Meet your SEO: Sean Revell

Today I have the immense amusement (looking for some “pleasure” synonyms) to have a talk with Sean , an SEO from UK, for the weekly “Meet your SEO” interview series. You can read more about his thoughts over his blog 01100111011001010110010101101011 . Before you even start thinking “what a hell of a name, is he mad?” , have a look to binary code. 

Let’s talk with this brave new SEO.

Sean

Why are you so reluctant to show your face and name?

My name and face are on my Twitter account! I know what you mean though and to be honest I like anonymity particularly when everyone seems so keen to be seen and noticed nowadays. I really don’t care or think it matters who someone is online but more what they say…

When did you enter the SEO world, and why ?

Unsurprisingly I fell into SEO like everyone else. I originally wanted to become a web designer, applied for 2 jobs, 1 in SEO, 1 as a web designer and fortunately fluked through my interview. Initially I wasn’t sold on the job but once I started building a few personal sites I was hooked.

A great tip about onpage optimization?

Not necessarily a great tip but something a little different. I don’t often see this but I really like Eli’s idea from Blue Hat SEO where he talks about improving CTR by using random characters e.g ^ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ § ¬ ° ± º ø þ – in page titles or meta descriptions.

The most stupid thing people believe about onpage optimization?

Keyword density. Either that or people filling copy with bold, underlined or italicised text to rank but not thinking about users.

A great tip on how you build links?

Link networks, oh… I’m not even taking the piss but quality content. I don’t write particularly well but it seems to make a connection with people.

The most stupid thing you heard about linkbuilding?

That you can’t get to 1st position in Google without quality, relevant links.

If you have to explain what you do at a 10 year-old kid , what are you gonna say?

Sit on my arse, talk to people on Twitter, occassionally think about SEO and have meetings. If I had to explain my actual role it would be thus “I attempt to improve the visibility of websites online and in search engines”

What do you drink when seoing?

Vimto, coffee, gin and tonic. Most of the time not all at once.

What do you think about SEO community?

I suppose it’s probably like every other community but I find that it is filled with the following:
Cool, friendly people – Dudes who are willing to discuss ideas and thoughts within the industry.
Faux cool, friendly people – Dudes who are willing to discuss ideas and thoughts within the industry but only with people ‘above’ them.
Obvious twats – You know who they are.

Make yourself a question and give an answer: “What is your favourite SEO article/post?”

The SEO Theory Search Engine Optimization Quick Reference Guide – Quick it ain’t… The document is 71 pages long and full of useful gems 🙂 (note: currently it’s offline).

There are some obvious brilliant SEO articles out there but I have tried to think of a view that you guys may have missed:

  1. SEO Higher Learning by David Harry – An awesome guide to blogs and white papers about information retrieval. I haven’t got a 1/3 way through the list but I will finish it one day!
  2. SEO for Non-dicks by Matt Gemmell – For lovers of a good ol fashioned SEO rant 🙂
  3. How to Grow Your Google Authority by Chris Garrett – It does what it says on the tin. Read this posts for actionable ways to increase your ‘authority’ in Google.

Who is your biggest SEO influence?

Hmmm… I have read 100’s of articles and there are some very cool people who I am fortunate enough to talk to about SEO (both ‘famous’ and ‘non famous’) My biggest influences have probably been Michael Martinez, Bill Slawski and Aaron Wall.

If you weren’t an SEO, what would you like to do ?

Interesting. Loads of different things ranging from a musician, astro physisist or a chef. It depends on how my day is going or how depressed I am about the SEO industry.