Very Satisfied with Agent Methods

[Aaron_4SIGHT]

Uh oh, this is a HUGE red flag. Why can't you answer the question here on the forum? Something to hide?

Nothing to hide (real name, phone number, happy to get contacted, etc.) - it's just intellectual property questions are deceptively complex. The simple answer is that like all copyright, content is owned by the creator. So your content is your content and our content is ours. Certainly if we charged a setup fee and did custom design work, it should be different.

Our service isn't perfect for everyone. Some people prefer to "own" all of the content and source code, but keep in mind that unless continually maintained, websites are a depreciating asset and you are responsible for all of the maintenance. Imagine spending thousands on your website a few years ago and have it not work on mobile devices today. That's one of many things our customers didn't have to worry about - we upgraded all of their sites at no cost to be responsive.

I'm glad that we're able to provide a great service for many agents. For those whom might not be the right fit, I'm still extremely happy to talk and help point them in another direction (and do so every day).

Aaron

 

[Justin Bilyj]

Aaron can you please go over the duplicate content rules for Google and what that means for others that use your contact library please?
Thank you

 

[Aaron_4SIGHT]

Aaron can you please go over the duplicate content rules for Google and what that means for others that use your contact library please?
Thank you

If there are two pages with the same content, Google will generally pick the page it thinks is most relevant for the searcher to show in their results. So if you have two sites, one for an agent in Ohio, and one for an agent in Washington, with the same exact content, Google will generally show the Ohio page higher for Ohio searchers and the Washington page higher for Washington searchers.

In practice things may differ (I recently saw three different sites, each with the same page from our library, all appear on page 1 of Google for a search term even though they were exact duplicates).

Of course you can help guide Google with some really simple editing. For example, changing a page from "Best Final Expense Plans" to "Best Ohio Final Expense Plans" can differentiate things. Ideally, if you are targeting specific phrases, you'll want to do more than just change the title of the page, but you get the idea.

My recommendation for our clients that are looking to get found for certain key search phrases is that they invest some time in creating unique content for that phrase (I call this "marquee content") and use our content library as "filler" content. At the end of the day, you need to make sure you have a good experience for your visitors and if that means adding some duplicate content, that's okay.

 

[somarco]

I was told in the past that Google picked the older content since it was first on the scene. G doesn't look at the publishing date any more?

 

[Aaron_4SIGHT]

I was told in the past that Google picked the older content since it was first on the scene. G doesn't look at the publishing date any more?

I think that's a correlation vs causation thing - the older page often has more authority so it gets prioritized. Here's a good video from the G Man about duplicate content:

 

[somarco]

Thx Aaron ....................................

 

[scagnt83]

It is important to point out that Google views OK duplicate content as "the same content on the same domain". (as long as it is properly organized and tagged)

It is true that Google does not automatically penalize for duplicate content. However, it all depends on the type of duplicate content!!

When most people use the term "duplicate content" they often mean it in a more general sense. But Google has unique terms for certain types of duplicate content that it views as negative.


The relevant terms for this discussion would be:
Thin Content & Scraped Content

"Scraped Content".
This is where a new site, copies the exact text from a well established site.

Here are 3 examples straight from Google of "Scraped Content" :

- Sites that copy and republish content from other sites without adding any original content or value

- Sites that copy content from other sites, modify it slightly (for example, by substituting synonyms or using automated techniques), and republish it

- Sites that reproduce content feeds from other sites without providing some type of unique organization or benefit to the user


So when you use canned articles that appears across multiple domains; google does not see this as acceptable duplicate content. It sees this as Scraped Content or Thin Content , which it Penalizes for!


Here is a more relevant video from Matt Cutts of Google, which explains why it is a horrible idea to use canned content. And why AgentMethods has sites that are penalized and sandboxed by Google:


Matt Cutts on Thin content with little or no added value - YouTube


If you watch the video it is very clear that google views the same exact content across multiple domains as a negative thing and will penalize accordingly.

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I was told in the past that Google picked the older content since it was first on the scene. G doesn't look at the publishing date any more?

They pick the one with more authority, which is almost always the older domain. Especially if it is against a new domain with Scrapped Content.

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In practice things may differ (I recently saw three different sites, each with the same page from our library, all appear on page 1 of Google for a search term even though they were exact duplicates).
.

That means nothing. Especially when you dont say the search term or tell us what the sites are.

So far, the only sites found using your canned content have extremely low domain authority or are totally sandboxed.....


Why dont you show us a few examples of your canned content (as is) that ranks page 1 (or even 2) for a relevant and competitive search term??

(also why dont you reply to me on the other thread about using the same h1s for your sites, and using the title as the h2.... and why your site is set up correctly but not your clients...)

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Nothing to hide (real name, phone number, happy to get contacted, etc.) - it's just intellectual property questions are deceptively complex. The simple answer is that like all copyright, content is owned by the creator. So your content is your content and our content is ours. Certainly if we charged a setup fee and did custom design work, it should be different.

What he is saying here is that if you decide to leave AgentMethods you will basically have to start over from scratch! Because you will no longer have a site/layout (theme).

And if you use his canned/scrapped/thin content, then you loose all of your content too. (not that the canned content is of any real value)

Also, the canned content about life insurance has multiple inaccuracies in it.

 

[InsladyUSA]

I used AgentMethods last year and I had a very negative experience!
Although Aaron was professional and appeared to be knowledgeable, I did not receive any boost in leads or production after almost 6 months of using his services so I decided it was a waste of my money.
When I tried to leave I was informed that I would be losing access to my own website WHICH I ALREADY OWNED AND HAD FULLY DEVELOPED BEFORE I EVER CAME TO AGENTMETHODS!! I was essentially told that unless I paid a few thousand dollars I would not be able to regain access to my own website! After threatening legal action to them in writing and paying my original developer to block their access, AgentMethods decided I wasn't worth their time. I've tried to find somewhere to post reviews on my experience with them but cleverly they appear to have made this impossible by posting so much fluff content on google that any reviews I write would be buried.
Interestingly, there is also no review tab available for them when you do a google search like their normally would be for a business or service.
I would warn agents not to waste their money with this organization.

 

[Todd King]

I used AgentMethods last year and I had a very negative experience!
Although Aaron was professional and appeared to be knowledgeable, I did not receive any boost in leads or production after almost 6 months of using his services so I decided it was a waste of my money.
When I tried to leave I was informed that I would be losing access to my own website WHICH I ALREADY OWNED AND HAD FULLY DEVELOPED BEFORE I EVER CAME TO AGENTMETHODS!! I was essentially told that unless I paid a few thousand dollars I would not be able to regain access to my own website! After threatening legal action to them in writing and paying my original developer to block their access, AgentMethods decided I wasn't worth their time. I've tried to find somewhere to post reviews on my experience with them but cleverly they appear to have made this impossible by posting so much fluff content on google that any reviews I write would be buried.
Interestingly, there is also no review tab available for them when you do a google search like their normally would be for a business or service.
I would warn agents not to waste their money with this organization.

The problem with this is you were expecting something from Agent Methods that they do not do. To my knowledge, they don't do SEO work, which is what drives traffic to your website.

 

[InsladyUSA]

I'm not very tech savvy but I put them in the drivers seat and in my experience they made promises that were never delivered on. They claimed they would generate leads and drive traffic using Facebook and I never got anything at all. I think in fairness agents considering them should know what my experience has been before they lose as much money as I did.