Ranking Revolution

Welcome to the ranking revolution
podcast, your go-to source for

strategies and ideas for SEO.

Organic growth, content
creation and online business.

I'm your host, Doug Cunnington.

Today, we're going to talk about how
much luck is a component for SEO success.

I don't have a conclusion here.

That's just some thoughts that I have.

This is a solo episode.

I'm not interviewing anyone.

It's kind of like me writing a
short essay or blog posts probably.

And then telling you about it.

These are going to be fairly short.

I want them to be bite
sized and easily consumable.

And these are much shorter
than my long meandering.

Interviews or even solo shows
where I go on a, on a long.

On a long roundabout way.

So with that said, Let's get into it.

For this one.

So how much luck is a
component for SEO success?

I'm subscribed to several newsletters,
like probably a couple dozen of them.

And I got an email about
a site that was for sale.

The email was promoting it.

The site didn't get hit by the
most recent algorithm update.

And in this case, it was the
helpful content update of the fall.

In 2023.

The email claim that the site wasn't
hit for some specific reasons.

They said it had good
high quality content.

It had social traffic
and a high level of EEA.

T all the normal things
that Google says is good.

But think about it.

Do you know, sites that have
been caught up in an algorithm

update that shouldn't have.

Me too.

I know a lot of them that have been caught
up and it doesn't matter which algorithm

update, like I said, you know, in
quotes, The most recent algorithm update.

They're all like this, right.

It's like this in investing or in
business, or really in anything.

And the question we should ask ourselves
here is how much of someone's success.

Can we actually attribute to luck.

Here's the truth.

I think I got super lucky.

I started working online in 2013.

SEO was a lot easier back then.

Affiliate marketing with Amazon
paid a much higher percentage.

So it was just more profitable.

So I know the timing that I
got made me a little bit lucky.

If I did the exact same thing.

10 years later in 2023.

The results would be totally different.

And I'm sure there were a few
other lucky things that happened.

That I don't even know about.

The other thing we should
consider is survivorship bias.

We really don't know, and we can't
really ever know what is random.

The main idea is that we do not
see all the people that did the

same exact thing that I did.

Yet they got different results.

We don't hear about the dozens
or hundreds of people that didn't

capitalize on the random luck.

I can think of a few blogs
in the marketing space.

My peers.

And they started right when I did.

Most people stop, but I kept going.

But some people kept trying things
with a similar level of effort,

maybe more effort than me, but
they didn't reach their goals.

Usually our goals are kind of similar.

It's something like we want to
be self-employed or at least not

have to work for someone else
anymore and have the choice.

I know some people out there are
thinking, Hey, I didn't get lucky.

I have some pretty
awesome skills, so sure.

Let's lay out some caveats here.

Yes.

If you have a totally repeatable process.

An SEO plan, a string of
successful businesses, then yes.

You know, your shit.

And here's the thing.

Even with a very good plan.

Even with a very repeatable process.

Sometimes things go wrong.

And you probably can think back
in your long list of projects.

And there were probably
some unsuccessful projects.

So ask yourself.

Is it just bad luck?

Was there some randomness here?

Follow the logic.

It probably means some smart
people executed well with a

good plan and they did the work.

But randomness or maybe some
kind of bad luck outside of

their control had an impact.

It's disheartening.

If you think your outcomes
are mostly tied to luck.

Unfortunately we're fortunately, this
is an unanswerable question anyway.

I'll tell you about a few things
that I looked at in my past,

and I'm comfortable saying.

Hey, I I'm pretty sure
I got kind of lucky.

Number one timing.

Timing was my first stroke of luck here.

Back in 2013, the online
world was different.

SEO was easier.

Affiliate payouts were bigger.

I doubt I could pull off the same success.

If I started from scratch today.

Imagine trying to launch
a simple recipe blog.

Now in 2024 or 2025.

It's so saturated.

Back then the right content at
the right time could go viral.

Much much easier.

Let's talk about luck versus skills.

Success.

Isn't solely about pure luck
and it's not about your skills.

It's a mix of both.

The balance is likely to shift
depending on the situation.

Think of a skilled chef
opening, a restaurant.

Amazing food is critical.

But a random, bad review or an
economic downturn could still

derail the whole business.

It could just be someone having a bad day
on the line or a server having a bad day.

You can view luck as an opportunity.

Sometimes luck is just being at
the right place at the right time.

But even then, You need the right skillset
and the mindset to seize the opportunity.

It's not enough for a door to open.

You need to be ready to walk through it.

I've landed a couple of big guests posts.

Well, back when I was doing more
guest posting on some big websites,

And it seemed like a lucky break.

But getting noticed in the first place
was due to years of building my writing

skills and networking within the industry.

So here's the thing.

I don't know how much luck has
anything to do with SEO success.

But I feel like there's definitely
some randomness in the system here.

So, what we can do is take the opportunity
when we see it and keep trying to

create, keep trying to do things.

And get the reps in.

That's a huge part of the whole thing.

And if you're doing it right, you
enjoy the work that you're doing.

That's it for today and I'd love it.

If you'd let me know what you think.

So you can shoot an email
feedback@rankierevolution.com.

Or leave a comment over there on YouTube.

And do, let me know what you
think of these solo episodes.

I have several, several more
ideas and I'm going to be.

Releasing these while I have no
specific cadence, but we'll be

releasing these and interviews.

If you dig the show, do me a favor.

Download all the episodes.

So I'm trying to play
with the algorithm here.

And boost the number of downloads
just by telling people to

download all the episodes.

I will report back before too long.

Once I have enough data to say, Hey,
this worked or didn't work and leave

a review out there, make sure you're
subscribed all the normal stuff.

It does help out.

Especially if you leave a comment
over on YouTube or download each

episode when it does come out.

So thanks a lot and we'll
catch you on the next episode.