Shouters and Influencers

This post was inspired by this tweet:

@tnash: new year start of all those top influencer of industry x posts. Rarely do they have any infuencers just shouters on them which is sad.

If you are looking at improving your knowledge about SEO whether it is because you want to offer the service yourself or perhaps trying to do it yourself for your own website you can find a minefield of websites and forums to help you along your way. I say a minefield because the information you will come across ranges from helpful to downright rubbish.

When I was more active on the SEO forums I would constantly repeat the message to posters that they should look around and do some research because there is ‘plenty of good information out there’. But really, if you are new to SEO, how easy is good and reliable information to find? How can someone new to SEO tell the real influencers from the shouters?

When I want to research something I will use a range of terms to locate what I want. I will use terms that I know and understand and I can (fairly) easily spot whether what I am reading is crap or not. I can then tell (from experience) whether the source of that data can be relied on.

I realise today that anyone new to SEO won’t know how to do that. They may not know what the ‘proper’ terms are. They won’t be able to tell if the writer of the post or ‘white paper’ is someone with a wealth of experience or simply just another person with access to a blog. They may gauge the source reliability by the number of comments to their post or because they came up on page one (due to a ferocious piece of linkbait)? Will they assume because that persons handle is cited on various forums and possibly even recommended (by other newbs) that he/she is the one to heed? I also wonder if someone new to SEO is more likely to trust someone who blogs as fact:

“This IS a ranking factor.” vs “This is possibly an influence”

“Make this change and it WILL improve your ranks.” vs “Depending on your website and other factors, this MAY improve your ranks.”

“I am a guru/expert.” vs “I like to share my thoughts and ideas.”

Research, Read, Apply, Discuss (and repeat)

I’d like to come up with a definitive check list for how to tell if someone is worth listening to, if a piece of information is accurate, if that statement you (think you) heard at the conference is fact. But I wouldn’t know where to begin. It would also defeat everything I have learnt about SEO. Just as it takes time to see good solid results of your SEO efforts, it also takes time to learn and understand it. Only when you have actual experience of SEO (failures and successes) will you really be able to tell the difference between a shouter and an influencer.

You need to Research and learn the proper terms, you need to Read many peoples opinions and observe discussions on many forums and blogs. You need to Apply what you pick up along with your own ideas to your own websites. You need to Discuss with peers what your observations are compared to theirs (keeping an open mind). And then you need to repeat.

I enjoy reading posts that offer inspirition, motivation, are balanced in their views and make me think. These come to mind: Hobo, Huomah and Ann Smarty.

Who do you feel is worth a read?