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What's good?

In September/October 2019, I helped a friend out with their SEO.

It was a small site running on Shopify, selling all kinds of power tools.

It was a 2 man business operating amongst a sea of competitors, one of which is backed by Ali Baba.

The other day I was trying to be funny.

When someone asked me what I do, I replied with this:

"I'm a visibility consultant"

Naturally, their eyes glazed over.

What does the S in SEO stand for?

Search?

Stupid?

Sashimi?

Last week's SEO email lost me a few subscribers.

Not entirely sure why - it was all about why these algorithm updates don't scare me! (and why they shouldn't scare you either).

But thems the breaks in email newsletter land.

Anyway.

There's been a lot of updates in SEO Land lately.

The recent Helpful Content Update has thrown many off, particularly in the travel niche.

And for good reason: too many travel sites are just trash.

Trash content littered with garbage ads.

What's good?

I saw a tweet that I wholeheartedly disagreed with.

Nothing new, it is Twitter after all.

But this was a tweet about SEO and it was from someone who, on the outside, seems to have a clue about SEO.

What's good?

You know the hardest thing about sending out this newsletter each week?

It's knowing how to keep everyone happy.

I know many people on my list personally. And I know many from social media.

What's good?

I've been in and out of SEO land over the past few weeks.

But I'm back in circulation.

And here's some recent SEO issues I've encountered that I think you can learn from:

Someone asked John Mueller this question:

"does keyword research help SEO"

This is the precise kind of asinine thinking in SEO that needs to get in the bin.

This along with other equally brainless questions like: which is better? on-page SEO or off-page SEO

I know there's a lot going on in SEO land right now.

It can feel overwhelming.

I get it. I'm also looking at SEO with one eyebrow raised.

From AI to ChatGPT and Bard to Google SGE and GA4... it's a lot to take in!

Most sites suffer from slow load times.

Slow is, of course, somewhat, subjective.

But no site is perfect and there's always going to be reasons for this.

So it's no surprise that improving site speed is usually the first recommendation I make to people.

Most people will readily tell you how you got started in their line of work.

But most don't tell you why they stay in it.

And it's not just to pay the bills or because they enjoy it. Or both.

I got into SEO almost by accident. It's a story for another day.

Some of you are fixating on links like rabid dogs.

Seriously, stop it.

It's not healthy.

You need to get back to basics and making sure your site is actually usable.

What's good?

Back in March 2022, I sent out an email with 10 things I learnt from running my own online store.

I sent it after just 3 months of operations.

And it remains one of my most popular emails to date.

"Why should I bother paying you to do this when I can do it myself?"

Why indeed.

This was the question posed to me by a prospective client.

This happened immediately after I gave them some general advice about SEO for their Shopify store.

What's good?

So if you've been paying attention, it's been quite a week in tech.

AI is absolutely devouring everyone and everything. And consuming our brains and whatever little attention spans TikTok hasn't taken from us.

Now there's a tonne of stuff out there from people way smarter than me and with way more time on their hands (JELLY!). So it won't take you long to find great write ups on what's been happening.

I lost 2 subscribers after last week's email.

That's a big deal, when you have a small list like mine.

It's also a big deal when you maintain a 50%+ open rate with your emails, like I do.

And it got me thinking - what did I do wrong?

What's good?

Ok so - I've done a few big SEO audits lately.

What surprises me is how bad their SEO is.

What doesn't surprise me is that they're all different businesses in different countries.

What's good?

Once again, the SEO world is on fire.

Because of something Google said.

Nothing new, really. Us SEO folks are fickle and a bunch of turncoats - at the best of times!

What do you do when you:

• see keywords that stick out like a sore thumb

• know you have to capitalise on them

• but don't want to break the law and/or the back of your brand and legal teams?

Let me tell you about my work on my first client in Dubai: Atlantis The Palm Dubai.

It's an iconic 5 star resort on the Palm Jumeirah. Google it, it's a fantastic place to visit.

What's good?

So I'm knee deep in SEO right now.

That shouldn't be a surprise for an SEO consultant, right?

Of course.

It's a simple question with even simpler answers:

1. Yes, send help

2. No, we good

3. I have no idea

Reply with a number and let me know.

Google's been on a rampage lately with almost monthly updates to the algo. It's been wild and yes, if you've been good, you should have nothing to worry about.

I bet you do.

We all do.

No this isn’t fat shaming or body negativity.

We all need to get into better shape.

I seem to make a habit of ghosting you, don't I?

Sorry.

But I promise, this has been a legitimate leave of absence.

So let me cut to the chase:

What's the first thing you notice about a website?

Is it the logo / branding?

Is it the nav menu?

Is it the imagery?

You can't change my mind.

SEO is not a once-off.

SEO is not something you set and forget.

SEO is not a casual fling.

People seem to think that SEO is a one thing thing.

Like, you set it and forget it.

And then everything just works.

Forever and ever.

Let me be super real with you folks.

Everyone needs SEO in their life.

SEO is important to every website in every way.

No matter your industry, no matter how huge your brand is and no matter how you source your leads, your website needs SEO.

It's time for me to be real with you on all things SEO.

There's always going to be cowboys spreading misinformation, sadly.

But there's always going to be people like me spreading the truth, gladly.

Let me clear the air and give it to you straight.

So the other day I was asked why I chose SEO and what makes it so special.

I kinda fell into SEO unintentionally.

But then made the conscious decision to stick with it.

And all because it simply made more sense to me.

OK so these are apparently some challenging times.

Not necessarily 'uncertain' times (if you remember when covid hit).

But no doubt there's a lot of nervous faces around because of economics.

I'm not a finance guy and I don't know anything about investments and stock markets.

It's time to let go of those vanity metrics you keep chasing.

They only feed you a false sense of success.

All of these things can be GAMED.

As in, they can be manipulated.

I remember in the early days of Facebook, how every conversation I ever had with anyone, always included mentions of Facebook.

It was like a comma - the word came up so often.

"I saw this on Facebook"

"So the other day on Facebook"

A lot of SEO folks reminisce about the good old days.

Back when SEO was "simple".

Was it really simple though?

Yes and no. You didn't need to do as much and you could get away with a lot of shady tactics.

"eat the frog"

I first heard this about 13 years ago.

I was talking to my wife (then fiancee) about how I didn't want to call these high maintenance clients because they always wore me down.

and I kept putting it off til later, which didn't help the situation at all.

Let me tell you about a person by the name of Ross Simmonds.

If you're in the SEO / Content space, you'll no doubt know who he is.

Ross is an excellent SEO and a trailblazing content expert. But what Ross truly excels at is "content distribution".

Ross is UNSTOPPABLE at distributing content. The man has no equal. No one distributes like he does.

So you know how I have an online store selling personalised baby gifts?

Almost all traffic is from Google, as expected.

Google is #1 in the UAE where we're based and where our customers are based.

But recently, we've gotten a lot more traffic from Bing, DuckDuckGo and even Yahoo (got a sale from there too!).

Lucky you! 3 emails in 1 week after a month of silence.

I couldn't help myself. I just had to send out more emails. I got inspired!

This one is short though, I promise.

I wanted to give you 5 quick SEO tips for you to chew on this weekend to help you achieve your SEO goals even faster:

So you know how I hadn't emailed you in a month, because I had nothing of value to share?

I wasn't lying.

I drew a blank and couldn't think of anything to talk about that you could actually find insightful.

This doesn't mean I don't have ideas. I just didn't have them at the time.

The last time I emailed you was 1 month ago.

I've been a bit preoccupied (sorry).

But, the gap between emails has been somewhat deliberate.

The reason for the drop in comms is due to me not having anything of substance to talk about.

Ok I'm sorry.

This was meant to be a personal email tying in my passion for SEO with the current conflict that's occupying the media with loads of good SEO advice.

But I realised it would be in poor taste, despite my pure intentions.

You don't need me to tell you that war is not good and that we all deserve to live in peace.

I've been running my own online store for just over 3 months.

I should correct that: I'm running it with my wife.

And that's an important distinction.

Not because she may read this and send a shoe flying my way.

Let me tell you something folks.

If you want to make better decisions with your digital marketing, you have to learn about attribution.

There's a lot of nuance and context around this.

BUT

What's good?!

I'll tell you: people emailing me to start sending my emails again.

It was less than 5 people mind you.

But I was surprised! Even Justin (the creator of Buttondown, the email service I use) emailed to check in.

So I've launched an online store.

Of my own.

With my wife.

And let me tell you, it's a next level thrill.

Hey,

I have some news for you.

At the end of 2021, I will be shutting down this newsletter.

It's been fun and I put a lot of theory into practice.

Linkbuilding is a funny thing.

It's such a controversial topic, in its own way.

Some argue that it should be two words. Some say it's fine as one.

I should say, no one can find your website easily.

That's the difference.

The reasons are many but it is both technical and non-technical.

The technical issues can often be easily fixed (though sometimes there's something really stubborn that refuses to co-operate!).

Ok so you know that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp stopped yesterday.

It was out of action for me for a few hours. Some have had issues for less time, but for most people, it was out a while and caused a few problems.

But you know who didn't even flinch when all things Zuckerberg fell over? The people who listened to Wu-Tang Financial (and me).

These people diversified their bonds. Or in digital marketing speak: they diversified their marketing efforts online.

I get asked about domains a lot, and what impact it will have in terms of SEO.

The classic SEO response is: it depends.

I always recommend a ccTLD (country code Top Level Domain) ALONG WITH a .com

Why?