Introduction to Chris Long
Today we have Chris Long, VP of marketing at Go Fish Digital. Chris solves unique problems and complex search scenarios to increase organic traffic. He has deep knowledge of Google’s algorithm and web technologies. He has technical SEO skills in website architecture, analysis, structured data implementation, crawl control strategy, log file analysis, keyword research and on-page optimization.
Chris’s thought leadership goes beyond client work as he is an active speaker at conferences like SMX East, State of Search and the Raleigh SEO meetup. Chris also writes for Moz, Search Engine Land and The Next Web. Join us today as we talk technical SEO and digital marketing.
Table of Contents
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Who is Chris Long?
Early Life and Education
Chris Long grew up in Harrisburg, PA near Hershey, the home of Hershey’s Chocolate. He describes his childhood as rural with “not a lot going on”. For his higher education Chris attended the University of Pittsburgh which felt like a big city compared to his hometown.
Academic Background and Career Shift
At the University of Pittsburgh Chris studied finance. He admits to feeling meh about his chosen field throughout his university years. It wasn’t until graduation that he realized finance wasn’t the right path for him. This realization led to what Chris calls a “post-graduation meltdown” which prompted him to start exploring other career options.
Finding SEO
In his search for a more interesting career path Chris found SEO while researching different types of digital marketing online. He was drawn to SEO because of how people make purchasing decisions through online searches. Chris used the Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO to get started.
First Steps in the SEO Industry
Chris decided to get into the SEO industry so he started cold calling every SEO and web design agency in Pittsburgh that mentioned SEO on their website. After many attempts he finally landed an internship at Vindily Group and that’s where his SEO career began.
What Chris Long is working on
AI Content Analysis Tool
One of Chris’s current projects is an AI powered content analysis tool. He explains:
“We’ve built some tools that allow you to embed your content similar to how an LLM would and then compare that embedding against the target keyword you’re trying to rank for and it gives you a similarity score. So basically how similar is your page to the target keyword using an actual numeric value using Google’s own embedding model.”
This tool has been in development for a year by Go Fish Digital’s co-founder Dan and is now ready to be released. Chris and his team are starting to work with clients to use this technology to improve their pages.
Moving into Sales and Marketing
Chris also mentions his recent move into more sales and marketing roles within his company:
“I’ve transitioned a little more into the sales and marketing side for our own company. So I get to have conversations with business owners about how to improve their digital strategies.”
He loves these conversations because he gets to work with a wide range of clients from e-commerce sites to B2B companies and from small startups to big enterprise.
Tactical and Strategic Technical SEO Advice from Chris Long
Understanding the Importance of Technical SEO
Chris emphasizes that technical SEO is particularly crucial for larger websites, especially those with 50,000 pages or more. For smaller sites with around 150 pages, he suggests focusing more on content strategy initially. However, for larger sites, technical SEO can provide significant benefits.
Key Areas of Technical SEO
Indexing Issues
One of the primary areas Chris focuses on is indexing issues. He explains:
“If Google is not able to properly index your content, that’s always a high priority issue. So it’s looking at things like, can you see in the index coverage reports? Can you see things where it’s like, ‘Hey, Google was not able to index this?’ It says ‘crawled but not indexed’ or ‘discovered but not indexed.'”
For e-commerce sites, if Google is only able to index 30% of your product pages, that represents a huge opportunity cost in terms of potential revenue.
Crawling and Partial Indexation
Chris also stresses the importance of ensuring that Google can crawl and fully index your content, especially if you’re loading content through JavaScript:
“We need to be sure Google is able to see the entire page. So we used to see it more and more… looking for elements where it’s like, ‘Hey, Google’s only getting a partial index here.’ You need to be aware of that.”
Site Hierarchy and Internal Linking
Another crucial aspect of technical SEO is site hierarchy and internal linking structure. Chris advises:
“If you’re an e-com site, can Google naturally crawl down in natural steps where it’s like, you know, your dresses, your spring dresses, right? And then other further deeper subcategories. You want to be able to share your structure and your content in a logical way, in a way that’s going to make sense for users, in a way that’s going to make sense for search engines.”
Tools for Technical SEO
Chris recommends several tools for conducting technical SEO audits:
- Screaming Frog: This is Chris’s go-to tool for many aspects of technical SEO, including analyzing site hierarchy, identifying crawl issues, and comparing JavaScript-rendered content with HTML content.
- Google Search Console: Chris uses this for performance reports, indexing issues, and troubleshooting crawl problems.
- Botify and Lumar: These are recommended for enterprise-level sites.
Handling Duplicate Content in E-commerce
Chris addresses the common issue of duplicate content in e-commerce sites, particularly with faceted navigation:
“One of the biggest common reasons for duplicate content on e-com sites is that left-hand facet navigation… Oftentimes the way e-commerce sites are set up is that every single combination of all those different variations are a different page.”
He recommends using canonical tags as the most common solution for managing this issue:
“Canonicaling is generally one of the better ways to do it, where you’re sort of referencing back that actual source page.”
Importance of Crawl Depth and Equity
Chris explains the concept of crawl depth and its importance:
“Crawl depth is basically the steps from your homepage that any page is… Generally in SEO, it’s the best practice not to have super deep crawl depths. So you don’t want people, you really don’t want a crawl depth of more than like six.”
He recommends using tools like Screaming Frog to analyze crawl depth and finding ways to reduce it for important pages.
Schema Markup and Structured Data
Chris emphasizes the importance of schema markup:
“Schema markup’s huge, honestly. I think it’s one of the probably most underrated aspects of technical SEO… Google needs schema as a scalable way for it to understand the web as a whole.”
He explains that schema markup not only helps Google understand your content but also makes your site eligible for rich results features in search results.
Log File Analysis
Chris discusses the value of log file analysis in understanding how Google crawls your site:
“Log file analysis is this, is the idea of basically being able to see exactly what Google’s crawling on your site… The server logs will not lie to you.”
This can provide insights into Google’s crawling behavior, helping you optimize your site structure and content for better indexing and ranking.
Where Does Chris See the Future Going in Technical SEO?
The Role of AI in SEO
Chris sees AI playing a significant role in the future of SEO:
“I think AI is going to turn a lot of people, like it’s going to change, take a lot of SEOs and change them from just, you know, maybe more marketers. And they’d be able to change marketers and actual creators to be able to create custom tooling.”
He believes that AI will enable SEOs to create more sophisticated tools for analyzing and optimizing content, similar to the embedding comparison tool his team has developed.
The Importance of Structured Data and Feeds
Chris predicts that structured data and data feeds will become increasingly important:
“Google is really pushing everybody toward making their content, their pages in more structured data. So it’s cheaper to call, it’s easier to understand, and they can better push it at scale.”
He suggests that Google’s long-term goal might be to eliminate crawling altogether, instead having websites push their information directly to Google via different feeds.
The Evolution of E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness)
While Google has stated that E-A-T is not a direct ranking factor, Chris believes it remains important:
“I think E-A-T is a philosophy that Google wants us to embrace and then embody… It makes sense that we want content with high expertise, high authoritativeness, and as written by trusted experts to rank and perform.”
He suggests that SEOs need to think about how Google might evaluate E-A-T from a technical perspective, considering factors like information gain and content freshness.
The Decline of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)
Chris notes that the importance of AMP has significantly decreased:
“Google has largely killed off the AMP program… AMP has largely died off, but I think it’s a good story of like, it’ll be wary of like the new Google initiatives.”
He advises being cautious about adopting new Google initiatives, especially those that require significant changes to your site’s technology stack.
How to Get in Contact with Chris Long
Chris Long is active on LinkedIn, where he regularly shares insights and tips on technical SEO. You can follow him there to stay updated on his latest thoughts and advice in the field of SEO.
For those interested in learning more about technical SEO, Chris recommends several resources:
- The article “The Technical SEO Renaissance” by Mike King, founder of iPullRank.
- Google’s official documentation on various SEO topics.
- Aleyda Solis’s SEO resource, learningseo.io.
- The Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO.
- Ahrefs’ blog content on technical SEO.
- Following Patrick Stox, whom Chris considers one of the best technical SEOs in the industry.
Advice to His Younger Self
While the transcript doesn’t include Chris’s direct answer to this question, based on his career journey, we can infer that his advice might be along these lines:
“If I could go back and give advice to my younger self, I’d say don’t be afraid to pivot when you realize your chosen path isn’t the right fit. Trust your instincts and be proactive in pursuing what truly interests you, even if it means cold-calling dozens of companies to get your foot in the door. The willingness to learn and adapt is crucial in a rapidly evolving field like digital marketing.”
Books, Podcasts, and Leaders That Currently Inspire Chris
While Chris doesn’t mention specific books or podcasts in the transcript, he does highlight several resources and thought leaders in the SEO industry that inspire and inform his work:
- Mike King: Chris credits Mike King’s article “The Technical SEO Renaissance” as a pivotal piece that significantly influenced his career and understanding of technical SEO.
- Google’s Official Documentation: Chris recommends diving deep into Google’s official documentation on various SEO topics, suggesting that repeated study of these resources can lead to a deeper understanding of technical concepts.
- Aleyda Solis: Chris mentions Aleyda’s SEO resource, learningseo.io, as a great aggregator of SEO knowledge across various disciplines.
- Moz: The Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO is cited as a strong resource for those starting in the field.
- Ahrefs: Chris recommends Ahrefs’ blog content, particularly for technical SEO topics.
- Patrick Stox: Described by Chris as “probably one of the best tech SEOs out there,” Patrick Stox is someone Chris suggests following for great insights into technical SEO.
These resources and industry leaders continue to inspire and inform Chris’s work in the ever-evolving field of technical SEO.
Conclusion
Technical SEO is a complex and ever-evolving field that plays a crucial role in the success of websites, particularly large ones with thousands of pages. As Chris Long has illustrated throughout this discussion, a deep understanding of technical SEO can unlock significant improvements in organic traffic and search engine rankings.
From addressing indexing issues and optimizing site structure to leveraging schema markup and analyzing log files, there are numerous aspects of technical SEO that can make a substantial difference in a site’s performance. As the digital landscape continues to evolve, with AI and structured data playing increasingly important roles, staying informed and adaptable will be key to success in SEO.
Chris’s insights provide a valuable roadmap for both newcomers and experienced professionals in the field of SEO. By focusing on the technical foundations of SEO and keeping an eye on emerging trends and technologies, marketers and webmasters can ensure their sites are well-positioned for success in the ever-changing world of search engine optimization.
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