(This is the 05/08/2025 issue of my newsletter – subscribe here)
Hey hey!
It’s been an “interesting” week as an SEO, and one that’s reminded me why I don’t spend as much time as I used to on Twitter (never X).
Google launched AI Mode in the UK (I’ll talk more about this next week), and Danny Sullivan has officially stepped away from being Google’s Search Liaison. The @GoogleSearchLiaison account is now as dead as keyword stuffing, and SEOs on Twitter are having a bit of a wobble about it.
Plus I’ve been writing about why Google owes us absolutely nothing, and why constantly slagging off previous SEOs makes everyone look unprofessional. Because apparently that needed saying…
What you’ll find inside
1 | Thoughts: Everything in SEO works. Until it doesn’t
2 | Blog post: Why Google owes the SEO industry absolutely nothing
3 | Free tip: Learn from SEO’s past to build a better future
4 | Blog post: Why constantly criticising previous SEOs makes you look like a nightmare to work with
Thoughts this week
“Everything works until it doesn’t” – that’s the most important lesson in SEO, and one that half the industry still hasn’t learned.
White text on white backgrounds worked brilliantly for rankings. Until Google caught on and it didn’t. Keyword stuffing was the golden ticket to page one. Until it wasn’t. Those 1000 orphaned, near-identical doorway pages? Absolute ranking gold. Until they became ranking poison overnight.
The pattern is always the same. Someone discovers a loophole, it spreads through the SEO community, everyone piles in, Google notices, algorithm update happens, and suddenly what was working becomes what’s killing your rankings.
This is exactly why any decent SEO will only recommend legitimate, white hat strategies. Because we’ve seen this film before. Multiple times. The ending never changes.
When I tell clients “we’re not going to build dodgy links” or “we’re not stuffing keywords into every paragraph,” I’m not being overly cautious. I’m being realistic about how this industry works. Today’s “clever hack” is tomorrow’s penalty trigger.
The SEOs who survive and thrive are the ones who build strategies that would work even if Google’s algorithm completely changed tomorrow. Content that genuinely helps users. Technical setups that actually improve user experience. Link building that happens naturally because you’ve created something worth linking to.
Everything else? It works, until it doesn’t. And “doesn’t” always comes eventually.
Why Google owes the SEO industry absolutely nothing
My latest blog post might ruffle some feathers, but I stand by every word. The SEO industry is having a tantrum because Google stopped updating their Search Liaison account, and some people are acting like Google personally cancelled Christmas.
Honestly, expecting Google to hold our hands is completely ridiculous, and why the sooner you accept they owe you nothing, the better your SEO strategies will become.
Your free SEO tip
Want to build SEO strategies that actually last? Stop chasing the latest tactics and start learning from SEO’s history.
Watch Lily Ray’s brilliant talk about the various eras and cycles of SEO over the years. She breaks down what lessons we can take from each era and shares her vision for the future of the industry. Understanding these patterns helps you spot which strategies are likely to have staying power and which ones are probably just the latest “works until it doesn’t” fad.
Honestly, this is pure gold for anyone who wants to build resilient SEO strategies instead of constantly chasing the next shiny object.
If you’re at all interested in SEO, follow Lily Ray – she’s doing some awesome work and her research is always interesting.
Why slagging off previous SEOs makes everyone look unprofessional
Whether you’re a business owner constantly criticising your last SEO consultant, or you’re a consultant immediately trashing previous work to look clever, you’re making yourself look unprofessional.
It’s the business equivalent of telling your new boyfriend “My last bloke was an arsehole, treated me like shit, and had a small dick.”
What am I working on this week?
I’m finally getting to see some of my auction site copy going into the content management system – I’ve been given full access to the back end of the site so I’m looking forward to playing around with where the copy goes and how it looks.
For my SEO retainer clients I’ve been investigating how they look in the new AI Mode on Google and working out how to monitor the traffic.
And I have a fair few AI 1:1s booked (price increases 1st September), where I help small business website owners look into how AI search is affecting their traffic, and what they can do. (No GEO or bollocks jargon allowed!)
Need help with any of the above? You know where I am!
That’s it for now,
Always non-wanky
Nikki
P.S. Seriously, watch that Lily Ray video – understanding SEO’s history is the best way to avoid repeating the same mistakes everyone else keeps making. Plus it’ll help you spot the difference between solid strategies and temporary tactics that’ll probably backfire eventually.
