Mark Williams-Cook
I’m director at digital agency Candour, specifically I oversee everything to do with the digital marketing side of the business and usually get involved ‘hands on’ with anything to do with SEO. I also run the Search with Candour podcast, which provides weekly coverage of the search marketing industry covering SEO and PPC and maintain this ever-growing list of SEO tips.
As off-shoots of Candour, I founded AlsoAsked, a content research tool that collates and organises ‘People Also Ask’ data from Google search engine result pages (SERPs) to make it easy for marketers, content writers and the like to write better content. I also founded SearchNorwich, a free-to-attend search marketing meetup held once every two months in Norwich that raises money for charity. The even consists of a charity guest speaker, 2 expert speakers delivering an actionable 20-30 minute talk on SEO or PPC and an opportunity for attendees to network.
Recently, I was also made co-owner of Top Dog Harnesses, an e-commerce business that sells designer dog harnesses, dog leads, collars and other accessories like treat bags.
Outside of work, I’m an ex-professional scuba diver, amateur technical diver and amateur boxer.
An incomplete list of talks/articles I’ve done
Over the last 20 years, I’ve spoken at loads of conferences, events, and written lots – most of it has got lost in the internet ether, so I thought I would try and document some here:
Books published in:
- SEO in 2024 by Majestic
- The Art of SEO: Mastering Search Engine Optimization by Stephan Spencer, Eric Enge & Jessica Stricchiola
- SEO in 2023 by Majestic
- Build a Brand in 30 Days by Simon Middleton
Events/Podcasts/Livestreams:
- Trusting AI in the SERPs w/ Mark Williams-Cook & Jack Chambers-Ward
- On the EDGE of Candour / an SEO Podcast Crossover w/ Mark Williams-Cook & Jack Chambers-Ward
- How to Leverage the People Also Ask (PAAs) Questions for SEO Benefits with Olga Zarr
- The EMJ Podcast: People Also Asked Questions And SEO Content
- From Keywords to Content: Unsolicited Advice on Pepper Content
- SERP’s up: People Also Ask & the content Google prefers
- BrightonSEO April 2022: “Effective zero-volume keyword research and why it’s important”
- SearchNorwich: “Won’t somebody think of the robots?”
- SEMJI SEO Square – Effective keyword research without search volume
- SISTRIX with Candour livestream
- Search with Candour
- How SaaS Startups Can Unlock Organic Traffic & Business Growth With Zero Volume Keywords | Mark Williams-Cook, Founder of AlsoAsked.com (#2) – Beyond Traffic Podcast
- Edge of the Web: Zero-volume keywords and intent proximity
- Working with SEOs 3: Mark Williams-Cook with Austine Esezobor
- The SEO Video Show: Mark Williams-Cook explains zero volume keywords
- Rank Ranger: Targeting Zero Search Volume Keywords with Mark Williams-Cook
- Search Listening: Exploring Google’s different datasets
- Quickfire Digital: SEO for Ecommerce brands, with Mark Williams-Cook Episode 1
- Quickfire Digital: SEO for Ecommerce brands, with Mark Williams-Cook Episode 2
- Quickfire Digital: SEO for Ecommerce brands, with Mark Williams-Cook Episode 3
- Quickfire Digital: SEO for Ecommerce: Page Speed and Experience with Mark Williams-Cook
- Authoritas: Internal linking and content structure
- Addicted to Business, Series 3, Episode 1: Advanced SEO with Mark Williams-Cook
- SEO for images with Mark Williams-Cook from Candour
- Climbing Trees – Episode 5: Choosing and Agency podcast with Mark Williams-Cook
- Agencyside: Candour with Mark Williams-Cook
- Marketing Meetup Podcast: Snoozing without losing with Mark Williams-Cook
- Marketing Meetup Podcast: Google Ads – The Fellowship of the Bing: A Hobbit’s Guide To Summering in Mordor – Mark Williams-Cook
- Business Growth Club – SEO Explained with Mark Williams-Cook
- Click & Convert Podcast – SEO done the right way with Mark Williams-Cook
- Digital Marketing PunkCast – Google I/O 2019 Reaction with Mark Williams-Cook
- #SEOchat: Controversial SEO takes Twitter takeover
Articles:
- Unsolicited SEO tips with Candour
- Search Engine Land: Google’s shifting approach to AI content: An in-depth look
- Search Engine Land: Can search engines detect AI content?
- SEOjobs.com – Mark Williams-Cook: My SEO Career Journey
- Clockwork Talent – Mark Williams-Cook, The Making of a Marketer
- Wix SEO Learning Hub – Understanding the nofollow link attribute – Mark Williams-Cook
- Quickfire Digital: Why you need to know your Core Web Vitals
- The Marketing Meetup: Google Ads on small budgets
- Getting Started with a Side Hustle
Other media mentions:
- BBC News: The ‘bias machine’: How Google tells you what you want to hear
- Wall Street Journal: Why Google Searches Are Turning Up Some Wrong Answers
- Search Engine Land: Google Search at 25: SEO experts share memorable moments
- Boss sends all staff home as scientist urges firms to act on coronavirus
- Why SEO is important for business
- What’s the future of Google Adwords?
- The Impact of AI on Modern Marketing
- Digital marketing agency aims to adapt to changing industry
- Rebrand at Norwich marketing agency to encompass new digital skills
- Developer moving into management? Ask these 10 questions first
- 7 Advanced SEO Techniques Your Competitors Don’t Want You to Know
What this blog is for
There are generally three categories that all my blog posts will fall into:
1. Things I’m interested in but don’t know loads about: I’ve found writing about things pushes me to learn more about them. There’ll be a lot of topics like infosec, and game dev, where I’ll be the first to tell you I’m an amateur. If you see something I’ve written that’s incorrect, please do let me know and I’ll do my best to correct it and learn. I’ve found writing things that are wrong on the internet is a really good way to get people to correct you 🙂
2. Things I consider myself knowledgeable about and would like to share: Depressingly few topics! I run an SEO agency in Norwich and I’ve got a good track record of making sites rank incredibly well in Google with SEO, I’ve managed to make a living from that. I’m also a fairly experienced scuba diving instructor and technical diver, so I’ll sometimes write about them, too. I’m always happy to talk to people if they have questions about these topics.
3. WHTG: Was Hard To Google. When it took me too long to find a specific piece of information on Google, I’ll try and state it more clearly for those that come after me.