SEO F**king What - Get Found on Google and make money from your website with practical SEO tips

Some of the SEO tactics being sold to you right now were killed off before the person selling them was even old enough to drive. Welcome to the graveyard. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm digging up the corpses. I've been doing this for over 30 years, which means I was there when half these tactics were brand new and worked beautifully. I watched them get abused, I watched Google shut them down one by one, and I've watched every single one of them come back: dug up about five years later, given a fresh label, and sold to small businesses who weren't around the first time. These aren't tactics that went out of fashion. They're recalled products, and someone's repainted the box and put them back on the shelf. Here's what I'm covering: — The keywords meta tag: Google said it didn't use it for ranking in 2009, and I'm still seeing invoices for "keyword tagging" — Hidden text and keyword stuffing, and why a keyword density report is just keyword stuffing with a spreadsheet stapled on it — Exact match domains, and why buying bestplumberleeds.co.uk stopped being a strategy in 2012 — Doorway pages and their brand-new AI face: why 400 "programmatic SEO" location pages for a fixed fee is the same tactic Google went after in 2015 — Spun content, the content farms Google flattened, and the 300 unedited AI blog posts a month that have replaced them — Submitting your site to 5,000 search engines (there weren't even 50), and why "get submitted to the AI engines" is the same racket with a new letterhead — The three questions that tell you whether the tactic on your quote is alive or dead, and you don't need to know any SEO to ask them I also give you a proper piece of homework. Two jobs, and neither will cost you a penny. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind, including a quick view-source check that tells you whether somebody's already buried a corpse in your website. If you know someone who's just been quoted for 400 location pages, send them this. It might save them a small fortune. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And if a tactic has a golden era, you've missed it. Chapters: 00:00 — Older than the people selling them 01:39 — The keywords meta tag 02:31 — Hidden text and keyword stuffing 03:02 — Keyword density: stuffing with a spreadsheet 03:28 — Exact match domains 04:14 — Doorway pages and their brand-new AI face 05:32 — Spun and mass-produced content 06:23 — Submitting to 5,000 search engines 07:45 — Three questions that spot the next one 09:17 — Homework: check your site for corpses 10:16 — The industry's memory is short on purpose Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (the On-Page SEO Toolkit is now free): https://nonwankyseo.com Google: "Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking" (2009): https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag Google's spam policies (hidden text, keyword stuffing, doorway abuse, scaled content abuse): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies The episode on 2010 black hat tactics resold as AI growth hacks: [ADD EPISODE URL] The episode on AI-built websites: [ADD EPISODE URL] Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social Mentioned in this episode: ICN Network

Every week there’s a fresh piece of SEO panic tell-off warning you that you’ll disappear from Google unless you pay for a fix. They make new nonsense faster than I can record episodes, and keeping up with it isn't your job—running your business is. So let’s fix that! Hi, I’m Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I’m not just debunking one myth. I’m handing you a simple four-question toolkit to debunk all of them—no technical background required. Think of it like taking your car to a garage: you don’t need to know how the engine works to ask three sharp questions and know if you’re being taken for a ride. Here’s what I’m covering: Why SEO panic-marketing travels so fast, and why trying to keep track of every rumor is a waste of your time Question 1: Did Google actually say this on a public channel, or did someone say that Google said it on LinkedIn? Question 2: Has anyone tested it with real data and control groups, or are you looking at an unlabelled screenshot of a line going up? Question 3: The 4-minute sanity check using the top five search results for your actual money keywords Question 4: Following the money to see who profits from you getting your credit card out Putting the four questions to work on three huge claims: the £3,000 site speed audit, the mandatory 2,000-word page length, and the "blog twice a week" rule What going from "fine to fast" actually does for site speed, and why paying big money for decimal points is nonsense Why posting frequency fails all four questions, and why dead-looking sites are sitting at position one I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not a "might look at that next month" job, but a 20-minute exercise you can do this week that could take a fair chunk off your monthly agency invoice. If you know someone about to sign an expensive SEO retainer, or someone who’s being quoted thousands for a fix based on pure industry hype, send them this. It might save them a few bob. Plus, grab my free On-Page SEO Toolkit over at https://nonwankyseo.com Google’s own "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content" page — this is the free thing with the who/how/why questions on it: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social Mentioned in this episode: ICN Network

Every SEO on LinkedIn is banging on about E-E-A-T. Almost none of them can tell you what it actually means. So let’s fix that. Hi, I’m Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I’m taking apart two things you’ve been told matter enormously by people who, if you push them, probably couldn’t tell you where either one came from. E-E-A-T and helpful content. One is a description of what good looks like, written for contractors who can’t touch your rankings. The other stopped existing as a separate thing in March 2024. Neither of them is a score, and nobody can sell you one. Here’s what I’m covering: — What the four letters actually stand for, and where the extra E came from in December 2022 — The 180-page free PDF that E-E-A-T lives in, who Google gives it to, and why those people are mystery shoppers rather than traffic wardens — Why there is no E-E-A-T score sitting in a database marking your website out of 10 — and why it still matters anyway — Why trust is the one that counts, and how you can have all the expertise in the world and still be worth very little — YMYL, why a page about chemotherapy is held to a stricter standard than a page about scented candles, and where a small B2B business actually sits — What happened to the helpful content update, and why anyone offering to recover you from one is selling you a thing that no longer exists — The three questions Google published for free — who, how and why — and the one that catches everybody out — Why the E-E-A-T audit grift works so well, and why a headshot and a byline is not expertise I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind. Three pages, three questions. If you know someone who’s been quoted two grand for an E-E-A-T audit, or who’s been told that adding author schema will conjure expertise out of nowhere, send them this. It might save them an invoice. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. Stop paying for a score that doesn’t exist. Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses — the On-Page SEO Toolkit is completely free right now: https://nonwankyseo.com Google’s own "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content" page — this is the free thing with the who/how/why questions on it: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content Google announcing the extra E, December 2022 (the Search Quality Rater Guidelines PDF downloads from this page): https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/12/google-raters-guidelines-e-e-a-t Google folding the helpful content system into the core algorithm, March 2024: https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies Episode 15 — the AI search audit racket: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/dont-be-conned-into-paying-for-an-ai-search-optimisation-audit-ffs Episode 18 — auditing your whole site page by page: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/you-havent-read-your-own-website-have-you-time-for-a-content-audit Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social Mentioned in this episode: ICN Network

Reddit's share of ChatGPT citations went from nearly 4% to half a percent in about a week. Nobody can fully explain it — not the people who measure it, not Reddit, and definitely not the bloke who sold you a Reddit visibility package back in March. And if that was your strategy, you haven't got one anymore. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm talking about what happens when you build your marketing on ground you don't own — because I've watched this exact film five or six times now, and it ends the same way every single time. This isn't really a Reddit story. It's an article directories story, a guest posting story, a Facebook reach story, a Google Plus story. It works until it doesn't, every single fucking time. Here's what I'm covering: — What actually happened to Reddit's ChatGPT citations between the 8th and 17th of August, and why nobody — including the people who measure this professionally — can fully explain it — How the industry decided Reddit was "a channel", and what happened to the agencies selling packages and the people buying aged accounts — Mark Williams-Cook's two rules, which I've been banging on about for years: stop building your strategy around holes in the system, and it works until it doesn't — The graveyard tour: article directories and Panda, guest posting and one Matt Cutts blog post, Facebook reach going from 15% to basically zero, and Google Plus in people's actual job titles — The only two things you own — your website and your email list — and why everything else, including your AI visibility score, is rented from a landlord who doesn't have to tell you before changing the locks — The very specific mistake the Reddit crowd made: they didn't diversify, they substituted — The one thing Reddit is genuinely brilliant for, which is free, which almost nobody uses, and which works whether or not ChatGPT ever cites a single thread I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind — including the site:reddit.com trick that hands you your next content plan on a plate. If you know someone who went all in on Reddit for AI visibility, or who's building their entire business on one rented platform, send them this. It might save them from a very bad Monday morning. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And never build your castle on someone else's sand. Chapters: 00:00 — If that was your strategy, you haven't got one 00:41 — An 86% drop in a fortnight 02:48 — Stop building around holes in the system 04:24 — I've watched this film five times: the graveyard tour 07:20 — What you own, and what you're renting 10:07 — Three things to do this week 11:54 — What Reddit was supposed to be Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses — the On-Page SEO Toolkit is now completely free: https://nonwankyseo.com The data on the Reddit citation drop (Promptwatch, via Search Engine Land): https://searchengineland.com/reddit-chatgpt-search-citations-fall-report-485473 Mark Williams-Cook on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markseo/ Also Asked — Mark's tool, and a brilliant one: https://alsoasked.com/?via=nikki-pilkington (aff link) Episode 2 — who actually owns your Google accounts (same problem, one floor down) https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-seo-sht-who-actually-owns-it Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social Mentioned in this episode: ICN Network

Go and look at your case studies page or your portfolio page. Does the title just say "case studies" or "portfolio"? So does everyone else's. That's the problem. I'm Nikki Pilkington and I've been doing SEO for 30 years. In this episode I'm going after the most wasted pages on your entire website — your case studies, your portfolio and your testimonials. Beautiful work, real proof of competence, and page titles that could belong to any business in Britain. Here's the SEO problem. A meta title gives you about 60 characters. "Portfolio" uses nine of them and tells Google nothing about what you do or who you do it for. Then each individual case study gets named after the client's venue, so you end up competing with the venue's own website for its own name — a fight you lose, and when you don't lose it, you get a visitor who bounces in three seconds because they wanted tickets, not you. Your case studies are the only pages on your site that naturally combine a service, a sector, a location and a real situation. That is exactly how B2B search works. And you've called them Client Project 3. In this episode: — The nine-character title every portfolio page in the country shares — What to put in the other 51 characters, with worked examples — Why "Brands Hatch 2025" is a page title that can only lose — Six case study crimes: the PDF, the email form, the bespoke-solution waffle, image_4471.jpg, the missing internal links, and the one from 2021 — How to write a specific, rankable case study when there's a genuine NDA — Four bits of homework you can do this week, starting with a ten-minute one ⏱ CHAPTERS 00:00 The most wasted pages on your website 00:59 The world's most generic page title 02:53 Why naming it after the client backfires 04:12 Long-tail gold: what those pages should be called 05:40 Six case study crimes 07:22 "But I can't name my clients" 08:49 Your homework: four jobs 09:59 Go and look at that meta title 🔗 LINKS Non-Wanky SEO Courses (the On-Page SEO toolkit is free right now): https://nonwankyseo.com Nikki's site: https://nikki-pilkington.com/ The podcast: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/ Google on page titles: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/title-link Google on image alt text: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/google-images 👋 FOLLOW NIKKI LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social If you know someone with a portfolio page full of beautiful work and page titles nobody could ever search for, send them this one. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And go and look at that meta title.