Last Updated on 2020-10-16 by Linda
Happy Monday Folks. I was so excited on Friday the snow was melting and I was hopeful winter was going to say good bye. OK Realistically I knew that was a pipe dream but I hoped for at least a few days of melting snow. Alas we had a flash freeze, then freezing rain and then snow, everything that had melted came back.
It was an awful weather weekend so I dusted off my Ultimate Bundle and started studying. First up SEO and link parties and what is means for your blog.
SEO and Affiliates
I know how to blog, I think my pictures are pretty good and most times I believe I create captive content. Why then do my pageviews not increase nor do I ever see an affiliate return. Possibly because I have never really focused on either. This year is my year to focus on SEO and my pageviews and then affiliate links.
I think I read three SEO E-Books this weekend and two on Affiliate Income. For today I am going to focus on the SEO aspect. I discovered something very shocking about Link parties and including all the links in every post. I discovered that Google does not link Link Parties or at least having the list in each blog post.
SEO and Link Parties
My suggestion would be that if you are going to link up and link back to linky parties, that you have a single page
with one link to each party. DO NOT have a laundry list of links at the bottom of every post. If the requirement
is that you must have a link to the hostess on the post itself, make that link no-follow (or better yet, stop linking
up to that party altogether).
I am still sitting here in stunned silence folks. Is this new? I mean I always, always include my link up lists and now I am wondering if I should not have been doing that. Who knew google has an issue with SEO and link parties and it may have been affecting views. I have a page with all my weekly linkups. What to do, that is the question? Forgive me folks because I want to keep linking up but I also want to improve my SEO.
I am going to try an experiment, I am implementing all the other SEO tips I learned this weekend and for a short time I am going to refer folks to my ” Weekly Link up page” instead of listing everyone in each post. If there is no significant change I will revert back to each post having the daily list and maybe add the no follow.
Have Y’all heard that before? Am I late to the party on the SEO tricks?
Daily Outfit of Checks and Stripes
It’s a New Year and a New Day but one thing will never change. My love of checks and stripeswill continue into 2018. I found this flannel shirt at Target in Atlanta. It is very similar to the Plaid Dress I purchased in November when I was in Pennsylvania. Both have a gold thread running through the material. Today I opted to pair the fun flannel with a striped skirt I have worn before. This Forever 21 number has stood by me and always makes me feel happy. I threw my Banana Republic Moto over top and went with my ECCO shoes.
Overall I was very happy with the look and as an added bonus each piece was very comfortable. Are you a fan of pattern mixing? Would you wear checks and stripes? I love patterns together.
As for flats or heels, well I did have a shoe issue at work though. It’s been three weeks of flat boots while on vacation so after a few hours in the heels my feet were a little sensitive. True confession I keep slippers at work and I may have slipped them on in the afternoon.
Shop My look
Today I am linking with many fine bloggers that I hope you check out, My complete list of link ups is available
Teresa Solem says
Thank you for sharing the SEO info with us. Your outfit looks great on you. The Stripes and checks work well together! Thank you for linking up to Party in Your PJ’s! Pinned to my Fashion board!
Emma Peach says
Thanks so much for sharing these tips on SEO. I’m pretty clueless to be honest. I keep meaning to read up a bit more – I even bought a book a couple of years ago but never get around to reading it. I switched to listing where I link up on a single page, for convenience more than anything else. I love your black and white outfit and the combinations of checks and stripes. Thanks for linking up!
Emma xxx
http://www.style-splash.com
Shelbee on the Edge says
Loving your pattern mix in black and white, my friend! I also don’t quite understand SEO especially with regard to all the link up stuff! I created a Link Ups page over a year ago which lists all the blogs I link up with. I did that for ease and convenience and then I just provide a link to that page at the end of each post, directing everyone to my page of link ups. It is so much easier for me and I have had a lot of other bloggers tell me they have used my Link Ups page as a wonderful resource for themselves to branch out. Feel free to check it out if you need ideas for your own blogging purposes. I have no idea how it effects SEO, but it is way more convenient and looks a bit cleaner at the end of my posts then a list of link ups.
And on that note, thanks for linking up with me!
Shelbee
http://www.shelbeeontheedge.com
Calvin F. says
Hmm I haven’t been up to date with my SEO knowledge, it is a challenge. On the other topic.. high heels on ice!! so brave. You guys are getting more snow than we are
jess says
Hi Linda! I have red about the linkups and Google a bit ago, but it is a great reminder. i need to work more on SEO myself. Love your mix of plaid and stripes, the skirt looks great on you! I love a great black and white look
thanks for linking!
jess xx
http://www.elegantlydressedandstylish.com
Linda Cassidy says
I added them back in my posts but with no follows so hopefully that will be ok
Taylor Bradford says
Hi Linda! Stumbled on your site while on the hunt for more link parties for my clients. Wanted to chime in about link parties & SEO. It’s perfectly okay to have one blog page with all of the link parties that you participate in each week and just linking to that page in the posts that you link up. You are still following the rules of the link parties that require some sort of a link back. Those hosts just want to see that you did in fact give them credit for the party with a link to their blog.
I would highly encourage you to no-follow those link party links. The reason: because you link up to them every single week, google thinks you are passing page rank to that link party host (which is a no-no). Both of you would get in trouble if a manual action were sent out from google. So to cover yourself, just no-follow the link party links and you’ll be good! It would be different if you randomly found one party, linked up your blog post to it and credited that one host in your blog post and never participated again. But since you like to party each week, I encourage you to just no-follow all the party links. Happy to chat further if you have any other questions! You can find me over at BossGirlCreative.com
Linda Cassidy says
Thank you for that. Also if you were looking for link ups for your client I have a Craft/Food recipe one every Sunday and the Fashion link up on Thursdays
Maureen O says
Interesting read and post! Thanking you for sharing your findings on SEO. I have heard about SEO but only know very little about it. This is an interesting finding about the correlation or lack thereof between SEO/link up parties and number of readerships. I think honestly they are a lot of blogs out there and it’s easy to get lost in the line up. I love how you styled your outfit for this post. The plaid and stripes worked really well together. I am with you on the shoe heel thing too. I own a pair of booties that has a 3 inch heel and a wedge sandal that has 2 but I own mostly flat or sneaker shoes. It’s not that I don’t appreciate a good heeled shoes just for my lifestyle flats are best. ?
Maureen | http://www.littlemisscasual.com
Linda Cassidy says
I do love my heels but as is starting to make me love my sneakers more LOL. It is easy to get lost in the noise. Maybe we try to hard. The more we know the more we worry and than it changes who we are. WE shall see over the next few months. Thank you for stopping by
Julia @ When the Girls Rule says
Hey Linda! I have really stagnated with my readership too in the last six months but I don’t want to write headlines just for SEO like “Top Ten Tips for blah blah blah”. I’m not sure how to get more people to find my blog so I’m curious about how your experiment will go. Trying to figure out Google (or Pinterest or Instagram or whatever) to get more readers to find me feels like an impossible task. Lots of tech gurus vs. little old blogger me. Good luck and I look forward to hearing what you find!
Julia
Linda Cassidy says
I feel your pain, I am not sure the top or lists work anymore. As much as I blog for me I would be lying if I didn’t confess to wanting views and readers but I am not sure how to get there some days. I will keep sharing my tips and tricks and also will share what works
SuperVisible me says
I’m absolutely clueless about SEO (and all things blog related really!), so I’m hoovering up knowledge about it. Thanks for your blogging tips Linda.
I’m also a big stripe lover so your OOTD gets a big thumbs up from me too x
Linda Cassidy says
sometimes I think the less knowledge the better, the more we learn the more we worry
NancysFashionStyle says
I learned that if you link to a company then use no follow links, but there is nothing wrong with supporting other bloggers as they might support you too. My experience is that all that Google says ,or dictates, is not all true and I want to do with my blog what I want and let not Google guided me to do things differently!.
Linda Cassidy says
I totally support that and love supporting my fellow bloggers. I think it has to do with the outbound and inbound linking. I will continue to show my links for everyone and am going to start focusing back on commenting and visiting other blogs. I feel like I have been stagnating in my growth this year and I want to shake things up a bit. Thanks for stopping by