SEO Guide: Google Updates & Trends
SEO Guide: Google Updates & Trends
Victoria Kurichenko
         1
                                  CONTENT
 3
      Introduction
 4    About the author
 7    Chapter 1: Everything you need to know about Google’s
      updates in 2023
14    Chapter 2: SEO trends you can’t ignore in 2024
23    Chapter 3: What you should know to rank on Google
84    Chapter 4: 5 tips to help you write better content
95    Chapter 5: What to do if your website rankings drop
104   Chapter 6: Bonus: Your year-end SEO to-do list
109   Chapter 7: Recommended tools
118   Conclusion
120   Thank you! Let’s connect!
                                    2
INTRODUCTION
Hi dear reader!
As an SEO expert, I’ve written over 50 blog posts for B2B and SaaS
companies. In addition, I’ve published roughly 100 optimized blog
posts on my website.
The first chapters of this ebook will share the most important Google
algorithm updates of 2023 and how the SEO environment will change
in 2024. With this knowledge, you’ll be one step ahead of your
competitors.
The core chapters of this ebook will teach you everything you need to
know and do to rank in the top 10 organic search results on Google.
I’ll explain what happens behind the scenes after you publish content
on the web, how to pick easy-to-rank topics for your website, and how
to increase your website’s click-through rate (CTR) in organic search
results.
                                   3
You’ll also learn what to do if your website rankings drop. Spoiler alert:
this strategy has yielded positive results in 100% of cases. I use this
strategy whenever I see a continuous decline in impressions, organic
traffic, and rankings. So, stay tuned for the chapter five.
If you are just starting your SEO journey, this ebook will help you quickly
learn proven-to-work keyword research and SEO writing strategies
without the fluff.
If you have decent experience in SEO, this ebook will help you deepen
your knowledge of SEO, better understand Google’s indexing process,
the role of AI in SEO, and so much more!
                                     4
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
     Nice to meet
     you!
     My name is
     Victoria
     Kurichenko.
                                  5
Nevertheless, that experience helped me realize what I didn’t want to
do in my life and how to manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
                                  6
My website impressions and clicks August 6th, 2022 – December 5th, 2023. Source:
Google Search Console
P.S. The ebook contains affiliate links. I might get a small commission if you purchase
recommended products.
                                           7
Chapter 1
EVERYTHING YOU
NEED TO KNOW
ABOUT GOOGLE’S
UPDATES IN 2023
            8
Google has changed a lot in recent years, which means some strategies
that SEO specialists and site owners preached no longer work.
Let me explain what every Google algorithm update means for you
as a website owner and how you can ensure your website won’t be
affected.
                                   9
10
  1.     Google Helpful Content Update
Introduced in September 2023 for the first time, the Google Helpful
Content update aims to prioritize websites with original, informative,
and engaging content that genuinely serves users’ needs. This update
likely places increased importance on content quality, relevance, and
user engagement metrics rather than the number of keywords or
backlinks.
Gone are those days when you could easily generate content and
make it rank in organic search results. Today, Google wants to know
who’s behind the content and whether the content piece will satisfy
users’ search intent.
I’ll teach you how to create content that’s in line with Google
requirements in the following chapters of this ebook.
Core algorithm updates are significant and can impact search results
comprehensively. These updates usually aim to improve the overall
search experience, including content quality, technical aspects, and
user experience, by refining how Google ranks and displays search
results.
                                   11
Keeping content relevant and user-friendly is crucial to maintaining
and improving search rankings.
How the March 2023 Core update impacted my website. Source: Google Search Console.
Are you planning to launch a website and write listicles like “Top X
Tools for Content Writers in 2024?”
                                        12
In a nutshell, the Google Review Update was introduced to evaluate
the credibility and quality of online reviews.
This update affects website owners who rely on reviews for their
business reputation and search rankings.
If you write and monetize product reviews like me, ensure your review
system is robust and transparent. Include product screenshots,
videos, how-to guides, and personal stories to help users understand
that your product review is authentic.
How the November 2023 Review update impacted my website. Source: Google Search
Console.
                                      13
You may wonder how to check whether your website was impacted.
Here’s what you can do.
If you don’t have Google Search Console installed yet, check this how-
to guide from Google.
All you need to know is how to create optimized content aligned with
Google requirements to avoid your website being penalized by the
algorithm updates.
Luckily, you are reading this ebook now, which will help you master
the art and science of SEO writing.
                                  14
Chapter 2
            15
Many things happen in the SEO world daily. However, not all of them
last long.
In this chapter, I want to talk about one trend that’s already shaping
the world of SEO and will have an even bigger impact on site owners
in the following years.
What’s next?
                                   16
It’s ridiculous.
I’ve also seen some clients slowly shifting towards using ChatGPT for
content writing. They say, “Why hire content writers if ChatGPT can do
the same thing but faster and cheaper?”
                                     17
Before AI content generation became mainstream, I conducted
several experiments on my website to measure the impact of AI-
generated content on website performance in organic search results.
In particular, I wanted to learn if Google treats AI-generated content
differently and how it would rank.
How an article generated with ChatGPT performs on my website. Source: Google Search
Console.
I did not build backlinks to this article or use any other means to
promote it. I published it to see how it would perform and whether I
                                        18
could potentially use AI to quickly generate tool reviews. Spoiler alert:
no!
How an article generated with Bard performs on my website. Source: Google Search
Console.
You might have noticed that the article gets some organic traffic
despite low impressions. That’s because I targeted a low-competitive
keyword. As soon as more website owners publish similar content,
this article will lose its position.
I’ve shown you two examples from my website. However, I’ve also
seen similar cases on my client websites.
However, let me share a few words about the Generative AI trend first.
                                       19
       Generative AI in SERP
                                         20
Google said that the top of the search engine result page will be
occupied by AI-generated snippets like this one:
I hope you get it now why SEO specialists have started to worry.
                                           21
Study of the average click-through rate of featured snippets. Source: Ahrefs.
Can you imagine what will happen after Google releases AI-generated
snippets?
                                           22
      6. Popular SEO strategies that we actively utilize nowadays will
      no longer bring the desired results.
These are a few thoughts on what website owners may see happening
in the upcoming years.
I’m not trying to make things look worse. Not at all. I’m sharing my
thoughts to help you prepare for the inevitable changes impacting
your website’s performance.
                                  23
Chapter 3
            24
Before learning how to optimize content for rankings, you must know
what happens behind the scenes when you hit the “publish” button.
Your web page should go through the following four steps before it
becomes searchable on Google:
        1. Discovering
        2. Crawling
        3. Rendering
        4. Indexing
How Google bot crawls and indexes new content. Source: Elegant Themes.
1. Discovering
You might think that your newly published article is already available in
search results since anyone can access your website’s URL immediately
after it’s published on the web.
                                        25
However, it’s not true!
Even though you can access it through the URL, no one will find it
in organic search results since the Google bot (Google’s web crawler)
must first discover your newly published URL.
How Google bot crawls and indexes new content. Source: Elegant Themes.
                                        26
  2.     Crawling
Crawling helps search engine bots understand the page’s content and
context, making it easier to determine its relevance to user queries.
At this point, the Google bot can either move to the next steps or get
stuck at this step for a while.
That’s why publishing a new web page isn’t enough. You must ensure
your web page doesn’t have “discovered/crawled — currently not
indexed” issues.
                                  27
“Crawled – currently not indexed” issue. Source: Google Search Console.
Simply put, Google knows about your web page but decided not to
add it to its main index (content storage) because of some issues.
Google does not provide answers or explain what causes these issues
and how to fix them.
Note that it takes up to two weeks for a new website to get indexed. If
the issue isn’t resolved automatically, try to request indexing through
Google Search Console like this.
                                          28
An issue with indexing. Source: Google Search Console.
3. Rendering
4. Indexing
“Your URL is on Google” — that’s the most desired status for all website
owners.
If your newly published web page shows this status in Google Search
Console, my congratulations! Your web page is available for users on
Google.
                                          29
A “URL is on Google” message. Source: Google Search Console.
After crawling and rendering, the search engine stores the extracted
information about the webpage in its index, a massive database that
maps keywords to web pages.
Let me repeat it once again to make it clear: all web pages on your
website should be indexed unless you intentionally want to
exclude some pages from search results.
Okay, your web page is on Google now. But what happens next?
Try to recall the last time you opened the Google search bar. What
did you type? Most likely, you wanted to find out something, buy
something, or inquire about the direction of a particular store nearby.
Top-ranking search results reflect the work done by SEO experts, who
know how to optimize a content piece for a particular keyword, and
Google. Because Google believes your web page is relevant to users at
a particular moment of time.
If you run a local business, you should definitely know the navigational
keywords your target audience uses to find businesses similar to
yours.
                                   31
Based on lengths, keywords can be:
It’s often hard to predict what users want to buy by typing a single word
on Google. As a website owner, you won’t know whether their search
intent is commercial or informational. However, creating content that
satisfies users’ search intent is much easier when targeting medium
and long-tail keywords. Moreover, these keywords usually have lower
competition, which increases your chances of ranking high in organic
search results.
Even though “Tomato plant” has the highest monthly search volume,
this keyword’s conversion rate is low. Why? Because you don’t know
what exactly users want when they google this keyword.
                                   32
Types of keywords, according to Semrush.
You’ll no longer write content that no one finds and reads online.
Instead, you’ll have proven-to-work keyword research methods to
discover keywords your target audience continuously uses on Google.
                                           33
  3 methods to find keywords for your website
I’ll explain every method in detail and what you should achieve at the
end.
I’ve tried multiple SEO tools. I can confidently say Semrush is the best
one in terms of price and value for SEO experts, small and established
businesses, and startups.
Try to recall the last time you suddenly came up with a random topic
and wanted to write an article about it.
                                   34
There is an easy method to check whether your topic has a ranking
potential. Semrush, like any other SEO tool, has a Keyword Overview
report, which you can use to check whether anyone searches for your
keyword on the web and how competitive your keyword is.
For example, I came up with a random topic, such as “side hustles for
full-time workers.” It’s a pretty relatable topic, isn’t it?
Instead of wondering whether it’s worth writing an article about it, you
can quickly check the keyword potential in Semrush. In our example,
you can see that the keyword has 320 monthly global search volume,
140 monthly search volume in the USA, 76 keyword difficulty, and
mixed search intent.
                                          35
Method 2 — Keyword generation
It may happen that your topic idea doesn’t have ranking potential.
However, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t target it. It simply means
people use different words to find content on the web.
                                   36
Method 3 — Spy on your competitors’ keywords
You can use Semrush’s Keyword Gap tool to discover keywords your
competitors rank for, but you don’t. Add your closest competitors’
URLs to the Keyword Gap tool and hit “Compare.”
                                  37
In my example below, I only inserted two competitor URLs to discover
56 keywords. However, I can easily discover even more opportunities
by adding more competitor URLs.
In the following paragraph, I’ll show you how to analyze keywords and
pick the most suitable ones for your website.
The following metrics will help you critically analyze keywords and
pick the ones your website can realistically rank for.
                                          38
Global search volume roughly estimates how often your keyword
is searched worldwide per month. Simply put, the higher the search
volume, the more popular your keyword is.
Volume in your target country shows how often people search for
your keyword on average per month in your target country.
Imagine you want to target the “side hustles for full time workers”
keyword, which has 140 search volume in the USA. Even if your article
ranks first on Google for this keyword, you won’t get 140 monthly
visitors.
Here is why.
Users can click on other search results from the top 10 positions.
Google can show featured snippets for these keywords, answering
users’ questions right on the spot without the need to open any
website. Besides, paid ads can steal your traffic, too.
                                    39
I’ve seen cases when promising keywords had zero traffic potential. It
happens when big websites dominate the web, like Wikipedia, and if
Google can answer users’ questions right on the search result page.
For example, here’s what a search engine result page looks like for the
“When was Mona Lisa painted?” keyword. The answer is right on the
page without a need to navigate elsewhere.
                                          40
       Global volume (GV): 100+
Collect all your keywords in an Excel spreadsheet and write down their
GV, SV, TP, and KD. This way, you’ll see which ones have higher search
volumes with medium and low competition.
                                         41
Pro tip
Many tools can help you analyze keywords. Once you pick a tool,
I recommend checking how it measures keyword difficulty and
search volume.
If your website is new or has a low domain rating (DR), you should
prioritize keywords with low keyword difficulty, such as below
14, according to Semrush. Your website will likely rank in the top
ten organic search results for such keywords if you create well-
researched and optimized content.
                                      42
As to the search volume estimates, the Semrush team says it is
an annual average.
                              43
  How to prioritize keywords
When you are done with keyword research, you have many topics to
write about.
Picking the keywords with the highest search volume isn’t always the
best strategy. Your ultimate goal is to attract potential customers, not
random traffic.
                   Tim Soulo
                   CMO and Product advisor at Ahrefs
How do you prioritize keywords to get the highest output from your
content?
                                    44
      Can this keyword bring me potential customers?
      Do I have products and services I can offer users who will visit
      my website through this keyword?
The screenshot below shows how I’ve done it for my website. I’ve
researched many SEO-related keywords. However, the prioritization
technique helped me handpick keywords with the search traffic and
business potential.
Keywords with 3 and 2 points are the best candidates for content
writing.
                                  45
Analyzing every keyword based on their business potential.
Let me show you how you can create a content writing plan that you
can use for your website.
Having a content plan helps save time and plan your resources in
advance.
                                         46
Here is an example of the content plan I’ve created for my website
with the following goals:
Feel free to replicate this content plan format. It’s the simplest yet
effective way to stay on top of your content creation process.
Business value
Content format
Content format, on the other hand, will help you grasp how your
content should be structured.
I know it’s often unclear what your article should cover to satisfy user
search intent. Should it be a listicle, a guide, a checklist, or a landing
page? A short article may be enough for users to get all answers, but
search engines may consider it uninformative. On the other hand,
including too many irrelevant details won’t help your web page rank
high either.
In the following paragraph, I’ll share strategies that will help you
analyze search intent and structure your article the right way.
After analyzing users’ search intent, you’ll know exactly what to write
about and how to structure your content.
Search intent is the “why” behind users’ queries. In other words, this
is the reason why users type their search queries in the Google search
bar.
                                    48
I’ll show you how to analyze search intent with the help of Semrush
and manually.
However, does it mean you should create a landing page targeting this
keyword to sell books? No!
Since Google has the most extensive online user behavior database,
it knows exactly what users want to see for every keyword and what
content structure works best.
                                    49
I prefer using Semrush’s or Ahrefs’ SERP checkers, but you can also
manually review the top 10 ranking pages for your target keyword.
Even though manual SERP checking isn’t always accurate, you can use
it to quickly define search intent.
                                          50
Manual SERP overview for “SEO books.”
                                        51
  How to structure your content
You already know your target keyword has decent search traffic
potential, bearable keyword difficulty, and commercial search intent.
However, how do you know what to write about? Should your article
have three, five, or more paragraphs? What those paragraphs should
cover? And how to ensure your article answers users’ search intent?
These are just a few questions to consider when writing your article.
If users don’t find your article helpful, they’ll likely return to search
results and navigate to another website. Sooner or later, Google will
notice this pattern and push your article down in organic search
results. You don’t want this to happen. Therefore, let me show you
how to align your content with users’ search intent.
                                   52
1. Collect semantically related keywords
There are many ways to find semantically related keywords. Feel free
to use the most suitable method for you. They are all reliable and will
help you better understand what your target audience wants to know
about your topic.
First, you can use Semrush’s “Related,” “Phrase match,” “Broad match,”
and “Questions” reports to find semantically related keywords. Other
SEO tools, like Ahrefs and Mangools, have similar reports. So, it doesn’t
really matter which SEO tool you use.
The Google search result page also shares many insights about users’
search intent. In particular, you can find semantically related keywords
in the “People also ask” and “Related searches” sections.
                                         53
Google’s related searches for the “SEO books” keyword. Source: Google search results.
The “People also ask” section on Google. Source: Google search results.
                                          54
Robinze is an AI-powered SEO tool that also recommends related terms for writing.
You can check the keywords your top-ranking competitors rank for.
This way, you’ll quickly discover keywords your article should cover.
How to check the keywords your competitors rank for. Source: Semrush.
                                         55
2. Create a table with semantically related keywords
                                  56
3. Check competitors’ word count
If top-ranking articles have over 4,000 words, but your article is 1,500,
chances are low that it will rank high in organic search results.
Therefore, you must know the length of the top-ranking articles. This
data will give you a rough estimate of how long your article should be.
      “The 11 Best SEO Books You Should Read” by Search Engine Journal
      — roughly 1,200 words.
      “I Read 26 of the Best SEO Books on Amazon (Here’s the Top 5 for
      2023)” by Gotch SEO — roughly 2,400 words.
This data isn’t perfect, but it provides valuable insights into how long
your article should be to hit the Google front page.
If I were to write an article about SEO books (which I did), I’d write at
least 2,500 words.
                                   57
4. Create an article outline
You already know what users want to learn while searching for your
target keyword. Now, it’s time to create a data-driven outline.
Don’t limit your creativity here, but ensure your article answers users’
search intent.
Here’s how I outlined my article about SEO books, which has ranked
in the top 10 organic search results for over a year. Remember that
this keyword is time-sensitive. Therefore, the content requires yearly
updates.
       H2: How to Write Blog Posts that Hit the Google Front Page by
       Victoria Kurichenko
Once the outline is ready, you can start writing your article!
There are still a few things left to do to align your content with Google’s
requirements and implement optimization strategies. I will teach you
how to do it in the following paragraphs.
                                    58
   How to align your content with Google’s content
   quality requirements
How do you think Google determines what websites to show in the top
10 search results if most of the content is AI-generated these days?
In this paragraph, I’ll share what you can and should do to meet
Google’s content quality requirements. Although Google’s search
quality evaluator guidelines are 168 pages long, I’ll focus on the most
important things.
Let’s start!
What’s E-E-A-T?
                                   59
credentials, and relevant experience. Content written by experts is
more likely to be considered authoritative and trustworthy.
Here are some specific tips for aligning your content with E-E-A-T:
Explain how you are related to the niche you write about.
                                  60
       Mention rewards and certificates if you have any.
None of the AI tools will be able to tick all the points from this list.
By following these tips, you can build a website or create content that
Google values and users trust.
There are a few more things to know before you can align your content
with Google’s content quality requirements.
                                     61
So, providing a great user experience isn’t only good for SEO. It can
also help you improve your business goals.
                                   62
  How to optimize your content to rank on Google
You may think this is one of the most important chapters of this ebook
since I’ll reveal the optimization strategies you can use to rank content
in organic search results.
I’ve tested many strategies in the past years of my SEO career. Some
didn’t survive after Google algorithm updates. Others, however, have
proven to work well when combined with all other steps from the
previous paragraphs.
                                   63
  1.       Optimize the H1 title tag
                    John Mueller
                    Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google
John Mueller refers to the H1 title tag as a ranking factor that Google
uses to understand the content and assess how relevant a particular
page is to a user’s query.
Even though Google is much smarter these days than it was a decade
ago, it still uses keywords to grasp what your web page is about.
Therefore, ensure you include your target keyword in the H1 tag.
Website owners also wonder how many H1 title tags can be used on
one web page.
                                      64
                     John Mueller
                     Webmaster Trends Analyst at Google
So, yes, you can use multiple H1 title tags if you want to or if that’s how
your content management system works.
You can check your web page headings and the number of H1 title tags
using free Google extensions, such as the SEO Pro extension.
How to check headlines and title tags on your website. Source: SEO Pro free Google
extension.
                                        65
  2.     Optimize the meta title and meta
         description
Don’t confuse the H1 tag (the title of your article) with the meta title.
They serve different purposes.
The H1 tag signals that users are in the right place to read the content
they came for.
Follow these tips, to align your meta title and meta description with
Google’s best practices:
I recommend using the free To The Web tool to check what the meta
title and meta description will look like on desktop and mobile devices.
                                   66
The tool allows you to change your metadata if it’s too long or short.
How to preview the meta title and meta description. Source: To The Web.
                                         67
        Add a clickable table of contents to help users quickly jump to
        other paragraphs. Furthermore, it’s a great place to insert your
        target keywords.
The screenshot below shows where I inserted keywords for the “SEO
books” article.
                                           68
  4.     Optimize subheadings such as H2, H3, H4
Like the H1 title tag, subheadings help structure your content, improve
readability, and contextually separate different topics within the same
article.
                                  69
Examples of subheadings with semantically related keywords on my website.
Neither Google nor SEO experts provide a set of rules on how many
keywords your article should contain and the frequency of their usage.
Google says it doesn’t matter how many keywords you include in the
article. At the end of the day, the topical relevance and users' online
behavior are what determine the success of your content performance
in organic search results.
                                        70
You’re good to go as long as you use your keywords naturally and
don’t overspam your content with keywords.
6. Optimize images
However, Google cannot see and understand images just yet. For this
reason, they’ve introduced an alt tag. It describes images to search
engine bots and readers with visual impairment.
If you use custom code or run your website in Webflow, you must
manually add <img alt="text"> tag or ask a developer for help.
                                   71
How to manually add an alt tag to the image. Source: WordPress.
I use WebP image formatting all over my website to reduce the page
loading speed.
For example, one PNG image weighs 314 KB. However, its size will be
reduced to 73.6 KB after converting it to the WebP format. That’s a big
difference, especially if your web page has many images.
                                         72
How to convert PNG images to WebP. Source: Convertio.
Users prefer navigating to a web page with a readable URL slug rather
than one containing ? *, &, numbers, and other signs.
x yourwebsite.com/index.php?id_sezione=360&sid=3a5ebc944f41d
yourwebsite.com/seo-books/
You should not change the URL once you publish a web page!
If you make changes, the previous URL will continue existing, but it will
show a 404 error, which means “page not found.”
                                        73
       Years (2023, 2024)
       Numbers (in case of a listicle)
If excluded, you can update the content of your articles and titles
without making the URLs obsolete.
Internal linking is how you link from one page to another within your
website.
A smart internal linking strategy can help you achieve the following:
       Category pages
       Pages with the most backlinks
       Top-performing pages by traffic
                                     74
The graph shows how one authority web page passes Page Rank to web pages with
lower authority via internal linking.
                                     75
The chapter recap
                               76
      Use “alt tag” for image description, where you can include
      your target and/or semantically related keywords.
Doing less won’t help you reach the desired results. However,
focusing on too many things at once can slow the process.
                              77
   Rich snippets as a way to increase organic CTR
Rich snippet for a local restaurant in organic search results. Source: Google.
                                           78
1. FAQ snippet
You can get FAQ snippets if you have a landing page or a blog post
with frequently asked questions and answers.
Even though Google says it will only display FAQ snippets for
authoritative governmental and health websites, I often see it in
search results for regular websites.
2. Review snippet
This type of rich snippet is designed to help users get a quick overview
of a product or service's overall sentiment and quality based on public
reviews.
I actively use this type of rich snippet when writing product reviews.
                                          79
If implemented correctly, Google picks it up almost immediately and
shows it next to your search result.
A review snippet is an excellent way to help your web pages stand out.
I’ve only shown you a few examples that work well for blog posts.
However, there are more types of rich snippets that you can implement:
For example, I use the All-in-One SEO Pro plugin for WordPress
websites. The plugin provides easy-to-understand and use
functionality to add rich snippets. All I have to do is pick the desired
rich snippet type and insert the content.
                                          80
How to add rich snippets to your web pages in WordPress. Source: All-in-One SEO Pro
plugin.
You can use the following prompts to speed up your writing and create
high-ranking content. They also work well for ChatGPT and Bard!
1. “What is [topic]?”
If you struggle to write clear and succinct definitions, try this prompt.
                                        81
Based on my experience, AI tools like Bard and ChatGPT provide great
ideas for definitions.
If you run out of ideas for metadata, use ChatGPT and Bard. It's
absolutely safe for your website. You won't get any penalty from
Google if you use AI tools for this purpose.
                                           82
3. “List FAQ for the web page about [topic]”
If you want to include an FAQ section in your article but don’t know
what it should cover, use AI tools for ideas generation.
                                          83
chapter 7. So, you can pick a tool that suits your goals and budget.
                                          84
Chapter 4
5 TIPS TO HELP
YOU WRITE BETTER
CONTENT
            85
Let’s be honest: writing is challenging.
The good news is that you can improve your writing skills by following
the writing principles and tips from experienced content creators.
As an SEO expert and content writer, I strive to help you create content
with the best chance of ranking on the first search result page.
Here’s how you can improve your writing and attract your target
audience.
                                   86
   1.      Create a unique angle for your content
Imagine you live in the United States and search for the “soup recipes.”
The first 10 search results are similar, which makes it difficult to choose
just one website.
As a user, you probably don’t know what makes one search result
better than another.
                                           87
Since none of the meta titles stand out, you’ll likely open websites one
by one.
This is how many users behave when searching for anything online.
They are all the same and don’t attract users’ attention.
A content piece without a unique angle is like another fish in the big
ocean called the Internet. It is technically there, but no one cares. It
doesn’t attract attention.
What would you say about this meta title? Would you click?
I’d probably click because this content piece has a unique angle (soup
recipes by chef updated for 2024) that distinguishes it from other
articles in search results.
                                   88
How to create a unique angle for your content
Do most meta titles have numbers, years, and words like “top,” “best,”
etc.?
You can create a unique angle for your content when you understand
which websites rank at the top of organic search results.
Consider the following tips while creating a unique angle for your
content.
Many websites don’t mention who creates content for them. Therefore,
users don’t know whether the information is reliable and trustworthy.
You can make your content unique by communicating who the author
of your content is, whether an expert writes an article, and why users
should trust you.
It will help you add a unique angle to your content and align it with
Google’s content quality requirements. Refer to the previous chapter
for my proven-to-work tips on how to optimize your content for
Google’s E-E-A-T requirements.
If you write product or software reviews, specify the criteria you use
while reviewing products. People want to know why you recommend
particular products and why they are better than anything else.
                                    89
This recommendation is particularly important for websites that
regularly publish product comparisons and reviews to make affiliate
commissions.
Your content will become more valuable if you describe your experience
related to the topic of your article. For example, did you try a product
or service before reviewing it?
People want to hear from experts and don’t want to waste their
time. If you know how you can help your target audience solve their
challenges, communicate it via your content! It will help your website
stand out among competitors.
If you update your website content yearly, it will have a higher chance
of maintaining and improving its ranking positions.
                                   90
6. Show the impact
Many content creators say what you should do, but you’ll rarely find
content that shows what you can achieve by doing something. Content
that shows the impact (positive or negative) is the most valuable.
One of the common mistakes I often see writers make is they don’t
include sources. They mention facts and data in their posts but don’t
include sources. Which of the two statements below do you find
credible?
If your goal is to make people believe you and your content, you can
achieve it by quoting experts and including links to credible external
resources.
                                   91
   3.      Pay attention to readability
You can add extra white space, write short paragraphs, and use simple
English to improve your content readability.
                                       92
Example of good content readability.
4. Use CTAs
For example, you can use in-text CTAs that are natively embedded
in the content. These CTAs don’t look like ads. That’s why users don’t
skip them immediately.
An example of a CTA usage in one of my blog posts. Source: Self Made Millennials website.
                                           93
You can use in-text CTAs multiple times in one content piece to
promote various offers. If you can clearly communicate the value of
your offers, users will eagerly click on your CTAs.
Take the most out of your content by including CTAs. Here are a few
principles that will help you write effective CTAs:
                                         94
Strong action verbs: Employ powerful action verbs that inspire
action, such as "Learn More," "Sign Up," or "Shop Now."
Make CTAs visually appealing: Your CTAs must stand out from the
surrounding content. Use contrasting colors, bold fonts, and clear
call-to-action buttons.
I sincerely hope my writing tips were helpful and taught you something
new. Apply them in practice and see how they work for you.
In the next chapter, I’ll teach you how to improve your rankings if your
website was affected by Google algorithm updates.
                                   95
Chapter 5
WHAT TO DO IF
YOUR WEBSITE
RANKINGS DROP
            96
Managing a website is a challenging endeavor full of ups and downs.
However, every website owner goes through this from time to time.
First, users want to consume fresh content only. No one wants to read
old guides, tips, and strategies that no longer work. It is a waste of
time!
Secondly, you already know that Google tracks users' online behavior
and boosts web pages that satisfy users’ search intent.
And last but not least, your competitors will always want to outperform
you in organic search results. If you don’t implement changes on your
website, someone else will sooner or later outperform you in organic
search results.
                                  97
That’s why you must update your top-performing website pages
regularly.
I’ve made $3,457.43 from the Beehiiv review in 2023 as an affiliate income. Source:
Beehiiv Partner Program Dashboard.
I wasn’t the only one targeting this keyword. The competition has
intensified since many website owners wanted to rank their pages in
the top ten organic search results.
Even though my article ranked high for over 6 months, its performance
declined:
Impressions dropped.
                                        98
        Clicks dropped from 20–30 to 2–5 per day.
Here’s what happens if you don’t update your website content for a long time. Source:
Google Search Console.
Here’s what I’ve done step-by-step to bring my article back to the top
positions in organic search results.
My article has ranked among the top five organic search results for
a while, but it suddenly lost its position on Google. I wondered what
competitors did and what keywords they ranked for to outperform
my article.
                                         99
FYI, Semrush has a similar feature called “Keyword Gap.”
You already know that users quickly assess the top 10 organic search
results before choosing where to click. More appealing or even
clickbait meta titles attract more users from organic search results
and increase click-through rate (CTR).
                                           100
Right after the content update, the article jumped back to the top 5
positions on Google (more about it later), so I collected the CTR stats a
week after the new version of the article was published.
The “Beehiiv review” keyword had the best CTR — 5.71%. That’s
because my meta title contained the exact match keyword, and the
article answered users’ search intent.
However, the CTR was much lower for the “Beehiiv” keyword since the
search intent for this keyword is mixed. We don’t know what users
want by searching for this keyword. I assume most of them type this
keyword whenever they wish to navigate to the Beehiiv main page.
Therefore, shoehorning the review article doesn’t work.
Since I’m an avid user of the Beehiiv email software, I knew about the
pros and cons of Beehiiv and monetization opportunities for content
creators. That’s why I only spent a few hours rewriting the article and
optimizing it for rankings.
                                        101
I updated over 70% of my Beehiiv review. Source: Copyleaks.
I spent one day analyzing, rewriting, and optimizing the article. The
updated version was released on the 20th of June, 2023.
Impressions tripled.
       The article returned to the top 5 search engine results for the
       “beehiiv” keyword and more.
       I’ve got two new referrals within two weeks after the content
       update.
                                         102
How Beehiiv’s article’s performance changed after republishing it. Source: Google
Search Console.
After republishing the article, you can also see how rankings for the
target keywords improved.
As a result of the content update, the ranking positions improved for the target keywords.
Moreover, the article started ranking for more related keywords.
                                           103
For example, you can see the performance of one of my oldest blog
posts below. I updated its content twice at the end of 2022 and 2023
years. You can see how its organic performance improved after the
last content update.
Example 1: How my Medium review performance improved after rewriting 50% of the
content.
It’s worth mentioning that I did not do any link-building in the example
above. The performance improvement was achieved solely by updating
old content.
                                      104
Chapter 6
BONUS: YOUR
YEAR-END SEO
TO-DO LIST
            105
Since this is a practical SEO ebook, I want to share one more proven-
to-work process I’ve developed for my website and client websites.
So, if you hold this ebook in November, December, or even January, it’s
the right time to think about the year-end website review. Although
these strategies are beneficial if implemented at the end of the year,
you can use them to review your website anytime.
Money-making pages can help you make money from your website.
These could be well-performing service pages or product pages.
These pages are essential for your business. Your goal should be to
improve their rankings and create more similar pages in the future.
                                  106
  2.     Check how your money-making pages 		
         perform
       Did your pages gain or lose ranking positions over the past year?
       Did your organic traffic increase or decrease?
       Did your earnings decrease or increase?
       Have you noticed any new competitors outranking your web
       pages in organic search results?
If you have over 10 pages to update, you must know how to prioritize
your work.
                                   107
  5.     Update meta titles and meta descriptions
If you still have “2023” in the meta titles, users won’t even click on your
web pages in organic search results.
Users will also ignore your webpage if its meta title and description
are similar to the rest of the search results. Why? Because they don't
know why your page is different or better than anything else in the top
10 search results.
That’s why the metadata must be catchy and up-to-date for your
money-making pages. Chapter 3 of this ebook, “How to optimize
meta title and meta description,” provides a step-by-step guide on
metadata creation.
7. Optimize content
                                    108
  8.     Republish content
Ensure you don’t change an existing URL slug since it will lead to
a 404 error (page not found).
It usually takes several days for Google to recrawl your updated web
page.
                                  109
Chapter 7
RECOMMENDED
TOOLS
            110
You’ve reached the final chapter of this ebook. My congratulations!
However, you can achieve great results faster if you use the right SEO
tools.
As an SEO expert, I’ve used and reviewed over 50 paid and free SEO
tools. You’ll find my curated list of SEO tools below. These are SEO and
AI tools that I use daily to create content, research keywords, and do
on-page SEO work.
Check the list and find the most suitable tools for your business.
1. Semrush
Best for
       Marketers
       SEO experts
       Agencies managing client websites
       Site owners willing to grow their websites
Best features
Pricing
From $129.95
                                  111
help you grow your website.
If your goal is to create optimized content for your website, you can
also use Semrush SEO Content Template.
2. Frase.io
Best for
        Content creators
        Site owners who write a lot of content
                                   112
        Freelance content writers
Best features
        SERP research
        AI-powered content briefs
        Content scoring
Pricing
From $14.99
3. Robinize
                                    113
Best for
Best features
        Outline creation
        SERP analysis
        Keyword highlight
Pricing
I have known about Robinize since its first days. I provided feedback
about the tool to the owner to improve its functionality.
Even though Robinize is still in its early growth stage, it can help
optimize your content for rankings. Moreover, Robinize has a free
version with three free monthly reports and a ChatGPT integration.
If you want a free or affordable AI SEO tool, you can register and try
Robinize here.
                                         114
  4.       Koala Writer AI
Best for
       SEO writers
       Website owners
Best features
Pricing
Koala Writer is an AI-powered writing tool that can help you create high-
quality, long-form content quickly and easily. It automatically analyzes
the SERP for your keyword and includes entities and keywords to help
your articles rank.
I’ve started using the Koala paid version to speed up my website and
client work. I admit it creates decent content. However, it requires
editing anyway.
                                   115
Koala Writer AI content generator.
5. Mangools
Best for
Best features
        Keyword research
        Rank tracking
Pricing
                                     116
Mangools is a suite of SEO tools that helps you analyze your website's
performance, identify new keyword opportunities, track your rankings,
and find backlinks. It is an excellent choice for beginner bloggers and
professionals alike.
6. Ahrefs
Best for
        Startups
        Agencies
        Content writers with multiple clients
        Website owners with established websites
Best features
        Keyword explorer
        Top pages report
        Site audit
Pricing
                                  117
It’s the last but definitely not the least important SEO tool on my list.
I was and am a big fan of Ahrefs. It’s an expert SEO tool to conduct
keyword research, run SEO audits, and analyze your website
performance.
                                   118
IN CONCLUSION
You’ve finished reading the third edition of my SEO ebook updated for
2024.
AI-generated content will take off this year because more and more
website owners rely entirely on AI tools for content generation. I often
see how SEO experts and niche site owners openly discuss growing
their websites with AI on X (former Twitter). It’s like playing in the
“Who’ll publish more articles?” game.
Don’t worry about those who publish more content than you and brag
about using AI. Your ultimate goal is to grow your website. It’s a long
journey where consistency and SEO white hat strategies matter more
than anything else.
                                  119
with keyword research.
Consistent actions will help you see the first results in at least six
months. However, it may take at least one year to see decent results
and monetization opportunities.
                                 120
THANK YOU! LET’S CONNECT!
        Victoria Kurichenko
SEO writing expert, Top writer on Medium
    Founder of SelfMadeMillennials
121