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One thing I would add to this is to pick a single page on your own site that already gets impressions in Search Console and rewrite it using this process, instead of starting a brand new article every time. Look at the queries it shows up for, and check whether the page actually answers the most common one in the first few lines. Often a post sits on page two just because the real answer is buried under a long intro. Add a short FAQ section based on the real queries, tighten the title so it matches what people type, and put in one original detail, like a screenshot, a number from your own test or a mistake you made. Then wait a few weeks and compare clicks before touching anything else, so you know which change did the work.

From what I have seen, the gap is usually less about the website and more about the basics being done carefully in one specific place. Pick the exact service and the exact area, then make sure the Google Business Profile, the site title and the contact page all show the same business name, address and phone number. A lot of small businesses lose map visibility just because those details differ slightly across directories. After that, give each service its own page written the way a customer would type it, like business registration lawyer in Lagos, rather than a single vague services page. Real photos of actual jobs and a few detailed reviews that mention the service and the area also help more than a pile of generic five star ratings. Check the mobile load time on a normal data connection too, since most visitors will come from phones.

Since you want brutal feedback, my biggest worry is findability. A site living on a base44.app subdomain will struggle to build any search presence of its own, so get a proper domain before you launch and point the site to it. For a property platform, people search by place, like houses for rent in Lekki or land for sale in Abuja, so each state and city should have its own page with a unique title and real listings, not one page that filters everything. Make sure every listing has its own address, a clear title, a price, photos with descriptions and a short written summary. Also check that the pages load quickly on mobile data, since most Nigerian users will visit from their phones.

Before adding any ad network I would look at what your traffic actually looks like first. Ad income depends mostly on where visitors come from and what they read, so a blog with steady Google search visitors on Nigerian topics will earn far more per page than the same number of social visitors. Check Search Console to see which pages bring people in, then place ads only on those pages, and start with one or two units rather than filling the layout. Run a network for a month next to AdSense and compare earnings per thousand visits, not clicks. Also read the payout terms carefully, since minimum withdrawal and the payment method can matter more than the headline rate when your traffic is still small.

I would not say SEO is dead, but the easy informational traffic is clearly shrinking, so the work has shifted. Pages that answer a quick fact are the ones AI overviews swallow, so I would put more effort into content that is hard to summarize, like original data, honest comparisons, local angles and step by step guides with real screenshots. Those still earn clicks because people want the detail. Also check Search Console by page type rather than looking at total traffic. Often a few pillar pages hold most of the losses, and refreshing those with current examples recovers more than writing ten new posts. Referral traffic from forums is useful, but it works best when you actually answer people and let your name build trust, not when you chase it as a replacement channel.

Nice result, and you are right that the earlier backlink swaps were probably worth more as cash. Agencies get a budget per placement from their client, so 300 USD going through without negotiation usually means there was room above it.

For the invoice, you do not need anything fancy. A simple PDF with your name or business name, their company details, a description such as "content update and product listing on article X", the amount, currency, due date and your payment details is enough. If a direct bank transfer to your card is awkward, ask them to pay through an international transfer service that both sides already use.

One thing to protect the site: mark paid links with rel="sponsored" or at least rel="nofollow". Google treats undisclosed paid links as link spam, and a site that gets a reputation for selling placements can lose the rankings that brought the agencies in the first place. Keep a simple sheet of every paid placement so you can audit them later.