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SEO Issue: Any expert opinions?

by Build Discipline
9 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi there fellow Warrior,

I'm stuck in a SEO enigma and wondering what to do. It would be awesome if you could help me figure this out.

Some time ago, I published this article, featuring 10 positive psychology courses: Positive Psychology Courses: 10 Educational Chances of a Lifetime

This article went viral and as a result of this, I was able to publish a second list featuring 10 new courses and then a third one. I did so by creating a Part II and Part III of this article, because I figured that the initial article would become too long and the pagespeed too slow if I simply extended the initial list. The titles of the articles are the same, except that I put 'Part II/Part III' before the title for the second and third article.

Now that I'm already working on Part IV of this article, I started wondering whether this structure, three seperate articles with the same title, is a good structure SEO-wise. I'm not convinced that it is.

How would you tackle this problem? What is the most logical thing to do for my visitors on the one hand, and for Google on the other?

Just to be clear, I'm looking to rank for the searchterm 'positive psychology courses' with the first article.

Thanks!
#expert #issue #opinions #seo
  • Profile picture of the author Steve Waller
    If you want to rank your first article then why are you so worried about the titles of your 2nd, 3rd and 4th articles?

    Just make them completely different to the first. Are your visitors going to worry? No? Will Google prefer this? Possibly but there's won't be much difference.

    How about you steal the Star Wars Episode names and make them fun?

    E.g.

    Positive Psychology Courses Episode II: Attack Of The Id

    Positive Psychology Courses Episode III: Revenge Of The Ego

    Positive Psychology Courses Episode IV: A New Consciousness

    Obviously this is just an idea but I'm trying to show that you needn't worry too much, just make them engaging and fun.
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    • Profile picture of the author Build Discipline
      Thanks for sharing your POV Steve, I appreciate it.

      I wasn't sure about the titles of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th because Google might get confused about which article to rank for this particular search term. Right now, all three of the articles are aimed at this search term.

      In your example however, this search term is still in the title of Part 2, 3 and 4 of the article. Maybe I can exclude that term alltogether for them.
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      • Profile picture of the author Jesse Kemper
        Originally Posted by Steve Waller View Post

        If you want to rank your first article then why are you so worried about the titles of your 2nd, 3rd and 4th articles?

        Just make them completely different to the first. Are your visitors going to worry? No? Will Google prefer this? Possibly but there's won't be much difference.

        How about you steal the Star Wars Episode names and make them fun?

        E.g.

        Positive Psychology Courses Episode II: Attack Of The Id

        Positive Psychology Courses Episode III: Revenge Of The Ego

        Positive Psychology Courses Episode IV: A New Consciousness

        Obviously this is just an idea but I'm trying to show that you needn't worry too much, just make them engaging and fun.
        Wow, lol very nice, gotta admit I like that twist!

        Originally Posted by Build Discipline View Post

        Thanks for sharing your POV Steve, I appreciate it.

        I wasn't sure about the titles of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th because Google might get confused about which article to rank for this particular search term. Right now, all three of the articles are aimed at this search term.

        In your example however, this search term is still in the title of Part 2, 3 and 4 of the article. Maybe I can exclude that term alltogether for them.
        So your concern is your 2nd, 3rd, 4th article will take over your ranking for the old article? Being that the old article was established first I don't see this happening. And say for example you use the "Related Posts" plugin in Wordpress(Or something similar in whatever platform you may use for bloggin).
        People may FIRST for your search term come to your Part I article, but when your related post shows a part II and III, they will know that they are ALL worth reading, given that your first one is good. This will create a flow of readers and hits from one post to the other as well to help all of them gain popularity. =)
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      • Profile picture of the author Steve Waller
        Originally Posted by Build Discipline View Post

        Thanks for sharing your POV Steve, I appreciate it.

        I wasn't sure about the titles of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th because Google might get confused about which article to rank for this particular search term. Right now, all three of the articles are aimed at this search term.

        In your example however, this search term is still in the title of Part 2, 3 and 4 of the article. Maybe I can exclude that term alltogether for them.
        I think you've got to give Google credit and trust that they will rank the first article. After all, it has all the social activity doesn't it? And presumably it will have internal links from the others and it must have gained some external links too?

        So I doubt your worries are founded on anything more than just that, worry. In reality you should be fine with using the same main phrase in your titles.
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    • Profile picture of the author oliver23
      Originally Posted by Steve Waller View Post

      If you want to rank your first article then why are you so worried about the titles of your 2nd, 3rd and 4th articles?

      Just make them completely different to the first. Are your visitors going to worry? No? Will Google prefer this? Possibly but there's won't be much difference.

      How about you steal the Star Wars Episode names and make them fun?

      E.g.

      Positive Psychology Courses Episode II: Attack Of The Id

      Positive Psychology Courses Episode III: Revenge Of The Ego

      Positive Psychology Courses Episode IV: A New Consciousness

      Obviously this is just an idea but I'm trying to show that you needn't worry too much, just make them engaging and fun.
      Lol Positive Psychology Courses trilogy
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  • Profile picture of the author fivercraze
    I donot think title really matters at all ...donot worry about title just worry about ranking your article higher in search ..
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  • Profile picture of the author fearlesspioneer
    I don't think it's a good idea to divide your high quality long article into several parts. Long article is better for seo than short article.

    If you really don't want to post the whole article on one page, maybe you can make a video? Or put part of the article into a video? It is also good for seo to use multimedia.
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    • Profile picture of the author nik0
      Banned
      Originally Posted by fearlesspioneer View Post

      I don't think it's a good idea to divide your high quality long article into several parts. Long article is better for seo than short article.

      If you really don't want to post the whole article on one page, maybe you can make a video? Or put part of the article into a video? It is also good for seo to use multimedia.
      It's true that longer articles perform better, as long as they are highly relevant, however no one ever tested what works better:

      1 long article

      vs

      10 short articles that are inter linked and/or all link to the first one

      Just wrote it down, case study to come soon!
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      • Profile picture of the author Build Discipline
        This is exactly what I've been asking myself as well. Should I put all 4 of them together into one article, i.e. collect all the social value and interactions on 1 URL?

        So I guess the opinions are still divided here, as always when it comes to SEO.

        @Steven, it's not that I'm worried man. It's more that I would just like to know what good SEO practice is in this particular case. It's interesting.
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