Emilia Korczynska

Old SEO vs New SEO mindset:

Old: 
Go after KWs with the highest search volume. 
New:
Go after KWs with the highest search intent.

Old:

Publish few super-long “skyscraper” posts to try to outrank your competitors for big, fat head terms.

New:

Even 300 words are enough if you’ve answered the search intent really well. And content velocity really matters.

Old:

Programmatic SEO is blackhat, low quality, and doesn’t serve the users.

New:

Programmatic SEO can improve user experience and content quality by bringing consistency to posts following an expected structure - e.g. listicles, comparison posts, reviews.

Old:

Avoid zero search keywords at all cost.

New:

Zero search keywords are great if they have great intent. High content velocity for niche, high-intent KWs can help you gain topical authority faster.

Old:

Google Keyword Planner is gospel.

New:

All KW tools are inaccurate and should not determine whether you publish a post on a particular topic or not. Since 15% of all searches every month are new anyway, and 45% of search terms are hidden in Search Console, following keyword research tools blindly over understanding the target audience is a slippery slope.

Old:
Prune content, and avoid cannibalization at all cost.

New: 
Having more than 1 position in SERPs for the same search term with different content = more real estate you take up in Google. Aggressive pruning just to avoid cannibalization can do more harm than good unless you invest tons of time into analyzing what each post also ranks for, which just doesn't make any sense.

Old:
Domain authority.

New:
Topical authority.

Old:
Build backlinks.

New:
Build internal links. Pay attention to content hierarchy.

Old:
Build links from high Domain Rating sites.

New:
Attract links from high Domain Relevance sites.


In 2022, we finally write like humans. For humans. ❤️

What would you add? 🙂

#SEO #contentmarketing

As I’m writing this post, I was supposed to be having a job interview. Unfortunately, this was another candidate that hasn’t shown up. No email, no LinkedIn message, nothing. This is the 5th time it happened in the last 2 weeks. Out of 7 candidates that applied for this (rather entry-level) position in sales, 5 didn’t show up. Only two emailed me to cancel the call and say that they weren’t interested anymore. One suggested we do a phone call instead of the Zoom interview, because he “was working out outside”.

Ironically - I approached the candidate who stood me up today myself, as I learned about his recent redundancy. One would think he would be extra motivated, but clearly when it comes to employers - there’s plenty more fish in the sea.

The two candidates I managed to speak to wanted $110,000 OTE for this role with less than 2 years of experience. This is more than twice the national average. But we didn't mind as we really wanted to hire at least one person in the US to be in the right timezone for some of our users.

The other two people we hired for these roles are from Pakistan and Nigeria.

We hired them through our Internship Program.

13 people applied for the internship, 8 were invited to an interview. 8 showed up. 4 were selected for the program. 3 successfully completed the challenging, 12-week paid internship, learning new skills and new tools almost every week. 3 were made job offers. Two accepted. Average age: 19.

The interns were from Pakistan, Nigeria, China and South Africa. Other applicants included people from Romania, Poland, India and Ukraine.

My conclusion is that motivation and attitude beats experience and being a “native speaker” is more of a bias than a competitive edge. Heck, what we consider a disadvantage (yes, my interns were sometimes having connection problems, sudden power cuts, or bouts of malaria.) often makes people really go the extra mile.

I’m ready to hire more people like them. My only concern is that when they start selling, they will be discriminated against because of their name, skin color, or accent. Because no matter how much we talk about equality in the West - the bias is still alive and well. I’ve seen (shockingly) how retargeting ads perform differently if the only variable is the skin color of the person on the image. I’ve been told to go back where I came from. But ultimately what counts is who shows up.

Keep grinding kids. Bilal Ahmad 艾一鸣, Honourable Ayaruja - welcome on board :)

#hiring #jobmarket #sales #saas #recession