Google’s John Mueller Beautiful SEO Rant

I know some of you may not like it and may think I am some sort of suck-up for covering this but there is so much truth and beauty to John Mueller’s recent SEO rant. He said, “maybe you should stop reading SEO blogs and instead do something useful for your site & its users?”

Let me first share the thread of tweets from John, so you can all read it:

Catching up on email after vacation & co, one of the things I would have liked to reply with to sites asking for SEO tips …

Maybe you should stop reading SEO blogs and instead do something useful for your site & its users?

— 🫧 johnmu of switzerland (personal) 🫧 (@JohnMu) August 2, 2022

… brought to you by another otherwise great site, with a passionate owner, that has devolved into the trap of “17 best WIDGETS for QWERTY in 2022” with a compilation of mediocre content. You want to rank better again? Then do better again.

— 🫧 johnmu of switzerland (personal) 🫧 (@JohnMu) August 2, 2022

Dump the crap. Dump the filler. Get to the point. Don’t rehash. Make useful things that you’re proud of. Use affiliate links if you want, but don’t be an affiliate: be real, be yourself.

— 🫧 johnmu of switzerland (personal) 🫧 (@JohnMu) August 2, 2022

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In short, John is saying you should stop looking for step-by-step instructions on how to rank better. It just doesn’t work that way anymore and reading someone else’s blog to get those steps is not going to help you get there. Instead, focus your efforts on really doing something useful for your users on your site.

Sure, this site is an SEO blog and I want you to read it. But truth is, I do not give much tactical SEO advice here. I cover news, what is changing, what is trending and what the search community is talking about. I am not giving you the top 10 SEO tips to gain new links, or the top 14 ways to formulate your title tags. I tell you what is changing in search and you then come up with your own ideas on how to tactically leverage that.

I think the readers here are a special bread – they are mostly advanced SEOs, doing SEO for years, have had lots of successes and also have battle scares from Google penalties and algorithm adjustments. They come here to learn about what is new, where Google is headed and formulate their own useful and tactical strategies to succeed in SEO.

I do love John’s rant and I think reading it will make us all better at coming up with better SEO strategies that we can implement in a tactical way on our own sites.

Here is more after I wrote this piece:

But, if you use affiliate links, then you are being an affiliate. This is like saying you can make honey, but don’t be a bee 🐝

— Tyron Love (@tyron_love) August 2, 2022

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Yeah, I did not consult a dictionary before this tweet, but I hope the nuance came across. If you’re reviewing 12 widgets, then I want to read someone’s opinion after reviewing them. Be a salesperson on a product landing page. Be real on a review, like when a friend asks you.

— 🫧 johnmu of switzerland (personal) 🫧 (@JohnMu) August 2, 2022

Forum discussion at Twitter.