This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series – feel free to nominate someone over here.
Rand Fishkin, 38 years old, lives with his wife in Seattle, Washington and is most well known for co-founding his company, Moz, formerly SEOmoz. The man with the yellow shoes at the early SEO conferences. The man who poured his heart out when helping SEOs and webmasters who had all sorts of questions from novice SEO advice all the way to emotional and moral support with starting businesses or dealing with family issues.
Rand has literally given himself to our industry in more ways than almost anyone can fathom. He has impacted countless lives in our industry from his blogging, speaking, education, weekly videos, and of course his tools. But also, he has impacted many on a very personal level but being there for them no matter when or why.
The smile he gives people is genuine. The look he sets on people that he is talking to, is deep and caring. The attention he devotes to the search community is different because it is not only on the higher level but he has also made such deep personal ties to individuals, so many individuals that it seems like he has special superhero powers.
Rand – giving yourself the way you have to our industry has its perks – we know that. But often it can feel lonely and sometimes incredibly hurtful when you put so much into something and individuals get nasty or are ungrateful. Being in a position that you are in, is unique but it comes with great responsibility and there is a lot on your shoulders. From the company you built and the families that depend on payroll to put food on the table. To giving really solid SEO advice for businesses to thrive or fail on the web. All the way down to your personal relationships with friends and family. It is a lot and we should all look up to you as to how you have handled all of that pressure.
Rand received a lot of nominations, I wanted to share them all with you in no specific order:
Sarah B Danks:
Glen Allsopp:
Anonymous:
Anonymous:
Gary Steel:
Carlos Gandra
Saad Ali Khan
Rand, you can clearly see how important and valuable you are in our industry.
Rand Fishkin Bio: Rand Fishkin goes by the ludicrous title, Wizard of Moz. He’s founder and former CEO of SEO software startup Moz, host of Whiteboard Friday, co-author of a pair of books on SEO, co-founder of Inbound.org, and serves on the board of the presentation software firm, Haiku Deck. Rand’s currently writing a book for Penguin/Random House on the ups and downs of startup culture, due out in 2018.
Favorite thing about the SEO community? The people! I love the creativity, generosity, kindness, and diversity of the SEO community around the world, and the incredible ways we help each other personally and professionally.
One piece of advice to the SEOs out there? Professionally, my best advice is to specialize. Getting known as a prominent “SEO” is harder, but getting known as a deep expert on “image SEO” or “news SEO” or “SEO for SaaS startups” is still an immense opportunity. Outside of work, my best advice is the same as Bill & Ted’s: be excellent to each other.
Favorite things in general? I’m pretty obsessed with (though very picky about) pasta… and also have a deeply unhealthy chocolate-covered gummi bear habit.
What you want to be known for in the SEO space? Helping people do better marketing
Check out Rand’s blog, his weekly whiteboard Fridays videos and his slideshare.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series – feel free to nominate someone over here.
