I Subscribed to 3 Popular SEO Newsletters for a Month: Here’s What I Discovered

28 November 2025

A Digital Dispatch by Sian Jamieson, Partnership Lead

SEO

Let’s be honest: most comms teams don’t have the time (or the willpower) to sift through the firehose of SEO updates landing in our inboxes each week.

Between juggling website updates, reporting, stray commas, and the occasional existential crisis… adding “Read 40 SEO headlines” to your to-do list just isn’t happening.

So I did it for you.

For one month, I subscribed to three of the most active SEO newsletters:
Women in Tech SEO (WTS), Search Engine Roundtable, and SEOFOMO.

Forty-something emails later (yes, really), here’s what I learned, and more importantly, what actually matters for charities, good-cause organisations, and the comms teams keeping them afloat.

1. Women in Tech SEO (WTS)

6 emails in one month – friendly, structured, community-driven.

WTS was the newsletter that felt the most human. It’s a genuinely supportive space for women across SEO and marketing, and it shows. Each edition is a blend of practical advice, member spotlights, tools, meet-ups, jobs, and training.

Useful insights for charity comms teams

You don’t need to be an SEO expert to learn something immediately helpful.
The WTS “Brilliant Work by Our Brilliant Members” section is a goldmine of smart, plain-English walkthroughs and examples, perfect for comms teams when they’re brushing up on SEO without getting lost in jargon.
Training is becoming more accessible.
Free events, mentorships, Knowledge Hub articles — brilliant for organisations who can’t stretch budgets but still need upskilling.
Representation matters.
For smaller teams who often feel isolated, WTS’ community-first ethos is a reminder that digital can be collaborative, supportive and safe — not gatekept behind technical language.

This is the newsletter to subscribe to if you want regular, digestible SEO insight without needing to know what JavaScript rendering pipelines are.

2. Search Engine Roundtable

30 emails in one month – an overwhelming but technically rich avalanche.

I’ll be honest: this one nearly took me out.

Search Engine Roundtable is for hardcore SEO specialists — the kind of people who read Google patent updates like bedtime stories. Every email is essentially a long list of headline links, research threads, and algorithm updates. Super helpful for search consultants… less so for time-poor charity teams.

Useful insights for charity comms teams (yes, there were some)

Once I dug through the wall of text, a few trends stood out:

AI integration is accelerating.
Google released Gemini 3, which now powers AI Mode in Search. This means search results are becoming more “summarised” and less reliant on clicking through — something your board will absolutely want to understand.
Google is tightening rules around spam, reviews, and merchant behaviour.
Even if you’re not an ecommerce site, this hints at Google’s broader shift toward trust signals and verified content — relevant for charities working hard to establish credibility.
Major platforms are consolidating.
Adobe is acquiring Semrush. Microsoft is integrating more AI features across Bing and their ad network. Big organisations are preparing for an AI-first search landscape, and charities will need to adapt too.

This newsletter isn’t for the average comms team but the trends hiding inside it absolutely matter.
Think of it like a weather report: you don’t need every detail, but you do need to know when a storm is coming.

(And yes, I unsubscribed. Happily.)

3. SEOFOMO

6 emails in one month – actionable, balanced, and genuinely interesting.

SEOFOMO was my favourite – and the one most useful.

Curated by Aleyda Solis (a long-respected SEO expert), it offers a weekly run-down of big SEO shifts, new tools, relevant events, and practical guides.

It is packed, but in a manageable, readable way.

Useful insights for charity comms teams

AI Search (GEO) is growing fast — but still tiny.
AI search traffic is 0.51% of organic search volume, but growing at +32%.
Translation: you don’t need to panic — but you should prepare.
Google is rolling out a major AI shopping update across Search, Gemini and its new Agentic features. This is the biggest shift in user behaviour Google has pushed in years, and it matters for any organisation with products, memberships, tickets or paid events.
“Expert content” still wins.
Even in the age of AI, content written (or visibly created) by real specialists performs best.
For charities, this means:
– Show your lived expertise
– Show your impact
– Show your credibility
– Avoid robotic content or keyword stuffing

If comms teams subscribe to one SEO newsletter — make it SEOFOMO.
It hits the sweet spot between expert insight and real-world usability.

What should you do with all of this?

Here’s the simple summary I wish every newsletter opened with.

1. Focus on content that answers real questions

AI search pulls from trusted, clearly structured content.
If your site explains something well, you’ve already done 80% of the job.

2. Keep improving user experience

Fast, accessible, easy-to-navigate sites will always win — especially as Google shifts toward “experience signals.”

3. Prioritise expertise and trust

Show your organisation’s credibility through:
✔ named authors
✔ clear governance
✔ transparent information
✔ resources with supporting evidence
✔ lived experience

4. Get your category / hub pages in shape

Think: Campaign → Resources → Case Studies → Impact → FAQs → How to Get Involved. These matter more than ever.

5. Don’t panic about AI Search — but do prepare

It’s growing fast, but traditional search is still your main source of traffic.
AI-friendly content = human-friendly content.

6. Diversify your traffic sources

Social media, newsletters, partnerships and videos all support SEO.
Relying solely on Google is a risk — and the newsletters agree.

To Subscribe or Not to Subscribe?

Spending a month inside the SEO newsletter world confirmed what we already tell our clients: Good SEO isn’t about chasing algorithms, it’s about helping real people find what they need.

If I had to recommend just one for digital comms teams in charities, public bodies, or the third sector? SEOFOMO — without a doubt.

But if you want encouragement, learning, and a supportive vibe? Add Women in Tech SEO too.

And if you’re curious about the full firehose? Search Engine Roundtable is there… waiting… lurking… sending 30 emails a month.

I’ve done the inbox marathon so you don’t have to, and your future self (and your website) will thank you.