SEO

Everything You Need To Know

Published

1 year ago

August 12, 2022

Remember what life was like before the internet was widespread?

What would you do if you wanted to figure out who was the head coach of the 1986 Detroit Pistons or learn about the migration habits of the European turtle dove? You had to rely on your memory (spotty, at best), ask a friend (possibly unreliable), or take a trip to your local library (does anyone know how the Dewey decimal system works?).

Now a simple Google search can provide you with the answer to virtually any question you could ever have.

And one of the most popular resources for finding information of all types is Wikipedia.

A community-curated encyclopedia, it has more than 56 million pages in 328 languages, most of which anyone can edit.

And yet, despite this free access, it maintains a surprisingly high level of accuracy.

Cunningham’s Law may attribute to this, which states that “the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it’s to post the wrong answer.”

That’s great and all, you’re probably saying right now, but what does that have to do with search engine optimization? It turns out it’s quite a lot.

When you think about it, it makes sense.

The seventh most popular website in the world, Wikipedia shows up on the first page of search engine results for all types of queries – including some of the ones you’re probably going after.

And with a little strategy and digital savviness, you can put it to work for you via both off-site and on-site SEO tactics.

Ready to learn more? Keep reading.

Wikipedia Guidelines

While Wikipedia pages are built and maintained by users, you can’t just go creating new pages willy-nilly.

Otherwise, people who want to feel important and every mom-and-pop shop in the world would litter the online encyclopedia with unimportant entries.

Just imagine the headaches it would cause if you were trying to research Rene Descartes (the famous 17th-century philosopher and mathematician) and instead ended up on a page about Rene Descartes, who works in the produce department at a supermarket.

To prevent this scenario, Wikipedia has strict guidelines about covering topics.

These include:

Notability – a topic must have received significant coverage from reliable, independent sources.
Neutral point of view – all content must be presented without editorial bias, with positions represented proportionally in other sources’ coverage.
No original research – everything in Wikipedia must exist and be verifiable in another reliable source.
Verifiable – all information must come from sources and use citations wherever possible.
Reliable sources – entries must cite information that comes from reliable publications covering the work, its creator, or the publisher of the work.
Spam – content may not be advertising masquerading as information, external link spamming, or contain references intended solely to promote the author.

But here’s the thing: Wikipedia is apparent in its five pillars that it has no firm rules.

It understands policies evolve, so if you have enough time to spare, you can find published Wikipedia articles that break each of the guidelines listed above.

Now let’s dive into how to make Wikipedia work with your SEO efforts.

Google And Wikipedia

Google and Wikipedia are two of the most prominent players on the internet.

And while each wields enormous influence in its sphere, like chocolate and peanut butter, they’re even better together.

How Does Google Use Wikipedia?

As you’ve probably noticed from your searches, Google tends to rely on Wikipedia for featured snippets about people and places. But the relationship between the two sites goes much deeper.

Wikipedia is the online resource for knowledge.

People know, use, and trust it to provide information on virtually everything. And it’s not just humans who feel this way.

Wikipedia has a domain authority of 100, and in a 2018 Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything), Google Webmaster Trends Analyst John Mueller confirmed the Google Knowledge Graph uses Wikipedia.

When asked about data sources, he said, “We use the knowledge graph (which comes from various places, including Wikipedia) to try to understand entities on a page.”

With this in mind, it shouldn’t be a surprise that many marketers link to Wikipedia pages in the hope that the search engine giant will notice their site and give it some reflected authority.

There’s just one little problem: Google doesn’t do that anymore.

Sites link to Wikipedia, CNN, and Disney homepages in the hope of being seen as important sites by search engines.

Well, they used to, almost 30 years ago.

— 🫧 johnmu of switzerland (personal) 🫧 (@JohnMu) December 23, 2021

Well, what about backlinks? Wouldn’t a link from a Wikipedia entry enhance your ranking with all those citations?

Unfortunately, in an attempt to cut down spam and discourage the creation of advertorials or other marketing initiatives masquerading as encyclopedia entries, all of these links are nofollow.

John Mueller verified the futility of actively seeking Wikipedia backlinks in a Reddit post from 2021:

“Randomly dropping a link into Wikipedia has no SEO value and will do nothing for your site. All you’re doing is creating extra work for the Wikipedia maintainers who will remove your link drops. It’s a waste of your time and theirs.”

Okay, so Wikipedia doesn’t help SEO via inbound or outbound links, and its guidelines expressly prohibit the creation of entries for marketing.

What’s a search engine optimizer to do?

Just because you can’t use some of the more popular SEO tactics with Wikipedia doesn’t mean the online encyclopedia can’t help you improve your search engine rankings.

SEO Strategies For Wikipedia

From keyword planning to content ideas, building credibility, or driving clicks, there are several ways you can use Wikipedia for both off-page and on-page SEO.

Ways To Use Wikipedia For Off-Site SEO

In the past, a lot of SEO professionals found all sorts of spammy ways to game Wikipedia for additional web traffic.

And as you might expect, these people ruined it for everyone.

But that’s not to say there aren’t ways you can use Wikipedia for your off-site SEO purposes.

Here are some ways to do just that:

1. Grab referral traffic via citations and broken links.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking nofollow links aren’t valuable.

When a citation links to your site, you can get referral traffic from people looking for the original source of information.

(If you’ve ever cited a Wiki article in an online argument only to hear, “lol, Wikipedia,” you know the value of clicking those citation links.)

What’s more, other sites looking for a reliable source for their webpages are more likely to link directly to you. As a Wikipedia source, you have instant credibility.

2. Use Wikipedia to develop link opportunities.

When people are looking for a high-level overview of a topic, Wikipedia is often the first stop. This means it is often the most relevant link for broad keywords.

Using a tool like Semrush, you can discover who links to a page and then use this information to build links with those sites. This will enhance your authority and thus, improve your ranking.

You can also comb through the reference pages to increase your network of related websites, people, and organizations.

3. Create your own Wikipedia page.

Okay, this is a little tricky. Your one-person business, Jill’s SEO Shop, probably isn’t noteworthy enough to meet Wikipedia’s expectations. But a company like John Deere or Louis Vuitton is.

If your company deserves its own Wikipedia page, you should have one.

If you think you fit the bill, you should work with an experienced Wikipedia editor to develop well-structured content that will meet the requirements and tell your company’s history.

Just be careful to avoid being labeled as spam.

Using Wikipedia For On-Site SEO

It’s easy to forget, but the purpose of any encyclopedia, online or physical, is to provide information.

And as the world’s most extensive encyclopedia, Wikipedia is an excellent tool for SEOs looking to maximize their ranking.

Here are a few ways it can help:

1. Keyword research.

Finding the right words and phrases is a huge part of what search engine optimization is all about.

Wikipedia is an excellent source for uncovering the nomenclature and actual language of industry.

Because most Wikipedia articles are written or at least edited by experts on the topic, you can expect them to use the phrases and language your target audience will be using in searches.

This is particularly useful if you’re working in a technical field.

2. Determine interest in a topic.

One of the best things about Wikipedia from an SEO perspective is that it makes all its traffic stats available to the public.

If you have an idea for a new blog and want to see if there’s interest in that topic, checking the visits to related Wiki pages is a great place to start.

It’s not a hard and fast rule, but generally speaking, if a Wikipedia page has a lot of traffic, more people will search for information on that topic.

Likewise, an article topic that’s only getting a handful of visitors each month may not generate much traffic to your site either.

3. Use it as a content planning tool.

Coming up with new content ideas is a constant challenge for many SEOs. This is where Wikipedia can be your best friend.

Start by combing the citations. Look at the pages linked to and steal and borrow their ideas.

Make boring content enjoyable, and you’ll start grabbing clicks from those sites.

You also want to look for stubs and pages with dead links and citations needed.

Providing information to flesh out topics, replacing dead links with your own live ones, and serving as a source of information are all great ways to build your authority and create content for under-served topics – which can mean high search rankings.

Putting Wikipedia To Work For You

Wikipedia is an interesting unicorn of a site.

With no marketing angle, nofollow links, and no opportunity for paid advertising, at first glance, it may seem like something an SEO can ignore – this would be a mistake.

While you need to take care that you’re not spamming, if done correctly, Wikipedia can be an incredible resource for search engine professionals.

If you’re creating high-quality content relevant to a page, you can serve as a source.

But even if you’re not, you can use Wikipedia as a research tool for finding new ideas, topics, and linking sites.

With such strict guidelines, it may feel alien at first, but with some work, you can use the online encyclopedia to help your site rank higher and drive more traffic.

More Resources:

Featured Image: Oleksiy Mark/Shutterstock

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SEO

4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

Published

15 hours ago

December 11, 2023

Max

4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

In a significant leap in large language model (LLM) development, Mistral AI announced the release of its newest model, Mixtral-8x7B.

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:5546272da9065eddeb6fcd7ffddeef5b75be79a7&dn=mixtral-8x7b-32kseqlen&tr=udp%3A%2F%https://t.co/uV4WVdtpwZ%3A6969%2Fannounce&tr=http%3A%2F%https://t.co/g0m9cEUz0T%3A80%2Fannounce

RELEASE a6bbd9affe0c2725c1b7410d66833e24

— Mistral AI (@MistralAI) December 8, 2023

What Is Mixtral-8x7B?

Mixtral-8x7B from Mistral AI is a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model designed to enhance how machines understand and generate text.

Imagine it as a team of specialized experts, each skilled in a different area, working together to handle various types of information and tasks.

A report published in June reportedly shed light on the intricacies of OpenAI’s GPT-4, highlighting that it employs a similar approach to MoE, utilizing 16 experts, each with around 111 billion parameters, and routes two experts per forward pass to optimize costs.

This approach allows the model to manage diverse and complex data efficiently, making it helpful in creating content, engaging in conversations, or translating languages.

Mixtral-8x7B Performance Metrics

Mistral AI’s new model, Mixtral-8x7B, represents a significant step forward from its previous model, Mistral-7B-v0.1.

It’s designed to understand better and create text, a key feature for anyone looking to use AI for writing or communication tasks.

New open weights LLM from @MistralAI

params.json:
– hidden_dim / dim = 14336/4096 => 3.5X MLP expand
– n_heads / n_kv_heads = 32/8 => 4X multiquery
– “moe” => mixture of experts 8X top 2 👀

Likely related code: https://t.co/yrqRtYhxKR

Oddly absent: an over-rehearsed… https://t.co/8PvqdHz1bR pic.twitter.com/xMDRj3WAVh

— Andrej Karpathy (@karpathy) December 8, 2023

This latest addition to the Mistral family promises to revolutionize the AI landscape with its enhanced performance metrics, as shared by OpenCompass.

Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

What makes Mixtral-8x7B stand out is not just its improvement over Mistral AI’s previous version, but the way it measures up to models like Llama2-70B and Qwen-72B.

mixtral-8x7b performance metrics compared to llama 2 open source ai models

It’s like having an assistant who can understand complex ideas and express them clearly.

One of the key strengths of the Mixtral-8x7B is its ability to handle specialized tasks.

For example, it performed exceptionally well in specific tests designed to evaluate AI models, indicating that it’s good at general text understanding and generation and excels in more niche areas.

This makes it a valuable tool for marketing professionals and SEO experts who need AI that can adapt to different content and technical requirements.

The Mixtral-8x7B’s ability to deal with complex math and coding problems also suggests it can be a helpful ally for those working in more technical aspects of SEO, where understanding and solving algorithmic challenges are crucial.

This new model could become a versatile and intelligent partner for a wide range of digital content and strategy needs.

How To Try Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Demos

You can experiment with Mistral AI’s new model, Mixtral-8x7B, to see how it responds to queries and how it performs compared to other open-source models and OpenAI’s GPT-4.

Please note that, like all generative AI content, platforms running this new model may produce inaccurate information or otherwise unintended results.

User feedback for new models like this one will help companies like Mistral AI improve future versions and models.

1. Perplexity Labs Playground

In Perplexity Labs, you can try Mixtral-8x7B along with Meta AI’s Llama 2, Mistral-7b, and Perplexity’s new online LLMs.

In this example, I ask about the model itself and notice that new instructions are added after the initial response to extend the generated content about my query.

Screenshot from Perplexity, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b perplexity labs playground

While the answer looks correct, it begins to repeat itself.

Screenshot from Perplexity Labs, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b errors

The model did provide an over 600-word answer to the question, “What is SEO?”

Again, additional instructions appear as “headers” to seemingly ensure a comprehensive answer.

Screenshot from Perplexity Labs, December 2023 what is seo by mixtral-8x7b

2. Poe

Poe hosts bots for popular LLMs, including OpenAI’s GPT-4 and DALL·E 3, Meta AI’s Llama 2 and Code Llama, Google’s PaLM 2, Anthropic’s Claude-instant and Claude 2, and StableDiffusionXL.

These bots cover a wide spectrum of capabilities, including text, image, and code generation.

The Mixtral-8x7B-Chat bot is operated by Fireworks AI.

Screenshot from Poe, December 2023 poe bot for mixtral-8x7b firebase

It’s worth noting that the Fireworks page specifies it is an “unofficial implementation” that was fine-tuned for chat.

When asked what the best backlinks for SEO are, it provided a valid answer.

Screenshot from Poe, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b poe best backlinks response

Compare this to the response offered by Google Bard.

Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

Screenshot from Google Bard, December 2023 Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

3. Vercel

Vercel offers a demo of Mixtral-8x7B that allows users to compare responses from popular Anthropic, Cohere, Meta AI, and OpenAI models.

Screenshot from Vercel, December 2023 vercel mixtral-8x7b demo compare gpt-4

It offers an interesting perspective on how each model interprets and responds to user questions.

Screenshot from Vercel, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b vs cohere on best resources for learning seo

Like many LLMs, it does occasionally hallucinate.

Screenshot from Vercel, December 2023 mixtral-8x7b hallucinations

4. Replicate

The mixtral-8x7b-32 demo on Replicate is based on this source code. It is also noted in the README that “Inference is quite inefficient.”

Screenshot from Replicate, December 2023 Mixtral-8x7B: 4 Ways To Try The New Model From Mistral AI

In the example above, Mixtral-8x7B describes itself as a game.

Conclusion

Mistral AI’s latest release sets a new benchmark in the AI field, offering enhanced performance and versatility. But like many LLMs, it can provide inaccurate and unexpected answers.

As AI continues to evolve, models like the Mixtral-8x7B could become integral in shaping advanced AI tools for marketing and business.

Featured image: T. Schneider/Shutterstock

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SEO

OpenAI Investigates ‘Lazy’ GPT-4 Complaints On Google Reviews, X

Published

1 day ago

December 10, 2023

Max

OpenAI, the company that launched ChatGPT a little over a year ago, has recently taken to social media to address concerns regarding the “lazy” performance of GPT-4 on social media and Google Reviews.

Screenshot from X, December 2023 OpenAI Investigates ‘Lazy’ GPT-4 Complaints On Google Reviews, X

This move comes after growing user feedback online, which even includes a one-star review on the company’s Google Reviews.

OpenAI Gives Insight Into Training Chat Models, Performance Evaluations, And A/B Testing

OpenAI, through its @ChatGPTapp Twitter account, detailed the complexities involved in training chat models.

Screenshot from X, December 2023 chatgpt openai a/b testing

The organization highlighted that the process is not a “clean industrial process” and that variations in training runs can lead to noticeable differences in the AI’s personality, creative style, and political bias.

Thorough AI model testing includes offline evaluation metrics and online A/B tests. The final decision to release a new model is based on a data-driven approach to improve the “real” user experience.

OpenAI’s Google Review Score Affected By GPT-4 Performance, Billing Issues

This explanation comes after weeks of user feedback about GPT-4 becoming worse on social media networks like X.

Idk if anyone else has noticed this, but GPT-4 Turbo performance is significantly worse than GPT-4 standard.

I know it’s in preview right now but it’s significantly worse.

— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach) November 8, 2023

There has been discussion if GPT-4 has become “lazy” recently. My anecdotal testing suggests it may be true.

I repeated a sequence of old analyses I did with Code Interpreter. GPT-4 still knows what to do, but keeps telling me to do the work. One step is now many & some are odd. pic.twitter.com/OhGAMtd3Zq

— Ethan Mollick (@emollick) November 28, 2023

Complaints also appeared in OpenAI’s community forums.

Screenshot from OpenAI, December 2023 openai community forums gpt-4 user feedback

The experience led one user to leave a one-star rating for OpenAI via Google Reviews. Other complaints regarded accounts, billing, and the artificial nature of AI.

Screenshot from Google Reviews, December 2023 openai google reviews star rating

A recent user on Product Hunt gave OpenAI a rating that also appears to be related to GPT-4 worsening.

Screenshot from Product Hunt, December 2023 openai reviews

GPT-4 isn’t the only issue that local reviewers complain about. On Yelp, OpenAI has a one-star rating for ChatGPT 3.5 performance.

OpenAI is now only 3.8 stars on Google Maps and a dismal 1 star on Yelp!

GPT-4’s degradation has really hurt their rating. Hope the business survives.https://t.co/RF8uJH1WQ5 pic.twitter.com/OghAZLCiVu

— Nate Chan (@nathanwchan) December 9, 2023

The complaint:

Screenshot from Yelp, December 2023 yelp openai chatgpt review

In related OpenAI news, the review with the most likes aligns with recent rumors about a volatile workplace, alleging that OpenAI is a “Cutthroat environment. Not friendly. Toxic workers.”

Screenshot from Google Reviews, December 2023 google review for openai toxic workers

The reviews voted the most helpful on Glassdoor about OpenAI suggested that employee frustration and product development issues stem from the company’s shift in focus on profits.

openai employee review on glassdoor

Screenshots from Glassdoor, December 2023 openai employee reviews

This incident provides a unique outlook on how customer and employee experiences can impact any business through local reviews and business ratings platforms.

Screenshot from Google, December 2023 openai inc google business profile local serps google reviews

Google SGE Highlights Positive Google Reviews

In addition to occasional complaints, Google reviewers acknowledged the revolutionary impact of OpenAI’s technology on various fields.

The most positive review mentions about the company appear in Google SGE (Search Generative Experience).

Screenshot from Google SGE, December 2023 Google SGE response on OpenAI

Conclusion

OpenAI’s recent insights into training chat models and response to public feedback about GPT-4 performance illustrate AI technology’s dynamic and evolving nature and its impact on those who depend on the AI platform.

Especially the people who just received an invitation to join ChatGPT Plus after being waitlisted while OpenAI paused new subscriptions and upgrades. Or those developing GPTs for the upcoming GPT Store launch.

As AI advances, professionals in these fields must remain agile, informed, and responsive to technological developments and the public’s reception of these advancements.

Featured image: Tada Images/Shutterstock

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SEO

ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

Published

2 days ago

December 9, 2023

Max

ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

ChatGPT Plus subscriptions and upgrades remain paused after a surge in demand for new features created outages.

Some users who signed up for the waitlist have received invites to join ChatGPT Plus.

Screenshot from Gmail, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

This has resulted in a few shares of the link that is accessible for everyone. For now.

Found a hack to skip chatGPT plus wait list.

Follow the steps
– login to ChatGPT
– now if you click on upgrade
– Signup for waitlist(may not be necessary)
– now change the URL to https://t.co/4izOdNzarG
– Wallah you are in for payment #ChatGPT4 #hack #GPT4 #GPTPlus pic.twitter.com/J1GizlrOAx

— Ashish Mohite is building Notionpack Capture (@_ashishmohite) December 8, 2023

In addition to the invites, signs that more people are getting access to GPTs include an introductory screen popping up on free ChatGPT accounts.

Screenshot from ChatGPT, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

Unfortunately, they still aren’t accessible without a Plus subscription.

Screenshot from ChatGPT, December 2023 chatgpt plus subscriptions upgrades paused waitlist

You can sign up for the waitlist by clicking on the option to upgrade in the left sidebar of ChatGPT on a desktop browser.

Screenshot from ChatGPT, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

OpenAI also suggests ChatGPT Enterprise for those who need more capabilities, as outlined in the pricing plans below.

Screenshot from OpenAI, December 2023 ChatGPT Plus Upgrades Paused; Waitlisted Users Receive Invites

Why Are ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Paused?

According to a post on X by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, the recent surge in usage following the DevDay developers conference has led to capacity challenges, resulting in the decision to pause ChatGPT Plus signups.

we are pausing new ChatGPT Plus sign-ups for a bit 🙁

the surge in usage post devday has exceeded our capacity and we want to make sure everyone has a great experience.

you can still sign-up to be notified within the app when subs reopen.

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 15, 2023

The decision to pause new ChatGPT signups follows a week where OpenAI services – including ChatGPT and the API – experienced a series of outages related to high-demand and DDoS attacks.

Demand for ChatGPT Plus resulted in eBay listings supposedly offering one or more months of the premium subscription.

chatgpt plus accounts selling ebay for a premium 🫡🇺🇸 https://t.co/VdN8tuexKM pic.twitter.com/W522NGHsRV

— surya (@sdand) November 15, 2023

When Will ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions Resume?

So far, we don’t have any official word on when ChatGPT Plus subscriptions will resume. We know the GPT Store is set to open early next year after recent boardroom drama led to “unexpected delays.”

Therefore, we hope that OpenAI will onboard waitlisted users in time to try out all of the GPTs created by OpenAI and community builders.

What Are GPTs?

GPTs allow users to create one or more personalized ChatGPT experiences based on a specific set of instructions, knowledge files, and actions.

Search marketers with ChatGPT Plus can try GPTs for helpful content assessment and learning SEO.

Two SEO GPTs I’ve created for assessment + learning 👀👇

1. Content Helpfulness and Quality SEO Analyzer: Assess a page content helpfulness, relevance, and quality for your targeted query based on Google’s guidelines vs your competitors and get tips: https://t.co/LsoP2UhF4N pic.twitter.com/O77MHiqwOq

— Aleyda Solis 🕊️ (@aleyda) November 12, 2023

2. The https://t.co/IFmKxxVDpW SEO Teacher: A friendly SEO expert teacher who will help you to learn SEO using reliable https://t.co/sCZ03C7fzq resources: https://t.co/UrMPUYwblH

I hope they’re helpful 🙌🤩

PS: Love how GPT opens up to SO much opportunity 🤯 pic.twitter.com/yqKozcZTDc

— Aleyda Solis 🕊️ (@aleyda) November 12, 2023

There are also GPTs for analyzing Google Search Console data.

oh wow. I think this GPT works.

Export data from GSC comparing keyword rankings before and after an update and upload it to ChatGPT and it will spit out this scatter plot for you.

It’s an easy way to see if most of your keyword declined or improved.

This site was impacted by… pic.twitter.com/wFGSnonqoZ

— Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) November 9, 2023

And GPTs that will let you chat with analytics data from 20 platforms, including Google Ads, GA4, and Facebook.

Google search has indexed hundreds of public GPTs. According to an alleged list of GPT statistics in a GitHub repository, DALL-E, the top GPT from OpenAI, has received 5,620,981 visits since its launch last month. Included in the top 20 GPTs is Canva, with 291,349 views.

Weighing The Benefits Of The Pause

Ideally, this means that developers working on building GPTs and using the API should encounter fewer issues (like being unable to save GPT drafts).

But it could also mean a temporary decrease in new users of GPTs since they are only available to Plus subscribers – including the ones I tested for learning about ranking factors and gaining insights on E-E-A-T from Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines.