Tweeting to say “CONGRATULATIONS” to David Harry, aka theGypsy, is not enough to express my sentiment and excitement that his post, “SEO Higher Learning” on Huomah.com won a Semmy in the Search Tech category. I wanted to take a moment to share the value of his contributions to the SEO industry (and to my understanding of search).
2010 Search Tech Semmy Winner: David Harry
The above screenshot of the Semmy Winner page shares a snippet from the winning post. I highlighted the following which should be the core driver for every SEO:
“We should learn knowledge management and algorithms with the same verve we apply to playing in social media.”
Well said, David! Your work constantly reminds me that social media can be a distracting shiny object. Obviously, we know social signals are now a factor in the new social search; however, search remains primarily about knowledge management.
SEO Geeks Guide to Information Retrieval
The subtitle, “The SEO Geeks Guide to Information Retrieval,” summarizes the depth and breadth of this higher learning guide that educates by providing a slough of resources relating to the science of SEO.
SEOs is more than modifying meta tags and writing good descriptions with keyword-rich headlines and body copy, and gaining inbound links. As David explains in his SEO Higher Learning post,
“… it seems logical that those working with (marketing to) search engines might want to know a thing or two about how they work.”
Understanding how search engines evaluate, process and rank content is the core of effective SEO. Research and algorithms are required study for anyone making a living by doing search engine optimization.
Heck, how does one effectively optimize if they don’t know the search engines?
SEO Dojo Community
It’s been over a year since theGypsy compiled this higher learning guide for SEO geeks. Since then, David Harry launched the SEO Dojo, a community for search professionals. If you are in this field, I highly recommend you consider one of the SEO Dojo Membership Plans. (This is not an affiliate link, which means I’m not getting any kickback for sharing.)
I was honored to be one of the initial band of SEO Gypsies on the trail, and I’ve been unable to fully participate during the past few months. One of my career lifestyle changes involves soaking up the content and increasing participation in the SEO Dojo. Our Friday chat sessions on Skype have been an insightful lifeline to me for a while now.
THANK YOU, David Harry, for your obsession with Information Retrieval, for sharing your insights, and for providing such a valuable contribution to the SEO industry. You well deserve the 2010 Semmy Award for Search Tech!
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Great post. I just wanted to say that Ive been in brief contact with David before and not only is he a very knowledgeable SEO professional but hes also a pretty darn nice guy. I work for a Boston SEO firm, and David took the time to individually speak with me about his SEO Dojo group; David explain to me how his Friday meetings thru SEO Dojo worked and other details I was curious about. I’d recommend following him if you are in online marketing, because he definitely knows his stuff.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Alex. I agree wholeheartedly. David is “a pretty darn nice guy,” and “he definitely knows his stuff.”
This is a good opportunity to recommend following him on Twitter: @theGypsy.
And Alex, hope to see you in the SEO Dojo!!
Hiya Dana… Alex, thanks a bunch. Sheesh… making an old man blush here… cut that out wouldya?
Thanks for the excitement D, always appreciated. As you know I look at a LOT of search stuff every week and hey, there was still a TON of good reading that didn’t make the lists there. It was uber groovy to have 7 nominations this year, but I’d be just as happy to see some others get a stab at the cup next year. Spread the luv right?
And I can’t wait to see you round the Dojo halls more… that sounds GREAT… Speaking of which, I’d better get back to the talking points for Friday’s chat (starting a thread btw).
Thanks again, both of you, just happy we’re all happy!! Woo hoo!
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