My agency, Fractl , was founded at the dawn of content marketing, when Google launched its war against paid link networks, and SEOs were scrambling to figure out how to earn domain trust signals. At the time, I was heavily invested in viral marketing research , seeking to understand the intricacies of what drove readers to share and, more so, how to pitch journalists to earn media . Our case studies grew rapidly as we built Fractl’s research-backed Digital PR processes, and we quickly earned a reputation as “The Michael Jordan of Link Building,” as claimed by our client, who just renewed an annual quarter-million investment in our services. Yet, the industry hums with debate on this recent Ahrefs post along with the quote: “I think SEOs may overvalue links from media sites. They really don’t seem to have much impact”. For starters, let’s trust Google’s own search experts: Next, let’s consider several other industry studies and thought leaders: “Obtaining links from more au...

Join Lazarina in this Whiteboard Friday where she discusses the critical skills and elements involved in data storytelling. Learn about data analysis, and data visualization, as well as how to communicate wins and balance relationships with stakeholders. Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab! Video Transcription Hi there. Today we're going to talk about data storytelling. Throughout history, we humans have used stories to communicate information, to cross boundaries, and to also relate to one another. So today we're going to talk about data storytelling and how that can be used as part of an SEO or a marketing consultant's role. We're going to talk about the four main components of data storytelling and the skills that you need in order to create beautiful data stories. Data Science So the first component of data storytelling is data science. So data science is all about knowing what insights you want to extract...

Our jobs are changing. Each day, Google Ads relies on a combination of AI & machine learning to manage more of the hands-on work we used to do as campaign managers. This means the future of our work is going to be very different. We are no longer on the court playing basketball. We are now the coach guiding our team to the finals. Our team, in this case, is Google Ads now. Our job is about guiding the machines and technology and ensuring we are headed in the right direction. If we are not headed in the right direction, we are going to be off course and won’t be successful. For people who loved pushing buttons and getting their hands dirty in the ad account, this transformation and seismic shift is going to be very hard on you. However, you can harness and strengthen your other skills and make your future very bright. Even brand owners can leverage what they know about their business to be successful with Google ads today. The key to success today is about prioritizing your ecom...

Most of the discourse surrounding the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on SEO has been about content creation. This makes perfect sense. Large language models (LLMs) have fundamentally changed the speed at which businesses and individuals can produce blog posts, marketing copy, social media posts and much more. I am not the first to provide the caveat that while AI tools can help you speed up your writing process, they can also open up your site to a variety of SEO risks including duplicate content, violations of Google’s E-E-A-T Guidelines , generally robotic copywriting that is devoid of brand voice and personality, and a host of other issues. AI content generation is certainly something that can help SEOs and businesses in moderation. Google itself has essentially okayed the use of AI, as long as it is with intent to produce “ helpful content ”. This can be easier said than done. In this article, I want to highlight some ways that free AI tools like ChatGPT can help SEO’s ...

This is the final installment of the three-part series of Whiteboard Fridays with Helen Pollitt on how to work better with folks within your company. There are a lot of similarities between SEOs and UX designers, and we often have the same goals. How can we work to understand more of the UX designers' priorities and help to communicate our priorities to them? Learn all about how SEOs and UX designers can work better together in this edition of Whiteboard Friday. Click on the whiteboard image above to open a high resolution version in a new tab! Video Transcription Hi, I'm Helen, head of SEO at Car & Classic, and today we are looking at how SEOs and UX designers can work better together. Now, UX designers are a lot like SEOs. No one in the office quite understands their specialism. No one really knows whether they should be in the engineering department, the product team, the marketing team, and they too have probably given up trying to explain their jobs to their...

Image credit: JPreisler.com Call me a hopeless romantic, but I delight in extending the enjoyment of travel by writing reviews of the places I’ve been after returning home. It’s almost like typing a mini travelog, remembering the new experiences, for good or not-so-good, I had along the road. I know that when I write a positive review of a local business or public amenity, it will give a lift to online reputation, rankings, and revenue. If I write a judicious critique of something that wasn’t so great, it can help business owners make improvements that should build up their metrics and success over time. And while pursuit of the great outdoors is often the search for silence, quiet is the one thing no local business owner should ever hope for in their online review profiles. If you and your town depend on tourism for part of your economic health, today’s column is for you. I’ve got an original poll, stats, and tips to help your local business earn more reviews from travelers. How...