In partnership with

Hello, fellow content peeps!

I’m back, bringing you all the tea on all things SEO & content for yet another week.

But first, a word from our sponsor.

The latest marketing science in your inbox

Effective marketing is built on science, not opinions. 

Ariyh turns the latest scientific research into 3-min recommendations to improve your marketing.

For example, you’ll learn the latest science in:

• Pricing & discounts

• Ad creative optimization

• Effective copy & messaging

Simple, actionable, and actually FACTUAL.

Join 25,000+ evidence-based marketers who get a new insight every Tuesday, for free.

Subscribe for $0

SEOs Are Talking About The Man Who Killed Google Search

If you haven’t caught the buzz on this yet, consider this your catch-up session.

An article written by Edward Zitron, simply entitled “The Man Who Killed Google Search,” has taken over SEO circles this week.

It’s a great expose to what’s really been happening with Google search these past few years.

—> I strongly encourage you to read this entire article if you haven’t yet.

Now, we know more about how and WHY Google search has degraded these past few years.

The story continues with this commentary from an ex-Google engineer, who claims:

“The older systems had obvious problems, while the newer systems have hidden bugs and conceptual issues which often don't show up in the metrics, and which compound over time as more complexity is layered on.”

This explains a lot of what we continue to see in search right now.

Google has deliberately made their core search product worse over time and the complexity (and degrading of search) is only compounding.

We’re not crazy. Google search is continually getting worse, and we are continually being gaslit and told to create ‘helpful content’ if we want to rank.

Google sent Barry Schwartz their response, and he updated the SEO Roundtable discussion article to include Google’s official statement here.

But let’s hear from Ed Zitron again. I would encourage you all to read this response as well, as it continues the discussion.

Zitron calls Google out on yet another vague, meaningless response, brings us all the receipts (internal Google emails), and says this:

So, where do we go from here?

The BLUF of it all…

It’s very clear that Google has deliberately devalued its core search product to make more money.

This is destroying search for users.

And we are still here with yet another story about a publisher in steep decline as the collateral damage continues.

Even the sites Google has promoted as ‘inspirational’ are being destroyed. That’s the reality of where we continue to live right now.

I’m sure we’ll continue to see these stories from publishers as time continues. I don’t hold out much hope that Google is actively trying to improve search as well. Perhaps it’s time for another search engine to take some of this market share?

We’ll see.

Are we seeing the merging of commerce and content more now?

After these latest updates, most SEOs agree that e-commerce sites did not experience the same level of destruction as pure content sites.

Our friends in e-commerce are doing alright, at least from a search perspective.

Content is still an amazing traffic and audience builder for e-comm, so it’s no surprise that we are seeing some big media and commerce partnerships right now. This may not be a new strategy, but my guess is that we’ll be seeing more of this happening with both large-scale media and smaller publishers.

My friend Stephen Regenold and I recently discussed some of the things he’s been seeing in the industry. He shares his thoughts on the CNET and Best Buy partnership in this LinkedIn post. 

It’s interesting to see this intersection happening at this scale and noteworthy that they are trying to present an unbiased editorial despite the partnership.

We will have to see how this plays out, but could signal some new possibilities for us content creators and publishers moving forward.

Of course, Ewen, our CEO, has also been researching the merging of e-commerce and content sites. In the latest edition of the Niche Media Publishing newsletter, he shares his thoughts on when it makes sense to add e-commerce to a content site, when it doesn’t, and what this may look like. I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more content publishers looking into ways to add e-commerce elements to their sites.

I think a great strategy for a growing ecommerce brand is to hire a media company or content publisher to help create unbiased reviews, comparisons, and informational content (which we’ve been doing for years).

Despite what has been happening in Google searches these past few months, I think customers still want, require, and need unbiased reviews and information from real users and experts. That’s where publishers can help.

I like where this is headed, but I do think there needs to be at least a separation of editorial and monetization to make this really work. From an editorial perspective, this can easily become self-serving and muddy the waters of brand trust if not done right.

FTC Announces Rule Banning Noncompetes

This announcement changes everything for freelancers, many of whom have not been able to take additional clients or get new jobs in their niche because of noncompetes (and fear of getting sued).

This potentially opens up so many new doors for freelancer contractors to start new businesses, expand their client base, and grow their own brands. I am personally thrilled to see this.

We’ll also see a shift in how companies hire and retain top talent.

Digital business owners who rely on contractors, freelance writers, and editors will need to adjust their hiring and retention strategies. Noncompetes have been used to protect business interests by restricting freelancers from working with competitors, but the rules have changed.

Will this mean that companies are going to make better offers to top talent? We’ll have to see. I do think it changes the playing field, though.

You can learn more and get the details here.

Speaking of Freelance Talent, What’s Going on Right Now?

There is this overall sentiment from the hiring side that there are a ton of talented writers/freelancers out there right now. And, there are!

But this sentiment can lead some companies to take advantage of freelancers in new ways.

Like everything else in business, freelance hiring tends to be very cyclical. While there may have been a slowdown last year, I don’t think this will continue.

Great freelance talent will always be in demand in some way.

This week, I listened to this talk from Lizzie Davey, a much more experienced freelancer than I am. She shares her thoughts on the current state of freelancing.

Worth a listen here!

She addressed a lot of the concerns I’ve been seeing as well in this current market:

• Companies hiring ‘freelancers’ or contractors full-time (when they shouldn’t be classified as that)

• Companies getting a ton of engagement from ‘we’re hiring’ posts on LinkedIn (are all of these even real?)

• A lot of people looking for writers or editors who can ‘work’ with AI (produce more content for less $)

• The ongoing struggle to find real work as a freelancer right now

From a Hiring Perspective

The reality — there are a lot of freelancers out there right now.

But this doesn’t mean that all the freelance writers or editors are great or a good fit for every project.

Whenever I share a job opportunity, even casually, on my LinkedIn, we get many responses (hundreds).

Most of these responses are vague:

“Let’s discuss more.”

“Would love to know more about this role.”

And, don’t really give me much to go on. If you’re replying to these roles on LinkedIn, don’t make the recruiter or hiring manager do more work!

The people who stand out in DMs quickly state what they do, share relevant portfolios or samples, and tell me why they are the best fit for the role.

If you are looking to hire freelance help, sharing a job posting on LinkedIn can be great. You don’t have to advertise a role, and you may even get picked up from one of the freelance writer aggregators (where your role will be shared with their email lists). Just make sure you actually need someone!

If you are serious about hiring, you may want to include a link to a form or application as well to give people a chance to share more.

I am working on a couple of guides that will explore the best places to hire freelance writers and where to find freelance writing jobs. I can’t wait to share them with you all. Stay tuned!

Why are top creators using email courses?

Because they create demand, build trust, and convert customers. Sign up for Master the Email-Based Course and see why Dickie Bush got “Takeaways within 5 minutes of digging in. Huge value.” 

Don't miss the 48-hour $50 discount with code LEAD at checkout.

Things to Read, Watch, and Ponder

▶️ Beam Content talked to over 400 GTM pros, including 73 content marketers, SMEs, and folks from their social networks, to pull together this report on the state of content marketing right now. You can download it here!

▶️ Is optimizing for one specific keyword an outdated SEO practice? Corey Morris shares when a narrow keyword focus works when it doesn’t in this article here.

▶️ The AI discussions continue, and Tom Capper shares his thoughts on why you might want to block AI bots on your publications when you don’t want to block them, and what this might mean as this technology continues to grow. Worth a read here!

▶️ Want to get into the weeds on SaaS content marketing strategies? Of course, you do! Our friends at Optimist met with Jess Joyce, who walks through her exact strategies working with 51+ SaaS companies over the past 15 years and she delivers! Watch the video here!

What a week! I am still deeply saddened to see my fellow publishers struggling with traffic in this post-Google apocalypse. We haven’t even begun to see all the ripple effects in other sectors of our industry either.

And yet, the extreme optimist in me is also excited about what’s next.

I’m seeing a lot of scrappy publishers quickly pivot and discover new traffic streams.

We’re thinking about traffic, our publications, and businesses in a new light. I’m also seeing a lot of opportunities to use the content publishing playbooks with new partners; after all, we’ve pushed ourselves for years to make great content.

Of course, we’re still at the beginning of this turnaround in our biz, but I’ll keep you posted.

Until 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: