First off, a few bits and bobs that may seem irrelevant to SEO but really aren’t…
A shibolleth is a word, behavior, or certain language used to determine whether or not you belong to a certain group…this is a fairly simplistic definition but it’s basically a method of classification. And no, it’s not something they say in the theme song to Laverne and Shirley.
While I was in London last week, I went to the Tate Modern. There’s a crack in the floor there, which is an art installation by artist Doris Salcedo. Funnily enough, several people have actually fallen into said crack. Seriously. It’s a giant crack running through the floor, symbolizing the divide between groups. Which groups? Any, really. People who can visit an art show without falling into an exhibit compared to people who can’t. People who like modern art compared to people who don’t get it. Non-Europeans compared to Europeans. The list goes on and on.
This made me start thinking about whether, in SEO, we have our own shibboleth, something like a question that could be asked, whose answer would determine whether you were truly an SEO.
As you hopefully know, SEOMoz had a test awhile back, the SEO Expert Quiz, to give you a percentile score that would give you a clue as to whether or not you really know what you’re doing in this industry. This drew an amazing amount of criticism from people, many of whom received low scores…for the record mine was nothing to brag about but I did not feel the need to get on anyone’s blog and trash Rand for putting this out there.
The lovely Chris Dunn from Greenlight, a man of amazingly good musical taste, went out carousing with the fine-boned and delicate SEO Chicks (and two SEO Blokes) last week and mentioned asking potential employees about redirects, as a sort of screening process.
I’m sure there are many more instances of things like this, because there has to be a way to measure knowledge right? Therefore, we could have our SEO shibolleth couldn’t we?
Here’s the problem with this: who determines a baseline for knowledge in this industry? Yes, there are some things that every halfway decent SEO needs to know, but could all of us agree with what those things are? I’m sure that my idea of basics is completely different from an SEO who didn’t come from a programming background. A mostly PPC-rooted SEO will see the basics differently than someone who has only done cloaking. So how can we ever truly create something that will really tell us that yes, this SEO knows what he or she is doing or no, this SEO doesn’t have the faintest bit of knowledge? Should we let the leaders in this industry make the call? Even THEY wouldn’t agree, I bet.
Many industries have a standardized test. There are tests that must be passed before degrees are awarded, before licenses are issued, etc. You can’t get away from this…so will we ever really see one in a field so dynamic as SEO? It’s both art and science, both intuition and fact-based action. How can anything ever measure something so fluid? And, most importantly, is there a need for it?
I don’t think that there is. There is such a huge variety of techniques and mindsets in this industry, with no one of them truly being that much better than the others. We have SEOs from insanely varied backgrounds right now…we have technically trained SEOs and ones who couldn’t code HTML if their lives depended on it, all of whom are doing well. You can’t simply ask for the secret word and determine whether or not someone is going to get a number one ranking or drive a major amount of converting traffic to a site.
So, in the end, we probably won’t see our SEO shibolleth. At least we probably won’t see an industry-wide one, not any time soon. While manipulation of the SERPs is still possible, there really are no right or wrong answers. You can do well when you go completely against Google’s webmaster guidelines, just as you can do poorly while following them to the letter.
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Great post again Me Julie. This is what’s so interesting with SEOs, everyone has different background, opinions and strategies for what is successful SEOs. It isn’t really a right or wrong, especially as it all depends on the site you do SEO for, in the end “everything is relative”.
Funnily enough I just had an MSN conversation with your husband, about geo targetting, where we both disagreed. Obviously he’s thinking I’m a big cloaker, does that make me a black hat? Ha ha, must be the influence of my husband to be =)
I agree with you, I don’t it will ever be a SEO shibolleth, well at least not one that everyone agrees on.
oh and I did shocking in the SEOmoz quiz lol, but I really don’t care. Me and Rand disagree on a lot of the “basics” and on some questions I was actually thinking should I put what I think or what I think Rand thinks lol. He is still my Obi One Kenobi though…
Jay is going to regret the day he argued with you!!
Just as SEO is an art and a science, so too is evaluating a potential SEO hire or consultant. I suspect that some form of standards will grow up organically as the industry matures, and eventually you’ll have MBAs graduating with specialties in online marketing.
[...] Julie Joyce wrote a fantastic post today on “Is There An SEO Shibolleth?”Here’s ONLY a quick extract [...]
Great word, shibolleth. Though I’ve always had trouble pronouncing it.
Great post, too.
Yow. SEO is diverse.
You’ve got the content optimisers, the linkers, and the PPC specialists. All diverse areas. You’ve got people like me that also take great care with the “technicals” (redirects, architecture, navigation, structure, etc), and others that totally neglect those areas.
Who is right? Who is wrong?
Who is to say?
Good word, I am going to try and use that at least once a day for a week.
I agree there is of course no SEO Shibboleth.
However I believe it is necessary in the recruitment process, to test the skills you require for a particular area of SEO that one may work in.
This is not an exact science but at least is thought provoking, like your posts
Hey Dunny, great to see you on the blog. Good to know the threats worked lol…
I totally agree that you do need some kind of Shibboleth (man that word is a smack in the face for a dyslexic like me). When I recruit the single most important factor is not necessarly technical know how or experience, it’s simply “passion to learn” and interest. How quickly people progress is much more important than what they have done previously. A few months ago when I was recruiting for a junior SEO I had one candidate that was great on paper, had some experience in SEO and had technical know how. And one that had no experience in the field whatsoever. I think we can all agree that progression and willingness to learn new things is imperative to our industry, as it changes all the time.
So what I did in the first interview for both candidates was talk alot about what I thought SEO was and gave them loads of information to diggest. (obviously didn’t tell them they needed to remember it) Then at the second interview I asked them to define what they thought SEO was and asked loads of questions related to what I’d talked about last time. It turned out that the experience person hadn’t listened at all, while the second person had really digested and learn from the previous interview and talked quite passionately about their input on what I had said before. NOW that’s what you want. I hired the person without any experience but loads of passion and willingness to learn. And she is fantastic, like a sponge. Beccy you know you rock =)
Thanks Lisa for believing in me,
I agree that passion and interest is extremely important in this industry. People can have a vast amount of knowledge but not enjoy what they do. Over the past few months I have been, I have to say it, a complete geek in terms of learning as much as I can about this crazy ass world. I love that most of what I do is about trial and error and testing what works and what flops and that no question is ridiculous and most people are willing to share their ways of thinking.
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
awee, you are so cute, I’m going to put you in my pocket!!
Beccy u got a twin sister? Passion is the keyword from any SEO recruitment process. There is no formal SEO training, but passion will take you are long long way!
Dunny, step AWAY from my junior =) I know you wouldn’t poach her, I would have your balls on a plate…mwaaaa
Dunny–it really is about damn time you commented on this blog.
Rebecca–hope to meet you in person at some point. You’re definitely proof that enthusiasm can be the most important quality in an SEO.
Bill! I love your site! Um, ok then. Thanks for the comment.
Everyone else…thanks for commenting. It’s so strange to be making a living in a field that has no formal methods of measuring competence. With programming, it works or it doesn’t. I guess the same is true here, in a way, only there are many definitions of success in SEO, whether it be top rankings, traffic, conversions, etc. OK I’ve even bored myself now so I’ll end.
Which brings to light an important topic in the SEO community - recruitment.
Maybe we should blog on it..?
Recruitment is a major issue. Definitely needs some posts…
Good article.
But isn’t it spelt with 1 L? - or did you SEO for the typo>?
Good question…I have found it spelt “shibolleth” and as “shibboleth” actually. Since wikipedia spelt it “shibboleth” I thought I’d use the other one.
Did I SEO for the typo? Of course I did, you silly boy (cough)…um no, I didn’t but I should have damn it. Damn damn damn.
OK yes Chris you are correct. I should never have gone against the power of the wiki. I am going to just claim rebellion here, instead of ignorance.
LOL liking that rebellion…
For the record my spelling is schoking.
Chris
I actually looked up “schoking” to see if I was just stupid…