New To SEO? Follow These People on Twitter

Learning About SEO On Twitter

When I first started in SEO, I was learning a ton – from my coworkers, in-house training, Distilled U, and… Twitter! I never thought I’d say this, but being active on one of the biggest social media networks today, in my opinion, is absolutely critical to progressing in this industry. And the reasons have nothing to do with the integration of social media marketing (which is also a great idea), Twitter is filled with super smart and amiable people who share a ton of crucial information about a variety of topics, if you know where to look.

After a few months, I learned that there are quite a few important people to follow, because they provide invaluable tips and information that I’ve benefited from both in terms of knowledge and actionable takeaways.

Real, Accessible People Are There To Talk

One of my favorite things about Twitter is how accessible people are on it. In the SEO world, the nobody is above anyone else – The people we look up to, interact, answer questions, and are generally friendly and helpful. After informally polling some of my colleagues, I’ve come up with a list of 15 authoritative figures within the SEO / inbound marketing industry who have greatly impacted my career and you should probably consider following.  (Pro tip: don’t just click the ‘follow’ button, but actually read their Tweets! Trust me, you’ll be happy you did 😉 )

	Matt Cutts – The only person in the industry that truly has all of the answers. While Cutts rarely gives away secrets, his word is mostly gospel, and I know from experience that he does in fact answer questions once in a while.
	Neil Patel – Patel started in SEO but veers more toward overall content and CTR strategy. Some of his stuff is very clever, and when I need a creativity boost, I check out the latest blog post from quicksprout.com.
	Rand Fishkin – We at Kahena are huge fans of Rand – he is probably the most transparent and level headed SEO out there. He started Moz, arguably the biggest and most useful & trustworthy SEO resource on the planet, and has a lot of tools that we use here.
	Barry Schwartz – Barry is probably the most consistent and important news breaker in the SEO world, and we were thrilled to host him here at the Kahena offices. His news headlines are great because his sources aren’t generic – he scours webmaster forums and hacker threads for scoops and even gets comments from Googlers like Matt Cutts & John Mueller.
	Dr Pete – Dr Pete is an incredible marketing scientist who chops up all the big data at Moz, and gives some great insight to the inbound marketing community. His blog posts & Tweets offer value around understanding Google’s algorithm and the future of SERP’s. Overall, a smart dude!
	Patrick Altoft– Our CEO, Ari, says that one of the best SEO agencies in the UK is Branded3. You might not have heard of him, but Patrick Altoft, Director of Strategy & Co-Founder, puts out great content and he’s an absolute awesome all around digital marketer.
	Danny Sullivan – When I first started in SEO, my boss told me that my day needs to start and end with Danny’s hugely important industry websites: Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. His tweets are must-reads, and he’s got a sense of humor too!
	Seth Rosenblatt – I have personally found it useful to maintain a macro view of search while working in SEO, which is why I find Rosenblatt, a CNET writer who focuses on Google, exceedingly important to follow.
	Aleyda Solis – I wasn’t privy to the awesome that is Aleyda until my colleagues @aroth26 & @rachslov pointed her out. She definitely has her pulse on all things inbound marketing (especially as it pertains to international SEO), and her StateOfDigital posts are must-reads.
	AJ Ghergich – I almost didn’t include AJ because he’s got so many great content secrets, but then I realized he has 35k followers. Cat’s outta the bag. His tweets revolve around a wide gamut of interesting, intelligent, & most importantly, actionable marketing ideas.
	Cyrus Shepard – Cyrus is a straight up sharp dude who provides some great tactical advice. We are fans of his here at Kahena. And that crystal blue perhaps-Breaking-Bad-inspired light bulb in his Twitter background is awesome too.
	Will Critchlow – The early days of all the newbs here at Kahena involve devouring Distilled videos – and we’ve come to understand that Will is simply an SEO authority who everyone needs to watch carefully.
	Joanna Lord – She’s got a great macro marketing take on things, as evidenced by her must-see presentations (namely: Moving the Needle on Your Marketing Efforts). And when we need an infusion of innovation, we simply read a few of her Tweets.
	Duane Forrester – Dubbed as one half of the ‘Search Police’ by Barry Schwartz, Duane is an authority figure for the US’s second largest search engine, and offers timely & helpful insight on what works and doesn’t work for Bing. He’s also accessible – when we needed a clarification for Bing Webmaster Tools, Duane gave us an answer pretty quickly.
	Bill Slawski – I’ll be honest, some of Bill’s marathon technical articles take a while for me to digest, but on Twitter, he’s magnificent. His Tweets are not exclusive to SEO, and he has some great random insights.

A Monthly Appreciation Series

Obviously this list goes on. Keeping this list to just 15 people would be unfair to so many more great SEO’s on Twitter. So, consider this the kick off post for an ongoing monthly Kahena Appreciation Series, in which we choose a few of the most inspiring people we follow on Twitter, and tell you why we think they are awesome!

Who Are You Following on Twitter?

We love meeting new people. Let us know who inspires you the most on twitter so we can learn from them, and maybe even include them in future appreciation posts!