Voices of Search // A Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Content Marketing Podcast with Jordan Koene of Searchmetrics

Black Hat SEO. It’s easy to dismiss it as a set of tactics long overcome by Google guidelines. But as link farms die, cloaking tactics become more sophisticated. And in the case of our host Ben, a misunderstanding of Google guidelines let to black hat penalties that torpedoed an acquisition.

Navigating the waters of Google compliance. It used to be an art form, now it’s just good SEO practice to hue to ‘white hat’ SEO practices. In this episode, Ben and Jordan discuss the guidelines and requirements and how to understand them to follow great Google SEO practices and hygiene.

August saw Facebook rebound, Twitter slide and Netsuite soften while YouTube continues to dominate SEO visibility. Will Twitter correct their slide? Does Sling have a chance? And, how much the long tails of the Game of Thrones benefit HBO as the summer comes to an end?

Google’s search algorithms must consider the users context: their location, language, custom settings and inherent personalization attributes. Optimal search results depend on it. Topics covered include: - Shock! The importance of site speed - Customization versus personalization - The vast body of resources available to SEO’s that are willing to invest the time

Do you know whether your website is sending poor usability signals to Google? Identifying and avoiding the pain points that users encounter and ensuring that your website is not throwing off the signals that cause Google to deprecate otherwise outstanding content is the focus of today’s episode.   Topics covered include: - The importance of site speed - How Google's mobile-first approach prioritizes the mobile 'usability' experience - Measuring the impact of ads

Content quality, it’s more than what’s on a single page – it’s everything that surrounds your content. SEOs need to consider the authority of their content, how Google measures expertise and the trust they’ve built around a topic. Topics covered include: - Why the terms content quality and content competition are interchangeable - How expertise, authority and trust (aka, the E-A-T Google update) underpin the measurement of content quality

The relevancy of your online content and its success depends on sending quantifiable, measurable signals that squarely match the core topic and intent of a given page. Topics covered include: - How the chemistry of assets and keywords on a given page send relevancy signals to Google - How the art and science of SEO can be boiled down to sending the right ‘signals’ to Google based on core topics

Better known as user intent, Google’s ability to diagnose and parse informational, transactional and navigational queries is a key element of their search algorithms and our starting point for Algorithm Week.   Topics covered include: - The difference between informational queries, transactional queries and navigational queries and how they allow Google to understand how to serve very specific results - How determining user intent allows Google to serve up a richer user experience

Episode Overview Understanding the nuances and relationships between Google Guidelines and their supporting policies is a mainstay of the SEO community. In the 111th episode of Voices of Search, we give a crash course on Google Guidelines and Policies. Topics covered include: - How Google adapts its policies over time to support new technologies and changes in consumer preferences  - What Google’s guidelines and policies are. - How Google communicates what SEOs need to know and how

Are ranking factors the Rosetta Stone of the Google Algorithm or just Pig Latin for SEOs? Ben and Jordan draw distinct lines between the two to help our loyal listeners understand the difference. Topics covered include: • How ranking factors represent the SEO community’s ongoing interpretation of the Google Search Algorithm • The definition and differences of and between technical and content ranking factors • The very one sided nature of relationship between Google and SEOs

Google's search algorithm has defined the search marketing landscape for the better part of two decades and created an entire cottage industry of SEO alchemists, but what exactly is it, and, how does it work? Topics covered include: • The philosophy of search • The components and systems that propagate and support Google • How Google’s guidelines support the serving the best results

A successful holiday season is a process that starts far in advance for SEOs. This week Tyson Stockton, Searchmetrics’ Director of Services, walks us through the five steps to executing a successful holiday campaign.  In today’s episode, Tyson walks us through how to understand and scale your holiday campaign performance.  Topics discussed:  What KPI’s to use to evaluate holiday campaigns How to communicate holiday performance to execs Why it’s important to spread the holiday success &

A successful holiday season is a process that starts far in advance for SEOs. This week Tyson Stockton, Searchmetrics’ Director of Services, walks us through the five steps to executing a successful holiday campaign.  In today’s episode, Tyson walks us through how to launch and optimize your holiday campaigns.  Topics discussed:  When to launch your holiday content How to stage your content launches for max impact How to re-use existing content for this years holidays

A successful holiday season is a process that starts far in advance for SEOs. This week Tyson Stockton, Searchmetrics’ Director of Services, walks us through the five steps to executing a successful holiday campaign.  In today’s episode, Tyson walks us through his holiday-specific content production process.  Topics discussed:  When to start working on holiday content production How to work around your cross-functional partners’ timelines Prioritization of holiday vs non-holiday content pr

A successful holiday season is a process that starts far in advance for SEOs. This week Tyson Stockton, Searchmetrics’ Director of Services, walks us through the five steps to executing a successful holiday campaign.  In today’s episode, Tyson walks us through how to build a roadmap for your holiday SEO campaigns.  Topics discussed:  How to turn your holiday research into action Getting buy-in from your executive team How to work with your cross-functional partners