Dave Davies - Beanstalk - The SEO Interviews - Number Two

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This is the second in our SEO Interview Series and we ask Six Questions to Dave Davies of Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning, Inc. If you’re an SEO and would like to participate, we’d love to hear from you.

SEO Profile

Dave Davies is the CEO of Beanstalk Search Engine Positioning, Inc. He has been involved in the Internet industry since 2000 and optimizing website since 2001. Beanstalk offers guaranteed SEO services to companies from around the world and guarantees first page rankings on the major search engines or your money back. Visit their website for more information and to read more about SEO in their articles on on their blog

The Six Question SEO Interview

1) The acronym SEO could be confusing to some people. Are you an SEO, or is SEO something you do as part of a larger discipline?

At the moment the only service we focus on is SEO however, due to the importance of additional factors we will be moving into the areas of PPC management and conversion analysis/optimization.

2) SEO reacts to search engines, and search engines react to SEO. Is the practice of SEO always self-defeating?

Good question and the reply depends on the tactics used. For those who chase algorithms then it is as they will always be playing catchup. For those SEO’s that stick to the best practices and and simply focus on building the strongest site possible (incoming links, quality unique content, etc.) then not-so-much. These SEO’s will be willing to hold steady when an algorithm shift sees their sites drop a bit knowing that the next update will correct the issue (we are currently seeing this situation on Yahoo! results out of the US).

3) In your time doing SEO, what are the major changes that you’ve noticed? What things really stand out as being different.

I’ve been doing SEO for over 5 years so there’s been a LOT of changes. The way links are counted and the ability to much more accurately determine relevancy and sp@m are probably the biggest changes.

4) Glance into your crystal ball, and tell us what you think the next 12 months hold for webmasters who SEO their websites?

Social search will become more relevant. Links will be more strictly judged and TrustRank will become and increasingly important factor. Relevancy will be increasingly fine-tuned (in part due to the Orion Algorithm purchase). For best-practice SEO’s there should be much issues to face. For black hats the world will be a lot more difficult (not to say impossible).

5) What are you recommending right now for best practices as it concerns SEO?

Lots of pages of relevant, quality, unique content. Add a blog to your site and post regularly. When building links ask yourself, “Would my site visitors be interested in this link?” If the answer is “yes” then it’s a good one. There are a couple other tips that aren’t affective right now but will be in the next 6 to 12 months. Honestly, I keep those ones for my clients.

6) I see you’ve recently returned from the popular SES convention. How important is continuing education for SEOs and how much effort do you spend on learning the trade?

A major percentage of my week is spent reading articles, running tests on some “play sites” we have, visiting forums and sometimes just thinking about what could be rather than what is. In short, education, testing, and keeping an open mind are hugely important. No matter how good you are someone else can think of things you wouldn’t have. You don’t have to agree to get value from other people’s opinions - especially in this industry.

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