SEOblog Interview: Seattle SEO Expert Dustin Talley from Bonsai Media Group

We’re excited to have interviewed Seattle SEO Expert Dustin Talley from Bonsai Media Group for the next installment of our Featured SEO Expert Series! Bonsai Media Group is one of SEOblog’s Top SEO agencies in Seattle.

Talley is the head of digital strategy at Bonsai Media Group with more than five years of experience in site development, SEO, eCommerce and paid digital advertising. Talley specializes in integrated digital strategies. He’s designed solutions for a wide variety of clients, from scrappy start-ups to Fortune 500 enterprises and every type of business in between.

What would you say is unique and/or challenging about the Seattle SEO industry?

“The Seattle SEO industry presents a few unique challenges. Seattle has become a hub for many industries meaning the competitive landscape is always growing, which means a more competitive local SERP landscape. Because of this we are always striving to find ways to set our clients strategies apart.”

How does your agency stand out in a crowded market like Seattle?

“The SEO industry has become more than just optimization. Design, development and SEO need to work together in order to create a seamless user experience that will allow us to compete in this competitive market. Our agency specializes in these combining these three pillars to not only create websites that rank, but that also look amazing and meet today’s performance standards. On top of that our SEO strategy is based on data-driven decision making. The current state of SEO is such that cookie cutter strategies just don’t work. You need to look at the data and be able to understand what it is telling you in order to achieve the best results for your clients.”

Can you share a success story from a local SEO campaign centered around the Seattle area?

“One particularly awesome SEO success story that I have had the pleasure of working on is for our client Herd Freed Hartz, an executive recruiting firm based in downtown Seattle. Bonsai was approached to take on their SEO strategy after having attempted SEO with another vendor that hadn’t gotten them the results they were looking for. Along with implementing a specialized local SEO strategy, we noticed their website wasn’t mobile-friendly. We made sure to mobile-optimize and ensure a smooth user experience. After a short period of time, the results came rushing in. We not only met their goals, but exceeded them by achieving top three rankings, driving 60 percent more qualified visitors resulting in 291 percent more leads. Now that’s what we call results that deliver.”

What is the best advice you ever received in business?

“The best advice that I have ever received in business was to never stop learning. With the ever changing SEO landscape this has been more important than ever, but this also applies to all aspects of life and something that I have truly taken to heart. It’s amazing how much everything connects once you start digging.”

What do you think is the most important quality that makes an agency truly great?

“I believe that a great agency is one that is always pushing the boundaries in this industry and one that understands the greater picture than just a piece of it.”

Any predictions for the future of SEO?

“We have seen so many changes over the last couple years within this industry, but I feel that user experience is going to continue to become more important as time goes on. What this means to me is that all components of a website need to come together in a seamless way that truly is the best search result that google could show.”

What is your reaction when you hear that “SEO is dying”?

“The old ways may have died and it may not be as easy to have rapid success in SEO, but the one thing I know for sure is that SEO will always play a vital role in digital marketing strategies as long as people are browsing the web. SEO is a longer term strategy now days, but never the less just as important.”

What do you think is the most important contributor to keeping clients happy?

“Everyone wants results. At the end of the day that’s what matters the most, but I have found that an open line of communication and showing clients how we are actively trying to achieve results goes a long way. Results are key, but communication is just as important.”

Interested in being considered as an SEOblog “Featured SEO Expert”? Reach out to our team at [email protected]! We’d love to hear from you and give you a high-traffic platform to share your SEO agency’s story and insights.