A little publicized SEO factor with Google’s PageRank is the issue of updating old posts.
A webmaster/blogger who pays attention to their blog content, updating and fixing old posts, is one who cares about their blog and their blog’s content. Google’s PageRank algorithm tests to see how often a web page is updated and the length of time between changes in a blog post’s content.
It makes sense, too. If you work hard to bring the best content to your readers, then you would want to make sure that the old content continues to have life and vitality. Google wants to honor those who honor their blog content.
Here are some tips to help revitalize your old posts for your readers, as well as to help your search engine page ranking.
- Link to Old Posts: Want to revitalize an old blog post easily? Just link to it. A new incoming link drives traffic to it, as well as search engines.
- Add Intrasite Links: Go through your old posts and look for opportunities to link from within the post to other related posts you’ve written more recently.
- Write It Better With Keywords: Now that you understand the importance keywords and search terms play in helping your blog content get found on search engines, go back and rewrite the content with more and better keywords.
- Rewrite and Update Information and Blog About It: Posts which are popular or have timely information worthy of updating, can be updated and fixed, then bragged about. If you make big improvements, point to them in a new blog post to let people know you are working on old material to make it better. It also helps to drive traffic and call attention to the wealth of information your blog contains, not just today’s news.
- Rewrite From a New Perspective: As you improve your blogging skills, learning more all the time, you may want to revisit your old posts and rewrite them with a fresh perspective.
- A Revitalized Post Can Become The New Popular Post: After you’ve been blogging a while, you learn what turns a blah post into a snappy post. Editing, rewriting, or updating a post can not just add more search terms and keywords, it might turn the spotlight on the re-energized post to become a Most Popular Post.
- Add a List: Instead of writing paragraph, paragraph, paragraph, try changing the content into a list form, guiding the reader through the process rather than just telling them about it. Lists and instructions are very popular compared to story-telling guides.
- Spell Check: Spelling errors seem to appear like weeds. I swear I proof and check thoroughly everything I publish, but something always seems to peek out from the flowers months later. Go through and fix those spelling weeds, checking for “from” and “form” and other non-spell checking common mistakes. And while you are at it, change wrodpress to WordPress and plug-in to Plugin so people searching for your topics on these will find them.
- Update Links: An external referring link isn’t permanent. Links destinations change all the time. Some webmasters are smart and add redirects, but not all are, so update your old posts by checking for outdated and dead end links and removing the truly dead ones and updating the moved links.
- Revisit the Topic: Clean up the old post and then revisit the topic in a new post, referencing the old post. It’s a chance to say all the things you didn’t say the first time, adding more to the story, and a chance to add a spark of attention to the old post.
- Incorporate the Old Post Into a Series: When you’ve been blogging a while, you find yourself returning frequently to a subject theme. If you find you have a related collection of blog posts, edit them to become an article series, connected together as a small body of work instead of sitting alone individually.
- Create Your Own Top 10 List: Write a blog post featuring your top 10, 25, or 50 blog posts, honoring them as your favorites, most popular subject matter, or most popular for the year or month, creating a list directing readers to the old posts.
- Use Related Posts: Through a Related Posts WordPress Plugin or manually, add a list of related posts to the bottom of your blog posts, pointing readers to your old posts for more information and reference.
- Change The Title: If the post content is good but the title stinks, not attracting the attention you think it should, change it. You need to make another decision on whether or not to change the post slug, the URL permalink of the post, to match the new title. Few change the post slug, but do change the post title to make it really describe what the post is about and it may start attracting more traffic.
- Find a Way to Create Interest and Enthusiasm on the Subject: Whether the information is a little old or not, find a way to energize the information to create renewed interest in the subject. Not just through the editing process, but blog about it and the lessons you learned, referring back to the new edited version.
- It’s soooo old…: There are times when the information within an old post is soooo old, there is really no fixing it. It just has no value. Some choose to delete these for a variety of reasons. You can also keep it, but add a note that explains that this information is no longer valid, and points them in the direction of newer information, revitalizing a more recent post.
Even changing and updating a link shows a search engine you’re paying attention to your old posts. A little more care, cleaning, and maintenance may speak even more about the care you have for your entire blog, increasing your page ranking.
Don’t let the dust pile up on your old posts. Give them a good dusting and shine some light on them. They are still worthy, right? Make sure they continue to represent your blog well.
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Excellent thoughts listed there Lorelle..
The whole idea is about referring to your old articles once a while and not overdoing it.
You may also add that this “in a way” helps to avoid supplemental results on your blog.
Cheers!
Mani
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Quick question.
Does an “old” post that still generate comments be recognised as a change in the page? Reason being is one of my old posts has continually generating comments on it, even though it’s over a year old. Surely the search engines must recognise it being as updated?
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Mani, cleaning up your old posts has little to do with the supplemental or duplicate content “hot” SEO myth filling the blogosphere. The posts would still appear as they are in whatever “expected” multi-post view on your blog.
By the way, the normal multi-post and duplicate content aspect of a blog is expected. It’s more important to get rid of duplicate content OFF your site more than on your site, attacking splogs. Highlighting and cleaning your past posts has nothing to do with that issue.
Rhys: This is a tough question to honestly answer. Google has been known to only scan the first third to entire post plus comments to add to its database. If the comments at the end are the only thing that changes, then the search engine’s algorithm may miss it.
But you are fussing over one post. It still needs to be checked for updated links and other things you can fix, especially if it is so popular, but the algorithm takes into account all changes to your blog not just to single posts. It’s a combination of things that decides your PageRank.
I’ve found that even my most popular posts do better if I clean them up a bit every few months, especially if there is new information or updates to add to it.
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Here’s where I strongly disagree with you. Is it better to spend time developing new content and inbound links or improving and updating posts.
Ummm, the answer should be an easy one. SEO is not upding your old posts. That’s just being a good editor.
SEO is going the extra mile to make sure search engines can gobble up your content and have access to readily available fresh content and can see your inbound links.
Pagerank is also of little value and I personally dont see how cleaning up your posts brings anything to the table in improving your pagerank.
Show me the proof and I will stand corrected. Pagerank is all about the value of inbound links that come to your site.
So the better option of improving pagerank to a certain post is to write a new one updating readers about an old post. It will draw new links to your new post and possible a few new ones to your old post.
In the end this is a far far better use of your time. And has a much heavier value on your pagerank.
But we could all talk about how useless pagerank actually is another day. Because it is. Especially since the feedburner purchase.
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Nice explanation. I have a question, what is the difference between SEO & PR ?
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Good question. SEO is search engine optimization. In its most basic form it is preparing your blog for search engines in order to maximize your page ranking in search results. It means cleaning up code and fixing errors, combined with design, code, and writing decisions that make your content easily “searchable” by searchers by the way the data from your site is stored in the search engine’s database. For more on SEO, see Do-It-Yourself Search Engine Optimization Guide.
People have twisted it into marketing and PR, but it really isn’t, but in a way it is. If your blog can’t be easily read by search engines, people, or searchers, then you’ve lost a marketing opportunity.
PR, public relations, is the technique of creating an identity and relationship with your customers – in the case of bloggers, their readers – with the focus on the “relation” part of the term. It’s about networking, comments, interaction, trackbacks, showing up at meetings and conferences, and participating among the peoples of the web so you are known.
It has nothing to do with SEO, but again, SEO and marketing/advertising are more closely related.
I hope that helps. Thanks for the good question.
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Good stuff, Lorelle! Moreso than for SEO purposes, I’ve found that deep-linking back to older posts is a way to bring renewed exposure to old favorites or long-since forgotten posts that never quite got the notice you had hoped they would.
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I enjoyed reading this post, Lorelle, and am looking forward to receiving your book through my letterbox (providing it fits that is).
Ciao.
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Mr. Krug:
The following are the publicly released patents on the Google PageRank:
Google’s patent for their search engine ranking technique from 2005
Google PageRank patent release from 2007
From the first patent:
I also highly recommend reading SEOMoz – Google Historical Data Patent.
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I would agree with David Krug, above; given the choice between writing a new post and rewriting/polishing an old post, I’d suggest writing a new post. However, the time spent rewriting an old post is a lot less than writing a new one, so I’d also suggest doing both.
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Actually the time spent “editing” an old post is a lot less than spent rewriting one. Old posts don’t need rewriting, they often just need to have the links checked and updated, a few spelling errors fixed, and if there is new news on the subject, add the updated information.
Since a visitor can arrive on any post on your blog, it helps to keep them in their best condition so they speak well for you and all your content. It isn’t a choice as much as part of your blog maintenance responsibilities.
This isn’t a time consuming task. As people comment on old posts, or old posts are discovered by a visitor and linked to, this gives me a chance to check it over to make sure it still says what I wanted it and that it is still in good working order.
My old posts speak loudly for my work and if they have a bad link or problem, they aren’t speaking well for me, are they?
If there is a post that I think could stand some improvements, I’ll hunt it up and give it a clean coat of paint.
Besides improving the post, it can give me an excuse to point out that I’ve updated it. And anything that invites people to look deeper into your blog, to spend more time, find more of value, – all works in your favor.
And don’t forget to link to your old posts as they encourage your readers to dig deeper and spend more time in those precious archives of yours.
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it woul be a best idea to look for your post that is not indexded by google and start having some internal linking to that post in this way you may increase your search engine result
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Excellent point. I’ve written on that before and forgot about it. Indeed. If you find a post isn’t getting the respect it deserves through visits, check to make sure it’s in Google’s index.
If it isn’t, take a serious look at it to discover why and fix it. If it is, then consider fixing it to improve its ranking with better keywords and other editing fixes.
Thanks for the reminder!
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wow..I didn’t know about this until you blog about it. Thanks for the tips man! :)
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I would not agree with David Krug on the exterial links would be stable for a while. Google always keep it in mind .Ben Fu
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quite interesting tips..I’ll try some of them..
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just a question in my mind .updating a website too frequently is good or bad?
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Good article!
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Thailand: There is no penalty for updating, no matter how often you do it. It is a sign of a good webmaster and blogger to update posts when they need it, and Google’s algorithm for blogs evaluates those updates and for the most part, judges those who update with a better score than those that sit there.
If you make a change to your web page design, move your site, or change hosts, every page on your site is going to get updated, so to speak, thus it is indicative of a “change” in the whole blog. This might bring a temporary loss in PageRank, as Google credits those who stay consistent with ownership and web host as “more stable”, but it is usually an insignificant drop if all other things are equal.
So, there is no good or bad, but it can be bad if you don’t fix what needs fixing once in a while.
I haven’t found a post on any of my blogs that didn’t need some kind of fix over the years. So fix if you want. Don’t if you don’t. But there are no rules on how much is too much.
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Thanks for the tips!
I also have lots of old posts which I’m afraid are getting buried beneath the newer ones.
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This is great advice and something I’ve tried to incorporate lately with some success. Thanks for reinforcing my idea about this topic.
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Make sure that all your important pages are linked to from the frontpage and other major pages, but distinguish between important and less important pages.This is important in increasing the page rank.
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I have used some of these tips and they worked pretty well for me. I am glad I stumbled onto this blog of yours.
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Great source of information. Thanks a lot for the nice tips. I’ll apply that on my blogs… I have lots of old posts that I can make use of this list. Thanks!
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Guys
I am trying to restore a PR4 which disappeared in the great google PR slap so this article gives me heart that all is not lost.
Nearly 2 years of work has gone down the drain because we had some links to …. ( don’t ant to cause a hassle here too! ) and google stomped on all of the people in that situation.
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Good advice never thought of this before. I’ll pass this onto my clients.
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Superb, if you think that was for the article you are wrong, it’s for the way the questions been answered this is where Lorelle you are very strong i always enjoy the comments section of your posts,where you are really strong.Its a great entry and thanks for the good information.
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Nice post! The ideas and insights are very worth reading. You really gave me valuable information. Thanks for sharing it!
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Very nice post, I just gave new life to my old posts. Thanks :)
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There are even plugins available to help you revitalise an old post:
Related posts – aids with linking to forgotten about posts (though can be hit or miss!)
I also made one ages ago that updates the oldest post every X hours to bring it to the top of the pile. I stopped using it because I don’t have any need for it any more, but it was great for none date specific posts, like the history blog I used to run.
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Helpful advices, went to updates… Thank you!
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Good stuff, Lorelle! I enjoyed reading your post a lot :D
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Very useful list. this post is a must for blogger!
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I understand the concept behind this but it can be a pain to update blog posts
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@ Miie:
It’s only as painful as you make it. I generally keep the most popular old posts updated, or ones that suddenly get a burst of traffic or new comment. Or when someone reminds me that a link or two is out of date or something isn’t up-to-date. It’s up to you about how much work you put into this, or not. But if you have a post that is consistently bringing in traffic, you better be paying attention to it and make sure it is serving your blog well.
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Very useful post. So i think the best way to increase page ranking is to write your own, new and interesting articles. All time I use a search engine is to find NEW informations so the more recent is your post content, the more chance you have to increase the number of its hits.
My 2 cents.
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can u all help me bcoz i’m comfuse between blogger.com and wordpress.. the way to increase traffic is same or different between blogger and wordpress??
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@Lorelle VanFossen, dexter
Great Tip. I tried it with one of my old post which got lost in Google index. I edited the post and it did create some improvement.
Thanks
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nice article, I’ll pass this onto my clients.
Thanks.
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Thanks a lot for the tips. Enjoy reading it.
Now head to my old post :)
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wow nice tips…thanks for share
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Thanks for the helpful tips. I did not even know from the start that constantly updating old posts could revitalize the page rank of your blog.
Cheers and more power!
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THis is the kind of information I have been looking for. Wonderful then. I have lots of good PR’d posts but those were written when I was starting out blogging and they were full of errors… I was so afraid to touch them afraid that the PR might go away and seeing this makes me glad. The same is true with my images that I wanted too bad to fix.. Thank you for writing about this.
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Thank you for posting this information. I’ve updated a few of my older pages now after reading your article and the stats for those pages are up about 20% from what they were.
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Great practical skills.thanks for sharing.Now I know it is important to make sure the old content continues to have life and vitality
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Hi
Vey useful tips about revitalising old posts. It’s nice to know that we can still get a lot of mileage from old old articles and kinda keep them fresh
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Thank you for this post which answers a number of questions that I had about updating a post. I still have one question, however – does updating also include submitting an old post to social bookmarking sites?
I experimented with one or two old posts by submitting them to just a few social bookmarks and it seems to have given them new life.
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I enjoyed reading this post, Lorelle, and am looking forward to receiving your book through my letterbox (providing it fits that is).
seo
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i have noticed that if i improve my content on my pages from time to time i will have greater page rank for my pages and more content will help to increase your rank
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Looking back at some of my first articles, they need some editing, link restructuring, and alt text, I wouldn’t spend the time to re-write any of them, maybe add a few keywords and links (internal).
I believe time is better spent writing new content.
Regards,
Keith
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It’s nice info.. i’m a new blogger.. i hope this article can improve my blog..thanks
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a very good tip to increase page rank. Thank you
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oh my.. this is really an inspiring one
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You share some very refreshing ideas for article writing. I’ll definitely put some of them to work!
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I bookmarked this page. Thank you for given this good post…
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Exelent post nice to meet you
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excelent tips . i love your tips very well
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It is really very important to update the blog every now and then because google should think that you are regularly adding new content. Other wise it will assume that you are just posted some article to get some backlinks. A content which was given some time every now and then is considered as the fresh content..
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Excellent article will thousands like to increase the Page rank of their website. Thanks
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Great article, thanks for sharing.
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Interesting thoughts about google not thinking that you are regularly adding new content. Surely, most blogs are kept up-to-date with regular posts!! Am I right or not?
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Thank you for this tips!
I wonder if just linking posts from the main page is enough or linking them from post to post makes really a difference.
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Excellecnt tips for getting PR, will try your suggestions and already bookmarked your post and suggest others to visit.
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Wow, thank u for the tips…very useful for me as a newbie in blogging…Great! :D
I’ve been your subscriber, i will be waiting for your new post
regard
Alfred
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You are right , i used to correct and update my old post and suddenly i found that my page rank for the old post increasing.Or i can say google is crawling my new and old posts and displaying in top 10.
I keep updating my site as required .however great article to increase page rank.
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thanks for the tips, i will try it :D
regards
iman
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great content I made use of it on my blog
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Excellent Sharing yes with the some efforts you can fuel a new life to old really its better to modify older one a bit rather than post a similar one.
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Repurposing posts are always a good idea. Very easy to do and gives you a chance on internal linking – thanks for the refresher and pointers. Leslie Rhode has a great lecture on repurposing content also – not sure where to find that now.
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good site the some efforts you can fuel a new life to old really its better
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Yea, your tips will help my site. It is stuck on page rank 1.
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nice tips thanks
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your tips will help my site
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Search optimization is a hyper-competitive endeavor that requires intense focus and a thorough, up-to-date understanding of how the search engine algorithms and robots operate.
==============================================
kevin
SEO
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thats very interesting tips. Good traffIC/pr will be good income
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nice tips man
thank you
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I hopefully by post this my page rank is increasing. Thank you for the blog owner.
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thanks for the tips, so many trackback here. that’s great.
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Thank you for another great post! I googled “should I fix spelling errors on my old posts” to find your blog entry and I’m glad to know that Lorelle herself has spelling error weeds!
I really thought I was losing it, but I SWEAR I checked before I hit publish…
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This is a very good article. I started to blog just 6 months ago. Now, I already have more than a hundred articles. The old articles I have are perfect opportunities to test the above tips that you mentioned. I hope it will be effective and make my website more discoverable by search engines.
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thanks for the tip dude.
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wow, i’ts great post long, life comment for almost 2 year..
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Really some very unique and easy points for SEO.
While searching the internet for ways to earn stuff for free on the internet I came across this site called Lockerz. Basically what you do is earn points and redeem them for prizes, easy as that. The first couple of days using Lockerz I was earning enough points to redeem a video game! This site is awesome in every way!
But its an invite only site.For a quick invitation click here-
Flockerz-Lockerz
Invitation | Lockerz Ptz Hack
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Wow i really appreaciate the minute details presented here….some were obvious but i think when u read it then u want to follow it…I have implemented internal backlink thing and things have started improving on my site…..
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this is very helpful.
thanks a bunch.
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very help full for make money online
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Nice inspiring tips, i’ll try some.. thanks..
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Nice posts.This article helps me lot.