Episode 105 – SEO Research with Joshua Hardwick from Ahrefs

Mastermind.fm

The episode is sponsored by Plesk and Freemius.

SEO research may sound daunting to some, but there are some basic methods and tools that everyone should be using.

The Ahrefs team recently got in touch with me when I published this article on WP Mayor discussing WordPress’ performance in comparison to other CMS options. That led to discussions around Ahrefs, and eventually, this episode.

I’m joined by Joshua Hardwick, the Head of Content at Ahrefs, to discuss SEO research techniques using tools from Google, Ahrefs, and others. We delve into a number of areas that every site owner should be aware of and a few technical ones for those who already know the basics.

Among the topics we discussed are:

• What is SEO?
• What is keyword research and what tools can we use for it?
• What are backlinks and how can we build more?
• How to understand what type of content you should focus on to bring in more visitors?
• Analyzing your competition through tools such as Ahrefs.
• Finding competing domains that you weren’t aware of.
• Does social outreach have an impact on SEO?

We went a little deeper in certain areas so it’s certainly worth listening to the entire episode. Whether you’re just getting started with SEO research or you’re looking for some new ideas, Joshua’s got you covered.

Links:

• Ahrefs
• Free SEO tools recommended by Ahrefs
• Google’s SEO Starter Guide
• Twitter: @ahrefs
• Twitter: @JoshuaCHardwick
• Youtube: Ahrefs Channel