Search Featured: Barry Schwartz from Search Engine Roundtable

Barry Schwartz from Search Engine Roundtable and CEO and Owner of Rusty Brick has granted us as a team an interview. You can see Barry’s contributions everywhere. He is the hardest working man in SEO. Enjoy!

Mike Dammann: Barry, you’ve been covering conferences, events and everything SEO related for many years, what do you believe has changed since you have started when it comes to what people are most interested in knowing and learning about SEO?

Barry Schwartz: Well, I think people are a lot more knowledgeable about SEO then they were in the past. Back when I started, SEO was more of a black art. Don’t get me wrong, many people still feel SEO is something mystical and all. But I think many more understand that SEO has basic guidelines and rules. Outside of that…

Search Engine and Webmaster relations have changed drastically from when I started.

Google is a lot more open now then they were in the past. In fact, we only had Matt Cutts as our liaison, now we have a whole group, the Google Webmaster Central team, answering our questions.

Jayson Gibson: Barry - I just read the recent post on Search Engine Roundtable, the one concerning banning websites becoming illegal, I read the post referenced on the search engine watch forums and it looked like everyone thought this is a great idea. I personally think its absurd - what are your thoughts on this and the possibility of it.

Barry Schwartz: Until Google becomes a utility company, which some may argue they are becoming slowly, then I don’t think that would be feasible. This has not stopped companies from suing Google for being banned, we have many cases like that.

Jayson Gibson: Are they having any success?

Barry Schwartz: None have had any success in the courts.

Here is a post on that case: http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/003511.html

Yes, surprise, Google won http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/012796.html

Mike Dammann: Barry, in the next 5 years, do you anticipate more of a who knows who and who spends what on SEO as important factors for ranking compared to today and do you believe it will be inevitable for even organic search results to become less based on quality of sites listed?

Barry Schwartz: Are you asking will search engines become less dependent on link analysis as a ranking aid?

Mike Dammann: Yes, and do you believe it will pretty much become impossible for Google to analyze which sites have the most value for each keyword since it seems more and more webmasters are catching on to what it takes to get their sites up on the SERPs.

Barry Schwartz: Google is doing a few things today to combat link manipulation. They are going after sites that sell links, they are penalizing some sites that buy links and they are discrediting links that look like they are not editorial in nature. So Google is doing a good job figuring out which links are good and bad - for the most part. But will it be enough? Nah, Google knows they need to look at other factors, that is where personalized search comes in - but we have a way to go with that. So in short, things will change in that area over the course of 5 years.

Jayson Gibson: Barry - it seems like Search Engine Roundtable has always acknowledged that buying links is an important part of every search engine strategy. Are there any websites you refuse to buy links for in fear of getting penalized - do you recommend using services like text-link-ads and textlinkbrokers?

Barry Schwartz: When did I ever acknowledge buying links is an important part of an SEO strategy? Getting quality links is a critical part of SEO, but it doesn’t have to be done through buying links.

Julie Kent: Do you think that Yahoo will merge with Microsoft, and if so, what effects do you think this will have on SEO in general?

Barry Schwartz: Well, Yahoo! just announced a second ago that they are testing google ads on their search results, that is why i have been delayed in responding. In addition to that news, Yahoo’s second largest shareholder, Legg Mason, said they would support Yahoo, if MSFT wouldn’t raise their bid.

Meaning, Yahoo has a lot more money from a huge investment firm to back them, which should make shareholders happy. Hold, hot off the press, Microsoft sent a new statement out. They said “Any definitive agreement between Yahoo! and Google would consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market in Google’s hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo! We will assess closely all of our options. Our proposal remains the only alternative put forward that offers Yahoo! shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers.”

Blah, means nothing, since the Yahoo! and Google deal is just a limited US test on less then 3% of their search queries.

Mike Dammann: Social networking, I have asked Danny Sullivan the same questions and am wondering how long do you think that the craze will last or do you believe that social media will actually play a more and more growing role and eventually become a substitute to some extent for search engines? And also, what do you believe the future of video and voice search is going to be? (Example: SearchMe)

Barry Schwartz: I don’t think social networking is a fad. i think you will see more companies try to use the concepts to bring out better and more integrated services around their content. Yes, I believe it will be used more and more in improving search relevancy, along with personalized search. Knowing who you associate with and what interests you have, can be a huge aid in search - but not a foolproof aid, so it has to be done in the right areas. Video and voice search are both in their infancy. the same issue needs to be addressed properly… how to understand the content in that video.

Content is the main issue with video and voice. The technology, today, is far from perfect. But search engines are throwing videos into search results all the time. They are using video titles, descriptions and so on to determine content and context. But that, on a more scalable level, can be abused easily.

Mike Dammann: So basically more factors will play a role in SEO? Especially visual since there is a need to not only rank, but be the site that people click on?

Barry Schwartz: Yes.

Julie Kent: Back to the Yahoo/Google thing…Even though just a test, if successful, do you think there might be a chance that this could set some new trend?

Barry Schwartz: If it is successful, which I assume they hope for, why test it otherwise. Then this can and will lead to a broader partnership and scare the heck out of Microsoft. Hence their statement. As in “trend,” many other search engines use google to power their organic and/or search ads.

Ask.com uses Google for ads as do many others.

As SEMs, yea, their is some concern to see Google have their search share (on the paid side) jump from a huge share to a dictatorship.

As MSFT said, it would “consolidate over 90% of the search advertising market.”

Julie Kent: Barry - where will you be speaking next, what conferences? And, can you give us a sneak peek at what you might be talking about?

Barry Schwartz: I speak Friday at Jim Boykin’s Link Ninja seminar on Universal Search.

Julie Kent: What SEO forums and blogs do you enjoy reading and are participating in?

Barry Schwartz: Sphinn, SEW Forums, SERoundtable Forums, Cre8asite, webmasterworld, and others.

Jayson Gibson: Barry What’s next with Search Engine Roundtable, RustyBrick Inc. and you? Anything we can expect to see shortly?

Barry Schwartz: More video recaps, and video casts. Subscribe at http://www.seroundtable.com/videocast.xml

Jayson Gibson: Barry - I’ve read that converting a site into different languages helps increase rankings - have you had any positive experience with this?

Barry Schwartz: Jayson, if you want to rank well in a foreign language, you should have content in that language. So yes, it can help increase traffic.

Thank you, Barry Schwartz for the interview. Looking forward to many more years of your contributions on places like Search Engine Land.