Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard: Personal Branding, AI Strategies, and SEO Insights for Visionary CEOs

Latest Episodes:

The Fallout from Core Web Vitals (Russ Jeffery and Jason Barnard) Aug 11, 2021

Show notes

Russ Jeffery talks with Jason Barnard about the fallout from core web vitals. Russell Jeffery is digital presence expert and he is Duda’s Director of Strategic Integrations. He leads product and technology integrations with large industry partners, such as Thryv and Yell. He is also responsible for adding best-in-breed products and services to Duda’s ecosystem that serves agencies, SaaS platforms, and hosting companies. On a Duda webinar in May 2021, Russ Jeffery and Jason Barnard discussed what they thought might happen with CWV (Get Down to the Core of Google’s Core Web Vitals). This follow-up was to look at its actual effects to the ranking algorithm and web development. On a Duda webinar in May 2021, Russ Jeffery and Jason Barnard discussed what they thought might happen with CWV (Get Down to the Core of Google’s Core Web Vitals). This follow-up was to look at its actual effects on the ranking algorithm and web development. Russ has a super delightful way of explaining the whys and hows of user experience, search engine algorithms, and how to build websites for both. He also shares his thoughts on how CWV will evolve and impact SEO in the near future…. And ends with tips on taking a strategic business approach to implementing CWV (and other UX and SEO considerations). Brilliant! What you’ll learn from Russ Jeffery 00:00 Russ Jeffery and Jason Barnard01:15 Happy Yellow Koala Family now reunited01:48 Russ Jeffery’s Brand SERP (too much Jason)02:26 What actually happened when Google added CWV to the ranking algorithm03:52 How does LCP (largest contentful paint) fit into CWV?06:21 Cumulative Layout Shift: The pain of unexpected shifting of web elements08:15 Why did Google choose CLS as a core web vital?09:57 First Contentful Paint - a non-CWV user-centric metric12:15 Why does Google “piggyback” on sites with great user-experience?14:48 How did Duda’s customers respond to the CWV news?16:38 UX design bells and whistles = a big no18:37 CWV Trade offs: What the boss wants versus what’s actually essential19:58 Mobile friendliness and https:// - Did they really affect the rankings?21:45 “The circumstances where two results put in an equal bid is next to never” - Gary Illyes23:31 CWV feature (non-existent) versus AMP 26:20 Always judge page speed outside of a developer’s office29:55 The restrictions and flexibility on website builder themes 35:10 How do SEOs manage to get the developers thinking about CWV?36:45 How to get the boss and the developer to talk to each other about the trade offs This episode was recorded live on video August 10th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now>>

Lessons from SEO Industry Thought Leaders (Peter Mead and Jason Barnard) Aug 05, 2021

Show notes

Peter Mead talks with Jason Barnard about the lessons from SEO industry thought leaders. Peter Mead, is a highly experienced award-winning SEO Consultant with a focus on WordPress, Technical SEO, and Content Marketing. He has been involved in the SEO community for many years and has become known to some as The Godfather. He is a speaker and presenter for several groups, conferences, and events and was awarded a Special Recognition Award by SEMrush in 2019 at the annual Search Marketing Awards held at the Sydney Opera House. There are many amazing thought leaders in the SEO community who have helped to drive the industry forwards. Peter provides his slightly atypical list of 11 thought leaders in SEO. He focuses on the people who have been a big influence for him over the last 25 years directly and indirectly and includes some people who are not from the SEO community. He talks us through his 11 thought leaders and shares the lessons he gained from each of them. Starting with Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web which is, of course, the foundation of everything that follows in this list, then Eric Ward’s link-building commandments, Rand Fishkin’s Domain Authority, Bill Slawski’s patent insights, and many more! What you'll learn from Peter Mead 00:00 Peter Mead and Jason Barnard03:40 A personalised consultation for Peter Mead’s Brand SERP 06:09 Thought leaders who helped Peter Mead’s career move forwards09:12 Tim Berners-Lee12:00 Sidenote: The decentralization of the web and Wikipedia15:03 Eric Ward (The Link Moses)18:31 Eric Enge, Stephan Spencer, Jessie Stricchiola (The Art of SEO)22:40 Bill Slawski 26:01 Aleyda Solis31:00 Rand Fishkin35:47 Olga Andrienko40:02 Dan Petrovic44:77 Jason Barnard This episode was recorded live on video August 3rd 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now>>

History of Google Updates Big and Small (Barry Schwartz and Jason Barnard) Jul 29, 2021

Show notes

Barry Schwartz talks with Jason Barnrad about the history of google updates big and small. Barry Schwartz is a technologist, search geek, CEO of RustyBrick, founder of Search Engine Roundtable and also a news editor at Search Engine Land. He speaks at many search marketing conferences and technology events like Search Marketing Expo, Search Engine Strategies, Pubcon, etc. And provides an advisory role to expert SEOs, internet companies and startups. He also loves to spend the first hours of his morning writing super advanced SEM topics. Barry takes us on a stroll down the history of Google updates from 2002 to the most recent updates in June and July 2021. Year by year, Barry and Jason go through the significant changes in Google Search, what they changed and how they affected the work and lives of SEOs. Throughout, on message comes through - this is a ongoing process that aims to make Google Search results more relevant, helpful and spam-free for Google’s users. Barry and Jason provide wonderful explanations of each of these updates plus great insights on how SEOs and website owners were able to fix their drops in rankings. Google Toolbar — December 1, 2000 Dancing The Google Dance — September 1, 2002 Universal Search — May 1, 2007 Caffeine — June 1, 2010 Panda/Farmer — February 23, 2011 The +1 Button — March 30, 2011 Penguin — April 24, 2012 Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update — September 27, 2012 "Phantom" — May 9, 2013 "Fred" (Unconfirmed) — March 8, 2017 Hummingbird — August 20, 2013 Page Experience Update — June 25, 2021 What you’ll learn from Barry Schwartz This is a list that explains each update we discussed (and some more that we didn't) so that you have some context, especially for the timestamps. https://moz.com/google-algorithm-change 00:00 Barry Schwartz and Jason Barnard00:46 Barry Schwartz’s Brand SERP03:19 The Google Toolbar and and the days of the Google Dance06:00 We no longer wait for Panda updates because Google’s goal is make it real-time07:13 When do knowledge panels and knowledge graphs change?10:23 2007 Google introduced Universal Search - not your typical algorithm update12:12 Faster crawling and indexation - the Caffeine update14:31 The failure of Google Plus - will Google try again?16:02 What’s the difference between Panda and Penguin updates?20:02 The Exact Match Domain update22:39 RustyBrick, where did the name come from?23:27 The mystery behind the Phantom and Fred updates24:48 Clearing up some misconceptions about the Hummingbird update29:13 Core Web Vitals have little-to-no influence on rankings32:10 Crazy daily numbers of never-before-seen pages for GoogleBot34:16 What Google wants you to do when you’ve been hit by core updates41:06 How does Barry find the time to do everything he does? This episode was recorded live on video July 27th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Risks and Rewards of AI-generated Content (Jeff Coyle and Jason Barnard) Jul 22, 2021

Show notes

Jeff Coyle talks with Jason Barnard about the risks and rewards of AI-generated content. Jeff Coyle is a data-driven search engine marketing executive and the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer for MarketMuse. He is focused on helping content marketers, search engine marketers, agencies and e-commerce managers build topical authority, improve content quality and turn semantic research into actionable insights. Today, producing large amounts of content is easier than ever with the help of AI (Artificial Intelligence). However, generated data alone combined with lazy editing would be a mistake and could kill your content strategy. Used intelligently, AI-generated content is a great support for us as content creators and an astonishing time-saver. It pre fills the blank sheet to give us a kick start. It provides the key points that need to be made to satisfy the user. From that foundation, it is easy for a good writer to efficiently create better content that is more valuable to the target audience. But beware! There are pitfalls, and caveats and danger lies ahead for those who of who misuse the technology! In this delightful episode, Jeff Coyle shares his amazing insights and the risks digital marketers face with AI-generated content. He also shares MarketMuse’s fantastic learning ability to copy a writing style and produce original content! This episode also covers how we should choose and use the AI tools, what will happen to the content produced by this technology when search engines update and what to look forward to in the era of this game-changing technology. What you’ll learn from Jeff Coyle 00:00 Jeff Coyle and Jason Barnard01:12 MarketMuse’s Brand SERP06:06 The Risks and Rewards of AI-generated Content08:05 Well-built language models are more than just spinning content10:12 Can you just use the content the machine produces? 15:32 Making AI-generated content sound more human18:45 Can AI copy the writing style of a particular person?22:09 Overstretching the use of AI 24:47 How would I use AI-generated content to help me?26:07 How easy is it to write an article from a transcript?28:24 Throughput authors versus the All Stars 32:03 Will this mass production of content on the web trigger another Panda?36:25 Authoritativeness recalculation of content: What will happen to the writing networks in the future of AI-generated content?39:06 Using AI-generated content to create original and helpful content This episode was recorded live on video July 20th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Weaving the Web of People, Content & Data (Teodora Petkova and Jason Barnard) Jul 13, 2021

Show notes

Teodora Petkova talks with Jason Barnard about weaving the web of people, content & data. Teodora Petkova is a philologist fascinated by the metamorphoses of text on the Web. She is very much in love with the Semantic Web and today she joins Jason Barnard to share the transformation of our networked physical lives to the world of cyberia. This is an episode full of fascinating resources! She starts with how the web was semantic from the beginning (referring to the book by the world wide web creator himself, Tim Berners), she also shares amazing insights into the concepts of giant global graph, cyberia and building readership (and provides references well worth reading - see below). She has an amazing way of explaining the incredible interconnectivity of the web and the people who use it… and the correct way for marketers to communicate with their audience, how different actors can collaborate for a well-packaged digital strategy, and MUCH more. Some links from the show :) Here I have listed some of the media experiences (re: building readership vs. "creating content") - https://searchnewscentral.com/blog/2019/06/28/being-content-writer-in-age-of-semantic-technologies/ 2. This is Tim Berners-Lee's book: https://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/Weaving/ 3. The concept of a Giant Global Graph (re; what the Web has to do with content and people :)) is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Global_Graph What you’ll learn from Teodora Petkova 00:00 Teodora Petkova and Jason Barnard01:09 Teodora Petkova's knowledge panel05:48 Weaving the Web of People, Content & Data06:31 The web semantic from the beginning07:41 The web of people: Adapting from counterculture to cyberculture10:14 The web is not a giant marketing medium12:29 Stop pasting billboards on the web and start building long term relationships14:54 The irony in marketing: Communicating in a way we don’t want to be communicated with17:34 What does Teodora mean when she says we live in our own bubbles? 21:20 How can we communicate correctly? 27:55 What is the giant global graph built of?29:50 The connectivity of the web is overwhelming. Where to start?34:34 Building readership: Creating content to create experiences38:17 How can someone use semantic data?40:57 How can we create a machine and user rich experience using structured data? Helpful Resources About Weaving the Web of People, Content & Data PhD Thesis: Digital Marketing Communications – Aspects of ContentFrom Odes to Nodes [Book Excerpt] This episode was recorded live on video July 13th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Semantically Driven Site Architecture (Nik Ranger and Jason Barnard) Jul 06, 2021

Show notes

Nik Ranger talks with Jason Barnard about semantically driven site architecture. Nik Ranger is the Senior Technical Lead at Studio Hawk, a Co-Host of Australian Search Marketing Academy (ASMA) for Semrush, the founder of SEO Collective Australia and a Brand Ambassador for Rank Ranger. She’s also an international search industry keynote speaker and was shortlisted for the Young Search Professional SEMrush award. Semantically driven site architecture is fun when you want to track and learn the search intent journeys of your consumers and use it to redefine your marketing funnel. In this brilliant podcast, Nik explains the broad considerations in the consumer's buying journey, how we identify the relevant ontologies, and how to qualify them into intent categories for a profitable site architecture. She uses a delightful and informative presentation with amusing memes from the sitcom “The Simpsons” which definitely contributes to better understanding this topic. She cites the platforms she uses for certain parts of the site architecture process including Semrush and Wordlift. Importantly watch to the end before jumping in and restructuring your site architecture - Nik provides a caveat and a BIG, BIG warning ! If you find it difficult to follow this audio-only, here are the slides >>. What you’ll learn from Nik Ranger 00:00 Nik Ranger and Jason Barnard02:22 Nik Ranger’s Brand SERP and Event Knowledge Panel 03:00 Webfacts in SE Ranking’s Knowledge Panel05:13 Semantically driven site architecture06:59 Who is Nik Ranger?09:32 Google shifts from answers to search intent journeys14:38 Search intent journeys are unique to each user. Should we try to adapt our pages to each of these intents?19:16 Semantic relationships in Google’s Knowledge Graph24:33 Breaking down a site’s ontologies and identifying search intent25:51 Manually qualifying and clustering of search terms versus Wordlift’s AI-driven solution35:53 What is site structure and how does it help SEO?41:47 How to build a great site structure (a flow chart)47:06 How to assess your internal and external link architecture49:00 Assessing keywords performance in Google Analytics and Search Console51:40 A warning from Nik Ranger before restructuring your site’s architecture54:58 Common problems with site migrations This episode was recorded live on video July 6th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Furthering Your Career in SEO (Chris Green and Jason Barnard) Jun 29, 2021

Show notes

Chris Green talks with Jason Barnard about furthering your career in SEO. Chris Green is the Head of Marketing Innovation at Footprint Digital. He has 10 years of experience as a digital marketer and an internet nerd even before that. An experienced SEO consultant, strategist, and an author - you can find his blogs in State of Digital. He’s also a speaker for various industry conferences such as BrightonSEO, State of Digital Conference, and Optimisey. Growth is inevitable in our careers. The more we learn, the more we know, the more we bring value to the company. Chris Green started his SEO career like most juniors in SEO agencies: going the simple tasks over and over. Then he moved onto the more complex stuff… getting things wrong is all part of developing the skills and experience a Senior SEO needs. In this insightful episode, Chris Green and Jason Barnard discuss the career progression of an SEO working in an agency versus independent contractors, the in-depth knowledge an SEO is expected to have as they grow, and the mentoring abilities they need to teach a well-rounded team. Watch out, Jason also made up a terrible intro song just for Chris! What you’ll learn from Chris Green 00:00 Chris Green and Jason Barnard01:29 Chris Green’s Brand SERP (ambiguous name)05:00 The skills of a senior SEO/ What it takes to be a senior SEO06:37 Progression in SEO agencies versus independent contractors08:14 Moving up from a junior position to a senior position12:32 The experiential growth when working for an SEO agency 15:44 What you can give when you already have the ‘senior experience’18:41 Is Technical SEO less important now than it used to be? 21:28 Are we simply fixing people’s businesses?25:19 When you get things wrong, you develop the ability to look left and right30:12 How Chris Green started his SEO career33:24 The combination of good business and good marketing. This episode was recorded live on video June 29th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Connecting UX with SEO (Liraz Postan and Jason Barnard) Jun 22, 2021

Show notes

Liraz Postan talks with Jason Barnard about connecting UX with SEO. Liraz Postan is an International SEO Expert and has been in the industry for more than 12 years. She’s a leading SEO and content strategy consultant for international corporations. When you’re thinking of hitting an organic presence and outranking the competition, she’s the best person to approach ;) She’s also a speaker at international conferences such as Semrush and BrightonSEO. A simple and smart navigation design determines the success of both the visitor and search engine website experience. In this episode, Liraz highlights the importance UX for both SEO and the wider requirements of a solid digital strategy. She shares her insights on the main factors that impact user interaction on mobile and desktop and discusses Core Web Vitals, Mobile Friendliness, SSL and Pagespeed as measurements of UX. You’ll also get tips in striking the right balance between the needs of SEO and UX and some ways to effectively analyze on-site user experience! Beyond that, she encourages us to focus on quality user-centric content that makes visitors want to stay and engage. If you are a website owner, an SEO, or simply curious to learn more about digital marketing, this episode is for you. Ooooh, you can send this to your UX design team too ;) What you’ll learn from Liraz Postan 00:00 Liraz Postan and Jason Barnard01:21 Liraz Postan’s Brand SERP and knowledge graph ID result02:03 Kalicube Friends in the Knowledge Graph02:54 Can we build a knowledge panel from a KGID?04:10 Connecting UX with SEO08:19 Minimising functionalities on mobile - UX designing10:27 Over-optimising website before they’re ready13:53 Not paying attention to UX is a big SEO mistake16:23 Finding the balance between content and presentation18:28 Pop ups - good or bad?22:14 Using focus groups to analyse a website’s UX24:15 How useful are heatmaps for getting insights into UX for a website? 25:26 Liraz Postan’s considerations in UX planning28:40 Query satisfaction and bad UX signals31:48 Google updates using UX as a ranking signal Helpful Resources About Connecting UX with SEO The Ultimate On-Page SEO ChecklistThe Hidden Gems of Low Search Volume This episode was recorded live on video June 22nd 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Strategy, Tactics or just doing stuff (Hannah Thorpe and Jason Barnard) Jun 16, 2021

Show notes

Hannah Thorpe talks with Jason Barnard about strategy, tactics, and "getting stuff done”. Hannah Thorpe is the Managing Director at Verkeer Digital, and has over eight years of search experience having devised and managed a range of successful online campaigns for large brands. She is a technical SEO tactics specialist and has experience speaking at conferences and events, as well as blogging for multiple other sites in the industry. One of the most delightful episodes in this quarter! Hannah and Jason talked about the fun behind intelligent laziness as well as combining and recycling strategies suited for a specific market. Hannah shares invaluable insights about client-SEO agency relationship: what works, what could the both parties be doing, why the strategies fail, the ideal presentation of the strategy framework to clients and so much more! What you’ll learn from Hannah Thorpe 00:00 Hannah Thorpe and Jason Barnard02:42 Hannah Thorpe in the Knowledge Graph 05:16 How does intelligent laziness work?07:14 Tailoring a templated strategy 08:55 How to create a blue pond from the purple ocean10:53 You need a unique combination of strategies for each client12:48 Example of strategic pillars from Hannah Thorpe14:19 Ranking a keyword with high search volume15:57 Presenting the pillars, strategies and tactics to your clients 18:44 What is a spider trap in Google?21:48 Anyone who sets an exact date in SEO results is a liar23:25 How do you save time for your clients and yourself? 25:34 The hardest part in executing a strategy29:46 The mutual benefit working together: Sharing the pains and wins33:43 How to respond to Google updates and client’s rant about it35:06 Industries most impacted in 10th of June update37:29 Is “Serve your users” an empty phrase? This episode was recorded live on video June 15th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Detecting Co-Occurrence Confusion (Dawn Anderson and Jason Barnard) Jun 08, 2021

Show notes

Dawn Anderson talks with Jason Barnard about detecting co-occurrence confusion Dawn Anderson is the Director at Bertey Agency and an SEO Strategy Consultant by heart. She’s a digital marketing lecturer and international conference speaker sharing technical SEO and digital marketing strategies. Though strategies are moving away from keywords, we still need words to be found in search. In this episode, Dawn Anderson and Jason Barnard dive deep into Google’s natural language understanding and look at the confusions inherent in web content and the solutions Google is finding to the massive problem of ‘understanding a confused web’. What you’ll learn from Dawn Anderson 00:00 Dawn Anderson and Jason Barnard00:48 Kalicube Tuesdays knowledge panel is growing01:19 Dawn Anderson’s Brand SERP02:38 Detecting Co-Occurrence Confusion04:11 Does overly complex schema markup help or hinder the machine?06:19 Get the fundamentals right first before being ambitious08:27 The good in one target per intent content09:39 On your homepage - keep the message simple12:27 What is co-occurrence confusion?13:40 Similarities between BERT and MUM18:37 Hashing and hamming search queries21:03 Google uses expensive processes sparingly (don’t imagine MUM is everywhere)22:44 Cannibalisation in topical crossover25:14 Writing with clarity and creating clear context clouds31:09 How hard is it to get away from Google legacy signals? This episode was recorded live on video June 8th 2021 Recorded live at Kalicube Tuesdays (Digital Marketing Livestream Event Series). Watch the video now >>

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Fastlane Founders and Legacy with Jason Barnard: Personal Branding, AI Strategies, and SEO Insights for Visionary CEOs

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected