A screenshot showing a tweet by Sergey Alakov - one of 20 top SEO experts to follow

20 top SEO experts & keeping up to date

17th August 2017 17 Comments

The web is awash with ‘Who to follow’ lists and reviews of the top SEO experts. Even as I was writing this piece another article of this vein popped up in my Twitter feed.

That put the cap on it – I definitely couldn’t do another one. Especially after thoroughly endorsing a recent Whiteboard Friday piece revealing the results of removing ‘cruft’ from the Moz website.

So how can I make this different? How can I ‘add value’ for my audience (you guys) and not just bloat the web with more “Hey, you should follow Rand Fishkin and John Mueller!” (well duh) cruft?

The 20 top Seo experts you may never have heard of

First, some rules. To qualify for my ‘may never have heard of’ list they can’t have a K. Meaning, they can’t have so many followers Twitter can’t fit the number in and instead says “43k” like for this guy – if more than 10,000 people have found them already they can’t be that obscure, right?

Also, they have to Tweet in English. This isn’t me being close-minded – it’s just a weakness of my education, in that I cannot read any language other than English.

So, whilst there are lots of great SEO’ers in other languages, I cannot vouch for the quality of their posts so they’re out. Sorry.

We both know you’re after the most obscure first so here’s some ‘scroll-bait’ – they’re in order by number of followers from most to least, so if you want to find my most obscure recommendation, you’ll just have to scroll down.

1. Simo ahava | @simoAhava | The gtm guy

Simo almost didn’t make the list – by virtue of having nearly 10,000 followers (just 510 short of the mythical ‘K’ at time of writing) – but he scraped in under the threshold and the quality of the content he posts made him a must have.

Simo is the Google Tag Manager guy.

On his website simoahava.com there are more tips, tricks, shortcuts and handy ‘how to’ guides for Tag Manager than you could shake several sticks at.

Simo’s really at the coalface too, doing this stuff himself and then sharing the benefits of his experience with readable, step-by-step guides on how to do everything from scroll tracking to bathing your dog using Google Tag Manager (I might have made that last one up – but it wouldn’t surprise me if Simo had worked out a way to get GTM to do that too!).

Follow him on Twitter and you’ll get his updates and guides as he posts them, like this gem:

2. Marie Haynes | @Marie_Haynes | The Google algo guru

Marie was another where I thought: “Can I really include her in a ‘may not have heard of’ list?” – OK, so you may have already heard of her but a follower count around the 7,500 mark shows that not enough people have discovered this sage of the search engines.

My recommending her is not hindered by the fact she’s bloomin’ lovely. I’m still hoping to hook-up some of her ‘awesome sauce’ into the Optimisey SEO MeetUps – despite the fact she’s based in Ottawa.

Her ‘Search News You Can Use‘ newsletters distill her insights into your inbox:

and you can follow her on Twitter as she tinkers with and tries out things the rest of us haven’t even thought of and then shares the results for all to benefit.

3. Yehoshua Coren | @AnalyticsNinja | Analytics ninja

Normally anyone calling themselves a “ninja” of anything would be straight on my ‘nope’ pile – but Yehoshua can genuinely lay claim to the title of Analytics Ninja – hence the unimaginative sub-heading above.

What Simo, above, is for GTM, Yehoshua is for GA – as this eye-opening (for me) Tweet demonstrates – that even had Google themselves getting involved:

Plus anyone that has a photo of themselves with a huge pint of beer as their profile pic is alright by me.

4. Kirsty hulse | @Kirsty_Hulse | Freelance phenom

Kirsty clocks in (at time of writing) with a smidgen under 4,000 followers. The founder of ManyMinds – a digital agency that collates and curates the best freelance talent to work on projects – she doesn’t just know SEO but also the stresses and strains of setting up a new business – something I know will resonate with a lot of readers here.

She’s also hilariously sharp witted – as this example Tweet shows:

But with the humour comes razor sharp business acumen, blogs which throw a light on the world of the digital business owner and some just plain awww Tweets like this one:

5. tim capper | @GuideTwit | Mr. Maps

I first really noticed Tim when he was Tweeting around a hashtag he created: #StopCrapOnTheMap

Delving a little deeper I found a guy that has probably forgotten more about local SEO than most.

If you have a business and you’re on Google Maps (you should be, read my Google My Business guide) Tim’s worth following to get updates like these:

If so much as a pixel on Google Maps changes, Tim’s on the case which can help you and your business keep one step ahead of the competition.

6. jono alderson | @jonoalderson | Futurologist

I fell in Twitter love with Jono (though he’s also recently married – sorry @sam_simpson!) when I saw this presentation:

That video doesn’t actually do it full justice (like all the best bands, it’s better live!) but the content is top notch – much like his Tweets.

If, like me, you love tech, digital marketing and a chunky side order of SEO – Jono is your man… or @sam_simpson’s man, whom we all can borrow, now and again.

7. Arnout hellemans | @hellemans | Dutch Doyen

I was slightly surprised to see Arnout was as low as #7 in this list – but then, that’s kinda the point of the list, no? To surface those SEO stars which may be less well known.

As Arnout’s profile says: “Tweaking websites, that’s my thing…” and, like many of the people on this list when he learns something he’s happy to share it so we can all get better at our jobs:

8. David sottimano | @dsottimano | the Do-er

David puts in his own bio that’s he’s an Italian-born Canadian, currently living in Spain – I’ve no idea if it’s that cultural mix that makes him so awesome but he’s a real ‘do-er’.

If he cannot work out how something is done he’ll write code until he does – like this cracking tool he set-up using SEMRush APIs:

I have a strong suspicion there’s more where that came from – so add David to your ‘must follow’ list.

9. Matthew Young | @MatthewAYoung | #SEOChat scholar

Twitter chats are a great way to keep up-to-date with the latest developments and thinking in the world of SEO.

Matthew is one of the team that look after #SEOchat. I’m sure he’d be the first to say it wasn’t his idea – Greg Shuey (@shuey03) and Ash Buckles (@ashbuckles) are those guys – but the latter doesn’t Tweet much these days and Matthew’s timeline reads as a great encapsulation of all the good stuff from #SEOchat.

He’s also lovely – so if you’re looking to get involved with the Twitter chat he’s really welcoming and it’s a great way to learn – even if you just ‘lurk’ (e.g. follow the hashtag, read and learn) you’ll find out something new.

They vary the topics often, covering a range of subjects and often get in a topic expert to deliver nuggets of wisdom.

10. JP Sherman | @jpsherman | Just good sense

JP is someone I stumbled across in another Twitter chat, #SEMrushchat.

Now, #SEMrushchat is quite popular and some participants can get quite… competitive, trying to be the first to reply to questions or state the most obvious thing the most quickly to show off how jolly clever they are.

JP is based in the US, so I’ve never actually witnessed this but my sense is he sits, considers and then posts scorching ‘truth bombs’ that have me thinking “Of course!” over and over again. Like this:

He’s not just all SEO either – he has a pretty keen sense of humour too – the kind that makes me think I’d like to buy him a beer.

He’s written for Moz and been interviewed by Search Engine Journal – he knows his stuff. Follow him.

11. Martin Woods | @mocwoods | Tech teacher

No, not like your school tech teacher (the PE teacher in a suit, thrust into the computer lab to distract you all for an hour) Martin is a technical SEO. If you don’t know what that means (perhaps you’re thinking: “All of this SEO stuff seems pretty technical to me.”) – think of it like this:

An SEO’er is like a Doctor, your village GP. They know a lot of stuff and can really help you. A technical SEO is like a medical specialist. If you had a kidney problem or a back injury etc. your GP would send you to a specialist. Tech SEOs are specialists.

Martin is the Co-Founder of Salt.agency a specialist technical SEO agency based in Leeds, UK. He can also trace his love of all things digital back to BBC Micro computers – which I can too (ah, games on cassettes that took hours to load… sigh).

He’s interested in all cool things technology but also delivers SEO gems like this:

12. Andrew Martin | @AndrewdoesSEO | #nerdgasm

Andrew (great, great name – strong name) has moved from doing digital marketing and some SEO, to just SEO to a specialist SEO position – so he has a really strong, rounded knowledge around digital marketing.

He’s really interested in improving e-commerce, reducing friction for customers and improving UX (user experience) – all things we should all be interested in too.

He’s also massively into schema (you should be too) and conjured the #nerdgasm hashtag for the tingle of excitement us nerds get when we find something cool – like this:

13. Matt Lacuesta | @MattLacuesta | The ‘Near Me’ guy

Matt will always hold a place in my heart for bringing my attention to this:

Yes – that’s a business trying to ‘game’ the Google system and capture people who search for “‘x’ near me” – brilliant.

He also runs @SEObeers (which sounds like heaven) but is, sadly for me, in Denver – but demonstrates his willingness to learn and share learning about SEO.

14. Simon Cox | @Simoncox | Tech for hire

Simon’s another Brit (woot!) and recently left his SEO role at banking giant HSBC to forge out on his own. With a shade under 1,000 followers – if you’re quick you may be able to hire him to work on your site/project.

He’s another SEO’er I came across during #SEMrushchat. If you lurk in that Twitter chat Simon’s comments are always worth looking out for. By following him you know that if he finds a way to make his sites ‘faster, better, more’ he’ll be happy to share it too.

15. patrick langridge | @patlangridge | The screaming Frog

If you haven’t heard of Screaming Frog and their free SEO spider tool you need it in your life.

Patrick is the Head of SEO for an SEO tool – no pressure there then!

They come up with fun stuff like this too:

and when Patrick gets involved in SEO topics you know it’ll be worth reading.

16. linda hogenes | @linda_tweet | Tri-lingual techy

Confession, I don’t know for a fact Linda is tri-lingual – but she’s Dutch and also has the Belgian flag on her profile… plus the ‘TT’ heading was too much to resist.

Like Martin Woods above, Linda is a tech SEO specialist. She is the SEO at major retailer Coolblue.

Linda is on the schedule at Brighton SEO 2017 and a regular attendee at MozCon – which makes her follower count (under 1,000) utterly baffling to me.

However, her presence at these events not only endorses her knowledge but also means her Tweets are often updates directly from these conferences:

17. Eoghan henn | @Rebelytics | rebel with a cause

Eoghan is a someone I’ve only recently stumbled across through the magic of Twitter.

Like me he runs an SEO MeetUp too – in Galicia, Spain; like me he’s fond of a bit of Google Tag Manager; unlike me he has the smarts an initiative to do some really cool stuff with ‘GTM’.

Definitely a bit of rising star of SEO – one to watch.

18. Michelle Race | @Shelliweb | Tech tooler

Michelle brings us back to the UK (where all the best SEO’ers are, right?).

She’s another technical SEO – so liable to throw in the odd “What the….?” tweet that blows the minds of us mere mortals – but also shares some really great, actionable stuff and shares things that, as someone interested in SEO, you won’t want to miss.

19. sergey Alakov | @sergey_alakov | news maker

Sergey is another rising star. When an SEO sage like @rustybrick starts quoting someone it makes you notice a guy, who (for now) has just a few hundred followers himself.

Another Canada-based SEO, Sergey is often the first to spot changes in Google SERPs (search engine results pages), like this:

If you want to steal a march on your competition – it might be an idea to click “Follow” on Sergey.

20. Jason Barnard | @JasonMBarnard | fab francophone

Bit of a swizz that Jason is number 20 given this account, in English, is quite new (@jasonmbarnard branched out into language specific @jasoninfrench and @jasoninenglish) but even combined the two accounts have ‘just’ over 300 followers (more than @optimisey has so I’m casting no aspersions!).

Jason popped up on my radar when he wrote this piece on Schema Markup.

Even if you just take up that loveliness from Jason you’ll be putting your site ahead of many others. Better yet, add Jason to your follow list and make sure you catch the next one whilst it’s hot.

Can’t you make this easier for me?

If only there was a way you could follow all these people easily.

Oh go on then. Here’s a Twitter list I’ve made called SEO Gurus. It has these 20 plus 227 other SEO whizzes and you can follow them all with a click on that list.

247 SEO experts a bit much for you? Then follow @Optimisey. I cherry pick the best, most actionable stuff from all those 247 people and share it.

How was it for you?

Did I miss someone? Who is your favourite ‘SEO’er under the radar’? Add your suggestion in the comments below – and maybe I’ll feature them when I update this piece!

Was this article helpful?
YesNo
Posted in: SEO

17 thoughts on “20 top SEO experts & keeping up to date”

    1. Thanks Ajit – glad it helped. Some of the more ‘famous’ ones almost didn’t make the cut – but the (relatively) low follower count of amazing folk like Marie Haynes convinced me to include them.

      Reply

        1. Thanks Andy – and couldn’t agree more. Marie’s awesome and Tweets some real SEO gems. I never expected she’d make the “less than 10k” cut – was astonished when she did.

          Reply

    1. Yes… but I also know lots of Dutch people who know English ‘better than what I do’ – so Linda has at least a strong 2 out of 3 languages. My bet is she’s passable in Flemish and/or French too. But that’s an utter guess on my part.

      Reply

  5. hehehe “my sense is he sits, considers and then posts scorching ‘truth bombs’ that have me thinking “Of course!” over and over again.” I love that sentence despite how far it is from the truth. 🙂 Here’s my process.
    – have words happen
    – remove all profanities
    – get confused
    – rewrite it
    – brew some tea
    – rewrite it again
    – remove all but one profanity
    – panic, because i have work to do
    – push “send” because i’ve already spent too much time artisinally crafting a tweet.
    – realize i’ve misspelled a hashtag

    Reply

    1. Ha! Thanks JP – that sounds *so* familiar.

      I often miss the 2nd step, get a bit sweary, inadvertently offend/upset someone etc. etc. Maybe I’ll adopt your working process!

      Reply

      1. Ha! Thanks Jake. I’m delighted to say that, since posting this, I have spoken to JP in the video-call flesh – and he was exactly as lovely and ‘on it’ as I expected him to be.

        Reply

    1. Thanks Arnout (and for your job as sub-editor – thankfully prior to this post blowing up on Twitter!).

      3 good ones – David was already on my ‘SEO gurus’ Twitter list, I’ve added the other two as well and they’re definite considerations for an update/follow-up.

      Reply

  7. what a great article.. I never knew about these SEO Expert personalities.. thanks for sharing such information I will definitely check them out!!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.