The Authority Hacker Podcast - Actionable Online Marketing

Let’s face it. Google is probably never going to be the same easy traffic source it has always been. You won’t be able to solely rely on Google traffic to run an online business anymore, if that’s what you’re used to. So the question a lot of people are asking now is: What now? 😳 While nothing is a 1:1 replacement to Google search, in this episode, we talk about ONE of the things we are doing to diversify away from Google traffic: Meta ads. We’ll show you exactly 👉 how we plan and build a funnel 👉 how we angle our ads, how we target them 👉 how much money you should spend… … and a ton more practical details for those of you who are interested in taking action. We’ll also talk about why we think it’s one of the safest ways to go for traffic and a bunch of other high level debates for those of you who are still on the fence. ____________________________________________ Hosts: Gael Breton & Mark Webster Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/335-how-we-make-money-from-facebook/ ____________________________________________ A special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, Digital PR Agency, Search Intelligence. https://search-intelligence.co.uk/ ____________________________________________ Looking for 100s of more episodes like these? Check out our main YouTube channel: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcast/ Or visit our podcast page: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcast/ _____________________________________________ Love this episode? Here’s an easy way to leave a review - they really help us a lot: Leave us a review on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/the-authority-hacker-podcast/id1073349789 Leave us a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1D6MzYn5pFiNlr8aNaoqEn?si=dcafbd9048684d4d Leave us a review on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-authority-hacker-podcast-51498 ____________________________________________ ► If you want to learn how to start and grow profitable authority sites, visit The Authority Site System: https://www.authorityhacker.com/free-training/ ► Subscribe: http://bit.ly/2QB51kf to learn more secret authority site tips. ► Facebook: https://facebook.com/authorityhacker/ ► Instagram: https://instagram.com/authorityhacker ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorityhacker/ ► LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/authorityhacker/ ____________________________________________

As we come to the end of the March 2024 Core update, many things have changed in the Google landscape, and it’s time to start looking at where we landed. To help navigate these changes, we wanted to bring a guest that’s out in the trenches every day - prominent and very opinionated character in the industry, Lily Ray 🔥 She hares a ton of interesting insights about SEO on social media, including a lot of original research. In this episode, Lily and Gael get straight to it and cover many of the hottest topics in search right now, including: 👉 the visibility changes of pure content sites and how your business model may affect your visibility 👉 Reddit and Quora monopolizing search results and how long it may last 👉 HCU, and the divergence between Google’s guidelines and what we observe 👉 signals outside of the“traditional” that Google is giving a lot of importance to these days We also take a look at specific examples - and they often break the rules - so don’t miss out on this one. ____________________________________________ Host: Gael Breton Guest: Lily Ray Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/334-march-core-update-analysis-lily-ray/ ____________________________________________ A special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, the all-in-one SEO tool set, Ahrefs: https://www.authorityhacker.com/recommends/ahrefs/ ____________________________________________ Looking for 100s of more episodes like these? Check out our main YouTube channel: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcast/ Or visit our podcast page: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcast/ ____________________________________________ More about Lily Ray Twitter: https://twitter.com/lilyraynyc LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-ray-44755615/ _____________________________________________ Love this episode? Here’s an easy way to leave a review - they really help us a lot: Leave us a review on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/ Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/the-authority-hacker-podcast/id1073349789 Leave us a review on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1D6MzYn5pFiNlr8aNaoqEn?si=dcafbd9048684d4d Leave us a review on Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-authority-hacker-podcast-51498 ____________________________________________ ► If you want to learn how to start and grow profitable authority sites, visit The Authority Site System: https://www.authorityhacker.com/free-training/ ► Subscribe: http://bit.ly/2QB51kf to learn more secret authority site tips. ► Facebook: https://facebook.com/authorityhacker/ ► Instagram: https://instagram.com/authorityhacker ► Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorityhacker/ ► LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/authorityhacker/

RTINGS.com is one of the most successful product review sites of all time. Despite 'only' having a DR 75 domain and competing against sites like PCMag, Tech Radar, New York Times, the Wire Cutter, and CNET (all DR 90+ sites), they have over 4 million monthly organic visits. So how exactly did they pull this off? In this week’s episode, Mark sits down Pauline Duthiel, Head of Digital Marketing at RTINGS.com to take a look behind the scenes at what SEO looks like at one of the world's most loved review sites - and it was nothing like we expected. ____________________________________________ A special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, Digital PR and link building solution, BuzzStream: https://www.buzzstream.com/link-building ____________________________________________ Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/the-secret-to-rtings-seo-success/

Google just released a fat core update and all the rules you know about SEO are about to change again. As Google has already started de-indexing what they deem to be low quality sites, content auditing has never been more important. It's the process that might save you from an extinction event during the next update, or could resurrect your site if you've already been affected. Plus, it's the only process that's consistently shown results for websites affected by previous large updates like Panda, medic, spam and core updates. So in this episode, we dive into what this latest core update means for SEO practices, and break down exactly what you need to do to curate content that will keep Google - and you - happy. ____________________________________________ A special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, Digital PR Agency, Search Intelligence. https://search-intelligence.co.uk/ ____________________________________________ Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/4-proven-steps-to-beat-google-updates/

Did you know that Google is about to introduce a new web vital metric? 😨 Neither did we. But this news did prompt us to take another look at our site speed setup, and we wanted to bring in a pro to help us out. So in this week's episode, Gael chats with Brian Jackson - the guy behind the enthusiast site speed plugin, Perfmatters. He's seen hundreds of site setups, this week he critiques our setup and gives you tips on how to fix your setup as well. If you've ever wondered: 👉 if the number of plugins you use is cutting your site speed 👉 what the best CDN setup is 👉 what caching plugins you should never use... ...or even if you should delay or defer your JavaScript, then you won't want to miss this one. ____________________________________________ A special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, the all-in-one SEO tool set, Ahrefs. ____________________________________________ Check out the latest video on our new ✨news channel ✨: 👉 https://youtu.be/77VhY990xY8?si=aVNLu_kvZcDjjhYg ____________________________________________ Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/site-speed-nerd-roasts-our-setup/

6 months after a series of devastating updates for many legitimate sites, and the best advice Google could come up with is "𝘜𝘴𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴" ?! 🙄 Honestly, we're getting a little annoyed by Google's attitude towards all of this, and in today's episode, we tried to do what Google could not. We give you real examples of real sites that are not only surviving, but thriving ✨ in the current version of Google, to help you plan what to do next for your business. These sites have won despite Google's relentless updates and we've tried to identify: 👉 what they do 👉 why they may be winning 👉 and how you can emulate them. ____________________________________________ A special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, Digital PR and link building solution, BuzzStream: https://www.buzzstream.com/link-building ____________________________________________ Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/7-sites-beating-googles-algorithm/

When a talented SEO like Cyrus Shepard becomes a Google Quality Rater, you know we'll get someone who has excellent insights on how Google evaluates your site and where you fail to impress them. So in this week’s episode, Gael asks Cyrus all the questions that matter to figure out: 👉 How much does EEAT really matter for Google and quality raters? 👉 Does Google give an unfair advantage to larger sites? 👉 And what's coming next from Google based on their recent updates to the Quality Rater Guidelines? Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/329-make-google-love-your-site/

In the last two years, Ahrefs, a tool that many people in the industry would agree is the best tool for the job, has lived long enough to see itself become the villain and many now associate the brand with corporate greed. So how did that happen and is it justified? No topic was off the table in this week’s episode with Tim Soulo from Ahrefs. Gael gets the 4-1-1 on their credit system, whether their search engine yep.com was funded by the price increase or not, and compares Ahrefs and their value proposition to the competition. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/328-did-ahrefs-fk-us/

In this week’s episode, Mark and Gael take a look at the sites who are acing the latest Google paradigm, analyze what worked for them, and adapt the business model so everyone can grow and thrive going forward. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/8-ways-to-adapt-your-seo-in-2024/

Predicting the future in this industry is NOT easy. But in this week's episode, Mark and Gael take a look at the predictions they made last year... and some of them are scarily accurate 😳 They also make a new set of predictions for 2024 of all the major changes they expect to see in the next few months, so buckle up! Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/can-we-predict-the-future-again/

Our guest today doesn’t believe in EEAT, doesn't do any link building, uses AI to help in her content creation, makes most of her money from ads, and lost quite a bit of traffic in the recent round of updates. And yet her profits are actually the same now as they were before AI and the recent updates. In this episode, Gael sits down with Anne Moss - the archetype of a niche site builder that Google has been going after - to discuss exactly how she managed to do this, so you can too. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/325-ultimate-new-facebook-strategy/

In this week’s episode, Gael chats with Derek Hales, founder of Modern Castle and NapLab, which produce some of the best review content ever seen from a small publisher. So good, in fact, that despite the recent Google updates that destroyed many sites in the industry, NapLab has actually seen signficant growth. Join Gael and Derek as they break down NapLab’s extensive review process and discuss exactly how Derek continues to be successful in the ultra-competitive mattress niche. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/324-this-proves-that-eeat-actually-works-kinda/

In this week's episode, Mark sits down with Gabriela Covay to break down exactly how her company, Bright Valley Marketing, landed Authority Hacker over 30 links - including some DR90 ones - in their full digital PR campaign. And they'll give you a step by step on how you can do it, in any niche, for your website, too 🤩💪 Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/digital-pr-expert-reveals-how-to-get-links/

South Africa is one of the best places in the world to recruit from - and it’s mostly being overlooked and underutilized right now.⁣ This week, Mark sits down with Doug Haines, the AH Pro member who co-founded Marketing Pros; a South Africa-based recruitment and staffing agency that specializes in finding the exact A-Players you need for your team.⁣ 💪 Get in touch with the Marketing Pros team to tap into new talent for your next hire! https://www.marketingpros.co ____________________________________________ Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/322-all-our-best-hires-come-from-this-country/

Now that the initial hype around AI has died down, in this week's episode Mark and Gael sit down to discuss what they really think of AI and how it can best be used in the real world. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/321-is-ai-overhyped/

How is AI, increasing inflation and the worsening of the overall global economy affecting the website market? In this week's episode, Mark sits down with Justin Cooke from Empire Flippers to discuss exactly how the website market has changed and what that means for you. A special thanks to our sponsors for this episode, Digital PR Agency Search Intelligence: https://search-intelligence.co.uk/ Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/the-website-market-just-flipped/

In this week's episode, Mark and Gael and dive into various aspects of the affiliate marketing industry, comparing their own experiences with results from the Affiliate Marketing Survey. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/new-survey-reveals-exactly-whats-changed-in-affiliate-marketing/

A lot of people find Koray Tuğberk Gübür’s content confusing and difficult to follow. So we’ve set out to decode of the most cryptic people in the industry, and break down what he shares into clear and actionable steps. This week, Gael sits down with Koray to chat all things topical authority in one of the most challenging interviews yet. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/decoding-topical-authority-with-koray-tugberk-gubur/

Brian Dean did something that less than 0.01% of us will ever achieve. He built his site to a staggering DR 90 on Ahrefs, almost entirely on his own. This week, Gael sits down with the internationally recognized SEO expert to uncover his exact methods to success. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/the-brian-dean-method/

Not all social media platforms are made equal, and Pinterest is one that can really drive serious amounts of traffic. In this week's episode, we chat with Tony Hill, who shares insights on exactly how he generates over 1 million visitors per month on Pinterest. Full show notes: https://www.authorityhacker.com/podcasts/ultimate-new-pinterest-strategy/