SEO
22 posts on SEO.
I have been doing search work since 2011 and wrote most of it down as it happened. I got to react in real time as Panda, Penguin and Mobilegeddon rewrote the rules and half the tactics people sold as gospel stopped working overnight. I also got the unglamorous work that actually moves a business: claiming a dental clinic's Google listing, turning customer questions into a B2B company's best channel, ranking in Albanian when Google barely knew the language, running taxonomy and search on a WordPress site at scale, and speaking at MozCon and the Google Webmaster Conference. Here are the articles from that decade.
- 6 Takeaways from MozCon 2021 Virtual July 12, 2021
The lessons I took away from MozCon 2021, from data validation to the value of being in rooms where you get schooled.
- MozCon 2020 Virtual July 14, 2020
Notes and takeaways from attending MozCon 2020 virtually during lockdown, a refreshing SEO conference that went ahead as scheduled from home.
- Google Webmaster Conference Mountain View: Product Summit November 5, 2019
Notes and photos from the Google Webmaster Conference Product Summit in Mountain View, 4 November 2019, a day with Search product managers.
- Webmaster Conference in Mountain View October 24, 2019
Google is bringing its Webmaster Conference to Mountain View on November 4th, and I got in. Why I am excited and what to expect from the day.
- MozCon - The Easiest Way To Learn Many SEO Things at Once? July 11, 2018
MozCon is happening in Seattle, Washington is the ideal location for SEO Talks to launch another discussion series and tech blog. SEO
- Google's Image Analysis: Detecting Objects in Images May 9, 2018
I ran a few images through Google's Cloud Vision API. The objects and labels it detected show how easily your images can undermine your site's content quality.
- 3 Local-SEO Lessons My Blown Tire Taught Me April 26, 2018
My tire blew out on I-880, and while stranded I found three real local-SEO business cases: map-pack ranking, off-hours demand, and shops with no web presence.
- SEO talk at Linkedin with BayAreaSearch April 13, 2018
Notes from a BayAreaSearch SEO meetup at LinkedIn, where experts shared their biggest SEO mistakes and lessons learned, from Aleyda Solis to Andrew Shotland.
- How Customer Questions Became a B2B Client's Best Channel November 19, 2015
An early content-SEO project for a B2B company sitting on a silent blog, and how answering real customer questions grew qualified leads.
- WordPress at Scale: Taxonomy, Categories, and Search October 14, 2015
As Qysh Me grew into hundreds of how-to articles, structure became the product. How we organized WordPress so readers could find things.
- SEO for a Site That Wants to Be Copied July 7, 2015
Ripost invited people to copy everything we published. Notes on canonicals, speed and structure when duplication is the strategy, not the problem.
- Mobilegeddon Is Here and I Actually Slept Fine April 21, 2015
Google's mobile-friendly update lands today. For once I am not panicking, because I have spent a year fixing my sites for phones.
- The User Journey Was a Hashtag March 10, 2015
Ripost replaced the category menu with a row of live hashtags across every page. What that changed about how people moved through the site.
- How Claiming a Google Listing Put a Dental Clinic on the Map June 24, 2014
An early local-SEO project for a dental clinic invisible in local search. The unglamorous fixes that got them into the map pack.
- Content Marketing Is Just SEO That Finally Respects People October 31, 2013
Everyone talks about content marketing like it is new. It is the same goal I always chased, only now the honest way and the winning way agree.
- I Put My Own Face in Google Search Results and It Is Wild August 15, 2013
Google Authorship attaches your photo to your articles in search results. I set it up this week, and it is doing something to my click rate.
- Google Took My Keywords Away. I Am Testing Around It May 28, 2013
The (not provided) line in analytics keeps growing and hiding my search terms. Instead of complaining, I am finding other ways to read intent.
- SEO in a Language Google Barely Knew November 20, 2012
SEO for Qysh Me meant ranking in Albanian, a language with almost no digital content at the time. Why that emptiness was an advantage.
- Penguin Hit and Half the SEO Tricks I Learned Are Now Dead April 26, 2012
Penguin is punishing the exact link-building and keyword tactics people sold as gospel two years ago. I am cleaning house, and relieved.
- The Numbers Behind Qysh Me, One Month in 2011 November 5, 2011
A single month of Google Analytics from Qysh Me's early days: 44,111 visits, 163,950 pageviews, and a traffic mix that quietly explained the whole business.
- Making WordPress Fast on Kosovo's Internet October 8, 2011
How we optimized Qysh Me's WordPress site for slow connections and cheap phones, and why performance doubled as an SEO strategy.
- Google Just Changed the Rules and I Am Weirdly Excited March 15, 2011
The Panda update shook up SEO this year. Thin content is punished, real content wins, and I think that is good news for people like me.