Question

How did you start your SEO career?  

Answer 1

By accident. My last job in Corporate America received a penalty from Google. Completely deindexed.  

Comments

What was the accident?  

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@jap0 I didn't know what SEO was.  

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@bangka lol ok. :) in hindsight do you know why you got the penalty? did they notify you?  

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@jap0 absolutely. I was managing the sales department at the time. I knew nothing about the industry at that time. It was 2011.  

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@bangka Don't worry, now there are cool @wagstaff's. Everybody should get one but unfortunally there is a limited supply :'( For only $997, I'll show you how to get your own Personal @wagstaff.  

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@wagstaff not sure what that means.  

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@bangka Just that I am cool man. A little self love.  

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@bangka - the calm before the death toll  

Answer 2

As a french content writer for a company that turned out to be a content mill. Got curious about keywords and rankings from there. Started from the bottom and now I'm a little bit above the bottom.  

Comments

@anneal33 hey, could you pm me your prices please? I'm looking for a French content writer!  

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Hey @hooker, I'm not writing anymore but I've sent you a message about someone I used to work with that is an excellent french content writer. She might be interested in the extra work. Cheers.  

Answer 3

Dev of phone spamming to dev of web spamming

Answer 4

Well, in short, I needed money. I started writing a blog and then I needed to understand the statistics, for that I had to learn and I'm still learning SEO. SeoSignals Lab has been very useful, I have read a lot for years, until I came here and found the real gold. 5 stars for the service

Answer 5

Web development. our company was doing web dev in 1998, but I had heard of this cool way to drive traffic, (not even sure it was called SEO at the time) so I added it to our service offerings and well. the rest is history

Answer 6

Started trying with affiliates, learned a lot. Failed at affiliates numerous times. Continued learning. did well on an interview. got hired. continued learning. brought results. started taking on clients.  

Answer 7

I launched an online multiplayer trivia website. It was very very advanced, but people didn't know about it. So I kinda needed to bring some traffic in.  

Answer 8

Worked in an agency.  

Answer 9

I got fired by a GM who came into a radio station and started replacing all the folks he felt were competition. Went home, had a beer, got a call from one of the station's board members who said, "can you do website SEO for my company? " I told my wife to hold my beer and the rest is history plus a lot of reading blogs and youtube videos. ‍♂️ true story.  

Answer 10

A biz partner and i bought a company that was failing, and fixed it. one of the issues we had to fix was that they'd bought spammy links and gotten penalized, so we launched a new site / new domain. i'm the tech half, so i naturally got to learn seo. this was JUST before they killed the ability to track inbound keywords. I saw some success, because i'm a hacker at heart and figured out some grey-hat ways to make it happen. they've since killed those too. when seo officially became a marketer's game, i officially became a failure. but i'm stuck with it. so i'm here. and sigs lab is a fun place to hang out.  

Answer 11

I worked for Leapforce as a search engine evaluator for a little over a year. I started doing SEO once they cut the number of hours one could work and ended up making tons more money. It was a great way to learn how Google looks at websites and ranks them.  

Answer 12

By accident. I was making a new website for my ex-employer, started creating pages with the intention of serving their readers, and got a huge thrill upon discovering those pages got to first page, then top 5, and soon after, the top result. Try searching "gokiso", "gokiso wheels" or "cervelo torque specs" or "cervelo torque settings". That was approx 4 years ago, didn't touch it till today. Quite happy with it.  

Answer 13

I must have been around 17 or 18. I was heavily into white hat hacking and programming, hoping to one day work in cybersecurity. That's how I discovered algorithms and logical operators. This got me curious as to what really lies "under the hood" of search engines and of the internet as a whole. How is information catalogued, stored, sorted and ranked to present to users? Google was just coming into its own, I was still using Lycos on Netscape. So I found books on topics like information retrieval, sorted arrays, semantic web and so on. Later, I discovered various forums like BlackHatworld, Warrior Forum and TrafficPlanet. Back then, a lot of it was maverick stuff - spamdexing, link farms, cloaking and so on. Then I quickly got hired by an agency and learned to work for legit clients, some of whom were making big money online, which was quite a novelty in Eastern Europe in the very early 2000s. And the rest, as they say, is history.  

Answer 14

1995 built a website for a friend who had stretch Limos, I built the site as I thought it should be structured clean interlinked pages using in copy hypertext links as well as a solid structure and navigation and it appeared 3rd on Altavista & also ranked highly on others such as lycos all the web etc. I wanted to be #1 so looked at the other sites above me compared code, and got to number 1. People started contacting me to build them sites but were more interested in the fact I had got a site to the top beating the US sites. I quickly realised that they weren't buying my web design services they wanted the rankings, and so I went that route. This was back in the day when you could submit your site to altavista repeatedly and it would be indexed immediately and your new ranking was also immediate. I spent endless hours (nights into day mostly as we did back then) tweaking pages submitting seeing if I went up or down, and over time learned what makes algorithms tick. In 2004 I was fairly good, google had arrived, and I was invited to become a moderator on Jill Whalens high rankings forum shortly after that I was invited to be a founder writer for SEO Roundtable, and had a ball on forums with people like Jill, Danny sullivan, Shawn Hogan (Digital point where I am a founder member there #49) Ammon Johns, Rand Fishkin and a host of others. We all shared information and all grew. :)

Answer 15

I simply love SEO signals lab. No jokes. This is the most productive group I've ever joined on Facebook.  

Answer 16

Web design & partnerships. SEO seemed like a pretty valuable thing to learn next.  

Answer 17

Started from import export trading

Answer 18

Started importing jewelry from Thailand, created an online store with the shittiest site builder software ever.  

Answer 19

Left my husband for my wife . learned I couldn’t live on 7. 50 a/hour. I was on food stamps, welfare, and state medical aid. Taught myself YouTube in a few months. Launched my first course 6 years ago. Derek Pierce and Anthony Hayes were life changing mentors to me.  

Answer 20

Needing better content for Social Media. Which led me here to #SEOSignalsLab. Now my head hurts.  

Answer 21

Got a job as a project manager and started to learn SEO. It turned out I had a knack and really enjoy it.  

Answer 22

Worked in-house for a large e-commerce retailer here in Australia. Was basically forced to learn on the job (as I was in charge of pretty much everything relating to their digital marketing). Very thankful for that as it gave me the skills to start my own agency.  

Answer 23

Needed to promote my own recording studio when it opened. Built my site, studied SEO a little, got some good tools (for the time). Soon hit #1 and the telephone rang the next day. FRICKIN’ MAGIC! Hooked ever since.  

Answer 24

My dad owned a business that needed to show up higher organically. He'd been telling me since I was 12 to start blogging online and knew that a quality blog would blow up in the coming years. Oh if only I had listened to him back then. I started working on SEO for his site and then left to join an agency to hone in my skills. 4 years later I opened up my own agency and haven't looked back!  

Answer 25

Moved to Russia 8 years ago to live with my wife. Don't speak Russian but needed an income. Bought Maps Marketing Blueprint. Learnt about YT and ranking videos. Sold some contracts to Russian businesses via translation which then lead to ranking videos. Bought Money Robot. Bought other software. Created the Video Marketing Group, now 7000+ members. Created Gigs for Video Marketers, Business Owners etc. Now have the largest blog network in the world for Niche Relevant Backlinks and Embeds which help rank your Video, Google Map Listing, Website and will Power Up your Citations, Niche Edits, Guest Posts, Social Listings and other Mentions of your Business on the internet to help drive more Traffic and get you more Customers. Bought the domain name LinkDaddy and trademarked it. Now laying the foundations to create a multi million dollar business selling backlinks etc.  

Comments

@antisyphilitic doesn't the guest posting post from earlier scare you? Google is cracking down hard on paid links.  

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@torras nope. I don't do guest posting. The method I do will unlikely die. Its based on Google's foundation. Survived many Google updates.  

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@torras Are they though?  

Answer 26

Been making websites since 1998. When SEO became a thing, we started offering it. When you work in marketing you evolve or die.  

Answer 27

I was a TV Repairman for 25 years, until that industry died. Luckily I saw it coming & in 2004 started to learn SEO. Stompernet came out so I joined and learned a ton from @coacher Jenkins, Leslie Rhode, @urolith1691 Thies, & Jerry West. I Attended over 100 out of town seminars (Pic below of 46 badges I saved) Built out hundreds of websites; Made over $1, 000, 000 in Adsense before they banned me. Blew the money on wine, women, & song. Still crazy after all these years.  

Answer 28

I started right here man.  

Answer 29

Before the web sold a patent on market research analysis for focus groups. fast forward lost my restaurant and had to find a job. Got a joke b ranking local locksmiths and learned all the ways to do SEO wrong. company folded didn't get paid. started an ecom site importing ecigs. then marketed it and did well the sold it in its peak. went on to combine my degree in marketing and what I used for for my patent and consumer pyschology and applied it to organic SEO. At the time it was just me and Bruce Clay. 12 years later I'm consultating as the "Authority Detective"

Answer 30

Bed ridden for 3 months couldn't walk for 6 after motorbike accident. Bought GSniper course for $97 about 14-15 years ago. Never looked back. Although I did have IT background since 1988

Answer 31

I don't know when what I did became "SEO"? I had a following in some IRC chat rooms in 1992 because they liked my satirical political press releases. It quickly occurred to me that I could sell people stuff, so that;s what I started doing. All kinds of crap but eventually went on to sell things like original Rockwells. When AOL came around I had an email list of followers so it was more organized. And I was in a few AOL chat rooms that had regulars that I also sold things to. Eventually I got into affiliate marketing and was selling forced continuity offers that didn't work, like acai berry shit and skin creams. I learned how to place "creative testimonials in articles on AOL that stayed on top and would get thousands and thousands of clicks while the articles lasted on page one. Then I started using Craigslist to sell things and learned how to get the listings to show up online. When you could still post on CL with hyperlinks in your ads you could make some serious coin. I had software that created gmail accounts, I still have thousands of them. and could take over entire pages for things. It wasn't unusual for me to have all of the first 3 pages with CL ads for a keyword. I didn't even know the term SEO at that point. I sold my last brick and mortar business in 2007 and rented some space in a company's head quarters because I wasn't used to being with my wife 24/7. I was just doing my affiliate work there but they eventually asked them to help them sell medical braces. I learned how to do PPD and I was in the client marketing business. Eventually I mastered what is called SEO today

Answer 32

Started in E-Commerce, was better at seo that running an e-comm business. freelanced doing PPC for a few years and then went in house as a contractor two years ago.  

Answer 33

I skipped sleep every other night for 10 months 9 years ago. I would work 40 hrs straight and then sleep 8. Would sleep on Tues, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This came a year after losing my house to a fire in which I ran a decent recording studio out of, moving to California with my gf because I had no where else to go, having to leave my kids in Michigan, getting to CA and working at Chili's as a waiter ($9 per hour + tips was about $1k a week, so not bad $$), to getting fired illegitimately and wondering wtf I was gonna do with my life. It was in that moment I decided I'd never work for anyone again. I built my own sites, got in the affiliate game, and the rest is history. I owe all of my success to BHW and the people I've met over there.  

Comments

@torque2 Things are still happening on BHW?  

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@pursuant Yeah definitely. It's nothing like it was 9 years ago. But then again black hat methods were a lot less exploited then too. For updated SEO knowledge, white, gray, or black, BHW still has gems being posted consistently. I like what Damien is doing now too. He's inboxing everyone the best threads of the week.  

Answer 34

Was in Corp world with IBM mainframe background. Makeup for user manuals was called GML (Generalized Markup Language). In 1996 I got Mosaic browser, Gopher & Pine. Was bossing it :-) started making money Building websites before the . com bubble burst. Started SEO in 1997 mainly doing doorway pages for the likes of Yahoo, Altavista, HotBot, Excite etc. Eventually got a copy of Leslie Rhodes rebook called Revenge of the Mininet. Just kept going from there.  

Comments

That's SGML, right? What XML derived from?  

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@fleurette - SGML was later. This stems right back to the 80’s  

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Hardcore  

Answer 35

Learned on Forums when black hat was not considered black hat!  

Answer 36

Started own gardening business and needed a website. I learned it all with my love of computing. Now I help other small businesses online with websites and local SEO.  

Answer 37

Way back on BHW, private Skype groups, and got started in the 3 P's of online marketing as a blackhat.  

Answer 38

I put my resignation at this company back in 2015 because of no growth. Been introduced the concept of SEO for the first time on my last day at work. I was given the opportunity to learn SEO and developed company brand. After 5 sucessfull years here I am in the UK doing my PhD on Digital Marketing. :)

Answer 39

I started working on websites during the . com bubble. Instead of continuing down that path, I went into nursing. I was having a horrible time of it until a friend asked me to build him a website. Of course the website sat there for 6 months because it didn't rank. So I learnt about SEO. I created my own website for testing and went straight to a bulk link generator. Needless to say, I needed a new domain after that. Eventually, I learnt enough to move the needle and started working for scrap on Odesk (upwork). After making no money working my ass off, I started Digimark. Oh, my friend now makes 6 figures a month.  

Answer 40

Started a teaching biz, built my own website then realized that I need to get people to know about it and find it. Did some research and learnt about this thing called SEO. Went down the rabbit hole and through trial and error ranked my site and never needed to pay for ads. Loved the process and continued to learn, and then started helping others rank. During the process, found blackhatworld, and a range of other SEO communities to learn from

Answer 41

Started back in 2009, and leveled up along the way.  

Answer 42

Started a website back in 2000 and realised we needed traffic, and bought a manual from the US as there was nothing available in the UK at the time which I could find.  

Answer 43

PCIDSS testing, got pixeled, learned what that is, did paid marketing, didn't like paying for ads, learned SEOishness.  

Answer 44

I had worked with traditional marketing after a couple of jobs in the travel industry. So after that I got another job as marketing manager in a travel agency. I really, really hated this place and my crazy AF boss, so to have something to do that didn’t make me feel miserable, I built a movie blog and started to experiment with SEO. :D

Answer 45

I was fed up with mechanical engineering and jumped ships fully to SEO in 2011. Played a bit with web dev since early 2000s and SEO since 2005, but haven't made a career switch until 2011

Answer 46

In 2011 i applied for adsense from blogspot and then forgot about it until 2013. In that year I logged into my account and diacovered the adsense account was already working and earning money, i found an earning though small amount. I started a blog and studying how to rank it to gain more organic traffic. That was the begining. Not an SEO expert yet but earning from my 6 years aged business blog. And now started thinking to be SEO service provider. Learning from the group.  

Answer 47

I was in the process of failing my physics studies and was quite low on cash. I took every job I could find, worked as a stagehand for 2, 5 years. In 2012 I started working for Dejan SEO as a full time link builder (basically did manual outreach 8h a day). From there I started getting more and more into SEO, onsite, programming, etc and here I am today :) pretty happy with the way things are moving

Answer 48

Jeff Lenney reviews  

Answer 49

I was a tech reporter who had a crazy knack for getting tons of traffic to my posts. Didn’t really know why. Just tried to design content i found useful and link it in ways that would help people additional useful content. In time I discovered a lot of my strategies were actually in line with SEO best practices. Once I learned SEO was a thing, I was hooked.