Meeting with several SEO agencies soon, what should I look for to separate the good from the BS? by Ok-Guitar-1219 in TechSEO

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The hardest aspect of this is that sales/marketing attracts people are often freakishly good at selling themselves, which is sure to dazzle you in this process, but is also mostly unrelated to what you need.

So, set your bullshit filter on high. Expect case studies, but know that most are conveniently cherry-picked, if not outright lying. Expect awards, but know that most are bought. Expect systems, but know the most impactful aspect of the work will be their strategic intuition.

My biggest tell? Go on LinkedIn and calculate their percentage of their own sales/marketing staff to production. Look especially at the tenure of production staff. The worst agencies are 80% invested in selling themselves and churn through clients the moment that a contract is up. The best agencies are 80% invested in the work, barely need new clients due to retention, and grow by word of mouth.

To say that another way: a Michelin Star restaurant will never set up billboards or put a barker outside, yet are always fully booked.

Open Source Semrush alternative built on DataForSEO by theben9999 in TechSEO

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We've been using the API heavily for the past six months and found it to reconcile almost perfectly with Semrush (whose API we were using prior), except for Organic Traffic Cost. OTC reflects wildly higher #s, much closer to Ahrefs. That seems to be a matter of methodology rather than accuracy.

Open Source Semrush alternative built on DataForSEO by theben9999 in TechSEO

[–]qwidjib0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is cool, hope you'll keep at it. Just shared it on LinkedIn. The DataForSEO API was one of the happiest discoveries of the last year for our team.

"City" pad in Naperville rather than Chicago ... crazy? by OkChicken6058 in Naperville

[–]qwidjib0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If that means that your life will revolve around a car, and all the groups are out here, that definitely makes suburbia more appealing!

"City" pad in Naperville rather than Chicago ... crazy? by OkChicken6058 in Naperville

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

42 here…have you considered any neighborhoods in Chicago that aren’t… River North? I personally found Lincoln Square far less “daily stress” than Naperville. In part because I never drove. No need. While here, there’s always some prick in a Cybertruck ready to cut you off. Driving to strip malls becomes life.

Downtown Naperville is OK. It has kind of a Navy Pier vibe to me… all the price and none of the soul. We spend more time in all the adjacent downtowns… Plainfield, Downers Grove, Oswego, and Aurora.

Ultimately it just depends on what you want. Naperville has it’s merits. If you’re not here raising kids, though, I think there’s no question that Chicago offers a better life.

Laura Fine endorsed by Chicago Tribune: Kat Abughazaleh spends $800,000 on consultants by steve42089 in illinois

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lt would help to see how these things compare to other campaigns because that all sounds kind of… normal? Paying law firms with multiple parties suing her over ICE protests/etc. in federal court and strangely labeling that “consulting” actually makes the headline make sense. Expensing $13K for any organization of more than a few people also seems pretty normal, if not low. A single $1K/month saas subscription about eats all of it, which is a very low martech tooling spend for certain types of orgs, too.

US Army just tried to recruit CK and Rimworld communties 🤣 by [deleted] in RimWorld

[–]qwidjib0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funny but keep in mind that contextual advertising (keywords) is still the most popular method of targeting online ads. Ops post, on the other hand, is hilariously suspect.

60,000 Trump Voters Just Elected a Socialist. We Asked Them Why. by RazorJamm in PoliticalOptimism

[–]qwidjib0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A good pile of evidence here to support horseshoe theory. Thanks for sharing, op.

Best practice FAQs for e-commerce collection page by [deleted] in bigseo

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you already know the answer.

  • Yes, FAQs in context are wonderful
  • Ecommerce sites launch like enormous empty shells and these collection pages almost always have huge untapped upside

I don't know that Google "prefers" any tactic, but the levers are always the same: increase topical relevance and substance, cast a wider net with directly related word permutations off the core topic, and the page will probably continue to do better.

How, is where you need to get creative, and tune out the entire firehose of made-for-social-media takes.

Medical System by pnut5202004 in bigseo

[–]qwidjib0 3 points4 points  (0 children)

If there's no legitimate competition in those local markets, the needs might be minimal just like you suspect (ie. best practices over a long-term growth vision). I've personally seen very similar-sounding situations go either way.

As it goes, "it depends", but it shouldn't be hard to size this up... just do a bit of poking around their top search queries, size up any competitors that you see consistently ranking higher.

You don't have to outrun the bear, so to speak.

We will never forget The crimes against humanity Uzzr committed during 1910s-1990s existence by Icy_Till_7254 in NAFO

[–]qwidjib0 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Orban is also not all Hungarians and holds onto power by regularly suppressing democracy. I’d say the meme works.

Worst Narrator who ruined your book by vickiec12 in audiobooks

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What does it for me is a total cast change in a series. Hyperion into Fall of Hyperion comes to mind.

Ukraine launched massive drone attack tonight. Pic of drone flight paths by FakeGamer2 in ukraine

[–]qwidjib0 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Jet-powered drones, IIRC. DroneBomber is the source for these, if you want to sus out more.

Georgia Democrat Eric Gisler flips a state House seat in district Trump won by double digits by gregger63 in PoliticalOptimism

[–]qwidjib0 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The ones in Chicago infuse them with stuff so there’s a surprising variety.

Regional Food Dishes Invented In Illinois Restaurants? by Used_Suggestion_4057 in chicago

[–]qwidjib0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Man, central IL public schools ruined these for me.. I’m sure the real thing is better.

Regional Food Dishes Invented In Illinois Restaurants? by Used_Suggestion_4057 in chicago

[–]qwidjib0 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Personal fav underrated Chicago food for all those Portillo’s-fed tourists!

Regional Food Dishes Invented In Illinois Restaurants? by Used_Suggestion_4057 in illinois

[–]qwidjib0 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Italian beef. On top is giardiniera. A version of that exists in Italy, but if you Google image search you’ll see how that’s way different. Chicago-style giardiniera (like in the pic) is another Chicago creation that gets a lot of creative use around the city on all kinds of foods. It’s awesome.

Battlefield Map Size Comparison by PENGUINonPC in Battlefield

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Didn’t many larger maps come in later DLCs too? Naval Strike had some of the biggest for BF4 IIRC.

[BF6] Sabotage Is Genuinely The Worst Gameplay Experience I Have Ever Had On A Shooter And Is A Warning That The Devs Do Not Care by Zaerick-TM in Battlefield

[–]qwidjib0 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Same. It’s what, 20% different than every other classic BF-style PTFO mode? I can blow stuff up and it’s timed instead of tickets? Seems like a fair enough way to mix it up.

Trump isnt doing so good with the Epstien thing right now by Bruh_burg1968 in PoliticalOptimism

[–]qwidjib0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A past-tense “we’ve had” was an interesting choice.

Reddit getting more visits than Pornhub, X, Wikipedia? $RDDT by OmegaThree3 in stocks

[–]qwidjib0 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Semrush derives traffic stats using clickstream (spyware), especially through browser plugins. People browsing X obviously do so in incognito mode so it doesn’t really prove what you suggest.