This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
Eli Schwartz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three boys. He is not related to me despite sharing the same last name :). He has been in the SEO game for probably a decade or so now and has always been a friendly face to talk to. I met him first, I believe, at a PubCon Vegas event. Since we are both into eating kosher, we went to some kosher places to eat together with some of the other kosher folks.
He is always very generous contributing to the community. Through his contributed content at Search Engine Land and other SEO blogs. He speaks at events, not just PubCon but other events. He is always sharing interesting tidbits on Twitter and social media. He gives a lot of himself to the community and it is a personal honor to know him.
He was nominated by someone who doesn't want to be revealed, but that person said:
He's been presenting at PubCon for years! Great International SEO insights and quick hacks (Splunk).
Eli Schwartz Bio: Eli Schwartz is the Director of Organic Product for SurveyMonkey. He oversees SurveyMonkey’s SEO and viral product strategies for the entire product portfolio. Eli is a frequent contributor to industry blogs and has spoken at SMX, Pubcon, State of Search, Ad Tech, Clickz as well as many tech conferences across Asia where he lived for a couple of years.
Favorite thing about the SEO community? This community is so awesome and it never ceases to surprise me at how open people are to share their knowledge with others. I have been to many conference sessions, read countless blog posts, and had one-on-one conversations where people are willing to teach something to others for no personal gain other than to help others. Additionally, I love how this community comes together to support other community members during hard times, and it is so comforting to watch how people bond with people that are otherwise strangers simply over what we do for a living.
One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? Test everything! The one thing I learned early in my SEO career and still holds true is to never fully trust everything you hear and read about SEO even if it comes from Google. Test often and test everything. My technical abilities and SEO skills continue to improve because I always try to learn from experiments, and I would suggest that everyone always do the same.
Favorite things in general? I love traveling to new places around the world. Being in an environment where everything from the people to the language are completely unfamiliar which makes everything new and exciting. Whenever I am in a new place, I am always curious to see what mobile devices, websites, and apps people use. I even watch the local news even though I can't understand it, just to see how the newscasters dress, speak and the imagery they use to make a point.
What you want to be known for in the SEO space? I have made international SEO something I am passionate about, and I love sharing the knowledge that I have picked up with anyone willing to dip their toes in this foreign arena. On a personal level, I want to always make sure I am giving back more than I have ever received from this impressive community
To learn more about Eli check out his personal site, connect with him on LinkedIn and follow him on Twitter.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
