I've been in SEO for the better part of 15 years. However, 2-3 years ago I became very very sick. Long story short I could not walk or use my hands, and was basically a vegetable. I had to quit my job as an SEO director, and let go of several clients. Fast forward to now, my health is under control and I need to get going again....BUT I'm trying to wrap my head around the absolute shit storm that hit this industry while I was under this proverbial rock. In all of my years as an SEO I have never seen so much change. Lucky me.

I honestly don't even know where to start, I feel extremely lost and behind. I have no doubt I will catch back up. I don't feel comfortable jumping into a management position, and definitely not a director level.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? I feel like I need to be a sponge right now and soak up as much as possible. I honestly feel like I'm starting over so much has changed.

Edit/UPDATE: Thanks for all the kind words guys! Looks like we're all in a similar boat, glad I'm not alone. My bread and butter were big ticket lead gen sites for colleges, legal, finance, etc ...7+ figure websites just demolished by AIO / Chatgtp etc practically overnight. I knew it was coming, I just didn't realize how quickly it would happen. I know very little about any of it at the moment or how to even begin to capitalize on that traffic. What a difference 2 years can make. Looks like I'm going to be spending the next few weeks soaking up anything and everything I can....finding ways to possibly utilize these different platforms to capture.

A dumb question. But now I’m curious after losing a client over this…

There is an agency in the same industry I’m in that is telling people (including aforementioned client that left us) that switching from WordPress to Webflow will help them rank better in AIO, ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.

Sounds like snake oil to me… but I’m totally open to learning more if this has any validity to it. What are your thoughts?

Would it be reasonable to assume the SEO agencies that are best at their job are the ones who appear on page 1 when you search for SEO or SEO + your city?

I receive many unsolicited SEO emails but when I look into them, they can't even get themselves on page 1.

Hi,

My website: jimihove. dk is my own. I have a lot of amazing, natural (non-bought) links from the biggest media in my country, where they mention me as a SEO and digital marketing expert.

I have more than 250 pages of expert content.

I have been doing SEO for 15 years. I know it all (almost)

I make great results for my clients all the time.

My domain has been live for 12 years

.. and still I rank much worse than people with much worse links, much less content and much less knowledge of SEO.

I have been trying for 2 years to figure out why. 2 years.

And its still the same. Shit rankings around 20-40 in the SERPS.

I have NO IDEA why and it's driving me crazy.

I am losing at lot of business on this.

I don't believe it's Googles fault, or any other conspiracy theories. I know it's something I need to do, but what ?

I have also been testing for malware etc. It' so crazy how much I have tested.

If you have the solution, I will return later after testing it, and send you 200$

From Barry Schwarts on X, A number of lawsuits have emerged from across the EU.

Various links:

Google loses €2.4bn EU antitrust case for favouring its own shopping service

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/09/10/google-loses-24-bn-eu-antitrust-case-for-favouring-its-own-shopping-service

Italy’s Moltiply sues Google in 3B euro lawsuit

https://usaherald.com/italys-moltiply-sues-google-in-3b-euro-lawsuit/

Google faces at least €12 billion in civil lawsuits in Europe - Bloomberg

https://unn.ua/en/news/google-faces-at-least-euro12-billion-in-civil-lawsuits-in-europe-bloomberg

Hi all - I work with an accounting firm and we are looking to get more backlinks to the page. What's the best way to get them?

I worked at an SEO agency several years ago where I was in about 10 different Slack channels asking for backlinks daily. I'd get lots of replies, but almost exclusively from weird/unrelated/spammy sites. SEO has changed so much in the past few years, so I'm wondering if Slack is still the best method?

While I was at the agency, I also used a mass outreach software to pitch relevant sites, but that software is way too expensive for our small site.

Thanks!

Hey everyone, something's been bugging me for years and I think I finally figured out how to put it into words. Curious if any of you have noticed this too.

I keep running into potential clients who talk about SEO like it's a standardized product - something they can comparison shop between vendors where the only differences are price and maybe quality.

"We're looking at three SEO companies and trying to decide which one to go with."

But as we all know, if you look at what 10 different SEO agencies actually deliver, outside of the basics (keyword research, meta titles, etc), it's like 10 completely different services.

And I don't mean that some agencies offer "good" strategies and some offer "bad" strategies (though that is also true). I just mean there are a lot of approaches to SEO. We can debate all day about which approach is best, but the proof is in the pudding.

When you look at the results, you find SEOs with completely opposite strategies both getting great results. Some are super technical while others focus on content. Some put most of their energy into off-page while others are all about on-page optimization. Some follow Google's guidance religiously while others test their own theories.

The way I see it, the most telling difference isn't about which specific tactics an SEO uses, but whether they've developed their own understanding of search or are just following processes they were taught.

I'm curious to hear if this resonates with other SEOs

Hi I'm trying to find a way to automate the On page seo for my site.

I've looked at Sintra and it only provides an audit but doesn't do it or tell you how to do it. Also Otto is a waste of space. Can anyone recommend an AI tool that will at least give me step by step instructions on automing on page seo for different platforms such as WordPress, wix, 10 Web etc?

I work for a fairly large university in Canada and am working on increasing organic traffic to some of our graduate program pages. I have (mostly) free reign when it comes to the program pages, but I don't have authority to create a backlink strategy or enact one. From what I've read, backlinking is a pretty foundational piece to SEO, but I'm wondering if it's possible to be successful without it. Any insight would be appreciated!

I made a pretty extensive sidebar menu that links to all my other pillar pages.

Is this considered internal linking (passing pagerank?) does it hurt SEO by having so many?

I run a small company doing things like kitchen renovations, bathroom remodels, and general home upgrades. We’ve tried working with a marketing agency before, but it didn’t really go anywhere, lots of talk, not many results.

Just looking for someone who actually understands how people find and choose contractors or remodelling services online. We’re not trying to blow up overnight, just want something solid that helps get more eyes on our work and brings in decent leads.

If anyone’s had a good experience with an agency that actually helped, would really appreciate hearing about it.

Google summarizer summarizes page and shows link to it in a tiny button –> thus takes away traffic from small site –> small site ceases to exist due to revenue drop –> Google summarizer no longer has the source of claims in its summary

What then?

Will it just display: [Source – Trust me, bro, I saw it sometime ago] ?

Sometimes I see Gemini make some reasonable, but source bullshit sources.

E.g. "fruit flies like to live in fruits" [Sources: "Forbes - Top 5 Best Inflatable Pillows"]. Like it gives at least any citation so that you f-off.

What do you think will happen when AI loses sources for citations?

I'm planning on listing my site to quite alot of directories for SEO. However if I submit my site to 50 different places then 1 year later I have a number change, should I go back to every single place and change it? My question really is should I keep track of everywhere I submit? Is there an easier way I can do this for example make one change and it changes them all? I've done some research but I'm still a little confused on this matter.

Hey everyone,

After struggling to find a full-time SEO job, I recently decided to start offering my services as a freelancer. I’ve built a few sites for myself to practice, and I’m confident in my ability to rank local websites effectively. I’ve picked a specific niche (won’t share it for obvious reasons), but now I’m trying to figure out the best way to land my first clients.

I’ve been actively prospecting for about a week now, testing out a few lead generation strategies, but I’d love to hear from others who’ve been through this. How did you get your first client? How long did it take you?

Also, I know the usual advice is to walk into local businesses and pitch my services – trust me, that’s already on my radar. I’m more interested in less obvious methods, like lead nurturing, Gmail marketing strategies, and creative ways to generate leads that might not be as widely discussed.

I appreciate any insights or advice you’re willing to share. Thanks in advance!

I’ve been reading some Ai overviews and been left totally confused after my queries. I am also personally demoting/questioning the quality of some of the sources being cited because of this. Is anyone else experiencing this searcher experience.

I have a paying customer for whom I do their SEO.
Their website is a WordPress website.
They have an old image on facebook that was for a promotion. The image is not in WordPress Media.
Today, when you search their brand name in Google search, this old image comes up. Not only under facebook, under general images too.
The customer does not want this image to come up.

Does anyone have ideas about how I can ensure that Google does not show this facebook image in a Google search?

Any help would be appreciated.

I'm confused. I've had the blog for 5 months, but I want to know if these numbers that Google Search Console gives me are good or not for the last 28 days.
Total clicks: 15
Total views: 1.45k
CTR: 1%
Average position: 53.1

Please be polite. I just want some advice or an opinion. Thank you!

I apologize in advance for my English (it's not my native language)

Hi all,
I've ran paid ads for years for meta and google ads, but have always struggled with SEO on how to build it up, what content to release, specific keywords to use, etc.

I've been in ecom for a long time, and every year there is a struggle with higher and higher cost per clicks, so really want to start building out SEO for my brand.

I know there is A LOT to seo, but what I don't understand is that there are some keywords when you search for them that have a lot of volume, but all the pages that rank 1 for that, don't even have the keyword in the page title or header at all or it might have a variation.

For example when I search for "mma clothing brand", the top results don't have these exact keyword in it. It may have some sort of variation for it, but it's not the exact keyword. I've just always thought google would rank that specific keyword for it..?

Is there a simple structure to follow, tools that help with content ideas (I know there are tons coming out each year). Organically I would be happy if I could get 1 sale a month from it. Most sales either happen in person or fb/google ads.

Is there any safe way to buy backlinks?? Some best backlink selling sites that are safe Or any free way?

I have a site with inspiring stories. I have tried SEO. I don't know if I have hired bad people or what, but I don't show up much on google or get a lot of traffic from google. Also, are there any other way to get organic traffic outside of something going viral on social?

Quick summary we are an ecomm business. We got hit back in March with new core update. We managed to improve our rankings in some major KWs since then but still nowhere near before the update. And now our backlink profile on Semrush marked as dangerous. My partner bought some links on Fiverr and some of those links are marked as link farms.

There are no manual actions on GSC.

I can get in contact with the Fiverr guy and remove the links. Sites have 30-60 DA on Ahrefs and 0-4 on Moz and Semrush. No organic traffic and thousands of outgoing links. Clearly a network of shitty sites to manipulate DA.

Money spent is comical so no problems there. Question is if is there a down side for removing those links? Should we expect any improvements to rankings after the removal?

And also if this BLs are hurting my business what’s holding me back from spamming those cheap links to my competitors? This shouldn’t work right?

Thanks!

Hey everybody, first off, I'd like to say I'm no SEO expert, however I have been trying to understand it for a while. I am running a small business in Prague, Czech Republic and I've always been doing all my marketing including website development and SEO by myself. Therefore, when I started, having no experience at all, I've chosen WIX for the development, as it seemed (and still seems tbh) as the most user-friendly editor out there. However, a while ago I have noticed, our SEO is trash and now I'm trying to improve it, because we don't even show up in Google search for the most common keywords (I went through all 15 pages).

My question is, I've saw some people here on Reddit say that WIX is making it extremely hard etc. Is that true?

I'm super scared to move to WordPress, and also I have WIX prepaid til Oct 2026

I'm helping a friend rank her healthcare business and so far it's actually going really well. We went from 10th to 2nd in searches like "her specialty in townsheisin". Plus other conditions related to her specialty.

What I don't understand is near me searches. If I go to her town and search "'her specialty' near me" which is a popular keyword for finding doctors.. she's down in the 20s? But if I type the town she's second.

I watched several YouTube videos from digital agencies that make it sound like if you rank well in the town, doing a near me search for that same keyword in the town will have the same results.. but I'm not seeing that at all. This is across multiple different phones btw (mine and hers) with Google location on and correctly putting us on the town.

Is there any specific 'near me' optimizations I should be doing? She has a GMB page with correct nap and is in a ton of directories with identical nap.

Just getting started as a SEO freelancer and I wonder if it's a good idea. I've already tried cold emailing and it didn't work. Cold calling seems like a better, more personal option. Have you tried it? Do you think it's an effective strategy?