Search Engine Rankings

[NoSugar]

There's been discussion about how difficult MWO is to find using various search engines. It used to appear on the first page of a search. Is there a way you could increase the visibility of the site,
@Forum Manager or @Administrator?

[Jod]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

There's been discussion about how difficult MWO is to find using various search engines. It used to appear on the first page of a search. Is there a way you could increase the visibility of the site,
@Forum Manager or @Administrator?

Currently the visiting bots are:

Google Spiders (15), Yahoo! Slurp Spiders (1), BingBot Spiders (4)

Over the past years there are several factors which have resulted in the loss of passing traffic, not limited to;

1) Loss of users = Loss of new posts = Loss of exposure on search engines.
2) Reliance on a unpaid SEO pluging, which is past its best.
3) Lack of investment in private SEO.
4) Rise of competitive platforms in this (specialized) area.

SEO is something that FM and I have discussed recently. Details of which will be contained in a release in due course.

[Byrdlady]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

I could be nuts, but over the years, I have noticed a correlation between my not getting the email noticfications to threads I subscribe to, and the decline of new faces we see here. In the past, when I pointed out the email issue to Zach and it was corrected, once again, the pace of new people joining seemed to pick up. Now I have NO idea HOW this could be related, but it has happened about half dozen times. Of course, your explanation above is a thousand times more likely, but it's quite a co-incidence nonetheless.
Thank you for all of your hard work here! Byrdie

[tonyniceday]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

[MENTION=9640]Forum Manager[/MENTION] [MENTION=23772]Administrator[/MENTION]

I mentioned on a post a few days ago how I, and I imagine others, would be happy to subscribe but the subscriptions are currently only in US$. When you try to subscribe it simply does not tell you what you are paying in another currency, in my case Sterling, and you don't know what you are paying until it appears on your bank statement!

Can we see, either confirmation in local currency before making the payment, or (preferably) the ability to select a currency and see the subscription.

This, in turn, will see an increase in revenue for the site and may enable you to look at "paid-for" ways of promoting it.

Tony

[Jod]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

[MENTION=9640]Forum Manager[/MENTION] [MENTION=23772]Administrator[/MENTION]

I mentioned on a post a few days ago how I, and I imagine others, would be happy to subscribe but the subscriptions are currently only in US$. When you try to subscribe it simply does not tell you what you are paying in another currency, in my case Sterling, and you don't know what you are paying until it appears on your bank statement!

Can we see, either confirmation in local currency before making the payment, or (preferably) the ability to select a currency and see the subscription.

This, in turn, will see an increase in revenue for the site and may enable you to look at "paid-for" ways of promoting it.

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thank you for your interest in subscribing.

All transactions are for security reasons not handled by this site. All transactions are handled via PayPal. All transactions are in $US as this is where the PayPal account is located and where a majority of services are purchased. (License/Hosting etc).

When the appropriate $US is selected the page will be transferred to PayPal where a converstion amount is shown. For instance if you select $29.89, PayPay should indicated to the end user how much (including fees, if appropriate) will be debited to their account. In the case of Sterling, it should be c£24 odd. If this is too deep for the users pockets, they can always select the alternative amount from the subscribe dropdown box and repeat. The users PayPal account should be able to make payment using the designated currency of the user.

I can always add alternative amounts or the user can donate, without the repeat agreement, in the donate area.

If you are aware of any alternative options, I am all ears!

A review of Subscribers is also currently underway. This involves who is subscribing financially, socially or neither. A revamp of current (non existent) benefits will be released soon.

[Jod]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

I could be nuts, but over the years, I have noticed a correlation between my not getting the email noticfications to threads I subscribe to, and the decline of new faces we see here. In the past, when I pointed out the email issue to Zach and it was corrected, once again, the pace of new people joining seemed to pick up. Now I have NO idea HOW this could be related, but it has happened about half dozen times. Of course, your explanation above is a thousand times more likely, but it's quite a co-incidence nonetheless.
Thank you for all of your hard work here! Byrdie

Hi Byrdie

There is no physical way one can effect the other. There was no email validation system in place prior to my tenure. New users could register and post straight away. Hence the spam issues!

Notifications are sent immediately they happen in real time. (We do not operate Cron based emails*) As I think I may have mentioned before any delay is usually between the email handler and the device they are notified too. I.E. they should appear directly onto your email (when viewed directly online) but may take some hours to reach your device (phone ipad) that you get notifications on.

In your case, IIRC, you received no notifications, period. In which case users need to check spam and trash boxes and add the site email to their contacts list. You only get one notification per unread subscribed thread, so sometimes, especially when people leave their browser logged in the system realises they are logged in and therefore does not send a notification email.

* Cron is where emails are sent every X minutes in bulk batches

[ssd858]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

[MENTION=9640]Forum Manager[/MENTION] [MENTION=23772]Administrator[/MENTION]
I know that I have contributed in the past, but do not see where or how to do it now.
Can you post a link for those that want to subscribe/contribute $$$?

I, too, have noticed that I do not get emails from the site like I used to. In the past I would be notified by email
if I had a private message. That is not happening now.

Thank you!

[Jod]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

[MENTION=9640]Forum Manager[/MENTION] [MENTION=23772]Administrator[/MENTION]
I know that I have contributed in the past, but do not see where or how to do it now.
Can you post a link for those that want to subscribe/contribute $$$?

I, too, have noticed that I do not get emails from the site like I used to. In the past I would be notified by email
if I had a private message. That is not happening now.

Thank you!

Subscribe is in the top nav bar next to home. Donate is part of the dropdown options underneath named Community.

Make sure your settings are marked so PM notifications are set to yes. Settings may have changed following upgrades?

[Piedmont]

Re: Search Engine Rankings

Subscribe is in the top nav bar next to home. Donate is part of the dropdown options underneath named Community.

For those users who interact via the mobile version, there is not a conspicuous (or even hidden as far as I could tell) place to "Subscribe" or "Donate". Also, that term to me, 'Subscribe', is very suggestive of subscribing to a newsletter or other update. Perhaps "Premium Membership" would be less ambiguous.

Keep up the great work on this valuable resource to so many.