The toughest part on your way to mastering any skill is always making the very first step. SEO is no exception to the rule, and there’s no better way of getting reliable beginner advice than looking up to some of the top SEO experts and firms on the market.
A couple of weeks ago, we asked 19 notable persons about their best advice for anyone who’s just starting out with online business and wants to use SEO as a way to drive traffic to their website.
Here’s what they had to say (responses listed in the order they were received):
#1. James Agate – SkyrocketSEO
To anyone just getting started with a website who wants to break into their market with some decent search engine visibility, I would recommend in the first instance looking to your customers and devising 1-2 pieces of solid, authority content which you can use as part of your sales process as well as for attracting prospective customers via social media and in terms of SEO it can be leveraged for links (to obviously help boost your rankings).
The key thing with the content is to ensure it is a platform for developing your thought leadership because this can earn you links passively, it can be used in proactive outreach to secure more links and finally it can lead to incredibly valuable links as you get invited to contribute to other websites as a guest author perhaps.
To be honest with you, every situation warrants a slightly different strategy so it is always best to seek the advice of a credible professional if you are at all unsure about your direction.
James Agate is the founder of Skyrocket SEO – a link building and content production company serving agencies, affiliates and brands.
#2. Gareth Hoyle – Manual Link Building
Manual Link Building are a leading provider of outsourced SEO services. With over 200 employees over 4 countries, they have the capability to scale work to suit projects of all sizes.
With an annual growth rate of over 100% from the last 3 years, MLB are constantly changing the product offering to suit what is working on Google right now.
Combining this link building knowledge with the intelligence that LinkRisk offers and you have a link building company capable of making intelligent and data driven decisions.
Our advice to new website owners – don’t be greedy – take your time and create a brand around your offering – Better to slowly grow than yo-yo in and out of the SERPs due to overly aggressive link building – If all you are doing is chasing the algorithm, you will slip up eventually! –
Gareth Hoyle is the CEO and managing director at Manual Link Building.
#3. Bill Hazelton – Spirecast.com
One of the key things to remember about the new paradigm in SEO is that links have to be earned not built. Earned links or earned media really doesn’t fit into the old content churning model that we’ve seen in the past. Your content assets really have to be the centerpiece of your SEO strategy, not an afterthought. The reality is that top shelf content that’s going to earn links requires an investment and a level of commitment that most online businesses are simply not willing to make. So, content really needs to be approached as a critical investment in your brand rather than a simple line item expense.
Bill Hazelton is CEO of Spirecast, an SEO consulting and predictive analytics agency.
#4. Yasir Khan – Quantum SEO Labs
Quantum SEO Labs specializes in implementing natural methods that leaves Google search rewards out of the equation but focuses on rewarding readers instead to earn quality backlinks. This has helped us improve our industry leading clients business and established us as a trustworthy provider of top quality SEO services.
My advice to anyone looking forward to SEO as a means to drive traffic to your website is to not be too obsessed on what algorithm changes are rolling out but to focus on quality at all times. This way, you’re guaranteed to benefit from any updates to Google search algorithms.
Yasir Khan is a link building expert and founder of Quantum SEO Labs.
#5. Kelvin Gibbons – BlueGlass Interactive
BlueGlass Interactive is a leading digital marketing agency – with offices in London and Zurich.
We specialise in search and content marketing, working with clients such as Disney, eBay, Wonga, Vistaprint, UCAS and Conde Nast.
Our team has huge experience in managing digital marketing campaigns and has an integrated mix of skills to manage full-service online marketing campaigns.
Never stop learning. Attend events, build relationships with people in the industry so that you can have a network of trusted contacts. Keep reading on latest trends, but most importantly put it into action. Being ahead of the curve is hugely important, but reading is only half of it – you need to be out there doing it and putting these ideas into practice to learn what it really means!
Kelvin Gibbons is the Managing Director at BlueGlass Interactive. Follow him on Google+, where he shares interesting stuffs on SEO.
#6. Brian Dean – Backlinko
Backlinko is an SEO training site that helps bloggers, small businesses and digital marketing agencies get better results from their SEO, link building and content marketing efforts.
I only do a bit of consulting through the site, so the best success story would be the blog itself. In 9-months it’s gone from zero to 18,000 visitors per month in a very competitive industry.
The piece of expert advice I’d give someone just starting out is spend less time reading articles and more time studying the Google results. Most articles are people’s opinions on SEO and what works. While there’s a place for that, nothing beats evidence from the real world. So use a tool like ahrefs or Majestic SEO to see what links are actually working…and then do your best to get the same links.
Brian Dean is the founder of Backlinko. He is one of the most respected link building experts you can think of in today’s SEO world.
#7. Kristi Hines – Kikolani
If you’re just starting out a new website, don’t get tempted to buy into cheap SEO services. If someone’s offering 100 backlinks for $5, then they’re more than likely going to get you spammy links that you will pay dearly for in the long run. Your best bet is to educate yourself on quality strategies or wait until you can afford someone who really knows what they are doing.
Kristi Hines is the founder of Kikolani, a popular SEO and freelance writing blog for personal and professional bloggers.
#8. Pratik Dholakiya – E2M Solutions
E2M Solutions is India’s fastest growing premier digital marketing agency, driven by innovation and inspired by results. We believe in the power of change-we help brands change for the better, by taking advantage of the limitless opportunities that keep presenting themselves in the revolutionary world that is digital. We started our operations back in September, 2012 and within the period of one year we now have 55+ active customers with excellent success stories. We helped (and are helping) our clients succeed by helping them recover from any Google penalties they had and implementing ethical & standard SEO/Link building as well as content marketing strategies.
We believe that if you’re starting a business, you must have passion as well as willingness to accept the challenges in this ever changing industry. You never know which strategy would work today and would not tomorrow. So keep on working hard and make yourself available for the challenges ahead.
Pratik Dholakiya is the Co-Founder & VP of Marketing of an internet marketing company, E2M Solutions & a creative design agency, OnlyDesign.
# 9. Zac Johnson – ZacJohnson.com
The world of internet marketing, blogging and PPC have a lot to offer. For anyone who is just starting out I would recommend they focus on their niche audience using long tail keywords or start a business around your name and identity. This will allow you to always have a well branded name for yourself and your business.
These are the same principles I’ve been focusing on for the past 17 years. At first I was an affiliate marketer, site creator and even focused on some PPC marketing. Now I’ve been able to take everything I’ve learned and experienced over the years and build them into a powerful brand of my own.
Zac Johnson is a super affiliate marketer with over 15 years experience in online marketing. He is also the Founder of top marketing blog ZacJohnson.com.
#10. Neil Patel – QuickSprout
If you are just starting out don’t waste your time with paid advertising or expensive marketing tactics. The best strategy, which is also a long term strategy is to leverage content marketing.
By writing such great content for your ideal customers, you will end up building a loyal audience of people who will follow what you have to say and spread the word about your company.
Content marketing is one of the most effective and affordable strategies. No matter what type of company you are or your skill level when it comes to writing, you can leverage content marketing. A good example of this is how we achieved great results at KISSmetrics through infographics (See why content is the new SEO )
Just make sure you give it some time as it can easily take 6 months to a year for you to start seeing good results. But trust me, the investment is well worth it.
Neil Patel is an SEO and marketing expert, he is also the founder of two internet companies: CrazyEgg and KISSmetrics.
#11. Mike Ramsey – Nifty Marketing
The most important thing you could possibly do is develop a passion for the industry. That will be your fuel for the late night studies and tests that you run that will make you extremely valuable to your company. I don’t think this is a job where you can be successful and make a name for yourself with bare minimum effort. In the words of Steve Jobs, “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish.”
Mike Ramsey is the founder and President of popular Local SEO firm Nifty Marketing, based in Idaho. Nifty Marketing specializes in local Search Optimization for small and large businesses.You can circle Mike on Google+.
#12. Simon Penson – Zazzle Media
Digital marketing is in a really exciting place right now. It means that there is an opportunity for newcomers to really make a mark in the industry quickly by being smart and understanding how change will affect the strategies and tactics being used going forwards. Change equates to opportunity and by taking a more holistic, integrated approach to all parts of the digital marketing mix you can maximize returns and make a real name for yourself quickly!.
To do that think about how search, social and influencer marketing channels can be tuned most effectively to deliver targeted audience for the brand you are working on and use data to lead any decision making process. Back it up with a powerful, data led CRM strategy too, that keeps you in touch with every new visitor and invest heavily in amazing content.
Simon Penson is the Founder and MD of Zazzle Media. You can circle Simon on Google+
#13: David Leonhardt – The Happy Guy Marketing
SEO is big. There is so much to it. But the basic building blocks are pretty simple.
The website:
Create a website that impresses people. Not flashy (unless you are selling bling), but one that looks authoritative in its field – design, content and functionality. Make sure pages are all crawlable.
The content:
Think like a customer. That is the foundation of “keyword research”. Make sure to use on your pages the words your customers will use when looking for your services or when seeking a solution to a problem that your product will solve. Then write a page for each set of words they would search with – make sure that the page answers the questions or needs that brought them there (or, more specifically, helps them find the answers in your product).
The bullhorn:
The search engines are looking for stuff that people like. They want to send people to pages that are proven people-pleasers; that is their business model. So you need to do a LOT of networking through social media, across the blogosphere and with others in your sector who do not compete directly with you. The more the search engines see your website mentioned, the more impressed they will be.
The warning:
Stay away from anything contrived. The more contrived, the worse it is. Yes, get your friends to share your content. Yes build up a following in social media. But anything that sounds like a “scheme” is extraordinarily dangerous, unless you know what you are doing (in which case, it is just ordinarily dangerous).
David Leonhardt of The Happy Guy Marketing used to do SEO. Times have changed, and now he does website promotion with one eye on SEO – a much more effective way to do SEO in the long run.
#14 Gail Gardner – GrowMap.com
First you have to understand the basics. Figure out who your target audience is and how they search for you. That is part of keyword research. Use the tips in my posts about choosing keywords and using them in your writing.
Learn from the best. Read the free “MOZ Beginners Guide to SEO“. Sign up for the training offered by SEOBook. Find a mentor because SEO is complicated.
The best resources I’ve found for knowing which SEOs are most respected and also for SEO resources is the Quora page at http://www.quora.com/Whats-the-best-course-training-book-or-resource-on-SEO
Local SEO is very important, so be sure to read David Mihm’s blog and Michael Blumenthal’s Understanding Google Places and Local Search blog. There is also a very useful Google Places for Business Category Tool.
Threadwatch.org is a good place to get SEOs to discuss topics with you. Read Dr. Pete’s Top 1 SEO Tips for 2013. Contact me if you’d like access to a Trello board I created. I organize and save all the best tools, solutions and tips I find there.
Gail Gardner from GrowMap.com is not an SEO, but works with top SEOs and mentors bloggers and small businesses in writing with SEO in mind. You can find her everywhere under her username “growmap” including Skype which is the best way to reach Gail.
#15 Ron Cripps – MarketingTilt
The very first step in starting a website is having a plan of what you want to achieve, without having a plan the website will have no direction and will show in the content of the site.
For those starting a website in 2013 and beyond I would suggest you use WordPress with a theme that is mobile responsive, Why? this type of site is viewable in traditional web browsers and mobile devices without the need of additional coding or a completely separate website.
Next create social profiles on Facebook,Twitter. There are many more social networks you can join but these are the most important at the start. You’ll also want to have access to Google+ and Google Places for Business and submit the website to Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics and a YouTube account if you plan to create videos.
Next is planning the content around what you are selling the “cornerstone content”. It’s no longer a suitable SEO strategy to simply add a product page with an image and a buy now button and hope to rank in the search engines, you need to plan the content structure and then use that content to funnel any prospective customers to a page where they can purchase a product or service or subscribe to a newsletter. Using good content on the site will build trust and make you look like the authority with site visitors which makes it a very effective SEO strategy.
Then use email marketing to build trust and convince the potential customer that the product or service is right for them. Everything is now structured around conversational search in Google and if you plan the content correctly and offer value to readers you will be rewarded with back links from external sites as well as better rankings in Google.
Everything discussed above should be part of any good SEO strategy for a start up website.
Ron Cripps is the owner of MarketingTilt Creative Web Design Solutions.
#16 Gabriella Sannino – Level343
Don’t do it. Don’t pigeon hole yourself into being just an SEO expert. Don’t get me wrong, SEO is a great asset and discipline to have in an arsenal of other components for your online marketing visibility.
But in order to really and truly help a business online and be visible online, you need to understand: it’s not just about SEO. It’s about branding, building authority, creating awesome articles that give you credibility, building an online community, keeping your customers happy, etc. Those are just some of the things involved in creating a successful online campaign. Besides, being an expert in any SEO discipline is an ongoing process.
As you already know, Google’s constantly updating their algorithms in order to reach a seamless connection between human behavior and how we search for things. Being an SEO expert is simply too narrow of a focus. Actually, one of my favorite SEO geeks, Bill Slawski, said “Sometimes there are no textbooks for what you want to do, like SEO – Be the one who influences what will be written about it.” I would recommend becoming an expert on DAO (Digital Asset Optimization). You’ll have a better chance at getting steady work.
Gabriella Sannino is an International SEO consultant working with Level343, an International Marketing and SEO company, based out of SF, California. Our team of specialists is comprised of six global consultants that cover 14 languages.
#17: Ann Smarty – My Blog Guest
Starting out is tough and the toughest part is focus. There’s too much fear and doubt online: It’s hard to figure what really works and what to do. My tips would be:Get very patient: There are no shortcuts and unless you understand that you have a long way ahead, you’ll be discouraged too fast. Forget about “get rich fast” articles. Yes, those things happen but only to those who deserve it!
Prepare to read and educate yourself a lot. I would start with something long and solid (This guide is a good start). get very thorough with what you read online. Don’t just rush implementing everything. Read more than you write / ask for the first 3-4 months.
Focus on your content. My main rule of thumb: “Don’t publish unless you 100% happy with your content”. If you love each article you are publishing online, you’ll see genuine interest to your content (this will be your #1 step to getting link and social media shares)
Ann Smarty is the founder of phenomenally popular guest blogging site, My Blog Guest.
#18 Tadeusz Szewczyk – Onreact
SEO is not just SEO today. It sometimes is but in most cases it’s just a part of a bigger picture or the other way around it’s just a smaller part, like local SEO or international SEO. So you either specialize in something special not everybody knows or you become more of an generalist able to combine more than one discipline. Not many people are good at that interdisciplinary approach either.
So for example I specialize in SEO for Germany but I also combine blogging, social media and search and write about it for a global audience. So find a niche or offering that is not yet so competitive. For example I rarely see a good combination of UX, CRO and SEO despite these disciplines being really like siblings. No matter what you do, make sure that you are not just a generic SEO like millions of others. Be unique enough to stand out.
Brand yourself with some special skills so that people can associate them with you by heart. It can even be your target market. Do not try to sell to everyone everywhere. I don’t only mean geographic location though. SEO Texas is competitive as well. Other than that make a lot of friends who spread the word about your and your specialties. How do you get friends? Give out what you want to get.
Tadeusz Szewczyk is the Founder of Onreact.com, he helps people with blogs and social media.
#19 Jayson DeMers – AudienceBloom
Don’t roll with the wrong crowd. There are lots of forums, discussion groups, and websites littered with terrible information on SEO. SEO has changed so much over the past couple years that the tactics that used to work two years ago will actually have negative impacts on your search visibility these days. Moz, Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Watch, and Search Engine Land are the best sources of information when it comes to learning about what to do (and what not to do).
In essence, SEO these days comes down to three core components: Content, Inbound links, and Social Media. Without any of these three components, your strategy will be at a severe disadvantage. These are the elements that set apart true brands that care about their customers, from the fakers. Ensure that your website has great content on it, and work to acquire quality inbound links from other authority publishers and websites in your space. Bolster your content publication efforts with an effective social media campaign to build your brand awareness and exposure, and you’ll be all set.
Jayson DeMers is the Founder and CEO of AudienceBloom a Sealtle Based SEO and Social Media Marketing agency. He is also a regular contributor for top publications like Search Engine Land, Forbes, Entrepreneur.com and HuffPost.
If you enjoyed what you just read, then follow your favorite SEO expert on Google+ and please let your friends benefit from their expert advice by sharing this post with them.
Update: Read about this post on the web:
Page1Power Link Building Round-up 26
Blogelina.com Weekend Reading Round-up 7
NewInternetOrder.com- How to Learn SEO as a Beginer
Good post Ayodeji. I’m glad you included Jayson DeMers. His piece on forbes.com ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/10/16/if-content-marketing-is-a-war-what-enemy-are-you-fighting/ ) generously cites a passage from my ebook, Findability: Why Search Enging Optimization is Dying + 21 New Rules for Content Marketing. In all the conversation around “SEO” and “Content”, it is easy for web teams to overlook the reader. For without opening dialogue with readers via interesting writing, all the SEO, keywords and “content” are irrelevant.
I agree with you Randy! SEO is not important if readers are not adequately considered. Most experts highlighted this important fact in their tips in this blog post.
Thanks for the comment :)
Cheers
Ayodeji
Thank you. I just downloaded Jayson’s ebook. Thanks for posting his site address.
I am glad you find it useful.
I found this shared by David Leonhardt, in the #1 Internet marketing social bookmarking and networking site – Kingged.com and I “kingged” it and left this comment:
Very good to see David among the top SEO experts sharing their best advice on SEO!
But I wonder if all of these 19 experts are experts in SEO. I know for sure David, Brian, Neil and a couple others are, but few are not, for example Zac is an affiliate marketing expert. Why is he on the list? I think he belongs to another list of “affiliate marketing experts”, :)
That nonetheless, the tips shared by these experts are absolutely worth listening to, and of course, implementing.
Thanks for the comment, Sunny. Truly Zac is an affiliate marketing expert but I also see him has a force one can reckon with when he comes to SEO. You will also note that he does install blogs for many of his affiliate referrals and I am sure he does help them out with SEO troubles when it comes to it. BTW, it takes an SEO expert to get Zac’s several successful blogs to where they are today :).
Anyways, point taken and Zac is going to be in our list of affiliate marketing experts when we reach out to affiliate experts and I look forward to your comment then :).
Thanks again!
Cheers
Ayodeji
You are right, Zac might not be a self-professed SEO expert but he surely knows a lot about SEO, :)
Sure, I, and I am sure other “Kinggers”, will read and leave our comments in the post you guys will make about the list of affiliate marketing experts when you reach out to affiliate experts. Just remember to share it on Kingged.com, so we can find, read it and leave our comments.
Here’s a link to where this post was shared on Kingged, by the way, in case you want to leave a reply there:
http://www.kingged.com/top-19-seo-experts-share-their-best-advice-on-seo/
Congratulations David!
Better late than never! But I am very happy to see your name on the top list of SEO experts. This is great! I mean to be recognized is one of the things that a person should be proud of, and being chosen as one of the best advisers is really a heads up, two thumbs up and a big round of applause! LOL!
So proud of you and best of luck for your future post! Looking forward to see more! :)
I found and I “kingged” this on the Internet marketing social site – Kingged.com and left a comment.
Best wishes David!
Better delayed than never! But I am very satisfied to see your name on the top record of SEO professionals. This is great! I mean to be identified is one of the factors that a individual should be extremely pleased of, and being selected as one of the best professionals is really a leads up, two thumbs up and a big circular of applause! LOL!
So extremely pleased of you and best of fortune for your upcoming post! Eager for see more!
Hmmm, isn’t this comment a blatant spun version of Floriefe May’s comment right above? First time to see a direct “comment spinning” right on the same post. Creepy and certainly not cool.
I’d say you caught “James” red-handed Sunny.
Ahh! James must either be a bot or a rookie spammer just starting out in the SEO-Comment-Spamming world :) I will delete his URL and leave his conversation just to give our comments their relevance. Thanks for pointing this out guys!
Good you noticed this too, Randy and Ayodeji. Yes, this is obviously a new kind of bot. Or it may be old, who knows, except the comment spammers themselves, :)
I think this is my first visit to this blog, thanks to David for sharing this article.
It must have taking you a lot to compile this list of solid link builders. A lot to learn from these experts. Thanks for the hard work that brought these results Ayodeji
I am glad you loved the round-up Enstine. Thanks for the encouraging comment!
What a rich set of insightful advice. I am especially pleased that two of my digital marketing heroes — Brian Dean and Neil Patel are included.
To me, the best piece of advice is that from Brian Dean- don’t be overly dependent on tools
Thanks for the nice comment Femi. I am glad you liked the advice from these top experts.
Howdy. I started out using DIYSEO.COM I only paid for one month and copied a lot of stuff to work on later. I like hands-on learning because I’m a little ADD and that helps me focus LOL!
I agree with most of the comments, however, good SEO is all about keyword placement in the right places on your web pages and LOTS of good quality back links. In the beginning when i started doing SEO, I had to ask, plead, and beg to trade links with other websites but now I’m taking advantage of Social Media places to get all my backlinks and it’s working fantastic. When you can link your Google+ page to Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc., it doesn’t get any better than that.
You’re right on point Norman! Your experience with link building from the start is similar to what many people always experience :).
Thanks for sharing this!
Ayodeji
Great insight, from well respected people in our industry. Thank you for including me with such a wonderful list of people.
True Gabriella! It’s an honor to have you on the list and I look forward to having you in our future round ups :).
Thanks for sharing your powerful advice with everyone!
Ayodeji
Hello Ayodeji,
I’ve been looking for this kind of post and I’m so thankful to find this site. I respect these SEO experts because it’s really challenging right now to adapt with the system that Google is trying to put up since the existence of Panda and Penguin. I just admired these SEO experts how they blend easily and keep finding ways and means to conceptualize best techniques that is fit for the system.
“
thanks for the tips, hope to see more free link building sources
Hi Ayodeji,
Thanks for the sharing the advices of top SEO experts. After several algorithm updates it is necessary to generate quality links. The experts guidance will be a great help in the long run.
Hi Mr. Ayodeji, Thanks for sharing such a valuable information here, could you please advise me how we can do lexical analysis for our site? and more over in Reputation Management area, I heard Astroturfing is deemed as an effective tactics, but, based on which logic we can implement astroturfing? I came to know that people are adopting a tactics of generating canonical issues with the original content where Bad Reputation or reviews have been generated there by creating a conflict with the existing content, making the search engine confused of identifying which one is the original content, cause all will be pushed to sand box. Do you believe this is the right tactics?
Hi Jaya, thanks for the nice comments!
In regards to how you can do a lexical analysis for your site, I’d recommend you get a professional blogger who is well-versed in your and has been blogging for a long time to take a look at the content of your site. You might also want to involve an SEO expert in this so that your meta tags and other very important texts on your sites are well optimized.
Regarding Reputation Management area, Astroturfing has become a very popular choice among service providers. But with us, we ask our clients to show us their most recent positive publication in the media and/or their most recent awards. We make sure that these content are well distributed and promoted giving them a fresh positive look on search engines.
-Ayodeji
Thanks for your immediate response Mr. Ayodeji,
In regards I would like to share my knowledge and the tactics I have adopted since I am well-versed with Digital Marketing and I am frequently updating the site content based on keyword analysis but recently I have come across one article, it was said the content optimisation part also depends on pixel value of the character also, in such cases how can be make sure that our content is exactly suitable for web crawlers.
I am not much concerned about the literature part instead if crawlers esp google bot keen on pixel/ bit values of the content, I am not much aware of its underlying factors since in certain situations the listing takes more time than what we expected though we are using less competitive and more specific keywords, sometimes it immediately disappears from search results as well
I think we need a deep analysis on this part
Regards
Jk
awesome this list SEO Experts advice..
nice share…
regards
sutopo
all are explaining importances but no one is telling how to do it
good article thanks for sharing
Very informative and useful… Thanks for sharing… Following you now
thanks you for this tips, very help me to learn about SEO more
Thanks for sharing this blog
nice to try. send me email if you have another like this. thanks.
Thank you for compiling this list of tips, can imagine how much time and effort it took. Just wondering how do you select experts for interview, hope I can have a chance next time ….
this article verry help me.. because I’m a beginner blogger.. thanks so much
thanks so much for information, i’m so amazing with this website
sip bro,..
mantaps,..
wow, talk about a blog post that generates a lot of interest ;-)
Gary
I have checked your page and i’ve found some duplicate content,
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100% unique articles, search for: boorfe’s tips unlimited content