SEO Case Study: Midlife Healthy Living

In case you are wondering whether or not ads and SEO can coexist, the answer is a big yes!

To back that up, we have a whole blog post dedicated to that exact topic: How Mediavine optimizes ads and SEO together.

Since we would never want to compromise speed or SEO for ad income, Mediavine always makes sure both of these are top priority in everything we do.

We even run our technology on our own sites, all of which have search engines as their #1 traffic source.

Our SEO Case Study series was created to show you real examples of how publishers leverage Mediavine’s SEO resources, pagespeed tools, video and ad settings to try to rank higher in search engines, boost traffic and earn more income with their ads.

In our latest series installment, we are very excited to introduce you to Michele Brosius of the site Midlife Healthy Living.

Michele is sharing about the importance of SEO and the resources she uses, her video strategy and it’s positive impact on her site, how much she loves Mediavine’s award-winning customer service and more!

Welcome to the blog, Michele!

How long have you been blogging? When did you join Mediavine?

Ten years ago, and I just started year four with Mediavine.

What is your current ad density setting in the dashboard for desktop and mobile? Why did you choose this setting?

High for mobile and normal for desktop. This was suggested by a Mediavine employee who did a site audit during an event.

When did you start focusing on SEO and/or site speed? How has working with Mediavine impacted your SEO, site speed and site overall?

I have been working on SEO and site speed for the last 18 months. I know I have work to do and I work on it daily.

Currently I am in the process of getting a new site design / theme (waiting for Trellis!), and having my site evaluated by a professional to increase speed and loading times. I’ll also be making sure that I have the best hosting for my blog this year.

How has working with Mediavine impacted your SEO, site speed and site overall?

I’ve learned so much since becoming a member of Mediavine. The blog posts, support and general knowledge shared in the private Facebook group is priceless to me.

What steps have you taken to improve your SEO and/or site speed? What resources/tools have you used?

I’ve had some SEO audits done. I also took a few courses and hired a professional to address site speed. My theme is old and I know that has to change sooner than later.

Did you find any Mediavine resources useful as you optimized your site speed or SEO? Specific help docs, blog posts and/or YouTube videos?

The Mediavine blog posts, Content Upgrade Challenge and Teal Talk have all been very helpful resources.

Have you asked for help when optimizing for site speed and/or SEO, either from Mediavine Publisher Support or elsewhere? If yes, please tell us where from.

Yes. Nicole from Mediavine looked at my page and gave recommendations in January 2019 after meeting her at the Courage to Earn MORE Retreat.

I also had TaKenya from Mediavine look at my site settings in person during the Plaid St. Conference last fall.

Will you tell us what differences you’ve experienced since coming to Mediavine? Specifically differences in pagespeed, organic traffic, ad revenue, support, etc.

The last agency I used had a very cumbersome dashboard and they managed everything. I appreciate being able to choose the ad settings, opt outs and disabling ads on specific posts that comes with the Mediavine dashboard.

My former ad agency has since changed names, but when I left four years ago they were late with payments several months is a row. I was never so glad to see I could apply for Mediavine.

THANK YOU!!

Could you please describe your video strategy? What platform do you use to create video? How many videos do you have uploaded through the Mediavine Video Player? Are you using Mediavine’s signature video features like the Featured Video and Up Next? How has the use of Mediavine’s Video Player impacted your revenue?

Right now I am using the InShot app and Animoto to create videos. Most of my videos are slideshows and I change my featured video every few weeks and also seasonally.

I have 45 videos for my most popular posts, but still have many more to go. I use the Featured Video and Up Next video settings. Revenue with video is amazing! I know I can do better with more video content and that’s in the plan for this year.

Where do you learn about SEO news and updates? How do you keep track of changes?

I read a lot of industry-wide news. I want and like to hear what trusted sources are saying and doing for SEO and SERP. I follow the Mediavine blog and Teal Talk to stay on top of things.

What advice do you have for someone who would like to increase their organic search traffic?

Get familiar with your Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Learn all you can about SEO and take advantage of the tools designed to help you.

Whether you use a paid or free tool, keyword research is a must. Don’t make the same mistake I did and ignore SEO, then have to backtrack to try and do it correctly.