In episode 130, Christian Ward joins Garrett for a deep dive into the application and impact of AI in both personal and professional spheres. Christian is bullish on AI in daily operations, highlighting its power to enhance learning, decision-making, and efficiency through real-world applications. He discusses leveraging AI for everything from understanding data partnerships to automating tasks and analyses, underscoring the importance of practical usage over theoretical knowledge to unlock AI's potential.

Christian and Garrett explore the evolving nature of digital ecosystems, predicting a future where conversational AI breaks down the barriers of traditional user interfaces, making technology more accessible and intuitive.

Christian foresees a significant shift in how marketers and businesses approach customer engagement, moving from a reliance on monologues to embracing dialogues facilitated by AI. This change, he argues, will revolutionize personalization, making interactions more meaningful and customer-centric, thereby enhancing the consumer experience in unprecedented ways.

The conversation touches on the broader implications of AI on privacy, content creation, and the digital landscape, suggesting a future where AI not only simplifies but also democratizes access to technology. Christian believes personal AI assistants will manage our interactions with brands and services before long, ensuring privacy and efficiency.

Both agree that the integration of AI into daily life and business is inevitable, urging everyone to embrace this transformation proactively. 

• [0:00] Intro
• [1:07] How do you use AI in your day-to-day?
• [3:30] Will AI change user behavior?
• [7:30] The exponential advancement of AI and the frictionless abstraction layer
• [11:15] Will brands and digital ecosystems be siloed in the future?
• [14:50] Implications of AI on marketers - monologues vs. dialogues
• [18:15] Data privacy in the age of AI
• [21:40] Thoughts on IP copyrights - the NYTimes lawsuit against OpenAI
• [24:31] Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 5 Changes to Marketing

• Cookie Deprivation
• Two Choices - Tracking or ZPD
• SEO Content Generation & Tools
• From Monologue to Dialogues
• CMO Metrics Overhaul

Top 5 AI Expectations

• AI Efficiency at Work
• Prompt Inversion
• AI Model Convergence
• Conversational UI’s Explode
• Personal AI Usage

Top 5 Tools to Try to Learn

• ChatGPT: Best best-around tool to learn what’s possible
• Opus: Brilliant for cutting videos and creating AI posts
• Swell: Video or Audio AI tool for posts
• Reflect: Note-taking application and Personal Knowledge Graph
• Anthropic: Excellent alternative to GPT
• (Shameless Plug): Yext

Top 5 People to Follow for AI

• Ethan Mollick (Academic & Theory)
• Rowan Cheung (General AI)
• Paul Roetzer (Marketing AI)
• Allie Miller (AI Applied)
• Cassie Kozyrkov (Decision Science and AI)

In episode 129, Erika Varangouli shares the time, effort, and marketing discussions that went into Semrush's 2023 Ranking Factors study. Too often, uninformed SEOs will use statistics from these correlation studies and use them to serve their own agendas despite them not proving causation. Erika argues that the data still has value to inform and guide us. We can apply the insights to hypotheses and experiments to our own websites without using it purely as a prescriptive playbook.

She explains why the team landed on a study called 'Ranking Factors' and used their own metrics quantified as 'Content Quality.'

Resources: Semrush 2023 Ranking Factors Study - https://www.semrush.com/blog/ranking-factors-semrush-study/

[0:00] Intro

[1:30] The Semrush Ranking Factors Study - What is it?

[3:20] The methodology to address the correlation implications.

[6:20] How should SEOs remain skeptical yet find value in these SEO correlation studies?

[10:15] Highlighting limitations and the nature of correlation.

[12:20] How did you decide on the controversial title and the marketing of the study? The metrics created behind 'content quality.'

[19:45] Big insights and takeaways from the Ranking Factors Study

[22:00] What's your take on SGE and GenAI based on the study's findings?

[26:30] Do you think Brand recognition should trump content quality in search rankings?

[30:05] Rapid Fire Rankings

In episode 119, Serge Bezborodov of JetOctopus joins the show for an enlightening conversation about technical SEO at the enterprise level.

Serge shares thoughts on the uniqueness of technical SEO and discusses the critical data types that hold significance in the space. We discuss key features to pay attention to in your technical SEO software and best practices for effectively crawling large websites.

Serge also dishes out some strategies to identify and address JavaScript SEO issues and improve your communication with developers.

(0:00) Intro

(3:15) What is Unique about Technical SEO?

(4:40) What Type of Data Matters for Technical SEO?

(8:30) Key Features to Look For in Your Technical SEO Software

(12:12) Best Practices for Crawling Large Sites

(16:13) Identifying Javascript SEO Issues

(20:57) Communicating with Developers

(23:07) Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 3 of anything:

• Motorcycles

• Spear Fishing

• Family

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

More than 10 years ago we built and bought some backlinks and got a huge amount of traffic.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• GSC

• Ahrefs

• Your hands

Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic:

Seeing the results and impact.

Rank what you love most about the SEO industry:

It’s always changing.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

Our clients.

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Google Web Master Tools.

Rank your top cause or charity: Save Life

On this episode of iPullRank's Rankable Podcast, Jarrett Thomas hosts Andrew Wang, CEO at Spread, to discuss the topic "Challenging the Norms of a Competitive Industry."

On this episode of iPullRank's Rankable Podcast, Jarrett Thomas hosts Madison Butler, CEO & Founder of Blue Haired Unicorn, LLC, for our 4th LinkedIn All-Star Event where we will be discussing the topic "How to Be Your Authentic Self on Social."

On this episode of iPullRank's Rankable Podcast, Jarrett Thomas hosts Desiree Coleman, VP of Diverse Client Segments at a Fortune 500 Company, to discuss the topic "How to Build a Diverse and Inclusive Organization."

On this episode of iPullRank's Rankable Podcast, Jarrett Thomas hosts James Lindsay, CEO of RapSnacks, to discuss the topic "How to Break Through a Saturated Market."

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas and Chris Hart take a moment to look back on SEO in 2020 and the launch of Rankable Podcast.

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Will Gulley, Director of Digital Marketing at Big 12 Sports, to discuss "Sports Marketing in the Age of COVID-19."

On this episode of iPullRank's Rankable Podcast, Jarrett Thomas & Shantel Branch host Heather Nykolaychuk, CMO at Home Franchise Concepts, to discuss "How Should a Franchise Attack the Market."

On this episode of iPullRank's Rankable Podcast, Jarrett Thomas hosts Jake Dunlap, CEO of Skaled, to discuss "Social Media Sales Approach."

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Steve Pockross, CEO at Verblio, and Paul Zalewski, VP of Marketing at Verblio, to discuss "The Importance of Content Strategy."

In this episode, Mike King & Jarrett Thomas host Ken Gibbs, Head of Series Social at Amazon, to discuss "The Key to Social Media Success."

In episode 118, Brie Anderson of BEAST Analytics joins the show to talk Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and its impact on SEO.

Brie shares thoughts on the issues with GA4 auto-migration and discusses how to rethink measuring your digital presence.

We also explore the fundamental differences between Universal Analytics (UA) and GA4 and discuss the most important aspects of GA4 that every SEO should be aware of.

(0:00) Intro

(2:52) GA4 Auto-Migration

(5:25) Rethinking How You Measure Your Digital Presence

(9:35) GA4 Reporting for SEO

(12:42) Why SEOs Should Learn GA4

(15:04) Fundamental Differences Between UA and GA4

(18:09) Is GA4 for Everybody?

(21:28) How to Approach Attribution in 2023

(27:26) The Most Important Things SEOs Should Know About GA4

(29:51) Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 3 of anything:

• Wyatt’s song, The Wonder Years

• Miserable at best, Mayday Parade

• If it means a lot to you, A Day to Remember

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Finding thousands of dollars of waste in a campaign because the client had the same name as an action figure and plumbing product - CPA went way down after excluding a bunch of keywords.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Search Console

• Screaming Frog

• Moz

Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic:

Actually looking at SERPs .

Rank what you love most about the SEO industry:

It’s always changing.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Marie Hayes

• Charles Farina

• Rand Fishkin

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

YouTube & Twitter.

Rank your top cause or charity:

To Write Love On Her Arms

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Solomon Choi, Founder & CEO at 16 Handles, to discuss "How to Build a Successful Franchise."

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas and Shantel Branch host David Hutton, Digital Marketing Manager at doxy.me, to discuss "Getting Your SEO Back on Track in the Wake of COVID-19."

In this episode, Mike King and Chris Hart host Seth Dotterer, CEO at SiteCompli, to discuss "Digital Marketing for Traditional Organizations."

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts David Gerhardt, CMO at Privy, for the second LinkedIn All-Star Event.

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas & Michael Dellon host Holly Miller Anderson, SEO Manager at Sears, to discuss the topic "How to Identify Your Target Audience."

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Gaetano Nino DiNardi, Director of Growth Marketing at Nextiva, & Jonathan Rosenfeld, Senior Demand Generation Manager at Twilio Inc. to discuss the topic "The Importance of Creativity in Marketing."

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas & Shantel Branch host Chris Lombard, Senior Marketing Technologist Manager at Home Franchise Concepts to discuss the topic "The Importance of Relationship Building with Clients.".

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Sam Downs, President at SLD & Company, & David Stanton, VP of Business Development at Eastern Union at our first ever LinkedIn All-Star Event.

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Jordan Leschinsky to discuss "How to Approach Content Strategy: Agency Edition."

In this episode, Mike King & Jarrett Thomas host Octavia Warren Gilmore, Founder & CCO at Creative Juice, to discuss "Black Owned Businesses During a Recession."

In episode 117, Jason Tatum, VP of Product at CallRail, joins the show to discuss AI-Powered call tracking and how it can be used to uplift your SEO efforts.

Jason highlights the valuable relationship between AI-powered call tracking and SEO, emphasizing the identification of patterns and trends.

We also glimpse into the future of AI at CallRail and discuss the ways that organizations are seamlessly implementing the technology into SEO and marketing processes.

(0:00) Intro

(10:20) AI-Powered Call Tracking and the Relationship to SEO

(15:15) How to Identify Patterns and Trends

(17:02) How Marketing Teams are Using CallRail Summaries

(18:31) How Marketers Apply Brand Sentiment Insights from Summaries

(20:51) The Future of AI at CallRail

(25:38) How to Implement This Technology into SEO Processes

(27:30) Conversation Intelligence with CallRail

(30:50) Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 3 of anything:

• Cycling
• Great Britain
• Life

Rank your best Product marketing win:

When Google Data Studio was first released, we got invited to be a part of the beta. We got the CallRail link up on the Google Studio page. That's my best win.

Rank your top 3 Product tools:

• Pen & Paper
• Atlas
• Hey

Rank your best SEO or Product trick or tactic:

Have call summaries setup.

Rank what you love most about being in the Product industry:

Making people's businesses and days better.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Laura Beussman
• Marie Pat Donallen
• Andy Powell

Rank your best SEO or Product learning resource:

Neil Patel & Rand Fishkin

Rank your top cause or charity:

Bike Law

In this episode, Mike King, Jarrett Thomas, and Chris Hart host Jesse McDonald, Global SEO Strategist at IBM, to discuss "The Do's and Don'ts of Enterprise SEO."

In this episode, Mike King & Michael Dellon host John Chung, SEO Manager at Weedmaps & Jake Jamieson, Senior SEO Manager at Drizly, to discuss "Emerging Markets Making the Most of the COVID-19."

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Matt Caramenico, Head of SEO at Advance Auto Parts, to discuss "SEO vs. PPC, What Should Brands Prioritize?"

In this episode, Jarrett Thomas hosts Alex B. Sheridan, Founder of Impaxs, to discuss "How to Drive Leads on Social Channels."

In this episode, Mike King hosts Kameron Jenkins, Content & SEO Lead at Shopify, to discuss the topic "Click Data Trends Across Verticals."

In this episode, Mike King and Shantel Branch discuss the topic "Ranking the New Normal."

In this episode, Mike King and Fajr Muhammad discuss the topic "Optimizing your Business During a Pandemic."

Cut through the bullshit of online gurus. Erica Schneider provides frameworks, processes, and examples that actually help content creators edit their stuff to make it more attention-grabbing, interesting, and helpful.

In this episode, she shares her personal editing rituals, how the hell you get past your own editing roadblocks, and the key differences between crappy blog writing and attention-span-deficient social writing.

Find out what changed her perspective on the role of Generative AI writing and how she incorporates it into her writing and editing process. You're going to learn a few neat little formulas and AI models that can speed you up while maintaining your own personal authenticity.

[0:00] Intro

[1:20] Starting a business with young twins

[3:20] Personal editing rituals: Developmental edits followed by copyedits

[6:35] Editing roadblocks: Using frameworks like SCQA (Situation, Challenge, Question, Answer) to move forward

[8:38] The key differences between editing for digital platforms and traditional copywriting

[10:50] How should you start a blog post so it doesn’t suck? Story driven? Data-driven?

[12:56] How will GenAI change the game for writers? It’s an assistant

[15:55] Spotting crappy GenAI content and how to fix it

[17:50] Concerns around AI killing authenticity

[20:35] Learn how to communicate clearly

[21:50] Social is exhausting. Perspectives on changing communities

[24:10] Rapid Fire Rankings

In episode 128, Joel Klettke of Case Study Buddy drops by to discuss the underrated value of the case study for SEO and beyond.

Joel argues that a well-designed customer story is not a fluff piece. How do your buyers talk? Should you use jargon in your customer stories? Klettke shares his experience of creating a buffet of content from your customer story interviews.

----------

[0:00] Intro

[2:57] How can B2B companies effectively integrate SEO strategies into their customer success stories to enhance their online visibility?

[5:17] From an SEO and human perspective should you try to use jargon in the content of the customer story?

[7:35] Don’t limit the use cases and potential of your case studies.

[10:50] Leveraging case study videos for SEO value.

[12:45] Are SEOs involved in case study creation? Should they be?

[15:10] Who should own case study creation?

[17:45] Does the case study deliverable go according to plan? What’s the output? [23:25] Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Having multi-billion dollar enterprises come to us due to word of mouth/our niche specialization.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

My opinion on these is worthless lol. Honestly, I don't do SEO anymore; so pretty light here.

• Ahrefs
• Semrush
• ScreamingFrog

Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic:

Have a repurposing plan that includes video.

What’s the biggest scam in SEO that you’ve recently seen?

There was all the controversy around that brand generating a huge amount of AI content and 'stealing' market share from competitors.

I had to laugh -- yes, the generating content part might be questionable with the tech, but SEOs have been ripping off each others' strategies for YEARS, so I'm not sure what made this so special other than the cockiness in the way it was shared.

Rank what you love most about the SEO industry:

Probably what I also hated most about it when it was my job: it is always changing.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Sam Woods

• Andy Crestodina
• John-Henry Scherck
• Joanna Wiebe
• Stefan Georgian

What's your Generative AI hottake?

My hot take on this is that generative AI can, in fact, generate creative content.

There's this weird notion that since it was trained on other content, generative AI is unable to come up with original ideas. That's only somewhat true because we're missing half the equation: the human using it.

I've seen how introducing creative prompts can drive wild, new ideas out of generative AI, especially when it comes to imagery. Yes, it's anchored in the past, but it can iterate toward the future.

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

I... honestly wouldn't even know where to go these days.

Rank your top cause or charity:

Ronald McDonald House -- meaningful to me because we've had friends make use of it; having a place to be close to your children in their worst and most heart-wrenching, uncertain moments is a HUGE blessing for those who need it.

In episode 93, Roman Adamita of Picardes steps up to the mic to walk us through the process of Log File Analysis and the enormous value it can highlight for your organization.

Roman shares his thoughts on how to work with teams to gain access to their Log Files and how to extract high value insights.

We also discuss some of the unique findings you'll uncover when doing Log File Analysis and the best approach to use when requesting access from the organizations you work with.

(0:00) Intro

(3:45) The Beauty Of Log File Analysis

(6:50) The Most Useful Insights You Can Surface With Log File Analysis

(11:25) Why Is The Frequency Of Google Bot Crawling Important

(13:55) How to Ensure You Have Access To Log Files

(16:25) Working With Teams To Retrieve Custom Data

(17:40) The Biggest Surprises You’ll Find In Log Files

(19:25) Should You Be Using 410s?

(21:01) Tools for Log File Analysis

(24:52) Rapid Fire Rankings 🔥

Rank your top 3 anything:

• Cycling

• Traveling

• Sushi

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

I'm honored to have won the Young Search Professional of the Year award.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Screaming Frog - SEO Spider

• Screaming Frog - Log File Analyzer

• Google Search Console

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

ABCD Internal linking.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

I have to improve my knowledge all the time.

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Google Search Central

Rank the top 1-3 SEOs or Marketers that you most look up to:

• Tom Critchlow

• Rand Fishkin

*• SEO Presentations

In episode 116, Lyndon Nelson-Allen stops by the show to have an in-depth discussion about search intent.

Lyndon sheds light on what SEOs often misunderstand about search intent and provides insights into how Google approaches and evaluates intent using various signals and factors.

We also chat about the reasons why Google may not always provide the "best" answer and the challenges surrounding content quality on the web.

(0:00) Intro

(2:30) What Do SEOs Get Wrong About Search Intent?

(3:40) How Does Google Think About Intent?

(4:43) Signals and Factors

(6:25) How Should SEOs Approach Content?

(8:27) Why Doesn’t Google Provide the Best Answer?

(10:22) SEO is Relative

(11:58) Original Content vs Replication

(13:53) SERP Volatility

(15:55) Have Results Improved?

(17:48) Are We Being Retrained by Google?

(21:25) The Issue with Content Quality on the Web

(24:20) Creativity vs Information

(26:12) How SGE Will Impact List

(28:33) Will Google Get Transactions Right?

(30:03) Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 3 of anything:

• My kids
• Coconut
• Supernatural

Rank your best SEO marketing win:16%+ CTR on Google Ads is likely my favorite (as it's just such a stupidly high figure).

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Google Search Console
• Semrush
• PHP & MySQL

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Building out content stacks.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

Winning!Being able to apply knowledge/skills/experience from numerous jobs.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• David Ogilvy
• Shaun Anderson (HoboWeb)
• Ann Smarty

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Forums.

Rank your top cause or charity:

Women in Tech SEO

Twitter: @techseowomen

In episode 85, Ashwin Balakrishnan joins the show to share some insights on how you can create engaging content that actually earns links.

We discuss the approach you can use to get internal teams excited to be more involved and assist with projects that will help grow your organization.

Ashwin also shares his thoughts on how you can leverage subject matter experts in your content to help boost your online brand.

(0:00) Intro

(3:35) Content Ideation

(6:30) How To Get The Data You Need From Internal Teams

(8:15) Generating Wins That Get Your Team Excited

(10:40) Proving Value To Other Teams In Your Organization

(12:49) How To Find And Work With Subject Matter Experts

(18:28) High Quality Content From Underrated Sources

(20:16) Rapid Fire Rankings 🔥

Rank your top 3 anything:

Soundgarden

Tame Impala

Haji & Emanuel

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Getting our free trial conversion rate at Optmyzr up from 2.3% to 16.4% in 2.5 years.

Rank your Top 3 SEO tools:

Ahrefs

Screaming Frog

Reddit

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Structuring your page.

When I say structuring your page I'm talking about your title tags, meta description, all of that stuff.

Also, going one step further with formatting your text, using visuals, answering questions as closely as possible to how they're asked, etc.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

I thrive on routine and structure, so I love that SEO rewards consistency. Do the right things over and over gets anyone results over time.

Rank the top 1-3 SEO or Marketers that you most look up to:

Brendan Hufford

Amalia Fowler

Eddie Shleyner

Rank your number one cause/charity that you want to promote:

Stray Animal Foundation of India

In episode 115, Jack Chambers-Ward of Candour joins the show to chat about bias in Google search results and how these results are influenced by our own biases.

We discuss the influence of language in search queries and examine the potential biases associated with Large Language Models.

We also tackle the important question of Google's responsibility in surfacing diverse content and discuss approaches that both individuals and organizations can take when handling existing biases.

(0:00) Intro

(3:25) Are Google Search Results Biased?

(5:05) The Influence of Language in Queries

(9:49) Are LLMs Biased?

(13:30) Checking Your Own Biases When Searching with Google

(21:45) What is Google’s Responsibility in Surfacing Diverse Content?

(25:15) How to Handle Existing Biases

(28:11) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top 3 anything:

1. Ahab - The Coral Tombs

2. Katatonia - Sky Void of Stars

3. Periphery - Djent is Not a Genre

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Resolving hreflang tag & canonical issues on an international ecommerce site. Traffic is now up by more than 600% as the international pages are now ranking in the correct regions!

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Sistrix

• AlsoAsked

• Sitebulb

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Internal links - especially with ecommerce - are hugely underrated. Guiding users through a purchase journey, in every stage of that journey, can be really powerful.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

The variety of challenges and topics - there's always something new to learn!

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Mark Williams-Cook

• Areej AbuAli

• Mordy Oberstein

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Aleyda Solis' Learning SEO

Rank your top cause or charity:

The Hamlet. A charity that supports people ages 0-29 with special educational needs and disabilities.

In episode 114, Christoph Cemper, founder of prompt library AIPRM, stops by to talk ChatGPT, AIPRM, and the power small business can harness with generative AI.

Christoph sheds light on what small businesses need to understand about how these generative AI tools work and emphasizes the importance of a well-crafted prompt to unleash their full potential.

We also explore the barriers preventing SMBs from utilizing generative AI and uncover the remarkable productivity boost the tool offers.

(0:00) Intro

(2:22) The World of AI

(5:55) ChatGPT for SEO

(7:42) What Small Businesses Need to Understand about ChatGPT

(12:18) The Importance of Having a Good Prompt

(14:38) Recommendations for Small Businesses

(20:24) What’s Stopping SMBs From Using Generative AI?

(23:45) The Efficiency of Generative AI

(27:30) The Future of Generative AI

(33:52) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

AIPRM by far.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Systrix

• Ahrefs

• Semrush

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Use a brandable name.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

The reverse engineering part. Investigative, experimental, testing.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Jim Boykin

• Frank Kern

• Mike King

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Forums.

Rank your top cause or charity:

SOS Children's Villages

In episode 113, Adriana Stein stops by the show to dispel misconceptions and explore the dynamic relationship between UX and SEO.

Adriana shares some thoughts on the impact of popups & paywall sites on rankings and the importance of audience research when it comes to the success of your product.

We also surface some valuable insights around optimizing UX, readability, and the role that generative AI will play in the future.

(0:00) Intro

(2:37) Misconceptions Around UX as a Ranking Factor

(4:49) Do Popups Impact Rankings?

(6:55) Paywall Sites

(8:14) Educating Clients on SEO & UX

(11:17) How SEO & UX Work Together

(14:15) The Importance of Audience Research

(16:22) Online Shopping vs Brick & Mortar

(17:54) Best Practices for UX & SEO

(20:37) The Importance of Readability

(22:35) Are Consumers UX Expectations Changing?(28:00) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• Slovenia

• South Africa

• Norway

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

I got a single content piece to generate around 840 natural backlinks.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Google Search Console

• Semrush

• Screaming Frog

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Keyword localization for multi-language SEO success.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

1. The supportive community within it, especially Women in Tech SEO.

2. When you see your content is generating conversions and driving revenue.

3. Brainstorming the unique story within the brand.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Areej AbuAli

• Chris Walker

• Christopher Lochhead

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Real websites with real data!

Rank your top cause or charity:

Rise Up Together

In episode 112, Tess Voecks of Local SEO Guide joins the show for a discussion about the importance of project management and how it relates to SEO.

Tess emphasizes the need for businesses to organize themselves effectively before starting any project and highlights a few common mistakes that businesses make in their operations.

We also chat about why communication is a superpower in project management and the need to identify and manage potential risks to ensure project success.

(0:00) Intro

(1:25) Why is Project Management Important?

(2:50) Why Project Management Matters for SEO

(6:40) Organizing Your Business Before You Start

(8:43) What Do Most Businesses Get Wrong About Operations?

(11:14) Adaptability and Communication

(15:05) Risk Mitigation

(18:01) Change Management

(20:15) Controlling People is Hard

(22:00) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• My kids

• home decor/decorating my home

• hiking/walking

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Creating and scaling a business at LSG. Playing an integral part in how business processes and teams function day to day and year to year is something I'm super proud of. It's allowed me to meet so many people, build a business I care about, and build my own freelance business.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Semrush

• Squeryl

• ClickUp

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Internal linking. It's soooo underrated but effective

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

1. The challenge of having a non-routine job/industry

2. Building relationships (clients, colleagues, coworkers)

3. Building a robust set of skills

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Nick Eubanks

• Blake Denman

• Amanda Natividad

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

• Twitter/LinkedIn

• Blogs/roundtables

• Podcasts

• Colleagues and coworkers

Rank your top cause or charity:

The BackPack Program at our school helps kids fight hunger. There is no link for the program, but you could reach out to: https://www.trf.k12.mn.us/

In episode 111, Jacob Clarke of NerdWallet stops by for an insightful discussion exploring the key elements of a successful SEO content strategy.

Jacob shares the most important factor to prioritize in your SEO content strategy and practical tips on how to get started effectively.

We discuss clear communication with stakeholders and finding the right balance.

We also explore valuable techniques for ensuring your content demonstrates experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) and the role of structured data plays in enhancing these qualities.

(0:00) Intro

(3:21) The Most Important Thing to Get Right in Your SEO Content Strategy

(5:19) How to Get Started With Your SEO Content Strategy

(7:43) How to Speak to Stakeholders

(9:13) In-house vs Agency

(10:27) Fluid vs Rigid Strategy

(12:46) Refreshing High Ranking Content

(15:20) How to Sell Content Internally

(20:23) How to Ensure E-E-A-T is Baked Into Your Content Strategy

(22:33) The Role of Structured Data in E-E-A-T

(24:16) The Future of Structured Data

(26:00) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• Spider-Man: No Way Home

• Avengers: Infinity War

• Captain America: Civil War

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Earned high-DA backlinks by creating an updated statistics page before a competitor.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Semrush

• Screaming Frog

• Google search results

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Looking at all the keywords a URL ranks for in the top 3 to learn the total search potential of a topic, instead of just a single keyword.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

The SEO Community on LinkedIn.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Matt Diggity

• Eli Schwartz

• Marie Haynes

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Youtube & LinkedIn.

In episode 110, Anna Uss joins the show to explore the fascinating world of programmatic SEO.

We discuss the most common use cases of programmatic SEO and its immense value in transforming your digital strategy.

Anna shares practical steps to implement programmatic SEO within your organization, ensuring that your content catches the attention of Google's crawlers.

We also delve into the exciting future of enhancing programmatic SEO with generative AI, unlocking new possibilities for your content.

(0:00) Intro

(3:58) The Most Common Use Cases of Programmatic SEO

(5:32) The Value of Programmatic SEO

(9:27) How to Implement Programmatic SEO in Your Organization

(12:20) How to Make Sure Google Crawls Your Programmatic Production

(15:43) How Long Does It Take to See Results?

(19:32) Enhancing Programmatic SEO with Generative AI

(22:27) How to Get Buy-In from the C-Suite

(29:03) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• My Dog

• London

• horse riding

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

My best win is as the Snyk Advisor, the programmatic SEO asset that we have designed from scratch. It currently drives 1M clicks and we have achieved +500% growth through additional tech SEO changes. I am also proud of another project that was a site section (millions of pages) migration to a subdomain with a +50% traffic increase after the migration.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Ahrefs

• GSC extension for google sheets

• Keywords Everywhere

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Right now, I'm deep into programmatic pages/content automation.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

I just came from Brighton SEO, can’t help but mention how vibrant, positive, fun, and exciting the industry is. So many areas to focus on (technical, content, whatnot). So many new trends to explore. It is never boring. Also really enjoy the people, always very open, positive, and simply fun. Amazing to be a part of this community.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Kevin Indig

• Rand Fishkin

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

LinkedIn.

In episode 127, Chris Butterworth stops by to shed light on the critical yet often overlooked topic of digital sustainability.

Chris discusses the importance of education around digital sustainability and strategies to impact change and the carbon footprint of your company.

He also addresses how to engage people in caring about their digital footprint and the environmental impact of LLMs and Generative AI. He shared his thoughts on the responsibility of large companies in reducing their digital footprint.

(0:00) Intro

(1:53) Defining Digital Sustainability

(3:43) Education in Digital Sustainability

(5:15) Regulations Around Digital Carbon Footprint

(6:50) How to Fight for Change in the Digital Landscape

(10:46) What Responsibility Do Large Companies Have in Improving Our Digital Footprint?

(13:35) Who are the People at Organizations Launching Reduction Initiatives?

(15:30) How to Implement Sustainability Changes at an Organization

(17:47) How to Get People to Care About Their Digital Footprint

(20:25) The Environmental Impact of LLMs and Generative AI

(23:30) Don’t Feel Guilty

(25:54) Reducing Your Digital Footprint

(27:11) Rapid Fire Rankings

Top 3 of anything:

Music

Family

The Planet

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Redesigned a website to make it incredibly lightweight which while migrating domain and URLs boosted rankings.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

Screaming Frog

Webmaster Tools

Hemingway

Rank your best SEO or trick or tactic:

Focus on conversion over winning traffic.

Rank what you love most about the SEO industry:

It can be used to shorten user journeys.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

Tim Frick

Mark Butcher

Tom Greenwood

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

Your own experience.

Rank your top cause or charity:

Big Orange Heart

In episode 109, Barry Schwartz joins the show to dive deep into the key highlights and takeaways from the recent Google I/O event.

We explore the potential impact of Google's new Generative Experience, discuss first impressions from the SEO community, and analyze how these advancements will shape the future of SEO and content creation.

Barry also shares thoughts on the delicate balance between factuality and fluidity in AI chatbots and how Google's Perspectives initiative will impact the SERPs.

(0:00) Intro

(1:46) Biggest Takeaways from Google I/O

(3:13) Bard’s True Purpose

(5:44) How will the Generative Search Experience Roll Out?

(8:47) How Will This Impact Ads?

(10:25) Factuality vs Fluidity in AI Chatbots

(13:07) Are Perspectives an Answer to the Issue of Factuality?

(15:35) How Does the SEO Community Feel About the Google I/O event?

(19:37) How Can Google Balance It All?

(21:00) How Will This Impact eCommerce?

(23:55) What Should SEOs be Paying Attention to?

(25:53) The Opportunities in Google’s AI Ecosystem

(27:45) How Will AI Make SEOs Jobs Easier & Harder

(29:28) Biggest Surprises from Google I/O

(32:16) Mobile vs Desktop Experience

(36:13) Improvements and Reporting for Google Search Console

(38:22) Will Google Continue to Dominate the Market

(40:47) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• SEO

• Development

• Apps

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

The community.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Danny Sullivan

• Matt Cutts

Rank your top cause or charity: Anybody that feeds people who can't afford to put food on the table.

In episode 108, Krista Doyle of Jasper stops by to discuss how SEOs and Content Marketers should be using generative AI while trying to maintain brand consistency.

Krista gives some great advice for those looking to stay ahead of the curve in AI and shares some insight into how generative AI can be used responsibly for content.

We also dive into some emerging tools that are making an impact in the AI space and whether the AI takeover will lead to a positive future in the long run.

(0:00) Intro

(3:35) How AI is Impacting Jasper

(5:53) Staying Ahead of the AI Curve

(9:01) How is the Conversation around AI Different for Marketers vs Developers

(10:47) How Will Generative AI Impact SEO?

(16:23) Jasper’s Philosophy on Generative AI

(20:04) Using Jasper to Create Content(24:26) Emerging AI Tools to Pay Attention To

(28:10) The Future of AI: Positive or Negative?

(30:55) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• Fountain Diet Coke from McDonald's

• Cold can over ice.

• Fountain from anywhere else

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

It was my first job in SEO and I did not yet know what attribution was from content. We were trying to outrank one of our major affiliates for a bunch of keywords. We did it and it worked fast. We were pulling in about $10K a month off one piece of content. There's nothing like that first super fun & exciting win.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• GSC

• Ahrefs

• Jasper

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Right now, I'm deep into programmatic pages/content automation.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

It keeps me on my toes. With SEO, you're forced to always be learning, testing, and tinkering. There's nothing better!

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Chris Tweten

• Tracey Wallace

• John-Henry Scherck

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

• Twitter

• Aleyda Solis' #SEOFOMO newsletter

Rank your top cause or charity:

The Alexandria Zoo, near my hometown in Louisiana. It was a special place to my Dad, who I lost last year, and it's still repairing some damage from a bad hurricane two years ago, so I always try to find ways to support them when I can.

In episode 107, Marianne Sweeny joins the shows to discuss the ways in which SEOs are misunderstanding LLMs and how you can look at things differently to achieve success.

Marianne shares thoughts on how SEOs should be using some of these generative AI tools like ChatGPT and whether SEOs can do anything to future-proof their careers.

We also talk briefly about what the future of LLMs and generative AI could look like a year from now as new projects like Google's Magi begin to roll out.

(0:00) Intro

(2:20) What SEOs Need to Pay Attention To

(4:27) Are the SERPs Getting Better or Worse?

(6:13) The Most Common Misconceptions from SEOs Regarding LLMs

(8:20) The Implications of Deep Mind’s Integration Into Project Magi

(10:40) How Should SEOs be Using These Chatbots?

(12:35) How to Handle The Trust Factor

(14:20) Who is Responsible for Diversity in Generative AI?

(18:15) Can a Group Come Together in the Name of Generative AI?

(20:20) Can SEOs Future Proof Their Role in the Industry?

(23:30) Predictions for the Next Year

(28:00) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• Cooking competition shows

• Learning new things (especially in AI)

• Sport Dining

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

I got a finance client to rank for subprime loans with blog comments. To my defense, my comments were relevant to the posts.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• ranks.nl

• SEO tools for Excel

• Google Developers Console

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Client site rank landscape.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

That it is cross-functional and that it is immediate.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Mike King

• Lily Ray

• Britney Muller

BONUS:

• Bill Slawski

• Lyndon

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

• Twitter

Rank your top cause or charity:

Doctors Without Borders

In episode 106, Jeremy Moser stops by the show to share some insight into how link building for large brands is evolving in the era of generative AI.

Jeremy discusses how Google is valuing links as a ranking factor and whether purchasing links is a sustainable strategy in 2023.

We also dive into whether big brands really need link building to have success in the SERPs.

(0:00) Intro

(1:33) uSERP’s Approach to Link Building

(2:54) How Much Value Does Google Place On Links(5:46) Content Syndication Links

(8:22) Is Paying For Links Sustainable?

(11:34) Does Link Building Matter for Big Brands?

(13:32) Quality vs Quantity of Links

(15:25) How is Generative AI Impacting Link Building

(17:07) Will Citations Be Integrated Into LLMs?

(18:31) The Future of Search Hot Takes

(19:49) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• Hawaii

• The ocean

• Tequila

Rank your best SEO marketing win:

Increasing a brand new fintech startup's traffic from 0 to 70,000 monthly visits in a hyper-competitive consumer fintech space.

.Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Ahrefs

• Semrush

• Screaming Frog

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:

Digital PR driven content marketing to scale top quality backlinks.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:

• Link building/pr

• Content strategy

• Technical SEO

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Seth Godin

• Ann Handley

Rank your best SEO learning resource:

learningseo.io

Rank your top cause or charity:

Wounded Warrior Project

In this episode, Jamie Indigo joins the show to share some thoughts on how you should communicate and engage with your dev team to improve your JavaScript SEO.

Jamie gives some insight into where most SEOs go wrong with JavaScript and the approach you should be taking to identify and analyze JS SEO issues.

We also chat about the impact that LLMS and generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard could have on JavaScript SEO in the not-so-distant future.

(0:00) Intro

(1:25)How ‘Not a Robot’ Came to Be

(2:45) Jamie’s Big Picture Philosophy on Javascript SEO

(3:50) How to Keep Your Developers from Bloating Your Site

(7:21) How to Win the Hearts & Minds of Marketers and Devs

(11:29) Where Do SEOs Go Wrong With JS

(13:06) How to Investigate & Diagnose JS SEO Issues

(14:58) The Most Fun JS Problems to Solve

(17:13) Can You Trust Google Documentation?

(19:45) How Will Generative AI Impact JS SEO?

(26:31) Rapid Fire Rankings

Rapid Fire Rankings

Rank your top anything:

• Moon Druid

• Arcane Trickster Rogue

• Grave Cleric

Rank your best SEO marketing win: Mentoring the Freelance Coalition for Developing Countries Not Bots Cohort.

Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• A good crawler

• A good source of truth

• One variable tool depending on what you want to achieve.

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic: Just talking to people.

Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry: I'm not so sure I love it anymore. I love the clever minds it's brought into my life. We used to be obscure. Now we're ubiquitous and that's problematic because real humans reach into their pockets and inherently trust what we've manipulated-- the search engine results-- everyday.

Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Ian Lurie

• Ashley Berman Hale

• Areej Abuali

• BONUS: Hamlet Bautista

Rank your best SEO learning resource: Is it a cop-out to say Rich Snippets? I guess it's not really shameless because writing it each week makes me read and research.

Rank your top cause or charity: Little Free Library

In episode 104, SEO consultant Jess Joyce stops by the show to ease our minds in the race to migrate to GA4 before Google sunsets Universal Analytics in July of this year.Jess shares the key differences that SEOs need to be paying attention to within the GA4 dashboard and the ways in which reporting will be different.We also discuss what other alternatives are that are currently out in the wild and how they stack up against GA4.(0:00) Intro(4:03) Key Differences Between GA4 and Universal Analytics(8:02) SEO Reporting in GA4(9:24) The Best Migration to GA4(11:47) How to Do It Yourself(13:12) What New Data Can SEOs Surface in GA4?(16:19) Things Are Going to Look Different(18:27) Alternatives to GA4(21:20) Improving Your SEO with GA4(22:45) Install It and Start Now(24:37) Rapid Fire RankingsRank your top anything:

• My daughter & my partner

• Music

• The Simpsons

• BONUS: Instant ramen noodles

Rank your best SEO marketing win:Ranked for "content marketing software" many years ago.Rank your top 3 SEO tools:

• Ahrefs

• Screaming Frog

• Keyword Insights

Rank your best SEO trick or tactic:Harness the power of the domain, and optimize all the subdomains for crawling!Rank what you love most about SEO as an industry:It feels like a superpower but it's logic.Rank your top 1-3 marketers:

• Glen Allsopp

• Areej Abuali

• Vanessa Fox

Rank your best SEO learning resource:https://learningseo.io/Rank your top cause or charity: CamH - mental health in Canada