Are You An SEO Expert?
Written by Pablo Palatnik on January 18, 2008
About two days ago, Shoemoney posted a blog post titled, “Why I Do Not Like 95% of SEO Experts.†I’m not going to get into the blog post itself as that’s not really what I’m writing about, but more of a question that I raised because of it
What constitutes to be an SEO expert? What is the criteria? IS IT EXPERIENCE OR RESULTS? Since the mid 90’s, a very big industry grew from search engine optimization and I think its safe to say it is still growing with more and more demand for SEO. Today, you have a guy that knows how to tag sites right and implement a link here or there and BAM, he KNOWS seo and will sell you his service.
SEOmoz has a great resource page for finding out search engine ranking factors. These factors are all judged by people in the industry most of us have heard of but are they experts?
• Aaron Wall
• Andy Hagans
• Ani Kortikar
• Barry Schwartz
• Barry Welford
• Ben Pfeiffer
• Bill Slawski
• Caveman
• Chris Boggs
• Christine Churchill
• Danny Sullivan
• DazzlinDonna
• Debra Mastaler
• EGOL
• Elisabeth Osmeloski
• Eric Enge
• Eric Ward
• Guillaume
• Jeremy Schoemaker
• Jill Whalen
• Jonah Stein
• Joost de Valk
• Laura Lippay
• Lucas Ng (aka shor)
• Marcus Tandler
• Michael Gray
• Mike McDonald
• Natasha Robinson
• Neil Patel
• Rae Hoffman
• Rand Fishkin
• Roger Montti aka martinibuster
• Russ Jones
• Ruud Hein
• Scottie Claiborne
• Thomas Bindl
• Todd Malicoat
• Wil Reynolds
• Will Critchlow
Sure, we can consider some of this list SEO experts, but here is the thing about “experts.†They all have different experiences and they all think (for the most part on most factors) a bit differently about how important the engines rank certain factors.
Take into consideration, every engine has a different algorithm so many have different rankings in each engine.
I’ve had good experiences trying to rank for sites and certain keywords that were pretty competitive. I’ve also had bad experiences in my SEO strategies and by this I mean some success and some failure. I think that may be every SEOs experience, no one project is the same. Optimizing a site will be a different experience for every keyword, industry, etc.
It’s not the same optimizing a site for the keyword Life Insurance Quote then Little Baby Flipper Doodle. The strategy is completely different. Many SEOs agree on a lot of things, Many SEOs disagree on many things…this is an industry that changes very frequently and will have many different opinions on many things such as paid links, no follow, etc.
What do you think makes someone an SEO “EXPERT�
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4 Responses to “Are You An SEO Expert?”
Hey Pablo,
Well, I think I’m to blame for heated discussion. Looking back I’m glad it ticked me off so much because I got a lot of feedback on how we SEOs need to handle a blog (”Stop complaining and do something about it” kind of thing).
As for “expert,” The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as:
A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject.
So, if what you say is true, and you’ve had some success (at least more so than the failures), then you are an expert.
Not only are there differences in the algorithms between the search engines, but there is always the fact that nobody KNOWS for certainty how those algorithms treat aspects of the SEO process. There’s always talk about certifications and then there’s SEMPO, but how do you certify in an industry that changes so frequently, and is indeed so open to debate. (do title tags matter? yes. I mean no, but yes. I mean…)
Hell, according to that definition, because of the use of “or,” one could learn the “basics,” be able to convey them to someone, and be considered an expert.
I’m of a different camp all together. I don’t think there can be an “expert” in this industry. Too many undefined variables.
P.S.
You know, I found your blog a while ago, because of Sphinn I think, and had forgotten about it for a while. I really like it. Consider me a new RSS subscriber. Won’t lose you this time.
By Josh Garner on Jan 18, 2008
Hey Josh,
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you on probably everything you said but I have to disagree with you. I do believe there are experts in this field, but I base those experts on their experience with SEO moreso then their results.
Because of the changing variables and again, the fact that there is no absolute certainty to how the algos work with each engine, no one person can have the know-it-all facts on SEO but being in the industry, speaking out, analyzing strategies, results, etc does make you an expert.
Aaron Wall, I consider him an SEO expert. He does just give his insights and thoughts but at the end of the day, there aren’t that many people out there that know much more about SEO then he does…but…thats just my opinion.
The industry has been growing fast…new players…we’ll see how the industry moves in 2008.
By Pablo Palatnik on Jan 18, 2008
Hey Pablo,
According to me, if you could rank for highly competitive terms, organically, then you’re an SEO EXPERT! As simple as that!
There are so many new things being added in the armor for an SEO. Initially it was all about spamming the search engines, then came the link based algo, which is there to stay. Now, with the advent of web 2.0, SEO has craved into SEO2.0 (Tad).
Everybody has something special with them. Aaron has specialized knowledge in link building, Andy is a master link baiter, Danny is a search marketing brand, and so on and so forth…
The key concept still is, how do you get those top rankings. You get it by building links or baiting them. If you manage to do by any means you’re still an expert! Well that’s what I feel…
By Manish Pandey on Jan 19, 2008
Hey Manish, I like the term SEO2.0 because that really is what it has become with the social media boom. I wouldn’t say social media changed the landscape of SEO but it deff gave SEOs more to work with.
You brought up one of my questions about experts, Experience or Results? Which really constitutes an expert…I think you go more with results but I think we can all agree both would really constitute an expert.
I think many of the “experts” would even find it hard to rank for top rankings in very very competitive markets…not cause they aren’t good at what they do or aren’t experts, its just the nature of the beast. The time factor plays big in SEO.
By Pablo Palatnik on Jan 19, 2008