Who is the Rand Fishkin of black hat seo?
-
If you had to choose one person to represent the black hat community who would it be?
-
Thanks for the Responses everyone!
-
Some well known black/gray hats (note, many of these do lots of white hat stuff, too, and some have even retired fully from black hattery) include:
- Greg Boser (WebGuerrilla)
- Dave Naylor
- Todd Friesen (Oilman)
- Kris Roadruck
- Rae Hoffman
- Ralph Tegtmeier (Fantomaster)
- Bob Rains
- Neil Patel
- Eli (from BluehatSEO)
- Frank Watson (AussieWebmaster)
There's loads more, but black/gray hats often like to stay under the radar (apologies to any I've forgotten; I'm sure it's more than a few).
-
That's pretty much the story! He also goes by Mick Sawyer sometimes, though I believe his real identify is still unknown to all but a few.
Just to be fully transparent, the Newsweek reference was a big deal, but as I noted in the recent "Story of SEOmoz" post, it was a surprisingly low traffic + branding driver compared to our launch of the Beginner's Guide and the subsequent Slashdot coverage (followed by dozens of other blogs/resources). Combined w/ the Newsweek press, though, it definitely gave us a nice bump
-
There was a guy who went by the name "Earl Grey"
Rand can thank this man for getting him a break.
Earl Grey was interviewed by Neesweek as a Black Hat, when asked by the interviewer if he knew white hat SEO he could interview he gave Rands name, and SEOMoz boomed from that point.
Forgive me rand if i have not got the facts correct, but thats the routh story.
-
-
Thanks
Most are probably trying to stay under the radar so Matt doesn't get 'em.
-
Know of anyone who is currently active? (I spent 10 minutes trying to phrase that sentence in the nicest way possible)
-
The late G-Man might not be the most famous but deserves mention.
Loved and missed by all.... even tried to go under the radar of Matt Cutts.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Need reccomodations for Good SEO company
Hello, I'm looking for seo in the gaming industry - European languages Thanks
Industry News | | Rogeroz0 -
SEO Services for small business
Hi all, Apologies first of all if someone in the forum already posted this question. We are a small business in the UK looking for a proven SEO service. Can someone please advise. Thank you! note: we are using Volusion ecommerce platform for our online shop. The SEO service provider doesn;t have to be based in the UK.
Industry News | | haveahobby1 -
Best SEO way to implement multi language store
Hi, I have a magento 1.7 multilanguage store with the following structure: www.example.com/nl and www.example.com (Dutch) www.example.com/uk (English) www.example.com/de (German) As you can see the dutch language basically has two url and this gives problems according to Roger. Both urls show the same page and therefor duplicate content. Should i 301 www.example.com to www.example.com/nl ?
Industry News | | mikehenze
And would this not cause problems with the indexing because www.example.com is shown when searching for my keywords. I need to have all three languages to be indexed good and used only for the correct countries.0 -
What are other SEO's calling themselves now?
I am piggy backing off of Rand's latest Whiteboard Friday: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/why-we-cant-just-be-seos-anymore-whiteboard-friday (It is an awesome post if you haven't checked it out yet.) I just want to hear some feedback from other industry professionals. Have you started defining/communicating your business as more than just, I do SEO? If so, what are you calling yourselves now and why? How has that been working out for you?
Industry News | | VentaMarketing1 -
A suggestion to SEOs that cold call potential clients
Learn some basic salesmanship. Do you realize that business owners are getting 3-4 phone calls and emails a day from other SEOs claiming to be the best? Be polite, ask questions, and don't insult me or yourself through ignorance. Ask questions. You might just discover that we could work together. When you tell me that I'm not ranking for "competitive keywords" it tells me that you don't know what I'm trying to rank for. When you tell me you can get me to the top of Google in 3 months or less, you're still telling me that you don't know my business and what I want from my website. Who said I wanted national ranking anyway? Oh right, not me because you never asked. And if I answer the question "Do you want more business/leads?" with "No." Then politely end the conversation and move on. The rare time that I do get asked about my current efforts, don't insult me by calling me an amateur. I may be one, but talking down to me, or trying to make SEO sound like you're turning lead into gold will get a quick hang up from me. If you want a contract with me, learn to negotiate based on my needs, not your process that you feel married to. There are a lot of business owners out there that would be willing to work with you if you treated you leads with respect rather than iteration 23 of your cold call script. And in response to the person this morning that sent a "free report" of basic SEO fixes for my website, make sure you put that report together using **my website. ** I know you're working from a template, so it should be really easy to remove the info from the wedding company and the lawyer's webpages before you email it to me.
Industry News | | wreevesc0 -
SEO Conferences - Which to start with!???
My SEO / Internet marketing business (I also have contractors that handle web design and development) is going well and growing and I am interested in attending one of the many conferences. (SEO is my passion but I am more of a marketing guy than super technical) I was hoping for a little bit of advice from somebody who has been to some of them where would be good to start. Where should I start? I am in Wichita, KS. which is in the middle of the US (bring on the yellow brick road and Dorothy jokes) and don't plan to leave the country for one. PUBCON, SES, SMX, SEARCHFEST, MOXCON, PUBCON...... Thank you very MUCH for any advice. Super appreciate it! Matthew
Industry News | | Mrupp440 -
Can anyone recommend SEO Vendors in the NY NJ area?
I am looking for an SEO consultancy service preferably in New York, any suggestions?
Industry News | | EBDM0