Today’s episode I think is an important one for anyone who’s a part of, or interested in, the SEO industry. Whether you’re an actual practitioner, maybe newer to the space, or just following along and love SEO – you’ll probably get something out of this discussion.

I wanted to talk with Barry and get more details around things a lot of people are curious about…

For one, he’s known for being very prolific, publishing up to 5+ articles per day, following the SEO news, sharing things via Twitter, engaging with the community … AND running a company full time (that has nothing to do with SEO).

And I wanted to get his take on the state of Google right and now, and where things might be going. Barry is often the one reporting news — but I wanted to give him the spotlight and learn more about someone who is truly invaluable in this industry.

Some of the many things covered:

• Barry reacts to his very first blog post from 2005!
• Why Barry started blogging to begin with
• How Barry got a Wiki page
• His thoughts on Danny Sullivan’s role at Google
• The best way to send Barry SEO news tips
• Does Google give Barry info “off the record”?
• The recent Google Core updates
• Zombie Clicks (?)

And more – enjoy!

Tools Mentioned

• Searchmetrics

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• Search Engine Journal
• Search Engine Watch
• Search Engine Land
• Loren Baker
• Danny Sullivan 
• Third Door Media
• Search Engine Roundtable – Welcome to the RustyBrick Weblog
• Twitter Questions
• Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines
• Gary Illyes
• Gary Illyes Dinner Notes
• Paul Shapiro
• Form to be interviewed for Barry’s Vlog

Find Barry Schwartz Online & Speaking

• Search Engine Roundtable
• RustyBrick 
• RustyBrick / Search Engine Roundtable Vlog
• Twitter
• Search Engine Land
• SMX Events

The post 110: A Candid Conversation w/Barry Schwartz on His Story, Productivity, Core Updates & More appeared first on Evolving SEO.

On April 4th 2017, I had the opportunity to sit down at dinner with Gary Illyes and about seven other SEOs (including Paul Shapiro, who was the one who nicely invited me). We got to ask him questions and chat about SEO and Google.

Immediately after leaving, I got out my phone and recorded about 10 minutes of voice memos of everything I could remember from this dinner. We definitely heard some things I had not heard elsewhere (and a few things have since come out and confirmed since then).

After over two years, I’m finally sharing my raw, unedited voice memo with you

It was originally meant to be private — just really so I could remember all the stuff we learned, but I thought after some time has passed now, it might add value for anyone else who wants to listen.

Here are the general topics from the voice memo, in order.

NOTE: These are stated as ‘truths’ from April 2017 – remember things for sure could have changed by now, but at the time this was told to us as to how thing are.

Also, it starts a bit choppy as I’m randomly remembering stuff, but gets a lot more smooth (and I think interesting) as it continues.

Topics:

• AMP does not pass the mobile-friendly test.
• Hidden JS content
• Purchasing an old domain with old content
• Changing the context and content of old URLs
• Losing star snippets can indicate a sitewide issue
• The structured data testing tool uses the same exact system as their algorithm
• Panda is a sitewide signal, and they have an actual Panda score
• 302s vs 301s and is this why Wired lost their traffic when going to https? (very surprising answer here)
• Ignoring partial manual action penalties
• What links are ALWAYS ok to remove or disavow (and not)
• The old “topical authority” algo
• Adding new low-quality URLs to a site
• Knowledge boxes in the US but not Canada
• How does Google know when a search like “ring” has a brand intent?
• Google’s concept of a “site” (subfolders vs subdomains – what is a “site”?) and domain clustering
• Sites that don’t need to worry about links in any way whatsoever
• DA is OK as a metric, but one thing to be aware of
• What is going to replace all manual actions
• Sitewide signals were updated in the Feb 2017 update
• Google does not click behind tabs etc (when fetching via JS is required) because they don’t want to end up in a secure or private area, or in a .php file etc
• How to rank for big head keywords like “meat”

The post The Private Voice Memo I Made After Dinner With Gary Illyes [2017] appeared first on Evolving SEO.

Yes, we chatted a LOT about featured snippets – and get pretty detailed with the tactics. Izzi has a lot of experience optimizing for all kinds of snippets and SERP features in her work with Sixt. She even breaks down exactly how Sixt got two snippets for high volume and highly lucrative searches.

BUT, we also talk further about things like:

• How Izzi learned SEO
• Does structured data impact rankings?
• How to find… and “steal” competitor’s snippets
• Should we be concerned that Google is “stealing” our content?
• How to get mobile image thumbnails in search results
• How Izzi got into speaking… and how she calms speaking nerves
• How Izzi measures user satisfaction with content
• Do SEO’s love DuckDuckGo?

This episode is not to be missed! Listen now!

Tools Mentioned

• Hotjar

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• Moz – The Beginner’s Guide to SEO
• Twitter Questions 
• Twitter Questions 2
• Tom Brodbeck- Edge of the Web episode with Dan Shure 
• Search Engine Land- Google Search adds support for FAQ and How-to structured data
• Video with Rand 
• Content King – How To Win Featured Snippets Like a Boss by Izzi Smith 
• Content King – SEO Requirements for a New Website
• Excel Spreadsheet mentioned
• All Experts on the Wire Guests on Twitter (Twitter List)

Find Izzi Smith Online & Speaking

• Sixt
• Izzi Smith website
• The Izzi & Nils Show
• SMX Advanced Europe
• Unboxed
• Digital Marketing Skill Share Bali
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Tables in SERPs example:

The post 109: How To Find, Get… and Keep Featured Snippets with Izzi Smith appeared first on Evolving SEO.

This show is PACKED with writing tips that will improve your SEO and marketing… including:

• What makes a great headline
• How to write a strong opening
• How to sell with copy
• Editing tools
• Attracting more customers to your blog

And lots more! My guest Henneke has written for Copyblogger, Kissmetrics and the author of two 5-star rated books about writing and blogging.

Listen Now!

Show Agenda and Timestamps

• Episode Introduction and topic overview [0:22] 
• Henneke’s Introduction [1:25]
  • Henneke’s background prior to copywriting [1:30]
  • How did Henneke land her spot on kissmetrics and copyblogger? [3:06]
  • Henneke’s profile slogan [4:59]
  • What are the services that Henneke offers? [7:52]
• How the listeners can improve their own writing and create better content [8:49]
  • Part 3, 4, & 5 of Henneke’s article 29 Way to Improve Your Writing Skills and Escape Content Mediocrity- Starting with Part 3  [9:16]
    • What makes a great headline? [9:36]
      • Where is the line between click-bait and a good headline [13:47]
    • How to create a captivating opening [15:23]
    • When is a good time to use a story? [17:40]
    • Does Henneke use any tools to help with editing? [20:00]
    • How to write closing paragraphs [21:21]
      • Give a pep talk [23:09]
  • Part 4 The Basic Writing Skills Everyone Must Master [25:09]
    • What is Henneke’s process for coming up with a logical flow of content? [25:58]
    • For content that is an overview of a topic how to approach thinking through the structure/flow? [28:00]
    • Tips for creating better transitions in content [32:29]
  • Part 5 What is the zoom in, zoom out technique? [35:09]
    • Metaphors and how they can help your writing [39:16]
      • 3 elements that make great metaphors [41:14]
      • Metaphoric mistakes [42:41]
    • How to achieve a conversational tone [44:48]
      • Difference between write-like-you-talk and a conversational tone [47:58]
• Business Blogging – Henneke’s Article – The “Secret” to Attracting More Clients to Your Blog [49:15]
  • What is the difference between copywriting and blogging?  [49:23]
  • How can thinking of your blog as being on a mission be helpful and how to do this? [51:01]
• Sales Copy – Henneke’s Article – 5 Types of True Benefits: How to Connect with Your Customer’s Deepest Desires  [53:40]
  • Maslow Marketing Benefits- What is the difference between a Feature and a Benefit? How to turn your feature into a benefit  [53:49]
  • How does Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs tie into benefits? [57:26]
    • Can this be applied to CRM software? [1:00:34]
    • How can you apply this to a “boring” product? [1:00:21]
    • Stylus by 53 what is the need they are addressing? [1:03:49]
• Who is Henrietta? [1:05:29]
• Where to find Henneke online [1:08:33] 

Tools Mentioned

• Scapple – Mind Map Tool
• Hemingway Editor 

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• Copyblogger
• Kissmetrics 
• Smartblogger – Jon Morrow
• Enchanting Marketing – 29 Ways to Improve Your Writing Skills and Escape Content Mediocrity 
• Enchanting Marketing – How to Craft a Meaningful Tagline (for Your Small Biz)
• Enchanting Marketing – 5 Powerful Ways to End a Blog Post (and Fire Up Your Audience)
• Smartblogger – How to Catapult Yourself from Diddly Squat to a Booming Online Career 
• Enchanting Marketing – How to Use the Persuasive Power of Metaphors 
• Enchanting Marketing – The “Secret” to Attracting More Clients to Your Blog
• Enchanting Marketing – 5 Types of True Benefits: How to Connect with Your Customer’s Deepest Desires
• Portant – Cartoons Outperform Stock Photos 2:1 by Ian Lurie 

Find Henneke Duistermaat Online

• Enchanting Marketing 
• Twitter (check out her profile Slogan)
• Linkedin
• Instagram

The post 108: How To Escape Content Mediocrity w/Henneke D appeared first on Evolving SEO.

I try not to be hyperbolic in titles – but when listening back to this episode, a “masterclass” is the description that keeps coming to mind. You can tell when I throw spontaneous and challenging questions out like “how important is link velocity?” and Garrett gives a thoughtful, experience-based, unique answer – without even skipping a beat –  that he’s is a true expert at link building. It’s the information and insights I think anyone would expect from a ‘masterclass’.

We chatted for 90 mins about:

• Two new strategies he’s using for link acquisition (and how you can use them),
• How Garrett builds links for his own companies

And thanks to your awesome questions on Twitter we also talked about…

• Building links directly to sales and product pages
• How Garrett decides what links to go after
• Judging the value of a link
• Link Velocity – does it matter?
• Best approach to anchor text
• Big publisher links vs niche publisher links
• Do guest posts still work?
• Why is link building stigmatized?
• What’s the future of link building?
• And TONS more…

Note: There are a few quick spots of ‘dead air’ in the audio – #podcasterproblems – just a heads up!

Listen Now!

Related Episodes You Might Like

• What Link Building Success Really Looks Like w/Mark Johnstone
• The Story Behind Orbit Media’s 1,200+ Backlinks w/Andy Crestodina
• Proven Rules for Outreach and Link Building Success w/Gisele Navarro

Tools Mentioned

• Ontolo – https://ontolo.com/
• Link Prospector – https://linkprospector.citationlabs.com/

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• Citation Labs- https://citationlabs.com/
• ZipSprout- https://zipsprout.com/
• Vertical Measures – Link Building Tool Interview with Garrett French – https://www.verticalmeasures.com/blog/vm-news/link-building-tool-interview-with-garrett-french/
• WordStream- Five Experts on SEO Link Building- https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2010/03/16/five-link-building-experts
• Twitter Questions- https://twitter.com/dan_shure/status/1133364801239998465
• Julie Joyce- https://twitter.com/JulieJoyce

Find Garrett Online

• https://citationlabs.com/
• https://zipsprout.com/
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

The post 107: A Masterclass In Modern Day Link Building w/Garrett French appeared first on Evolving SEO.

On today’s episode!

• How Tim went from being a DJ, to CMO at Ahrefs
• The Story (and an update!) on The Ahrefs Search Engine
• How Tim earned 200+ backlinks on one piece of content on his personal blog
• How Ahrefs Estimates Traffic Numbers
• The SEO mistake they made when trying to rank for “what is SEO”
• And Tim answers your questions from Twitter

Listen Now!

Related Episodes You Might Like

• How BuzzSumo Became a $5M SaaS Donkey
• Rand Fishkin on Influencer Marketing, Whiteboard Friday, Time Travel and More

Tools Mentioned

• Ahrefs- https://ahrefs.com/team
• Awesome Screenshot – https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/
• Jumpshot- https://www.jumpshot.com/

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• • Twitter Questions- https://twitter.com/dan_shure/status/1126566988652978176?s=21
  • BloggerJet- Guest Post ROI: The Data Behind 273 Guest Posts Says It’s No Good https://bloggerjet.com/guest-post/
  • Growthhub (previously inbound.org)  https://growth.org/top
  • Ann Smarty- https://twitter.com/seosmarty?lang=en
  • Ahrefs YouTube Channel- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWquNQV8Y0_defMKnGKrFOQ/videos
  • HubSpot- How To Make An Animated GIF in Photoshop [Tutorial] – https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-create-animated-gif-quick-tip-ht
  • Ahrefs- A 16 Step SEO Audit Process To boost Your Google Rankings- https://ahrefs.com/blog/seo-audit/
  • Brian Dean- Backlinko Blog – https://backlinko.com/blog
  • Ahrefs Search Engine- https://twitter.com/botsbreeder/status/1110889488706760704
  • Search Engine Journal- Ahrefs Announces Plan For New Search Engine – https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ahrefs-search-engine/300573/
  • DuckDuckGo – https://duckduckgo.com/
  • Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/

• Wil Reynolds- https://twitter.com/wilreynolds?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

• Ahrefs- What is SEO (As Defined By 40+ SEO Experts) – https://ahrefs.com/blog/what-is-seo/
• Smart Passive Income 364: SEO Simplified with Tim from Ahrefs – https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/podcasts/seo-simplified-with-tim-from-ahrefs/
• SAAS Marketing Vlog- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDidoS6DWZVYk-PdNtcY9PQ

Find Tim Online

• Twitter
• Linkedin
• ahrefs

The post 106: Tim Soulo On Ahrefs Growth, Their Search Engine & Being a DJ appeared first on Evolving SEO.

Gisele is Operations Director at NeoMam (who has helped companies like HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List and Expedia with content and link campaigns).

In this episode:

• How Gisele landed six features from just fifteen emails 
• Why link building is NOT just the same as “digital PR”
• Getting big-name sites to link to you (with a different approach to link reclamation)
• How to prioritize outreach
• Why you SHOULD use templates for outreach
• How to measure link building success
• Dealing with “exclusives” for publishers
• How much it COSTS for a content and link campaign
• She even breaks down an exact campaign NeoMam is doing for Angie’s List
• And! Gisele answers YOUR questions from Twitter (we got so many, we couldn’t get to them all, but got to as many as possible!)

Listen Now!

Related Episodes You Might Like

• How to earn links with your own stock photo library w/Jason Thibault
• What link building success really looks like w/Mark Johnstone
• 300+ links from one piece of content in a “boring” industry w/Kerry Jones

Tools Mentioned

• Yesware- https://www.yesware.com/
• Hunter- https://hunter.io/
• verify-email.org- https://verify-email.org/
• Muck Rack- https://muckrack.com/
• Ahrefs- https://ahrefs.com/

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• Content Harmony- Content Marketing Budget Examples For All Business Sizes https://www.contentharmony.com/blog/content-marketing-budgets/
• NeoMam- Link Reclamation- How To Get Big-Name Media Sites To Credit Your Content With A Link https://neomam.com/blog/link-reclamation-for-content-marketing/
• Creative Commons- https://creativecommons.org/
• Twitter Questions- https://twitter.com/dan_shure/status/1118190567412981760
• NeoMam- How To Right a Personalized Outreach Email Even When You’re Sending It To a 100 People https://neomam.com/blog/how-to-write-an-outreach-email/
• Good Charts by Scott Berinato- https://www.amazon.com/Good-Charts-Smarter-Persuasive-Visualizations/dp/1633690709
• Webinar Gisele is presenting- Show Me The Links 2.2: Live Q&A – Your Questions Answered   https://www.semrush.com/webinars/show-me-the-links-2-2-live-q-and-a-your-questions-answered/

Find Gisele Online

• LinkedIn
• NeoMam Studios
• Twitter

The post 105: Proven Rules For Outreach & Link Building Success w/Gisele Navarro appeared first on Evolving SEO.

This episode is packed with ideas for leveraging content to drive traffic and increase sales.

Here are some of the things we covered:

• How he got one of the top 10 articles of all time on Inbound.org
• The SEO benefits of paid content promotion
• How to build links with paid content
• How to improve the layout, structure and UX content to achieve higher rankings and better conversions
• How he gets 82% opt in rates on one piece of content
• Outreach strategies
• And lots more!

Listen Now!

Related Episodes You Might Like

• Improve Your SEO with Keyword Psychographics w/Marty Weintraub
• PPC, Sardines, and Whales w/Johnathan Dane

Show Agenda and Timestamps

• Episode Introduction and topic overview [0.22]
• Experts on the Wire updates [1:01]
• Daniel’s Introduction [1:54]
  • How Daniel’s experience in retail helped him with online marketing [1:59]
  • ROI from an early retail experience [4:28]
• How does Daniel monetize his site and content? [7:49]
• Paid Traffic To Blog Posts / Paid Content Promotion [10:06]
  • What are the SEO benefits to paid content promotion? [10:36]
  • Strategy and Process for Paid Content Promotion [15:52]
    • Know your business numbers and know your audience and how it plays into paid content promotion  [16:12]
    • How Daniel calculates the business numbers [23:06]
    • Are there business types/situations where his approach won’t work? [26:43]
  • Writing Killer Ad Copy- what is it and how to get it  [30:38]
    • What kind of ad testing does Daniel do? [36:04]
    • What are some best practices for images in content? [44:10]
    • Images and Content [47:19]
    • The importance of typography [50:41]
    • What helps with the introduction of the content [54:43]
    • Heat mapping tools that Daniel likes [1:00:00]
• Does Daniel think Facebook listen to us [1:02:07]
• Link Building – how does Daniel acquire links for his content [1:04:28]
  • Outreach with content- what is Daniel’s approach? [1:12:10]
• Where to find Daniel online [1:21:23]

Tools Mentioned

• Hotjar- https://www.hotjar.com/

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• Inbound Ascension- http://www.inboundascension.com/
• AmpMyContent- How We Drive A $22:1 ROI From Cold Traffic, Using Facebook And Promoted Content- https://www.ampmycontent.com/promoted-content/
• TechSmith- Just Add Images: How To Improve Content Performance- https://www.techsmith.com/blog/better-results-from-old-content/
• Quality Raters Guidelines – http://static.googleusercontent.com/media/www.google.dk/da/da/insidesearch/howsearchworks/assets/searchqualityevaluatorguidelines.pdf
• Refind- https://refind.com/

Find Daniel Online

• Amp My Content
• Inbound Ascension
• Linkedin

The post 104: How To Drive More Traffic, Sales and Links (with less content) w/Daniel Daines-Hutt appeared first on Evolving SEO.

Dan is a Senior Technical SEO and Account Director at SALT Agency. We covered a LOT of topics in this conversation – including:

• The benefits of service workers and how to set them up (we get pretty detailed)
• Why the traditional SEO audit document is flawed
• How to handle the various challenges we encounter with Javascript frameworks
• How to optimize internal linking
• What the heck is Yandex Metrica?
• And LOTs more!

This episode was recorded in person at TechSEO Boost in Boston, November 2018.

Listen Now!

BuzzSumo – One of my favorite tools for coming up with content ideas, finding people who share content in an industry, and tons more (like alerts to keep an eye on your competitor’s links). Listen to the show for a special code to get 30% off BuzzSumo for 3 months.

Related Episodes You Might Like

• The Technical SEO Reinassance w/Mike King
• Large Site, In-House SEO w/Jamie Alberico

Tools Mentioned

• Hreflang Checker- https://hreflangchecker.com/#/
• Screaming Frog- https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
• Sitebulb- https://sitebulb.com/
• Cloudflare – https://www.cloudflare.com/
• GIPHY- https://giphy.com/
• Gliffy- https://www.gliffy.com/
• Yandex Metrica- https://metrica.yandex.com/about

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• The Art of SEO – https://www.amazon.com/Art-SEO-Mastering-Search-Optimization/dp/1491948965/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
• SALT.agency- https://salt.agency/
• Introducing Hreflangchecker.com– https://dantaylor.online/blog/introducing-hreflangchecker-com/
• Twitter Questions- https://twitter.com/dan_shure/status/1067752081791074304
• SEMNE- https://www.semne.org/
• Twitter Questions #2 https://twitter.com/nikers85/status/1068139777562632193
• Dan Taylor- https://dantaylor.online/
• John Mueller- https://twitter.com/JohnMu
• SEJ- Google’s John Mueller Predicts Much More JavaScript in SEO in the Coming Years- https://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-john-mueller-predicts-much-more-javascript-in-seo-in-the-coming-years/274067/
• Search Engine Round Table- Google: SEOs Help JavaScript Coders- https://www.seroundtable.com/google-seo-javascript-24275.html
• John Mueller Quote- https://twitter.com/JohnMu/status/1061683390469099522
• Dan Taylor- How SEO & PPC Keyword Research Can Work Together- https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-ppc-keyword-research-working-together/277353/
• Dan Taylor How Ecommerce Websites Can Achieve E-A-T Quality- https://www.searchenginejournal.com/ecommerce-websites-expertise-authority-trust/273111/
• Dan’s Yandex Metrica slides – https://www.slideshare.net/DanTaylor29/measurecamp-2017-yandex-metrica

Find Dan Online

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• SALT Agency

The post 103: Dan Taylor on Javascript SEO, Service Workers & Mistakes New SEOs Make appeared first on Evolving SEO.

This is the first of three episodes recorded at TechSEO Boost 2018! I sat down with Aysun Akarsu to chat about:

• How to optimizing your site architecture and crawl paths for better rankings
• Does ‘crawl budget’ actually exist (even though Google says it doesn’t)?
• How to set up a crawl, and what data to pull into your crawl analysis for better insights
• The free common crawl web graph dataset and what she was surprised to learn about backlinks on the web
• What universities can’t teach you about SEO

Listen Now!

BuzzSumo – One of my favorite tools for coming up with content ideas, finding people who share content in an industry, and tons more (like alerts to keep an eye on your competitor’s links). Listen to the show for a special code to get 30% off BuzzSumo for 3 months.

Related Episodes You Might Like

• Optimizing Crawl Budget To Improve Web Traffic w/Vanessa Fox
• The New Technical SEO (In Plain English) w/Mike King

Tools Mentioned

• BuzzSumo- https://buzzsumo.com/
• Screaming Frog- https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
• DeepCrawl- https://www.deepcrawl.com/
• Tableau- https://www.tableau.com/
• Majestic- https://majestic.com/
• Ahrefs- https://ahrefs.com/
• Python- https://www.python.org/

Articles, Resources, and Links Mentioned

• TechSEO Boost 2018 – https://www.catalystdigital.com/techseoboost/
• BrightonSEO Aysun’s slides- https://www.searchdatalogy.com/blog/brightonseo/
• SearchDatalogy – https://www.searchdatalogy.com/blog/
• Common Crawl Web Graphs- http://commoncrawl.org/2018/11/web-graphs-aug-sep-oct-2018/
• SearchDatalogy- 87 million domains pagerank- https://www.searchdatalogy.com/blog/87-million-domains-pagerank/
• SearchDatalogy- How To Learn SEO- https://www.searchdatalogy.com/blog/how-to-learn-seo/
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)- http://mooc.org/

Find Aysun Online

• LinkedIn
• Twitter

The post 102: Crawl Optimization & How To Do Crawl First SEO w/Aysun Akarsu appeared first on Evolving SEO.