Hi Reader,

This year’s Blogging Income Survey highlighted just how important SEO still is – even in 2026 AND how much more effective it is than AEO/GEO and social media at increasing your blogging income.

But maybe you’ve tried SEO.

You’ve read the blog posts, watched the tutorials, followed all the “rules”, maybe even had an SEO audit.

…and yet?

• Your traffic hasn’t really grown
• Your posts aren’t ranking
• And it all feels a bit… frustrating

If that sounds familiar, I want to be very clear:

This is NOT your fault.

The problem isn’t that SEO doesn’t work.

The problem is that a huge amount of the SEO advice out there is either:

• Outdated
• Unnecessarily complicated
• Missing key pieces
• Or just plain wrong!

In this week’s newsletter we are going to look at some of the main tactics that get touted by the SEO “gurus”, but which just don’t work any more (or never worked in the first place!) and what to do instead…

1. Rehashing what’s already ranking

This is where you look at what's ranking on page 1 of Google and basically recreate what’s already there – just slightly rewritten.

This used to be very common SEO advice.

The problem?

Google doesn’t need another version of the same thing.

If your content doesn’t add anything new, Google isn’t interested!

(Google representatives have been saying this on repeat for YEARS!)

What to do instead:

Create content which:

• Is unique / different to what’s already ranking
• Is better than what’s ranking
• Offers new insights – e.g. survey data or expert quotes
• Offers a fresh take or a new angle

2. Stuffing your posts with every “related keyword” under the sun

This is an old-school SEO habit that refuses to die.

There are even expensive tools out there which are designed to help you do this.

People think:

“If I include every related keyword, Google will rank me for more search terms.”

But what actually happens is:

• Your content becomes awkward to read
• Your blog posts are stuffed with pad and waffle
• It’s not clear to Google what your blog post is really about
• Humans don’t enjoy your content and vote with their feet
• You are LESS likely to rank

What to do instead:

Pick ONE target keyword phrase and write a blog post that fully satisfies the intent behind that specific keyword phrase.

Write for real human readers not AI / Google / LLMs / the algorithm.

Use natural language. Synonyms are totally fine – but only if they are used naturally to improve flow and clarity for a human reader, not because you’re trying to trick the algorithm into ranking you for more search terms!

3. Padding out your content with fluff just to hit a word count

For years received SEO wisdom was: write longer articles.

Truth be told, this was never great advice, but it sort of worked.

The actual advice always ever should’ve been: write content that fully satisfies the search intent. Sometimes that’s longer content, but not always.

The ‘write longer content’ advice worked pretty well in an age when blog posts were generally too short to satisfy searcher intent.

But these days, we mostly have the opposite problem – people went too far and started writing giant articles that were full of pad and waffle!

Now what people most want is “just give me the answer already”.

Or, in other words, less is often more in 2026.

That doesn’t mean we should go back to the bad old days of super short blog posts.

But it does mean content should satisfy searcher intent… and no more.

What to do instead:

Write only what is needed to fully answer what your reader typed into Google.

Structure your answer well, with appropriate use of H-tags to aid skimming and scanning.

Resist the urge to write more words just to hit a certain page count.

​Ruthlessly edit your blog post to remove pad and waffle before you press publish.

4. Writing about topics you have no expertise in

Every few week I get an email in my inbox which says something along the lines of...

“I am planning to start a website teaching people how to start an online business. Please can you tell me how to start an online business.”

I mean, obviously they don’t phrase it like that. But that’s essentially what they mean!

And it highlights something which is far more widespread: bloggers writing content on topics they know nothing about.

I am not sure how to put this politely, so I’ll just be blunt:

Do not write on topics you have zero experience or expertise in!

There was a time when you could do this and sort of get away with it. Because essentially you could just rehash what was already ranking.

But now this just doesn’t work for two reasons:

1. Rehashing what’s already ranking no-longer words (see #1)
2. ​E-E-A-T is everything in 2026

What to do instead:

Stick to topics where you have:

• Real experience
• Genuine expertise
• ​Topical authority​
• A unique perspective

And be sure you are actually taking steps to actually prove your E-E-A-T in your niche.

If you want to rank in 2026, you have to be able to demonstrate you have experience, expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness in the subject you are writing about.

5. Writing “commodity content”

Commodity content is general information content.

​Commodity conten​t used to be an absolute mainstay of SEO advice.

SEO experts would say, “Write answers to all the main questions in your niche.”

You could write a whole bunch of short information posts and get a ton of traffic.

But then AI came along…

Now you can get “commodity content” from AI overviews.

Nobody is clicking through to blogs to “commodity content” anymore.

But that doesn’t mean nobody is clicking through to blogs.

People click through when “commodity content” is not enough. When they want real expert human advice. When they want to hear from a real human being who has actually done the thing. And when they want to hear unique viewpoints and different perspectives – not the synthesized consensus.

What to do instead:

Before writing a blog post, ask yourself, "Would my intended reader be satisfied by an AI Overview on this topic?" If yes, then don’t write it.

Do proper keyword research to find topics that AI could never provide a satisfactory answer to.

Then be sure to write a blog post on those keywords that an AI overview couldn’t write. Something that includes E-E-A-T. Something that's unique. Something that is not vanilla. Something that is really worth clicking through to.

6. Following the exact same formula as everyone else

I’ve been on this soapbox for years.

Why?

Because Google has been saying for years that to rank you need to write “unique” content.

And content is by very definition NOT UNIQUE if you are following the exact same hackneyed “content formula” as everyone else in your niche!

What to do instead:

There’s nothing wrong, per se, with following a content formula so long as:

1. It’s YOUR content formula – not the exact same formula as everyone else
2. You’re willing to be flexible and deviate from that formula when it makes sense to
3. You always keep your reader front and centre – what would they find most helpful?
4. You write like a human, not like a robot!

The common thread here…

All of these mistakes have the same root cause:

Trying to “please Google” instead of trying to help a real reader with their real problems.

But modern SEO works the opposite way.

Focus on helping your readers with their real problems… and you will please Google too.

Next week, I’ll cover what IS actually working right now in SEO – and how to “please Google” by focusing on your real human readers and what they want to read.

Until then – happy blogging!

Eb 😊
​

P.S. Want to avoid getting side-tracked by short-term, sneaky SEO "hacks" that are designed to "trick" Google, and instead focus on the true SEO fundamentals that actually work? That's exactly what I focus on inside SEO Jumpstart! It gets updated every year, so if it’s been a while since you went through the course, it might be worth going through it again to make sure you’re still up-to-date.

P.P.S. Missed my latest blog post? Read it here: How much to bloggers REALLY earn in 2026: Results from the Blogging Income Survey​

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