As August quickly approaches, I’ve begun prepping for the Vertical Measures August webinar “Onsite SEO: Building a Solid Foundation for Your Website” and I had the privilege of speaking to some of the great minds in SEO for the next few weeks of Expert Interviews on SEO. I’ve started by speaking with Dana Todd, the Co-founder and CMO of Newsforce, Inc. Press industry analysts and technology leaders frequently tap Dana for her knowledge of the search engine marketplace. She regularly appears as a top speaker at national and international conferences.

Elise Redlin-Cook: Would you consider yourself a “coder/ programmer”?

Dana Todd: Gosh, no. I wish I could code – I’m envious of programmers, but my brain is not entirely linear and my background is in classical marketing and advertising. My talents lie more in being able to DE-code rather than code. That is, sifting through verbal and visual clues to find patterns and unique opportunities. It works for creative brand development as well as quant-y keyword analysis. I have a gut instinct that’s faster than any software program, and it’s usually right, but I use a lot of proper research and tools to make sure I’m on track and to refine my strategies.

Elise: What are your thoughts on the direction of Web 2.0 technologies with regards to SEO?

Dana: The title “Web 2.0” technologies is pretty fuzzy. I’ve seen people apply the term to practically anything, including referencing web graphic styles that have rounded corners! But I think the biggest concern in SEO-land was regarding heavy use of Ajax and client-side technologies for rendering information. Obviously, if Google can’t read the page then you need to find alternate forms of providing this information. I don’t think it’s a deal-breaker, just make sure that all your critical information isn’t invisible to search engines. Most webmasters have figured out ways around it by making sure that shareable widgets, mashups, etc., are properly encased in meaningful content containers. Ajax seems to be most useful in back-end applications such as dashboards, that aren’t SEO fodder anyway.

Elise: Good stuff. Well, what role does social media play today in an SEO strategy?

Dana: While social media today has only a small impact on SEO, it may have more significant impact in the future. Google and Bing are both experimenting with how to integrate “real time” and social influence factors  – which typically come from social media sources – into the main search results. Pure “Social Search” sites and technologies have been around for a while, but they don’t seem to get a lot of traction with everyday users. People are starting to use Twitter and Facebook for searching out opinions, but the information gleaned for a user is fairly anecdotal.

One place that you can definitely point to an immediate opportunity is in the news and news search space. Highly referenced news sources that get Twitter traction and Facebook/LinkedIn exposure are more likely to get picked up in online media sources and blog content. Which of course can ultimately tip the scales in your favor for SEO if you succeed in securing a decent amount of reference links. So, utilizing your social media channels effectively to support a PR/breaking news strategy can have immediate payoff both in terms of organic SERP improvement and incremental social media traffic.

Elise: We get asked a good deal about on-site factors. I’m curious what are the main tools that you use in your SEO Site Audits?

Dana: I don’t do a lot of technical audits myself . My work is primarily executive strategy, but I am privileged to be an adviser to SyCara, a new enterprise SEO software tool in beta now. I and several other customers got to help build the specs on it so that it meets our institutional needs better than just the random collection of tools that most people use. I get a little frustrated with the software options out there right now, which don’t lend themselves to building a scalable service organization. Every time there’s employee turnover, all the history walks out the door which ultimately endangers your SEO investment.

Elise: The Search Engine Optimization field has changed a great deal in the last couple of years. How does it differ from when you first began?

Dana: First of all, there was no Google in 1996 when we first started doing SEO at SiteLab. A lot of people think that today’s SEO is more difficult, because you can’t get the “easy wins” that were possible back then, but I actually think that it was much more complicated back then in many ways. For one thing, we no longer have to make 5-6 copies of every page, one for each search engine (yes, there were six majors back in the day). Everything back then was “black hat.” Heck, there were no rules at all so everyone was throwing all kinds of things out there, very chaotic and ultimately bad for the industry in terms of perception. That cowboy mentality brought excitement to the field, but the damage can still be seen today in terms of how people outside the industry feel about SEO.

Elise: What are the biggest obstacles that you face in getting clients and/or developers to execute your action plan?

Dana: Most obstacles can be overcome by setting expectations from the beginning, and making sure that clients fully understand their role in the process. They’re resource constrained – that’s why they hired you. So, it’s up to you to deliver something they can act on. If they don’t act, it’s YOUR fault, not theirs. That’s right, I said it: your fault. You need to go back and figure out where you didn’t communicate well enough or project manage well enough, and make it super easy for them to execute. The most valuable SEO partners are those that can think through the business-readiness of their services, and who create the least pain in their customers’ lives.

Elise: What advice would you give to those that are new to SEO and lack the knowledge, experience, and hindsight that you possess?

Dana: Once you get a solid set of training wheels and you have tested your mettle on a few SEO cases, find a way to specialize so that you can stand out and get ahead. If you’re competing against SEO heavyweights or large teams, you may not win easily, so find niches such as video optimization, image optimization, real-time/news optimization, local search optimization, etc., that can help you pick up customers and build a name for yourself. Also, since you’re a specialist you will have a better chance of ranking for that specialist term than general SEO terms. Bonus! There’s a huge need for SEOs in the publishing world, which is an industry I am deeply involved in – particularly news. It’s a completely different kind of SEO, and creative minds can really have fun with this job.

Elise: As a co-founder and former board member of SEMPO, are you still involved with the organization?

Dana: Of course! I stepped off the Board this year, but I’m actively involved as a co-chair on the Education Committee which puts on free public webinars. Our topics and speakers are always fantastic, so I urge everyone to sign up for the mailing list at sempo.org/webinars. We also place SEMPO members as speakers at events all over the world and answer questions from people who ask for advice about working with search marketers, etc. The organization has really grown its local presence in 40 countries, and I’m excited that we’re getting a lot more traction in local markets to provide connection points around the world.

Elise: What search marketing conference do you most enjoy attending? Speaking at?

Dana: I have spoken at almost every US Search Engine Strategies conference since the program began, and have represented the search community at ad:tech, OMMA and other general advertising conferences. I have also spoken at SMX and Pubcon. I love talking about Internet marketing and educating folks no matter where I am – be it at a formal conference or in the back of a cab – so it’s hard to choose a favorite. Each has a unique audience and character, so they’re very different experiences and methods of engaging. I love the networking at any conference; SEMs are such an amazingly supportive and friendly community.

When speaking, what’s compelling for me is figuring out what they are interested in learning, and how to best model my teaching style around their mental patterns. Some of my most challenging, but fun, conferences are vertical associations where the audience is almost completely unfamiliar with the technical components of search and it’s not their job to understand at that level. You have to put all the SEO logic and tasks into a business decision framework and avoid talking “techie” so that your message is received and they can use the information to help drive their own success.

Elise: In 2004 you stated that you had serious doubts about the usefulness and quality of personalized search. How, if at all, has your view changed?

Dana: My opinion hasn’t changed much except for appreciating the geo-location component of personalized search. I must say that the technology has gotten MUCH better since 2004, and it’s more subtle now. It used to stick out like a sore thumb and interrupt my research thought-stream, and it annoyed me that it never offered a “Reset” button to clear the cache and start over when doing a seriously deep research project. I still log out of iGoogle most of the time, so that I get only same-session personalization. If I’m logged in and search for “cars” I get this random stuff in my results:

While I might like to check out what my Twitter crew thinks about cars, I can already get that from Twitter so I really don’t want it cluttering my Google. Frankly, though, I doubt most people even notice it which means I’m the only old crank in the user base who is bugged by it. I also don’t like my food to touch on the plate.

As far as SEO and personalization goes, there doesn’t seem to be any solid information on how to optimize for it. There are a lot of theories about how social media may ultimately influence personalized search, but I haven’t heard anything concrete about what to do/not to do to influence personal search.  Certainly, it’s impossible to get any reporting around what level of exposure you got on a term in a personalized search.

Elise: Could you recommend some relevant reading materials to newcomer in the field

Dana: I always recommend for newbies:

• The Truth About Search Engine Optimization, by Rebecca Lieb (fast read, condensed tightly and written at a high level – suitable for business managers as well as practitioners)
• Search Engine Optimization One Hour a Day, by Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin (more of a workbook. It breaks the process down into bite-sized activities)
• The Art of SEO, by Jessie Stricchiola, Rand Fishkin and Stephan Spencer and Eric Enge (this is a bit more comprehensive but should be a “Bible” to anyone serious about SEO)

Of course I have to brag on the Insider’s Guide to Search Marketing course from the SEMPO Institute. We’ve trained several thousand people with this online course and it’s very accessible to newbies and even non-technical marketing people. Also, SEObook.com isn’t really a book, it’s an ongoing training series, but I hear great things about it. And, Bruce Clay has written an SEO for Dummies book that would be accessible to newcomers.

Elise: Awesome! Those are great recommendations. So, do you have any exciting projects that you’re involved in right now that you’d like to discuss?

Dana: I’ve always got my fingers in a bunch of pies. I’m a serial entrepreneur not by conscious choice but because I love creating things and taking leadership roles wherever the mood strikes me. Newsforce has been my obsession for the past four years, building a new type of engagement media that supports news sites with increased revenue, and is uniquely positioned to play in that unique space between news media and PR/brand awareness tactics. I’m also helping to grow a new organization called IIA, the International Institute for Analytics, which is a “big tent” peer research organization for analytics across business information (BI) and other applications such as web analytics. And, I just joined the Board of San Diego Software Industry Council, with the intent to help broadcast the long-held secret truth about how amazing the tech innovation is here in San Diego. There are many brilliant people and companies in SoCal (Southern California), but we don’t do a good job of bragging about it to our Northern cousins and beyond.

Elise: I know that you do a great deal of business traveling in general. In all of the places you’ve been, where would you most like to live?

Dana: I’m quite keen to get out of the US before I get too old for adventure, and try living in another country. I just haven’t decided which one yet. Asia seems fascinating, Europe is romantic and rich in arts, and on and on. I’ve been kicking around South Africa and New Zealand, both of which would be incredible adventures. Tell your readers to pitch me their countries! I’m still collecting data…

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To wrap up our Local Search Optimization interview series, I thought it only fitting to get first hand advice from David Mihm of DavidMihm.com and the Director & COO of GetListed.org, an online resource that helps small business owners claim and enhance their listings at major search engines. His 2008 Local Search Ranking Factors, and recently released 2010 version is recognized among the most important studies of Local Search Engine Optimization.

Elise Redlin-Cook: There are just so many local search sites out there. I’d like to know your opinion…Do you see the market continuing to grow, or narrowing down to a few key players?

David Mihm: Unfortunately for small business owners, I see the market continuing to fragment.  15 Miles does an annual study of the space–the most recent version from October 2009 and it seems like each year Google remains below 40% in Local market share…which is pretty astonishing when you consider its dominance in traditional search.  There are a bunch of long-tail players like Superpages, Insider Pages, Citysearch, and Yelp that cumulatively make up a major chunk of the market.  Now, this year, it looks like we’ll be adding Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare to the mix as significant players.  I say it’s unfortunate for small business owners because they’re typically the ones with the fewest resources to devote to online marketing, and it’s truly becoming important to be involved in a lot of different places in Local.  Even before the addition of Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare, I illustrated the complexity of the Local Search Ecosystem last year.

Elise: What would you say are the best free local search sites today?

David: Well, I think we cover most of the big guys on GetListed.org — Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, along with Best of the Web Local — and an even fuller list, for those who have the time, is on that same Local Search Ecosystem page I mentioned earlier.  It’s also important to note which directories and Internet Yellow Pages are ranking well organically for some of the keywords your business is trying to rank for & ensure you have plenty of visibility on those sites.

Elise: How about the best paid local search sites today?

David: As with any other branch of search marketing, it’s important to track ROI…and in Local, that means tracking ROI across individual verticals (for instance, paid ads on Yelp may be terrific for restaurants but not cost-effective for plumbers) and geographies (Kudzu ads may be great for Atlanta businesses but not so much for Seattlites).  As a general rule, though, three of the most worthwhile places to spend money are on the major data aggregators for local search sites–infoUSA, which has just launched a new product called Express Update, Localeze (enhanced listings only currently available in bulk), and Acxiom–currently only accessible via Universal Business Listing.

Elise: Merchant Circle allows you to add coupons, reviews, blog posts, etc. Will the other local search sites continue to adopt this trend of allowing more user generated content?

David Mihm: I wouldn’t single out MerchantCircle as a shining beacon of customer service, but they surely have done a nice job with their SEO and some of the features you note above help quite a bit with long-tail search traffic.  It’s going to be more important after Google’s MayDay update for IYP’s–already sucking wind since the introduction of the 10-pack–to create as much unique content alongside their business listings as they can.

Elise: Is it more important to be listed on niche sites that are specific to your industry, or the big sites with lots of traffic?

David: Depends completely on the vertical…not only for rankings at Google Maps/Google Universal, but also for the degree to which the particular players have established themselves in a particular market.  For instance, if you’re a hotel and you have a weak presence on TripAdvisor, you’re in serious trouble–both for searches at Google, and on TripAdvisor, because Google relies so heavily on TripAdvisor ratings, reviews, and business data for its own hotel/hospitality index.  There are plenty of longer-tail examples, including HealthGrades.com for doctors and medical professionals, AngiesList.com for plumbers, etc.  You can almost always count on the major IYPs to have a solid presence across multiple verticals, though.

Elise: So, I’ve got to ask…do you see value in the paid listings versus the free listings?

David: I think Google by-and-large has done a nice job with its flat-fee product offerings via Places…including Tags.  I’m not sure that their earlier Local Listing Ads wouldn’t ultimately make them more money, since they essentially guaranteed a slot in/near the 7-pack, but it certainly is easy–and relatively inexpensive–to set up a Tags campaign for a single-location business.  I think the more complex the paid offering, and the more complicated the billing procedures, the harder it is for small businesses to understand what they’re getting.

To answer this question from a marketer’s perspective, again, it’s important to track ROI using your analytics.  On some sites, paid listings might be incredibly worthwhile, but not so much on others.  Experiment frequently and track assiduously.

Elise: If a business doesn’t actually have a brick and mortar location, should they still try to list themselves on local search sites?

David: There’s no solution (PO Box, UPS Store, fake address, etc) that will really work in the long term.  Although Tim Coleman did quite a thought-provoking post recently about some of the difficulties Google may face in combating the latter.  Yes, Google recently started allowing go-to-client and service businesses to include service areas and hide their address, but given the reliance of its algorithm on location information, if the only place you’re listing yourself is Google, your chances at ranking are pretty poor.

Elise: That’s the perfect segue into my next question. What would you say are the top local search ranking factors right now?

David: Funny you should ask, given that this year’s Local Search Ranking Factors came out only a couple of weeks ago .  Most panelists felt that claiming your listing, having a physical location in the city being searched, categorization, and what I would call traditional citations (from IYPs and data providers) remained at the very top–where they’ve been since I began this survey in 2008.  I was somewhat surprised to see unstructured or non-traditional citations (such as those found in a newspaper article or blog as opposed to another local search site) ranking so highly since those haven’t been showing up for all that long–folks are obviously finding that those mentions of your physical location are critical for ranking, no matter where the search engine spiders find them.

Some of the other traditionally-important factors like keywords-in-business-title and proximity-to-centroid seem to be declining somewhat.  And frankly, I’m a bit surprised that review quality isn’t rated higher by the panel (positive ratings were only #42 out of 58 total positive factors)…but I can’t say I disagree, based on all the local search results I’ve looked at in the past year.

Elise: Well, thanks David. It sounds like I have some reading to do!

If you are interested in learning more about Local Search, check out our our  webinar, “Go Local or Go Home“, tomorrow, on  July 15th at 11:30 a.m. EST (8:30 a.m. PST, 10:30 a.m. CST). In this webinar, attendees will hear from Sarah Moraes, Internet Marketing Specialist, and Jason Hendricks, SEO and Link Acquisition Specialist of Vertical Measures as they explore everything from the basics of setting up a local search listing to what it means for SEO.

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This week, as the Vertical Measures “Go Local or Go Home” webinar approaches on July 15th, at 8:30AM here in Arizona I spoke with Chuck Reynolds from rYnoweb a nearby local search expert who provides professional web strategy, search engine optimization (SEO), and local SEO services for individuals and businesses alike. He had some fantastic advice on the topic:

Elise Redlin-Cook: There are many local search sites out there. Do you see the market continuing to grow, or narrowing down to a few key players?

Chuck Reynolds: I’d lean towards growth.  Local search is still fairly new and with location-based services being the new gold rush, expect it to grow.  Originally there are a few data providers for business information but with the boom in LBS and human-edited and human grown biz databases the old school names are getting pushed out for things like Foursquare, Yelp and SimpleGEO etc.  Big key players will still be there for years to come but with newer better competition don’t expect to hear much from them down the road.

Elise: What are the best free local search sites today?

Chuck: There’s a little site called Google, and they offer a product called “Places”. It’s free and awesome, do it!
Bing’s version
Yahoo’s version
Yelp
Best of the Web Local (free version)
Manta.com has been popping lately pretty good too
Local.com
Also any industry specific (to yours) directory or blog listing is great.  Those are a great start.

Elise: Great advice, so what are the best paid local search sites today?

Chuck: I don’t do much paid stuff but any industry-specific directory or blog is something at least worth looking at – not all are great but they’re a targeted link.
Google Local just added “Tags” – get in on that, it’s fairly cheap and not many people are jumping on it yet.  Once you have your business setup and verified in Google Places you can highlight photos or your URL for about $25/mo.
Also spending directory buys on http://dir.yahoo.com (after you purchase make sure to edit as you can add a 2nd category), business.com, botw.org (better than the free mentioned above), joeant.com…

Elise: What local search sites would you recommend for businesses with multiple locations?

Chuck: First off if you have multiple locations, remember that good SEO starts on your site with good architecture and clean code, so make sure you have independent pages for the locations – turn them into landing pages for that local search market.  Google Places is key, also if you’re service industry put all the locations into Yelp. Optimize each location not just the main site.

Elise: Merchant Circle allows you to add coupons, reviews, blog posts, etc. Will the other local search sites continue to adopt this trend of allowing more user generated content?

Chuck: Yes and no – blogging on Merchant Circle is pointless – they tried to create some “social media” site and failed horribly.  Coupons and deals are gold, so are reviews.  So yes in the fact that user generated brings the public some addition from business owners, but SMB’s don’t have time to do blogs and stuff on 15 different ‘local search sites.’  Google and Bing are watching reviews of businesses even though people spam them but keep good reviews coming in, they’re not going anywhere.

Elise: Is it more important to be listed on niche sites that are specific to your industry, or the big sites with lots of traffic?

Chuck: Both  I’d say niche for conversions and the “big sites with lots of traffic” to get traffic and do virals, which can maybe lead to conversions.  Niche sites are very targeted, focus a little more of your attention on those but don’t ever forget about the big guys with lots of traffic to send your way.

Elise: Do you see value in the paid listings versus the free listings?

Chuck: Some of them are okay but I don’t focus too much on paid inclusions too much, free is good and there are more of them to makeup for the one big paid link.

Elise: There are mass distribution sites that blast your listing out to various search sites. Are there any that you’d recommend or that you’d recommend staying away from?

Chuck: I’m not going there, usually not safe for people to mess with because they get out of hand.  Twenty thousand links in a few weeks sounds cool, in theory, but that’s bad lol.  For the purposes of this questionnaire - stay away.  Focus on niche and local biz info sites and focus on making your site better – it works.

Elise: If a business doesn’t actually have a brick and mortar location, should they still try to list themselves on local search sites?

Chuck: That’s a little more limited in what you can do as all the sites focus on the assumption that all businesses have an office, which most do but this isn’t 1980 anymore.  Cool thing with that issue is Google Places, earlier this year, allows service-based businesses to set up an “area of service” where you set a radius from a central point and Google will list you when your keywords are searched in those areas.  They also allow you to input a bunch of zip codes if you want that, too.

Elise: What would you say are the top local search ranking factors right now?

Chuck: Standard info here, have a good clean coded site with well-written fresh content with your local keywords, make sure if you have addresses that they’re searchable and different locations have their own page. Claiming your Google Places page and setting that up in the right category with the right keywords. Get good real customer reviews on Yelp, Yahoo and Google.

Elise: So, lets wrap up with my favorite question…tell me, are you driven by any great passions outside of the business arena?

Chuck: You mean something that’s not work? Like hobbies? Hah… what are those?   To be brief: mountain biking, motorcycle rides, anything to do with racing vehicles, hiking/trail running and camping.  I really don’t know – my passion is my work honestly – I love what I do, just perhaps need to take more time for myself one day.

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I hope that you’ve all been enjoying my blog interview series, thus far. I know that I have! I truly feel honored to have the opportunity to speak to the best of the best about industry related topics that are near and dear to my geeky, internet marketing loving heart. In the next three weeks, leading up to our upcoming webinar entitled ”Go Local or Go Home” which will be given on July 15th by our very own Sarah Moraes and Jason Hendricks. I will be speaking to experts of the Local Search realm. As always, I plan to kick it off with a bang.

Therefore, this week I spoke to Mat Siltala the owner of the well known SEO firm Dream Systems Media. He is  also an avid SEO blogger and has been heavily involved in the Internet marketing world for several years. He has consulted with thousands of companies around the world. It’s easy to see that Matt simply loves what he does for a living, which makes us kindred spirits.

Elise Redlin-Cook: There are many local search sites out there. Do you see the market continuing to grow, or narrowing down to a few key players?

Mat Siltala: As more people switch to “app phones” I think we are going to only see more and more of “geo specific” type apps/websites/business emerge.  However; that does not mean all of them are going to survive.  Right now the obvious front runner in local is Yelp (and that is because of their app), and with them adding badges, regular programs and additional features to compete with location based gaming sites such as Foursquare they will just continue to gain in popularity.  There is a growing group of people out there that hate Yelp, so there will always be room for others, but I don’t see them being over taken anytime soon.

Other major players would include sites like City Search, Foursquare, Groupon, GoWalla.  Watch for coupon based sites like Groupon to get bigger and stronger too in the future.  I would also suggest keeping an eye out for companies that are creating services that compliment these sites I mention above – an example would be Snacksquare that goes hand in hand with what Foursquare is doing with their advertising program.   As everyone in this industry knows, things change rapidly – I bet MySpace would not have thought in a few short years they would be the laughing stock of social media.  With that said, my guess is Yelp, Foursquare & Groupon will be the big winners for the next couple of years.

Elise: That’s an interesting prediction. So, in your opinion, what currently are the best free local search sites today?

Mat: Google Places, Yahoo & Bing Local, Yelp, CitySearch, Groupon & Foursquare

Elise: Great, and how about the paid local search sites – which do you prefer?

Mat: If you are going to pay for any local service, I would pay into a site like GetListed.org that makes sure you are on the top ones.  Yelp is free, but they do have an advertising option that has brought many results to my clients too, and well worth looking into.  Angies list is growing some awesome momentum too – I kind of feel like they are the paid version of what most people who love Yelp wish it were.

Elise: What about businesses with multiple locations?

Mat: Most all of these services allow you to do batch uploads that make it easy.

Elise: I know that Merchant Circle allows you to add coupons, reviews, blog posts, etc. Will the other local search sites continue to adopt this trend of allowing more user generated content?

Mat: The dominate player in this group is Groupon, but with the things that Yelp is doing lately (as well as places like Foursquare) I see most location based services to be adding these kind of features and the main part of their programs in the future.  This is going to end up being big in the future of local.

Elise: Is it more important to be listed on niche sites that are specific to your industry, or the big sites with lots of traffic?

Mat: I think both – especially if you live in a bigger city where some of the more niche sites exist.  I am an SEO by nature and only look at is as more citations, more links, more traffic etc.  So I am going to suggest getting everywhere you can!

Elise: What local search sites MUST a business be listed with today?

If you are not listed with Google you are dead in the water (according to Google) If you do not have an app you are dead in the water (according to Steve Jobs)  SO it depends on who you ask, but I would do everything to get my site listed in normal search sites as well as those sites who have apps.

Elise: Do you see value in the paid listings versus the free listings?

Mat: If you are good with ad copy and conversions then YES, there is always value in paid listings, but to just chose one or the other I think is a mistake.  You have to evaluate the bottom line and what it means for your business.

Elise: There are mass distribution sites that blast your listing out to various search sites. Are there any that you’d recommend or that you’d recommend staying away from?

Mat: None that I would recommend here

Elise: That’s probably a good answer.  Well then, Lets get a little personal. Do you have any exciting projects that your involved in right now?

Mat: About the only thing I have time for right now is growing my companies and doing everything I can to get our name “out” there in the real world!  I guess its not completely honest to say we don’t have any “big” things going on, but nothing we can really talk about right now (how is that for a teaser?)

Elise: I know what you mean. If only there was more time in the day! So, are you driven by any great passions outside of the business arena?

Mat: I love the NFL, Apple & gadgets, but my first passion is my family and spending time with them.  I love the opportunity this industry gives me to be able to spend as much time as possible with them and for that, I am very grateful!

I think I’d second just about everything that Mat had to say here. How about you?

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Garrett French, co-founded Ontolo, (alongside Ben Willis) a large-scale link building agency that leverages in-house technologies to research, evaluate and acquire targeted, rank-influencing links for clients. Garrett co-wrote Link-Building-Guide.com, also with Ben Wills, which leads motivated readers through the methods and processes of large-scale, crawler-based link research, link acquisition and linker-targeted content strategy. He has also contributed to numerous publications, including Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Guide, Marketing Profs, Search Marketing Standard (web and print), ISEdb, Urban Dictionary and more. This week, I’ll be interviewing him on Link Building Tools.

Garrett: I think the introduction of no-follow was a weak bandaid fix for Google’s reliance on the link graph to determine value. Plus, by introducing and promoting nofollow Google brought even more popular attention to the importance and value of links… kind of like saying "NO" to kids it only makes people more knowledgeable about what impact links can have on search rankings. With this kind of awareness people will be much more likely to deliberately, consciously sculpt their influence, which will ultimately make the link graph less reliable in my opinion. In essence, I believe nofollow may have accelerated the deterioration of the link graph as a means of determining value. /rant. That said, if a no-followed link drives traffic it’s a great link. I try to add a measure of search-influence agnosticism when building links, and focus on metrics like the reach and target audience of the linking site.

Garrett: My focus has remained content creation, but my methods of sourcing link prospects has become faster and exhaustively thorough thanks to working with Ben. I’ve also found that expert-engagement – with group interviews and surveys – can build links and targeted traffic for my clients. Several years ago I was a proponant of article directory submissions. I’m not "against" this method now, but if I’m creating content for off- site publication I look for targeted, high-traffic guest posting opportunities first and foremost as these are ALWAYS more impactful.

Garrett: Typically I’m the content-creator as well as the person conducting outreach, so every editorial link I earn for clients gives me a surge of excitement and pride… I really enjoy adding those inbound linking URLs to the client report spreadsheet I get especially proud of name-brand links to clients, names that they recognize and respect such as (most recently) Time.com and Make.com. When a client adds an "as-seen-on" image to their homepage, that shows that they really appreciated my work. My proudest achievements though are those links that deliver traffic month after month, and content that delivers LINKS month after month.

Garrett: Ben and I are writing an email course on speeding up the link prospecting and qualification process. It’s a free two week course with assignments that will help link builders get much faster and more thorough. Watch our home page over the next couple weeks Oh yes, and as mentioned above we’re launching a link building ebook on the 22nd

Garrett: It’s funny – my passions are what drew me INTO the business arena In college I really really wanted to be a writer, so I wrote. That passion for writing lead me to iEntry, where I learned a great deal about writing’s most important component – the audience Within my love of writing is a love for learning, research, understanding new concepts and I guess my greatest passion is for that moment of profound insight, whether it’s business related or personal!

 Well, this interview wraps up the Link Building Tools Interview Series on the blog. Have anything to add? 

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