The Product Development Podcast

The Fundamentals of SEO | Tom Merryfield (Thoughtful Marketing)

Adam Wakeling Season 1 Episode 2

Tom Merryfield is the Founder of Thoughtful Marketing, helping organisations with their SEO, Google Ads and website improvement requirements. Prior to founding Thoughtful Marketing, he was Senior Marketing Manager at Pure World Energy, Marketing Manager (EMEA & APAC) at Precor and Product Manager at Koch Media. In today’s episode:

• How SEO strategies differ for different types of organisations

• The key elements of a great SEO strategy

• Common mistakes in SEO

• The possible impact of AI on SEO



Where to find Tom Merryfield

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tmerryfield/



Where to find the host, Adam Wakeling:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/adamjwakeling

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-wakeling-26494b35/



In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Podcast Introduction

(01:06) Why Tom works in SEO

(02:20) Types of clients Tom works with

(03:30) First steps in creating an SEO strategy

(04:40) The SEO audit

(08:04) Ranking for high volume keywords

(10:27) The challenge for smaller companies

(11:22) The importance of trust in SEO

(12:50) Company name changes and domain authority

(15:02) On-page SEO approaches

(19:50) AI and Chat GPT impact on SEO

(22:07) SEO changes in 2023

(23:38) Ranking for non-branded keywords

(28:44) Root domains vs subdomains

(29:45) Mistakes people make in SEO

(33:44) Engaging with SEO agencies and finding partnerships



Other Links:

• Website: https://www.thoughtfulmarketing.co.uk/

• ChatGPT: https://openai.com/

Follow the podcast on Twitter: @proddevpodcast
Get in touch with the host, Adam Wakeling, on Twitter: @adamjwakeling and LinkedIn: @adam-wakeling