This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series – feel free to nominate someone over here.
Danny Richman is 55 years old and lives in Crouch End, North London with his family. His wife and him have four children, ages 31 to 2 years old and he highly recommends “becoming a dad again” and says it “has been an absolute joy.” His wife is a marine biologist, her name is Dr. Nadia Richman-Dewhurst.
Danny’s SEO career has been all about helping others become better at SEO. He doesn’t only speak at many industry events but he has his own consulting business that is specifically about providing private SEO training, to make SEOs better at doing SEO.
Many consider Danny their mentor and advisor and he was nominated by two people, the first one had a lot to say about him.
Hayat Rachi wrote:
Andrew Kozman wrote:
Danny Richman Bio: Danny is an SEO consultant and trainer with more than 20 years’ experience. He is a graduate in Behavioural Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) and an approved consultant to the UK’s Department of International Trade (DIT). His clients include the BBC, Bank of England and Arsenal Football Club.
Since 2010, Danny has acted as a volunteer business mentor to the Prince’s Trust advising young people on the planning, launching and marketing of their own online businesses. In 2017, Danny won the Prince’s Trust award for “Specialist Mentor of the Year” from HRH Prince Charles. Danny also gives regular talks for Founders4Schools on entrepreneurship at schools through the UK.
Danny has provided SEO training to over 3,000 businesses and has been instrumental in increasing the awareness and understanding of search marketing in the UK. He is also a regular speaker on SEO at industry-vertical conferences and a trainer and speaker at Brighton SEO.
Favorite thing about the SEM community? Having consulted for organisations in a wide range of industries, I can honestly say that the SEO community is almost unique (outside of academia) in the degree to which knowledge is shared and new practitioners are supported.
I love how this field constantly evolves and how there are always new things to learn. I love how the industry has built a credible reputation from a somewhat murky past. I love how Search Engine Optimisation is becoming more a process of Search User Optimisation. I feel as passionate about SEO today, as when I first started, in 1998.
One piece of advice to the SEMs out there? I spend most of my time working with people who are new to the industry and learning SEO from blogs and conferences. There is a lot of published advice that is either inaccurate, misrepresented or exaggerated.
One of my biggest bugbears are ranking correlation studies presented as ranking factors. This misinformation causes untold damage to businesses and to the careers of those who accept this information at face value. SEOs must develop a healthy dose of scepticism and run their own tests before treating every new piece of clickbait as hard facts.
Google aims to deliver results that keeps their users satisfied. Rather than be constantly chasing Google’s algorithms, align your website with Google’s own objectives and you won’t go too far wrong; nor have to worry too much about Google’s constant updates.
Favorite things in general? I started volunteering for the Prince’s Trust in 2010 to help disadvantaged young people start their own business. What started as a 2-hour per month commitment now takes up 2-3 days per week of my time. I wouldn’t give up that much time for anything that was not enormously rewarding and enjoyable. Working with these young people and watching them pull themselves up from challenging circumstances to a point where they can now support themselves and their families is hugely satisfying. Outside of my work, I love to read, travel and eat good food (probably too much).
What you want to be known for in the SEM space? Simply as someone who is passionate about sharing his knowledge of SEO and does so in a way that makes it interesting, relevant and fun. I have delivered over 800 SEO workshops but can honestly say that I have never delivered the same workshop twice.
To learn more about Danny check out his company site, follow him on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series – feel free to nominate someone over here.
