Hey Reader!
My kids are on spring break, so I missed yesterday's deadline. I was watching the Super Mario Galaxy Movie with them (I give it a 3 out of 5 1-Up mushrooms.)
So, it's Thurday... here are three things worth reading.
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Your content being human is now a competitive advantage
A study of 20,000 keywords found that human-written content is 8x more likely to rank #1 than AI-generated text.
Google's recent updates have gotten better at rewarding what they're calling "Information Gain," content that reflects something the writer actually knows, not a repackaged summary of other people's work. Generic AI blog posts are now a high-risk strategy that could permanently cap how visible you are in search.
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My Take: Pull up your last five blog posts and ask yourself honestly: could a bot have written this?
If the answer is yes, the fix is usually one thing. Add a real story, a specific customer outcome, or an opinion you actually hold.
You don't have to rewrite the whole post right now. Just refresh the post by making sure the first 150 words are undeniably you.
One blog post. One week of content.
Zero blank pages. That's the Flywheel.
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Google's been lying to you about your impressions
(and just admitted it)
Google confirmed this week that a bug has been over-counting impressions in Search Console for close to a year.
The correction is rolling out now, so a lot of accounts are seeing what looks like a cliff-dive in their dashboards. It's not real. The ghost data is leaving.
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My Take: The only numbers worth looking at right now are your clicks and your average position.
If those are holding steady, nothing actually changed. Save yourself the stress and ignore impressions entirely until this settles out. And if a vendor or contractor points to the impression drop as a problem they need to fix, that's a red flag.
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Replying to reviews now matters
more than your star rating
New algorithm data shows that businesses with a 90%+ review response rate are outranking businesses with higher star averages but no replies.
Google is reading responsiveness as a signal that you're actually open and paying attention.
A 4.3-star business that replies to everyone will likely outrank a 4.9-star business that went quiet two months ago.
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My Take: This is a new habit that you'll need to start (I know. I get it.) But, it'll pay off.
Set a ten-minute block once a week and reply to every review that came in, even a five-star with no text.
"Thanks so much, glad we could help" is enough. You're not writing a thank-you speech. You're telling Google you're still there.
