If you know that SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, but aren’t sure where to get started, then this episode is for you.

Charley’s experience at Conde Nast, Google, and a number of start-ups has given him an insight into how SEO can be used to fuel the growth for brands and businesses. And in this conversation, he explains the four pillars of SEO that he considers whenbuilding a strategy, and how he approaches each one.

We also talk about when and how to find an agency or freelancer to optimize your search engine program; and which metrics will help to make that successful. And Charley shares some of the resources he uses to stay up-to-date on the ever-changing SEO landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• Brand credibility is an important backdrop to your SEO program
• The four fundamental pillars of SEO are on-page content, backlinks, technical optimization, and user experience.
• Quality on-page content that is valuable and useful to users is the biggest driver of success in SEO.
• Backlinks from authoritative websites indicate credibility and improve search engine rankings.
• SEO takes time, and anyone promising overnight success should be viewed with caution.

Connect with Charley on LinkedIn here.

Resources and tools Charley mentioned:

Search Engine Journal
The Moz Blog
John Mueller on the Google Search Central Blog
AHRefs
SEMRush

Timestamps:

02:00   Definition of SEO and its importance for businesses
03:00   Reasons to invest in SEO: increased traffic, cost-effectiveness, brand credibility
04:30   Importance of brand credibility
08:15   The four fundamental pillars of SEO: on-page content, backlinks, technical aspects, and user experience
09:00   The importance of high-quality on-page content
11:30   Organic search, SEO and Search Engine Marketing
13:30   Resources to learn about SEO
17:00   Finding the right agency and working effectively with them
24:30   Talking more about backlinks
27:00   The switch to Google Analytics 4