B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®

B2B Marketing views, news and interviews.

The Economist Covers SEO

Economist
This week’s The Economist magazine includes a feature called Technology Quarterly in which an article titled “Dancing with Google’s spiders” describes various aspects (good/bad) of search engine optimization including a few quotes from Matt Cutts of Google. (quotes at Threadwatch) I was interviewed for the article as well and my search marketing agency, TopRank Online Marketing was also mentioned.

It’s always interesting to see what gets used in an article when you’re interviewed. In my case, the quote used was one describing an un-common event where one of our clients dropped a substantial PPC spend (prior to hiring us) in exchange for straight SEO. While that SEO campaign has been very successful, it’s more common and appropriate to run PPC in conjunction with SEO.

The coverage of search engine optimization by major publications over the past year has really varied – from SEOs as dirty rotten scoundrels to an appreciation of search as an important marketing channel. This particular article seems farily balanced. The online version of the magazine requires you to be a subscriber to read the article or you can get it in print.

Thank you to writer Benjamin Sutherland for the interview!

About Lee Odden

@LeeOdden is the CEO of TopRank Marketing and editor of TopRank's B2B Marketing Blog. Cited for his expertise by The Economist, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal, he's the author of the book Optimize and presents internationally on B2B marketing topics including content, search, social media and influencer marketing. When not at conferences, consulting, or working with his talented team, he's likely running, traveling or cooking up something new.

Comments

  1. Todd says

    Congrats Lee. That rocks when you can get someone from traditional media to even LISTEN to what we are trying to beat them over the head with;)

  2. Aaron Pratt says

    You are doing very well marketing yourself Lee. When people write about “Lee Odden” they will often use you as the “white hat” example, not sure if this was your planned strategy but it is very good indeed.

    Maybe some day I will offer some SEO services, could you can break me off a chunk. 😉

  5. Lee Odden says

    Hey Aaron – Maybe it’s the references to Cialis and Viagra? 🙂

    I appreciate the comments. I am also keenly aware that there are many more qualified SEOs that should probably have been mentioned in the article before me – but hey, I’m not complaining.

  6. steve Mistretta says

    That is awesome Lee. Seo and traditional marketing will continue to blend together. The traditional ad agencies are afraid of lost revenue/greed. Soon they will not have a choice but to include seo as Major part of a campaign. They should embrace versus disgrace seo. Time will tell 🙂

  7. Aaron Pratt says

    Lee – You are the new “white hat” on the block, enjoy your future success and keep it real dude! 🙂

  8. Lee Odden says

    White hat eh? Or do you mean a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

    Actually, my take on it is, hats are for sissies. There are no “hats” in public relations, or in advertising, nor in direct marketing. Why are there “hats” in SEO? Seems silly to me. It’s all just marketing.