Sem Synergy On Webmasterradio.fm

[Got a case of content writer’s block? A huge component of SEO is content writing, and every web page and article needs a headline. Learn how to craft click-worthy headlines, with tips from Bruce Clay, Kristi Kellogg, Virginia Nussey and Duane Forrester. Later in the show, they’ll discuss the latest happenings with Twitter, including its major market cap fall, it’s new initiatives to curb abusive tweets, and its discontinuation of Vine. />

[Where is the digital marketing industry headed? Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg look ahead five years from now. Find out what changes you need to prepare for now. The only way to succeed is to anticipate coming changes — that way, when the switch flips, you’re ready. The hosts talk about voice search, Google Home, the Internet of Things and more. They dive deep into progressive web apps, in particular. PWAs deliver users an app-like experience, and work on every browser imaginable. Find out what Google is doing to ensure adoption of PWAs./>

[On Nov. 4, Google announced that it is moving toward a mobile-first index. Currently, the index is based on desktop versions of websites. In the future, the index will look to mobile versions of sites primarily instead. Bruce Clay, Virginia Nussey, Kristi Kellogg and John Alexander talk about what that means for digital marketers. This major change is something that digital marketers need to prepare for now. Listen in to learn more about the change and how to best prepare. And later in the show, you’ll hear the latest news when it comes to Snapchat ads, haptic ads and ads in Facebook Messenger./>

[Featured Snippets are a great way to stand out on a search engine results page. Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Kristi Kellogg and Virginia Nussey share their top tips on how to earn a coveted Featured Snippet at the top of the SERP. From including long tail queries in headers to using bulleted lists, you’ll find out what kind of tactics can land you a Featured Snippet. Later in the show, find out how the real-time Penguin will affect SEO moving forward. It rolled out on Sept. 23 and SEOs are wondering if this bird stands to kill off spam for good. Listen in to find out what BCI thinks!/>

[Digital marketers are technophiles who love a good tool to save time, get results, prove value and save money. The SEOToolSet suite that Bruce Clay, Inc. developed and uses for clients every day is now more affordable than ever. SEOToolSet 6.1 launched this month and with it, a sleek new price tag: $25 a month per project. SEOToolSet 6.1 also boasts new tools for analyzing mobile friendliness and SSL security, and improved rank tracking, just to name a few. If you’ve ever wondered what SEO tools to use, what makes SEOToolSet different, or what tools we use to analyze web pages and websites daily, this episode with Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Aaron Landerkin, Paula Allen and Virginia Nussey has the answers. />

[Google unveiled its voice-activated smart home system, Google Home, at a press conference this month. With Google Home, you can search, order dinner, book a car and so much more. But how is Google choosing what car service to off you when you make your request? These are the things that SEOs need to be thinking about now. Listen in as Bruce Clay, Kristi Kellogg, John Alexander and Paula discuss the future of digital marketing and how to optimize for Google Home. Later in the show, they’ll discuss the latest news making digital marketing headlines, including major announcements from Google and a look at Snapchat’s latest creation./>

[Each fall, social media leaders Lisa Buyer, Jabez Lebret, and Melissa Fach teach an all-day social media masterclass at the search, social media and affiliate marketing conference Pubcon in Las Vegas. These three social savants sat down with SEM Synergy hosts Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg to talk all things social media marketing. Listen in for their thoughts on how brands can succeed with Twitter, livestreaming video, Facebook and Snapchat./>

[If you want content that ranks high and is highly engaging, it's critical to keep it up to date. The most successful sites spend quite a bit of time and money investing in content — content, after all, is how you demonstrate expertise, authority and trust, which are key factors that Google looks at to determine the quality of your site. Listen in as Bruce Clay, Virginia Nussey, Kristi Kellogg and John Alexander talk about how to get your content up to date. Learn what goals to set, how to take inventory and analyze current performance, leverage user testing and more./>

[Dr. Robert Cialdini, author of “Influence,” is one of the most widely known and read social psychologists. “Influence” lays out six principles of marketing: reciprocity, commitment, social proof, authority, liking and scarcity. Earlier this month, he came out with a new book. Picking up where “Influence” left off, “Pre-Suasion” discusses a seventh principle: unity. Kristi Kellogg, Duane Forrester, Paula Allen and John Alexander take a closer look at the principles of marketing and how they apply to digital marketing today. In addition, they’ll talk about the latest news making digital marketing headlines, including LinkedIn conversion tracking, an update to the character count on Twitter, warnings surrounding widgets and more./>

[Digital marketers have been waiting two years for a Penguin update — that's a long time to wait, especially if you're anticipating a rise in traffic and revenue when the update hits. Bruce Clay's advice? Adjust your expectations. Unless you you've gone beyond link pruning and disavowing and done the actual work of boosting the relevance and value of your site overall, the Penguin update is unlikely to be the Hail Mary many think it will be. Bruce discusses the implications of the Penguin refresh with Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg. Later in the show, they take a look at how Apple's emerging technology (including iOS 10 and the iPhone 7) will impact digital marketing and consumer behavior./>

[We talk a lot about links in the SEO industry – but what about mentions without links? Do those matter? That’s exactly what Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg discuss. Linkless attribution, or linkless mentions, are very valuable. In fact, search engines have worked to break the dependence on links as a ranking signal. Find out why mentions without links matter in the top half of the show. Then, after the break, they’ll talk about a different kind of mention: sponsored mentions on social media, and how the FTC is dealing with celebrities and influencers who fail to disclose they are being compensated./>

[There’s so much to consider when it comes to choosing a domain name. Whether you’re rebranding your site or just getting started, this show has the tips you need to create a domain name that will please users and search engines alike. Listen in as Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg discuss what makes and breaks a domain name. In the second half of the show, they’ll discuss how brands like Coca-Cola and Chevy are leveraging emojis to get better engagement on social media./>

[Black Friday is 90 days away. Are you ready for the holiday retail season? Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Kristi Kellogg and Virginia Nussey discuss seasonal marketing strategies — specifically, they’ll look at what unparalleled retail powerhouse Amazon does to retain customers, and how brands and businesses can wield those strategies for themselves. You’ll also hear all the latest news on the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Google recently changed the Keyword Planner to display only ranges of numbers, rather than specific search volumes, for AdWords accounts that have “low spend” or have made “too many” calls on the Keyword Planner’s API. />

[Ever wish you had a to-do list to check off as your go about your latest SEO project? Enter The SEO Checklist. For years, it’s been one of the most popular articles on the Bruce Clay Blog. It’s constantly refreshed to reflect the current SEO landscape, which is constantly in flux. The SEO Checklist just went through another refresh to reflect updates including AMP, mobile performance tools, updates to meta tag length, user intent info, E-A-T signals and more. Listen in as Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg discuss the latest items on the SEO Checklist – and how to use the SEO Checklist for as a tool to persuade the C-Suite to provide budget for SEO priorities. Later in the show, they’ll shift the focus to social media marketing, and how the International Olympic Committee is addressing copyright infringement on social media./>

[Mobile traffic is increasing, but the majority of organizations are making less than 30 percent of their revenue from mobile devices. What do you do when traffic doesn’t translate conversions? That’s what Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg explore in this mobile-focused episode of SEM Synergy. In the second half of the show, they dive into accelerated mobile pages. AMP has been rolled out to ecommerce, entertainment, travel and recipe sites, and Google reports that four million new AMP pages are being created every week. This increase in AMP adoption has led to new developments in the SERP – listen in to find out the latest AMP news./>

[Former search engine senior product manager Duane Forrester offers analysis on the week’s search and digital marketing headlines. How will the search landscape be affected by Verizon’s acquisition of Yahoo search and advertising? The partnership underscores that marketers are working in a mobile-first world. Another story in the search news this week is Gary Illyes’ Twitter comment that 302 redirects pass PageRank value. Duane shares a story from his time working at a search engine that confirms this is true at Bing, as well. Other news includes Googler John Mueller’s advice not to cut quality content from a site, even if it’s older, and the new Bing feature of preview thumbnails in autosuggest options./>

[The relationship between an SEO agency and an in-house SEO team is a critical one. Fostering and strengthening that relationship is something Bruce Clay prioritizes. Working together, this CMO’s dream team brings the best results. It's crucial to stay current with the latest SEO strategies. It requires several hours a day that a solo in-house SEO probably doesn’t have. A SEO agency can be a powerful ally, filling in the gaps by mentoring and guiding an in-house SEO. In this show, Bruce shares his insights on how to build a strong partnership between the in-house team and the agency, alongside Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg./>

[Want expert tips on how to wield advanced search operators? Virginia Nussey, Kristi Kellogg, Paula Allen and John Alexander share how they use search operators can help you research a site you’re optimizing, locate something specific online, or investigate the competitive field. In the second half of the show, they talk about Facebook response time and why it matters. Kellogg shares how Bruce Clay, Inc. reduced their Facebook response time to under five minutes, and the positive effect this has on a brand’s social engagement./>

[Can you optimize search for RankBrain, or is it simply a translation layer? Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg discuss the implications of search engine AI (namely RankBrain), complete with insights from Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Gary Illyes. Later in the show, test your digital marketing knowledge with a pop quiz on the SERP. Listen in to see how well Bruce and Duane do!/>

[Together search engine optimization and social media marketing create a powerhouse effect that drives traffic to your site, builds buzz and creates brand awareness. And while both are worthy forces on their own, when combined they’re even stronger. Listen in on a conversation between our social media editor Kristi Kellogg and fellow social pros Jason White and Maggie Malek. They’ll talk about how to combine your search efforts to get the most out of SEO and social media. The conversation includes client success stories, Snapchat hacks, livestreaming videos and more!/>