![](\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/MOZ-SEO.png\")
Image Credit: Moz<\/p><\/div>\n
I watched every Whiteboard Friday on Friday morning (and still watch). I even tried to post WBF on Inbound before anyone else \ud83d\ude42 I then graduated from asking questions to giving answers in the forums.<\/p>\n
Next, I started picking up content from others: Search Engine Land, SE Journal, Blind Five Year Old, SEER, and hundreds of others. I followed all the big names.<\/p>\n
I really thought I was an expert in SEO (and so did my Linkedin Profile). I had read every article on Moz (no exaggeration). I was giving \u201cexpert answers\u201d on forums. I consulted with a few small sites, and even completed several projects with different IT teams and Project Managers. I was convinced I was an SEO expert.<\/p>\n
So a few years ago, I took my expert SEO knowledge, resume, and applied to one of the top 50 websites in the world. I landed an interview.<\/p>\n
- \n
- First interview was a HR screening (went great ).<\/li>\n
- Second interview was with the Director of SEO (led a team of 30). We chatted about my interest in SEO - but nothing technical.<\/li>\n
- Third interview was with a team member. We didn\u2019t even talk about SEO because we hit it off so well (things were looking great).<\/li>\n
- The final round was to analyze a competitor\u2019s website and give recommendations. Easy. I got this, right? I know everything Moz, SEER, and Blind Five Year old have ever written about SEO.<\/li>\n
- I wrote down my best 20 page analysis.<\/li>\n
- Failed it.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Failure was the best thing that ever happened to me. <\/strong><\/p>\n
The worst part about failing the analysis was when I asked what I could have improved, the director couldn\u2019t tell me. I was in the dark. I didn\u2019t know if it was because my analysis was so off that she didn\u2019t know where to begin? Or was she afraid of giving away secrets (am I missing something crucial)?<\/p>\n
Where was the transparency? Up until this point, everyone in SEO had been transparent: in conversations, tweets, and articles.<\/p>\n
Not receiving an answer made me seek answers more urgently. What had I missed? How was I to take it to the next level? Was there another blog I was not reading? And then, it hit me:<\/p>\n
Want to the best in SEO? Stop reading only<\/em> the mainstream blogs, start reading job descriptions of the world\u2019s largest sites, and implement the skills they require.<\/p>\n
I Stopped Reading Only<\/em> the Mainstream Blogs<\/strong><\/p>\n
Once I got the fundamentals down, I realized that my skill set was fairly stagnant. I knew all of the terms, had grown sites in organic traffic, but needed more.<\/p>\n
How many of you recognize these names?<\/h4>\n
- \n
- Alan Bleiweiss<\/a><\/li>\n
- Ross Hudgens<\/a><\/li>\n
- Duane Forrester<\/a><\/li>\n
- Rand Fiskin<\/a><\/li>\n
- Larry Kim<\/a><\/li>\n
- Danny Sullivan<\/a><\/li>\n
- Greg Boser<\/a><\/li>\n
- Dr. Pete<\/a><\/li>\n
- Cyrus Shepard<\/a><\/li>\n
- Ian Lurie<\/a><\/li>\n
- John Doherty<\/a><\/li>\n
- Will Critchlow<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
These are amazing people (without much of their writing, I\u2019d be deficient in my job). I could also name a hundred more that you would know. Why do we know these names? Because they publish, they are transparent about their success and failures (as much as they can be while maintaining a business advantage).<\/p>\n
How many of you recognize these names?<\/h4>\n
- \n
- Jon Mellen<\/a><\/li>\n
- Stephan Mack<\/a><\/li>\n
- Jamie Cottle<\/a><\/li>\n
- Kaitlin McMichael<\/a><\/li>\n
- Peter Wyspianski<\/a><\/li>\n
- Steve Bates<\/a><\/li>\n
- Stephanie Chang<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The names above represent some of the greatest minds in SEO: Nike, Etsy, TripAdvisor, Getty Images, and Amazon. For the most part (minus Kaitlin, while she worked for Portent<\/a>), many of the names above are non-existent on the popular blog sites.<\/p>\n
- \n
- Did Steve Bates write an article when Nike became the worlds largest shoe site? What about an article on how they used SQL + Visual mapping to make architectural changes that led to better crawling and more indexing?<\/li>\n
- What about Peter - when Amazon became one of the most visited sites in the world? Did he write an article on architectural changes that led to better crawlability, which led to more indexing, and finally: more sales?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Of course the examples above are false<\/em>, because I can\u2019t find any articles from them (and that\u2019s okay - businesses do have to have secrets to succeed. They also probably signed non-disclosure agreements).<\/p>\n
Better yet, TripAdvisor (one of the most respected in SEO - IMO) created Trip Advisor SEO University<\/a>\u2026 yet it\u2019s for employees only.<\/p>\n
This is not a critique of \u201clack of transparency\u201d with these people but figuring out a way around it.<\/strong><\/p>\n
If you are self-taught SEO, how do you keep learning? How do you continue to learn SEO<\/a> when transparency stops?<\/p>\n
I Started Reading Job Descriptions<\/h3>\n
That\u2019s right: I read job descriptions \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
The best companies normally<\/em> don\u2019t give away their secrets - unless it\u2019s in a job description.<\/p>\n
Personally, I enjoy a Growth \/ SEO job description over a blog article on \u201c9 Billions SEO hacks \u2026\u201d. Why? Because you can learn more. You also learn what the company is focusing on (you\u2019re basically reading the rubric to their upcoming projects).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
Think you\u2019re an expert? Nothing more humbling than reading a job you aren\u2019t qualified for (or getting rejected, in my case). Take a look at Trip Advisor\u2019s Job Description for a SEO Strategist:<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Trip-Advisor-Job-Description.png\")
Trip Advisor Job Description<\/p><\/div>\n
When was the last time you saw an in-depth post on SEO and SQL on any blogs? What about HIVE and SEO? How many SEOs know what HIVE is? (I didn\u2019t). Why? Because no one has really covered it:<\/strong><\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Google-results.png\")
Image Credit: Google<\/p><\/div>\n
How would you know that SEOs need to know HIVE\/SQL unless you read the job descriptions? Trip Advisor isn\u2019t writing articles about \u201cHow they used HIVE in project X to grow their SEO traffic by Y%\u201d.<\/p>\n
Notice what is not mentioned in the JD?<\/p>\n
Content. <\/strong>Nothing is mentioned about writing SEO focused content.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s keep going: what about Amazon (SEO Manager):<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Amazon-Job-Description.png\")
Amazon Job Description<\/p><\/div>\n
Geez. I can\u2019t remember the last article I read on Artificial Intelligence and SEO.<\/p>\n
Just do it.<\/h3>\n
Reading job descriptions is humbling.<\/p>\n
Sure, read the ones for which you are qualified and pat yourself on the back. But when you dig in and read the job descriptions like the ones above, your head will quickly start to deflate and you\u2019ll have plenty to work on. It\u2019s in this place you start to learn. As one of my favorite people, Wil Reynolds, says:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
There\u2019s zero value in thinking you are the best, always stay hungry. https:\/\/t.co\/S2SE8TiAKn<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) January 4, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
So what did I do after I failed? I went back - re-read the job description and quickly realized that I was nowhere near qualified. I started thinking like:<\/p>\n
- \n
- \u201cWhat in the world is HIVE?\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cHow would an SEO use SQL to analyze data?\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cIt\u2019s not illegal to crawl a portion of TripAdvisor slowly - lets get a massive list of URLs and put them in Excel and analyze them.\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cOh wait\u2026 Excel crashes\u201d<\/li>\n
- \u201cAhhh\u2026 That\u2019s why they use SQL\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It was asking those questions that led to a greater understanding of SEO. I quickly learned that large site \/ e-commerce SEO<\/a> was less about reading the latest link-building piece, and more about solving problems with large data sets. It was about:<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/What-it-is-about.png\")
<\/p>\nAfter being declined for the job, I stopped consuming every piece of content marketing. I stayed up to date with the major publications and am grateful to those blogs for having a solid understanding of SEO, but I spent my time reading job descriptions that I was not qualified for and started:<\/p>\n
- Stephan Mack<\/a><\/li>\n
- Ross Hudgens<\/a><\/li>\n
- Alan Bleiweiss<\/a><\/li>\n