Hello, fellow content peeps!

What a week in content and SEO!

I just got back from a whirlwind digital business leader retreat in Mexico, and it feels like I missed a month of happenings in the SEO and content space, so let’s unpack some of that here today, shall we?

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Is The March Core Update Done Yet?

The ongoing, running joke from Glenn Gabe and other SEOs who monitor these updates these days is: Are we done yet?

We are now 46 days into these Core Google Updates, and we’re not done yet. Does this mean that there’s still hope for sites hit with HCU to recover?

Perhaps. But, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

While there may be a lot of volatility and movement happening right now, we still haven’t seen any major recoveries (at least not publicly).

This understandably frustrates many small publishers.

We’re at the part in a Feudal System where the peasants are fighting.

We have seen the writing on the wall. Google doesn’t care about the collateral damage. They’ve chosen their Barons and Knights (Reddit, The Big 16) and we’re left to deal with the scraps.

This isn’t the Google and search landscape I signed up for, and we’ve just started to see the ramifications of where this new world will take us.

I’ve been trying to keep tabs on all the industry happenings and discussions this week while I’ve been in Mexico, and oh boy, there’s still a lot going on!

To summarize:

Luke Jordan discusses how Google has destroyed his business in this Tweet. 

The industry wants some explanation.

We want a level playing system once again.

I think the message from Jon Miksis encapsulates how many of us are feeling:

This entire ecosystem is in flux right now, and I’m seeing a lot of infighting among the peasants.

If you want to get caught up in this week in SEO, you’ll want to catch the latest from Niche Pursuits. There’s a lot to unpack here:

As someone who is deeply passionate about this industry, it pains me to think that half of SEO Twitter is infighting. I’m not going to share the many, many examples of what’s happening here, but I don’t see this slowing down anytime soon.

It’s what happens when you’re in a feudal state, after all.

So, what do we do now?

Action Steps: A Good Analysis of What’s Happening in SEO Right Now

This week, between long, relaxing Mexican dinners with some of the best people on the planet, I discovered this recent dissection of analysis from Eric Lancheres.

If you really want to go into the weeds on what’s happening right now, this is an in-depth read and thoughtful analysis.

I know that we’re not officially done with this March Core Update just yet, but Eric's questions, review, and assessment are worth your time.

Some of the things I find really interesting in this analysis are Eric’s updates on what an updated Successful Ranking Model may look like:

This correlates with much of what we’ve already been discussing internally at our company, including how we need to build multiple touchpoints with our content to grow our audiences.

As Eric mentions:

“Here we can clearly see how social media drives traffic to the "resource section" of the site (depicted in blue), which then increases the overall site user metrics. Once the site reaches a certain engagement level, Google begins to drive traffic to all the articles on the site.”

Yet again, another reminder that there’s lots of work to do to grow a digital publication.

Another conclusion that I agree with (and have had many heated discussions with my fellow SEO and content friends over).

This is not just a content problem.

If we could make our content more helpful and suddenly get rankings, I would feel way more optimistic about our future in the Google/search landscape, but as Eric states:

“It appears as if having good articles might not be enough if you're relying entirely on Google visitors. Some affiliate sites had decent content and were still penalized.”

This conclusion is a relief from what I know to be true, but I take no solace in others’ coming to these same conclusions.

There’s much to be done, and we’ll continue to unpack these things here.

How to Make the Most of A Multitude of Counsellors

This past week, I spent five glorious days with some of the best and brightest digital business leaders.

Now, the real work begins.

You see, it’s not enough to just show up, network, and attend the sessions. You have to take real action and do the work when you get back to your desk.

So, that’s where I’m spending my day.

I know that this excited, go-get-em energy won’t last for long UNLESS I put in the work to really document, track and take real actions on all the learnings I have received this week.

I love this framework from my friend Andrew Amann, who created this matrix to record, document, and take appropriate action on everything he’s learned.

The results.

40 pieces of advice tracked.

3.3 million earned from taking action on this advice.

That’s how you take advantage of a group of counselors, and you don’t have to wait to attend your next in-person event to implement this matrix, either. If you’ve read a few newsletters, you can keep track of the advice you want to take action on in this really simple, clearly defined way.

I would encourage everyone wanting to level up their business and life to try this.

You can learn more about this approach here:

Things to Read, Watch, and Ponder

▶️ Reddit is taking over Google, and the regular folks are noticing as well. Will this dominance continue? Read this article to get caught up on the discussions happening here.

▶️ The Animalz team has pulled together a great resource on their favorite content marketing resources. Check it out here!

▶️ There’s a lot of buzz right now about Google Discover. If you want a quick, introduction to Google Discover, this guide is a great start!

▶️ As more of us are focused on email marketing, we can’t forget the basics, i.e.) email deliverablity. Here’s a smart, comprehensive guide. Worth a read here!

I am so excited to be back at my desk today. After my trip to Mexico, I’ve got a lot to unpack—and I don’t just mean my suitcase!

Looking forward to another great week in content. See you next week.

Cheers! Amy

Some Bonus Newsletters You’ll Love

If you want to get into the weeds on these topics, here are some newsletters that I read regularly that I think you’ll enjoy: