For episode 409 of the award-winning EDGE of the Web podcast we spoke with Carolyn Lyden, Director of Search Content at Search Engine Land as well as Third Door Media. Host Erin Sparks spoke with Carolyn about how she got into SEO and what she’s bringing to her new roles. Here’s what we learned:
Carolyn Lyden: Her Background and Experience
Carolyn Lyden is the Director of Search Content at Search Engine Land and Third Door Media. She’s written a multitude of content for businesses such as McCauley Marketing Services, Nucleus Medical Media, The Impact Partnership and more. Alongside her growth in the industry, she quickly started to affect SEO strategy at Qiigo and CallRail, leading her to start her own business, Search Hermit, in 2018.
Lyden started working when she was young, helping with marketing tactics for her family’s business. In college, she found herself wanting to bring writing and marketing together. She dove directly into content marketing, writing across the financial industry, dentistry, funeral homes, plastic surgery and more.
After seeing the data on the backend, she realized SEO was the key to getting her writing visible.
She flourished in content marketing and began leading Search departments at agencies. Creating Search Hermit was her next endeavor, with a mission to help women- and BIPOC-owned companies get the help and exposure they needed. When she saw that these businesses were getting overlooked for venture capital, Lyden knew she needed to step in.
The rest, of course, is history in the making.
Search Engine Land Sits at a Crux Of News and SEO
With Lyden’s background in marketing, her current role at Search Engine Land lends her to think about how journalism can utilize search tactics. She has to be on her game though, because us SEOs keep a keen eye on ranking strategy. We’re always happy to point out opportunities for optimization on articles.
“We had someone message us to let us know that the capitalization on one of our site links was incorrect,” she said, laughing. “If that’s the worst thing that we’ve committed, then that’s fine with me.”
But, as an exciting and unique angle, Lyden gets to consider what SEO tactics mean for the journalistic content writers and editors produce. Since there’s a diversity of background and opinion at SEL, she’s finding fulfillment in teaching different content strategies to teams across the board.
SMX is Honing in on Specific Strategics, Despite Pandemic Distances
Throughout 2021, SMX is being delivered with an eye on specific areas of Search strategy. SMX Create is now On-Demand, focused on content creation. Upcoming events are:
- SMX Paris (June 8-9, 2021)
- SMX Advanced (June 15-16. 2021)
- SMX Advanced Europe (June 21-22, 2021)
- SMX Convert (August 17, 2021)
- SMX Next (Nov 9-10, 2021)
- SMX Code (Dec 14, 2021)
- SMX Report (On-Demand)
Sharing knowledge in the SEO space is at the heart of these online summits. “When I attended Search conferences for jobs I was in, agencies and in-house, [learning] was the most fun thing. You go, attend a session, even just get one nugget where you’re like ‘this is something I’m going to immediately start; as soon as I get back into the office’,” Lyden explained, looking back on her experiences, “Stuff like that makes events worth it for me.”
