Interview with SEO specialist and Blogger Nathan Gotch

We created a list of interesting questions and interviewed one of the well-known SEO bloggers, founder of GotchSEO Blog and Academy –  Nathan Gotch. We hope that this small but very informative interview will help you understand the main trends in digital marketing and SEO. Nathan shared his knowledge and own experience to create these tips on how to start a website optimization process correctly, on what to pay attention to and how to increase website efficiency. To know more about his projects, follow him on Facebook of Nathan Gotch.

So let’s start! Spread your knowledge about SEO with Sitechecker and Nathan Gotch:

1. How many years of experience in digital marketing do you have?

I’ve been doing Digital marketing (mainly SEO) since 2012, so 7 years (did not realize it’s been that long!).

2. What type of digital marketing you have the strongest skills?

SEO is my bread and butter, but I’ve also developed content marketing and paid advertising skills as well.

3. What projects are you proud of?

Definitely Gotch SEO Academy. I built it from zero students to over 700 amazing people. I’m super proud of what it has become and the direction it’s going.

4. What do you do to further your own SEO knowledge and skills?

I’ve found that the best way for me to stay sharp is to always to be working on SEO campaigns. That’s why I start new niche websites, take on SEO audits, and do some consulting because I want to expand my knowledge by seeing different scenarios.

5. Is there any marketing or SEO blog you like most of all and why?

I can’t be cliche and say “my blog” right? Well, I don’t read many blogs anymore, but I follow certain people who I think are doing great work. Some names that come to mind (there are too many to list) are Ryan Stewart, Nick Eubanks, Brian Dean, and Matt Diggity.

6. What are the TOP-3 errors you made at the beginning of your SEO specialist career?

1. Doing a grey hat SEO.
2. Thinking that publish more content was “good” SEO.
3. Caring TOO much about SEO while neglecting more evergreen skillsets (like copywriting).

7. Your blog about SEO and Digital Marketing is among the most popular ones. What is the most powerful thing about your blog’s popularity?

Honestly, I’m so grateful that people see value in my writing and videos. I can’t possibly explain why it’s popular from my perspective. But from the very beginning, I also told myself that I would never produce any content unless I had experience in the topic. I think that experience comes out in my content. My blog is “powerful” for my business because I’m simply attempting to add as much value as I can to my prospects life. If I do that well, then they may become a customer one day.

8. What SEO tactics do you think are underrated?

I consider myself the anti-tactic guy, so this is a tough one for me. I think the most underutilized action is creating linkable assets.

9. Do you believe that backlinks are Google’s past? Is link building important for increasing the website’s positions nowadays?

It’s odd, but I think it’s getting more important. If you examine the SERPs you’ll see that authority websites are dominating. And there’s really only one way to grow your site’s authority… more quality backlinks.

10. In your opinion, does the technical health of the website affect the ranking positions in search engines?

For sure! Technical issues can hurt UX and Google values searcher experience. So, every SEO should do everything in their power to make sure that their website has a strong UX. Eliminating technical issues is a good first step.

11. We all know about the June update from Google. Some websites rose, some of them fell. What do you think about the new algorithm? What are the main new rankings factors SEO and Marketing specialists should pay attention to? How do you stay up-to-date on the near-constant search algorithm changes?

It’s too early to know exactly what’s changed. After the recent June update, the one thing I will say is that it seems that this update targeted both on-site and off-site factors. Every website I’ve analyzed that’s taken a hit has had issues on both fronts. Also, as I mentioned above, authority website seems to be dominating even more (which has been a common trend for the last few years). I’m not one to geek out on updates. I just monitor my campaigns and adjust accordingly when anomalies occur.

12. In your opinion, does user’s behavior impact on website ranking in SERP?

User signals may not be a direct ranking factor, but they could influence rankings indirectly. At the end of the day, optimizing your site’s user experience is a good business decision.

13. What is your approach to developing an SEO strategy?

I always start with an SEO audit and then create a prioritized action list from there.

At a 30,000-foot view, my process is:

• Audit – Find issues and identify opportunities.
• Optimize – Optimize existing assets, fix technical issues, etc.
• Create – Create new SEO-driven assets.
• Promote – Acquire links.

14. What services/companies/apps have inspired you the most this year?

I’m impressed by Ahrefs because they continue to come out with better-and-better features. I’ve also tested many link building services and I’m super impressed by the guys over at Page One Power.

Here’s the case study I did: https://www.gotchseo.com/best-link-building-services/

15. What are the most critical SEO mistakes you have ever seen in other companies?

Creating too many thin pages. Companies tend to grow crazy creating new pages when they don’t need to. This causes index bloat, spreads thin content across the site, and can ruin SEO performance. That’s why auditing content is always my go-to action because it’s often where the biggest wins can happen.

16. How do you evaluate web analytics to measure SEO performance?

Simple: organic search traffic growth is good. Declines are bad.

17. How do you see the future of SEO (in 5 years)?

Google seems to be on a mission to answer search queries themselves. So, that’s going to be an issue going forward because websites will be getting less clicks. That said, SEO will be around, but I highly recommend that companies diversify into other lead generating channels.

18. Which SEO or marketing tools can you recommend as a must-have for every SEO specialist?

Screaming Frog SEO Spider and Ahrefs are really all you need.

19. What advice can you give for those who are just starting their career in digital marketing?

Start your own side projects like a niche or affiliate website. Nothing will help you learn faster than trying to grow your own website.