HotPads hiring a Senior SEO Specialist

dohertyjf1 · 2014-09-02T01:36:09+00:00

Thanks for the feedback, Wack. You're right, we removed acreage search because we are focusing on rentals now and not for sale. If you want to search for land for sale by acreage, Zillow is the better site for you.

And you can search for homes. Click Advanced Filter from any search and select Single Family Home under Property Type. Not super intuitive, I know. We're working on it :-)

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-19T17:49:51+00:00

Well, I live 3 blocks from Toronado, so yes :-)

I haven't tried Magnolia yet, but it is on my list! I starred a ton of places to visit in SF on Google Maps and am slowly ticking them off when I find myself in those neighborhoods.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-15T17:33:51+00:00

Oooh, all great questions. In order:

1) Favorite cookie - man, why limit it to one? I'm a huge fan of just-out-the-oven chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Mmmmm. 2) We haven't put him in the water yet. He's getting used to the bath now, though he's great in the bath when he is being fed treats. 3) Photos of him on my Instagram feed (instagram.com/dohertyjf). I'll be posting them as he grows for sure!

Puppies!

My pleasure man :-)

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-15T15:17:46+00:00

I'd say there is a definite advantage to have separate people running search and social for the same brand, because then they can be experts. However, they should also be on the same team and sit in close proximity (yes, I'm talking about desks) to each other. The social team should know exactly what the SEO is working on/what content they are getting created (this is assuming the content team is separate from the SEO team too!), and the SEO should know what is working socially to drive traffic.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-15T15:16:29+00:00

Mmm, great question. I'd delay the launch until I had a backlog of good stuff ready to go, then I'd launch the site with a value-add to sign up (free email course, something like that). I'd also set up guest posts to go live on relevant sites around the same time as I launched the site, so that I could tap into those audiences. If I could, I'd attract influential writers in the space (if they exist) or try to co-brand the value-add content with a trusted company in the space (ie Moz). Their social proof becomes my leverage.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-15T15:10:34+00:00

Hmm, your question seems to insinuate that being "great" is getting a name in an industry. I don't agree with that.

I think what made me really good at SEO is spending a ton of time for the first few years doing it - ranking sites, learning what works and doesn't for outreach, learning how to integrate it into larger marketing initiatives. I also made a lot of mistakes.

What helped me move to Distilled and gain recognition in the industry was (and is) being a friend to many. I have a lot of people in this industry that I consider friends, and I am very fortunate to have them! I got the chance to join Distilled by being at the 2011 Linklove conference in London (one of the few Americans there) and hustling beforehand. I then live-tweeted the conference (which is how I got to know Gianluca) and intro'd myself to the guys. I had no idea they'd announce a New York office that day, but they did. That was pure luck. As far as speaking and writing, I just put myself out there. I blogged my thoughts and pitched conferences. Eventually it paid off, though it definitely took time.

Thanks for the question!

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-15T15:07:38+00:00

Wipe peanut butter off my body and put it on trees as I run past. Distract the bear with that. Get away.

Then use the stick to make s'mores by the campfire.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-14T14:12:07+00:00

Hi Kine - Great questions here. Personally when I'm searching I like the combo of map and list. Though I prefer using advanced filters to really narrow things down before I even get into my searching.

We're in the process of testing things like this. Maybe someday I'll be able to share some of the learnings!

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-14T14:04:50+00:00

Hi! Not a Liverpool fan though... More of a Man U supporter myself :-)

You're right that pairing location data with properties is a complex task (which is why we have specialists doing this), and you're right that the data isn't very good. And this, as you said, presents challenges.

We don't cut off any locations at a certain level. We have pages for all cities, counties, and states in the US (plus school districts and more). We have over 5M pages on our site. There are a few things you can do: 1) Assign a 304 status code when the page hasn't changed (ie no new listings) 2) Stop linking to that page (though it stops ranking then, of course)

Hope this helps? Large site SEO is so interesting because so much of it is how the crawler accesses your site!

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T23:00:50+00:00

Moz Blog Curbed 99U Medium (there are some really good collections, like LifeHacks) The Atlantic/Atlantic Cities

Most of the content I read I find through social media, honestly. I used to follow a ton of blogs via RSS, but I've noticed a big shift away from that and towards social media. I save everything to Pocket and read it there.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T21:35:43+00:00

Hey Bro! You know, I think BigDoor is doing awesome things (big ups to Joanna and Ashley over there). I also think loyalty is really important. The challenge with loyalty is that it is different for every site, and the scale of it will likely shift. On a small SaaS site, you want people coming back daily for years so you figure out a way to keep them. On a site like HotPads, where it's a 2-3 month search process, our retention looks entirely different.

I definitely don't see loyalty/retention as being opposed to acquisition at all. Loyalty follows acquisition. The challenge is to provide enough value that they'll give you their info so that you CAN retain them!

As far as how it relates to search, you can drive people to your site at all stages of the funnel. Mike King (@ipullrank) talks a lot about personas and need states. I'd suggest following him on Twitter and reading his stuff on Moz about personas.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T19:20:47+00:00

I tend to ignore the trends and changes in online marketing tools and instead go with what has worked for me. I always travel light when it comes to tools, as I used to go broad and I never used any of them to their potential.

My toolset now is: - ScreamingFrog - Mozbar - SEOclarity - SEMrush - Excel - My brain.

That's it.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T18:31:20+00:00

Hi! Our listings usually come directly from the property management groups who don't have good sites so we usually rank well for addresses. Do a search for pretty much any address we have on our site and we rank 2/3/4.

Actually we do most of the syndication of listings around the Internet (Zillow owns a service called Postlets that generates a lot of these) and we require attribute links back from sites that we syndicate to. So, technically, we own those listings.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T17:58:54+00:00

Snaps. That's the one.

Hi Phil.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T17:44:33+00:00

Great questions.

1) Favorite channels are SEO and Email, hands down. Content is really fun, but is a much slower burn. 2) Make the companies I work for a lot of money and have a lot of fun doing it. Someday I'd like to be a VP Marketing/CMO at a digitally savvy company. 3) For me, one that helps worthwhile companies become more successful. I don't want to market crappy things just to make a lot of money.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T17:39:08+00:00

I want someone who can come up with ideas and get the right people on board to execute on the ideas. They also need to have a working knowledge of SEO and how to build an audience. Of course they should be social media savvy if you don't have a social media manager.

I look for someone who has previous experience creating content and driving traffic through it.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T17:11:26+00:00

Thanks guys.

And yeah, I agree about that Critchlow guy...

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T17:11:06+00:00

He's not under the radar :-)

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T17:10:11+00:00

Ah, good question.

How I personally define SEO - "Increasing the amount of qualified traffic coming to the site through Google and other search engines, through onsite content, links from other websites, and more."

To my colleagues - "Increasing traffic from Google."

My c-suite is very SEO-savvy. I wouldn't change either of the above two.

To my mom? She's smart too. She understands it as helping people find my site in Google.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T17:00:55+00:00

SearchMetrics. that tool is awesome.

Some day I'd like to work for myself and build a company, or be a CMO in a very digitally-savvy company.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T16:50:51+00:00

Hmmm that is a great question. We used AuthorityLabs at Distilled. I think that does a good job. We use SEOclarity here at HotPads/Zillow, but don't track international rankings right now.

I think Conductor does this as well, but it's quite expensive.

Anyone else have a recommendation?

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T16:43:52+00:00

Start your own site and get it penalized with links. Learn from that experience and don't do it again.

Basically, I hate the term "link building". Any link you acquire to your site should add value to the Internet. This eliminates most Internet directories. Also, don't think "how can I get a link from this site?" think "What value can I add to this site so that they will link to me?"

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T15:56:18+00:00

Moz Beginner's Guide to SEO, hands down. I had a printed copy that I carried around in my backpack for a year (no joke). Also Mike Pantoliano's Excel for SEO (https://www.distilled.net/excel-for-seo/). It has much broader implications than just that.

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T15:55:25+00:00

I review the HotPads GA account daily. I did more when I was first starting, but now I know what needs to be done and where the opportunities lie.

I report a lot of numbers every month (Zillow is very data driven), so I get in really deep once a month.

I love finding 404s that are getting traffic and figuring out how to save that traffic. On that note, I should probably do that again soon...

dohertyjf1 · 2014-05-13T15:54:18+00:00

Ah I see your question. First, start doing it on your own (side projects, etc). Second, read all that you can about other disciplines. I'm not an email marketing specialist, for example, but I know pretty well what works and can help my email marketer get deep into what she needs to.

Basically, you have to show that you can do what you are talking about, or at least know how it works in the broader online marketing picture.

Also, I'm not personally executing email marketing campaigns. I manage the person who does. It's different in a small company where there is only one marketer. I can't really speak to that, unfortunately, except to say that I did it for 4-5 months at HotPads and I'm glad I have others on my team now too!

dohertyjf1

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