Comments on: Big Media: Need an SEO Source? I’ll Help

By: Jesse Green

Jesse Green — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:30:23 +0000

I too am a little late to the dance here – but would submit that there are two factors at work here…an uneducated (I don’t mean ignorance, but few fully get SEO to begin with) public, and a number of grey hat/black hat players that are spoiling this unregulated industry for the masses that are all white hat. The public relations industry has experienced similar pains over it’s many decades of history (and continues to suffer some of these challenges today). It’s ironic that both industries could use a healthy dose of the others’ expertise, but the fact remains is that in the absence of regulation, we must regulate ourselves. Much like SEO – this will be a marathon, not a race, but the more we self-regulate, the likelier our reputation will improve.

By: Topher

Topher — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:34:07 +0000

Great writing as always.

Once again to say that “All journalist” are doing this (as soem of the commentaries have said) is just wrong.

I know of at least one news site that tries to get a SEO’s to comment and talk about things that they are writing about. Why is that people in our industry like to say broad absolut things that are never true and just make them and other SEO’s look stupid?

Again good stuff as always, Your Fan Topher!

By: theGypsy

theGypsy — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:26:38 +0000

Hiya Lisa, I am a bit late to the game here, but I thought I’d take a few moments to discuss what I have experienced.

During the whole WSJ experience (Overstock) I went to great lenghts in trying to educate them on search (and SEO). It was most certainly like pulling teeth (or hair out). I am so close to it that I had no idea how little they actually knew about how things work. To their credit (the reporter and his editor) kept asking questions and did attempt to get their heads around it.

What seems to be also in play here is the ‘angle’. WHY is it that they are suddenly interested in SEO? Sadly the angle was more about big brands ‘cheating’ as it was anything else. So, were they REALLY trying to understand SEO? Not entirely.

What is more troubling, is that both the JCP and OS stories (NYT and WSJ respectively) were started by SEOs (seemingly seeking to bring down a competitor). I doubt that has helped the perception of us among the media. It is a troubling trend that has made me uneasy, the more I learned about what was going on behind the scenes.

Anyway… just passing through and thought to add that in… have a great weekend!

By: Lisa Barone

Lisa Barone — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:17:00 +0000

Which is why that’s perhaps where you START but you don’t finish there. Journalists are never going to find an already organized list of sources. You have to make it yourself and that means putting in some legwork. If you don’t know where else to start, then go to Google and do a search. Get some names — and then RESEARCH them. Where have they spoken? Do they have a blog? Do people seem to respond well to it? What’s their social authority like? What are they an expert in? You have to start somewhere. If it’s not the search engines and you don’t have anyone else to ASK to get WOM opinion, then where are you starting? Phone book.

By: Rhea Drysdale

Rhea Drysdale — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 17:13:32 +0000

Ding! Ding! Ding!

By: Michael Dorausch

Michael Dorausch — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:28:53 +0000

Was one of the primary reasons I started my site in the 90s… Education. Been quite a ride. Long overdue for a post on the similarities I see to SEO. Nothing has my profession back more than infighting, hoping SEO industry doesn’t go down same path.

By: Amber

Amber — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:22:35 +0000

I read a great article last week about how businesses need to take responsibility for what is happening within their company. When companies pay for offensive advertising, they don’t claim they didn’t know and point a finger at the ad agency that designed it. So, why no take responsibility for their SEO mistake. They should have hired someone to keep an eye on it, if they didn’t understand it. JCP just wanted to shift the blame. But Ryan has a point, when you google SEO companies the most reputable companies don’t always pop up. No wonder journalists are confused.

By: Ryan Jones

Ryan Jones — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:08:08 +0000

I think a bigger part of the problem is that if you actually Google “seo company” or “seo firm” the results you get aren’t the reputable people who know what they’re doing.

If I didn’t know anything about SEO, I would instantly assume that the person ranking first for “seo company” must really know their shit. Seems logical right?

By: bluephoenixnyc

bluephoenixnyc — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:05:02 +0000

This is a great question, Lisa.

I suppose by “running narrative,” I mean something like a contonuous presence in tech journalism of SEO and SEO-based initiatives that just doesn’t appear when there’s a big scandal like J.C. Penney’s snafu. Internet users need to learn about what happens when SEO goes right, too. Otherwise all we end up with are shortsighted Slate and Forbes trend pieces.

I’m thinking Wired and Mashable as the biggest culprits–tech/SMO/internet marketing is a big, complicated jumble of developments in any given moment.

Honestly, it seems like tech/SMO/internet marketing is stratified into soft vs. hard news and SEO definitely falls in the latter. You can’t have someone whose specialty is talking about how to get over your ex on Facebook commenting on how Google page rankings work.

(Unless the writer is THAT good…but that rarely is the case.)

By: Ryan Jones

Ryan Jones — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:04:13 +0000

Is it ironic that even though most SEOs sell ORM services SEO itself has an ORM problem?