Tips Tuesday – NLWeb and AI, GSC/GA4 Workshop, Video SEO, WhatNot

Tips this week include:

• DIY SEO Workshop on GSC/GA4
• Playing the YouTube algorithm game
• The video SEO experiment I’m doing
• Why I’m switching away from Shorts
• Is NLWeb the next bit thing for websites?
• WhatNot goes BIG!!!

Happenings

DIY SEO Workshop on GSC/GA4

This week in the DIY SEO course we’ll have a live look at Google Search Console and ensure we have no Technical SEO issues.

We’ll also have a look at how Google is ranking our video posts too.

And we’ll compare the impressions and clicks to what we see in GA4.

Video Tips

Playing the YouTube Algorithm Game

I have all of my new CAD video tutorials scheduled on my Heartwood Art YouTube channel. There are 10 tips videos that are 3 minutes or less and focus on how to do just one function in SketchUp. But they are not Shorts. I released them in landscape mode on purpose.

And then there are 2 beginner modeling videos. Both are workbenches, including my own.

I’m doing a LOT of cross referencing in these videos, which makes posting them a bit of a challenge.

I’ve had to put “Coming Soon” in the video description for any tutorials that are not live yet.

And then I’ve had to make a schedule for updating all the ones affected when a new tutorial does post. FYI, I’m publishing 2 a week. 

I’m playing the YouTube algorithm game for consistent posting with these, hence the extra work..

Once I get past these first 12 videos, I won’t have to do all this back and forth updating, as all of the Tips posts will already be published and easily referenced.

Video SEO Experiment

Doing video posts is something Google likes.

But, they have to be done a certain way to get that post to rank.

Instead of a lot of content, Google wants the video to be at the top, and just a little bit of content under it.

And since I have no affiliate likes or such with these CAD tutorials, that’s exactly what I plan to do with them on my blog.

We’ll see if that gets the post ranked higher. But I already know that the YouTube video will outrank the post every time, and that’s just fine with me. It’s the video watchtime that pays me.

Switching Away from Shorts

You may recall that I made 46 Shorts for my new YouTube channel. (I’m holding off sharing the name and link with you so my analytics stay clean and don’t confuse Google.)

Those Shorts got that channel off to a good start and got several folks to click over to the related long-form video, and brought in subscribers. 

But, 4 months later, YouTube is not promoting them as much as it did in the first 3 months.

And, some of those “tips” topics get good watchtime as non-Shorts, and those pay better.

So, I will be remaking a few of them, taking down the Short, and releasing as a non-Short. That’s actually going to be pretty easy to do with most of them, as I recorded in landscape mode to begin with and just zoomed into sections for the vertical look.

The point is to use Short strategically. And that requires watching your metrics and not just sticking to a single way of doing things forever.

AI SEO Tips

Is NLWeb the Next Big Thing for Websites?

I think it may be.

Microsoft recently released NLWeb (Natural Language Web).

This post from Yoast breaks down what NLWeb is.

What has me hopeful about it is that it sets a standard for using AI-assisted search on your site, and it’s open source.

Microsoft has deep ties to OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT.

So, I can see an integration coming between the two, likely sooner rather than later.

And this framework seems like it might be a better foundation for AI crawl bots to use to understand our site content better than llm.txt ever could.

Keep in mind that llm.txt is not a standard and has not been adopted by a single AI bot either.

Plus, pro SEOs have tried to game llm.txt in every way they can and Google has been adamant that all such attempts are actually doing more harm than good.

This topic, about how to help AI bots to understand our content better is most definitely something we will be addressing soon in the DIY SEO course too.

I’ll be showing folks the snake oil methods out there, and then what is actually safe to do.

Monetization Tips

WhatNot Goes BIG!

Have you heard of WhatNot?

Most folks I’ve spoken with have not.

It’s an app for direct, live selling.

Think of it as live-streamed Etsy.

And now everybody is about to hear of it.

Mr. Beast did a WhatNot livestream this past Sunday where he gave away $1 million dollar’s worth of stuff.

Do you recall a few months ago that I had a HUGE money-making thing to share with a few of my clients? It’s WhatNot.

The reason I kept it under wraps is because the clients I spoke to already sell merch and already do video. Plus, they already have a big email list.

Y’all there are only a few ways to do well on WhatNot. There are 100s of ways to flop.

That’s why I only spoke to a few clients about it, as I knew they would just have to make a couple of slight tweaks to what they were already doing to set up a shop there.

I know of folks who are legit making $3k-$10k every time they go live – no joke.

And I know the secrets to how they do it.

Contact me if you’re interested in learning more about how to make money with WhatNot.