Jeff Quipp is the quintessential multifaceted search marketing agency owner. Located in Ajax Ontario, his company SearchEnginePeople is known for staffing true next-gen Internet marketing thought-leaders.
Jeff is well regarded internationally as a conference speaker and sought after consultant for paid, natural search and social channels. I had an opportunity to Interview him regarding his upcoming appearances at SearchEngineStrategies Toronto.
AIMCLEAR: Thanks for taking time out of your day today Jeff. You’ll be speaking at SearchEngineStrategies Toronto on the “SEO Then & Now: What’s the Same? What’s New?” panel. Obviously the world of search is extremely different than when you and I first started in the 90’s. What are the most important developments to SEO ranking factors in 2009?
Wow … good question. A lot of things really. Here are but a few:
1. SEO used to be about trying to fool or trick search engines! Times have changed though. I like to joke that Google now has more PhDs than NASA.
Today, SEO is more about providing solid content, which will attract links and visitors naturally. Keep in mind, Google has a snapshot of the link landscape before anyone knew that links mattered. They can now determine with relative confidence if a site’s link architecture is natural or artificial.
2. The search engines of today also are starting to look at user behavior patterns, and integrate information contained in those variables back into their ranking algorithms.
For example, if a site is frequently clicked on for a specific keyword term, but then quickly abandoned thereafter, that’s a great sign to search engines that the site isn’t a good match to the search query.
3. Personalization of search results is likewise a growing issue. The search engines want to apply what they’ve learned about you from past searches, to improve the relevancy of search results in response to your queries in the future. This will result in me personally seeing “Miami dolphins” type sites ranking higher when I search, and I’m logged into my gmail account.
AIMCLEAR: What immediate SEO adaptations do you most often recommend to new clients?
b. images
c. widgets
d. creation of apps
e. awards
f. contestsAt the same time, often its more cost efficient for a client to significantly improve results by increasing conversion rates, rather than attracting more traffic.Accordingly, Usability is becoming a bigger part of our service offering, as is campaign tracking.To elaborate, we now have all the tools necessary to show clients exactly which media are generating results for them, and which are not. SEO is no longer just about ‘ranking’!
AIMCLEAR: Where does SES Toronto sit in the hierarchy of importance in terms of Canadian search marketing conferences? What are the benefits for American industry folks to attend?
AIMCLEAR: We’ve been to the searchEnginePeople offices in Ajax. What’s that awesome coffee you drink?
You have certainly been to Ajax, and we did do a Tim Horton’s coffee run together if memory serves me correctly. To any Americans reading this interview … you really should try Tim Horton’s coffee sometime.
Its become so ingrained in our Canadian culture that it in fact might better represent Canada than the image of a moose or beaver. Those who are interested … Tim Horton was a former NHL player. Imagine that!
