Search Engine Journal Show

Using data gathered from 3,890 SEO professionals for our annual State of SEO report, we're ready to give you new insights on the disruptive factors in the industry. From the rise of generative AI to shifting content trends, there are many opportunities to use these new disruptions to your advantage and stay ahead in such a competitive time.

Ben Steele, senior editor at Search Engine Journal, joined me on this SEJ Show to break down the three significant disruptions in the SEO world and the opportunities they present. We examined the process behind implementing generative AI and what AI might look like next year.

Get tactics for communicating your SEO value, tips on new ways to cultivate your audience, and new content creation strategies for facing changing trends.

People noted that generative AI would be the biggest disruptor. However, respondents are largely positive; they feel optimistic about the impact of generative AI and its potential to affect their business's bottom line. I think there's an interesting duality to note there. It's disrupting many things, but people are still excited about it. –Ben Steele, 04:33

You bring up a great point about adapting focus. The industry is incredibly dynamic. With the acceleration of AI, changes in search engine algorithms, and evolving user behavior, SEO professionals need to be agile. They have to reassess and adapt their metric priorities in real time to ensure they're capturing the most relevant data, which translates to business value. That could be the reason we had to revisit the metrics we included in this year's survey. –Ben Steele, 20:29

While I can't predict the future with absolute certainty, what's clear is that the traditional role of an SEO professional is already transforming. SEO is becoming increasingly interdisciplinary. It's no longer just about optimizing for search engines; it's about optimizing for user experience, understanding data analytics, and even having some proficiency with AI and machine learning models. –Ben Steele, 21:15

[00:00] - About Ben.

[03:57] - Top disruptors in SEO.

[04:33] - Has generative AI affected search yet?

[07:07] - User behavior toward new technology: voice search example.

[10:46] - Freelancers moving to permanent positions.

[12:15] - Impact of layoffs in tech companies.

[16:34] - Priority metrics for SEO professionals.

[18:05] - Agency vs. in-house SEO communication struggles.

[22:20] - Importance of click-through rate as a metric.

[27:25] - SEO's role in ecommerce and Google Shopping.

[28:53] - Content's role in SEO.

[29:37] - Top barriers to SEO success.

[30:57] - Communication barriers in SEO.

[32:31] - Frequency of Google updates.

[34:01] - Changes in Google SERPs.

[34:36] - Major takeaways in the SEO report.

[36:46] - Navigating SEO algorithm changes.

[38:03] - Communicating SEO value.

Resources mentioned:

State of SEO 2024 - https://www.searchenginejournal.com/state-of-seo/

An SEO's job is not just to drive traffic; it's to complete that journey all the way down to the checkout. –Loren Baker, 26:08

What we're seeing is a shift in focus. Last year, people were going back to basics and focusing on technical SEO. This year, we're seeing a greater emphasis on understanding audience intent and traffic quality, not just raw numbers, but what this traffic means. –Ben Steele, 22:22

People are no longer convinced by the promise of getting you to page one for any term you want because the question becomes, 'Page one for what? For something that nobody searches for?' –Ben Steele, 38:03

For more content like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/searchenginejournal

Are you looking to keep up with current and effective digital marketing today? Check out https://www.searchenginejournal.com for everything you need to know within the digital marketing space and improve your skills as an internet marketer.

Connect with Ben Steele:

Ben Steele, the Senior Editor at SEJ, boasts profound expertise in digital content. Though he didn't initially aim to become an SEO strategist, the skills he acquired for his role, combined with his self-initiated research into digital marketing, unveiled his genuine passion in this field.

His experien...

Search Engine Journal Founder Loren Baker on what's working in SEO and content, managing an agency during a pandemic, and the best link building tool.

The post Updating Content, News SEO, Time on Site & More with Loren Baker [PODCAST] appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

Bard is our creative collaborator. It's a place where you can come in and have a conversation with the large language model which really helps you to boost your productivity and bring your ideas to life. –Yuri Pinsky, 02:16

Step behind the curtain and into the world of Google's Bard with its Director of Product Management, Yury Pinsky, in an exclusive conversation with SEJ Editor-in-Chief Amanda Zantal-Wiener.

Hear about the origins and journey to Bard's unveiling, and discover how the team behind it envisions a collaborative future with AI. SEO pros and seasoned digital marketers alike will get an up-close look at the nuances of generative AI and a glimpse at what predictions for what's next.

So prep your popcorn -- grab your notetaking method of choice -- and tune in to learn how to incorporate Google's current and forward-looking AI initiatives into your own business innovation.

[07:11] - The origin of Bard and its market niche.

[13:23] - Impact of generative AI and Bard on SEO and content creation.

[17:37] - Using Bard for audience evaluation in content creation.

[23:54] - Distinctive features of Bard compared to other AI models.

[28:33] - Most interesting prompts seen in Bard.

[33:29] - Future vision for Bard and generative AI.

I'm inspired by this idea that technology can work together with us, and we can bring Bard in as a creative partner in your editorial work or when we're trying to write a document for work or something in our personal lives. –Yuri Pinsky, 09:46

It's a very vibrant, fast-paced, fast moving industry right now. I think some of the unique things we have with Bard are things like the ability to plug into Google tools. –Yuri Pinsky, 23:54

In the sciences and the medical field, there could be lots of interesting breakthroughs in drug discovery in climate applications. How can they use the power of these foundational models to really benefit all of us in some way? –Yuri Pinsky, 25:44

Your ideas still have to be your own in order for AI to work with you best and work for you best. –Yuri Pinsky, 28:33

It is not the end of search. Bard is an experiment. It's complementary to search. It's this conversational collaborator. –Yuri Pinsky, 32:47

Connect with Yury Pinsky:

Yury is a Product Manager for Bard, leading areas including Extensions, Factuality, and multi-modality. Yury is passionate about cutting edge technology and finding ways to bring it to users around the world. Prior to serving in his current role, Yury led product teams around Natural Language and Speech Recognition for the Google Assistant, spent time building wearables in Google [X], and helped build out Google Search on mobile devices.

Outside of work, Yury enjoys spending time with his family, planning his next vacation, and the daily logistics of kids' extracurricular activities.

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ypinsky

Connect with Amanda Zantal-Wiener:

Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Amanda_ZW Connect with her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandazantalwiener/

What's more important to your SEO bottom line? Data or feelings?

Data, of course!

Dmitrii Kustov of Regex SEO joins me on the SEJShow to talk SEO Data, the opportunities for SEO of home services (which exploded post-Covid), and other emerging search trends.

You'll also get insights around Google updates, tracking, and ROI expectations of SEO, and

building localized service-oriented leads.

Start recording data. Start tracking data today. Without it, you can't make any decisions based on the data you don't have. –Dmitrii Kustov, 13:57

Instead of Search Engine Optimization, I like Organic Revenue Generation. What is the point of organic search? It's not just traffic, it's revenue generation from that channel. A lot of people don't have that phrase, but that's what I prefer calling SEO, "Organic Revenue Generation." –Dmitrii Kustov, 21:48

I've always experienced that I don't see SEO as a standalone service that people buy, and that's it. It has to be integrated into the overall marketing machine, where lead quality and follow-up come in. Marketing is getting someone further down the funnel to make that sale. –Loren Baker, 16:28

[00:00] - About Dmitri.

[02:10] - Home services Dmitri specializes in.

[03:18] - What does it mean to be data-driven?

[06:12] - What pure ROI means.

[09:27] - Should you concentrate on high-ticket items for onsite optimization?

[17:48] - Dmitri's viewpoint on ranking only for the front end.

[22:59] - Role of direct search on data.

[27:46] - Questions to ask product teams to start recording data.

[29:55] - Can you leverage national blog post traffic for home services?

[35:07] - Dmitri's take on Google's recent content updates.

[40:47] - Dmitri's thoughts on E.A.T.

Resources mentioned:

Regex SEO - https://www.regexseo.com/

Content is not only text content. Text content nowadays is going away. So if you are an established business, doctor, health practice, or veterinarian, hire an intern videographer or editor and just let them follow you around and make a little YouTube showing whatever or little interviews. It's much easier for a doctor or any expert to sit in front of the camera for 15 minutes and answer a few questions than sit down and write a 2000 article that's going to take a day or more. If you have video content, YouTube is your friend. Nowadays, text content is becoming a smaller portion of content marketing. –Dmitrii Kustov, 50:53

If you're in the marketing industry and SEO game and doing it correctly, meaning that you produce great content, do not use any black hat, gray hat backlink building, or any of that stuff, none of the updates will affect you. They should even improve your rankings. –Dmitrii Kustov, 37:49

There's a big difference between trust and knowledge. Someone can be the smartest individual in their space, and someone can be incredibly knowledgeable. Still, it doesn't necessarily mean they're trustworthy. –Loren Baker, 46:32

For more content like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/searchenginejournal

Are you looking to keep up with current and effective digital marketing today? Check out https://www.searchenginejournal.com for everything you need to know within the digital marketing space and improve your skills as an internet marketer.

Connect with Dmitrii Kustov:

Having a strong passion for business and a desire to help others have led Dmitri to start his own company - Regex SEO. He works with companies of all sizes to help them grow their online presence.

As a data-driven Marketing Director, he helps companies increase market share and revenue by optimizing their marketing budgets. Among other high-profile marketing platforms, he's been featured on Forbes, MOZ, and SEMrush HackerNoon.

Connect with Dmitri on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitalspaceman/

Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DigitalSpaceman

Connect with Loren Baker, Founder of Search Engine Journal:

Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lorenbaker

Connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.lin...

Can programmatic be transparent and value-driven, given the deprecation of third-party cookies? Absolutely.

Rajeev Goel, Co-founder and CEO of PubMatic, joins me on the SEJShow to talk about the future of programmatic.

You can expect to hear critical insights on Google's open bidding, ID services, how AI can play a future role, bidding after cookies, CTV, trends, and more.

Header bidding came to exist in the first place because publishers felt they were not getting a fair auction inside the Google Ad Tech stack. So header bidding was designed to open up that auction process and bring transparent participants. –Rajeev Goel, 25:28

What header bidding did was that it allow publishers to work with multiple monetization platforms. –Rajeev Goel, 4:06

There's a massive shift in consumer behavior that's driving where the ad dollar growth is. The change in consumer behavior is towards much more online video than the Internet. It's also towards connected TV and streaming. –Rajeev Goel, 29:52

[00:00] - About Rajeev Goel & PubMatic

[03:03] - What is header bidding?

[08:06] - The future of header bidding with third-party cookies is going away.

[12:20] - Do identity solutions do a better job than third-party cookies?

[14:49] - The shift toward more direct deals

[17:32] ​- How AI helps with programmatic advertising.

[18:10] - About modeled cohorts advertising.

[21:10] - What is Google open bidding & why its controversial?

[27:39] - All about CTV.

[36:36] - Walled gardens vs. Open Internet.

[41:04] - Opportunities & challenges in brand advertising vs. performance campaigns.

Resources mentioned:

PubMatic - https://pubmatic.com/

Identity Hub - https://pubmatic.com/products/identity-hub/

Header bidding is now ubiquitous across the industry, more competition for your ad space leads to more revenue, and we think that's great for publishers. That allows people to do what you're

doing right now and reinvest into content that you know your consumers love. –Rajeev Goel, 7:22

Near term, we are seeing that there is a shift toward more direct deals. –Rajeev Goel, 15:25

Consumers want transparency. They want to know that, in an auction environment, there's a level playing field. –Rajeev Goel, 24:58

For more content like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/searchenginejournal

Are you looking to keep up with current and effective digital marketing today? Check out https://www.searchenginejournal.com for everything you need to know within the digital marketing space and improve your skills as an internet marketer.

Connect with Rajeev Goel:

Rajeev strongly believes in technology's power to solve problems and improve people's lives. This conviction has driven him to build PubMatic into one of the world's leading software companies serving the digital media industry. Under his leadership, PubMatic has grown from a small startup to a publicly traded enterprise with more than 600 employees and 14 offices worldwide.

In addition to co-founding Chipshot.com and serving as its VP Of Technology, he held marketing director positions at SAP. His experience navigating large companies and bringing innovative products that drive business growth makes him a true technology visionary.

Connect with Rajeev on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajeevgoel1/

Connect with Loren Baker, Founder of Search Engine Journal:

Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lorenbaker

Connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenbaker