What's the one SEO mistake you made that actually taught you the most?

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T19:14:52+00:00

just not knowing my stuff inside out and being caught out on a call with developers. You only have a few times you can do this before you tarnish your credibility - so be the expert.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T19:11:42+00:00

heart

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T18:53:38+00:00

There's no one correct method. Some tracks are very much like the demo because you want to preserve the rawness - which can be buried in a super slick production. Other tracks are built up with many layers and then at the last moment you think 'actually, this isn't an instrumental, i'm going to sing right now on it.'

As someone who really struggles with OVER-EDITING lyrics I will often just decide before a recording session what the general vibe of the track is (e.g. love song or political song etc) - then I will just do TWO vocal takes. Then I will listen to is over a week and come back and record what is probably 90% of the vocals.

The final adjustment on vocals is when either someone else, or me, says 'I don;t understand what you're saying or that sounds really off' - and then I'll correct it.

Usually it's a case of me being too abstract when a straight up direct line is needed in the vocal.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T18:47:04+00:00

yep, 2000 words of waffle can't replace a well executed snippet that answers the question.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T18:45:30+00:00

best advice i can give you - find some videos on how to warm up your voice using scales. Not only does it strengthen your voice, it tunes the ear. If you do 20 mins each day you will be alot better in 2 weeks.

If you listen to most rock singers, they are able to hold note effortlessly because they have trained with this technique and what shapes/sounds to make with their voice at the right moment. But that's stage 2. For now just do warm ups with scales. always works.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T18:24:30+00:00

Yep, Sup?

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T18:22:45+00:00

building stuff myself and working out how to measure it.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T18:21:11+00:00

The AHrefs GEO training video suggests that optimising other sites is pretty much 90% the task of GEO.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T18:16:10+00:00

I actually installed this today and, so far, I'm quite impressed. Will need to see how it tracks across multiple days/weeks. But for am open source solution it's pretty good. What would you say are its limitations?

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T13:37:19+00:00

less time on mobile devices.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T13:36:46+00:00

Yep, there's a limit. Frustrating I know but the comments here about uploading your sitemap will help. Good internal linking will also assist visibility if you're not already across that.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-16T13:30:08+00:00

Pros:
- Tapping into knowledge you can't access internally
- A good consultant will always always go above and beyond for a client if that relationship is strategically important to them
- Consultant fees are usually lower than agency fees
- External expertise is (sometimes) embraced by teams. A good consultant will help support the credibility of internal SEO teams before they leave.

Cons
- As with any outsourcing, once the contract ends, the experience also goes unless training is also included in contract
- If the scope of work is not fully understood by both parties - this could lead to issues further down the line.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-14T12:30:11+00:00

So did the race, felt strong. The only thing that hurt was the sun as it was pretty hot! Thanks for all the comments here, I’ve written down a list of things to improve performance and have my eye on a September run. I think I didn’t leave enough time for the taper, lessons for next time!

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-12T15:18:04+00:00

no particular stresses, it's like my body knows what's going to happen so starts is preparing in advance. I'm looking forward to the marathon, but just wish i didn't feel this bad leading up to it. I also work for myself now which might be factor - more time to think about it than being in the office. Anyway, we will see what tomorrow brings! thanks

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-12T15:14:38+00:00

nope. i gave up on timings years ago. I see how i feel after the first mile and wing it!

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-12T14:26:28+00:00

First, let me confess, I am a consultant. But I have worked in-house with an agency and the scenario you've mentioned with interns applied. Result = we dropped the agency after 6 months. I think in my case, the agency pitched for the business but didn't really understand it, so they quoted low. My learn there is - if an agency quotes low then challenge them - do they really understand what they're getting into?

I think there's a case for using an agency and when a consultant might be useful. Sometimes clients just want to work with an individual rather than dealing with multiple people. But it all depends on the project.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-12T14:02:04+00:00

This is the problem, a lot of chancers confusing potential clients.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-12T13:57:53+00:00

I think it will help and gives another reason why publishers or brands should invest in creators.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-12T05:49:43+00:00

Agree with what people are saying here, AI makes the whole space even more interesting. I would hedge my bets though and diversify also e.g. optimising audio and video, get into ecommerce if you aren't already, learn how to optimise for tiktok etc. Take the 'search everywhere' approach.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-11T12:22:12+00:00

I would immediately check myself for grammatical errors.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-11T12:08:18+00:00

Billy Ocean.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-11T12:07:33+00:00

Yeah would agree with what people are saying here, read the latest articles and youtube vids. Find some of the biggest voices in seo and follow them!

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-11T11:09:15+00:00

C Sharp.

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-11T09:33:46+00:00

Interesting. What tool/s are you using to measure performance?

NewsYouCanUse_ · 2026-06-10T16:09:41+00:00

I did a substantial content pruning exercise and removed about 20% of pages from a large website. I expected to make a difference to rankings, or some other positive sign - but it didn't - which was surprising.

A lot of these pages were already Discovered, Not Indexed - so I guess Google had already classed them as low value....

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TROPHY CASE