User:DrGvago

Why I'm Here
My primary purpose on Wiki is to read and educate myself on topics of interest to me. My secondary purpose is to try and offer some contribution to topics of personal - not professional - interest to me. I spend enough time online doing work, I want to spend personal time doing personal things.

Please bear with me as I try to learn
I am not very experienced on Wiki as a contributor although my account was created quite some time ago. There have been long periods of inactivity as a contributor and there may be again as time allows or doesn't or my interests change.

I consider myself still a newbie in terms of understanding policies, guidelines, and especially the editing interface/markup and doubly so when using my phone, which I often do.

'''I am sure I've done something wrong here in the past. Please try not to hold that against me.'''

I admit I do not understand all the rules, so I respectfully ask that if I break one or include inappropriate sources that I be contacted on my talk page with guidance to help me improve instead of heavy handed reverts or other actions that won't help me learn and improve and only discourage me. Further, I acknowledge that I probably haven't read or understood all the policies.

I ask that anyone frustrated with me, feels I messed something up, or that I'm breaking a policy read not to bite the newbies and ask that you apply that to me as well. Then contact me via my talk page to let me know what I may have done wrong.

Guidance is welcomed, even requested.
Please do it in a friendly and constructive manner on my talk page.

I may ask why on responses
I feel this is important to mention. I ask this because I want to learn and do not intend it to be argumentative. I have a natural desire to learn and understand things, and finding out why something works the way it does or doesn't is one of the ways I attempt to learn.

So please, if I ask why I would appreciate an answer.

Examples are great
Another way I learn is by seeing examples. Ex: this is the right way to do something, this is the wrong way, or you did X and this other way is the right way. Etc.

Conflict Of Interest
There does not seem to be a broad template for this and Template:UserboxCOI doesn't seem to fit so I'm going to do it in my own words.

SEO is part of my work, but not part of my personal time.
I have worked as a freelance SEO with a number of clients. I plan to continue to do this work if//when it is available. I also have and continue to operate a few hobby websites of my own, some with the desire to earn income from. Generally speaking my clients are agencies who's clients are primarily large corporations, government or non-profit government partnerships, larger content sites and such. Basically, they're primarily medium to huge entities. Occasionally I will help out a friend or family member. The amount of work I put into something is typically such that individuals and small businesses do not have the budget for it.

That being said, I may touch on a subject that may have some slight indirect and unintentional negative or positive ramifications for:


 * a client, previous client, or potential future client I am unaware nor pursuing
 * an agency's client/previous client/future client, etc
 * a friend or family member, in the case that I contribute to a page that has some impact on their location or economy, however small that may be. I disclose that on the appropriate page

I understand the concern that I work online and SEO being part of what I do may influence my actions.

'''This is not true. I am not paid to do anything on Wiki, never have been nor intend or desire to be paid for such.'''

Wiki is a place I read, and I guess now after having an account for a long time I have decided to be somewhat more active. I don't yet know what all that looks like. My interest lie primarily in small edits, errors, removing obvious spam external links, adding things from my own knowledge if I feel it can improve an article on topics that interest me or I believe would add value.

These are uncertain times in marketing due to COVID-19 while I am writing this. This is why I have more free time to do things, and yet most of those activities must be from home. Hello, internet. As such I have become more active on Wiki about topics I am interested in contributing to, along with other sites.

I don't do "link building" & Wikipedia links lack SEO value
Let's get this out of the way: Wikipedia links aren't worth all that much from a link "value" perspective and the community is pretty good at policing them. There are much better links that are earned through other legitimate efforts like PR.

I do not do link building for a number of reasons:


 * 1) I believe it is against Google's policies on link schemes as it has been clarified by John Mueller, for a number of reasons including many of the links are paid.
 * 2) I view it against the terms and conditions of many sites
 * 3) Generally it is low quality and spammy
 * 4) It seems like a really sucky, boring job. No thanks!

I did at one time use an agency that offered it as a service when I did not believe they were against Google's terms and offered it to some clients by outsourcing it. I thought they were reputable, but it turned out they were just more of the same spammy junk and I quit that.

I hate spam links. I have constantly policed spam on my own and client sites for over 2 decades. I'm still inundated by emails for links, outreach from others for content marketing and other purposes. I hate them.

SEO I actually do focus on
I focus on on-page factors, site structure, guiding content creation, and other aspects that are primarily data driven, analysis, research, etc.

I also do not do directly do any paid work around the following, although some of my clients who are agencies may offer these, independent of my work for them:


 * Social media, influencer outreach/marketing, content marketing, brand building or similar activities

These are sometimes (incorrectly) associated with SEO especially by those who are unaware how the SEO industry has evolved as the internet has grown and created many more specialized roles. SEOs may have widely varying duties or areas of focus.