About Sarah Parker

Sarah Parker is a freelance journalist and blogger at The Blog Room and communications consultant at Parker Communications. She lives and works surrounded by mountains and birdsong – in NSW Australia.

Search Industry Job of the Week – Search Marketing Coordinator

Job Title: Search Marketing Coordinator
Job Reference: Unknown
Position Type: full time
Name of employer: Zappos Development, Inc.
Location: Henderson, NV
Date Posted: 15 November 2013
Position description:

Zappos IP, Inc. is looking for a Search Marketing Coordinator!

Why join them? Their unique culture has made Zappos.com, Inc. and its subsidiaries one of FORTUNE’s 100 Best Companies to Work For five years straight. Find out why: www.money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/best-companies

Why else? They offer an extensive benefits package for all full-time employees, including medical, dental, vision, and 401k!

And . . . they’re hiring like crazy right now and looking for smart, forward-thinking problem solvers to join their world-class and fairly wacky team.

Oh, and one more thing! Cover letters are cool, but do you know what’s even cooler?! Show them who you are with a cover letter VIDEO! You will be able to upload one when applying for this position. (Video cover letters are not required, but if you wanna do one, they wanna see it!)

Position Summary:

Zappos Development, Inc. is looking for a full-time search marketing coordinator who is self-motivated, entrepreneurial, and has great attention to detail. The position requires a minimum of six months of online marketing experience preferably in search engine marketing. This person would be responsible for the daily management of many of their paid search engines. They want someone who can generate awesome keywords that drive the best visitors and conversions. Also, they need Excel gurus who can create dynamic formulas and other cool whizbang reports! Do not forget about ad copy: they need you to always be testing what ad copy works best and to continually refine.

This position will also include, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:

  • Daily monitoring of ROI and conversion across all campaigns.
  • Strategic bidding of categories and keywords.
  • Weekly communication with search engine account executives to improve performance.
  • Serve as a liaison with software engineers to create new tools and optimize our accounts.
  • Work with their awesome merchandising team to identify trends to utilize for paid search ideas.

Required Skills:

  • A minimum of six months online marketing experience, preferably in SEM/PPC.
  • Four year degree, preferably in marketing or a technical discipline.
  • Very strong organization, problem solving, and interpersonal skills.
  • Proactive and able to develop rapport and positive working relationships with coworkers and account executives.
  • Ability to multitask and prioritize various projects.
  • Strong negotiation skills.
  • Strong analytical skills.
  • Proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel.
  • Must love negative keywords.
  • Experience with Kenshoo, Marin Software, ClickEquations, Acquisio, Coremetrics, Omniture, Webtrends and/or Google Analytics is preferred.

Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: Zappos Careers
Contact: Send resumes via online form to: jobs[at]zappos.com

For more search industry jobs, or to post a vacancy, visit Search Engine College Jobs Board.

 

Fast Five in Search – Week 42, 2013

fast-fiveThis week we’ve got: Hummingbird, link building in the new era, social media templates and an interesting story about creating ‘big content’ and what it can do for your business. Enjoy!

Six Vital Google Hummingbird Questions Answered by Rajveer Singh Rathore
In a nutshell, Rajveer advises, “the major reason that Google has rolled out Hummingbird is because it wants to offer relevant and helpful results to conversational, voice searches. By creating content that is suitable for mobile users, you can optimize it for the Hummingbird algorithm.” Rajveer also provides some great examples of mobile friendly content, to inspire digital marketers.

Keyword Secrets to Link Building after Hummingbird, Penguin and Panda by Eric Ward
Eric’s been at the forefront of link building and keyword research for many years – so when he says, “linking techniques don’t work in the way they used to – [but] keywords are still vital to your link building strategy,” I believe him. Eric’s hosting a free webinar at noon Eastern, 5pm UK, on Thursday (November 14) – see the link at the bottom of his post.

Must-Have Social Media Meta Tag Templates for Improved Sharing and SEO by Cyrus Shepard
This post contains incredible code resources! Cyrus has given us a selection of excellent meta-tag templates and even a breakdown on what content works best on which social media channels.

5 Strategic Steps to Big Content by Mackenzie Fogelson
A few weeks ago Mack Web Solutions released the biggest piece of content they’d ever written, a 147 page guide on how to build online communities. In this post Mackenzie takes us through the inspiration, development and benefits of producing ‘big content’ to promote your company’s ideal purpose.

And finally…

Google Authorship – Lethal For Low Quality Guest Bloggers by Rohit Palit
Rohit gives a quick rundown on how to set up Google Authorship on your site, but a timely warning for bloggers who post low quality content (usually as guest posts) – be careful to only enable Authorship on sites you want to be identified with. And maybe don’t produce spammy guest posts anyway.

Happy reading!

*Image courtesy of Threadless

Fast Five in Search – Week 41, 2013

fast-fiveIs Google’s PageRank on its way out? And what are the key ingredients needed to harness the power of Twitter, Google+ and other social media channels? Read on…

Using Google+ to Appear in the Top Results Every Time – Whiteboard Friday by Rand Fishkin
For months now there has been an ongoing debate about whether Google+ integration affects rankings. In this post Rand proves that having an active Google+ account (with influential people in your circles) definitely puts you ahead of the game.

Driving Results With Visual Content: Interview With Krista Neher by John Rampton
Creating a ‘pinnable image’ is the secret to sharable content and this post includes a couple of handy tips on how to create such sharable morsels…

Is PageRank on Its Way Out? Focus on These Tools Instead by Adrienne Erin
Now that Google’s PageRank data is not being updated regularly, what other tools can SEOs use to determine the success of their campaigns?

Rock Social Media Content in 30 Minutes a Day by Arnold Ma
Is keeping all your social media channels open draining your productive time? This great infographic gives a couple of handy hints on automation and planning ahead for each channel.

And finally…

9 Awesome Uses That Make Twitter Exceptional by Albert Costill
This one’s just for a bit of fun. Did you know Twitter can be used for more than keeping up with people and events? It can also be used as a job search tool, recipe finder – you name it!

Happy reading!

*Image courtesy of Threadless

Search Industry Job of the Week – Creative Editor – Paid SEM Media

Job Title: Creative Editor – Paid SEM Media
Job Reference: Unknown
Position Type: full time
Name of employer: The Search Agency
Location: Los Angeles
Date Posted: 31 October 2013
Position description:

The SEM Creative Editor will be a company leader in creating, testing, and optimizing keywords and messaging for top-tier clients with the goal of maximizing reach, awareness, and new customer acquisition. They will be responsible for building organized account structures for top companies to ensure relevant ad copy appears for all available SERP queries. The Creative Editor is responsible for writing, testing, and reporting on all new SEM initiatives and taking charge of keyword development, organization, and analysis as it relates to the structure for presenting clients’ ads online.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Work closely with Account Managers, web experts, etc. to create unique and optimized search and display campaigns.
  • Develop and organize keywords into a strategic campaign structure that puts client ads in front of highly relevant online searchers.
  • Work creatively and analytically to change underperforming SEM initiatives by addressing issues with landing page relevance, quality score, and account structure.
  • Actively participate in meetings, training, and create tools to help optimize client SEM campaigns.
  • Ability to act quickly and proactively for client success in a deadline-driven environment.

Requirements:

The successfull candidate must have:

  • Recent SEM experience in an active online marketing environment.
  • Familiarity with AdWords Editor and UI as well as Bing UI and desktop tool.
  • Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel as it relates to SEM account builds and optimization.
  • Knowledge of Enhanced Campaigns.
  • Great attention to detail and organization.
  • Intuitive/creative thinker.
  • Outstanding computer and online search skills.
  • Ability to function independently and as part of a team.
  • Adaptability to a changing environment quickly and easily.
  • Manage multiple assignments and prioritize work while meeting deadlines.
  • Resolve complex editorial challenges in a professional and timely manner.
  • Fun, smart, energetic people will move to the top of the candidate list.

Desired Skill Include:

  • Comfortable participating in meetings/trainings to improve account performance across multiple clients and services teams.
  • Excel template and tool creation to improve account structure and performance.
  • Excellent knowledge of third party industry tools used for tracking and reporting on key client metrics.
  • Experience with the Google DoubleClick management platform.

Compensation:

Market competitive salary
Equity opportunities

To Apply please send your resume and salary history to hr(at)thesearchagency(dot)com with “SEM Editor” in the subject line. Please no telephone calls or faxes. The Search Agency, Inc. is a EOE.

Salary range: Unknown
Closing date: Unknown
More info from: http://www.thesearchagency.com/join/careers.html
Contact: Send resumes via online form to: hr(at)thesearchagency(dot)com

For more search industry jobs, or to post a vacancy, visit Search Engine College Jobs Board.

Fast Five in Search – Week 40, 2013

fast-fiveIn response to your questions and comments, we’ve put together a selection of industry opinion about Google’s ever-expanding zoo of updates: Hummingbird and Penguin 2.0. What is the point of all these updates? And what do they mean for the future of SEO?

Hummingbird Unleashed by Gianluca Fiorelli
Gianluca has examined the original press announcement of Google’s Hummingbird by Amit Singhal and the documents created by industry heavyweights in the aftermath (including links) – to help us understand the purpose of this latest change.

What Do The New Google Updates Mean For Content Marketers: Interview With Greg Secrist At #Pubcon 2013 by Murray Newlands
Murray has included video of the interview and some key point takeaways. It looks like engaging, informative content will remain golden – and content marketers will keep their jobs in this new era.

What Does Penguin 2.0 Mean to Your SEO Plan? By Julie Ann Ross
Thin content, recycled product descriptions, paid placements and irrelevant links have all been penalized by Penguin and now Penguin 2.0 is here to finish the job. Julie outlines why rich content production is the key to surviving this, and all updates to come.

Google and the Death of “Do No Evil” by Ben Kemp
“After 16 years of helping other businesses achieve a greater prominence for their websites, the past 2 years of insanity has given me pause to contemplate the future. Clearly, Google is intent on rendering my chosen vocation irrelevant.”
Do you share Ben’s view? Read on…

And finally…

Are You Still Playing Russian Roulette With Google? Demian Farnsworth
As usual Demian gets right down to the point. “Hummingbird is not about the words you use when searching … it’s all about the meaning of those words.” Demian gives us a glimpse into Google’s vision of the future.

Happy reading!

*Image courtesy of Threadless