Every week there’s a fresh piece of SEO panic tell-off warning you that you’ll disappear from Google unless you pay for a fix. They make new nonsense faster than I can record episodes, and keeping up with it isn't your job—running your business is. So let’s fix that!

Hi, I’m Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I’m not just debunking one myth. I’m handing you a simple four-question toolkit to debunk all of them—no technical background required. Think of it like taking your car to a garage: you don’t need to know how the engine works to ask three sharp questions and know if you’re being taken for a ride.

Here’s what I’m covering:

• Why SEO panic-marketing travels so fast, and why trying to keep track of every rumor is a waste of your time
• Question 1: Did Google actually say this on a public channel, or did someone say that Google said it on LinkedIn?
• Question 2: Has anyone tested it with real data and control groups, or are you looking at an unlabelled screenshot of a line going up?
• Question 3: The 4-minute sanity check using the top five search results for your actual money keywords
• Question 4: Following the money to see who profits from you getting your credit card out
• Putting the four questions to work on three huge claims: the £3,000 site speed audit, the mandatory 2,000-word page length, and the "blog twice a week" rule
• What going from "fine to fast" actually does for site speed, and why paying big money for decimal points is nonsense
• Why posting frequency fails all four questions, and why dead-looking sites are sitting at position one

I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not a "might look at that next month" job, but a 20-minute exercise you can do this week that could take a fair chunk off your monthly agency invoice.

If you know someone about to sign an expensive SEO retainer, or someone who’s being quoted thousands for a fix based on pure industry hype, send them this. It might save them a few bob.

Plus, grab my free On-Page SEO Toolkit over at https://nonwankyseo.com

Google’s own "Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content" page — this is the free thing with the who/how/why questions on it: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content

Follow Nikki:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social

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