After solidifying his expertise in SEO at Red Ventures for nearly seven years, Mike grew from Director of SEO to Vice President of Pillar4 Media, where he developed merger and acquisition (M&A) workflows while mastering his due diligence process for new acquisitions. Since 2014, Mike has focused entirely on his consulting firm, Clean Air Digital, honing in on SEO strategy, M&A transition planning for enterprise acquisitions, and workflow optimization for digital teams. You could say...

Since appearing on Content & Conversation three years ago, Eli has kept busy. After leaving Survey Monkey as Director of Growth in 2019, Eli advised for top brands like WordPress, Gusto, and Coinbase, all while writing his first book — Product-Led SEO . In this episode, Eli and Ross discuss why SEO isn’t often the answer for startups. With many venture capital companies cutting back on budgets, Eli breaks down what startups should focus on instead and how devising your own strategy will...

Gaetano isn’t your typical digital marketer. He possesses a unique background as a musician and producer — attributing the necessary hustle in the music industry to his success in marketing and SEO today. In the marketing world, Gaetano built a reputation as a force to be reckoned with, earning consistent wins for Fortune 500 brands and, most recently, scaling a VC-backed tech startup from 0 to 125,000 monthly visits in six months. In this episode, Gaetano brings his B2B expertise in growth...

With over 20 years of experience in performance marketing, analytics, SEO, and forecasting, AJ Kohn knows the importance of patience when handling clients that don’t want to wait to see results. When clients expect immediate results, it can be hard for any marketing agency to adjust to the pressure from executive teams. AJ says a “lack of throughput” is not only a “threat” to SEO’s impact, but the leading cause of clients' hesitation toward SEO marketing. In this episode of Content &...

In this episode, the Co-Founder and CMO of LawnStarter, Ryan Farley, sits down with Ross to discuss the benefits to an all-in approach to SEO and how investing in content early pays off — $2 million in traffic value to be exact (according to Ahrefs). The importance of local optimization, content hubs, and how Google does and doesn’t reward people-first content are topics of lively conversation. Check out the episode to learn more about how Ryan turned his company into an SEO powerhouse.

As the world moves deeper and deeper into digital-first services, niche markets are seeing a boom in competition on the SERP — real estate is no exception. With previous experience as the Director of SEO at Zillow and now the founder and Lead SEO Consultant for her own firm, Conifr Media, Kristan knows how competitive the real estate industry can be. In today’s competitive market, SEO for real estate is more vital than ever. In this episode of Content & Conversation, Kristan and Ross...

Navigating an e-commerce SEO strategy comes second nature to content marketing pros — but what about when you have to scale it internationally? Aleyda Solís, the International SEO Consultant and Founder of Orainti, has more than a decade of experience in Global SEO Strategy. In this episode, she sits down with Ross to talk about how to create content that meets every benchmark of the buyer’s journey at an international level. They discuss how to make SEO adjustments for different audiences...

Pitching to an executive team that wants quick results can throw you into a high-pressure situation. Implementing and investing in SEO strategies that will get executives on board is a delicate situation to navigate. Luckily, Nick Lafferty, Senior Manager of Growth Marketing at Loom, sat down with Ross to chat about navigating an executive pitch, who to involve from your team, and how to execute one flawlessly (or pretty close to it). With several years of growth marketing experience under...

The details of Google’s latest update emphasize the importance of “people-first content” more than ever before. This means the need for marketers to research beyond the SERP (before developing content) to create knowledgeable, differentiated content that readers will value. In other words, creating content that solves the user’s problem, not simply answering the query. In today’s episode, Drew Page, Siege Media’s Director of Business Development, and CEO Ross Hudgens discuss their...

Digital marketing and SEO is known for its endless ebbs, flows, and unpredictability. Early in her career, Abby gravitated towards these details and invited the chaos of the marketing world in, ultimately leading to her success in the profession today. With more than five years leading SEO and content strategies (specifically for SaaS and e-commerce brands), Abby has had a full spectrum of experiences that have warranted accolades like AdFed’s 32 under 32. In today’s episode, Abby joins...

Brodie Clark joins us on Content & Conversation. With experience offering advanced SEO strategies for several global brands and starting his own SEO consulting firm, Brodie Clark knows a thing or two about international SEO. As a lauded global SEO expert based out of Melbourne, Australia, Clark contributes to three of the largest and most well-respected SEO blogs: Moz, Search Engine Land, and Search Engine Journal. With this experience and several SEO awards under his belt, Clark...

TrustRadius’ Mark Barerra joins us on Content & Conversation. Barrera and the concept of trust have a history of going hand-in-hand. With 15 years of experience in digital marketing and SEO, Barrera leads TrustRadius’ SEO and review generation efforts — increasing their monthly traffic by 230% in only six months. Impressed? Today, Mark continues to move the needle in content optimization and search, helping uphold TrustRadius’ reputation as the most reliable review website in business...

Should you spend the same amount of time creating content as you do promoting it? We don’t think so. The “spend 50%+ of your time on distribution theory” makes sense — in theory. To ensure ROI, why not try to get your content the most exposure possible? However, in most scenarios, if the right SEO and content marketing strategy is in place, manual distribution isn’t necessary. If you correctly hit all of the fundamentals and strategy, your content will scale through ranking. In today’s...

Six Stories’ Kelsey Jones joins us on Content & Conversation. Jones is a writer and digital marketing consultant who specializes in content-driven strategy. She has expertise from her time as NeilPatel.com’s VP of Content Strategy and her tenure as the Executive Editor for Search Engine Journal. Today, she splits her time implementing both SEO strategy and content audits for major companies like Ford, SalesForce, and Yelp, while also spearheading her own podcast, StoryShout. In today’s...

Clearscope’s Bernard Huang joins us on Content & Conversation. From NFT galleries to founding multiple startups, it’s hard to find something Bernard can’t do. After growing several ventures since 2010, Bernard has perfected his SEO strategy. After consulting for top brands like DoorDash, Strava, and Compass, Bernard developed a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of search, aka “ranch-style” SEO. In today’s episode, Bernard shares his SEO secrets with Siege CEO Ross Hudgens....

David Palombo joins us on Content & Conversation. Launch That embodies its name to the fullest — launching several high-performing brands since its inception in 2007. David was quite prepared for this success with roots in the SEO and content marketing space for over a decade. Using the chemistry of his well-rounded team, Launch That prides itself on the importance of legitimate expertise and the push for the best-quality content on the SERP. In today’s episode, David and Siege CEO...

Interactive content is any content users can manually interact with and change. Calculators, generators, quizzes and tools are all examples of interactive content that will change as you input or update values for the end user. This content is extra valuable because it gets users engaged with your brand, and that’s much harder to do with plain text. Once you have consumers moving around your website and using it, you’re that much closer to them making a purchase. At Siege, we create dozens...

Siege Media started as a link building agency sending thousands of targeted cold emails each month and continued with that process for a decade. After a lot of deliberation and data analysis, we’ve realized that manual link building doesn’t make sense for 90%+ of the companies we help. To understand how we came to this conclusion, it might be helpful to hear the backstory. At the beginning of Siege Media’s development 10 years ago, our biggest focus was link generation for our clients. We...

If you don’t know Tom yet, you should. He’s a recurring guest on our show with quite the résumé — dropping his knowledge on everything SEO, like how to secure $1,000,000 in SEO budget. After growing the esteemed digital marketing agency Distilled in 2011, Tom is now an independent consultant for enterprise businesses. He does all this while somehow finding the time to run a learning course for senior SEO professionals. In today’s episode, Tom sits down with Siege Media CEO Ross Hudgens to...

Bryan Casey, Director of Digital Marketing at IBM, joins us on Content & Conversation. With a high-authority name like IBM, we rarely think of what it takes to navigate an enterprise company of that size — 400,000 to be exact. Bryan is no stranger to such obstacles. A veteran of IBM, Bryan has tackled performance marketing for over seven years, leading teams across SEO, user research, campaign management, and digital strategy. Today’s episode was inspired by Bryan’s recent Substack...

Five-year veteran Elsie Weisskoff joins us on Content & Conversation to talk onboarding. While growth is always a good thing, it typically comes with more problems — or how we like to spin it, more opportunity. Elsie, our Content Marketing Manager of Onboarding, joins Director of Business Development, Drew Page, to discuss the importance of scaling the learning and development processes within your team and how it can impact the speed of your long-term growth.

iPullRank’s Michael King joins us on Content & Conversation. Mike’s 14 years of digital marketing and SEO experience isn’t typical. From surprising MozCon with his musical talents a decade ago to producing an entire film about technical SEO, Mike has a history of taking risks and thinking outside the box. Today, as Founder and Managing Director of iPullRank, Mike continues to push the envelope in content strategy — delivering great results for enterprise companies. In this episode,...

With over a decade in the marketing game, John-Henry Scherck has seen it all. As a seasoned B2B content strategist and SEO consultant for major SaaS companies like WP Engine and DocSend, John-Henry has some big predictions as we settle into 2022. In today’s episode, CEO Ross Hudgens and John-Henry discuss what’s evolving in SEO and content. The pair update their conversation from 2019 and share their newest lessons, such as the latest necessity of technical SEO, how to choose the best CMS...

SEO MBA’s Tom Critchlow joins us on Content & Conversation. It’s been three years since Tom has dropped his knowledge on Content & Conversation and we’re stoked to have him back. After growing esteemed digital marketing agency Distilled in 2011, today, Tom is an independent consultant for enterprise businesses, while somehow finding the time to run a learning course for senior SEO professionals. In today’s episode, CEO Ross Hudgens and Tom discuss what navigating the executive...

SparkToro’s Amanda Natividad joins us on Content & Conversation. From building Fitbit’s B2B marketing program, to heading the marketing department at Growth Machine, to today – wearing multiple strategy hats for SparkToro (an audience research startup that we’re big fans of), Amanda might be one of the busiest marketers we know. In today’s episode, Amanda, Marketing Architect, chats with Drew Page, Associate Director of Marketing, about the importance of high-quality content for...