EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Latest Episodes:

408 | News from the EDGE | Week of 4.5.2021 Apr 06, 2021

Show notes

We grabbed the top headlines of the week and complained about a couple of google overreaches, in your host's humble opinion. Here what Erin and Mordy took on:

[00:03:24] Company Knowledge Panels Showing Competitors on Google

You can imagine some choice words might be said when a business looks at its Google knowledge panel(s) to see "alternatives" included who are competitors.

[00:09:23] Expanded FAQs for Google Page Experience and Core Web Vitals Update

The Google core web vitals and page experience update FAQs have been expanded and substantially updated when compared with the first version.

[00:16:57] Delivery and Pickup Enhancements to Google Business Profiles

Both Maps and Search are providing more details about delivery and pickup options at stores such as supermarkets. Other useful features are also being added.

407 | Content Reuse with Ashley Segura Apr 05, 2021

Show notes

Ashley Segura, Co-Founder and Operations VP of TopHatSocial, explains how to navigate the challenges of repurposing content in your omnichannel digital strategy. She recommends auditing your content quarterly, explains what you should be looking for and how to use the insights for your next content plan. And if you haven't started using SlideShare yet, don't start now.

[00:03:43] What is content reuse in content marketing

[00:04:58] When should you not repurpose content?

[00:08:16] Is there ever a time that you shouldn't repurpose content?

[00:11:14] Recommendation: auditing your content quarterly

[00:13:16] What about slideshare decks?

[00:14:52] Is there too much repurposing of content?

[00:16:29] Tools and signs to measure content performance?

406 | News from the EDGE | Week of 3.29.2021 Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

Mordy joins Erin to go through some of the digital news on episode 406.

[00:03:18] Will the SEMrush IPO Make a Splash?

SEMrush went public last week with an IPO, including a total valuation approaching $2 billion. This is the first major IPO of a company that is laser-focused on SEO, not just digital marketing in general.

[00:06:06] Hotel Property Promotion Ads Now Available Globally

Google has launched its hotel property promotion ads initiative to help users see these ads when searching hotels without knowing which one they might want. Google will make them geo-sensitive for relevancy.

[00:12:07] Zero-Click Google Searches Increased Sharply in 2020

During 2020 fully 64.82% of Google searches ended without any click through to a web property. Back in August 2019 that figure was more like 50%. And the 2020 figure is probably an undercount.

Man, Mordy went long on this….

405 | Content Market Business Goals with Ashley Segura Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

[00:06:13] How content consumption has changed in the last few years.

[00:08:15] This virtual atmosphere is going to be permanent, to a scale.

[00:09:36] Beginning content marketing research and building a repeatable model

[00:12:09] Look at the data first

[00:13:57] Watch what your competitors are doing

[00:17:36] Does our content marketing get skewed with topics that are trending too much?

[00:21:51] Establishing business goals in content marketing

[00:24:36] How do you measure trust?

404 | The EDGE of the Web 404 Page Awards Show Mar 24, 2021

Show notes

We had a fantastic time with our 404-page contest, where we had our listeners submit their favorite three 404, Page Cannot Be Found pages from across the 'net. We had over 90 submissions and found a huge spectrum of functional and entertaining pages to engage audiences that land on a missing page. Our contest winner will get a fantastic podcasting kit that we hand picked for the event. Join our judges Mordy Oberstein, Jason Barnard, JR Oakes, Lily Ray and our host Erin Sparks as we go over the top ten finalists and reveal the winner of the first and only 404 Awards Show for our 404th episode!

EP 403 | SEO Testing Methodologies with Kevin Indig Mar 22, 2021

Show notes

Kevin Indig, SEO Director of Shopify, in his second part of our interview, covers the scientific methodology and mindset necessary for SEO improvements as Google evolves. We discussed in detail the opportunities to test with reversion control and baseline factors to clearly produce SEO results to the C-suite execs. SEOs need to be watching business results, not ranks. Check out this interview and tell us your thoughts about what we covered.

[00:04:04] When Kevin witnessed changes in Google, now understood as user-intent[00:07:21] Using SERP features for queries to understand user intent to a better degree[00:09:51] Google's changing understanding of topics. [00:13:34] Are the days of the SEO checklist gone?[00:15:29] Committing to the scientific method. Yup, it hurts.[00:19:11] Testing methodologies for SEO[00:27:01] Weeding out toxic SEOs and SEO agencies

402 | News from the EDGE | Week of 3.15.2021 Mar 16, 2021

Show notes

Mordy joins Erin to go through some of the digital news on episode 402. We have a special Twitter contest for the best 404 page for our upcoming 404 episode. It was either that or have an episode you just wouldn't be able to find, right? Get it?

[00:04:51] YouTube Creators Outside the US: Tax Withholding Coming from Google? Google is going to be required to withhold taxes for non-US YouTube creators who earn money from US citizens viewing their videos. [00:09:01]Local Estimated Prices Near You Feature Being Tested by Google In an effort to help users find local pricing information for specific kinds of searching, such as a roof repair job, water heater installation, and so on. [00:16:20] Search Equity: Will Google Get On Board? It looks like Google is finally democratizing the SERP to help ensure the average business owner can compete in search rankings even lacking SEO expertise or huge resources to put into it. [00:26:25] Our Twitter Contest announcement for our next episode 404!

EP 401 | Micro Conversions and the ROI of SEO with Kevin Indig Mar 11, 2021

Show notes

Kevin Indig, Director of SEO at Shopify, shares some truly radical concepts towards how SEOs and business stakeholders should understand the ROI of SEO. Moving away from linear models and departing from transaction-based success goals leads us to understand behavioral modeling. Micro Conversions map our trail of understanding of how valuable SEO really is now and into the future.

[00:04:27] Kevin Indig's history

[00:07:24] What are the Director Of SEO responsibilities?

[00:13:14] Did Shopify get flooded with help requests from new businesses during COVID?

[00:15:50] Calculating the ROI on SEO

[00:20:32] How are CEOs needing to be adaptable in 2021 towards SEO?

[00:24:18] How to set up measuring the true SEO ROI, the Total Addressable Market (TAM)

[00:32:58] What needs to be the modern understanding of SEO?

400 | News from the EDGE | Week of 3.08.2021 Mar 09, 2021

Show notes

[00:06:07] Will Google Pass the Cost of Digital Ad Taxes to US Advertisers? Maryland is the first state to pass a tax on digital advertising. In countries such as the UK, Austria, and Turkey, Google has passed those costs to advertisers. Will it do the same in the US? [00:14:48] Search Results are Being Upgraded at Microsoft Bing The five key Bing features being updated include intuitive highlighting of content, integrated visual search, expandable carousels, infographic-like SERPs, and richer results for local queries. [00:21:44] Why Did My Site's Rich Results Disappear? If a website suddenly loses its rich results on the Google SERP, John Mueller says it might indicate a site-wide quality issue serious enough to make Google not trust the site anymore. [00:27:42] Bonus Article; Google brings Full Coverage news to search results by Barry Schwartz

399 | Link Building and Website Flipping with Craig Campbell Mar 05, 2021

Show notes

Craig Campbell visited the EDGE team to share some key understandings around Personal Blog Networks for inbound link building. He also shared his many tips for "website flipping": finding old domains, making them sparkle and building the value of the site for sale. Entrepreneurship is the name of the game here today on the EDGE.

[00:02:35] Is there Black Hat & White Hat SEO anymore?

[00:09:26] What are PBNs?

[00:14:19] How tough is SEO now?

[00:17:43] How does the process of buying websites work?

[00:22:55] How tough is it to scale?

[00:26:09] Where can you buy websites?