Steve Johnston

Google Consultant and Internet
Strategist

Google Consultant

I am a greying-haired Google Consultant (what is a Google consultant?) working in the UK to create online 'location' for businesses that are competing for the majority of online awareness and 'passing trade' that is currently generated by search engines.

Steve Johnston, Google Consultant Why just Google? Because Google generates the majority of the majority of online awareness; because I believe where Google leads Microsoft and Yahoo will follow; and because I am but one man and there is so, so much Google stuff to know.

N.B. According to current estimates Google uses upwards of 100 variables each time a search term is matched with a potentially relevant web page.

For a view of some of the work I have done, visit the References page. It includes specific client examples that encompass the three main reasons you may need a Google Consultant: a site needs optimising because of its Content, its Code or its Reputation.

For an idea of services and fees that I offer as a Google Consultant, please have a look at the Services page.

Internet Strategist

Along with being a Google Consultant I am also an Internet Strategist and have contributed to many business strategies during my ten years on the service side of the internet industry (my previous nine years were spent in retail, many years of it happily on the shop floor).

The panel to the right lists clients I have worked with during my various roles, in the capacity of an Internet Strategist. If an organisation is listed, then I have played a meaningful role in crafting or guiding its internet strategy during the period of my employment. (I have just started a Internet Strategy Blog - it's early days)

Hire Me...

I am working independently now so that I can focus my efforts in the areas above, which I believe now to be of critical importance to any business using the web. I am therefore continuing both of these activities on behalf of client companies and consequently I am a Google Consultant available for hire and would welcome your approach. Distance no object!

Joking apart, I am working very satisfactorily with businesses in the US on a Pay-As-You-Go hourly basis, using PayPal as a Payment mechanism. Minimum engagement is around three hours, to be able to add any conspicuous value.

South West of the UK Local Help

If you are local to me (I have recently escaped London and am on the Somerset / Wiltshire border between Bath and Bradford-on-Avon in the South West of the UK) then I am also always interested in assisting small and medium businesses with general internet planning, particularly in new web site builds, including supplier selection and briefing and project management.

Steve Johnston - A Google Blog

If you are interested in the day to day, stream of consciousness of a Search Engine practitioner then I try to keep my Google Blog informed of important or interesting things going on - warning: only mostly Google.

Written Stuff

I have contributed a monthly column, to Bradford-on-Avon's wonderful The Gudgeon magazine, entitled Google-ing in The Gudgeon.

I have had a few other articles published over the years - I confess to not trying very hard here - but it is gratifying to see your name in print. I'll pull out a few snippets in a little while...

Snippet 1: MP3, the indefinite future of music, play on.
Written for the IMRG in February 1999.

Snippet 2: From Books to Bits.
Written for New Statesman in May 1995.

Industry Links

Webmaster World: The most comprehensive and most professionally run forum site for the professions involved in internet business. It has a great search engine section and a comprehensive real-time analysis of the manifold disciplines required to do business on the internet.

Search Engine Watch: One of the oldest editorially-driven technology/business sites. It focuses on the review of operations, functions and algorythms of the worlds' search engines. Editor Danny Sullivan, fellow resident of Wiltshire, is perhaps the UK's greatest search engine import - he was born and bred in California. The site has some free content, but the subscription-side is worth every penny.

Useful Resources

Google Hacking
by Johnny Long

Web Search Garage
by Tara Calishain

Search Engine Visibility
by Shari Thurow

Google Hacks
by Tara Calishain and Rael Dornfest

Net Words: Creating High Impact Online Copy
by Nick Usborne
or download Net Words eBook in Adobe Reader eBook form.

Contact

t (UK mob/cell):
07717 747657
t (UK land):
0208 1330657
01225 580024
t (UK premium rate):
09065 910911
£1.50 p/min £30 max
Further details
e: steve@johnston.co.uk
f: 07884 503609

time zone: GMT
location:
nr. Bath, Somerset, UK

Steve Johnston's Location

Career Credentials

Role:
Client Services Director
Company:
Domino Systems
Strategic Client Experience:
Kraft Foods
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Toshiba Computers UK
WHSmith Direct
Bosch Siemens Hausgerate
Corus Hotels
Subaru World Rally Team
Period:2002-2003

Role:
Interim CEO
Company:
Blue Sky Communications
Strategic Client Experience:
The Economist Group
Associated Press Television News
Edexcel Foundation

Liberty International
United Nations
Period:2000-2002

Role:
Independent Consultant
Strategic Client Experience:
Focus Wickes
National Britannia Group
Leardirect
Period:1999-2000

Role:
Strategy Director
Company:
Entranet (Now Defunct)
Strategic Client Experience:
Bristol and West Building Society
HFC Bank
Period:1998-1999

Role:
Development Director
Company:
IMRG (Interactive Media in Retail Group)
Strategic Member Experience:
Arcadia Group
Argos
DHL
IKEA
John Lewis Partnership
Kingfisher
Period:1997-1998

Role:
Interactive Media Development Director
Company:
20|20 Design & Strategy Group
Strategic Client Experience:
Marks & Spencer
National Westminster Bank
IKEA
BT
Period:1996-1997

Role:
Divisional Head
Company:
ePublishing (Now Defunct)
Clients:
AEAT
Larry
Period:1994-1996

Role:
Founder and Managing Director
Company:
Words Worth Books
Operation:
8 Retail Bookshops
Period:1987-1994

So, what is a Google Consultant?

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"A Google consultant is a person or company specializing in search engine optimisation (SEO) for the Google search engine.

Because Google is the most widely used internet search engine the commercial importance of achieving a good page rank on Google has grown hugely for many companies - particularly those businesses that rely on internet marketing to attract visitors or customers to their websites.

While it is possible for companies to buy position on Google using the Google AdWords system the results tend not to be regarded by those conducting the search as particularly authentic or as unbiased as the page rankings. Also popular words can get very expensive to buy.

As Google's popularity increased companies tried improving their rankings first by using Google bombing in which they created many different sites all linked to one another through a particular word. This gave the site a high ranking when the word was searched for. This "abuse" threatened the utility of Google as a search engine so Google responded by adapting its top secret web crawler technologies and ranking algorithms.

In turn SEO consultants tried to reverse engineer the Google technology in order to gain advantage in the page rankings. So started a struggle between Google and SEO consultants.

As it became more and more difficult to trick the Google system - so the Google consultants became more and more specialised in their work to improve the Google rankings of their clients (eventually to the point where they don't work on any other search engine). The careful use of copywriting, linking strategies and the frequency and timing of updated content can all help move sites up the rankings; the closer a site is to the top of the first page of results delivered by Google the more likely it is that the person searching will click on the link.

The boom in popularity of personal Blogs and Blogging has impacted on the way sites are ranked too and is reflected in the purchase of blogger.com by Google Inc.

Google and the Google Consultants have more or less reached a Détente where Google gives a certain amount of advice to Google Consultants on how best to edit or engineer webpages to allow them to be indexed properly. However since Google is now listed on NASDAQ and its commercial success depends to a great extent on selling AdWords by auction it remains to be seen if the symbiotic relationship between Google and the Google Consultants will survive."

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