February 2012 | Jacob Emerick's Blog

SEO Consultants are not Necessarily Experts

I've always been a bit confused by people who consider themselves SEO (Search Engine Optimization) consultants. It's not that I don't think such a position should exists - on the contrary, SEO is an important part of the web development process that is often overlooked by web designers and programmers. What confuses me is how they consider themselves experts.

Most of these consultants devote their focus on Google. This makes a lot of sense, with Google being the elephant in the room when it comes to search engines. However, it seems that the majority of their focus is always on the algorithm and how it changes over time. When Google made the Panda update early in 2011, there was a big push for unique, organic content on sites. SEO consultants seem to be reactionary, watching to see what Google determines is important in determining good content and structure is. This is the wrong approach.

Well-rounded web developers take a simple stance when it comes to SEO. Just build out a web presence that make sense. Each page on a website has a ...

• Tags:
• best practice,
• consulting,
• optimization,
• seo

Blind 35 Hills - South Side

Sleeping in through the cloudy sunrise, I woke up on a rocky outcropping west of Big Bay. I had spent the previous evening hiking around some of the hills on the north side of Blind 35, finding plenty of western views towards Ives Hill and even a limited shot of the Keweenaw Peninsula to the north. You can read about those adventures on my previous post (Blind 35 Hills - North Side). This morning it was time to head south and west to explore more of the hills.

South, across Blind 35, to my morning hike

I packed up my gear and headed down the steep slope, trotting and sliding down the pine-covered slope to Clear Creek. Leaving most of my stuff in my car, I set a brisk pace westwards along the road past muddy holes and huge rocks far too large for my small vehicle. Blind 35 continued to degrade, slowly resembling a well-traveled four-wheeler path more than the beginnings of state trunkline. After a bit of walking I came to the bridge over Snake Creek, a small two-lane concrete piece ...

• Tags:
• big bay,
• blind 35,
• bushwhack,
• campsite,
• huron mountain club,
• huron mountains

Blind 35 Hills - North Side

West from Big Bay is the Huron Mountain Club, stretching over some of the most pristine land in the Upper Peninsula. An old, abandoned road stretches out towards the club, surrounded by tall, forested hills, before suddenly ending at the property line for the Club. These hills are cut in half horizontally by the road, also known as Blind 35, and range around 1300' in elevation. After a brief visit to some of the northern outcroppings over a year ago, I returned to this area in hopes of finding some good views of Lake Superior and the untouchable Huron Mountain Club property.

Looking east along a steep outcropping

The drive from County Road 510 is not a gentle one. Blind 35, once the makings of a state trunkline, has been poorly maintained for years. My small car lurched and shuddered over the rutted road as I tried to avoid the large rocks and deeper mud pits. The road is interesting to drive on - it is straight and relatively level, and it's easy to imagine this being a paved throughfare straight through to Big Erick's Bridge. However, in ...

• Tags:
• big bay,
• blind 35,
• campsite,
• huron mountain club,
• huron mountains,
• sunset