Subscribe in a reader
HOME
Optimizing Large Sites with Aaron Shear
Ever wonder what it would take to optimize and generate traffic for sites the size of eBay.com? Here is my interview with Aaron Shear who drives a Mazda Miata with an oversized 350HP Turbo engine.
You like many of us also started off in the IT department, how do you go from teaching people how to use their mouse to optimizing huge sites like shopping.com?
At the time I was working for Media One / AT&T Broadband, where I started off as an entry level desktop support geek. Within a short period of time, I demonstrated my ability to manage significant responsibility, such as supporting thousands of desktop computers, and was also promoted to Systems Administrator. Unfortunately, the new position was in Fresno, and I had to move there from LA. My desire for success clouded any thoughts about how much I would dread moving to Fresno .
Out of dire boredom every weekend I would travel to either San Francisco or Los Angeles just to get away, both cities were about a 3 hour drive away. It turned out that a very close friend of the family married the head of Web Search Support for Inktomi and this is where it all started. From my first day at Inktomi I absorbed data about search algorithms like a sponge, and learned as much as I possibly could. Shortly after I was promoted to Technical Account Manager, managing relationships with many of the Inktomi search clients.
After leaving Inktomi I started freelancing and helped quite a few medium size SEO firms with their optimization strategies. I spent months converting large scale spam firms into White Hat SEO’s.
Over the past five years I have had my hand in optimizing hundred’s many small and large scale sites. I believe that the ability to optimize large scale sites starts with having a vast experience optimizing a large number of eCommerce and content portals. A few of the large companies that I have optimized are IGN.com, Beaches and Sandals, Sony, Archer Daniels Midland and Sierra Trading Post to name a few.
What exactly do you do at Shopping.com?
I am responsible for generating traffic from what we call “free traffic sources,” i.e. algorithmic search engines, high traffic portals and blogs are a few examples. My responsibilities are global in nature covering five markets, the US, UK, FR, DE and AU markets with the following brands, Shopping.com, Dealtime.com, Epinions.com and our new brand Door One. To accomplish this task I need to communicate regularly with almost every part of our business, thus I work with a dozen teams in over 7 countries with departments ranging from accounting to public relations.
We are also fortunate to be a part of eBay, which owns a variety of sites throughout the world. This group of sites includes eBay.com, paypal.com, kijiji.com, rent.com, skype.com, gumtree.co.uk and Market Platz to name a few. It is a real treat to work with such talented people throughout the world and I have benefited greatly from such knowledge.
I often notice Craigslist items show up in Google but when I click on the link the item for sale has already expired. How would one optimize an item that will only exist from a short time for organic search?
This is a question best directed towards craigslist.
However this is a common problem within the classifieds space because of the time it takes for listings to get indexed. By the time they hit the SERP’s it can be too late.
Have you considered trying to rank categories which are more static on shopping.com?
I am less concerned about the head keywords and more concerned about tail related terms, which in the price comparison world is the most important feature. The lead funnel at the product level converts at a much greater level to our merchants. This at the end of the day is our goal.
How about making each category a complete website on a subdomain level like about.com?
Subdomain’s are great, however, in my experience they take along time to ramp up. For example when we launch in a new country we use subdomains to make them distinctive under the shopping.com brand. These new subdomains take a considerable amount of time to gain traction within the SERP’s.
I noticed that Adam Lasnik from Google linked to you as he did myself for tagging him and also said that he has lots of respect for you. Have you been accused of drinking the Google Kool-aid?
I am sure that a few people think that I have drank the Google Kool-aid. The bottom line is I have loved search from day one and have professional relationships with quite a few members of search engines.
Can an “SEO” be friends with folks from Google or are we supposed to be either for or against?
I think Matt Cutts put it best. He said not to believe anyone who says they are “friends” with him and will get special favors. Matt and his team are out there to answer questions, however, more importantly they are out to discover abuse. By approaching any search engine and trying to get help you run the risk of exposing your tactics. Any questions I direct toward a search engine are phrased around improving their experience, not trying to leverage the conversation for gain.
Have any horror stories from websites you own or have been working on for others? You know, like losing an entire database, getting hacked or just doing something really lame?
Not with Shopping.com, however, on personal and client sites I have seen a full range of attacks. I saw DNS servers hi-jacked, web servers and databases compromised (all “Microsoft” by the way).
I see you like to race cars for fun, what kind of cars do you own?
I am truly a car nut; I personally drive Audi’s and quite a few other cars. However I decided that it was time to build a dedicated car, so now I own a 350HP Turbo Mazda Miata that is an absolute pleasure to drive on the track. Imagine pulling away from $250k+ exotic cars in a little Mazda.
I have also been known to fly out to see car shows and drive on tracks around the world.
Tell us about Buy a Pixel for Charity?
I came across an open source version of the Million Dollar Home Page and immediately thought, what a great way to fund raise for my favorite charities? So I am collecting money for Cystic Fibrosis, since I lost my only brother to the dreadful disease about 4 years ago. Since moving back to San Francisco I have gotten involved with several charities including Donor’s Choose, a non profit that raises money for teachers. I am actually providing them free SEO consulting to help raise awareness.
Similar Post:
- How will social optimization change the SEO industry?
- Understanding the 301 redirect
- Jeremy Zawodny Interview
December 22nd, 2006 at 2:05 pm
Very nice interview! I would love to hear more about aaron’s thoughts on sub-domains and why he hasn’t had success with them?
January 2nd, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Hey Zeke, I posted a few more details on my views of sub domains.