Infinity Insights Infinity Dental Web
  • Infinity Dental Web
  • About Us
  • Portfolio & Case Studies
  • Websites
  • Ask for a Quote
  • Blog

Tech Trends

Thought Leader Series: Q&A with Casey Markee

Date: May 14, 2015
Category:
  • Tech Trends
Author: Danielle Azar

Stop worrying about your identity and
We at Infinity Dental Web have a little secret we’d like to share with you: we don’t know everything! Every successful company is driven by a thought leader who seems to know it all, but behind every good leader is a mentor. That’s why we’re not ashamed to say that even with our abundant SEO experience dating way back before Google was even invented, sometimes we have to ask an expert.

That expert is our case happens to be Casey Markee, the Head of SEO for Search Engine News and proprietor of digital agency, Mediawyse. Casey has over 16 years worth of SEO experience himself and has trained teams on five continents. We have done our continuing education SEO training with Casey and his team for several years now and he happens to be our go-to guy for especially tough SEO situations. Taking all this into account, I was super excited when a couple weeks ago, Casey graciously allowed me to question him as the first segment in our soon-to-be-famous Thought Leader Interview Series. 

What was your college major and how did you get into SEO instead?

My college major was actually History and Politics. I intended to go into law and always thought I’d be an attorney. After gaining admittance to law school here in San Diego back in 1997 I only lasted a year when I realized it wasn’t for me (but on the positive, it’s where I met my wife).

 

I then transferred to a local MBA program and started working with several area Internet start-ups including CoastlineAdventures.com and MagneticMattresses.com among others. My experience running the online marketing campaigns for them and my completion of one of the first professional digital marketing certificate programs in the country in 1999 at San Diego State University gave me the confidence to open Media Wyse in 2000.

 

What were your initial reactions to the Penguin & Panda reforms?

My initial reaction was: what took Google so long? It had been a known and debated issue in SEO circles for years, before the launch of Panda in 2011 and Penguin in 2012, that SEO manipulation was rampant in the search results and overall quality was questionable at best.

info 2

When Panda was initially launched (affecting well over 12% of all search results) it was done so to knock-out content farms like Mahalo, penalize “shallow” content, and lower the ability of scraper sites to rank. Although it took several updates, Panda has done all of those well and has redefined what the idea of quality content involves. If you are a content writer and you can’t adequately address Google’s 23 Questions on Content Quality in what you are presenting to your audience, your content probably isn’t worthy of indexation and ranking.

 

Similar to how Panda was designed to punish the worse content offenders, Penguin was Google’s response to site owners who continued to violate Google Webmaster Guidelines. Most people forget that when Penguin was first launched it was referred to by Matt Cutts as an Over-Optimization Filter but has since become known more as a harsh Webspam level penalty. Although Penguin is viewed more as a link spamming based penalty that targets sites with over-optimized anchor text profiles, those who’ve engaged in link bombing, or sites who have an incredibly toxic and low-quality backlink profile, Penguin should really be viewed more generally and cover an ENTIRE site’s current optimization approach.

 

Do you believe that Google’s changes in their search algorithms has improved the user experience or was it self-serving? Or both?

It’s definitely both. There is no doubt that these two algorithms have provided a more level playing field for sites online and significantly increased the user experience of currently returned search results.

 

But as a publicly traded company, Google also understands the benefits (specifically, increased traffic and monetization) that come with providing the HIGHEST quality possible search results. To accomplish this, Google must quickly and accurately return the best representative sample sites, services and products possible from the worldwide web that match the searcher’s query.

 

Bottom line: if you are a pet groomer looking for a referral in San Diego, CA and Google can’t return the appropriate qualified result you probably aren’t going to return to Google.  Most SEOs would have to agree that Google search results are substantially better now than they were pre-Panda and Penguin.

 

What do you wish all your clients understood about your industry? (A PSA)

That “SEO generalizations kill kittens!” In other words, there is never just one strategy, or SEO technique, or local citation, or individual link that will miraculously move the dial on the average site. SEO isn’t shortcuts and link schemes. It’s a game of inches and it’s constantly evolving. If you aren’t testing and re-testing your ranking hypotheses and marketing strategies constantly, you aren’t innovating.

 

In what ways and direction do you think the SEO industry will evolve in the future? – Wearables may change the SEO game considerably in the coming months and years. That’s actually something I’m currently researching for my upcoming SMX Advanced Seattle speaking session in June.

 

What usability features do you anticipate search engines and mobile users will demand in the future?

Good question. I believe the future of search is more local personalization and geotargeting. You may see search engines “pushing” users more as opposed to “pulling” them meaning that you will probably start receiving information, notifications, and tactile alerts to your phone or other wearables even when you aren’t looking for them.

 

Expanding on this, I believe you’ll start seeing Google evolve their Google Now functionality to be hyper-targeted. They really want to be your personal assistant and that means more anticipation of needs and less reactionary query fulfillment.

 

For mobile users, this may lead to an increased demand for personalized virtual assistance not just from search engines but from retailers. The movie Minority Report with Tom Cruise was set in the year 2054 and yet that kind of personalized predictive need fulfillment (that the main character experienced running through the mall) may not be NEARLY as far off as the movie depicted.

 

What trends have you noticed in 2015 that you think will play out into 2016?

I wrote up my annual SEO and Digital Marketing Predictions article for SEN that was published last January. In that article I predicted the move by Facebook to mobile payments (happened here), the rise of Wearables SEO (hello Apple Watch) and that Google would value mobile-friendly content higher in the SERPs (will happen on 4/21). I expect all of those will continue to be big in 2016 and I would add that I expect more changes to happen on the HTTPS front. So far that’s a “lightweight” signal. But Google could change that anytime.

 

And finally, who is your favorite comic book superhero? Which movie did Marvel studios do the best?captain_america_by_angelousdusk-d4buo1g

This is a great question in that I’ve been a comic book collector since I was 7 years old. I have even attended Comic-Con International every year here in San Diego since 2000! I’ve always been a big Captain America fan and even own a copy of his first modern comic’s appearance in Captain American #100 from 1968. As for the Marvel movies it’s really hard to choose just one, but as of right now I’d have to say Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite (at least until I see Avengers 2).

(Visited 142 times, 1 visits today)
Danielle Azar is Infinity Dental Web's Social Media Director with a passion for fashion, sculpture, and video gaming.

Tags: Casey Markee, geo-targeting, Google algorithm, Google rankings, interview, Mediawyse, Mobile Search, responsive design, Search Engine News, SEO, SEO expert, wearable technology

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • An interview with ChatGPT
  • Review Bug Causes Google Reviews to Disappear
  • The Value of Social Media for a Dental Practice
  • ADA Compliance Standards – How to Avoid a Lawsuit
  • What More Can I Do? Social Media and Your Marketing Plan
  • CallRail vs. Kall8
  • Search Trends in 2020
  • Virtual Consult App

Search

Categories

  • Client News (98)
  • Company News (104)
  • Designs (14)
  • Feature Client (4)
  • Local Search (34)
  • Marketing (59)
  • Meet the Team (14)
  • Mobile Websites (13)
  • Regulations (2)
  • Reputation Management (19)
  • SEO (85)
  • Social Media for Dentists (83)
  • Tech Trends (46)
  • Uncategorized (6)
  • Video (8)
  • Website Design (2)

Archives

  • May 2023 (1)
  • November 2022 (1)
  • January 2022 (1)
  • April 2021 (1)
  • December 2020 (1)
  • November 2020 (1)
  • September 2020 (1)
  • August 2020 (2)
  • July 2020 (1)
  • June 2020 (1)
  • May 2020 (6)
  • April 2020 (5)
  • March 2020 (3)
  • December 2019 (2)
  • October 2019 (2)
  • September 2019 (1)
  • July 2019 (1)
  • June 2019 (1)
  • May 2019 (1)
  • April 2019 (2)
  • March 2019 (1)
  • January 2019 (1)
  • October 2018 (1)
  • September 2018 (3)
  • August 2018 (3)
  • July 2018 (1)
  • May 2018 (1)
  • April 2018 (2)
  • March 2018 (3)
  • February 2018 (1)
  • January 2018 (1)
  • August 2017 (1)
  • July 2017 (1)
  • June 2017 (2)
  • May 2017 (2)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • January 2017 (2)
  • December 2016 (3)
  • November 2016 (1)
  • October 2016 (1)
  • August 2016 (1)
  • July 2016 (4)
  • June 2016 (2)
  • May 2016 (3)
  • April 2016 (1)
  • March 2016 (4)
  • February 2016 (5)
  • January 2016 (4)
  • December 2015 (7)
  • November 2015 (7)
  • October 2015 (6)
  • September 2015 (5)
  • August 2015 (4)
  • July 2015 (4)
  • June 2015 (10)
  • May 2015 (2)
  • April 2015 (1)
  • March 2015 (1)
  • February 2015 (4)
  • January 2015 (1)
  • December 2014 (5)
  • November 2014 (2)
  • October 2014 (6)
  • September 2014 (7)
  • August 2014 (2)
  • July 2014 (8)
  • June 2014 (5)
  • May 2014 (7)
  • April 2014 (4)
  • March 2014 (3)
  • February 2014 (3)
  • January 2014 (7)
  • December 2013 (6)
  • November 2013 (6)
  • October 2013 (6)
  • September 2013 (4)
  • August 2013 (5)
  • July 2013 (5)
  • June 2013 (7)
  • May 2013 (6)
  • April 2013 (4)
  • March 2013 (6)
  • February 2013 (9)
  • January 2013 (7)
  • December 2012 (11)
  • November 2012 (8)
  • October 2012 (5)
  • September 2012 (5)
  • August 2012 (7)
  • July 2012 (4)
  • June 2012 (6)
  • May 2012 (3)
  • April 2012 (5)
  • March 2012 (4)
  • February 2012 (5)
  • January 2012 (5)
  • December 2011 (5)
  • November 2011 (4)
  • October 2011 (4)
  • September 2011 (1)
  • August 2011 (6)
  • July 2011 (5)
  • June 2011 (6)
  • May 2011 (8)
  • April 2011 (9)
  • March 2011 (7)
  • February 2011 (8)
  • January 2011 (8)
  • December 2010 (9)
  • November 2010 (9)
  • October 2010 (9)
  • September 2010 (7)
  • August 2010 (10)
  • July 2010 (8)
  • June 2010 (5)
  • May 2010 (1)
  • April 2010 (4)
  • March 2010 (2)
  • February 2010 (1)
  • November 2009 (2)
  • October 2009 (7)

Tags

advertising American Dental Association Content Management System Websites content marketing cosmetic dentist COVID-19 dental marketing Dental SEO dental social media Dental Website Design Dental Websites Dentist dentists Facebook Facebook marketing general dentist general dentistry Google+ Google Business Listings Google places Google Reviews Google Universal Search Great Dental Websites Infinity Dental Web Instagram Internet Internet Marketing LinkedIn local search marketing Mobile Websites online reviews Pinterest post SEO social Social Media Social Media for Dentists social network technology Twitter Web Yelp Yelp Reviews YouTube Channel
Infinity Dental Web Logo Icon

And now ...
let us grow your practice

BBB Accredited Business badge American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry Corporate Member badge

© 2009-2023 Infinity Dental Web Inc. IDW logo All rights reserved | Privacy Policy

Email address