Episode Details

I'm going to say something that's going to upset a lot of people who've been bragging about their rankings: being number one for a single word is fucking useless. There. I said it.

Hi, I’m Nikki Pilkington. My site is https://nikki-pilkington.com/ and in this episode of "SEO F**king What", I'm calling out one of the most persistent and damaging myths in SEO — that keywords are either dead entirely, or that you should be obsessing over ranking for the shortest, broadest, most competitive terms possible. Both of these positions are bollocks, and I'm going to explain why.

Here's what I'm covering:

— Why old-school keyword stuffing is dead (but keywords absolutely aren't)

— Why every search is a real person with a real need, and why that changes everything

— The four types of search intent and why matching them is the difference between traffic and clients

— Why "zero search volume" phrases might be your most valuable SEO real estate

— Why ranking number one for "copywriter" or "accountant" will bring you exactly the wrong people

— How to think in topic journeys instead of keyword lists, and why that builds the kind of trust that converts

I also give you a proper piece of homework. Not the "might do that one day" kind. The actual do-it-this-week kind.

If you know someone obsessing over ranking for a single broad keyword and wondering why they're not getting enquiries, send them this. It might save them months of wasted effort.

Get found. Make money. Stop stressing. Start giving a shit about your readers.

Links mentioned:

1. Non-Wanky SEO Courses: https://nonwankyseo.com
2. Google's People Also Ask: Just search for anything on Google and look for the expandable questions
3. Also Asked: https://alsoasked.com/?via=nikki-pilkington (aff link)

Follow Nikki:

1. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkipilkington/
2. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nikkipilkington/
3. Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/nikkipilkington.bsky.social