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Take The Hill

Written by: Noah Learner Tags: future of seo, newsletter

Published: Aug 13, 2025

I spent years living on the little island of Nantucket. It’s an amazing place partly because the people have always embodied a “take the hill” mindset. 

When whaling was a major industry, people from Nantucket sailed all over the world – there are even islands in the South Pacific named after a few Nantucketers. But the Great Fire of 1846 burned half the town including the entire business district. The town was destroyed and it had such an impact on the globe that a sharp decline in the whaling industry followed. Many hopefuls left for the gold rush. 

In a gold rush, sell picks and shovels

Nantucketers had ships, and could take people from the Atlantic to the Pacific so that they could reach California and do some digging. They didn’t get distracted by becoming miners themselves; they figured out what those miners needed and supplied it to them. That was the beginning of Macy’s, and Folger's coffee too – both Nantucketers. 

Should we expect benevolence?

I didn’t have to read the blog post from Liz Reid to guess what was in it: “There are going to be statements about how we're sending more quality or more searches are happening. And I think we all understand that more searches happening means clicking from an AI model into another search.” 

Then I read it – yep. It’s obfuscation and it’s misleading. 

But we already know Google's in it for Google. Its version of success equals engagement in its platform, the ROI of SERPs, and ad clicks. The leaders care about creating an infrastructure that makes it possible for them and their shareholders to profit. 

When you think about change, think about what opportunities it opens up, and shift to move toward those

Panicking without experimentation and growth of services equals decline. We are SEOs and for 30 years we have been adapting. 

It’s up to us to find where the new gold is. Imagine being a miner when there are no more mines. What are you going to do? You're going to go figure out another way to do it. 

So where do we go from here? To the outside, of course

1. Accept that the only constant is change. As Andy Crestodina reminded us a few weeks ago; it’s difficult to ignore the hype, but essential if you want to stay focused on the strategies that we know work now and have worked forever. 
2. Let's go do our job. Take the time to find where your business leads are and play there.
3. Share your learnings with the community and start a discourse about new ideas, innovations, and wins.
4. Seek mentorship and form relationships. Much of where we’re going is already within the digital marketing discipline. In your org, who is responsible for PR, social, marketing, or brand? Reach out to them and begin a conversation. 
5. Shift your ratio of time spent to allow for other things. Spend time learning about Reddit and posting. Learn about Youtube and post a video. Become an expert in a support forum for a specific brand, industry, or product, and speak directly to people who could likely be your clients. 

Y’all continue to surprise me in how shared resilience, camaraderie, and validation can strengthen our resolve together. 

What are you experimenting with? I’d love for you to share in The Community.