10 Pushy Questions for Loren Baker
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It's funny because a lot of the techniques which I used back in 2001 for on-site SEO such as content and navigation are still in use today. In some ways, SEO can be a very simple discipline, but competition and the need for advanced site structures, e-commerce platforms and content management systems have definitely changed the landscape. As a practicing SEO, I sometimes feel that the challenge of deconstructing the work of site designers back to such simplicity has become a major part of the Search Marketing model. That's why I like blogging so much, especially using tools like Wordpress. Once certain plug-ins are used and the blogs modified a bit, the search engine friendliness that such blogging interfaces provide is amazing. Now take that Wordpress backend and use it to power a content-oriented site or shopping site, and you have an SEO formula for success. Off-site SEO is still link and anchor text based, but the evolution of Web 2.0 and social media has given the off-site SEO practice new and exciting link building opportunities such as link-bait and traffic-building campaigns utilizing Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon, as well as the opportunity to define sites using external meta information such as tagging, on Del.icio.us, Flickr, StumbleUpon, Google Citations and Yahoo MyWeb.
Q 2: How would you say the SEO/search engine marketplace has changed since you started in the business?
SEO used to be so easy back in the late 90's, the right meta keyword tags, keyword stuffed content and directory listings could get a new site to the top of Altavista, Yahoo, Google and the other major engines in less than 30 days. Now the search engines are smarter and the field of competition is so much more open.
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'Pay-per-action has the potential to change the search marketing industry by resulting in little to no click fraud, as well as well-defined and achieved return on investment and predictable results for advertisers..' |
Of course now SEO means much more than the traditional web results, as local search, blog search, video search and news search have become important factors in the overall equation.
Q 3: Is there an adversarial relationship between SEO and search engines? What is the connection today in terms of their co-existence?
If you mean in terms of sites having to prove their worth and authoritative value to search engines such as Google which may place those sites in the sandbox, omitted results, or issue various penalties then yes, this premise is true. However, given the example of Google, they are very clear and transparent in their Webmaster Guidelines of how sites can prove their 'innocence' to Google.
For example, Matt Cutts is a big fan of smart link-baiting. Therefore, if Google observes that a site owner is using their brain to achieve incoming links, as opposed to using their money, Google will reward the smart site. I do believe, however, that websites begin with a clean slate, and the actions of the site or its owner define the future relationship with search engines.Q 4: What do you foresee as the next major development in the SEO sector?
Pay-per-action has the potential to totally change the search marketing industry by resulting in little to no click fraud, as well as well-defined and achieved return on investment and predictable results for advertisers. I think we’ll also see the expansion of the search marketing model to different media outside of the traditional Internet such as radio, television, print and outdoor advertising.
In terms of SEO itself, I foresee the engines giving more attention to niche authority sites, as opposed to listing general authority sites such as Wikipedia for almost every search term, as targeted as it may be.
Q 5: Where does Social Media Optimization (SMO) fit within a broader SEO strategy?
Blogging and social interaction via the Internet can produce a lot of talking about a subject, and when you’re discussing a subject online, it usually includes linking to other discussions and sites on the subject. Social media creates a new opportunity for businesses to enter the discussion and give back to their fanbase, critics or customers. The sites which begin using blogs, social networks, multimedia sharing, and informational Q&A social networks, like Yahoo Answers Now, will prosper in their search rankings in the future.
The companies which do not participate in social media, will not be left out, but will not enjoy the overall search ranking and enhanced online reputation as he companies which do. Of course, positive social reputation equals Internet authority, which then equals higher search rankings.|
'Social media creates a new opportunity for businesses to enter the discussion and give back to their fanbase, critics or customers.' |
In particular, personalized search is becoming more common and engines like Google and Yahoo are working with social media sites such as MySpace, Yahoo Answers, Orkut and other network partners to further build distinctive profiles of their users and the groups or tribes they belong to online. If Company A secures a positive social relationship with one social tribe, and Company B does not make an effort to do so, then in terms of personalized search, Company A's search results should rank higher than Company B's when members of that social tribe (housewives, rock & roll fans, people who live in DC suburbs) search online.
Q 6: For someone just getting into the business how should they familiarize themselves with SEO, and search marketing?
a) Subscribe to the top 10 search marketing blogs.
b) Scour forums such as WebmasterWorld and Search Engine Watch Forums for information.
c) Buy Aaron Wall's SEOBook and read SEOmoz's Beginner's Guide to SEO.
d) Make friends with people who have success in search, and pick their brains.
Q 7: What role will video SEO play and how do you feel the technology is progressing?
I think that Google’s decision to include YouTube videos in their normal search results via the Google PlusBox expandable video method will change the world of search and video marketing. Google's YouTube and editing services like Yahoo's Jumpcut, combined with falling prices for digital video equipment, have made the creation and uploading of video incredibly affordable. So, anyone can do it.
With the current elections steaming up, we're basically going to see the pioneers of video SEO in action, and grouped with viral marketing, online video equals influence; from the voting booth to the cash register.
We're already seeing the incoming link formula affect the rankings of video on YouTube. Tagging, rating, comments, and basics such as title tag and description are still the basics, but I feel that the search engines will develop alternative forms of ranking for video, including runtime, views, video quality, and the use of watermarks or internal video messages as spam.
Q 8: Are we nearing the crest of the wave of search-based products yet?
We're just on the verge of social search and of seeing the effects of social media and sharing on the Internet as a whole. Look at Digg. The site has altered the landscape of sharing news, but it doesn’t appeal to the majority of web users because it’s positioned itself as a technology and science 'news' sharing site, and not much else. Fark is the Digg of toilet humor. Deals.com is the Digg of coupons.
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'We're just on the verge of social search and of seeing the effects of social media and sharing on the Internet as a whole.' |
Take these ideas to the next level and add a larger and more loyal Internet base and you have a formula for success. I'm very excited to see how Yahoo is slowly transforming its network over to social media and testing the integration Digg/Del.icio.us style technology. Fox Interactive's MySpace is also another social media playing field ripe for the plucking.
And, with the emphasis on attracting the mobile web, and the race between Google and Yahoo to do it, all of these advancements in technology are search driven. We're not slowing down anytime soon.
Q 9: What led you into covering search news and what was the genesis of Search Engine Journal?I’ve been involved in Search Marketing since 1997, back before Google, paid search and social media as we now know it today. In 2001, I decided to leave the Search Marketing industry for a couple of years and travel and live internationally, but about once a month or so I would catch up on changes in the industry and my old clients' sites.
After 2 years away from search, in 2003 I got back into it and began contracting for a search-marketing agency. Over those 2 years, there were some significant changes within the industry; Altavista, Excite, Lycos & Hotbot were no longer major players, Goto.com was now Overture and a major Yahoo partner, and Google AdWords had taken the old Goto.com system and evolved it into an efficient online marketing monster. In 2003 I also noticed that blogging had become popular, and the aspect of SEO friendly instant publishing intrigued me. So in an effort to catch up on the industry which had changed a bit during those two years, I began publishing my research and thoughts on search on a blog. When searching for a domain name, I saw that Peter Da Vanzo had already secured SearchEngineBlog.com and I thought that the next logical domain would be SearchEngineJournal. Using the term Journal gave the site instant prestige (ala Wall Street Journal) and also addressed blogging, since blogging began in the form of online journals. A couple of months after I began blogging, Michael Chen contacted me about advertising on my blog, which was attracting about 300 users a day, since there were not many major search engine blogs on the market at the time. Selling that first advertising spot for $35 a month gave me the proof and motivation to build Search Engine Journal as the independently owned search industry blog it is today, attracting anywhere from 7,000 to 15,000 users a day.Q 10: What's going to be the lead story on Search Engine Journal five years from now?
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