SEO Advice from SurveyMonkey Director of SEO and Growth, Eli Schwartz

🌰 Wisdom in a Nutshell

Essential insights distilled from the video.

1. SEO is a crucial channel for businesses, focusing on architecture and content optimization.
2. Keywords still useful in SEO, but honesty and transparency are key.
3. SEO is crucial for consumer companies, focusing on valuable content and relevant links.
4. Optimize SEO by understanding user queries and specialties.
5. Optimize for both mobile and desktop users, considering user intent for SEO success.
6. International expansion and SEO require understanding local preferences and adapting to GDPR.
7. Hire for SEO creativity, analytical skills, and adaptability.

📚 Introduction

In the world of digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) plays a crucial role in driving organic traffic to websites. It involves various strategies and techniques to improve a website's visibility and ranking on search engine results pages. This blog post explores different aspects of SEO and provides valuable insights on how to optimize content for better search engine performance.

🔍 Wisdom Unpacked

Delving deeper into the key ideas.

1. SEO is a crucial channel for businesses, focusing on architecture and content optimization.

SEO is a crucial channel for businesses, especially in e-commerce and media. It's important to focus energy on the right areas, such as architecture and content optimization. For e-commerce companies, ensuring the site is structured properly to scale is key. Media companies can use Google Search Console to see what's working and double down on that. Amazon stands out in e-commerce for its exceptional SEO capabilities, using relevant keywords to make products easily discoverable. The most important thing for SEO is to ensure that your site is fully crawlable, with no orphan pages. This can be done using plugins or building your own architecture.

2. Keywords still useful in SEO, but honesty and transparency are key.

The use of keywords in SEO has evolved over time. While they were once useful, they are now less relevant due to advancements in technology. On platforms like YouTube and the app store, keywords can still be beneficial for ranking, but it's important to choose relevant ones. However, it's crucial to avoid engaging in practices like buying links, as they can lead to penalties. When creating content, it's important to be honest and transparent, focusing on user experience rather than SEO tactics. Meta keywords are no longer useful, and it's recommended to use keywords when asked, but choose relevant ones.

3. SEO is crucial for consumer companies, focusing on valuable content and relevant links.

SEO, or search engine optimization, is a crucial aspect of content generation for consumer companies. It involves optimizing content for specific keywords and phrases, creating valuable and informative content, and ensuring each page has relevant links. This can be achieved through various strategies, such as creating infographics, blog posts, and social media content, as well as guest posting on other sites. The key is to start with an idea or topic, create content, and learn from the traffic. If you find it exciting and want to try more, SEO might be for you. If you find it boring, you might prefer being an Instagram influencer.

4. Optimize SEO by understanding user queries and specialties.

To improve SEO, it's crucial to understand the user's search queries and optimize for specific specialties. For instance, a plumber's specialty is unclogging old drains, so they should optimize for that. It's also important to have content that addresses specific needs and use tools like Google Search Console and keyword planners to identify relevant keywords. As you build out your content, you can move up the buying funnel and provide information on maintaining plumbing and choosing quality piping. When expanding internationally, it's important to consider the relevance of your products and services to a global audience.

5. Optimize for both mobile and desktop users, considering user intent for SEO success.

The habits of using mobile devices differ from those of larger devices like desktops and laptops. It's crucial to optimize for both mobile and desktop users, as some products are more likely to be purchased on larger devices. However, it's important to consider mobile users and their behavior, as they are more likely to use mobile devices. When it comes to SEO, it's important to rank in the top three results, as there are fewer results on mobile devices. Matching user intent is key to success.

6. International expansion and SEO require understanding local preferences and adapting to GDPR.

To expand internationally, consider partnering with a company for shipping and payment handling, and create content in the local language. For search engine optimization (SEO), it's crucial to understand the target audience's preferences, such as using Chinese hosting for Baidu in China. GDPR has led to the creation of one-page privacy policies, making it easier for users to understand, and has shifted focus to organic efforts, benefiting SEO. However, GDPR has also affected SEO practices, making it one of the few channels that work without GDPR.

7. Hire for SEO creativity, analytical skills, and adaptability.

When hiring for SEO, look for candidates with creativity, curiosity, and analytical skills. They should be able to develop hypotheses based on research and understand what works. In-person or phone interviews are crucial to assess their problem-solving skills and natural curiosity. The first metric to focus on is SEO traffic, and a plan should be developed and measured against it. If there are mistakes, the ability to iterate and pivot is important. Traffic and dollars from the channel are the primary metrics. Tools like Ahrefs and Google Analytics should be considered for tracking. For technical SEO, a crawler like Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Zenu Link Slough can be used to imitate how Google crawls a site, providing valuable insights into site structure.

💡 Actionable Wisdom

Transformative tips to apply and remember.

Optimize your website's content by focusing on relevant keywords, creating valuable and informative content, and ensuring each page has relevant links. Use tools like Google Search Console and keyword planners to identify the right keywords to target. Additionally, consider the user's search intent and behavior, and optimize your website for both mobile and desktop users. Regularly track your website's performance using analytics tools and make necessary adjustments to improve your SEO strategy.

📽️ Source & Acknowledgment

Link to the source video.

This post summarizes Y Combinator's YouTube video titled "SEO Advice from SurveyMonkey Director of SEO and Growth, Eli Schwartz". All credit goes to the original creator. Wisdom In a Nutshell aims to provide you with key insights from top self-improvement videos, fostering personal growth. We strongly encourage you to watch the full video for a deeper understanding and to support the creator.