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Posts by Rand Fishkin:

Marketing

Google’s Updated SEO Advice is Almost Correct

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Here’s what Google used to say about how to improve rankings in their search engine results: “In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.” Here’s what they say today: “In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by creating high-quality sites that users will…
Events

I’m Swapping CEO Roles with Wil Reynolds of SEER

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
For the last 6.5 years, I’ve had a fairly singular role as CEO of a venture-backed, software startup in Seattle. While that job has brought massive amounts of growth and learning and challenges with it, I’ve often wondered what it would be like to step into someone else’s shoes and live their life for a while. Thanks to my friend,…
Events Moz Team

Vision-Based Framework

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Some companies exist primarily (or exclusively) to make money. Others exist for a variety of non-financial (or pseudo-financial) reasons. But in much of the research about companies that have gone from startup to scale to world-changing status, observers found a common architecture. This architecture is vision-based, and mission driven. It starts with a core purpose and core values, then builds…
Data

The Growth of Web Marketing Fields

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I’m always interested to see how the field of web marketing is changing over time and what skills, tactics, and practices are receiving particular attention. One of the ways I track this is to look  at results from several sites on a semi-annual basis, including: LinkedIn’s bio searches SimplyHired’s Job Trends Indeed’s Job Trends Google’s Keyword Trends Craigslist Keyword Search…
Moz Psychology Startups Team

Generosity & Entitlement

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
I’ve been trying something new at Moz. I schedule 90 minutes every week or two for “office hours,” and invite anyone from any team at the company to come visit and chat about whatever’s on their mind. So far, attendance has been sparse (only 1 person the first week, ~10 the 2nd week, and 4 each of the last two…
Moz Startups Team

Well, He’s Not Going to Get Very Far

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Company culture is incredibly fragile. It’s hard for founders/CEOs/execs to understand how little faith and trust people have in us when we stand up at a meeting and say “we believe in our culture” or “we put values first.” That skepticisim has often been built up over years or decades of being let down. People joined companies that claimed to…
Startups

So Why Do I Have the Platform & the Recognition?

Rand FishkinBy Rand Fishkin
Louis C.K. is one of the most entrepreneurial and authentic self-marketers in the entertainment world. I want to write loads about his email campaigns, his online ticket-sales, and the consistency of his persona, but tonight, it’s very late, I’ve just spent 22 hours on planes and in airports, and so this will have to do. From the NYTimes’ interview with…

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