Martech Interview with Jeremy Hanger, GM, Megantic

Hi, Jeremy. Please tell us about your current role at Megantic? How did you arrive at this company?

My current role is the General Manager at Megantic. I started at Megantic as Director of Marketing, Sales & Partnerships in September 2020 and after two-and-a-half years, I was promoted to General Manager. I’ve been in the role for roughly four months now and couldn’t be happier.

I’m ultimately responsible for continuing to nurture & develop our internal capabilities whilst delivering best-in-class eCommerce services and results for Megantic’s 180+ clients. I love having the opportunity to help support what is a truly unique offering in digital and, more specifically, eCommerce. The demand for online specialists with deep technical knowledge in SEO has fuelled not only our growth but our appetite to continue to deliver best-in-class products, service and results for our clients.

As digital technologies & eCommerce continues to evolve at a rapid pace, we’re ensuring we have the most passionate & skilled teams of specialists who live and breathe our values. Continuing to innovate and learn helps us maintain our competitive advantage and it really is an exciting time for Megantic.

Before Megantic, I spent close to 20 years of my career client side leading marketing, sales & service teams delivering product launches, rebrands & digital transformation projects. After testing the waters consulting for a few years I decided it was the right time for me professionally and personally to immerse myself in something new and growing and decided an emerging digital and technology business would be a great fit to help support their next phase stage of growth & maturity using my experience.

SEO trends have changed in the last 5 years. Could you tell us about the key challenges for the SEO teams looking to build their content marketing strategies?

There’s always something new going on in digital and SEO, specifically, from an algorithm update to a new piece of tech like ChatGPT. But that’s what excites me and our team –  they love to continue learning and evolving to help our clients.

That, of course, doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. Teams must remain up-to-date with all the latest trends and updates. At Megantic, we have taken a proactive approach to this, sharing relevant updates with the wider team. This occurs in multiple formats – in person, Google Chat, team-wide meetings and small-group training sessions. Making the effort to formally share knowledge has improved our team relationships, helping us to better serve our clients.

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What is a good SEO practice for eCommerce?

There are some basic SEO fundamentals or best practices. Having a solid SEO foundational strategy is essential for any eCommerce business to succeed. Below are some good SEO practices that will assist any eCommerce business improving their search engine rankings, website traffic and ultimately revenue.

1. Conduct keyword research: Start by researching relevant keywords for your products. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs or SEMrush to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords that you can target on your website.
2. Optimise product pages: Once you have identified your target keywords, optimise your product pages by including them in the title, meta description and product description. Use a clear and concise product description that includes all relevant information about the product and make sure it is unique.
3. Optimise images: Optimise your product images by using descriptive file names and alt tags that include your target keywords. This can improve your chances of ranking in Google Images.
4. Focus on user experience: Google loves websites that provide a good user experience. Make sure your website is easy to navigate, has a fast loading speed and is mobile-friendly. Use clear and concise calls-to-action to guide users through the purchasing process.
5. Build high-quality backlinks: Building high-quality backlinks is an essential part of any SEO strategy. Reach out to relevant websites and ask them to link back to your eCommerce site. Use social media to promote your products and encourage shares and likes.

SEO practices are now influenced by data privacy frameworks concerning online shoppers and consumers? Tell us about the importance of complying with these norms when building an SEO framework for eCommerce?

Complying with data privacy frameworks is essential for building a successful SEO framework for eCommerce. With the increasing emphasis on data privacy and protection, search engines are prioritising websites that follow these guidelines. Therefore, it’s crucial to ensure that your eCommerce website adheres to these regulations to remain competitive in search rankings and provide a safe and secure environment for online shoppers.

To build an effective SEO framework for eCommerce, you must prioritise data privacy and make it a part of your website’s overall strategy. This includes implementing secure encryption, providing clear and concise privacy policies and ensuring that your website is compliant with all relevant regulations. By doing so, you can create a secure and trustworthy online shopping experience that will drive traffic, increase sales and enhance your brand’s reputation.

Your opinion on the idea of SEO re-skilling needed within the technology industry for high-growth industries:

It’s absolutely essential, particularly for high-growth industries. As the digital landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, businesses must remain agile and adaptable to remain competitive. SEO is a critical aspect of digital marketing that has a direct impact on a company’s online visibility, traffic and revenue. Technology industry professionals must stay up-to-date with the latest SEO trends, strategies and best practices to achieve optimal results for their organisations.

Moreover, high-growth industries are particularly reliant on SEO to drive traffic, generate leads and increase revenue. As companies expand and enter new markets, they must adjust their SEO strategies to remain visible and relevant to their target audience. This requires SEO professionals to continuously develop their skills and knowledge, adapt to new search algorithms and stay informed about emerging SEO trends.

I suggest they learn the fundamentals of on-page, off-page and technical SEO to further complement their SEO knowledge and skills. Even if they primarily focus on technical SEO (like Megantic), they should still be knowledgeable about the other forms of SEO and wider forms of digital marketing. At Megantic, we make it a priority to create individual development plans for each member of our team and focus on specific areas they feel they need to improve.

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What kind of skills in SEO should learners and experts focus on to manage the modern needs of their teams?

The SEO landscape is constantly evolving. To keep pace and succeed, it’s important to stay up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in the industry.

First and foremost, technical SEO skills are essential for managing modern SEO needs. Knowing how to optimise a website’s structure, improve site speed, and implement schema markup is essential for creating a site that is easy for search engines to crawl and index. It is also important to stay up to date with the latest technical SEO trends and best practices, such as optimising for mobile and implementing HTTPS.

Content creation and optimisation are also important skills to focus on. Understanding how to perform keyword research, write high-quality content that satisfies user intent and optimise it for search engines can significantly impact organic traffic and search rankings. It is also important to have a solid understanding of on-page optimisation techniques such as optimising title tags, meta descriptions, header tags and internal linking.

Data analysis is another integral component of SEO. Being able to analyse and interpret data from tools such as Google Analytics, Google Search Console and other SEO tools can help make informed decisions and drive strategy. Creating custom reports and effectively communicating data to stakeholders is also essential to ensure the success of SEO campaigns.

Finally, I’d recommend staying up-to-date with the latest SEO trends and algorithm updates. For example, I’m proud to say that at Megantic, we prioritise our team’s growth by providing them with the latest tools and technology, such as GA4 (Google Analytics 4), to continue to deliver outstanding results for our clients.

Keeping up with industry blogs, forums and participating in webinars and conferences can also be of value to experts and newbies alike, keeping them informed of the latest changes in the search landscape.

What impact has AI made on the way SEO for eCommerce and local marketing works for businesses? Could you highlight some instances where SEO with AI has made a significant impact on the business outcomes?

I won’t name names, but I have seen some eCommerce businesses that have used AI and recently, ChatGPT to write copy for their websites. While it sounds good in theory, some blog posts and case studies have been filled with an exorbitant amount of keywords. ‘Keyword stuffing’ is an SEO red flag where copy contains far too many keywords, of either the same or similar keywords.

Years ago, Google loved when a multitude of keywords were used on a website – it assumed that the more keywords used, the more relevant the piece. However, Google now knows this is not always the case and values content that best fits the searcher’s search. A page with a singular keyword repeated multiple times is not meeting this need.

So for this example, AI has hurt the businesses outcomes, as they ranked lower in Google search results.

Of course, AI in SEO is not all bad. For example, AI algorithms can help deliver personalised search results by analysing a user’s search history, location and or behaviour to generate customised results. It can help with keyword research, competitor analysis, content creation, etc — the sky’s seemingly the limit with this technology.

And according to a 2022 Morningscore study, more than half of SEOs found link building the most time-consuming SEO task, so it will be interesting to see the integration of more AI in this space as will be the case for so many other industries.

Your favourite podcast / webinar that you have listened to in recent times:

I’m a big fan of the podcast Ryan Martin runs called eCommerce Australia. He’s not only a great guy but genuinely cares about all things eCommerce in Australia and has over 10,000 downloads so it’s worth a listen.

Tag a person in the industry whose answers you would like to see here:

Rob Reynolds @ Adcore

Laura Doonin @ Moustache Republic

Rad Mitic @ Yotpo

Rohan Lock @ Dot Digital