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Dofollow Digest #7: Key Takeaways from the Chiang Mai SEO Conference

Author

Eric Carrell
November 29, 2024

Greetings, compadres -

Eric Carrell here with dofollow.com. This is issue #7 of our newsletter series on SEO for marketing leaders.

Last week, I met with some of the top SEO experts in the world at the Chiang Mai SEO Conference. It was honestly a blast and incredibly enlightening. The event was absolutely jam-packed with amazing talks, meet-ups, and social events.

I want to use this newsletter to brief you on three of the best talks I attended about the future of SEO, new SEO strategies, and new findings from those running the most in-depth tests. It was SUPER hard to choose only three but to make this issue digestible; I chose the ones that I felt were the most actionable.

Let’s get into it.

What's in the newsletter

🔬Key SEO Takeaways from the Best Talks at CMSEO

  1. Kyle Roof’s talk on changes in SEO & the future of the SEO landscape.

    Admittedly, this wasn’t the talk I was most excited about, but it was the one I enjoyed the most. Kyle is knowledgeable and isn’t afraid to get real and vulnerable. Here are three key takeaways from his talk on the future of SEO:

    Don't Rely on Misconceptions, Demand Proof: Roof cautions against accepting common SEO beliefs without verifying their validity. He cites the example of AI-generated content flooding the internet after the release of ChatGPT. While some claimed it would revolutionize SEO, Google's subsequent "helpful content" update proved otherwise. This takeaway urges SEOs to question assumptions, conduct thorough testing, and rely on data-driven evidence.

    Don't Underestimate Schema's Power: Roof debunks the myth that schema markup is not a ranking factor. His testing reveals that schema has become even more important, especially with the rise of AI, which utilizes schema to better understand content. He advises SEOs to prioritize schema implementation to enhance content visibility and search engine understanding.

    Seize the Opportunity in Overlooked Areas: Roof encourages SEOs to capitalize on areas others are abandoning. He highlights affiliate marketing as a prime example, noting that while many leave the field, it presents significant opportunities for those who remain. This takeaway inspires SEOs to identify undervalued niches and capitalize on the reduced competition.

  2. Koray Tugberk’s talk on Google Patents.

    I’ve known about Koray for a long time as a leading SEO researcher. Even having been in the SEO industry for over a decade, so much of what he said went over my head. He’s incredibly intelligent and has a wealth of research backing everything he presented. Here are three key takeaways from his talk on Google patents.

    Topical Authority Is Key: Koray emphasizes the significance of topical authority in SEO. He argues that search engines prefer to rank websites that comprehensively cover a specific topic rather than spreading their content across numerous unrelated subjects. Koray suggests focusing on consolidating your site's relevance around core themes and topics.

    Understand and Utilize Google's "Angle": Koray encourages SEOs to think beyond surface-level SEO advice and develop a deeper understanding of how Google operates. He warns against blindly following information from sources he labels as "Google Sheets," "Google SEO influencers," and "Google puppets," who may repeat what Google says without providing critical analysis or independent insights.

    Embrace the Power of Entities: Koray underscores the importance of entities in SEO. He mentions that Google clusters content around users, documents, queries, and even authors, recognizing the authority of individuals within specific topics. Koray advises leveraging entities by creating content that aligns with relevant entity types, incorporating structured data to enhance entity recognition, and building relationships with influential figures in your industry.

  3. Ross Hudgens’ talk on data-driven marketing.

    Prioritize Content that Attracts Links: Hudgens recommends using Ahrefs to identify content that naturally attracts links in your industry. He suggests that the average number of backlinks to top-ranking pages strongly indicates link intent. If most of the top-ranking pages have a lot of links, it's a good sign that your content on that topic will also attract links over time. This strategy ensures that your content efforts are focused on topics with a higher likelihood of link acquisition.

    Develop a Relevancy Score: Hudgens emphasizes the importance of developing a relevancy score for content ideas to better assess their value. While tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush offer traffic cost and traffic value estimations, these figures often lack context.

    Hudgens suggests adjusting the traffic value metric based on the content's relevance to your business to address this. This can be done by assigning a relevance score (e.g., on a scale of 1 to 5) and using it as a multiplier or divisor for the traffic value. This approach helps prioritize content ideas that are both valuable and relevant to your business objectives.

    Optimize Content for SERP Features: Hudgens stresses optimizing content for relevant SERP features, such as featured snippets, People Also Ask boxes, and other elements. He advocates for making data-driven decisions about content scope and format by analyzing the types of SERP features appearing for target keywords. This approach ensures your content is tailored to match user search intent and increases the likelihood of capturing valuable SERP real estate.

📰 Industry News & Google Updates

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