. He's
done strategic consulting for companies large and
small, and built and sold several sites of his own.
Todd Malicoat - The SEO Interviews - Number Seven
Thursday, October 12th, 2006by Darren McGlaughlin
Welcome to the seventh installment of The SEO Interviews. The SEO Interviews are a series of 6 Question Interviews with some of the best and brightest minds in the field of SEO. This week we’re happy to talk to Todd Malicoat.
SEO Profile:
Todd Malicoat has been creating websites since 1997, and started doing SEO and Internet marketing in early 2001. He is a moderator at the World’s largest webmaster forum Webmasterworld.com, and maintains an Internet consulting journal at www.stuntdubl.com.
Todd has recently been a speaker on topics such at both Search Engine Strategies and Webmaster World’s world of search conferences on link development and search engine marketing. Todd offers a variety of search engine marketing services - for more information on Todd, please see his about page.
The SEO Interview
1) Todd, I read some of your writings about “abundance thinking”,
which is a subject I’m also interested in. Tell us how you apply the principles of abundance thinking to your SEO and link building efforts.
The internet has brought about a really interesting paradox with regards to the “abundance mentality”. There is a wonderful “give to get back” karma associated with the web. It’s really more than a cliche - all the most successful companies (google, hotmail, ebay, myspace, etc.) are based around new models that are unique in that they provide some service or offering that was formerly a paid service, and have found new ways to gain profitability.
I’ve been extremely lucky with by being taught by some of the most brilliant minds in the world of SEO/SEM. For me, having an “abundance mentality” was an obligation, because I was really accepted by others with the same attitude. It’s getting harder for me now to be more generous with time (at some point you want to earn some money), but I still really enjoy helping newer people with a hunger. The reason “SEO” has such a positive connotation within the community, is that there is a wealth of information that flows openly to those who think with an abundance mentality. Short-sightedness for a quick buck is sussed out very quickly by a group of people who are professionals at determining bias, and when they’re being “sold something”.
I really like Greg Niland aka GoodROI’s choice for a radio show name, “Good Karma” - because it’s really a big part of what drives the community. There is much more willingness to help folks that you see helping others. Of course, all of this abundance mentality is not just tie dye and hemp bracelets either - it’s good business practice. Helping others gives you a positive reputation that makes sales easier. People respect truth and openness - and in an industry that is so helplessly misunderstood, trust and credibility is incredibly important.
I first fully embraced the “abundance mentality” several years ago after posting a large rant in the webmasterworld supporter’s forum about how people had a “scarcity mentality” and no longer shared any good information. The response I got in less than a few days was a new post by Dean “digitalghost” Bloomfield called “scarcity be damned” - which was a pretty impressive post to me at the time. I was constantly amazed that so many bright people were willing to share their opinion to the sometimes incredibly naive questions that I asked. I appreciate this even more now, after a few years of answering those same types of questions just what a charitable offering that time spent to answer questions was. In an industry that is educated nearly completely online - there is an obligation to return some of that time to new people learning in thanks of the people that you learned from.
There’s a good discussion about DaveN hitting his boiling point on sharing information at threadwatch right now. Everyone who writes about or discusses SEO in the community has this quandry sometimes, and hits the threshhold of no longer wanting to share. It’s very difficult to figure out sometimes what should get shared in the pub, with clients, and publicly. It’s really important to have a group of associates that you share information more freely with in a private trusted setting to compare notes as well as adding to the fountain of fundamental knowledge online.
2) What do you consider to be the most effective method of building
links. And why?
I’m not sure if it’s unfortunate or not, but I don’t think there is a single most effective way to build links. Link building is the worst/best/worst part of doing search marketing. It’s terrible because it’s tedious. It’s fantastic because it offers so much opportunity and so few do it well. It’s terrible again because it can be confusing, counterproductive, and convoluted.
There are lots of different ways to build links, and I am a big advocate of balancing your link profile, which is the investing equivalent of diversifying your portfolio. There are lots of different types of links, of varying degrees of value to different types of sites. The most critical components of link building is to bite the bullet and dedicate resources constantly, and understand the value of a link, and how to get the most bang for your buck from each one that you obtain.
3) The last few years have seen a lot of changes in how search engines rank pages. How have you kept up with the changes, and have any of them surprised you?
SEO really doesn’t change as much as people think it does sometimes. The biggest thing is to have a firm understanding of all the filters and variables at the search engines disposal and hedge your bets accordingly. I’m a big fan of Rand’s search engine ranking factors. Understand those, and you have 80% of SEO.
I’ve honestly spent more time trying to diversify my skillset than anything. I think SEO is more of a business school of thought than a process. The fundamentals of SEO don’t often change - the application of SEO to different business models is what changes most often. When I stop to think about it - I don’t often deliver the necessary value to justify the prices I charge solely through SEO - the value is generally delivered by coming up with a great idea that applies to how to market something more effectively. SEO is still marketing - but it is a new school of marketing. In 9 out of 10 instances, it’s easier to come up with a great marketing idea within the mental framework of SEO principles tha will create more links and traffic, than it is to algorithm chase and try to manipulate short term flaws for immediate gain.
4) What is a great SEO tip that you’re pretty sure not everyone knows.
I really hate to disappoint, but I don’t know of any extremely amazing SEO techniques. Hard work is the key to success for most people who have made it. It’s not REALLY that difficult to learn most SEO - it’s just difficult to apply it before it falls out of favor. It’s difficult to think a few steps ahead of algorithm changes and have strategy in place ahead of time like a good chess player.
Great SEO is understanding the value of a link - and how to create websites for optimal performance through a variety of online marketing methods. I guess I wish I knew more “tricks”, but generally the ones I do hear of, I don’t end up using often anyhow. I’m more a fan of seo tools that generally stand the test of time. Learning to use these tools, how they are most effective, where the data comes from, and how to use it is where many ideas for “tricks” often stem from.
All disclaimers aside, I would encourage people to look at social media optimization. There are lots of places you can create a legitimate profile and get a link.
5) How does you blogging affect your SEO efforts?
To be honest, at this point it is pretty terrible for my SEO efforts. I like having a soapbox on occassion - but I should probably be working on something else most of the time that I spend ranting and raving. I’ve spent much less time on blogging lately, and much more time and fun new projects that I’m hoping will be successful.
Running a GOOD blog is extremely time consuming. As you’ll see with Graywolf from time to time, it’s a great place to experiment, and understanding how to do it effectively has helped me to better understand things that qualify more in the world of social media optimization. I lump everything in as SEO - as the understanding of SEO has helped me to learn about many other aspects of business from other great businesspeople.
Social media optimization is kind of a new cousin of SEO - it’s the same philosophies, but applied to new medium. It’s really optimizing marketing. I spoke on a panel at SES with Neil Patel, Andy Hagans, Rand Fishkin, and Chris Pirillo that was quite well received, and probably the most enjoyable public speaking I’ve ever done - it also really got me increasingly intrigued (obsessed) with the topic of social media optimization, and ways to use new mediums for marketing your message effectively. We’ll be doing the panel again at SES Chicago (unfortunately without Chris who has some more important obligations - congrats mate). With billions of webpages, and millions of media consumption opportunities - it’s not enough to just have a great idea anymore - learning the ways to get into the distribution channels is critical as well.
6) What would you tell someone who is interested in getting into the
SEO field. Is this something they can learn in school?
Unfortunately, I think it’s pretty much all self taught, and learned on the web at this point. There’s a nice thread over at SEW about this right now. I would definitely suggest two of the best articles on the topic from Rand Fishkin and company - Beginner’s guide to SEO and search engine ranking factors can probably teach a hungry new SEO more about the field than any professor could hope to in the near future. There are several other articles and resources I would suggest starting with including:
