Site Search Feature

[Sheila]

I feel kind of stupid asking this, but can someone please explain to me the basics of how the search feature works on CC?

I ask this because when I plug in a search term to see what kind of articles are already on offer for a particular broad topic, I get stuff that appears to have no relation to what I've asked for.

For example, a search of the word "retirement" has, as it's top result an article with the title "Nc - Week 4 Student Edition" and is a piece of youth fiction about the Chapel Hill Historical Society written to a private request. There's nothing in the Keyword Analysis that would relate to the term I searched for.

The second result is "5 Types of Toxic Coworkers and How to Deal with Them", the third is "The 3 Benefits of Virtual Reality for Seniors", the fourth "8 Reasons to Stay in a Bad Job Until You Land a Good One", and the fifth "How to Choose a Senior Care Facility".

As is the case with the top result, none of these articles has the keyword "retirement" in the Keyword Analysis.

Sometimes by selecting specific categories I can get something relevant to my search, but just as often, not. I find this worrisome because if I can't find stuff, how do the buyers?

Help?

[HiredGun]

Constant Content's search feature has been a problem forever. (Sooooo wish they would use www.Algolia.com). Customers would be happier (writers too!) if the search function was improved and sales would likely increase by a significant amount.

Your best bet is to use the advanced search features, including searching a specific category as well as indicating whether you are looking for full or usage only rights.
i.e.
https://www.constant-content.com/area/b ... &maxWords=

https://www.constant-content.com/area/b ... Words=1500

Maybe if enough Constant Content writers asked for it, the powers that be would consider integrating Algolia search. (starts at only $35 per month and can be scaled as needed).

[Sheila]

Thanks for the reply HG.

I've been reading through previous forum posts and I do see that the search feature has been a problem forever, but it didn't really register with me just how bad it really is.

I did try being more specific. If I search SEO in Technology with full rights selected, the top article is "Slow Wi-Fi? Speed It Up with These Timely Tips"
If I drill down and search in Internet, the top search is "How to Get the Most Out of Popular Blogging Platform Tumblr" and the top search for that term in Web Development is "Nine Simple Website Mistakes Business Owners Can Easily Prevent".

If I search SEO in Business, the top article is "Four Essential Steps For Landing a House Sitting Job"

This is a big WTF for me. And it's been going on for how long? How do they have any business left? Who in hell is running this place?

On a side note, Alexa ranking appears to be dropping, which means (as I understand it) traffic to the site has declined over the past year.

https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/constant-content.com

[rtucker]

Yes, the search feature sucks incredibly.
According to the "writing ideas" the word "halloween" is searched on a regular basis. I had 2 excellent articles up for sale that were SEO optimized and they only had a couple of hits over several weeks. They just weren't showing up in the search results.
Anyway, I took them down and used them for my own project. I might as well benefit if they can't sell here because no one actually sees them.

[HiredGun]

On a side note, Alexa ranking appears to be dropping, which means (as I understand it) traffic to the site has declined over the past year.

https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/constant-content.com

Down significantly since the beginning of the year, but up slightly since July.
https://www.similarweb.com/website/cons ... om#display

Time to start promoting our CC catalogs on social media sites and optimizing our social posts for search engines? Our maybe do posts on popular websites with a link back to our catalogs?

They are trying to beef up their outreach efforts (https://www.viatec.ca/jobs/account-mana ... nt-content), so at least they're trying.

[Sheila]

I agree with you rtucker. What's the point of even having a catalog if CC won't provide a reasonably competent way to navigate it? Given the length of time that this has been a problem, I think it shows an appalling lack of regard for both their clients and their contributing writers.

HG, I appreciate that CC is hiring someone to promote client care, but it appears to me that this is mostly in pursuit of large corporate clients that probably are not buying from the catalog, which is my primary concern. I can't imagine (although I could certainly be wrong) that these new high volume clients will be a source of many decent gigs. It amuses me that one of the job functions of the position is to recruit more qualified writers, as opposed to working to retain the ones they have.

It seems counterproductive for me to use my time promoting my work on CC so that they can take 35% of proceeds.

[Gauderbock]

It seems counterproductive for me to use my time promoting my work on CC so that they can take 35% of proceeds.

That's a concern of mine, but I'm coming around to promoting the catalog in ways that leave traffic under my control, so that I'm building worth outside of CC for if/when it makes more sense to send it elsewhere.

Exactly what that involves though, I've not quite worked out yet

[Lysis]

My guess is that people are putting unrelated search terms in the keywords to have stuff show up in any search. It's always the scumbags ruining it for everyone tbh and this is a content farm, so I'm sure there are plenty. I would bet that writers are putting "SEO" in all of their content keywords so stuff shows up regardless if it's really seo related.