Search Engine Optimization

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Internet Summaries




SEO Experts List

The following are some names associated with being top SEO experts, and can be observed in SEM forums, blogs, the press, and on various websites.


Top SEO Experts Chart -
A (somewhat) "Short List" of Noteworthy SEO Practitioners (50)
Photos of most SEO experts listed below
Jim Boykin's excellent
SEO Expert Photos

Expert (Google pages)
(alphabetical list)
Nickname
Website/
Blog
(SEJ 2005 Rank)
Location
Favorite
Forum
Style
1

2- Aaron Wall (276K)
seobook (370K)

seobook
www.seobook.com (2)
www.threadwatch.org

State College, PA

SEW Forums

white hat

2

Ammon Johns (11K)

Black_Knight
www.e-marketing-news.co.uk

Brighton, England

cre8asite

gray hat

3

Andy Beal (259K)

-
www.marketingpilgrim.com

Raleigh, NC

-

white hat

4

Andy Hagans (52K)

Andy Hagans
www.andyhagans.com
www.linkbuildingblog.com

Cincinnati, OH

-

white hat

5

Barry Schwartz (387K)
rustybrick (188K)

rustybrick
www.rustybrick.com

Suffern, NY

seroundtable

white hat

6

Barry Welford (17K)

bwelford
www.cre8asiteforums.com

Montreal, QC, Can.

cre8asite

white hat

7

Ben Pheiffer (30)

Phoenix
www.ranksmart.com

Austin, TX

SEOChat

white hat

8

Bernard nolastname

Bernard
www.measuring-up.com

Friendswood, TX

SEOChat

white hat

9

Brad Callen (86K)

-
www,seoelite.com

Indianapolis, IN

-

white hat

10

Brad Fallon (79K)

-
www.bradfallon.com

Atlanta, GA

-

white hat

11

Brett Tabke (89K)

Brett_Tabke
www.webmasterworld.com

Austin, TX

wmw.com

white hat

Bruce Clay (162K)

-
www.bruceclay.com

Simi Valley, CA

orgamic listings

white hat

12

Chris Boggs (33K)

Chris Boggs
www.avenuea-razorfish.com

Baltimore, MD

SEW Forums

white hat

13

Danny Sullivan (699K)

dannysullivan
searchengineland.com
daggle.com

Salisbury, England

SEW Forums

white hat

14

David Naylor (178K)

DaveN
www.davidnaylor.co.uk

UK

SEW Forums

gray hat

15

Donna Fontenot (646)
dazzlindonna (40K)

dazzlindonna
www.seo-scoop.com

Franklinton, LA

SEO Refugee

white hat

16

8- Erik Dafforn (78K)

-
intrapromote.com
seo speedwagon (8)

Stow, OH

-

white hat

17

5- Greg Boser (55K)

webguerrilla
www.webguerrilla.com (5)

Newhall, CA

SEO Rock

gray hat

18

Jakob Nielsen (1.4M)

-
www.useit.com

Fremont, CA

-

white hat

19

Jennifer Slegg (36K)
jensense (155K)

jensense
www.jensense.com

Victoria, BC, Can.

wmw.com

white hat

20

Jill Whalen (165K)

Jill Whalen
www.highrankings.com

Ashland, MA

SEW Forums

white hat

21

6- Jim Boykin (141K)

webuildpages
www.webuildpages.com
www.jimboykin.blog (6)

Troy, NY

(dp).forums

white hat

22

Lee Odden (112K)

toprank
TopRank Results
TopRank.blog

Mound, MN

SEW Forums
seroundtable

white hat

23

1- Matt Cutts (1.8M)

matt
www.google.com
www.matcutts.com/Blog (1)

Mountain View, CA

-

white hat

24

Michael Gray (854K)

Graywolf
www.wolf-howl.com

New York, NY

-

white hat

25

Mike Grehan (153K)

-
www.search-engine-book.co.uk
www.mikegrehan.com

UK

-

white hat

26

Morgan Carey (23K)

seo_guy
www.seo-guy.com

BC, Canada

SEOChat

white hat

27

Nick Wilson (199K)

nick
performancing.com
performancing.com/blog

Denmark

-

white hat

28

3- Rand Fishkin (100K)

randfish
www.seomoz.org
www.seomoz..org/blog (3)

Seattle, WA

seroundtable
SEW Forums

white hat

29

Roger Montti (2K)
martinibuster (806K)

martinibuster
www.martinibuster.com

San Francisco, CA

WmW.com

white hat

30

Shari Thurow (137K)

-
www.searchenginesbook.com

Carpentersville, IL

-

white hat

31

Shawn Hogan (62K)

Shawn
www.digitalpoint.com

San Diego, CA

seroundtable

white hat

32

Todd Friesen (20K)
oilman
(711K)

oilman
www.oilman.ca

Victoria, BC, Can.

SEO Rock

gray hat

33

4- Todd Malicoat (58K)
stuntdubl (370K)

stuntdubl
www.stuntdubl.com (4)

Troy, NY

wmw.com

white hat

34

??? ???

Earl Grey
www.syndk8.net

Ireland-?

-

black hat

35

7- ??? ???
quadzilla (247K)

quadzilla
seoblackhat.com (7)

East Teknopolis-?

seoblackhat.com

black hat

20

170

90

200

150

100

50

36-51


Other highly visible Search Engine Optimizer's,
about whom I don't know that much, in alphabetical order -

Barry Lloyd (20K) -- Bill Slawski (60K)

Dan Thies (37K) -- Darrin Ward (701)

George Werty (41) -- Greg Jarboe (30K)

Jake Baillie (686) -- John Scott (2.1M) -- Joseph Morin (19K)

Michael McDonald (1.1M) -- Mikkel deMib Svendsen (52K)

Nacho Hernandez (24K)

Scottie Claiborne (11K)

Will Spencer (52K)

SEO Name (xx) - The number in parentheses after each name is the number of Google SERP results returned for the search term - "name name". It is a "Google presence" metric. This metric has little meaning when used on common names, such as "John Scott". Also, some SEO experts are better known by their online nickname, than their real name (dazzlindonna, martinibuster, etc.)


White background = United States,
Green background = Canada, Yellow background = UK

The 8 red 2005 SEO Blog rankings above came from the Search Engine Journal.

For NINE shades of gray hat color, read Yahoo's Tim Converse definitions of SEO hat color.


If you would like your hat color changed, or name removed, just email me.
All SEO hats presumed white unless specifically defined otherwise.

SEO Conferences - 2007 List
2007 Search Engine Optimization conferences for webmasters

Personal SEO posting observations -
UK English: "Google are better then Yahoo."
US English: "Google is better than Yahoo."
Each drives the other crazy, no doubt. That jes ain't 'rat!


NOTES and DISCLAIMER

Public Data

All info on this list is derived from public websites.
Anyone not wanting to appear on this list, please email me, and I will remove you immediately.

Completeness

This SEO expert list is not complete, but I had to start somewhere.
There are many other SEO players, that are not quite as visible.
There are many lurkers, who are just as talented as those listed above, but they never post - they just make money.
But guess who they learned from?

Objectivity

The list is based upon my own personal observations, and therefore is quite subjective. It is loosely based upon the frequency of what I observe, when surfing the internet - internet presence, if you will. How this relates to individual SEO competence is for the viewer to decide, in each case.
I have added a column for hat color, for those whose color is "self-declared".
Who else belongs on the list?
Who should be removed?

Why?

I made this list to help me figure out who is who in the SEO world. I needed to clarify Barry-Barry, Brad-Brad, Brett-Brent, Matt-Mat, Shawn-Shawn, and Todd-Todd, etc. I guess I am missing a Chris or two, as well.

Which SEO company provides the best SEO services?
I really don't know, but the SEO consultants listed above are considered to be SEO gurus by many.
One should listen to what each of them has to say, and judge accordingly.

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This Vaughns SEO Experts Short List Summary page was last updated on 2007-10-11.