My friend Ben, of the Cancer Community at KnowCancer.com, is THE expert on search engine optimization (SEO). Seriously, this guy knows more about SEO than anyone I know.
I met Ben at a conference and, in the back of the room, in hushed tones, Ben taught me more about SEO than 10-plus years of working with and for internet-related companies. The dude’s brain is that serious–and not just because he’s my friend (I have a lot of dear friends that don’t know crap about technology).
And not only does he know it, he knows how to communicate what he knows in a noncondescending way. Want proof?
Ben shot me an e-mail the other day, and it showed such genuis and was so simple, I asked him if I could share it with you.
He said, “Sure.” So here goes:
“Think of search this way. Google (and the other major engines) have two different goals:
- to index the pages on the web, and
- to deliver relevant results to searchers
In order to index the web and deliver relevant results, the engines need to be able to access all of the pages on your site and understand what they are about.
SEO experts are skilled in guiding the engines through a site in a way that enables them to discover more web pages and by providing information that helps the engines understand the content on your site.
Although simplified, the idea is that SEO experts don’t need to trick the system, [emphasis mine] rather it is more about understanding the capabilities of the engines and working with them to help determine relevance.”
Told ya. And that’s just 30 seconds of his thought power.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 4:07 pm and is filed under SEO, Websites. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.5 Responses to “Wanna Really Understand SEO?”
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October 16th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Great post! I checked out the knowcancer.com site. I have a friend that had testicular cancer and I can’t wait to share this site with him among the other people I know that have been effected by cancer. It’s nice that people will have a place of support. I can’t wait until the site is up!
October 16th, 2008 at 10:43 am
Laura:
Thanks for the kind words. I’m so sorry to hear about your friend.
Ben is a really great guy who not only gets this SEO stuff, but he is 100% about finding a cure for all cancers.
One of the most amazing things he’s said to me about his involvement in KnowCancer.com is that whenever he shares this website link with people, they always have their own personal story to share.
Wow. Ben’s just that kinda guy.
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Lena
October 17th, 2008 at 6:01 am
SEO is a great topic. There is so much people doing black hat thecnique and the likes. We have to keep it simple and not think about SEO only but the audience we want to reach.
Thanks again
Michel Richer
hombyz.com
October 17th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Nice way to sum up seo in 30 secs! I tried to do it in 3 secs, but it only came across as a loud yelping noise
October 20th, 2008 at 11:01 am
@Kiowa:
Thanks for the kind words — and the humor.
@Michel:
I agree with you. There’s so many people who advocate search engine deception, but that’s because they don’t have any real SEO skills. Ben clearly is not in the former camp, he’s VERY talented and totally gets what it means to be in business for the long haul. Cheap shortcuts just don’t last.