Hey there, have you heard that SEO is dead, doesn't work, isn't necessary, is outdated, or any of the other crazy rumors swirling around it right now? If so, you're not alone. But I think those who say SEO doesn't work anymore are wrong. In fact, in my experience, it's still a very viable marketing channel, and it is one that I think all small business owners should use to grow their businesses and increase their visibility. If you're using online marketing to help grow your business, then this episode is for you. Let's chat about whether or not SEO should be part of your online marketing plan in 2025 and beyond.
Register now for the free live SEO class the week of April 28 - Learn what the 3 most common SEO mistakes are that keep you from getting traffic from Google so you can make sure you're not making them.
https://www.etchedmarketing.com/registration-live-seo-class
Register now for the free live SEO class the week of April 28 - Learn what the 3 most common SEO mistakes are that keep you from getting traffic from Google so you can make sure you're not making them.
https://www.etchedmarketing.com/registration-live-seo-class
My free resources, including the Beginner's step-by-step SEO Guide and my free class, are available here.
https://www.etchedmarketing.com/freebies
Join me in Simple SEO Content, my complete SEO and Content Marketing course that teaches you what to do step-by-step. It walks you through the entire process. (complete course)
https://www.etchedmarketing.com/yes
Do you have a question you'd like me to answer on the podcast? Ask it here -
https://forms.gle/Fbrqpmss6gxUnaMj7
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Shure MV7 (00:00):
Hi there, welcome back to the Simple SEO Podcast.
I am Rachel Lindteigen and I'mso glad that you are here with
me today.
I want to talk about somethingreally important.
The next three episodes are allgoing to be questions that I'm
hearing on a regular basisconcerning SEO and the state of
SEO right now.
(00:21):
You may or may not be aware,things are changing.
Things are evolving very rapidlywithin the industry, which is
interesting because generallySEO is a pretty steady industry.
Things don't usually change awhole lot.
I mean, we had massive changes.
I hate the word massive now withAI because it uses it too much,
but we had really big changes.
(00:42):
2011 2012 time frame with GooglePanda and Penguin.
Those were some of the biggestones we had where Um, one went
after low quality content orvery thin content on websites.
The other one went afterunnatural link building that
were kind of cheater tactics.
They were things that peoplewere doing in the early days of
(01:04):
SEO, kind of the wild, wild westof SEO, where you could rank a
website just backlinks.
Didn't matter who they werefrom, what they were, you could
have, um, almost no content on apage.
Still have it rank well, the, soreally for the last decade,
we've been focused on creatinggreat content and making sure
(01:27):
that it's optimized for Google,but it's always people first
content, meaning that it iscreated for the reader, not for
the search engine.
It is not just SEO contentitself.
I teach that to my students.
Like we always stay focused onour audience, our listener, our
reader, um, our potentialcustomer.
We want to make sure that we'reproviding value.
(01:49):
The other, um, the other bigalgorithm update that hit a lot
of people was the helpfulcontent algorithm in 2023.
Helpful content ranindependently a couple of times
and it's now been kind ofbrought in under the overall
Google core algorithm.
So that now includes Panda, itincludes Penguin, it includes
(02:09):
helpful content.
Helpful content was really hardon publishers.
It was really hard on bloggers.
It was hard on bloggers who rana ton of ads and had lots of pop
ups on their website.
What we saw from a Googleperspective, what they've talked
about, is they were reallytrying to remove the sites that
(02:32):
were not a good user experience.
And you, I'm sure, just like me,have been on those websites
where You go and you click andyou're hoping you're going to
get information and you realizelike there are so many ads that
it's almost hard to read thestory or there's so many pop ups
or it's just it's reallyannoying.
(02:53):
That was what Google reallyfocused on initially with
helpful content was just todeprioritize some of those sites
that were not a good userexperience.
So they did do that.
If people have cleaned up thesites, they've really worked on
removing some of the ads,they've made it a better user
experience, they're recoveringfrom helpful content.
(03:13):
So if you hear people saying, Inever recovered from it, they
probably have a user experienceissue at this point in time.
So now, people are asking, like,Is SEO even worth it?
Does it still work?
SEO still works today, even withAI.
I know that's the next questionis like, but what about AI
overviews?
(03:33):
AI overviews are very similar todirect answers.
And direct answers came out, ohgosh, I'm trying to remember
now, like a 2011 timeframe.
It's been a long, long time.
Direct answers, maybe that onewas 2018.
I don't remember my exactnumbers, but it's been a long
time.
Direct answers.
Give us information that Googlefigures we don't really want to
(03:56):
go and read a blog post on.
We don't really need to go readcontent.
Something like, how manyteaspoons are in a tablespoon?
Well, there's three teaspoons ina tablespoon.
If I'm making a batch ofcookies, I don't need to read a
blog post, especially not arecipe blog post that goes on
for, you know, 4, 000 words andtells me where the person bought
the bowl.
I don't care where they boughtthe bowl, just give me the
(04:18):
recipe.
I don't need to read that inorder to find out that there are
three teaspoons in a tablespoon.
I just need it told to me at thetop of the page.
And that works great.
And that's a direct answer.
Google's AI overviews are verysimilar.
They are not in every query.
They're in a lot of them.
But they're more theinformational, the
(04:39):
transactional, like the uppertop of the funnel, like people
who are just starting theirresearch process.
They're not usually in superdetailed queries.
And so I personally find myselfreading the AI overviews versus
going to websites sometimes.
Now, if I see something and Iwant more information, it's more
than just that direct answer,it's more than just how many
(05:02):
teaspoons are in a tablespoon,and I'm looking at the AI query,
I'm going to be like otherconsumers, and I'm going to
click, and I'm going to gothrough, and I'm going to go to
the website that they're pullingthat information from.
So, SEO still works and thereason SEO still works, let's
talk about it.
If you want to show up in AIoverviews, you want to show up
in chat GPT, perplexity, youwant to show up in search GPT,
(05:25):
chat GPT search engine, you needto be doing SEO on your website
because what we're seeing is thewebsites that they're pulling
that information from you.
Okay.
are the ones that they like,they know, they trust.
They're the ones that have builttheir authority.
They're the ones that have greatcontent.
They're the ones that areoptimized for Google.
So it's really important thatyou understand.
(05:47):
Absolutely.
SEO is still working today.
It is evolving.
It's not dead.
We're going to talk about thatin a future podcast episode as
well.
SEO has been dying for 15 years.
Every time something changes,SEO is dead.
I like.
I could be a billionaire if Ihad money for every time
somebody said SEO was dead.
(06:07):
It's not, but it's changing.
Google is continuing to test andchange and grow.
And yes, the AI search enginesare picking up.
The chatbots are picking up.
They are getting more search.
However, ChatGPT is on track tohave 1 percent of the searches
in 2025.
1%.
(06:28):
Google, while they have taken aslight dip, they're still at
like 88 to 89 percent of thesearch share, so there's still a
huge amount of traffic goingthrough Google.
The other thing in the mostrecent article that I saw, we
actually had a 373x, like 373times the number of searches go
through Google that go throughChatGPT in a day.
(06:49):
So yes, SEO still is veryimportant.
As long as people are searchingfor information related to your
business, as long as there issearch activity, you will need
to do SEO.
SEO will still work because ifyou want to rank, you want to
show up high on Google, you wantto get traffic to your website,
you want to have people joinyour email list and all of that,
(07:10):
then you need to do SEO on yourwebsite.
This, I think, is one of thebiggest mistakes that I see
people making right now, or, andthey've been making it as long
as I've been in the industry, isthey don't prioritize it.
They don't really understand howcritical it is.
They think that SEO is an extra.
It's something you do after thefact.
(07:31):
I'm going to build my websiteand then I'll do it.
You actually need to build yourwebsite with SEO in mind.
If you are doing that, you'regoing to realize, once you
understand, you're going to seethat SEO keywords come into play
in your navigation, your sitestructure, your content on your
pages, your blog categories,everything can be tied back to
(07:55):
SEO.
You can be so strategic in whatyou do if you understand it.
And if you understand it, youhave a well optimized site,
you're targeting keywords thatyou have a really good chance of
ranking for.
You, my friend, can rank veryhigh in the Google search
results.
You can get more traffic.
You can build your email list.
Doing that is going to help youstart to have that passive
(08:17):
income funnel that so many of uswant because now we've got
traffic coming to our websiteand we have a way to capture
that traffic.
And then hopefully they're goingto convert and turn into a lead
or a sale or they're going tobook a consult call like SEO can
be the foundation.
of your content strategy, youroptimization, your visibility,
(08:40):
and it can be what fuels yourpassive income funnel.
So does it still work in 2025?
One hundred percent.
It is not too late.
You did not miss the boat.
You do not need to worry about,you know, doing something else
instead.
The AI chatbots are not takingover completely.
Just know that this is reallyimportant.
(09:01):
The time to get started.
It still works.
If you've tried it in the pastand you didn't get results, you
probably made one of a couple ofreally super common mistakes.
The really great news about SEOis that we can fix those
mistakes.
You can come in, you can learn,you can find out, and you can
fix those mistakes.
You can address them and turnthings around.
(09:21):
So if you've tried and you'venot gotten results before or
you've been kind of waiting tosee, You know, my, I talked to
my business coach.
I need to wait.
I shouldn't do this yet.
I should do that.
Or I'm still working on thisother course.
I want you to understand, thisis something you need to stop
putting off.
Because until you do it, You'regoing to continue to struggle
(09:45):
with what I had one studentrefer to as pathetic search
traffic.
I have to do this and startworking on this course because I
have pathetic website trafficand I know this is going to help
me and it will help you.
You just have to do the work.
So yes, SEO still works if youdo it.
If you're ready, join me inSimple SEO content.
(10:08):
It is the easiest way.
I will walk you through what todo, how to do it.
I'll also teach you how to bepart of the AI overviews and
chat GPT and perplexity and howto look in analytics to find out
where you're getting trafficfrom all of those things because
it's all in there if you knowwhere to look and that's what
I'm going to do is teach you.
(10:28):
So does SEO still work in 25,2025?
It sure does.
Should you be prioritizing it?
Absolutely.
Is it more than just a littlesomething extra you do to your
website?
Yeah, my friend, it actuallyshould be the core strategy.
You should be using keywords ineverything that you're creating.
(10:50):
And if you understand, like onceyou understand it, it's easier
to do things like launch apodcast.
Podcast SEO is amazing.
Works really well.
I'm just saying I have one ofthe top 100 marketing podcasts
in the entire world.
So thank you for listening.
Do truly appreciate it.
It was not always that way.
When I first launched thispodcast two years ago, my very
(11:11):
first month, I had 121downloads.
Not good, not bad, kind ofmiddle of the road, kind of
average, but also not going tobe life changing from a business
perspective.
121 downloads is not a lot forthe course of a month, but
Podcast SEO has helped me get tothe point that I get more
(11:32):
downloads than I used to get ina month in a matter of a couple
of hours when I release a newepisode.
So, SEO is incredibly powerful,whether it's for your website,
your blog, your podcast.
If you are creating content in2025 and the future, my friend,
you need to be optimizing yourcontent.
You really do.
(11:52):
Let me show you how.
I've got several classes.
I have simple SEO content that'sgoing to help you optimize the
content for your website andyour blog.
And then I have simple podcastSEO that's going to help you
optimize your podcast.
Whether you have a podcast todayor you want to launch a podcast,
that course is going to walk youthrough everything you need to
know to launch and succeed.
(12:13):
Or if you have a podcast that'snot growing, it's going to show
you why it's not growing andit's going to help you.
So be sure and Check those out.
I've got the information in theshow notes so that you can find
that.
And then make sure you getregistered.
I'm teaching a free class the28th and 29th, so in two weeks,
all about the most commonmistakes that people make when
(12:36):
they are trying to do SEO.
And I'm going to help youunderstand what those mistakes
are so that you can start toturn things around.
And then I do, honestly, betweenyou and I, I do hope you will
join me in Simple SEO contentbecause that allows me to work
closer with you.
It allows me to answer yourquestions and to help guide you
and to speed this process up foryou because SEO is still a very,
(12:58):
very powerful marketing channel.
It can change things for yourbusiness if you know what to do,
and I'd love to be the one toteach you how to do it.
All right, that's it for today.
Bye for now.
I will see you back here nextweek.
Hi there, welcome back to the Simple SEO Podcast.
I am Rachel Lindteigen and I'mso glad that you are here with
me today.
I want to talk about somethingreally important.
The next three episodes are allgoing to be questions that I'm
hearing on a regular basisconcerning SEO and the state of
SEO right now.
(00:21):
You may or may not be aware,things are changing.
Things are evolving very rapidlywithin the industry, which is
interesting because generallySEO is a pretty steady industry.
Things don't usually change awhole lot.
I mean, we had massive changes.
I hate the word massive now withAI because it uses it too much,
but we had really big changes.
(00:42):
2011 2012 time frame with GooglePanda and Penguin.
Those were some of the biggestones we had where Um, one went
after low quality content orvery thin content on websites.
The other one went afterunnatural link building that
were kind of cheater tactics.
They were things that peoplewere doing in the early days of
(01:04):
SEO, kind of the wild, wild westof SEO, where you could rank a
website just backlinks.
Didn't matter who they werefrom, what they were, you could
have, um, almost no content on apage.
Still have it rank well, the, soreally for the last decade,
we've been focused on creatinggreat content and making sure
(01:27):
that it's optimized for Google,but it's always people first
content, meaning that it iscreated for the reader, not for
the search engine.
It is not just SEO contentitself.
I teach that to my students.
Like we always stay focused onour audience, our listener, our
reader, um, our potentialcustomer.
We want to make sure that we'reproviding value.
(01:49):
The other, um, the other bigalgorithm update that hit a lot
of people was the helpfulcontent algorithm in 2023.
Helpful content ranindependently a couple of times
and it's now been kind ofbrought in under the overall
Google core algorithm.
So that now includes Panda, itincludes Penguin, it includes
(02:09):
helpful content.
Helpful content was really hardon publishers.
It was really hard on bloggers.
It was hard on bloggers who rana ton of ads and had lots of pop
ups on their website.
What we saw from a Googleperspective, what they've talked
about, is they were reallytrying to remove the sites that
(02:32):
were not a good user experience.
And you, I'm sure, just like me,have been on those websites
where You go and you click andyou're hoping you're going to
get information and you realizelike there are so many ads that
it's almost hard to read thestory or there's so many pop ups
or it's just it's reallyannoying.
(02:53):
That was what Google reallyfocused on initially with
helpful content was just todeprioritize some of those sites
that were not a good userexperience.
So they did do that.
If people have cleaned up thesites, they've really worked on
removing some of the ads,they've made it a better user
experience, they're recoveringfrom helpful content.
(03:13):
So if you hear people saying, Inever recovered from it, they
probably have a user experienceissue at this point in time.
So now, people are asking, like,Is SEO even worth it?
Does it still work?
SEO still works today, even withAI.
I know that's the next questionis like, but what about AI
overviews?
(03:33):
AI overviews are very similar todirect answers.
And direct answers came out, ohgosh, I'm trying to remember
now, like a 2011 timeframe.
It's been a long, long time.
Direct answers, maybe that onewas 2018.
I don't remember my exactnumbers, but it's been a long
time.
Direct answers.
Give us information that Googlefigures we don't really want to
(03:56):
go and read a blog post on.
We don't really need to go readcontent.
Something like, how manyteaspoons are in a tablespoon?
Well, there's three teaspoons ina tablespoon.
If I'm making a batch ofcookies, I don't need to read a
blog post, especially not arecipe blog post that goes on
for, you know, 4, 000 words andtells me where the person bought
the bowl.
I don't care where they boughtthe bowl, just give me the
(04:18):
recipe.
I don't need to read that inorder to find out that there are
three teaspoons in a tablespoon.
I just need it told to me at thetop of the page.
And that works great.
And that's a direct answer.
Google's AI overviews are verysimilar.
They are not in every query.
They're in a lot of them.
But they're more theinformational, the
(04:39):
transactional, like the uppertop of the funnel, like people
who are just starting theirresearch process.
They're not usually in superdetailed queries.
And so I personally find myselfreading the AI overviews versus
going to websites sometimes.
Now, if I see something and Iwant more information, it's more
than just that direct answer,it's more than just how many
(05:02):
teaspoons are in a tablespoon,and I'm looking at the AI query,
I'm going to be like otherconsumers, and I'm going to
click, and I'm going to gothrough, and I'm going to go to
the website that they're pullingthat information from.
So, SEO still works and thereason SEO still works, let's
talk about it.
If you want to show up in AIoverviews, you want to show up
in chat GPT, perplexity, youwant to show up in search GPT,
(05:25):
chat GPT search engine, you needto be doing SEO on your website
because what we're seeing is thewebsites that they're pulling
that information from you.
Okay.
are the ones that they like,they know, they trust.
They're the ones that have builttheir authority.
They're the ones that have greatcontent.
They're the ones that areoptimized for Google.
So it's really important thatyou understand.
(05:47):
Absolutely.
SEO is still working today.
It is evolving.
It's not dead.
We're going to talk about thatin a future podcast episode as
well.
SEO has been dying for 15 years.
Every time something changes,SEO is dead.
I like.
I could be a billionaire if Ihad money for every time
somebody said SEO was dead.
(06:07):
It's not, but it's changing.
Google is continuing to test andchange and grow.
And yes, the AI search enginesare picking up.
The chatbots are picking up.
They are getting more search.
However, ChatGPT is on track tohave 1 percent of the searches
in 2025.
1%.
(06:28):
Google, while they have taken aslight dip, they're still at
like 88 to 89 percent of thesearch share, so there's still a
huge amount of traffic goingthrough Google.
The other thing in the mostrecent article that I saw, we
actually had a 373x, like 373times the number of searches go
through Google that go throughChatGPT in a day.
(06:49):
So yes, SEO still is veryimportant.
As long as people are searchingfor information related to your
business, as long as there issearch activity, you will need
to do SEO.
SEO will still work because ifyou want to rank, you want to
show up high on Google, you wantto get traffic to your website,
you want to have people joinyour email list and all of that,
(07:10):
then you need to do SEO on yourwebsite.
This, I think, is one of thebiggest mistakes that I see
people making right now, or, andthey've been making it as long
as I've been in the industry, isthey don't prioritize it.
They don't really understand howcritical it is.
They think that SEO is an extra.
It's something you do after thefact.
(07:31):
I'm going to build my websiteand then I'll do it.
You actually need to build yourwebsite with SEO in mind.
If you are doing that, you'regoing to realize, once you
understand, you're going to seethat SEO keywords come into play
in your navigation, your sitestructure, your content on your
pages, your blog categories,everything can be tied back to
(07:55):
SEO.
You can be so strategic in whatyou do if you understand it.
And if you understand it, youhave a well optimized site,
you're targeting keywords thatyou have a really good chance of
ranking for.
You, my friend, can rank veryhigh in the Google search
results.
You can get more traffic.
You can build your email list.
Doing that is going to help youstart to have that passive
(08:17):
income funnel that so many of uswant because now we've got
traffic coming to our websiteand we have a way to capture
that traffic.
And then hopefully they're goingto convert and turn into a lead
or a sale or they're going tobook a consult call like SEO can
be the foundation.
of your content strategy, youroptimization, your visibility,
(08:40):
and it can be what fuels yourpassive income funnel.
So does it still work in 2025?
One hundred percent.
It is not too late.
You did not miss the boat.
You do not need to worry about,you know, doing something else
instead.
The AI chatbots are not takingover completely.
Just know that this is reallyimportant.
(09:01):
The time to get started.
It still works.
If you've tried it in the pastand you didn't get results, you
probably made one of a couple ofreally super common mistakes.
The really great news about SEOis that we can fix those
mistakes.
You can come in, you can learn,you can find out, and you can
fix those mistakes.
You can address them and turnthings around.
(09:21):
So if you've tried and you'venot gotten results before or
you've been kind of waiting tosee, You know, my, I talked to
my business coach.
I need to wait.
I shouldn't do this yet.
I should do that.
Or I'm still working on thisother course.
I want you to understand, thisis something you need to stop
putting off.
Because until you do it, You'regoing to continue to struggle
(09:45):
with what I had one studentrefer to as pathetic search
traffic.
I have to do this and startworking on this course because I
have pathetic website trafficand I know this is going to help
me and it will help you.
You just have to do the work.
So yes, SEO still works if youdo it.
If you're ready, join me inSimple SEO content.
(10:08):
It is the easiest way.
I will walk you through what todo, how to do it.
I'll also teach you how to bepart of the AI overviews and
chat GPT and perplexity and howto look in analytics to find out
where you're getting trafficfrom all of those things because
it's all in there if you knowwhere to look and that's what
I'm going to do is teach you.
(10:28):
So does SEO still work in 25,2025?
It sure does.
Should you be prioritizing it?
Absolutely.
Is it more than just a littlesomething extra you do to your
website?
Yeah, my friend, it actuallyshould be the core strategy.
You should be using keywords ineverything that you're creating.
(10:50):
And if you understand, like onceyou understand it, it's easier
to do things like launch apodcast.
Podcast SEO is amazing.
Works really well.
I'm just saying I have one ofthe top 100 marketing podcasts
in the entire world.
So thank you for listening.
Do truly appreciate it.
It was not always that way.
When I first launched thispodcast two years ago, my very
(11:11):
first month, I had 121downloads.
Not good, not bad, kind ofmiddle of the road, kind of
average, but also not going tobe life changing from a business
perspective.
121 downloads is not a lot forthe course of a month, but
Podcast SEO has helped me get tothe point that I get more
(11:32):
downloads than I used to get ina month in a matter of a couple
of hours when I release a newepisode.
So, SEO is incredibly powerful,whether it's for your website,
your blog, your podcast.
If you are creating content in2025 and the future, my friend,
you need to be optimizing yourcontent.
You really do.
(11:52):
Let me show you how.
I've got several classes.
I have simple SEO content that'sgoing to help you optimize the
content for your website andyour blog.
And then I have simple podcastSEO that's going to help you
optimize your podcast.
Whether you have a podcast todayor you want to launch a podcast,
that course is going to walk youthrough everything you need to
know to launch and succeed.
(12:13):
Or if you have a podcast that'snot growing, it's going to show
you why it's not growing andit's going to help you.
So be sure and Check those out.
I've got the information in theshow notes so that you can find
that.
And then make sure you getregistered.
I'm teaching a free class the28th and 29th, so in two weeks,
all about the most commonmistakes that people make when
(12:36):
they are trying to do SEO.
And I'm going to help youunderstand what those mistakes
are so that you can start toturn things around.
And then I do, honestly, betweenyou and I, I do hope you will
join me in Simple SEO contentbecause that allows me to work
closer with you.
It allows me to answer yourquestions and to help guide you
and to speed this process up foryou because SEO is still a very,
(12:58):
very powerful marketing channel.
It can change things for yourbusiness if you know what to do,
and I'd love to be the one toteach you how to do it.
All right, that's it for today.
Bye for now.
I will see you back here nextweek.
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Decisions, Decisions
Welcome to "Decisions, Decisions," the podcast where boundaries are pushed, and conversations get candid! Join your favorite hosts, Mandii B and WeezyWTF, as they dive deep into the world of non-traditional relationships and explore the often-taboo topics surrounding dating, sex, and love. Every Monday, Mandii and Weezy invite you to unlearn the outdated narratives dictated by traditional patriarchal norms. With a blend of humor, vulnerability, and authenticity, they share their personal journeys navigating their 30s, tackling the complexities of modern relationships, and engaging in thought-provoking discussions that challenge societal expectations. From groundbreaking interviews with diverse guests to relatable stories that resonate with your experiences, "Decisions, Decisions" is your go-to source for open dialogue about what it truly means to love and connect in today's world. Get ready to reshape your understanding of relationships and embrace the freedom of authentic connections—tune in and join the conversation!