SEO ReflectionsI have now been working for one year as a Search Strategist and within that one year have noticed some remarkable differences in how I viewed SEO and everyone else.

When I first started it was all about a healthy competition among all the channels: SEO, PPC, EDM, etc. on who could do better, on which channel was better, and we would have a lot of fun dissing each other’s channel. I would say about less than halfway into my time as a Search Strategist, the view changed from a perspective of competition to a perspective of team-work and integration. Now all I see is how each channel can help each other and use the amazing ideas from each channel into our own. The products that is now offered at the place where I work are a true testament to how every channel is working actively together to not just help each other’s work, but to create new innovative ways to further a whole integrated campaign. The credit hands down goes to the management who recognized the importance of integrated campaigns.

One of the areas I believe helped push hard on (and that still needs further efforts) is in changing the business of SEO. When I first arrived in doing SEO, I was amazed at how anecdotal our reports were with very little in the way of collecting and analyzing SEO data for just about any purpose whatsoever. In fact, SEO essentially was an IT/Marketing aspect where we never want to put our foot down on a goal to reach in terms of anything other than keyword positions. This has definitely been changing and although it still has a very marketer personality (and will always have one), I believe that I have been helping push towards an SEO Analytics aspect that will definitely improve how SEO is in the long-run.

It has definitely been a fascinating year with much more to come.