My Journey with 2021 SEO Trends
I started digging into 2021 SEO like you'd clean a messy garage - just diving in headfirst. First thing I did was collect every article and report I could find about what changed. Felt like drinking from a firehose with all the "experts" shouting different things.
Here's how I tested core updates:
- Rewrote old posts using simple words instead of fancy jargon
- Broke long paragraphs into snackable bits with bullet points
- Went nuts adding "People also ask" boxes everywhere
Spent weeks checking if Google showed my stuff higher. Sometimes it worked immediately, other times pages vanished overnight. Had one recipe post ranked #3 that completely disappeared when they tweaked their food algorithm. Still bitter about that.
Biggest headaches I ran into:
- Voice search optimization felt like guessing lottery numbers
- Video descriptions tanked if I didn't stuff exact question phrases
- Got smacked by E-A-T requirements when my "about me" page was too vague
By summer, I created spreadsheets tracking which tweaks moved traffic needles. Found that content clusters worked like magic - my gardening traffic tripled when I linked related posts together. But all those featured snippet tutorials? Waste of time for my niche.
Ended year seeing 40% more visitors simply by making articles scream-search friendly. Now I treat SEO like tuning a vintage car - constant tiny adjustments beat big overhauls. Still trying to crack voice search though. Maybe next year.
