Long time read­ers will know I’ve had a long run­ning iden­tity cri­sis about my choice of career. This recent inci­dent led me to won­der if there will ever come a time when my knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence will be con­sid­ered crit­i­cal. Will I ever save a life?

It doesn’t even have to be that dra­matic. If you’re a mechanic and see a stranded motorist on the side of the road, chances are you can help. All I could do is pull over, gaze in con­fu­sion under the hood, kick a tire and explain why you should really opti­mize your land­ing pages to get the most from your search mar­ket­ing campaign.

My father in law, who has been a car­pen­ter all his life, can walk into most any home and fix the draw that sticks, or put up a set of shelves. That same father in law can’t help a sharp and pan­icked intake of breathe every time he sees me pick up a power tool. My wife has acquired the same habit. Nei­ther can explain exactly what I do, and they’ve both known me for a quar­ter century.

Even an accoun­tant will con­stantly be asked for tax advice, a lawyer about a par­tic­u­larly sticky divorce, or a vet­eri­nar­ian about Pookie’s unfor­tu­nate habit of pass­ing nox­ious gas when company’s over (and yes, Pookie is a dog). Each of these careers con­tributes some­thing to the greater good of mankind. But a search mar­keter? We’re just not in hot demand to make the world a bet­ter place.

In my fan­tasy, after the afore men­tioned announce­ment, I raise my hand and con­fi­dently stride forward:

“I’m a trained search mar­keter. What’s the problem?

“Thank God you’re here,” point­ing to an obvi­ously trou­bled man star­ing at a lap­top. “This gen­tle­men here is extremely upset.”

Beam­ing with quiet con­fi­dence, I gen­tly sit down beside the man and say, “Sir, I’ve been a search mar­keter for almost 20 years. How can I help you?”

Through his tears, I can see a small twin­kle in his eye that indi­cates that he’s dared to hope again. “I don’t under­stand it. I just can’t get this damned site to rank.”

“Well, here’s your prob­lem, your title tags aren’t opti­mized. And your incom­ing links have no anchor text. I can fix that.”

As I take the lap­top from his trem­bling hands, a sin­gle per­son in the cir­cle of onlook­ers who have been drawn by the scene starts clap­ping. Slow­ing, it spreads around the cir­cle. In min­utes, uproar­i­ous cheer­ing and clap­ping sur­round me. Out­wardly, I respond with gra­cious humil­ity, but inside, I’m high fiv­ing myself and say­ing, “Yah..who’s da man? I’m da man!”

Maybe there should be a medal for search mar­ket­ing bravery.

Orig­i­nally pub­lished in Mediapost’s Search Insider Decem­ber 8, 2011


Biography / Resume : Gord Hotchkiss is the founder and senior vice president of Enquiro, now part of Mediative. He is renowned in the industry for his expertise when it comes to understanding online user and search behaviour. He and the Enquiro team have built a solid reputation for being the leading experts when it comes to understanding what happens on a search portal and why. Before Enquiro, Gord was chairman and director of SEMPO (The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization), he worked as a columnist for MediaPost and Search Engine Land, and he was a regular speaker at industry conferences and events. Gord is also the author of The BuyerSphere Project: How Business Buys from Business in a digital marketplace.