Ep 7: How to SEO Without Selling Your Soul

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Today your no-bullsh*t podcast asks:

What is SEO?  Do I have to?

Why is every online guru yelling at me about SEO?
. Can you please explain it to me like I'm a five-year-old?
. I wrote an article.  How do I make the robots happy about it?
. What do SEO robots like?  What do they not like?.
. How do I balance keyword-searchability with being creative?
. If everyone's using the same keywords, how do you rise to the top?
. Is it cheating to go back through your articles and SEO them?

 

 

Links to references made in the podcast:

Google's 200 Ranking Factors that go into determining your SEO score.
. Jema's packing list that rose to the top and has been at the top of Google for years because of the value it provides.
. Episode 4 - where we talk at length at the importance of starting now, because no one is listening but the search engine robots!
. The How to Milk a Sheep article Jema wrote that's still at the top of Google six years later because she was first.  Her article is the oldest, which causes it to outrank potentially better articles.  Word to new creators: publish now!
. Jema's sheep milking experience happened at a work exchange, which is something everyone should do!
. How to Have Time to Do Everything - the article Jema wrote for the ep5 shownotes that she then SEO'd.
. Berna's well-received "Give a Shit List" that she wrote after doing her homework from episode 5 and episode 6.

 

Timestamp Listening:

1:40
Jema explains SEO to Berna "like she's a five year old." 1:45
Jema reveals the best thing about SEO... and it's going to make you feel great. 3:21
"Dirty" SEO explained 4:39
How your audience teaches search engines about your content 6:20 The number of factors that search engine's use to determine your SEO score. 7:04
I wrote an article. How do I make the robots happy? 8:16
How to think about SEO in a way that makes you actually want to do it. 9:28
The most important thing to know about SEO (so you stop feeling overwhelmed). 10:39
The SEO features you need to care about when you write an article. 11:52
Where all those bad search-engine results come from 14:11
Why keywords are mattering less and less 14:57
Jema's #1 SEO tip: the trick she thinks often lands her on the front page of Google 19:13
A run down of which sections of your article to SEO-ify 19:31
3 tips for rising to the top for competitive keywords 23:33
The thing you most need to do with anything you've been waiting to create. 27:15
Is it cheating to go back and SEO articles? 27:50
How long it takes to learn SEO 28:35
What robot-friendly moves Berna's learned in her two months of being a creator 31:00
Berna's self-assigned homework from the episode 31:53
How to get Ticket 2 Blog in your life between episodes 33:35
Berna's question for next episode 34:08
How Berna's homework went from last episode 35:32
Where our sound quality comes from today 36:47
Berna's biggest fail of the week 37:43
Jema's biggest fail of the week 39:34
Hilarious outtakes

 

 We're so grateful to Pitx for our music.  We grabbed a snippet of (modified) their work, which we get to use thanks to this legalese.