Before we start, please take a look at the most recent collection of @ViralContentBuz case studies! Those results are awesome and very inspiring for us, the team. THANKS!
Welcome to our weekly Twitter show! We have an awesome guest today: Please meet Tad Chef @onreact_com
**To join us please sign in here -> TwChat.com/hashtag/vcbuzz
About Tad
Tad has been an online marketer since 1997. I’ve personally known him for ages ?
Tad helps people with blogs, social media and search both in German & English. You can check his blog out at seo2.0.onreact.com
Questions we discussed
Q1 How did you get into SEO? Why did you decide to get into international (English and German) SEO?
At first I have to correct something. I haven’t been an online marketer since 1997, I have been an online publisher. I started doing SEO in 2004 officially. I just celebrated my first decade of practice a few days ago. The demand for front end web dev was slow so I looked around what else the people are asking for. My first SEO client was in a very competitive niche already then: travel. So I had to learn fast. After a month I have learned the basics of SEO and was amazed at the opportunities opening in front of me. I stayed with SEO since.
@seosmarty Not today anymore. You can do SEO without doing web dev at all. Writing, socializing, chatting – that’s all SEO! #vcbuzz
— Tad Chef (@onreact_com) September 30, 2014
I went international in 2006/7 after realizing that the German SEO market is too small for my vision. Also international clients are better than local/national ones. Bigger budgets, fewer issues, less talk. Local clients always wanted to meet me and talk for hours. International clients just send over the money and say “go”.
White hat SEO has not changed – Gray/Black is another story #vcbuzz
— Craig Fifield (@CraigFifield) September 30, 2014
Q2 Has your definition of SEO 2.0 changed as well?
In 2007 I tried to popularize the term and concept of SEO 2.0 without really knowing myself what it means. I wanted to find out about SEO 2.0 at the job “learning by doing”. I collected definitions from other people.
@onreact_com I feel SEO can never have a #.0 since it is always ongoing and changing or you are behind somewhere w/a checklist #vcbuzz
— Chris Boggs (@boggles) September 30, 2014
At the start it seemed like SEO 2.0 would be all about social media but over the years I realized that it’s about the people. Social sites come and go but the people we connect with stay in the best case and support each other for years.
The same people I “met” online several years ago still know me and support me. @seosmarty is a good example. #vcbuzz
— Tad Chef (@onreact_com) September 30, 2014
Q3 How has SEO changed since you started?
SEO has become useful for the whole Web over the years. A few years ago SEO was completely selfish. I want to rank my site and the rest of the world can kiss my ass. These days SEO is literally about fixing the Web. Just think broken link building. Some of the best content out there gets produced for SEO reasons these days.
@viralcontentbuz A3.SEO was not so much about relationships.It was more self centred.Now its about relationship management #vcbuzz
— Plumlytics (@Plumlytics) September 30, 2014
True, modern SEO is about relationships, but less about management ?
@gchesman I’m sick and tired of following Google updates. I have given up algorithm chasing this year altogether. #vcbuzz
— Tad Chef (@onreact_com) September 30, 2014
I have just finished a post on reactive SEO vs predictive SEO vs creative SEO. Guess which is best for long term? Ideally you force Google to follow what you do. To some extent. Only creative SEO makes you independent of Google whims in the long term.
constantly changing algorithms make for great link bait, underwear sales, and sleepless nights. #vcbuzz
— Craig Fifield (@CraigFifield) September 30, 2014
Q4 What’s your favorite social media network and why?
Favorite social media site? That’s a tough one. I rather prefer some depending on use cases. I love Prismatic for example when it comes to content curation. Google+ is great for debating. Pinterest rocks visual content. Imagine your potential audience being full of groupies you want to entice! (Don’t tell my wife!) Did I mention El Loco?
Q5 Now that you are increasingly wary of Google and its power, which other search engine/s do you recommend? Are there any at all?
Google has annoyed me for years buy now. The feature creep and removal, the ad laden “results”, the condescending penalties. A few years back I was the biggest brand evangelist of blekko.com IMHO. I could optimize a search engine for the first time directly with Blekko. I loved the slashtags (customized topical searches).
These days I prefer DuckDuckGo after Blekko phased out slashtags and curation. DuckDuckGo is my default browser search engine, even when it comes to German searches. I even love the English version of Yandex – from Russia with Love.
Q6 Being in the industry for so long, having seem so much, how do you find motivation to keep going?
The show must go on! Just kidding. SEO is challenging. Just like parkour I train almost daily: the more obstacles the better. Blogging and social media bored me after a while but SEO is changing so fast you have to run to keep up. I wake up and the SEO landscape can be very different over night.
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