Content and Conversation: SEO Tips from Siege Media

The right copywriter may be the deciding factor between standing out and blending in with the crowd. Forget college essays and MLA format, today’s content marketing needs writers for the digital world–writers that can make “what is a proxy server” sound interesting. In this episode of Content & Conversation, Julia McCoy, founder of Express Writers and Content Hacker, discusses what she has learned from hiring writers over the last decade and how it has helped her business scale ($75 to $1...

Digital PR has been around for more than a decade. So why is it trending now? It’s 2021 and our social media feeds can’t stop talking about Digital PR and GameStop. Yet, it’s for a good reason. Whether it be brand identity’s rise in Google ranking factors or the competition of viral content, it’s impossible to ignore the draw to digital PR. In today’s episode of Content & Conversation, Ross Hudgens and Director of Digital PR, Vince Nero, discuss the current state of digital PR, what mistakes...

Enterprise SEO is a huge endeavor. With differing opinions from the C-suite, how does one execute a realistic plan of action? The initial hurdles when managing enterprise SEO can be navigating internal departments and setting the right expectations. In this episode of Content & Conversation, we chat with Jenn Mathews, the SEO Manager at GitHub, and discuss how her experiences (Nordstrom, Groupon) thus far have taught her about implementing SEO on a large scale. Subscribe to C&C Listen on...

In a new year, the pendulum is swinging once again for all things content marketing. Are you on the right side? This week’s episode features an all-star guest list of SEO experts (in order of appearance): Cyrus Shepard, Founder of Zyppy; Mike King, Managing Director & Founder of iPullRank; Aleyda Solis, Intl. Mobile SEO Consultant & Founder of Remoters.net; Rand Fishkin, Co-Founder & CEO of Sparktoro; and Kevin Indig, Director of SEO at Shopify. Listen and learn as this experienced group...

It's 2021 and we're giving you permission to stop stressing. In this week's episode Director of Marketing Caroline Gilbert and SEO Manager Jon Eric Dela Cruz discuss technical SEO and content marketing "best practices" that you should stop worrying about. They cover rating tools that you should stop following, what actually make a quality backlinks, internal linking recommendations and more. Subscribe to C&C Listen on iTunes Listen on Stitcher Listen on Spotify Show Notes: 00:28: How...

In the past year, the personal finance affiliate space has exploded. Recent acquisition and partnership news, like NextAdvisor and TIME, mean the competition is only getting harder to beat. This week we return from our holiday break with an interview with Alli Berry of The Motley Fool to discuss her role as SEO Manager, how the company treats evergreen vs. breaking news content and tips for other players in this space (main takeaway: good luck). Subscribe to C&C Listen on iTunes Listen on...

Editors, Writers and Contributors, oh my! Have you ever spent way too long staring at a masthead asking yourself, "do I pitch the managing editor? The staff writer? The editor-in-chief?" This week we talk to Senior Content Marketing Specialist Sarah Hollenbeck and Content Marketing Specialist Amanda Pell on their experience working at publications like Upworthy and PC Mag and their tips for pitching different media outlets. Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify...

In June, we restarted our content strategy and pushed more resources towards our own brand. What did we learn from it? A lot, actually. This week Ross and Caroline chat through what we've learned after six months of publishing, exploring new content formats and what is changing in 2021. Subscribe to C&C Listen on iTunes Listen on Stitcher Listen on Spotify Show Notes: 1:23: How we approached content creation without link building and the results of that 2:00: Is it possible for an agency to...

When to hit send on an email could be the difference between a reply and straight to trash. But it isn't the only thing you should care about. This week Director of Marketing Caroline Gilbert chats with Content Lead Drew Page on his recent analysis of more than 85,000 emails we sent in 2020 to determine the best day and time to hit the send button. They also discuss why hyper focusing on send time isn't the right mindset and psychology behind an opened emailed. Subscribe to C&C Listen on...

If you're starting from zero, this is the episode for you. Launching a new brand today can feel like a uphill battle. Especially in markets like insurance, personal finance or SaaS — how do you compete in a crowded market? Directors Caroline Gilbert and Alex Heinz chat through their SEO and content recommendations for startups and SMBs to get started on the right foot. Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify Show Notes: 00:38: How to evaluate keywords (and find...

With Google rolling out more and more features, the "10 blue links" SERP is a thing of the past. Even worse, changes like featured snippets not only take up SERP real estate, but also take away traffic. How can you compete not only with your SERP competition, but Google itself? Caroline chats with SEO Manager Jon Eric Dela Cruz to talk about "on SERP" SEO and how get the most traffic out of your rankings. Subscribe to C&C Listen on iTunes Listen on Stitcher Listen on Spotify Show Notes:...

Last year, Google made a big splash with E-A-T. Cut to COVID and authoritative and trustworthy news in YMYL (Your Money Your Life) become an even greater focus for Google. Now that the dust has (somewhat) settled, Caroline chatted with Lily Ray from Path Interactive who has been talking all things E-A-T since her article published last year. Subscribe to C&C Listen on iTunes Listen on Stitcher Listen on Spotify Show Notes: 00:53: Debunking common E-A-T myths 2:10: How does E-A-T relate to...

Last week, Ross joined Neville Medhora for a whopping 1-hour discussion on our full process. They cover everything from link building, scaling content creation, auditing existing posts, YouTube strategy and more. Did we say more? Yes, much, much more. Watch the recording over on Neville's YouTube channel or listen below. Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify Show Notes: 3:24: Are links and content really all that's needed for SEO? 8:11: The danger in relying on...

Too often, PR centered podcasts are centered around "storytelling" and fluff tips. Not this episode. Today, Caroline sits down with Britt Klontz and Jackie Lambert of We Earn Media to get into the weeds on pitching. How many emails do you send for a campaign? How much should you care about backlink metrics? Most importantly: how do I get a journalist to open my email?! Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify Show Notes: 00:40: How has SEO influenced media...

If you're a technical SEO, stop doing these things. Even if you're technically minded, seeing the value of content and pushing beyond the keywords is equally important to rankings and traffic. Caroline and Senior SEO Analyst Shelley Marshall discuss areas an SEO may get wrong about content marketing. Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify Show Notes: 00:35: Why UX/UI still matters even as a technical SEO 3:48: What you may be missing during the brainstorming...

Election Day is less than 30 days out. On today's Content & Conversation, Ross and Caroline discuss how your content marketing calendar should change to reflect the upcoming national news (and if it should change at all). Also, if you're in the U.S., don't forget to vote! Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify Show Notes: 00:25: How we view Election Day in our content calendars 1:07: Questions to ask yourself about content publishing that week 1:50: What...

Majority of link building is done on a long time frame, but some businesses may need immediate wins. In those cases, what should you do? On today's Content & Conversation Ross and Caroline chat through when a business may need to focus on short term links, what content formats fit that framework and outcomes you can expect. Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify Show Notes: 00:30: When does prioritizing immediate links make sense? 2:46: Content formats that get...

What does it mean to have an "eye for design?" Can you train that or is it gut instinct? For many content marketers, you're collaborating with a creative (either a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator or more). Knowing the appropriate lingo and giving design feedback is critical to ensure a smooth project. This week Caroline is joined by Director of Content Strategy Alex Heinz and Lead Art Director Leslie Leck to discuss how we encourage collaboration between our content marketing and...

Today we flip the script. Director of Content Marketing, Vince Nero, chats with our founder, Ross, on a variety of SEO topics spanning algorithm shifts, link building, UX/UI and running and agency. Ross shares his new thoughts and theories, as well as how that has evolved since starting Siege Media 5+ years ago. Subscribe to C&CListen on iTunesListen on StitcherListen on Spotify Show Notes: 1:14: How much should SEOs be tuned in to algorithm shifts? 3:00: What to look for when an algorithm...

What if I told you one post could earn 300+ links? And what if I told you none of those links were from outreach? We create a lot of content. But we also do a fair amount of outreach. In fact, half of a content marketing specialist’s role here is to promote the work they wrote and built. In the past, we considered a 5-7% placement rate a solid outcome, which meant our clients were seeing a cost per link of $650-$800 depending on the post. Short term, this was great, but long term, some of...