#why did i decide to do history this sem

[feralnightwing]

i am so unbelievably stressed rn it's insane. i have 3 assignments due tomorrow night and one of them is a mini thesis paper for HISTORY. IM SHIT AT HISTORY. i have calc due the next day and a programming quiz I HAVEN'T STUDIED FOR.

who knew passing out a week before and having dizzy spells since would fuck up ur ability to be a functioning student????

[pinkhairedlily]

Every Glance A Step Closer

Prompt: Glances | AO3 link here. Connect with me on Twitter. Happy SS Month everyone! ���🍅🥗 @ssskmonth

“This one barely goes out of her laboratory. I swear to god she smells like formaline.”

“He smells like the dust and cobwebs in the library. I cannot even pronounce what he’s doing – archi…something. I just know he handles lots of old papers and books. B-o-r-i-n-g.”

“So anyway, Haruno Sakura meet Uchiha Sasuke.”

This was her one free day in her experiment period week, but she needed to steam off for a night and so she allowed her friend to tug her along for a chill night drink. What Sakura didn’t expect was to socialize with a small group of people in their year and to suffer the cold indifference of the guy in front of her.

To her another surprise, he held out a hand to her. “Hello there.” She took it, slightly conscious whether she used her formaline-cancelling hand lotion. A brief and firm shake and he quicky turned away.

“Sasuke finally speaks.”

“That hello sounded a little spicier.”

“Oh my, that hand holding definitely had some electricity.”

The cajoling and teasing finally stopped when the first round of beers came in. Local university gossip was the go-to conversation opener, from the open secret student-teacher relationships to recent couple break-ups. It eventually led to Sasuke and his list of confessions.

“I heard you turned down Mio from fashion design department.”

“No way. I heard she was approached by Celine for a gig.”

“Really Sasuke? That makes her the fifth girl you dumped for this week alone.”

“You never actually had a girlfriend, did you?”

Sakura stared at him doe-eyed, genuinely curious of his answer. He returned her gaze and raised one brow. “I have high standards.”

Oh wow, what a douche, Sakura thought. Hoots erupted in their table but only for a few seconds. While the drinking and the exchanges went on, Sakura found herself wanting to go home early. She was bored and her neck was tired from not looking at him. Under the guise of stretching her already strained neck, she stole a glance, hoping to have a brief moment to take in all of his features and remember his face.

But he was already looking at her. His eyes went to the door of the restaurant then back to her. Bored? He mouthed.

Sakura looked at the door, knowing perfectly what he meant. She chugged her supposedly last bottle of beer and made a small gap with her thumb and index finger. He caught her signal and started to stand up. Their group was tipsy enough not to notice their sudden movements as they shuffled out of the door.

She halted after a few steps, Sasuke’s figure already paces in front of her, wondering whether she should say goodbye or just walk towards the opposite direction back to her apartment. She didn’t think too much of it and quickly chose the latter.

She had to get ice cream first though, a sugar rush to help jolt her senses awake. She was choosing between chocolate and strawberry when a large figure stood beside her.

“A vanilla one, please,” Sasuke said, looking smug with his hands both in his pockets. “Your treat.”

Sakura felt weirded out by the fact that he actively kept on engaging her. His reputation preceded him, but she decided to humor him for tonight. “So library science and you’re an archivist.”

“Intern archivist actually. So you actually know me.” There was arrogance in his voice that made Sakura almost choke on her ice cream.

“Process of elimination. There is no male major in our year in the History department.” She glanced at him and saw that smug look slowly transition into a slight flush of embarrassment. Cute.

“And what if it was a hobby?” Sasuke fiddled with his still unopened vanilla ice cream.

“There was a job posting in the bulletin specifically calling for Library Science students.” Their feet led them to the park still bustling with university night life and settled on a bench under the canopy of a fully bloomed dogwood tree. “See, I’m not your admirer.”

“Well, that’s a downer,” he smirked.

They talked like that for a while, fleetingly exploring related topics to their degree programs, the usual prominent teachers, the busy schedules, until Sakura finished her chocolate and strawberry popsicles. It was on her way home, finally this time, that she realized he never ate his ice cream.

--------------------------

She next saw him on their building’s rooftop with a group of friends, a piece of unsmoked cigarette in between his fingers. He quickly met her eyes, did a brief nod, and looked away. She inadvertently expected more than that but she wasn’t here for a smoke break, and it wasn’t her intention to take it further. She was here for a quick getaway from her microscope and to appreciate the city view dotted with the flowers of spring.

He kept glancing her way, however. He would be in the middle of a conversation and his eyes would stray to her, and she would catch it in her periphery, trying not to notice it. She got tired after a few repetitions of this, and the next time he glanced, she caught his gaze.

Stop it, she mouthed.

I’m bored, he mouthed back. Walk with me. His fingers mimicked the gesture, his fingers walking in the air.

She put her hands together and slightly bowed in apology. Next time, she winked at him before running back to her laboratory, a small smile painted on her lips.

--------------------------

It became like this for the next few weeks; they conversed through glances and awkward gestures whenever they were in public with their friends. When it was time to come home, they would walk in separate ways and meet again in the park under the same dogwood tree and they would converse for hours. It was mostly Sakura word-vomiting about her experiments while Sasuke would look at her with abandoned fascination.

“Stop doing that,” Sakura called him out one time.

“Stop doing what?” Sasuke asked, his ember eyes never leaving her face.

“You stare too much I feel like I’m melting.”

Sasuke made a small grunt and wore his hoodie over his head to mess with her more. He waved his hands on both sides of his face, and she immediately understood the reference of a horse having its blinders on. “Good because usually I’m the one being stared at.”

Sakura reached out to his hoodie and tightened the strings around his neck. “You’re hopeless.”

He leaned forward, almost touching her lips, his face still between her palms. “Hmm, maybe I am.”

Sakura moved away just as quickly as he moved into her personal space, a hot flush creeping to her cheeks. She hated this particular situation since blushing always made her look like a cherry tomato.

“Cute.” Sasuke apparently said his thoughts aloud because he was taken aback the moment she glanced back at him. “Cool, I said cool.”

She laughed this off just as he completely covered his face inside his hoodie.

--------------------------

She visited the basement section of the library for reference materials. Her writeup was due tomorrow and she was missing a section on historical evolution of vaccines and dosages for the viral DNA she uncovered. The small library slip in her hand, she made her way to the dimly lit rows on Biology. The shelves were twice taller than her, but there were spaces in between stacked books.

Would make it very easy to spot a ghost, Sakura chided to herself. A shadow moved along the row adjacent to the Biology section, but she dismissed this as the library staff. Her fingers traced the spines of ragged books and examined the list of recommended titles in her hand. When she raised her head, ember eyes stared back at her between the spaces of the opposite row.

Hi, Sasuke mouthed. He glanced around and seeing no one, he whispered, “Can I come over to your side?”

She found it hard to stop her grin from rising. “More eyes, the better.”

It took only a few minutes for Sasuke to find all the titles in her list, but they littered around, walking in between shelves, taking one random book and flipping its pages, stopping when they find something interesting. When heavy footfalls were heard on the stairs, Sakura inclined her head, gesturing she needed to go.

Sasuke seemed to misunderstand as he pulled her through the sleeve of her cardigan to the area further behind the room, and as the shadows grew darker, and the noise became more muted, she heard the racing beat of her heart.

Finally reaching the wall, Sasuke slumped to the floor and patted the space beside him. Sakura followed suit, consciously leaving a space between them as she was slowly becoming hyper-aware of their proximity.

“How are you faring so far? Done with the requirements?” Sasuke asked, his voice low but audible enough for her.

Sakura nodded, and after beat, rolled her eyes at him. “Shouldn’t you be out there assisting others?”

“I believe you need more immediate help.” Sasuke pulled his knees in to rest his chin on and trained his eyes on her. “Sakura.”

“Sasuke.”

The longest minute of silence hung between them, tension strung by the stare, until Sakura broke it off with her eyes shifting to the floor. “What are you doing?”

“Flirting,” he said like it’s a matter-of-fact. “This is what they usually do to me.”

“And what should I do?” She let the words roll out of her mouth, unsure why she asked, uncertain also of what he felt. She met his gaze again.

And in that moment, he just sincerely looked at her. “Flirt back.”

--------------------------

Sakura was done for the school year. She will be officially graduating in a month, and to celebrate, she went out with their group for a sem-ender discotheque clubbing. She was gonna shoot her shot for a one-night stand with literally anyone who had chemistry with her – haha she was just kidding. As this seemed to be the final cap-off to her university life, she went all out with her clothes Sakura-style – basically a boxy cropped tea, high waisted jeans, and old heels her best friend gave to her in pity.

This was actually her first club experience, but she was glad to be with veteran friends. The first few minutes inside a closed space with bass boosted, unfamiliar crowds, and lots of skinship made her very uncomfortable. Her only reprieve was the free-flowing drinks – ironically she can handle alcohol well. The disco lights would have made it difficult to spot faces, but she found him in the dark, on the corner directly across her group, his eyes already glued on her.

She wondered if he ever forgave her for scrambling out of his presence in the reference section last time, explicitly avoiding his request to flirt back. It seemed like she worried for nothing since Sasuke raised his glass to her and mouthed congratulations. She raised her glass back, resolving to mind her own business tonight. But he kept looking, a smirk etched on his beautiful face, urging her to meet him halfway.

She didn’t need to look for an excuse as her friends suddenly pulled her into the harmless mosh pit of friendly grinding. Sakura allowed herself to move to the beat, enjoying the bubble offered by the club to lose herself for a few seconds. But she kept glancing towards his direction, his eyes looking for her in the mass of bodies. At first, the glances were mischievous, like playing hide-and-seek, then they held gravity, heavy lidded and palpable.

Sasuke was impatient, and soon enough, at her next spin on her heels, he was right behind her, his hands hovering over her arms, seeking consent to touch. Sakura turned to face him, one part shy, other parts unnerved, and she slowly encircled her arms around his neck, her eyes a definite yes. His hands went to her waist, and he brought her closer to his embrace.

“You don’t have your hoodie though,” Sakura said, a little louder over the crooning of Carly Rae Jepsen to Gimmie Love. “Someone will definitely see you.”

Sasuke closed whatever distance was between them and brought his lips to her ears. “That’s a relief then. I want to be seen with you.”

“Simp,” Sakura teased. “You’re probably expecting a confession out of me, aren’t you?” This was a long time coming and she wanted to get it over with tonight especially when she had alcohol buzzing on her side.

“I am actually,” Sasuke said. “I was hoping to beat you to it in the library last time, but you ran away. Coward.”

“What?”

“What? Didn’t you hear me?”

“You like me.” Sakura said in realization. She edged her face away from his hold to take a good look at his embarrassed face. “Oh, you really do.”

“You could be dense sometimes, Sakura.” Sasuke poked her forehead playfully, and he was rewarded with a bubbly laughter from her.

Their friends finally noticed them and the intense skinship happening. The yells and woots started to drown out the speakers.

“That took you two long enough, huh?”

“They really waited for the end of the school year to do their big reveal.”

“As if the whole school doesn’t know already.”

“What?” Sasuke and Sakura asked in unison.

“It was the constant eyesmex.”

“Really, they do it every time with no shame. It gives me secondhand embarrassment.”

“Right? Sometimes I think I need to yell get a room.”

“Maybe they’ll get a room tonight.”

“Oh my god, shut up."

🌸 It's my first time participating actively for SS Month so please go easy on me haha. Work is loosely inspired by Nevertheless webtoon (which now has a Netflix adaptation). Hope you enjoyed reading!

[paodequeijofeliz-blog]

Let me tell you a good story

Bloodbound Fanfiction (characters and main story belongs to Pixelberry Studios).

Pairing: Kamilah Sayeed and MC (Annie)

Information: this takes place after Bloodbound 3, here I’m recreating how Kamilah and MC would meet if she had never gone to Raines Corporation right away.

Summary: Thirty years after meeting Annie for the first time, Kamilah is now a wife and a mother. During a regular family dinner, she decides to tell her daughter and the new son-in-law the story of how she fell in love with Annie after an unusual meeting through the hallways of NYU.

Warnings: none.

Part 1 Part 3

Let me tell you a good story - Part 2

March 2nd, 2048 

 “You’re telling it wrong.” Anna shook her head in disbelief. “Kamilah Sayeed, you be a woman and admit to them that you checked my butt when I was opening the office’s door.”

“I don’t think they need to know that part. It’s not an important piece of information.”

 “Ha! But me shivering when you sensually pressed yourself against me is an important piece of information?”

 “I did not sensually pres…”

 “Guys!” Lysia hit the table, laughing. “Focus!”

“Maybe I should be the one telling the rest now” Anna pinched Kamilah’s arm playfully. “Since you’re omitting the good bits.”

 “You know what, my love? That is not a bad idea. I want to hear your version of the next part. It’s my favourite one.” Kamilah eyes had a glimpse of amusement. “And you do not dare to hide anything from our conversation in the hallway.”

While trying not to blush over that memory – and failing – Anna turned to Lysia and Drake with a happy broad smile on her face. “So, let’s continue. We went for coffee. And you mother just couldn’t stop staring at my butt.”

Kamilah rolled her eyes but didn’t interrupt it.

 August 15th, 2018

 “So, how do you like your coffee?” Anna had guided them to a small coffee cart by the side of the building. There was barely anyone around, unlike the other gigantic coffee carts they passed by. 

The woman arched her eyebrows to the small old man playing some sort of card game with a kid. They were speaking a language she couldn’t understand. “Black. No sugar.”

“Figured.” Anna laughed softly, approaching the old man and playing a kiss on both his cheeks before starting to talk in the same language as them. “Tudo bem, Antônio? Pode me fazer dois cafés pretos extrafortes? Um deles sem açúcar, por favor.”

“You know him?” She asked when the girl took a step back, waiting for the coffee.

“Yup.” Annie drove her attention to the kid on the floor. He looked back when felt her hugging from behind, smiling and waving to both women. “I stay here a lot.”

“So I see…” those brown eyes once again started to analyse the cart, now with less suspicion. “That language you spoke. Was it Portuguese?”

“Yeah. Got it right away, huh? People usually think it’s Spanish or Italian. Every time I tell them I’m Brazilian, they just start to speak Spanish with me… Or a really loud and slow version of English. Both suck. My Spanish is horrible. And I’m not deaf.”

“Aqui, Aninha. Dois cafés bem fortes. Um sem açúcar, e o seu bem doce.” Antônio gave her a warm smile. He always remembered how Annie liked her coffee. She paid for it with a five-dollar bill and refused any change.

Slowly, they started to walk away with their coffees. The sunset was almost over, a dark shade of orange shining on Anna’s black wavy hair. She kept her eyes staring at the floor, lips twitching with indecision. It seemed she was trying to find the right words. The stranger besides her had such an intimidating aura that suddenly Anna felt like a shy teenager again, not the impressive college professor who won tons of arguments during congresses. She tried to gather courage to look at the woman once again, her mouth opening to ask a question, but someone interrupted with a touch on the shoulder.

“Anna?” They turned to face another college professor. She looked no more than thirty, blue eyes shining behind blond bangs. “Sorry to disturb you. I was just passing by. Did you get the chance to read my email?”

“No worries, Faith. I’m the one who should be apologizing, I did read the email, but I was so distracted by the donations this week I forgot to give you an answer. It was about the article, right? You sent me a sketch?”

“Yes, yes. For a new magazine we’re working on. It’s due to Monday. I was wondering if you could take a look and help me fix the mistakes. I’m sure there are plenty of them.”

The one named Faith took a step forward, practically excluding the other woman from the conversation. There was something on her smile, a hint of a special admiration.

“To Monday? Gosh, I’m so sorry. Let’s do the following. Are you staying for the lecture today?” Anna pointed to the sign on the wall. They were having those big weekly lectures with different CEOs and tonight was going to be a Mrs. K. Sayeed speaking… Among others less important names.

“What? Oh. Yeah. I am.” She cleared wasn’t planning to until now.

“Perfect. That’ll give me time to read it again and make better notes. When the lecture finishes, come and meet me at my office, we can talk about it. Okay?”

“Sure thing, Ann. I’ll see you later.” Faith took another step forward, kissing Annie on both cheeks before turning back to the building.

The woman beside her had a judgemental look on her face.

“What?” Anna took a sip of the coffee.

“Do all of your co-workers kiss you?”

“I’m Brazilian. We kiss people on the cheek. Regularly. It’s the polite thing to do.”

“She is definitely not Brazilian. I don’t think her kissing was over politeness.”

“Why, are you jealous?” Anna opened a teasing smile.

The woman answered with a short laugh. “No.” But her eyes were sparkling. Analysing. Right now, she was capturing Annie’s features: the pink-flowered blouse stuck inside social pants, stains of coffee on one of the blazer’s sleeves, her short stature, those black burning eyes. 

“Why are you here?” The professor’s voice cracked the silence that lingered between them. “I mean, you’re not a student. Is it the lecture?”

“Oh. Yes. I have to be there in ten minutes.” A flash of discomfort crossed Annie’s face after hearing those words. “What? Something against the lecture?”

“No. Not exactly. It’s just… Not my kind of thing.”

“How so?”

They were back at the entrance. Anna leaned her head for a second, deciding what to do. Then, she took a step in, waiting to be followed by the woman.

“Well. Let’s just say that listening to billionaires giving advices to a hundred rich kids about how to perpetuate the same M.O. of exploitation their parents and grandparents had been doing for decades is not on my top list of good use of academic time and space.” That was the sincerest she could be without cursing. “I’d rather watch other lectures.”

“Did you watch any of the previous ones to have such a sharp opinion?”

“I did, in fact. Two. The first one, with the Canadian guy, Mr. Phelps. And last week. I had some spare time. It was… Raines. Adrian Raines. From Raines Corporation. He was better than Phelps. A little.”

The woman seemed to stiff a bit.

“What about tonight? Do you know the speakers?”

Anna’s eyes moved away to the floor. Every time she had to search for something in her memory, there were these little signals. Fingers entangling, like a little prayer about to start. Eyebrows furrowing. Lips pressing. The unknown woman noticed it all, since she couldn’t stop looking at the professor.

“Three of them. Mr. Walker. He’s a teacher here. Stupid, arrogant, and too touchy around female professors, may I add. I also know Haley, Haley Dens, I helped her with a job interview a while ago. We met during a lecture at Columbia. She’s nice, but I’m not familiar with her work. I also know the main attraction, not on person, but I read her thesis. Ms. K. Sayeed. Solid thesis. Better than Mr. Raines.”

“Hm. Tell me more about it.”

Anna kept her posture, walking slower by the minute. “How can I say it? I sensed… A little bit of naivety on Mr. Raines thesis. He’s not actually perpetuating the status quo, instead he tries to fix it’s problems, make it into a new system by improving the qualities. This doesn’t work. He’s just embellishing something that’s already broken. Ms. Sayeed is clever. Her mistakes are different ones.”

The silence and the curious look on the woman’s face were pushing Anna to continue.

“Hm. Ok. Let’s just say that Ms. Sayeed thesis is more consisting, but the end is frustrating. She admits the system sucks. With better words, of course. And that it’s impossible to fix it. So far, I’m on board. But then, her analysis stop. It’s like a Fukuyama kind of thing, you know? He said history was over. Ms. Sayeed is claiming economy is doomed. Dead. Over. Nothing to do. No one can change things. I beg to differ. That’s such a stupid and lazy conclusion. I do believe the system is broken, and fixing it won’t take us anywhere… That’s why we need to build a new one. From scratch.”

“A dreamer, aren’t you?”

Annie lifted her gaze to find a malicious smile on the woman’s face. She was suddenly stunted by the beauty of it. All the seriousness on her tone, the posture, the entangled fingers, all of it dropped. Suddenly, the college professor returned to the hypnotized teenager mode, bouncing from one foot to another. She looks like a goddess. Oh my. Oh my. She’s… Wait. Who is she?

“Oh no. I’m so sorry. I was so distracted I forgot to ask your name.”

The woman’s brown eyes locked with Anna’s as she approached. For a moment, the professor thought they were going to kiss. Her back was pressed against the pillar, so dangerously close to the stranger that lavender parfum started to dominate her senses. And even though there were a few students walking around, she wouldn’t mind having that gorgeous woman kissing her in the middle of the hallway.

“Kamilah.” She tucked a lock of hair behind Anna’s ear. The small touch sent electric signals through their bodies. “Nice to meet you, Annie.”

“Nice to meet you too.” That was barely a whisper. Her voice was gone. Disappeared.

And all Anna could do was watch as that goddess step back and head inside the auditorium, wondering if all that talk was real. If she was real.

The coffee definitely is. The taste of it was lingering on her tongue.

So was the desire to kiss Kamilah.

[therainroguefanfiction]

⁂ Blue Skies (Woozi/Jihoon Lee)

Genre: Supernatural, Crack, Fluff, Crossover, Romance ☁

Word Count: 2,598 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Jihoon ☁

World: Seventeen & NCT ☁

Prompt: “I’m too pale for this.”

Author’s Note: This was heavily inspired by a story that @prettywordsyouleft​ told me as well as that one episode of Bleach where they go a beach trip. This fic is dedicated to Sem and Chelle♥

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

It was the beginning of June, a time for building bonds and having fun. On one particularly hot day, you found yourself at the beach alongside a large group of friends and your lovely boyfriend. The day started out pretty normal.

Around noon, your boyfriend called you up and announced that Seventeen would be going to the beach in an hour. He didn’t sound pleased at this at all, thinking of a thousand and one ways he’d rather spend the day. Jihoon was a workaholic by nature and he’d prefer sitting in the studio working on a new song rather than sitting on the hot sand. Although you preferred summer over winter, you weren’t fond of being burnt to a crisp under the sun, but if all your friends were going, you knew you’d regret not meeting up with them. It had been a few days since you last saw your boyfriend and several weeks since you had seen your good friends, Chelle and Sem.

Thirty minutes after his phone call, a van pulled up in front of your house, driven by one of Seventeen’s managers. You knew it was only one of several vehicles considering the size of the group. Minghao was sitting up front with Mingyu and Seungkwan taking the second row of seats. Vernon and Jihoon were in the back, leaving a spot for you between them.

After getting assaulted with hugs by Seungkwan and Minghao, you settled into your seat and their manager started toward the beach. Even with the A/C on, the van was warm, but you briefly wondered if the two bodies on either side of you had anything to do with that.

Jihoon shifted, resting his head on your shoulder as his hand found yours, fingers lacing together. With a smile, you pecked his forehead.

A bright flash filled your vision as Seungkwan snapped a picture of you both, cooing like he was watching a novella. Jihoon glared at him but muttered under his breath for him to forward the picture.

“We’re here!” The van pulled into the packed parking lot and you felt yourself frowning. There were so many people there that you were starting to feel anxious.

Jihoon squeezed your hand, his voice soft and reassuring. “It’s okay, I’m here.”

Having such an amazing man by your side was certainly helpful, but it didn’t erase the anxiety completely. Something just felt off and your momma had always taught you to listen to your gut.

You helped the boys carry their items as they searched for the rest of the group, weaving in between families and groups of teenagers. They were at the far end of the beach, which was a bit less crowded but still decently filled with people.

The sky was as blue as the water, not a single cloud around to stop the sun from beating down upon the earth. You could feel the rays penetrating your skin. ’I’m far too pale for this,’ you thought, resisting the urge to sigh as you rubbed your arms.

Jihoon plopped down onto the towel as soon as you placed it over the sand, arms folded behind his head as he closed his eyes. You chuckled at him, pecking his cheek. He may not be happy about being away from work, but at least he could use this time to get some rest.

Chelle and Sem pulled you into a hug when they saw you, happy to catch up over the happenings of the past few weeks. It always felt refreshing talking to them. They energized you and helped you relax despite the stressful environment of being around so many strangers.

Hoshi came up behind Chelle, his arm around her waist as he greeted you with a smile. You didn’t miss how her cheeks dusted with pink. “Who’s up for some volleyball?”

“Sorry, I’m waiting to enter the sandcastle contest. It’s starting soon.” Sem declined the offer.

“I’m just un-athletic.” You shrugged, sticking your tongue out at Jihoon when he laughed.

You parted ways with them, promising to meet up later in the evening. “I’m thirsty, wanna come with me to get something?”

In response, he held his arms out, wanting you to pull him to his feet. Jihoon wasn’t the thinnest person in the world, but his short stature and slim body meant he wasn’t very heavy. Or perhaps you were just stronger than average.

You pulled him up with ease and he thanked you with a smile, lacing your hands together as you walked towards the drink bar. The seating area was covered by a roof to block the sun, but there were no walls, leaving it open. The actual bar where the drinks are made was a small shack made of dark oak wood.

“Can you get me some lemonade? I’ll grab us a table.” Jihoon offered and you nodded, watching as he picked a table at the front, right next to the support beam.

Most of the customers ordered their drinks and returned to their groups, but several decided to hang out under the roof, allowing the area to buzz lightly with conversation and laughter. The customer in front of you got her order and you stepped forward, pulling out some cash from your wallet.

“Can I take your order?”

Why did that voice sound so familiar? You looked up, meeting the soft brown eyes of the one and only Mark Lee. He smiled brightly when he realized it was you.

“Ah, hello Y/N!”

“Mark? What are you doing here?”

“The owner’s son didn’t show up for his shift and he desperately needed someone to fill in. I was happy to help, plus I get free watermelon!”

You chuckled at his excitement. “I meant why you’re here at the beach.”

“Doyoung hyung wanted to see Sem, so he begged our manager until he finally agreed. The rest of NCT is here too, somewhere.”

The older woman behind you cleared her throat rudely, glaring at the both of you.

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes. “I’ll keep an eye out for them. I’d like to order a lemonade and a coke, please. Both medium.”

He took the money with a smile, not affected by the woman’s rudeness. “Coming right up!”

You stepped to the side as you waited for your drinks, catching Jihoon’s gaze as he scanned the room. He smiled at you softly and you felt your heart skip a beat.

Throughout your years of life, you had dated many different people, always on the search for your own true love. You were a hopeless romantic and just wanted to find your soulmate, but none of the relationships ever lasted more than a few weeks. They just weren’t the right fit for you, despite how lovely they actually were.

You were twenty years old when you first found Seventeen on YouTube and you instantly fell in love. Their songs never failed to make you smile and you loved how talented and hard-working the members were. They had great chemistry that warmed your heart and drowned you in feels. It was easy to choose your bias in the group – from day one, Jihoon had caught your eye, demanding your attention. You’d always have to watch their music videos multiple times because you’d find yourself focused solely on him and not the content itself. He was gorgeous, his personality was great, he was hardworking, talented and clearly cared deeply for the other members.

In your eyes, he was absolutely perfect.

A year and a half later, you learned that Chelle was dating Soonyoung, one of Seventeen’s many members. Knowing about your crush on the short boy, she offered to introduce you to the group, to which you nervously but excitedly said yes.

It had been like a fairytale, honestly. As soon as you entered the room, your eyes snapped to him without having to search. His gaze met yours and it felt like everyone else vanished. The room had gone silent and he was the only thing you could focus on.

Jihoon had always been the type of person that didn’t believe in love at first sight. When it came to soul mates, he neither believed nor disbelieved in it – he simply never gave it any thought. But on that day, he learned that he had been very much wrong. The rest is history.

Even after nearly two years of being together, you still felt like you were falling in love with him all over again every time your eyes met or when he smiled at you so softly. If you were dreaming, you never wanted to wake up.

“Y/N~” A cold drink was pressed against your cheek and you startled, whipping around to face a grinning Haechan as he leaned over the counter.

You returned the smile as you took the two plastic cups. “Couldn’t resist helping, huh?”

“What can I say, I’m an angel~”

“I need two pink lemonades and a sweet tea!”

“On it!” Haechan called, sending you a wink before getting back to work.

You went to sit across from Jihoon but he gently grabbed your arm, guiding you onto the metal chair beside him.

“The only good thing about this trip is I get to be with you.” He murmured into your ear, pressing his soft lips below your jawline.

Butterflies erupted in your belly and you couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped your throat. “Things have been so busy lately, we haven’t had much time together.”

He hummed when your fingers slid through his blonde hair, gently caressing his scalp. “We could always go somewhere a little more private.”

“Like where?” You breathed out. “Everywhere is crowded.”

His hand rested on your thigh, hot breath fanning across your neck as he spoke in a low baritone. “I’m sure I can find a place.”

Before you could respond, a terrified scream pierced through the air, making both of you tense up. “What the hell was that?”

Jihoon stood, eyes narrowing at the expanse of beach. “I don’t know.”

More screams filled the air as people started to run away from the opposite end of the beach. Dread filled you as you realized something important – that’s the direction Soonyoung and Chelle had gone! Without a second of hesitation, you bolted in the direction of the screams, ignoring Jihoon’s frantic calls.

What you found made your eyes widen in shock.

Close to shore yet not quite on land was a giant octopus, towering over you. Its tentacles were swinging wildly through the air, smashing against the sand as they attempted to grab the last of the fleeing beachgoers.

“Y/N!” A terrified yell of your name and your eyes snapped up, landing on Chelle. One of the tentacles was wrapped tightly around her body, swinging her through the air. Another had latched tightly onto Soonyoung, holding him upside down as he beat it with his fist. “Run away! It’s dangerous!”

Your eyes darted around the beach, looking for something you could use as a weapon. Jihoon finally caught up to you, taking a second to catch his breath.

“Here,” he held out his hand, revealing a sheathed sword.

“Where did you – ”

“That’s not important. We have to help them.” He met your eyes and his determination and courage transferred to you. You nodded, pulling the blade from its sheath and steeling your resolve. A tentacle launched towards you but you managed to sidestep it, using the momentum to leap onto it. With a war cry fit for an anime, you stabbed the sword into its flesh before taking off, forcing the blade to split the tentacle in two.

The beast roared in pain, the swings getting more aggressive and harder to dodge. It swung around, slamming into the metal and forcing you backward, your bare feet digging into the hot sand. You struggled, using all of your might to push back, but the tentacle didn’t move an inch – you were stuck in a deadlock.

Jihoon cried out as he ran towards you, slicing through the tentacle before it could break your defenses. The sword he held was identical to your own.

“I… I don’t think I’m strong enough to defeat it, Jihoon.”

He set the blade down, gently cupping your face. “You’re stronger than you could ever imagine, love.” He leaned in to kiss you but he violently jerked away by the monster.

“Jihoon!” Your eyes jumped between your three friends as they struggled against their binds. You didn’t know what to do. Were you strong enough?

’You must believe in yourself, Y/N!’

“Sem?”

A corporeal Sem appeared beside you, smiling as her hand rested over your own which was gripping the blade tightly. “I will lend you my power, but it’s useless if you don’t believe in yourself.”

You took a deep breath, closing your eyes tightly, ’I can do this. I WILL do this. I’ll defeat this beast and rescue my friends!’

Sem’s body broke into particles that the sword absorbed. Your body started to glow the same ethereal blue that hers had and you felt your power level rising. You could feel it, the energy coursing through your veins. With one final yell, you took off at full speed, leaping into the air with the sword raised above your head.

“LET MY FRIENDS GO!!” You screamed, bringing the sword down with all your might. The blade sliced the creature down the middle and it jiggled for a few seconds before expanding. It’s skin burst, sending green goo flying everywhere. The tentacles exploded one by one, sending your friends falling to the Earth below.

Jihoon did a flip, landing on his feet. Soonyoung tried to mimic it but belly-flopped the sand, Chelle falling on top of him. Sem materialized out of the sword, rushing to check on her best friend.

With a relieved sigh, you fell to the ground, looking up at the blue sky. Jihoon plopped down beside you before throwing his body over yours. You would have chuckled if not for the foul-smelling goo that covered you both.

“I’m so proud of you, baby girl.” He whispered, his lips ghosting over yours. “I knew you could do it.”

Your cheeks tinted, fingers curling around the hem of his swim trunks. “I couldn’t have done it without you guys. All of you gave me the strength I needed.”

He smirked, rubbing his thumb across your cheek. “In that case, I think I deserve a reward, don’t you?”

You leaned up to press your lips against his but he pulled back, suddenly chuckling in an evil manner. “Umm, Jihoon, what’s wro – ”

His eyes started to glow a neon green as his laughter grew in volume.

“Get away from him!” Sem cried. “He’s been infected!”

Before you could react, his hand covered your eyes and everything went black.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

With a yelp, you sprung up in bed, breathing heavily as you frantically patted yourself down – there was no trace of the green goo.

Jihoon groaned from beside you, still half asleep. “What’s wrong?”

“I… I had a weird dream…” You muttered, resting a hand on your sweaty forehead.

He reached up, throwing his arm across your chest and pulling you back down against the satin sheets. His face nuzzled in your neck, his leg swinging over your own. “I told you not to watch anime before bed.”

“Right…” Although your body relaxed, you couldn’t help but wonder why the dream had felt so vivid, so real.

Little did you know, Sem and Chelle had experienced the exact same dream.

━━━━━━༻🌧️༺━━━━━━

📜 Read more by checking out my masterlist 📜

[purplesurveys]

733

First things first...name, please? Robyn.

Are you in high school, middle school, college? I’m supposed to be in college but I only had two months of classes for my final semester ever and I’ll always be pretty bummed about that. For now all that’s left to do/wait for is to graduate. Which grade did you just complete? The sem isn’t ending until April 30th but I’m virtually pretty much finished with my senior year of college/university. Which class was the easiest? Throughout college my easiest class was Biology 1, actually. I already loved biology from high school and given that the class I took in college was the most basic bio course being offered (and also the fact that I had spent the year before studying for college entrance exams which all had a big chunk of biology questions), I was already very familiar with the information being taught. Which one was the hardest? A stupid Econ elective that I didn’t even want to take. I only took it because it was required for us journalism majors. Philosophy 1 was also difficult and that’s mainly because I find studying philo so boring.

What was your final GPA? Nothing’s finalized yet but I’m currently at 1.47. Trying to pull it up to at least a 1.45, but we’ll see by the end of the sem.   Did you take any AP/honors classes? We don’t have that in UP. I think the other uni across the road has honors majors for those who scored higher in the entrance exams, but I don’t know that for sure. Who was your favorite teacher and why? I loved my international relations prof because he was very passionate about his pol sci specialization and was able to explain all of our topics and all concepts exceptionally well. I took one big risk taking a very unfamiliar and very advanced pol sci class and was scared in the beginning but he was such an amazing teacher that there was nothing to be scared of at all. Who was your least favorite teacher and why? My Contemporary History of the Philippines was so...all over the place. I was the beadle for his class and I always saw how unprepared he was whether with his Powerpoints, the topics he taught, right down to the questions he’d ask in class. The last straw for me was when he made us decide what we wanted to do for our final exam. Which classes did you take this year? I only had class for two months but I had the Rizal course (mandatory for all colleges/universities), History of Women in the Philippines, Online Journalism, Community Press, Business Reporting, and my PE class for table tennis. I was also enrolled in J 200 which is essentially our thesis but there weren’t any physical classes for it. What was the most memorable event? The first ones that popped in my head were the times I watched my first Oblation Run, and my first time seeing a rally. Did you attend any school dances? Which ones? In high school I went to a prom and a ball. With the pandemic issue still going around, I doubt the graduating class this year will be having the usual senior party/dinner/dance thingy.   Did you have a boyfriend this year at school? I had a girlfriend. How many guys did you have a crush on? I liked one guy when I was in high school, Lance. The crush didn’t last long because after observing him for a while I had to acknowledge that we had very different personalities. I didn’t and haven’t had any crushes, other than Gab, in college. Were you involved in any clubs? Yeah I joined one of the two journalism organizations in my college, and in my senior year I also joined the yearbook team. When I was a freshman I tried to join the biggest LGBT+ org in the university but I found the application process super daunting and scary for an introvert like myself, so I ghosted them :/ I also tried to join AIESEC but their org culture is very different from what I was used to that I had to fake it there every day; eventually I got tired of faking so I had to halt my application process. Where did you usually eat lunch? I usually never had time to go to Area 2 to get a legit lunch but thankfully there are several food stalls near all the buildings so when I’m rushing to my next class, I get instant noodles and kwek-kwek to eat inside the classroom. If I’m lucky enough to have a lunch break I’ll eat at Skywalk. Who is graduating this year that you are sad to see leave? I’m in the graduating batch, so I’m sad over not only leaving my underclassmen friends behind but also parting with my fellow graduating friends. Did you have any siblings at your school this year? Nope. Nina goes to a different school and it’s all the way in Manila. Did you ever get detention? We don’t have detention from preschool to college. Did you fail any classes? I never failed a class in college, though my lowest mark was a 2.50 in stupid econ. What is one interesting thing about your school? The Diliman commune was an event in 1971 when students, professors, and staff alike protested the oil price hike during the Marcos admin. They barricaded the roads with chairs and desks to keep the police and military from coming in, physics professors made molotovs to keep the military helicopters away, and classes were suspended for those few days; at one point a math prof who was known to be pro-admin also shot a 17 year old student. It ended a little after a week but I’m not super aware of the events at that point.

Did you have uniforms or free dress? Free dress. UP is as liberal as liberal gets, in every way possible.

Which classes will you be taking next year? :D Did you play any sports after school? Which ones? No, I’m not in varsity nor am I part of any sports orgs. Are you going to the same school next year? I’m graduating. I wish I can stay in UP forever, though.

Now let's focus on summer!

Are you excited that school is over? I’m miserable that it was over so fast. I wish I said yes to more lunches, more drinking seshes, more dinners, etc.

What are you going to do over the summer? This lockdown is already kind of like my summer, my final summer ever that is. I’ve been home for so long that I’m already looking at this as what was supposed to have been my unemployment break if the year happened normally; I’m definitely gonna have to get a job ASAP after this.

Are you going to change anything about yourself over the summer? I’m gonna be hunting for my first job, for one.

[haphazardlyparked]

loyal

regret everything part nine (part eight)

Kan always gets up with the morning light — and before it in the winter — but sometimes Noki doesn’t sleep much at all. Kan can tell it’s been one of those nights when he wakes up one morning and sees Noki hunched over the bureau by the bathroom door. He looks soft, like a watercolor painting, in the greyish almost-light of predawn.

“What are you doing?”  

Noki pauses and cranes his neck around to smile at Kan. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Kan rolls towards Noki’s side of the bed to get a closer look.

“All right,” he says. “Why are you taping foam to my furniture?”

“Because,” Noki says, frowning at the bureau, “you always have those bruises on your hip. Now I know why — it’s because you walk into this thing in the middle of the night all the time!”

“It hasn’t bothered me before.”

“You hit it twice last night,” Noki informs Kan. “Why do you even go to the bathroom twice at night?”

Kan had woken up tense and gasping with fear—and anger, and disappointment—but he doesn’t even remember what he dreamed of. They’re only dreams these days; they don’t linger when Noki’s around. He barely remembers hitting himself.

“I have a small bladder,” Kan whines.

Noki huffs. “You need to take care of yourself.”

“Sure, Noki. I love you too.”

In the proper morning, Kan doesn’t stop grinning at Noki. Noki tries to pretend like Kan isn’t staring at him, and goes about eating his porridge and his fruit salad while scrolling through his datascreen and checking his schedule for the day.

“Any interesting appointments?” Kan asks. Still smiling.

Noki glances up at the question, but looks back down when Kan widens his smile. “Just the usual.”

“Oh. No appointments with you overlord and master?”

Noki sighs, and looks up at Kan. “What are you smiling about,” he says. 

“You rearranged my knife drawer.”

“Your knife drawer was an actual hazard to your life. I opened it up and I swear it launched a knife at me.”

“What I’m hearing,” Kan says, “Is that you love me.”

Noki scoffs. “I already said I did.”

“You said you loved me a little. I think you love me a lot.”

“All right,” Noki says, with an air of great indulgence. “How do you figure?”

Kan nods towards the hall, down where the door to his bedroom his. “This morning, I wake up to find you’ve protected my delicate hips from hideous bruises. And then, you’ve rearranged my kitchen. Therefore, you love me. A lot.”

“Or maybe I don’t want to live in a place that’s actively trying to kill me,” Noki suggests.

Kan smiles. “So,” he says. “Then you do want to live in this place. With me?”

Noki freezes. Kan sees the moment of understanding on Noki’s face, and swallows down his disapointment.

“I do love you, Kan. More than a little. A lot, even.”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Shut up. I’m trying to be serious. I love you, and I want to live with you and — well, you know, and keep you from killing yourself—”

“I’m confused. Is this a confession or—”

“Kan. I… I still think we need more time. We’re both so busy in the coming year.”

“We’re only going to keep getting busier,” Kan points out easily, shrugging one shoulder. “I’m the lord of a prosperous state and the leader of a grand trade alliance. And you are one of the diplomats in charge of our relations with our most volatile neighbor — Samra and Tasak’s history of conflict is long, Noki, you can’t deny that. I don’t see things settling down for another five to ten years yet. Probably never, for me.”

“We don’t have to wait that long,” Noki says impatiently. “But I—”

“Noki, it’s fine,” Kan interrupts, calmly. He reaches across the table and brushes Noki’s hand reassuringly. “It’s an idea I’m ready to try, but only when you are too.”

“After this year’s Congress,” Noki says immediately. “I mean — that’s what I had been thinking. Next month I’ll be back in Samra, and then after that you and Sem will sequester yourselves and cram in those last cases—”

“—Please, Noki,” Kan says faintly, trying not to think of him and Sem sequestered anywhere cramming anything. “I get the picture.” 

“Well. That’s what I thought, anyway.” 

Kan grins. “You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?”

Noki flushes. 

“I’m sorry I beat you to the punch,” Kan says, with an incredibly smug and insincere smile.

“Have you ever thought about what you’d be like, if you’d had different parents?” Noki asks one night, about a week before he leaves for Samra. Kan curls loosely around his warmth, carding his fingers through Noki’s hair. 

He pauses at Noki’s question, but only briefly. Picking up again, he says, dryly, “Moon of my dreams, I already know you don’t like the Dowager.”

Nok kicks him lightly with the heel of his foot. “That wasn’t my point.” 

“What was your point? 

“To think about who you could be,” Noki explains. “What if I were born to parents who didn’t have another child? Then I might never would have joined the Samran exchange program. And I wouldn’t be here. Or what if I were born in Samra?”

“Those people wouldn’t even be you,” Kan says. “All those things you grow up with, they matter — there’d be part of you that would be the same, that would be Noki at your core, but everything else… You, born to other parents, or to another situation, could only ever be partly you. And wholly another person.”

Noki frowns. Kan can’t see it, but he can hear it in Noki’s voice when he says, “That’s a very odd way of looking at it.”

Kan wraps his arms around Noki, pulling the other man closer, until they’re flush against each other. He tucks Noki’s head under his chin, and closes his eyes.  “Think of it this way,” Kan says, very softly. “I, at my core — I don’t do duty. But my mother raised me with love and irreverence, and from her I’ve learned how to love my duty. She taught me that I just have to love my people, and showed me how I could do it in my own, sincere way. And now that’s what I’m trying to do. What’s the point of imagining myself as someone inferior to who I could be?”

“The Dowager taught you to respect duty?” Noki says dubiously.

Kan laughs. “Not to respect it,” he clarifies. “To love it. It’s different in ways that matter to me. I am loyal to the things I love.”

“But not something you respect?”

“Not consistently,” Kan says. “That’s just who I am. I don’t want to know what kind of ruler I would be, if it weren’t for Mother.” He probably wouldn’t have been a good one.

Noki shifts slightly in Kan’s arms, and Kan loosens his hold so Noki can turn. When they’re laying face to face, Noki looks up at Kan, eyes sharp and intent, and asks, “Do you respect me?”

“Of course I do,” Kan assures him. “You’re my annoying, brilliant, and unfortunately Samra-fixated diplomat. How could I not respect you?”

Noki’s face goes flat in the way that means he’s deciding whether to be flattered or offended. Kan leans down and kisses his forehead.

“Most importantly though, Noki,” he says, steadily, staring into Noki’s pale eyes. “I love you.”

Noki holds Kan’s gaze for a moment longer, then tucks his head against Kan’s chest. “I love you too,” he whispers, and the words tickle against Kan’s skin. 

(next - part ten)

<3 guys we are almost to the haLfway point @gingerly-writing @severe-fangirl-syndrome @rrrawrf-writes

Annnd here’s the prompt fill that came first, but which chronologically comes next. part nine point five. 

[the-oeuvre]

ROAD TO HELL

WRITTEN UNDER PSEUDONYM ANN LEIGH. PREVIOUS CHAPTER: click here

ㅤ

Seoul with all its beauty, makes Raveena begin to be lulled whether consciously or not. She hasn’t been in Korea for three months, yet it doesn’t feel like it. The arrival that was never carefully planned made Raveena seem unable to schedule her return date as well. Raveena had purposefully ‘disappeared’ from everyone but Aldric, because her life had become desperate recently.

The issue isn’t just with her ex-lover; it’s with everything in her life, from Sem Atchley’s selfishness to minor details about her unrequited love story. Raveena had no idea whether she was loved or not. Since her departure to Korea, Gesang’s attitude has evolved. But when she asked him, the answer was still the same, he said he didn’t want Raveena to have any faith in him because Gesang couldn’t give her all she wanted. Raveena tries to appreciate it, despite her indecisiveness and fear of hurting his feelings if she looks for a person who can give Raveena a real commitment. Raveena, on the other hand, believes that she is entitled to happiness. Raveena’s wish was thwarted once more by the thought that she would come to regret not waiting for Gesang any longer. It also makes Raveena believe that whether or not Raveena is paired with Gesang is only a matter of fate. Her thoughts didn’t stop there; the voices in her head continued to generate doubts regarding the first argument. And that was almost how Raveena spent the remainder of the day.

Raveena's grumpiness was worsened by memories of her one-week stay with Gesang prior to her departure to Korea. The recurrence of these memories is not without reason. When Raveena was browsing her Instagram page, she came across the social media of a woman Gesang knew. The woman was hugging Gesang’s arm there, despite the fact that Gesang was clearly unresponsive with what she did at the moment. Even yet, it managed to sway her heart for a little period.

Raveena decides to take off all of her clothes and replace them with a short red satin dress without further thought. When the cold air of autumn arrived, the light brown coat hanging behind the door become the current priority for her hand to take and wear as a cover as well as a body warmer.

It is still possible to go outside, since it is not too late yet. Many inhabitants of Seoul continue to drive their personal autos alongside pedestrians and roadways. Certainly, in a nightclub with a reputation for attracting international patrons. Of course, the huge number of visitors there will make it easier for Raveena to communicate if it necessary.

The crowd is out in force and eager to party as Raveena enters the entry door. The beat reverberating off the walls. Conversation is loud and people are difficult to hear over the thundering music, and the dance floor is packed with sweaty bodies swaying to the beat. This is exactly how Raveena going to spend her rest of night even though she can see how chaotic it is by her naked eyes. As she walks further, the drinks are flowing across the tables just as fast as the bartenders can make them. Raveena grabs one too. Something that can make her feel the sweet and spicy taste as she gulps her drink. Spicy sherry, rich caramel, and a hint of dried fruit can all be detected by her taste receptors; kind of suitable as a starter for the gloomy night.

Raveena starts to writhing on the dance floor, as though tipsy by the alcohol quantity that had reached her body. Her body moves uncontrollably in response to the thumping sound emanating from a disc jockey on the stage. She makes contact with the individuals around her several times before, but this time the touch was different. Someone grabs her shoulders and drew his face close to her ears. Raveena’s instinct is to spin around and stare at the young man in front of her, who she could tell that he is tall and attractive enough.

“당신은 매력적으로 보입니다.”

(You look pretty.)

Raveena smiled in response to his compliment. “감사.”

“너 춤추 니?”

(Do you dance?)

A smirk appeared on her beautiful face. Raveena nodded as well, as if allowing the young man, she had just met to be her partner this time on the dance floor.

It is obvious what they were going to do tonight and how they begin to move their bodies into sensual gestures, which were first only to following the rhythm of the song. Raveena doesn’t hesitate to bring her back body close to the young man’s lower part. Meanwhile, despite merely groping Raveena’s tummy and waist, the young man had dared to grope her entire body. When Raveena watched another lady having fun with Gesang, she believed she had won this time since she had managed to redeem her pain. Raveena shifted her gaze back to the man in front of her and tugged at his collar. Screw it if anyone else notices, and fuck the worries that occupy her mind all day. Raveena will be concerned with proving that she, too, can have fun like people around her. Their faces got closer to each other at that point, until their lips finally met. There hasn’t been any further form of kiss, just two lips pressed together because it’s still hard to face their first touch from a stranger. Raveena, on the other hand, secretly took a photograph of herself kissing him at the time. Raveena’s face was clearly covered by the young man for half of the time. Although not very clear, but the photo captured by Raveena must have succeeded in making anyone who saw it thought that they were making out passionately.

“한잔 하자, 응?”

(Let’s get a drink, shall we?)

“Sure.”

Soon after, they return to the table where his companions had congregated. Some were drinking, while others were having affairs with other foreign women. She doesn’t know since her vision is quite fuzzy and she can’t focus like she used to. Raveena was obsessed with continuing the kiss that had been postponed earlier. Their kiss was even more passionate than previously. Peck after peck formed, eventually morphing into sucks and moans.

“조금만 기다려주세요.”

(Wait.)

“네.”

Raveena is still half-lulled by the event she had just witnessed when the young man whose name she doesn’t know yet got up from his seat and left her. Raveena got a chance to see how his cell phone was turning on before he let go of his lips, so it appears that he had to take an important call from someone. Raveena, to be honest, did not seem to care. Truthfully, she is more curious with her phone. What she’s doing right now is checking her cell phone for a new message from Gesang.

The time difference which is only two hours apart made Raveena sure that currently in Jakarta it is not that late for Gesang not to reply to the last message sent by Raveena. Raveena just laughs bitterly at the thought of how Gesang is currently making out in his room with the same woman earlier. Annoyed, she also sent a photo of her kiss earlier to Gesang without adding any caption on it. After that, Raveena re-locked her phone yet still grabbed it on her hand.

Not long after, her phone vibrated, indicating an incoming call. Without seeing who the caller was, Raveena picked it up. “See? I am much happier than you. I don’t fucking care anymore. What are you gonna say?”

The caller cleared his throat for a moment. If Raveena was in a fully conscious state right now, she would have recognized that all-too-familiar mumble voice.

“Where are you now, Vee?”

“Doesn’t matter, I am nowhere.”

“I know you’re in a nightclub, in Seoul right now. Just call me when you’re fully sober, will you?”

“I don’t want to talk about us, Mas. I’m done hurting by you.”

“I’m not even your ‘Mas’, Vee! I’m your father!”

“Such a liar.”

The call was disconnected unilaterally. With that, Raveena went back to spending the rest of the night with the stranger she had just met earlier on the dance floor.

  ㅤ ㅤ

ㅤ ㅤ

  ㅤ ㅤ

Raveena woke the next day with a headache and was still dizzy. She was not sure how many drinks she had with Jaeseop — the real name of the man Raveena met on the dance floor — last night. Raveena had never pictured herself doing something like this with a random person. Although it is obvious that Jaeseop’s charm has enchanted Raveena since last night.

Her right foot was the first to tread on the wooden floor, followed by her left foot. Raveena gingerly picked up her red satin dress from the floor so as not to wake up Jaeseop, who was still fast asleep after expending a lot of energy the night before. Raveena covered her naked body with the dress she wore in front of her breast while grabbing for her phone near the table and heading into the bathroom to clean herself.

“Shit. Ramai sekali.”

Raveena was the one who first read Sem Atchley’s message. Raveena had no idea to recall of what had occurred the night before.

ㅤ ㅤ iMessage : Dad.

ㅤ ㅤ ᠂  Call me when you are fully sober later.

ㅤ ㅤ ᠂  I’m not your ‘Mas’.

ㅤ ㅤ ᠂  Don’t make any mess there.

Raveena gulped her saliva as a reflex. Her heart began to race as her brain processed the events that had occurred while she was not fully awake. Raveena hurriedly checked the call history to make sure her fears were unfounded.

“Shit! I thought it was dream.”

Raveena hastily put the cell phone on her right ear until the ringing tone that sounded very monotonous and boring was replaced by Sem Atchley’s low voice.

“Are you fully sober now?” 

“Uh, yes. What happened?” 

“Never mind. Just answer me, when will you go home?” 

“Me? I don’t know?” 

“Do you have any unfinished business there?” 

“Not really, Dad. Why? Though I came here to keep my mind stay sane.” 

“I am sorry for what happened on you. It was your mother’s idea to ask Ansel be in a relationship with you. I hope you don’t hurt too much.” 

“Wait. Mom’s what?” 

“Long story, Raveena. I will tell you the whole story when you come home. Though I want you to know that I won’t ever abandoned you and Gavin.” 

“Make sure you promise me nothing but the truth, Dad.” 

 Though as soon as she heard an okay from him, she disconnected the call. Raveena let out a heavy sigh afterwards.  Her hand brushed her hair back so that it no longer covered part of her face as she looked down while staring at the her phone, opening one by one incoming messages other than messages from his father. Finally. One familiar name. One name that became the biggest reason why Raveena ended up in a hotel bed with a stranger she had just met last night.  One name that made her heart beat wildly. Nervous, to be exact.

ㅤ

NEXT CHAPTER: click here

[phakjira198]

2020 Recap

Most people won’t reminisce the year 2020, but they’ll probably look back and think what a shitty year it was, with covid-19, lock-down and abysmal economy. But for me personally, 2020 wasn’t all too bad. I’ve learned a lot from this year. This year was like a roller coaster for me, a lot of ups and downs. A lot definitely happened, most of them are new things I’ve never experienced before. I mean, I think the reason why 2020 was not so bad for me is because I like who I am now. I think I’m a lot more stronger, a lot more confident, and a lot less tense than who I was in 2019 or earlier in 2020 itself. So here’s a list of recap of what happened and how it has changed me. 

JAN 

1. Stressing about a side project that I had with Pat, Ammy and Dao, called Thunder Bolt (I think) 

2. Went to Perth and Melbourne, Woo hooo. Perth was a lot of fun; we stayed at an AirBnB and cooked every night. The lamb chop was wicked. There was a bush-fire when we went to Melbourne but it was still fun. 

-> at this point I was so sick of Arts and Museum lol. (because I over did it in Tokyo last year 5555)

3. Exchange decision: debating between Dartmouth, USA and Groningen, Netherlands. Made countless list of pros and cons. In the end, I decided that I need the sun and can’t stand only 7 hours sunlight everyday for a month in Groningen, so choose Dartmouth instead. Anyway Him pissed me off so much about deciding where to go, peeps keep pressuring me to choose because my grade is high. In the end it doesn’t even fucking matter bitch, you just need to ace your interview, which I did and got a full score baby! 

-> I just remembered that my Mac went cra cra and I had to change my screen. Thank god that I had Apple care otherwise, I’ll have to pay like 21000 Baht, but instead I got it fixed for free eiei. Anyway, I went to Australia without my Mac and I think that’s probably the longest that I’ve gone without my mac. 

FEB 

1. Lot of school work, according to my monthly calendar 55555. Had to prep for the exchange interview and everything as well. And had champ thingy as well. 

2. Had a weird, random, study date-ish session with Pat. I don’t think he think of it as a date, he just wanted to study and I’m a somewhat useful resource ( or at least I hope so) -> because of working with him in Jan and like whatever the fuck happen in Feb, I started to develop a crush on him (again! jesus woman). But this time it was different, cause I actually told people about it, and by people I mean Tam 5555555. Anyway it was because on Valentine day, Tam, Por, Ohm, and I (we were all single, so sad) went out to celebrate the fact that we got to go to Dartmouth. And I was not very alcohol tolerant back then (notice the back then part, cause girl I can handle my alcohol nowadays 555), so when they asked me whether I liked someone or not, I hesitated and they spent the entire night try to figure out who. Later on that night when I got back home, I told Tam wa who 55555. But like it was just a crush, I didn’t like like him. Cause I don’t really know him well enough for me to “like” him. 

3. GOT MY FIRST CAR!!!!, aka Stacy. But haven’t really got the change to drive her yet 555555555. The story behind how I got the car sound very privileged. I didn’t noticed it at first, but then went I told Ming what happened, she was like what a rich people way, and I’m like oh yeahh. So I stopped telling the story 55555. Anyway, I’m gonna tell it here again cause only future Jessie will read this post. 

MAR 

1. Midterm during the first week: so nothing much, just studying 

2. Drove my car for the first time after mid-term. Took it to uni for like 3 times and then number 3 happened 

3. COVID-19 hit baby -> online studying ->  I was enjoying life as fuck. My introvert self was striving. I was playing piano, doing arts, keeping a bullet journal. Watching shit load amount of studio Ghibli and other movies. 

APRIL 

1. Pretty much the same as march. To be honest, they kinda merged together cause you can’t really tell time when you’re at home all the time. It’s just like school holiday. 

2. Cheesy Avocado. Worked a lot on this joint-project for my 3 classes (software engineering, database system, ICE capstone). Spend a lot of time calling with Tam, Party and Nat. Shout out to Party for being a good PM; we would have never finished the work without you, and if I was the PM I would have drove myself crazy until the work is finish, you really help my mental health 5555. 

3. Songkran that doesn’t feel like Songkran at all. Had all my classes as usually, and didn’t get leave my house. ToT 

MAY 

1. Final the first 2 weeks. Got a chance to work on a killer report for my history of animation class. I wrote an almost 20 pages report on “Whisper of the Heart”, a lot of it are my own analysis from scratch, so I’m very proud of it eiei. 

2. Prep for Agoda -> I was very lazy to do this. I procrastinated it to the very last minute and didn’t even finished it properly lol. 

3. Went out for lunch with friends for the first time since the pandemic at a Korean restaurant in Siam One. (Had a record driving time to Siam at 12 minutes I think) 

--> I think May was like boring af. Nothing really happened that much. 

JUNE 

1. Started my internship at Agoda as a data engineer in the Messaging team. It’s a part of a bigger team called Agoda Data Pipeline, and I worked on a project called improve Kafka Offset Monitoring, where I implement this new feature called “time lag”. I wrote a blog post about it but never actually posted on Medium 55555. It requires too much work man. But I first started the internship we had to work from home, because of covid-19, which was depressing as fuck. It was not fun at all!!! To top that off, it was difficult and I was lazy and just no no. Then we got to start working at the office on the 21 of June and that was a lot more fun and everything. I really enjoyed working there. 

2. Grandma passed away on the 19th of June. Thank god that I was working from home then cause I was crying my eyeballs out and it did not look pretty. But it wasn’t as bad as when P’Rin passed away (where I cry for non-stop 3 days and had to missed a trip that I was supposed to go on), because we were expecting it to happened. It was out of the blue or anything. The doctor asked whether we want to ฝอกไต her or not and the family agreed that we don’t want to put her through anymore pain, so we decided that we’re not going to do it. And the doctor said that if we’re not going to do it, then all we can do now is wait for her to go. I was in her room (well almost the entire family was) when her heart stopped beating and I think grandma was happy that we were all there. 

-> nothing much else. Just hangout with people, ทำบุญให้อาม่า and just work. 

JULY 

1. Continue with the internship. At the Internship they had this thing called the the intern pitched competition and my team fucking won. (I probably already covered this in another blog post, so I’m not going to get into the details here). Anyway, we won 6000 Baht and spent it a Japanese restaurant in Gaysorn Plaza. 

2. Finished up the internship project towards the end of the month. 

3. Went drinking multiple time at Groove 5555. 

AUG 

1. Went to Koh Kood, it was so goooddd (pun intended 5555). A couple of days  after the internship ended on the 5th of Aug. The trip itself was fabulous, pretty beach and fin food. But the weather itself wasn’t particularly good, but that’s okay. 

2. Started talking to a guy for the first time (Woo Hoo!). It was all fun and game until somebody loses their mind (and that somebody just happened to be me, SAD) But actually I haven’t lose my mind in August yet. August was a lot of fun, I really liked the version of myself was talking to him. I was open and honest and wasn’t afraid that he would judge me. We had like 3 cute calls, but that was it 55555555. I called him on his BD at midnight to wish him happy birthday; I was cute as fuck. Just think back about it is making me blush, and boy did I blushed a lot. I’ll probably write more on the experience later in another blog post. 

3. Started my senior year at uni. But this time it’s a little different because your home girl is a TA as well. I have the power to influences a the grade of a sophomore, felt powerful 555. We still had to do online studying, although I don’t really think it was necessary at that point, cause there wasn’t really new cases and people were out and about like normal just with their face masks on. The classes that I took this sem were good as well, I actually enjoy all of it, especially Stochastic and Optimisation, which makes me consider studying my master in Operation Research, but will still have to do more research on that 55555. 

4. Worked on the Global sustainable development SDG goal competition thingy, and we got into the final 10 rounds. But we didn’t win 5555555, but it was still great cause I made a new friend. (which is really rare for me 555) 

SEP 

1. Your home girl 20!!!! I’m now officially legal and can drink and buy alcohol in public casually, which I am enjoying 555555555. Let’s just say I drink now 555. Btw I cried the night I turned 20 because I didn’t want to. I don’t want to grow up and I don’t want to become an adult, but I guess we can’t avoid it and we’re just going to have to embrace it instead. Also I think I was crying as well because I expected something from prime, I don’t know what I was expecting and keep telling myself that I didn’t expect anything but that’s not true. I did. Anyway he sent me a voice message and was the first one to wish me happy birthday eiei. And you guess it, I blushed bitch. 

2. Shit also went to hell this month with the Prime stuff. Specifically on the 25th of September, where Millie told me that Prime told her that he likes her. And that he asked her to watch a movie and eat out (which he never did with me wtf bro). So when that happened we stopped talking, like literally stopped after that night. The last thing on our chat was me sending him the brown bear confetti at almost midnight on the 25th and that was it, we never texted each other again. Which was really sad ( I mean sad for me but and easy way out for him), because I never get to know what happened, why it happened, and I didn’t get to scream at his fucking face. I eventually did in a dream later in December, which leads to a fucking closure after a 3 long and depressing months. (I just want to say, Fuck you Prime) 

3.  Nothing else really happened that much but studying and love stuff. I was so fixated on the love stuff though 5555, but can you really blame me; it was my first time actually liking a guy not having a crush on him. (You know what just thinking about what happened my eyes are tearing up 555) 

--> Just 

OCT 

1. October was a month of tear. Jessie was experiencing her first heart break; earlier this year back in July, Jessie just told Millie that she has never experienced heart break before in her entire life, but now she does. What a growth man. I did not enjoy the experience one bit, it was depressing, and just bad for me in many aspect. I tried to summoned stone cold bitch Jessie and killed of soft Jessie, which ultimately lead to me feeling numb and just plain sad. I lost inspiration, I just don’t enjoy the little shit like I used to; let’s just say I was not in a particularly good place. The only way to maintain my mental health was to run. And thanks to the free personal training that I got from Mr.Prime when we were talking, I started running more. 

2. Midterm. Got full score for introduction to stochastic modelling bitches. I remember going to Sea life right after Stochastic exam and just try to get my shit together. I really thought that I had picked up the pieces together but I really hadn’t, it was only 2 and half weeks since it happened. I was rushing into healing too much and didn’t know that these things take time to heal. Screw you knw for telling me that it only took you a week to get over Tam, that was total bullshit, and I tried to used that as a fucking standard, which just killed me. 

3. Skinny Bitch Jessie emerged. I lose my appetite because of the heart break so I ate a lot less. Actually I think I consumed a normal amount of what an average human being should consumed, I just ate way too much before 55555. And like with all the running, my weight got down to like 50, 51, which is the skinniest I’ve ever been since I got to uni. Maybe even the skinniest I’ve ever been since year 11 as well.  

NOV 

1. Shopee GLP application. I didn’t get the job but it was a great experience. I learned what a case interview, and thinks it very oppa. The process of preparing for it was fun, but I wasn’t totally into it because I was still dead inside. And still have no passion, no inspiration, no motivation, no goal, and everything because of what happened in the last 2 months. The only reason why I wanted to job was because I wanted the money 5555555. 

2. Won DevDisrupt Hackathon 2020. Ter did most of the work though, but it was still a lot of fun, and something that I could add to my resume 5555. 

DEC

1. HAPPY JESSIE IS BACK BITCHES!!!! I LOVE December Jessie; she’s STRIVING. Thank god I got my shit sorted out before the end of the year. She is once again enjoying life, feeling inspired, and motivated. And she’s doing all this while she is dressed to the nine every single fucking day! 

[namjoonchronicles]

[After Ending] #3 (Final) Scarlet Heart Moon Lovers 3rd Prince - Prince Wang Yo; [Prince of Thorns]

[A/N] DONT TRUST ME TO BE ALONE IN A ROOM WITH THIS MAN BECAUSE I BET YO ASS A 100% I WILL JUMP ON HIM. 

Yeo moves his thumb over the latch where the golden hook were placed to keep the box close and he felt...wistful. A terrible feeling of regretful longing. His heart starts to pound against his ribcage, and his brains begins to have flashes of moments he never had experienced before. His lips gone dry as his visions starts to blur.

And as his eyes slowly flutter shut, a man, in Goryeo robe, black, his eyes were exactly like Yeo’s… appear as him when he looked down where the pond were. Then it flashes, to a young woman’s back as she runs away, sobbing. Yeo saw what this man saw, this man that looked him. He felt his heart aching, shrinking to half its size, as the women whom he couldn’t see her face, sped away with her tiny legs. He bended his knee to take the very hairpin he was appraising.

“Please don’t give the things I gave you, back to me, when I’ve mended my soul with them. They’re forever yours to keep. Forever yours. I’m forever yours.” And the words keeps repeating itself. Yeo’s voice echoed those very words, before he lays on his side and you shake him awake. But he didn’t respond. Oh dear. What happened?

Yeo had a terrible headache upon waking up. A loud ring, drilled through his brain, and it took sometime for his visions to clear. He was in a white bedding, his left hand were attached with an IV drip. And he looks around to see if anyone could attend to his question. He knows it’s a medical centre but why is he here? He didn’t remember being brought here. But when he tried to get out of the hospital bed, his actions were halted by a single slide of the door. It sounded like a man and a women quarreling. Through the small gap of his curtain, he could see the girl, and quickly recognise her as the umbrella girl. And the man, in his white coat, is definitely a doctor. “Just. Give me a chance.” The doctor said.

“Don’t hold my arm like that.” You yanked them away from him. “Why are you holding me so tight now, when I’ve wanted you to do that back then when we were still together? Are you too good for me now that you’re a freaking doctor that you can do whatever you want?” You scoffed to the air, and turning your heel around. “What happened to your nurse girlfriend.” You rolled your eyes.

“There is no nurse girlfriend. I told you I was drunk, and I made a mistake. And I’m sorry.” Doctor Jeong hisses. “Look, I just want you back okay? To what we used to be. All the good times we had…remember that? I still know your soft spots...” he sang, inching in closer to you, snaking his arm low on your waist, thinking that he still had the access.

You swatted his hand away.

“...You want me back? So I just come rolling into your arms like the other bitches you have? No, it don’t work like that, baby boy. What good times? You’re almost half dead trying to finish med school, you don’t even remember my birthday because you’d be so busy studying, and when you graduated, guess who bought you a game console? I did. Asshole. And what did you do to me? On your graduation night, you decided to sleep with a nurse. Two years your senior!” You raised your voice at him.

“A mistake you say? You whined in his godly handsome face, “...I saw her lingeries at your place, in your laundry basket. Twice! A mistake only happen once! And you had her, in your place: TWICE! You motherfucking horse shit eating goblin.” You hissed. Jeong was lost for words. “I hope you can afford to pay for your studies this sem, because I’m bailing. Hope you don’t have to sell yourself to make ends meet. That would be...excruciatingly, unfortunate. What else can that mouth do but give blows.” Jeong insulted you. “You just want me back because you heard I was graduating. I mean, doctor and pharmacist couple, wouldn’t we be the envy on campus. You wished your ass is as hot as mine. Tell your nurse girlfriend good luck, fucking a small dick.” You crossed your arm and watched him walked out the came door you both came in. The curtains were pulled open and it revealed Yeo in his finest.

Tousled hair, bedroom eyes and collarbones. Doctor Jeong, who?

“Enjoyed the skit?” You shamelessly asked with a fake smile on your face. “...What skit. I just got up and needed to pee.” He pretended not to hear a word of exchange, when he’s heard everything. And you thought it was considerate of him. “How did I get in here?” He asked.

“You fainted. You have terrible gastric, and you just ignore it? You know what that can do to your stomach walls?” You followed him as he dragged his IV drip into the personal washroom they have for him in the ward. “...I know. But I don’t really care.” He said, as he took a piss. When he’s done with it, he saw you biting your lips, trying to stop yourself from scolding him. He was afterall, just a stranger. “...I need to be discharged soon, no one is going to resume my work for me, so I’ll just the consent forms and be off to my work place before noon. You didn’t stay the whole night here, did you?” He said, dragging his feet back to his bed and saw three bowls of instant noodles and a blanket, by his side table. Those suggests that you had been here all night, as he fret.

He couldn’t explain this painful feeling his core. His blood is boiling for no reason when he heard you speak to that guy. He felt hollow, and he held his fist firm to his sides, trying not to lose control.

“...I should go.” You said. And like a switch, Yeo’s response was a definite, “No.” And you turned to him puzzled. “And who are you to stop me?” There’s a slight playfulness in your voice. Then you started to tie your hair up into a bun, showing off your neck, and Yeo’s heart starts to unreasonably pump faster than it should. “...There’s a funny story regarding that hairpin. Grandma used to tell me at bedtime.” You drifted. Yeo’s eyes fall to your neck and collarbones and he suddenly felt an urge to push you against that wall behind you, and kiss you as he pleases, until you moan the way you did when you were staring at him, while he was working earlier. That’s why he glanced at you. You were eliciting sinful noise out of your luscious lips and it took everything in him not to kiss you right there and then.

“It was about princesses, prince, royal families. How a dark horrible murderous prince fell in love with a princess who was at the time the daughter to the most powerful families then. The marriage was obviously arranged, because duhh, like what year it was. 940 A.D. or something. And even though the prince was ruthless and unforgiving and rude, she was convinced that he had a good in him that no one else could see. And this is a fairytale so, she’s the one that unlocked the heart of gold in this evil prince who happened to have an equally maleficent queen as a mother… It’s a really stupid story. Totally bullshit.” You shrugged as you pack your things in your bag while he stares at you while hanging one leg off the bed. “You haven’t got to the hairpin part.” He said. His eyes were so dreamy that you couldn’t fight off his demands.

“...Well. Long story short, the queen who wanted the prince to re-marry another princess from a stronger household, tries to banish the princess her son was currently married to, she says horrible things to her, to make her give up on her marriage. And back then, royal couples don’t stay together, to make room for concubines, right?” You joined him on the bed, suddenly feeling helplessly tired from staying up all night to care for him. His eyes stuck on you. “...But the prince didn’t go to see any of the concubines, because he’d rather see his wife, so after a very long time, and no news from her, he went to her chambers and on the way, he saw her crying. His mother just left and she was crying. She took off the hairpin, feeling angry that her husband wasn’t around...but what she didn’t know was the queen trying to separate them.” Your voice slowed down and became raspy, so Yeo got closer to hear you.

“And then?” He asked, matching your voice.

“And she dropped them on his feet and he screams. Roared to her.” You recalled the story. Yeo interrupted, “...Please don’t give the things I gave you, back to me, when I’ve mended my soul with them. They’re forever yours to keep. Forever yours. I’m forever yours.” And you looked at him bewildered.

How did he know the exact words? When he has never heard of the story?

“So you must know the end to that?” You smiled, gazing up to his steely eyes. “No I do not.” He answered. “...He ran back to her, insists that she keeps it, and passed it down to generations after her. And they were slaughtered. So how it got back to the family it belongs to, remains a mystery.” You ended the story. And by now, his face is so close to yours you could literally feel his warm breath on your lips. He inches in, thumbed your cheek, and rest his fore finger behind your earlobe, before brushing his lips on yours.

And when he did, he felt the familiarity in your lips from centuries ago. His lips can’t forget the first girl that taught him to kiss.

“You’re very strange, Prince Wang Yo.” She said. “Why so?” Wang Yo arched an eyebrow, in their first love making session.

“There are times when you’re gentle. And there are times when you get ...rough.” She spoke to his lips, running her finger along his collarbones. “...Just tell me when it hurts. I’ll stop.” He sounded dazed. “...But where’s the fun in that… Now I’m curious, on how far you’ll go.” She starts to straddle him. “You’re way ahead of your time, my love.” She had him in giggling fit.

*****

“Why do I have to take this horrible, history class.” You whined as you recline in his sport car and Yeo did nothing more than laughing at your state. “Maybe you’re in for a surprise, who know you might actually like it.” He tries to soothe your discomforts. You peeked at him through your messy hair and he smiles adoringly at you as he parks at the visitors parking of your college. “Ugh,” you straighten up in your seat, arched your back and start to tie your hair up in a messy bun before he stops you, “Maybe it’s best that you let it down.” He hurried to say.

Because he saw a couple of hickies along your neck and is trying to save you from the humiliation. “...Maybe I’ll just daydream about you and it’ll make the time pass faster. Hopefully” You didn’t quite hear him until he pinched your hip gently and you yelped, “What are you trying to do, there are people here.” You hissed at him. “I’m saying that you better let your hair down.” his eyes drifted to your collarbone. And you pulled the rearview mirror to see yourself. “... It got that big?” You were horrified and you saw him rest his elbows on his knee, and placed his chin to give a sorry smile. “Oh...you thought I was going to hide this? Baby, absolutely not. I’m going to glorify this marks and let everybody know who I belong to, and by everybody, I meant every. Body.” You said, already opening the door, and he huffed cutely, “Not the professor.”

“Especially the professors!” You said upon closing the door. You walked out in a skinny jeans and a tiny little top with spaghetti straps and a maroon cardigan that only passed your knees and shows off a hefty amount of your chest where the hickeys at.

As you boringly wait for the professor to arrive, you kept on texting Yeo on his mobile but for some good reason he hasn’t been replying as fast as he used to. And you were getting suspiciously suspicious. “Sorry, I’m late. I had to turn back and get my laptop since the slides were all in there…” You lifted your head to the sound on the rushing footsteps that rendered the noisy hall to a silent. You had to fix your glasses to see properly.

“I’m Hwang Il Yeo. And I’m your professor for history class today.” He introduced himself. “Some new faces I see around here. Some are final year students? I believe, who had never attended my class before. I wish you good luck, because I’ve heard that my class were a bit difficult to pass.” Yeo gave the laptop a smile because he knows you were watching every move. “There will be assignments, three to be exact. One, will carry 20 percent of your grades, while the other two are group assignment and thesis. Now thesis ideas are strictly based on my evaluation and it carries a hefty 70 percent  amount of your overall grades, and if you fail that, means you fail the class and I’ll see you next year. And I think you don’t want that. Neither do I” He expertly say and heck, you would carelessly zeroed all his quiz if it means you’ll see him again.

“Sexy...Sexy professor.” You shake your head and raised your hand. “Yes?” He sensed that someone was raising their hand and he scrolled down the slide without looking at who it was but clearly knew it was you. “...Professor Yeo…” You trailed.

“...That’s Professor Hwang to you, but okay, go on.” He was unbelievably sexy when he did that, resting on the side of the desk thing, it took everything in you not to strip naked there and then.

“...Professor Hwang. Il. Yeo. Sir,” you purposely added a sexy curve to it, knowing exactly what he liked, “...If I may, will you provide extra classes for...weak students?” You smiled, biting your lips. He uncrossed his arm and cleared his throat, walking behind the desk to cover his growing bulge. ‘As needed. I suppose. But I tend to be very busy with my other day job, so I could be unapproachable most of the time. And the reason why I never conducted a tutorial class for needy students is because...I tend to be a little rough.” And the females in the class starts to mewl. You stuck your hot gaze on him, knowing exactly where to attack when you come home later.

He’ll be begging you for mercy for what he had said today. He won’t be able to walk once you’re done with him. Sweet-sweet revenge, Professor.

So the professor paid your mother’s hospital bills and your studies. And the thing the queen mother so desperately want to return is the love Wang Yo had for his officially wedded wife and through the hairpin that remained yours, the heartbreak that late Prince Wang Yo had endured in his final days were forgiven and finally, the bad dreams stops. 

Yeo lingered his gaze on you as you lay asleep across his chest. He threaded his fingers with your hair, as he felt small puffs of air from you. He lifts his head a little, to whisper, “You’ve conquered me, entirely.” 

And this conquest is fulfilled.

The boy who never returned to his father after his parent’s divorced, now spends almost every weekend in his father’s place. No more one night stands with attractive girls, no more having to rush the breakfast to escape the girl, no more raunchy texts with random ladies, Hwang Il Yeo the notoriously handsome appraiser, not only saved your mother’s life, he saved you and himself. 

And for that, you’re so grateful to be married to this man, with that hairpin wrapped in your hair and those lips and heart you knew belong to you, “Remember you used to say something about the things you love will leave you eventually?”

He rolled his head to the back, groaning, “Let’s not spoil the evening with bad omen...” 

“Well, I just wanted to tell you that of all the things you love... I’m the only one that will never leave you. Ever.” You gave him a devil grin and he took the words with a small amount of fear and assurance that you will be certainly be a permanent part of him. 

You were after all... His queen.

[tradevendors]

How to Diagnose SEO Traffic Drops: 11 Questions to Answer

Posted by Daniel_Marks

Almost every consultant or in-house SEO will be asked at some point to investigate an organic traffic drop. I’ve investigated quite a few, so I thought I’d share some steps I’ve found helpful when doing so.

Is it just normal noise?

Before you sound the alarm and get lost down a rabbit hole, you should make sure that the drop you’re seeing is actually real. This involves answering two questions:

A.) Do you trust the data?

This might seem trivial, but at least a quarter of the traffic drops I’ve seen were simply due to data problems.

The best way to check on this is to sense-check other metrics that might be impacted by data problems. Does anything else look funky? If you have a data engineering team, are they aware of any data issues? Are you flat-out missing data for certain days or page types or devices, etc.? Thankfully, data problems will usually make themselves pretty obvious once you start turning over a few rocks.

One of the more common sources of data issues is simply missing data for a day.

B.) Is this just normal variance?

Metrics go up and down all the time for no discernible reason. One way to quantify this is to use your historical standard deviation for SEO traffic.

For example, you could plot your weekly SEO traffic for the past 12 months and calculate the standard deviation (using the STDEV function on Google Sheets or Excel makes this very easy) to figure out if a drop in weekly traffic is abnormal. You’d expect about 16% of weeks to be one standard deviation below your weekly average just by sheer luck. You could therefore set a one-standard-deviation threshold before investigating traffic drops, for example (but you should adjust this threshold to whatever is appropriate for your business). You can also look at the standard deviation for your year-over-year or week-over-week SEO traffic if that’s where you’re seeing the drop (i.e. plot your % change in YoY SEO traffic by week for the past 12 months and calculate the standard deviation).

SEO traffic is usually pretty noisy, especially on a short time frame like a week.

Let’s assume you’ve decided this is indeed a real traffic drop. Now what? I’d recommend trying to answer the eleven questions below, at least one of them will usually identify the culprit.

Questions to ask yourself when facing an organic traffic drop

1. Was there a recent Google algorithm update?

MozCast, Search Engine Land, and Moz’s algorithm history are all good resources here.

Expedia seems to have been penalized by a Penguin-related update.

If there was an algorithm update, do you have any reason to suspect you’d be impacted? It can sometimes be difficult to understand the exact nature of a Google update, but it’s worth tracking down any information you can to make sure your site isn’t at risk of being hit.

2. Is the drop specific to any segment?

One of the more useful practices whenever you’re looking at aggregated data (such as a site’s overall search traffic) is to segment the data until you find something interesting. In this case, we’d be looking for a segment that has dropped in traffic much more than any other. This is often the first step in tracking down the root cause of the issue. The two segments I’ve found most useful in diagnosing SEO traffic drops specifically:

Device type (mobile vs. desktop vs. tablet)

Page type (product pages vs. category pages vs. blog posts vs. homepage etc.)

But there will likely be plenty of other segments that might make sense to look at for your business (for example, product category).

3. Are you being penalized?

This is unlikely, but it’s also usually pretty quick to disprove. Look at Search Console for any messages related to penalties and search for your brand name on Google. If you’re not showing up, then you might be penalized.

Rap Genius (now Genius) was penalized for their link building tactics and didn’t show up for their own brand name on Google.

4. Did the drop coincide with a major site change?

This can take a thousand different forms (did you migrate a bunch of URLs, move to a different JavaScript framework, update all your title tags, remove your navigation menu, etc?). If this is the case, and you have a reasonable hypothesis for how this could impact SEO traffic, you might have found your culprit.

Hulu.com saw a pretty big drop in SEO traffic after changing their JavaScript framework.

5. Did you lose ranking share to a competitor?

There are a bunch of tools that can tell you if you’ve lost rankings to a competitor:

BrightEdge’s Share of Voice

GetStat’s Share of Voice

SEMrush’s Rankings Distribution Report

If you’ve lost rankings, it’s worth investigating the specific keywords that you’ve lost and figuring out if there’s a trend. Did your competitors launch a new page type? Did they add content to their pages? Do they have more internal links pointing to these pages than you do?

GetStat’s Share of Voice report lets you quickly see whether a competitor is usurping your rankings

It could also just be a new competitor that’s entered the scene.

6. Did it coincide with a rise in direct or dark traffic?

If so, make sure you haven’t changed how you’re classifying this traffic on your end. Otherwise, you might simply be re-classifying organic traffic as direct or dark traffic.

7. Has there been a change to the search engine results pages you care about?

You can either use Moz’s SERP features report, or manually look at the SERPs you care about to figure out if their design has materially changed. It’s possible that Google is now answering many of your relevant queries directly in search results, put an image carousel on them, added a local pack, etc. — all of which would likely decrease your organic search traffic.

Celebritynetworth.com lost most of its SEO traffic because of rich snippets like the one above.

8. Is the drop specific to branded or unbranded traffic?

If you have historical Search Console data, you can look at number of branded clicks vs. unbranded clicks over time. You could also look at this data through AdWords if you spend on paid search. Another simple proxy to branded traffic is homepage traffic (for most sites, the majority of homepage traffic will be branded). If the drop is specific to branded search then it’s probably a brand problem, not an SEO problem.

9. Did a bunch of pages drop out of the index?

Search Console’s Index Status Report will make it clear if you suddenly have way fewer URLs being indexed. If this is the case, you might be accidentally disallowing or noindexing URLs (through robots.txt, meta tags on the page, or HTTP headers).

Search Console’s Index Status Report is a quick way to make sure you’re not accidentally noindexing or disallowing large portions of your site.

10. Did your number of referring domains and/or links drop?

It’s possible that a large number of your backlinks have been removed or are no longer accessible for whatever reason.

Ahrefs can be a quick way to determine if you’ve lost backlinks and also offers very handy reports for your lost backlinks or referring domains that will allow you to identify why you might have lost these links.

A sudden drop in backlinks could be the reason you’re seeing a traffic drop.

11. Is SEM cannibalizing SEO traffic?

It’s possible that your paid search team has recently ramped up their spend and that this is eating into your SEO traffic. You should be able to check on this pretty quickly by plotting your SEM vs. SEO traffic. If it’s not obvious after doing this whether it’s a factor, then it can be worth pausing your SEM campaigns for specific landing pages and seeing if SEO traffic rebounds for those pages.

To be clear, some level of cannibalization between SEM and SEO is inevitable, but it’s still worth understanding how much of your traffic is being cannibalized and whether the incremental clicks your SEM campaigns are driving outweigh the loss in SEO traffic (in my experience they usually do outweigh the loss in SEO traffic, but still worth checking!).

If your SEM vs. SEO traffic graph looks similar to the (slightly extreme) one above, then SEM campaigns might be cannibalizing your SEO traffic.

That’s all I’ve got — hopefully at least one of these questions will lead you to the root cause of an organic search traffic drop. Are there any other questions that you’ve found particularly helpful for diagnosing traffic drops? Let me know in the comments.

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

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SEO AutoPilot Remaining Alivethe Struggles Of An Organisation Trying To Survive.

Many thanks to everybody that took the time to respond to my last blog post. I wish to reply to several of the comments, because, well, simply because.

Initial point first: my AdWords campaign, as it is set up today, functions really, extremely well. It generates queries, which we transformed into paying consumers. The average inquiry we get via phone and email yields regarding $3,450 in earnings. And also my overall AdWords costs is much less than 5 percent of my annual profits, which I consider to be appropriate. All of the advice to fiddle with this and transform that and look into the other is fascinating, however I may or could not transform anything. It ain't damaged. I don't have to fix it.

I used to run on the material network, but we obtained enormous numbers of junk hits that were associated to searches for sporting activities conferences and also of course, I know that I could have cleaned that up with unfavorable key words, however that's an endless task. My complete ad spend runs around $9,000 a month, or regarding $108,000 a year. We're on track for $2 million in sales this year, which is where I got the 5 percent of gross number.

On the remarks:

Im interested, have you taken into account anything year over year in your calculations or anything else other compared to what your standard has been this one isolated week compared with the previous 40 weeks approximately of information that you had assembled? Mark Bowers

So its an exceptionally fascinating inquiry but a pitifully small example upon which to also think about creating as well as analysis. Bob

For the last 24 years, I would certainly acquire a paper calendar at the start of the year, and use it to tape consultations and additionally make note of inbound calls. I decided at the beginning of this year that I wanted a much better document of inbound telephone calls, to see whether any type of patterns arised. I set up a spread sheet on Google Docs, with a cell for every day of the year, as well as shared it with my salespersons so that we might all tape-record every incoming query.

A great deal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fJR2oLT8nY&list=PLddX_cIorQS_Mw7YX8LHMwenOI7OrKo-K of the calls we get result in work weeks or months later. And also some of the phone calls result in actually significant orders I 'd dislike to miss one of those because I was generating a statistically substantial data established.

FWIW, I never ever click on the paid ads. For something as aesthetic as your item, I miss right down to the image results. Then I could see several companies tables at one time. And there you don't do very well. Just one little photo on web page two, bordered by several pictures from your rivals (Franz, hardrox). You need to recode your.jpg documents names so they will certainly appear better. JAB

This is a very interesting remark. It never ever struck me that anyone would certainly shop by doing this, however it makes perfect feeling for an aesthetically oriented product. We do code our picture data names to attempt to make them S.E.O. pleasant, but there's just so much you could do with a data name. This kind of search doesn't seem to have any type of connection to AdWords. I aren't sure exactly how Google ranks the pictures they show up. I just tried a search (" personalized conference tables") which returns my site as both the leading paid as well as free listings. When I struck the photo tab, we have just one image in the first 25, and also 5 in the very first 200. Possibly Google is missing a chance right here why not increase AdWords to the image results? I 'd gladly pay for placement.

I rarely click AdWords results at either the leading or side due to the fact that I know Google is getting paid by what is typically a tiny business with narrow margins ... So if the advertisement seems relevant to my needs Sickness scroll down and click the free search results page for the very same company, or even manually key in the firms LINK rather than clicking on the adword web link. Id miss a whole lot of companies without the Adword link. MK, New York

Exactly what do you do if there is no free link from the company buying AdWords? I'm inferring that you click another person. Not that there's anything incorrect keeping that, yet this drives me crazy. I purchased that leading link to ensure that you would certainly click it if you believed it would certainly benefit you to do so. Please do not stress concerning my advertisement budget plan. I'll bother with it, as well as if it appears to be money poorly invested, I'll change my advertising.

My firm was one of Googles original advertisers. Concerning two years back, we reduced our AdWords budget by 80% as well as just concentrated on phrases that brought site visitors to our buying cart. We were nervous about how Google would respond, however our experiment functioned. Our sales did not decrease and our natural listings did not endure. Steverino

Once you get to the top of the cost-free load, you are most likely to remain there, as you will immediately get even more clicks than the succeeding web links. My concept, and my experience backs me up on this, is that the ideal method to move your complimentary link up the checklist is to drive web traffic to it with AdWords and also reveal Google that individuals are discovering the link to be valuable via a great bounce rate, time on website and other metrics that mirror the customer experience. Exactly how does an S.E.O.-optimized site displace a site that additionally has excellent S.E.O.?

One recommendation (as someone who buys domain for a living) is that you update to CustomConferenceTables.com rather of utilizing the domain name with hyphens ... The firm that owns the name w/o hyphens is a huge business and the rate is cost effective, specifically thinking about the products youre marketing and also your present advertising outlay. Eliot Silver

We got the URL with the hyphens since it was available, and also my Internet developer believes that it makes no difference relating to the S.E.O. stamina of the name. Contemporary of curiosity, I spoke to the proprietor of customconferencetables.com to see exactly how much it would certainly cost. I was informed $1,680. Forget it, I responded, that's shocking. Would you sell it for $800? Have to examine with my supervisor, claimed the sales person. Thirty seconds later on I get a recall: $800 is O.K. That made me question just how much reduced they would have gone. I chose not to do the bargain I do not in fact think that having that certain LINK is necessary, as customconferencetable.com is possessed by a third firm, as well as a lot of the various other noticeable variations remain in various hands. It's a jungle around in seminar table land. There will certainly be some complication for people that don't look any further than an URL. Yet that is not just how people shop. I have confidence in my site's content and also my sales procedure. We'll make it function.

UShapedTable.com

UShapedTables.com

SquareConferenceTable.com

CustomBoardroomTable.com

CustomBoardroomTables.com

All are offered. Buy them and also forward them to the website. John

I took the $800 I didn't invest in customconferencetables.com and also got these rather. I will certainly be forwarding them to the pertinent web pages on our site. Many thanks for the suggestion!

Paul, like many individuals Ive time out of mind switched to Bing. Have you attempted your search terms there? lesle.

Given that Sept. 1 of this year, I received 4,287 organic check outs from Google as well as 3,019 brows through from AdWords. Is it feasible that Google subdues Bing results in Google Analytics? That would be rather deceptive, but that is auditing Google Analytics for precision?

Put your SEM/SEO history into a Shewhart procedure habits chart (Excel layouts readily available on the web). This will put possibility control bands around the data and also supply some analytic insight, consisting of cyclicality impacts. It will certainly likewise aid different signal from sound in the results. Mak.

I'm not smart enough to do this, but anybody that desires to attempt it rates to my raw information.

When it pertains to paid ads affecting a companys rank in the natural results, weve constantly really felt very highly that there should be no connection between the two. Google does not use your status as an advertiser to influence organic positions. Frederick Vallaeys, Google AdWords Evangelist.

Hence speaketh Google. Until Google tells us exactly exactly what variables go into making natural positions, I'll have my doubts concerning their brilliant line splitting up in between AdWords and also natural.

Sufficient on this topic (a minimum of in the meantime). Following message: my dropping medical insurance costs!

Paul Downs established Paul Downs Cabinetmakers in 1986. It is based beyond Philly.

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Why SEO 2019 Had Been So Popular Till Now?

Getting knowledge of SEO tactics is usually helpful when marketing your web site. Here's a true statement you don't need to hear as often: Your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technique for 2018 shouldn't concentrate on keywords. (1888PressRelease) Stone Marketing, a Boston-based, full-service SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and internet marketing firm today announces they have been rated as the number five SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION firm in the 2010 Advertising World Top ten SEO Business Award initiative. According to Forrester Analysis, the number of global smart phone subscribers is expected to achieve 3. 5 billion by 2019, crossing the 50% mark regarding smartphone penetration by 2018, plus reaching 59% by 2019. On-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ensures that your site can be read by both possible customers and search engine software. In 2019, voice-search will end up being the dominant way that individuals search. But SEO is all regarding the organic” rankings, which show up in the middle of the particular search results page. The most important SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION factor for creating high-quality articles is doing good keyword study. Protocol changes in 2018 seem in order to centre on reducing the strength of old-school SEO techniques, along with the May 2015 Google ‘Quality' protocol update bruisingly familiar. Keep in mind in SEO article writing suggestions you keywords have to create sense too. Domain Authority within SEO is a rank that will measures how popular and reliable search engines call at your own website. If the terms you happen to be hoping to rank with regard to don't show on the page, this will be much more difficult to achieve your goals -- making on-page optimization a essential part of most SEO strategies. Register and raise the free donation for SEO London, uk every time you shop on-line. Local SEO - Optimize that localized content on your internet site to properly leverage local indicators, online reviews and business entries. Learn more about content material optimization for SEO here. Along with paid-search it offers a very focused audience, visitors referred by SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION will only visit your web site if they are seeking particular home elevators your products or even related content. From keyword ingrdient filling to link buying, the SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING landscape has seen numerous black-hat tricks — and Google usually catches on. Chris Gregory, founder plus managing partner at Jacksonville centered firm, DAGMAR Marketing, predicts that will AI and machine learning might have a big impact upon SEO in 2019 and SEOs who aren't technical will end up being left in the dust. Some SEO professionals also advise that anchor textual content should be varied as a lot of pages linking to one web page using the same anchor textual content may look suspicious to find motors. SEO trickery such while keyword ‘stuffing' in irrelevant articles simply won't cut it within the current day, with Google's algorithm taking over 200 elements to ensure that it's ranks provide results with valid and even authoritative sites, it is around on impossible to perform anything additional than work with the research engines to make sure best quality SEO results. From a SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION perspective, the principal keyword need to be at the beginning adopted by the other relevant key phrases. Google My Business is Google's business directory and, thus, super crucial to your local SEO Outlined businesses using the best SEO can appear in the Local 3-Pack, the batch of 3 showcased businesses nearest you that look when you do a appropriate local search. Fire up Visibility recently released SEO: The particular Movie ”. This 40-minute movie covers a brief history associated with search engine optimization portrayed via the experiences of some associated with the biggest names within the particular SEO industry. In addition to producing content accessible to search engines, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION also helps boost rankings therefore that content will be positioned where searchers will more easily still find it. The Internet is getting increasingly competitive, and the ones companies who else perform SEO may have the decided advantage in visitors plus customers. Unfortunately, SEO - and research in general - is usually soloed into focusing on The particular Google” and not really regarded for other tactics. This means website owners plus SEO experts will need in order to be on top of their particular game when it comes in order to keyword research and keeping the particular context of their site related to users. Varvy's SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Overview tool audits your site for key parameters like site strength, links, image SEO, cultural counts, on-page SEO, technical standing, page speed, loading time plus more. Typically the trouble is that SEO position factors have changed a whole lot over the years (find out there how in our keyword study guide ). That means the particular search engine optimization techniques of which worked 5 in years past won't travel today.

You've added even more relevant content to your site article and increased the on-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION targeted against your focus keyword(s). Before my first ISS, My partner and i had always thought I may just learn everything by personally about global online marketing subjects for example International SEO just by simply doing online investigation and testing, but honestly nothing beats this efficiency of attending a convention like ISS where one could share your experiences and rapidly gain a treasure trove involving learnings and best practices through other international marketers. That method, you and your SEO may ensure that your site will be designed to be search engine-friendly from the bottom up. Nonetheless, a good SEO can furthermore help improve a current web site. If you would like to know what kind associated with SEO trends are going in order to develop in 2019, look simply no further than the trends that will are developing in search within both 2017 and 2018. Webmasters are usually going to remain competitive within the online business when these people stick with SEO experts. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and social media marketing assure that one's site has the particular best SEO Online marketing, which usually means that their company may remain competitive in the on the web market. An SEO ("search engine optimization") expert is somebody trained to improve your presence on search engines. From an SEO perspective, an individual want to have more inner links pointing to your almost all important content. We cover every topic throughout the digital marketing sphere like SEO, technical SEO, local SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, PPC, SEM, content marketing, CRO, analytics, backlink, marketing strategy, mobile phone marketing, social media marketing plus much more. Any SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION company has to be capable to create high quality content material on an ongoing basis. SEO is the process for making changes to the website to be able in order to improve its position in the particular search engines like google. Robert thinks that by 2019 most cellular searches will be conducted simply by voice by mobile devices or even virtual assistants in fact this is very important to obtain your positioning in the lookup engine ranking positions as quickly as possible. As the particular factors search engines like Search engines, Bing, and Yahoo use in order to rank sites are kept key and change frequently, we create all known SEO best procedures into every Squarespace site. Black hat SEO may get you to the best of SERP in a brief time, however, search engines such as google will most probably punish and ban the website more rapidly or later. If you have read from the beginning, a person know that links are the key SEO ranking factor. Right now there are 2 types of lookup engine optimization or SEO. Now, pay close up attention to the components of which make up on-page SEO, since this is where non-SEO specialists will be able to help make the most meaningful impact about their search engine rankings. Search Motor Optimization (SEO) is the technique to campaign your products on-line towards the right clientele with regard to increasing ROI. There are many tools upon the web to assist along with basic keyword research (including the particular Google Keyword Planner tool and there are even more useful third party SEO tools to help you perform this). The biggest change that will we'll see in 2019 (and that's already happening) is the particular fact that keywords are getting less important. Once you've discovered your keywords, use another SEMrush tool, the SEO Content Design template, which is part of their own Content Marketing Toolkit, to function out the best way in order to optimize your content. If a company is providing you all these services below one roof, climbing up the particular SEO ranking will not become an uphill task for your own business any more. Local SEO companies allows a person to position your business upon search engines like google plus other digital marketing platforms therefore you're seen by potential clients — on their terms. YouTube adds the particular nofollow” tag to their hyperlinks, so they don't really assist with SEO. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION isn't just about building lookup engine-friendly websites. The sooner you understand exactly why Google is sending you much less traffic than it did a year ago, the sooner you can clear it up and focus upon proactive SEO that starts to influence your rankings in a good way. The trending SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technique or strategy now plus in 2019 will be Research Enterprise Optimization It has already been coined by myself since 2015. A several of the popular keyword analysis tools are Wordtracker, SEOMOZ Key word Difficulty Tool, SEOBook Keyword Device and Google Keyword Tool. Luckily, SEO allows webmasters to supply clues that the engines may use to understand content. Since less as 20% dentists within a city hire SEO expert s who really wants that shift within their Google ranking. The particular analytical part of the SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is about tracking organic key phrase positions, website traffic and the engagement in Google Analytics, Site owner Tools and many other specific tools. Mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is nothing than a typical SEO, creating content and marking to be able to remain out online. SEO rankings are placing excess fat than ever upon what users have to state. The Search System will help you to evaluate your keyword rankings, CTRs, feasible Google penalties and many additional useful data for technical SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. Blog posts, guides, whitepapers, situation studies, videos, and social articles all need to include the particular right keywords for social plus SEO. For even more detailed information on the make use of of keywords on your site visit SEOcious to will discover many other important factors included in having your web web page in the top 10 entries on the search engines. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, search engine optimization is almost all about search engines, search motor result page (SERP), search position, online visibility, and quality visitors. If your site has about 5-10 niche key phrases that are extremely targeted yet not very competitive, your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION pricing is going to end up being quite less. Content written simply by customers gives sites legitimacy plus it earns SEO juice each from manual and automatic ranking systems. Within 2018, this trend is about the rise and if an individual invest in making your web site mobile friendly you will appreciate higher ratings in 2019 as well. When making a web site for Google in 2018, a person need to understand that Search engines has a long list associated with things it will mark websites down for, and that's generally old-school SEO tactics which are usually now classed as ‘webspam‘. Besides getting social plus having a good time, your own social media profiles can favorably affect your SEO efforts. Since so many people rely on voice search being the pattern in 2019, I, Nicole Bermack (this article's author), am coining the phrase VSO - voice research optimization. Intelligent brands and agencies are changing new SEO, social and content material marketing strategies to join their particular customer conversations. Search engine marketing (SEO) is the art plus science of getting pages in order to rank higher in search motors such as Google. A person can audit your page's SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION health, compare SEO metrics regarding a number of pages, plus analyze both external and inner links on any given internet page. Content companies that will offer SEO content creation solutions are experts in creating content material that are not only improved for search engine rankings yet also add value for your own business in terms of brand name awareness, customer engagement and enhanced sales.

You discuss core SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategies and tactics used in order to drive more organic search prospects to a specific website or even set of websites, as properly as tactics to avoid in order to prevent penalization from search motors. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Smart links allows you in order to specify a word, like 'SEO' and then link it in order to a post on your web site. It's great for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION to feed the search motors a good amount of keyword-rich links. Sites making use of organic SEO in the strict sense is going to become much like organisms, meaning they will will grow, expand and adjust over time according to readers' desires. No matter the business, the age of business, or even status of competitors, every company should at least implement fundamental SEO strategies to help their particular 7 Unbelievable Facts About SEO 2019 offerings get found on Yahoo. So your SEO if your own thinking mobile, needs to end up being either responsive or app-store technique with the right dimensions, style, user-friendly, UX experience. Dark hat SEO methods, such since the use of keyword filling and link farming, can furthermore boost organic SEO. SEO is usually important in every area associated with advertising, marketing, design, optimization, video clip, content, mobile and e-commerce, regarding without SEO all is untuned in need of synchronization, such as an orchestra of musicians without a good experienced conductor. Unfortunately, 95% of links through SEO link building never provide a single new visitor in order to your website. User-generated content racks up serious SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION points by providing sites along with fresh content, bundles of inbound links, and sources for organically framing natural attributes. You'll find it right here Also really worth checking out there is Moz's Beginner's Facts SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, ” which you'll find right here, and the SEO Success Pyramid from Small Business Search Advertising. Off-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy refers to the impact of a change in additional websites in your search position. Bruce Clay-based set the standard for honest internet marketing by authoring the particular " SEO Code of Integrity, " now translated into eighteen languages, and it has already been a respected leader within the particular ever-changing lookup engine marketing industry since mil novecentos e noventa e seis. Website SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (including, content optimisation, meta seo, the significance of links). A good SEO Specialist is someone that is an expert on the particular topic of search engine search engine optimization. Just due to the fact a proper On-page and Off-page SEO optimization work will provide a better Ranking to your own website in Search Engine Outcome Page (SERP). The greatest SEO change and pattern I realize already happening within 2018 is Google's switch in order to a mobile-first index, so when a site is not however mobile-friendly and optimized for this, it's critical to prioritize this particular as it is now basic for its SEO success. With good on-page SEO, research engines can easily index your own web pages, understand what your own site is about, and quickly navigate the structure and articles of your website, thus rank your site accordingly.

If you avoid look after SEO, you may get lost among the trillions of links out there. Heading forward SEOs have to end up being able to quantitatively show the particular value of their online advertising by identifying and implementing Crucial Performance Indicators (KPIs) that can demonstrate the value added simply by their SEO initiatives. The topic cluster model is usually your way forward in SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION this year, but it's not really the only method to obtain your website content to position higher once it's been made. WIthout simple SEO in spot, your business may not end up being a result on the research engines when a customer is usually specifically searching for your organization! SEO information can help improve your sociable efforts, and social media may help with the search rankings. Within his book Ultimate Facts Customizing Your Website, SEO and web marketing expert Jon Rognerud displays you how to create a top of the line website and get top rating on all search engines. 00: 38 SEO is usually heading towards voice search. SpyFu is definitely really a paid tool that will uses 11 years of historic data to help you discover your competitors' most profitable key phrases and the keywords they've utilized for SEO and ads. The simple truth is that on-site navigation hackers like search bar with smart autocomplete, internal linking with point texts or immediate customer assistance boost both UX and SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. Even though it is challenging to assume about the modifications that might take place inside 2019, but we know regarding sure what SEO trends regarding 2018 will take greater importance in 2019.

Head associated with Marketing at @impressiontalk specialising within user-centred SEO, PAGE RANK, content marketing and digital technique. Primary is usually on inbound marketing, including every thing from SEO to social mass media. However, a good agency providing SEO services will be all about being proactive in order to keep up-to-date with the most recent search engine news and modifications in SEO techniques. Video marketing provides new opportunities to drive even more visitors your site and enhance its SEO status. Research Engine Optimisation (SEO) in 2018 is really a technical, synthetic and creative process to enhance the visibility associated with the website in search motors. Off-page SEO makes reference to the actions taken outside the house of your own personal website that can easily help boost your search powerplant rankings. Mainly because of this insufficient visibility this can be hard to create a sound business case regarding SEO, even though it is definitely strikingly obvious of the advantages to most companies of the particular number one position on Search engines. This particular is a time-honored SEO exercise called broken link building. Positively engaging in reputation management, content material management and SEO (Search Motor Optimization) can give even the particular smallest business a chance in order to compete globally. Whether you are already adding SEO into your online advertising mix or not, you may ask yourself how aCO website stacks up against acom. With recent Google modifications, failure to look after cellular SEO could result in research invisibility, and mobile's bringing additional changes you'll need to end up being ready for. Also companies considering about getting Search engine search engine optimization services should go through these types of magazines to familiarize themselves making use of the latest trends within the particular SEO and web-based marketing business to allow them to determine the assistance offered for all of them from the selected SEO companies. Mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION in 2018 will likely be all regarding Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). The term SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION also describes the making internet pages easier for internet lookup engine indexing software, known because "crawlers, " to find, check out, and index your web site. I feel that technical SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION mistakes that affect crawl spending budget - and also pollute Search engines with non-SEO-friendly content such because social landing pages, WordPress mass media archives, offer pages and cloned e-commerce product pages - may have a far more detrimental effect upon sites moving forward. Effective SEO lets you enhance your web​site to demonstrate up within search engines. We all will get into how to be able to pick the best keywords with regard to your business later in this particular SEO guide, but it perfect you to know how for you to use them, as they are usually referenced throughout this section. Although meta descriptions are not some sort of ranking factor for search motors, they do hold value with regard to your website and are element of your SEO presence. Let us speak a bit as to exactly what SEO is before we enter into the SEO article writing recommendations for people who may end up being new or do not very understand it. SEO stands with regard to Seo. Based on SEO software program company Moz's bi-yearly survey upon search engine ranking factors, the particular titles on your page are usually one of the nine almost all important considerations a search motor makes. Having an SEO approach that effectively promotes your picture taking business, driving new traffic and even taking into consideration the requirements of the site visitors although you concentrate on perfecting your own art is a really strong tool. SEO is Research Engine Optimization and it is definitely required for make a site view-able. And you may see the section on exactly where to use keywords for even more information on integrating these key phrases into your SEO content technique. 22. Use social media in order to boost local SEO. SEO is the acronym for Seo. Even though certain techniques of SEO articles Blog9T remain the same, like not really compromising on quality; there are usually definitely techniques which have developed from the past and a person should find out whether your own SEO articles writing services are usually very well aware of that will or not. SEO service companies are specialized in increasing the particular traffic to your site simply by increasing your position in the particular search engine ranking positions. Appeal to international people to your internet sites with these SEO tips. The top challenges within organic SEO are link developing (easy-to-get links no more have got much value) and keyword study (the low-hanging fruit is lengthy gone). For instance, the word ‘SEO tips' is furthermore included inside the less competing phrase ‘SEO tips 2019', which usually is searched for too. Join us for the three-day, one-track conference full involving forward-thinking, tactical sessions in SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION, growth marketing, the mobile surroundings, analytics, content marketing, and even more. The objective associated with SEO is to get the website ranked as high since possible on search engines, for example Google. In case you are improving user encounter by focusing primarily on the particular quality of the MC associated with your pages and avoiding : even removing - old-school SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques - those certainly are usually positive steps to getting even more traffic from Google in 2018 - and the type associated with content performance Google rewards is definitely in the end largely with least about a satisfying consumer experience. For instance, when I'm logged in to Google+ and I actually search for SEO, I have the following in my top 5 search results. Black head wear SEO practice involves breaking most of the rules and rules of the search engine. Every time you notice or hear the phrase lookup engine optimization, ” substitute exactly what create quality and indicating relevance” and you'll have the correct mindset permanently SEO work. SEOs conveniently call this effect ‘domain authority' and it appeared in order to be related to ‘PageRank' -- the system Google started in order to rank the web within 1998. For those who have more time plus are keen to follow the particular SEO industry, subscribe to Moz and Search Engine Land. Integrating these keywords into the write-up allows you to add range while still retaining SEO energy.

[arediscoveryofself]

I'm glad, I'm finally fully present

Living in the most expensive city in the world, with governments setting out 10 years, 20 years plan for the nation, its hard for the citizens to feel fully present. We constantly work hard, for lofty dreams and ambitions and we justify our actions with a concept termed “Delayed gratitude”.  We worked hard, so we can enjoy the fruits of our labour in old age. So we’re always encourage to plan, because if we fail to plan, we plan to fail. But maybe sometimes, we all should stop planning, and learn to be fully present. So that our mind, soul and body can enjoy what is happening around us while propelling us to move in a direction that we have set for ourselves.

Today, as I made my way back home from school, the taxi made its left turn into AYE(ECP), and my memory got transported back to the beginning of 2017,  the darkest period in my very short-lived life thus far.

I’ve always thought that I’ve put down those dark days behind me, but I guess I can never lay it down completely, for it did affect my thoughts, speech and actions for a long period of time.

Nobody starts off a new year wanting to feel lost, especially when I had an extremely good 2016. That year, I juggled my part time internship alongside with my OCIP and school work, and received good reports from all sides. So I expected 2017 to continue in similar fashion. But I guess when your soul is not anchored properly,  its easy to be swayed in different directions. When you care too much about how other people look at you, its easy to alter your behaviour and cast doubt on yourself.

Since young, I prided myself as a high-achiever, prided myself as an individual that is capable of juggling multiple things at once, and excelling in different arenas. But I guess, if you had never listen to yourself carefully, then its easy to imitate others and get distracted, and eventually getting pulled in multiple directions.

As 2017 started, I continued my 2016 routine.  I told my mum that I’m going to continue my part time internship, continue my involvement in my OCIP and I’m going to excel in my studies. But I was wrong. Thoroughly wrong.  Those things that I used to take pride in, was tearing me down in 2017.

I can’t explain why, but in the first half of 2017, I simply lost control of my life  I was running late for my lectures and was absent half the time.  I had to rely on my friends to send me lecture recordings and remind me of the assignments that were due. I was distracted in my internship, felt lost and performed poorly. I lost interest in my PR internship, I didnt know if this internship would be useful and relevant for me. In short, I lost interest and hope in everything that I once prided myself in.

In 28 Feb 2017,  I drove into Utown, and reversed into the same parking lot that I’ve always been using. As I alighted my friend who was going to the same lecture as me, I told her, “Eh you go up ah. I’m not going.” She was dumbfounded and I didnt bother to offer any form of explanation. How. How do I explain my actions to a friend when I didnt even know what was happening to me. I simply lost interest in everything. Yes, everything.

Only through the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight did I realise that my loss of control was due to an innate fear within me. The fear of not attaining success that the world had defined.  I’ve always thought I’m a strong individual that is capable enough to deviate from the norm, fervent enough to pursue my own passion without worrying about anything else. Only in 2017 did it strike me that, nope, I’m equally afraid. Afraid of losing out in this materialistic world that we’re all living in.  I lost confidence in the degree that i was pursuing adamantly – can this degree really feed me, provide me with the life that I’ve always wanted. Do all these social work really make a difference in people’s lives and my own life trajectory. I started asking questions that were too huge to be answered. My soul was screaming, but i didn’t know who was listening. I decided that maybe I ought to take charge of my own life again, so I quit my internship, the only thing that I still have an autonomy over. I thought my life would pick up from there, but nope. I sauntered through my year 2 sem 2 , until I joined the competition that lifted myself out of the miry clay and boosted my self esteem. I only started to build up my own self-esteem and reattained my passion in history after exchange. When you realise that the knowledge of history allows you to engage with strangers on a much deeper level. When you can actually talk about the civil wars and the failure of UN that Ivorians had experienced and seen in their life time. That you can actually discussed about the impact of British colonialism to a Kenyan who has been affected by imperialism and the list goes on.

The second half of 2017 was so good for me, that it felt like an extended dream. I was so scared of waking up, so scared of realising that all these would eventually end.  So I dreaded coming back to Singapore. I dreaded the fact that I have to leave my group of friends whom I’ve built over the course of 6 months and dread the loss of memories that we know, we will all experience as time passes by.

But taking LOA for an internship in AXA was prolly the best decision in 2018. It gave me the space to breath and the time to think. I realised my worth again. I realised I can do things beyond history discipline and I found a passion and a cause that i’m interested in, which was marketing for social enterprise. So I learnt whatever marketing skills/knowledge that I can, I treat each given task seriously and cherish each opportunity that came by.  6 months flew by, and I’m back at the point whereby I have to head back to school. Head back to the place where I was in a deep abyss.   I remember lying down on my bed the night before school start,  with my heart palpitating and thoughts rummaging through my mind.

“Will history repeat itself again?” “Will I feel lost and never get back up again?”

There were just too many questions and too much apprehension. It felt like I’ve but also havent move on.

But just 2 nights ago, it suddenly dawned upon me that I’m now finally fully present. I still joined many different activities, but when your objective is clear, you’re only pulled in one and not many directions.  You can be juggling multiple things, but you’re heading only towards one direction, and that is me right now.

I’m no longer disillusioned in my major, in fact, I grew to appreciate that my discipline gives me the context needed to understand the greater scheme of things. I overload my semester with 6 modules, but I know the purpose of everything that I’m studying. I’m actively involved in a few social enterprises because i know that would lay the foundation needed for me, as I start one in the near future.

I laid awake at 2am, on my bed, with my eyes fixated on the ceiling ; I’m now fully present.

Wow, just wow.

And I write this article with a heart full of gratitude. Dedicating this post to friends who accompanied through the darkest period of my life, to friends who lent me their lecture notes without hesitation, to friends who hang out with me when I needed company, and to friends who celebrate my success and tolerate my failures.

And most importantly, dedicating this post to God, who sailed me through the roughest storms.

And to other readers that happen to be feeling lost, I’m no expert in this, but may this post encourage you that as long as you keep moving, one day, you’ll find out why you do what you do, why you go where you’re going. One day, all dots would connect, and everything would make sense.

Find rest our souls, in Christ alone. P.S. I've actually posted this on my wordpress and wanted to share on facebook to encourage people who are going through the dark days. But I guess this is just too intimate to share, so i think this shall just remain on my tumblr and people who still rmb my wordpress haha. 

[philipfloyd]

31 Reasons to Start Doing SEO for Bing

Rumor has it that Bing from Microsoft can really take your marketing and SEO efforts to a whole different level. Is it true though that Bing can be gold when it comes to better traffic to your website, increased ROI, affordable advertising, convertible exclusive visitors, and an overall friendlier search environment? 

  Given that we don’t lean on rumor, we figured out it’s best to check ourselves what’s there that makes Bing a smart target to marketers of all kinds.  

    In a world full of Google-first mindsets, it’s wise to take a step back and reconsider our choices. Is Google the only medium worth investing into? We gathered 31 facts that prove that Bing might just be that missing piece in your overall online marketing strategy. Be ready to be amazed by statistics, testimonials, and webmaster-backed tips about Bing.

  Bing Traffic Might Have a Lower Bounce Rate

Yahoo and Bing Own a Third of the U.S. Search Market

Most Google SEO Practices Apply to Bing As Well

Bing Has Lower Competition

Bing Currently Powers Yahoo and the Majority of Voice Search

Bing Is More Open About Their Ranking Factors Than Google

Content Is Not a #1 Ranking Signal

On-Page SEO Matters More Than Off-page SEO

Bing Has a Taste For the Good Old Practices

Better Multimedia User Experience

Social Signals Are a Vital Ranking Factor

Bing Has a Stunning Array of Free Analysis Tools

Content Needs to Be Top-Notch

Backlinks: Numbers Talk

Bing Teams Up With Google Against Shady SEO Practices

Bing Prefers Older Websites to Newer Ones

Meta Description and Keywords Impact CTR and Ranking

EMDs Rank Higher on Bing SERPs Than on Google’s 

Bing Can Interpret Flash Websites

Small Local Businesses Get a Boost in Bing’s Local Search Area

Bing Is Gentler When It Comes to Mobile-Friendliness 

CTR Is a Turn-Point Ranking Factor

Bing Is Very Secure For Authors

Bing Puts Less Importance on Links Than Google

HTTPS Is Not a Ranking Factor

Bing Has a Simpler Penalty System

Most of the Bing Audience Is Exclusive and Doesn’t Visit Google

Bing Promises Increased ROI

Bing Is a Much Cheaper Advertising Alternative to Google

Bing Prefers 301 Redirects

Microsoft’s Success Is One of the Finest Coups in History

So How Can Microsoft’s Bing Change Your SEO Game?

  In many ways, Bing is similar to Google. It provides a variety of search services, including web, video, image, and map search. As you’ve probably already seen in the table of contents, many optimization steps meant for Google also fit into the Bing world. And yet, we’re here to talk about what’s Bing offering to businesses and marketers that Google is not. 

  First things first, you should know why the Bing name. One idea struck me the other day and made me wonder whether the Microsoft team watched and worshiped the renowned sitcom tv-show “Friends” like everybody else on this Planet (well, almost everybody!). It would’ve been funny though if they got inspired by Chandler Bing’s name, especially when everybody in the show made fun of it.

  However, let’s get back to our sheep and let you know that the Bing name was brainstormed and picked through focus groups. The proposed name pleased Microsoft for a number of reasons: it was easy to remember and spell, short, and friendly. It also reminded people the sound made when discovering something or deciding upon an idea. Qi Lu, president of Microsoft Online Services also said that Bing meant “very certain to respond/answer” in Chinese. Hey, I’m already sold!

    Should you be craving for some more proof regarding Bing’s performance and charm besides our 31-fact list, you should also check what people say about it and why they prefer Bing to Google. Here are some interviews deployed by TechRadar where working-class people explain how Bing’s a step forward for them when it comes to search engines.

  Long story short, it’s time we listened to the founder and CEO of Market Domination Media, Jonathan Long’s advice and move forward and check what Bing has to offer to the SEO world.

  Stop treating the Yahoo Bing Network like the red-headed stepchild. jonathan long Founder of Market Domination Media /  @long

  1. Bing Traffic Might Have a Lower Bounce Rate

  Matthew Woodward’s experience with the Google and Bing traffic is very interesting. Although many say Bing doesn’t bring too many leads, Woodward experienced something else: this search engine provides lower bounce rate, more page visits, visitors spend more time on site, and there are more subscribers in general. 

  source: matthewwoodward.co.uk

Strong user engagement is very important for Bing and usually penalizes anything that’s not aligned with this requirement. There’s something similar to bounce rate but with an uglier truth – pogo-sticking. While bounce rates don’t always mean something bad, pogo-sticking always does. It occurs when somebody, after having shortly landed on your site, quickly hits the “back” button, returns to search results, and clicks on another website.

  Another guess for the small bounce rate would be that, given the very precise search results aligned with Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines, people do get what they want most times they enter a query and spend enough time on site to satisfy their needs.

  2. Yahoo and Bing Own a Third of the U.S. Search Market

  The 2018 comScore stats revealed the new Bing search market status at both a global and country level. We’ll generally treat Yahoo as being an integral part of the Bing traffic, as they’re powered by the latter. Therefore, the combined strength of Bing and Yahoo nails around a third of the market share for search in the US.

  Did we mention Bing is bigger than you think ? #SEM #PPC #bingadswebcast pic.twitter.com/jeJxJGcxl5

— Bing Ads (@BingAds) August 17, 2017

  Although Google’s traffic is double, we’re still talking big numbers and users that are active on a search engine that surprisingly is other than Google. Given the ton of search done on Bing, it’s very important for digital marketers to know what they’re missing out when struggling to rank on the first Google pages. This way you’ll know where to start optimizing your website, preferably with as little effort as possible.

  source: link-assistant.com

  We all know that most times, numbers talk.

Imagine that you could be missing 143 million unique searchers each month and 5.2 billion searches a month probably don’t display your website in SERPs.

Pretty tough, isn’t it? To rub some more salt into the wound, financial and automotive queries on Bing and Yahoo is triple to that of Google, counting up to 11 million out of a 14 million total. 

  source: searchenginewatch.com

  3. Most Google SEO Practices Apply to Bing As Well

  There are two sides when it comes to the theory that says if you rank high on Google, you rank well pretty well on Bing too. Most agree with this, although with a critical eye, but others are reluctant and argue that search algorithms are different, hence searching for the same query won’t provide you the same SERPs but a quite different one. 

  Either way, we can’t deny the fact that Google and Bing share many similarities, while most guidelines provided from webmasters working for the former are listed as important by webmasters from the latter as well. Nobody says that if you’re on page 1 on Google you MUST be ranking on the same page for the same query on Bing as well.

It’s just that you actually don’t need to reinvent the wheel with Bing but only consider some retouches.

  Again, although their algorithms are somehow different, you can easily target Bing for ranking your website high. SEO for Bing is not so different from Google – you could easily get the best of both worlds. What’s more, most SEO efforts meant for Google will also translate well with Bing and Yahoo as well, given that the latter is powered by the former. 

  Both Google and Bing value relevant content, look for well-placed keywords, place big brands higher, ask for mobile-friendliness and unique user experience, correlate social signals with quality content and better rankings, consider backlinks very important for websites, require the on-page SEO to be up-to-date, and have similar search layouts. Moreover, all three major search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, allied and signed an agreement to make search listings richer and more accurate through structured data. 

  Should you decide to start optimizing for Bing, it would be wise if you checked what impact those tactics might have on your Google ranking, so that you’ll avoid losing popularity and the lead for a search engine with the biggest market share of all.

  4. Bing Has Lower Competition

  Reading various comments on this Bing topic, I noticed there are very few to no people doing SEO for Bing, mostly because they already rank pretty high inside the search engine or simply have no interest in it. Truth be told, the majority of websites focus only on optimizing for Google, leaving the other search engines behind, hence unconsciously allowing Bing develop a fertile search environment where there’s not much of a competition and brands could easily rank high. 

  Bing is second in line after Google when it comes to marketer’s best practices given that everybody struggles to please the bigger master, but it could really add some value to your strategy. 

  Moreover, taking the nearly two decades into account in which SEOs have purely focused all their efforts on ranking high on Google, it’s hard for newcomers to compete with people who already forged their skills for years in a row. But now there’s a new land for people to sow their brands into and see them grow and thrive. Targeting Google is the right move and there’s nothing to blame, as Sherry Bonelli would say. But you should at least be aware of what Bing might do for you.

  If you’re guilty of “Google-first”, it’s not without reason. sherry Bonelli Digital Marketing Guru at Early Bird Digital Marketing / @sherrybonelli

  5. Bing Currently Powers Yahoo and the Majority of Voice Search

  For many years now, beginning July 2009, to be exact, Yahoo search has been powered by Bing meaning that the former’s searches are backed by Bing’s index and ranking algorithm. Should you doubt, just do a test search and see for yourself that search results are very similar. Hence, optimizing for one should please the other as well, at least when looking at the bigger picture.

  Furthermore, should be a little behind with news, Oath is the new name for the Yahoo+AOL mix that came into effect after Yahoo was purchased by Verizon in 2017, including TechCrunch, hence you’ll often see this name in the charts that will follow shortly.

  One of my biggest surprises was to find out that Bing also powers the Siri voice search feature on people’s iPhones. To all the Siri users and aficionados out there – you are using Bing and have no clue about it yet.

  6. Bing Is More Open About Their Ranking Factors Than Google

  Although Bing offers users guidelines as to how they should optimize their websites, Bing specifies that this is not going to guarantee higher rankings or more traffic from the search engine, although it’s wise to tick them on your list nevertheless. This shows you should expect contingencies but they’re ready to guide you through and, when necessary, tell you the naked truth.

  Bing is much more transparent about ranking factors; just check their Bing Webmaster Guidelines and case studies and you’ll agree. Plus, they give you the tools to beautify your website to their taste, hence little to no hidden strings.

  Interesting enough, there’s yet no evidence as to what Bing values most when it comes to ranking – links, content or anything else. They do value quality content but they don’t specifically say links or content play a major role as Google uses to.

  7. Content is Not a #1 Ranking Signal

  As previously said, content is rendered neither as #1 ranking signal on Bing nor as a part of the privileged few that are part of the top. As long as it has the three pillars of content quality, they’re happy.

  source: Bing Webmaster Guidelines

  Bing knows how they like their content in order to rank it high, but there’s one element that might make your page contents more appealing: multimedia files.

  Bing looks for rich and engaging content, one that uses spot-on images, video, audio, so on and so forth.

  8. On-Page SEO Matters More Than Off-page SEO

  On-page SEO is king on Bing. This is what reigns the Bing lands, while off-page follows next. Although digital marketers invest time, money, and effort into both, it’s a universally known fact that successful off-page SEO only follows good on-page SEO.

  source: searchmetrics.com

  Therefore, Bing is not cherry-picking the best one out of two but only gives on-site SEO its well-deserved tribute. To some extent, it’s a chicken-or-the-egg type of debate.

  9. Bing Has a Taste For the Good Old Practices

  Unlike Google who’s always updating everything, Bing is more into the classic. Generally speaking, what’s new-school for Bing is somehow old-school for Google.

  Bing has a rather tangled search algorithm, one that is focused on things such as exact-match domains and keywords in headings, titles, copy or meta description (although Google dismissed them as a ranking factor, Bing relies on them), or high-quality content – authority, display, multimedia, relevance. Those who are fond of the old Google interface and ranking factors could easily feel at home when using Bing.

  As we optimized specifically for Bing and Yahoo, I felt like I was optimizing for Google a few years ago. Tactics and tasks that were significant to me years ago, were now a factor again, just on different search engines. william kammer Director of SEO at Levy Online / @williamkammer

  10. Better Multimedia User Experience

  Bing has a better entity understanding in regard to multimedia and considers it a big plus if added to text content. Therefore, the Microsoft search engine uses it as a ranking factor which they also signal in their Bing Webmaster Guidelines. 

  Another good thing would be that Bing is more user-friendly when queries ask for images. The search engine gives exact search results without related searches or suggestions of this kind, as Google visitors are used to. 

  So you can get Bing’s favorite should you provide nice and tidy, unique, high-quality, and relevant images.

  11. Social Signals Are a Vital Ranking Factor

  According to Neil Patel, Bing 

 has officially stated that they use social shares to understand if a page is popular among users. Social media engagement is a positive sign. The more social signals you have, the higher you’ll go in SERPs. Experts argue that most time they correlate very well with better rankings, and this is all thanks to the content being frequently shared and used by users. 

  Bing says social signals pass on influence at alll levels, especially to brands’ social channels and to search engines.

Their impact should really mean that marketers should put an emphasis on increasing their social media audience and receive some feedback.

  source: searchmetrics.com

  As expected, Bing too is against fake social media followers and engagement, such as it is against keyword stuffing when it comes to relevant content. 

  Although Google doesn’t say anything regarding the power of social signals, they greatly influence your rankings and many experts and SEO gurus vouched for them, so it’s wise to use them and benefit from both search engines, Google and Bing.

  12. Bing Has a Stunning Array of Free Analysis Tools

  Be it on the link level, the site structure level, or the page level, Bing has it all. Plus, Bing Webmaster Tools are free and provide actionable insight and tips on how to optimize your website for them.

  Matthew Woodward thinks they’re superb and encourages marketers to use it right away.  It’s like Bing has concentrated all marketing superpowers in one toolset and now lends it for free for people to learn what’s worth and what’s not in Bing’s eyes.

  source: matthewwoodward.co.uk

  Bing is definitely SEO-friendly. One look at their in-depth structured Webmaster Guidelines, Tools, and case-studies, all there in order to make the search engine a better and easier-to-live-in place.

  Bing provides the right means to sign up your website for analysis – be they backlinks, keywords, link profile etc -, mobile friendliness -, find out whether you’re penalized or not, even get your SEO reports that point out the flaws they see when crawling your site.

  13. Content Needs to Be Top-Notch

  As previously said, content is not a ranking content per se but it’s still important how it looks and “displays itself” on the internet. They prefer unique content, content written by professionals from well-known sources or people with field expertise instead of recycled content which is widely available everywhere on the web. 

  The Bing Webmaster Guidelines defines optimized content as: “clear, easy to understand and scan, deep, without ads, without affiliate links or redirecting readers to other links shortly after they landed on their page, should be friendly, easy to navigate, engaging, information-rich”.

  Content should be multimedia-rich, with graphs, images, and videos meant to engage and offer all the necessary information to the reader. Generally, Bing places a higher value on in-depth, unique, long and engaging content rather than on shorter content. Bing is pretty simple to understand and follow – all you need is to know what you need and the search engine will provide it for you.

    14. Backlinks: Numbers Talk

  The number is so important that it can even beat the link quality.

Although it’s possible for Bing to look more to quantity than to quality, to some extent, it does prefer the ones coming from highly-authoritative websites, usually ranking .edu, .gov, .org sites higher.

  This might be one explanation as to why Bing ranks older, hence richer in links and social activity, websites. Similar to Google, the search engine from Microsoft prefers organic links from relevant, trustworthy websites that vouch for the traffic they lead to your page and old – as age is a sign of trust and influence. Should the backlinks be do-follow and with exact match anchor text (contain your target keywords), you win the jackpot. 

  The Bing team says on their Webmaster Guidelines page that links are necessary to help them spot new pages on your site, as they don’t crawl all your pages, but only the 10 most influential ones. Links show you’re popular, trustworthy, and relevant to real users who eventually generate organic and continuously increasing traffic. 

  15. Bing Teams Up With Google Against Shady SEO Practices

  Link schemes, cloaking, social media schemes, reciprocal or paid links, duplicate content, overly advertised pages, quality over quantity content, misleading markup, link farms, and excessive link manipulation, in general, are not welcomed on Bing. 

  source: Bing Webmaster Guidelines

  Therefore, all the white hat SEOs out there searching for a safe place to develop their brand in the online market, Bing is one of the places-to-be.

  16. Bing Prefers Older Websites to Newer Ones

  I know this one tells a different tale compared to what Google values most, but Bing is old-school and likes to deal with websites that have aged beautifully and you can easily put your trust in. 

  This is genuinely because Bing looks at site authority when checking backlinks or websites, in general. Having a “vintage” (old) domains helps. Older websites have a story to tell, and more often than not they engage in healthy digital marketing practices and have build a trustworthy name in their niche.

  Bing though everything through, isn’t it?

  17. Meta Description and Keywords Impact CTR and Ranking

  This is an old debate where search engine officials state they don’t use metadata as a ranking factor, however, when optimizing your website with meta keywords and description, brands seem to send another vibe to both search engines and readers.

  Although Duane Forrester from Bing Webmaster Outreach announced they don’t take metadata (keywords and descriptions) into account when ranking websites, quality research (testing and experience) show something else. 

  A client came to us with good Google ranks, but very poor Yahoo and Bing. This caused us to look deeply into specific optimization techniques for Bing and Yahoo. One of the first things we noticed was the lack of meta keywords and descriptions. Once we completed filling these out, we saw noticeable increases across the SERPs (except Google). william kammer Director of SEO at Levy Online / @williamkammer

  Either way, Bing needs meta keywords and description to position you higher and understand your content better, while it also helps Google users have a better understanding of your provided info, if not the search engine. Although Google say they don’t use metadata for ranking, it’s still important to optimize your pages with them given the overall impact on CTR.

  18. EMDs Rank Higher on Bing SERPs Than on Google’s 

  Bing is not very good at grasping the meaning from the context, it needs the stuff to be already chewed. As a consequence, Bing puts more emphasis on the exact match anchor text as compared to Google.

  Although Google is somehow against exact-match settings knowing that many spammy websites use exact-match domains, it’s a bit risky to optimize your website this way, should you want to rank high on both search engines. Think of all those online movie websites that wear a domain name matching the very query – “watchmoviesfree”, “tvmovies”, “freemoviescinema” etc. 

  However, given that in the Bing world exact match keywords in your domain name matter, you should try to incorporate it naturally. This is one of the perks of optimizing your website for Bing – exact-match domains get lucky here.

  Bing has lots of EMD sites ranking before some legit sites for many keywords. william kammer Director of SEO at Levy Online / @williamkammer

  Should you want to have yet another shot at ranking higher on Bing, you should focus on exact-match domains in the title, description, HTML, headings, and copy. 

  19. Bing Can Interpret Flash Websites

  Long story short, Bing can interpret flash websites, while Google Chrome has a rather difficult time with them.

  20. Small Local Businesses Get a Boost in Bing’s Local Search Area

  Local businesses will rejoice when hearing this: it’s easier to get increased local visibility with Bing.

  The issue is twofold: first, Google generally favors the bigger local businesses when compared to Bing, secondly, the former often times misses the point when delivering results to a query because it uses contextual clues to figure out what you’re really searching for, whereas Bing will show your local results first.

  Moreover, brick-and-mortar businesses have a better shot at being visible on Bing than on Google with the Bing Places for Business.

    All you need for Bing’s free local listing service is your physical address, contact info, opening hours, your website link, and nice photos of your business. In addition, Bing provides users a feature Google is missing at the moment: an agency dashboard feature to help users run local search campaigns easier and at a quicker pace.

  21. Bing Is Gentler When It Comes to Mobile-Friendliness 

  Bing values mobile-friendliness set-ups but has a different approach to it. They consider mobile-optimization a plus in ranking higher in SERPs, while Google made it rather mandatory, saying they will start ranking you based on your mobile website first.

  22. CTR Is a Turn-Point Ranking Factor

  This is a simple calculus. As you probably figured out already, Bing likes things easy and tidy. Imagine two websites ranking on #1 position and #2, respectively. They’re both performing exquisitely, yet #1 position has lower CTR compared to the one on the second place. Guess what: there’s going to be a switch.

  23. Bing Is Very Secure For Authors

  We already talked about Bing preferring authoritative websites with some history on the web. They’re willing to offer the same sense of security to content authors as well.

  With Google providing people with the chance of claiming content they have written, Bing also had a “Klout-orship” program which provided author details such as Linkedin summary, social profiles, Klout score, 2 most popular posts from Twitter in the last 7 days and 2 most engaging posts from Instagram in the past 90 days. However, not until recently we have learned that Klout has unfortunately reached an end on May 25, 2018, Lithium announcing that “Klout is now kaput“. Wonder what Bing will do next…

  Anyways, Bing is quite strict when it comes to website authority and trust, hence they will continue taking into account a variety of factors such as social signals, name recognition, cited sources, the author’s identity and more.

  24. Bing Puts Less Importance on Links Than Google

  Matthew Woodward said that Bing puts less importance on links when compared to Google, although it does favor editorial links coming from websites with high-quality content and top-notch marketing tactics. 

  It’s the same debate as the one with content: content is very important, as links are too, but they are not rendered as a top ranking factor with Bing.

  25. HTTPS Is Not a Ranking Factor

  This fact is backed by Bing Lead Program Manager Vincent Wehren.  Whilst for Google it is a ranking factor, Bing considers it irrelevant for website positioning and they are not going to give it any credit.

  26. Bing Has a Simpler Penalty System

  Besides being quite transparent about it’s ranking algorithm, Bing also doesn’t name a vast array of penalties, except the one where they delist a website when shady SEO practices are noticed in their behalf. And it’s very easy to find out whether you’ve been penalized in their Webmaster Tools area.

  We don’t know a whole lot about Bing’s penalties but what we do know for sure is they are a much friendlier beast than Google. matthew woodward Award Winning Blogger matthewwoodward.co.uk / @MattWoodwardUK

  27. Most of the Bing Audience Is Exclusive and Doesn’t Visit Google

  In 2014, comScore published some statistics that might surprise you. In addition, they will help you draw a better picture of these unknown figures who seem to slip through your fingers. 

  According to the stats, the Bing searchers seem to be college graduates and graduate school students and mature people fitting the 35+ age group. Women represent a slightly bigger figure than men, most of them managing households with children. What’s more, these households have incomes more than $75.000.

  Bing’s demographic is more mature in age and affords to spend more money.

  72% finance and business searches happening on Bing and Yahoo are not to be found on Google’s ground. This is almost 21 million people you might be missing in finance, and that’s tough, as they are the ones holding the biggest share of the money, aren’t they?

  Curious though why they keep their searches exclusive and don’t check all search engines for what they’re interested in. Could it be that Bing focuses on older and more authoritative and trustworthy brand websites?

  28. Bing Promises Increased ROI

  ROI is vital to digital marketing and Bing can double it or even more. According to comScore, Yahoo Bing Network traffic converts better, spending 6.8% more money online than the one searching on Google.

  Source: link-assistant.com

  Given that usually on Google it can take up to 12 months in order to get your payoff from your SEO efforts on their site, you should also consider Bing. Thanks to the lower competition for page one, it takes less time to see results on your investment. And this is splendid news especially for smaller companies who have a more fragile budget plan and smaller chances of seeing some decent ROI on their SEO efforts. All in one, Bing might have a better conversion rate than Google.

  Source: matthewwoodward.co.uk

  29. Bing Is a Much Cheaper Advertising Alternative to Google

  Thanks to the lower competition available on Bing, it is cheaper for PPC advertisers to place their mobile and desktop ads. You can check the exact 2017 paid search trends on iProspect.

  With Bing, you can afford both to advertise on and optimize for it.

  30. Bing Prefers 301 Redirects

  Bing prefers to use 301 redirects (sending people to a permanent location) instead of 302 ones. Their latest Bing Webmasters Guidelines update tells 302 redirects are fine, although, in reality, they still don’t work as they should. Normally, they wouldn’t recognize a 302 eredirect but after the crawlers would hit it multiple time, Bing would turn it into a 301.

  Canonical tags instad of a proper redirect are not welcome either. Same with meta refresh redirects.

  31. Microsoft’s Success Is One of the Finest Coups in History

  Experts call it the Big Bing. In 2014 Mozilla released version 34 of their Firefox browser and made a move that changed the history: they removed Google as the default search engine and changed it to Yahoo! For North America, also replacing it with other search engines for Russia and other neighboring countries.

    And boom! search traffic numbers changed for good in only 24 hours. Is this bad or good luck? It depends whom we’re looking at. Plus, imagine that many people (especially the older ones) don’t really care what search engine they’re using as long as they get answers to their queries, hence still use Bing from the day they purchased their laptop up till today. Here is the search engine’s success story in a nutshell, told by Tom McKay. 

  source: gizmodo.com

  Either way, Bing is bigger than most of us think. On August 17, 2017, Bing tweeted their search market share across major countries around the globe and the statistics are stunning.

Bing is bigger than you think! #SEM #PPC #bingadswebcast pic.twitter.com/fFtEDvM634

— Bing Ads (@BingAds) August 17, 2017

  So How Can Microsoft’s Bing Change Your SEO Game?

  It was high time we shedded some light on Bing. Even our blog craved for some words of wisdom regarding this search engine few (or so many, it depends on the perspective) turn to. 

  Let’s apply Dan Petrovic’s technique of ending a talk on a topic: “When you do a talk, tell them what you’re gonna tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them“. Remember that Bing:

  has lower competition

has lower bounce rate, more page visits,  more time-on-site, more subscribers

is much friendlier than Google in terms of ranking signals and penalties

has no top ranking signal 

considers social signals a ranking signal

has great free analysis tools

needs meta data to rank you high

EMDs rank higher than on Google

it hasnearly a third of the search market share (US) together with Yahoo

powers Yahoo and Siri web search

increases local businesses visibility

has a bigger ROI

is a cheaper advertising alternative to Google

  As Dan Petrovic said in one of our cognitiveSEO Talks: On Search and Traffic podcasts, we need to see a third search engine come up with something different, not just be a few years behind Google, and act as a fully revolutionary search engine.

  What I would love to see is one proper competitor to Google, whether it’d be Amazon, or eBay, or a new search engine, or even Facebook. I’d love to see a proper competitor in terms of information retrieval and presentation to users. […] I think there needs to be good competition, and that’s a good thing for Google and a good thing for users if there’s proper competition to Google, so they’re not driven just by their shareholders but by pure competition. dan petrovic Search Marketer dejanseo.com.au / @dejanseo

  Bing is one of the three search engines that rule the world wide web (www). Many know it for having surpassed Yahoo in both traffic numbers and success, most of them assuming that Bing’s younger than Yahoo on the search market.

  However, even to my own surprise, Bing is a search engine created and operated by Microsoft, one that has replaced in 2009 the former Live Search (2007), Windows Live Search (2006), and MSN Search (1998) Microsoft engines. It seems like Bing’s the Big Brother who’s been always here watching us without us knowing it. 

  Hopefully, you have a better picture as to why you should let Bing play an important role in your SEO strategy.

  source: searchenginejournal.com

  The post 31 Reasons to Start Doing SEO for Bing appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

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[krisggordon]

31 Reasons to Start Doing SEO for Bing

Rumor has it that Bing from Microsoft can really take your marketing and SEO efforts to a whole different level. Is it true though that Bing can be gold when it comes to better traffic to your website, increased ROI, affordable advertising, convertible exclusive visitors, and an overall friendlier search environment? 

  Given that we don’t lean on rumor, we figured out it’s best to check ourselves what’s there that makes Bing a smart target to marketers of all kinds.  

    In a world full of Google-first mindsets, it’s wise to take a step back and reconsider our choices. Is Google the only medium worth investing into? We gathered 31 facts that prove that Bing might just be that missing piece in your overall online marketing strategy. Be ready to be amazed by statistics, testimonials, and webmaster-backed tips about Bing.

  Bing Traffic Might Have a Lower Bounce Rate

Yahoo and Bing Own a Third of the U.S. Search Market

Most Google SEO Practices Apply to Bing As Well

Bing Has Lower Competition

Bing Currently Powers Yahoo and the Majority of Voice Search

Bing Is More Open About Their Ranking Factors Than Google

Content is Not a #1 Ranking Signal

On-Page SEO Matters More Than Off-page SEO

Bing Has a Taste For the Good Old Practices

Better Multimedia User Experience

Social S1gnals Are a Vital Ranking Factor

Bing Has a Stunning Array of Free Analysis Tools

Content Needs to Be Top-Notch

Backlinks: Numbers Talk

Bing Teams Up With Google Against Shady SEO Practices

Bing Prefers Older Websites to Newer Ones

Meta Description and Keywords Impact CTR and Ranking

EMDs Rank Higher on Bing SERPs Than on Google’s 

Bing Can Interpret Flash Websites

Small Local Businesses Get a Boost in Bing’s Local Search Area

Bing Is Gentler When It Comes to Mobile-Friendliness 

CTR Is a Turn-Point Ranking Factor

Bing Is Very Secure For Authors

Bing Puts Less Importance on Links Than Google

HTTPS Is Not a Ranking Factor

Bing Has a Simpler Penalty System

Most of the Bing Audience Is Exclusive and Doesn’t Visit Google

Bing Promises Increased ROI

Bing Is a Much Cheaper Advertising Alternative to Google

Bing Prefers 301 Redirects

Microsoft’s Success Is One of the Finest Coups in History

So How Can Microsoft’s Bing Change Your SEO Game?

  In many ways, Bing is similar to Google. It provides a variety of search services, including web, video, image, and map search. As you’ve probably already seen in the table of contents, many optimization steps meant for Google also fit into the Bing world. And yet, we’re here to talk about what’s Bing offering to businesses and marketers that Google is not. 

  First things first, you should know why the Bing name. One idea struck me the other day and made me wonder whether the Microsoft team watched and worshiped the renowned sitcom tv-show “Friends” like everybody else on this Planet (well, almost everybody!). It would’ve been funny though if they got inspired by Chandler Bing’s name, especially when everybody in the show made fun of it.

  However, let’s get back to our sheep and let you know that the Bing name was brainstormed and picked through focus groups. The proposed name pleased Microsoft for a number of reasons: it was easy to remember and spell, short, and friendly. It also reminded people the sound made when discovering something or deciding upon an idea. Qi Lu, president of Microsoft Online Services also said that Bing meant “very certain to respond/answer” in Chinese. Hey, I’m already sold!

    Should you be craving for some more proof regarding Bing’s performance and charm besides our 31-fact list, you should also check what people say about it and why they prefer Bing to Google. Here are some interviews deployed by TechRadar where working-class people explain how Bing’s a step forward for them when it comes to search engines.

  Long story short, it’s time we listened to the founder and CEO of Market Domination Media, Jonathan Long’s advice and move forward and check what Bing has to offer to the SEO world.

  Stop treating the Yahoo Bing Network like the red-headed stepchild. jonathan long Founder of Market Domination Media /  @long

  1. Bing Traffic Might Have a Lower Bounce Rate

  Matthew Woodward’s experience with the Google and Bing traffic is very interesting. Although many say Bing doesn’t bring too many leads, Woodward experienced something else: this search engine provides lower bounce rate, more page visits, visitors spend more time on site, and there are more subscribers in general. 

  source: matthewwoodward.co.uk

Strong user engagement is very important for Bing and usually penalizes anything that’s not aligned with this requirement. There’s something similar to bounce rate but with an uglier truth – pogo-sticking. While bounce rates don’t always mean something bad, pogo-sticking always does. It occurs when somebody, after having shortly landed on your site, quickly hits the “back” button, returns to search results, and clicks on another website.

  Another guess for the small bounce rate would be that, given the very precise search results aligned with Bing’s Webmaster Guidelines, people do get what they want most times they enter a query and spend enough time on site to satisfy their needs.

  2. Yahoo and Bing Own a Third of the U.S. Search Market

  The 2018 comScore stats revealed the new Bing search market status at both a global and country level. We’ll generally treat Yahoo as being an integral part of the Bing traffic, as they’re powered by the latter. Therefore, the combined strength of Bing and Yahoo nails around a third of the market share for search in the US.

  Did we mention Bing is bigger than you think ? #SEM #PPC #bingadswebcast pic.twitter.com/jeJxJGcxl5

— Bing Ads (@BingAds) August 17, 2017

  Although Google’s traffic is double, we’re still talking big numbers and users that are active on a search engine that surprisingly is other than Google. Given the ton of search done on Bing, it’s very important for digital marketers to know what they’re missing out when struggling to rank on the first Google pages. This way you’ll know where to start optimizing your website, preferably with as little effort as possible.

  source: link-assistant.com

  We all know that most times, numbers talk.

Imagine that you could be missing 143 million unique searchers each month and 5.2 billion searches a month probably don’t display your website in SERPs.

Pretty tough, isn’t it? To rub some more salt into the wound, financial and automotive queries on Bing and Yahoo is triple to that of Google, counting up to 11 million out of a 14 million total. 

  source: searchenginewatch.com

  3. Most Google SEO Practices Apply to Bing As Well

  There are two sides when it comes to the theory that says if you rank high on Google, you rank well pretty well on Bing too. Most agree with this, although with a critical eye, but others are reluctant and argue that search algorithms are different, hence searching for the same query won’t provide you the same SERPs but a quite different one. 

  Either way, we can’t deny the fact that Google and Bing share many similarities, while most guidelines provided from webmasters working for the former are listed as important by webmasters from the latter as well. Nobody says that if you’re on page 1 on Google you MUST be ranking on the same page for the same query on Bing as well.

It’s just that you actually don’t need to reinvent the wheel with Bing but only consider some retouches.

  Again, although their algorithms are somehow different, you can easily target Bing for ranking your website high. SEO for Bing is not so different from Google – you could easily get the best of both worlds. What’s more, most SEO efforts meant for Google will also translate well with Bing and Yahoo as well, given that the latter is powered by the former. 

  Both Google and Bing value relevant content, look for well-placed keywords, place big brands higher, ask for mobile-friendliness and unique user experience, correlate social signals with quality content and better rankings, consider backlinks very important for websites, require the on-page SEO to be up-to-date, and have similar search layouts. Moreover, all three major search engines, Google, Bing, and Yahoo, allied and signed an agreement to make search listings richer and more accurate through structured data. 

  Should you decide to start optimizing for Bing, it would be wise if you checked what impact those tactics might have on your Google ranking, so that you’ll avoid losing popularity and the lead for a search engine with the biggest market share of all.

  4. Bing Has Lower Competition

  Reading various comments on this Bing topic, I noticed there are very few to no people doing SEO for Bing, mostly because they already rank pretty high inside the search engine or simply have no interest in it. Truth be told, the majority of websites focus only on optimizing for Google, leaving the other search engines behind, hence unconsciously allowing Bing develop a fertile search environment where there’s not much of a competition and brands could easily rank high. 

  Bing is second in line after Google when it comes to marketer’s best practices given that everybody struggles to please the bigger master, but it could really add some value to your strategy. 

  Moreover, taking the nearly two decades into account in which SEOs have purely focused all their efforts on ranking high on Google, it’s hard for newcomers to compete with people who already forged their skills for years in a row. But now there’s a new land for people to sow their brands into and see them grow and thrive. Targeting Google is the right move and there’s nothing to blame, as Sherry Bonelli would say. But you should at least be aware of what Bing might do for you.

  If you’re guilty of “Google-first”, it’s not without reason. sherry Bonelli Digital Marketing Guru at Early Bird Digital Marketing / @sherrybonelli

  5. Bing Currently Powers Yahoo and the Majority of Voice Search

  For many years now, beginning July 2009, to be exact, Yahoo search has been powered by Bing meaning that the former’s searches are backed by Bing’s index and ranking algorithm. Should you doubt, just do a test search and see for yourself that search results are very similar. Hence, optimizing for one should please the other as well, at least when looking at the bigger picture.

  Furthermore, should be a little behind with news, Oath is the new name for the Yahoo+AOL mix that came into effect after Yahoo was purchased by Verizon in 2017, including TechCrunch, hence you’ll often see this name in the charts that will follow shortly.

  One of my biggest surprises was to find out that Bing also powers the Siri voice search feature on people’s iPhones. To all the Siri users and aficionados out there – you are using Bing and have no clue about it yet.

  6. Bing Is More Open About Their Ranking Factors Than Google

  Although Bing offers users guidelines as to how they should optimize their websites, Bing specifies that this is not going to guarantee higher rankings or more traffic from the search engine, although it’s wise to tick them on your list nevertheless. This shows you should expect contingencies but they’re ready to guide you through and, when necessary, tell you the naked truth.

  Bing is much more transparent about ranking factors; just check their Bing Webmaster Guidelines and case studies and you’ll agree. Plus, they give you the tools to beautify your website to their taste, hence little to no hidden strings.

  Interesting enough, there’s yet no evidence as to what Bing values most when it comes to ranking – links, content or anything else. They do value quality content but they don’t specifically say links or content play a major role as Google uses to.

  7. Content is Not a #1 Ranking Signal

  As previously said, content is rendered neither as #1 ranking signal on Bing nor as a part of the privileged few that are part of the top. As long as it has the three pillars of content quality, they’re happy.

  source: Bing Webmaster Guidelines

  Bing knows how they like their content in order to rank it high, but there’s one element that might make your page contents more appealing: multimedia files.

  Bing looks for rich and engaging content, one that uses spot-on images, video, audio, so on and so forth.

  8. On-Page SEO Matters More Than Off-page SEO

  On-page SEO is king on Bing. This is what reigns the Bing lands, while off-page follows next. Although digital marketers invest time, money, and effort into both, it’s a universally known fact that successful off-page SEO only follows good on-page SEO.

  source: searchmetrics.com

  Therefore, Bing is not cherry-picking the best one out of two but only gives on-site SEO its well-deserved tribute. To some extent, it’s a chicken-or-the-egg type of debate.

  9. Bing Has a Taste For the Good Old Practices

  Unlike Google who’s always updating everything, Bing is more into the classic. Generally speaking, what’s new-school for Bing is somehow old-school for Google.

  Bing has a rather tangled search algorithm, one that is focused on things such as exact-match domains and keywords in headings, titles, copy or meta description (although Google dismissed them as a ranking factor, Bing relies on them), or high-quality content – authority, display, multimedia, relevance. Those who are fond of the old Google interface and ranking factors could easily feel at home when using Bing.

  As we optimized specifically for Bing and Yahoo, I felt like I was optimizing for Google a few years ago. Tactics and tasks that were significant to me years ago, were now a factor again, just on different search engines. william kammer Director of SEO at Levy Online / @williamkammer

  10. Better Multimedia User Experience

  Bing has a better entity understanding in regard to multimedia and considers it a big plus if added to text content. Therefore, the Microsoft search engine uses it as a ranking factor which they also signal in their Bing Webmaster Guidelines. 

  Another good thing would be that Bing is more user-friendly when queries ask for images. The search engine gives exact search results without related searches or suggestions of this kind, as Google visitors are used to. 

  So you can get Bing’s favorite should you provide nice and tidy, unique, high-quality, and relevant images.

  11. Social Signals Are a Vital Ranking Factor

  According to Neil Patel, Bing 

 has officially stated that they use social shares to understand if a page is popular among users. Social media engagement is a positive sign. The more social signals you have, the higher you’ll go in SERPs. Experts argue that most time they correlate very well with better rankings, and this is all thanks to the content being frequently shared and used by users. 

  Bing says social signals pass on influence at alll levels, especially to brands’ social channels and to search engines.

Their impact should really mean that marketers should put an emphasis on increasing their social media audience and receive some feedback.

  source: searchmetrics.com

  As expected, Bing too is against fake social media followers and engagement, such as it is against keyword stuffing when it comes to relevant content. 

  Although Google doesn’t say anything regarding the power of social signals, they greatly influence your rankings and many experts and SEO gurus vouched for them, so it’s wise to use them and benefit from both search engines, Google and Bing.

  12. Bing Has a Stunning Array of Free Analysis Tools

  Be it on the link level, the site structure level, or the page level, Bing has it all. Plus, Bing Webmaster Tools are free and provide actionable insight and tips on how to optimize your website for them.

  Matthew Woodward thinks they’re superb and encourages marketers to use it right away.  It’s like Bing has concentrated all marketing superpowers in one toolset and now lends it for free for people to learn what’s worth and what’s not in Bing’s eyes.

  source: matthewwoodward.co.uk

  Bing is definitely SEO-friendly. One look at their in-depth structured Webmaster Guidelines, Tools, and case-studies, all there in order to make the search engine a better and easier-to-live-in place.

  Bing provides the right means to sign up your website for analysis – be they backlinks, keywords, link profile etc -, mobile friendliness -, find out whether you’re penalized or not, even get your SEO reports that point out the flaws they see when crawling your site.

  13. Content Needs to Be Top-Notch

  As previously said, content is not a ranking content per se but it’s still important how it looks and “displays itself” on the internet. They prefer unique content, content written by professionals from well-known sources or people with field expertise instead of recycled content which is widely available everywhere on the web. 

  The Bing Webmaster Guidelines defines optimized content as: “clear, easy to understand and scan, deep, without ads, without affiliate links or redirecting readers to other links shortly after they landed on their page, should be friendly, easy to navigate, engaging, information-rich”.

  Content should be multimedia-rich, with graphs, images, and videos meant to engage and offer all the necessary information to the reader. Generally, Bing places a higher value on in-depth, unique, long and engaging content rather than on shorter content. Bing is pretty simple to understand and follow – all you need is to know what you need and the search engine will provide it for you.

    14. Backlinks: Numbers Talk

  The number is so important that it can even beat the link quality.

Although it’s possible for Bing to look more to quantity than to quality, to some extent, it does prefer the ones coming from highly-authoritative websites, usually ranking .edu, .gov, .org sites higher.

  This might be one explanation as to why Bing ranks older, hence richer in links and social activity, websites. Similar to Google, the search engine from Microsoft prefers organic links from relevant, trustworthy websites that vouch for the traffic they lead to your page and old – as age is a sign of trust and influence. Should the backlinks be do-follow and with exact match anchor text (contain your target keywords), you win the jackpot. 

  The Bing team says on their Webmaster Guidelines page that links are necessary to help them spot new pages on your site, as they don’t crawl all your pages, but only the 10 most influential ones. Links show you’re popular, trustworthy, and relevant to real users who eventually generate organic and continuously increasing traffic. 

  15. Bing Teams Up With Google Against Shady SEO Practices

  Link schemes, cloaking, social media schemes, reciprocal or paid links, duplicate content, overly advertised pages, quality over quantity content, misleading markup, link farms, and excessive link manipulation, in general, are not welcomed on Bing. 

  source: Bing Webmaster Guidelines

  Therefore, all the white hat SEOs out there searching for a safe place to develop their brand in the online market, Bing is one of the places-to-be.

  16. Bing Prefers Older Websites to Newer Ones

  I know this one tells a different tale compared to what Google values most, but Bing is old-school and likes to deal with websites that have aged beautifully and you can easily put your trust in. 

  This is genuinely because Bing looks at site authority when checking backlinks or websites, in general. Having a “vintage” (old) domains helps. Older websites have a story to tell, and more often than not they engage in healthy digital marketing practices and have build a trustworthy name in their niche.

  Bing though everything through, isn’t it?

  17. Meta Description and Keywords Impact CTR and Ranking

  This is an old debate where search engine officials state they don’t use metadata as a ranking factor, however, when optimizing your website with meta keywords and description, brands seem to send another vibe to both search engines and readers.

  Although Duane Forrester from Bing Webmaster Outreach announced they don’t take metadata (keywords and descriptions) into account when ranking websites, quality research (testing and experience) show something else. 

  A client came to us with good Google ranks, but very poor Yahoo and Bing. This caused us to look deeply into specific optimization techniques for Bing and Yahoo. One of the first things we noticed was the lack of meta keywords and descriptions. Once we completed filling these out, we saw noticeable increases across the SERPs (except Google). william kammer Director of SEO at Levy Online / @williamkammer

  Either way, Bing needs meta keywords and description to position you higher and understand your content better, while it also helps Google users have a better understanding of your provided info, if not the search engine. Although Google say they don’t use metadata for ranking, it’s still important to optimize your pages with them given the overall impact on CTR.

  18. EMDs Rank Higher on Bing SERPs Than on Google’s 

  Bing is not very good at grasping the meaning from the context, it needs the stuff to be already chewed. As a consequence, Bing puts more emphasis on the exact match anchor text as compared to Google.

  Although Google is somehow against exact-match settings knowing that many spammy websites use exact-match domains, it’s a bit risky to optimize your website this way, should you want to rank high on both search engines. Think of all those online movie websites that wear a domain name matching the very query – “watchmoviesfree”, “tvmovies”, “freemoviescinema” etc. 

  However, given that in the Bing world exact match keywords in your domain name matter, you should try to incorporate it naturally. This is one of the perks of optimizing your website for Bing – exact-match domains get lucky here.

  Bing has lots of EMD sites ranking before some act

 ually legit sites for many keywords. william kammer Director of SEO at Levy Online / @williamkammer

  Should you want to have yet another shot at ranking higher on Bing, you should focus on exact-match domains in the title, description, HTML, headings, and copy. 

  19. Bing Can Interpret Flash Websites

  Long story short, Bing can interpret flash websites, while Google Chrome has a rather difficult time with them.

  20. Small Local Businesses Get a Boost in Bing’s Local Search Area

  Local businesses will rejoice when hearing this: it’s easier to get increased local visibility with Bing.

  The issue is twofold: first, Google generally favors the bigger local businesses when compared to Bing, secondly, the former often times misses the point when delivering results to a query because it uses contextual clues to figure out what you’re really searching for, whereas Bing will show your local results first.

  Moreover, brick-and-mortar businesses have a better shot at being visible on Bing than on Google with the Bing Places for Business.

    All you need for Bing’s free local listing service is your physical address, contact info, opening hours, your website link, and nice photos of your business. In addition, Bing provides users a feature Google is missing at the moment: an agency dashboard feature to help users run local search campaigns easier and at a quicker pace.

  21. Bing Is Gentler When It Comes to Mobile-Friendliness 

  Bing values mobile-friendliness set-ups but has a different approach to it. They consider mobile-optimization a plus in ranking higher in SERPs, while Google made it rather mandatory, saying they will start ranking you based on your mobile website first.

  22. CTR Is a Turn-Point Ranking Factor

  This is a simple calculus. As you probably figured out already, Bing likes things easy and tidy. Imagine two websites ranking on #1 position and #2, respectively. They’re both performing exquisitely, yet #1 position has lower CTR compared to the one on the second place. Guess what: there’s going to be a switch.

  23. Bing Is Very Secure For Authors

  We already talked about Bing preferring authoritative websites with some history on the web. They’re willing to offer the same sense of security to content authors as well.

  With Google providing people with the chance of claiming content they have written, Bing also had a “Klout-orship” program which provided author details such as Linkedin summary, social profiles, Klout score, 2 most popular posts from Twitter in the last 7 days and 2 most engaging posts from Instagram in the past 90 days. However, not until recently we have learned that Klout has unfortunately reached an end on May 25, 2018, Lithium announcing that “Klout is now kaput“. Wonder what Bing will do next…

  Anyways, Bing is quite strict when it comes to website authority and trust, hence they will continue taking into account a variety of factors such as social signals, name recognition, cited sources, the author’s identity and more.

  24. Bing Puts Less Importance on Links Than Google

  Matthew Woodward said that Bing puts less importance on links when compared to Google, although it does favor editorial links coming from websites with high-quality content and top-notch marketing tactics. 

  It’s the same debate as the one with content: content is very important, as links are too, but they are not rendered as a top ranking factor with Bing.

  25. HTTPS Is Not a Ranking Factor

  This fact is backed by Bing Lead Program Manager Vincent Wehren.  Whilst for Google it is a ranking factor, Bing considers it irrelevant for website positioning and they are not going to give it any credit.

  26. Bing Has a Simpler Penalty System

  Besides being quite transparent about it’s ranking algorithm, Bing also doesn’t name a vast array of penalties, except the one where they delist a website when shady SEO practices are noticed in their behalf. And it’s very easy to find out whether you’ve been penalized in their Webmaster Tools area.

  We don’t know a whole lot about Bing’s penalties but what we do know for sure is they are a much friendlier beast than Google. matthew woodward Award Winning Blogger matthewwoodward.co.uk / @MattWoodwardUK

  27. Most of the Bing Audience Is Exclusive and Doesn’t Visit Google

  In 2014, comScore published some statistics that might surprise you. In addition, they will help you draw a better picture of these unknown figures who seem to slip through your fingers. 

  According to the stats, the Bing searchers seem to be college graduates and graduate school students and mature people fitting the 35+ age group. Women represent a slightly bigger figure than men, most of them managing households with children. What’s more, these households have incomes more than $75.000.

  Bing’s demographic is more mature in age and affords to spend more money.

  72% finance and business searches happening on Bing and Yahoo are not to be found on Google’s ground. This is almost 21 million people you might be missing in finance, and that’s tough, as they are the ones holding the biggest share of the money, aren’t they?

  Curious though why they keep their searches exclusive and don’t check all search engines for what they’re interested in. Could it be that Bing focuses on older and more authoritative and trustworthy brand websites?

  28. Bing Promises Increased ROI

  ROI is vital to digital marketing and Bing can double it or even more. According to comScore, Yahoo Bing Network traffic converts better, spending 6.8% more money online than the one searching on Google.

  Source: link-assistant.com

  Given that usually on Google it can take up to 12 months in order to get your payoff from your SEO efforts on their site, you should also consider Bing. Thanks to the lower competition for page one, it takes less time to see results on your investment. And this is splendid news especially for smaller companies who have a more fragile budget plan and smaller chances of seeing some decent ROI on their SEO efforts. All in one, Bing might have a better conversion rate than Google.

  Source: matthewwoodward.co.uk

  29. Bing Is a Much Cheaper Advertising Alternative to Google

  Thanks to the lower competition available on Bing, it is cheaper for PPC advertisers to place their mobile and desktop ads. You can check the exact 2017 paid search trends on iProspect.

  With Bing, you can afford both to advertise on and optimize for it.

  30. Bing Prefers 301 Redirects

  Bing prefers to use 301 redirects (sending people to a permanent location) instead of 302 ones. Their latest Bing Webmasters Guidelines update tells 302 redirects are fine, although, in reality, they still don’t work as they should. Normally, they wouldn’t recognize a 302 eredirect but after the crawlers would hit it multiple time, Bing would turn it into a 301.

  Canonical tags instad of a proper redirect are not welcome either. Same with meta refresh redirects.

  31. Microsoft’s Success Is One of the Finest Coups in History

  Experts call it the Big Bing. In 2014 Mozilla released version 34 of their Firefox browser and made a move that changed the history: they removed Google as the default search engine and changed it to Yahoo! For North America, also replacing it with other search engines for Russia and other neighboring countries.

    And boom! search traffic numbers changed for good in only 24 hours. Is this bad or good luck? It depends whom we’re looking at. Plus, imagine that many people (especially the older ones) don’t really care what search engine they’re using as long as they get answers to their queries, hence still use Bing from the day they purchased their laptop up till today. Here is the search engine’s success story in a nutshell, told by Tom McKay. 

  source: gizmodo.com

  Either way, Bing is bigger than most of us think. On August 17, 2017, Bing tweeted their search market share across major countries around the globe and the statistics are stunning.

Bing is bigger than you think! #SEM #PPC #bingadswebcast pic.twitter.com/fFtEDvM634

— Bing Ads (@BingAds) August 17, 2017

  So How Can Microsoft’s Bing Change Your SEO Game?

  It was high time we shedded some light on Bing. Even our blog craved for some words of wisdom regarding this search engine few (or so many, it depends on the perspective) turn to. 

  Let’s apply Dan Petrovic’s technique of ending a talk on a topic: “When you do a talk, tell them what you’re gonna tell them, then tell them, and then tell them what you told them“. Remember that Bing:

  has lower competition

has lower bounce rate, more page visits,  more time-on-site, more subscribers

is much friendlier than Google in terms of ranking signals and penalties

has no top ranking signal 

considers social signals a ranking signal

has great free analysis tools

needs meta data to rank you high

EMDs rank higher than on Google

it hasnearly a third of the search market share (US) together with Yahoo

powers Yahoo and Siri web search

increases local businesses visibility

has a bigger ROI

is a cheaper advertising alternative to Google

  As Dan Petrovic said in one of our cognitiveSEO Talks: On Search and Traffic podcasts, we need to see a third search engine come up with something different, not just be a few years behind Google, and act as a fully revolutionary search engine.

  What I would love to see is one proper competitor to Google, whether it’d be Amazon, or eBay, or a new search engine, or even Facebook. I’d love to see a proper competitor in terms of information retrieval and presentation to users. […] I think there needs to be good competition, and that’s a good thing for Google and a good thing for users if there’s proper competition to Google, so they’re not driven just by their shareholders but by pure competition. dan petrovic Search Marketer dejanseo.com.au / @dejanseo

  Bing is one of the three search engines that rule the world wide web (www). Many know it for having surpassed Yahoo in both traffic numbers and success, most of them assuming that Bing’s younger than Yahoo on the search market.

  However, even to my own surprise, Bing is a search engine created and operated by Microsoft, one that has replaced in 2009 the former Live Search (2007), Windows Live Search (2006), and MSN Search (1998) Microsoft engines. It seems like Bing’s the Big Brother who’s been always here watching us without us knowing it. 

  Hopefully, you have a better picture as to why you should let Bing play an important role in your SEO strategy.

  source: searchenginejournal.com

  The post 31 Reasons to Start Doing SEO for Bing appeared first on SEO Blog | cognitiveSEO Blog on SEO Tactics & Strategies.

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[aejhvcd-blog]

Mid-Sem Break

READING: Book: Populuxe; The look and life of America in the ‘50s and ‘60s, from tailfins and TV dinners to Barbie dolls and fallout shelters, Thomas Hine

- It was the era of the newly created world of mass suburbia, where everything the family owned ... was provisional, even if it didn’t wear out, one always had the hope of being able to move up the ladder to something better - Populuxe is about the material objects of this highly materialistic age - What stands out is that there was so tremendous a number of people with the ability to buy so many things and leave such a significant material record of their fantasies and aspirations - Celebrating confidence in the future, the excitement of the present and the sheer joy of having so much - In essence, Populuxe is a way of referring to the moment when America found a way of turning out a fantasy on an assembly line - 1954 - a year in which major corporations changed their marketing strategies in order to induce people to spend their increasing incomes - Populuxe objects were symbols of achievement, affirmations that their owners had achieved a life of convenience and prosperity that their parents could have only dreamed of - There was more wealth to go around, and a decline in the number of people sharing it - (Regarding cigarettes) Today, the fantasies and aspirations that were being sold along with products during the Populuxe era seem so apparent as to be almost laughable. But at the time, people were a bit more naive and a bit more receptive to the skills of advertising, marketing, and packaging. - Men were emissaries of modern styles from their workplaces to their homes, and they should assist their wives in deciding how to decorate those homes. And the man was expected to be a do-it-yourselfer, getting special rewards from solving the crisis of the homeworker while steadily improving his investment. - While women were rarely assumed to have a productive place in the economy, they were taken very seriously as consumers and indeed were often depicted as the chief decision makers in regard to what their families would purchase - Women in magazines were always stylishly and impractically dressed. In advertising, they would sometimes wear a glove when pressing the button on the latest household machine. More often than you would expect, they were shown striking poses in the kitchen wearing a tiara - This fit in the with the woman’s other cherished role, as “glamour girl” for her weary husband, as well as counselor and confidante  - “The two big steps that women must take care to help their husbands decide where they are going and use their pretty heads to help get them there,” wrote Mrs. Dale Carnegie in the April 1955 Better Homes and Gardens - 

Preparation for Second Showing in Week 6

- Show what you’ve researched and how you’ve researched it

Nostalgia - how certain reflections of nostalgia help change ways one perceives a certain activity, nostalgia can either be remembering a certain event, this could be both good or bad, but more often then not, when nostalgia is surfacing it is brought upon by something tangible, such as a place or artifact.

Tribalism - how people come together and collaborate on any given occasion and how they fully immerse themselves in the social group.

Beach Hop won the event of the year in 2017 for all of New Zealand, there is obviously a large hype around people wanting to have a nostalgia festival, people are able to drop everything for 5 days or less and really just enjoy themselves and the sensation that is gathered by bringing back the classic cars, the rock n roll music, and dancing, how people dress and the overall aesthetic. 

At the moment I’ve used publications for nostalgia and tribalism. I am in the process of getting primary research from those who are involved in the revival of vintage, retro, and nostalgia in New Zealand

- Show how you contextualise your project

I am a storyteller exploring the influences and events that helped shape New Zealand through a nostalgic history lens.

How would people feel if a certain aspect of nostalgia wasn’t there, how would our communities be different and affected by the change

If it went away tomorrow, why would it be so bad? 

Tribalism - Inclusiveness and excluding of others

- What or who else is out there, how did this inform your thinking?

Events that are held in New Zealand that target a certain kind of person

Influencers on social media that are New Zealand based, retro revivalists, such as Miss Victory Violet, or Frantasy Island

- What themes have emerged? 

Ideas of isolation surrounding the impact of tribalism 

Nostalgic history, the history in NZ we look back upon and feel nostalgic about, what’s influenced it and how has the last few decades influenced and helped shape today, and why would it be so horrible if it went away, what would it take from NZ culture

- How have you synthesised what you’ve done so far?

Gathering information on how people feel and react to nostalgia and the idea of tribalism 

The idea of tribalism, how it comes into New Zealand where we meet retro, rock n roll and nostalgia, even though it’s not all New Zealand history and aesthetics, why do we have such a lust of it (Americana) - America is such a large influence on what has come into New Zealand, that's where a lot of the aesthetics can come into 

What is uniquely kiwi and what is cultural appropriation?

- What insights has your design research method revealed?

There are many many books that aren’t purely for the influence of the revival, but a lot of books and print media and articles have information and extractions that a relevant to the information I want to receive, each source I find offers a unique opinion or insight to 

- Who have you read/looked at and how has this impacted your project?

Following Miss Victory Violet and her steps into living in Pin Up every day, why did she do this? How has she come to make a living from it and why is it so important?

- What do you see as your next step?

Waiting on replies from people who help sustain nostalgia in New Zealand and why it is so important to them and why it should be so important to us to retain this.

“I’ve done ___ and this is what I’ve found out ____ my next step is to ____ this will be achieved through building on/extending the work of / adding to the design of / being critical of ____ through ___ in the context of _____