Celebrate the Holidays with some of SEJ’s best articles of 2023.
Our Festive Flashback series runs from December 21 – January 5, featuring daily reads on significant events, fundamentals, actionable strategies, and thought leader opinions.
2023 has been quite eventful in the SEO industry and our contributors produced some outstanding articles to keep pace and reflect these changes. Catch up on the best reads of 2023 to give you plenty to reflect on as you move into 2024.
Podcasts offer a way to explore a wide range of SEO-related topics.
Typical podcast subjects are search marketing news, strategies, career advancement, and personal growth.
SEO is constantly evolving, with new algorithms and seismic changes, such as the front-end integration of AI.
Podcasts offer the busy SEO professional an easy way to keep up with the latest news and trends and not be left behind.
The following SEO podcasts were chosen for their helpfulness, their regular publishing schedule, and their focus on helping search marketers and agencies thrive.
Host: Loren Baker
The Search Engine Journal Show covers the full spectrum of search marketing. It discusses SEO strategies and marketing tactics, exploring the future of programmatic and evolving content trends.
Top search marketing professionals worldwide share their experiences and knowledge with host Loren Baker.
Recent shows covered these topics:
If you’re new to the Search Engine Journal Show, you’re in for a treat because there are hundreds of episodes to listen to.
Listen to new episodes on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and TuneIn.
Hosts: Tazmin Suleman and Sarah McDowell
I’ve listened to and enjoyed the SEO Mindset podcast. Its two hosts cover topics related to SEO career development.
Recent shows spotlighted cultivating good habits and conquering bad ones, overcoming fear of failure, and a very interesting episode with Mordy Oberstein about how to push back to make good things happen at work.
This episode (Pushing Back with Mordy Oberstein) is a fine representation of how the podcast creatively handles its topics. Pushing Back is about avoiding becoming overwhelmed and how pushing back can help keep a company on track to accomplishing goals.
Hosts Tazmin and Sarah reliably publish an episode weekly, and they are looking forward to future episodes in 2023.
I asked Sarah about the origins of the podcast and what listeners should expect from it.
Sarah shared:
“Whilst there are amazing SEO podcasts out there, Tazmin and I saw that there aren’t many that just focus on soft skills, personal growth, and career development.
Yes, some touch on these topics, but we definitely saw an opportunity to create a podcast that solely focuses on giving SEO professionals actionable tips and advice, so they can optimize their careers, not just the algorithms. Cheesy tagline, but true!
We’ve already covered so many important topics that often don’t get talked about such as burnout, anxiety, imposter syndrome, work/life balance, self-belief, mindset etc., and with around 30 episodes, we’ve only scratched the surface.
There’s many more topics to be explored and spoken about.
We’re four seasons in, had amazing guests, and we’ve received great feedback from listeners saying how much they get out of episodes.
Our listeners are not all SEO professionals. As we talk about topics that are relevant to all industries, we just try and relate them back to SEO with real-life examples.
Go on and give some of our episodes a try!”
Listen to the SEO Mindset Podcast at Amazon Music, Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Pocket Casts.
Host: Shelley Walsh
SEO Pioneers is video series (with podcast coming soon) documenting the early days of SEO through the recollections of many who were there.
The guests are all pioneers who helped to shaped the industry at its formation, or contributed in a significant way.
Along the way, there are some amazing anecdotes, like when a company chairman asked Michael Bonfils to find good companies to invest in, and Michael discovered a small company called Google that nobody had heard about yet.
Michael tells the chairman to invest in Google, but then, of course, the chairman knows better, and you can probably guess what happens next.
Walsh interviews, amongst other, Ammon Johns, Greg Boser, Dave Naylor, Bruce Clay, John Mueller and Rae Hoffman, one of the sharpest and most successful affiliate marketers in the industry. Upcoming episodes include Brett Tabke, Barry Schwartz and Jill Whalen.
There’s also an episode with the late Bill Slawski which is the last interview he ever gave.
Every pioneer has a different story to tell with plenty of insights into the foundations of SEO, how search engines evolved and what is still relevant today.
In every episode the approach is for the pioneer to offer a unique story and also to get them to share something they have never shared in public before. Watch Dave Naylor for one of the best stories!
All episodes in this series are a winner and a must-listen for search marketers at every level. John Mueller even credited the show as ‘one to watch’ on Google Search News.
SEO Pioneers is currently available on YouTube and will soon be available as a podcast.
Hosts: Isaline Muelhauser and Areej AbuAli
The Women in Tech SEO Podcast (WTSPodcast) is a biweekly show spotlighting women in search.
Podcast episodes primarily cover technical SEO and personal development issues that are unique to workers in SEO.
It’s mostly about technical SEO, hence the show’s title, Women In Tech SEO Podcast.
Recent episodes discuss structured data, large website migrations, and an interesting take on site architecture.
I asked them last year what listeners can expect.
They replied:
“Learn new SEO tactics in a fun and accessible way.
Feel inspired by our guest’s stories and what empowers them.
Stay up to date with our latest initiatives and events.”
Technical SEO is one of my favorite topics; I appreciate the clarity they bring to it. I strongly recommend giving the podcast a listen.
Listen to Women in Tech SEO on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Host: Andi Jarvis
The Strategy Sessions Podcast may be most useful to those at a management level of an SEO department or an agency.
The podcast features content related to performance marketing. But a significant number of the episodes are peripheral to SEO – more about running an agency and marketing to consumers.
Guests on the Strategy Sessions podcast work or have worked at companies like the BBC, Accenture, and marketing heads at tech startups.
A recent episode titled, Rebrands, People and the Future of Marketing covered:
The challenges of working around client silos to launch new work.
Knowing when you have enough data.
Marketing being “more than just the wrapping paper, but about what’s inside the box too.”
Challenges for marketers coming into a recession.
Running a creative agency with an IT background.
The lessons from Gillette and P&G at the start of his career.
Building diverse teams and new thinking.
Other podcasts are about topics on how to grow an agency from 2 people to 60 people in 8 years.
Listen to new episodes at Apple, Google, and Spotify.
Hosts: Greg Finn, Jessica Budde, and Christine ‘Shep’ Zirnheld
Listen to the fresh perspectives on recent SEO and digital marketing news with the dynamic hosts of Marketing O’Clock.
Episodes in February 2023 covered news about Meta’s verification scheme, Microsoft advertising updates, AI-powered search, and whether Google is losing its mojo.
Pretty good for a podcast that started in 2018 as a way to keep clients up to date with trending SEO, PPC, and social media news.
Their podcast is released on a weekly schedule. Put it on your calendar and tune in to the latest episodes.
Listen to new episodes on Apple, Stitcher, and Spotify.
Host: Jim Hedger and Kristine Schachinger
Webcology is a regularly published podcast covering current events in the world of SEO. Hosts and guests discuss evergreen topics like domains, conversions, link building and everything else to do with search marketing.
Kristine Schachinger, based in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a highly experienced search marketer with nearly twenty years in the industry. Her depth of experience, knowledge of SEO and the technical side of development add greatly to the Webcology podcast.
Jim Hedger is a Toronto based search marketer with well over 25 years experience working on the Internet.
His wide-ranging curiosity keeps him in touch with current events and further, he can tell you where the currents of events are taking the search industry.
If you only listen to one SEO podcast a week, Webcology should be at the top of your list.
Listen to new episodes on Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and RedCircle.
Host: Jason Barnard
Search marketer Jason Barnard publishes one of the most actionable SEO podcasts on the Internet.
Virtually every episode is jampacked with strategies related to search marketing. This makes his Branded Search (and Beyond) podcast a perfect listen every Tuesday.
Every episode contains evergreen content, meaning there are five years’ worth of actionable discussions to listen to.
Recent topics include:
Conversion-Driven SEO for Consistent Results.
How to Leverage Press to Build Authority on Google.
Building a Personal Brand Online With a Book.
How to Create Content That Converts.
Jason publishes a new episode every week.
Available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Search Off the Record is an informal podcast by many SEO-facing Googlers.
Topics range from a behind-the-scenes look at how Google Search Central documentation is developed to a light discussion of algorithms.
Two factors make Google’s podcast notable:
Variety: The podcast is different from anything else focused on the business of search.
Authoritative source: Because it’s from Google – that’s a compelling reason to tune in.
The podcasts aren’t all related to technical SEO and don’t help one become a better search marketer.
But the podcast does help understand where Google’s coming from.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Host: Bjork Ostrom
The Food Blogger Pro podcast is focused on helping food bloggers achieve greater success.
What’s interesting is that, while the focus is on food bloggers, the topics cross over to publishers in any other topic.
Recent topics demonstrate how broadly the topics apply to virtually any kind of information publishing business:
Building relationships and improving SEO with email marketing.
Understanding taxes for independent creators.
Transitioning from publishing an informational site to an ecommerce business.
Creating a paid newsletter income stream.
Diversifying income and growth strategies.
Listen to the podcast on Apple, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
Host: David Bain
RankRanger publishes a podcast episode every Tuesday.
Each episode features a guest discussing a search marketing topic that’s appropriate for virtually anyone who publishes a website or practices SEO – whether that’s in-house, agency, or as an independent search marketer.
Recent topics are:
5 Ways To Use Logfiles For SEO.
Five Tips To Optimize Your Google Business Profile.
How To Audit Content Like An SEO Data Analyst.
3 Ways To Grow Your SEO Client Accounts.
Listen to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, SoundCloud, and YouTube.
Host: Erin Sparks
The EDGE of the Web podcast covers recent digital marketing news and presents guests who are well-known on Twitter.
Recent episodes in 2023 have featured Mark Williams-Cook (founder of topical keyword research tool, AlsoAsked) and Kevin Indig.
EDGE of the web publishes more than one episode a week, so it can be counted on for a fresh take on the news of the moment.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and SoundCloud.
Hosts: Jason Davis, Jonathan Payne, Mikayla Meek, Mitch Gregory
The NerdBrand podcast is narrowly focused on brand-related topics that intersect with SEO both directly and indirectly.
While the podcast itself doesn’t directly touch on SEO, the topics are of great importance important to anyone who practices search marketing.
Recent topics include:
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
Host: Daniel K. Cheung
Speaking of brands, The Make SEO Simple Again podcast has been rebranded as the #DreadingSundays Podcast.
#DreadingSundays is about the business of SEO and personal development.
I asked Daniel what he feels listeners will take away from the podcast:
“You know the feeling you get on Sunday where you’re like “Oh… it’s Monday again”?
It’s probably because you don’t really want to go to work and this is the premise behind #DreadingSundays – a podcast that explores actionable tips to successfully negotiate for better pay and to prepare for job interviews.
Featuring a diverse range of guests, you’ll hear from people who look like you and sound like you so that you can feel motivated and inspired to take what is rightfully yours.”
There are currently multiple seasons to listen to that are on evergreen topics, which means there are many episodes to choose from for new listeners.
The #DreadingSundays podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify.
I’m excited to see new podcasts making the list this year.
The broad scope of the podcasts reflects the many kinds of topics for professionals in the search marketing community.
More Resources:
Featured Image: GBJSTOCK/Shutterstock
