Welcome to another edition of the Ahrefs’ Digest! I’m making a change to the format this week—hope you’ll like it. (Feel free to hit 'reply' and let me know what you think of the new format.)

In other news, after I sent last week’s newsletter, Google kindly launched a spam update. Very nice. Also, they’ve decided to stop continuous scroll on both desktop and mobile. Good riddance. No one liked it.

Alright, let’s kick off this week’s newsletter with everyone’s favorite: memes.

Meme of the week

I made a mistake and discovered a Wojak meme generator. Now I have unlimited memes to make for the Digest. Say goodbye to productivity?

Best of the week

On Writing Better: 43 Things I Learned from My Insane 2 Years of Study: I recently went through my writing when I first started. I have to be honest: I miss it. My writing was energetic, dramatic, and had more storytelling. Compare to today and it feels dry and afraid. I want to improve and this post is here at the right time. Some tips I loved:

• Yes But, No And — A character should never get exactly what they want or what they're trying to get in a scene. Instead, they either SHOULD get what they want BUT it has some unexpected consequence. Or they should NOT get what they want AND it should have some additional unexpected consequence.

• Do mini-writing projects to build specific skills, like writing emotional situations or dialogue.

• Before you send something off for edits from anyone, write down what you think they'll say is wrong with it, then compare.

• Readers are right that something is wrong, but wrong about how to fix it (unless they’re a professional themselves.)

• Don’t edit the draft within the existing doc. Make a new document and start from the beginning. 

Results-Driven SEO Project Management: From Chaos to Cash: The fundamentals of SEO doesn’t change much. Most of it comes down to execution. But to execute well—and ensure it’s driving results—it eventually comes down to your project management skills. If you’ve been struggling with getting things done on your SEO, follow Despina’s seven-step process.

Why Japanese Websites Look So Different: Walls of text, bright colours, multiple font types—Japanese websites look cluttered and is hard to get used to. Why is that so? Mirijam Missbichler thinks it comes down to front-end website development constraints (the East Asian nations don’t use the Latin alphabet; they use pictograms), technological stagnation, and culture. It’s a good reminder—especially if you work in international marketing—that what works in your home nation may not work elsewhere.

Disruption Stories: Engaging Narratives That Highlight Your Differentiators & Drive Qualified Leads: A disruption story is a story that aims to capture the reason why your business, product, or service exists. They’re highly shareable but still sells your product or service. (They’re also good linkbait.) If this content format interests you, follow this guide on how to make one for your business.

The End of the Era of SEO Links. What Lies Ahead: Google’s Gary Illyes said recently that links are not that important. While many SEOs didn’t believe him, there were some who secretly rejoiced. Because link building is possibly one of the hardest parts of SEO. So, is link building dead? Alexandra Tachalova has some predictions:

• Links still matter but only the ones that can shape your brand entity

• Links can no longer “buy” top-ranking spots in highly competitive niches

• The right link building mindset requires being less focused on SEO and more on marketing

Latest from us

PODCAST

This week’s podcast guest is Gael Breton, co-founder of Authority Hacker. Here’s what we covered:

• A crash course on the Helpful Content update

• What’s going on with the SEO community

• How to charge more money when selling courses

• How the landscape of content is changing lately

• What are main problems in SEO right now

• How to apply the concept of “topical authority”

• How to do “on-page optimization” the right way

Listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

YOUTUBE

You should watch this week’s video if your website gets under 10k visits/month. You’ll learn a proven 3-stage strategy to grow your website's traffic to over 10,000 monthly visits in under 15 minutes.
 

Till next time ;)
Cheers,