Search Engine Marketing Jobs & Careers Blog

Off To Search Engine Strategies London 2006

2006-05-31T22:13:00.000+01:00

I'm off to SES London 2006 tomorrow.

Search has certainly come a long way since I attended my first SES London event in 2000 when I worked at Nokia.

At that time the only pay per click options available were through GOTO.com and lots of people still hadn't heard of Google!

How times change!

Mike

Audio Interview With Andy Beal, Fortune Interactive

2006-05-24T20:41:00.000+01:00

Here is the recent audio interview with Andy Beal, President & CEO of Fortune Interactive, a Search Marketing firm based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The interview with Andy was interesting because not only did he talk about the company he co-founded in September 2005 but he also talked about the culture of the company and how they all work together as a team.

He also went into detail about the kind of attributes he looks for when recruiting new employees and even gave out some hints and tips on how to impress him if you were to apply to work at Fortune Interactive. So if you plan to apply to Fortune Interactive make sure you listen to the interview first!

Link: RecruiterInterviews.com

Mike

Considering A Career In Search Engine Marketing?

2006-02-20T19:25:00.000Z

Careers In Search Engine Marketing Article

With the continued growth in the number of vacancies in the search engine industry it seems that there are many jobs remaining unfilled because there are not enough people with the right experience?

We have today added an article to the JobsinSearch.com site aimed at people who maybe considering a career in search engine marketing.

Considering A Career In Search Engine Marketing?

Have you ever considered a career in Search Engine Marketing but you don't really understand what the industry covers and the kind of job opportunities that are available?

The purpose of this article is to help explain the different types of opportunities that exist, and the background and experience that you might need to for a successful career move into the Search Engine Marketing industry.

Search Engine Marketing Jobs

Although the title of this article is "Considering A Career In Search Engine Marketing" it is important to stress that there are in fact two different areas within "search", namely: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Advertising.

Industry experts have mixed views as to how "search" should be defined but for the purposes of this article Search Engine Marketing covers both Search Engine Optimization (also known as natural search) and Search Engine Advertising (also known as pay per click, sponsored or paid search).

Background To Search Engine Growth

It seems that the Internet has been around forever and that using a search engine to look for information is now a normal day to day activity. However, it is easy to forget that Yahoo! will only be celebrating its 11th birthday in March 2006 and that Google will only be celebrating its 8th birthday in September 2006. You only need to look at the number of additional products and services that they both offer today to see how fast the industry has grown!

When the search engines first launched, their results pages were based on their own proprietary algorithms. As the importance of the search engines to web site owners increased so did the desire to be highly ranked in the search engine results. This lead to the growth of SEO companies who would offer a service to optimize a web site to maximise its rankings in the search engine results.

As a result of the launch of the first Pay Per Click Search Engine by Goto.com in 1998 (now known as Yahoo Search Marketing) this lead to an opportunity for SEO companies to add another service by managing the Pay Per Click campaigns for their clients. In addition, it also led to new SEM companies starting up who only specialised in managing Pay Per Click campaigns.

Of course, wherever there is growth in an industry there is also opportunity and none more so than the job opportunities that are now being created as a result of the phenomenal growth of the Internet and search engines.

Where Are The Job Opportunities?

As well as job opportunities within the Search Engine Marketing companies it is becoming more common to see some traditional marketing and advertising agencies offer search engine related jobs. In addition, there are now specialist digital media companies providing search engine marketing services. Corporate employers are also beginning to recruit their own Search Engine Marketing specialists to work in-house and this trend is expected to keep on growing.

What Type Of Skills And Attributes Will You Need?

The type of skills and attributes required will very much depend on how specialist the job role is and also the level of the job. Although many companies will want experience in the job discipline, others will be looking for well-motivated, flexible individuals with both the ability and desire to learn fast.

For the more technical roles (for example a Search optimizationisation Specialist) a technical background in HTML, programming or IT maybe required although the level of background required will vary from company to company

For the more marketing related roles (for example managing a large Pay Per Click campaign for a client) good business skills, an analytical and enquiring mind, creativity, lateral thinking and solid product and project management skills are always good attributes to have. These transferable skills may have been gained from a wide range of experiences across different industries.

However, one overriding attribute to have is the ability to deal with change. Things change so quickly within the search engine industry, with new products and services launched on a regular basis as well as updates to the search engineÂs algorithms, that you have to be able to respond quickly and analyse what the various changes will mean to your clients.

Do I Have Enough Experience?

Bear in mind that there are not many people within the industry with more than five years experience of paid search or ten years experience of searchoptimizationmisation because the industry is very much still in its infancy! Therefore, if you have limited search engine industry experience many companies (big and small) may be willing to provide their own training programmes for you if you show the desired aptitudes and attitudes.

In addition, companies may also look favourably at applicants with experience of working in a specific business sector or client group as they already have an appreciation, knowledge and understanding of their market sector.

In Summary

If you are looking for a change of industry in your existing role within Sales, Project Planning, Account Management, Business Development etc., or you are looking to learn some new skills in a fast moving industry, there are some exciting career opportunities available within Search Engine Marketing.

------------

About The Author

Written by Mike Taylor - Mike has a background in HR, Online Recruitment and Online Marketing and is the founder of the specialist job site www.JobsInSearch.com.

Note: You may reproduce this article in full on your web site, blog or newsletter as long as you maintain the complete author profile as above and provide a link back to JobsInSearch.com.
c) Mike Taylor - JobsInSearch.com - 2006

Search Firms Scramble to Hire From Advertising, Marketing Agencies

2005-12-06T09:29:00.000Z

I was interviewed last week by of Christine Black of DM News about the current hiring situation within "search".

The article, "Search Firms Scramble to Hire From Advertising, Marketing Agencies" was published today and includes comments from leading employers and business owners within the search engine marketing industry.

Link to DM News: Search Firms Scramble to Hire From Advertising, Marketing Agencies

Thanks
Mike

New Audio Recruiter Interviews Go Down Well

2005-11-15T15:29:00.000Z

We have had some good feedback from job seekers and recruiters about our new audio recruiter interviews.

The fact that you can learn more about a company from an audio interview than you normally can from an ordinary job listing seems to have gone down well with both job seekers and recruiters.

The most recent interview is with Toby Thwaites, a Director at Purple Consultancy. Purple are a digital media recruitment agency, covering amongst many areas including online marketing and search. They are based in London but cover the UK.

To find out more, and to listen to the interview, visit the Recruiter Interviews page on the Jobs In Search web site.

Thanks

New Audio Recruiter Interviews For Search Related Jobs Launched

2005-10-06T14:26:00.000+01:00

We are pleased to annouce the launch a new Audio Recruiter Interviews feature on JobsInSearch.com.

This innovative new service, believed to be a first in the online job board marketplace, takes online recruitment to another level in the use of digital technology.

To find out more about the new feature click here.

First Interview

The first interview is with Fiona Paice, eMarketing Manager for Search at Alliance & Leicester, one of the UK's major financial services groups. Fiona talks about the e-commerce department, what it is like to work at Alliance & Leicester and the two current vacancies within her Search team.

Listen to the Interview

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Further Interviews

Further interviews are currently being recorded which will be published shortly.

We believe that this new feature will be of benefit to both job seekers and recruiters and we would welcome any feedback you have about our new service.

Thanks

Mike

Google, Microsoft and Dr Lee

2005-09-15T13:34:00.000+01:00

Re the ongoing dispute between Google and Microsoft the Google blog site reports that a judge has cleared the way for Dr Lee to start work.

However, it looks like there is still some more legal issues to sort out.

The entry was posted by Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel at Google.

Link: Google Blog

Thanks
Mike

Google Hires Chief Internet Evangelist

2005-09-12T20:27:00.000+01:00

Vint Cerf, a Founding Father of the Internet, has joined Google as Chief Internet Evangelist.

As quoted on the Google web site: "Vint Cerf is clearly one of the great technology leaders of our time," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt of Cerf, who co-designed the TCP/IP protocols that were used to develop the Internet's underlying architecture. "His vision for technology helped create entire industries that have transformed many parts of our lives. We are honored to welcome him to Google."

Cerf will continue his leadership in the Internet community, and help Google build network infrastructure, architectures, systems, and standards for the next generation of Internet applications.

"Google has already made tremendous strides in making access to information on the web a reality for users across the globe, but we're still in the Internet's early innings," he said. "This medium will enjoy wider-spread use than television, radio or phones, and will ultimately expand beyond planet Earth. Google has always believed in doing things differently, and I believe that places us in a unique position to help bring even the wildest Internet visions into reality."

With the recent activity of Google getting invloved in telecoms there are no doubt more high profile hires yet to come!

Thanks
Mike

Search Engine Musical Chairs

2005-08-08T16:55:00.000+01:00

There has been a lot of coverage recently about Microsoft and Google in the case of Kai-Fu Lee, one of its former executives, who was due to join Google from Microsoft.

Will this be the one and only case this year or will other companies follow the same path?

It reminds me of my time when I was working in the IT and Telecoms industries for IBM and Nokia as a recruiter. Both industries were experiencing fast growth and there simply weren't enough employees available with the right skills and experience to fill the number of positions.

Therefore instead of new talent coming into those industries talent was usually found from within those industries.

So the lack of available employees is nothing new, but what has increased is the cost to a business of leaving positions unfilled.

Whereas before it used to be millions of dollars in today's world it is more likely to be hundreds of millions of dollars instead, hence the lengths companies will go to keep hold of their best employees.

Thanks
Mike

Launch of DigitalMediaJobs.com

2005-08-01T15:48:00.000+01:00

It has been hectic here recently (hence the lack of blog entries) as we prepared to launch another job site.

We now have www.DigitalMediaJobs.com as part of our portfolio. This new site is in addition to our first job site www.JobsInSearch.com and our second job site www.OnlineMarketingJobs.com.

For maximum visibility a job advert will appear on all three sites for the price of one single job listing.

Thanks
Mike

Online Marketing Show London & Search Engine Marketing

2005-06-21T09:23:00.000+01:00

I visited the Online Marketing Show in London last week and it is good to see that Online Marketing continues to go from strength to strength.

It was also good to see a number of search engine marketing companies represented as exhibitors.

Interestingly, some of the most popular seminar sessions were presented by the Search Engine Marketing firms which has to be a boost for the industry!

This was the first show in the UK dedicated to Online Marketing and it will be followed up in September by another show in London - AD-TECH. I wonder how many Search Engine Marketing companies will be at this show? Quite a few no doubt!

Thanks
Mike

SES - London 2005

2005-06-03T14:29:00.000+01:00

I have been along to SES in London this week.

Having attended the SES show in New York in March 2005 it was good to meet up with some of the speakers again.

There were clearly more booths at this London show as compared to London 2004 and I understand that the number of attendees was also up on last year? It all goes to show that "search" is still growing like crazy!

I also attended the SMA-UK (Search Marketing Association) meeting where they held their first official meeting with their newly elected committee. Link: www.sma-uk.org

Thanks
Mike

What's Cooking At Google?

2005-05-24T16:26:00.000+01:00

With hundreds of Google employees becoming millionaires as a result of the IPO last year you can hardly blame people for deciding to leave and "do their own thing."

A contrast in the type of employees leaving can be found with the departure of Wayne Rosing, former vice president of engineering, who is leaving to take up an unpaid academic role at the University of California at Davis, where he will focus on his lifelong passion for astronomy.

And then there is the departure of Charlie Ayers, Google's executive chef (also known as "Chef Charlie") who was previously a chef for the Grateful Dead.

Having cooked for Google's employers for the last 5 years Charlie has also profited from Google's stock and is reported to be opening his own restaurant.

I wonder what will be on the menu and how you will search for what you want to eat!

OnlineMarketingJobs.com Launches 6th May 2005

2005-05-06T00:00:00.000+01:00

Following a successful beta period today saw the launch of OnlineMarketingJobs.com, a sister site to JobsInSearch.com. The site will focus on jobs and careers related to online marketing.

Online Marketing is one of the fastest growing areas on the Internet today as the recent Internet Advertising Revenue Report for 2004 confirmed. Issued by the Interactive Advertising Bureau & PricewaterhouseCoopers the report showed Internet Advertising spending reached $9.262 billion in 2004, a 32.5% increase from $7.267 billion in 2003. In the UK there is also rapid growth, with online advertising at £653 million overtaking the amount spent on radio advertising for the first time.

Any feedback on the new site would be appreciated!

Thanks
Mike

The Future Power Of The Search Engines

2005-04-19T14:02:00.000+01:00

I saw a very interesting 8 minute flash video on Sunday about the next 10 years of media (in all forms).

It is well worth a look and even if only part of it came true it shows just how powerful the search engines will become in the future in all forms of media.

Link: Epic

Thanks
Mike

Top Google Executives To Earn $1 In 2005

2005-04-11T11:17:00.000+01:00

An interesting article came out over the weekend that the top Google executives took a pay cut to just $1 in the second half of 2004 and will be paid the same in 2005.

I wonder how many of us would do the same? I guess it depends on how many millions of dollars everyone made from the IPO which in my case was a big fat ZERO.

So even the top executives at Google at $1 a year are still making more than the big fat ZERO I made from the IPO because I wasn't allowed to buy any shares!

Link: Reuters

Thanks

Mike

Meeting Industry Experts - Interview with Jim Sterne

2005-04-05T18:52:00.000+01:00

We have just added the April 2005 interview on the Jobs In Search site.

April's interview is with Jim Sterne from Target Marketing.

Jim has been involved with the Internet since 1993 and is very much involved in Web Metrics. In fact he is the founding President of the Web Metrics Association.

To read the interview click here.

Thanks

Mike

Mike Grehan To Lead UK & European Offices For WebSourced

2005-03-25T09:04:00.000Z

As revealed on Andy Beal's blog site SearchEngineLowdown WebSourced have acquired the company run by Mike Grehan - Smart Interactive.

Mike will be responsible for the UK and European offices of WebSourced and will spearhead WebSourced's expansion into Great Britain and Europe.

Andy Beal, vice president of marketing for WebSourced, "Mike Grehan is without doubt one of the top search engine experts in the world. His experience, knowledge and excellent reputation among Europe's largest companies, will allow us to become the first U.S. search marketing company to successfully expand into Great Britain and Europe."

Having met both Andy and Mike I feel sure it will be a very successful partnership.

----------------------------

Mike Taylor - Jobs In Search

More Industry Expert Profiles

2005-03-23T15:54:00.000Z

One of the many good things about going to SES in New York was that I managed to ask some more industry experts to take part in our interview series.

The latest expert profile on the Jobs In Search web site is with Mauro Lupi, President of the major Italian Web Marketing and Online Advertising agency Ad Maiora.

In the interview he gives his perspective on the search engine industry within Italy and Europe.

Watch out for more high profile interviews in the next couple of weeks!

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Online Recruitment - Another 10th Birthday!

2005-03-11T08:06:00.000Z

I met Keith Potts from JobSite yesterday at the Online Recruitment Conference and Awards event in London.

Just as Yahoo! celebrated their 10th birthday last week at SES New York JobSite will also celebrate their 10th birthday this year.

When JobSite launched in the UK there were only 40,000 web sites on the whole of the internet and they were even offering free modems! How things have changed!

It will be interesting to see what happens in the next 10 years for both the search engines and online recruitment. I am wondering whether they will still be seen as two separate industries or whether your search engine of choice will also incorporate all job listings?

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Fired Google Blogger Gets New Job

2005-03-08T14:54:00.000Z

It seems that Mark Jen, the blogger recently fired by Google, has a new job.

According to Information Week, Mark has been hired by Plaxo Inc., the company that helps people keep up-to-date contact lists.

Jen was been hired as a product producer, working with Plaxo's engineering team.

A Plaxo spokeswoman said that Jen plans to write about the new position on his Weblog shortly.

"Plaxo has been, and continues to be a company with a progressive view of the blogosphere, viewing it as an excellent forum for open-dialogue with users of its products and services," she writes in an E-mail message.

Jen was fired from Google in late January after posting sensitive information about his first week on the job at the search-engine company, including his impressions of Google's business performance following presentations at a company sales meetings. Jen later removed some of the sensitive content from his site, but was fired anyway.

Link: Information Week

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

SES New York - Great Conference!

2005-03-07T23:01:00.000Z

Just about getting my time clock back now after flying back to the UK at the weekend from New York.

It turns out that SES New York was the biggest yet of the Search Engine Strategies events. Total attendance was about 6,000 which was 50% greater than 2004. Also, paid attendance was 1,734 which was 52% greater than 2004.

Also the exhibiting companies liked what they saw as 70% of them have booked space for the 2006 show already!

There was a well balanced programme with something for everyone and a great chance to meet people whose names I had seen on the forum sites and in newsletters.

All in all a very worthwhile trip which, judging by the number of people attending, showed just has quickly the search engine industry is growing. It makes you realise by listening to the presentations and talking to people that we have only just started to scratch the surface of what "search" can do for us in the future.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

SES New York - Almost Upon Us

2005-02-27T00:06:00.000Z

Looking at the programme again it should be an excellent conference.

Lots of good speakers and people to meet. I'm hoping to meet up with a couple of people from our "Meet Industry Experts" interviews on the Jobs in Search site. I'm also hoping to find some more "experts" to profile in future interviews.

I've also had an email through to say that Yahoo! are holding a 10th Birthday Party on the Tuesday night. Sounds like fun!

No doubt there will be lots of blogging from the conference although I can't say exactly how much will be mine until I get there.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Blogs Being Discussed On BBC Radio 5 Live As I Write

2005-02-22T10:24:00.000Z

I am writing this entry as BBC Radio 5 Live are discussing blogs and what people should and shouldn't publish.

I have sent them an email saying that I have covered this in my blog. I wonder if I will get a reply?

UPDATE: Well the programme went off the air before they got my email (at least that is what I would like to think!).

Anyway, it was good to have a story published BEFORE the BBC!
Mike

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Google To Build New Technology Facility in Oregon

2005-02-22T09:07:00.000Z

According to reports Google are to build a new technology facility in Oregon. It is thought this new facility would create between 50 and 100 jobs.

This is a further example of the expansion of Google which is also being seen within the search engine industry as firms expand their workforce to cope with extra demand and requests from new and existing clients. The percentage of budgets spent in the area of "online" marketing is very much on the increase.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

SES - New York

2005-02-16T16:41:00.000Z

I'm looking forward to my first visit to Search Engine Strategies in New York.

It looks an excellent programme, full of good speakers and topics. I understand there will also be over one hundred exhibitors at the two day Expo.

I'm also looking forward to meeting some of the members from the various forum sites and some of our advertisers on Jobs in Search.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

JobsInSearch.com Short-listed For Innovative Online Marketing Award In Online Recruitment

2005-02-16T12:30:00.000Z

We are feeling rather pleased with ourselves today as JobsInSearch.com has been short-listed for an Innovative Online Marketing Award (for niche job sites) by the Online Recruitment Magazine.

Not a bad result since the job site has only been operating since October 2004.

For the press release click here.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Meet Industry Experts - Shari Thurow

2005-02-15T13:45:00.000Z

We've added a new interview to the "Meet Industry Experts" feature on Jobs In Search.

Our "Meet Industry Experts" section of the site carries interviews with some of the leading experts involved in the search engine industry.

As well as giving an insight into their backgrounds and current roles some of the interviews also cover what attributes they look for when recruiting for their own firms, plus advice for people considering a career in "search".

The latest interview is with Shari Thurow. Shari is the Webmaster/Marketing Director for Grantastic Designs.

Shari has 10 years experience of search engines and the interview is well worth a read.

To read the interview go to the Meet Industry Experts page of Jobs in Search.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Employee Blogs - Write or Wrong?

2005-02-11T11:45:00.000Z

Following my post last week about the fine line between what a company finds acceptable to be published in a blog, and what is not acceptable, we saw a Google employee (Mark Jen) leave the company this week.

If you haven't seen Mark's blog here is the link: 99zeros

As I understand it the information that shouldn't have been in there has been removed.

It will be interesting to see what effect this has on other employee blogs.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Employee Blog Sites

2005-02-02T22:21:00.000Z

Employee blog sites are becoming more common, especially within the Search Engines.

For example, if you want to get an insight into Google or Yahoo take a look at some the following employee blogs:

Link: Yahoo employee blogs

Link: Google employee blogs

One question that springs to mind is where do you draw the line between what you can say and what you want to say? No doubt these employee blogs are keenly read by people within their respective companies to make sure nothing enters the public domain that shouldn't.

Just like my previous blog entry (about reading employer recruitment adverts) you can now add "employee blogs" to your information sources to find out what new products or services are being developed.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Want To Know What New Products Or Services Are Being Developed? Then Look To See Who's Recruiting!

2005-01-27T13:11:00.000Z

Over the last couple of days there has been a lot of blogging and reporting of the fact that Google have hired a former Firefox engineer.

And today comes news of another Mozilla developer is joining Google.

Recruitment news is always a good way of finding out what companies are up to.

So the logical question is: "When does the new Google browser come out????"

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

My Interview With SearchLounge.org

2005-01-17T15:17:00.000Z

I was contacted by the blog site SearchLounge.org before the holiday break at the end of December about doing an interview about Jobs in Search.

The Search Lounge is run by Chris Fillius who created the Lounge as a place to publish original reviews, interviews, and articles about the Search Engine industry.

I was pleased to help out and you can find the interview here.

Chris has some good informaiton and interviews on his site and it is well worth a visit: SearchLounge.org

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Meet Industry Experts - Interview With Catherine Seda

2005-01-12T21:52:00.000Z

We've added a new interview to the "Meet Industry Experts" feature on Jobs In Search this week.

Our "Meet Industry Experts" section of the site carries interviews with some of the leading experts involved in the search engine industry.

As well as giving an insight into their backgrounds and current roles some of the interviews also cover what attributes they look for when recruiting for their own firms, plus advice for people considering a career in "search".

The latest interview is with Catherine Seda Catherine Seda, Author of "Search Engine Advertising" and founder of marketing agency Seda Communication:

To read the interview go to the Meet Industry Experts page of Jobs in Search.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

New Year, New Job?

2005-01-12T21:30:00.000Z

New Year, New Job?

No doubt over the holiday period, and possibly as one of your New Years Resolutions, you "decided" to make that job move!

January is traditionally one of the busiest times in recruitment and from following the news stories 2005 will certainly be no exception.

The search industry continues to grow which means more job opportunities.

Web sites don't achieve high rankings in the search engines without any work being put into them. And the same applies to finding a new job; you need to put the effort in.

New Year, New Job? What are you going to do to make it happen?

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Blogger-Jobs.com

2004-12-21T15:54:00.000Z

The great thing about writing a blog is that you never know who you are going to meet!

Last night I had a good conversation on the phone with with Jason Davis from Blogger-Jobs.com. Jason made contact through JobsinSearch.com after reading my blog.

Jason is also involved, as I am, with specialist job sites. He has some blog sites operating in the following areas:

StartUpJobs.com

SiliconValleyJobs.com

WirelessJobs.com

All three sites have some very good information and are worth checking out.

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Meet Industry Experts - Rich Kahn - BlowSearch.com

2004-12-17T13:44:00.000Z

We have launched a new feature on JobsInSearch.com called "Meet Industry Experts".

The first interview in the series is with Rich Kahn, Chief Operating Officer, BlowSearch.com who talked to Mike Taylor, founder of JobsInSearch.com.

How did BlowSearch.com come about?
Prior to Blow Search I had previously been involved with developing a search engine but the operating capital costs were very high. I then came across "meta searching" where you could search other search engines without having to build your own database. This led to the idea for Blow Search.

When Did BlowSearch.com launch?
BlowSearch.com launched in February 2002 with just one server online. The number of searches grew very quickly to the stage where we now have over one billion searches per month.

How many search engines do you pull results from?
When we first launched we were pulling results from seven different search engines. However, it was taking something like six seconds for the results to be displayed which we felt was far too long.

We exhibited at Search Engine Strategies in Boston during March 2003 and literally finished rewriting the code the night before the show as we had found a way of taking results from more search engines - at a much faster speed. Today we take results from twenty seven different search engines and display the results in under one second.

What are your views about the growth in the search engine industry over the last couple of years?
I don't think anyone could have really predicted just how quickly the search engines were able to grow revenue from paid search advertising.

It really has been a period of dramatic growth for the search engines, leading to the successful float of Google this year.

What are your predictions for the growth of the search engine industry in the future?
There is still a lot of growth left as according to reports we won't see full internet access penetration until 2008/2010. Therefore between now and 2008/2010 we are going to see significant growth as more and more people gain access to the internet and start to use search engines.

Will we see new search engines entering the market in the future?
I think we will always see new players entering the market. However, they are more likely to be in specialist areas rather than trying to compete against the top three search engines - Google, MSN Search and Yahoo!

What advice would you offer to someone considering a career in the search engine industry?
Search is now a multi-billion dollar industry and is growing like crazy. There are some exciting opportunities to work in one of the fastest growing industries around.

What qualities do you look for when recruiting someone for your company?
If I take the example of recruiting for an Account Management role the qualities that I look for are that the person should have a fire in their belly, a desire to make good money and an ability get the job done.

They should also be a good communicator, have good customer facing skills and have already have some previous sales experience. However, the previous sales experience doesn't necessarily have to be in online products and services as we offer some very good training.

-------------------------------------------

Further "Meet Industry Experts" interviews will appear on JobsInSearch.com in January 2005

SES Chicago 13th -16th December 2004

2004-12-14T15:50:00.000Z

I couldn't make it to Chicago myself this week but there is some excellent coverage of the event courtesy of Barry Schwartz (also known as "rustybrick") from Search Engine Round Table.

Link: Search Engine Round Table

Thanks
Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Can A Personal Blog Site Help You Find Your Next Job?

2004-12-01T13:37:00.000Z

With the number of personal blog sites on the increase it would not be too surprising for recruiters to identify blog sites as a way of finding potential candidates for new jobs.

Most personal blog sites usually publish a background profile of the owner. This can be of great value for recruiters looking for new employees.

For many years people have posted their resumes online and my view is that the resume is here to stay (for now).

However, I do feel we will see more and more personal blog sites replacing online resumes as a way of people promoting themselves to recruiters.

Mike Taylor

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Google and Microsoft Compete For Engineering Talent

2004-11-18T10:20:00.000Z

Google is opening a new office at Kirkland, Washington, within five miles from Microsoft’s Headquarters in Redmond. The office space can accommodate up to 200 people.

Alan Eustace, Vice President of Engineering at Google, was quoted as saying "The only reason to start a remote engineering office is to hire really talented people” and that "the Seattle area has an amazing amount of technical talent."

With Google and Microsoft now competing in the search engine arena it will be interesting to see what happens when Google and Microsoft start to compete for local employees.

A new angle on “local search” perhaps?

Mike Taylor

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

Can We Profile You And Your Job?

2004-11-16T09:19:00.000Z

In an attempt to make it easier for people to understand what roles are available within the search engine industry, and what skills and experience are required, we are introducing regular profiles of people already working in the industry.

We are calling this feature "A day in the life of..." and the idea is to profile the different types of jobs that exist with both the search engines and companies providing search engine related products and services.

The profiles will be featured on the JobsInSearch.com web site and the first one is of Oliver Newton, Search Specialist at Unique Digital. To view the profile click here.

If you would like to have your job profiled then contact us at: profiles@jobsinsearch.com

Thanks

Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

How Many People Currently Work In The Search Engine Industry?

2004-11-12T17:15:00.000Z

With over 7,000 people attending Ad Tech in New York, over 700 attendees due in Las Vegas next week for the Webmaster World Search Conference, plus another couple of thousand attendees due in Chicago for the Search Engine Strategies in December, "search" is growing at an amazing rate.

As part of our ongoing research into the search engine industry we'd appreciate some help from you.

Our question is: "How many people do you think are currently working in the search engine industry?"

Your estimates can be for your own country (please specify your country) or on a global basis.

Thanks

Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.

JobsInSearch.com Blog Launches

2004-11-08T17:00:00.000Z

Today saw the launch of the Jobs In Search blog site.

The idea of the blog is to provide news, views and information about jobs and careers in the search engine industry.

We hope that you will find the blog to be of interest and that you will be able to contribute.

Thanks

Mike

JobsInSearch.com - The specialist job site for search engine and related industries.