The Recipe For SEO Success Show

I've started a new style of episode.  I've had an amazing run of interviewing other humans but often you don't hear that much from me.  My tips, my advice. So I thought I'd start sharing that with you.  After a long 5 years, shorter more succinct episodes for easy learning and quick wins, 100% jargon and gobbledegook free.  Today I'll be covering Core Web Vitals: what are they, why do we care abou...

Leaving your audience satisfied with every click So you have your beautiful new website. You've carefully written the copy and paid an arm and a leg for a fancy pants design, you've even done a little SEO, optimising your images, writing titles and metas and making an effort to speed up your site. But you've noticed something odd when you look at Google Analytics. Your time on site is low. People...

A complete history of algorithm updates (and why they matter) Google appears to be fiddling with things all the time, which can feel overwhelming for your average site owner. But the truth is most of the updates don't impact small business website owners, and Google is pretty open about the big changes that you really need to take action on. In this episode, I'll run through a complete history of...

Brendan Kelso and Kate Toon get back to basics It's time to get back to basics. If you're a regular listener to the podcast you'll know we dive deep each episode into a different SEO challenge and adventure.   But today I though it would be useful to have a recap of common mistakes that we often see small business and professional services websites making.   Because the truth is it's often not ble...

Building quality backlinks and promoting your content I know, I know, backlinks are well-trodden ground, we've covered them before and we'll likely cover them again. Because still after all this time, debate rages about whether backlinks really do make a difference to you ability to rank. Google encourages us to earn, not buy links. SEOs tell us to focus on quality not quantity. We dutifully keep...

I've started a new style of episode.    I've had an amazing run of interviewing other humans but often you don't hear that much from me.    My tips, my advice. So I thought I'd start sharing that with you.    After a long 5 years, shorter more succinct episodes for easy learning and quick wins, 100% jargon and gobbledegook free.    Today I'll be answering the question that comes up a lot from my c...

Taking your brand global While many of us start small and want simply to be found locally, over time our desire to be found on the global stage increases. And even if we're not directly targeting other countries, of course it's likely that a fair share of your website visitors come from different countries and speak different languages, so it might be time to consider making your site more interna...

Taking on AI as an asset, not a threat Everyone is talking about ChatGPT. My LinkedIn is stuffed with experts providing tips and examples of how to use this amazing tool. (Everyone is an instant expert on LinkedIn). To some it's the best thing since sliced bread. To others, it's the end of the content marketing world as we know it. I mean, haven't these people watched The Terminator movies, don't...

How to increase your site's speed, performance, and quality There's one thing that never gets old when it comes to SEO. And that's speed. I'd argue it's one of the most important technical factors.  A slow site isn't going to please anyone, not least the Google beast. So, in this episode we're going to revisit the basics. What's the ideal load time What makes sites slow What tools can you use to t...

Learning how the cogs turn behind the Google machine Wouldn't it be wonderful to actually talk to Google?   To ask them all the questions you've ever wanted to ask? To find out why they do what they do. Why they keep fiddling. What they have coming up.   Imagine how great that would be. Well, imagine no more, for today we have John Mueller, head of Google Search Relations, on the pod.    We've spo...

How SEO has changed this year and what you should do about it It's been a busy year in SEO land. And Google has been experimenting as always. And if you're a normal human, and not glued to Twitter every living minute of the day, you might find it hard to keep up with it all. So I've asked one of our most popular guests to come back on the show and give us the low down on what's what in SEO in 2022...

Scaling up from being an SEO freelance consultant Okay so perhaps you're an SEO freelancer. Working job to job, helping clients on a small scale. But you have big dreams. You'd love to run your very own SEO agency. But the thought of setting it up and managing all the ins and outs leaves you cold. The risk is huge and let's be honest, SEO agencies often don't have the best reputation out there! So...

How to Yoastify your shop If you're even vaguely into SEO and haven't heard of Yoast, then I'm guessing you have been living under a rock.   But for those that don't know, Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps your site perform better in search engines like Google.    It also gives you the tools to bring your content to the highest standards of SEO and overall readability.    It's my favourit...

How organising your content can keep customers coming back Have you heard about content clusters? They're all about strategic internal linking. Creating little groups of content around a key topic. You create a pillar page and link to and from it, offering multiple internal links to keep readers entertained, educated and on your site. Benefits include more organised content, less overlap and more...

Keeping up in the rankings by being mobile-friendly Did you know that half of all website traffic worldwide comes from mobile? I hope when you hear that you'll understand how important it is to listen to this week's episode. Google has been pushing mobile-first indexing for the past few years. It rolled out the first mobile-first index in 2018 but more recently announced mobile-first indexing for...

What Google's latest update really means  Recently Google announced its Helpful Content update. And as per usual, the interwebs got their knickers in a twist. SEO agencies sending emails to copywriters telling them to stop using keywords. Business brands frantically worrying that they were going to get a penalty after stuffing their sites with useless space-filling guff in their blogs. But I tend...

Finding the right keywords to rise above the competition By now you've gobbled up a lot of SEO advice. But is it really all doable?    In my reality SEO episodes, I talk to real humans and get the truth about how they use SEO and digital marketing to improve their businesses.   Today I'll be talking to a former student of the Recipe For SEO Success Course, and eCommerce extraordinaire, Estelle Oli...

Enriching web dev and copy services with SEO Hearing great SEO advice is one thing but is it actually doable?    In my reality SEO episodes, I talk to real humans and get the truth about how they use SEO and digital marketing to improve their businesses.   Like Rachel Amies, a former student of the Recipe For SEO Success Course, a member of the Digital Masterchefs, and a cat-pun enthusiast.   We'l...

Expanding your audience reach with the right voice Influencer marketing. Even the mention of it gives me the heebeejeebees. Visions of hot 20-somethings lying in a cossie on a rock in Ibiza spring to mind.  Your product lying next to them on said rock. And oh the horror stories. Small business owners giving away oodles of product, and splashing the cash only to be ghosted. So how do you choose a t...

Staying strong during the ebb and flow of SEO Bonjour mon petite SEO beasts. Today we're talking about longevity in SEO. These days everyone is looking for a quick fix, fast engagement, the dopamine hit of an easy like. But the truth is that solid SEO strategy takes time. As I like to say, SEO is for life, not just for Christmas. It can take a long time to get the needle moving, undo previous bad...

Making informed keyword choices for my shopfront business   Hearing great SEO advice is one thing but is it actually doable? I started the reality SEO episodes to illustrate how the teachings here and in my course, really impact small businesses. You can hear the truth direct from real SEO beast's mouths. Like Norelle Hentschel , a former student of the Recipe For SEO Success Course , a member of...

Get creative in your marketing strategy   Are you content with your content? I'd say that most of us aren't. And yet we know that great content is the key to building a brand, creating trust, and becoming well known for what we do. But there are so many options. Should we be creating blog posts, guesting on podcasts, creative videos, dancing on reels, or going live? How can we be everywhere? And y...

Check out my new podcast, Clever Copy Chats for some in-depth SEO Copywriting knowledge. Whenever I'm in a copywriting group I see the same comments. "SEO ruins conversational copy." "SEO ruins conversion copy." "You don't need to use keywords any more. Google will work it out." "SEO copy is boring copy." (Heavy sigh) These kinds of comments show a fundamental misunderstanding of what SEO copywrit...

Filling the appointment books by showing up in local searches From feedback, I find the Reality Episodes are a crowd favourite. Yes, it's great hearing from super-duper SEO and marketing experts, but what about the real humans chipping away at marketing goals, trying to woo Google, slippery up their funnel, and smash their socials? Is all this advice actually doable? Well, today I'm chatting with...

Stopping your site from slipping through the cracks You've built a beautiful site. Your mum loves it. You've even paid your developer for a super SEO package. So everything should be right, right? But for some reason when you Google yourself nothing's coming up, Or maybe just a measly page or two. And you have no idea why. Or perhaps you're pumping out content on your blog and for some reason, it'...