My client's site is upticking HARD right now.
- July 26th: 30,000/28 days
- August 17th: 35,000/28 days
- September 2nd: 40,000/28 days
- September 11th: 45,000/28 days
- September 18th: 50,000/28 days
- September 25th: 55,000/28 days
Within the next couple of weeks...we'll hit 75,000.
Gloating is not the point of this newsletter.
The September helpful content update has hit many sites really, really hard.
And I feel pretty angry and upset for people who've sunk their money and time into a site that's just been cut off at the knees.
If you've been hit, please feel free to reply with your site and I'll drop you a couple of tips for improving (and try to help you understand why it might have been hit).
Now, to the point of this newsletter...
What do I think I'm doing right?
For this site, we've gone from 5,000/month to 75,000/month in 6 months. We've weathered all storms and are moving, fast in the right direction.
It's not my personal site, so I can't share the URL. Sorry.
However, I did do the full content strategy AND content production for this site.
It was fully managed by me—from end to end— so I know the philosophy that it was built on.
Let me share that with you today in 7 parts.
1/ Steady, continuous content production
This site always stays fresh.
Every month, we add 6-10 new long-form articles (1,500-2,500 words) and update 2-4 existing articles with optimizations, tweaks, and internal links.
Google now indexes new content in <1 hour. I haven't seen that before. It feels like they're watching (which they are obviously not).
I don't think new content is a 100% requirement for success. But always keeping things fresh and improving...is.
Things you can do every week:
- Optimize titles
- Add new sections
- Add internal links
- Refresh decaying content
- Optimize or add new images
There's always progress to be made.
Lesson: Always be working on a site to keep it fresh and relevant. Keep attacking the keywords in your niche and expand your topical authority.
👋🏼 It takes me <2 hours per week to fully manage 10 articles/month for this client. I've put all my lessons into an eBook and Content Operations System here. It isn't shite.
2/ We build topical authority
I feel like people say they do this...but don't really do this. I did it.
All the blog content and landing pages on this site fall under two topics. Those two topics are closely related.
This gives ample opportunity to give contextual internal links between tightly related content.
I'm a big believer in sticking to your lane and crafting a content library that's tightly focused on a clear target audience.
We haven't deviated. We haven't gone for random and slightly unrelated tangents.
It all works together. It all makes sense as a whole.
Learn more about this in my guides to topical authority here and here.
👋🏼 I also discovered a scalable topic series and created around 25 articles that followed the exact same pattern, like this: "How to X with Y". The X and the Y were both very closely related to the core product offering (i.e. the product was a great solution to the pain point presented). This was a huge win for the efficiency of content creation. I recommend watching my video on scaling content if you're looking to find optimization in your production.
3/ First-person content
When the new E (Experience) was added to E-E-A-T a few months back, I quickly had all my writers switch to writing in first-person experience.
This made the content much better anyway, IMO.
Now the content is filled with language like "I did this, it worked, here's how you can do the same".
This helps:
- Seems like we are talking directly to each reader
- Seems like we're an experienced guide
While the writers occasionally didn't have first-hand experience, the company definitely does.
Where needed, we were able to provide insights and stories to help the writers understand, empathize, and write FOR this audience.
I don't know if Google has noticed any of this stuff...but, you know what?
It IS much better to read an article written by someone with experience, who talks to you as if they're your friend or colleague explaining a topic.
👋🏼 On the experience point...if it's a scientific topic that we had to research then I always ensure writers cite their sources. This is key for trust. And btw: we do not have an author bio or picture on the site. It's all anon.
4/ I care a lot about grabbing attention and keeping it
As someone who writes on LinkedIn most days...I know a lot about the importance of grabbing attention.
I breathe this into all my SEO content, too.
Think of your reader's journey from search to conversion.
First, they make a search. Next, they choose which SERP to click. Then they look at your site design and read your intro. And so on.
At each step, they must decide to move forward...or they'll go to another site and read their content.
That means to win the click, read and customer, you need to optimize from step 1 first.
Journey step 1: Meta title and H1
- Scroll-stopping hook
- Differentiated in the SERP
- Speaks closely to the pain point
Journey step 2: Introduction
- Compels the reader to "read on"
- Shows the article will clearly deliver
- Builds trust and credibility
- Includes "fascinations" (this is a copywriting technique you can read about here).
Journey step 3: H2s and subheadings?
- Deliver as promised
- Skimmable
This stuff is so important. I put a lot of effort into titles and intros for that reason.
Also, Google uses click data now, that just got confirmed.
So you wanna grab the searcher and keep them for as long as possible. You also want them to leave satisfied.
5/ The content is actually useful as f*ck
This is one thing you just can't get away from.
Your content HAS to actually help the reader.
Every keyword search has a problem behind it. If your article doesn't solve that problem, it's pointless.
Thin, human-written content that costs $25, or poorly done AI-written content, is why people hate using Google.
It sucks and it's not useful.
I've been traveling recently around South East Asia and MY GOD.
I'm not surprised travel blogs are getting rainforested in this update.
"Things to do in X City" keywords are a dumpster fire.
Sites like TripAdvisor are all generic tips and paid-for experiences.
Niche sites all say the same 10 things.
It's glaringly obvious these writers didn't visit the place or think outside of the box to give what every searcher wants: unique, fun experiences that are non-obvious.
Anyway, my philosophy on content is pretty clear by this point:
- Useful
- Unique
- Trustable
The devil is in the detail with this stuff.
For example, I would never allow a step-by-step guide like "How to install Google Chrome" to be released without screenshots.
Visuals are much better than words. Words are confusing.
6/ Backlinks
With this site, referring domains increase by about 100 per month.
Of those, about 50 are DoFollow.
And maybe 10-15 are actively built (via PR, partnerships, or straight-up paying).
One thing the team does well is digital PR.
It's not much...maybe three links per month to the homepage.
But they're from large news sites—which are hard-to-win and highly credible.
Link quality makes all the difference at the moment.
7/ It's a brand, not a niche site
Niche sites took a particularly big hit in this update.
This is a good reminder to build a brand with a purpose (even if that purpose is "media publication").
If your home page just looks like a list of content—this is a red flag. At a minimum, I recommend including:
- Why you exist
- Who you're for
- Who the writers are
Your goal should be to mimic real companies...not to build SEO sites to win affiliate revenue.
——
Those 7 topics are what I'd consider fundamental to the success of this site.
I'd love to hear your stories about what's working and what's not. Email me at ben@thefxck.com if you'd like to share something with this newsletter.
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