Most SEOs are self-taught. They have learned of optimization techniques by reading blogs like Moz, Search Engine Journal and Search Engine Land. Most people start out in either one of the three. Soon they start asking questions on SEO and graduate to answering a few questions. Then, lo and behold, they start posting on their blogs and sharing their opinions and own SEO tact.
During this transition, it is quite easy to think of yourself as an SEO expert. Many of us not only think of ourselves as an expert but also declare so on LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Facebook. They give expert opinions in forums and solve complicated problems on website optimization. However, that is rarely the truth.
Forget only mainstream blogs
Most of the freshers read mainstream blogs for the security in numbers. Thousands of people read Moz Blog and SEJ. Even the guest posts on these blogs are the epitome of SEO perfection. You will get the correct information about any trend or change in search engine optimization at any of the mainstream blogs.
Does this come at a cost? Of course, it does. You will miss out on some great work from some of the best minds of SEO. Just like any other field of work, the best work often goes unrecognized. Most of the readers do not even recognize names beyond Rand Fishkin and John Doherty. You need to explore the depths of SEO into the real where great minds work like the Quest Internet Media.
Most of the SEO-activists are absent from popular blogs and social media. You would think that SEO experts would optimize their blogs and online profiles. However, that is rarely the case, and we do not understand the creative whimsies of these SEO geniuses.
Some of the greatest minds in SEO have made Nike, Etsy, TripAdvisor, Amazon and Getty Images raging successes of the e-commerce world. SEO is a business secret that is probably why the brains behind screaming success stories like these do not have a name! We cannot find articles on how they achieved this success overnight by optimizing their website for a global audience. All we do know is, it is true, and it is possible.
The best SEO measures are not always transparent
The reality is rather shocking. Google is a corporation (that is one truth most of us keep forgetting) and a mega corporation at that! Google rolls out one change after another. It is quite apparent that Google does not care much about the plight of the marketers. Every time Google updates its algorithm, SEOs start out on a new path. If they are lucky, the algorithm is small, and the adjustments are small too.
However, if something massive like Penguin hits the sand castle of their websites once more, the SEOs will have to set out on a new quest to find better options for optimization of the site for Google.
This just means, even if these marketers were to go out and upload their SEO methods on their Facebook walls and Twitter pages for public viewing, it would not be of much use for most webmasters. You will get a couple of days’ respite before the optimization recedes as Google adopts some other algorithm update.
What about the lesser-known blogs?
Once you have enough knowledge of SEO, you should also include the lesser-known blog publications in your reading domain. These blogs bear exciting news that remains unheard in the buzz of more tantalizing news. They publish niche predictions, official update charts and the effects of such updates on most of the websites.
SEO is not only for the big fish, and these small blogs are here to prove that. You can learn niche optimization techniques for your blog and website from these sources. They can tell you about editing scripts and add or removing snippets of codes from your site to make it more SEO friendly.
Niche writers also come up with nifty techniques for boosting SEO that will not cost big bucks. You can both save money and gain popularity. Moz blog, SEJ, and blogs like these have a wider audience range. This automatically means they have to include content for a varied interest. Many times, the solutions, tips, and tricks become rather general.
Getting answers to questions from SEO experts is almost impossible on blogs with a high traction. The key to finding a good author who is not as popularized on the web is to look at the LinkedIn profile and other business profiles. Find SEO related content on business networking sites and then follow the authors out into the blogging world to find more content on SEO, digital marketing and much more.
Author Bio: Peter Harris is a digital marketer. He has been working with Quest Internet Media on some leading SEO and SEM projects. He has a unique take on SEO that you can find out on his blog.
