(This is the 08/07/2025 issue of my newsletter – subscribe here)
Hey hey!
Google’s June 2025 core update started rolling out on 30th June, and it could take up to three weeks to complete. So if your rankings are doing the digital equivalent of a washing machine on spin cycle, that’s probably why.
My advice, as always? Do nothing. Yep, nothing at all. Leave it to finish and settle down, then evaluate – making changes in a panic never helped anyone, trust me.
Meanwhile, I’m still getting daily questions about AI search “changing everything” – spoiler alert: it hasn’t, despite what some gooroos on LinkedIn tell you.
This week I’m diving into why AI SEO “hacks” will absolutely destroy your website, plus sharing why good old-fashioned SEO principles are still king (ahem.. queen) in the AI era. And before you ask – yes, I’m going on about AI search again, but only because it’s literally the number one question landing in my inbox every bloody day.
And I have a free SEO tip from SEO rockstar (I’m just repeating what’s been said elsewhere, more on that later) Mark Williams-Cook that you shouldn’t miss.
What you’ll find inside
1 | Why AI SEO “hacks” are digital poison that’ll tank your rankings faster than you can say “algorithm update”
2 | The controversial free SEO tip that suggests you should stop writing meta descriptions (yes, really)
3 | Why AI search changes pretty much nothing about good SEO fundamentals (despite what LinkedIn “experts” are telling you)
Let’s dig in, shall we?
AI SEO “hacks” that will fuck up your traditional SEO
There’s a shitload of AI SEO advice floating around LinkedIn right now. Every day some “expert” is pushing techniques that are either rebranded black-hat tactics or completely new ways to get your site penalised.
I’m talking about mass AI content dumps, fake review generation, hidden AI text, and automated link schemes. These aren’t shortcuts to success – they’re a express train to digital disaster.
The worst part? These techniques don’t just fail, they actively damage your legitimate SEO work. When Google penalises your site, it’s not just the dodgy content that suffers – your entire domain loses authority. Recovery takes years, not months, and you’re starting from a penalised position rather than a clean slate. Read the full breakdown of these toxic techniques and don’t get sucked in.
Your free SEO tip
Here’s an interesting one from Mark Williams-Cook that he freely admits will probably get some backs up: stop writing meta descriptions. Based on Mark’s testing data, sites consistently see around 3% uplift in organic traffic when meta descriptions are removed. Why? Because Google replaces about 80% of manual meta descriptions anyway, and their dynamic replacements are query-dependent – something you can’t do with a single static description.
The testing shows that removing meta descriptions lowers the threshold for Google’s dynamic replacements, which on average outperform manual ones. Counter-intuitive? Absolutely. But the data doesn’t lie. Read Mark’s post here, and if you’re not following him, you should be.
If you want to read more of Mark’s brilliant tips, I highly recommend subscribing to his newsletter, Core Updates – he’s one of the few SEOs around who not only knows his shit, he explains it in language most of us ordinary people can understand. (I get kudos if you sign up from that link, just so you know!)
(And Search Engine Journal really did call him a rockstar!)
AI search changes everything!!!! (except it doesn’t)
I recently spotted a LinkedIn post by Tyler Cooper that perfectly captures what I’ve been saying for months. While everyone’s having a complete meltdown about AI search supposedly changing everything, the reality is refreshingly boring.
The post compared “old way” versus “new way” SEO practices in the AI era – well-structured content, clear markup, readable copy, anticipating user queries, getting featured on quality sites, creating authoritative content with original insights.
The punchline? They’re identical.
AI search engines are still search engines that want helpful, well-structured content that genuinely answers user questions. The fundamentals haven’t changed – they’ve just become more important. I wrote about the post here.
What am I working on?
It’s been absolutely manic with AI search 1:1 sessions as everyone tries to figure out what the hell is actually happening with search. I’ll be putting the price up on these soon, so now is a good time to book in.
I’m also now a Fractional Digital Marketing Manager, managing the digital marketing team for a large healthcare website you’ve definitely heard of, writing SEO copy for an auction site, and working on the usual SEO retainers.
The healthcare work is particularly interesting because it’s showing exactly what I’ve been wanging on about for a while – sites with solid fundamentals are thriving in AI search, while those ignoring SEO basics are struggling. It’s validating everything I’ve been saying about sticking to proper SEO principles rather than chasing shiny AI tactics.
That’s it for now,
Always non-wanky
Nikki
P.S. Give that meta description tip a try and let me know how you get on – it might feel wrong at first, but the data shows Google’s dynamic descriptions usually outperform whatever we write manually. Sometimes less really is more.
