13 reasons why I love being in SEO

So another fun Friday post today as we all enjoy watching the clock before the start of a three day weekend! There are many different reasons why I enjoy the search engine optimisation industry, here are my top 13 reasons. Why 13 do you ask? Well traditionally 13 is an unlucky number, Friday the 13th, Apollo 13 and I, for one, am prone to tempt fate on occasion. [Great… so the Bruce Clay Australia blog dies because Marc is a bad-ass. Awesome. – Kate] An interesting aside: the origins of the number 13 being considered unlucky normally derives from the fact that there were 13 people present at “The Last Supper” in the Bible and Judas was the 13th person seated at the table. Enough history
let’s talk SEO.


love seo

Photo by MAMJODH via Creative Commons

1. I get to write, a lot – Now I know there are those of you thinking “im reading his blog, of course he gets to write, thank you Captain Obvious” well yes you would be correct but what you dont know is that I actually really enjoy it. I find it a very cathartic exercise and in my opinion it is a pretty good way to spend my time. [The corporate blog; an excuse for someone who thinks they know it all but can’t get enough people in the office to pay attention to fulfil his engrossed egoic needs… But we humour him cos it helps build backlinks ;) – Kate]
2. The competitive nature – If SEO was a medical discipline we would definitely belong to the surgical rotation. I say this not because we are cutters and hackers of websites but because of the competitive nature of the industry. So it is with SEO where we all compete in the rankings game, clawing victory from not only each other but also the search engines (aka referees). And for what if not self-actualisation? [Our clients… Marc. We do it for them – Kate]
3. The unexpected joy of job title recognition – Normally when someone not in the web industry asks me what I do for a living and I reply ‘search engine optimisation’, a look of glazed confusion comes over my companion. It’s that feeling of delight I get when somebody actually understands ‘search’ as ‘search marketing’ (and not a sub sect of ‘market research’) which is enough to keep me coming in on Monday mornings.
4. Criticising peoples’ websites – Some people have a nasty streak and develop into captious critics. Now there is an outlet for all that angst, it is called SEO website reviews. This is where an SEO analyst will systematically break down a site into its smallest parts and criticise each part of the website. This does have an altruistic motive though; we break down the site in order to build it up again, better, stronger and supremely well optimised.
5. We unite people – It’s not what you think, we unite both Marketing and IT in a mutual dislike for the SEO practitioner. While we strut around the clients office proclaiming our SEO best practice advice, demanding complex and expensive changes and normally stretching an already stretched resource, we feel the glares of frustration from both ecommerce and infrastructure managers. However, with a bit of SEO Training they become like putty in our hands, and end up being major champions of the SEO process.
6. You’re hot then you’re cold – You could be biggest, hottest brand in the search industry but if you neglect that industry for even a day you will start to slip. Similarly a new kid on the block could come up with some arbitrary technique or tool and revolutionise the game, doesn’t happen often but it easily could. The fix? Attend conferences, keep up those hours of daily reading and interaction (AKA beers) with other people in the search field.
7. The systematic logic process – I have a funny joke to start this off with. What do accountants use for birth control? Their personalities :) If, however, you have the logical, methodical and rational thought process normally associated with accountancy then chances are you’re well suited to SEO. Theming – the grouping of likeminded keywords under the most popular word for that topic – sublime in its simplicity.
8. We get instant gratification (almost) – Everyone in this new media age loves instant gratification. We, in the SEO industry, are no different. We can see the results of our blood, sweat and toil pretty quickly by running, and re-running our ranking monitors.
9. Rand’s Facial hair – When I grow up that’s the kind of designer stubble I want.
10. The Conferences – This has been my first year of search conferences and I have got to say what alot of fun. While officially I am there to live blog the real fun starts when the conferences finish. Discussing sneaky linking tactics with a well known SEO celeb over tequilas, exposing the virtues and best places to party in Sydney with a senior Google engineer; at the end of a search conference you never know where you’ll end up.
11. All the information is out there and most of it is free – There is no official accreditation for SEO currently and to be honest I dont think there needs to be. There is a compendium of great information, techniques, tools tips and forums out there to help you get your start in SEO and best of all its mostly free. Not even just a start you can become an expert if you are willing to dedicate the required time to the art of SEO. [Errr we do the SEOToolSet training certification, not to mention SEMPO… Granted it’s not that big. YET. – Kate]
12. Girls Girls Girls – We SEO analysts are the Casanovas’ of the online world, members of the opposite sex swoon to us and hang on each word we eloquently spout, they follow us around at conferences hoping for just an iota of our attention……………What, Where, How? Oh no, fell asleep at the desk again, was a lovely dream though.
13. The staff at Bruce Clay Australia – You guys make it all bearable and more so than that, enjoyable.
Well I hope you enjoyed that, my magic 8 ball tells me the 13 worst things about being an SEO is coming up soon, so keep an eye out for that.

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