Keith Breseé: Good morning everyone, and welcome to the Unscripted SEO podcast. Today we have Terry Pareek—excuse me, Paritosh and Anthony with us who are with WP Sprints.
In the world of SEO, everybody and their mother knows they should know how important technical is and the back end side of things—and not just content and links, but everything else that comes with SEO. That is exactly why we have Anthony and Pareek here today.
So welcome guys, thank you for being here.
Anthony Prichard: Hey Keith.
Paritosh Pareek: Thanks for having us.
What’s Working in SEO Right Now
Keith: So we could go down many, many routes with the conversations of SEO, obviously. What is it in the world of SEO that you guys right now are seeing working better than not for most of your clients and or customers?
Anthony: Keith, I know Pareek’s example is going to be different than mine, but he and I came to meet each other through my video SEO process, which I’d be happy to share with your listeners here today. I think it’s something very repeatable and actionable that everyone can do. And it doesn’t take longer than 30 minutes after you’ve done it a few times.
Video SEO Strategy: YouTube Videos Ranking in Google
Keith: So let’s get into that. Quick clarifying question—when you say video SEO, you’re not talking about YouTube, correct? You’re talking about video on your website.
Anthony: No, I’m talking about video and I’d love to go to Google, type in my most valuable keyword and show you the result as it shows up on the search results. I was into WordPress website repair with my partner. I was big into video advertising. So I wanted people to find me for YouTube in Denver, Colorado.
Keith: What, not Boulder?
Anthony: You know, Boulder is its own special place. I don’t know if this would work in Boulder, but here you see the results. Obviously these companies are paying thousands of dollars a month to get on the top of the first page, but we both know that over 70% of people skip right past those results.
And then what do they find? They find the first organic result as a video—not as a website or a blog, but an actual YouTube video.
Keith: So let me interrupt you really quick. What you’re talking about is you have a YouTube video posted on YouTube, it’s your own video, and you’re showing up in Google organic search. That’s what you’re showing how to do right here. Correct?
Anthony: Yes.
The Power of Video + Google + YouTube
Paritosh: I just want to add because I have seen this thing working, what Anthony just showed us. What you just saw is basically a best of both worlds, as we all know.
The first search engine in the world, the biggest one is Google. Second one is YouTube. And what Anthony just showed you by doing this one action item—you’re recording your video anyway for your website—using that hack or strategy Anthony told us, now you’re available with a single effort on both Google and YouTube.
Local Business Video SEO Implementation
Keith: Two different scenarios. Scenario one: I am a local business—I’m a martial arts gym and I want to dominate organic, the three pack, all that stuff. One of the aspects I want to dominate is the video component, which I would imagine video, especially when it’s over the organic results, you’re going to probably get higher click through than the first organic non-video, right?
Anthony: Because it has that thumbnail right next to the title and the description.
Keith: It’s a lot more real estate, not a ton more real estate, but it’s more real estate.
Anthony: Yeah, picture says a thousand words.
Step-by-Step Local Video SEO
Keith: I’m a local business owner of some kind and I want to show up there in Google for whatever keyword with a video. What do I then need to do to optimize my video?
Anthony: So let’s say you want to rank for the keyword “martial arts classes near me.” If one of the aspects of your SEO strategy was to publish a video with the same keyword, you would just type in “martial arts classes in Englewood, Colorado”—or whatever municipality city you have. The geographic modifier has to be there in the title.
Keith: So just to clarify—if I’m in White House, Tennessee, “White House, Tennessee” or “White House, TN” has to be in the title. Does that have to be in every single video?
Anthony: If you want to apply this strategy, yes.
Keith: So I could do “Best Way to Defend Yourself as a Middle-Aged Woman” and then use the line button above enter, and then after that I’d put the location modifier, right?
Anthony: This will help you in both ways—not just in Google search or in YouTube search, but in suggested videos on the right hand side. Whenever you’re watching a video that has a local geographic implication, YouTube’s going to think that a valuable result for you might also be these other local videos.
Essential Elements for Local Video SEO
Keith: Other than adding my location in there, what other sort of things do I need to do to get my YouTube video to show up in the organic results?
Anthony: I’d make sure that your business address and the link to your Google Business Profile is also in the description—title, description, and meta tags.
Keith: So almost incorporating your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number).
Don’t Underestimate Video for Any Business
Paritosh: I just wanted to add one thing because I’m pretty sure that there will be somebody in the audience who thinks like me—that “my business, what I do, what I sell, is not something that needs YouTube or a video.”
Let me tell you guys, you will be amazed to see what all people are searching for on YouTube and Google. Don’t be hesitant.
The idea is often a loop—an analysis paralysis situation—that business owners generally get into. They often forget that the idea is to get you more business. If it’s YouTube, why not?
Keith: I found the guy that I ended up hiring for landscaping—who funny enough lived on my street—I found them on YouTube. So like of all things, yeah, I definitely relate with that as a user and a searcher.
Why You Should Listen to These Experts
Keith: Something I didn’t ask you in the beginning—when people are listening to this advice from you, why should they listen to you and not somebody else?
Anthony: That question I’m going to pass to Pareek because he has a lot bigger scope of SEO than me and works for a lot more customers—over 300 in North America. So he gets through some daily requests and he hears people’s pain and he probably knows what can help them the most.
Paritosh: I’ll start with the statement you all have already heard of, but it stands true: Success comes from experience and experience comes from bad experience.
Let me bust the myth right in the very initial part of this podcast: SEO is about hard work. If you saw that ad “get your rankings done in a week” stuff, probably you’re in the wrong direction. If you think you write one blog, post it, done—again, in the right direction, but probably at zero miles an hour.
Core SEO Principle: Answer People’s Questions
Paritosh: Remember one very simple thing—Google was invented to answer people’s questions. The problem is that there is so much overwhelming knowledge on the internet that you read one piece from here, one piece from there, that now you’re overwhelmed.
But always remember this absolutely basic stuff: You are answering people’s questions—in your case, it’s your potential audience’s questions. And tell me guys, whenever you needed anything, whom you actually hired? The guy with the most testimonials or the guy who answered every possible question that you had?
Keith: There’s a reason topical authority is a thing. It’s a thing for the algorithm, obviously, but content done well, content that answers people’s questions, content that meets them at the conversation they’re already having in their head—it converts.
Multi-Platform Video Strategy
Keith: In addition to syndicating or repurposing the content so that way it can be utilized in other places and other ways as a local brick and mortar business, what else do I need to really focus on?
Anthony: Well, let’s think about all the ways that this video could be used:
- It’s being used on YouTube
- The same video would work just as well on Facebook
- If it’s under 30 seconds, you could put it on your Google Business Profile
- You can write a blog with the same headline and just include the video in the blog
The more views and the longer people watch it, the higher relevancy it’s gonna have in the eyes of Google. So to get yourself that initial boost, I recommend doing all those things.
Video Funnel Strategy
Anthony: I recommend four to one. If you’re gonna have four one-minute videos (30-second videos also fit into this category), you should have one two-minute video.
Because if somebody engages with four pieces of your short-form content, they’re now at the level that they’re willing to invest more than a minute of their time to receive more value. And then they watch the two-minute. Let’s say you’ve got four two-minute videos, now they’re ready to watch a four-minute video.
And in that way, you kind of funnel them into your brand. Once you do these videos—these robotic sales lead generating videos—you’re going to recognize this business superpower called economies of scale and leverage.
WordPress SEO: Biggest Mistakes
Keith: With WordPress SEO, what are some of the biggest things that you see people doing inside of WordPress or hosting that is stopping them from ranking?
Paritosh: Here’s the list. First thing, absolute first thing—and believe me, you will be amazed how absolutely basic we’re talking about:
1. The “Discourage Search Engines” Box
You need to uncheck a box that generally developers check while they’re developing the site called “discourage search engines from crawling this website.” It’s on the settings tab. That’s 101.
2. Robots.txt File
Make sure that there is a robots.txt file on your website. Easiest way to get it done: install Yoast SEO, RankMath, anything that works. Try and stay away from shiny objects—SEO is hard work and right work.
So you opened the gate for Google by unchecking the box. Second, by robots.txt, you told Google: “Google, go to this side and that side, but don’t you dare go into the kitchen.” You’re telling Google what areas they can crawl.
3. Google Search Console
Create a free Google Search Console account—that is always going to be your source of truth. No matter how much billions of dollars you are spending in tools, GSC is always going to be your source of truth. It’s by Google, for Google, and it is absolutely free of cost.
Just go there and submit the sitemap. You tell Google “we exist, please come to our house.” With the sitemap, you tell them the hierarchy and structure of pages and blog posts.
Keith: We had a client—Dr. Axe—2.4 million monthly visitors at the time. The robots.txt file was telling the search engine to not index quite literally half the site. Within 48 hours of fixing that, we doubled traffic.
Hosting Recommendations
Keith: Who do you guys like for hosting? WordPress hosting, self-hosted?
Paritosh: For WordPress, if it’s a nicely developed site… a host plays a part, but it’s not the whole thing. It has to be developed correctly.
For the best hosts: WP Engine, SiteGround, Flywheel (now acquired by WP Engine). If you’re a bigger publisher—for enterprise: WP VIP, Kinsta.
What happens with us—last week a customer came in on WP Engine. The site seemed good, but despite being on a great host, it wasn’t performing awesome on WP Engine. It started working great on SiteGround.
We test out different servers to see on which one your site is working because we haven’t developed it—we’re just here to support your site.
SEO Plugins: Yoast vs. RankMath
Keith: Total noobs will come in and ask which one between RankMath and Yoast. What are your thoughts?
Paritosh: I go with RankMath because that guy literally lives a couple of streets away from where I am right now. That’s my bias, but I think they’re equally good. You don’t have to be worried about which is the right plugin because they do all the basic jobs.
One more thing: You will see those bars when you’re writing the content. Don’t go crazy to make those bars green. Try to complete those as much as you can, but don’t go crazy about it.
Keith: More often than not, when I switch a site from Yoast to RankMath, things just go faster with RankMath.
AI Impact on SEO
Keith: How are you guys seeing AI impact search, organic search right now?
Anthony: Mine is to produce more of these videos easier, or at least to get the client off the ground with some AI videos. The one I like the best is called Creatify.ai.
All you really have to do is plug in your website, tell it what you want to make the video about, and it will give you a spokesperson with a dynamically created background. I’m able to overcome this objection of “I don’t wanna be on camera.”
AI Content Strategy
Paritosh: My stance on AI—whether it’s video or Google or content in general: Use this AI content right now as an advantage. It’s similar to the keyword stuffing era of the late ’90s, early 2000s.
There is no official announcement from any of the search engines about whether they are in favor or not in favor because they are the ones coming up with those tools. Use this to your advantage until that announcement comes in.
The Human-AI Content Blend
Paritosh: The problem happens when humans start cutting the corners. Before, you were ready to write a 1,500-word article all by yourself, doing all the research. But now since you figured out there’s AI, you don’t even want to review it properly.
Just because it spit out a 1,500-word article, you don’t want to read it again, even once, despite the fact that it’s going to represent your whole business. Your credibility is going to depend on it.
AI Content Hack
Here’s a quick hack:
- Get it written, ask for an outline first
- Have an interaction about the outline—don’t just jump on the first thing it spits out
- Go through that article, then change it, optimize it
- Use tools like Originality.ai to check if it’s AI or human written
- If it’s flagged as AI, use QuillBot to rephrase the whole thing
- Easy tells: If your article says “digital realm” anywhere, delete that. Don’t write generic conclusions.
Please do not cut the corners. AI is here to save you time, not to do your job.
Closing & Contact Information
Keith: Is there anything that you guys want to end with for a takeaway for listeners?
Anthony: Thanks Keith for having us on your show. We really appreciate the platform that you created here to be able to share ideas and to advance our industry. Sometimes we have to overcome this stigma that we’re crooked because of how many people there are in our industry. Unless we get on platforms like this and talk about the good things and the positive things, we aren’t helping.
Keith: Where can people find out more about you guys?
Anthony: Check out our reputation on the socials and just go to our website, WPSprints.com. You can ask us any question. We have a great offer right now: for $48, we’ll guarantee that we’ll fix any two things on your WordPress website in 24 hours or less.
Keith: All right, well until next time, I appreciate you guys and live long and prosper.
