Rankings
Everything here was worked out on a real site with real traffic, using the same free tools the software uses. No theory, no “it depends”.
Why did my Google rankings drop? A 30-minute checklist
Traffic falls and the first instinct is to blame an update. Nine times out of ten it is something narrower and fixable. Here is the order to check things in, so you find the cause before you start rewriting anything.
Striking distance keywords: the traffic you already own
Positions 4 to 20 are where most small sites are quietly sitting on their next 40% of traffic. Here is how to find those keywords in a free Search Console export, work out which ones are worth the afternoon, and move them.
How to update old blog posts (a refresh checklist that works)
Refreshing a post that already ranks beats writing a new one almost every time. The catch is that most "refreshes" are date changes with a paragraph bolted on. Here is how to pick the right posts and what to actually change.
Turn your Search Console export into an action plan
Everyone exports the CSV. Almost nobody does anything with it. Here are the six things to pull out of that file, in order, and what each one tells you to do this week.