How Far Does DU Reach? It Reaches More People Than You Think.

[MineralMan]

Here's a clear example:
Background information:
In the past few days, I've posted a couple of OPs in GD about a SWAT raid on a house on my block in St. Paul. Here are links to those threads:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025383825 A Felony Warrant Service in St. Paul, MN
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025395672 Follow-up on the SWAT raid near my St. Paul Home

Here's what happened yesterday:

I walked next door to share what I had learned with my next-door neighbors, a young couple with a couple of small children. They had seen what happened and I figured they were concerned. After knocking on the door, I told the person who answered the door that I had some additional information about what had happened the other morning. When I said that, the mom of the family asked, "Are you MineralMan?"

Turns out she had done a Google search on "SWAT Warrant in St. Paul" or something similar. The first thread above showed up high in the Google results and she clicked through to DU and read my brief account of what had happened and recognized it as that particular incident. I was really, really surprised, but then though about it and realized that Google treats DU thread titles as important when ranking search results, and also ranks recent posts higher than others. So, that simple search led my neighbor to DU and to my post.

What gets posted on DU gets noticed, folks. What's posted here gets seen by people searching for information on the Internet. That's why thinking carefully about the titles for your OPs in GD and elsewhere on DU is so important. Write your titles with Google searches in mind and your posts will get read. SEO works!

[Lint Head]

1. Minerals are an essential ingredient to sustain life.

[MineralMan]

2. Yes, indeed, they are.

They're economically important, too, as sources of metals and other materials. That's my perspective on minerals.

[BlueCaliDem]

3. Just judging by concern-trolling by a few around here (never you), it's clear that DU

is more dangerous to the RW and their masters than anyone would have first guessed.

[MineralMan]

7. I think you're right.

DU has influence beyond its membership, for sure. How much, I'm not sure, but that my next door neighbor found that post is pretty clear evidence that thread titles are very important in that influence.

We can be seen even more often if we choose our title wording carefully and use SEO principles in writing those titles. Think of the people searching for information and write titles accordingly.

BTW, when my neighbor asked if I was MineralMan, I had to laugh. It was a complete surprise. I confirmed that I was.

[calimary]

37. Agreed. Because this is WAY more than just a website. Or a discussion board.

It's a THINK TANK. Where its members and inhabitants actually DO that. (THINK, that is!) I've learned more here than from just about anywhere else. Even from watching Rachel Maddow's show, which I consider a master class of sorts. But she only gets one hour five days a week. DU is here ANY hour of day or night, weekends, holidays, and no cheesy prison reality shows!

[MineralMan]

41. DU does have some excellent discussions.

They can be hard to find sometimes, but they are here. It's a good resource for those who take the time to use it as one.

[GliderGuider]

55. And when the discussions on here go bad, they still serve as excellent lessons in human nature.

I too have learned a ton on here, including from you.

[In_The_Wind]

4. Many years ago I found one of my post about "Deadly Feast" had been picked up by Reuters.

I'm not at all surprised.

[Voice for Peace]

5. Very good point, I have often gotten DU links in my google searches.

I have at times linked DU ops to friends on FB, and they
travel from there.

On Facebook the DU pic of the day gets shared by many;
and I suppose they might be on DU, but nevertheless,
via Facebook many more people get exposure.

Now your secret identity has been discovered by your neighbor,
I hope she doesn't try to blackmail you. just kidding

[MineralMan]

8. My neighbors and I get along very well. I'm not concerned.

It was a funny coincidence, though.

[MohRokTah]

6. K&R eom

[JaneyVee]

9. DU posts get posted a lot on twitter also.

And from there it takes off.

[leftstreet]

10. But what's your point?

I rarely, rarely see DU thread titles that are stupid and/or inappropriate



Seems DUers do a good job with thread titles

[MineralMan]

12. A lot of DUers do write good titles.

Not all of them are SEO aware, though. My point is that thinking about that can create even more traffic, if you'd like.

I write content for small business websites. SEO is my specialty, along with good marketing copy. So, I sometimes mention SEO here on DU. That's my point. Does that create a problem, leftstreet, somehow?

[Gormy Cuss]

20. You probably write content, not contend. n/t

[MineralMan]

21. Hah! Got me on that one.

I'll edit. Good catch.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

22. No disrespect....

But I think leftstreet may have had a problem with your terminology. I had to look up SEO to understand the discussion. We are not all in the industry and need a little help when reading terms that are familiar to you.
Thanks for the post though, cool as hell.

[MineralMan]

23. Thanks. Good suggestion.

I'll keep that in mind next time.

[mwooldri]

36. Basically, Google indexes all of your posts.

I googled my DU name - it's a name I use on a lot of sites (not Instagram - I don't have an account there). DU was #2 - above twitter and some other prominent sites.

Well written posts will rank high in Google, especially since DU is highly ranked by Google.

You might want to try it yourself by Googling a recent OP and your DU name. It should appear on the first page. Often a reply to an OP will rank highly when you're searching with your DU username. A recent reply I wrote was titled "private student loans stink" and a search with my DU name and the subject came as the #1 hit after the sponsored links. Omitting my user name I still found my reply - Google linked to the OP on the first page of results.

Basically think this: You're posting to Google. That's your audience.

Even the Lounge is indexed. Just google "your Sunday lolcats".

[Jim Lane]

56. I see too many uninformative titles

Even aside from SEO considerations, people should think of other DUers. When I'm scrolling down the Greatest page and I see "OMG! You have to read this!" or the like, guess what? I don't read it. I don't have time to read everything on the Greatest page. I pick and choose based on the thread title. If the title gives me no idea whether the subject is one that's of interest to me, then I keep scrolling.

[WestCoastLib]

11. Also should be a lesson to people that think they are anonymous on the internet

I've had plenty of my posts or comments at various places on the net show up in google searches. Post anything about events, places or people around you and it becomes easy for people around you to figure out who you are online.

[MineralMan]

13. I don't try to be anonymous on the Internet

Click either of the links in my signature line, and you'll find me. I have a screen name because most people on DU use screen names, but I'm not trying for anonymity.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

14. I do SEO for a living and I'm no longer surprised at seeing DU turn up in

the results when I'm doing research/analysis.

I've even had my own DU posts show up in the page one SERPs where I was not expecting to see it, lol. It's sort of disconcerting.

Your neighbor nailed you dead to rights, lol.

[MineralMan]

15. Yup. I work in SEO, too, and sort of naturally

use it on everything. It's automatic for me. Google likes DU and considers it a worthwhile information source, so it tends to rank DU thread titles highly in search results. If you post an OP, within ten minutes, you can search for the title of that OP in quotes and the post will be the number one result for a day or two at least. The better your SEO in titles, the better your post will compete with other information sources. I know you understand that. I'm hoping to share that with other posters.

[IDemo]

24. SEO - more on this, please

Are you employed/contracting for a search engine, or is the optimization on behalf of an organization needing more precise results?

[ChisolmTrailDem]

31. Not a search engine, but rather it is my job to optimize websites so

that they are found by search engines, including Google, and are returned to the searcher in the highest possible position for the targeted keywords, which is hopefully page one of the results.

[IDemo]

33. I see, thanks n/t

[starroute]

16. DU threads show up on Google really quickly

It's happened repeatedly that I'm reading a thread here, turn to Google to see if there's any more information or or more recent update available, and the top few results include the thread I'm already reading.

This means that Google has us on speed-dial, or whatever you'd call it. And that's important where breaking news is concerned.

[dickthegrouch]

17. Note that the DU search tool is implemented by Google

Google is hosting all the searching on DU, therefore they have an inside track.

[MineralMan]

19. That's part of it, for sure,

but Google also considers DU to be a relevant source. That's part of all Google search result rankings. Establishing relevance with Google is central to SEO for any website. If you can do that, you get better placement. What Google considers most important is information in its rankings, and Google is pretty good at judging relevance of information, even though it doesn't understand a word of what it's adding to its database. Their algorithms are moving closer and closer to artificial intelligence all the time. Some great minds are at work in that house, all in aid of making money for Google.

[ChisolmTrailDem]

32. Yes, relevance and the level of activity here. SEs love new, relevant content and

DU delivers every minute of the day.

[MineralMan]

42. DU Delivers. That would be a good tagline for the site, I think.

Sadly, HuffPo gets the same priority. So do some other sites that are pretty darned sketchy.

[MineralMan]

18. Yup. And I'm all about trying to bring new people to DU.

[OnyxCollie]

25. If DU reaches so many people,

then the NSA would be interested in what people post here, contrary to what you had posted earlier.

The Surveillance State and DU - There is No Connection There.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2490563

"Nobody's worried about DUers and what they think, because we pose no risk to anyone."

That's not for you to decide.

[MineralMan]

28. I see. Actually, your point does not follow what I said.

The NSA is not interested in DU, because nothing posted on DU poses a threat to the U.S. Government. There are many websites and discussion forums, however, for which that isn't true. Is the NSA interested in those? Well, it's not supposed to be, as long as those websites and forums are USA-based. In that case, it's the FBI's responsibility, and the FBI does actively monitor a pretty long list of websites where insurrectionist and terrorist ideas are being discussed.

The NSA's charge is to be interested in foreign, rather than domestic intelligence. Mostly, I believe that charge is followed, although there is probably some overlap.

Thank you for your interest in my viewpoints, though, and for searching for old posts of mine. I take that as evidence that my posting is taken seriously by DUers.

[OldEurope]

46. Actually,

the NSA is interested in everything. There are some DUers from abroad, and also, you are DEMOCRATS. So DU is a threat to your "intelligence services" - you could be dangerous to the corporations that own your government.

[MineralMan]

52. Well, I'll keep that in mind, then.

I kinda doubt that they're interested in what DUers are saying, though. Pretty bland stuff, almost always, when compared to other websites.

How is the weather in München today? If you let us know, the NSA operatives heading there will know how to pack.

[riqster]

26. Other thing about your OP...

I am sometimes attacked for posting things here (GOTV, for example) on the grounds that "DUers already know that stuff".

One of my counter-arguments is that lots of other people read DU posts. Thanks for your OP and its illustration of that phenomenon!

[MineralMan]

29. Yes, I get that, too. I always think that adding "Some" to such

statements makes them more accurate. Of course some DUers know a lot of things. Others may not.

[savalez]

27. Were you wearing your cape?

[MineralMan]

30. There's a cape? Crap! I'd better look into that.

Out on the lawn! Driving his car! Able to split infinitives in a single typing session. It's MineralMan!

Found it! My order is in for one!

or

[savalez]

34. Perfect!!

[SkyDaddy7]

35. The Cops see it too...

Be conscience of what you write about specific agencies...Just hope they don't pay anyone a visit in the middle of the night...Folks might think I am being ridiculous but I have lost ALL FAITH in the police. Depending on the agency & who is running it one can be playing with one's life by challenging their authority...I am not saying they will come & kill you but they can arrest you, charge you with whatever, force you to pay insane fines or risk jail or prison time fighting the charges & spend part or all of your life savings paying attorneys. And if you do succeed in getting all the charges dropped, SO WHAT...The cops already accomplished their goal of ruining your life & they know you will not be able to do a damn thing about!

...If they do decide to raid your house then you could lose your life like so many innocent people have just in the past year. Even babies in cribs are not safe!!

I am just saying, BE CAREFUL this is no longer a country in which "We the People" run things.

[MineralMan]

39. I suppose they might. But only if there is a reason to do that.

I can't imagine a police force that has someone watching DU. I suppose that a PD might do a search for themselves, just like businesses do, to manage their public relations. On the other hand, a website like backpage.com, which has lots of ads for "escorts," probably gets monitored much of the time. I know it does here in the Twin Cities of MN. Numerous arrests for people putting underaged prostitutes on the street have their origins in backpage.com ads here.

But DU? No, I doubt it very much. There wouldn't be any percentage in monitoring DU. There are lots of other things that take up their time, frankly.

But then, I don't post stuff here that would cause anyone in law enforcement to bother with me. In fact, there's nothing about me that would interest law enforcement. Not now, at least. I used to have a blog here in the Twin Cities where I tracked all of the murders in Minneapolis and pointed out the ways that the police department there dropped the ball on investigating them, especially when the victim was black or Asian. I kept that blog for over two years and chronicled a bunch of botched murder cases. I never heard from the Minneapolis PD. Not even a single contact. I did hear from some black organizations and families of victims, though, thanking me for keeping their stories alive.

So, you could be right, but I haven't seen it. Maybe that exists somewhere, but I haven't heard of it, either. Maybe you're just thinking too much about what is possible, rather than what is likely to happen.

[SkyDaddy7]

64. I was a bit cynical & obviously upset...

but still very serious...There was just a news report out where an 68yr old lady's house was raided by a fully outfitted SWAT/Military Assault Team because someone used her unsecured wireless network to post so-called "threats & insults" to the local police chief & his agency. It was complete OVERKILL & they trashed her entire house & at the end of the tape were laughing about the damage they had done!

That was fresh on my mind when i made that post! LOL!

Be careful & by all means speak your mind, I damn sure do & if they do come get me then I guess I will learn my lesson...NOT!

Take care.

I can try to find the video of the raid if you are interested...That is if you have not already seen it.

[Uncle Joe]

38. I've always believed that with every post we all make ripples in the pond.

Thanks for the thread, MineralMan.

[MineralMan]

40. Small ripples, most of the time, of course.

Dropping pebbles in the ocean.

[Uncle Joe]

43. Yes, but when enough of us drop pebbles, the ripples multiply and grow larger, when the Internet

in general across political lines takes up a cause, waves are formed.

When the corporate media joins up with the overall Internet, tsunamis are created.

I don't believe it to be a coincidence that the issues of cannabis legalization, or gay marriage are rapidly moving forward, the Internet is having major influence.

I suspect martial reform will be next as the Internet Wave washes over police militarization and brutality.

[ErikJ]

44. Thanks. What about reply titles? Do/can they get in Google search SEO too?

I've noticed a lot of DU titles are content/key-word free but have titles emotional designed for optimum clicks. That's OK by me but maybe people could put in at least a few of key words.

[MineralMan]

45. Reply titles are collected, too.

But OP titles generally get more weight. If they contain good keywords, they'll often be at the top of search results. If they just copy a headline, the primary source will rank higher, though. Unique keyword-heavy titles on DU fare very well on Google result pages.

NB: I just ran a search on my non-browsing PC, which has a separate IP address, for warrant service Saint Paul (no quotes), and found my OP still on the first page of results after five days. It's the first news-type post on the first page, too. Since the incident didn't make the local news, I'm not surprised.

[cyndensco]

47. A google search brought me to DU the night Saddam Hussein was executed.

News programs were broadcasting Americans celebrating his demise and I thought I heard a report that he was (almost) decapitated. Some were giddy over it - I was horrified. I googled Hussein Decapitation and found a DU entry very close to the top of the list. The poster and responders were all equally as disgusted. I had found a home.

[rocktivity]

48. Maybe she recognized you by your avatar.

But seriously folks, it's true: a Google search of a DU thread I started nearly a year ago when a musician got sick STILL comes in second to an article about it in Rolling Stone!


rocktivity

[MineralMan]

50. I imagine you're right. It looks pretty much like me.

I didn't even think of that.

[yurbud]

49. awesome. From now on, I'm going to picture you in tights and a cape.

[MineralMan]

51. Cool. But that sounds pretty scary to me, really.

[yurbud]

53. with modest boxers instead of superman's speedo

[MineralMan]

54. But of course. I wouldn't want to frighten women I encounter, after all.

[yurbud]

62. gotta keep the mineral undercover.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

57. I discovered the writers for the late night comics used to lurk in humor newsgroups in the 90s...

I would sometimes hear them repeat WORD FOR WORD something that I had posted earlier in the day.

[MineralMan]

59. That makes sense.

Good material is where you find it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

60. But they used MY stuff.

[Kablooie]

58. I've also often found DU posts pop up on near the top of searches.

It happens quite often.

[mahina]

61. I've posted many photos and articles from here to fb, which

were seen and shared by many others. None of that shows up in the metrics we can see on DU.

Thanks Mineral Man. Aloha.

[libodem]

63. Good!

Wonder if anyone will see this:

. http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/07/report-small-lifeless-dead-children-found-washed-up-along-riverbank-of-rio-grande/