6 min read
What the Google Antitrust Ruling Says About Clicks
A federal court ruled Google a search monopolist and ordered it to share user-interaction data. What the case reveals about whether clicks affect ranking.
Read MoreSeo Basics
28 articles
11 min read
Your Content Backlog Is Probably Audio: A Triage Guide
A folder of old podcast episodes, customer calls, and webinars is not a content pipeline problem. It's a triage problem. Here's how to sort it.
Read More10 min read
Why Most Small Sites Never Try Multilingual SEO
Multilingual SEO looks like it needs a translation budget and a content team. The real blocker is smaller: nobody checks whether the demand exists first.
Read More14 min read
Small Business Digital PR: Earn Links Without an Agency
Digital PR isn't only for big brands. Four channels — journalist platforms, original data, local press, newsjacking — work at solo-business scale.
Read More11 min read
Getting Reviews: A System for Asking Customers
The actual system for asking customers for reviews: when to ask, how to ask, and how to handle the responses that come back.
Read More13 min read
Keyword Research From Scratch: No Data, No Tools
A brand-new site has no Google Search Console history and no budget for paid tools. Here is a four-step keyword research process that needs neither.
Read More10 min read
Local Citations: The Directories Worth Your Time
Most citation advice is a 50-directory checklist. The shorter version: fix a handful of data aggregators, then add directories specific to your industry.
Read More11 min read
Local Link Building: Earn Links From Your City
Chamber directories, event sponsorships, hyperlocal press, and cross-promotion with nearby businesses. Link sources only a local business can reach.
Read More11 min read
Local Pack Ranking Factors: What You Can Control
Google names three local ranking factors: relevance, distance, and prominence. Here's which ones a business owner can actually change.
Read More10 min read
Pre-Launch SEO Checklist for Any New Website
A sequential pre-launch SEO checklist: robots.txt, GSC and GA4 setup, canonical tags, sitemap submission, mobile-friendliness, SSL, and custom 404 pages.
Read More11 min read
Resource Page Link Building: A Step-by-Step Guide
How to find pages that already link out to resources like yours, evaluate which ones deserve an email, and pitch a placement without a cold-outreach blast.
Read More12 min read
Topic Clusters: How to Structure Content So Google Gets It
What a topic cluster is, why unstructured blogs lose to clustered ones on competitive topics, and how to map pillar and cluster pages from scratch.
Read More10 min read
URL Structure: The Small Decisions That Compound Over Time
URL structure gets decided in week one and lived with for years. Here's how to get folder depth, dates, and word separators right before you publish.
Read More8 min read
Does Google Use Clicks to Rank Your Site?
SEO's most argued question now has a public record: sworn testimony, two decades of research, and Google's own words. The answer is yes, with important limits.
Read More7 min read
Mobile-First Indexing: What Google Really Sees
Google ranks the mobile version of your site, not the desktop one. Here is what mobile-first indexing requires and why a stripped-down mobile site costs you.
Read More13 min read
Google Business Profile: The SEO Local Sites Skip
Your Google Business Profile drives the local map pack. Here is how to set up categories, photos, reviews, and posts so the right people find you.
Read More12 min read
Getting Reviews That Show Up in Search
Why reviews matter for local SEO and trust, where star ratings appear in search, and how to earn reviews that actually show up.
Read More10 min read
Search Console Insights: The Report Owners Skip
Search Console Insights is Google's plain-English overview of how your content performs and how people find you. Here's where to find it and what it shows.
Read More12 min read
Why Your Rankings Bounce Around (and When to Worry)
A keyword sitting at 4, then 7, then 5 across three days is usually normal noise, not a decline. Here is how to tell day-to-day jitter from a real problem.
Read More11 min read
Wix SEO: Working Around the Platform's Limits
Wix is fine for most small business sites. Here are the real SEO limits to know, the settings you fully control, and the workarounds that close the gap.
Read More8 min read
CrUX vs Lighthouse: Which Score Affects Your Ranking
PageSpeed Insights shows two different scores. One affects your search ranking. The other doesn't. Here's which is which and what to do with each.
Read More9 min read
The 17 Ranking Systems Google Confirmed: What Each Does
Google's official ranking systems guide lists 17 named active systems. Most SEO content treats Google as a single algorithm. Here's what the primary source actually shows.
Read More7 min read
INP Replaced FID: What Core Web Vitals Measure Now
FID was retired in March 2024. INP replaced it as the responsiveness metric in Core Web Vitals. Here's what changed, what the thresholds are, and why it matters.
Read More8 min read
Knowledge Panels: How Google Generates and Updates Them
Knowledge Panels appear automatically when Google has enough entity data. They don't come from submitting a form. Here's how Google generates them and how to influence yours.
Read More8 min read
What Google's Quality Rater Guidelines Actually Say
Google's 168-page Quality Rater Guidelines define E-E-A-T and YMYL. Most E-E-A-T content summarizes other blog posts. Here's what the primary document says.
Read More16 min read
How Long Does SEO Take? What the Data Shows
The honest, data-backed timeline for SEO results: 3-6 months for low-competition queries, 6-12 for medium, 12+ for competitive niches.
Read More12 min read
GA4 vs Universal Analytics: What Actually Changed
GA4 replaced Universal Analytics and changed how sessions, bounce rate, and conversions are measured. Here is what moved and what the new metrics mean.
Read More7 min read
Turn Audio and Video Into SEO Content
Google can't listen to podcasts or watch videos. Transcripts turn your audio content into indexable text that ranks. Here's the full workflow.
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