Garrett Sussman

In marketing, sometimes you work on an island, but the view is incredible.

I've been a marketer in the startup and agency world for 10+ years. The pace is fast. The results feel small. The rewards feel huge. I've seen millions of dollars in revenue flow in.

Does it always feel like you're maximizing your resources? Nope.

Is there a ton of trial and error? 100%

When you work in a small team you can single-handedly make or break your company. Success lies in:

• Radical ownership

• Strategy

• Execution

• Crucial accountability

Here's how these 4 elements determine your career growth.

Founders need to trust you

The hiring process is brutal because the stakes are high.

Founders can't afford to make the wrong hire. As an early hire, you need to be ready to dive in. Your role is to take as much off the plate of your founder as possible. Be reliable. Be useful.

You need to develop the confidence to take radical ownership of your role. You can't be squeamish.

Strategy is baked in efficiency

It's naive to believe that your plan will be an immediate success.

Marketing is difficult for a multitude of reasons:

• Contexts change frequently.

• Products can't always steer the ship.

• Resources are limited.

You need to make well-reasoned decisions based on audience research, industry understanding, and gut instinct. But you can't plan forever. You need built-in fail safes. Back-up plans. It's difficult to have it all mapped out.

You do your best and move forward.

Execution is not for the timid

On a small team, you're required to step outside of your comfort zone.

Have you ever seen a job description that asks for a head of marketing when they actually need:

• Content Creator

• Marketing Ops

• Ad Specialist

• Social Media Manager

• Graphic Designer

• Email Marketer

Chances are that you'll need to execute across all of these disciplines. Learn what you don't know. Outsource when the budget is available.

Maintain a balance of:

• Pace

• Speed

• Experimentation

• Shipping

• Quality

Deliver on your promises

Setting expectations are necessary. Priorities become unwieldy.

When you're leading a small team, you need to hold yourself accountable while also setting fair boundaries.

When you are responsible and communicate clearly, your colleagues and customers are more understanding. Hold up your end of the bargain.

Scaffold your experiences

Ultimately, growth comes from experience. It's hard not to learn from mistakes. Be intentional with your development.

Reflect on your responsibilities. Develop your strategies. Refine your execution. Hold yourself accountable.

The result will be confidence, growth, and self-worth.

In 2005, Kyle Macdonald traded a red paperclip for a fish-shaped pen.

Through a series of 14 online trades, he was able to turn that single paper clip into a house. Think about that.

He traded a doorknob for a camp stove. A snowmobile for a trip to British Columbia. A snow globe for a role in a film. He ended up with the house.

Remove the rules and trades are an exchange of value.

We all have something to trade.

Trade your abundance

Throughout Kyle's endeavor, he encountered people who were willing to trade items with a much higher financial value.

But what's the value of an old generator when you have 10 more in your garage sitting around collecting dust?

Someone willing to trade their 'worst snowmobile'? Who has a worst snowmobile? A person with a snowmobile to trade.

Trade your experience

Experience is a teacher.

Over time we learn and we grow. Regardless of your age, there are things you've done that others haven't experienced.

• How to do things faster

• How to do things better

Your experiences are currency.

Trade your time

Value your time.

There are only so many hours in the day and your time is a precious resource. You don't get it back. The people you choose to give your time to are the luckiest people.

For that reason, when you trade your time, you're giving away a piece of yourself. Make the trade worthwhile for you.

You don't always need to trade

When you're privileged with time, experience, or abundance, you don't necessarily need to trade. You don't need to always make a buck. Or win.

You can take a step back. Stop competing. And just give away what's yours.

What do you have to trade? What can you give away?

Books shape our personalities.

Throughout our lives, we encounter ideas that twist our minds, play with our preconceived notions, and send us on our way. Changed. Different. A well-executed idea across the landscape of a fictional novel can have a special type of impact.

Here are 4 books that radically repositioned me at key chapters of my life.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M Pirsig

A book about a man and his son traveling across the country on a motorcycle with another couple.

The man experiences life through a classical mindset. He needs to understand how things work. He can't enjoy the right unless he's operating and maintaining the motorcycle.

The couple is a pair of romantics. They value the aesthetic. Their experience is layered on top of the motorcycle.

We all experience life differently.

The truth knocks on the door and you say, “Go away, I’m looking for the truth,” and so it goes away. Puzzling.

Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut

A man unstuck from time. He relives every moment in his life over and over. Nothing ever-changing.

Kidnapped by absurd aliens that keep him in a zoo with a famous movie star. He learns to live the absurdity of life. All experiences are equal in beauty and despair.

And I asked myself about the present: how wide it was, how deep it was, how much was mine to keep.

Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

A man replies to a classified ad seeking knowledge. His teacher: a 500 pound gorilla in an empty room.

He learns of hunters and gatherers. Those two motivations define every individual. Can we save a planet that's being abused?

“You’re captives of a civilizational system that more or less compels you to go on destroying the world in order to live.”

Daytripper by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba

A man dies throughout his life. An existential graphic novel. Beautiful, mysterious, and heartbreaking.

What happens if today was his last day? We learn through chapters of vignettes how differently a life lived looks as we accumulate more life. This somber reflection on death strikes chords on the fragility of life.

“Life is like a book son. And every book has an end. No matter how much you like that book you will get to the last page and it will end. No book is complete without its end. And once you get there, only when you read the last words, will you see how good the book is.”

There are countless more books that have touched me, but these 4 felt poignant.

What books of fiction have touched you?

Judgment online is toxic.

One person's idea of fulfillment could be impossibly different from her neighbor's. That's okay. We all have different goals:

• Family

• Wealth

• Relationships

• Careers

• Passions

The relationship between our personal and professional lives varies as well.

Some of us do not have the privilege to choose how much we work to make ends meet. For those of us that do, as long as our choice does not hurt others, we shouldn't allow others' preferences hurt us.

If we choose to focus on work at all hours because it makes us happy or because it will lead to other types of success, that's okay.

If our professional lives do not define us and we choose to compartmentalize them, that's okay as well.

We are free to choose our own work/life balance.

Hustle culture is demonized to the extreme

One day you're watching some social media performance artist hype up the hustle and you're motivated. Then you hear someone blast people who spend every waking moment trying to make a buck online.

Hustle culture has had its moment online followed by a counter clash of anti-hustle sentiment.

If you are passionate about your work, you shouldn't feel shame for investing the majority of your time in professional pursuits.

Monitor your mental health and take care of yourself, but live a life that fulfills you.

Quiet quitting is a bullshit corporate narrative

Throughout the pandemic, amongst the daily tragedy that everyone faced in vastly different ways, the work/life balance was hailed.

Employers were trending towards policies of empathy for employees to navigate the overwhelming responsibilities of mental survival.

According to the fear-mongering, a growing number of employees are doing what's asked of them for their jobs. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Choosing not to work extra hours. Not exceeding expectations.

It has drawn criticism in the corporate world. Unnecessary.

There's been so much stacked against the employee.

• 40-hour+ work week

• Stagnant wages

• Inflation

• Cost of living

• Lack of housing

It's okay to do what you can to maintain your job, meet expectations and disconnect beyond that.

Quiet quitting is just a garbage description for a fair and just relationship with your professional life.

Choose hustle culture. Choose an equal work/life balance.

You're entitled to pursue it independent of others telling you that you're doing life wrong. Spending time working all weekend or binge-watching TV.

Screw what others say. You do you.

The best audience research is social and that sucks for introverted extroverted marketers.

We can flip into social mode for brief periods. But a day full of customer interviews would be emotionally exhausting.

We need to engage socially in a professional capacity even if makes us feel awkward and uncomfortable. Individually and at scale. But there are ways to do it effectively on our terms.

Here are 3 social approaches that force us out of our comfort zone, but feel safe and still drive audience insights.

Passively engage with the communities of your audiences

You can find communities and participate passively.

That won't always lead to the insights that you're specifically looking for.

• Engage with community members selectively.

• Not at community members.

• Build your momentum and comfort.

• Watch first, then gracefully join in the conversation.

Consume the media of your audiences

As you build your foundational knowledge of your audience, read, watch, and listen to the content that interests your communities.

• Read blog articles

• Watch YouTube videos from brands

• Listen to podcasts

• Go to conferences

Not only will you start to understand what's important to your audience, but it will also deliver a point of connection for a deeper conversation with confidence.

Rip off the bandaid with new channels

We all have our comfort bubbles.

Whether you participate in social media platforms or in-person organizations, not all of your audience congregates in one place.

The first time is always scary, but remember, you can leave at any time:

• New channels feel foreign, but most communities and groups are inviting. Put yourself out there. Be kind.

• Familiarize yourself with new technology. Overcome the fear of getting started. It won't bite. From there, it gets easier.

• In-person organizations always have that one person that gives off an inviting vibe. Say hi.

When you get overwhelmed, leave and go home. Next time it will be easier.

Extroverted introverts are misunderstood, but you can do this.

If we give off extroverted vibes, people assume that being social is easy.

We know that it still takes effort to put ourselves out there digitally and in person. If you're a marketer that needs to engage socially to perform audience research, ease yourself into it.

Turn it on, but have your exit strategy.

Search engine optimization is yawn-inducing boredom to most people.

But the truth is we are shaped by the information available to us. Imagine that you couldn't trust the information you found online.

You see this played out on social networks where Facebook and YouTube have been proven to brainwash people with rabbit holes of conspiracy content.

Will SEO be a thing in 20 years?

I recently asked Twitter this question.

What stood out to me was that there seemed to be a consensus that as long as people are searching for information, search engine optimization will exist in some capacity.

What will SEO look like though?

• The platforms will change.

• The way we search will change.

• The type of content will change.

Those who control the algorithm control the people

It's easy to take for granted that search engines can be trusted.

When the incentives for the growth and success of the product are profit, good faith can disappear. The result can impact entire populations.

You need to always question the sources of the information that you're encountering.

Machines cannot read our minds (thank goodness)

Whether you search with plain language, voice search, or images, the way we can find information is evolving.

Search education is not taught effectively in school. You need to consistently seek out ways to search better.

Your ability to research, navigate platforms, and discover new ideas is on you. Nobody else will teach you what you need to know for 'every' platform.

Agency will drive knowledge.

We've got 5 senses to experience the world

As technology develops, we'll have more ways to interact with content. Think about the types of content that exist and are emerging:

• Written

• Audio

• Images

• Video

• Virtual Reality

Consider the potential of virtual reality. You will learn how to 'search' within that new context. There will be surely new types of content that we cannot imagine right now that will exist 20 years from now.

Build curiosity and learn to search

Searching is a learned skill. It requires intelligence and technical skill. You need to be able to articulate what information you're seeking. Think beyond verbally.

Your ability to search will set you apart going forward.

Most SEOs completely neglect the devices used by their audience.

Did you know that there are two separate algorithms for your phone and desktop? Ranking for a keyword on desktop does not guarantee that you'll rank on mobile.

If most of your potential customers consume your content or research your product on a different device, you're doing your business a disservice.

How can you do to improve organic traffic with a device-driven SEO strategy?

Use tools to assess your current keyword performance and research search volume by device

1. Google Search Console has a filter that allows you to compare organic traffic between devices. You can further segment device traffic by keyword.

2. Ahrefs and Semrush both allow you to search keyword volume by device. While keyword volume will always be a suspect metric, it can give you a fair ballpark if you're in the right direction.

If you see that you're performing well on a device or search volume is significantly higher for your target keywords on a different device, adjust your content strategy accordingly.

Review the experience of your site on mobile and desktop

The mobile experience for most websites is painfully slow.

Use a free tool like Page Speed Insights to check the speed for both desktop and mobile. Work with developers to increase the speed by reducing pre-loading, minimizing files, and cleaning up the tech of your site.

Pop-ups can function differently on mobile devices and require their own set of parameters.

If you're bombarding users with ads, signups, and cookie banners that cover your site, they're going to be pissed and Google will also send your rankings down the toilet.

Work with your developers to optimize your content for the device

Content on one device does not automatically translate to another. What should you consider when improving the content experience on mobile?

• Fonts

• Image size

• Navigation

• Content length

• Interactive elements

• Videos

All of these elements lead to a different experience depending on the device. There are opportunities for a better app-like experience on mobile when the device delivery is included in the planning stage.

Plan with a device-driven strategy, adapt to the best device experience, and earn more traffic from Google.

Google doesn't care about searchers.

The search engine provides enough value in its product to keep most of the internet dependent on it. Don't get me wrong. I love Google. I find SEO fascinating. For the most part, it's an incredible product.

But it's also a business that cares about making money more than everything.

Ads undermine the credibility of the product

When you search, most results will include 3-4 ads before you see an organic option.

That's actually gotten worse over the years. Sure, Google needs to make money. But the majority of users will click one of the first 3 results they see. The ad label blends in with the listing. It's intentionally deceptive.

Unless you're aware of ad placement, you won't avoid them. It's even worse for eCommerce results where sponsored placement is more pervasive.

Google should reduce ads at the top of the page. They're not going to, but they should.

Label content that's paywalled, Google

Have you ever clicked a link on Google only to be dropped into an article with a paywall?

News publishers and content creators need to monetize their content, but it's an awful experience for the user.

Nobody wants to be teased with an answer to their search only to find out that you have to pay for it after you've navigated to the page.

That's what the ads are for.

Paid content should be labeled as such.

Are the results Google provides trustworthy?

YouTube sends viewers down conspiracy rabbit holes. It's dangerous. There's no indication that YouTube has tried to fix this problem.

Fortunately, Google has made an effort to reduce harmful content in its results.

In an effort to provide reliable information, Google does try to surface content that's backed by expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T). They're not factors that decide what content ranks the highest, but they guide people who 'rate' the overall algorithm.

Google has recently added tools to investigate 'About this result.' Next to the results, there are 3 dots that show more source information.

Try it for yourself.

'About this result' is not perfect, but it's a start.

Google's not perfect. It doesn't have your best interests at heart. But sometimes it provides tools that do make searching a better experience for the user.

Online reviews are the most important digital currency for businesses.

It doesn't matter if you run a local pet grooming shop, a law firm, a SaaS product for social media scheduling, or a DTC eCommerce business that sells rainbow-colored poop-shaped enamel keychains.

Every business will be reviewed online and everyone uses them to make decisions about what to buy.

Know where you can be reviewed

Every product or service has multiple review ecosystems.

• Products: Google, Amazon, or retailer sites like Target.

• Local businesses: Google, Yelp, or industry-specific review sites.

• Lawers have Avvo.

• Home services have Angi, Thumbtack, of HomeAdvisor.

• Healthcare has ZocDoc, Healthgrades, and Vitals.

• SaaS platforms have Capterra, G2, or Trust radius.

The list goes on.

Getting reviews needs to be an active process

People are more likely to leave negative reviews.

If they've had a bad experience, they're more likely to let the internet know, and sometimes it gets ugly. That's why you need to actively ask happy customers for a review. You need to familiarize yourself with the rules of each review site.

• Yelp doesn't let you ask for reviews, but you can put a sticker in your store.

• Amazon requires you to go through their own system (but you can encourage customers to leave a review.)

The rules for business owners are frustrating, because reviews matter. Customers are much more likely to leave a review if you ask them. If you follow up with a second ask, you'll see even more success.

It's not that people don't want to leave reviews. It's just not a priority. They forget. It's not personal. You need to remind them.

Getting reviews needs to be an active process

Think about the last time you used reviews to get a product or choose a restaurant.

A review from a year ago doesn't feel as pertinent as one from last week. You need a steady stream of online reviews. Not only does it help get more customers, but review sites visibly boost and reward businesses that continue to get reviews.

The most reviews and best reviews win business

People evaluate everything about your reviews.

Typically you need a large number of reviews relative to your competition, a high rating, and well-written reviews that highlight why someone should choose your service or product over the competition.

Fake reviews exist, and it's unfortunate. You can report them, but it's sometimes difficult to prove. Aside from Yelp, most review sites suck at removing fake reviews.

Ultimately you need to run a good business or provide a great product.

In 2005, I lost my house to a hurricane.

The previous year, Hurricane Ivan was barreling towards New Orleans. My roommate Yann and I decided to tough it out. It completely missed us. All we got was a weird yellow glow in the atmosphere and an empty street for a week.

When Hurricane Katrina, I figured I'd be fine.

At 7:00 am in the morning, we had no food.

I didn't prepare.

My friends were asking what I was doing. They had one room left at a motel in Dallas. Typically an 8-hour car ride. I relented, grabbed my dog Jack, my computer, a backpack full of essentials, and got into my car.

It took us 18 hours to get to Dallas, but we made it.

For 3 months, I was lost.

There was a lack of information.

We didn't know when we would be able to go back into the city. For the first 2 weeks, we waited in the motel. The TV showed people stranded on their roofs. Makeshift signs for help. After that hurricane, everyone had a story.

I headed back to New Jersey to carve out my plan.

New Orleans dried out and we were let back in.

I refreshed Google Earth at least 4,378 times to see if my house was flooded from an aerial view.

When I saw the blue around my little rectangle, I knew that some things would be lost. That was the first time I needed an N95 mask to enter a building. Mold was everywhere. Water had climbed up the walls 3 feet.

My purple leather couch was a multi-colored rainbow of mold. All of my high school and college photos blended together like tie-dye t-shirts.

The only thing that magically survived? My acoustic guitar in its cloth case. I still can't explain how it escaped unscathed.

Memories can be lost forever

If I learned anything from that experience: 1) Protect your photos at all costs. Your memories are precious. And you can't always remember exactly how things were. 2) Life is a hurricane and you better get out of the way.

The most effective marketing tactics are cringeworthy for marketers.

You know when you learn a new word and you start seeing it everywhere? That's known as the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. It happens in marketing too.

I remember the first time that I saw the Spin-the-Wheel popup.

Neil Patel. Notorious in the world of SEO for all of the wrong reasons. Primarily for stealing other people's content without remorse.

Then I saw the Spin-the-Wheel on a few other sites. Then a few more.

You know everyone 'wins.' You know you're getting manipulated. You can't help but judge the brands that choose to use the tactics on their site.

Marketers use tactics because they've been told they work.

You might hate a certain marketing trend because you're a marketer.

But invasive, aggressive marketing tactics don't always register as a bedbug infestation to non-marketers.

Which trendy tactics are some of the worst offenders?

Popups

Popups generate conversion rates of 3%.

Not all pop-ups are created equal. Does your popup appear right as someone enters your site? What? You don't provide an easy way to close it? You're a jerk and that's why nobody invites you to their birthday party.

No, you need subtlety, a quality offer, and an easy way to escape.

Gated Content

It's trendy to hate on gated content. Why should I give up my email address for a crappy eBook? It's a fair question.

If the content is valuable and the marketer does a good job of selling you on the value, why not give up your information for access?

That's the tradeoff.

Email Marketing

I absolutely hate the requirement to sign up for a newsletter from a brand in order to get 15% off my first order.

The same thing happens every time. I sign up. Get my discount. Make my purchase. I'm bombarded by a series of texts and emails that are obnoxious, extra salesy, and require a long cold shower.

I unsubscribe. I hate the brand. I leave. (Until I like their next product. Rinse and repeat.)

Segmented emails with valuable information that your audience care about can deliver repeat customers for life.

The problem isn't the tactic. It's the execution.

If you use the tactic incorrectly and don't understand your audience, you're going to tarnish the relationship with your customers.

Good content. Good value. Good selling propositions. They make the tactics effective. They can work for YOU.

Executing them well? That's not easy.

What tactics do you hate?

Listicles don't suck.

I know you hate them. They feel cheap. Formulaic. Overdone. But you need to accept the fact that the mighty listicle isn't going anywhere. People love them and search engines love them.

If you're hoping that Google's Helpful Content Update is going to devalue listicles, you're going to be disappointed.

Listicles thrive because they are structured and numbered

Google LOVES structure.

How often do you click on a search result and see an unstructured mess? Rarely. The search engine favors websites that are organized. Content that is organized. Ideas that are organized.

Psychologically, we're drawn to numbers and lists. So is Google.

People love swiping left and listicles are your literary left swipes

Listicles appear in many forms.

Some are lists of examples. Others are a list of steps. Listicles can share stories. Social media has primed our short attention span for this type of content.

Unless the topic is extremely complex, creators are going to drift towards the simplification of ideas.

Listicles are skimmable

Nobody on the internet has time for the internet.

If we're truly expecting content to be more 'helpful,' why wouldn't listicles get precedence? Think about the last time you went to a recipe on a website. You probably audibly groaned as you scrolled past the novel that came before the recipe.

We don't need skyscraper content. The whole point of hyperlinks is to compartmentalize content.

Listicles are the ultimate skimmable content. If you need to go more in-depth, link to another page. Nobody says you need to include all of your content on one page.

Learn to love the listicle. It's not going anywhere.

There will always be a place for long-form content that's not chopped up into lists.

But if you're hoping that Google will stop ranking listicles for a huge chunk of searches? It won't happen after this update.

Maybe, just maybe we won't see EVERY result for the same search as a listicle, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Sherlock Holmes would have been the best SEO on the planet.

Give the man Google and he would tear the algorithm apart. His mental abilities were unfair. His use of logic and frameworks would unravel search results and shine a light on why certain results bubble to the top.

What can we learn from Sherlock that we could apply to our own SEO strategy?

Screenshots replace Sherlock's photographic memory

Sherlock Holmes would enter a room and memorize every detail.

He'd store this visualization in his mind palace. He'd return to it as he traced his steps, analyzed the contents, and discovered connections that solved his mysteries.

We don't need the photographic memory of Sherlock Holmes.

We can rely on the power of the screenshot. Dissect the search result page. It provides the clues that SEOs can use to inform their own content creation.

Use deductive reasoning to piece together clues from the search results

What answers are the searcher trying to answer? Each result on the page is an educated guess at what Google believes will satisfy the user.

• Are page one results informational, commercial, navigational, or transactional?

• Are there other navigational 'pills' or 'tabs' that add context for related searches?

• What terms appear in a 'people also ask' and related searches?

• Is there a featured snippet, videos, knowledge graph or other enhanced results on the page?

Sherlock would look at these elements. He'd paint the picture in his Mind Palace. He'd use deductive reasoning to design the 'best' result. As an SEO, you need to do the same.

Don't copy the content. Read the clues like a map.

Adopt a forensic science framework for strategy guidance

The detective only valued hard evidence.

Opinions? Useless. Unreliable. Biased.

Sherlock solved his cases with trace evidence that filled in the gaps of a narrative. It's tempting to adopt the gospel of SEO experts in the industry. But even Google documentation can be misleading.

The hard truth is that Google is always adjusting the algorithm. What worked in the past, might not work tomorrow.

We need to apply our own expertise driven by experience, our own testing, and our own data to guide our strategies.

That's what Sherlock Holmes would do. He'd rank number one.

SEO ain't easy. No matter what industry you're in, there's an overwhelming amount of competition.

To make things more difficult, most category leaders have more resources than you. They have more people power. But the best SEOs have 3 mindsets that set them apart.

There are billions of searches every day. Many are brand new. If you adopt these tenets, you'll find success in search engine optimization.

What do successful SEOs all do that raises them to the top?

They don't trust anyone but the data (and even then, they still question the data)

Organic traffic analytics can point you in the right direction.

• Google gives us clues about best practices. But they're frequently misleading.

• Other SEOs share hacks. But they don't last. You can't game the system forever.

• Even customers lie. What we say we do and what we actually do? They don't always align.

SEOs experiment. They look at the data. They adjust. Rinse and repeat.

They never stop iterating

Being an SEO is like being a shark. Not in the Jaws, take your lunch money sort of way.

Did you know some sharks need to keep moving for oxygen or they suffocate?

Well, it's not as dire for SEO, but...

• Strategies that worked one day may not work the next.

• Competitors appear out of thin air with better, more authoritative content.

• Algorithms increase the weight of certain factors and content helpfulness is reassessed.

SEOs experiment. They look at the data. They adjust. Rinse and repeat.

SEOs never stop learning

Thirsty for knowledge?

• The best SEOs talk to others. They build relationships and feedback loops. They take advice with a grain of salt and an open ear.

• They read about strategies and tactics. They study processes and relationships.

• They learn from their wins and failures. Every situation is unique. Applies only to them. You learn from your experiments.

SEOs experiment. They look at the data. They adjust. Rinse and repeat.

Algorithm updates, technology, and user behavior change all the time

The best SEOs evolve. Soak up information. Focus on their audiences. They build on their own experience. There's no definitive success. They find the wins in mountains of losses. They just find a few more.

Content overload is real. The noise is deafening. Finding original quality research, opinions, and first-hand experiences is challenging for any B2B marketer.

Don't betray your readers with unhelpful content. Use these tools and platforms to discover new ideas, support your opinions, and provide a better content experience for your readers.

Beyond Google and YouTube, what are some of the best places to find help content for your audience?

Reddit

With more than 2.8 million subreddits across any topic that you can think of, Reddit has opinions and first-hand experiences on everything.

/AskReddit and /marketing are two excellent subreddits to start your research.

Twitter/LinkedIn

Using advanced search on Twitter or LinkedIn, you can discover some of the leading voices in your industry. With a personalized and thoughtful message, most will provide you with a quote for your piece.

Quora

Quora is a community-driven questions and answers platform. The best answers to any question you're researching will bubble up to the top based on votes from other members.

Help a B2B Writer Out

This free service created by the freelance writing community, Peak Freelance, allows you to deliver a B2B targeted question to a network of B2B specialists across a range of disciplines.

Facebook Groups, Slack Communities, and Forums

Countless B2B communities have been built on these platforms. Well-run, active groups like Dave Gerhardt's Exit Five (FB), Brendan Hufford's All In (Slack), and Jimmy Daly's Superpath (Slack) have interesting threads daily. They also encourage community members to use the search functionality to find past discussions.

Online forums like IndieHacker are still thriving as well.

Mix (StumbleUpon)

Yes, internet children of the early 2000s, StumbleUpon still exists (as Mix). While it's not searchable, the original and interesting content that pops up inspires B2B marketers.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is a paid content discovery tool that helps you identify successful content, authors, and websites in your niche. It can help you mine content sources that are actually valuable to the industries they serve.

Statista

Another paid resource, Statista offers market research statistics across many disciplines. With simple visualized data, you can incorporate their graphs into your content.

Yahoo! Answers

Just kidding. Yahoo! Answers died in May of 2021

Helpful content can come from anywhere

Modern research skills are vastly underrated. Discovering the content is only a tiny piece of the job. You still need to fact-check, source, and evaluate the quality of the content.

Slapping anyone's opinion onto your content doesn't do anyone favors.

What tools and platforms do you use to find great content?

Everyone has a weird, head-scratching job at some point in their lives. In 2008, I wore a beard mask in a bottle factory in Massachusetts. Our paths to our career happiness are winding. After I lost my house in Hurricane Katrina, teaching in New Orleans felt like a distant moment in time.

But if you're lucky, you can stumble into something that makes you happy and pays the bills. Somewhat of a rarity in 2022.

Living the Silicon Valley dream

San Francisco called me. The idea machine of startup culture was alluring. After a few temp jobs, I nailed an interview for a customer support job turned marketing role at a graphic design crowdsourcing startup.

I lived an incredible 6 years of creativity. Experienced every startup cliche. I wore hoodies, played beer pong, sang Karaoke after work, and lived it up in Napa Valley.

But depression does not discriminate. Independent of everything SF had to offer, I fell into a hole of isolation and pot smoking. My dream life in the bay was over. With my tail between my legs, I regrouped back home in New Jersey.

A different life startup; a different startup

Things didn't get better immediately. At one point, I was on the brink of applying for a retail job at the mall or going back to teaching. It's not what I wanted. I hadn't stopped smoking pot at that point either.

Motivated to reset my path, I put my resume and personality to work.

Finding my next role was hard work. You need to flex creativity and do the little extras that help your stand out in a vanilla job market.

When I joined a little SaaS company as the first marketing hire, I went all in. My perspective changed. My self-worth grew day by day. What got me excited in the morning? SEO. I started reading all about local SEO. Ways to improve your content for your readers to rank on Google. Everything about it enthralled me. Depression lifted.

SEO inspires, challenges, and fascinates me

Creating content that people discover on Google. Understanding the reasoning behind why different web pages bubble up to the top. The constant change of the search result page layouts. The nuances across industries and locations and mediums. It grips me with endless interest.

I was falling up into a virtuous cycle. I started dating my wife. Joined a supportive and badass SEO agency. We bought a house last Summer. We had our daughter in February. Everything fell into place. Hard work and luck.

Your passions compound happiness in your life

Throughout it all, I've developed relationships all over the world. I adore the SEO community. I've hosted hundreds of podcast episodes and connected with thousands of kind, supportive people. I've built an SEO video show and written about the industry countless times.

I love SEO. Find what inspires you. Bridge your passions with your work. Keep fighting until you find it.

SEO has been my spark. It's put me on a path to happiness. It's brought me a community, a family, and a passion.

In 2011, Google launched an Algorithm update that flipped 11% of ALL search results upside down. It got rid of a lot of crappy duplicated, stolen, and thin content. The Panda update fundamentally changed the way that businesses approached content creation and SEO.

Yesterday, we learned about the new Helpful Content Update. No cute pet name. Just a promise:

"We're launching what we're calling the 'helpful content update' that's part of a broader effort to ensure people see more original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results."

Sounds great, right? So why are SEOs across the industry freaking out about the impact?

Google never gets things right the first time

As evident by the third version of the Product Reviews Update, Google always iterates. It tests, messes with the weighting of signals, and recalibrates. Your site could be a victim of Google's miscalculations.

'High-quality content' vs. 'SEO'd content'

Directly from Google's documentation:

"Is the content primarily to attract people from search engines, rather than made for humans?"

Imagine that you have well-written articles across your site that answer all of the user's questions. They're well structured. They do everything that Google has been saying to do for years.

Will Google classify them as 'SEO'd' and unhelpful? Unlikely, but possible.

Topic focus ambiguity

Also from Google's Helpful Content Update Guidelines:

"Does your site have a primary purpose or focus?"

Many publishers cover a range of topics that aren't necessarily 'news.'

Will this update penalize sites like the New York Times, Buzzfeed, and Mashable that cover a range of fields? Unlikely, but we don't know how Google will determine it.

Big sites rarely get significant penalties

Google frequently states that they're implementing new technology, guidelines, or updates only to have it apply to the underdogs.

Mike King hosted a webinar that highlighted all of the ways Enterprises don't abide by 'best practices.' I highly dought this update will impact many of them negatively in a major way.

What can we do to get ahead of this update?

Right now, unless you know that your content is garbage, it's best to just sit back and wait.

Most SEOs who have been focused on providing quality content over their careers should have nothing to worry about.

Whether that's the reality in this first version of the Helpful Content Update is anyone's guess. I'm skeptical. Let's assess the damage in a few months.

Lucy has serious separation anxiety.

Whenever we leave for a walk with our daughter or go grocery shopping, she paws at the dog gate like a water wheel in a hurricane.

Training her has been a struggle despite countless YouTube tutorials, dog training products, and advice from other dog owners.

Her breed, her temperament, our interactions, her bed, and our home are all unique factors that contribute to the difficulty in training her.

If you've ever started a garden, raised a kid, built a business, or raised a dog, you know what I'm talking about.

Growing your website organically with SEO is the same thing.

Ultimately, you need to understand the fundamentals, but you need critical thinking and problem solving for your own Lucy predicament.

Endless SEO Situations and Environments

In SEO, industry, location, technology and size can all influence your strategies and tactics.

Industries have nuances and staggering differences that require their own approach, much like different dog breeds. You wouldn't treat a Saint Bernard like a chihuahua.

• Health and finance face regulations and a higher standard for factual information.

• News publishing is an SEO pressure cooker. The competition for Top News Stories is time sensitive.

• eCommerce requires structured data and high-quality visual content.

Location (or location agnostic content) adds a second layer of complexity to visibility in search results. Walking a dog in a city is a bit different than a suburban neighborhood.

• Local SEO requires proximity, reputation management, Google Business Profile development.

• International SEO addresses language, country-specific domains, and locally aware content.

• Location Agnostic SEO can drill into the potential Knowledge Graph.

Website scale and technical SEO introduce new complicated challenges for maintenance and development. Does your dog have unleashed freedom or are they crate trained?

• A large website demands an organized, logically structured site architecture and sophisticated internal linking.

• A small website thrives with exceptional content and high-quality backlinks.

• A simple, developer-friendly CMS can help simplify and benefit your SEO efforts.

• An old or complex CMS can inhibit progress, speed, and SEO elegance.

SEOs love to make blanket statements and proclamations. But what works for one website does not necessarily work for another.

No matter how similar two sites are, some best practices are just a house of cards. A wizard behind the curtain. A dog owner with a YouTube channel.

So next time you see advice about tactics that can solve a specific problem for your SEO strategy, stop. Look your Lucy in the eyes. Realize that your own ingenuity, critical thinking, and experimentation will be your best guide to rank.