Ian Lurie

Ian Lurie is a leading technical SEO expert. But he doesn't recommend spending a lot of time on fancy optimization techniques. Instead, he urges content creators to focus on their users' intent and on quality content.

And then do just enough SEO make sure you aren't hiding your content from Google. Put another way, "Don't let SEO get in the way of your content."

Ian and I talked about:

the importance of taking what Google says with a grain of salt

how a lot of SEO is just staying out of your own way

how crafting good content and addressing user intent should guide your SEO efforts

how to thoughtfully and empathetically contextualize a user's experience on your site when they arrive via less precise terms than you use - e.g., "We don't just make X, we also make Y"

his descent early in his career from the second-least respect profession, law, to the least respected, direct marketing

the need to improve your content efforts across the board, not just writing SEO-focused long-form blog posts, but also great product descriptions and category pages

how to turn run-of-the-mill product-catalog copy into compelling content

how to guide users from your content-marketing content and get them to the real value that your company delivers

the importance of matching the quality of your content-marketing content with equally compelling product-info pages

how his "client therapy" work helps align teams

his approach to client work:

lots of listening, to discover the biggest issues

finding the folks who already talk to each other

using data to measure content effectiveness

applying data insights to guide change

another approach - a deep dive into the customer journey with all players in one room

how he always asks "what's your plan," not "what's your vision"

the fundamentals of his approach to content creation for SEO:

follow old-school copywriting rules

compress your images - Squoosh is a great tool for this

use the img alt attribute (start with "image:" for screen readers)

make sure content is written to searcher intent (shopping vs researching e.g.)

learn about schema - your CMS likely does an OK job with this, but it's a good idea to verify that with Google's structured data testing tool

his assertion that React is definitely an SEO handicap - "This is fact" - Google can render it, but they index it first and render it later

the importance in SEO of doing things in a way that doesn't force Google to do extra work - for example, prerendering pages to display simple HTML with a tool like prerender.io

the concept of "hydration"

how you should use the nofollow attribute only for paid links

Ian's Bio

Ian Lurie is a digital marketer with a twenty-five-year intolerance of trendy concepts and bull-poop. Someone told him not to say bull3h!t, so he’s trying really hard not to.

Ian uses both sides of his brain as a content creator, search engine optimization nerd, and data addict.

He speaks at conferences worldwide, including MozCon, SearchLove, Retail Global, and Learn Inbound. He writes everywhere. Seriously, do a search.

Ian founded Portent, a digital marketing agency, in 1995, and sold it to Clearlink in 2017. He’s now on his own, consulting for brands he loves and speaking at conferences that provide Diet Coke. He’s also trying to become a professional Dungeons & Dragons player, but it hasn’t panned out.

You can find him pedaling his bike up Seattle's ridiculous hills, or send him a note on Twitter or LinkedIn.

He has a TikTok profile, but his kids are embarrassed by it, so we’ll leave that out.