Wrong types of questions...

[oznappies]

Coming from the other side of the fence as a developer and business owner and not an SEO person, I find that this is a great resource channel to discuss ideas. I will ask questions at time that will be basic, sometimes because I see different view on here or have a answer from the external SEO company we use. I like to know why something is done, not just that its is done. There are many responses I scan on here to find that information, and if I cannot find it I ask. Having spent many years on cutting edge software, I am used to asking questions in forums and just getting silence, it is refreshing in here to see prompt answers, support (thumbs up and good answer icons) and discussion on various topics.

The title of this discussion prompts me to say: 'The only wrong question is the one not asked .When you assume you know the answer to every problem then you become the problem.'

[flowsimple]

I'd rather see the solution involve some hard core user experience upgrades with some minor moderation for duplicates.

To start, the Pro Q&A could borrow some of the UX principles implemented by the User Voice app. Some things that would significantly prevent duplicate questions from being asked again include:

• combining the Search and Ask fields into one box to require all users to search for similar questions before asking.
• Implement an instant on search/filter for all questions.
• Allow administrators to merge 2 similar discussion questions.

Perhaps a bit of investigation of some of other modern forum apps would uncover some other tactics to showcase the most common questions, and prevent duplicate questions.

[5225Marketing]

If it's the questions you're worried about, that's why we're here - to learn from experts.

If it's the answers you're worried about, I think you can tell who are the experts and who are the kindly novices.

As a novice myself, I would be grateful if someone pointed out to me that I could be asking better questions.

This site already has a reference section with articles that cover almost every topic (definitely the basic ones) in SEO. You can always point people to those when they ask a basic question, and put more effort into questions where the author has done their homework.

[Mcarle]

I'm a small business owner who managed to get lost down the SEO rabbit hole a few years ago on another forum.

Since then I have learned so much that I do spurts of intense study for a few months then leave it alone for a year.  I then come back to learn all the new and exiting changes that are constantly going on.

What I do find odd is that in my experience 99.99% of the SEO "experts" who call my business and try to sell me a product or service fail so miserably that I just shake my head & then go back to my own learning instead of paying someone else to do the work for me.

I understand that lots of people who are new will ask the same new questions, I sure did.

If they are asking the wrong ones a two fold approach might help.

a. Answer the question.

b. Guide them to the proper questions with examples of why another method of thinking might be important.