Rand will be giving the Keynote Speech “The Algorithmic Evolution of Search Engines & the Impact on SEO Campaigns” at Searchfest which will take place on March 10th, 2008 at the Portland Zoo. Purchase your Searchfest 08 tickets now.
1) Please give us your background and tell us what you do for a living?
I’m the CEO and co-founder of SEOmoz and my job is to set the direction for the company, help out with recruiting & hiring, blog and consult for businesses that need SEO. I’m probably biting off a bit more than I can chew, but hopefully I’ll get some more help soon 🙂
2) What algorithmic enhacements / changes do you foresee being adapted by search engines to improve the quality of their SERPS?
Algorithmic enhancements – I think you’re going to see a lot more focus on very specific content and link patterns across web communities to help root out spam, determine the intent of a link and identify content that may not fit the classical model for ranking highly, but is a particularly excellent niche result. My feeling is that Google, in particular, is able to assign teams of engineers to small segments of the web and pick out content and links that they do and don’t want in the results, then code until they find a way to “fit” their algorithms with the desired outcomes.
3) We’ve seen your premium services bundled with SMX tickets and with Microsoft’s new search offering. Are you concerned that SEOmoz might become viewed as more of a commodity than a community?
Concerned? Not really – I think it would be great if SEOmoz was seen as more of a product. We’ll certainly never abandon the community, but for many folks who are familiar with the SEOmoz brand, we’re just a blog, and I’d love to see awareness expand outside of that niche. I’m also hoping that our heavy focus on premium (which is launching some big upgrades in a couple weeks) will help to bring more attention.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.