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In this Office Hours episode on The Digital Marketing Mentor Podcast, Danny sits down with Optidge’s Head of Paid Search, Brianna Deboever, to dive deep into Google Ads. As our resident expert in paid search, she shares her insights on spotting red flags, optimizing campaign settings, and avoiding common pitfalls. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or just getting started, this episode will guide you through building stronger, more efficient paid search campaigns.

Our Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to’s, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!

Episode Highlights:

• When it comes to Google Ads campaign setup, a few best practices include limiting ad groups to 3-7 keywords, avoiding overuse of broad match keywords, and setting location settings to “presence only.”
• Once your campaigns are ready to go live, Brianna recommends beginning with manual bidding and regular monitoring of conversion tracking to ensure accuracy and alignment before transitioning to automated tracking tactics.
• Brianna suggests incorporating negative keywords to reduce wasted ad spend and reviewing search terms frequently to refine keyword lists, assign accurate values to conversions, and enhance targeting.
• It’s good practice to utilize tools like Clickcease, Google Tag Manager and GA4 in paid search to block spam traffic, streamline conversion tracking, and ensure alignment with campaign goals.

Episode Links:

• Brianna’s Linkedin
• Brianna’s previous The Digital Marketing Mentor podcast episode

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.

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What if the lessons of a logical classroom and a father’s breakfast table could transform your approach to leadership and life? In this episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor, we talk with Bo Bothe, president and CEO of BrandExtract, a brand strategy firm in Houston, to discover insights gathered over the course of his career journey - from his education, leadership style, and the importance of mentorship. Bo highlights lessons from his father, his MBA experience, and the value of resilience, personal growth, and community. Bo also explores the challenges of hybrid work, detailing his company’s evolving approach to maintaining team connection and productivity in a remote environment.

Episode Highlights:

• Bo highlights the complexities of hybrid work, noting the challenges it poses for team connection and productivity. His company has experimented with various models over the years and has recently moved to a four-day in-office schedule to foster stronger collaboration.
• He considers his father as a pivotal mentor, whose resilience, positivity, and unconventional wisdom has dramatically shaped his outlook on life. He also mentors others, from employees to young people in sports, and believes in understanding individuals’ personal visions and challenges.
• Bo values mentorship and takes a personalized approach, tailoring his guidance to individual needs to promote positive personal and professional growth.

Episode Links:

• Bo’s LinkedIn
• Bo’s Instagram
• Recent Article on Mentorship and Hybrid Work by Bo

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Send us a text

In this episode, Sophie Fell, Head of Paid Media at Liberty Marketing Group, shares her journey in digital marketing after motherhood, discussing her transition from managing Facebook posts for a startup to overseeing multi-million-dollar ad campaigns. She emphasizes the value of mentorship, data-driven decision-making, and the challenges faced with top-of-funnel PPC strategies. She highlights the advantages for beginners of being a “t-shaped marketer,” advocating for a blend of broad knowledge of all platforms with deeper specializations. The episode also explores the impact of AI on digital marketing and the evolving role of paid media professionals.

Episode Highlights:

• Sophie built a successful career in PPC and paid media without a formal university degree. She started by managing Facebook posts for a startup and developed her skills through hands-on experience, emphasizing that practical knowledge often outweighs formal education in the marketing industry.
• Sophie views mentorship as a collaborative relationship built on trust and mutual respect. She credits her mentor, Kevin Ashley, for shaping her career and now mentors others within and outside of her agency, focusing on helping mentees define and achieve their goals.
• Sophie and Danny share in the belief in the advantages of being a “t-shaped marketer,” possessing a broad understanding across all platforms while having deeper expertise in one or two specific areas as they begin to align with career aspirations.
• Sophie highlights the critical role of data analysis and optimization in PPC, especially for beginners in the industry. While learning platform UIs is straightforward, understanding metrics, making data-driven decisions, and translating those insights into actions are what set top professionals apart.
• Many brands fail with top-of-funnel Google Ads campaigns because they focus on the wrong metrics, like direct conversions. Sophie advocates for redefining KPIs to measure engagement and awareness, which can better justify top-of-funnel strategies.

Episode Links:

• Sophie’s LinkedIn
• Sophie’s X
• Sophie’s Book:

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Send us a text

In this episode, Danny speaks with Mike King, SEO pioneer and founder of iPullRank, to explore the power of authentic representation through mentorship in the field of digital marketing and SEO. They discuss Mike’s journey from computer science to SEO leadership. These mentors helped shape his path and model for diversity in the industry and emphasized the importance of visibility for aspiring professionals reflecting all forms of diversity. Listeners will gain insights into the future of SEO, the impact of AI advancements, effective brand-building strategies, and tips on navigating the world of SEO and professional mentorship.

Episode Highlights:

• Although Mike studied computer science, he found his true calling outside the classroom, ultimately leading him to a career in SEO.
• Mike discusses the importance of explicit and implicit mentors, crediting individuals like Tony Effick, Rand Fishkin, and Will Reynolds for guiding his growth in SEO and helping him think strategically about the big picture in digital marketing and professional network-building.
• Mike advises small businesses, particularly, to focus on building genuine brand connections and targeting long-tail keywords rather than relying on SEO shortcuts, as Google increasingly favors quality and user-focused content.
• With the rise of AI-driven search, Mike predicts that SEO optimization will shift toward micro-optimizations within specific content segments and leveraging structured data.

Episode Links:

• Mike’s LinkedIn
• Mike’s Instagram
• Mike’s iPullRank

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Send us a text

Katy Katz, Head of Digital Marketing and E-Commerce at Basic Fun!, discusses how mentorship, including her mother's early influence, shaped her career and approach to continuous learning in marketing. She emphasizes balancing creativity with data, fostering collaboration, and setting healthy boundaries to build effective growth-driven teams.

Episode Highlights:

• Katy says traditional and non-traditional mentorship has always been incredibly important to her, and attributes her dedication to continuous learning in digital marketing from one of her earliest mentors, her mother. She values relationships that allow for mutual growth and learning, which she applies in her role as a leader.
• Her unique approach to marketing blends creativity with a data-driven mindset. This balance is critical because she leverages data for e-commerce while fostering creativity in toy marketing.
• Katy says it’s easier to set boundaries when working at an agency than in-house because the former always has a clearly defined contract.

Episode Links:

• Katy’s LinkedIn
• Katy’s X

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Send us a text

In this special episode, Senior SEO Strategist Mandy Politi reveals key strategies for mastering SEO in the age of AI, focusing on Google's EEAT guidelines. Through the compelling case study of a real Optidge client, Mandy and Danny highlight the risks of relying too heavily on AI-generated content for the sake of ramping up quantity, emphasizing the importance of aligning content with user intent. The conversation shares expert insights on on-page and local SEO, comprehensive content audits, addressing technical challenges, and best practices to ensure long-term success in search rankings.

An Optidge "Office Hours" Episode

Our Office Hours episodes are your go-to for details, how-to’s, and advice on specific marketing topics. Join our fellow Optidge team members, and sometimes even 1:1 teachings from Danny himself, in these shorter, marketing-focused episodes every few weeks. Get ready to get marketing!

Episode Highlights:

• Mandy emphasized that AI is a valuable tool but must be used in alignment with Google’s EEAT guidelines. Content created at scale using AI can lead to a dramatic drop in traffic if it prioritizes search rankings over user experience and relevance, as seen with Client X.
• Taking the approach of targeting every possible keyword, even those that are irrelevant, and producing low-quality content are both harmful tactics for a website’s long-term performance. These strategies were especially detrimental for a business in the medical field, where establishing trustworthiness is essential. Unqualified traffic results in users quickly exiting the site, signaling to Google that the content is irrelevant, leading to drops in rankings and overall site performance.
• The conversation highlighted that duplicating content, especially using AI, dilutes SEO value and confuses Google about which pages to rank. For Client X, this led to non-indexed pages, poor rankings, and irrelevant traffic, showing the importance of targeting the right keywords and maintaining content quality.
• The solution lies in a thorough content and technical audit, focusing on removing irrelevant content, resolving duplication, and optimizing for qualified traffic. By following these best practices, the client could see improvements in traffic and conversions over time.

Episode Links:

• Mandy’s LinkedIn
• Another TDMM episode with Mandy
• Optidge blog on this case study

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Send us a text

In this episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor, Danny talks with Mordy Oberstein, Head of Brand SEO at Wix, about his unique career path from teaching to SEO expertise. Mordy discusses the importance of mentorship and education, Wix's SEO transformation, and the impact of brand identity on search rankings. He also shares insights on balancing brand building with performance marketing, along with personal stories like his love for the Yankees and ground coffee.

Episode Highlights:

• Mordy views mentorship as a deep interpersonal relationship, where mentors guide by sharing life experiences rather than just teaching skills. Key traits of a mentor include forgiveness, effective communication, and having a clear vision.
• Mordy says it was community engagement, product improvements, and strategic rebranding efforts that helped propel Wix into an SEO leader in the industry.
• Mordy emphasized the growing importance of brand marketing in SEO, arguing that brand identity, recognition, and reputation can significantly boost search engine rankings and long-term success.
• Mordy explained the tension between performance marketing, which seeks immediate results, and brand marketing, which focuses on long-term relationship building. He stressed the need for businesses to balance both approaches for sustainable growth.

Episode Links:

• Mordy’s LinkedIn
• Mordy’s X
• Mordy’s podcast, the SEO Rant

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.

Send us a text

In this episode of the Digital Marketing Mentor podcast, host Danny Gavin sits down with Ross Hudgens, the founder and CEO of Siege Media. Ross shares his journey from studying creative writing to scaling one of the leading content marketing agencies through discussion on the role of mentorship, strategies for scaling a business, and evolving SEO practices in the age of AI. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned marketer, this episode offers practical advice and insights on business growth and effective digital marketing.

Episode Highlights:

• Mentorship has played a crucial role in Ross’s career. Influential digital marketing figures and direct competitors such as Grayson LaFrance and Wil Reynolds have provided guidance and support in his successful pursuit of scaling Siege Media.
• Effectively scaling his agency has meant Ross has had to learn to delegate responsibilities, particularly in sales and operations.
• Ross’s approach to SEO has evolved from traditional link building to “product-led digital PR.” This includes creating unique, data-driven content that stands out in a digital landscape.

Episode Links:

• Siege Media
• Ross LinkedIn
• Ross’s X
• Ross’s Instagram

Follow The Digital Marketing Mentor:

• Website and Blog: thedmmentor.com
• Instagram: @thedmmentor
• Linkedin: @thedmmentor
• YouTube: @thedmmentor

Interested in Digital Marketing Services, Careers, or Courses? Check out more from the TDMM Family:

• Optidge.com - Full Service Digital Marketing Agency specializing in SEO, PPC, Paid Social, and Lead Generation efforts for established B2C and B2B businesses and organizations.
• ODEOacademy.com - Digital Marketing online education and course platform. ODEO gives you solid digital marketing knowledge to launch/boost your career or understand your business’s digital marketing strategy.