In this episode of Marketing vs The World, host Abbie Dando chats with Paulo Andraus, tech SEO expert and creator of the SEO Game Show. Together, they dive into the importance of technical SEO and share actionable tips for businesses. They also explore Paulo’s experiences as an immigrant in the workplace.

Paulo Andraus’ Background and the SEO Game Show

• Paulo shares his journey from Brazil to Canada, then Germany, and back to Canada, as he built a career in tech SEO.
• Introduces the SEO Game Show: a quiz-show format that blends SEO expertise with charitable giving.
• Each episode features SEO experts answering questions for a chance to win money for charity.
• Open to participants and sponsors who want to get involved—visit SEO Game Show.

What Is Technical SEO?

• Paulo explains technical SEO as building a strong relationship with Google’s robots to help them:
• Understand your website.
• Find the content you want to rank for.
• Avoid indexing irrelevant parts of your site.
• Technical SEO involves crawling, indexing, and ensuring site performance aligns with Google’s standards.

Why Technical SEO Matters

• Technical SEO ensures Google can crawl and index your site correctly.
• Mistakes in key areas, like the robots.txt file, can block your site from being crawled.
• Without proper tech SEO, businesses:
• Rely heavily on creating more content to sustain traffic.
• Risk losing visibility and rankings due to undetected technical issues.

Common Challenges Without Technical SEO

• Businesses may block critical areas (e.g., staging sites) from being indexed.
• Issues like outdated sitemaps or broken internal links hurt discoverability.
• Overlooked problems during website migrations can lead to traffic drops post-launch.

Who Should Own Technical SEO?

Small businesses (1-10 employees):

• Use tools like Google Search Console to monitor basic technical health.
• Assign technical SEO checks to your developer or a freelancer.

Medium businesses (11-50 employees):

• Have one dedicated SEO specialist who can handle all areas of SEO, including technical.

Large organisations (50+ employees):

• Build an SEO team with specialised roles for technical, on-page, and off-page SEO.

Impact of AI on Technical SEO

• Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) changes how content appears in search.
• Businesses must decide whether to block or embrace Google’s use of their content for AI purposes.
• Adjusting page templates for AI-focused queries can improve visibility but may sacrifice direct traffic.

Schema Markup: Is It Necessary?

• Schema markup helps Google understand your content by tagging key details (e.g., product prices, reviews).
• Paulo highlights its importance for competitive markets, but cautions it doesn’t guarantee more traffic—only improved presentation in search results.

Getting Started with Technical SEO

• Use Google Search Console to identify crawlability, indexing, and performance issues.
• Tools like Screaming Frog or Dragon Matrix help crawl sites and visualise technical health.
• Platforms like Shopify or Wix often have built-in SEO tools for easy management.
• Resources like Aleyda Solis’ Learning SEO provide step-by-step guidance.

Paulo’s Personal Journey

• Moved from Brazil to Canada, then Germany, and back to Canada for better work opportunities and safety.
• Discusses the cultural challenges and benefits of working as an immigrant, including adapting to new environments.
• Highlights the value of embracing cultural diversity in teams to improve workflows and creativity.

Key Takeaway

“Tech SEO can be creative. Don’t just follow Google blindly—find innovative solutions to your site’s problems. Being creative with tech SEO can lead to unique, impactful results.”

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Marketing Vs The World is produced by Urban Podcasts.