We recently connected with Jason Dodge and have shared our conversation below.
Jason, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry
In the ever-shifting landscape that defines the search engine optimization (SEO) industry, some of the biggest trends we are experiencing are similar to that of other digital marketers. First is generative AI, the shiny new object of big tech, investors, and marketing professionals worldwide. Most common are the Large Language Models (LLM) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, which have been in the spotlight for the past year, and for good reasoning.
Marketers are leveraging generative AI and LLMs to generate massive amounts of long-tail content, which poses a threat to not only the search industry, but digital marketing as a whole. It’s not that utilizing generative AI is bad, but relying on it solely to produce content with complete trust and lack of fact checking then leads to significant quality issues which as resulted in Google taking action. The influx of low-quality content that is machine generated has Google taking action. We have witnessed this in their recent Helpful Content updates and, what seem to be back-to-back-to-back, core algorithm updates in October and November.
If not highlighted previously, the search industry is use to being in a state of constant flux and organized chaos. At the center of it all is Google. As a reminder, they stand between a brand and its customers. It then is the SEO’s job to help navigate, sift and sort through the chaos to assist a brand with improving their visibility amidst the noise. AI generated content of poor quality and LLMs that continue to learn on poor quality will result in continued changes to SEO for the foreseeable future.
Additionally, the trend that continues to expand is zero-click searches, or the lack of need for a user to leave Google search results. With the evolution of search, major players like Google and Bing, become less of a search engine and more of an answer engine. We know to go to Google to seek out the answers to our questions and solutions to our problems. Over time, Google has continued its expansion and push into disrupting the search by providing those answers directly into the search results. Put Google’s Search Generative Experience (SGE) into motion, and the user’s journey can shift on a dime.
While this could be a positive for the user experience and builds trust in Google, it unfortunately impacts brands the most. A user, and Google, might absolutely get their information from your brand; but no longer have a reason to visit your site. Meaning, the visibility of your brand in the SERPs is still relevant more now than it ever has been, but measuring the efficacy of said results becomes even more challenging.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I am the Founder & CEO of the award-winning digital marketing firm, BlackTruck Media + Marketing. Combining nearly 20 years of industry experience with the efforts of holistic, human-centered thinking and technical search marketing tactics, I work alongside our team to assist brands with improving their online visibility through both organic search and paid media. My background and experience span both B2B and D2C verticals – from travel & hospitality, to global manufacturing, automotive aftermarket, and large healthcare systems. With a continued passion for the ever-evolving world of search, I have been fortunate to be a regular contributor to the industry, speaking and educating others in the marketing and communications industry on the value that SEO brings to their brand.
BlackTruck Media + Marketing was started 15 years ago with the notion that search would continue to evolve and needed to be thought about differently.
Recognized as a 50 Companies to Watch in Michigan in 2023, I am honored by not only the growth of our team, but the focus on cultivating a sustainable business culture. Being trusted by brands, globally, to assist them with their search visibility challenges, and helping educate the next generation of digital marketers learn and grow, are amongst some of my proudest achievements to date.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Prior to founding BlackTruck, I was working for an agency that unfortunately, was dealing with significant challenges both managerially and financially. Eventually, this lead to payroll being missed, which is a sobering experience for anyone who has been on the receiving end of a message that states there are insufficient funds in an account.
Building off the knowledge with the previous agency experience, witnessing significant growth, learning to ride the highs and get through the lows, it was time to do things differently. I exited that agency the same day and set out to approach business with a different mindset.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
At the core of BlackTruck is honesty and being forthright with information. Though a mature industry at this point, search marketing can often still be viewed as smoke and mirrors. From day one, I set out to prove that differently.
We intentionally focus on honing our craft. Reminding others that we do not build websites, we are trusted by brands to improve their visibility, online. While we certainly have opinions on brand, design, and communications tactics, BlackTruck was by no means designed to be a full-service shop. The digital landscape, between organic search and paid media, is constantly moving, and we focus very intentionally on extracting as much of that information as possible and utilize it for our client’s success.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://blacktruckmedia.com
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dodgejd
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dodgejd