Tallest Tree SEO Podcast
31 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 1 year ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsEach week Cord Blomquist and Einar Jóhannsson discuss search news and discuss their experience working in search engine optimization (SEO) for think tanks and publishers.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Google Updates & Search Ranking Systems
January 02, 2023 17:06 - 1 hour - 77.3 MBSources Cited: Google Search gets Status Dashboard to provide updates during outages Google December 2022 Link Spam Update Google Launches Visual Guide To Search Elements Lily ray on google updates A guide to Google Search ranking systems
Think Tank Ranking Preview
December 12, 2022 11:00 - 31 minutes - 30.6 MBIn a short episode, Cord and Einar preview the new and improved Tallest Tree Think Tank Ranking. The new rankings will be automated, updated monthly, and incorporate more data than ever. This includes: Budget data from ProPublica Traffic, traffic value, domain rating, and backlink data from Ahrefs Pages indexed from Serp API Web software from Wappalyzer We're now able to pull historical traffic data from Ahrefs, which will give us insights into the last 36 months of performance for eac...
How to Optimize for Crawling
November 21, 2022 17:42 - 1 hour - 71.6 MBCord & Einar discuss how to optimize your website for web crawlers. How do things like robots.txt, site speed, HTTP codes, URLs, links, redirects, XML sitemaps, PDFs vs web pages, robots meta tags, and canonical URLs all affect web crawlers? How can you optimize these aspects of your site to make sure all the content you want robots to discover can be crawled and indexed? Sources Cited: Google Robots Testing Tool Merkle robots.txt Validator PageSpeed Insights Lighthouse Pingdom Speed T...
All About Links: JavaScript, HTTP/HTTPS, Link Rot, Ranking, and Link Networks
November 14, 2022 10:00 - 55 minutes - 52.6 MBCord & Einar discuss all things linking. Can JavaScript links pass PageRank? How to HTTP to HTTPS redirects work? Are old links irrelevant? Will links always be a ranking factor? What's a link graph? Sources Cited: Search Engine Roundtable: Google Updates Help Documentation To Say Using JavaScript For Links Can Be Fine Google Search Central: Make your links crawlable Search Engine Roundtable: Google Can Pass PageRank From HTTP To HTTPS URLs With Redirects Search Engine Roundtable: Googl...
How we do SEO audits
November 07, 2022 11:00 - 1 hour - 69.4 MBIn this episode Cord & Einar discuss the ever-evolving Tallest Tree approach to SEO audits. Here's the outline Cord & Einar used on the show: Tools Sitebulb: run both an HTML-only and JavaScript crawl Ahrefs Crawler Ahrefs Site Explorer Ahrefs Chrome extension Google Search Console Chrome Inspector w/Lighthouse Google’s Robots Tester Inspect URL in GSC Schema Validator Merkle’s https://technicalseo.com/tools/ The Wayback Machine First look Explore the site by hand, view source...
SEO Twitter: Facebook Ads, Search Console, New References, E-A-T, Topical Authority
November 01, 2022 14:04 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBIn this episode Cord & Einar review the best of "SEO Twitter" discussing topics like Facebook's profit nightmare (and why you should do SEO instead of Facebook ads), Google Search Console's new messages on max-image-preview, the 4th edition of "The Art of SEO," the new 2022 Web Almanac, how "Early Hints" can improve your Core Web Vitals, measuring E-A-T, 8 confirmed Google ranking factors, content hubs, and measuring topical authority. Sources Cited: @antoniogm cites The New York Post: M...
AMP, Topical Authority, Google Updates, and WordPress 6.1
October 21, 2022 15:29 - 50 minutes - 47.3 MBIn this episode Cord & Einar discuss whether or not AMP is ranking factor, priority hints, Google Search Essentials, the October 2022 spam Google spam update, title tags, WordPress 6.1, how Yoast pings search engines, and an article about topical authority by the late Bill Slawski. Sources Cited: brightonSEO online: October 2022 Search Engine Journal: AMP: Is It A Google Ranking Factor? web.dev: Optimizing resource loading with Priority Hints Search Engine Journal: Goodbye Google Webmas...
A Real "Looker"
October 14, 2022 19:29 - 54 minutes - 51 MBIn this episode Cord & Einar discuss Google changing Data Studio to Google Looker Studio, SEO conferences, Kevin Indig's take on the latest Google updates, previously visited sitelink icons, and the trouble with timestamps. Sources Cited: Search Engine Roundtable: Google Data Studio Is Now Looker Studio Search Engine Journal: The Best SEO Conferences In 2022-2023 (Virtual And In-Person) Kevin Indig: Google's latest updates leave no room for low-quality content Search Engine Roundtable: ...
Title Tags, "Link Juice," and the Death of AMP
October 09, 2022 16:36 - 51 minutes - 47.2 MBIn this episode Cord & Einar discuss the title tag length, "link juice," AMP is dead, measuring forms with GA4, how Googlebot handles iframes, and how to think about copies of original content on the web. Sources Cited: Search Engine Land: What should the title tag length be in 2023? SEO Roundtable: Google: Anything That Talks About Link Juice Should Be Ignored Lily Ray 😏 on Twitter: "The "nail in the coffin for AMP" Search Engine Land: GA4 now has an enhanced measurement option for For...
Mobile Search, iOS 14.5 makes the case for SEO, Core Update Winners/Losers
October 04, 2022 00:16 - 1 hour - 55.5 MBIn this episode Cord & Einar discuss the changes to mobile search, iOS 14.5 makes the case for programmatic SEO, September core update winners/losers, changing URLs, website quality scores, and 4 ways to measure SEO effectiveness. Sources Cited: Search Engine Journal: Google Announces 5 Changes Coming To Mobile Search Venture Beat: Decreasing ad revenue, iOS 14.5 make case for programmatic SEO Amsive Digital: Winners & Losers of the September 2022 Core Update & Product Reviews Update Se...
Helpful Content AI, Exploring GSC Reports, & Yoast Errors
September 26, 2022 19:44 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MBIn this episode Cord & Einar discuss the Google September Core Update and how we can measure the effect it's had on website combined with the Helpful Content. We also talk about GSC reports and a fatal error caused by a Yoast plugin update. Sources Cited: Search Engine Journal: Yoast SEO 19.7 Causes Fatal Error & Crashes Websites Search Engine Land: Google launches new HTTPS report in Google Search Console SEO Roundtable: Is The Percentage Of Pages Not Indexed A Bad Google SEO Sign? Ahr...
September Core Update, Google Office Hours Rebuttals, PPC vs. SEO
September 16, 2022 18:56 - 52 minutes - 48.5 MBGoogle is rolling out a new core update. What's a core update? Google talks about thin content, h1 tags, and adding fresh content in their Office Hours and we issue our rebuttal. Finally, we discuss PPC vs. SEO, when to use which, and how we use the two together. Sources Cited: Search Engine Journal: Google Announces September 2022 Core Algorithm Update Lily Ray: https://twitter.com/lilyraynyc/status/1570079756032348160?s=12&t=fwptw1BHmFrlS4MFZ4NYGg SEO Roundtable: Google Says Word Count...
Yahoo Credibility
September 09, 2022 18:34 - 39 minutes - 36 MBIs the helpful content Google update helpful yet? Yahoo invests in credibility algorithm "The Factual." We discuss readability checkers and what exactly needs to be readable. Finally, we review Barry Adams's list of the most common SEO issues for news publishers and how they apply to our think tank and political magazine clients. Sources cited: SEO Roundtable: Google Helpful Content Update Not Done Yet And Now We're Seeing Fluctuations Search Engine Journal: Google: Helpful Content Signal...
"Helpful Content" Revisited, Core Web Vitals, Crawl Budget
September 07, 2022 18:57 - 43 minutes - 39.9 MBWhy is the "Helpful Content" not very helpful so far? We also discuss new reporting for Core Web Vitals, the worst SEO advice, open-sourcing Yoast schema, and Google's "Search Off The Record" podcast's recent statements on crawl budget. Sources cited: Search Engine Land: Google On Why Helpful Content Update Seems Quiet SEO Roundtable: Google Core Web Vitals Report Adds URL Level Data For Examples URLs Search Engine Land: The WORST SEO advice I heard this year (and what you should do inst...
Google's "Helpful Content" Core Update
August 27, 2022 02:29 - 34 minutes - 33 MBIn this week's episode we discuss Google's announced "Helpful Content" update and why our clients don't have to worry about it. We also talk about Search Console's new Video Pages report, the diminishing power of AMP, dynamic rendering, and why perfectionism in SEO is a losing game. Sources cited: Search Engine Land: Google's new helpful content update targets sites creating content for search engines first Aleyda Solis: Google's Content Quality & Helpfulness Questions Google Search Cent...
Missing Data, MUM Consensus, Old Events, and Robots.txt
August 20, 2022 02:16 - 47 minutes - 43.7 MBWhere has Google's data gone? How to "align with consensus" according to the QRG. What Google says you should do with old events (probably delete them), and our thoughts about robots.txt. Sources Cited: https://pca.st/episode/2cc8cdde-b00a-4da7-8c9f-c4b79845ede0 https://searchengineland.com/google-consensus-qrg-seo-387142 https://www.seroundtable.com/google-seo-old-event-pages-33847.html https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/robots/robots_txt
Colby Pastre & Kevin Kaufman, Tax Foundation
March 24, 2022 13:00 - 44 minutes - 42.4 MBColby Pastre and Kevin Kaufman join me to talk about how the Tax Foundation uses simple content like an annual tax bracket page to generate over 23 million pageviews a year! We talk shop about internal linking, first-move advantage, crawling your own site, using search console, and keyword research tools to maintain your site's edge. We wrapped up our conversation with some practical advice on E-A-T, structured data, and overall site structure. Colby and Kevin are great practitioners of...
Richard Lorenc, Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)
August 13, 2020 00:45 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBIn this episode I interview Richard Lorenc, Executive Vice President of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). In my conversation with Richard, we spoke about FEE’s impressive gains in organic search traffic, FEE’s content strategy, and changing FEE’s visual branding. We also talked about which think tanks excel at marketing, measuring ROI in marketing, and how Richard and his husband Colin helped Q play a trick on Neelix. FEE is a leading light in the libertarian movement. Their mi...
Richard Lorenc - Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)
August 13, 2020 00:45 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBIn this episode I interview Richard Lorenc, Executive Vice President of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). In my conversation with Richard, we spoke about FEE’s impressive gains in organic search traffic, FEE’s content strategy, and changing FEE’s visual branding. We also talked about which think tanks excel at marketing, measuring ROI in marketing, and how Richard and his husband Colin helped Q play a trick on Neelix. FEE is a leading light in the libertarian movement....
What the Iowa Caucus App Can Teach Us
February 12, 2020 15:46 - 30 minutes - 28.2 MBFive questions we ask each prospective client: Why now? What's motivating you to do this now and not six months from now? Why us? Why not someone cheaper? Why not use something off-the-shelf? Why not handle this in-house? Why even bother? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to do nothing?
Does On-Page SEO Matter for Think Tanks in 2020?
January 31, 2020 01:42 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MBBasics, Optimizing, Titles, Descriptions On-Page means it’s entirely under your control, it’s not about off-page signals like links to your website SEO still matters in 2020 Google says “The most basic signal that information is relevant is when a webpage contains the same keywords as your search query.” Keyword-rich title tags bring traffic Use keywords in the first 100-150 words Use keywords frequently No stuffing, but using keywords a half dozen times in an article is reasonable. ...
Homepage Design
January 25, 2020 04:38 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBWhat makes a good homepage design? We talk about the Nielsen/Norman Group's "4 Credibility Factors" https://www.nngroup.com/articles/trustworthy-design/ How can you incorporate these factors into your homepage? Design quality Upfront disclosure Comprehensive, correct, and current content Connection to the rest of the web How should you guide users? Primary & secondary calls to action Provide more ways to engage, like social following Use current user data to promote your most popul...
50 Pieces of Content a Week
January 16, 2020 18:48 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MBHow does primary content gets broken down into micro content? That micro content essentially serves as ads on social media platforms that point back to your primary content. We talk about the role of tertiary content—the long-form posts we write that few people read—and why it shouldn't be viewed as primary. I go into an example of my in-laws' bookstore, which has taken this model and seen great success as a local business. Even though this is outside of our client base, it's a really easy e...
Menus & Navigation
January 14, 2020 20:35 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MBSearch Engine Journal https://www.searchenginejournal.com/technical-seo/website-navigation/#close Users come first: Your website navigation should satisfy users first. Then, optimize your navigation for SEO performance. Never compromise the user experience. Orbit Media https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/website-navigation/ Be descriptive “What we do” doesn’t actually say what you do. Neither does “Products,” “Services” or “Solutions.” Descriptive navigation that uses keyphrases is better ...
Roadmapping
January 01, 2020 14:00 - 36 minutes - 33.9 MBWhy did we choose roadmapping as a new approach? How are we addressing the problems of our former approach? How does roadmapping help clients? Get the diagnosis right Less committment Start projects with confidence Create a portable plan of action Common objections to roadmapping Why pay when I can get an estimate for free? I know what I need, just built it. What am I really getting for this price? Who is the ideal client for roadmapping? And for Tallest Tree in specific?
Brian Phillips, Texas Public Policy Foundation
August 19, 2019 01:15 - 1 hour - 70.2 MBThis week Cord interviewed Brian Phillips, the Vice President for Communications at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Cord & Brian discussed launching a policy tour of Texas, integrating polling into your organization, and how TPPF took on a recent property tax reform effort. Policy Tour Bringing political campaign experience to the policy world How TPPF took its show on the road and toured Texas with policy experts. Getting local or state press to cover events focused on policy How T...
Daniel T. Richards, The Federalist Society
August 12, 2019 01:44 - 1 hour - 71.6 MBThis week Cord interviewed Daniel T. Richards, the Vice President & Director of Digital at The Federalist Society. Cord & Daniel discussed three FedSoc projects: the SCOTUS Brief video series, the "No. 86" educational project, and the National Lawyers Convention. SCOTUS Brief Changing style, rather than content, to increase engagement and get viewers to watch a video all the way through Managing a video release schedule and consulting with subject matter experts on content creation How F...
Todd Myers, Washington Policy Center
August 05, 2019 10:00 - 55 minutes - 50.4 MBThis week Cord interviewed Todd Myers, Director of the Center for the Environment at Washington Policy Center. He is one of the nation's leading experts on free-market environmental policy and the author of Eco-Fads: How the Rise of Trendy Environmentalism Is Harming the Environment. Cord & Todd talked about: How to establish trust when working on a fraught issue Overcoming biases Working in a policy area that’s not easily quantified Using smartphones to solve coordinated action problem...
Whitney Munro, Foundation for Government Accountability
July 29, 2019 10:00 - 51 minutes - 47.3 MBThis week Cord interviewed Whitney Munro of the Foundation for Government Accountability. Whitney and Cord covered a lot of topics, including: Micro-targeting state legislators Message testing with real voters Building profiles of website visitors/email readers How to pronounce "Pardot" Collecting feedback from your target audience Telling human stories about policy Choosing software platforms based on what they can deliver, rather than something that is "built for non-profits" Adopt...
Rob Montz, We the Internet TV
July 22, 2019 10:00 - 43 minutes - 39.6 MBRob Montz is a director at We the Internet TV, a fellow at the Moving Picture Institute, and co-founder and CEO of Good Kid Productions. Rob's work has been featured in the New York Times, BBC World News, the Economist, USA Today, and The Washington Post. His documentary works have covered topics including free speech on college campuses, the North Korean regime, criminal justice reform, and the virtues of entrepreneurship. His latest docs are Trump as Destiny: Why the Reality Show Preside...
Scott Barton, Pacific Legal Foundation
July 15, 2019 17:04 - 44 minutes - 41.1 MBScott Barton is a nonprofit leader focused on digital communications, strategy, persuasion, and building entrepreneurial teams, which makes him a perfect guest for our show. While working at the Institute for Humane Studies, a university-based nonprofit, Scott co-founded and directed the Learn Liberty project, a digital education platform to promote the ideas of free markets and individual liberty to college students. Scott helped Learn Liberty build an impressive library of over 400 vide...