Archives: Timeline Stories

In mid-2022 after successfully handing off my SEO work at Made Ya Click! I sought a return to enterprise accounts after being recruited for the role of SEO Manager at Clearlink. Originally assigned to manage the largest property in their portfolio, The Penny Hoarder, I eventually came to manage Business.org, Move.org, and SafeWise. I led a team of four SEO specialists and collaborated closely with digital public relations (DPR) and user experience/conversion rate optimization (UX-C) teams, and more broadly with teams from editorial and leadership. Our combined efforts led to 100 million sessions and $65 million in affiliate revenue attributed to organic channels. I championed E-A-T best practices I had previously seen implemented on similar Red Ventures properties including granular improvements to author markup that results in capturing the author carousel and knowledge panels. I furthered the development of content briefs focused on intent mapping. I monitored traffic decline to SERP feature changes and pursued new areas of organic traffic in Google Discover (by implementing featured image improvements based on previous research), Google News (through integrating with Google Publisher Center), and video and image search by coordinating with design teams. I negotiated vendor agreements with SaaS partners including Semrush, SimilarWeb, MarketMuse, and tested software options such as Surfer and Glimpse. I led presentations to the C-suite on SEO performance and strategy (defined as “tactics” internally) including traveling to lead on site quarterly business reviews (QBRs).

Accounts: Business.org, Move.org, The Penny Hoarder, and SafeWise.

Biggest Challenge: Improving E-E-A-T on financial content sites through a combination of editorial changes, onpage adjustments, and granular structured data enhancements.

Biggest Accomplishment: Updating company wide content brief strategy to focus on intent mapping.

Also, in 2021 I began a consultancy with Weiss Ratings – a company with five decades of experience undergoing a digital modernization. I was responsible for ensuring the SEO viability of the consolidation of both their websites by migrating WeissCrypto.com into WeissRatings.com. Due to careful planning and execution in terms of URL mapping and redirect implementation the combined saw traffic equal to the combined traffic of the previous sites, followed by consistent increases. As the site was built in Orchard several technical SEO challenges included the lack of an automated sitemap and robots.txt, lack of canonical tags, and lack of schema. A combination of on page improvements such as improving author pages and improving schema I improved their E-A-T and curated several knowledge panels for both the brand and their authors. During this time, I first used the paid version of GTmetrix.

Biggest Challenge: Working in Orchard to create XML sitemaps and inject advanced JSON-LD structured data.

Biggest Accomplishment: Implementing E-A-T and YMYL best practices to capture knowledge panels related to cryptocurrency.

In 2021 I pursued a coveted SEO Specialist position on Lily Ray’s SEO team at Amsive Digital in New York City. Upon receiving the role, I was placed on several accounts whose combined annual revenue exceeded $26 billion. Working closely with talented SEOs too numerous to mention, I gained hands-on knowledge and experience from the best with emphasis on expertise, authority, trustworthiness (E-A-T) content best practices. Among the accounts I worked on were Nordstrom where I provided category optimizations and reviewed complex technical challenges related to pagination. I led the content ideation strategy for Greatist (a Red Ventures property). I performed research on developing Google trends including the change to page titles on SERP and the impact of clickthrough rate (CTR) after the addition of infinite scroll and contributing to research on performance on Google Discover. During this first time I first used Supermetrics and Content King.

Accounts: CareFirst Health Insurance, Healthy Paws Pet Insurance, Leaf Group (Livestrong), Nordstrom (Nordstrom & Nordstrom Rack), Red Ventures (Greatist, Healthline, & Medical News Today), & The Recovery Village.

Biggest Challenge: Pivoting from different accounts in different verticals in a fast paced agency.

Biggest Accomplishment: As a member of the team working on Livestrong I received the 2021 US Search Award for Best Use of Search – Health.

In late 2020 I was recruited by Polaris as the lone US-based SEO Specialist. I worked on multiple accounts including off-road vehicles, on-road vehicles, marine, and the Polaris website itself. As their portfolio of sites were built on EPiServer it proved a difficult technical task requiring complex mapping to unique database properties. I developed and implemented advanced schema on vehicle pages, and manually created multiple hreflang sitemaps. It was in this role that I first used Searchmetrics.

Accounts: Off-road vehicles (Polaris RZR, Polaris Ranger, Polaris Snowmobiles, Timbersled), on-road vehicles (Indian Motorcycle and Polaris Slingshot), marine (Bennington, Godfrey, and Hurricane) and the Polaris website itself

Biggest Challenge: Adapting EpiServer database properties to associate with their corresponding JSON-LD structured data values.

Biggest Accomplishment: Contributing value to an enterprise level publicly traded corporation.

In late 2020 I was recruited by HackerU (now ThriveDX) as a digital marketing Instructor for their online continuing education programs. During this time, I taught 58 courses on digital marketing on specialized topics, helped to develop the curriculum for multiple courses, logged more than 1,000 classroom hours, taught more than 300 students, led extra help sessions, and served as a mentor to student mock agencies over a seven-month period. After a cybersecurity incident I was later contracted as Technical Program Manager where I was responsible for installing and maintaining student and instructor WordPress accounts, resolving student support tickets, and communication with BlueHost’s account manager and IT support team. I helped provide use cases for partnership agreement with SaaS partners including Moz. As a representative of the program, I conducted live webinars to prospective students with audiences greater than 1,000 creating and presenting decks on SEO, Google Analytics, social media marketing, and career pathing.

Programs: University of Miami, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Old Dominion University, Loyola University of New Orleans, University of Wisconsin-Madison, San Diego State University, University of Nevada-Las Vegas, & California State University Long Beach.

Courses: Search engine marketing, web development for marketers, search engine optimization, social media marketing (organic and paid), data analytics & visualization, customer relationship management, digital strategy, content writing/marketing, fundamentals of marketing, & e-commerce.

Biggest Challenge: Spending up to 30 hours per week teaching in addition to full time employment.

Biggest Accomplishment: Positive feedback and recognition from students and peers.

In early 2020 I created a small agency with my wife called Made Ya Click! to allow me to make freelancing during the COVID-19 pandemic easier. During this time I performed SEO services such as content optimization, content briefs, audits, technical improvements (adding schema and improving core web vitals), and consulting. Particular highlights included completing the vendor requirements to work with a Raymond James franchise, and in-depth audit of AECOM covering content, technical, and outreach. In addition to my work in SEO I had to perform business development, sales, and human resources functions including negotiation contracts, hiring contractors and vendors, and sourcing and closing leads. I also designed and developed the agency website in WordPress. In this capacity I joined the Wellington (FL) Chamber of Commerce and eventually became an Ambassador to both support the local community and pursue business development opportunities. 

Clients: AECOM, Arete Industries (Designer Golf Products, R3 Site Furnishings, & Site Essentials), Azalla, Bettina’s Tea, Bevanda Products, white labeling for Compound Growth Marketing, Eddie’s Home Improvement, FibO2, Florida Tax Solvers, Guaranteed Service (King George Plumbing & Mid-State HVAC), iQ Concept, LED Source, Key Vehicle Resources, white labeling for Moxie Method, Raymond James/Connor Financial Group, Sebasco Harbor Resort, Hemisphere Worldwide Sales, rkc.me (I Love the Burg & That’s So Tampa), Rapid 3 Tires, Revamped Resumes, Mizner Grande Realty/Roger Plevin, Upstate Fire Protection, and Vicente Ferrer Foundation USA.

Biggest Challenge: Scaling the business without a decrease in quality of work.

Biggest Accomplishment: Securing vendor agreement with Raymond James.

In 2019 I went to work for 24 DATA first as an SEO Content Writer and later as an SEO Specialist. It was in this role that I transitioned from writing content using provided briefs to performing keyword research, creating content briefs, performing technical SEO, and outreach to earn backlinks. I defined the strategy for several subsidiaries of Community Loans of America in the payday loan industry for both their websites and Google Business Profiles. This was particularly difficult due to the nature of the service (high interest loans, sometimes described as “predatory”), which was difficult to rank, the use of fake author bios, and the client’s previous participation in “black hat” link building techniques. During this time, I was introduced to Google Search Console, Google Data Studio, and several SEO tool mainstays including Semrush, Screaming Frog SEO Spyder, ahrefs, and Bright Local. As the sites were built in Laravel I had to manually generate JSON-LD structured data (schema). I would generate weekly reporting on up to seven accounts and would present in client facing meetings. My accounts dominated the local search engine results pages (SERP) in content and on Google Maps along with capturing rich results such as featured snippets and people also asked (PAA). I learned project management software and developed the weekly SEO content flow process coordinating between SEO, content, development, and project management teams.

Accounts: Community Loans of America (Fast Payday Loans, New Mexico Title Loans, Tennessee Title Loans, Utah Title Loans, and Wisconsin Auto Title Loans) and Nextwave Funding.

Biggest Challenge: Coding JSON-LD structured data by hand to manually inject on Laravel.

Biggest Accomplishment: Ranking at the top in organic SERP and local pack for predatory lending terms.

In 2018 I relocated to South Florida to write for local print publications including The Town-Crier Newspaper and Wellington The Magazine. I would write eight articles and photo assignments for the weekly print and online edition with a monthly business feature for the monthly print magazine. In addition to writing, I would also edit and take photographs. I would export the print edition from Adobe InDesign to WordPress for the online edition.

Biggest Challenge: Maintaining unbiased neutrality on complex local issues.

Biggest Accomplishment: Interviewing Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) on patient brokering in Palm Beach County.

In 2014 while writing content for Just Collect I worked with SEO consultant Dave DiGregorio to create articles and product descriptions, which was my introduction to the world of search engine optimization. In 2018, I also began freelancing as an SEO content writer for The Digital Intellect on accounts in the recovery industry, and for VIP Club Scene writing on the luxury party scene, using provided content briefs.

Biggest Challenge: Writing content on topics I was unfamiliar with.

Biggest Accomplishment: Getting my foot in the door and transitioning to SEO.

In the summer of 2005, friends and I discovered a new trend called “blogging” and launched Kill Henry Clay! focused on current events and politics. Following college, I combined my museum internship with marketing skills to become a consultant for auction houses, dealers, and collectors in the sports card and memorabilia industry. During this time, I wrote for first for Freedom Cardboard and later Sports Collectors Daily, where I regularly traveled to cover industry events and tradeshows. Among my many interviews were baseball hall of famers Cal Ripken and Ozzie Smith. One of my articles was excerpted by Sports Illustrated’s online edition. This was my introduction to WordPress, page titles, meta descriptions, internal and external linking, and alt text for images. Later, my work appeared in Modern Cities on urban redevelopment, and for Evolve Media on Mandatory on pop culture.

Biggest Challenge: Sourcing unique and compelling ideas to create content.

Biggest Accomplishment: Interviewing Cal Ripken at the Louisville Slugger Museum.