Interview with Search Marketing Consultant Karl Ribas

I conducted the following interview with Karl Ribas, a search marketing consultant for All Web Promotion. Karl writes about search engine optimization and pay-per-click management issues on his blog at karlribas.com

1. Tell me a bit about yourself and what you do as a search engine marketer? (feel free to include links here)

Hey Paul, no problem! I am the Project Manager here at All Web Promotion, where as you know we specialize in Search Engine Marketing services as well as Yahoo! Store design and development. Currently, I head up our search marketing division as well as handle many of our company’s day-to-day operations. When time allows, you can typically find me doodling with our graphic design team or researching future product and service offerings. I’m set to hit my 4-year mark with the company a little later this month.

In addition to my role at All Web Promotion, I also manage my own personal search engine marketing blog and consulting web site. I first started KarlRibas.com about 3 years ago as a testing ground for new SEO techniques and strategies, but later decided to revamp the site and focus my efforts on providing tools and resources to benefit both veteran search marketers and those new to web site design and marketing. I added my blog, often referred to as the Klog, into the mix shortly after and use it to front additional information and resources in the forms of search engine marketing related news, happenings, commentary, rants, product reviews, interviews, book reviews as well as the occasional post here and there about my personal life.

As both, Project Manager at All Web Promotion and owner of my own website, my job is to provide up-to-date, valuable, and effective search engine marketing and design services to a wide range of small to medium sized online businesses. To do this effectively and to the standards we’ve become accustomed to, this typically means having to constantly remain updated (via conferences, seminars, blogs, forums, newsletters, magazines, and books) on all things search. My day as a search marketer if split up into pie chart would read: 40% reading and researching; 35% integrating search marketing services; 25% client consulting and planning, as well as following up with leads. I would imagine that probably fits for most search marketers.

2. What got you interested in working in this field?

Simply put… All Web Promotion. Before coming to All Web I worked in retail and studied graphic and web site design at a nearby community college. I knew nothing of search engine marketing, and certainly never would have guessed that there was this massive industry just underneath the crust of the search engine results pages. I certainly knew about search engines and how to work them to find the information I was interested in, but I never really thought too much about how one worked or the benefits of getting one’s website to rank ahead of another. I guess the marketing part of my brain was still in its developmental stages at that point during my life.

All Web is responsible for turning this light bulb on, but for me it is the idea of working in an industry as dynamic and diverse as search marketing that has caught and kept my interest. Where else is a person able to play with the latest and greatest technologies the Internet has to offer while finding new and beneficial ways to spam, err… I mean optimize, our way into a search engine’s index. It’s fun!

3. What has been the most surprising thing about SEO/SEM?

Honestly… it has to be how frequently things change. When I arrived at All Web and started learning the SEO trade, I was surprised at how much reading and updating is actually involved. Search marketing is an industry where new products and service offerings are being established each and every day, and the goal for many companies is to just simply try and stay on top of it all. I’m quite confident in saying that very few other industries move and/or change as fast and as often as search marketing does.

4. What is the biggest mistake you see small businesses make in terms of do-it-yourself SEO?

As a search engine marketer, the biggest mistake I see small businesses make in terms of DIY SEO is when companies focus so much of their time and efforts writing and optimizing meta-tags, or on other non-important elements of their website, instead of focusing on what really makes a difference in ranking a web site. A quick tip to all you merchants out there: focus the majority of your optimization efforts improving the quality of optimized content on your website, as well as the relevancy of your inbound links. Doing so will get you so much farther than spending your time updating your description and keywords meta-tags or alt-tags ever will.

Generally speaking, generating quality content for a website isn’t as tough as one might imagine it to be. Merchants should start with reviewing over their current category and product information for clarity and effectiveness, and then moving on to projects that help add more content to their web site. Such projects may include:

• Starting an industry-focused blog
• Writing and publishing articles
• Writing and publishing company press releases
• Creating a “FAQ” page for popular questions regarding their company and products
• Creating a “Glossary” page for their industry’s most used terminology
• Creating an “About Us” page to share additional company information
• Creating an “Affiliates” page to showcase those companies they’re associated with
• Creating a “Photos” page to showcase company photos, events, and the like

Essentially anything goes! Well, as long what is created is original and addresses the needs of their target audiences.

As far as ways for improving the quality of inbound links, Rob Snell introduced a fantastic idea for attaining relevant links on Yahoo! Store blog not too long ago. His idea, while simple, is the perfect starting point for those merchants looking to build-up the number of relevant links pointing to their web site, and it’s something that requires very little to no SEO knowledge. Rob says:

“Almost every Yahoo! Store owner I know knows they need links, but they don’t know how to get them. One of the easiest ways I’ve found to get free, on-topic, relevant links to your Yahoo! Store is to ask all your vendors for back links. Every month you send money to all these folks. They should do you the small favor of linking to your Yahoo! Store.”

Rob is 100% correct on this. Contacting your manufactures, vendors, affiliates, or anyone else you mail a check to on an ongoing basis is the perfect linking partner.

5. When do you think small businesses would be better doing it themselves vs. hiring a professional?

There are actually very few times when I will ever advise a business of any size to do their own search engine marketing. Doing so is quite similar to telling an inexperienced person to do their own taxes or their company’s taxes – in both cases there are extreme consequences to doing them wrong… most of which is in a monetary sense.

However, I am well aware of the financial limitations of smaller companies and so the only times I would recommend a small business to actively pursue their own search engine marketing efforts is if they have the time and inclination needed to really dive into search marketing. Regardless if we’re talking about search engine optimization or pay per click advertising… there is a lot to learn and to stay updated on. Both individuals and their companies must really be committed to putting in the “wrench work” if they expect to be successful.

6. What sites and tools would you recommend for merchants wishing to learn more about SEO?

Great question Paul. I’ve actually got a few resources that I’d be more than happy to share with Yahoo! Store merchants. All but one of these is FREE, and all should provide merchants with additional beginner-to-moderate level SEO information, tips, tricks, techniques, strategies and so forth.

High Rankings Advisor – Jill Whalen’s High Rankings Advisor is an SEO focused newsletter (via email and RSS) that is absolutely perfect for merchants. This FREE weekly newsletter (it’s actually more like monthly these days) was one the first resources I was introduced to when I started 4 years ago, and I can honestly say without doubt that it was the most helpful. SEO is a very diverse and often at times difficult-to-understand industry… Jill’s newsletter helps to make these muddy waters clean, clear, and pure.

Mr. SEO’s SEO Podcast – Joe, Alan, and gang put out one hell of a product. These guys touch on many of today’s SEO-related issues, and offer top-notch advice for improving one’s SEO efforts. I personally enjoy downloading each episode via iTunes and listening to them while I drive (my girlfriend hates this), but merchants can tune in directly from the Mr. SEO website. I recommend that merchants not just check out the most current episodes, but rather digging through the Mr. SEO Podcast vault for past episodes that maybe of interest to them and their marketing efforts.

SE Roundtable Blog – SE Roundtable is an absolutely tremendous resource covering every tidbit of the Search Marketing industry… EVERY. This FREE resource, led by industry renowned blogger Barry Schwartz, is perfect for Yahoo! Store merchants interested in really familiarizing themselves with the SEO industry. SE Roundtable is updated daily and guaranteed to make your head hurt.

“Starting A Yahoo! Business for Dummies” Book – Yes, unfortunately my last offering comes in the form of a plug for Rob Snell’s “Yahoo! Business for Dummies” book… as if he needed it. From what I hear the guy has reached Rock-Star status. Just kidding Rob… you know you’re my favorite Mississippian. In all seriousness, Rob’s book does a superb job of outlining quality tips and advice that are sure to help all search marketers, let alone Yahoo! Store merchants, improve upon their SEO efforts. In just 4 short chapters (16, 17, 18, and 19), Rob provides the blueprints needed to take any Yahoo! Store and up-it to the next level.

7. What’s the one quick tip you can pass along to merchants that would have a surprising impact on their search rankings?

The biggest tip that I could ever pass along to merchants is to write, or hire someone to write, your web site’s content (category and product descriptions). Seriously… this may seem like a simple “no-brainer” these days, but you’d actually be surprised at how many Yahoo! Store merchants still continue to use their manufacture’s images and product descriptions.

The problem is quite simple. When Google, Yahoo!, MSN, or any other search engine worth noting comes to a website it is expecting to read fresh, original content. Instead, search engines are finding the exact or similar groupings of content across multiple web sites which in turn sell the exact same products or services. In most cases, this is attributed to merchants “borrowing” content from their manufactures, and in the end you’ve now got 10 or 20 versions of the same content across multiple web sites. As a merchant, the question to ask oneself is this: “Why should the search engines rank my website higher than my competitors or manufactures when we are essentially offering the exact same pages and information as everyone else? The answer is ultimately “they shouldn’t”.

Search engines like to see a variety of content in their index – not the same content blasted across multiple web sites. Merchants will certainly see a huge impact on their search rankings if they themselves offer fresh, original (not to mentioned optimized) content.

8. If you could borrow Wonder Woman’s magic lasso and compel any SEO guru to spill just one secret, who would you use it on, what would you ask, and what do you think they would say?

Wow… great question, and fun! While I believe having the Incredible Hulk’s repressed anger and fury as a super-power will get me farther than Wonder Woman’s lasso ever could – at least in terms of getting SEO gurus to spill their secrets – I’ll still play along.

Off the top of my head, my pick is Barry Schwartz of RustyBrick. Barry, as I mentioned above, is an industry-renowned blogger and happens to post several times daily and across multiple search engine focused blogs. I’m not even exaggerating when it comes to the sheer number of posts this guy puts out in a given week. In fact, I’d bet if I check my RSS reader now, I’d see 10 – 15 posts sitting there from Barry and that would just be from today alone. (Note: There were only 9 – but it’s still early.)

My question to Barry is quite simple: What’s your secret for being able to shell out so much content daily, and across several blogs and forums, and still find the time to run a company like RustyBrick, stay updated on all things search related, and maintain a personal life? Seriously dude… there aren’t enough hours in a day to do what you do.

I’m guessing Barry’s answer would have to do something with him being a robot that doesn’t need sleep – only 2 hours of recharging via a USB plug, or maybe having the ability to clone himself and make mini-Barrys which do all his blogging for him. I’ve been suspecting both theories for some time now.

Thanks Karl for giving some insights and tips into how merchants can do a better job with search marketing.

Paul Boisvert
Yahoo! Small Business