Choosing an SEO Expert? The IR Litmus Test, Part I
The online marketing industry is full of purported SEO experts that know very little about how search engines work or the document indexing process. What I have come to find is that these ‘experts’ are always just regurgitating catch phrases and tactics that they have overheard in blogs and forums.
This class of search engine optimizers developed their tactics and portfolios during SEO’s infancy. Low competition, low saturation, and with relatively under-developed search engines. Remember when all it took to get a client to the top of the search engines was to edit the Meta tags?
Not that current tactics are all that more complex. Title tags, focused content, keyword placement, RSS feeds, link exchanges, and blogs are all in the current expert’s repertoire. Not exactly brain surgery.
This haphazard success is soon going to evaporate though, as competition increases, more companies continue to migrate online, and the search engines refine their indexing and relevancy algorithms.
So, why are many SEO experts not as qualified as they purport to be?
The answer lies in the skill sets of the individuals who are becoming search engine optimizers. Up until now, the bulk of the search engine optimization profession recruited from the ranks of HTML developers. It actually makes complete sense if we look at the minimum skills necessary to optimize a website, and the state of the HTML development industry during the rise of the SEO industry.
HTML developers were the ideal candidates to quickly move into the profession because they already possessed the minimal skills necessary to go behind the website and edit the HTML. I think we can safely assume that to perform the current SEO, the expert needs to have a decent knowledge of web development. Although learning a markup language such as HTML is not that difficult, it would be a significant roadblock to any newcomer who wanted to enter the field. The common lay person, or nuclear physicist for that matter, would be forced to first learn remedial coding skills.
Additionally, when the internet bubble burst (along with the web developers high paying salaries) no other group was better positioned to identify the new lucrative opportunities that SEO offered. A huge population of domestic developers found themselves out of work and being undercut by cheap overseas labor. Its not surprising that they were able to segue their current knowledge into offering higher-value services that would position clients more effectively to their consumers.
The problem is that 95% of these experts have no real idea how the search engines index web pages, or determine relevancy. They are simply recycling the formulas of previous SEO success, and following the latest trial and error trends that someone in the chatroom ’swears by’. Continually implementing and testing, without any underlying comprehension of the science they are up against. Its like someone without a bio-related degree trying to recreate evolutionary studies after reading a paper on Darwinism. Its absurd. They are completely flying blind.
A true SEO expert understands the fundamentals of information retrieval.
This includes document indexing, linguistics, and a strong knowledge of linear algebra, including stochastic matrices, vector space theory, latent semantic analysis, and singular value decomposition. This is the key knowledge that is necessary to understand how the search engines view your client’s website, how that information will be received, and what needs to be done to increase their ranking.
Unfortunately, this knowledge, which does take a considerable amount of mathematical expertise, is well beyond the scope of your average HTML web developer. It has become difficult to not only find enterprise-level experts, but differentiate them from the rest of the masses.
So how are professional service firms expected to identify which SEO experts they hire are truly professionals?
In my next segment, I will continue my discussion on the survival of the SEO expert, in correlation to information retrieval. I will also introduce you to the IR Litmus Test, which are techniques that a firm can utilize to accurately qualify SEO experts, and differentiate amateurs from enterprise-level professionals.
Grant
September 25th, 2006 at 3:55 pm
Grant,
Great post- gets me rethinking our current SEO firm!
In your next post will you be discussing any factors that are important for small- to mid-size firms when deciding on an SEO expert?
Sandra Ramos
October 2nd, 2006 at 11:56 am
Hi Sandra,
Although I wont be focusing on any factors relating to firm size or number of professionals in Part II, I would say that it isn’t as critical as you might think.
What is more important is to place the focus on the SEO firm in question. Do they specialize in working with professional service firms (in a future post, I will explain why this is so important)? Will your project manager be fluent in IR and document indexing (more to come in Part II)? What kind of tactics will they use to build site popularity? How is their team organized? How will they be compensated? Are there incentives in place for them to get you higher rankings? Etc.
If you have any specific questions, leave me another comment or email me. I look forward to hearing from you.
Grant
October 11th, 2006 at 6:09 pm
I hope my boss doesnt read your post…I do SEO in house and my background is in web development. I have been doing it exclusively for about 3 years now, and it seems like I have a pretty good grasp on what I am doing.
Do you have any recommendatoins though on where I can get more information about document indexing? or any places to start? Thanks.
October 18th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
Hi Mark,
Don’t worry…I wont say anything!
Check out Dr. E. Garcia’s website at http://www.miislita.com. He is an authority on search engine IR.
Grant
March 27th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Grant,
We are currently researching SEO firms for our architectural firm. You raise interesting questions about the need for an SEO firm that specializes in professional services. Is this critical or can any SEO firm create a unique program through the creative process?
We are looking at PPC, landing pages, auto-responder emails and white papers.
What do you recommend for professional service firms?
Thanks,
Amy
March 27th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Hi Amy,
Great question!
As you are already aware, SEO is one aspect of a much larger online marketing strategy for professional services firms. Unlike a product company, we can’t just drive consumers to our website and expect to raise revenues.
With an architectural firm such as yours, you are dealing with a more complex buying center and much different sale. The corporate purchaser of professional services is an educated and discerning buyer who needs to convince multiple parties within their own organization. Converting prospects into clients is based more on the merits of your professionals, previous success, similar clients, and overall firm knowledge. One of the most important aspects of optimizing your website is the overall plan and strategy to raise awareness of the firm’s knowledge and expertise.
I suppose it would be possible to find a generalist firm that could execute an effective SEO campaign for professional services. However, it raises the question, would you hire an architectural firm that designs tract homes in California to build skyscrapers in Singapore? Perhaps, the residential architect has the skill to do it right the first time. But, more than likely, they will be learning as they go, with those costs being passed onto the client in the form of increased billable time and second-class work.
Let me give you a brief example of one of the differences that might be important between a firm that specializes in professional services rather than a generalist. Once your SEO campaign is up and running, a large part of the success is making continual adjustments based on quantifiable visitor data from the website’s webanalytics. SEO companies that are used to working with product and manufacturing companies might make inaccurate deductions and decisions based on success metrics for product websites, rather than professional service websites. These decisions can lead your SEO campaign down the wrong track. The general SEO team may have you chasing the wrong types of visitors, and avoid better prospects that will generate more revenue.
To answer your final question, “What do you recommend for professional service firms?â€, we recommend what you are already discussing above. The need for an end-to-end, and integrated approach - Website design, SEO, email responders, content production, webanalytics, and database integration.
I hope that helps!
Grant