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Google Andrew Girdwood SEO

Q&A with DigitasLBi's Andrew Girdwood, The Drum Search Awards judge – 'Too many marketers build websites first and then think of SEO'

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

November 12, 2014 | 4 min read

In the second in our series of interviews with judges for The Drum Search Awards, Andrew Girdwood, media innovations director at DigitasLBi shares his thoughts on Google's domination in the space, how the internet of things will impact on the future of search, and what he'll be looking for when he judges The Drum Search Awards.

Andrew Girdwood

How did you get into search?

I didn’t. I was mucking around in search long before it was work. It grew from an obscure hobby which only a handful of us did into a cottage industry, then an industry, then became marketing and then got bigger than TV around me. My geeky hobby become a job. How lucky am I?

Search has quickly become a crucial component in every marketer's brand strategy, but where do you feel it is still falling down generally?

Too many marketers build websites first and then think of SEO. That’s wrong. SEO is not only relevant to how you build your site but it is relevant to why you build a site. Modern multi-signal search is all about how you engage with audiences so that they discuss, share, link to and evaluation your brand and its digital assets online.

Spend through search has become a normal approach over the years. Are we near an end to seeing people attempt to game the SEO system?

There will always be people who think they’ve found a loophole in Google’s current algorithm to exploit, or Microsoft’s, Yandex, Baidu’s, etc… Equally, there will always be people who are neither willing nor able to earn their position in search and will try and buy their way instead.

Google dominates the search landscape – in your opinion, how does this affect the sector?

Competition drives innovation. Innovation improves the search experience for everyone. Google should be applauded for continuing testing different designs, search experiences and features. Equally, it is very odd that Google is able to rollout, test, fail, rollback and repeat without apparently suffering any market share loss. Ever. That should not happen. There should be enough competition not only to allow for innovation but for alternatives to Google to make inroads whenever the search giant missteps.

How will wearables or the internet of things impact the search sector?

I’ve got a smartwatch. I don’t think I’m ready to buy one for myself yet but this was a gift. I’ve now tuned the smartwatch so that it only gives me a notification when it’s an important message. This means I’m checking my buzzing phone less often. As I’m pulling my phone from my pocket less often I’m happier with a larger screen phone. As I’m using a larger screen phone I have less of a need for a tablet.

My smartwatch means I’m doing more mobile searches and less tablet searches. Google treats the latter akin to desktop. My smartwatch is already impacting my own search behaviour and the search ads I’m exposed to.

What will you be looking for while judging The Drum Search Awards?

I want to see a healthy mixture of sustainability and innovation. I want to see the sort of campaign that the industry should be proud of; those pieces of work we could hold up in front of Google, the ASA or anyone outside of marketing and get a response of “Yeah, that’s clever, that’s good."

More details about The Drum Search Awards can be found on the event website, www.thedrumsearchawards.com.

Google Andrew Girdwood SEO

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