I have known Kev Strong online for a couple of years now you may know him better as @goosh but we only recently met at the Manchester SEO event last October over a few beers. He may be a supporter of the NUFC but all is forgiven as we are both probably as passionate about SEO. Kev currently works as an SEO Consultant at Mediaworks.

How did you find yourself involved with agency SEO, where did it all begin?

I started getting into SEO when I was a PHP developer around 2006. The company I worked for at the time offered SEO, but didn’t really understand it so I took it upon myself to learn about it, try it and test it. I set up my own blog, a few websites and tried a few things out.

In 2009 I got made redundant and I decided to focus on SEO 100% as it excited me. Luckily for me, I found work quickly at a small SEO firm called Mediaworks Online Marketing. I was their 2nd employee; they now the largest online marketing company in the North-East of England with over 25 employees.

How would you recommend those new to SEO seek a position within an SEO agency?

Set up your own site, try things, test things and achieve some rankings.

Look around for the companies local to you and email them. Interact with them online through Twitter, Facebook etc, attend the same networking events and get yourself noticed. I’ve yet to meet an SEO who wasn’t approachable.

What has been the most rewarding compliment of your work you have received while working in the SEO industry?

That’s a tough one. My work generally involves everything from content optimisation, technical analysis, right through to delivering SEO training for in-house marketing teams.

I would have to say that one compliment I often get is when I help other people, particularly after delivering training sessions.

One that springs to mind is when I delivered a training session to a room of 12 website administrators who were responsible for uploading content to the company’s website. The marketing manager commented afterwards that I not only helped educate her team about SEO and its importance, but I also increased staff morale by making them feel trusted, important and needed in the day to day running of the business – quite a feat for a simple content optimisation training session!

As a result, they had their best ever period online in 2 years after that session.

What is your agencies regular SEO reading list?

This comes down to the individual member of the team as we have our own interests in different areas of online marketing and, surprisingly, the majority comes via online sources.

I would have to say that necessities for the RSS feeds are SEOMoz, Search News Central, Search Engine Land, SE Roundtable and an assortment of people I follow on Twitter.

How do you see SEO developing over the next year?

I think the lines will blur even further. In the five years I have been doing this I have seen SEO move much more solidly into the realms of marketing and become a necessary part of any websites marketing. With the emergence of social & online PR playing a much bigger part in a company’s marketing plan, I can see a lot of crossover in 2011, particular with traditional media outlets.

What websites/blogs/forums are your regular haunts (+2 bonus points for extra stalker value) which give up the most information and resources for SEO?

The usual suspects would have to be SEOMoz, SEO Dojo, Search Engine Journal, Dave Naylors blog, Blogstorm, SEO Gadget and a few other *secret* forums. Infact, nearly every blog currently on Lee Odden’s Top 30 UK Blogs. Oh, and SEO Begin of course. Oh, and my own blog, goosh.co.uk.

I must say that I rely a lot less on my RSS reader nowadays and much more on Twitter to share the shining must-read blogs.

As a freelance SEO I am constantly reading to enhance or develop, learn tactics and strategies for my clients, how important is it that agency SEO teams meet and discuss ongoing strategies and how much do conferences play a part?

I would say that education & training within an SEO company is fundamental as the industry moves so quickly. We have a scheduled Monday morning training session comprising of webinars, DVD’s, articles, internal research results etc. We have a very strong sharing mentality in our team and if someone reads something that is of benefit, we share it – simple as that.

Last year was the first year that we sent staff to conferences and I must say that the benefits we received on all fronts were amazing! We learnt some great things, we confirmed a lot of our practises as being in line with those of others and, well, the networking element plays a massive part too. So much so, we have just worked out our conference and training plan for 2011.

What has been the most challenging part of your SEO career so far?

Hands down working with international brands and increasing their online revenue.

When I started SEO it was about the technical aspects of the implementation and ranking first page, but I very quickly learned that it’s no good being there unless you make money.

Not having come from a marketing background I have had to constantly learn and evolve to become a solid all-round online marketer.

If there is one SEO in our field that is on our must read list, who is it?

Hmmm, that’s a tough one! Aside from the people & sites I mentioned earlier I would have to say Rishi Lakhani over at http://explicitly.me. Whilst he doesn’t always blog about SEO, I have to say that lately he’s been banging some of the most consistent articles out this year – a little bit of everything to do with online marketing to help get the mind whirring. Hopefully he’ll keep it up throughout 2011.

What single recommendation would you make to a business that has implemented zero SEO to their website?

If we are talking on-site recommendations, I would say Internal linking without a shadow of a doubt (closely followed by unique Title tags). The amount of websites I see that implement correct internal linking and rise in traffic through longtail is unbelievable. Purely a case of not utilising their own power.

If we are talking offsite – simple – links. Beg, borrow and buy em!

2011 for SEO is the year of ….. ?

I can see much more emphasis moving towards online PR. With content generation, guest blogging and article sharing increasing in 2010 I can honestly see traditional media attempting to claim back a share of the online market through their own websites and content networks (at least a little more in the open than it is now).

Thank you Kev for agreeing to the SEO Questions and I am looking forward to meeting up again in Leeds.