Martijn,

I shouldn't have called it a "secret weapon" because an ads.txt file is public.

My question is really that given that Google looks at everything, it would be surprising if the search algos didn't check to see if there's an ads.txt file on the site, and give that some weight.

Anyone else looked at this or tested it?

I know that the ads.txt system is designed to prevent ad fraud and technically has nothing to do with search.

That said, the presence of such a file would seem to be an indicator of overall site quality because it would show that a site owner wants to participate in a fraud-free system.

Has anyone ever tested that? If so, they don't seem to have published their results. Maybe it's a secret weapon that some pros are using and not sharing?

It could potentially be a problem if the newsletter has a link that is something like "view this email as a web page" and that link is searchable.

My suggestion is that you post the content on your blog first, and then create a link to it in the email so that it's clear that this is an email version of something that appeared originally on your blog. Then there's a chance that MailChimp link will be seen as a duplicate of your blog, but that's much better than your blog being seen as a duplicate of something else.

That link goes to a godaddy holding page...

I did go and search "is " and google suggested "Is Daniel Tosh gay?" I've never heard of Mr. Tosh, but there you have it.

So I went through the alphabet, it's actually pretty funny:

"Is Anderson Cooper gay?"

"Is Brenda Song pregnant" (I've never heard of her, either.)

"Is croup contagious?"

Then the one about Mr. Tosh, and after that "Is Darrenn Criss gay?" (I don't know him, either. Jeesh, I must be old.)

And on it goes with lots of questions about people being gay or pregnant. O was my favortie, "Is oatmeal gluten free?"

Is it possible for that to actually work? I really doubt it.

It seems like Google would figure it out after a while that only people in India are behaving that way, and given that Google localizes results it would only help in India.

Also, how can you be sure that the MTurk people are actually doing what you ask? They aren't providing you a product, they are just searching in some specific way. Every time I've used MTurk I've gotten work product that shows the minimum possible amount of work. If I used them for something that I don't get back I wouldn't have any trust that they are actually doing it.

I don't disagree with any of the other answers, but I have to say the target should always be 250 words. Any less than that, and basically you don't have enough to say to warrant a post.

What I've found is that if I'm struggling to get up to 250, it means I need to think about it more and then when I come back to it I blow past 250 easily.

Is it possible for that to actually work? I really doubt it.

It seems like Google would figure it out after a while that only people in India are behaving that way, and given that Google localizes results it would only help in India.

Also, how can you be sure that the MTurk people are actually doing what you ask? They aren't providing you a product, they are just searching in some specific way. Every time I've used MTurk I've gotten work product that shows the minimum possible amount of work. If I used them for something that I don't get back I wouldn't have any trust that they are actually doing it.