No April's Fools stuff from us this year - the search world is overrun with pranks. I do have have an important question that I'd love to get answers to. I'll start by providing my own.
In 2001, the company that would become SEOmoz (at the time just Gillian, Matt & myself) began taking on some e-commerce development projects. Previously, we had designed static websites in Flash & HTML and done some consulting in usability, but with the addition of Matt to the team, we were ready to take on some beefier projects. We designed and developed several sites for clients and were struggling to help them get more traffic and sales through search and thus, hired a local SEO firm to help us. We had terrible luck and by mid-2002, I was lurking on forums like SEOChat, HighRankings, Cre8asite and Sitepoint (too cheap to sign up for WebmasterWorld). In 2003, we reached a turning point with one of our clients, achieving successful rankings for the first time. We took a few more clients and in 2004, were providing SEO services as part of our work. 2004 is also when the first incarnation of SEOmoz launched, providing tools, research articles and the nascent beginnings of a blog.
My learning process started in the forums of SEO where I picked up tips from folks like Donna, EGOL, Webby and applied them to our sites in the hopes of achieving rankings. The SEO blog scene was, by and large, a deserted landscape until late in 2004, but looking through the forums today, it appears the signal to noise ratio is so low that blogs make for a better learning experience.
All of this brings me to my question - how did you learn SEO? What got you started in the field?
In addition to filling out the above poll, I'm hoping to hear some stories in the comments - with formal education largely impossible, it's fascinating to hear how search marketers were able to navigate their way into the niche field of SEO/M.
I'm an ex-journalist, so the idea of playing with words and the weight and value of them came more naturally, plus the interest was there to begin with.
I also somehow ended up in the world of real-life sales along the way, so that gave me a good background in the use and testing of language.
And living in quite a few different countries speaking different languages showed me how useless marketing performance usually was in foreign languages and ideas, which originally was my niche.
I came across WMW (can't remember how) at the time of the old guard, many of whom moved on or disappeared over the years.
I was lucky, I guess, in that there wasn't the current obsession with repetitive basic information in those days and people were far more willing to discuss concepts. Shor might remember ex-WMW mod paynt and her posts years ago about themes and and linking and website organisation, all almost completely wrong if it came to nuts-and-bolts optimisation at the time, but all so relevant as part of a larger picture both then and in the future.
There also wasn't this kowtowing to perceived gurus, or to engines, so I imbibed the spirit of being responsible for your business plan and for what you did with your site, rather than listening to search engine pronouncements or quasi-religious mantras, like "content is king".
Thinking about who I learned from, or who had had the most influence is difficult. Interestingly, if I narrowed it down to the fingers of one hand, only one of them has a current blog even vaguely in the area and one is not an SEO (in fact, would be horrified to be mentioned in that company).
Rather than recommending blogs, or conferences, or forums, to newer people in the industry, I'll round off with a quote from Brett Tabke (owner of WMW and not a universally-loved person in SEO). I wouldn't include BT in the influencers I listed above, but this sums up one of the most important lessons I came away with, and one that too many people have currently not yet learnt:
I don't want to bore anyone with a life story, so here are the Cliffs Notes of how I got into SEO...
Writing for magazines in the US >> Job at a surf magazine in Indonesia >> Selling organic piercing jewelry from Indonesia online >> Profits paid for college, and business gave valuable ecommerce experience >> 9/11 Attacks persuaded me to leave the largest Muslim country in the world - Friends would later die in bombing. >> Went to Australian school 3-years for journalism degree >> Started writing for websites >>Learned why online copywriting is different than magazines, which was became a fascination >> Started writing meta titles and descriptions >> First job at an SEO agency >> First in house position >> My own SEO company >> My own content and affiliate sites
NEXT? My second ecommerce business? Sometimes I wonder "what if I knew then what I know now". Would my piercing jewelry business be worth millions instead of the measly $10,000 I sold it for?
WOW, I didn't realize what a long and winding road it has been until now! Is this all an accident? Did it happen for a reason? What if one small thing had changed; Would I still be an SEO?
seomoz isn't doing too badly atm! Cool poll too. :D
I have built my experience through initial participation in SEO blogs, then forums and finally conferences, next is books... a subscription to seomoz will be the start of that phase.
I got into SEO through my interest in standards-compliant markup as well as marketing scene; why not merge the two?
I love being able to switch from a technical mind set to a creative one within a web production environment; it's the only thing that stops me from turning into a robot.
Rand, do you have any practices that are still relevant to SEO today? :)
I started with an .edu subdomain that got great rankings and lots of traffic. Didn't know anything about SEO, but the pages got a lot of links and ranked high (I didn't understand the connection at the time).
Then I started selling data CDs on ebay and hated the UI and the people who wanted to haggle over price... so I decided to make a website and get serious. So I registered a .com and bought a copy of... "The UnFair Advantage Book on... winning the Search Engine Wars!"... I read and reread, built and rebuilt, soon my site was up to the second page of Google SERPs for a lot of terms and made a little money... but not as much as ebay. I knew something was missing. I then stumbled into a couple of forums and lurked for a long time, learning the value of off-page SEO. I learned a lot there by asking questions and getting into arguments with SEO-GUY, fathom and many others.
The big lesson on links came when the school changed my subdomain and the traffic into my .edu pages went from thousands per day down to zip. They simply moved my files to a new folder... no redirects, they knew nothing of redirects and I knew nothing of them either. My site disappeared from the SERPs and when it came back my rankings were down at position #347.
After I learned about links I dug into an old copy of my .edu website, got some log info and found out where those links were coming from, emailed a few of those people and, BAM... the site was back up the SERPs quickly.
Now I am starting to realize that links are not the real secret sauce.
I think you've got real hands-on experience that still so many in the SEO world lack.
i think the poll should have the ability to choose more than one answer.
i'd choose:
As for how i actually got into it...i applied for a postion as project manager at masterlink. they hired someone else but thought i had skills that would work for seo and web design. i still do some design help but mostly focused on seo.
and now i am so glad i didn't get that project manager job after all. sweet serendipity.
Kimber - it DOES have the ability to select as many answers as you'd like... Unless I'm the only one who can see that (runs off to check Vizu).
uh...duh. my morning coffee hadn't kicked in yet, i suppose. i went back and changed my vote. i guess i just assumed i could only choose one. thanks for waking me up, rand!
It's not a very intuitive interface. are those radio buttons? checkboxes? bullet points?
Touché, Bud.
Most all of you are quite well aware of how I got my start. The process is spelled out in grotesque detail in several blog posts and a controversial article :P
I was hired away from a blue chip brand to be the director of marketing at a dot.com start up, there was only one catch I did not have a clue about internet marketing. After taking care of the easy low hanging fruit, and after a couple of run in’s with fake SEO's I decided to take a crack at it myself. I spent a ton of time on search engine watch, and webmaster world, not to mention Jill Whalen. Once I felt I had some ideas of what I could do to rank better, I did what I could. I spent a few weekends tinkering with our content and structure, I optimized product descriptions, I localized content for shipping zips, I gave bot's better access, and with in a matter of weeks, I was able to pull of what our SEO's promised but could not deliver.
P.S. I should mention that I spent time on Jill Whalen's web site I did not spend any time "on" the actual Jill Whalen.
I wonder if doing the nasty with Jill could actually help your site rank well?
Most old timers learned SEO through a combination of their own trial-and-error testing and reading the 'OG' seo forums (WMW, SEW, IHY, HR etc). We were only forced to sift for nuggets of gold in the torrent of poo because blog publishing was not as accessible as it is today
/shudders at the memory of trawling WMW mega-threads whenever a Googledance hit.
I spent a year lurking on forums while working on a dot.com financial portal and a further year post-bust honing my skills (to pay the bills) before joining my current company.
The 'new' generation of SEOs have the benefit and disadvantage of learning through osmosis. What they lack in practical application, they make up through the use of best practices, case studies and when the shit hits the fan, running to the old SEO sensei (I always picture Ammon as the quintessential SEO guru).
One trend I've observed recently in the SEO field is in web analytics folk moving into (or taking over) in-house SEO/SEM. These guys know what works and what doesn't on a website and with the addition of SEO fundamentals can really boost SEO ROI.
You're making me feel like I'm old... Please stop it :p
YOU'RE feeling old? Please......
I first got introduced to the idea of marketing online in 2002.
I worked for a company selling marketing services, but did not do any of the work myself. After some time there, I learned SEO bu building a site and trying to get it ranked. That first site taught me a lot and insired me to continue learning so I built more and started participating in discussions (mostly on forums, since the blogsphere wasn't as big then).
It's all down hill from there. Just kept trying new things and participating, went to few conferences and got some great accounts to work on. I continue to provide services PT and I work in-house FT at an established eCommerce company.
I continue to build sites and try new things and definately enjoy it everyday! I am thankful for learning it and can't image myself doing anything else right now.
Christmas of 2005 I had my appendix burst and ended up in surgery Christmas day. At the time I was attempting to build my own business and was a recent college graduate (otherwise broke). My wife was in Law School, and I wasn't insured. I needed something fast!
I had a freind in Idaho who had built a very successful business online doing information marketing. After some long talks he convinced me to move from Nebraska and start working with him.
My freind is an information junky, and collects as many internet marketing courses that he can get his hands on. So I took advantage of this and studied as much as I possibly could handle. After 6 months I realized that the courses that ended up on my desk most often were SEO related. I soon found that I was addicted and have never looked back.
I did have some major struggles at first, a lot of the course/guides taught a lot of crap and i soon found myself frustrated with most of the outdated materials. I began searching online until I eventually found SEOmoz. Through the SEOmoz blog I learned about Ammon Johns and his knowledge in the industry.
Christmas of 2006 I was living in England for a month working as an intern for Fresh Egg and recieving personal training from some of the world's best. I also had the chance to meet Rebecca on her way out of the Fresh Egg office and her two week internship training.
I am young in the industry and am greatful to be here! :)
Thank you for using the Vizu polling widget. I'd appreciate any feedback you or other readers have on the product.
In relation to the topic at hand, my background is deeply rooted in SEM and SEO, more the former than the latter. In general I learned via trial and error, though always looked to avoid errors by keeping up with forums and blogs. I also reviewed other sites that were well optimized and looked specifically at what they were doing. I'm not sure that falls into any of the categories in the current poll.
I find that there's no real replacement for hands-on experience. And I'd rather go out and try 10 things and find that only three really work, instead of waiting on the sidelines and looking to implement a couple of 'silver bullets'.
Thanks again for using Vizu. All the best.
A.J. Kohn
Director of Marketing
Vizu
www.vizu.com
answers.vizu.com
Not really IN the search marketing industry, but I can tell you how I started to become interested in Search Marketing. It all started about 6 months ago. A friend of mine is in the industry and constantly talked about it. I felt stupid not knowing what the heck she was talking about...One day she was laughing about a shirt she saw that said "Who the heck is Matt Cutts?". I asked, and she said I wouldn't understand. So that's when I started my mission to find out who Matt Cutts is. That search has lead me to several SEO Forums, countless Search Blogs, a couple of search books, and here. Now my organization thinks I know something about search and has asked me to optimize our page and run our PPC campaign. That darn shirt!
I just started working in SEO 5 months ago, when I joined Fortune Interactive as a copywriter. I had to take a writing test as part of the interview process and I looked up stuff about SEO in preparation for that.
Mike Marshall, COO, trains us regularly. Al Scillitani is a great manager and I learn a ton of stuff from him and our client services team.
I also learn alot from blogs, including SEOMoz, of course. The other A-list blog that I learn anything of value from is Search Engine Land. I'm actually starting to learn more from blogs that aren't A-list. The people in the trenches you might say.
Now, SEO still isn't my principle mode of doing business...but how I learned SEO is kind of interesting.
First, I got a design contract to build somebody a website for their fledgling search marketing business. In the process, I had to read pages upon pages of what they'd written on the topic.
And I kept saying to myself "This is bullsh*t...this doesn't make any sense at all...."
So, I got started doing my own research, figuring out what was going on...and determined that much of what the client wanted was just dumb.
Site's still online, although the company was bankrupt within 12 months...
I started in online subscription marketing - driving traffic (and conversions) through print advertising and registration forms. When I moved to my current employer (although that's only for 2 more weeks!) I was suddenly working on open access sites.
After a redesign & relaunch I realised that our traffic was static, and that we needed to get more from engines. 1 ticket to SES London 05 later, I had the basics.
When the company decided to start a search dept, they hired someone who was working within the company at the time, but who had done SEO work on a consulting basis (Andy Mihalop - recently named one of the top in-house SEOs)
Andy has taught me so much in the last few years, and the rest I have picked up be reading in & around the job - particularly from SEOmoz...
Needless to say, I qualify myself as still learning!
I think a large part of it go from 'Trial and Failure (or in some cases, Success)'. I think now, especially with the influence of SEOMoz, SEO has truly gone Open Source. Nobody would have any problem 'knowing' what SEO techniques to employ. But the true 'Learning' goes from 'Applying'.
p/s: first comment here.
First comment - awesome! We love to see participation. Welcome to the family :)
I got into SEO by mistake really, I fell into it.
I started working on the web in high school very minorly. By the time college hit, they made us build a website, so I got my feet wet there. My first internship made me do some MINOR PPC work with Google (this was about 2003). Well that company failed, and I happened to be hired by a local search marketing firm because I had "experience" in PPC.
It was there I was taught about PPC and some about SEO. Most people know that SEO is learned primarily by reading. So blogs and my mentor are really what got me started. I was even asked to teach our marketing class about web marketing. It was a nice compliment.
So over the period of 2 years I went from traditional marketing to being somewhat skilled in SEO with some tutoring and reading. I still am amazed with what I can do with the tips I get online. The first time one of my sites made it into the top 10 for a competitive keyword, I just sat there shocked. It's nice to see your hard work pay off.
It's sites like these that make me who I am today. I love the web marketing world because unlike other parts of business, we share and share well. The openness in our community makes each day that much better for me. So thanks to everyone!
so for me the third, fourth and fifth of the poll are the sum total of how I started out, with initial significant guidance from an aquaintence who knew a LOT more about it than I did. Thx JB!:-)
I was thrown into it by a website design company. I started work here as a customer care rep, and through many calls about how our sites didn't provide any ROI, I started reading about it. One of the first things I found was the original article by Danny Sullivan on some forum post. They over heard some of the conversations I had with cusotmers, and am now their 'SEO Specialist.'
Myself and a few others, after a few years of limited help we can offer people here, have decided to try our hand at offering the service ourselves, but we are still trying to find our place in the industry.
At the risk of sounding like a suck-up, SEOMoz has been a huge help. Not only with SEO/SEM information, but by giving full disclosure to your budding business, it's successes and pitfalls have given us a lot of insight to what we are getting ourselves into. Thanks SEOMoz!!
Similar to you Rand - though slightly behind you! Started building websites with an interest in SEO then got further into it to help our web design clients then started explicitly selling SEO.
SEOmoz has been a great help too along with a bunch of other blogs and forums (cre8asite particularly though mainly lurking).
I come from a maths (or math, for those in the US) degree & grad school background (game theory, statistics, probability theory) so love thinking about it from a first principles / algorithm point of view. Duncan (my business partner) comes from a computer science background so we complement each other well on that front.
I started my business primarily focused on table-less, standards based web design, but with a marketing and sales background, quickly began focusing on SEO as well. Even today, I take a SEO focus as part of design projects even if there isn't a formal SEO component... just doesn't make much sense otherwise... kind of like selling a car without the engine.
While I didn't buy any books, I was amazed at how many were available from the library. Obviously this industry is constantly evolving so you have to be careful with anything you read, especially books, but it is another great place for beginners or a refresh. One of the advantages is a little more start-to-finish format than blogs or forums.
But most knowledge now comes from blogs, forums, and learning from experience.
I think overall though, the most important aspect is the community itself. SEOmoz is a great example of everyone coming together for the greater good, sharing their own thoughts, tests, and experiences. No one could possibly learn, test, and do it all.
The open sharing and helping each other learn does more to raise the level of quality and reputation of the industry than anything else.
Standards based web design is how I started too. I build my first site with a friend and then we both wondered "now what" and how do we get people to this site.
I did read Shari Thurow's book, Search Engine Visibility, which helped set me straight on a lot of things. It's a good book for anyone just getting started with seo. You can find all the stuff online so it might not be for anyone here, but I did think it good and it was helpful to me at the time I read it.
I also did the forum thing, mostly reading and only much later posting. Now I tend to get most information from tiral and error and a handful of blogs I trust.
I 1st started learning SEO in 2004 when I worked at a company called Iomart, I sold generic domain names with a one page website that would redirect to business websites, the pages never worked on Google. (due to them having no links and due to them redirecting) but sometimes they would work on Yahoo or inktomi search engines, I started to realise that the ones that mentioned the search phrases in the page title tag worked a bit better, when I signed a client up I had to fill in this sheet that asked for the page title tag, description tag, keywords and content (the sheet never used these terms but thats what they were) I sold mobile-phone-deal.co.uk to this mobile phone company and I filled the sheet in something like this:
Page title tag:
Mobile phone deal, cheap mobile phone deal, best mobile phone deal, mobile phone deal uk.
Description tag: The same
Keywords: The same
Content: The same
With the old inktomi submission the site went straight in at no.1 on Yahoo for mobile phone deal, best mobile phone deal and mobile phone deal uk, plus it was on the 1st page for cheap mobile phone, the mobile phone company could not believe it, they were over the moon and they got alot of traffic and business out of it, this gave me the bug and things have sort of progressed from there, I really got into it last year though and it is amazing how much I keep learning every day.
The redirect has been taken away now and the content has been changed, but it used to be what I said it was and it did used to rank where I said it did.
I've been reading your blog and site for so long, but never posted a comment... until today of course :)
I started working for a web development/SEO company in 2000 mainly doing some data entry and admin stuff. After a couple of months doing that, one of the owners decided to train me on SEO. By 2001, I was actively reading all the forums, and optimizing content and meta tags like crazy. So it was definitely a combination of both, being mentored and self-training online.
Now six years later (and one company later) I'm managing all search marketing for a Fortune 500 company, and it feels great! I love this field, I love what I do and I truly hope our industry continues to grow as it has been, and folks like you Rand continue to assist with that as well.
- Diana
Cheers to your first comment, Diana. We're thrilled to see you participate. I've worked with several Fortune 500s, and I know the challenges before you are immense - not only do you need to know your stuff, you've got to sell it internally, too. The best of luck to you!
Thank you Rand!
I've been here now a little over 10 months, and the internal selling part has been my biggest task - not just with IT and design, but also with the marketing teams. I'm loving the challenge though, and the accomplishments so far have been great as well.
For me, it's been a good mix of what's on the poll. I've done a lot of trial and error testing, read/participated at several SEO blogs, bought books, attended a conference and started my own SEO firm.
ten years ago I got involved in it when all you had was a title and URL. Back then I think getting people to visit was hard because your message was a single line and the URL - relevance had to be determined from that. I think those days things were challenging in different ways.
I still espoused traditional marketing to help online and also instituted segmented lists, landing pages and the like.
Time moves on but the core ideas really don't - proving relevance is essential, the message the end user gets is what convinces them to click and brand recognition is vital.
SEO is a part of the whole. Vital and relevant but it has been around since 1995 at least - ah those were the days *laughs*
I have been in the tech industry for 6 years, but not until recently have I been in the SEO/SEM world 'full time'. I am currently working for a company that already has a VERY strong foundation, and gets solid SE results. I have been mostly networking with 'friends' in the industry, subscribing to many RSS feeds, as well as ''learning on the fly". It has been a bit overwhelming at times, and I find myself going in many different directions.
How long would you say is the learning curve for one trying to become 'an expert' in the industry.....ok, maybe not 'an expert', how about very good at what they do?
Looking forward to a long and prosperous career in the 'online world'!
When I was a consultant doing custom software development, I was never much in to sales. So I built a web site around the idea of attracting visitors and pre-qualifying potential clients without having to do a thing. Yeah, that didn't work, but it turned out I was pretty good at getting rankings and bringing thousands of visitors a day to a fairly niche web site. And thus a new SEO was born...
My journey into SEO started with a job as senior copywriter for a major optimization firm in California. I learned a bit there, but the fact that my job opened me up to the concept of optimizing websites is what really set me in motion. I knew practically nothing about SEO before that.
I gradually began to learn; as a new concept appeared I'd read up on it. The person looking after my website at the time got me penalized by Google, so I had to unravel the mess she'd left me. This constituted another steep learning curve. Then, with every new client i'd learn a bit more. I bought some books and read loads online, then one client told me I knew more than a (nameless) big gun he'd hired. So it gave me the confidence to expand my services beyond just SEO copywriting.
I love reading up on SEO. It's fascinating and there's always something new to do, and new things to learn. It's a great industry to be in.
I hired a local seo firm in 2000 to help me out in my dotcom days, a few years later they hired me and now I'm one of their lead consultants.
I started learning seo around the same time you did, Rand, at at least some of the forums you also visited.
Man....you've come a long way, baby.
I agree. I think the noise element on a lot of forums is louder and the substance is down. Blogs may well be better.....and this one is great. Open source --learning together is a great method....and having succcess stories....such as high rankings w/in competitive fields is an absolute way to learn....how to do things.
It is critical in most areas to learn by meeting people. I think I'll be at ses ny this month....my first conference.
Dave
I learned SEO by osmosis.
I had a boss who attended conferences (to get certified...... don't get me started on useless certifications) and he just didn't have the time or energy to digest all the information and make use of it. I did. That's the curse and benefit of being in your twenties.
I learned everything I know about SEO from reading this blog and other articles on the site. Seriously. Well, almost :)
I'm not an SEO by trade - I'm a designer/developer/content manager/forum admin/writer etc. I became interetsed in SEO and marketing about a year and a half ago when I took over a site that was (and still is) in desperate need of traffic. So that's the first reason. The second reason is that the site is a webmaster forum, with lots of people asking lots of questions about SEO. Until last year, we didn't have any knowledgeable SEO people around to answer them. After reading this blog I've learned enought to answer most of them.
So thanks a lot for all your great info!!! It's a huge help to me :)
Tinkering with Altavista back in the day. Even more fun these days as you've got to love the challenge that Google presents.
My interest in SEO came about from a need to promote my business at classadrivers.com.
After that, our group started a web development business.
I started lurking on the forums. Eventually, it got too difficult to follow all the threads. That's when I discovered the Search Engine Roundtable. From there, I started adding blog feeds to my RSS reader and that's my main source of information now....along with a bit of experimentation.
Unfortunately, my forum participation is pretty low right now. I hope to change that as I'm able to hire new staff members to take some things off my plate.
I'm still too cheap to join WMW. By the way, there's no way you were lurking on HR in mid-02. I know it feels like it's been around forever, but the forum didn't open until July of 2003.
I got started in late 1999 or early 2000. I'd been working, ostensibly as a programmer, for a small software company for a few months after wasting more than twelve years in the worst job in the world. I'd gone back to school part time in 1998 to learn VB, Powerbuilder, SQL, JS and HTML, but the job I got was for a firm that programmed in an environment I just wasn't picking up. Luckily, I noticed that the company's web site was one page with an AO-hell email address, so I volunteered to make a few improvements to it.
Once we had a better site up, I started researching how to improve its visibility, and the first resource I found was the High Rankings newsletter. That led me to a few forums, and eventually to going freelance in early 2003.
Bob - my mistake, I obviously wasn't on Highrankings before it opened. I think Cre8 may also be a bit younger than I presumed, and I also had forgotten to mention V7N, SEW and a few others that I joined between 2002-2004; perhaps those were the golden years of the SEO forum?
I think cre8 may have been around back then -- definitely before HR. Kim's profile indicates that she joined in August '02, and I think it's a safe guess that she was one of the first members.
Of course, the list leaves out a certain other forum, which was my first, in addition to being the first to make me a mod, but it shall remain nameless.
arghhhh, just wrote a really long comment and the session timed out! Where's the hammer??!!
Anyway in brief:
Conferences
As VanGogh said earlier, big conferences might be more valuable after hours (that is if you are not the shy type and don't feel comfortable walking up to someone introducing yourself). I went to my first conference last month (SES London). It was fantastic, not because I learned so many new things (most of it was pretty basic) but some of the sessions were great for discussions and comments. Like the web analytics session (where Rand was on the panel). But the real value for me was meeting other SEOs and networking. I met a bunch of really nice people, some which I talk to on a weekly basis now, and I know I can ask for advice if I'm stuck (evilgreenmonkey and househunter rocks!!)
How I got into SEO
By chance really, I got transferred to the web team just before I went on maternity leave in 2004. I was told I would do something called "SEO" when I got back. Didn't know anything about it to be honest, but after being at home changing nappies and talking baby talk for 9 months (not that I didn't enjoy that) I was SO ready to learn something new. As I came back from maternity I read every book on SEO I could get my hands on. I also went on a 1 day course held by an English SEO at the IDM in London. Once I started getting the picture of what it was all about, I was hooked!
But it wasn't before I started participating on the blogs and forums that my knowledge really started to improve. I found SEOmoz, and I was inspired to start my own SEO blog. Once I got my own (yes i know it's on blogspot still) blog I really got enthusiastic about SEO.
Now I'm Head of Search & Web Analytics (I totally believe SEO & web analytics should go hand in hand) and I'm loving it. I still have loads to learn, which just makes it more exciting.
I entered the fray in 2004 when I took on a business development role at a small B2B company. Cold calling was not what I wanted to spend my days doing, but I was responsible for driving new business. In writing a business plan for them, I recognized that their Web site was fairly hokey and their Web presence was weak. I convinced the owners to let me tweak the Web site and got a half hour html tutorial from our software engineer. After uploading all of the marketing and operational information that was fit to share on the Web and making the Web site look more corporate, the next logical step was to find a way to drive traffic. That’s when I started perusing forums, SEO Web sites, and maybe even a few blogs. Beyond WebmasterWorld, I couldn’t even name one site that I was getting info from at the time. As I recall, I was mainly doing Google searches on specific SEO topics and going from there. But overall, the advice was sound, as I was soon raking in commissions from Web-based leads. After seeing the power of SEO first hand (and the company I was working for being sold), I decided it was time to make a move, and join the SEM industry full time. Since then, I have learned gobs of new info from on-the-job training (thanks to Paul Bruemmer and the rest of RDIs search team) and from reading blogs posts from the likes of SEOmoz, Stuntdubl, Boykin, Bruce Clay, and the other 50 blogs that grace my G homepage.
I started SEO at the end of 2005, at the twilight of link exchange. Then we started to look for different ways to build link popularity and increase traffic to our sites. Started participating in forums, reading e-books and now participating and reading blogs.
I first got into SEO trying to get good SE placement for the law firm I (still) work for. A few years ago I got into blogging and all the Web 2.0 stuff that relies on good SEO and high placement.
The blog was completely unfocussed - contrary to all ProBlogger advice I've every read since - but I could consistently score good rankings with well-written content and optimised titles, etc.
I've launched some better focussed blogs which get fantastic organic results. Next step as I see it is to master social media somehow!
I learned by drafting a teaching document for two-thousand Affiliates.
My two largest accounts were kind enough to share a lot of data on how their sites performed; consequently I was able to trace similarities across all the successful sites. By the time I finished the document I had a pretty strong gut feel for what was happening to a site.
Basically, I wanted to be a copywriter so I started looking for a copywriting job in 2005. I ended up as an "interactive copywriting intern" with an ad agency. A huge function of my job was SEO. (I'd never heard of SEO until that job.)
I sat in a cubible with my tunes and I just hit the internet and read, read, read. Basically, started with the same places mentioned in the post.
I started "doing" with keyword research, writing, link building, and analytics.
The agency hired me fulltime for a different position in the department and I basically had to put way my SEO-wear (only to come out on holidays and special occasions. It's out right now though and I'm not putting it back in the closet!)
But, like everyone; I'm still learning. :) I also deparately want to attend some conferences, so hopefully that will happen this year.
I learned from talking to other people on forums, a bit, and tinkering and testing and tracking a LOT.
If there was one tip I could give people getting into SEO now, it'd be tinker with your own sites, and track everything you can. See what does what, and by how much. Learn by doing.
I started with 3 others in a web/IT/ISO9001 firm about 5 years ago - the other 3 faded away eventually due to other commitments so I was left with the web bit... took that and did a web site design for a client... 5 months later client phones to say he was still not in Google inside 30 days he would go somewhere else if I did not do this for him (if only I'd known then he should have been charged!)... so - for free - I read up on SEO and with some trepidation applied the little I knew to his website.
1 month later I'd managed to get his website ranked for his company name... one happy client.
From there a lot of testing, a lot of reading (mostly figuring out the bulls**t) joining cre8asite and viewing high rankings, I purchased a few ebooks which just confirmed what I really had already figured out... from there started offering it as a service to existing clients and grew All Things Web from there.
Its easier to get business now witth an extensive successful portfolio... I am looking forward to taking the company to the next level (plans are afoot!)
Daz
While working for a previous company as a domain administrator I got into website designing and quickly had to learn how to get better results in the SERP's. This was done thru forums and good old trial and error.
This all started in 2000 until 2003. Back then we made money by providing "reciprocal linking" services and selling "optimized websites" of which only the Titles and Meta Tags were important (to us anyway).
I remember that all the sites we had, had the same titles on all the pages, same description tags throughout and so for the keyword tags. The keywords were filled in for as many keywords as you could think of (no character limits).
So much have changed and now it still feels like i know nothing sometimes.
I'm also an ex-journalist but my journalism days have long been surplanted by design pursuits which is how I got into web design/development.
So most of what I've learnt (as with most of what I've learnt about most things I know about web development) has been through forums, tutorials and blogs.
I moved into SEO because the company decided that they needed someone to do it, and I was ready for a move from Software engineering. I started off with the usual suspects - reading SEW, attending SES, and really just watching my sites to see what worked and what didn't work. Through SES I picked up on blogs such as this one, and have expanded that out to many others that have proved themselves to be interesting and informative.
Towards the end of 1998, I was approaching the end of my second year doing a law degree. My brother, who owned a web design company, asked me to rewrite his website for him - writing has always been one of my strong points.
After a while, he asked me to look at doing this 'SEO' thing for him. I said, no, absolutely not. He asked me again, and I effectively told him to stop bothering me about it. Around the 7th or 8th time he asked me, I caved in and said I'd take a glance at it if I got the time. Of course I got rapidly interested, and read up for a month or two on SEF and WMW - then I tried my hand at it, and went straight to #1 at my first attempt - car credit was the phrase, IIRC.
To cut a long story short, I produced the results, got salaried at the company, jacked in the law degree and suddenly I was a full-time SEO. As I still am today. And I'm pretty pleased about it too, I might add.
So, the answer as to how I became an SEO is: my brother made me do it.
Personally I only started back in June. The CEO of my company turned me down for a sales job but hired me on to be his staff SEO (based on my web design skills mostly). My first month was spent reading everything in sight. I read many of the big e-books, found all the major blogs and registered at several forums. Since then I've been trying and testing different methods for ranking sites and have been decently successful marketing in my niche (at least I got a raise!).
Hhmmm, if I'm honest I'd say I'm still learning, but that goes for most things in life anyway - I can't always walk properly after a 4 pints but I'll try to keep learning!
I started back in '98 when I secured a job as 'Web Marketeer' for n IT solutions company. I'd studied Marketing Design at Uni and tried to adapt my knowledge to the online world. Danny's SEW was the daddy of knowledge for me back then and of course the good 'ol trial and error approach.
I'd say we're all still learning. Learning never ends or never should end, and that probably goes double when it comes to seo or anything tech related since things change so fast.
I got off to a bad start when I first got into SEO. I developed a website in the old tables and javascript, before I ever knew about the term "SEO".
I found out about SEO and did some very bad SEO work on the tables website, I asked for a review of it and was told about all the bad stuff (spammy keywords, tables, content etc..) - I think this is when I started my learning curve into SEO and got really interested in it.
My main education into SEO comes from reading blogs and lurking and participating at a few forums.
So, you could say that I was a black hat when I first started (I didn't even know what that term meant when I first started), but you don't need to worry - I'm a white hat now.
I dont provide SEO services yet, but I;m planning on launching a SEO career as a side job in the next year, 18 months once I have learnt more and finished doing tests on some sites I have at the moment.
I would love to get to a SEO conference, but it is merely impossible at the moment as they are basically all in America and I can't afford to go all the way to the USA just to see a SEO conference when I live Australia.
3 posts in a row from Australians, it must be 5 o'clock.
I think stuffing keywords wasn't blackhat, more asshat! It was just a very dumb thing to do (there were exceptions).
With regards to Australian SEO, there are 2 major conferences. The sessions & networking may not be of the same calibre as the States, but it sure beats the cost of travel and accommodation to San Jose or London!
"I think stuffing keywords wasn't blackhat, more asshat! "
HAHA, yep your properly right.
I know of Search Summit, it was on about a month ago up in Sydney - I heard it wasn't to bad either, I might try and get to it next year.
"networking may not be of the same "
Thats why I think there no where as near as good as the USA ones, we don't have the big names over here like in USA, well we did get Andy Beal & Chris Sherman over for Search Summit.
sure beats the cost of travel and accommodation to San Jose or London!
Very, very true.
About the conferences, has any Aussie's here been to both Search Engine Room & Search Summit? What did you think? Which one was better?
Search Engine Room was epic, I've been publishing keynote segments from it for the past fortnight. A comment I recall from one of the speakers was that our knowledge and understanding of SEM practices was well up to par with the likes of Europe and the US which is of credit to us.
I'm working towards releasing an an overview of the two days soon; bug me if I let it slide!
Really, I might read into more and see if I get to there next conference. I just jumped onto your blog then and I'll have a read on what you have written about it.
Thanks.
You had my sympathy right up to the last word - I'd love to be stuck in Oz!
;)
I have a law degree, but writing was the only thing I really liked doing, so... when I got some courage I finally told my dad I wouldn't be a lawyer. Instead I became a copywriter and worked on a couple ad agencies.
Then I got a job at a online marketing company, as a copywriter, but it turns out they wanted a SEO guy, so, after a couple months on-ht-job training, here I am!
i started by reading blogs... at first sight i thought it's a programmer job... then i read a e-book and i understood that a big part is not a programmers job... it's my job - the marketer's job...
There's no real "one" answer to this question for me, more like a combination of all the above. I have some great colleagues I've learned from and who probably learn from me as well, we learn a lot by experimenting, and I've learned loads of new tricks by reading blogs and attending conferences (especially SEOdays was great :)) as well...
I started on SEO back in 1997 when it wasn't called SEO yet. I was doing web sites for hotels in Rome, Italy and getting on top was easy. After that I kind of grew into it.
After alot of trial and error, and countless different websites, I moved into SEO by working with a SEO related company. Had no idea what I was doing but continued to research day in day out.
It wasn't long until I started implementing my knowledge and getting results for the boss to see. Best thing is that SEO is still a very new topic in Australia, and having this knowledge gives me incredible bargaining power, as a consultant as well as a business contact.
I was brought into a company to help number documents (yes you heard me right), I did that pretty quickly, then they introduced me to HTML which I picked up quickly and then they introduced me to SEO and I couldn't (and still can't) stop learning :) lol, now I know a fair bit about SEO but still need to know more
we all start somewhere :)
I was in the search industry as an Internet Consultant (read: customer service) at Verizon Superpages.com. I originally wanted to be a web developer, but I never got the chance because the phones were too busy.
Then I told my boss at the time, Paul Mireles, that I wanted to get into PPC rather than web development, because I liked the business consultative aspect of it. Granted, Verizon Superpages.com, being a directory, their PPC model is almost like pre-Panama Yahoo! PPC.
Then some guy was hired along to consolidate the PPC group, whose name was John O'Grady. Although he did refer us to some tools (like SEO Roundtable, digitalpoint,) I really didn't take as much advantage, because my role was more along the function of post-sales and account manager.
I left Verizon (now Idearc), and went to the Masterlink Group. Ironically, Mark Barrera, the guy who hired me on, went to night school with Paul Mireles at UNT. John O'Grady, my boss at Verizon/Idearc, was in the business development department for Masterlink before going to Idearc. And the rest is history.
I currently split my time between my comic strip and my seo business. So far it's going "okay". I didn't know doing a comic strip would be this hard. When I'm not doing the comic strip, I'm usually on here studying out your stuff, reading SEO Book or Planet Ocean's e-books, and maybe listening to Webmaster FM. I have very little time for anything else.
Anyway, that's me.
I built my first web site in 1995 called Alchemy of Africa (it still gets SERPs) and made it to "Cool Site of the Day", (search 'alchemy'). That brought my ISP's server down. They phoned me to come and see what was happenening. It was a hoot.
Started in 1998 by trading a web site for a golf membership to my local course. My design skills were weak, but the Director of Golf was happy, and my membership was paid for.
After a couple months, did a search in Netscape (or Northern Light, or some old school engine/directory), and noticed I was in the top 5 for the term "Michigan Golf", and the light bulb went off. Was working at a factory (think Homer Simpson's job), and needed intellectual stimulaton, and dug in, both feet first. Built a few sites, got more interested, and as soon as I turned AdSense on, I was making $3-4k/month.
Went through some personal issues (think divorce), and was searching on Dice.com and found a posting for an in-house SEO job. Went from working out of a basement to working in a corporate office. Went straight from the sandlot to the Major League, with no Triple A in-between. Went from managing a few golf sites to managing over 100 sites, including SEO, PPC, Local, Analytics, etc.
Been doing in-house SEO for over 4 years, and love it. Got to speak at a number of conferences (SES, ad:tech, etc.), got to travel to great locations, and even got on the SEMPO Board of Directors. Truly one of the only industries left where your opinion is considered valuable without a strong academic background or proper pedigree. Love it!
Dan
I fell into SEO on accident back in the summer of '97 while helping a naturopathic doctor build out his e-commerce site. One thing led to another while dissecting the altavista engine, and I've been more or less hooked since.
"Learning" was largely trial and error, but in a scientific method...creating multiple sites, using one as a control, and trying different tactics to see what worked the best. I did the forums stuff after a couple years when I got hit by a Google update (think that was in '03), and have been off and on forums/blogs since.
The days of SEOChat in 2003-04 were fun Rand, but I found them more of a distraction than an assistance; when I caught myself hoping that Relaxzoolander had flamed someone rather than hoping to find a gem of info, I knew what I was using SEOChat for.
I sincerely wish for SEOMoz to continue on successfully in the upcoming years; you'll probably curse yourself for not adopting the subscription model for premium content earlier. It is perfectly fair, valid, and worthwhile for both the publisher and the reader.
Cheers,Cygnus
Question for all, just how important are the conferences you went to in your development as an SEO?
Many of you have mentioned them generally or in some cases very specifically, but just how valuable are they. I have yet to attend one and am planning out my year so any input you would have would be great. Which ones you enjoy the most, learn the most, if they aren't the same. You get the idea.
My first SES Conference in 2004 in New York was critical to my development. I don't think I ever could have gotten as serious about SEO nor realized all the fields it touched if I hadn't attended. There's not just a lot to learn, but a wealth of diversity in subject matter and it made me want to be an expert at all of them (well, except PPC).
Thanks Rand, unfotunately SES NY is the week before finals so I won't make it this year.
As long as I have The Great Rand's ear, maybe I can bug you again about updating your daily reading list? It was one of the posts that really helped me last year and what made me a daily lurker here. Until recently that is...
I still haven't been able to make it to a conference. I had been hoping New York next week would be the first, but it didn't work out. One of the things I've heard often is that the value might be more for the networking opportunities than for the learning.
I would expect both are valuable, but sometimes I get the feeling the real education takes place after hours.
I've always been kind of torn when it comes to the conferences. I recognize that there are great opportunities to learn and to network there, but one of the things I love about my job is that I don't need to travel -- I don't even commute. And that means I've got a nice, tiny little carbon footprint. I conduct almost all of my business by internet and telephone. I've only met a couple of my clients in person, and they're both local. For one of them I just had to walk to a cafe a couple of blocks from my house.
I suppose it wouldn't be too much of a waste of energy to go to NY for a conference. I could take the train or the Fung Wah down there. And if the conferences ever come back to Boston (I think the last SES here was around 2003) I'll definitely be there.
The conferences were where I met the key players in the industry - even though I didn't know they were at the time! Being REALLY new to sem/seo I remember my first conference talking to Lee Odden asking him what were some good sites for info and who were the big cheeses at the conference not realizing that I was sitting next to a gold mine of info :)
Lee - when we meet again I will have to thank you in person for helping me out at my first conference :)
chil_uno, try to find out if there are some smaller meet-ups in your area, if you can't make a larger conference. I must admit, though, I'm a fan of the old-style Euro-Pubcons rather than the speaker-led conferences and I find the value in the connections and sharing and revelations outside the conference room, rather than what is said in the presentations (which is often aimed at a fairly basic and corporate level).
Having said that, though, I think many people would agree that one of the revelatory aspects of going to any conference for the first time is the realisation that there are hundreds of other people that you can finally have a conversation with and who will understand what on earth it is that you are talking about!
Thanks stever, I've been doing some digging, but while I can find lots of developer associations, SQL, JAVA the like, I can't seem to find anything related exclusively to web development in general or SEO specifically. Are you aware of any associations nationally that maybe I could start a local chapter or the like? Thanks for the help.
As I'm a contrary old git, I tend to not want to join any club that would have me! So a national organisation wouldn't be something for me - although I'm sure a friendly local representative of SEMPO will be along shortly...
I'm not sure where you are in the world, but why not use your skills to search for people offering SEO/SEM in your state or province or on your island and then send out an invite to a "barmeet" in the most central or important location. If you have a large enough take-up and good enough sales patter, you might even get someone to sponsor the first couple of rounds.
The idea is not to sit around discussing the weight of a meta description, but in building relationships and mutual aid networks. You may all be parts of the same business, and in some ways competing against one another, but the advantages can far outweigh any perceived negatives.
Thanks stever, sarcasm and all.
I think the theme emerging here throughout the comments on this post is the importance of networking, growing your contacts and becoming and active part of the industry. I suppose it is just time to take my anti-social reticent self out and start meeting the world.
Where was the sarcasm? (I must be getting crabby if it's flowing and I don't even realise it!)
I was smilin when I said it so no worries.
stever and chil_uno are you guys based in the US?
For anyone that's in the UK I would recommend UK Search Marketing Association www.sma-uk.org Which is quiet helpful from a networking point of view. They meet regularly and are planning to hold mini conferences for members etc.
I'm also a big fan of LondonSEO.org, this is the place to meet other SEOs in the UK in a non formal location like an old fashion english pub =) And usually you get free booze =) priorities lol
No. I'm about 1200km to the south-east of you and 1200m higher...
The LondonSEO meetups were exactly the type of meeting I was referring to - as far as SMA goes, I did write to Mikkel quite a while back about SMA-EU but never heard anything back and assumed it had died (or rather never been born) or else it was more a Scandy-oriented thing.
Yeah I think nothing every happend with SMA-EU. Which is a shame, but hey why don't you start your own association or SEO networking site. I'm sure Evilgreenmonkey and Mike Nott (that does the LondonSEO events) would give you some tips. All you need is a website and maybe 1 or 2 volunteers to organise it =)
And time! (Which I assume might have been the problem with SMSA-EU.)
Actually I do head off occasionally to formal and informal meets with likeminded Euro/NA people, some of whom I met originally through the old London Pubcons and some through work, forums, etc., which is where we return to the concept of networking.
I am here in the states, but thanks for the sites, they look to be good resouces and are new additions to my bookmarks.
Would you recomment joining SMA then?
I really enjoy geeking out at London SEO things and would like to do it more often *winks* (no pressure on evilgreenmonkey of course)
Essential - after 1 day at SES London 05 I was able to come back and identify 5 critical changes that we needed to make.
After 3 days at SES NY 06 I:
See you at SMX Seattle?!
;)
Thanks Ciaran, that conference wasn't even on my radar. I went to high school in Seattle and would love to go back. Now if only I can convince Rand to hire me... LOL
Shhhhh.... don't tell the boss but I learned only one thing at SES London - how to optimise a webcast. Went to every session I could - advanced - and learned that one thing.
*sighs*
But the people were fantastic (barring the groper) and I've made fantastic connections and drinking buddies *grins*
A question for a future blog post:
What skills / personality traits must a person have in order to be a top gun SEO?
I was also a developer first, just making sites and whatnot. I started a new job and within a week they had decided that I was needed in a different department, SEEOH, and the rest is history. At that company two of us worked on about 12 web properties and had all of them in the top 10 and about 6 in the top 5. Then the company grew a bit too fast and we both got politicked out. But thats where I learned SEO and now I try to keep up reading blogs and forums more than anything else. This being my favorite one. There are definite gaps in my knowledge so I love how you go from super basic to advanced and everything in between. Keep up the good work Rand & co.
I started by reading seomoz, copyblogger, hihgrankings and searchenginejournal, my first time I was working as eCommerce Consultant but some client request me a seo job and I bought the SEOBook where Aaron refer to SeoMoz (my source of information).
Thanks and keep writing
I had a small wedding DJ business in San Francisco that started to go crazy after I put my first website up - 1996???
Anyway I was top on Excite, Alta Vista et al and just got a little curious so did my own detective work and by 1997 had a very, very busy (too busy) DJ business and started my own SEO business in 1997 - very small time.
I didn't know what I was doing then (title wise) as I'm unsure if the word SEO had been coined????
I was taking cheap jobs for people who wanted to be "....where you are on Excite"
I have read a lot of books and usually get at least one worthy nugget from differing sources - I've been with Planet Ocean for ages and often check in here or Aaron Walls site.
I don't know that I could be called a wonderchild but I know what I'm doing and just love working from home or on the Lake boating with my laptop :)
David Saunders
British Chap in Charlotte
1. forums
2. trial and error
3. my secret bat phone to mountain view
isn't that how everyone learns?
Any chance I can connect to that bat phone through a party line?
Prior to getting in to SEO I was, of all things, a Flash developer. However, when I moved to a new agency I discovered that developers here get almost no contact with clients, which was one of the things I liked most about my previous job (I know, I know... Flash developer!?! Liked having to deal with clients?!? This guy's nuts!).
Now I do the dealing with clients after their site goes live part of the job and so learning about SEO has been a natural thing (as most clients tend to go "Right, the site's just gone live so please explain why we do not appear on the first page of results for "shoes"!?!?)
I've learnt bits from other people in my company, bits from work we've done with SEO consultancies, but most of my knowledge has come reading SEO blogs, trying out what they say and seeing what is most effective.
I started at a company to do their web analytics and adwords, and from there started to explore WMW and other sem/seo websites and decided that organic was where its at. Then I attended a few conferences, did some trial and error seo and left that company to work for a search marketing company ;)
Disclaimer: I'm not old. I'm just old-school.
I helped build a Gopher in the early 1990s, so when Mosaic and then Netscape came out, I started building sites. Worked for my first e-com site in 1997 and started doinking with SEO for the early engines and directories. Been doing it ever since.
Hello Everyone..
I learned SEO by doing it. As the former founder of a few high traffic websites back in early 1995, which lead myself to becoming an award winning website designer that brought world wide attention to my projects from some client sites appearing on T.V such as PBS and others, my next step was simply to grasp the whole process of SEO as running high traffic sites just didn't happen on their own.
Back in 1995, everyone referrred to this as Website Promotion. I did not an still do not visit forums or participate in them. In the early days, It was 2 people that I met who sadly, are not around anymore. Jim who started Virtual Promote by which taught me the basics that enabled myself to be where I am today, and Cory Rudl, who because of his knowledge and success, pushed me to learn my own methods of what works and what does not..
One size does not fit all, what works for my seo companies, will not work for you. We don't use software, we don't believe the hype of Web 2.0, or anything else the world wants to put a label on. It's the major corporations who ride on the bandwagons and spend billions of dollars on PPC campaigns because their marketing departments lack experience..
I noted the other day, Search google.com for cheeseburger.. Do you see McDonalds? What about Burger King, Sonic, WhataBurger or any other well known fast food chain.. No
Remember when every kid wanted Nike Air Jordans? A brand, a label that was termed and parents paid dearly with hard earned dollars to give kids the sneakers that they wanted knowing they would not last long for the price they paid.
Search Engine Optimization, Web 2.0, Ect, ect... It's all useless hype that does not do anything for achieving top rankings in the major search engines. All people are doing is spending money to buy into the LABEL that has been termed by the Internet.
So in the end..
How did I learn SEO? I learned by perfecting the areas that 90% of all other SEO Companies seem to miss. Maybe it takes 12 years of experience being a web designer, graphic designer, ColdFusion / PHP Programmer, C / C++ Programmer and so on.. Maybe it's a combiniation of knowing just how everything related to the internet works is why I look at seo as being one of the most easiest things I can possibly do during the day. I've founded more than 250 websites since 1995.. Maybe because seo is second nature is why I am the way I am.. I really do not have the awnser to that question. But anyone can take their homepage and with 15 minutes of modifications can get a top 10 ranking in the Major Search Engines.
Experience in Comprehension is the Key.. Not one's experience with SEO.
I am WebWonder!
I hope you're joking and I just can't detect the sarcasm... This has to be one of the most outrageous claims I've heard (and that's saying a lot in the SEO sphere).
I can't follow the logic of your comment, nor can I understand how you leap from example to conclusion. I'm just stumped.
Ya never know who reads this blog, Rand.
Is that all? Rand - I can barely understand his English!
You gotta love the guy though..