SEM Synergy

Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Robert Ramirez, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg talk about the hottest SEO topics, including RankBrain, Penguin, AMP (accelerated mobile pages) and where they think SEO is headed in a revealing roundtable discussion. When it comes to AMP, they have the latest news and will discuss exclusive statements made by Google this month on how businesses in all verticals should be thinking about AMP. This is one episode of SEM Synergy you definitely don’t want to miss!

It’s a tactic-packed show, as usual! Listen in as Bruce Clay, Rob Ramirez, Virginia Nussey, Duane Forrester and Kristi Kellogg discuss the latest changes to Google Photos, as well as updates to photos on Twitter. While they’re on the subject of images, the team shares their favorite SEO tips for images. From which photos to choose to how to optimize them, catch up on the tried-and-true best practices when it comes to using photos. Listen in to learn more about alt attributes, file names, captions, linking to images and more!

As usual, theres a lot to talk about when it comes to Google changes. On the organic side, Google recently expanded the Help page on Google My Business local ranking advice. Bruce Clay, Robert Ramirez, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg tackle that and other search engine news, including the removal of location filters in search results. In the second half of the show, PPC expert David Szetela talks about how PPC has changed since Google removed right-side ads. He also reveals the biggest challenge of PPC: client expectation setting. He explains how to predict what data clients need to understand to stay confident in a project. He also discusses the different certifications available and the value of becoming certified in multiple paid advertising areas.

You know that a faster loading page is going to rank better on a search results page. The search engines care about speed and performance and use page load time as a ranking factor. So, SEOs are accustomed to making recommendations that will reduce load time. But have you ever wondered why these issues happen? Or how the recommendations work? An informed SEO is a more effective SEO, and on todays show, BCIs Director of Software Development Aaron Landerkin explains the pipeline of a page load. He outlines the three locations in the pipeline where speed optimizations occur and prioritizes the changes so an SEO can get the most bang for their buck. Also on the show, Bruce Clay and Duane Forrester review the big news out of Google and Bing this week regarding ranking factors and machine learning.

Christi OlsonandPurna Virji, both from Bing Ads, joined Bruce Clay, Inc.s Kristi Kellogg and David Szetela for a roundtable discussion on all things regarding paid search. These PPC leaders take on SEM hot topics including Product Listing Ads, remarketing and social campaigns. They also answer critical questions like to how to keep Shopping Campaigns creative and how to optimize a mobile site for a good quality score. Dont miss it youll get great tips and tricks to enhance your own paid search campaigns.

This show is packed tight with SEO strategy from industry leaders! BCIs Social Media Editor Kristi Kellogg interviews Duane Forrester, Marshall Simmonds, Sha Menz and Casie Gillette on SEO hot topics. Simmonds, Menz and Gillette all of whom were speakers at SMX West 2016 earlier this month share their thoughts on the future of links and linkless attribution; the difficulty with attribution and understanding referral traffic; broad SEO knowledge vs. niche expertise and why Google Web Console Users want more than 90 days of search analytics data. At the end of the show, Bruce Clay weighs in on the desire for more data, as well, and Virginia Nussey shares one reason a Googler recently gave for not proving 90+ days worth of data.

Listen in as Dustin Stout, CMO of LA agency Weal Media, and Mark Traphagen, Sr. Director of Marketing at Stone Temple Consulting, talk social media strategies with Bruce Clay, Inc. Social Media Editor Kristi Kellogg. They'll be talking about how to leverage emerging social platforms (including SnapChat) and social media marketing questions that they hear all too often. Dustin will also talk about common design mistakes he'd like to rid the world of. Mark and Dustin are both distinguished speakers at Search Marketing Expo (SMX) West 2016 in San Jose!

Facebook video ads are a growing opportunity for marketers, considering that Facebook gives YouTube a run for its money in terms of video consumption. Listen in for tips in this informative and intelligent roundtable discussion on how to leverage Facebook video ads. Later in the show, the Bruce Clay, Inc. team talks about the relationship between conversion optimization and SEO.Learn how conversion can be improved through search engine optimization (and paid search!) by focusing on user intent. Don't miss the latest episode of SEM Synergy, featuring Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, David Szetela, Virginia Nussey, Mindy Weinstein and Kristi Kellogg!

David Szetela, Vice President of Search Engine Marketing at Bruce Clay, Inc., shares his tips for succeeding with Product Listing Ads and mobile site conversions. Listen in as he talks with Content and Media Manager Virginia Nussey and Social Media Editor Kristi Kellogg about how he stays up to date with the ever-evolving world of paid search. Hell also talk about how he is leveraging social ads in his paid search strategy, his favorite new PPC features, his favorite methods for reducing cost-per-conversions, his top tips for call tracking and more!

What Should You Expect from a Search Engine? Duane Forrester wrote about this very question in a recent blog postsaying "contrary to many search engine optimization conspiracy theories, neither Bing nor Google have designs on harming businesses. Both do have profit motives, however, just like you do." Mindy Weinstein, Virginia Nussey and Rob Ramirez talk to Duane, and in the post explains, "Dont cater to search engines. Cater to users. Dont settle for search engine optimization. Think bigger user experience optimization. Internet marketing is SEO, PPC, content development, social media marketing, website design and conversion optimization. Businesses are born to serve customers. Get back to your roots with your Internet marketing."

Branding Yourself to Better Your Business as Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg talk Blab, Periscope, Meerkat, SnapChat and more these quirky social media platforms are on the rise and the BCI team share their tips on how to use them. Later in the show, they take a deep dive into how personal brand affects a company brand. Live streaming is becoming an increasingly popular way to connect personalities, companies and brands to a plugged-in audience.While social media services like Twitter and Facebook are a great way to spread brand awareness and promote social sharing, live streams bring an element of immediacy to online interaction.

Find out how to take your content to the next level (hint: its ALL about being useful). Youll also listen in on an argument against Googles Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Insights from Bruce Clay, Robert Ramirez, Virginia Nussey, Mindy Weinstein and Kristi Kellogg.

Listen in for a discussion on User Experience Tips and SEO in 2016as Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey, Kristi Kellogg and Robert Ramirez talk about the latest algorithm update. Theyll also talk about user experience: what does it include, and who is responsible for it? The show closes with SEO predictions for 2016 from Bruce Clay, Eric Enge, Marcus Handler, Cindy Krum and more.

What’s Trending in Local Marketing and Voice Search ?Discover the six major trends shaping location marketing for 2016, including apps, location data, beacons and more. Later in the show, hear the latest news on voice search and how it’s changing SEO. Don’t miss these insights from Bruce Clay, Duane Forrester, Robert Ramirez, Virginia Nussey, Mindy Weinstein and Kristi Kellogg!A recent Huffington Post article reads that Voice search is actively shaping the future of SEO and changing how SEO techniques are adopted in the mobile age. While Google’s most recent mobile update put quite a bit of attention on the importance of mobile optimized pages, it’s essential for digital marketers to consider Siri in their 2016 search engine strategies.

Duane Forrester, Virginia Nussey, Kristi Kellogg, Paula Allen and Robert Ramirez talk about their digital marketing resolutions for 2016. But before they get to that, theyll talk about the value of conferences for speakers. Learn how to identify what conference is right for you as a speaker and how to understand the ROI of a speaking engagement.

Director of Training Mindy Weinstein hosts a best of episodecovering hot topics of the year, including paid search and mobile SEO. These are some of our most popular segments that you dont want to miss.

Its the last episode of the year and the SEM Synergy hosts are taking time to reflect on things that impacted SEO in 2015 and how to direct 2016 growth accordingly. Theyll also talk about the biggest SEO, content and social media lessons coming out of 2015 digital marketing conferences.

Digital marketing tactics seem to change with the wind, but the goal remains the same. In October, a newly released set of guidelines gave digital marketers a watchword and goal: usefulness. Is your website helpful and truly mobile friendly? Does it meet your visitors needs? Hear what BCI staffers including Duane Forrester, Mindy Weinstein and Bruce Clay have to say about the Search Quality Rating Guidelines, plus what they and other industry experts learned in 2015.

Stay up-to-date with all the latest Google news as Bruce Clay, Robert Ramirez, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg talk about hot topics like Googles recent removal of location filters and the announcement that Google will not update Penguin before the end of the year. Also, last week Googler wrote click history affects the visibility of business listings in a Google+ post which was later edited. Listen in for these stories and more!

Listen in as Kristi Kellogg interviews PR pro Lisa Buyer. Buyer is an acclaimed author, speaker, professor and owner of the Buyer Group, an interactive digital marketing agency based in Florida. Buyer talks about the mindful business movement and creating space to improve productivity. She also shares her secrets on how to maximize and develop your social media efforts, manage your brands reputation, and judge the value of new social platforms.

Former Bing spokesperson Duane Forrester is the freshly minted VP, Organic Search Operations at Bruce Clay, Inc. He joins Bruce Clay, Virginia Nussey, Robert Ramirez and Kristi Kellogg to sound off live on SEO questions pulled from Twitter. Later in the show, the team discusses the inner workings of an SEO agency.

Why has Duane Forrester moved from Bing the search engine to head organic search operations at SEO agency Bruce Clay, Inc.? Find out how Duanes passion for helping businesses inspired the move to a digital marketing agency. Drawn to the fast-twitch muscle fiber of a small, nimble business, Duane Forrester is eager to see businesses succeed in todays approachability era of SEO.

Facebook recently launched the ability to use dynamic locations in ads, as well as monitor foot traffic via BLE technology. Virginia Nussey, David Szetela, Kristi Kellogg and Robert Ramirez discuss how business owners can take advantage of these new opportunities. Later in the show, Szetela shares his top targeting tips for the Google Display Network!

Listen in as Bruce Clay, Mindy Weinstein, Virginia Nussey, Kristi Kellogg and Maryann Robbins discuss Googles recent warning against sneaky mobile redirects and what that warning means for digital marketers. Later in the show, they discuss two big things that are changing search forever: machine learning and predictive search.

Wizard of Moz Rand Fishkin joins Bruce Clay, Inc.s Kristi Kellogg for an exclusive interview on all things digital marketing, including the ROI of giving away content, current search trends, warring tensions inside marketing teams, and how he brings Mozs core values to life. This interview is a must-listen for digital marketers, business owners, and, of course, Moz fans!

The first hot topic of this show is Amazon's pending lawsuit against 1,000 people who offered reviewing services on Fiver.com. Listen in as Robert Ramirez, Mindy Weinstein, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg talk about why reviews are vital to your online reputation and how to get them the right way. After the break, they talk about Googles recent announcement that they no longer recommend the AJAX crawling proposal they made in 2009.

Google Webmaster Trends Analyst and search engine spokesperson Gary Illyes answers Bruce Clays questions about ranking algorithms, penalties and quality guidelines in this special interview episode. Professional search engine marketers take note!

Recording this week's show from the annual Pubcon Las Vegas, Kristi Kellogg, Virginia Nussey and Mindy Weinstein highlight their top takeaways from day 1 of the conference. Hear how American Eagle, AT&T, and TOMS are successfully establishing loyalty with the Millennial market through content and social media. Plus, learn tips for using Reddit for content sharing and visibility.

We getto Know Your SEM Synergy Panelistsas we get some backstory from the show's recently arrived panel contributors, David Szetela, Rob Ramirez and Mindy Weinstein. Plus, David and Mindy preview their respective upcoming presentationsfor Pubcon 2015 coming up in Las Vegas.David will be speaking on theThe Top Major AdWords Mistakes and How to Prevent Them panel while Mindy speaks onSearch and Social Content Strategy.

Googles Gary Illyes fielded questions from Bruce Clay earlier this month in a live interview. Bruce, Mindy Weinstein, Virginia Nussey and Kristi Kellogg discuss the key takeaways, including Garys revelation that HTTPS is a tiebreaker between otherwise equal sites and the fact that we are months away from the next Penguin update. Later in the show, the team shares tips for creating content (hint: its all about being useful to your readers).

With PPC author and expert David Szetela, Bruce Clay examines how Googles new definition of conversions will adjust search ad reporting. In other SEM advertising news, they look at fresh opportunities for digital marketers to use video streaming and video ads on YouTube and Facebook.

Were two months out from Thanksgiving and 59% of U.S. and U.K. retailers are already preparing their holiday promotions. What should you be doing now to strengthen your digital marketing presence so youre ready when its time to unleash your seasonal campaigns? Find out as Bruce Clay and the team discuss strategies. Later in the show, theyll also take a look at Panda 4.2s impact on sites.

Google’s latest patent involves the ability to score images related to penalties, as reported by SEO by the Sea’s Bill Slawski. The Bruce Clay team talks about what this means for SEO. Later in the show, you’ll get top SEO tips for videos.

Earlier this week, Google made a major move. The search leader has created a new company, Alphabet, of which Google is now a branch. Listen in as the Bruce Clay team talks about why Google might have done this. Later in the show, they’ll also discuss the freshly released 2015 Search Engine Ranking Factors report from Moz.

Got questions about the Panda 4.2 rollout? We've got answers. Listen in as Bruce Clay, Mindy Weinstein, Robert Ramirez and Kristi Kellogg talk about Panda 4.2, as well as Google's recent changes to the Local Pack and the SEO risks associated with implementing infinite scrolling.

The 2015 Online Marketing Industry Survey, fresh off the presses, revealed important data that digital marketers need to take note of. Listen in as Bruce Clay, Virginia Nussey, Mindy Weinstein and Kristi Kellogg discuss what the data amassed from more than 3,500 digital marketers reveals about the state of search. Later in the show, they discuss the latest in a series of Google+ changes and what they mean for searchers.

Google Panda 4.2 is slowly rolling out. This refresh is good news for site owners who were previously penalized, as it gives them a chance to recover. On the other hand, there will be new Panda targets. The Bruce Clay team discusses how site owners should deal with this refresh. Later in the show, they discuss the how technology and creativity come together in digital marketing. Is one more critical than the other? Listen in to find out.

Listen in as the Bruce Clay team discusses the ins and outs of linking in the Penguin age. Ever since Google Portugal stated in a blog post that even asking for links may violate webmasters guidelines, it's a topic that's been on digital marketers' minds. After the break, switch gears and discover the latest news on Right to be Forgotten. Russian president Vladimir Putin has signed off the bill last week. The team discusses the implications of Right to be Forgotten legislation for SEOs.

The time-consuming and labor-intensive process of building a Google disavow file is now simplified with the release of a free crowdsourced disavow files database developed by Bruce Clay, Inc. “We had a very real need as analysts to be able to simplify and speed up the process of doing link audits. It made sense, in a lot of ways, to share data, especially when you’re dealing with the same types of link farms, the same types of websites that scrape, and show up in a lot of our clients’ backlink profiles. Being able to share the data across our clients was a real need we had to help us do a better job and gather the data we had access to,” says Bruce Clay, Inc. SEO manager Robert Ramirez in this episode. Hear about the tools and reports of the free tool built to serve the SEO industry on a fresh new episode of SEM Synergy.

Enjoy a future-looking conversation between friends as Duane Forrester, Sr. Product Marketing Manager of the Bing Ecosystem, visits Bruce Clay in our Simi Valley, CA, studio. Duane and Bruce get to talking about where technology is taking us and where search is headed. Duane has a sharp vision for the next game-changing technologies. Digital assistants, telematics, wearables and augmented reality all make an appearance on the show. If the last decade heralded the year of mobile, what can marketers do to get in front of whats next? Take a listen.

To disavow or not to disavow? Learn how to leverage disavow files. Bruce Clay talks about criteria for and benefits of disavowing links. Later in the show, listen in to a roundtable discussion on Googles move to rebrand Google Webmaster Tools as Google Search Console.

Tune in to hear the latest SEO buzz, including the so-called Phantom Update Google ranking fluctuations occurring between April 27 and May 3 that digital marketers are correlating with low-quality content, yet remain unconfirmed by Google. And for the paid search crowd, there's an in-depth discussion of innovations coming out of the 2015 AdWords Performance Summit that simplify the day-to-day work of an SEM and give more fire-power for proving ROI.

The Bruce Clay team discuss Google EU Antitrust Scrutiny and how it affects search marketers; Social Media Aids Nepal Earthquake Relief; Also , we learn about some of the highlights they came back with following their appearance at Pubcon Austin 2015.

Co-Host Virgina Nussey, Content Manager with Bruce Clay sits down with the SEO Manager Rob Ramirez as well as Community Manager Kristi Kellogg and discuss the changes surrounding April 21st "Mobilegeddon" and what it means for your SEO

Paid Search, Twitter, Pinterest and Mobile Usability are on deck as Bruce Clay rounds up his team to discuss thegrowth of paid search, a survey of men versus women when it comes to Google Search, and some points on mobile usability as we count the days to the Google Mobile Friendly Algorithm rollout.

Bruce Clay, Rob Ramirez and Mindy Weinstein discuss video for SEO and Social following the release of the latest product from Facebook, called Riff, which allows you to create and collaborate on videos with Facebook friends.

The 7 Worst Things You Can Do In Mobile and how you can get around it. Bruce and the team discuss how to avoid any mistakes while rushing to get your website mobile compliant by April 21st. Plus, we hear aroundtable discussion about the debut of the Apple Smart Watch, and it leads to the question of if building an app is gobd for your mobile strategy. .

Virgina Nussey, Paula Allen, Aaron Landerkin accompany Bruce Clay to announce the release ofSEOToolSet Version 6. They discuss upgrades, free and premium offerings, and more. Some of the teams favorite tools are shared, plus Bruce explains how these tools (such astheSingle Page Analyzer, keyword suggestion, link analysis and domain indexing) are so powerful.

Many webmasters have seen ranking fluctuations due to a recent Google Brand eCommerce Update. Bruce Clay talks with Virginia Nussey, Mindy Weinstein, and Rob Ramirez discuss. Plus, Googles John Mu comments on if Linkbuilding in any way benefits webmasters.

Virginia Nussey discusses Marketing Predictions You Should Prepare for in 2015 with Neil Patel, the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, KISSmetrics and Sprout. Also , Virginia is joined Kristi Kellogg, Paula Allen, and John Alexander to discuss how they were visited by international members of the Bruce Clay team on the State of SEO in Asia.