Mark Williams-Cook: The Jam Sandwich, PAAs, Brand & Entity Optimization

Mark Williams-Cook is SEO veteran of around 20 years, currently serving as director of an SEO agency called Candour and running an intent research tool called Also Asked. He’s well-known in the SEO community for his “screaming into the void” LinkedIn posts with unsolicited SEO tips and the Core Updates newsletter.

Follow Mark on Socials:

https://bsky.app/profile/markwilliamscook.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/markseo/

Resources Mentioned:

PAA + Screaming Frog for Content Gap Analysis https://searchengineland.com/improving-content-quality-scale-ai-442546

Site migrations made easy https://searchengineland.com/site-migrations-ai-powered-redirect-mapping-437793

His Newsletter https://coreupdates.com/

Patents Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/1Iwm2ZLAbXu8QjroU8auZ2

Unsolicited SEO tips https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7284979681420795906/

Topics We Explored:

SEO is evolving with a focus on brand authority
Entity optimization is becoming more important than page-level optimization.
Google’s trust metrics are binary, either they trust a site or they don’t.
Site quality is a significant factor in Google’s algorithm.
Manual interventions by Google indicate the complexity of algorithmic changes.
Query buckets help in understanding how Google categorizes searches.
Featured snippets and AI overviews may coexist for a while.
People Also Ask (PAA) results can change rapidly based on current events.
Understanding user intent is crucial for effective SEO strategies.
The SEO landscape requires adaptability to new trends and technologies. Search volume data can be misleading.
Timeliness in publishing can lead to significant advantages.
AI tools enhance user experience by providing direct answers.
The SEO landscape is shifting towards AI-driven content.
Content creators should focus on unsolved knowledge spaces.
User behavior is evolving with AI integration in search.
Privacy concerns may diminish as AI becomes more integrated.
AI overviews may replace traditional snippets in SERPs.
Actionable strategies can be derived from AI tools.
Understanding user intent is crucial for effective SEO.

Actionable Takeaways

The conversation concludes with three practical recommendations:

For content creators: Start with video content and work backwards, using AI tools to transcribe and transform conversations into written content.
For SEO beginners: Utilize PAA data through tools like Also Asked to understand user intent and content opportunities.
For experienced SEOs: Combine tools like Screaming Frog with Also Asked API and ChatGPT to automate content gap analysis at scale.

Mark emphasizes that these approaches leverage AI capabilities while avoiding common pitfalls like hallucination and information gain issues.

Killer Quotes:

“I just want someone to explain to me why the Vatican website is a topical authority on CBD gummies, right? Because it is not, right? But it ranked, it got a pass.” — On how strong domain authority can sometimes override traditional relevance signals

“I think all of that will be replaced by agents who understand the user, so they know my price range, they know I would prefer to have like environmentally friendly brands.” — On the future of search and AI integration

“Either Google trusts your canonical tags and uses them, or they don’t trust them at all and ignore them completely.” — On Google’s binary decision-making process

“Entity optimization is important, but the authority signals are still primarily attached to sites rather than entities.” — On the current state of entity optimization

“The future of search isn’t about rankings—it’s about understanding user intent at different knowledge levels.” — On the evolution of search technology

The Current State of Google’s Relevance and Quality Signals

The conversation begins with a discussion of how Google currently evaluates relevance and site quality. Mark explains that one of the biggest changes in the current “meta” revolves around what he loosely terms as “brand” – though he clarifies this isn’t brand in the traditional marketing sense, but rather how well-known and authoritative an entity is.

To illustrate this point, Mark shares an example of the Vatican website being hacked and ranking on the first page for CBD gummies. This demonstrates how strong domain authority can sometimes override traditional relevance signals. As Mark notes, “I just want someone to explain to me why the Vatican website is a topical authority on CBD gummies, right? Because it is not, right? But it ranked, it got a pass.”

Entity Optimization and the Evolution of Search

The discussion shifts to entity optimization and how SEO professionals might benefit from viewing their work through this lens. Mark explains that while entities are important for understanding relationships and query context, he believes the current authority signals are still primarily attached to sites rather than entities.

Mark elaborates on Google’s evolution from “strings to things,” referencing how the search engine has moved beyond simple keyword matching to understanding relationships between concepts. However, he cautions against overemphasizing certain aspects of entity optimization, such as author profiles, noting that if such signals were heavily weighted, they would be easily exploited by black hat SEOs.

Google’s Binary Decision Making

An interesting insight emerges about Google’s operational approach. Mark shares his conversation with Gary Illyes about how Google handles certain signals, revealing that many decisions are binary rather than operating on a spectrum. For instance, with canonical tags, Google either trusts them entirely or ignores them completely – there’s no middle ground.

Site Reputation Abuse and Manual Actions

The conversation turns to Google’s handling of site reputation abuse, particularly regarding high-authority sites. Mark explains that Google’s current approach appears to be more manual than algorithmic, suggesting they haven’t found a reliable way to automatically identify and address these issues without risking false positives.

The Future of Search and AI Integration

Mark presents a compelling vision of search’s future, suggesting we’re moving toward a model where AI agents will conduct research on users’ behalf. He explains: “I think all of that will be replaced by agents who understand the user, so they know my price range, they know I would prefer to have like environmentally friendly brands.”