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anastasiawrites · 4 years

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The Slytherin princess:

Y/N was looking around the shop for more books to buy when she bumped into someone, knocking all of her books to the floor.

“Oh I am sorry,” she said as she began to pick them up.

“You shouldn't apologize - it was my fault” said the person, Y/N glanced up for a second and saw that the person was a boy with messy hair, he began to help her by picking up the fallen books with her.

When they finished, she could finally see the boy properly.

He was about her age. The boy had messy dark hair, wore round glasses and had a lightning scar on his forehead that was barely visible due to his hair– Y/N instantly knew that it was Harry Potter. But the most beautiful thing about him was his green eyes, she found herself staring at them for a few seconds before she could finally speak again.

“You must be Harry Potter, I am Y/N” she smiled, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Harry nodded, a small smile appeared on his lips, “Nice to meet you, are you going to Hogwarts too?”

“Yes, I am really excited! I will start that year.” she smiled, “Well, I am going to continue searching for other books in case there won't be any left, I will hopefully see you there.”

Y/N couldn't help but internally squeal, she met Harry Potter.

It was now September the first and Y/N was standing in front of the Hogwarts express. The students who recognized her and her parents were staring at them while pointing and whispering excitedly but Y/N didn't mind that much, she was used to that.

“I will miss you.” said Y/N as she hugged her parents, “I hope to see you on Christmas.”

“We will miss you too, dear.” said her mother gently.

“Don't forget to Owl us and tell us what house you will be sorted in” said Y/N’s father, smiling “–Of course it doesn't matter what house you are in but we will be really proud if you are sorted into Slyther-”

Her mother elbowed him, giving him her infamous harsh glare, he smiled innocently making Y/N giggle.

“We will always be proud of you, no matter what house you are sorted in” said Y/N's mother, “But I will be extremely disappointed if you don't have good marks and, expect a howler if you don't owl us at least three times a week”

“Yes mother, expect me to have the best grades, I will work hard and Owl you many times per week.” grinned Y/N.

“Don't forget where I told you the kitchen is.” laughed her father making Y/N grin even more and nod.

“I think that the kitchen will be my favorite place in the castle,” she giggled, “I will see you both on Christmas, goodbye!”

They hugged one last time before she left towards the train to find a place to sit.

Y/N passed many full compartments when she saw the same black-haired boy from last time, Harry Potter, seating alone in one. She opened it, catching his attention.

“Mind if I sit here?” she asked nicely, Harry shook his head and gestured to the seat opposite his, “No, not at all.”

Y/N sat down at the seat opposite his and saw her parents searching the train's windows in hope of seeing her one more time, their eyes landed on her compartment’s window, she waved, smiling.

Her mother mouthed 'We are already missing you.'

'I am missing you too' Y/N mouthed back.

Harry felt a small pang of sadness as he saw the way Y/N was close to her parents - he wished he also had someone to miss him.

The train started moving and Y/N waved one last time at her parents before they disappeared from sight.

“So how are you-” before Y/N could finish, the compartment door slid open, revealing a red-haired boy.

Y/N had the feeling that it was a Weasley due to his hair color and the state of his robes.

When she was younger, her parents taught her how to recognize most wizard families if they could be identified, from their hair color to how they carry themselves, it came really useful for her.

“Mind if I sit here, everywhere else is full.” He said as he gestured to the seat next to Harry.

“No, not at all.”

The red haired boy smiled and sat next to him.

“I am Ron, by the way. Ron Weasley” said the red-haired boy.

So Y/N was right, he was a Weasley.

“I'm Harry. Harry Potter”

Ron's eyes widened and he went agape as he stared at Harry.

“So-so it's true? I mean, do you really have the...the…” stuttered Ron.

Harry looked confused, “The what?”

“I think he meant your scar.”

Harry made an 'Oh' sound and lifted his hair bangs to reveal the lighting scar Y/N faintly saw in the bookshop.

“Wicked” said Ron and then turned towards Y/N.

“I am Y/N, it's a pleasure to meet you.” smiled Y/N.

“You seem familiar.” said Ron as he looked at Y/N with a frown, trying to remember where he saw her.

“Must have seen me somewhere. Maybe in Diagon Alley, I do remember seeing a family of redheads.” she shrugged.

“Did you see Mrs. and Mr. Y/L/N outside!? Do you think their daughter will be attending Hogwarts with us? I heard that she is eleven or twelve year old - like us.” said Ron excitedly, Y/N giggled while Harry looked confused.

“Y/L/N?” he asked.

“The most powerful wizard family in the world! They are part of the sacred twenty-nine and have powerful ancestors and many special gifts.” said Ron.

“Gifts?” asked Harry, curiously.

“It means that they have some abilities that others don't - like talking to certain animals or more advanced in magic than other wizards since a young age - The rumors are that their daughter is even more powerful than her parents at their age! They are also known for their ancestors, the father of the Y/L/N girl has for ancestor Salazar Slytherin, the founder of the Slytherin house and her mother has Merlin for ancestor.”

“Oh okay, that must be amazing.” nodded Harry, Y/N shrugged.

“How would we know? But yeah, maybe it is amazing.” she giggled.

Just then the trolley lady came by the compartment.

“Anything off the trolley, dears?” Said the plump lady.

Y/N noticed Ron holding up mushed sandwiches “No thanks, I am all set.”

She decided to buy some candies for the boys too. “I would like ten – “'

Harry interrupted her by pulling out coins, “We'll take the lot.”

“Whoa!” both Y/N and Ron said, amazed.

The three first years started eating bundles of sweets.

“Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans?” asked Harry, curiously.

“These aren't real chocolate frogs, are they?” said Harry looking at a blue and gold package of chocolate frogs.

'It's just a spell. Besides, it's the cards you want. Each pack's got a famous witch or wizard. I got about five hundred myself.” Said Ron.

Y/N took one and opened it, a chocolate frog jumped towards the seat next to her. She looked at her card and laughed, it was her ancestor, Merlin.

The train ride was quite nice, the three first years had joked around, telling each other a few stories, time passed fast and they were now waiting to be sorted.

A tall platinum haired first year and his two goons approached Harry who was talking with Y/N nervously, he was scared of how they were going to get sorted.

“It's true then, what they're saying on the train. Harry Potter has come to Hogwarts.”

Y/N noticed that most of the students started whispering excitedly.

“This is Crabbe and Goyle. And I'm Malfoy...Draco Malfoy.” He said presenting him and his two big friends behind him.

Ron snickered at his name.

“Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask yours, my father told me all about you. Red hair, freckled face and a hand-me-down robe? You must be a Weasley. Well, soon find that some wizarding families are better than others, Potter. Don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.” He said, glancing at Y/N and Ron, who were standing next to Harry.

Y/N grinned.

“Wrong sort you say?” she chuckled, “Blond hair and a bratty attitude – you must not be wanted.”

Ron and Harry both snickered that time.

Draco sneered at her, “You shut up!”

Y/N’s grin widened, “Oh - such a hard insult! I am literally crying.”

“My father will hear about that.” he sneered before extending his hand to Harry.

“I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks.” Said Harry making Y/N giggle and high five him.

Just then Professor McGonagall came back.

“We're ready for you now. Follow me.” She said and started leading everyone through two large doors and into the Great Hall.

The great hall was one of the most amazing places Y/N had ever seen and she had seen quite a lot of extraordinary things. From the bewitched ceiling to the carpeted floor, everything around looked straight out of the most creative person on earth's mind.

“Wicked!”

McGonagall leads the first-years to the front where an old rat stood on a stool.

The old hat twitched slightly and it opened its mouth - which was reap.

'Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffs are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

If you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!'

The students around the hall clapped, “When I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the sorting hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses.” Said McGonagall.

Y/N wasn't really keen on having to put on a dirty old hat that was worn by hundreds of thousands of students...What if she catches lice?

Hannah Abbot, a pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails was the first to be sorted, she got sorted into Hufflepuff.

Bones, Susan also got sorted into Hufflepuff but as Terry Boot placed the hat on his head, he was the first to be sorted into Ravenclaw, Mandy Bucklehurst was sorted there, too. Lavender Brown was the first to be in Gryffindor while Millicent Busltrode got sorted into Slytherin.

“Y/N Y/L/N” called McGonagall, she couldn’t hide the curiosity in her voice as she said her name.

Everybody, including Ron, Hermione and a horrified looking Malfoy gasped while Harry stood there confused, not understanding why everyone looked so shocked but then remembered what Ron and Y/N told him in the train compartment – even some professors looked excitedly at Y/N.

Whispers broke in the hall as the hat got placed on her head.

“Did she just say Y/L/N!”

“Merlin! She is THE Y/N Y/L/N!?”

My my that is quite a mind,' said a small voice – the voice of the sorting hat, A descendant of Merlin and Salazar Slytherin with so much ambition and leadership – Cunningness, yes there is some cunningness and lots of creativity, I would say Gryffindor for your bravery but your ambition beats everything else...You are definitely a ...

Y/N grinned as she glanced at the green table, green definitely suited her.

“SLYTHERIN!”

“Thank you!” She whispered to the hat and gave Harry and Ron thumbs up, wishing them luck.

The Slytherin table was clapping loudly - the loudest they have clapped in a long time as they all eagerly looked at her.

“The wrong sort you said, Malfoy?” she said to Draco as she passed him, smirking.

A few Slytherin perfects shook her hands, as did many other Slytherin students.

#Harry Potter #harry potter x reader #harry x reader #fanfiction #potter universe #Draco Malfoy #draco malfoy x reader #The golden trio

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sml8180 · 3 years

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Party

Day 31 for @huffletrax YuleTube prompt list! I had a lot of fun writing these stories, honestly. A few of them even let me expand the Chaos is Normal universe a little bit, which was really fun.

This story does include some mildly suggestive content (roughly to the extent that “Dark” had, so it isn’t anything major, but I thought it would be a good idea to give a heads-up).

Party

Roman was excited for the New Year’s Eve party he and Remus had pulled together. They had finished decorating the smaller ballroom in the central castle in the Imagination. It had been determined that this would happen even before Janus had revealed his name, but it was even bigger now that his joining the main group was being celebrated, as well.

Roman straightened out his ascot and secured it with the tie pin that featured his logo. He knew Remus would be in a similar outfit tonight; they’d planned that out, after all. The Prince pulled on his vest and buttoned it up, before sitting on the bench at the end of his bed and pulling on his tall boots, lacing them up and tying them. He tucked the ends of the laces into the boots, and stood once more, adjusting his hair in the mirror before straightening up, smiling a bit to himself. His boots were black, as he usually wore. His pants were white, and fit close to his frame. Roman had on a red dress shirt, with a white ascot, and over that he had a white vest with gold roses embroidered in. Over everything, he pulled on a red tailcoat. He rarely wore this suit, finding it far too formal for most events, and especially before Remus was accepted, he hated wearing it, as it made him stand out a bit much even for his own liking. But, Remus would be in a similar suit, which comforted him.

Roman came into the ballroom to find the castle staff setting out different food and drink options, and Remus setting up a few smaller things off to the side. Remus was in a similar outfit to Roman, though his clothes were black where Roman’s were white, green where Roman’s were red, and instead of gold roses, Remus’ vest had silver thorns embroidered in. Remus’ mustache was trimmed and neat, and his hair, though fluffy, was actually combed, and the white streak was freshly touched up, going by just how brightly it stood out from the rest of his hair.

“Looking good, Re,” Roman praised with a smile. It wasn’t often Remus would clean up like this, so it was quite a sight.

“Right back at ya, Romano,” Remus smiled. “Matthew keeps trying to get me to put on my damn crown.”

“I almost forgot about the crowns,” Roman mused. “Would you wear it if I wore mine?”

“They’re still dumb.”

“We’ll look dumb together, then.”

“Fine.”

Almost immediately, a pair of castle staff approached the pair, one carrying a gold crown with red jewels set into it, and the other carrying a silver crown with green jewels set into it. The crowns were set on each twins’ head, and the two staff bowed and took off to assist with final preparations. It didn’t take long for things to be completely ready, just in time for the other residents of the Mindscape to enter.

Logan was first, unsurprisingly. They were dressed in a fairly simple suit, with black shoes, dark blue slacks and matching jacket, black shirt, and a two-toned blue tie consisting of a dark blue base color, and lighter blue circuit-board patterning. Their hair was combed back neatly away from their face, and they actually looked a bit intimidating.

Entering next was Janus. He was in a set of black shoes and black slacks, a yellow dress shirt, black bowtie, and a black suit jacket with an intricate snake embroidered into the left side with metallic gold thread. As usual, he had his yellow gloves, bowler hat, and capelet on, as well. As always, he looked put together.

Patton and Emile entered together. Patton wore the grey suit he’d worn in the courtroom before Lee and Mary-Lee’s wedding, though his jacket had hearts and swirls embroidered into it in light blue, and he had a small frog pin on his lapel. Meanwhile, Emile wore a tan two-piece suit, white shirt, and a light blue tie with a light pink paisley pattern on it. It was a new tie Patton had just given him for Christmas, and Emile seemed to love it.

Virgil came in next, dressed in black skinny jeans, black heeled boots, a purple dress shirt, black tie with shimmery purple spiderwebs patterned on it, and a black vest with his usual purple and black patches and white stitches. His eyeshadow was more glittery than usual, and had a purple tint to it, and he was wearing proper eyeliner, as well.

Remy and Dice came in last, entering together. Remy had on his dark sunglasses, like he always did, along with a set of black shoes, black skinny jeans, a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a tie the color of coffee with a bit of cream added with a pattern of white Zzz’s all over it, and matching suspenders. Dice, meanwhile, was wearing black shoes, black slacks, a dark grey turtleneck, a dark plum suit jacket, and a scarf made to look like a strip of film. To say they both looked good would be an understatement.

With everyone now in the ballroom, the party was able to properly begin. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, chatting, eating, drinking, and getting up to various sorts of shenanigans. Remus pulled Logan aside to dance, Remy was seemingly playing a game with himself to see just how bright he could get Patton and Emile to blush -which at some point the other two seemed to join in on and retaliate, trying to make Remy blush as bright as they could get him to-, Janus was chatting with Dice about various movies, and Virgil and Roman were joking and chatting.

By the time midnight was approaching, just about everyone had shed at least one layer of their clothes. Remus and Roman had both ditched their tailcoats, many of the others had shed their jackets, Dice had also taken off his scarf, Janus had taken off his capelet, hat, and jacket, and untied his bowtie, Remy’s suspenders were no longer on his shoulders, but rather hanging from where they were secured to his pants, Virgil was walking around without his shoes on, and even Logan had taken off their jacket and loosened their tie.

Patton, Emile, and Remy were growing fairly handsy with one another, and Remus and Janus were in a similar state. Virgil half-joked that it wouldn’t be surprising if people had various bruises in the morning. Roman had simply swept him into another dance in response.

Time practically flew until they were approaching the final countdown to the new year. Roman attempted to get everyone’s attention, though over the noise his words were lost, until Remus got up on a table, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted.

“Hey, horny bastards, listen up!” Remus called out over the group, catching everyone’s attention and directing their eyes to him as he cackled.

“To be fair, you’re a horny bastard, yourself,” Logan stated, pushing their glasses up the bridge of their nose.

“Yeah, but that’s my natural state of being,” Remus shrugged.

“Put a pin in that, for now,” Roman stated. “I just wanna say, before we ring in the new year, that this year was quite a ride. We’ve helped Thomas, helped each other. Hell, there’s no more Dark Side to the Mindscape! We’re all together, now. Thomas met a cute guy, we accepted Remus,” he paused and looked at his twin, smiling a bit as Remus looked back up at him with a smile of his own. “Logan came out of the closet, and we finally learned Janus’ name. Sure, Thomas skipped out on a massive call-back, and went to a wedding where he felt like he was just another face in the crowd, and, he burnt himself out… But, we’ve all learned from all that. This coming year will be better, I know it,” he finished, as the others murmured their agreements.

Soon, the group had all pulled themselves together enough to head out onto the balcony and join the final countdown to the new year. Roman had Virgil held close, an arm around his shoulders. Remy had Patton and Emile held close to him, and Remus held Janus and Logan around the shoulders. Dice was leaning against the wall near everybody else, seemingly unbothered by the fact he wasn’t being held close by someone else.

Finally, the countdown began.

“Ten… Nine… Eight… Seven… Six… Five… Four… Three… Two… One… Happy New Year!”

The Sides all joined in, cheering as fireworks began to go off overhead. There were kisses exchanged, laughter, and just a wave of joy coming over everyone. It was enough excitement to turn Virgil’s eyeshadow a bright, glittery purple as Roman pulled him into a kiss.

It was another hour or two until everyone finally started to head to their own rooms. Roman and Remus simply snapped away the mess left behind, before leaving with their partners to go back into the main Mindscape. It had been quite the party to welcome the new year, and everyone was hoping that things would look up in the coming year. In the morning, they would all be talking about the previous night, once they started to recover from the late night and drinks. For now, though, everyone was off to likely either fool around, or simply rest, crashing half-dressed on their beds.

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5am-the-foxing-hour · 3 years

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The Adventures 2020

X-mas (December 24th) Gift giving

Year 2020’s Adventures

5 parter, each part posted on advent: 1st 29th November, 2nd 6th December, 3rd 13th December and 4th 20rd December and the last part on Christmas 24th of December

- - -

Characters: all of them, orange side being a cryptid again.

Words: 1591

Warnings: no warnings I believe.

- - -

General Fanfic Tag list: @ebony-wolf, @nashiraneko, @i-sold-my-soul-to-thefandom, @rabbitsartcorner, @punsterterry, @sleepyssnail, @nightmaresides, @virgilswritings, @ninja-girl2846, @ninjago2020, @starryfirefliesbloggo, @garecc, @sympatheticdeceit, @cookiethedevil, @askthesnake, @all-bridges-will-burn, @tacohippy56900, @little-euro-girl, @aggressiveshipper, @imbasicallyshakespear, @slayerofspiders, @prinssess61, @underthesea73, @suicidalcitrusfruit, @sander-side-stuff, @franthehorsegir, @kingpridesanders, @multi-fandoms-posts

- - -

The others were gathered in the living room, sitting around the christmas tree. All having one present before them.

“Can’t we start now?” Roman whined.

“No, we have to wait for Remus and Janus.” Logan said

“Uuuuuuuuugh but they have no concept of time!” Roman groaned as he let himself fall back to the floor to lie down, arms crossed and pouting.

“Now, now Roman.” Patton said as he patted Roman on the knee. “I’m sure they’re on their way.”

“SNAKEY! GET OUT OF BED!” A voice suddenly shouted from upstairs, unmistakingly belonging to a certain duke

“GET YOUR FILTHY PAWS OFF ME!” Came another voice, just as loud and more hysterical clearly belonging to Janus, a screech followed.

It didn’t take long before Remus came thundering down the stairs holding a loudly cursing Janus, who was bundled up in a bright yellow fluffy blanket, in his arms.

“We’re here!” Remus cheered as he unceremoniously dropped Janus down between Thomas and Patton. Janus hissed louder as he grabbed his blanket and glared at Remus with murder in his eyes.

“Remus, I swear, you better keep your snacks hidden or I will change them for Healthy food!” Janus snarled.

“NO! NOT MY SNACKS!” Remus cried holding his hands protectively before himself.

“Everyone here now?” Thomas asked.

“Is…?” Logan started turning to Janus.

“No, he hid even harder from Remus so I doubt he will show face.” Janus grumbled into his hand that he was leaning his jaw against, as he made himself a bit more comfortable on the floor.

“Then yes, everyone is here.” Logan said and nodded at Thomas. Thomas smiled and sighed in relief, as Roman cheered and sat up, only to snort at the birds nest that was Janus’s hair.

“No hat?”

“No, because someone didn’t have time to let me finish preparing for the day.”

“You were taking too long!” Remus nagged. Janus just clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Virgil sighed, and Logan rolled his eyes before he clapped his hands to gain everyone's attention.

“Since everyone is here now, why don’t we get this year's secret Santa started?” A chorus of agreements followed and soon the sides and Thomas waited as Janus summoned his hat after Roman sent him some puppy eyes to use it to draw the name on who was to hand over their present first.

“Virgil.” Logan read from the piece of paper he had taken from the bowler hat. Virgil grimaced before he huffed

“Well… better to get it over with… I had you Logan...” Virgil said as he summoned a package, wrapped in purple paper with white stars, he handed it over to the other side who took it in surprise.

“Are we opening the gifts now or are we waiting til everyone got theirs?” Thomas asked.

“It’s more fun to open them together.” Patton said with a smile.

Logan carefully placed the purple present down on the floor, before he picked up a present wrapped in dark blue paper.

“I had you Janus.” Logan said as he handed the present over. Janus blinked before one arm appeared from the blankets and took the present, a small chuckle left him as he thought he had an idea on what it was Logan had given him.

“Thank you.” Janus said as he put the present down. “Roman I had you.”

“Oh… yay...” Roman said only to yelp when two of Janus’s arms suddenly appeared from the floor holding a big yellow box. Roman gaped as he took it, missing how Janus’s arms disappeared back into the floor. Roman floundered a bit before he put down the big box and took out a smaller red present. “I had you Thomas.” Roman said as he handed over the red present to Thomas, while Patton cooed at how small it was.

“Aw it’s so small and cute~” Thomas chuckled at Patton’s comment before he took the gift, not really surprised that he could touch it.

“Did you and Janus work together on this one?”

“Not at all, I totally didn’t make you forget ever buying that thing.” Janus said with a smile. while Roman chuckled and rubbed at his neck.

“Well, I had you Patton.” Thomas said before he told Patton to hold his hands open and then concentrated, a rainbow coloured present plopped down on top of Patton’s palms and he squealed.

“Oh I’m sure I’ll love this!” he said as he put it down and brought forth a baby blue present from behind his back and held it out to Remus. “I had you Remus. Here.”

“Oh goodie!” Remus cackled as he took it only to blink when he felt that it was a soft present. He squeezed the paper a bit, a grin growing on his lips. “Here raccoon.” He said distractedly as one of his tentacles held out a badly wrapped gift painted green with acrylic paint to Virgil. Virgil took it with a startled yelp, grimacing when he felt how the paint was still wet.

“Ugh.. thanks...”

“LET*S OPEN THEM!” Remus and Roman called at the same time, causing Patton, Janus and Thomas to chuckle.

Getting a nod of approval it didn’t take long for Remus to tear into his present, to find a neon green knitted scarf, it didn’t look the best but he held it up and gaped, before he squealed and hugged it close, before happily wrapping it around his neck and bit into one end of it, chewing the chick wool. Patton chuckled at the sight before a loud gasp from Roman made them look over to find how Roman was taking out a huge stuffed lion, pale yellow with a bright red mane and green eyes and Roman’s logo on a necklace around the neck.

“Where did you get this?!”

“I uh… made it.” Janus said as he rubbed at his hands, gloves covering all the patches that took up his fingers from where he stabbed himself with the needle. Janus couldn’t help the blush that grew on his cheeks when Roman gave him the biggest most happy smile in years.

Patton opened his gift next, a happy sob leaving him when he saw the little stuffed frog, glittering blue in the light and a pair of big blue eyes, a pair of glasses and the cat hoodie around it’s throat.

“It’s meee...” he sniffled.

“Yeah, I know the first time was a bit of a bad moment, so I wanted to get you something to help you feel better about it. Logan and Roman helped me figure out how to make it.”

“I love it.” Patton mumbled as he hugged the soft frog close.

The sound of tearing present paper was heard followed by a chuckle.

“I knew it. Thank you Logan.” Janus said as he held a thick book in his hand. “I don’t suppose you want to go through it at a later date and discuss the content.”

“I would lo- like that.” Logan said with a small smile.

“So THAT’s where that lego set went” Thomas said, having opened his own present to find one of the several lego sets he bought before him. “Thanks guys.”

Logan opened his own present and blinked down at a space themed cup with a bundle of book marks filling it up, all holding different constellations on them.

“I heard you grumble about running out of book marks last time you and the snake had your book talks, and you keep using your favourite cup so often it’s always in the dishwasher.” Virgil murmured “It’s not much but-”

“Thank you Virgil.”

Virgil looked down at the sticky present Remus gave him, before he sighed and snapped his fingers to make the paint dry, before he unwrapped it, cursing every piece of tape he found. Before he found a bag full of stim toys, he picked up a fidget cube the same size as a rubik's cube, instantly pressing all the buttons. Remus caught sight of it and grinned.

The evening found them all still in the living room, snuggled tight as they watched the Polar express, Logan’s request. In queue was the first Grinch movie, A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker, and several other Christmas movies.

Thomas felt warm and content, tomorrow he would have the “real” celebration with his family, eating his fathers food and spending time with his mom. but for now, now he would bask in the calm that came, all the sides cuddled together. Somehow Logan had found his way into Janus’s blanket, hugging around the snake like side as the two leaned against Thomas’s side. Patton took up his other side, as Remus sat on the floor, purring as Patton played with his hair. Roman and Virgil sprawled on the remaining sides, Roman having the weighted lion lying on top of him acting as a weight blanket. while Virgil absently fiddled with the stim toys in the bag Remus gave him.

Thomas smiled, only to blink when a clementine was dropped on his lap, he picked it up looking around, no one else was around, Thomas turned it over to find how “Hi” had been carved out from the skin. as well as a smirking smiley. Thomas huffed and rolled his eyes.

“He’ll show his face sometime...” Janus mumbled into his shoulder making Thomas glance at him, to see how Janus was looking at the clementine he was holding. “He’s just going to be a cryptid first.” A snort left Thomas and he chuckled, returning his attention to the TV

“Yeah.”

#Sanders Sides #TheAdventures #Janus #Sympathetic Deceit #Remus #Roman #Logan #Patton #Virgil #Thomas #text #the fox writes #Advent #gift giving #christmas presents

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imtryingthisout · 5 years

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Of Frogs and Friendship

[based on @nachosforfree Au @sanderssides-magicalgirlau check them out]

[Warnings: abuse, toxic relationship, unsympathetic Patton. Be careful]

It was hard not to love him.

Maybe that’s why it was so hard, because despite everything, Virgil just couldn't help but love him. The way Patton had looked at him, eyes so wide and vulnerable, tear laced whispers about how ‘you stayed’ and ‘I don't want to be a monster’. It was like they were kids again, and virgil had just hissed at some of the bigger boys who were picking on them. Calling Patton a crybaby, saying that he was too weak and girly. As if being feminine was something to be ashamed of, something lesser.

(Virgil knew better than that, even at six. His mom could drop kick any guy, any day, in any outfit. She was awesome like that.)

Patton didn't have many friends, was odd cause he was so happy and smiley all the time, but who was Virgil to judge. Not like he had many friends either. Or any friends really.

(No Andy didn't count, he was a baby)

Patton seemed so amazed, looking at Virgil with stars in his eyes, like he was a hero. So Virgil didn’t exactly offer his friendship (stammering and clamming up after the initial adrenaline rush faded) but he didn’t turn Pat away when he started to eat lunch with him. And when Patton wanted to hang out after school he didn’t say no.

So two lonely boys became friends, and they were happy.

Later they added a golden eyed (seemingly) girl into their fold. Miss “Call me Dee” Lyr was a wonderful oddity, who favored short hair and bowler hats, loved courtroom dramas and had a special knack for arguing with Teachers. Especially Mr. Yanez who taught Social studies.

She would constantly interrupt class, hopping on a soapbox and go off on tangents about the nature of society, governmental lies and propaganda. No manner of punishment seem to deter her, any reprimand seemed to just fuel her rants further. And while Mr. Yanez tried desperately to find some way to deter her- Virgil just thought he didn't like seeming dumber than a little girl. He was right.

“Sir, did you know that if a frog was suddenly put in a pot of boiling water it would try to leap out. But if you put a frog in a pot of tepid water and then slowly start to boil it, the frog wouldn’t notice and be slowly boiled to death. Imagine thinking you’re taking a nice relaxing bath, never knowing your inaction is sealing your fate. So while you and others lay comfy in your tubs, unaware that your rights are slowly being eroded away by those in power.”

“Miss Lyr will you please sit down. We are going over European Geography- what are you even talking about?”

(Falling in love with Patton was so easy Virgil didn't even notice it. Didn't notice the water rising and rising all around him. It was just felt so natural to have him around.)

Talking with Patton sometimes made Virgil’s head feel like it was under water. His words drowned out all the other noises in the world, till he was lost in a sea of static and siren song. It didn’t happen a lot, never at first, but by the time Virgil was nine he had periods of just.. blacking out.

(“Do you think I made him this way with evil intent? No! It started with me making him feel happy when he was sad! Me pulling him out of panic attacks! It started with me making him forget bad things-)

(The temperature was changing, ever so slowly, yet the frog remained oblivious-)

(“It just got worse and worse and worse-”)

He never told his Mom about the blackouts, he had meant to- he was sure he had meant to- but he just.. Forgot. He suspected she found out anyway. Taking him to the doctor and doing all manner of checkups and screenings that young Virgil didn’t have the vocabulary to describe.

In the end he got a temporary medication that did nothing to help, and a slightly clingy Patton to deal with.

Nothing he couldn’t handle.

(The trick is to have patience, heat the water up too quickly and the Frog jumps out. Go slowly enough- kindly enough- and he’ll gladly let you burn him to the ground. He might even thank you for it)

“You know Verge, you would look really cute in purple”

“You really think so pat?”

“Ooh we should get matching bracelets- so everyone will know we’re best friends!”

“That sounds like a good idea pat”

“Hey Virgil what if your costume had a ribbon around your neck?”

“Really- like a bow and everything?”

“Yep! Wouldn’t that just be so pretty?”

“If you say so pat”

“Come on, just try it?”

“Of course pat. You’d know I’d do anything for you”

The first time Patton hit him Virgil blamed stress. Stress and trauma. Patton was just lashing out- he didn’t know any better. He just needed to get it out of his system and he’d be fine. Virgil was strong, Virgil could take it. He later held Virgil and apologized, begging him to stay, promising to do better. And Virgil looked into his teary eyes and couldn’t help but still love him.

(Virgil had a vague awareness that Patton wanted more from him. Wanted things that Virgil couldn’t give him. Patton was his best friend- his brother- and he didn’t want to kiss his brother on the mouth. Didn’t want to hold his hand in anything but a platonic fashion. (Virgil didn’t even know if he liked anyone like that, but he most certainly knew he didn’t want Patton like that). But Virgil was unaware of Patton pushing his boundaries, clinging to him more, getting more and more touchy-feely till it was hard for the others to tell if they were flirting or not. (Patton was, Virgil definitely wasn’t).

What was it Dee said about frogs and water? )

The second time Patton hit him Virgil blamed his friends. Things were going fine, Patton was listing to him- waning off some of his more.. extreme schemes. But something had happened, some plans had fallen through due to their involvement, and Patton didn’t even know it was Virgil who grabbed his shoulder, wanting to offer comfort. He just lashed out blindly- striking Virgil in the eye.

(Some days Virgil couldn’t get out of bed. Too overwhelmed, yet too drained to force himself up.

He’d stopped talking after a while, none of his other ‘housemates’ wanted anything to do with him, and he’d just repeat back what Patton wanted to hear on the occasion that he did want to talk. To be honest Virgil couldn’t tell if he was speaking in his own voice.

So he laid there, quietly hoping everything was just one long horrible dream.)

Patton loved touching his neck, playing with his hair. Sometimes when he thought virgil was asleep he would trace along the bruises blooming on his throat- feather light touches as he would whisper sweet poisoned nothings into his ear.

(Some days it felt as though Virgil was empty inside. Just a hollow husk shambaling around in the vague approximation of how a normal human function. He stopped having blackouts, but his memory worsened. The world around him seems grey and hopeless without Patton. The only clear memories were the ones with him in it.)

Virgil eventually stopped counting the strikes. Stopped blaming anyone but himself, it was his fault he knew, no point trying to deny it. Even in his own mind. He just wished he knew what to do to fix himself- what to do to make Pat happy again. Maybe he should just---

(It was like he was in a tub of lukewarm water, but instead of getting hotter. It just got colder and colder, till his hands and feet where blue and shivering. Till the piercing white numbness grew in his chest like a tumor. Hypothermia seeping into his bones. The water was freezing over and Virgil was drowning in blue. But he was too tired to get up. Too numb to fight it. He was the frog and it was hibernation. So he

just

gave

in )

#sander sides #fic #writing #unsympathetic patton #tw abuse #tw toxic relationship #virgil sanders #patton sanders #deceit sanders #trans deceit #sander sides fic #nachosforfree #magical girl au #toxic moxiety

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mysterydisposition · 4 years

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Tag Game: List your Top 5 Favorite Disney Animated Movies, and why you love them. (I was tagged by @magic-multicolored-miracle!)

1) Lilo & Stitch. This will forever be at the top of this list, I honestly can’t completely articulate why I love this so much. I love that it’s only about family and familial love, and I love that Lilo is a Weird Little Girl (and she’s the best one out there). Stitch, pudge the fish, Lilo having a “blue period” in her art, Pleakley and mosquitos, Nani being the best sister ever. I remember trying to make up my own “experiments” when I was a kid. It just means a lot to me.

2) Tangled. The music! The animation! It’s so pretty! Pascal!!!! I love Pascal, he is at the top of my Disney sidekicks, always. I love that it’s about finding yourself instead of being solely about Rapunzel and Eugene. I just love this movie and it’s animation and everything about it.

3) Princess and the Frog. Honestly love the this one for similar reasons to Tangled. One of my favorite things is the animated food, I have never wanted to eat anything more than Tiana’s beignets. I’m in love with the green dress tiana wears in the wedding. I love the story, I love the setting, I love the characters. I LOVE the fact that it’s also loosely based (very very very very very loosely) on one of my childhood favorite book series, The Frog Princess. I’m obsessed with twists on classic fairytales and this is no exception.

4) Meet The Robinsons. This movie is so great and I never see it talked about. It is so quirky and weird, and once again it is so focused on familial love that I’m obsessed with it. I love the style that the characters are drawn in and there are so many memorable quotes from this movie. (Most of them involving the bowler hat guy in some way). Stellar movie in my opinion.

5) Monsters University. Okay. So. I KNOW this one is not as good as the original and there are continuity errors and generally this is kind of a weird choice. But this movie combines the nostalgia of Monsters Inc. with these new memories that I’ve made with this movie, because I watch it all of the time now, and whenever I would order Dominos pizza in college I would watch this movie. This is a huge comfort movie for me, basically. Also it’s a super cute movie, once again, and I love the new characters it introduces!

With no obligation attached, I’m going to tag @superbandnerd99 @benhargrieves @inappropriateexplosions and @scottsmccll

#wow do these movies tell you how badly i want to belong to something or WHAT #like hm what do almost all of these have in common #also fun fact about the twisted fairytales thing #rhats what my freshman seminar was about #so ive read a ton of the original fairytales #(Grimm brothers based theirs on older tales so we read some of theirs and some actual originals)#and a ton of those fairytales that had a twist #and then i got to write one!#mine was about snow white being the beast in beauty and the beast and i THINK the seven dwarves were based on the seven deadly sins #can remember if i stuck with that idea or not #my reasonings for all of these boil down to BECAUSE I SAID SO #but here is me rambling anyways!!#me #tag game #about me #okay also i love these games becuase it is permission to ramble!!#which i do anyways but these have a reason attached to it!

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chimehourbooks · 5 years

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Scene 3 - Isabelle's Tea Party Chapter: 9 (2nd Draft) Characters: Isabelle, Agnes, Donald, and Benson Editing Notes: This scene was hard to cut out- not because it was super significant to the plot (I think reading it now reveals it to be a bit filler-y), but mostly because I had a genuine soft spot for this scene. Isabelle Brigham is a minor character throughout the series, so her lone scenes are very rare and her dynamic with the family is usually seen from Stanley's POV. I had a great time giving her a little bit of space to herself and sharing her world, her friends- but sadly, this longer scene never found a natural spot with the pacing of the final book. There are functional remains of this scene that can be found in Isabelle's later scene with Willow. As a side note, Donald and Agnes Fowler are Rudolph's younger children by way of marriage with Hattie. A lot of their presence is alluded to in the final draft, but I have written several scenes with them that were causalities of an overcrowded plotline. Perhaps one day, Isabelle Brigham will get to tell her own story too! # “Alright then!” Isabelle clapped her hands, gaining her guests' attention. She stood in her seat, ruffling out her bright yellow dress. “Let us see who decided to join me in today's most glorious garden party!” “Izzie,” someone whispered through a lisp. “It's not a garden party if we're inside.” “Agnes, shush.” Isabelle shot a glare over the rabbit-themed porcelain tea set that had been organized over her bedroom table. The plates were marked with gold trim and painted daisy chains, their centers filled with fresh jelly cookies and scones. The little teapot sat warm, dewy over the drawn silhouette of a rabbit’s head. The spout still steamed with its contents. Sure she wouldn't be interrupted again, Isabelle cleared her throat authoritatively. “Now, where was I? Oh yes!” She clapped hands again. “Now, today we have Mr. Rivins...” She gestured to a large, stuffed toy frog that sat at her side. Stanley's bowler hat hung limp on its head. “Lady Alice of Lancashire...” She turned to her favored glass doll, with dark auburn curls and fixed blue eyes. Isabelle sighed then, a sneer on her mouth. “Miss Agnes...” Agnes Fowler, her correcter, smiled at her introduction, revealing the funny gaps in her baby teeth. She was a small girl with mousy hair and manic curls. “Mr. Donald...” Donald Fowler sat nearer to his sister, all ruffled brown hair and awkward limbs. He flushed as Isabelle looked his way. “And last but not least, the esteemed Benson!” Isabelle clapped; the other children followed in kind. Benson kneeled at the table’s edge. He wore his usual dark attire, matched sorely with the bright orange hat that Isabelle had picked from her mother's dresser. He smiled, lifting the tiny teacup in cheers to the hostess. Isabelle nodded back, and folding her skirts, sat down again. “So,” she chirped. “Who wants to start the small talk?” Donald breathed in, opening his mouth to speak. But Agnes ignored them, craning herself over the table and reaching for a plate of jelly cookies. Isabelle acted quick, smacking her hand away. “Not yet,” she said bluntly. Agnes pouted. “What for?” “Because I said so,” Isabelle answered. “Small talk first.” “But small talk makes a waste of sweets, Izzie.” She settled back into her seat. “Small talk, Agnes. Not back talk.” Isabelle grabbed a cookie and took a defiant bite from it. The doorbell suddenly chimed. Everyone looked up, including Benson, who was quick to remove his hat. “If everyone will excuse me, I am needed in the foyer.” He placed it on the floor to mark his place, bowing as he rose to his feet. He then glanced at Isabelle, furrowing his brow. “Please be gracious to your guests while I'm away, young miss.” He left with a smile. Isabelle waited until he was properly out of the room before she stuck her tongue out in his direction. Benson ventured down the steps and through the foyer, straightening his work coat and slicking his gray hair. Probably the postman. Another election promoter. Or the grocer perhaps- Lord knows that fool is late again. He opened the front door slow, letting his thought give way to warm smile. And every guess he had made turned out wrong. On the front porch stood a young woman, striking in her pinstriped navy gown. A small envelop sat in her hands. Tendrils of dark hair twisted out from under her hat, framing her face nicely as she returned his greeting smile. “May I help you, miss?” he asked. “Yes, actually,” she said quickly. “I fear I must ask; this is the Brigham household, yes?” “That is correct, miss,” he said with a nod. “Though I am afraid that the master is out for morning service.” “Oh,” she said, surprise taking her slowly. She recovered with remarkable speed, grinning again. “Well, I’m Cecilia Prenderghast, as you may know…” Benson nodded, recalling the name well. “I came on business, actually,” she continued, looking down at the envelop. “Would… Mr. Brigham's son happen to be in though?” “The young master left several days ago,” he said. “Left?” Cecilia's eyes widened ever so slightly. “To Belgium. He will return in a day's time.” “Hm...” Cecilia looked at the envelop again, questions running along her face. She shook herself of them, returning to her smile. “You are welcome to wait for Mr. Brigham though, my lady,” Benson interjected. “Miss Isabelle and I are just beginning our Sunday tea party.” “Oh...” Cecilia blinked, unsure how to respond to the strange question. “Um- no, it's quite alright. I only came to deliver this on my family's behalf.” #

#chimehour #Deleted Scenes #amwriting #writeblr

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mistystarshine · 7 years

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Make Me Live Chapter 3

Summary: Stand hunting counts as a sibling bonding activity, right?

Notes: I am SO SORRY for how long this took. I had some real life drama going on, including a sudden and unexpected move across the country. Have some rising action.

Wordcount: 3,019

Beta: @kousakukawajiri

She stayed at her brother’s house that night. Her mother didn’t have any problems with it and, by some miracle, didn’t ask too many questions. Shinobu’s usual over-excited and over-caring interrogation was something she was used to by now. As long as she didn’t get too specific, she didn’t have to blink an eye.

They got moving early in the morning. Much like the day before, she felt like she was trying to walk in shoes made out of lead, but thoughts of the errant stand pushed her onward. It’ll get easier after awhile, she told herself. It had better get easier after a while. They had agreed to do their search by foot to decrease the risk of missing something vital or getting in an accident if the giant road frog appeared again.

Yoriko was already regretting that choice and they were only five meters away from the apartment complex.

The bleary silence was shattered by Hayato asking, “you said you were with Shizuka when you saw it?”

She blinked up at him a few times as she slowly processed his words before nodding.

“Do you have her number in your phone?”

The nodding stopped. Slowly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. She knew what she would, or more precisely, wouldn’t find in there well enough that she didn’t bother turning it on. “No… I, well, I didn’t think to ask.” The corners of her lips puckered and her gaze slowly drifted downward. If she turned on that phone, she would find a total of four contacts. They were Takuma, her mother, her brother, and emergency services. There was also the ‘daily trivia’ app that texted her, but that didn’t really count.

“I see.” Hayato didn’t sound like he thought that was very odd. Then again, it probably wasn’t from his perspective. “We’ll search by ourselves for now then. If we think we need to, I can call Josuke later.”

That wasn’t enough to satisfy Yoriko. Even knowing that her older brother should know her well enough not to expect anything great from her contacts, she couldn’t help but feel like she had failed in some way. Her lack of social connections had failed them. “I could ask Takuma to help, if he has already finished his weekend work,” she offered.

Hayato looked at her in confusion. “He doesn’t know about stands, does he?”

“No,” she said, “but we could think of something to tell him. He doesn’t really think about the ‘cause’, only the ‘effect’ and how to improve it.”

The sound that her brother made was simultaneously dismissive and frustrated. When combined with the way he narrowed his eyes, she knew the answer before he even said anything. “No, don’t call Fujita. We don’t… need… that.”

She sighed and allowed herself to look across the street. There weren’t any ghosts, but she also didn’t feel like looking at Hayato when she said, “I don’t know what you have against him.”

Now it was his turn to sigh. Well, sort of. She had noticed that his sighs tended to be the quiet, barely-there kind; like he was afraid to let anyone know what he was really thinking. “You have too much faith in people.”

Her steps almost faltered at his words. What’s that supposed to mean? It was fairly obvious to her that he didn’t trust Takuma, but why? He hadn’t done anything to earn that distrust. Was he because he was her friend? Did willingly spending time with her automatically qualify someone as weird and suspicious, even in the eyes of her own brother? It could just be because Hayato was a distrusting person, but he’d known Takuma for years by now. Short of being deeply mentally imbalanced, which he couldn’t have hidden for her for that long, or having endured a deeply traumatic experience, which she knew he hadn’t, she couldn’t think of any other reason to be suspicious of someone for so long.

That idea… she didn’t know how to feel about that. On one hand, he wouldn’t have made it clear that he didn’t trust Takuma if he didn’t clear about her. On the other hand… did he see her as a freak, too? Even though he knew about stands? He’d always looked at her weird. It was more common when she was little, but there were still times when…

Yoriko grabbed her forearm with her other hand to keep both of them from shaking. She quickly folded her arms to keep the original movement from being seen for what it was. “Maybe you just need to have more faith in people,” she finally said. Without waiting for a response, she picked up the pace and started walking ahead. Another one of those barely-there-sighs was faintly heard behind her.

They walked to the end of the block in silence. At that point, they crossed the street and continued on for three more. That was where she saw him.

“Oh.” A frown tugged at the corners of her lips. She never quite knew how to deal with this particular ghost. He wasn’t troublesome. In fact, he was even helpful from time to time. The thing was that there was something about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. There was something that drew her to him. There was something else, too. Something that sent a shiver up her spine and made her feel like Reaper was trying to pop out without permission again. It was like it was trying to say something.

If only she knew whether it was trying to say ‘he is important to you’ or ‘beware’.

Her brother’s feet came to a halt soon after hers. “What is it?” he asked.

“Just a ghost,” Yoriko murmured. ‘Just a ghost,’ because she knew that Hayato wasn’t particularly comfortable with the shenanigans surrounding stands and their users, no matter how hard he tried to push himself through. She didn’t describe the ghost’s blonde hair, bowler hat, or peculiar tie. She especially didn’t mention the way his gaze lingered on him for a moment or think too hard about the way Hayato happened to stiffen up that exact moment.

It was a coincidence. It meant nothing. The chances of the amnesiac ghost having a tie with her brother were low, let alone her brother having a strong enough connection with a dead man to sense his presence. Besides, the ghost was nice. Pretty average aside from being an amnesiac ghost, but nice. It’s probably just the wind, she concluded. There was no reason to worry about the wind.

The ghost’s gaze slid over to her soon enough. He tilted his head curiously, probably noticing her thoughtful expression. “Is something wrong?” he asked.

“In a way.” Yoriko allowed herself to look at the area behind the ghost and raised a hand to run it through her hair.

This is going to sound weird, she thought. Then, I’m talking to a ghost. It was illogical for her to worry about something as bizarre as a ghost thinking that she was weird. She shouldn’t care about what it thought at all. Someone seeing her talking to the ghost was a different matter, but even then, the situation at hand was more important than her reputation. There wasn’t anyone anyway. Therefore, it didn’t matter. He had nothing to do with her in the grand scheme of things. There was nothing for her to worry about. There was...

There was an uncomfortable feeling churning in her stomach.

She forced herself to look the ghost in the eyes. “We’re looking for someone,” she said. “Someone who can summon a giant frog. A frog that I saw in my dreams. Have you seen anyone… do… that?”

Ridiculous. She sounded utterly ridiculous. However, the ghost appeared unphased beyond briefly furrowing his brow. “No. But I did see someone new to Morioh a few minutes ago. Something about her was… peculiar.” A look flashed across his face briefly, like he was reaching for something that had been pulled just out of reach. When the look passed, he pointed down a street. “Light brown skin, braided hair, slender hands… blue shirt.”

Yoriko opened her mouth, but no words came out. It wasn’t unusual for her not to know what to say, but it was usually because she didn’t know what was considered acceptable. This time, it was that look on the man’s face. ‘Peculiar’ was such a vague word. What was ‘peculiar’? Why did the way he said it set off warning bells in her mind when she had heard it many times before? She looked at Hayato for guidance and saw that he looked unsettled. His eyes were darting back and forth - paranoid?

A wave of guilt washed over her. Of course. He didn’t do well with things like this. She should have told him that she could search by herself, or at least not stopped to talk to a ghost.

She sucked in a quick breath before looking back at the ghost. “Thank you, I-”

Tap. Her eyes darted sharply to the left. Tap. A well-polished black shoe turned the corner. Tap. It was followed by the rest of the individual, a man with a black haze where his face should be.

He turned directly toward them.

“I have to go.” Without explanation, she grabbed Hayato’s hand and took off down the street the ghost had pointed at. Her brother made a surprised sound, but she carried on without acknowledging it, her fingers holding his in a death grip and her feet moving at a pace that was barely below a run.

After they had passed a block or so, she risked a glance over her shoulder. The faceless man was nowhere to be seen. With a relieved sigh, she dropped her hand back to her side and slowed to a normal walk. While her chest heaved to catch her breath, her brother asked, “what was that?”

An awkward laugh was forced out of her throat. “I got just got a little over excited.” Her voice cracked with her lie. She didn’t look at Hayato’s face to see if he had noticed. It was for the best. He didn’t do well with things like that. “The ghost I was talking to said that he saw a peculiar looking new person. We should look for a brown-skinned woman in a blue shirt with braided hair.”

Even though she didn’t look at him, she could feel his gaze boring into her. Her earlier guilt returned, this time accompanied by a starburst of shame. Although shame was a powerful emotion, her stand was not, to her knowledge, connected to her emotions. That didn’t stop her from flinching and wondering if it was some sort of tell when Don’t Fear the Reaper manifested out of nowhere.

When the stand appeared, Hayato started to look around. He finally stopped to look at what was, to him, an empty space by her right shoulder. Where her stand had appeared. “Reaper?” he asked.

She never could understand how he was able to do that.

“Yeah,” she murmured. As she spoke, shapes began to manifest in the mist swirling around the stand. A picture of Azami’s frowning face, firm and unwavering. A faint image of Sekiguchi Eiichi waving a faintly familiar younger boy aside before walking to his next class. A blackbird flying through the rain.

Yoriko shook her head and huffed. “Just more nonsense.” Azami wasn’t a stand user, she didn’t care about birds, and she didn’t know what her stand’s new fascination with Sekiguchi was, but she was not fond of it. No one wanted the weird girl eavesdropping on them.

“Are you sure?” he asked in a voice that all but oozed with skepticism.

“Yeah. It almost always is.” Because that was the nature of her stand - a useless and uncontrollable thing that liked to play probability roulette.

If he had something to say to that, he didn’t get the chance. A scream cut through the air. Yoriko, naturally, took off running toward it. She was almost too caught up in the way her heart started racing and horrible scenarios started flying through her head to appreciate the way her brother cursed before following. (Almost.)

The sight that greeted her made her try to stop dead in her tracks. Unfortunately, her momentum carried her forward several more paces, making the slathering dog that had Azami cornered against a fence turn its gaze toward her.

Whether or not the word ‘dog’ was appropriate was questionable. It was definitely a canine with a build similar to a domestic dog, but it was at least four feet at the shoulder. A mangy black pelt clung to its heavy frame. The foam covering its muzzle did little to hide the glistening white fangs so proudly displayed by its snarl.

There wasn’t much that Yoriko took pride in. Her mind was one of the few things that fell in that very small category. However, as it came prowling toward her, all thoughts vanished. Azami’s face was ashen and her expression terrified. She looked over her shoulder and saw that Reaper had disappeared. Hayato was running, but he was behind her and standless. That finally made something enter her mind, but rather than a plan, all she thought was, run away.

The dog started to run, which meant she only had a matter of seconds. She tensed her legs to (futilely) start running -

- and blinked when the dog was sent crashing to the ground out of nowhere.

It snapped in frustration for a moment before disappearing.

Silence filled the air. She couldn’t bring herself to look at Azami. Instead, she looked at the place where the dog had vanished before looking at Hayato when the sound of someone panting by her side alerted her to his presence. “Did you see it?” she whispered.

He nodded shakily. Her brow furrowed. Did that mean that if wasn’t a stand? How else could it have just disappeared? She didn’t hear anything thrashing around and wasn’t being invisibly attacked, so it had to be gone and not just invisible. “But how… maybe it’s meant to b-”

“What the hell!?” the enraged shriek cut off her train of thought. She reluctantly looked at Azami and was rewarded by the sight of an accusatory finger pointed her way. “What is wrong with you? Why does weird shit always happen when you’re around!?”

If she looked to her side, she would have seen Hayato bristling beside her. Instead, it was all she could do not to let herself stare at her feet. “I’m not-”

“Save it,” Aza- Yokoyama spat. “You can’t go around talking to yourself and telling people about their doom and then say you’re not involved when something like this happens. Maybe you’re a bad luck charm and a liar.”

Yoriko flinched. Hayato noticed the movement and growled, “watch your mouth.”

“Don’t,” she murmured.

Yokoyama snorted before walking forward. Her hands were shaking, but she still moved with more confidence than Yoriko ever could. “Get out of here before I tell Eiichi to call the cops.” With that, she opened the gate in the fence and strode in, shouldering Yoriko out of the way in the process.

Once she had entered the house, Shizuka Joestar faded into sight beside her. Her face was red and her hands were clenched into fists. More importantly, her clothes and hair were ruffled. Angry red scrapes marked her exposed knees. “I shouldda kicked the bitch when I had the chance,” she grumbled.

Yoriko’s eyes widened. She opened and closed her mouth a few times before choking out, “Shizuka - you…?”

The girl gave an uneasy chuckle and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well… I couldn’t let it eat you, could I?”

It felt like she should say something. Something not only meaningful but more meaningful than the traditional ‘thank you’. That was really reckless. No. That was a terrible thing to say to someone who just saved you, even if it was true. I didn’t know you could tackle. Also no. It was a pointless observation. Your hair looks nice like that. Fluffy. Also true, but it was an air-headed compliment that had little to do with what had just happened. She also didn’t know if she would take it as a compliment when ‘fresh out of a stand fight’ probably wasn’t the style she had been going for.

“Sekiguchi,” she blurted out.

Shizuka blinked. “What?”

“Azami said that she’d tell Eiichi to call the cops if I didn’t leave. She has to mean Sekiguchi Eiichi. Reaper showed me him yesterday and a little while ago. If he lives here…”

“So much for nonsense,” Hayato muttered.

Yoriko glanced at him, but she had to admit that he may be right. The odds of this being a coincidence somehow managed to be lower than the odds of her stand having shown her something useful for once. Still, she would have appreciated it if the warning about Azami came a little earlier.

“Do you think he could be the stand user?” Shizuka asked.

Yoriko shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. Yokoyama… he likes her. They’re friends. He’s not… his life is not that bad. I don’t see why he would attack her, let alone set a giant frog loose in the street.” That was operating under the assumption that the dog was connected to the frog, but if they were unrelated… she didn’t think they were unrelated.

“Well, is there anyone who doesn’t like her?” she pressed. “Anyone who would be around here?”

“Lots of people, probably,” Yoriko murmured. “Or maybe not. Just the ones who…” Yokoyama Azami wasn’t overly aggressive toward most people. She had her web of friends, friends like Hirohito, Hairu, Gima, and Eiichi. They were people who tended to dislike and earn the dislike of the same people. The ones who didn’t have a web of friends to support them. Things like who they were related to didn’t matter.

Eiichi. The name meant, ‘excellent first son’.

Isolation and jealousy could be powerful motives.

#Make Me Live #Yoriko Kawajiri #jjba #jjba fanfic #chapter three is here! It is late but it is HERE #we get our first proper stand fight next chapter. are you excited?

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frozendoorgaming · 4 years

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Morning Mist #73

Announcements, Releases, Trailers

Everything we learned about Diablo 4 at this year's Blizzcon

Guilty Gear reveals Chip Zanuff, Potemkin and lengthy gameplay video

See 10 minutes of Terminator: Resistance gameplay footage

BioWare hints at imminent Dragon Age 4 activity

Metal Gear Solid, Demon Soul's, and More Remakes Teased

Project Sakura Wars demo coming to Japan later this month

Nintendo reportedly plans to bring more 3DS games to the Switch

Milestones, Industry

VKLiooon sweeps the Hearthstone Grandmasters to become the first woman to win a global championship

Despite Hong Kong protests, the mood at BlizzCon was cheerful

BlizzCon 2019: All The Major Announcements

Valve and Apple are rumoured to be developing an AR headset

Luigi's Mansion 3 is Nintendo Switch's biggest launch this year

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate earns title of best-selling fighting game in history

Deals, Freeware

Fight and build in novel free platformer Orudo Taima

You can, and absolutely should, buy Frog Detective for a dollar

Take a look at this lovely Zelda statue inspired by Breath of the Wild

Newegg Offers Discount on 1-Year PS Plus Subscription With Promo Code

Amazon's One-Day Logitech Sale Also Includes BLUE Microphones

Information

Watch out, the Pokémon Sword and Shield leaks are everywhere

Pokemon Sword and Shield: Here's Every Leaked Pokemon So Far

Pokemon Sword and Shield: Full Scorbunny Evolution Line Leaked

Pokemon Sword and Shield: Galarian Rapidash and Type Leaked

Pokemon Sword and Shield: Legendary Zacian's Type Leaked, and It's Not What You Think

Pokemon Sword and Shield's Pokedex Size Leaked

Guild Wars 2’s next episode launches November 19 as console rumors resurface

World War Z's free Kill It With Fire update kicks off second season

Final Fantasy XIV shows off the new features of patch 5.1’s group pose camera

Mario Kart Tour's next tour takes us to Paris, France

Hilde is Soulcalibur 6's next DLC character

The Outer Worlds guide – 25 tips and tricks for beginners

Blizzard explains why it took 15 years to add more ethnicities to World of Warcraft

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Learning from Other Shooters Brings Good Changes

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Zombies Leak in New Datamine, With A Twist

Etc

Rick and Morty Play Death Stranding in New Ad

Hideo Kojima says Death Stranding is a reaction to 'Trump and Brexit'

In The Future, Hideo Kojima Says His Studio Will Make Films

Keanu Reeves doubled his screen time in Cyberpunk 2077 because he enjoyed it so much

London Pokémon Center will run out of exclusive bowler hat Pikachus this week

Seven-Minute Final Fantasy VII Remake Ad Is The Longest Commercial Ever On Japanese TV

#morning mist #gaming news #video game news #gaming articles #gaming links

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minnievirizarry · 7 years

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Expert Roundup: 55 Experts Give Us Their Take On SEO Trends for 2017

2016 has been rife with activity in the SEO sphere.

Webmasters had to upgrade their strategies to include Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP, featured snippets, and, perhaps, the biggest shakedown of them all: Penguin 4.0 and its real time updates

But now, 2017 has begun, and, as would be customary, it is time to move on from the past, and to look forward to what this next year will bring to the volatile world of SEO.

Again, we reached into our deep well of influencer contacts—using our NinjaOutreach tool, of course, and we received a stellar response: 55 in total.

Today, before January ends, let us share with you our first expert roundup for this year, featuring more than 50 SEO experts and their take on SEO trends for 2017.

Survival of the Fittest SEOs “Either change or die.”Candid words from Moosa Hemani, our first featured SEO expert and the founder of Inbound Marketing agency, SEtalks.com.

Moosa Hemani

Founder of Inbound Marketing agency SEtalks.com

According to Hemani, a lot of businesses’ and brands’ futures rely largely on what strategy they are currently implementing; specifically, if these strategies are in line with where SEO is heading in 2017.

There is the oft-expressed warning—which we have also advised, to remove or disavow links from: PBNs or private blog networks, bad directories, forums, and blog comments. If you still have a list of this to clean up yet, please make it your New Year’s SEO resolutions.

A Strategy Built on Head Terms Will Start to Cost You More

If your SEO strategy is to focus on head terms so you can keep moving up the ranks bit by painstaking bit to get your coveted chunk of leads, then in theory, you’re right, says Hemani.

But practically speaking, relying on this as a singular strategy is “a recipe for drowning your business and money,” he warns.

Avoid the Gray and Black Hat Areas Altogether

We believe that dabbling in the dark arts—and let’s say the “gray” arts as well, for inclusion’s sake—will eventually do more harm than good when it comes to SEO. Hemani says so too.

The State of Search in 2017: Intent Based Searching

"The most critical change in Google has been the shift in ‘intent’ based searching,” begins Gerry White of UsableContent.co.uk.

Gerry White

SEO specialist and online marketer, UsableContent

Gerry, wh currently works with Just Eat on international SEO, adds: “Google increasingly has been looking at why they [users] have entered that query and what they want from it, rather than the keywords. With the gentle introduction of AI and increased personalization, this will alter how users search over time.”

He also believes that, as voice and mobile become far more effective, search in 2017 will start to shift towards these technologies, particularly in the wake of the last few brands and blogs already making this shift to being truly mobile friendly.

“SEO will increasingly be about relevance and user intent and less about keywords; however, anyone who neglects keyword research and doesn't use the audiences’ natural language will be at a disadvantage."

The State of Search in 2017: Personalized Search Results

For long-time web marketer and nationally acclaimed speaker and teacher

Stoney deGeyter, Google will be giving more importance to personalized search results going forward.

DeGeyter is President of the inbound marketing agency Pole Position Marketing.

Stoney deGeyter

President, Pole Position Marketing

“As more personal data is collected and correlated together between devices, Google and other search engines will use that data to deliver results that are specific to the searcher. This will make branding and brand searches more important than ever in order for companies to become a part of the ‘confirmation bias’ that the search results will inevitably produce,” says deGeyter, who authored “The Best Damn Web Marketing Checklist, Period!”

Search Is Maturing and Will Become More Competitive

"Search is maturing and as such, becoming more competitive,” says Marcus Miller, SEO and Digital Marketing Strategist at the UK Agency Bowler Hat.

Marcus Miller

SEO and Digital Marketing Strategist at UK Agency Bowler Hat

“Paid search results are dominating the page for commercial search queries. We have already seen the move from three to four ads and those ads have recently increased in size. Organic results are diminishing and we often see below the ten blue links of old. We are seeing the testing and initial roll out of ad products in the local space as well, meaning that businesses of all shapes and sizes need to look at paid options to guarantee visibility for commercial search terms,” Miller observes.

Would this mean organic search would become useless in 2017?

Miller doesn’t think so.

“Organic is still critically important though and it may just be that businesses have to look at content marketing and acquiring customers further up the marketing funnel as paid becomes the dominant force for bottom of the funnel search queries,” he says.

As for technical SEO, Miller believes it will grow to become more important, saying: “As we move to a mobile- first index, ensuring your site is fast, user-friendly on all devices, and free of niggling technical issues, will be critical. Companies should consider looking at regular SEO audits to ensure best practices are maintained.”

Miller concludes: “We are moving out of the wild west times of search and SEO. Big brands are ruling the roost. SEO is not enough and businesses need to ensure they have their marketing dialed in to continue to compete in search in 2017 and beyond.”

Link Building “Will Become More of A Challenge” This 2017

Patrick Langridge, who is Head of SEO at digital marketing agency Screaming Frog, had this to say about the state of link building for 2017: “I think that following the recent Penguin update, it's clear that valuable link building—which actually makes a difference for websites—will become more of a challenge into 2017.”

Patrick Langridge

Head of SEO, Screaming Frog

As for the common link building practices of the past, Langridge says: “There are still lots of quick and dirty ways to build links, but Google is certainly becoming smarter at understanding which links to value and which to ignore. Brands and agencies will need to work harder to build the kinds of links that will generate organic growth, rather than spend lots of hours on low quality and low results linking work.”

He adds: “I believe it will be increasingly important to consider relevancy in linking work—this has always been important, but I think it's an area where Google will place more weight moving forward.

Langridge concludes his opinion with this advice: “Brands need to engage with websites and communities where their audience and potential customers actually spend their time, even if these sites don't hold especially high domain trust or authority.”

SEO Will Change Continuously, As Before And As It Will After 2017

"There are always going to be changes year on year and 2017 will be no different,” begins Craig Campbell.

A Glasgow-based SEO Consultant with over 15 years experience, Campbell adds:

Craig Campbell, SEO Consultant

“The key things over the past couple of years that help a website rank is the content and links and that, in my opinion, isn't likely to change too much. There are updates rolled out but these do target spammy links and spammy content and these are required to weed out the rubbish.”

As for other algorithm updates, Campbell calls these “minor changes” that you need to keep on top of to ensure you stay ahead of the competition. He doesn’t believe there will be a case where an update will cause you to come up with a completely new strategy.

“SEO for me has been about decent content and decent links and that hasn't changed much over the years. Of course, videos and infographics keeping people on the site all go a long way to helping the SEO, [but] the main things are doing the basics right first and foremost,” he says.

“People are often taken off track by all the scaremongering or things they read online and in my opinion much of that is complete nonsense,” Campbell , adding, “If you want to rank well for a specific keyword, have some good content, some good on page SEO and some good backlinks and you will get some decent rankings.”

What about social signals, you say, along with all the other new bells and whistles of SEO?

“Others will argue social signals and many other things assist with SEO, In my experience and testing, you don't really need all of the other stuff to rank well. But having social signals and shares on social media will increase traffic so they do go hand in hand,” Campbell says.

He concludes: “But I’d always advise stick to the basics first and foremost and you should be fine for 2017.”

The State of SEO Is A Continuously Shifting Situation

Joseph Gojo Cruz, author of SEO and online marketing blog, Ranking Elite, says the state of SEO is a continuously shifting situation, too.

Joseph Gojo Cruz

Author and founder of Ranking Elite

"SEO is constantly changing and every now and then we keep seeing updates from search engines. I think everyone is pretty much aware of the situation.”

Cruz has been featured on high authority sites such as Flippa.com, SearchEngineJournal, and Ahrefs, to name a few.

SEO: An Ever Moving Target

"SEO is an ever moving target, of course,” agrees Rob Watts, who runs Kent based online marketing company Yack Yack SEO.

Rob Watts

Director at Yack Yack SEO

“I'd expect some SEO opportunities to shrink as the above the fold opportunities in Google and Bing contract for the traditional blue type links,” continues Watts, who has been helping companies with their SEO and marketing for 20 yeas.

“Companies will have to adapt (yet again) to the desires of Google and ramp up their content to make the most of newer opportunities presented. There'll be a greater emphasis on HTTPS, and AMP will become increasingly important."

SEO Has Already Changed—And It is Not Slowing Down

“With Penguin now running as part of the core algorithm, mobile exceeding desktop earnings for Google for the first time, and more and more SERP UI tests rolling out each day... SEO has already changed, and it's not slowing down,” Nick Eubanks comments.

Nick Eubanks

Digital strategist for TrafficSafetyStore.com and Founder of I'm From The Future

Nick is a digital strategist who runs TrafficSafetyStore.com and is the Founder of I'm From The Future, a Philly-based digital agency.

“Now more than ever, brands and bloggers need to be hyper aware of their crawl budget, proper use of content and their sites and pages bounce rates. Dwell time in addition to other qualitative signaling is having huge impacts on rankings and SERP stabilization, and I project this is only going to continue,” Eubanks advises.

SEO Movement 2017: Less Tactical; More Strategic

Philadelphia-based blogger and professor Bill Sebald, who owns the digital agency Greenlane, says he sees more tweaks to AI and improvements to existing models and products.

Bill Sebald

Owner of digital agency Greenlane

“The movement away from tactics in the last few years will continue to be a reality, as SEOs start focusing on more strategic campaigns,” says Sebald.

“Makin your website standout in a more buzzy way, and improving brand exposure and mindshare, will help Google's improving comprehension. That's what I'm putting my chips on for 2017, anyway,” he quips.

Upcoming SEO Changes Will Have ‘A Bit’ Of A Bad Effect

Philip Verghese, otherwise known as Ariel, is a multilingual content marketer who manages different sites in English as well as in Malayalam.

For Verghese, the fact that there will be lots of changes in the state of SEO for 2017 is something he considers predictable.

Philip Verghese

Multilingual content marketer

"Since every now and then changes are taking place in SEO strategies itself, the strategy of today may not work after some time and it becomes an outdated one. Google, too, will look down on it as an outdated [strategy] and we need to look out for a new one. Coping with it is a bit difficult task,” he says, citing Google’s “Mobilegeddon” movement, which forced many web masters to develop Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP—that is, mobile friendly websites.

“Ultimately, opening/loading speed is the key here. In this fast-moving world, everyone wants to move in a fast-paced manner, and in such situation, AMP works wonders. Google utilized this opportunity well since AMP are specifically designed to load fast and it provides a better, user-friendly option,” he adds.

Verghese cautions, however, that these upcoming changes will have somewhat of a bad effect on already existing strategies imposed by brands and bloggers.

Disappearance of Organic Reach; Introduction of Site-less Web Search; Post-Truth State of Publishing

Tadeusz Szewczyk, also known as Tad Chef, is an online marketing consultant who authored the SEO 2.0 ebook and manages a blog of the same name.

When asked for his opinion about the state of SEO for 2017, Szewczyk, had much to say.

Tadeusz Szewczyk

Online marketing consultant, author of the SEO 2.0 blog and ebook

“Yes, there are plenty of changes when it comes to search that will matter in 2017.

Some are just gradual processes that have been taking place for years but which reach critical mass now. Other developments are happening more or less over night even though they too have been in the making for a while.

There are three major changes I'd like to focus on:

The disappearance of organic reach.

The introduction of the site-less web search.

The ‘post-truth’ state of publishing.

When it comes to #1, we need to come clean and admit that simply optimizing for organic Google results or Facebook reach is not sufficient anymore. Organic search is not only invisible on mobile phones.

Even large monitors and desktop computers struggle to display any organic results on Google. Kids and teens can't even distinguish between ads and results anymore.

#2. With hardware like Google Home or Amazon Echo, real life assistants overtake the last technology free space. People ask assistants what movies to watch, which food to order or which candidate to elect.

These ‘speakers’ do not even have a display. There is no way to see a website or even the need to determine the source of the advice. Websites get cut out as the proverbial middleman.

2016 has meant a paradigm shift in publishing, pushed by reactionary politics.

#3 is the so-called ‘post-truth’ state of the public discourse.

For publishing, it means not that the truth sells but that the most attractive lie prevails.

In a way, publishing merges with advertising and propaganda. Fake news and true lies spread faster and wider than hard facts. People don't seek the truth but only want their biased opinion affirmed.

- How can you optimize websites or content when there is almost no room left for it?

- How can websites rank when there is not even a search engine result visible anymore?

- How can you compete against fake news, blatant lies and myths spreading like wildfire?

There is only one strategy to deal with all those roadblocks. It's about holistic popularization.

It's not limited to search, engines, or other gatekeepers like Facebook. It's about popularizing your message independently of narrow channels, proprietary websites, or simple facts.

You need to make your truth more attractive than the lies, spread itself like memes, and make people search for it—not just you and your site."

The State of Search in 2017: Mobile-Focused SEO

International SEO consultant and writer Gabriella Sannino gave her own take, highlighting a more mobile-focused SEO for 2017.

Gabriella Sannino

International SEO consultant and writer

"There's no question in my mind that mobile search will increasingly become a more competitive factor than it already is. Specifically in three main areas:

Mobile Experience

It's pretty obvious, I think, that putting mobile experience first should become a top priority for brands and bloggers alike. Google's been pushing mobile first for a few years now, at least, but there are still many brands - including big name brands - who have abysmal mobile websites. Perhaps they think they can carry on with the name alone, but I think we'll start seeing even the big name brands suffering with a less than stellar mobile site.

So first and foremost, brands and bloggers should be moving mobile up into a more prominent position in their marketing strategies. Instead of mobile being a low priority, it should be in the top three - if not the top.

Voice Search

Shifting towards a mobile universe also points directly at voice search. We have Google Now, Siri, Cortana, and Alexa, to ask a myriad of questions. We have voice recognition programs such as Microsoft's native voice program and Dragon Naturally Speaking. We talk to our phones, tablets, computers, televisions, and cars - and we expect a response. The way we interact with our electronic devices is evolving into the realms of science fiction.

With voice search, brands and bloggers will need to recognize that people searching by voice won't be as patient and willing to research as someone searching through type. While the query may be the same, what's considered acceptable results could vary greatly.

Monitoring Content Performance, Ranking, and Local

Finally, but again in tune with the mobile direction, publishers will need to consider what type of content they've been publishing compared to the devices and methods of search. However, these aren't really new ideas—these are the same things they should have been doing all along.

For example:

* Compare terms and ranking with content performance.

* Make sure link outreach programs are to relevant sites.

* Makes sure your local information in the search engines is correct.

* Keep your NAP updated and uniform.

* Make sure citations are correct

At the end of the day, search is still evolving, and its direction is mobile, voice, and, I dare I say, Artificial Intelligence. Brands and bloggers have to be ready to embrace this future, or they'll be left in the past."

SEO Will Be Driven by Mobile User Behavior and Social Signaling

According to CEO of Agent-cy Online Marketing Jasmine Sandler: “SEO results will be driven more and more from mobile user behavior, particularly mobile app search and of course, online PR, with real credible backlinks from publishers and bloggers.”

Jasmine Sandler

CEO of Agent-cy Online Marketing

Sandler is a multi-awarded digital marketer and trainer with over 15 years of experience in B2B digital marketing consulting.

“Social Signaling will continue to become more important to Google as the Twitter-Google indexing matures,” says Sandler, who also authored books on online branding and social selling, titled ‘Branding & Sales: The LinkedIn Way’, and ‘How to Brand Yourself Online like a CEO’.

Increased Use of Voice Assistants Will Affect Keyword Optimization

For John Rampton, the Co-Founder and CEO of Due, an online invoice and payments company, sharing his opinion about online marketing and the state of SEO is part of the job—especially since he travels all over the world to speak in many such conferences.

John Rampton

Internet marketing speaker, Co-Founder, and CEO of invoice and payments company Due

“The increased use of voice assistants on smartphones to assist with searches, which is changing what keywords are used because users are employing more natural language than when they type in keyword for their searches,” says Rampton.

He adds: “That means brands and bloggers will have to re-examine what type of keywords are used and change their strategies to align with the use of voice command searches.”

Keywords No Longer Enough; Longer Tail, Keyword Phrases Are The Way To Go

Janice Wald, internet marketing coach and author of “An Insider’s Guide to Building A Successful Blog”, says she does see changes in line for SEO in 2017.

Janice Wald

Internet marketing coach and author

“Long tail keywords are more important than ever. It makes sense. If searches contain phrases, our keywords should contain phrases, so our articles come up in the searches.

To be considered "long tail," the keyword phrase should be at least four words long. I recommend the site Soovle.com as a place to find long-tail keywords that go with your content.

How does this affect current SEO strategies?

Clearly, keywords are not enough anymore to bring organic traffic to our websites. They need to be keyword phrases, at least four words long.”

SEOs Will Need to Focus More On Content Engagement

"In 2017 we will see the rise of machine learning,” says Scott Gombar, a digital marketer who hosts “The SEO Tear Down”, a weekly live video podcast about SEO.

Scott Gombar

Digital Marketer and Host of The SEO Tear Down

“Google’s RankBrain will continue to become a bigger part of the Google Search Algorithm. Website owners and SEOs will need to focus more attention on content engagement because Google will place more value on:

Comments on content

Sharing of content

Time spent on a post/page

Natural links back to content

This means SEO/Content Developers/Website Owners will need to develop content that is of high value and unique in nature.”

Days of Easy Google Rankings Are Over As Google’s Quality Standards Increase

Suprabhat Mondal is a digital marketer who has worked on SEO for companies such as Wondershare and CouponzGuru.

According to Mondal, Google upped its standards, and will continue to do so this 2017.

Suprabhat Mondal

SEO & digital marketer; CEO and Founder of Money Gossips

“If compared with 2008, Google got wise. They shut bad, poor quality stuff down; reciprocal linking stopped having any value. Sites were massively punished and remain punished to this day, most of them. Adwords accounts shut down for good. It was carnage! Those days of easy google rankings are gone, and they are gone for good.

Search engines have moved on. If you pay someone to create a huge amount of backlinks with just one click like GSA, SENuke, MoneyRobot etc, remember Google is watching you, surely it will punish you.

Even building one single link, by definition, is actually going against Google’s code of practice.

Today, the only strategy that should be imposed by bloggers and brands should be focusing much on Quality Content rather than link building.

SEO that works today, and will work permanently in the future is to not do SEO anymore.

The more quality and in-depth content you will write, popular sites like Mashable, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur (Popular site in your niche will link you naturally).

Instead, naturally promote your sites in the ways that Google will love & respect. In reward, Google will naturally rank them.”

There Will Be A Greater Push Towards User Activity On A Site

Jason Quey is a business consultant whose job is to connect entrepreneurs with influencers.

According to Quey, SEO in 2017 will continue to put more bearing on user activity on a site.

Jason Quey

Business consultant

“I think there will be a greater push towards user activity on a site. Just as social sites have used it with their algorithms, the more someone is engaged with a website or piece of content, the more Google wants to deliver that to the person.”

Links Still Important, But Producing Valuable Content More Important

Dev is the founder of a popular WordPress resource site, wpkube.com. For Dev, link building won’t be the sole driver of SEO for 2017.

wpkube.com

"I think in 2017, bloggers need to focus on things like HTTPS, site speed, user experience, CTR, and publishing epic content, instead of just building links.

Links will still be a part of SEO, but more focus should be on creating content provides value."

What We’ve Been Calling ‘Quality Content’ Isn’t Good Enough Anymore

Kathryn Aragon

Content strategist, consultant, and author

“Three things traditionally impact SEO: keyword research, quality content, and link building.

Going into 2017, I see brands realizing that the only way to win is to create higher value, better quality content.

What we've been calling quality content isn't good enough anymore.

We have the tools to do keyword research and outreach (ahem, NinjaOutreach, anyone?). But there are no shortcuts for creating content. As a result, brands and bloggers are having to step up their game.

In the coming year, I see a much greater focus on quality over quantity as a result.”

Emphasis On Higher Quality Content And User Experience

Ryan Amen

Marketing Director at Nifty Marketing

"I think we will continue to see increased emphasis on quality user experience & more unnamed ‘core’ updates. Having content on topics isn’t going to be enough to compete & producing content that is 2x-10x better than competing pages on the topic will continue to increase as a priority for brands.

There’s still a lot of poor quality content performing well in search results, but if you want to get ahead of the curve, focus on creating pages & content that blow the competition away as far as how useful it is to your audience.

Google wants to serve the best result for the searched term/phrase & eventually, it will only be a matter of personal preference (which also comes into the equation/result) that will be up for debate on what the best (Google served) result is.”

Google Organic Search Ranking Algorithms Favor User Engagement Signals Over CTR

Larry Kim

Founder of WordStream

"Google's organic search ranking algorithms are increasingly favoring user engagement signals like click through rates and dwell time.

While links and keywords still matter, SEOs should shift some of their attention to identifying and fixing low CTR and high bounce-rate pages that are (a) likely not realizing their full potential and (b) most likely a drag on *other* pages on your site as Google evaluates user engagement metrics not just on the basis of individual keywords and pages, but of your overall site.

Sites that are most vulnerable to this ongoing shift in ranking factors will be sites with high ‘domain authority’ that were able to rank on large portfolios of search queries by cranking out volumes of lower quality content."

Kim also developed free marketings tools for Facebook, AdWords, and SEO and he hosts columns about marketing and entrepreneurship on his blog, Inc. Magazine, and Medium.

Algorithms Keep Changing, But SEO Has Essentially Stayed The Same

Jeff Ferguson

Founder and CEO of Fang Digital Marketing

“I think the algorithms that influence most SEOs are constantly changing; however, in reality, SEO has never really changed. It has always been about providing quality content to your users on a properly built site that naturally attracts links from other sites (because of quality content).

How Google lays out its results matters, but chasing that instead of focusing on making your own product great is a losing game.”

Engagement And CTR Go Hand In Hand

Peter Attia, Modernize Director of Content and Search

“One thing that continues to become more important is engagement and click through rate metrics. We've seen a lot of correlation between these metrics and organic rankings and they seem to become stronger over time. I expect this trend to continue and possibly grow into other engagement metrics.”

SEO Is In A Constant State Of Flux

Craig Kilgore

Digital marketing and inbound sales consultant based in New York

“SEO is in a constant state of flux, which is no surprise to most.

Over the last decade, I’ve noticed SEO to be one of the most overthought components of digital marketing. People tend to get tunnel vision when it comes to SEO and they fail to see and capitalize on the obvious.

For example, if you’re not currently focusing on the level of impact (both positive and negative) user experience signals have on SEO, yet you obsess over writing the perfect meta descriptions and header tags (which are important, don’t get me wrong), you’re guilty of this tunnel vision I speak of.

Leverage free / low-cost tools like Google Analytics and Hotjar to gain a complete understanding of where, and more importantly why, visitors are or aren’t doing what you hoped they’d do when you published that new page on your site, wrote that new blog post, or created that new landing page.

Leave your assumptions at the door and give your visitors exactly what they want.

Aimlessly creating for the sake of creating has gone on for far too long and it absolutely influences your SEO outcomes.

The web is overflowing with content.

Many SEO / digital marketing practitioners look at content creation as a silver bullet. The more content we create, the better off we’ll be.

To succeed in 2017, you must get out of this mindset. More is not always better. Spend more time understanding your visitors and what’ll keep them engaged.

Learn more about what they like, what they share, what they recommend, what they forward, and what’ll make them want to come back to your site.

Train yourself to stay in this mindset versus the “create, create, create” mindset, and you’ll begin to see that your visitors are now spending more time on your site, sharing more of your content, subscribing to more of your emails, signing up for more of your webinars, etc. Isn’t this what we all want? This is what Google and other search engines want, too.

Make it a point to fully understand your visitors, create only what they need (not what you think they need), and you'll be left with a fully engaged and tuned in audience, making 2017 your best SEO year."

Mobile SEO Is The New Frontier

Glen Dimaandal

CEO of GDI Online Marketing, CEO

“I would bank on a renewed focus on technical SEO with respect to mobile devices to carry our campaigns in 2017.” This, coming from Glen Dimaandal, the CEO of GDI Online Marketing, a Philippine-based SEO agency.

Glen has already spoken in major SEO conferences such as SMX West and Confluence, and he shares digital marketing insights in his blog GlenDemands.com.

“Mobile SEO will be more vital to B2C sites than ever. There seems to be no let-up in the growth of mobile internet usage and Google will certainly want to capitalize on that.

The shift in strategy will likely lean away from looking at the customer buying cycle through the lens of just desktop devices.

A more multi-touch approach involving both desktop and mobile devices will be the way to go.”

SEO Will Become An Even Bigger Battlefield

Arnout Hellemans

SEO specialist

“Yes, more voice-activated searches and answer boxes (knowledge graph). You either build a brand or have quality content to appear in these answers [...] This will become an even bigger battlefield.”

Arnout Hellemans is an SEO specialist who optimizes pages both for NL and international SEO.

Google Will Be Laser Focused On Mobile Search

Tommy Landry is the Founder and President of Return On Now and provides the vision behind the company’s SEO and SEM methodologies.

ommy Landry

Founder and President of Return On Now

"Over the past couple of years, we've watched Google put a laser focus on mobile search. That trend will only accelerate in 2017.

You will see this occur in several areas:

Mobile first search algorithms: Google has already gone on record as saying mobile will come ahead of desktop in the new year. This makes a great deal of sense, as we are seeing well over half of searches occur on phones and tables.

AMP: Accelerated Mobile Pages was a bit slow to show adoption in the very early days, but more and more webmasters and SEOs are getting on board to close out 2016. Google Search Console even has a view where you can verify that your AMP pages are showing up properly. AMP will provide important benefits for page load time and mobile UX, and I anticipate it will hit critical mass before the end of next year.

Voice Search / Machine Learning Enhancements: Also piling on the mobile topic, voice search is poised to become a crucial piece of the search puzzle. Google and other search engines will continue to enhance the sophistication of their algorithms using machine learning, and this will in turn help improve the usefulness of voice search in tandem.

So bottom line: If you haven't already pivoted to focus on mobile, you're already too late. Work hard to catch up, because this will be more important in the coming months."

Massive Mobile SEO Movement: Don’t Get Left Behind!

Dennis Goedegebuure is the Vice President for Growth & SEO at Fanatics Inc. In this role, he oversees the creation of social content, content amplification and all SEO efforts for the Fanatics network of partner sites.

Dennis Goedegebuure

Vice President for Growth & SEO at Fanatics Inc.

"If you haven’t thought of a mobile strategy for 2017, you just have 3 weeks to sit down and get yourself one.

With the increasing growth of time spend on the mobile phones, Google introducing a mobile first approach to search, you can expect a whole lot of changes coming down.

This would include; how are you handling mobile pages or are you implementing AMP? What about a progressive webapp strategy vs your own app? And have you thought about the changing behaviors of the people you are targeting, they might adopt voice search faster than you thought."

Prior to Fanatics, Dennis has spent 10+ years in various SEO positions, recently as Head of Global SEO at Airbnb.

Before Airbnb, Dennis was with eBay for almost 10 years, last in the position of SEO Director for all eBay global marketplaces. He started his career with eBay in The Netherlands, working on the local eBay site and Marktplaats.nl, the local classified site from eBay, and the country’s e-commerce leader.

Web Page Optimization And Quality Content

Debbie Miller is the Digital Communications Manager for a digital marketing agency in Southern California. She also runs her own brand and side business, Social Hospitality, where she blogs about digital trends and provides writing, editing, and social media services.

Debbie Miller

Digital Communications Manager; owner of Social Hospitality

"If you haven’t thought of a mobile strategy for 2017, you just have 3 weeks to sit down and get yourself one.

With the increasing growth of time spend on the mobile phones, Google introducing a mobile first approach to search, you can expect a whole lot of changes coming down.

Prior to Fanatics, Dennis has spent 10+ years in various SEO positions, recently as Head of Global SEO at Airbnb.

Google Switch To Mobile-First Search Will Trigger Technical SEO Resurgence

Chris Countey

SEO Technical Manager at Publicis Health

"Google switching from a desktop-first to a mobile-first index is likely to have a major impact on search. It will be interesting to see how Google will handle PageRank with the new index since most sites link to each other via responsive or desktop site versions, not usually mobile.

For brands and bloggers that still use a mobile version (m dot), they should begin evaluating the setup of their websites now.

Mobile alternation and proper canonicalization will be key, as well as ensuring that they think mobile-first in terms of content development. Many m dot sites are developed as ‘lightweight’ versions of the desktop site, usually leading to less content and a general reduction in experience for the user.

Another consideration is how we currently track rankings. Even tools like SEMRush take a desktop-first approach to keeping track of positions. I've seen some incorrect data in tools tracking ‘mobile visibility’ so hopefully that gets worked out.

I think this change will result in a resurgence of technical SEO, especially as mobile search optimization paves the way for the optimization of the internet of things."

SEO 2017: Putting Mobile First

Jordan Kasteler is a freelance marketing consultant and entrepreneur who co-founded SteelCast, a tech incubator housing several other self-started companies, and served as Managing Partner of BlueGlass Interactive, an Internet marketing agency.

Jordan Kasteler

Marketing consultant and entrepreneur

“The major change in 2017 is putting mobile first. Google will base a site's ranking on how it appears on mobile instead of how they traditionally do it now by focusing on desktop.

Mobile site content should reflect what the desktop site reflects as well. This also means that mobile sites with interstitials that are obtrusive will be penalized as they don't create a good user experience.”

Jordan also worked as in-house SEO at Overstock.com and as marketing strategist for PETA. He is also an international conference speaker and author of “A to Z: Social Media Marketing”.

Shift From Long Form Content To Video Content

Steven Macdonald, SuperOffice online marketer

Based in Tallinn, Estonia

“I think the biggest change in SEO for 2017 will be a shift in moving all written content to video content.

Today, SEOs are under the impression that longer form content will rank highly and so many try to game this by writing 10,000+ word pieces of content.

By 2019, 80% of all content consumed online will be through video. SEOs cannot game video content as it requires a completely new skill set.

The top SEOs will be focusing more on video in 2017 and less on the written word.”

A Lot of Changes; Remain Cautious With SEO Strategy

Fervil Von Tripoli

SEO specialist and digital marketing strategist

Based in the Philippines

“Google is getting clear on its intention to go mobile. We’ve seen big data showing how rapid mobile searchers grow in numbers. Google started rolling out a lot of algorithm changes which pushed SEOs to conform with the mobile standard and making websites more useful than ever.

I’ve actually mentioned these algorithm updates in 2016. These are some of the highlights that SEO practitioners should take into consideration in the upcoming months and years.

The Google search is very volatile now. With all the algorithm updates we’ve seen in the past, SEOs should be wary of the SEO strategies they are building up for business websites.

Back then, SEOs solely focus their energy on keywords and backlinks. In 2017 onwards, every SEO practitioners will need to evolve into T-shaped web marketers.”

Social Media Site Content Will Show Up More In Search Engine Results

Seb Brantigan, also known as the Britpreneur, is an online marketer. He also provides training on lead generation strategies.

Seb Brantigan

Online marketer and trainer

"I have a few things I want to comment on; Personally, I see social media sites appearing in the search engines more, at present Facebook doesn't often take up top taking slots for keyword specific terms. However, static content is losing its value.

Any static content such as press releases and articles I believe will lose their SEO value more over time.

Also, I believe there will come a time where you can find content from other websites inside Facebook's search tool. You can always find news articles people have shared, but I feel that Facebook will start to grab more search users.

Finally, video seems to be really emerging as they keep users on the website for longer periods of time, in particular live videos. Videos will definitely keep increasing in popularity and brands or businesses should be switching over to videos when creating content, as YouTube videos are much easier to rank in the search engines than non-authority websites."

Continued And Growing Focus On Mobile SEO

James Reynolds is the founder of Veravo which consists of three search engine marketing agencies; SEO Sherpa, SEO Partner, and Click Jam. He is a contributor to several leading publications including Entrepreneur Magazine and mentors startup companies in his free time.

James Reynolds

Founder of Veravo and SEO Sherpa

"I expect there to be a continued (and growing) focus by SEOs on the mobile web.

The signs are there for all to see with Google's push on; Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), the mobile first index, Google Now, Google Home and Progressive Web Apps. All of these things have come to the forefront in 2016 and will continue be a focus in 2017.

For maximum visibility in the years ahead, brands and bloggers should ensure their pages are fast, easy to index, and mobile-friendly.

That means more focus on structured data, AMP pages, page speed and the removal of unnecessary interstitials (popups)."

SEO Algorithm Updates And Penalties Should Come With More Transparency

Michael Cottam

SEO consultant and Moz Associate

“This past year, Google has suffered some pretty terrible teething pains in Analytics (the Keyword Planner tool) and in Search Console (various metrics broken), plus with a major upheaval in how Penguin works and big mysteries as to what algorithmic penalties still live in the system.

My hope is that Google will fix their major bugs in 2017, bring clarity to webmasters in the world of Google penalties, and—in my dream world—they'll bring accurate and un-blocked keyword search volume data back for webmasters.”

Michael is a technical SEO consultant, specializing in on-page optimization and penalty recovery. He is a Moz Associate, and a past board member of SEMpdx.

SEO Becomes More Integrated Into Cohesive Digital Marketing Strategies

Eric Hebert

Founder of Evolvor Media

“SEO will continue to become more integrated into cohesive digital marketing strategies.

No longer will companies be "looking for an SEO" but will get smarter about hiring or employing talent and teams that can develop marketing campaigns that include SEO and have a direct impact on SEO, especially the link building aspects.

Teams will have to think more about REAL marketing that has added SEO benefits instead of just purely thinking about keywords and backlinks.”

Eric is the founder of Evolvor Media, a digital marketing agency located outside of Philadelphia.

Ranking On Google Will Become Easier With Penguin Real Time Update

Shounak Gupte

Web developer & SEO specialist

"Ranking in the SERPs on Google will become easier with Penguin becoming real time.

Three trends to look out for in 2017 are:

Marketing Plan

Complete Marketing plan will replace just a simple SEO strategy. Your marketing plan should include On-page optimization, Off-page strategies, Social, Paid, Advertising etc.

Optimize for users

You should also concentrate on optimizing your website for users rather than concentrating too much on keywords and topics. Better website structure, UX and load times will get better visibility in SERPs.

Voice Search

Voice search will keep gaining popularity. Marketers and bloggers will have to think outside the box to optimize websites to get more traffic from voice."

Shounak Gupte is a Melbourne based web developer & SEO specialist.

Google Will Get Smarter, But The Power of Links Remain

Ben Wynkoop

SEO specialist

“Google's algorithm will continue to get smarter, but links will continue to be the single most important ranking factor for years to come.

Specifically, editorial links are very powerful because they are often earned when a website is referenced.

However, I am surprised that coming into 2017, so many brands are involved with philanthropic efforts, but do not prominently feature this on their website to earn links through public relations efforts.

Look at the "Responsibility" section on Starbucks.com for a perfect example. Post news about your philanthropic efforts to this section, publish a press release that references the announcement with a link, and reach out to relevant journalist and bloggers for coverage.”

Ben Wynkoop is a local SEO specialist in Orange County, California.

Google Machine Learning Will Affect Keyword Usage

Simon Penson

Founder and Managing Director of Zazzle Media

“Google is heading one way; to a future that is focused entirely on understanding the subtle nuances of how we speak, learn and converse.

That means the days of 'keywords', certainly in the way we have historically used them, are over. Focus should now be on the audience and that's a truly wonderful thing for marketers. [This] allows marketing teams to create the best products, experiences and content possible.

SEO will still have its place to ensure platforms are fit for purpose but the only game in town will be brilliant content execution.”

Simon Penson is the Founder and Managing Director of Zazzle Media, a UK based content marketing agency. Prior to digital, Penson spent 10 years as a print editor.

More Emphasis On Content Creation and Link Acquisition

Venchito Tampon

CEO and Co-Founder of SharpRocket

"Yes, a lot. Starting with mobile indexing, optimizing for voice search, so and so forth. These things if you're not aware may be taken advantage of by your competitors to improve their search visibility and to win the market share of your industry.

Content creation and link acquisition should be given more emphasis than ever.

Creative teams would have more jobs as well as those that specialize in enterprise link building, they will get more attention nowadays (as getting links and creating 10x content will be much harder in the next years to come)."

Venchito Tampon is the CEO and Co-Founder of SharpRocket, a link building company based in Asia.

A Shift Towards Technical SEO And Quick Answers

Sean Si

CEO and Founder of SEO Hacker and Qeryz

“I believe that we're already seeing the shift go to technical SEO and quick answers.

Now that it's easier to get your site from rank 5 to rank 0 (AKA 'Featured snippets') rather than rank 5 to rank 1, people and other organizations may focus on giving out quick answers that would lead people to 'read more' or 'know more' in their site.

Ranking at #0 has proved to be effective in bringing in traffic. Technical SEO has a part to play in that too in the sense that if you make it easier for Google to read and understand your site with Schema, it's easier to get to rank 0.”

Good Or Bad Ads On Your Site Will Start To Impact Your SEO

Ziv Eliraz

CEO, Infolinks

“We see that the type of ads you have on your site start to impact the SEO of your site. You still need to have great, original, relevant content, but to be mindful about an overly intrusive ad experience.”

Ziv Eliraz is the CEO of Infolinks, an advertising platform.

Business As Usual

James Norquay

Director at Prosperity Media

“Most business owners who engage in high-quality SEO will continue to do well in 2017. Brands need to ensure they make full use of schema markup and focus on long tail SEO traffic to drive more visibility. “

No Fundamental Changes

David Farkas is the Founder & CEO of The Upper Ranks, a boutique Link Building company that services clients all over the world.

David Farkas

Founder and CEO, The Upper Ranks

"I don't see any fundamental changes and believe that links along with great content will continue to remain the core component of the algorithm for 2017 and the foreseeable future.

To quote Gary Illyes from a few months back, ‘ranking without links is really really hard.’”

A Couple of Big Changes, But Nothing Totally New

Nate Shivar is a marketing educator & SEO consultant based in Atlanta, GA.

Nate Shivar

Marketing educator & SEO consultant

"I think there will be a couple big changes in SEO in 2017. Neither are new, but 2017 will be the ‘tipping point’ where brands & bloggers can no longer rely on temporary fixes.

First will be foundational website technology & processes.

Search engines will continue to place an emphasis on speed, security, mobile experience & semantic markup. None of those are new.

But in 2017, the emphasis will reach a point where bloggers & brands can no longer ‘bolt-on’ solutions.

They'll have to take a hard look at their fundamental website technology & processes. If they don't address their foundational issues—they'll simply fall impossibly far behind competitors who have a solid technical foundation and can quickly roll out changes.

Second will be keyword & persona research.

Again, neither change is new, but I think 2017 will see a tipping point where the old, best practice methods for keyword & persona research will no longer work.

Bloggers & brands will need to start paying more for information, and they'll need to get more creative in deciding where to look."

The Era of Major Changes In Google Is Over

Harris Schachter

SEO & Content Marketing Manager of Capital One; Owner of OptimizePrime, LLC

"Personally, I think the era of major changes in Google algorithms is over with. We will never again see the huge fluctuations across all industries like we have seen since the ‘90s.

Rather, now that Google is heavily invested in machine learning to drive their search algorithm, changes will be so rapid and minuscule that the signal is indistinguishable from the noise.

Furthermore, these changes will be limited to specific search intents as the technology increased its breadth of understanding and responds to searcher response.

The only change I think we'll really see is the continued focus on this channel by companies large and small. Investment here will not slow down."

Harris Schachter is SEO & Content Marketing Manager at Capital One, and owner of OptimizePrime, LLC, a digital marketing agency.

Different Tactics Come And Go, But Fundamental Strategies Remain The Same

Dominic Wells

Owner, HumanProofDesigns.com

“Different tactics come and go like always, but the fundamental strategies will be the same for the foreseeable future.

Connect with others in your niche, get backlinks, features, and referrals from them, and build a strong brand based on your networking skills. Simple.”

Dominic Wells owns HumanProofDesigns.com, a company that builds affiliate websites.

SEO Will Continue To Become More Integrated With Other Content Disciplines

John Doherty is the founder of GetCredo.com, an SEO and digital marketing agency and consultancy.

John Doherty

Founder of GetCredo.com

Based in Denver, Colorado

"I think SEO as a discipline is going to continue to become more integrated with the other disciplines of content, PR, and paid acquisition.

Gone are the days of each working in a silo. The brands that really win are going to have these integrated and work together to grow the company.

On the pure SEO side, I expect more of the same from the search engines—fighting link spam, iterating on search results, pushing organic more below the fold on the search results pages, and wanting to reward great content.

I think we'll see dwell time signals (time on site, interactions with pages they visit, bouncing back to the SERPs) become stronger and stronger as Google gathers more data."

Dennis Seymour

Digital marketer and entrepreneur

"I don't see anything really major. Sure, we're moving more and more towards mobile but the core algorithm and ‘purpose’ is still working the same. It's always like this at this time of each year when we all ‘call’ the demise of a certain something only to realize that ‘Hey, it's still practically the same!’

There's really one major thing that I'm sure publishers will focus on more and that's creating even MORE content.

Some will be wiser with their budget but the majority will just continue to churn them out like it's nothing.

Google will probably do more things about this to lessen the trash to spread more opportunities to the little guys. Maybe."

Follow The Google

Ken Lyons

Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Digital Examiner and Measured SEM, LLC

"SEO strategists need only take their cues from Google on where to focus their efforts in 2017.

Google has clearly dictated where search is headed in the near term with continued focus on the mobile experience (look at AMP, Mobilegeddon, boosting the mobile-friendly algos, mobile SEO speed signals and test tools, the pending mobile interstitials update; a continued focus on moving to a secure web (look at HTTPS as a ranking signal and the pending connection security update); and an increased focus on providing ‘precise and fast’ responses directly in the SERPs (look at Hummingbird, knowledge cards, the explosion in answer boxes).

If you focus on those three core aspects as part of your SEO efforts in 2017 (mobile experience, security, and providing better answers to questions than your competitors), you'll be ahead of the game."

Google Will Continue To Move In Pretty Much The Same Direction

Tom Demers is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Measured SEM LLC was Directmor of Marketing for search marketing software provider WordStream.

Tom Demers

Co-Founder, Managing Partner at Measured SEM LLC

"I see Google continuing to move in the same general direction that they have been on a few issues—specifically:

Featured Snippets / Quick Answers

For a lot of queries Google is moving more and more to providing answers in-line in search results - I'd expect some of these formats to mature and get more real estate, and I'd expect this to be integrated in more and more search results.

Better Understanding Queries

Google's invested a lot in trying to better understand the intent behind searcher queries and to move beyond some of the older more literal ways of answering searches with updates like Hummingbird and RankBrain—as voice search becomes more prevalent this seems likely to be a growing emphasis.

Emphasis on Engagement Metrics

I see Google continuing to incorporate signals like click-through, engagement metrics, etc. in determining the results most likely to create a positive experience for searchers.

Generally I think this means for brands and bloggers that they'll want to focus in a lot of the same core areas for SEO:

- Creating long-form, unique content that they promote effectively and aggressively

- Creating content that searchers want that effectively answers their query

- Being cognizant of the type of content Google ‘likes’ to display in featured snippets”

Demers also worked as an in-house SEO specialist and SEO Manager, and now does consulting.

2017 Not Likely To Bring Any Radical Changes to SEO

Matt Press is a copywriter who has written words for UK based brands such as Sky, Three and Vodafone. He now runs his own content marketing agency, Splash Copywriters.

Matt Press

Copywriter and manager of Splash Copywriters

“I'm not expecting any radical changes. I see 2017 being very similar to 2016. Why should Google alter something that's already working [and improving year-on-year]?

Of course, there'll be more emphasis on mobile results, since the stats show that most of us search on the move, but Google will still want to return the best search results.

As such, that'll mean a continued emphasis on content and links.”

No Major SEO Changes In 2017; Focus On User Experience

Swadhin Agrawal

Entrepreneur & blogger

Swadhin Agrawal is an entrepreneur and blogger. He writes about social media strategies on his blog DigitalGYD.com and is currently working on WPChime.com, a WordPress resource site.

"I think SEO is not going to have a major change this 2017. With Google more focusing on user experience, it will make it more focused to rank sites that give the best to visitors rather than aiming at ranking. This is where you have to optimize your site perfectly with SEO optimization techniques.

Mobile responsive will move a step further with AMP and we'll also see a lot of focus on videos.

As I told about user experience, Google will be rewarding sites that directly answer the queries people search for. This is evident from rich answers and search snippets which will be more prominent in the year ahead.

The gist, you write aiming at giving the best possible resource for visitors and Google will give you the best possible number of visitors."

The post Expert Roundup: 55 Experts Give Us Their Take On SEO Trends for 2017 appeared first on Ninja Outreach.

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