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Your web designer said your new site was SEO-friendly. It probably is. That's not the same as anyone finding it, and nobody told you. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm drawing a line that most web design proposals never draw. "SEO-friendly" means your site won't get in Google's way. "Search engine optimised" means somebody has made the decisions that get it found. They are absolutely f*****g not the same thing, and the gap between them, where nobody agreed whose job it is, is the stuff that's keeping you off page one. This one is fairer to designers than my episode six, because most of them aren't conning anyone. I'm going to tell you where the design job stops, where the SEO job starts, and who's left holding the bit in the middle. Here's what I'm covering: — What "SEO-friendly" actually means on a web design proposal, and why it's a capability, not a result — The kitchen fitter who isn't cooking your dinner, and why an SEO-friendly site with no optimisation is a gorgeous kitchen with f**k all in the fridge — What your web designer owns: the build, sensible URLs, switching off the noindex setting at launch, the redirect map, a real sitemap, and whose name your Search Console, Analytics and domain are in — What your SEO owns: keyword research, which page targets which search, meta titles and H1s, the content plan, links, and months of watching and fixing — The bit in the middle that nobody owns, and why "who writes the meta titles?" is the question that gives it away — Seven questions to get answered in writing before anyone opens Figma, plus why a designer who says "you'll need someone else for the SEO" is worth their weight in gold I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind: four checks, starting with whether your site is quietly telling Google to go away. If you build websites, there's something in here for you too: the SEO Build Pack for Web Designers, £35, one payment. If you've just had a new website built, or you build them, send this to your web designer. They'll either thank you or get very defensive, and both tell you something. Get found. Make money. And go and check that f*****g noindex tag. Chapters: 00:00 SEO-Friendly Is Not Optimised 01:22 What The Two Phrases Mean 03:12 What The Designer And SEO Own 07:00 Seven Questions And Your Homework Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (the On-Page SEO Toolkit is free): https://nonwankyseo.com The SEO Build Pack for Web Designers (£35, one payment): [ADD BUILD PACK LINK] Episode 6, the designer episode (the one about the two grand plugin): https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/the-fking-seo-your-web-designer-promised-vs-what-you-actually-got Episode 21, on H1s and meta titles: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-h1-and-meta-titles-are-killing-your-rankings-ffs Episode 11, on website migrations and redirects: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/ffs-let-your-seo-help-with-your-fking-website-migration Episode 2, on who actually owns your accounts: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-seo-sht-who-actually-owns-it Episode 24, with the 30-second H1 check: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/why-websites-built-with-ai-are-fuking-up-your-seo Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social

You've got a signed SEO contract you've never read, and somewhere in it is the reason you can't leave. Let's go and find it. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm going through the document, not the sales pitch. I've already done an episode on the red flags to spot before you hire an SEO agency. This one's for everyone who already has, and signed a contract they skimmed at best, on the strength of a conversation and a proposal deck that were both a lot friendlier than the paperwork. Contracts aren't inherently a stitch-up, and a decent one protects both of you. What I've got a problem with is a very specific set of clauses that exist to make it hard for you to leave when the work isn't working. Here's what I'm covering: — How a notice period and an auto-renewal turn a 12-month term into 15 months, or another full year of something you'd already decided to stop — My honest position on minimum terms: when three to six months is fair, and when 12 months is about churn — Why a schedule of work full of adjectives can't be enforced — Who owns your content, your links and your accounts when you leave, and why you want to see the word "assign", not "licence" — Exclusivity, non-disparagement, and the clause that blames you for not implementing their recommendations — The handover clause most contracts don't have at all — The two-document test: put the proposal next to the contract and see how much of what you were sold you can actually hold anyone to I also give you five bits of homework, including the one date that needs to go in your calendar today and a one-line email to send this week. I'm not a solicitor and this isn't legal advice. If there's serious money involved, get a proper commercial solicitor to look at it. If you know someone who's about to sign an SEO contract, send them this. 15 minutes now beats a year of regret. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And go and find out when your notice period ends. Chapters: 00:00 — Why Your SEO Contract Matters 01:13 — Notice Periods And What You Get 03:35 — Who Owns The Work When You Leave 06:35 — The Two-Document Test And Homework Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (the On-Page SEO Toolkit is free): https://nonwankyseo.com Episode 2, on who actually owns your SEO and your accounts: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-seo-sht-who-actually-owns-it Episode 23, on why I don't want you buying links: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/stop-buying-backlinks-ffs The red flags episode, for spotting a dodgy agency before you hire them: [ADD EPISODE URL] What you're actually paying your SEO for (Ep 9, if that's the one she means by "I've covered this before"): https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/what-the-fk-your-seo-is-actually-charging-you-for-and-why-its-a-scam Google's own advice on hiring an SEO ("No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google"): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/do-i-need-seo UK government guidance on who owns copyright in work you commission: https://www.gov.uk/ownership-of-copyright-works 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

Somebody is going to tell you your competitor is attacking your SEO, and then offer to protect you for a monthly fee. That's the con. But there are real attacks, and they're not the ones being sold to you. 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 negative SEO: the idea that someone else can deliberately damage your rankings. It's one of the most effective fear sales in this industry because it does two things at once. It explains away a drop that might be your agency's fault, and it justifies a new line on an invoice. I'm going to tell you what's mostly rubbish, and then I'm going to tell you what's real, because there are ways someone can do you harm, and no one's selling protection for those. Funny that. Here's what I'm covering: — Why dumping thousands of dodgy links on a competitor used to work, and why it doesn't now (Google moved from punishing the site to ignoring the rubbish around 2016) — The disavow tool: the one situation it genuinely belongs in, and why the monthly "backlink monitoring" line on your invoice is probably protecting you from nothing — Why "a competitor attacked you" is such a convenient explanation for someone whose work you're questioning, and the three questions to ask before you accept it — The real threats nobody sells protection for, starting with the fact that anyone can suggest an edit to your Google Business Profile, including that you're permanently closed — Hacked sites, fake copyright complaints that get your pages removed from Google, review bombing, and the ex-agency that still holds your logins — Four free checks you can do this week, plus my favourite kind of homework: cancelling something I also give you a proper piece of homework. Four checks, all free, and one thing to cancel. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind, including a 10-second look in Search Console that tells you whether anybody has penalised you. If you know someone who's just been told they're under attack, send them this. It might save them a monthly fee. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And go and check your opening hours. Chapters: 00:00 — Somebody's about to sell you protection 02:30 — The disavow tool: where the money is 04:03 — The real threats nobody's selling you protection for 07:55 — Homework: four free checks 09:43 — The negative homework: cancel the protection Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (the On-Page SEO Toolkit is now free): https://nonwankyseo.com Google on the disavow tool (and why most sites don't need it): https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/2648487 Search Console manual actions report: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175 Search Console security issues report: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044101 Google's spam policies (including hacked content): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies Episode 2, on who actually owns your Google accounts: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/your-seo-sht-who-actually-owns-it The review side of things: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/handle-your-reviews-legally-or-risk-a-300000-fine 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

Your traffic's down, you're about to have a furious phone call with your SEO, and there's a decent chance the drop has got nothing to do with them. Twenty minutes and you'll know which it is. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm walking you through exactly what to do when your traffic drops, before you pick up the phone to anyone. Because a lot of the time, traffic goes down for a reason that has nothing to do with anybody's SEO work, and somebody's about to get sacked over nothing. Sometimes it really is your SEO. Either way, you should know which one you're looking at before that conversation happens. Here's what I'm covering: — Why your search traffic is really three things multiplied together, and why only one of them is what most people mean by SEO — The 20-minute diagnosis in Google Search Console, in the order that saves you time, starting with the single most useful thing in the whole episode — Why you should ignore average position, and how to tell whether your loss is concentrated or spread — Cliff or slope, the Manual Actions report, and where Google tells you whether an update rolled out that week — The caveat (you'll just have to listen to find that out) I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind. One sentence with the blanks filled in, and if you can write it, you'll walk into your next SEO conversation knowing more than the person who's meant to be explaining it to you. If you know someone who's currently panicking at a graph, or about to sack their SEO over some August stats, send them this. It might save somebody's job. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And check the calendar before you check the algorithm. Chapters: 00:00 — Traffic's down. Is it your SEO? 01:04 — Traffic is three things multiplied together 01:57 — Cause 1: fewer people are searching 03:03 — Cause 2: the results page changed shape 04:04 — Cause 3: your rankings actually dropped 04:39 — Cause 4: your measurement's broken 05:37 — The 20-minute diagnosis 05:53 — Step 1: compare year-on-year, not month-on-month 06:31 — Step 2: clicks, impressions and position, separately 06:56 — Step 3: ignore average position 07:17 — Step 4: is the loss concentrated or spread? 07:43 — Step 5: cliff or slope? 08:08 — Step 6: did it happen to everybody? 08:26 — The caveat 08:48 — Homework: write one sentence 09:53 — Sacked over some August stats Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (the On-Page SEO Toolkit is now free): https://nonwankyseo.com Episode 19, setting up Google Search Console: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/seo-ranking-starts-with-proper-website-structure Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console Google Search Status Dashboard (where Google confirms ranking updates): https://status.search.google.com/ 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

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 timeQuestion 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 keywordsQuestion 4: Following the money to see who profits from you getting your credit card outPutting 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" ruleWhat going from "fine to fast" actually does for site speed, and why paying big money for decimal points is nonsenseWhy 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 f*****g 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.

You know that email you send after a job — the one that says "leave us a Google review and get 10% off"? In this country, that might now be illegal. Not "Google's a bit annoyed with you" illegal. Actually illegal, with a fine on the end of it. 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 the thing the SEO industry has completely missed. Everyone spent July losing their minds over one line Google added to its review snippet documentation. It's a documentation update. It isn't the story. The story is a British law that came in over a year ago and that almost nobody in this industry has mentioned, because most of what you read about SEO is written by Americans about America. Here's what I'm covering: — What Google actually added on the 24th of July, and why where they put that line matters more than what it says — Why fake reviews have been illegal in the UK since April 2025 — not against the rules, not frowned upon, illegal — Why the CMA no longer needs to take you to court, and can investigate, decide and fine you all by itself — The numbers: up to £300,000 for the business, and up to £150,000 for the actual human who set it up — Why "leave a review, get 10% off" is perfectly legal right up until the moment nobody reading it can see the discount existed — Review gating, which loads of review software does by default and sells to you as a feature — Your staff, your mates, your mum, and that untraceable "JS, Manchester" testimonial sat on your homepage — Eight ways to get reviews properly, including the one that changes everything and almost nobody bothers with I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The do-it-before-your-coffee-goes-cold kind. If you know someone still running "review for a discount" campaigns, or using software that quietly filters out the unhappy customers before they ever reach Google, send them this. It might save them a very expensive letter. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And go and ask a customer for a review — properly. Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses — the On-Page SEO toolkit is completely free right now: https://nonwankyseo.com The CMA's own fake reviews guidance (free, and worth twenty minutes of your life): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67eeb64fe9c76fa33048c790/CMA208_-_Fake_reviews_guidance.pdf Google's review snippet documentation: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/review-snippet How to get your short Google review link: https://support.google.com/business/answer/16816815 The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/13 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 month, roughly 970 agencies turn the same three news stories into a LinkedIn post saying "this changes everything, book a call". It almost never changes anything. So here's the news, and here's what it actually means for you. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm trying something new — a monthly news roundup. Three stories: what happened, what the LinkedIn gurus say it means, and what it actually means for a business with fewer than 10 staff and a website that gets 400 visits a month. Most months the honest answer will be "this changes f**k all for you, carry on", and I'd rather tell you that than invent a crisis. Here's what I'm covering: — Ahrefs studied 331,000 pages to find out if Google hates AI content, and what they actually found (54.7% of top-ranking pages are under 20% AI) — Why there is no AI penalty, and why the two camps screaming about this study are both wrong in exactly the same way — Why heavily AI-generated pages really do perform worse, and why it has nothing whatsoever to do with the tool — The rule underneath all of it: you can't judge writing about your industry unless you already know your industry — Why you should not run your own website through an AI detector this week (I've been flagged as a robot, and I can promise you I'm not) — Search Console now reports on your social posts — what it genuinely is, and why "the dawn of social SEO" is nonsense — Why the four platforms Google picked are completely arse about face for a B2B service business — AI Overviews on 43% of searches, why there's no such thing as separate "AI SEO", and why your traffic can drop while your visibility improves I also give you a proper piece of homework. Three jobs, 20 minutes total. Not the "might do that one day" kind — the actual do-it-this-week kind, including the cheapest AI visibility tracking on Earth. If you know someone who's about to panic-rewrite forty pages because a detector gave them a scary number, send them this. It'll save them a fortnight. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And if anybody tries to sell you an AI detector this month, tell them Nikki said no. Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (On-Page toolkit free right now): https://nonwankyseo.com The Ahrefs study — "Google Doesn't Punish AI Content; It Punishes Bad Content": https://ahrefs.com/blog/google-doesnt-punish-ai-content/ Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console TechCrunch on the Similarweb AI Overviews data: https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/27/googles-ai-search-is-rapidly-becoming-the-default-new-data-shows/ The episode on why ranking number one is useless: https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/ranking-number-1-on-google-is-useless-ffs-let-me-explain Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social

The business coach told you to stop giving your knowledge away for free. That advice is keeping your website invisible, and I'm about to explain exactly how. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm coming for the business coaches — specifically the ones telling you that publishing your best stuff for free trains people to do it themselves and costs you work. It's bollocks. Absolute cast-iron, weapons-grade bollocks. And the funniest part is that they're delivering that bollocks to you via free LinkedIn posts, free newsletters and free webinars, because they want you to buy their expensive thing. Here's what I'm covering: — The bit nobody says out loud: everyone telling you free content devalues your expertise is telling you that in free content — What "don't give away your best stuff" actually means in practice — publish things that look clever but can't be acted on — and why that's much worse advice — Why Google has nothing to rank when your site is four pages of "bespoke solutions tailored to your client's unique requirements" — Why the person who reads your guide and does it themselves was never going to hire you in the first place — How free content does your lead qualifying for you, and why the alternative is a market that competes on price alone — The line between free resources and free labour, and why "free SEO audits" sit firmly on the wrong side of it — Why nobody has ever read a recipe and become a chef I also give you a proper piece of homework. Four jobs, actually. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind, starting with one page that will probably outrank your services page inside a couple of months. If you know someone who's been told to keep their expertise to themselves and can't work out why their website is invisible, send them this. It might be the thing that finally makes it click. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. Give your shit away. Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses (free at the moment): https://nonwankyseo.com Episode 33 — The Truth About "Free" SEO Audits (Don't Get Conned): https://seofuckingwhatpodcast.co.uk/episode/the-truth-about-free-seo-audits-dont-get-conned Holly Christie, Websites Made Simple: https://websitesmadesimple.co.uk/ 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

I'm going to say something that's going to piss off anyone currently building their entire SEO career on AI prompts: if you've never done the boring stuff manually, you can't tell when the AI is lying to you. There. I said it. 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 the thing that's actually keeping me up at night — not a Google update, not a dodgy agency tactic, but a slow-motion skills crisis the SEO industry is bringing entirely on itself. It started with a LinkedIn post from the brilliant Jo Furnival at Sitebulb, about junior SEOs feeling like they're falling behind because they're not building elaborate AI workflows. She's right that the boring work still wins. But it got me thinking about something bigger: a whole generation of SEOs and copywriters are being handed AI tools before they've ever learned how any of this actually works — and that's a problem for all of us, not just them. Here's what I'm covering: Why you can't judge whether an AI's SEO advice is right or catastrophically wrong until you've done the work yourselfThe difference between operating a tool and having actual judgment — and why only one of those survives contact with a messy real websiteWhy the same skills gap is opening up in copywriting, not just SEOWhere the "it's just a calculator" argument for AI falls apart if you don't understand the mathsWhat happens to the industry in three years' time when a whole generation skips the learning stageFour practical things to do right now if you're early in your career (or managing someone who is) And yes, there's homework. Not the "might get round to it one day" kind — the pick-one-thing-and-learn-it-properly-this-week kind. I walk you through exactly what to do in the episode. If you're managing a junior SEO, or you are one, and you've been handed a stack of AI tools with no actual training — send them this. It might be the thing that stops a very expensive skills gap from becoming their problem in three years' time. Get found. Make money. And for the love of all that is holy, learn the f*****g basics before you let the AI do the thinking for you. Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Toolkit (free for now, usually £200): https://nonwankyseo.com Sitebulb (Jo Furnival's website crawler): https://sitebulb.com 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

That free SEO audit is not free. It's a sales pitch with a spreadsheet on top. It took them 20 minutes, and it's about to cost you a whole lot more. There. I said it. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm pulling apart one of the sneakiest tricks in the industry — the "free SEO audit" that lands in your inbox looking like a favour and is actually a lead-generation funnel with your URL on the cover. Most of them aren't audits at all. They're crawl reports with branding on top, engineered to scare you into signing a contract before you've had time to think. Here's what I'm covering: — Why most "free SEO audits" are lead-gen tools in disguise, not audits — How a 10-minute crawl gets dressed up in red and orange to look like a catastrophe — Why every website "fails" a crawl — and why that's completely normal — The manufactured urgency trick, and why an agency that's never spoken to you can't possibly know if Google is penalising you — What a genuine free audit actually contains: full disclosure, what's working, prioritised fixes and zero panic — The three questions to run every free audit through before you take it seriously — Why the free audit is their best foot forward, and what that tells you about the work you'd pay for I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind. If you know someone sitting on a scary-looking "free audit" PDF, wondering whether to panic and sign, send them this. It might save them thousands. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. And stop falling for a sales pitch dressed up as a service. Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Course: https://nonwankyseo.com Related listening — Episode 9 (the agency red flags you should be running from) and Episode 15 (the paid audit that cost a client thousands and still missed the basics) Follow Nikki: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social

You've spent hours optimising your website for phrases that literally nobody types into Google. And I can prove it. There. I said it. Hi, I'm Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm tackling the single most expensive assumption you're making about your own business: that you know what your customers search for. You almost certainly don't — and that gap between how you describe your business and how your customers actually find you is exactly where your leads are disappearing. Here's what I'm covering: — Why the keyword list you'd write off the top of your head is almost completely useless — The difference between industry language and how customers actually search (problems, questions, and panic) — Why you're too close to your own business to see it the way a stranger does — it's proximity, not stupidity — Why answering early, "beginning of the journey" questions is uncontested territory while everyone else fights over the expensive decision phrases — How to stop being precious about phrases that don't "perfectly describe" your services — Free ways to find what people really type: Google autocomplete, People Also Ask, and related searches I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind. It takes 20 minutes, costs nothing, and will make you swear a bit. If you know someone obsessing over ranking for their fancy industry job title and wondering why the enquiries aren't coming, send them this. It might save them six months of guessing. Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. Start giving a shit about your readers. Links mentioned: Non-Wanky SEO Courses: https://nonwankyseo.com Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator: https://ahrefs.com/keyword-generator Also Asked: https://alsoasked.com/?via=nikki-pilkington (aff link) Google's People Also Ask: Just search for anything on Google and look for the expandable questions 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