EDGE of the Web - The Best SEO Podcast for Today's Digital Marketer

Andrew Cock-Starkey (aka Andrew Optimisey) started to hold small conferences at a local college to help inform some of the local businesses of the best standards for digital marketing and search engine optimization. But that small college was Cambridge and you would not believe who came to speak there. Free pizza and beer didn’t hold a candle to the top-level thought leaders sharing their craft. This is our SEO community and Andrew Optimisey may have just shown us how to get together again after 16 months of shutdown. Small, hybrid, tactical SEO conferences. That’s the play here on EDGE of the Web.   [00:07:41] The Cambridge events: Getting smart people to come and share. [00:09:47] SEO thought leaders who have spoken at the Cambridge events. [00:13:43] The SEO industry giving back, caring and sharing.  Is it unique among industries? [00:16:43] A Cambridge virtual event just won’t cut it. [00:00:00] Are small conferences the future for our industry?

Join Erin & Mordy as they unpack how Google’s adding links to featured snippets, the new ability to report indexing issues, Bing’s new shopping feature and our favorite topic, Core Web Vitals. [00:04:25] Comparison shopping on Bing[00:09:08] Report indexing issues on Google Search Console[00:13:24] Elementor updates for Core Web Vitals[00:18:00] Google’s adding links to featured snippets

Host Erin Sparks talks to Pedro Dias, Ex-Google and now Head of SEO at Reach PLC, about critical thinking in SEO, his experiences working at Google, and more. [00:04:18] What Pedro experienced at Google during the first large algorithm changes [00:20:00] The path of critical SEO thinking compared to how Google is understanding quality. [00:23:40] What do beginning SEO professionals need to know to start the critical thinking journey? [00:28:39] Should we use the tools we have or something else? [00:29:38] What is the key factor in working with client stakeholders?

Join us as we give our take on the SEO news of the week for you. Grabbing ahold of the headlines, Mordy Oberstein and I spend time giving our two cents on the key things you should be looking at this week.   [00:04:06] Google Testing Local Car Inventory [00:09:27] Google’s Scraping Its Q&A Function [00:13:51] Assessing The Impact Of The Product Review Update

Host Erin Sparks talks to Pedro Dias, Ex-Google and now Head of SEO at Reach PLC, about how Google views information, what companies should consider holding back and the philosophical challenges of controlling the world’s information.   [00:05:37] Pedro was in the thick of the first Panda algorithm rollouts with Google in 2011 [00:07:14] Pedro’s take on Google dominance [00:13:39] Businesses need to do something Google cannot [00:21:25] The philosophical challenges of being both the Vehicle and the Destination

The SEO News to pay attention to this week includes Google’s ability to deal with long-form questions, the postponement of the Core Web Vitals update, and if FLoC will be blocked by default on nearly half of all websites when it rolls out.    [00:03:19] Google Has Problems With Long-Form Question Answering A new research paper finds that Google still has issues answering nuanced questions that require complex elaboration.   [00:12:19] WordPress Proposal To Block FLoC A new proposal in front of WordPress asks them to treat FLoC like a security concern.   [00:18:53] Google Postponing The Core Web Vitals Update The Page Experience update has been pushed back to mid-June, with a gradual release through to August.

The face of tech has changed and the pie is getting bigger. We talk about Google’s FLOC and how the scene changes as privacy becomes paramount. Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content at Search Engine Land and SMX, also unpacks elitism, the backlash women in tech can face, how you can help, and how the narrative can be reframed to reflect inclusion.   [00:04:13] What is FLoC? [00:12:48] Does Google get to decide that they're the arbiter of privacy and data?  What do marketers say? [00:15:06] Carolyn’s take on the Zero Click effect. [00:16:49] Competitors in the Knowledge Panel? What the FLoC is that? [00:21:00] The discrepancy of females in the SEO industry. [00:23:34] Has Carolyn witnessed veiled attacks against women in SEO? [00:28:44] Key points about being an ally to Women in SEO

On this week’s episode, we unpack two new updates from Google on their algorithm and Search Console, explore more info on Core Web Vitals and attempt to play nice about that antitrust lawsuit Google’s wrapped up in.    [00:03:05] Google Announced Product Reviews Algorithm Update We suspect this update is aimed at all those affiliate links that websites are including in their reviews these days.    [00:08:00] Google Launches Two Improvements To Search Console They’ve improved comparison modes, which literally brings a tear to our eye.   [00:12:22] Antitrust lawsuit claims Google gamed its ad system to the tune of $213 million Using a program referred to as “Bernanke” in-house, Google allegedly gave favor to its own ads over rivals.   [00:17:32] How Often Will Core Web Vitals Ranking Factor Be Calculated? As Core Web Vitals crest over the horizon, expected to affect rankings in May, John Mueller answered a question regarding how CWV will factor into the algorithm.

Ahead of SMX Create (April 13) we have the answer to what narratives are going to be top-of-mind in the SEO community post-pandemic. Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content at Search Engine Land and SMX, is on-the-record for dedicating herself towards raising up women and BIPOC business leaders. If a story affects marketers, Search Engine Land is going to tell you about it. [00:03:53] How did the Director of Content for Search Engine Land start in SEO? [00:09:03] Coming into the editorial job from a perspective of an SEO content writer. [00:10:16] Does Search Engine Land’s content get hammered by SEOs? [00:12:13] Guiding SMX as the new Director of Content [00:15:37] How does SEL pick the topics to cover? [00:22:09] Writing content that can sometimes challenge Big Tech. [00:18:46] Carolyn’s take on the domination of Google on search [00:25:47] Her obligation to the SEO community

We grabbed the top headlines of the week and complained about a couple of google overreaches, in your host’s humble opinion.  Here what Erin and Mordy took on:   [00:03:24] Company Knowledge Panels Showing Competitors on Google You can imagine some choice words might be said when a business looks at its Google knowledge panel(s) to see “alternatives” included who are competitors.  [00:09:23] Expanded FAQs for Google Page Experience and Core Web Vitals Update  The Google core web vitals and page experience update FAQs have been expanded and substantially updated when compared with the first version. [00:16:57] Delivery and Pickup Enhancements to Google Business Profiles Both Maps and Search are providing more details about delivery and pickup options at stores such as supermarkets. Other useful features are also being added.