Get to know Rich Stivala, Founder & Digital Marketing Strategist at worldwideRiches Web Design and SEO

Sahil Kakkar

6 years ago

Founder of and Digital Marketing Strategist at worldwideRiches Web Design and SEO
Rich Stivala is one of the world’s original SEOs. While working at AT&T Bell Labs in the early 90s Rich lead the team that pioneered, designed and coded AT&T’s first websites. While there, he developed search technologies and lead the team that designed and implemented AT&T’s original corporate search engine. In 1996, he founded worldwideRiches, New Jersey’s first web design, and SEO company. Today, recognized as the leader in high-converting web design and high-performance search engine optimization, worldwideRiches has helped hundreds of Fortune 100 companies and local businesses grow their business through digital marketing. He is also a published author on digital marketing topics.

Please introduce yourself and where you work.

My name is Rich Stivala and I’m the Founder of and Digital Marketing Strategist at worldwideRiches Web Design and SEO.

How do you think SEO has changed over the last 10 years?

Today, Google’s mission is to become the sole provider of all things related to information. Whether it is answering your question on the ingredients required to make a Mosow Mule or connecting you to a local plumber in your time of need, Google has become more sophisticated in providing the right answer (or the answer it thinks you want). Moving away from keyword-based search technologies, Google now uses a combination of location, geographical proximity, branding, speed, authority, and artificial intelligence to deliver search results.
Solid research, high-quality content and web design, and authoritative link partners are now the cornerstones of achieving high-performance SEO.

How did you get introduced to digital marketing, more specifically SEO?

I was first introduced to the concept of search by building a search engine for AT&T in the 90s. In the early days of the Internet, I began to help businesses rank high for keywords. In 2003, with Google introduction of AdSense (the counterpart to AdWords), I jumped head first into SEO, building and ranking my own industry-specific job websites to earn Adsense revenue.

What are the services you provide to your clients?

We help clients grow their businesses by providing digital marketing strategies including SEO, website design, and hosting services.

What strategy according to you will prevail in 2018 for SEO?

Engaging content, authority, and local proximity.

What would your advice be to people who are looking to take up digital marketing as a career choice?

Do it! Create, design and experiment with SEO strategies on your own websites. You will develop an insider’s view of how Google ranks websites. Plus, it will allow you to dismiss all the SEO hype that exists today, and provide value for your clients.