This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
Simon Heseltine, 46 years old, lives in Norfolk, Virginia. Simon has been in the SEO space for over a decade and during that time has been very gracious with sharing his experience and knowledge with his peers.
He speaks at industry conferences, writes really useful and thought provoking articles and shares a lot on Twitter and social media. He spent time on the board of SEMPO back in the day. He also worked HPE as an SEO and now is the VP of Search at ForRent.com. He is a kind and giving man who loves to see others succeed and do well in their lives.
Kristine Schachinger nominated Simon and wrote:
Simon does much of what he does in a low key manner, not much fanfare or notice, but he is always so very generous to others in the community of which he gets little public recognition.Whether in referring clients he cannot take to lower profile SEOs who might not normally get that work to making hundreds of personalized SEO Cards Against Humanity for Pubcon, Simon often goes out of his way to help others. Even if it is just a well needed laugh.
When it comes to others in the industry will often go out of his way for other SEOs and open doors that might have remained closed (even the occasional window if the door doesn't work). He does this for everyone, but especially for women.
And when it comes to women, not only does he help get women the recognition they deserve, but in the face online of offline trolls/harassment he will often jump in and set the offender straight.
Simon keeps much of this hidden with his English ways, but he has helped so very many in the industry and provided us so many laughs with his sense of humor and those black and white cards.
Simon Heseltine Bio: Simon Heseltine is the Vice President of Search at ForRent.com, helping drive brand awareness and traffic to one of the nation’s top apartment rental sites. In September 2017 his team won the award for Best Use of Content, and received a “Highly Commended” for In House Team of the Year at The Drum’s 2017 US Search Awards. He currently writes for Huffington Post and Forbes, and is part of the Forbes Real Estate Council.
His past experience includes running Global SEO for Hewlett Packard Enterprise, leading the award winning Audience Development team at AOL (“In House Team of the Year” 2014 – US Search Awards), and even a stint on the agency side working with multi-national e-commerce / publishing / non-profit sites. Simon sits on the board of SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization), and taught Online Marketing at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. as part of their Digital Media Management program for 5 years. He’s been a columnist for several industry leading sites, and photographs MLS games for Huffington Post in his spare time.
Simon is a frequent speaker / trainer / moderator at conferences around the world on a variety of online marketing topics. He has a BA (Hons) from the University of Humberside, and a Masters in IT from Virginia Tech
Favorite thing about the SEO community? That it's a close knit community, we help each other out, even when competing against each other.
One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? Network, get to know people in the industry whether on Twitter, in Facebook groups, or in person.
Favorite things in general? I do sports photography for Huffington Post. I also do improv and sketch comedy at the Push Comedy theater in Norfolk, VA.
What you want to be known for in the SEO space? Helping others to understand what they don't currently understand. I've been doing a lot of basic SEO training at apartment associations across the USA this year, and having people come up to you afterwards to thank you for explaining what they didn't get before... that's makes it worthwhile.
For more about Simon, check out his website and connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
