Technical SEO
22 minAuditing a Core Web Vitals regression in 30 minutes
Walk through the exact dashboard sequence we use to localize a LCP regression to a deploy, including the GSC + CrUX cross-reference.
Preview available on sign-in
Cohort 14 · opens June 2026
Modern SEO, taught one lesson at a time.
Hatchpin is a hands-on SEO learning library. Every lesson is something one of our editors shipped this quarter — the brief, the SERP, the outcome. Bring a project; leave with a measurable change.
Enrollment is currently capped — signing up adds you to the next-cohort waitlist.
- Lessons
- 128
- Tracks
- 6
- Editors
- 11
- Members
- 1,400+
Why members stay
A curated SEO library, not another course catalogue.
Hatchpin is built for operators who already know the basics and need a faster path from search problem to shipped fix.
Tracks grouped by goal
Launch a new site, recover from a Core Update, build a content engine — every track maps to a real outcome, not a topic taxonomy.
Built around real workflows
Every lesson is something one of our editors shipped this quarter, with the brief, the SERP screenshots, and the measured outcome.
Small cohorts, real answers
We cap enrollment so editors can answer questions from every member. New seats open in monthly cohorts.
Six tracks
From server response time to editorial calendars.
Mix and match tracks. Most members finish two in their first quarter and dip into the others on demand.
26 lessons
Technical SEO Foundations
Crawl budget, render paths, Core Web Vitals, sitemaps, canonicals — the plumbing that decides whether Google sees your content at all.
22 lessons
On-Page & Content Structure
Title patterns, H-hierarchy, internal linking maps, entity coverage. Practical templates we use across editorial briefs.
19 lessons
Search Intent & Strategy
Mapping queries to formats, building topic clusters that actually rank in 2026, and pruning content that's holding the site back.
17 lessons
Link Building & Digital PR
Outreach scripts that don't embarrass you, broken-link workflows, digital PR for B2B, and the metrics editors actually care about.
24 lessons
Search Analytics & Reporting
Reading GSC like an analyst, building GA4 explorations that aren't lies, log-file analysis, and STAT-style position tracking that scales.
20 lessons
Programmatic & Scale
pSEO patterns that survive Helpful Content updates, faceted navigation, AI-assisted production, and quality controls that actually catch regressions.
A taste of the library
What a Hatchpin lesson actually looks like.
Each lesson is 15–45 minutes, a written walkthrough plus the artifacts our editors actually shipped — briefs, scripts, dashboards, the SERPs before and after.
Content Strategy
27 minBuilding topic clusters that actually rank in 2026
The pivot we made when query-cluster keyword tools stopped predicting SERPs. Includes the spreadsheet template and three live examples.
Preview available on sign-in
Link Building
18 minThe outreach template we keep using (and why it still works)
A single email pattern that consistently lands a 6–9% reply rate, with the four variants we A/B-tested last quarter.
Preview available on sign-in
Search Analytics
31 minReading GSC like an analyst, not a junior
Five queries we run on every audit, the GSC export quirks that mislead newcomers, and how to join GSC against GA4 without lying to yourself.
Preview available on sign-in
How it works
Three steps from waitlist to first shipped fix.
- Step 1
Apply to the cohort
Tell us about the site you're working on and the search problem you'd like to tackle. Takes about 4 minutes.
- Step 2
Get the intake brief
When we open the next cohort, we send a short brief: which tracks to start with based on your project, plus the first two lessons.
- Step 3
Ship a fix in week one
Each track ends with a small implementation step. Most members ship something measurable within the first week.
The editor team
Practitioners writing about the work, not consultants writing about the framework.
M
Maya Chen
Editor
Former technical SEO lead at a top-200 marketplace. Writes the Technical Foundations and Programmatic tracks.
D
Daniel Ortiz
Editor
Content lead at a vertical SaaS. Ex-agency, now in-house. Owns the On-Page and Search Intent tracks.
P
Priya Raman
Editor
Search analytics specialist, ex-newsroom. Builds the Analytics & Reporting curriculum and the GSC office hours.
T
Tom Beckwith
Editor
Link building and digital PR. Ten years at boutique agencies; runs the Link Building track and outreach reviews.
FAQ
The questions we get on every cohort intake.
Who is Hatchpin built for?+
In-house SEOs, founders running content programs, and consultants who already know the basics and want a faster loop from problem to shipped fix. If you're looking for your first "what is a meta description" course, this isn't it.
How are lessons delivered?+
Each lesson is a written walkthrough plus the artifacts the editor used — briefs, queries, dashboard screenshots, before/after SERPs. You read at your own pace; we don't live-stream anything.
How much time per week?+
Most members spend 60–90 minutes a week. Lessons are 15–45 minutes; the value is in actually doing the small implementation step at the end, not in marathon study sessions.
Why cohorts? Why not just open enrollment?+
Editors answer questions inside the library. If we opened the doors, the answer queue would balloon and quality would crater. Cohorts keep the answer-to-question ratio sane.
Can I cancel anytime?+
Yes. Memberships are month-to-month after the first cohort window. We don't do annual lock-in; if it's not working, leave.
Do you issue certificates?+
No. The artifact you can show a hiring manager is the work you shipped, not a badge from us. We'll happily reference the work you did inside the library if it helps.
From the journal
Recent essays from the editor team.
Long-form thinking, post-mortems, and pattern catalogues — published in the open so you can read before you apply.
Technical SEO
7 minThe Core Web Vitals myth: when LCP fixes actually move rankings
Most performance work doesn't move traffic. The work that does has a very specific shape — and it's almost never the work the dashboards push you toward.
— Maya Chen
Keyword Research
8 minStop chasing keyword difficulty: a query-cluster framework for 2026
KD scores were already noisy; AI search has made them noisier. Here's how we plan content portfolios when single-keyword competitiveness is unreliable.
— Daniel Ortiz
SERP Analysis
6 minReading the SERP for what it actually tells you
Most teams pull the top ten URLs and stop there. The SERP is a brief: it tells you what to write, who to mention, and what to never bother shipping.
— Daniel Ortiz
Cohort 14 opens in June. Hold a seat.
We open ~40 seats per cohort. Apply now and we'll send the intake brief when the next round opens — no pressure, no spam, unsubscribe in one click.