The easiest SEO strategy I’ve tried this year

A simple strategy for creating a nice little bump in your SEO traffic.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Issue #35 | April 25, 2023 Hey, it’s Pat! 👋 I have a love-hate relationship with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Over the years, it’s provided a lot of free traffic to my website, but at the same time, best practices keep changing while the competition for top keywords gets stronger. So, what’s working today? Well, I’m not an SEO expert, but I’m about to share one strategy with you that recently increased our search engine rankings and provided a nice little bump in traffic. Let’s get unstuck… QUOTE OF THE WEEK “SEO gets a lot easier when you approach it with the goal of creating the best damn piece of content on the web for a topic.” – Skyler Reeves THE STORY Ages ago on the Internet—so like, 5 years ago—my SEO strategy was simple: Put the most information about a topic on a page about that topic, and make sure it’s good enough for others to link to. And for all intents and purposes, it worked! Until it didn’t. Why did it stop working? Because the way people consumed content, and where people consumed content, began to change. More and more people started to consume videos and podcasts, and less read blogs. Stories became more interesting in video or audio format, and when I think about my own user behavior when searching on Google, I totally understand. Today, on Google, my user behavior is like this: - I search for specific information about something. - I get the information I need. - I move on. Sometimes that information I find isn’t even on another website, it’s shared in a snippet on Google on that search results page. No wonder it’s harder to get loads of traffic via Google than it once was! But, it’s not entirely impossible. There’s still free traffic to be had from Google, so it makes sense to make SEO a part of your strategy. One strategy that’s been working for us lately at SPI is to revisit older blog posts and re-publish them with this new user behavior in mind. What does that mean exactly? That means getting rid of the unnecessaries: - The long, drawn out introduction that sets up the entire article. - The stories that aren’t important to the user. - The additional sections about second- and third-tier keywords that aren’t absolutely crucial to what users came to that page to learn. In other words, I deleted a lot of the content on my blog posts. As a result, we saw an instant rise in most of those posts’ rankings and more traffic coming to the site. It seems counter-intuitive... until I think about how many of us search for recipes when cooking at home. The most useful recipes are the ones that get me cooking faster. Tell me the ingredients, tell me what to do with them, and help me feed my family. The 5000 words about how the recipe was handed down from someone’s great-great-great-grandma, although interesting, isn’t what drew me there from Google. Taking this approach, here’s what one updated post did within 7 days: [Search performance for smartpassiveincome.com over the last seven days is 510 clicks and 148K impressions] ​ And here’s another: [Search performance for smartpassiveincome.com in the last seven days: 277 clicks and 1.92K impressions] ​ I was talking to a friend about this the other day and we both came to the same conclusion: It seems disheartening on the surface, but when you really think about it, this makes sense. People come to Google to get an answer. If you give them the best answer and make that a quick win for people, there’s a chance they’ll look at what else you have to offer. They may end up joining your newsletter or email list, and then you can go deeper with them and establish a relationship. It’s also then that they feel more comfortable conversing with you and opening up about where exactly they’re at, and potentially how the solutions you offer could help. YOUR CALL TO ACTION If you already have blog posts, look for articles that seem to rank on the second page of Google, or near the bottom of the first page. You can use a tool like [UberSuggest](=) from Neil Patel to set up rank tracking for your website and determine which keywords you may already be ranking for and which ones you should optimize for. From there, re-read what you’ve written and optimize it for users who just found your blog post on Google. Again, by deleting most of the introductions and in-depth stories I had (I still kept some stories to demonstrate expertise and authority), I was able to rank several keywords much higher within a short time period. If you don’t have blog posts, keep the same principles in mind while writing new articles. See what articles out there already rank high for specific keywords, and try to write one that’s simply better. And remember, better doesn’t always mean longer—what’s the goal and intent of the user? Optimize for that. SPONSORED BY CONVERTKIT Grow your audience and your income will follow. One of the best ways to increase your income as a creator is to grow your email audience. ConvertKit is here to help. Join the #GrowYourAudience Challenge with ConvertKit and learn the strategies it takes to increase your engagement and get more subscribers. ConvertKit will send you 30 days of tips and tools to help you start building your list. Start the Grow Your Audience Challenge today! [START THE CHALLENGE]() SPI NEWS AND EVENTS We work hard at SPI to remain unstuck and consistently provide you with the best ways to support your business. Check it out: Heroic Online Courses Accelerator starts in just two days! A powerful online course is one of the best ways to impact lives and create recurring, passive income for your business. And if you want to learn how to do it the right way, the Heroic Online Courses Accelerator, inside the All-Access Pass, is the best solution I’ve come up with for passing on what I know. Join my team and passionate students inside a safe, vibrant community and start creating your online course today! [Get in now before the accelerator starts on Thursday, April 27th!]()​ Storytelling is a key entrepreneurial skill. Storytelling is one of the most powerful skills you can develop as an entrepreneur. When you share vulnerably, your story can become a vehicle of hope for the listener! Listen in on [my conversation with Shelli Varela](), whose incredible transformation is at the core of her roles as public speaker, author, and podcaster. By the end of the episode, you'll understand precisely why story should be at the foundation of any online business. Podcasting faster? Podcasting is one of the greatest ways to regularly reach and influence your audience, but it can be time consuming. [Read on]( to learn how the best podcasters do their work faster. DAD JOKE OF THE WEEK Why did the search engine receive a lawsuit? Because it was a creepy crawler. Did a cool person forward you this email? [Sign up here for free](. Want to reach over 125,000 entrepreneurs? [Become a sponsor](. [Link to SPI's Website](=) [Link to SPI's Twitter Account]( [Link to SPI's LinkedIn Account]( [Link to Pat Flynn's YouTube Account]() You are receiving this because you signed up for Pat Flynn’s newsletter at [smartpassiveincome.com](=). If you'd like to adjust which emails you receive or update your name and email address, click here: . If you'd like to stop receiving all emails from SPI, click here: . No hard feelings. 10531 4S Commons Drive, Suite 524, San Diego, CA 92127