Dre de Vera on SEO, Personal Branding, and Career Growth The provided YouTube transcript captures a conversation with Dre de Vera, a seasoned SEO professional, on the “Youtech” channel. De Vera recounts his 15-year journey in SEO, from his early days as a party promoter to his current role in global SEO for Workday.
He shares strategies for career advancement using SEO principles, such as optimizing LinkedIn profiles and showcasing expertise through site audits during job interviews.
The discussion broadens to include personal branding techniques, emphasizing the importance of standing out and owning one’s online presence. Finally, De Vera discusses his YouTube show, which aims to make SEO more accessible and engaging, while also discussing enterprise SEO.
Unlocking SEO Success: Dre de Vera’s Journey
Dre de Vera shares his extensive experience in SEO, spanning 15 years, and website building for 20 years. His journey began in college, driven by the need to boost traffic to his party promotion website. Discovering SEO as the primary method to drive traffic without paid advertising, Dre quickly utilized it to promote San Francisco nightlife.
His early success led to a corporate career in 2005-2006, where he expanded his expertise into SEM and analytics, eventually becoming a global web manager. Now, Dre focuses solely on global SEO for Workday, highlighting his passion for the field.
Dre’s story illustrates the evolution of SEO from a supplementary skill to a critical component of digital marketing, emphasizing its increasing importance for businesses seeking online visibility.
SEO for Personal Advancement: Dre’s Unique Strategies
Dre de Vera reveals how he quadrupled his salary using SEO strategies. Inspired by the realization that others were earning significantly more for similar SEO work, Dre began optimizing his LinkedIn profile.
He manually scraped job descriptions from LinkedIn, identifying frequently used keywords to incorporate into his profile. This approach dramatically increased recruiter interest and job offers.
To further stand out, Dre conducted site audits for potential employers, showcasing his SEO skills upfront and demonstrating the value he could bring. By presenting a clear plan to address technical errors within the first 90 days, he secured job offers. Dre highlights the importance of relationships, noting that a recruiter played a key role in connecting him with multiple companies.
Personal Branding Secrets: Standing Out in a Digital World
Dre emphasizes the importance of personal branding, advocating that individuals, especially in marketing, should manage their online presence like a business. He advises owning the top search results for your name by registering across various social profiles and platforms like SoundCloud, Medium, and Tumblr.
Using the same profile picture across all platforms helps create a recognizable personal logo. Dre also suggests creating targeted ads to promote your skills, as he did in San Francisco.
Within the workplace, Dre advises finding ways to stand out, whether through unique fashion choices or bringing energy to the environment. He also highlights the importance of sharing your achievements and successes to build a strong track record.
SEO Video Show: Teaching and Mastering SEO
Dre de Vera discusses his SEO video show, launched to share his passion and expertise in SEO. The show aims to attract more digital marketers to SEO, providing a platform for learning through interviews with industry experts.
Dre dedicates significant time to watching and clipping videos, extracting valuable nuggets to share with his audience. He emphasizes the importance of quality, investing three months in learning software, lighting, and camera techniques to ensure a professional presentation.
The show is designed to be entertaining and informative, countering the perception of SEO as boring. Dre’s goal is to master SEO by teaching it, reinforcing his knowledge and connecting with the SEO community.
Creative SEO Strategies: Thinking Outside the Box
Dre de Vera’s creative SEO ideas stem from treating himself as a business and applying marketing strategies to his personal brand. He recalls using Bluetooth marketing as a party promoter, sending messages to nearby phones to promote upcoming events.
Similarly, he implemented Bluetooth marketing in his retail stores, offering discounts to customers who received the message while passing by. Dre also shares a story of ranking number one for “Kanye West sunglasses” and “Lady Gaga glasses,” leading to cease and desist letters, which underscores the effectiveness of his SEO tactics.
These examples illustrate Dre’s innovative approach to SEO, using unconventional methods to drive traffic and sales.
SEO for Brick and Mortar Stores: Adapting to Today’s Challenges
Dre advises that brick and mortar stores should prioritize creating a website to enhance their online presence. He recommends setting up a Google My Business (GMB) profile, which provides a free platform to rank locally.
Businesses can use GMB to post updates, add links, upload photos, and list products. Dre also encourages businesses to take advantage of free promotion opportunities on Google Shopping.
Dre highlights the importance of utilizing Google’s own properties, such as YouTube and Blogger, to increase online visibility. These strategies help brick and mortar stores compete effectively in the digital landscape, driving both online and in-store traffic.
Enterprise SEO: Storytelling, Education, and Processes
Dre explains that enterprise SEO differs significantly from regular SEO, emphasizing the importance of storytelling and education to stakeholders. He stresses the need to create processes, educate colleagues, and report on SEO efforts to convey a holistic story.
Dre recommends public speaking classes to effectively present and teach the value of SEO within the company. He also advises focusing on Google My Business (GMB) profiles for each office location to maximize free promotion.
Establishing SEO as a priority from the outset of any content creation process is crucial. Dre also highlights the collaborative nature of enterprise SEO, requiring coordination with various departments such as PR, content marketing, social media, and development.
Content Creation for SEO: Balancing Creativity and Optimization
Dre shares his approach to content creation, emphasizing the importance of educating content teams about modern SEO practices. He advocates for using variations and semantic words rather than excessive keyword stuffing.
Dre advises content teams to focus on topic clusters and related searches found in Google’s “People Also Ask” and related searches sections. While he still uses correlation reports to suggest keyword inclusion, he prioritizes natural integration.
The content creation process involves keyword research, topic development, writing, and a final SEO review. Dre also stresses the value of finding a champion within the content marketing team who understands and supports SEO.