Notes on growth
Keyword Research Checklist: 12 Checks Before You Commit to a Keyword
A keyword research checklist of twelve checks, each tied to the data source that answers it, with tool definitions quoted from Google and Ahrefs documentation and a dataset…
SEO Metrics: What Each Number Can and Cannot Tell You, and Why Average Position Misleads
SEO metrics tell you whether search sends the right people and whether they act. Google's own definitions of clicks, impressions, CTR and average position, a decision table of…
Google Business Profile Suspended: The Two Levels of Suspension, the Appeal Steps, and the 60-Minute Evidence Window
A suspended Google Business Profile has broken one of Google's profile guidelines, and the fix is an appeal through Google's appeals tool, with evidence uploaded inside a 60-minute…
What Are Backlinks? What Google Actually Says They Do, and the Link Arithmetic Behind Them
Backlinks are links on other websites that point to yours. Google uses them to find pages and as a relevancy signal, and PageRank still sits among its core…
Generative Engine Optimization: What the Original GEO Study Measured, What Google Says, and the Position Arithmetic in Between
Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the practice of making content more likely to be used and cited inside AI-generated answers. What the 2023 study that named it actually…
Doorway Pages: Google’s Four Examples, and the City-Page Arithmetic That Turns Local SEO Into Spam
Doorway pages are pages built to rank for similar searches and funnel visitors somewhere else, and Google lists them as spam. Its definition and four examples verbatim, a…
Unnatural Links: The Two Manual Actions Google Names, and the Cleanup Arithmetic Behind Getting One Lifted
Unnatural links are links Google judges to exist mainly to manipulate rankings, and its Manual Actions report has two separate notices for them: links to your site and…
Breadcrumb Schema: Google’s Four Required Properties, and Where Breadcrumb Links Actually Send Authority
Breadcrumb schema is a BreadcrumbList with an ordered list of ListItems, and Google requires only four properties to accept it. Here is the documentation verbatim, an error table…
Server-Side Rendering for SEO: Google Calls Dynamic Rendering a Workaround, and the Parity Arithmetic Says Why
Google's own documentation now describes dynamic rendering as a workaround and recommends server-side rendering, static rendering or hydration instead. Here are those sentences verbatim, the five rendering strategies…
hreflang Implementation: Google Says the Three Methods Are Equivalent, So the Choice Is an Engineering One
Google documents three ways to deliver hreflang and states plainly that they are equivalent to it. That makes the decision a question of bytes and maintenance rather than…