This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
Mary & Dave Davies, our first couple nomination, live together in Victoria, BC, Canada at the age of about 40 years old each. The Davies are both active contributors to the search community. They wrote columns, articles and content across many publications. They share their knowledge on social media and are always ready to help a colleague in the industry.
Both speak at conference, are doing podcasts, and what they can to help spread solid technical and non-technical search marketing advice.
Jeremy Knauff nominated the Davies, he said:
They both always go out of their way to help others in the industry, whether that means acting as a sounding board, sharing valuable info, or helping connect people. Plus, they're two of the nicest people you could ever meet.
Mary & Dave Davies Bio: Dave and Mary Davies started Beanstalk Internet Marketing in 2004 - Dave coming in from the technical/SEO side and Mary from the design/UX angle. Since then the lines have blurred dramatically with competition leading to fights over fractions of percent increases in conversions and the use of post-click metrics as ranking signals. Thankfully this happened as Mary no longer has to weep over Dave cramming keywords onto a page (as was necessary in 2004). Coming from the two different passions - bots vs users - Mary and Dave believe they end up producing something greater than the sum of their parts, with both search engines and users seeking the same end goal.
Favorite thing about the SEO community? It's definitely the people. There are some excellent folks in the community who are always willing to lend a hand or some advice when you need it.
One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? Keeping up is incredibly hard and probably the hardest part for those of us who've been around a while is remembering to listen to the voices you've never heard before and pay attention to specialties outside your own. Some of the best insights we've both gotten in the modern world of SEO has come from folks who's names we hadn't heard of but who managed to win a speaking spot at a conference or landing in our Twitter steams quite accidentally. These are the folks who help us learn outside of our box and in this industry - that's critical.
Favorite things in general? We both love to travel and do it as often as we can. Whether it's just a trip with the family to Whistler for some skiing or downhill biking, heading to a conference and chatting with our industry friends or escaping to lie on a beach and reading a book for a week in Mexico, we love it all. Maybe that's the best thing about the industry - the flexibility to work from anywhere.
Our favorite foods seem to be pretty much anything we eat in Italy. Not anything that's Italian, anything that we eat while we are actually in Italy. Our favorite colors? Sunshine (Mary) and purple (Dave).
What you want to be known for in the SEO space?
Mary: My ability to connect with people both in real life and in the online world. I truly believe and have from my start in this industry that if we just listen, connect, reach out, and help those around us (including our onsite users) that is not only where the ultimate success lies but in the end it just makes the world a better place.
Dave: If I had to pick just one thing I'd like to be known for it would have to be as someone who keeps up. It's a quickly moving industry as we all know, and while we're well past the days of any one person being an expert at everything, if I can be known for just one thing I'd like that thing to be keeping up on how the pieces fit together and then being an expert at the few areas I excel in.
To learn more about the Davies see their company blog and Mary's LinkedIn profile and Dave's LinkedIn profile.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
