the active Monkees blogs on tumblr at the time took part in that first year, which was so much fun. 

I do miss it sometimes. I do feel like my current fandom is more for me though, in the sense that people talk/interact a lot more. It made me sad how the Monkees fandom got from probably the start of 2015-ish, until the end....people spoke less and less. It become more and more about the same old pictures and less and less about discussion. Which, I mean, I can understand in a way because this was an old band, an old TV show, it wasn’t like there was much new stuff to cover. But there seemed to be a lot of people without voices, where even when you’d ask a question, people would reblog the question but wouldn’t give an answer. That always baffled me, that even when prompted and encouraged to talk about their favourite episode or their favourite song/album, they wouldn’t. It was a bit odd to me, but each to their own. Not everyone is a fan in the same way and I totally respect that.

That’s why I enjoy this fandom more, because there is constant discussion. I think the only thing that gets me down is sometimes there is SO MUCH and I want to be a part of it all but it can be impossible to keep up! There are so many insanely smart and observant and articulate people within this fandom and it blows my mind. As much as I love the stunning gifsets and edits and art etc, it’s a good ol’ text post that will get me the most excited. And writing is the only thing I really have to offer, and compared to so many other people here, I know it’s not much. But I have been welcomed in such an amazing way. I know I have been an Emmerdale fan long before there was a fandom here (long before tumblr even existed!), but when the fandom was born I was sort of on the outskirts of it, more a lurker, as I still hung onto my old fandom and I didn’t want to spread myself too thin by being heavily involved in two fandoms. Letting go of my old fandom and throwing myself into this one was the best thing I have done in a long time. 

But anyway. This is a lot longer than I planned it to be!!!! I don’t know if anyone would read it, but I’ve been thinking a lot about this stuff since yesterday.

I will always continue to reblog my old Monkees posts (one at 7pm, and one at 2:30am, every single day!!!) because....I don’t want to let go completely. I may not offer anything new, but I still like to hold on a little bit!

If anyone still follows me who still loves the Monkees, and you ever fancy shooting me an ask and chatting about them (the music/the show/the boys themselves!) honestly....that would make me so happy. I may have moved on in many ways but I will never not love them and I will never not love the good years I had in their wonderful fandom! 

[harnarius]

Five Things Meme

I was tagged by the lovely @francesca-wayland to do the “Five Things” meme??? #shook 

haha anyway :’)

Five things in my bag: - A toothbrush, toothpaste, and an invisalign container. I’ve had them for a year and a half, and I’m finally getting my retainers in a week! - My Les Misérables script! I’m Madame Thenerdier. - Probably my physics and chemistry textbooks - Definitely my computer!! 13 inch Early 2015 MacBook Pro! - A rubik’s cube, because if my phone dies or I have nothing to do, I can always practice.

Five things in my bedroom: - A bunch of posters from when I was 12 that I’ve never had the energy to take down? We’re talking Josh Hutcherson and Taylor Swift, guys.  - My electric piano!!! I got it for my 15th birthday and I love it so much!! - A ginormous, never-ending pile of laundry.  - Half a dozen cosplays strewn everywhere, and a box full of wigs.  - I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this, but I’ve had an Adlock shrine of sorts on my wall since 2014. With that collage I did of all the Adlockers (the one with the yacht?) and nice things people have said to me. 

Five Things I Want To Do With My Life: - Travel to Alaska and Hawaii, because then I will have been to all 50 states in the US! Next list to conquer is all the National Parks. (I think I’ve been to 19? I have a t-shirt with all of them listed and I’m slowly ticking each thing off the list) - I hope to become a computer engineer, but I want to do theatre and writing on the side. - Take this silly original fiction WIP that’s been stewing for four years and re-write it and finally get around to publishing it. - Keep improving my piano skills. (Have you seen me on Instagram? My form and technique is utter garbage.)  - Get more in shape so I can actually climb mountains without dying. (I was totally shot for three days after climbing like 1/3 of Mt. Rainier last summer it was...bad.)

Five Things on my To-Do list: - Actually get my driver’s license. I don’t have a car to drive, which is why I’ve been putting it off for so long.  - Study for a chemistry test on Tuesday. RIP. (Edward Elric is 100% of my motivation for this, ngl) - Finish Kill la Kill, start JJBA, and see if I can squeeze in a few more anime before an anime convention in two weeks. - Actually finish my SnK cosplay for the convention. I need to finish the lining on the jacket and attach the emblems, and finish my 3DMG. I’m in good shape, but alas, con crunch is still getting me.  - Get off book for Act 1 of Les Miz.

Five things people might not know about me: - One of my hobbies is learning scripts for other languages? I know, it’s kind of weird, but I hate the feeling of staring at text and having no idea how it’s pronounced or how it’s supposed to be read. Currently working on Cyrillic (and that is most definitely not because of my victor nikiforov obession) - Despite having played piano for six years, I can’t read piano sheet music to save my life. I learn everything by synthesia tutorials on YouTube or by ear (my dad thinks I’m Special™ because of that, but it’s more like years and years of honing in that skill.) I post a lot of piano shit on my instagram, aksiznerfgun. - I have a burning passion for Mario RPG games. Like Paper Mario 64 and TTYD and Super Mario Sunshine, I could go on for hours and hours about those. (remember when palace skip and UHE were memes? :’D the good ole days.) (also fuk u pie)  - I'm a total espresso nut. I don’t know all the fancy chemistry and science, but I have an espresso maker that I’m completely in love with. - I have lots of issues processing any kind of auditory input unless I’m doing something with my hands. Which also leads to strange things like sewing + listening to audiobooks, a situation where I can focus on both things perfectly.

Five Things I’m Into Right Now: - I get super gross and disgusting over anime I like. (see my sideblog @angry-and-resentful-donuts​ like apparently people like how cringey I get because that somehow got 1.1k followers?) I spend my days scrolling through my OTP tags on Ao3 and sobbing over fic.  - Which reminds me! The Yuri on Ice fic, Winter Song, by @borntomake! I’m completely obsessed with it, and I legit created a therapy group for it because chapter 11 ruined me as a human being.  - The artist Sam Sparro! His music is kind of weird and it’s definitely an acquired taste, but I really like it. When I did competitive dancing, they’d always play his music during warmups, and I rediscovered his music last fall.  - I actually really love baking! I used to bake solely because it would result in something tasty, but I’ve really come to enjoy the process of making it too.  - listening to the entire Harry Potter series yet again. I do this probably 1-2 times each year, and I’m currently on book 3. 

Tagging @criyings, @night-crayon, @arenaultimax, @pro-antagonist, @spaceyskater​, @rustycoralnipples​, @lyrangalia​, and anyone else who wants to do it!

[johnishere-blog]

Image from page 244 of “Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution” (1895)

Identifier: annualreportofbu219smit Title: Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution Year: 1895 (1890s) Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Subjects: Smithsonian Institution. Bureau of American Ethnology Ethnology Indians Publisher: Washington : U. S. Govt. Print. Off. Contributing Library: Boston Public Library Digitizing Sponsor: Kahle/Austin Foundation and Omidyar Network

View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book

Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image: ers here to the date to be supplied, as has been shown,to the third series on the right slal) of the Tablet of the FoliatedCross. The interval he gives betweiMi the two dates is 6-11-6, whichis in accordance with the inscription. Tiiis is fol!owe(l (11) by S Ahau8 Lo with an interval of 1-12-4. whicli is also correct. TEMPLE OK INSCKIITIONS 771 ]t will l)t seen from this discussion that tlicri arc some ln-caks in hissynopsis which \ ill. until Ihcv aiv cxpltiinctl. icaxc it in an unsatisfac-tory coudition. Nc(rth(^less. as has l)eon suyycstcd. the two inscrip-tions appear to he based on the same enetit of Mr Maudslays photo-graphs and drawings and, to some extent, of Mr Cioodmans interpre-tation. As parts of the inscrijition have lieen badly defaced it is

Text Appearing After Image: Flii. 1^—Ijiit ol the illsuriplian uii tiic wall ul thu Tumpk- ^ti InscriiJtiuiis, Puluiiqiiu. impossible to give the series and dates iu connected form. Attentionwill therefore be directed only to such portions as are sufficiently dis-tinct to be determined with probable coriectness ))y inspection. AsMr (xoodmaii has given, on i)ago ll-t of his work, a copy of part of theinscription with comments, reference will l)e made tirst to this portion,of which a copy is gi(>n in our tigure 18. This portion is lettered andnuinbered separately in the usual manner. Mr Goodmans conuuents. as given on pages 114 and 115 of his work.are as follows, the breaks and parentheses being his own: The readini: of tlie above, so far as 1 can make it out, in as follows: (To the) 10 Alum 1.1 Yaxkiii (that is) 1 caUinlar roimil (froii; a. or tile samel date appcuriiitr some ilistaiire liaik—S days, it ilmens (^tliere is what 772 MAYAN CALENDAR SYSTEMS [ethannIU appears almost like a trick here: the numb

Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability – coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.

Posted by Internet Archive Book Images on 2014-07-30 08:47:55

Tagged: , bookid:annualreportofbu219smit , bookyear:1895 , bookdecade:1890 , bookcentury:1800 , bookauthor:Smithsonian_Institution__Bureau_of_American_Ethnology , booksubject:Smithsonian_Institution__Bureau_of_American_Ethnology , booksubject:Ethnology , booksubject:Indians , bookpublisher:Washington___U__S__Govt__Print__Off_ , bookcontributor:Boston_Public_Library , booksponsor:Kahle_Austin_Foundation_and_Omidyar_Network , bookleafnumber:244 , bookcollection:USGovernmentDocuments , bookcollection:bostonpubliclibrary , bookcollection:americana , bookcollection:additional_collections

The post Image from page 244 of “Annual report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution” (1895) appeared first on Good Info.

[goarticletec-blog]

Gmail encryption: Everything you need to know

New Post has been published on https://www.articletec.com/gmail-encryption-everything-you-need-to-know/

Gmail encryption: Everything you need to know

Encryption may sound like a subject best left to hackers and tinfoil hat wearers, but don’t be fooled: It’s a critical part of contemporary life and something that’s important for everyone, especially business users, to understand. And one of the places where encryption is most relevant and misunderstood is in the realm of email.

If you’re using Gmail for electronic communication — be it for business, for personal use, or a combination of the two — it’s well worth your while to know how the service does and doesn’t secure your information and what steps you can take to make sure you’re getting the level of privacy you need.

Ready to dive in?

Gmail encryption: How Google protects most messages

Google’s standard method of Gmail encryption is something called TLS, or Transport Layer Security. As long as the person with whom you’re emailing is also using a mail service that also supports TLS — which most major mail providers do — all messages you send through Gmail will be encrypted in this manner.

What that basically means is that it’ll be incredibly difficult for anyone to look at a message while it’s en route from point A to point B. It doesn’t, however, guarantee that the message will remain private or available only to the intended recipient once it reaches the destination mail server. Google itself, for instance, has the ability to see messages associated with your account, which is what allows the company to scan your email for potential spam and phishing attacks — and also to offer advanced features like Smart Reply, which suggests responses based on an email’s contents. (Google used to scan messages for ad targeting, too, but it stopped doing that last year.)

If the person with whom you’re corresponding is using a mail server that doesn’t support TLS, meanwhile, messages won’t be encrypted at all. (With paid G Suite accounts, administrators can opt to allow only messages with TLS encryption to be sent or received — though that’d obviously have its own set of likely undesirable consequences.)

Gmail encryption: A next-level option

Beyond that basic form of encryption, Gmail supports an enhanced standard known as S/MIME — or Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. It’s available only for paid G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Education accounts, so if you’re using a regular free Gmail account, it doesn’t apply to you.

For folks with G Suite setups, though, S/MIME (which may or may not have been invented by a mime) allows emails to be encrypted with user-specific keys so that they remain protected during delivery and can be decrypted only by the intended recipient.

Like TLS, S/MIME works only if both the sender and recipient are using a service that supports it — and, in an extra layer of complication, only if both parties have exchanged keys in advance so that the encryption can be properly configured. Like TLS, it also doesn’t do anything to keep a message secured once it’s reached its actual destination server (and so again, within Gmail, Google itself will be able to scan messages in its usual automated way).

Last but not least, S/MIME has to be enabled by a G Suite admin before it’ll work.

Gmail encryption: End-to-end encryption

Google’s been talking about adding end-to-end encryption into Gmail since 2014, but all of that talk hasn’t amounted to much so far (and may not ever, according to some analyses). The only way to get that level of protection in Gmail right now is to rely on a third-party service such as FlowCrypt, which is available as a Chrome or Firefox extension on the desktop. (An Android app is also available in a pre-release beta form.)

FlowCrypt adds a “Secure Compose” button into your regular Gmail interface, which allows you to send encrypted messages using the PGP (Pretty Good Privacy — yes, that’s actually what it’s called) standard. Your recipient will need to have FlowCrypt or another PGP system set up and will also need to have your personal PGP key in order to decrypt and view your messages. Alternatively, you can use the extension to encrypt a message with a password, which you’d then have to provide to the recipient in some way.

So, yeah: It isn’t exactly simple, and the third-party add-on implementation certainly isn’t ideal. But it can get the job done. And it’s free — to a degree: If you want to unlock the service’s full set of features and remove all of its restrictions, you’ll have to pony up $5 a month for a premium subscription.

Wait, what about Gmail’s Confidential Mode?

Yeah, don’t put much stock into that. Confidential Mode is a feature launched as part of the Gmail revamp earlier this year. The idea is that it lets you prevent someone from forwarding, copying, printing, and downloading anything you send them — and, if you want, lets you set an expiration date after which your message will no longer be accessible. You can also create a passcode, delivered via email or text message, that’s required in order to open the message.

That all sounds nice enough on the surface, but the problem is that it doesn’t really do a heck of a lot when it comes to actual security. Messages still aren’t encrypted in any end-to-end manner, meaning Google (and other mail services) are still able to view and store them. The “no forwarding, copying, printing, and downloading” bit doesn’t mean much, either, since anyone can still take a screenshot of a message if they’re so inclined. (Google has said the feature is less about that level of security and more about simply discouraging people from accidentally sharing sensitive info where they shouldn’t.)

The same applies to the message expiration dates — as does the fact that an “expired” message continues to exist in your own Gmail Sent folder. All in all, Confidential Mode has the potential to be useful for what it is, but it doesn’t involve encryption or any sort of meaningful, higher-level privacy. In fact, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has gone as far as to say the mode could create a false sense of security and discourage users from finding more serious solutions.

So what other options are there?

If native end-to-end encryption and the highest possible level of privacy is what you’re after, your best bet is to look outside of Gmail and toward a standalone email app called ProtonMail. ProtonMail is among the best privacy and security apps on Android — and for good reason: It makes privacy a top priority in ways no form of standard Gmail encryption can match.

First, ProtonMail uses an open-source method of end-to-end encryption that ensures no one beyond your intended recipient — not even the folks at ProtonMail — can ever see your messages. Beyond that, the app doesn’t require you to provide any personal information to use it, and the company maintains no records of IP addresses or anything else that could associate your identity with your account. Its servers are also hosted in Switzerland — in a “bunker 1000 meters under the Swiss alps,” no less — which has its own apparent set of security benefits.

So here’s how it works: When you sign up, ProtonMail gives you a custom email address at its domain. You can then use that address to send secure messages within the ProtonMail Android app, iOS app, or web interface. Anytime you email someone else with a ProtonMail address, encryption is automatic. If you email someone who isn’t using ProtonMail, you can choose to send the message unencrypted — just like any regular ol’ email — or you can click a button to create a password and hint that the recipient will need in order to decrypt and read your message.

ProtonMail is free at its most basic level, which gives you a single ProtonMail address, 500MB of storage, and up to 150 messages per day. You can get more storage, more messages per day, and access to advanced features — like email filters, an auto-responder system, and support for custom domains — starting at $59 a year.

It isn’t technically Gmail encryption, of course, but you can import your Gmail messages or set up Gmail to forward to ProtonMail — or just use ProtonMail as a supplement to Gmail for the times when you need the strongest possible level of protection. When privacy is a priority and you don’t want to take any chances, it’s an excellent option to have.

Sign up for my weekly newsletter to get more practical tips, personal recommendations, and plain-English perspective on the news that matters.

[Android Intelligence videos at Computerworld]

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[shadesofgrady]

Still rotten and insane . . . after all these years

Is it possible that the spider may live again?

You guys remember the spider, right?

Perhaps not.  The last mention of it - I believe - in this here blog was September, 26, 2014.  The day before Sarah turned 40-something.

I just reread that post, entitled “texts from last night”. 

http://shadesofgrady.tumblr.com/post/98469813224/texts-from-last-night

It is particularly funny, and by that I mean funny as all fuck.

It’s also a little scary how little has actually changed in my head.  A shitload of change in my life including jobs, homes, cars, having teenage kids, and so on, and so on.

But the brain is mostly the same.

Some reasons I know this:

I don’t hate my job, but I hate working.

I still crave an IPA at 1130am, but I very rarely get to have it.

I want more than anything to run my own show, but yet I’m stuck working for the (wo)man.

I would rather be in the mountains than anywhere near the beach.

A bad day of skiing is still better than a good day of anything else.

The music has changed, but it never stops.  On that note, Sold in the City by Criminal Hygiene is a great tune.

Anywho, I digress.

Or do I digress so often, that I actually stay?  Think about it.

The spider.  I’m working with a dude back in sweet Virginia who is hopefully going to do the work - and I get paid.  It sounds like a match made in freaking heaven, so I’ll believe it when I see it.

For those of you who live in Ole Virginny - and you miss the idea of fall Saturdays and Sundays filled with sriracha and congestive heart failure - you may well be in for a treat.

If all of this happens, I may have another ace or two up the sleeve behind it.  They could also be jokers.  Time will tell.

The only thing I know for sure is that working for someone else is fucking dumb - and soul-crushing.  Well that is all true until I walk out my back door and see what that soul-crushing shit-show affords me.

What is it they say, you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

I’m not sure that proverb really fits there - or even makes sense.  It just sort of felt right.

Here is what our good friend at the Wikipedia say about it:

“The proverb literally means "you cannot simultaneously retain your cake and eat it". Once the cake is eaten, it is gone. It can be used to say that one cannot or should not have or want more than one deserves or is reasonable, or that one cannot or should not try to have two incompatible things.“

Holy shit!

I couldn’t have picked a more appropriate phrase.  I’m either the smartest fucking guy in the room, or I may have discovered the matrix.

I’m guessing the latter, cuz the only other guy in the room is Jack, and we all know he’s way smarter than me.

The other day he explained to his mom that the length of the skimmer basket she was buying for the pool was not as important as the hypotenuse.

Fuck.  I remember that word from high school, but I never really knew what it meant.

Not sure I do now, but you get the point.

[zacdhaenkeau]

Google Knowledge Graph: the What, Why, and How

As the years roll by, it’s getting more and more difficult to cut through the noise and make it to the top of Google’s search results page. It all started with AdWords ads, occupying the sweetest spot of the search results page. These days, it’s not only ads taking the best real estate. Google now aims to instantly respond to your inquiry with their Knowledge Graph.

At times, you no longer even need to open a webpage to get an answer whenever you have a question. Google offers an information box that instantly responds to your search query. This, of course, makes everyone’s lives easier. At the same time, everything comes with a price. As a result of this innovation, a significant number of websites have experienced a traffic drop.

However, you shouldn’t give up just yet. There’s a good chance your business will be able to benefit from Google’s initiative rather than fade into oblivion. Since 2012, Google has gathered knowledge from a variety of sources to present you with an information box related to your search. It is meant to enhance search engine results and provide more value for search engine users.

Example of Google Knowledge Graph

You are likely to see Knowledge Graph data in the search results when you are looking for books, movies, places, organizations, recipes, people, etc. The data appears in the form of carousel lists or answer boxes. Moreover, the auto-complete feature you see every time you are typing something in Google is another shape the Knowledge Graph comes in.

In 2014, Google made one more step towards delivering more value to the user and introduced Knowledge Vault. The search engine would actually answer the question you typed in. Whether you are asking to convert euro into dollars, wondering where Mozart was born, or requesting to translate a word into Portuguese, Google has you covered with an answer box for nearly one-third of queries now.

Example of Google Knowledge Vault

Unless you are Wikipedia, which is often cited by Google, there are no surefire ways for your website to get on Knowledge Graph as the search engine collects data on its own. However, there are still a few things you can do to make use of it.

In this blog, I’ll show you how to make the Google Knowledge Graph work for you and why it’s essential for you as a marketer.

Present Your Brand Properly

Some easy low hanging fruit for you to go after is to get your brand featured in the Answer Box when whenever someone searches for it in Google. Type your company name into Google, and you should receive a data box with photos, reviews, address, phone and their company opening hours. To increase your chances of being featured, you should register a Google Plus account for your brand. The stronger your Google Plus account is (number of people in your circle, shares, +1’s), the more likely Google is to display your company in the Answer Box.

Get Your Local Business Featured

If you type in ‘Singapore restaurants’ in Google, search results will show you the map of Singapore with a list of restaurants. There is little need these days to optimize your local business website for search. Instead, you should take advantage of Google local search and go every extra mile to make your business appear in the Answer Box. Why? Just look at the screenshot below. Most people don’t even bother to scroll down past that Google answer. Start with creating a Google Plus local page to get your business to that map.

Google Local results for ‘Singapore restaurants’

Pro Tip: Encourage your customers to leave a review on your local business in Google. It amplifies your chances of getting featured.

Steal the Show With Featured Snippets

Sometimes your Google query requires an expert opinion or a more in-depth explanation rather than just showing an actor or a list of books. This is where Featured Snippets come into play. In a nutshell, a Featured Snippet is an abstract—typically a paragraph, list, or table—that Google extracts from certain websites that answer the user’s question.

Featured Snippet for our target keyword in Google

Unlike other forms of the Knowledge Graph, a Featured Snippet displays the source attribution. Moreover, when you click through this search result, you proceed directly to the source website. According to an Ahrefs study, Featured Snippet accounts for 8.6% of overall clicks, taking away the lion’s share of traffic from the search result right below it.

Average CTR of Featured Snippets according to Ahrefs

As I mentioned earlier, there are no proven ways to appear in Knowledge Graph results. The same is true for Featured Snippets. Nevertheless, there’ve been a lot of studies revealing the factors that significantly increase your chances to get featured. While there are plenty of lengthy articles on the issue, let me focus on the main tips we’ve used to get our website to the Featured Snippet for a search on ‘team communication tools.’

Identify the keyword you’d like to be seen in the Featured Snippet.

Check if Google already displays a Featured Snippet for this query (Ahrefs or Serpstat let you do this).

Try including this keyword into headings such as H2 and H3 on your webpage to increase the odds of getting featured. You can also keep the keyword as a part of your regular text to increase the likelihood it will be featured.

Give an explanation (an answer to a question, a list, a table) immediately after the keyword. Remember that Google rewards quality content and not keyword stuffing.

Keep the answer paragraph around 45 words. If it’s a table or list, use the following guide:

Image source

Make sure your content is organized and well-structured as Google loves organized and well-structured content. Don’t forget to use the <ol> <ul> list tags or identify a table with <table> HTML tag. Some resources claim schema markup is helpful when trying to get to the Featured Snippet. However, in the study I’ve mentioned earlier, Ahrefs reports haven’t found any correlation between structured markup and a Featured Snippet.

While schema markup won’t necessarily get you to a Featured Snippet, it’s still worth implementing it to stand out among other Google search results as a rich snippet. For instance, we’ve noticed our competitors’ search results don’t contain rating stars, so we’ve added reviews to our blog posts to give it a little more lift and differentiation.

Next Steps

Ever since the introduction of Google Knowledge Graph, getting noticed in the search engine’s top results has become increasingly difficult, though not impossible. Although you may find your website losing traffic due to this initiative, there are certain ways your website can win the Answer Box and attract more traffic.

Make sure you’ve registered your business in Google Plus and Google Local (for local businesses) as this is the least you should do to enter the Knowledge Graph ‘lottery.’ Optimize your blog posts for a Featured Snippet, so they stand a chance of being featured. With the right approach and a few optimization hacks, you’ll be able to boost your traffic rather than losing it due to Google Knowledge Graph.

What has been your experience with the Google Knowledge Graph, Featured Snippets, and the like? Comment below with your experiences and things that have worked for you. I’d love to hear about them.

The post Google Knowledge Graph: the What, Why, and How appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8217493 https://blog.marketo.com/2018/04/google-knowledge-graph.html

[sualkmedeiors]

Google Knowledge Graph: the What, Why, and How

As the years roll by, it’s getting more and more difficult to cut through the noise and make it to the top of Google’s search results page. It all started with AdWords ads, occupying the sweetest spot of the search results page. These days, it’s not only ads taking the best real estate. Google now aims to instantly respond to your inquiry with their Knowledge Graph.

At times, you no longer even need to open a webpage to get an answer whenever you have a question. Google offers an information box that instantly responds to your search query. This, of course, makes everyone’s lives easier. At the same time, everything comes with a price. As a result of this innovation, a significant number of websites have experienced a traffic drop.

However, you shouldn’t give up just yet. There’s a good chance your business will be able to benefit from Google’s initiative rather than fade into oblivion. Since 2012, Google has gathered knowledge from a variety of sources to present you with an information box related to your search. It is meant to enhance search engine results and provide more value for search engine users.

Example of Google Knowledge Graph

You are likely to see Knowledge Graph data in the search results when you are looking for books, movies, places, organizations, recipes, people, etc. The data appears in the form of carousel lists or answer boxes. Moreover, the auto-complete feature you see every time you are typing something in Google is another shape the Knowledge Graph comes in.

In 2014, Google made one more step towards delivering more value to the user and introduced Knowledge Vault. The search engine would actually answer the question you typed in. Whether you are asking to convert euro into dollars, wondering where Mozart was born, or requesting to translate a word into Portuguese, Google has you covered with an answer box for nearly one-third of queries now.

Example of Google Knowledge Vault

Unless you are Wikipedia, which is often cited by Google, there are no surefire ways for your website to get on Knowledge Graph as the search engine collects data on its own. However, there are still a few things you can do to make use of it.

In this blog, I’ll show you how to make the Google Knowledge Graph work for you and why it’s essential for you as a marketer.

Present Your Brand Properly

Some easy low hanging fruit for you to go after is to get your brand featured in the Answer Box when whenever someone searches for it in Google. Type your company name into Google, and you should receive a data box with photos, reviews, address, phone and their company opening hours. To increase your chances of being featured, you should register a Google Plus account for your brand. The stronger your Google Plus account is (number of people in your circle, shares, +1’s), the more likely Google is to display your company in the Answer Box.

Get Your Local Business Featured

If you type in ‘Singapore restaurants’ in Google, search results will show you the map of Singapore with a list of restaurants. There is little need these days to optimize your local business website for search. Instead, you should take advantage of Google local search and go every extra mile to make your business appear in the Answer Box. Why? Just look at the screenshot below. Most people don’t even bother to scroll down past that Google answer. Start with creating a Google Plus local page to get your business to that map.

Google Local results for ‘Singapore restaurants’

Pro Tip: Encourage your customers to leave a review on your local business in Google. It amplifies your chances of getting featured.

Steal the Show With Featured Snippets

Sometimes your Google query requires an expert opinion or a more in-depth explanation rather than just showing an actor or a list of books. This is where Featured Snippets come into play. In a nutshell, a Featured Snippet is an abstract—typically a paragraph, list, or table—that Google extracts from certain websites that answer the user’s question.

Featured Snippet for our target keyword in Google

Unlike other forms of the Knowledge Graph, a Featured Snippet displays the source attribution. Moreover, when you click through this search result, you proceed directly to the source website. According to an Ahrefs study, Featured Snippet accounts for 8.6% of overall clicks, taking away the lion’s share of traffic from the search result right below it.

Average CTR of Featured Snippets according to Ahrefs

As I mentioned earlier, there are no proven ways to appear in Knowledge Graph results. The same is true for Featured Snippets. Nevertheless, there’ve been a lot of studies revealing the factors that significantly increase your chances to get featured. While there are plenty of lengthy articles on the issue, let me focus on the main tips we’ve used to get our website to the Featured Snippet for a search on ‘team communication tools.’

Identify the keyword you’d like to be seen in the Featured Snippet.

Check if Google already displays a Featured Snippet for this query (Ahrefs or Serpstat let you do this).

Try including this keyword into headings such as H2 and H3 on your webpage to increase the odds of getting featured. You can also keep the keyword as a part of your regular text to increase the likelihood it will be featured.

Give an explanation (an answer to a question, a list, a table) immediately after the keyword. Remember that Google rewards quality content and not keyword stuffing.

Keep the answer paragraph around 45 words. If it’s a table or list, use the following guide:

Image source

Make sure your content is organized and well-structured as Google loves organized and well-structured content. Don’t forget to use the <ol> <ul> list tags or identify a table with <table> HTML tag. Some resources claim schema markup is helpful when trying to get to the Featured Snippet. However, in the study I’ve mentioned earlier, Ahrefs reports haven’t found any correlation between structured markup and a Featured Snippet.

While schema markup won’t necessarily get you to a Featured Snippet, it’s still worth implementing it to stand out among other Google search results as a rich snippet. For instance, we’ve noticed our competitors’ search results don’t contain rating stars, so we’ve added reviews to our blog posts to give it a little more lift and differentiation.

Next Steps

Ever since the introduction of Google Knowledge Graph, getting noticed in the search engine’s top results has become increasingly difficult, though not impossible. Although you may find your website losing traffic due to this initiative, there are certain ways your website can win the Answer Box and attract more traffic.

Make sure you’ve registered your business in Google Plus and Google Local (for local businesses) as this is the least you should do to enter the Knowledge Graph ‘lottery.’ Optimize your blog posts for a Featured Snippet, so they stand a chance of being featured. With the right approach and a few optimization hacks, you’ll be able to boost your traffic rather than losing it due to Google Knowledge Graph.

What has been your experience with the Google Knowledge Graph, Featured Snippets, and the like? Comment below with your experiences and things that have worked for you. I’d love to hear about them.

The post Google Knowledge Graph: the What, Why, and How appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

from https://blog.marketo.com/2018/04/google-knowledge-graph.html