News Source: http://searchengineland.com
Published: Dec 20, 2007 - 08:37 am
Story Found By: sphinndr 1515 Days ago
Category: SEM
13 Comments
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News Source: http://searchengineland.com
Published: Dec 20, 2007 - 08:37 am
Story Found By: sphinndr 1515 Days ago
Category: SEM
13 Comments
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Comments
Grats on the new job Duane.
Thanks guys.Interestingly, I haven’t read either of the posts mentioned by spinndr... I’m simply in the middle of a career change myself... :) Now I need to go find those posts.Duane
Nice post Duane. At the time of my career move a year ago I realized I was far behind in doing all of the above. Now that i’m happily in-house employed, I still recognize the value of these and work toward continuing to improve, albeit now for different reasons.I love the headline of this post, by the way. For me, to validate my work to mom I’m bringing Time Magazine home for the holidays. My company made #10 on the Best Websites list... for some reason seeing the company in print w/ink will probably hold more value than all the explanation I can give her. :)
My mom doesn’t even understand what search marketing is. Instead, she tells her friends I work for Google *shakes head*I’m a newbie in SEO (it’s been about 6 months now), so this article was a nice kick in the butt to get control of my digital footprint and start getting my name out there. :)
@Shayna - welcome to the ever caotic world known as Search Engine Optimization. You have definitely come to the write place to keep updated on what is going on in our world. @Duane - A Career in SEO? Bad Move and A Career in SEO? Good Move - The Rebuttal
Thanks spinndr! :) Right some neighborly of ya!
Thanks, SphinnDr :)I discovered Sphinn a few weeks ago and I’m quite frankly addicted. This site has EVERYTHING an SEO could ever want :P
Hey...First post here.Excellent article though, I’ve just started a job this month as the Online Marketing Manager for a financial services internet company in Florida. I’m loving it and it could not be more of a job than anything else if you ask me.Long live the SEO Kings.:)
Three years ago I was ending a stint as a successfully self employed Internet Marketer wondering what my next move would be. Two years ago I decided to leave Internet Marketing and find "respectible" employment where my experience would apply. One year ago I found an ad for a Marketing position with a local company and was hired instantly. Today, I am the SEO Manager for this company and getting paid to do and learn more about SEO on a daily basis. I use to say I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. Now I know. I just need to do the growing up thing. :)Wish me luck with that.Sphinn has made me realize that I am not the only search geek who speaks Search Geek Speak. This community has made me realise the importance of my job, career and the people I meet because of it.Thanks!and Merry Christmas to you all.
In-house SEOs think they’re paid for mere work and not for achievements. But you’’ll soon repeat the experience of independent SEO firms, without the advantages. Suppose you’ve been hired by a big travel agency and they’ll soon expect you to bring their site to # 1 for travel europe. So are at least fifty recently hired in-house SEO experts (there are plenty of big travel agencies on the globe) - some to get the # 1 ranking and one to protect the actual # 1 against the others.But only one of you will satisfy your boss and some of you will be tolerated thanks to a somewhat lesser achievement. The most of you will be fired for lack of competence and, unlike the freelance SEO and the independent firms who can hide their failures and only show testimonies of success, you will be asked about your last position.Moreover, as an in-house SEO you will have none to brainstorm with. You will be isolated from research and the development of original tools, since these can only take place in larger firms fully dedicated to SEO. And you will have no way to prepare yourself for the next algorithm shift.
I have to disagree with you emanuelh. As in In House SEO I am judged on achievement. My superiors know enough to understand that achievement is not getting the ranking but increasing conversions. Sure, ranking well for relevant keyword is a prerequisite but just getting the number one ranking is not the goal. Getting more sales is the goal and as long as I continue to improve our ROI they will be happy with my work.As far as not being able to be a part of tool development and research you do have a point. But the fact is there are tons and tons of places to talk SEO online and remain on the cutting edge. Obviously it may not be as fluid and accessible as talking to the other people in your office there are plenty of places to read and discuss the latest news and shifts in the search world.
I have argued in another post that the return on optimizing for long tails, increasing conversions, improving ROI, etc. must diminish with time in all growingly competitive arenas and, especially for business enterprises that are 100% online, top rankings for the most popular search queries might be needed to ensure at least the costs of maintaining minimal production. Which puts a limit on how long your boss will be happy with your work.Saying that by talking SEO online you can remain on the cutting edge is wishful thinking. I know what I exclude from what I write in forums - and I’m pretty generous. I imagine that every major SEO firm involved in the rare creative process and high costs of R&D does the same. What is left to discuss openly is in its largest part uneducated guesses and footnotes on Matt Cutts. Moreover, as I also argued in Is SEO a Technical Profession? SEO does not mainly consist in a body of knowledge that can be passed on. This knowledge is only about 5% of what we would like to know but are prevented from by Google and the other SEs. SEO is really a practice of decision-making in conditions of minimal information. Which can be learnt only as an apprentice to a master, unless you are able to invent the theory and practice all by yourself.
Something that people will start to realize is the search marketing is not SEARCH... it’s MARKETING. Just like hawking ad space in Time Out NY or selling promtional pens handed out at conventions. Giving undue importance to the medium is far too reminiscent of pre-dot-com-bust... But that aside, this is a phenomenal post, and I thank you.