SEO Rant Podcast

When and where can you use AI-written content? It depends. One thing is certain you should be cautious. Ashwin Balakrishnan joins the SEO Rant to discuss the downside of over-relying on AI written content:

* What AI lacks that makes it a terrible idea to use as a replacement for human content creators

* Why making a business decision on a technology that is still emerging makes no sense

* Why time will show that going all in on AI was a mistake for brands

Listen in as Ashwin and Mordy kvetch about AI!

Do SEOs need soft skills to succeed? Russ Macumber joins the SEO Rant Podcast to share his thoughts on why soft skills for SEOs matter more than many think:

* Why SEO communications are quite nuanced

* The power of identifying client communication styles

* How to deliver SEO communications that resonate with clients

Listen as Russ and host Mordy Oberstein share what communication styles resonate with your clients.

What does it mean to be an LBGTQ+ ally if you're in the SEO community? Sarah McDowell stops by to share her thoughts:

* Why brands should not fake their support for the LBGTQ+ community

* Why being an LBGTQ+ ally is just good marketing

* Why sometimes it's the subtle things that matter most when supporting the LBGTQ+ community

Rank tracking is a go-to practice for nearly all SEOs but that doesn't mean it's not without its problems and idiosyncracies. Jason Pollack (SEO manager at NBC Universal) and Gaby Alias (SEO specialist at Peacock) share their thoughts on rank tracking:

* How Google's SGE will impact rank tracking

* Why knowing your SERP is more important than ranking #1

* Living with rank volatility

Rank tracking sounds simple at first glance. You throw your keywords that you want to track into an SEO tool and you see where you're ranking. Unfortunately, it's a lot more complex. First off, ranking is not the goal per se, traffic and conversion are depending on your business model. Then you have to factor in rank volatility, which can be its own headache. Even where you're ranking #1 it might not be what you really want (as crazy as that might sound. If you're in the news business like Gaby and Jason are, then the traditional organic results are probably not even your target (at least your primary target).

Listen in as Jason Pollack, Gaby Alias, and Mordy Oberstein dive into it!

Should you be testing your SEO efforts? What if I told you probably already are? Logan Bryant joins the SEO Rant Podcast to share his thought on SEO testing:

* How and when to do SEO testing

* How to measure SEO testing and when every SEO test can't be statistically significant

* Why we're all SEO testers

We all see the value in SEO testing. Where we get a bit hung up is when trying to measure SEO efforts in this context. You might feel that you don't have the statistical background or proper volume to accurately test your SEO efforts. But does that mean you shouldn't test your SEO implementations?

Logan Bryant and Mordy Oberstein talk the ins and outs of SEO testing.

Programmatic SEO can be great but are there gaps you need to be wary of? Anna Uss joins the SEO Rant podcast to share her thoughts on programmatic SEO:

* What is programmatic SEO and what makes it unique?

* When should you use programmatic SEO

* What to be careful of when doing programmatic SEO

Here's the problem. Programmatic SEO has you build out tons of templated pages at scale. That's an enticing notion as the more pages the more chances to rank (all things being equal). So where's the rub? Well, ensuring all of the pages provide unique value that passes content quality thresholds and that is not deemed by Google as unfit for indexation (due to duplication) can sometimes be a little tricky. Does that mean you should not "do programmatic SEO?" Certainly not.

Listen in as Anna Uss and Mordy Oberstein discuss when to use programmatic SEO.

In the world of AI content generators making your content memorable is more important than ever. Lily Ugbaja joins the podcast to share her thoughts on making content more memorable for greater brand equity on the SERP:

* How will AI-generated content change brand perception on the SERP?

* How will users utilize the SERP for content exploration in an AI-first world?

* How do you create good and memorable content?

I've said it before and I'll probably say it 100 times again - there's a wave of mediocre content coming. AI-generated content will open the floodgates as everyone and anyone can spin up a heap of content in a flash. This is exactly why now is the time to start thinking about how you can make your content stand out.

Lily Ugbaja and Mordy Oberstein share how to leverage memorable content for the Google SERP and beyond!

An age-old debate in SEO has been about how to structure your domain: Should you use subfolders or subdomains? If you're in the international space, maybe you should be using ccTLDs? Alain Machado shares his thoughts on this timeless SEO question.

Sometimes in SEO, we go in circles debating the same thing day after day, year after year. Nothing epitomizes this more than the debate about using subdomains or subfolders. No matter how many times Google's John Mueller says that either is fine (some caveats included) we don't seem able to give up this question. Unfortunately, it all trickles down to the client.

Join Alain Machado and Mordy Oberstein as they take up an age-old SEO question!

Doing keyword research is not simply the gathering of keywords that might bring you traffic. There's a lot more that goes into it. Austine Esezebor joins the SEO Rant podcast to share what he thinks good keyword research looks like:

* Why finding terms with search volume is not keyword research

* Why keyword research requires a multi-faceted understanding of various intents

* The value of extensive niche familiarity for keyword research

Pulling a list of keywords based on pure SEO criteria is not keyword research. Does that sound a bit wrong? It might but pulling keywords and driving a business's organic search content strategy based on metrics like search volume and keyword competition scores alone isn't healthy. It's not even good SEO.

Listen as Austine Esezobor and Mordy Oberstein talk about doing strong keyword research!

SEO is for everyone and great content should be rewarded no matter the size of the site. That said, self-creators face some unique SEO problems. Riley Hope joins the SEO Rant Podcast to share her outlook on SEO for self-creators:

* Does the future of Google's algorithm leave self-creators in the lurch?

* How does AI factor into SEO for self-creators?

* What is the future of the web for self-creators?

Self-creators, business owners, and the like occupy a fascinating place within the Google ecosystem. The search engine needs some of these folks to create content as often it's the owner of a business and not a content marketing agency in Ohio that is the topical expert. And while Google has done things to democratize the SERP for such folks, there are still some issues facing them even today and going into the future.

Listen in as Riley Hope and Mordy Oberstein talk about SEO, the web, the future, and self-creators.