I guess it works. Providing value, doing research and finding what the niche is lacking has been good to me so far.
It's hard to explain without sounding like I was in control of things:
- basic on-page SEO (I'm probably still missing some minor nuances that make all the difference still, intuition* has found a lot of them though - without backlinks, the on-page has to be overdone)
- intuition (in terms of the target audience - basically, isn't Google's aim to get the audience what they need/want? Simple reasoning...)
- due diligence (in terms of Google algorithm - have you noted the trend? It aligns with the intuitive remarks when looking at past updates over the years...).
(note: I created the first pillar money article late in May, 2019)
Again, it could be just luck, it could be unintentional acing - it's hard to not come off as a snob. But it just feels right... I can't stand blackhat, and whenever I hear a Google algo bringing down the abusers and exploiters, I do get malicious enjoyment out of it. Though it could easily be myself getting burned one day.
I'm told to be self-aware, so brining out my subconscious human aspects as if I did this stuff intentionally will sound super, super shady to some1 without the comprehension of mindfulness in general. Again, not to come off as a rude person... try to approach these matters philosophically and challenge my reasoning that way, no need for strawmans and other fallacious demagogue, okay?

(human nature sucks)
Anyway, since these examples are from my 2nd journey trying to make a profitable website (I was in serious disbelief ever making money online - seemed like a scam), I feel like I've learned just
one method, a template which I'll use to jumpstart multiple sites with "intention" this time around.
(Hope it helps some1... - I just needed to add all the non-essential background info in case some1 came in here deciphering everything in their biased twisted ways...)