Posted by Rhea in SEO Dream Team – The SEO game for those in entrenched in the industry! Not to be confused with Search Engine Smackdown or this spam game with Matt Cutts as referee. To be honest, this isn’t much of a game at all, it’s one of those annoying blog tag posts, but it’s cooler than anything else you’ve done. Of course this one might hurt your brain, so I challenge you to take the time and respond with a well-considered post.
The Inspiration:
A few weeks ago I played a friendly, adult game of kickball. Yes, kickball! A co-worker asked me to join and being the mature grownup I am, I participated in a terrific hour long game. I was a bit nervous because I had terrifying flashbacks to the school yard days of fifth grade. Fortunately, I was a bit of tomboy, so I never had to worry about getting chosen last, still all adolescent flashbacks are frightening. And then my mind drifted to SEO (like it always does… I’m a blast at parties) and that led me to now.
The Rules:
- No one talks about SEO Dream Team.
Just kidding. For real now…
- You can choose up to seven team members, but are not required to have seven (are you ballsy enough to say you only need yourself?).
- You can simply list member names or assign fictitious positions; the process is entirely up to you, so get creative!
- After you’ve listed your team members, please tag three other SEOs.
- You need to be tagged before you respond (unless you’re obnoxious).
And to get the ball rolling, here’s my SEO Dream Team:
Please note, I chose people based purely on my knowledge of their work, admiration for their thoughts and their overall presentation at conferences or on blogs and forums. I’ve never worked well with close friends, apparently I’m an aggressive worker and I do best in a professional environment of highly motivated, type A personalities. Not to say that my SEO friends wouldn’t fit this description, but I didn’t want to play a nice game, I wanted to brutally slaughter any and all competition. That’s just how I play, when you’re tagged you can play nice if you prefer!
CEO: Danny Sullivan
I think Danny needs no explanation. However, he wasn’t on my original list because I was thinking more about the nitty gritty details. After a conversation with Brent Csutoras, I realized I needed a leader and there was no better man for the job. Danny has vision, grace, an amazing track record and a sense of humor. What more could ask for?
R&D: Gord Hotchkiss
For some reason, Gord was the first person I wanted on my team. I’m a sucker for numbers and behavioral studies and those are never in short supply when Gord’s in the room. I’ve never had the courage to introduce myself, but I’m head over heels for his research methods and would be starstruck working with him.
PR: Matt Cutts
Matt has only worked his PR and reputation management magic on Google, but I have a feeling he’d be a genius wherever life took him. I’d definitely want him on my team rather than a competitor’s. Watching him work his PR voodoo over a crowd of search marketing conference attendees is pure gold.
Social Media: Cameron Olthuis
I’ve admired Cameron’s work for a long time, but his recent presentation at SES San Jose really won me over. He’s young, but incredibly driven, grounded and intelligent. When it comes to social media he knows it inside and out and doesn’t feed you a line of bull because he genuinely lives for this stuff.
Creative Director: Matt Inman
I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone that attended SES San Jose that I’m quite smitten with Matt, of course not nearly as much as Tamar. So, this is a personal choice because he wore a He-Man shirt and a professional one because I’m amazed by his abilities at the ripe old age of 24. He’s an incredible designer, developer, writer, marketer and business person. I’m scared to think of what he will accomplish by the time he’s thirty and in my fake little world he’s an excellent addition to my SEO Dream Team.
Analytics: Avinash Kaushik
What bothers me most about analytics? Making a decision based on inaccurate or poorly interpreted data. I’ve been reading Occam’s Razor for awhile now, but my brain only associates names with visuals, so I didn’t hold onto his name, until my copy of Web Analytics: An Hour A Day showed up. Now, I’m an annoying fan.
I couldn’t decide on my last person, so it would either be: Stephan Spencer (a man after my own scientific heart), Michael Gray, Rae Hoffman or Greg Boser. I’m most familiar with Michael thanks to Facebook, but have always adored every presentation and post made by each of those individuals. All four seem highly intelligent and to the point, a must for any team to run efficiently!So, that’s my SEO Dream Team! What’s yours? I tag Brent, Simon and Carolyn.NOTE: Nobody tag Tamar (per her request).
I feel like I have finally made it. SEO Dream Team! Whooo!!
Thanks,
Avinash.
Ah! One of my dream team responded… breathe in, breathe out.
Thanks for the comment! I definitely didn’t expect it and since you’re here I have to say I’m loving the book!! I’ll post a thorough review once completed, but the tons of positive reviews are what swayed my purchase, so I don’t know if it will help much.
Anyways, thank you for such a terrific piece of work. =)
Going for the gold!!
It’s a honor just to be nominated. And do I have to pee in a cup? We canadians don’t have a great track record when it comes to hanging on to Olympic gold.
Very cool idea!
[...] Rhea has a neat idea about creating your SEO Dream Team. There are some interesting rules to this game…I have to chose 7 members for my team. [...]
Gord – lol, peeing in a cup isn’t necessary at this point. Perhaps in a week though!
Come on – at least give us 30 days.
ha! You’ll be the first to get tested.
Do you think I could sell it on eBay and make some bucks?
Dream Team… Rand Fishkin, Glen Allsopp, Danny Sullivan, Michael Gray, Lee Odden, Jessica Simpson, and Myself (Dorausch)
what a great idea Rhea, I love it!
Hmmmm….. okay I only get 7 people.
Aaron Wall, Dave Naylor, Greg Boser, Jeremy Shoemaker, Rae Hoffman, Mike Grehan and Calum McLeod
I would have grabbed another women to balance things but Rae is more than enough
[...] Rhea Drysdale blogged her SEO Dream Team including many of the usual suspects. I know it has been done before but not recently. [...]
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/070831-134608
Great idea! I particularly love the Simpsonizing (err, Simpsonification? Simpsoning?) of your Dream Team. I think I’m still too much of an SEO newbie to be able to build a decent Dream Team. However, people I’ve admired professionally during my short time in SEO are: Danny Sullivan, Rand Fishkin, Aaron Wall, Michael Gray, Vanessa Fox, Matt Cutts, and Chris Winfield.
[...] SEO Dream Team – The SEO Blog Tag Game, Rhea Drysdale [...]
[...] Yep, I’ve been tagged for another blog tag game, this time actually by name. The idea behind Rhea’s game is to identify the 7 members of your SEO dream team… so here [...]
[...] Rhea Drysdale blogged her SEO Dream Team including many of the usual suspects. I know it has been done before but not recently. [...]
Aussie, you chose Rae over me?! I’m so hurt…
Fun and interesting!
I think no. 8 on your team should be Father Time, asking why you so freely squander his gift…
BB
[...] SEO Dream Team (26 Sphinns): Rhea Drysdale proposes a blog tag game suitiable to the SEO niche. Once again: Life in the search industry. [...]
[...] Rhea Drysdale blogged her SEO Dream Team including many of the usual suspects. I know it has been done before but not recently. [...]
Great team! compliments
Are we allowed to involve cloning?
If not… just Rand…
If we are… Rand x7.
[...] Obiettivo di questo post non è rispondere a queste domande — cosa? pensavate di sì? — bensì segnalarvi una simpatica proposta di Rhea Drysdale, ovvero quella di riflettere sul vostro Team SEO ideale, il SEO Dream Team. [...]
Wow… someone has a little crush. Cloning is allowed if you can do it! =)
[...] Rhea created a meme asking people to design your SEO Dream Team. Who would be on it? Melissa from seoaware tagged me on this one, so here goes. The rules say to choose up to 7 members of the ideal team. It’s definitely difficult to pare this down to only 7, but dem’s da rules. This would be my SEO dream team, because I know they know their stuff, and have been in the trenches. [...]
Can I be in charge of making people drink?
Definitely. You’re hereby by my official VP of Happy Hour. =)
Rebecca you know how much I lust er I mean respect your skills…. but Rae would really kill the competition. And I mean “okay who’s digging the grave” kill!!!
[...] slip in a fourth mention for this new bit of linkbait I’ve just seen: the SEO Dream Team. Great idea to get links from authoritative [...]
Bruce Dern Movies…
Thanks for the nice read, keep up the interesting posts…..
wwe free online game…
I Googled for something completely different, but found your page…and have to say thanks. nice read….
A formidable line-up, no mistake!
Great team! compliments