Rankable

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 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