@hackersmovie - I did not mean to convey that I did not understand where this feature could be beneficial. Surely, it could be. And, granted, I can see where your's is an extreme case where it would definitely help. But, I was just offering alternatives that may work for most people.
It sure doesn't hurt to ask. And @Sven has added more and more great features. So, maybe he can stick this in as well some time. If he does, I would use it.
@sobiman " yes using %spinfolder is the way to go. That way, the content can be manipulated using automated or programmed tools before being fed to SER."
What are these automated tools that can manipulate the files before being fed to SER?
hackersmovie I don't know about any automated programs, but I write php, and it is a piece of cake to take text files and manipulate them. The sky is the limit. I could even write a crawler to take relevant urls from search engines and insert into those text files.
@DavidA2 - I was suggesting something simple. Like the same way SER checks the anchors, finds a random instance in the article and then grabs a random URL from URL field.
What I am suggesting is 3 extra fields.
1) external URL's (like the normal URL fields but for external URL's)
2) External Anchors
3) No. of uses.
Then it does same as it's currently doing but with added external URL's. Placing a random image link would be great too, but not urgent.
I then call them in using the macros like Sven suggested. BUT since they are filepaths, they often break or have an extra space etc, so have spent a lot of time fixing bugs. Also, some macro interactions have caused trouble for me in the past.
That's why a %image% or %external_url% would be much easier to use than:
Also - when using macros it fixes the place in the article where the link or image appears. Would be much nicer to have it randomise, like it does with the anchor text option.
@Sven I disagree. Adding a simple check box to the GUI like "Add additional external links" would be PRICELESS. While many users may have the time and inclination to set up massive spin files for anchor text and urls, I'm sure just as many have purchased this software for it's AUTOMATION, like myself. Plus, judging from the response of this thread, it would seem to be a much welcomed addition...
SER would just place an image into articles after random paragraph (after first paragraph and before last paragraph) if this option was enabled.
Not urgent as can be done with macros, but a bit complicated (since filepaths break) and it keeps the link placement always the same and predictable. With above it would solve this. I think it adds value to submitted articles if they have a nice image and a value adding external URL. :-)
@Sven, that's the beauty of it. It doesn't really matter. It can insert the links anywhere and on any anchor. The whole idea is to make the article seem more 'real' by linking out to something other than what we want it to (our Money Site). Nearly every 'real' article, blog post, etc, I've ever read did NOT just link to one source. It can even randomly select the number of links (I'd suggest between 1-3 additional links but, no more) The more random it is, the better!
I think this is a VERY IMPORTANT addition, as @hackersmovie said. I also talked about a similar concept on another thread. Self serving links are out, resource links are in.
@AlexR why don't we make it a lot simpler. In our text if we can put a spin list of something like
{external:key1|external:key2|... }
so the idea is:
external:key
When GSA sees external, it randomly picks one post and its title from say Yahoo's first 100 results for that keyword and insert it. Simple. We just make sure we are not competing for those keywords.
@hackersmovie so you want the program to search for some words and add like 3 URLs totally not related to the anchor ? Isn't that even more suspicious?
@Sven, if the anchor can be related, that is obviously better. If it has to be random and not related, just make it a generic anchor text, that way it doesn't matter...
@Sven, the "relevance" only needs to be between the anchor and the link it's pointing to. Not the article. 99% of the articles, etc I read online may be about, say, an iPhone but, may link out to software, apps, Android, or even an African Safari that was filmed exclusively on a mobile device. African safari's aren't directly related to an iPhone but, in that context they are. Search engines use the "6 Degrees of Separation" or "Butterfly Affect" theories all the time. Seemingly "unrelevant" terms/items may actually be related so, it really doesn't matter...
@Sven - it should work like the URL field and anchor, except be an external URL. This way we can use a macro or populate the field with relevant URL's that add value to the user.
So for example on certain projects I have a .txt file with pre-checked authority url's that will add value to the user. (like wikipedia entries, etc)
So in my article it might have text:
For detailed explanation on %anchor_text% check out EXTERNALURL.
@AlexR While that seems to be a great way to do it, I don't have the time to research every single topic for every single one of my clients. I need to be able to check a box or something and have the software take care of it. It's great that GSA SER has the macro functions but, for many I would guess, it's not feasible to use.
@hackersmovie - just type in a list of keywords in SB or any program, or hire a VA, and take the list of harvested URL's and insert into external URL field. Easy. For Sven to have to go and program something that goes out and scrapes external URL's is a much bigger job than just letting us get external links placed in articles.
@AlexR - I can easily scrape keyword list using scrapebox and write a very simple program in php to grab some random urls from say yahoo and spin it all together. This is the easy part. But then it is a separate process, and I think it is good if we can avoid doing another process and let GSA handle it all?
OK I came up with a solution here: I can make a list of general URLs who would still make sense to get linked with anchors...please add some more if you know what I mean...
@Sven that's great! Would it also be possible to add a variable to the search like .edu or .gov so it will find relevant targets to post links to .edu and .gov sites, those will carry more authority...
@sven that is good solution, although it gets limited to search engine content additions only. I think if you are not adding a crawling solution to find anchors/urls from regular websites, then we should think it through some more.
Comments
It sure doesn't hurt to ask. And @Sven has added more and more great features. So, maybe he can stick this in as well some time. If he does, I would use it.
manipulated using automated or programmed tools before being fed to SER."
What are these automated tools that can manipulate the files before being fed to SER?
AlexR suggestion for 3 more fields soounds good.
Sven, would it be possible to add such a feature ?
I don't think this makes sense to add it to the GUI. It would confuse people even more.
You can do all of that by defining yourself some macros like %spinfile-c:\ext_urls.txt% and %spinfile-c:\ext_anchors.text%.
^:)^
:-h \:D/
OK I came up with a solution here: I can make a list of general URLs who would still make sense to get linked with anchors...please add some more if you know what I mean...
An option would than randomly choose like 3 random words and put a link on them with the word in the URL
No you don't understand. I will not do a query and use the found items. I will insert these URLs. Everything else is slowing things down.
like this: This is a sample of some <a href="http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/random">random</a> anchor/URL that gets inserted.