Jon Henshaw

Jon Henshaw
Jon Henshaw at the Harpeth River near his home in Franklin, TN

Jon Henshaw founded Coywolf, a company that focuses on modern web technologies and online marketing strategies to help technologists and entrepreneurs adapt and thrive in an ever-changing digital landscape. He writes industry news, expert guides, opinion newsletters, and product reviews.

He also creates software, like the minimalist notes app Recollect, which supports sharing and real-time collaboration.

Jon has a full-time role at Yahoo as the Director of Audience Management for Global News and Platform. Before joining Yahoo, Jon was the Head of SEO at CNET, responsible for organic visibility, traffic, conversions, and technical SEO. Before joining CNET, he served as the Head of SEO at Vimeo, overseeing all SEO initiatives for the SaaS company. Before working at Vimeo, he managed all US and international SEO for Paramount+, Pluto TV, and Showtime, as well as SEO for CNET, GameSpot, and other news publishing sites. Before joining Paramount Global, Jon created Raven Tools, an online marketing management and reporting platform that TapClicks acquired in 2017.

Jon is an industry veteran, international speaker, and expert SEO. He has worked in web development and internet strategy since 1995.

Visit Jon's Now Page to find out what he's been up to recently.

Social Media

Jon does not have social media accounts on X/Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. If you see a profile with Jon's name and likeness, it's a fake account. He is on the fediverse via Mastodon, Bluesky and Micro.blog and reluctantly on the closed social web via LinkedIn.

Fediverse – Open and interoperable social web platforms

Centralized – Closed and non-interoperable social web platforms

Work Experience

Director of Audience Management, Global News and Platform

Dec 2024 - present (Remote)

Jon is the Director of Audience Management and is responsible for the organic performance of multiple verticals and technical SEO for the platform.

Founder of Coywolf

Oct 2017 - present

Jon is the sole Editor and author reporting for Coywolf News, and he also writes all of the expert guides, opinion newsletters, and product reviews. Additionally, he maintains the site and manages all aspects of the business.

Co-Founder of MasterTank

Apr 2023 - present

MasterTank is the world's most intimate conference. A place for entrepreneurs to share their story and get feedback on their most important decisions.

Head of SEO at CNET (Vice President)

May 2024 - Nov 2024 (Remote)

Jon is the Head of SEO for CNET and ZDNET and is responsible for all organic visibility, traffic, conversions, and technical SEO.

Responsibilties
  • Manages a large team of SEOs across diverse categories and oversees commerce and sessions-based growth initiatives.
  • Collaborates and works closely with multiple teams, including Product, Edit, Social, and Sales.
  • Analyzes and ideates content strategies and tactics for maximum organic visibility and high-intent traffic.
  • Works with product engineering teams to optimize page templates and fix technical issues.
  • Works with SEO-related tasks in JIRA and Asana.
  • Researches, analyzes, and recommends site changes that impact revenue and business operations.

Key achievements and contributions
  • Improved SEO cross-team collaboration with the Product, Edit, and Social teams.
  • Identified technical SEO issues and worked with the Product team to resolve them.
  • Helped grow YoY traffic and revenue for multiple verticals and events.
  • Assisted with due diligence for the acquisition of CNET and ZDNET by Ziff Davis.

Head of SEO at Vimeo (Senior Director)

July 2022 - April 2024 (Remote)

Jon was the Head of SEO for Vimeo, responsible for all organic visibility, traffic, and conversions for Vimeo.

Responsibilties
  • Collaborates and works closely with multiple teams, including Marketing, Product, Customer Support, and Sales.
  • Analyzes and ideates content strategies and tactics for maximum organic visibility and high-intent traffic.
  • Works with product engineering teams to optimize user-generated content and logged-out product experiences for search engines.
  • Creates, prioritizes, and manages SEO-related tasks in JIRA and Asana backlogs.
  • Researches, analyzes, and recommends site changes that impact revenue and business operations.

Key achievements and contributions
  • Worked with Google and Vimeo product engineers to fully optimize video embeds for customers.
  • Solved multiple significant indexing issues, resulting in substantial growth in page indexation and organic traffic.
  • Assisted in multiple site migrations, including recommending and helping move from a Zendesk subdomain to a Vimeo subdomain for the Help Center.
  • Wrote technical SEO best practice articles for internal use by marketing and product teams, blog posts for Vimeo and partners, and Help Center articles.
  • Developed and taught technical SEO classes to team members.
  • Spoke at VidCon for an hour-long session on how creators can leverage SEO for video content.

Director of SEO at Paramount

Oct 2017 - Jul 2022 (Remote)

Jon was the Director of SEO for Paramount's entire streaming portfolio, including Paramount+, Pluto TV, Showtime, and CBS.

Responsibilties

Jon worked with the editorial and product teams at Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS, and Showtime to optimize the sites for search engine visibility and traffic within the US and internationally. Additionally, he previously worked with the editorial and product teams at CNET Media Group for several years, helping them drive record traffic to the site until they were sold to Red Ventures in late 2020.

Key achievements and contributions
  • Part of the Paramount+ launch team and responsible for all SEO. Achieved top rankings for a new domain which currently drives a sizable percentage of new subscribers from organic search referrals.
  • Ideated the “Episode Guide” section for Paramount+ and CBS to increase search visibility and traffic for seasons and episodes. Collaborated with the product team to create the new section and saw an immediate growth impact from search after it launched. Because of its success and good UX, the product team added the new design pattern to all OTT apps.
  • Developed and led the international SEO strategy for Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
  • Developed the information architecture (IA) for new CNET verticals and worked with the editorial teams to achieve record-breaking search visibility and traffic.
  • Helped achieve record traffic for CNET and GameSpot via Google News for events and product launches through a combination of site optimizations with the product team, topic research and content recommendations, and collaboration with editorial teams.
  • Successfully led a multi-million-page site migration to a new domain.

Co-Founder and President of Raven Tools (Acquired)

Oct 2005 - Jul 2017 (Nashville, TN)

Created the Raven brand and SaaS. Led product, design, research and development (R&D), marketing, and growth until it was acquired by TapClicks in 2017.

Product
  • Responsible for the ideation and creation of Raven Tools.
  • Worked closely with designers and frontend developers for over a decade.
  • Created an R&D team and built prototypes for next-generation tools and features, such as the Site Auditor.

Marketing
  • Created the Raven brand and directed the making of the logo.
  • Produced unique and highly sought-after brand swag that competitors later imitated because of how successful the campaigns were.
  • Executed highly successful content marketing campaigns that drove brand awareness and signups.
  • Presented internationally at conferences as an SEO and digital marketing expert.

Management
  • Managed legal and financial affairs with partners and executives
  • Oversaw hiring new employees
  • Managed diverse teams across the entire company