Adam Audette
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About Adam Audette

Adam Audette is SVP SEO and Data Science at Blend360. Adam started his career in the early 2000s by co-founding the SEO agency AudetteMedia. He was the global head of SEO for Merkle / Dentsu for nearly eight years. He now works at Blend360 combining the worlds of data science and SEO. Adam and his teams have worked with many of the world’s leading brands, including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Zappos, Walmart, Target, Experian, Samsung, Walgreens, and many others.

Adam Audette's latest articles

Google algorithm updates

The Paradox Of New Vs. Old SEO

SEO is at a crossroads. Everything in the search industry is continually changing: Google is rolling out new algorithms, tools, and products; Bing is partnering with Facebook in ever more interesting ways; SEO toolsets are being forced to change their approach; and techniques used by SEOs are continually being re-visited to test their validity. Yet, […]

SEO

The Latest & Greatest On SEO Pagination

Technical SEO topics such as pagination are near and dear to my heart. This article will build upon and update my previous treatment of pagination and SEO. I’ve written and presented often on pagination for SEO. Why so much attention on this subject? The reason is simple: it can be a big, hairy deal for […]

SEO

Five-Step Strategy For Solving SEO Pagination Problems

Pagination has always been a sticky problem for search engines. While not nearly as complex as faceted navigations for SEO, they can certainly cause crawling inefficiencies and excessive duplicate content. They can also create problems with undesirable pages ranking for important terms, in cases where the search engines don’t pick your preferred URL. Fundamentally, pagination […]

SEO

How To Maximize The Value Of SEO Client On-Boarding

What is the correct process for on-boarding new clients at the enterprise level? How do you get the most value out of the on-boarding process, for all participants? I often hear questions about the brass tacks of search marketing campaigns: how is reporting handled? What happens when we engage, how does the on-boarding process work? […]

SEO

The Coming Tide Of SEO Tattletales

Be ready, because there’s a new wave coming: competitive sabotage through SEO due diligence and outing. Competitive analysis will always be fundamental to search engine optimization. SEO, by nature, is a competitive pursuit: a site climbs the ranks on the backs of other sites, and there’s only room for one URL at the top. Because […]

SEO

5 New Tactics For SEO Post-Panda

I hear this question, in various forms, quite often these days: “What’s up with Google now, post-Panda/Farmer/whaddayacallit? What am I supposed to be doing for SEO?” (Usually accompanied with a deep sigh, aggressive hand gestures, and/or grimacing.) It All Started With Caffeine “Caffeine lets us index web pages on an enormous scale.” – Carrie Grimes, […]

Google algorithm updates

Why Quality Is The Only Sustainable SEO Strategy

One of the most important takeaways after the Panda Update / Farmer fallout is to make your sites as high-quality and useful as possible. The next year should be interesting, as some sites invest in quality, while others try to game signals seeking shortcuts to the hard work. Both are valid, as long as you’re […]

SEO

Why Is Project Management Undervalued In SEO?

I’ll be the first to admit that I have little knowledge of formal project management. While I cherish quality project managers and certainly know the importance of prioritization, stakeholders, and overall project management, it is not my job. My job is to bring the best SEO strategies and ideas into an organization. Luckily for me, […]

Apple

3 Important Ecommerce Trends To Watch

The web is shifting rapidly, again. Search has seen accelerated growth over the last two years, at a quicker clip than any time over the last ten. This has been fueled primarily by innovations at Google. However, Bing is also pushing innovation rapidly and was cited by Google CEO Eric Schmidt as, their “biggest problem” […]

Platforms

Search Engine Metrics Are Horrible (And Why That’s Okay)

The condition of standard SEO metrics search engines provide the web community (if the term “metric” can even be used here) is pretty deplorable right now. Back in February, I wrote: “…the convention of using indexed page counts and backlinks to benchmark and report on site performance is facing a similar demise [to ranking reports].” […]

SEO

Consistency Is King In SEO

In SEO, the small stuff truly matters, and consistency is especially powerful. At the enterprise level things like page titles, internal links and duplicate content may seem almost trivial compared to the overall complexity of the site. But they are hugely important, and when well-optimized in sum can literally make or break a site’s SEO […]

SEO

5 Rules For Successfully Selling Search Services

I’m a pretty idealistic person. I’ve been known to put unicorns and rainbows in my presentations. And I like to sit back and fantasize about various pie-in-the-sky scenarios. In one such (recurring) “blue sky” daydream, I head to the office on my bike under dawn’s pink glow. As I enter the office, the sun is […]

SEO

A Turning Point In The Field Of SEO

We are at a turning point in the field of search engine optimization (SEO)—a positive turning point. For those of us who have been around for a long time, it’s an interesting (and very good) time to be involved in search. But it must be daunting for those outside the industry, or just getting started […]

Apple

Enterprise SEO Tools, Part 1: The Browser

Everybody loves tools! For search marketers working on any level—a 10 page site or a 10 million page site—tools are essential. They save us time, they help us diagnose issues, and they give us a peek into what our competitors are doing. They can even give us a peek into what the search engines are […]

Link building

5 New Paradigms For Link Building Success

Link building has changed. Over the past several years, a shift has taken place that has removed much of the meritocratic, or natural reward, of high-quality content with quantities of high-quality links. This self-guided sharing by website owners is becoming rare. Competition and noise on the web, combined with financial incentive surrounding links, has made […]

SEO

Internal Linking Tactics For Users & Search Engines

The internal linking structure of a website represents a wealth of (usually) untapped opportunity. Back link acquisition is always going to be fundamental to organic search efforts, but before reaching out across the vast web for links, look within.

SEO

Worthy Alternatives To The Useless SEO Data Provided By Search Engines

The data classically used in search engine optimization (SEO) to benchmark sites and track performance is all but useless today. Ranking reports, still a necessary evil in SEO reporting, have been unreliable (at best) for at least 3 years. Their validity has been further marginalized over the last 24 months by way of Google’s increased […]

Enterprise

Enterprise SEM: Q&A With Zappos’ Darrin Shamo

Zappos.com, the online retailer with legendary customer service, has been on a meteoric rise during the last few years. After achieving revenues of over $1 billion in 2008, Zappos was acquired by one of the biggest players on the web in late 2009: Amazon.com. Behind Zappos’s amazing customer service and great brand, lies a sophisticated […]

Google Analytics

Two Essential Search Channels To Boost Holiday Sales

Here are a couple important areas for Industrial Strength search marketers to focus on right now, both of which are feed-based: Google Product Search and Yahoo! Paid Inclusion. Below I outline why these channels matter more than ever this holiday season, and how they can help you capture substantial traffic and sales. Google Product Search […]

SEO

Small & Nimble Trumps Big & Slow In SEO

In my experience, the best search engine optimization (SEO) in the world comes from small shops and freelance consultants. That statement (and the following article) is only my opinion, of course, but it’s an opinion based on about 14 years working in this industry.

Link building

9 Tasty Tips For Ecommerce SEOs

Step right up fellow search marketers, and get your tasty tips for ecommerce right here! I have to admit, my favorite number is “9,” so this list is already my favorite. The below tips are especially for search engine optimizers (SEOs) actively working in the ecommerce field. Hopefully you can make use of these, and […]

SEO

SEO “Best Practices” Are Bunk

On this, my maiden voyage as a columnist here at Search Engine Land, I’m going to rant about the empty buzzphrase “best practice.” Nothing like a little rant to get things started, right?

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