One of SEOmoz's former regular blog contributors, Michael Martinez, posted his "Thoughtful SEO's Manifesto" this week. After reading it, I thought it would be fun to highlight some of the differences in how he and I think about, write about, and perform SEO for our clients. Let me just preface ...
I think Lee Odden did an excellent job with his piece on The Fallacy of SEO Celebrity. In the post, he explains why pursuing a goal of recognition without an idea of what you want to do with it can be so dangerous: An amazing number of people seem to think bec...
A long time ago (at least, in web years), search engine optimization required specific targeting practices for each of the engines. For Hotbot, you'd need to place two repetitions of every keyword side-by-side in your meta keywords tag, while for Northern Light, a picture of at least one dancing baby in the bottom right-hand corner made all the difference ...
We have previously mentioned a few times on our blog that we were working on an SEO survey, and I'm pleased to say that today we're ready to launch it. Behold, the SEO Industry Survey in all its green-hued glory! ...
Yesterday Sarah, Christine, and I went to Ignition (the VC company who gave us funding) to attend an SEO seminar taught by Vanessa Fox (who recently got scooped up by Ignition). The room was packed full of folks from various Seattle startups and tech companies, and after we all stuffed our faces with pizza and beverages, the learnin' began. Va...
I love SearchEngineJournal's Annual Awards. I think it's terrific that even a small community like search marketing can have its own mini-version of the Oscars each year :) It's fun, it builds friendly competition and it inspires those of us who compete to work harder and earn our keep. Howev...
It's common for people to enter a new year with a resolution, but this year, I thought I'd try something entirely new (and probably overflowing with hubris) and assign New Year's resolutions to the big players in the search market. Thus, without further ado... Google should resolve to: Build more search demand with the money they've amassed. At 70-75% of market share,...
A conversation last week got me thinking about how knowledge spreads in the world of SEO. I noted on a panel that 90% of all SEO knowledge is "out there," floating on the web, mentioned in presentations, and generally findable by anyone who knows enough to ask the right questions or perform the right searches. The other 10% is behind the curtain - it's hidden knowledge that rarely eve...
Hiring is tiring. Take your typical interview process - a phone screen or two, multiple technical interviews and culture fit interviews. You don't want to waste your time, your colleague's time or the candidate's time. Make your interview questions count, especially during the initial phone interview. Here are my favorite questions to ask when phone s...
I think this is one of the most enjoyable interviews we've featured here. Stoney DeGeyter is an SEO and Internet marketer from Reno, NV and the owner of Pole Position Marketing, an SEO/M firm with considerable talent and a roster of happy clients. In the interview, Stoney covers his view on the SEO issues of the day, along with a terrific stor...
Along with all the hot "technical" topics this year, like Universal Search and blended search in general, algo changes, social media, local and mobile search, and most recently Google's big crack down on paid text links, it also seems to have been a big year for background discussions... high on the list of topics over the last 12 months or so being employment. On one hand you h...
Last week, the New York Times opened up their 13 million document archive and dropped their Times Select program (which allowed access in exchange for a fee). This move was covered extensively in the blogosphere and even influenced other giants in the online publishi...
Like many fans of the web, I've been a great admirer of Robert Scoble, noted technology blogger and former Microsoftee, since I first saw his work (probably around 2004). However, after watching this bizarre video on how Mahalo, Facebook & Techmeme are going to beat Google in search, I think I'll have a tough time respecting his opinions on future topics. Let me get this straight fo...
It looks like our ten questions post was a hit. To follow up, our own, intrepid point man, Scott Willoughby, will be crafting an advanced test/quiz on many different SEO topics - some fun, some serious - and should have it launched in the next 3-4 weeks. Await with bated breath (I know I am) And now, the answers to last night's SEO questions: What four search engines ...