Posted by NicoleDeLeon To anyone working in SEO, it’s fairly evident that this is a male-dominated industry. Although there are powerful women SEOs in the field (like Moz CEO Sarah Bird, for example), if you glance at a conference speaker lineup or peruse the bylines on search-related blogs, you’ll see that those who identify as female are few and far between. A recent list of the 140 most influential SEOs featured 104 men and just 36 women. So how big is the gender gap? And how does it translate to tangible things like pay and job titles? To find out, we mined the data from our State of SEO 2020 survey , which featured 652 SEOs in 51 countries. Here are some of the things we learned. But first, a mea culpa. If SEOs who identify as women have an uphill climb in this industry, there’s no doubt that female-identifying …

Annie Jackson is on a mission to make sure Credo Beauty’s products are good for you, the planet, and the people who make them. Annie Jackson has worked in beauty for nearly 30 years. But she didn’t start thinking about what was in the products she used so religiously until the 2010s. “The consumer perception is that someone has vetted this product that’s made it all the way to the shelf for safety,” Jackson, cofounder and COO of Credo Beauty , a retail industry leader in clean beauty products. “And I was just like everybody else—I didn’t think about ingredients for most of my career. The day I figured out why there were European formulas and American formulas of products I was working with, I hauled my garbage bag into my bathroom and threw out everything.” Read Full Story

The Broken Earth trilogy writer didn’t publish anything until the age of 30. Twelve novels and a MacArthur genius award later, she’s got some tips to share. I didn’t try to publish anything until I was 30, when I basically had a midlife crisis. I was in a city I didn’t like, had not reached various milestones I wanted to reach, and was in student loan debt up to my eyeballs. I actually liked my job [as a career counselor for at-risk populations]. But I’d always written as a hobby, [and] I decided to see if I could make money doing it. I would make sure I wrote one page, or even just 250 words, every day. Counseling is one of those emotionally draining fields where sometimes something terrible would happen at work. I would allow myself not to produce that day. Instead, I would write something completely irrelevant, like …

Posted by NicoleDeLeon People around the world are having important discussions about systemic racism, overt and covert bias, and how we can all do better. Understanding the problem is the first step. To get a sense of conditions within the SEO community, we asked people to take our Diversity and Inclusion in SEO survey as part of our ongoing project to study the state of SEO . Due to the subject matter and the way we reached out, our respondents were not a snapshot of the industry as a whole. We were very pleased to have 326 SEOs complete the survey, including a significant number of female, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ participants. These are important voices that need to be heard, but as we analyzed the data, we were careful not to generalize the industry as a whole without accounting for potential sampling bias. We addressed this by looking at groups …

Posted by MiriamEllis Local businesses know better than any other model what it means to fully participate in community life. You are the good neighbors who are there to serve, inspire, and sustain the people and traditions that make your town a unique and enjoyable place to call home. As we explore this topic of what local businesses can do during the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to honor all that you have always done to take care of your community as a local business owner or marketer. Thank you. In this article, you will find local SEO tips that could make a difference for your business in the coming weeks, innovative resources for support, advice from my own tight-knit community of some of the world’s best local SEOs, and some serious thinking about building a better local future. Adhere to all regulations First and foremost, start each day with a …

Moving pictures from a summer in the streets. The Black Lives Matter movement was not new in 2020, but it was the year it took over the nation and reached across the world. The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police on May 25 spurred protest not only in that city but all around the U.S., and those protests continued for days, and then weeks. When the death of Breonna Taylor gained nationwide attention—she was killed in may by Louisville police who raided her home, but the case didn’t become a national story until March—it became yet another reason for people to keep taking to the streets. Read Full Story

A little gratitude can go a long way when you’re looking for a new job. There is no situation more important to your career than the job search. Securing that next position usually requires help—lots of it. So be sure to thank everyone who supports you. Read Full Story

One in three Americans has some sort of criminal background. But even convictions for minor offenses can keep them from getting jobs if the employer isn’t using a nuanced approach to vetting. Zuleyka Strasner is one of those few business owners who saw her startup Zero Grocery grow during the COVID-19 pandemic. Strasner, Zero’s founder and CEO, says that the Bay Area-based delivery company grew by 200% week-over-week when stay-at-home orders were issued in California in mid-March. That the company aims to reduce waste from unnecessary packaging was a bonus for shoppers who didn’t want to risk exposure from reusable containers. Read Full Story

Many Americans who lost their jobs in the pandemic say they will be looking to change careers rather than get another job in the same field. Here's how to build a mindset for success.

Whether it be speakers, lighting or thermostats, home connected devices (smart home devices) are becoming more popular in American homes. And, for those US adults who already own smart home devices, one is not likely to be enough, with almost half (46%) saying they plan to purchase additional devices for their home this year, per… Read More » The post Why Do People Buy Smart Home Devices? appeared first on Marketing Charts .