Mythbusters: SEO Edition with Eric Hochberger and Mike Pearson: Mediavine On Air Episode 22

Mediavine On Air

Oh, SEO. Oft maligned, mangled and misunderstood, it's nevertheless pretty mandatory for achieving sustainable success as a content creator. But with all of the contradictory 'expert' advice out there, how do you separate the real important from the real big nothing? That's what we're here for. On Episode 22 of Mediavine On Air, and our last episode of Summer of Live 2021, Mike Pearson of Stupid, Simple SEO and Mediavine CEO Eric Hochberger joined me, Jenny Guy, to weigh in on today's most popular theories and advice. Don't miss it! Helpful Resources Above the Fold SEO Blog PostStupid, Simple SEOSummer of Live 2021 Video PlaylistHelpful Resources Handout https://youtu.be/8i8OMAjEqqA Transcript [ROCK MUSIC PLAYING] JENNY GUY: Hey. Hello. Welcome one and all. It is Wednesday, August 18, which means it's time for another live here on the book of faces. I'm Jenny Guy, your host, and Mediavine Senior Director of Marketing. How's everybody doing today? Summer is coming to an end so across America we've got kids going back to school, either virtual or in-person. And today's mind boggling fact is that another season of Mediavine's Summer of Live has flown by, and we are here today for our season finale of our fourth season, which is also equally mind boggling. It has been a wild and wonderful ride that I've been privileged to take with you all so thank you. Now, we're going to close this season out with a bang. No show for content creators would be complete without spending a good amount of time covering today's topic, SEO, or search engine optimization, that acronym that makes the interweb go round. It's an essential skill for anyone who wants to make a living on the world wide web, and as such, there are countless experts, courses, books, webinars, social posts all promising to make you a lot of money and an expert in the topic. And I would say, at least probably half the time, they're offering conflicting advice. So that's a lot of fun for all of us in our pocketbooks. So what is fact, what's fiction? How do you know where to go for reliable information and sound educational advice? Say Hello to my little friends. That was my Al Pacino from Scarface. Sounds good, right? One of my guests today is a familiar face around here, a Mediavine co-founder and CEO Eric Hochberger. Eric, welcome. ERIC HOCHBERGER: Hello, Jenny. Fun to be back in a couple of weeks later. JENNY GUY: I know, I know, we were so much older and wiser now than we were two weeks ago. And while this is his first time on a Mediavine live, my other guest is no stranger to most content creators. Mike Pearson is the founder of Stupid Simple SEO where he helps bloggers scale their traffic and income with SEO. Mike, welcome. MIKE PEARSON: Thank you, Jenny, for having me on. That was quite the introduction video. I am pumped to be here. JENNY GUY: We are pumped to have you, we are excited. Everybody, knowing this is going to be a wild and crazy live, we are ready for your comments and questions. We will get to as many of them as we can, but what we are going to start with is both of my esteemed guests today contributed some popular SEO myths that they hear a lot when they're talking with their clients, when they're in the Facebook groups, everywhere. So we're going to raise them, raise the issues, and have a discussion about them. But like I said, if you have a question, drop it in the comments. And I'm going to start out, actually, by asking you a question, which is, what is your biggest challenge when it comes to SEO? Drop that in the comments, say hi, and let's get going. First of all, this one is from Mike, and you know what, here's what we'll do. I'll share Mike's myth, have Eric start, and then have Mike weigh in. We'll do that. Mike's first myth is speed, site speed, is a crucial ranking factor. All right, Eric, this is tailor made for you. MIKE PEARSON: Emphasis on crucial, crucial.