Must-Know Tools and Lifehacks for an SEO: Interview with Alex Moss
Alex Moss has been working in Search since 2007 working in all aspects from in-house to agency employee to agency owner, and has had the opportunity to work with some big brands including Expedia and UNILAD. Prior to his session at UnGagged Las Vegas 2016 he granted UnGagged an interview.
UnGagged: Tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in SEO.
Alex Moss: I guess I could say that I was doing SEO before I even knew what it was. I started building websites in 1997 as a hobby. One I built, a South Park fan site, used to attract 1000’s of visits each day and even earned some money from it.
Throughout university I continued to design websites on a freelance basis. After graduating, I worked in television production but noticed the lack of security, career progression and freedom of creativity so went back into web design on a more professional level.
In 2008, I started working for a startup software company as their “webmaster” – handling anything from code issues on the website all the way to handling online customer support. Whilst there, I was asked what I knew about SEO. I knew nothing, so they invested on a course for me and it went from there!
UnGagged: What will you be speaking about at UnGagged?
Alex: I’ll be speaking about how you can improve your time management by sharing a number of tools and tips to help with your SEO strategy and development.
There are also loads of SEO tools out there that we all know of, but I want to share how some of these tools can be used in a better way to help you save time, stay focussed and produce better work for your client.
UnGagged: In your niche sector, what’s the most annoying SEO misconception?
Alex: I haven’t “owned” a niche sector as I have worked in many over the years. However, one large misconception that I have seen with clients is that they have been sold into having a bespoke CMS developed in order to help SEO when this is not necessarily true.
Yes, some out-of-the-box CMS platforms aren’t SEO friendly upon installation, but these issues can be solved. Bespoke CMS’s however fall under the arm of the company who developed it and can harm the visibility of a site more so than any other solution.
UnGagged: What is your current favorite SEO tool or platform?
Alex: Screaming Frog is obvious as it really provides a lot of information that is actually actionable immediately. However, myself and the team have been using SISTRIX more frequently at the moment as it provides a lot of useful data for a number of different tasks that you may carry out.
UnGagged: What is the best thing about UnGagged?
Alex: The audience, the networking, and of course the content and quality of the speakers! When people invest in attending conferences it’s great to know that when it comes to UnGagged that everyone is happy for the value they get from the conference and what they can do once they get back to the office.