At the early days of search was SEO and pay per click advertising something for geeks who learned the stuff by experimenting with it and learned from their successes and failures while simply doing it. How to rank in search engines and how to write a compelling Ad within three short lines and research keywords is not exactly the things that are taught at the universities. There were no bachelors or masters’ degree in search marketing or something like that.
Hireling somebody with experience and proven knowledge about search to do your in-house search marketing was impossible. You had to take a person’s word for it and watch if the results eventually reflect what he had promised and what you expected during the job interview.
“Growing” staff in-house from an inexperienced rookie to a valuable asset was often the best option. The former graduates and newbie’s became experienced marketers with the time and made it hard for companies to be able to keep them. They learned quickly what their work and experience was worth. Those People did often quit their job at the company where they learned the business to work for a specialized...