Interview With Barry Schwartz
Barry Schwartz is the Search Engine Roundtable's Executive Editor and has covered search for over five years (www.seroundtable.com/archives/019060.html). Barry is also the News Editor at Search Engine Land (www.searchengineland.com), Danny Sullivan's Search news site.
As the host of Search Marketing Expo Israel and a speaker at many search marketing conferences. Barry is often quoted in publications such as Forbes, Reuters, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg, News.com, Publish and more. With five years of writing about search marketing tips and how search engines work, Barry has been called the hardest working blogger in search.
Hello Barry thank you for taking the time to speak to Business Services UK Thanks for having me Pete How did you fist get involved with Search? It started back when I had an e-commerce client looking to do well in the search engines. I started researching and found myself joining a new discussion forum, run by Darrin Ward (back then) named SEO Chat. As time continued, Darrin Ward sold SEO Chat and many of us migrated to new roles. I started writing about search on my blog, Search Engine Roundtable, back in 2003. The rest is history. I read somewhere that your favorite search engine was Ask.com is that still the case? This is no longer the case. Soon after IAC removed the soul of Ask.com (www.seroundtable.com/archives/015925.html) they began losing support from us, i.e. the grass root supporters (www.seroundtable.com/archives/016433.html). Then they cut 8% of the staff, which caused a huge outcry from our industry (www.seroundtable.com/archives/016458.html). I decided to speak with Jim Safka, the new CEO of Ask.com and I was far from impressed with their lack of focus on core search issues (www.searchengineland.com/sorry-askcom-i-still-dont-think-youre-focused-on-core-search-14277). Then we started seeing Google ads run wild on Ask.com (http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/018156.html) and the search technology began to fall apart (www.seroundtable.com/archives/018600.html). Heck, even the old Jeeves got bad PR www.seroundtable.com/archives/018543.html. So no, I am no longer a fan or supporter of Ask.com I enjoy visiting Search Engine Roundtable, its a very informative website are there any plans to improve the site in the near future? Well, I am always striving to write better content. I take this very seriously. I conducted a reader poll about six months ago and have listened to all of the feedback. In terms of improving the site, can you give me specific suggestions? Something you don't like? There is nothing I don't like, although it would be a good idea if the articles were archived into sectors like, novice, intermediate and expert, it would just be easier for people to source the right level of information.
I also see Webpronews has started a directory. Interesting, I will consider that, I just would need to figure out how to properly handle such archiving. Also, the issue with what I consider to be an "expert" topic, might not be considered "expert" by others. I don't think we will be adding a directory any time soon.
Thanks for the suggestions. Barry you are aware that Business Services UK offer advice to people who are new to the world of Search, if you had 3 tips to a reader who is contemplating setting up a business website what would they be?
1. Make sure your site is search engine friendly from the start. So don't build the site and then worry about the SEO parts, build the site with SEO in mind.
2. Be better and unique. There are hundreds of competitors in every niche out there. You need to be better then the rest to earn the trust of Google and rank higher than all your competitors.
3. This isn't easy, don't expect to earn money overnight. It takes time, money and hard work, just like any other business.
With the amount of Internet videos viewed in 2008 up by 35% do you feel it is now crucial for ecommerce websites to jump on the gravy train? I am a huge fan of video for most sites. E-commerce sites also. Tech electronic sites have been offering video demonstrations of how certain devices work. If you are a luxury item seller, show the item in a nice setting, how it can be used and so on. If you sell flowers, show how to plant them, how to take care of them, how you can make them last longer and so on. Video is growing, bandwidth is cheaper and people will watch videos that are informational and helpful. But to get your video into the viral department, you need to be clever. Look at WillItBlend.com as a great example, doing something wild to prove your product is superior, this is genius. I have read a lot of conflicting information on the benefits of keyword rich and hyphenated domain names, what are your thoughts on this subject? As most experience SEOs know, there are hundreds of factors that are taken into account by a search engine's ranking algorithm. If I had to guess, keywords in the domain and URL is weighted very low in that chain. The one thing to understand is that links are worth a lot. If your domain name is www.buy-widgets.com, it is very possible that people will link to you with the anchor text "buy widgets" and thus that can greatly help you rank for that term. A company name like RustyBrick, gets me links with the anchor text "rustybrick" but it does not help me get links for "web development." I hope that makes sense. Are you happy with the ever increasing number of SEO providers we see or like me do you think it is time for some kind of regulatory body to step in?
I like to see the SEO industry grow. As more and more businesses out there go online and become aware of SEO, we will need more and more SEO companies helping these new businesses. I don't think we will be seeing a regulatory body of any kind in this industry any time soon.
That leads me onto my next question, do you see value in Google segregating their listing to separate social and business information, sometimes purchasing an item or service is difficult do to the amalgamation of ecommerce and informational based sites within the engines?
Do you mean, do I see Google getting rid of their Universal Search approach anytime soon? No way. It is hear to stay for a while. I am sure it will adapt, but not go away. What I was getting at is, do you see Google splitting their search engine in half, ecommerce in one half and the rest in the other, this will help their bandwidth problems? No, I do not see this happening. I see Google Product Search remaining where it is, but not split in the interface to Google.com. Not in 2009.
Do you expect Google's dominance to continue even with Microsoft's continual attempt to purchase Yahoo?
Hard to say, Microsoft has been on the losing track ever since they got into this game. I know John Battelle predicted (www.battellemedia.com/archives/004772.php) that Microsoft will make major strides in search market share in 2009. I originally thought Microsoft would gain on Google by now, but I was wrong. Is 2009 the year? I really do not know. In regards to Yahoo, well - that whole situation makes me sad. Yahoo is a great company and it is sad to see them suffering this much. I wish them the best, but I expect major changes to Yahoo in 2009, possibly being merged or bought out, but by whom - that is the question.
Do you feel Google employees are being open with their views? They are, Google is constantly blogging, they also have dozens, if not, hundreds of reps in the discussion forums answering webmasters and others questions about search, mobile, analytics, Google Docs, and so on. Google does this better than Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask.com. So I am very happy with their level of communication. I don't think Matt is very "opinionated," because he has to put on his diplomacy hat when talking but he is very out there, as are other Googlers.
You have been very successful within Internet marketing sector, what has been your number 1 achievement to date and what dare I ask is your ultimate goal for the future? That is a tough one. I have so many hats that it is hard to tell. I am very happy with the success of the company I run, very. I am also very happy with the success of the search blogs I run (both Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Land). It is really hard to say what my number one achievement is, outside of marrying my wife a couple years ago. :) This year I am expecting to have my first child (www.cartoonbarry.com/2008/12/im_pregnant_with_my_first_chil.html), so I would say that in my goal in 2009. Professionally, I would love to be invited to Tim O'Reilly's Foo Camp. As much as we would like to pour scorn on the 'black hat' community many own very successful websites by cutting corners.
Google bowling and automating time consuming processes, what are your thoughts on the black hat community? Well, I recently wrote about this at www.seroundtable.com/archives/019000.html. Basically, I think that with better communication of what is blackhat and what is not, more and more blackhats are either no longer considered as "black" and/or they are adapting. Google's getting much much better at fighting spam, so many old blackhat methods no longer are working as easily. Blackhat is moving into an area of legal issues. In that, we have seen a rise of server hacks, where hackers gain access to the server through an exploit of some kind and then inject spam into the site's pages. From server hacking to 302 hijacking and so on, those types of blackhat methods, I personally feel go over board. I was never a fan of comment spam, but hacking and hijacking is a whole new level. In 2006 we witnessed the release of Google Docs, do you see this software revolutionising the way we do business over the net? Google is serious about bring data into "the cloud." Google Docs has changed the way I use Microsoft products. I love being able to work on a document and give others access to change the document as I do. It is simply great. Mobile access to those documents is also great. With Google releasing the G1, Android and the iPhone, having data in the cloud is the future. Heck, look at the success of Gmail and Google Apps. It has changed the way businesses work and will continue to do so.
I would like to thank Barry for taking time in answering my questions, its certainly been an enlightening interview. I hope the new addition to his family will make 2009 a sweet year, and if Tim reads this article lets hope he sends you an invitation.
This article has been sponsored by The Little Things in Life, Online supplier of Fascinators
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