The Redirect Podcast - SEO & SEM News & Discussions

In this episode of The Redirect Podcast, host Adrienne Wallace is joined by Jason Dodge and Derek DeVries of BlackTruck Media + Marketing. Together, they dig into the impact of AI on social advertising platforms, how targeting strategies are being reshaped, and why today's marketers must be smarter than ever. From ethical concerns to the evolving definition of good creative, this episode is packed with insights for navigating the AI shift.

In this episode, host Adrienne Wallace talks with Jason Dodge and Derek DeVries about something every brand should hear in 2025: how to stop depending on algorithms and third-party apps, and instead build a future-proof strategy with owned media.

In Episode 76 of The Redirect Podcast, we're joined by Brie Anderson, Founder of Beast Analytics. A fellow speaker and educator on an international level, Brie makes it her mission to help brands collect, understand, and make proper use of their data. In this episode, we discuss the intricacies that make GA4 unique for digital marketers, and explore methodologies and functions that can make your data work better for you. https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/episode-76-measuring-seo-digital-marketing-success-in-ga4-with-brie-anderson/

[EP. 75] Exploring SEO As Brand with Mordy Oberstein by BlackTruck Media + Marketing

This episode of BTW w/BTM we dive into Google's March 2024 updates, their helpful content system that's aimed at overhauling spam, and the impacts this could have on SEO.

[EP. 11] BTW with BTM_Adapting to a Cookieless Future & Google's Block on Third Party Cookies by BlackTruck Media + Marketing

In this episode of BTW w/ BTM we're discussing a shake-up in the Shopify ecosystem, specifically as it pertains to store analytics and those operating in European markets. On November 1st there was an unexpected and poorly communicated policy update on customer data collection. We're unpacking what happened, the impact, discussions on transparency and future proofing attribution of marketing strategies.

In Episode 74 of The Redirect Podcast, our special guest is Britney Muller, formerly HuggingFace AI and MOZ, to share a deep dive on generative AI and the implications it can have on marketers. We discuss details on the risks of large language models used by ChatGPT and Google's Bard, whether or not they should be used, have guardrails and there the lines are blurred ethically. Listen in as we unpack the future of AI.

In EP. 9 of BTW with BlackTruck, we explore AI and the impact it will have on SEO. Discussions around the wildly popular ChatGPT, Google's recent Bard AI announcement, and how AI can be leveraged for good (and bad) in the world of search engine optimization. Can AI generated content be good - or can it get your site penalized? Give it a listen to better understand how this can impact your brand in the future.

In EP. 8 of BTW with BlackTruck, we walk through the major changes to how you are able to manage your Google Business Listings. Formerly known as Google MyBusiness, and now known as Google Business Profiles - managers of such listings will now be forced to editing those directly in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). Give it a listen to better understand how this can impact how you manage your listings and what you can expect.

In EP. 7 of BTW with BlackTruck, we breakdown the latest to come out of the search giant - Google's Helpful Content Update. While this is NOT a core algorithm update, it absolutely is aimed at content that has been written primarily for search and rankings - meaning it's not helpful to the user. Give it a listen to better understand how this can impact your content strategy in the future.

In Ep. 6 of BTW with BlackTruck, we dive into the concept that TikTok might be providing users with a better experience (and results?) then Google Search. Saving you the drama and the long reads of Twitter, we break down the gist of TikTok, why it could be a threat to Google, and what the future of both platforms could be in your digital strategy.

In Ep. 5 of BTW with BlackTruck, we explore the issues stemming from the widespread Facebook outage that took place on October 4, 2021. Skipping over what happened, we get into why it impacted brands the most, and what you can focus on should this happen in the future.

In Episode 73 of The Redirect Podcast, our special guest is Areej AbuAli from Women in Tech SEO, to share with you all more about this great organization that highlights and supports women in the technical SEO field. We share in-depth talks on why the organization was started and learn more about gender gaps that are present within the SEO industry.

In this episode of BTW with BTM, we discussed a major feature change to the popular e-commerce platform, Shopify, and that's the ability to edit a site's robots.txt file. Confirmed by Shopify's CEO, it was announced this week that the feature would be rolled out to all users. SEO's rejoice as this is a feature many in the community have been asking for years to have access to.

In Episode 72 of The Redirect Podcast, we cover the role that search engine optimization (SEO) plays in public relations (PR) with the newest member of the BlackTruck Media + Marketing team, Derek DeVries. In-depth talks on SEO's influence on modern day communications, how the shifts in journalism and publications to the digital realm makes a stronger case for these two professions to be more closely aligned. Read more over at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcasts/

Episode 3 of BTW (by the way) with BlackTruck Media + Marketing, we discuss the upcoming Google Page Experience Update. Find out what are the areas you should be most concerned with and how it could impact your site. Follow along or read more at: https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/ep-3-btw-with-blacktruck-what-is-the-google-page-experience-update/

Episode 2 of BTW (by the way) with BlackTruck Media + Marketing, we discuss the looming iOS 14 from Apple and the limitations this will bring for advertisers on Facebook. From the pixel as we know it, to the conversion API, we give you the quick details you need to make a proper decision.

Episode 1 of BTW (by the way) with BlackTruck Media + Marketing, we discuss Google's announcement to no longer support third-party cookies in 2022. Find out what this means now and what it could mean for advertisers in the future.

Episode 71 of Redirect Podcast, our special guest is none other than Rand Fishkin. Rand is no stranger to the SEO community as the founder of SEO software company Moz, accomplished author, and now his new company SparkToro. In this episode, Rand and Jason have a candid conversation regarding not only Google's dominance as a search player and referrer of traffic to most websites, but their penchant for disruption and favoring their own properties over others to answer search queries.

Episode 70 of The Redirect Podcast: We discuss a bullish forecast for consumers making purchases via smart speaker devices in their homes. With more than 100 million smart speaker devices in the home now, an approximate 31 million individuals will “shop” from them this year. Having covered voice search and commerce in the past, we ask the question; for what are they buying? For those running paid social campaigns, pay attention to the second portion of the podcast where we discuss owning your data and preparing yourself to ask the hard questions of those managing paid social ads for you. Do they own the ad account, or do you? Your Facebook Business Manager settings matter! This and much more on The Redirect Podcast.

Episode 69 of The Redirect Podcast: Google pre-announced a core algorithm update in June 2019. This is the first time that many know of a pre-release announcement of any update to come to the core of the algorithm. Tossing speculation to the side, we dive in and cover early reports on what the broad core update could mean to sites as this continues to roll out this month. Beyond the core algo update, we discuss Google's push to disrupt industries, in this case travel & tourism. Google offers up the ability to search and book everything from a hotel to flights and rental cars, all without leaving their site. What are those in the travel & tourism space suppose to do about this and what's the impact? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast.

Episode 68 of The Redirect Podcast: SearchLove San Diego 2019 took place the first week of March (2019) and delivered some great actionable takeaways. The biggest topics were surrounding Local SEO changes and Content. We share insights on how you can better understand your local SEO efforts. Plus, what is your marketing team doing to identify blind spots in digital marketing, specifically search marketing? Moving into 2019, website performance is a big issue with Google's page speed update. Image optimization offers up big opportunities, but not all browsers are created equal. This an more on The Redirect Podcast.

Episode 67 of The Redirect Podcast: We take a moment to introduce a new voice to the show. Lauren Milligan takes the mic to talk about digital ads as an affordable research tool to understand your audience. Plus, we head down the path of empathy in search marketing and how customer service-type roles can help you understand more insights about your customers. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast.

Episode 66 of The Redirect Podcast: Google starts to contact advertisers to tell them that they will manage their ad campaigns for them. We dive into what this could mean for PPC managers and accounts that Google could try and manage themselves, plus how to opt-out of this service. On the organic search front, Google's organic click-through-rates decline on desktop and see a big drop on mobile devices. Is this a trend worth keeping tabs on? This and more on The Redirect Podcast.

Episode 65 of The Redirect Podcast: Dedicated completely to what happened in 2018 throughout the world of search marketing and what's to be expected in 2019. Reflecting back on the elements of SEO and SEM strategies, cutting through the hype and determining were the tactics that generated the most buzz really worth it? Is voice search finally going to grow in 2019, or is that dead in the water? What does your technical on-page SEO strategy need to include this year? All of this and more on this episode of The Redirect Podcast.

Episode 64 of The Redirect Podcast: Wrapping up 2018 before getting into the holidays, we break apart a few assumptions or predictions made and how those panned out. Plus, how does the growth of AI over the past year impacted search marketing? Given major changes in social media channels and the volatility of local search landscapes, local businesses need a website more than ever. We close out the episode talking about WordPress 5.0 and Gutenberg, the backend editor and rebuild of the WP framework. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast.

Episode 63 of The Redirect Podcast: With more and more emphasis being placed on transparency and disclosing what information is being tracked online when you use an app or website, we ask the question nobody else is: Do people really care? Dive deep as we talk about how intricate marketers can get with user tracking and how much users might actually know or not know when they click that “Accept” button. Moving forward, we talk about filter bubbles and whether search engines favor and group elements based on the bubble you live in. Finally, we get back to basics with a statement from Google's John Mueller on the usage of keywords in your URLs. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-63/

Episode 62 of The Redirect Podcast: The team dives into an exploration of the top local search ranking factors for 2018. The annual survey published by the team over at Moz has us discussing what are the most critical elements to focus on in your local search strategy, defining what many of them are and what it means for your brand. Plus, an exploration into online shopping behavior post Black Friday and Cyber Monday. The two major shopping days of the year have major retailers prepping months in advance, but when it comes down to it, how did users interact with ads, and what did this year say about average order values? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-62/

Episode 61 of The Redirect Podcast: If you still don't have your holiday promotional plans in motion, there's still time. Jump back to EP 60 and give a listen. Fast forward, Google has been a bit quieter on the algorithms in Q4 (classic), but changes are coming to their platforms. We explore changes that are coming to Google Ads with new metrics that could prove to be very helpful for PPC managers, while keeping tabs on major shifts in Google Search Console with its introduction of “Domain Properties.” Rounding out the discussions with some insights and predictions into what's going to be important in SEO for 2019. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-61/

Episode 60 of The Redirect Podcast: Last click attribution is the default for Google Ads, but it could be killing your campaign's performance. Having just spent an entire day with the team at Google discussing proper attribution models, we dive into specifics on which model might be right for you; including some questions to ask of those running campaigns for you. The industry chatter has us excited about seeing more details inside Google My Business. This time the focus is on localized keywords that trigger your locale to display. Plus, long live voice search! We're over it and have moved onto conversational AI - have you? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-60/

Episode 59 of The Redirect Podcast: We bring you three very different strategies to get you thinking about the future of your approach to SEO, SEM, and overarching digital marketing. First up, navigating the concept of link building beyond 2018. The history of link building and what sometimes makes us feel not so great about it. Plus, if you're an online retailer or a local business looking to run some targeted campaigns for the holidays, we give you hard-hitting tips on what to look at and where to take action now. Pro Tip: Don't wait until black Friday. Finally, we talk about why the modern marketing funnel is broken and a recent study from our friends at Google on just how many touchpoints your customer might have with your brand before converting. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-59/

Episode 58 of The Redirect Podcast: Happy 20th Birthday to the search giant, Google. As much as search marketers might curse the many moves of Google, you have to admit their quest to organize the world's information has opened up many new ways for brands to reach their audiences. We dive in with a brief history of Google Search, their evolution and future of search marketing ahead. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-58/

Episode 57 of The Redirect Podcast: A more global rollout of the Mobile-First Index in Google is apparent. This past week, site administrators saw an influx of mobile-first indexation notifications from Google (Search Console). Plus, fluctuations in search traffic leading up to and after the rollout. Switching gears, we deep dive into a simple, yet often overlooked concept of content organization and taxonomy based on how your customers actually buy from you. Does your site actually reflect this, and can it have an impact on SEO? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-57/

Episode 56 of The Redirect Podcast: Keywords and links have been the backbone and focus of search marketers forever. Not so much these days, and they haven't been for quite some time now. Enter Semantic Search and the breakdown of keyword themes, the impact this can have on your content strategy, and positives for SEO. Plus, do time/date stamps on your content really matter? The debate takes multiple sides with an interesting outcome. We also look at changes to the Google Ads platform and Close Variants. What can these mean for search marketers and your campaigns in the coming months? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-56/

Episode 55 of The Redirect Podcast: Many a time, the image that accompanies a featured snippet is not from the site that won the snippet. Nope, it's from another site. We dive into understanding why and how those images get featured separately from the content. Also, an exploration into Dark Patterns, the user experience phenomenon commonly used to keep users in an app or on a site. But are there any impacts on search? Plus, EP 55 is wrapped up to outline a plan for approaching landing pages purposely built for your PPC campaigns. Squeeze pages vs. landing pages, what you need to have on the page, and more. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-55/

Episode 54 of The Redirect Podcast: Given the major push by Google in the past 2 years on a growing mobile audience, site performance has come to the forefront of many conversations by those in the SEO community. The question comes up time and time again, does the overall performance of my site impact SEO? The short answer is yes, but you'll need to listen to find out more. Plus, it should not be a shocker to anyone that Google tracks mobile users. But did you know that they can do so even with those features disabled? Find out how they do it and what this can mean for marketers looking to target mobile users. This and more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-54/

Episode 53 of The Redirect Podcast: It's official, the latest Google Algorithm update, dubbed the Google “medic” update, has fully rolled out. This is a broad, core, global algorithm update that has impacted healthcare and YMYL-type sites, or sites dealing with “your money, your life.” In this episode, we talk about the current elements that are known and confirmed by Google, along with other industry speculation. Plus, more changes for those operating within the Google Ads (formerly AdWords) space. Responsive text ads in search, announced earlier this year, will be available to more accounts in the coming months. However, the benefit of expanded headlines and descriptions are being rolled out to all existing text ads by the end of this month. Find out what these major changes mean and what you need to watch out for. This and more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-53/

Episode 52 of The Redirect Podcast: It's not that your keyword research method is broken, it's that you might not be grouping phrases according to searcher intent. Insights on keyword clustering and how you can build out better themes for your content. In the world of social media, Facebook's stock took a tumble, and we question if they're finally “paying” for that 2016 data snafu? If you are a news or media publisher looking to win at the voice search game, there's a new schema you need to pay attention to: Speakable. Plus, Google updated its Search Quality Rater Guidelines, and we broke it down into bite-sized chunks. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-52/

Episode 51 of The Redirect Podcast: Celebrating one year of The Redirect Podcast, we're dedicating the entire episode to trends and topics that came out of MozCon 2018. We take a look at more focused efforts on the user, their experience and site performance. Plus, thinking less about individualized keywords and more about entities, mashing all this up with structured data. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-51/

Episode 50 of The Redirect Podcast: Time and time again, as current SEO practitioners, we still see sites making use of meta keywords. Once used years ago as a means of improving relevancy and rank, these on-page SEO elements should have been tossed out of your playbook. What happens if you come across them? Does Google view them as spam and should you remove them? We set out to answer just that. Plus, big changes rolling out finally to the Google AdWords interface. The new UI is forced in a rollout in July - what you need to know to be prepared. This and more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-50/

Episode 49 of The Redirect Podcast: We share insights from SearchLove Boston 2018 and highlight some of the most talked about trends in the search marketing industry, and why signals show you should be paying attention to structured data. For those tackling PPC ads in AdWords, consider automated rules as a way to better manage your campaigns improve results by building in specific actions. Plus, an in-depth understanding of how content impacts your UX, which can ultimately impact your brand and SEO results. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-49/

Episode 48 of The Redirect Podcast: Insights from Mary Meeker's 2018 Internet Trends report include a few key areas search marketers should pay attention to—specifically, a lot of talk centered around mobile. Switching gears, we talk about the challenges and questions surrounding splitting a site off into microsites, and the impact this could have on your brand and how search engines perceives it. Finally, Google again giveth and taketh away on a feature inside of image search that can impact traffic to a site. This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-48/

Episode 47 of The Redirect Podcast: May 25, 2018 is officially GDPR day and hopefully by now you have made the necessary changes to your privacy policies and internal processes to be compliant. If not, you need to at least show that you're making an effort to comply. We explore data retention settings inside Google Analytics as a result of GDPR, what this could mean for your reporting and how to take back some control. Plus industry rumblings show Google is rolling back to their previous standard of 160 character meta page descriptions showing as SERP snippets. We explore ways to navigate this change with ease and what it can mean to your meta descriptions in 2018 or beyond. We round out the episode with talks on performing technical site crawl analysis, tools you can consider and elements to quickly pick apart and take action on. This and more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-47/

Episode 46 of The Redirect Podcast: For the past two years, Google had started to show search result snippets over the normal 160 characters, favoring many in the 300 character length. Many an SEO had shifted their practice for developing longer Meta Page Descriptions to take advantage of this extra real estate. Now, Google is rolling those snippets back into the 160 character limit range. We discuss the implications this could have for your site, while giving you actionable insights on next steps to consider. Plus, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is a highly regarded citation source for local SEO, but there are flaws in their own rating system that could impact your online reputation. Be in the know and listen to The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-46/

Episode 45 of The Redirect Podcast: For those who missed it, we dive into Google I/O and highlight the key elements that search marketers should be paying attention to. Spoiler: It's centered around site performance for your users and the engines. Plus, more changes to Google AdWords with the Beta testing of expanded responsive text ads for search; meaning more real estate taken up by ads. On a more somber note, the social media grading tool Klout is no longer and will be phased out this year. Does anybody care? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-45/

Episode 44 of The Redirect Podcast: Google continues its rollout of core algorithm updates this past week, with yet another confirmed deployment, confirmed as a content relevance update. In AdWords, Google and LegitScript partner to allow rehabilitation service organizations to bid on phrases related to drug and alcohol rehab; but there's a catch. For those who operate sites with a lot of seasonal content, such as single yearly events, how closely do you pay attention to those pieces of content? Are you making content duplication errors when you could simplify the process? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-44/

Episode 43 of The Redirect Podcast: Structured Data is one of the most talked about elements for good technical on-site SEO in 2018. It also can be viewed as one of the more geeky things you'll try to learn about in search marketing. Call this a primer on what structured data is, how it can impact your site, and why you need to get moving on this. Plus, you do a bunch of major changes to a page on your site, or go through a complete re-launch. Have you considered trying to force Google into re-crawling it, and is this still relevant in 2018? We're not ones to get caught up in the rumor mill, but there are rumblings about Google talking to big brands about developing paid, featured how-to videos to come up in SERPs. Is this the future of featured video snippets, or just hearsay? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes athttps://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-43/

Episode 42 of The Redirect Podcast: Google pushed its first public statement out to Google Analytics users centered around GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation. Even though you don't think you're doing business in the EU, your website has global reach and GDPR is nothing to ignore. While the language is vague from Google, we deliver some insights that should be taken up with your legal counsel to help shape your policies. Plus, what happens when your competitors are targeting your brand in PPC ads? An outline of strategies and approaches for combating competitors, as well tactics that you can deploy on your own to research what others are seeking about your competitors. Sneaky. More changes to the ever volatile featured snippets in Google SERPs; this time, it's the ability to filter queries with "refinement bubbles." This and more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-42/

Episode 41 of The Redirect Podcast: Do categories and tags produced by your content management system (CMS) impact SEO? Heavily used on blogs and big e-commerce sites, tags or categories take on different meanings, but they might not be necessary for search. We deep dive on the concepts of using tags and categories for user experience vs. search engine attraction. Plus, why you might be missing out on an opportunity to be more personable to your users once they convert. Reasons why the old methodology of bringing back the thank you page might be warranted to engage your prospects more after the conversion. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-41/

Episode 40 of The Redirect Podcast: Google officially announces that the mobile first index has started to roll out at scale. Keep monitoring your Search Console messages to find out if your site has been included. Plus tips on double-checking your mobile-friendliness. For those focused on your local SEO efforts, you'll want to check out your listings and get descriptions updated. Full details on how to access this feature and what you might want to include. We know reviews can play a major part in your local SEO strategy, but who polices the gamification of Google Local Guides? This and much more on The Redirect Podcast. Show notes at https://blacktruckmedia.com/podcast/redirect-podcast-episode-40/