Is he angry, is he happy? Only the Googlerilla knows for sure. Heck, I don’t think even he knows most of the time.
Search Engine Optimization is an industry with more than its fair share of myth and rumor. That’s understandable. We have an 800-pound-Googlerilla in the corner who has the power to make or break thousands — scratch that — millions of businesses overnight. Sometimes you can tell what the Googlerilla is going to do, sometimes you can’t. That’s because the Googlerilla is a stoic animal. Or at least he is until he goes berserk and tears you limb from limb.
The analogy is a bit extreme. But only a bit. Google is understandably secretive about its fabled “algorithm.” Like the taciturn Silver-back munching down on leaves, Google keeps its own council, tries not to signal its intentions, and then — Wham! Your business model is out cold because you did something to violate the ever shifting Google webmaster guidelines. Or, you zoom to the top of the heap because that fickle animal took care of the competition for reasons of his own. Of course often you don’t know what those reasons really are. You accept your fate or wait for it to turn, depending on whether you are on the animal’s bad side or not.
Into this dangerous habitat has ventured, time and again, John Alexander and his associate instructors at the Search Engine Academy. John is the equivalent of an expert behaviorist on the scary world of the Googlerilla. I’ve known and followed John and his training since 2002, the year I attended my first workshop with Search Engine Academy, or Search Engine Workshops, as it was then known. All along I have been impressed about how John is able to read the subtle signals in the world of search, rely on hard facts and search research (that almost could be a chant, now couldn’t it? “Search-re-Search, Search-re-Search”), and sort out the rumor and fear from the practical world of what really works in SEO. Therefore, as a long-time web-developer who has moonlighted in SEO, I consider myself blessed to now be working with John, Michael Marshall, Nancy Wigal, Steven Scott, and the rest of the top-notch Search Engine Academy trainers as I develop the Search Engine Academy program in the Rocky Mountain West.
I am now pleased to take the wraps off the specifics of the program we’ve been developing for business and web professions in Colorado, Utah, and in fact anyone who would like to come to those states for intensive, hands-on, and downright fun Search Engine Optimization training. After several months of preparation, we now have scheduled dates for classes in March and April in Denver, and in April and May in Salt Lake City.
If performing well in Google is important to your business model an investment in any of our three workshops will pay you a potentially huge return on your tuition investment. So keep your eyes on this site and blog to get more details, or to sign up. I look forward to helping you take on that 800-pound Googlerilla.
Check out our schedule of SEO How-to workshops here
Check out Search Engine Optimization workshop descriptions here
