SEO seems to be sweeping the marketing nation. Unfamiliar? It stands for Search Engine Optimization, and is integral to ensuring that your business, your brand, shows up first when you do internet searches. When you type a term into google, and your screen is flooded with sites and options, the order of these is strategically decided through multiple avenues.
It can be a tricky science. You want to discover what exactly your customers are searching for. You want to be totally dialled in to the exact terms that they’re going to enter, and what content of yours will appear. And you want to invest dollars into SEO to really learn both your consumer and your industry landscape. If it’s something that you’re looking to add to your strategy, and you’re not sure where to begin, never fear! Here are Yarra Web’s favourite SEO influencers to keep your eye on, and learn from:
Neil Patel
Patel is based out of Seattle, Washington, but was born in London. In Seattle, he heads up Quicksprout and is dedicated to helping businesses grow, with SEO as a major component. He is the brains behind KISSmetric and Crazy Egg, and helped major companies like Viacom, Amazon and the American television network NBC, see huge jumps in revenue. He was even recognized by former President Barack Obama for being a top 100 entrepreneur, all before he was even 30-years-old. A selection of his guides, tips and recommended tools for SEO, link building, blogging, content marketing and social media can be found in the Neal Patel Library.
Rand Fishkin
Fishkin helped found and is now CEO of SEOmoz, which helps to cultivate a community learning about, and mastering, the ins and outs of SEO. Numerous publications have written about his know-how, including Newsweek and the New York Times. He’s spoken at conferences around the world on the topic, including in Sydney. If you’re looking for a good SEO blog to dive into, we recommend the SEOmoz blog. You’ll join tens of thousands who check it each day, looking for new tips.
Matt Cutts
If you’re looking for companies that have mastered SEO, Google may be just the place to look. That’s where Matt Cutts learned his skills, on Google’s Web Spam team, as an engineer. He has since worked for the United States Digital Service. Here’s a comparison: In 2006, The Wall Street Journal compared Cutts’ expertise in search, to Alan Greenspan’s in interest rates. Cutts is a great example of an influencer, who brought his knowledge to other companies in the industry, including Microsoft.
Andrew Shotland
Shotland took a different approach to SEO, and it’s paid off. His career began in building Websites, including the first Website for Showtime networks. With this knowledge, he was able to glean exactly what visitors were looking for, when checking out different companies’ Websites. For more than ten years, Shotland has dedicated his career to educating companies, big and small, about how to navigate the world of search.
Who knows? In five years, your name could be on this influencer list. Keeping search in mind, you can easily begin to funnel more and more clients to your site. It all starts by reaching out to Yarra Web. We’re excited to help get your brand’s name to the number one spot.