Please introduce yourself and where you work.
Justin McIntyre, Director of SEO & Content at Perfect Search Media.
How do you think SEO has changed over the last 10 years?
Through updates to algorithms, machine learning, and more, search engines have become better and better at serving users exactly what they are seeking. This means old-school tactics–often referred to as black hat SEO–are not only likely to get you in trouble with Google, they are also likely to be simply ineffective. These days, good SEO is about ensuring crawlers can appropriately understand your website and that users have a great, meaningful experience on your website.
How did you get introduced to digital marketing, more specifically SEO?
I received formal training in SEO at my previous agency, but before that, I explored the WordPress platform and noticed the options available to webmasters attempting to improve their online visibility. I didn’t know a lot about the industry, but I did my best to learn about it through articles, books, and practice.
What are the services you provide to your clients?
Our two primary service offerings are SEO and PPC. We’re also expert content writers, provide conversion rate optimization recommendations, produce graphic design work, and work in the social sphere.
What strategy according to you will prevail in 2018 for SEO?
Page speed optimizations will only increase in importance in 2018. These are so closely related to user experience, which I think will also be very important this year. We’ve already seen this with the slow rollout of the mobile-first index, which has many SEO experts looking to Google for updates on this change.
What would your advice be to people who are looking to take up digital marketing as a career choice?
Explore the web articles and resources online. In my experience, books on SEO are not super helpful; instead, I recommend visiting the Moz Blog and SearchEngineLand.com. Prepare to show prospective employers that you’re able to learn new foreign concepts and that you’re not rattled by an unintended outcome. SEO and digital marketing is still a new industry and it takes a lot of trial and error.