Kristan Bauer returns for a deep dive into the technical and organizational SEO strategies that helped Zillow grow to nearly 2 billion annual visits.
She shares tactical insights on enterprise SEO at scale, including testing frameworks, internal collaboration, indexing strategies, and what it takes to lead with executive presence in a high-stakes environment.
Ross and Kristan also unpack the challenges of long-tail targeting, structuring an SEO team for success, and how to know when it’s time to build your own SEO testing platform.
Show Notes:
00:00 – Welcome Back Kristan & The Zillow SEO Journey
00:34 – From Agency to Zillow: What Made Zillow’s Traffic Explode
01:09 – How Zillow Reached Nearly 2 Billion Visits/Year
03:23 – The Hidden SEO Power of Off-Market Listings
04:23 – Internal Linking Tactics to Boost Indexing
06:52 – Long-Tail Dynamic Pages from Listing Descriptions
08:44 – Managing Page Quality in Long-Tail SEO
10:21 – When & Why Zillow Invested in an SEO Testing Platform
12:09 – How SEO Was Structured at Zillow (and Why It Worked)
13:58 – Quarterly Planning + Executive-Level SEO Visibility
15:05 – One-on-One Collaboration With Other Channel Leads
17:10 – Building a Culture of Shared Ownership Around SEO
18:56 – Risk Management via SEO Testing Platforms
20:39 – Why Testing Is a Must at Enterprise Scale
22:51 – How Zillow Prioritized Smart Resource Allocation
24:41 – How to Know When It’s Time to Build a Platform
26:41 – Structuring SEO Inside Product vs. Marketing
30:06 – How Cross-Team SEO Works at the Enterprise Level
32:21 – Building Executive Presence & Communicating Up
34:05 – Wins, Challenges & Transparent SEO Reporting
36:00 – SEO Summits with Airbnb, Yelp, TripAdvisor & More
41:00 – Final Lessons: Communication, Creativity & Big Rocks
Show Links:
Kristan’s Website
Kristan on LinkedIn
Our Previous Episode on Enterprise Real Estate SEO
