Wise Marketing Secrets Interview Series with Nuno Hipolito
Nuno works in online marketing since 2006, starting of as a SEO specialist he’s now director of Resolution Media in Portugal, an Omnicom Media Group brand.
How would you explain specifically what you do as an SEO?
SEO requires you to be a multitasking master. When I first started, I was hired to do web copy, so my background was as a copywriter.
I still believe today that a strong copywriting background is essential to do a good job. To do SEO you should be able to write or at least to recognize good writing and how to hire good writers.
When you work at a big company, as I do, it’s also fundamental to outsource tasks, so my job today is to get the best people to do each task from inside and outside our teams.
What is your primary marketing goal when it comes to delivering results?
It depends on the clients. Some clients just want to increase organic traffic while others need to increase profits and sales.
So there is no one marketing goal while doing SEO, although, generically, one could say that the main objective of any SEO campaign would be to increase qualified traffic to a site or online property.
Which new skills are most important for SEO’s to learn in the next six months?
Understanding social signals and local SEO would be two things that advanced SEOs should know about as tendencies in the sector for 2016.
What do you find most rewarding about SEO?
I would say that the most rewarding thing about SEO is to surprise a client with good results, and specially results that the client wouldn’t be looking for.
Solving problems have been always the most rewarding thing you could do for a client.
How do you stay updated with the latest SEO industry news?
Personally, I use Twitter and Facebook to follow the main online marketing news outlets and also 2 or 3 email newsletters.
As an SEO, what is your favorite SEO hack?
My favorite hack is to use creativity to solve SEO problems. Most of the time you have to think outside of the box, especially when it comes to activity sectors where there is a lot of competition and you have to stand out.
One good example is the way you get good links nowadays – good creative content is the best way to do this, but this kind of content is hard to produce unless you have the right people to do it.
Are there any particular SEO trends on the horizon that really excite you?
I’m excited to think about mobile SEO and how SEOs will be able to technically track performance between desktop and mobile.
What are some of the top tools and apps in your SEO stack?
You can do great SEO with free tools. If you have a good understanding of web analytics, link analysis and technical analysis you don’t need anything else.
Most SEOs don’t know web analytics, and that’s the main thing you need to know in order to start and finish an SEO project.
When it comes to technical analysis and link analysis, you can use many free tools, but you just need to know what you are doing.
How is your typical work day structured?
There is no typical work day.
Which one book/blog post would you recommend every SEO should read?
When I started out, I spent a lot of time reading SEO blogs and sites. I think that something that gets overlooked is the link analysis side of things and I remember being fascinated with Eric Ward’s blog.
Every SEO should have his own site/blog where he experiments, that’s the really important thing to do.
What advice would you share with other SEO’s who want to become more productive?
Focus on the work and not on the hype. Focus on your client’s objectives and before starting off, always draw out a strategy that you’ll follow all the way through.
Among the Google algorithm updates what is the most challenging one that you’ve encountered?
I would say not one. If you do good, clean SEO, you won’t get into any problems. Just don’t buy bad links, avoid work on your technical side or use keyword stuffing.
Be creative, produce good content that can be shared and learn analytics so you can do a good assessment of your performance and you’ll be ok.
If there’s one SEO Guru you’d recommend who and why.
Again. Eric Ward. He’s the one that really impressed me early on. Link building is the one task that will challenge the hell out of you as an SEO.