He started in the eCommerce space for some nationally recognized brands, then moved over to Automotive.
He enjoys the technical and data side of SEO and how they come together to help achieve goals.
When he’s not working, he spends time with his family, mountain bike, and works with his puppy Spartacus on agility.
Please welcome the Sr. Manager of SEO at Cox Automotive
Chris Nicols!
==============================
26:00 – How did you get approved to join the show?
Before Chris got into the show, he had to get some approvals. In this section, Chris shared a bit of history of how he could jump in on the show.
27:10 – How did your SEO journey start?
Back in 2010-2011, Chris was working for a company with warehouse space, and he was a part of its e-commerce department which managed Pepsi USA, Star Trek, etc. From that moment on, Chris yearned that he wanted to get into I.T., which ultimately led him to learn more about SEO.
32:40 – How did you manage to run SEOs on massive sites with your team?
In continuation with Chris’ story from how he got into SEO, he mentioned that he and his team were working for massive sites and were still able to pull it off when he got into SEO.
37:00 – Chris tells us more about his SEO Team
At this moment, one member from the chat was actually from Chris’ team and asked him to open more about their team. Chris shares what his team looks like, the members, and how they operate when doing SEO work.
38:55 – Chris’ Excel Skills – How Good is Chris with Excel?
How really good is Chris with Excel? Chris, in this section, mentioned that he has a strong relationship with Math and Excel. The same person asked this question from the chat (his team member).
41:00 onwards – Chris’ Tips when using Excel
Chris shared some tips and knowledge that he gained and used when using Excel, such as CTR, plugins, and more.
42:20 – Search Analytics for Google Sheets – by Chris
When asked by one of the audiences, “What’s your take on Search Analytics for Google Sheets” – Chris replied thoroughly about his extensive knowledge about the plugins that he uses when using Sheets.
44:20 – “Our V.P. is an old SEO.”
One of the best things about working on SEO is having a V.P. who understands the work you’re doing for the company. According to Chris, his V.P. is an old SEO, which is advantageous when dealing with SEO-related work.
46:50 – Serious Question 1 – do you think leveraging AMP in a greater capacity for mobile pages (product pages, blogs, etc.) would be wise to prepare for the Core Web Vitals rollout, as AMP dev is already focused on it?
As an expert on Core Web Vitals, Chris answered this question by explaining the importance of AMP for editorial sections. For Chris, it’s really hard & complicated to get the work done from a dev standpoint.
52:30 – User-Generated Content – How Chris Utilizes this for SEO
Chris shared that they’re using User-Generated Content on consumer reviews on vehicles. For Chris, using User-Generated Content helps the end-user identify if the vehicle works for them and their needs.
54:00 – Chris’ take on outside advertising from an SEO’s standpoint
For Chris, Brand-searches do increase when there are more ads. He explains why click-through rates on branded searches are relatively high, no matter what industry when there’s good advertising.
54:40 – If someone wants to start a review site, what are your tips for them?
For Chris, the best tip he has for all those wanting to start a review site is simple, “Focus on the end-user, write quality intent-based content.” “Don’t just write stuff to write stuff.”
56:10 – What’s your biggest tip for someone who wants to start their own SEO career?
As a prominent figure in the SEO community, Chris gave out some tips on starting your own SEO career. For Chris, it’s about building your own website first and gaining enough experience before moving forward.
==============================
Links to SEO tips and news:
Google Search News:
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2020/12/a-weird-year-in-a-review?hl=en
https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2020/12/structured-data-testing-tool-update
The December 2020 Core Update rollout is complete.
