In the 27th episode of the DesignRush Podcast, our editor Vianca Meyer talked to Daniel Foley Carter, one of the most prominent SEO experts in the U.K. and on the web.
Listen to the full episode to get answers to questions such as:
- Why SEO now focuses on meeting users’ needs more than optimizing for search engines
- How to measure the success of your SEO campaigns by its impact on ROI
- Is 2024 expected to bring recovery and stability to digital businesses
Who Is Daniel Foley Carter?
With over two decades of experience in the SEO industry since the late 90s, Daniel Foley Carter is a seasoned enterprise-level SEO consultant known for delivering exceptional results for medium to large businesses globally. Specializing in non-linear SEO auditing, consultancy, and overall strategy implementation, Daniel leverages a big-data-driven approach to drive ranking, visibility, and revenue growth. His portfolio boasts collaborations with prestigious clients like BNP Paribas, Lenovo, and Virgin.
Given the rapid changes in Google's search algorithms, Daniel shares foundational strategies for effective SEO.
“SEO has evolved significantly due to advancements in Google's ability to process big data and use machine learning and AI. The SEO learning curve has become more complex, time-consuming, and expensive. The focus now is on creating content that benefits the end user, not just the search engines,” he explains.
Creating content that drives long-term value is of key importance for SEO success. Watch our podcast with Omniscient Digital co-founder Alex Birkett to discover effective tips to transform your content for better results:
Daniel highlights that foundational SEO today requires understanding what users want and translating that into a well-designed, quickly-loading webpage with user-oriented content.
“SEO professionals should focus on understanding user needs and ensuring the site they're optimizing genuinely offers what users are searching for, rather than just inserting keywords into content. The shift is toward content and website design that meets the end user's requirements,” he adds.
Will SEO Focus Solely on Users?
SEO will eventually focus solely on the users rather than the websites themselves.
“Google's aim is not for people to build sites specifically for its algorithms. Instead, the focus is shifting towards using behavioral data as a key indicator of a site's value. This change puts the onus on SEO professionals to create content that genuinely serves the end user's needs. Google's helpful content guidelines emphasize creating unique, valuable content that appears to be made for users rather than search engines. The evolution of Google's algorithms and the latest helpful content update means it's no longer solely reliant on content to determine rankings,” he says.
According to him, it's now considering a broader set of factors like:
- Product coverage
- Brand signals
- Aggregated user behavior
Listen to the full podcast with Daniel on Spotify:
How UX Is Being Implemented in SEO
“Breaking down SEO into its core components is key. While the focus is on creating content for the user, SEO still encompasses various aspects like content, links, brand, and behavioral factors,” Daniel explains.
He highlights that in technical SEO, it's still important to ensure that search engines can crawl and render websites effectively.
With that being said, he acknowledges that with the advancements in technology, some traditional SEO tasks are becoming less critical like the AI image recognition technologies which are becoming capable of understanding images without needing extensive alt text descriptions.
“Structured data, used for rich snippets, is another area where Google's algorithms are evolving to better comprehend and organize data without needing as much input from SEOs. A significant shift is seen in how Google rewrites title tags, with studies showing that 61.6% of title tags are now rewritten by Google. This change indicates a move away from traditional SEO practices where meticulous attention was given to title tag length and keyword placement. As we progress, the need to spoon-feed search engines with detailed SEO elements is diminishing,” he adds.
Additionally, he explains that machine learning and AI are becoming so advanced that they can interpret and understand web pages with less direct input from SEOs.
“This is the transition from traditional to modern SEO where advanced technology reduces the need for traditional techniques,” he concludes.
If you are looking for a professional partner to help deliver the best possible experience to your users through SEO, our DesignRush list of the top SEO agencies is the best place to start.
Will UX Become a More Significant Factor in SEO?
Daniel believes that UX is intrinsically linked to meeting end-user needs and will play a crucial role in SEO.
He shares an example of a user looking to book a holiday and the website has a wide range of options but suffers from poor UX, such as clunky mobile usage or inefficient filtering, it could drive the user back to Google to continue their search, highlighting that this pattern signals that something is off with the user experience on that site.
“Google gauges this through patterns like constant page exits (Pogo-Sticking) and low engagement, painting a picture of user dissatisfaction. Even if the content is exceptional, if it's not presented in a user-friendly manner, it won't resonate as effectively with the audience,” he says.
QGP Founder and SEO Lead Kosta Hristov shares the same opinion highlighting that while link building is crucial for securing a spot on Google's first page, the real challenge lies in maintaining that position through strong user engagement and an exceptional UX.
“So, it goes like this. You build links. Google gives you a spot to prove yourself. Then it tracks the engagement metrics like CTR, time on page, etc. And if the UX isn’t good enough it drops you off the first page,” he says.
What Else Should You Know to Stay on Top of SEO Trends?
Daniel shares what else should businesses know to stay on top of SEO trends.
“Breaking SEO into components, I believe machine learning and user behavior will become increasingly important. Behavior is the key factor now. If user engagement is high, it overrides traditional metrics like keyword placement or content clustering. Machine learning can analyze this behavioral data at scale, clearly identifying what content truly meets user needs,” Daniel says.
According to him, the importance of brand and trust factors will also increase; this includes the overall brand presence online, such as:
- Search queries for the brand
- Social media activity
- Reviews and online mentions
“How Google integrates AI into search will also be disruptive, especially with new features like SGE affecting organic search visibility. In terms of technical SEO, as web development trends toward cleaner and faster websites, I foresee a simplification in tech SEO requirements,” he adds.
When it comes to generative AI, Daniel suggests that it is transforming SEO by enhancing user experience through tools like Google's SGE, which makes search results more interactive but may reduce organic search visibility.
According to him, while AI aids in content creation, it often lacks the uniqueness needed for effective SEO.
“AI's role in SEO will likely pivot toward big data analysis and automation of tasks like schema building. The biggest advantage of AI will be in analyzing large data sets to uncover patterns and insights that can drive SEO strategies,” he adds.
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Given Google's constant algorithm updates, I was curious to hear how Daniel has adjusted his SEO strategies.
He says his core SEO strategies haven't changed significantly.
“I've always been cautious about jumping on bandwagons like AI content, aware of the potential risks. My approach has always been heavily reliant on testing, avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach for each client,” he adds.
When updates occur, he assesses their impact and adjusts accordingly, recognizing that initial drops in rankings might not be due to site issues but rather the update itself.
Often, these declines are temporary, as Google corrects issues in subsequent updates.
The key is to stay calm, he says, understand the broader SERP context, and continue testing without making rash decisions.
The Most Accurate Metric to Assess Website Authority
“The industry has long sought a definitive metric for website authority,” Daniel says.
He believes that though tools like Ahrefs, Majestic, and Moz provide various metrics, they can create unrealistic expectations and don't reflect actual SEO impact since Google does not use them.
Instead, he prioritizes projected traffic to assess a page's potential value, which is more reliable than third-party metrics that artificial link schemes may inflate.
He also evaluates the overall domain traffic trend and checks if the linking page is cached, along with its outbound link ratio.
Always follow SEO best practices to improve your website's search engine ranking, However, make sure to prioritize user experience and focus on your audience instead of search engines to drive success in 2024.
