WEEK 5: A Conversation with Guest Speaker Tony Adam by Batuhan Aras

By UCLA X469.21 Student Batuhan Aras

Batuhan Aras

On November 10th, we welcomed Tony Adam (@tonyadam), the SEO wizard. With a background working for big companies like Myspace, Yahoo and PayPal, he told us a little bit about what he did prior to creating his current company, Visible Factors.

Los Angeles-based Visible Factors is a growing SEO company serving large clients like Vevo and Ticketmaster, as well as startups and small companies. Any company can get a quote, with pricing that varies depending on the size of the project.

Tony Adam

Tony told us about his holistic approach to SEO. He said you have to consider everything when you develop a plan for your online marketing strategy.

When it comes to content, you need to make sure that what you post isn’t duplicated on other websites. You also need to keep the quality high so that people who find your website don’t leave after just a few seconds.

Tony gave us one of the best tips I have ever heard about website navigation and optimization: “People should be able to get to any page on your website within four clicks.” This is golden, and I think every website should work like this — including the biggest social media, news, and shopping platforms; no one wants to get lost in a website clicking everywhere. Your website title should also be clear and direct.

In terms of analytics, you should know who is searching for what on Google to find your website, how much time they are spending on your website, etc. Google’s Keyword Planner is a great tool to analyze and try different keywords. Finally, you also want to make sure that your main page and landing pages are clean and very well designed.

I think it was a very helpful discussion for our class. Thanks to Erik for bringing Tony Adam!